history-of-christianity

"Christianity spreads in two ways: through conversion and through secularisation."

"An elder said: "Many saints would have liked to be living and struggling in our times.""

"An elderly monk, a worker of noetic prayer, said: "We should always say the Jesus Prayer. With every opportunity we should say it. Our mind should not wander on vain things. In saying the Jesus Prayer one's mind finds rest and joy. Just like small children. They run around all day, shouting, playing, hitting each other. But the one thing that gives them rest and great joy is when at night they find themselves beside their mother. This is how it is with our mind also. It should not wander on vain things. It should be occupied with the Jesus Prayer.""

"An elder said: "Illness is a divine visitation. Illness is a great gift from God. The only thing that man can give to God in return is his pain.""

"When St. Akakios of Kafsokalyvia stood in prayer, he resembled a steadfast pillar; and when seated he was unaware of his body, as it were, because he was in an elevated state of being, filled with grace and divine, uncreated light."

"Geronda D... you are poor and have no money," I once said to a truly poor Skete-dweller. And he replied: "Only the devil is poor!..."

"And he said again: "Saints sense themselves to be truly unworthy and sinful.""

"An elder said: "We are like nettle plants. From a distance they appear green and fresh as in a field or garden, but when you go close and touch them, that is when you see their ugliness and feel their sting.""

"An elder said: "To the monk, the world is a charcoal-maker" (that is, the world dirties one's soul, like one who handles charcoal)."

"A hermit said: "A monk is one who stands continually before the invisble God, as if He were visible.""

"An elder said: "The spiritual life requires patience, steadfast patience. Man undergoes all sorts of changes even from one day to the next.""

""Elder, is monastic life difficult?" we asked a wise monk. "It is not difficult. There comes a time when you forget yourself entirely and you realize that it is the lightest burden to carry," he replied."

"A virtuous monk advised: "Show love to all, but have no particular friendship with anyone.""

"Another said: "Why don't we have many saints in our times? Because we have put aside prayer and stillness.""

"Living in a state of high spirituality, and of perfect possessionlessness – we do not know if they are still alive – were seven, or twelve according to others, hermits in the virgin forests of the Holy Mountain. Totally naked, living like the birds of the air on wild greens, on roots, on chestnuts, on pine cone seed etc. It has been said that they would go and receive Holy Communion at the cave of St. Peter from the eminent hesychast Father Daniel. The learned Lavriotan and physician, monk Spyridon Kambanaos wrote concerning these earthly angels and heavenly men: "And what can we say of those who live in the area of Krya Nera, where only the all-seeing eye of God knows their way of life.""

"A great contemporary hesychast who had to go out into the world for medical reasons for a few days said to me: "When I returned to the Holy Mountain, a month had to pass before I was able to gather my mind from its roaming and wandering during prayer.""

"A monk used to say: "The prayer Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me; this is the foundation of monastic life.""

""Many possess a neptic prayer but they do not even realize it," a hermit used to say."

"Later, when I had heard that there are twelve anchorites at the peak of Athos – some said seven – I got to thinking, so I related the incident to some experienced Elders, who told me: “That would have been one of the righteous anchorites who live invisibly at the peak of Athos”!"

"St. Savvas from Kalymnos was a Hagiorite. He was from St. Anne's. He had absolutely no love of money. He did not even want to hold it in his hands."

""We suffer because we have no love. Whoever does not love does not have peace, even if he was placed in Paradise," said an elder."

""Patience must be acquired, it cannot be bought," an ascetic used to say."

"An elder used to say: "A monk resembles a small, clever fish. He knows how to escape the world like the fish which avoids the bait that hides the deadly hook.""

"An elder said: "He who loves God does not only love his fellow man, but also all of nature: trees, grass, flowers. Everything with the same love.""

"The elders of Mount Athos say: "Not where you live but the way you live is going to save you.""

"Εΐπεν ένας γέρων μοναχός:"

"An elder said: "The spiritual life of a monk begins when he distances himself from all visible and invisible things, save God." And he also said: 'When I was in the world everyone would say: 'The monk, the monk.' So I said to myself, 'If you're a monk, then, what are you still doing in the world?'""

"An elder said: "I am unable to describe to you, my son, the joy I felt in my heart every time I was unjustly treated by others. I felt that I was clothed in the cloak of injustice also worn by Christ.""

"A contemporary hermit would say: "Today there is plenty of dough, but there is no yeast...""

"Elder Modestos the Konstamonitan would say: "Act as if you can't see. Do not look at another's faults.""

"After the daily liturgy, the great hesychast father Daniel the Hosiopetritan would withdraw into his cell for an hour for silence. It was an hour dedicated to tears and compunction. He would say: "While the lantern indeed gives light to many, its wick holder is usually burned...""

