Saints Of The Eastern Orthodox Church

"So when grace abounds in a person and he knows all that we have written, he attains great simplicity; his nous expands and has great capacity. Just as you tasted that drop of grace when much joy and exultation came upon you, it comes again in the same manner when the nous remains in prayer. But much more comes, like a subtle breeze, like a mighty gust of fragrant wind. It overflows throughout the body, and the prayer stops; the bodily members cease to move, and only the nous is in theoria within an extraordinary light. A union of God and man occurs. Man is unable to distinguish himself. It is just like iron: before it is thrown into the fire it is called iron, but once it ignites and becomes red-hot, it is one with the fire. It is also like wax which melts when it approaches fire; it cannot remain in its natural state."

"Behold, another new year! Once again, wishes and hopes. But death is lurking somewhere, waiting for us, too. Some day or night will be the last one of our life. Wherefore, blessed is he who remembers his death day and night and prepares himself to meet it. For it has a habit of coming joyfully to those who wait for it, but it arrives unexpectedly, bitterly, and harshly for those who do not expect it."

"Illumination is followed by interruptions in the prayer and frequent theorias, rapture of the nous, cessation of the senses, stillness, profound silence of the bodily members, and union of God and man into one. This is the divine exchange in which, if one endures temptations and does not stop struggling along the way, one exchanges the material for the immaterial…."

"So he got up and went inside the place where he was staying, for it was already night. Then he bent his head upon his chest and began eating the sweetness that gushed forth from the prayer that he had been given. Immediately he was caught up into theoria and was totally beside himself. He wasn’t confined by walls and rocks; he was beyond all volition — without body and with a deep tranquility, in extraordinary light, and unlimited breadth. His nous contemplated only this thought: “May I never return to the body, but remain here forever.” This was the first theoria that brother saw, who then returned to himself and continued struggling for his salvation."

"When grace comes, all the schemes of the evil one cease, for it abolishes them. It comes like a gentle breeze, like a subtle, fragrant zephyr which deadens the flesh and then raises the soul. It enlightens our nous. And in the end, when it comes, grace itself teaches a person."

"Then grace overflows and one is filled with illumination and infinite joy. And since he who has been seized is unable to bear the fire of love, his senses cease, and he is caught up into theoria. Up until this point, man acts with his own will. Beyond this, he is no longer in control, nor does he recognize himself. For he has now been united with the fire and has been entirely transformed — a god by grace."

"The waves of thoughts amaze my mind; my tongue grows numb and cannot speak, unable to utter the words in time. The noetic siphons gush forth dew in torrents - however, there is but little soil in our days. The riches of our Lord are many, but unfortunately there are few heirs. To inherit them requires a bloody struggle, but here there is only laziness. Thus I am compelled to open the ducts unto the world; for there is hope that pure souls will receive the word, and then I shall receive the reward of love. So listen to my words, lend me your ears..."

"God is everywhere. There is no place where God is not. The more you pay attention to Him, the more He pays attention to you. You cry out to Him, “Where art Thou, my God?” And He answers, “I am present, my child! I am always beside you.” Both inside and outside, above and below, wherever you turn, everything shouts, “God!” In Him we live and move. We breathe God, we eat God, we clothe ourselves with God. Everything praises and blesses God. All of creation shouts His praise. Everything animate and inanimate speaks wondrously and glorifies the Creator. Let every breath praise the Lord!"

"Since God is continuously present, why do you worry? For in Him we live and move. We are carried in His arms. We breathe God; we are vested with God; we touch God; we consume God in the Mystery. Wherever you turn, wherever you look, God is everywhere: in the heavens, on the earth, in the abysses, in the trees, within the rocks, in your nous, in your heart."

"For the time being I live in a cave. I have wonderful stillness. I am the luckiest of men, for I live without cares and enjoy the honey of stillness unceasingly. And when grace departs for just a little, stillness comes as another grace and it shelters me in its harbor. And thus, the pains and sadness of this evil and tiring life seem less significant. In the present life, until one's final breath, sadness always comes mixed with joy."

"When the monk cleans the senses in stillness, the mind becomes peaceful and the heart is cleansed, and he receives grace and the light of knowledge. He becomes completely light, completely mind, completely transparent. Then he gushes theology, such that even if three people were to write down his experiences they wouldn't manage, the flow of waves is so great, and it spreads peace and the complete cessation of the passions throughout the body. The heart is enflamed from love of God and shouts out, "slow down the waves of Your grace, my Jesus, for I am melting like a candle!" And truly he melts without suffering. The mind is taken up into divine vision; and a mixing takes place. Man is transformed and becomes one with God, such that he doesn't recognize himself, just as iron becomes one with fire."

