Sayings of the Holy Fathers:

"...the man of understanding restrains his own will...Thus through self-control he practises the other virtues as well. He looks on himself as in God's debt for everything, finding nothing whatsoever with which to repay to his Benefactor, and even thinking that his virtues simply increase his debt. For he receives and has nothing to give. He only asks that he may be allowed to offer thanks to God. Yet even the fact that God accepts his thanks puts him, so he thinks, into still greater debt. But he continues to give thanks, ever doing what is good and reckoning himself an ever greater debtor, in his humility considering himself lower than all men, delighting in God his Benefactor and trembling even as he rejoices (cf. Ps. 2:11)."

St. Peter of Damaskos


"If we truly think of Christ as our source of holiness, we shall refrain from anything wicked or impure in thought or act and thus show ourselves to be worthy bearers of his name. For the quality of holiness is shown not by what we say but by what we do in life."

St. Gregory of Nyssa


"...true humility does not consist in speaking humbly, or in looking humble. The humble person does not have to force himself to think humbly, nor does he keep finding fault with himself. Such conduct may provide us with an occasion for humility or constitute its outward form, but humility itself is a grace and a divine gift."

St. Gregory of Sinai

Daily Reading:

     Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord. Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye. Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come. And when I come, whomsoever ye shall approve by your letters, them will I send to bring your liberality unto Jerusalem.


     And it came to pass on a certain day, as he was teaching, that there were Pharisees and doctors of the law sitting by, which were come out of every town of Galilee, and Judaea, and Jerusalem: and the power of the Lord was present to heal them. And, behold, men brought in a bed a man which was taken with a palsy: and they sought means to bring him in, and to lay him before him. And when they could not find by what way they might bring him in because of the multitude, they went upon the housetop, and let him down through the tiling with his couch into the midst before Jesus. And when he saw their faith, he said unto him, Man, thy sins are forgiven thee. And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, Who is this which speaketh blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone? But when Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answering said unto them, What reason ye in your hearts? Whether is easier, to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Rise up and walk? But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power upon earth to forgive sins, (he said unto the sick of the palsy,) I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy couch, and go into thine house. And immediately he rose up before them, and took up that whereon he lay, and departed to his own house, glorifying God. And they were all amazed, and they glorified God, and were filled with fear, saying, We have seen strange things to day.


All we faithful praise Hierotheus the disciple of Paul./ He is the world's teacher, Hierarch of Athens, and a preacher of the Faith,/ revealing Christ's Mysteries and pouring forth streams of godly doctrine./ His life was well-pleasing to God Who is greatly merciful.

Hierotheus Bishop of Athens, we honour thee,/ for thou hast taught us ineffable Mysteries and art an inspired hymn writer./ Intercede that we may be delivered from our sins and so may cry:/ Rejoice, O wise and heavenly Father.

Daily Reading:

     Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel; And in nothing terrified by your adversaries: which is to them an evident token of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that of God. For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake; Having the same conflict which ye saw in me, and now hear to be in me. If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.


     And he came down with them, and stood in the plain, and the company of his disciples, and a great multitude of people out of all Judaea and Jerusalem, and from the sea coast of Tyre and Sidon, which came to hear him, and to be healed of their diseases; And they that were vexed with unclean spirits: and they were healed. And the whole multitude sought to touch him: for there went virtue out of him, and healed them all. And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said, Blessed be ye poor: for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are ye that hunger now: for ye shall be filled. Blessed are ye that weep now: for ye shall laugh. Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man's sake. Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy: for, behold, your reward is great in heaven: for in the like manner did their fathers unto the prophets.



O holy Hieromartyr Dionysius, thou wast fully instructed,/ sober in action, with a good conscience as befits a priest./ Thou didst draw Mysteries from the Vessel of Grace/ and having kept the Faith thou didst complete thy course as he did./ Intercede with Christ our God that He may save our souls.