"A monk asked another elder, who was over one hundred years old: "Now that you will depart from this temporary life, what do you feel?" "I feel so joyful and peaceful, as if I am going to a wedding," he replied."

"The famous father Dionysius, one of the Kartesonians, once advised monk Daniel saying: "My son, from the things you hear against someone, you should not believe anything, and out of what you see, believe half. And not even half, for many pretend to be fools. Do not judge anyone.""

"A brother asked an elder whose hair had grown white over many years which he had spent in ascesis: "How old are you, Geronda?" The elder replied: "One does not count age by the passing of years but by one's pure thoughts and pure way of life.""

"A cheeky young man said to an elder: "God does not exist. I don't believe that there is a God!" "Come closer," the monk said. "Don't you know that the cicada chirping now is talking about God? Can't you see this little kitten that I've got here, the fur it has? Not even Queen Frederika owned a coat like this." The young man was moved by the elder's words. The hardness of his unbelief left him."

"A good and virtuous priestmonk from the holy Monastery of St. Paul reposed outside the Monastery while sitting on a small rock, blessing with his right hand."

"After the Second Vatican Council, the impression arose that the pope really could do anything in liturgical matters, especially if he were acting on the mandate of an ecumenical council. Eventually, the idea of the givenness of the liturgy, the fact that one cannot do with it what one will, faded from the public consciousness of the West. In fact, the First Vatican Council had in no way defined the pope as an absolute monarch. On the contrary, it presented him as the guarantor of obedience to the revealed Word. The pope's authority is bound to the Tradition of faith, and that also applies to the liturgy. It is not "manufactured" by the authorities. Even the pope can only be a humble servant of its lawful development and abiding integrity and identity. ... The authority of the pope is not unlimited; it is at the service of Sacred Tradition... . The greatness of the liturgy depends - we shall have to repeat this frequently — on its unspontaneity."

"The Catechism so often refers to it that it might well be called the Catechism of the Second Vatican Council. The conciliar texts constitute a sure "compass" for the believers of the third millennium."

"I would like us to renew today our full commitment to the path that the universal Church has been following for decades now in the wake of the Second Vatican Council. Pope Francis has masterfully recalled and updated its contents in the apostolic exhortation Evangelii gaudium, from which I would like to highlight some fundamental points: the return to the primacy of Christ in proclamation, the missionary conversion of the entire Christian community, growth in collegiality and synodality, attention to the sensus fidei, especially in its most authentic and inclusive forms, such as popular piety, loving care for the least, the rejected, and courageous and trusting dialogue with the contemporary world in its various components and realities."

"I was a member of the preparatory commissions appointed by Pope John XXIII, and together with the other members—distinguished cardinals and good theologians—we prepared the preliminary outlines that were to serve as a basis for the scholars of the assembly. The preparation of these outlines, which were to be approved and promulgated as authoritative documents of the Church's teaching, required time, reflection, and consultation of ecclesiastical sources and documents. All this had to be taken into account. But then, in the first session of the Council, a group of bishops and cardinals, using modern techniques of pressure, managed to remove the exhaustive work that had been done. Thus, being subject to time constraints and internal regulations, new discussion outlines had to be prepared in other commissions set up in a completely arbitrary manner. Imagine the difficulties this entailed and bear in mind the decisive activity of certain cardinals and bishops, those who were called “coming from the banks of the Rhine,” gathered in the Idoc group, all imbued with modernism and liberalism and who, in addition, could count on a well-financed superstructure of offices, press, distribution, etc."

"Interviewer: By saying this, aren't we running the risk of undermining the Holy Spirit's assistance to the Council? Mgr. Lefebvre: I said that Vatican II was a purely pastoral council, and for this very reason it is clear that the two popes who presided over its sessions did not intend to commit the dogmatic Magisterium of the Holy Church to the even. It is therefore in this perspective that the inspiration of the Holy Spirit in the documents produced by the Council must be considered. The liberal orientation of the Council cannot be attributed to the Holy Spirit; it would be blasphemous, sacrilegious."

"It is difficult to realize that three years have elapsed since Your Holiness announced that you planned to convene an Ecumenical Council of the Catholic Church--the first in almost a hundred years. During these three fateful years, millions of my fellow citizens in the United States, including many who do not belong to the Catholic Church, have followed with lively and sympathetic interest the work of the various preparatory Commissions appointed by Your Holiness to draw up the agenda for this extraordinarily important Council. They have also read, with particular interest and with genuine admiration for your all-embracing concern for the welfare of humanity, the several inspiring statements issued by Your Holiness on the background and purposes of the Council."

