“Whoever has not experienced temptation cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Without temptations no-one can be saved.”
Saint Anthony the Great
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“Temptations come so that hidden passions may be revealed and so that it will be possible to fight them, and so that the Soul may be rid of them. They are also a sign of God’s Mercy. So give yourself with trust into God’s hands and ask His help, so that He will strengthen you in your struggle. God knows how much each one can bear and allows temptations according to the measure of our strength.”
Saint Nektarios of Aegina
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“But do not be troubled or sad. The Lord sometimes allows people who are devoted to Him to fall into such dreadful vices; and this is in order to prevent them from falling into a greater sin – pride. Your temptation will pass and you will spend the remaining days of your life in humility. Only do not forget your sin.”
Saint Seraphim of Sarov
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“Without temptations, it is not possible to learn the Wisdom of the Spirit. It is not possible that Divine Love be strengthened in your Soul. Before temptations, a man Prays to God as a stranger. When temptations are allowed to come by the love of God, and he does not give in to them, then he stands before God as a sincere friend. For in fulfilling the Will of God, he has made war on the enemy of God and conquered him.
Saint Isaac the Syrian
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“Temptations are medicines and healing herbs that heal our visible passions and our invisible wounds. So have patience in order to profit every day, to store up wages, rest, and joy in the heavenly kingdom. For the night of death is coming when no one will be able to work anymore. Therefore, hurry. Time is short.”
Saint Joseph the Hesychast
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“Until we become broken through temptations and sorrow, we will not know our own infirmities and humble ourselves before God.”
Saint Makarios the Great
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“For our love of God is demonstrated above all by the way we endure trials and temptations.”
Saint Gregory Palamas
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“When you are tempted, recognise that a Crown is being prepared for you.”
Saint John Chrysostom
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“My sins are a wall between me and Thy Goodness. Tear it down that I might approach Thy Loving-Kindness; pour out Thy Love upon me and exalt me to Thy heights.”
Saint Ephrem the Syrian
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“When you are subjected to the malicious and furious violence of the passions, and to the harassments of the devil, during the fulfillment of various works for God, accept these sufferings as sufferings for the Name of Christ, and rejoice in your sufferings, thanking God; for the devil is preparing you, without knowing it himself, the most shining Crowns from the Lord.”
Saint John of Kronstadt
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“Often Divine Providence leaves certain slight passions in Spiritual people so that by unsparingly condemning themselves for those trifling and venial defects they may obtain that wealth of humility which none can steal.”
Saint John Climacus
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“Christ allows temptations so that we may be purified of our predispositions. Temptations are like soap and a mallet which hits us and whitens us.”
Saint Joseph the Hesychast
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“When there is no struggle, there is no virtue.”
Saint John of Kronstadt
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“As fire purifies gold, so sorrow that is in accord with God purifies a sinful heart.”
Saint Seraphim of Sarov
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“Out of the greatest sinners He makes righteous men!”
Saint John of Kronstadt
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“Without temptations, pure Souls are not known, Virtue does not show, patience is not discernable.”
Saint Joseph the Hesychast
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“The person engaged in Spiritual warfare exercises self-control in all things.”
Saint Philotheos of Sinai
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“Many a man curses the rain that falls upon his head, and knows not that it brings abundance to drive away the hunger.”
Saint Basil the Great
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“A continuously happy life produces extremely unhappy consequences. In nature we see that there are not always pleasant springs and fruitful summers, and sometimes autumn is rainy and winter cold and snowy, and there is flooding and wind and storms, and moreover the crops fail and there are famine, troubles, sicknesses and many other misfortunes. All of this is beneficial so that man might learn through prudence, patience and humility. For the most part, in times of plenty he forgets himself, but in times of various sorrows he becomes more attentive to his salvation.”
Saint Ambrose of Optina
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“Dispassion doesn’t mean to no longer feel the passions, but to no longer accept them.”
Saint Isaac the Syrian
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“Blessed is the man who knows his weakness, because this knowledge becomes to him the foundation, root, and beginning of all goodness.”
Saint Isaac the Syrian
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“Just as the eyebrows approach each other, so are the temptations close to men. It was the economy of God to be so, with wisdom that we may receive benefit: namely, through knocking persistently, because of the sorrows, on the door of God’s mercy and to enter into your mind, due to the fear of grievous events, the seed of the memory of God, so that you may approach Him with supplications and your heart be sanctified through the continuous remembrance of Him. And while you ask Him, He will listen.”
Saint Isaac the Syrian
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“The various temptations neither get sleepy nor tired! Even though they are always beneficial, they are intense and tiring. It is only after our Souls open up with the love for trials and head towards humility, that temptations somehow become more tolerable and even desirable.”
Elder Joseph of Vatopedi
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“Every tribulation reveals the state of our will.”
Saint Mark the Ascetic
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“When we are beset by temptations, that’s when the Grace of God comes. When one undergoes temptation, he recognises his weakness, is humbled and attracts the Grace of God. Don’t let the winds of temptation affect you. They can’t do you any harm.”
Saint Amphilochios Makris of Patmos
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“Sometimes men are tested by pleasure, sometimes by distress or by physical suffering. By means of His prescriptions the Physician of Souls administers the remedy according to the cause of the passions lying hidden in the Soul.”
Saint Maximus the Confessor
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“Every trial and temptation is permitted by God as a cure for some sick person’s Soul. Indeed, such trials not only confer on us forgiveness of our past and present sins, but also act as a check on sins not yet committed.”
Saint Peter of Damascus
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“Without temptations, it is not possible to learn the Wisdom of the Spirit. It is not possible that Divine Love be strengthened in your Soul. Before temptations, a man Prays to God as a stranger. When temptations are allowed to come by the Love of God, and he does not give in to them, then he stands before God as a sincere friend. For in fulfilling the Will of God, he has made war on the enemy of God and conquered him.”
Saint Isaac the Syrian
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“If pain, sorrows and trials were absent from people’s lives, then Holiness would be a characteristic only of the Angels.”
Saint Evmenios Saridakis
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“Troubles are usually the brooms and shovels that smooth the road to a good man’s fortune; and many a man curses the rain that falls upon his head, and knows not that it brings abundance to drive away hunger.”
Saint Basil the Great
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“Why does a person fall spiritually? To wake up again. If it does not fall, it will never stand, it will never be strengthened by faith. The Lord allows all our failures to strengthen us only in faith.”
Saint Gabriel, the New Confessor of Georgia
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“Bear sorrows for the sake of the Heavenly Kingdom. Without sorrows there is no Salvation. On the other hand, the Kingdom of God awaits those who have patiently endured. And all the glory of the world is nothing in comparison. My joy! I implore you to acquire a peaceful spirit.”
Saint Seraphim of Sarov
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“Trials are sent to some so as to take away past sins, to others so as to eradicate sins now being committed, and to yet others so as to forestall sins which may be committed in the future. These are distinct from the trials that arise in order to test men in the way that Job was tested.”
Saint Maximus the Confessor
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“I used to think: ‘Why does God send us affliction?’, and then I realized – to break a stone you need a hammer. Many turn to God only through grief and sorrow.”
Saint Gabriel, the New Confessor of Georgia