"Pleasure is like a rough file smeared with oil, which when the cat licks it up, it also licks with it the blood of its own tongue."

"Do not by any means allow yourself to open both ears to the slanderers and to draw your conclusions and decisions on the basis of what they alone have to say, and thereby judge the case in absentia without the presence of the person slandered to defend himself."

"Christianity ... does not demand from its followers only the knowledge and theory thereof, but also their application; ... it demands the cooperation of the volition."

"The Christianity in discussion is a religion which demands not only the knowledge of its theories, but also their application in life."

"Christianity demands the whole man, ... to and refashion him into a new man and to breathe into him a new religious and moral life."

"Christianity is not a system of philosophy, nor is it established solely on the knowledge of man, but also upon volition and conscience, because the origin of Christianity is not simply the formation of the spirit, but the moulding of the heart."

"The divine law was written on the heart of man because God formed his heart to be the seat of the love of the good."

"Only through self-denial can we be saved."

"His true followers are not those who accept the principles of Christianity in word alone and yet reject them in deeds, but rather those who embrace them in both word and deed, and bring their life and manners and morals to order according to the divine commandments of Christianity."

"We renounce the law of the flesh along with the passions and desires."

"It is necessary for us to will our salvation so as to seek it."

"The grace of God, despite being infinite, does not save on its own, because He does not wish to violate the free agency of man."

"In the Kingdom of God the old man who is corrupted by sin cannot enter. For this reason, he must strip himself of the old man along with the passions and desires and be clothed in “the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him.”"

"We should regulate those passions rationally and lead them with authority and hold the reins ... in no way enduring the subjugation of our free agency."

"The aesthetic nature is unfree because it is moved by something else and does not move according to its own will."

"People have to pay retribution for the deeds of recklessness committed by their kings."

"The people of the kingdoms of Judah and Israel were punished many times over for the arrogance of their kings."

"The heart seeks to justify divine justice out of a deep-seated drive because deep inside he desires and seeks the dominance of the divine law and strives to be enabled by its eternality. ... This deep-seated desire originates from the identification of the faculty of will within man with the law of God."

"We should employ even the irrational passions with rationality."

"When we sin, we sin before God and become enemies of the divine law."

"The manic lover does not love his beloved as much as God loves the repentant soul."

"Let us make our hearts harder than steel before the most flattering words."

"Let us not do anything that the inner man does not will;"

"Repentance is the moral rebirth of man and the starting point of a new virtuous life."

"Woe unto those who request money rather than devotion, contrition, and the satisfaction of the divine through true and virtuous life for the forgiveness of sins."

"Moral freedom makes man a moral being and an image of God."

"The being who is unfree and dependent, subjected to instinctual drives, is not an intelligent being because the spirit is free and independent by nature and in no way subordinate."

"Sinners and those who do not confess due to shame deliver their soul unto death. They suffer in a similar fashion to those who are ill, who do not run to the doctors because of shame."

"God ... does not reject anyone who turns to Him,"

"We ought to be unyielding towards sin because once it cheats our consent, it becomes our true lord."

"Ignorance of the beautiful, of the good, of the true would make man an amoral being and would make ‘morality’ a word devoid of meaning."

"Those who sin out of ignorance must recognize that they are hoarding great wrongs in themselves."

"Let us not subject our free will to the will of sin;"

"Those who are burdened by their sins and delight in them and commune in Church desecrate the holiness of the Church and hinder the work of this great commission."

"The intellectual nature is self-motivating and thus free."

"Sin debases the divine beauty of the image of both the soul and of the body and makes it ugly and useless."

"The true will is the will of the spirit, which is the desire for the good."

"Semiramis managed to convince her husband, King Ninos of Assyria, to give up his rule and give her the sceptre of the kingdom for one day. But what was the first act of the new queen? It was to have King Ninos her husband executed and to secure her authority for life. ... Sin, being Semiramis, practices every bit of flattery to attain the consent of man, and immediately upon attaining its desire, it gains dominion, it captures and kills the rational faculty, it sets its throne upon the heart and directs all of life."

"Those who sin out of ignorance must recognise that they are hoarding great wrongs in themselves"