"'Suppose we were to take a compass and insert the point and draw the outline of a circle. The centre point is the same distance from any point. on the circumference. Now concentrate your minds on what is to be said! Let us suppose that this circle is the world and that God himself is the centre; the straight lines drawn from the circumference to the centre are the lives of men. To the degree that the saints enter into the things of the spirit, they desire to come near to God; and in proportion to their progress in the things of the spirit, they do in fact come close to God and to their neighbor. The closer they are to God, the closer they become to one another; and the closer they are to one another, the closer they become to God. Now consider in the same context the question of separation; for when they stand away from God and turn to external things, it is clear that the more they recede and become distant from God, the more they become distant from one another. See! This is the very nature of love. The more we are turned away from and do not love God, the greater the distance that separates us from our neighbor.'"
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Cited in Dorotheos of Gaza - Discourses and Sayings, p. 139
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Dorotheus_of_Gaza
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Dorotheus of Gaza
Dorotheus of Gaza (died c. 560/80) was a Christian monk and writer. He entered the famous monastery of Seridus where he became a disciple of the hermits Barsanuphius and John the Prophet. Later, he became a spiritual director himself and wrote various discourses on monastic life. His writings were widely disseminated across the Orthodox and later also the Catholic world.
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