"Interviewer: You have a certain tendency to see conspiracies everywhere. Five days before being suspended a divinis, in a letter to Paul VI, you denounced ‘a secret agreement between high-ranking ecclesiastical dignitaries and Freemasons, established before the Council. Mgr. Lefebvre: But all the American newspapers wrote that, before the Council, Cardinal Bea, founder of the Vatican Secretariat for Ecumenism, had met with the leaders of the most influential Jewish-Masonic lodge at the Astoria Hotel in New York and asked them what they expected from the Council. And they replied: "A declaration on religious freedom" ."

"Lately, I have been given documents that appear to be completely true, documents that show the correspondence between Monsignor Bonini and the Grand Master of Freemasonry on the entire liturgical reform. The Grand Master of Freemasonry asks Bonini to apply the reform of the apostate priest Roca, who had already predicted everything that had to be done when the Vatican was occupied by Freemasonry. [...] The Grand Master asks Bonini to apply the principle of “naturalization,” the naturalization of the Incarnation, that is, to de-supernaturalize the Incarnation, and thus we arrive at naturalism, and therefore we must apply the principles of local languages, the multiplicity of rites, the multiplicity of the liturgy, and to make the liturgy totally confused, to instill confusion everywhere, and opposition between the different rites. And Bonini replies that he is in complete agreement, and that it will take some time, perhaps ten years. But that at the end of the ten years we will get there. And that with the trust placed in him by Cardinal Lercaro and Pope Paul VI, he is sure of success, and he names all those in the Curia who are affiliated with Freemasonry. He names them and says he will be able to work with them. But some of them must be placed in certain congregations so that [...], in order for the work to be successful, all the congregations must be infiltrated with members of Freemasonry, whom he names: so-and-so, so-and-so, so-and-so... “We must get rid of that one because he is against us... we must get him out...” "the Congregation of the Sacraments must be suppressed," and he managed to put everything under the Congregation of Rites, he managed to put everything under his authority. Everything he says in the letter to the Grand Master of Freemasonry. So what should we do? We certainly want to obey. We are the most obedient to the Church, to everything the Church has always taught and wanted. But not to men who want the destruction of the Church. (at min. 6:17-9:00)"

"In the face of staggering problems which, from the human point of view, seem at times to be almost insoluble, people all over the world have found reason for renewed confidence and courage in the welcome thought that the Fathers of the Council, as Your Holiness indicated in your Radio Message of September 11, will give special attention to the grave economic and social problems which daily press upon suffering humanity in almost all parts of the world but, more particularly, in the economically underdeveloped nations. It is very heartening to know that the Council, in the words of Your Holiness, will strive to deepen the fellowship and love which are "the natural needs of man" and "are imposed on the Christian as rules for his relationship between man and man, and between people and people." We hope that the Council will be able to present in clear and persuasive language effective solutions to the many problems confronting all of us and, more specifically, that its decisions will significantly advance the cause of international peace and understanding."

"We have never said that the Council had directly professed heresies. But the wall of protection against error was removed and thus error was allowed to manifest itself. The faithful need protection. This is what the constant struggle of the militant Church to defend the faith consists of. (Bernard Fellay)"

"Having disburdened his heart, the Inquisitor waits for some time to hear his prisoner speak in His turn... The old man longs to hear His voice, to hear Him reply; better words of bitterness and scorn than His silence. Suddenly He rises; slowly and silently approaching the Inquisitor, He bends towards him and softly kisses the bloodless, four-score and-ten-year-old lips. That is all the answer."

"He [the Grand Inquisitor] seriously regards it as a great service done by himself, his brother monks and Jesuits, to humanity, to have conquered and subjected unto their authority that freedom, and boasts that it was done but for the good of the world... Man is born a rebel, and can rebels be ever happy?..."

"A terrible commotion rages among them, the populace shouts and loudly weeps, when suddenly, before the cathedral door, appears the Cardinal Grand Inquisitor himself... He pauses before the crowd and observes. He has seen all. He has witnessed the placing of the little coffin at His feet, the calling back to life. And now, his dark, grim face has grown still darker; his bushy grey eyebrows nearly meet, and his sunken eye flashes with sinister light. Slowly raising his finger, he commands his minions to arrest Him..."

"He pauses at the portal of the old cathedral, just as a wee white coffin is carried in, with tears and great lamentations. The lid is off, and in the coffin lies the body of a fair-child, seven years old... 'He will raise the child to life!' confidently shouts the crowd to the weeping mother. The officiating priest... looks perplexed, and frowns... The procession halts, and the little coffin is gently lowered at his feet. Divine compassion beams forth from His eyes, and as He looks at the child, His lips are heard to whisper once more, 'Talitha Cumi'--and 'straightway the damsel arose.' The child rises in her coffin...and, looking round with large astonished eyes she smiles sweetly..."