When in spirit thou didst pass through the heavenly gates as a disciple of him who attained to the third heaven,/ thou wast enriched with ineffable knowledge and didst enlighten those in darkness of ignorance./ Therefore we cry: Rejoice, O Father Dionysius.

Daily Reading:

According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labour: yet what I shall choose I wot not. For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better: Nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you. And having this confidence, I know that I shall abide and continue with you all for your furtherance and joy of faith; That your rejoicing may be more abundant in Jesus Christ for me by my coming to you again. Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel;


And it came to pass in those days, that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God. And when it was day, he called unto him his disciples: and of them he chose twelve, whom also he named apostles; Simon, (whom he also named Peter,) and Andrew his brother, James and John, Philip and Bartholomew, Matthew and Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon called Zelotes, And Judas the brother of James, and Judas Iscariot, which also was the traitor. And he came down with them, and stood in the plain, and the company of his disciples, and a great multitude of people out of all Judaea and Jerusalem, and from the sea coast of Tyre and Sidon, which came to hear him, and to be healed of their diseases; And they that were vexed with unclean spirits: and they were healed. And the whole multitude sought to touch him: for there went virtue out of him, and healed them all.


Thou didst abandon ungodly darkness/ and become a light of the truth./ Thou wast illustrious as a pastor/ and wast glorified in contest./ O righteous Father Cyprian/ together with godly Justina pray to God the Creator for us.

Thou didst renounce magic for the knowledge of God/ and become a wise healer for the world./ Together with Justina thou dost cure those who honour thee:/ with her pray to Christ our God the Lover of mankind that He may save our souls.

Sayings of the Holy Fathers:

"A man will appear at the Judgement of Christ with what he has when he departs from this world. Sinners! Let us consider this saying diligently and repent, lest we depart into the next world and appear before that judgement with our sins. Our compassionate God promised to show us His grace and mercy, but He did not promise us the morrow. Let us pay close attention to this and let us awake from sleep, and remembering our death let us correct ourselves and prepare for our departure, that we may have a blessed end. He who dies in repentance and faith and true prayer dies in the Lord."

St. Tikhon of Zadonsk


"Seest thou that a failure in almsgiving is enough to cast a man into hell fire? For where will he avail who does not give alms? Dost thou fast every day? So also did those virgins, but it availed them nothing. Dost thou pray? What of that? prayer without almsgiving is unfruitful, without that all things are unclean and unprofitable. The better part of virtue is destroyed. 'He that loveth not his brother,' it is said, 'knoweth not God' (1 John. 4:8). And how dost thou love him, when thou dost not even impart to him of these poor worthless things? "

St. John Chrysostom



"St. John in one of his epistles says, 'Perfect love drives out fear.' What does the holy man signify to us by this? What sort of love and what sort of fear is he talking about? The psalmist says, 'Fear the Lord all you who love him,' and we find thousands of similar sayings in Holy Scripture. If, therefore, the saints who so loved Him feared Him, how can he say, 'Love casteth out fear'? St. John wishes to show us that there are two kinds of fear: one preliminary, the other perfect; the one found in beginners - as someone called it 'of the devout'; the other in those perfected in holiness, of those having arrived at true love."

St. Dorotheos of Gaza

At the Departure of the Soul from the Body

Sayings of the Holy Fathers:

"A true Christian is made by faith and love toward Christ. Our sins do not in the least hinder our Christianity, according to the word of the Saviour Himself. He deigned to say: not the righteous have I come to call, but sinners to salvation; there is more joy in heaven over one who repents than over ninety righteous ones. Likewise concerning the sinful woman who touched His feet, He deigned to say to the Pharisee Simon: to one who has love, a great debt is forgiven, but from one who has no love, even a small debt will be demanded. From these judgments a Christian should bring himself to hope and joy, and not in the least accept an inflicted despair. Here one needs the shield of faith."

St. Herman of Alaska


"The offspring of virtue is perseverance. The fruit and offspring of perseverance is habit, and the child of habit is character."

St. John Climacus


"Love, therefore, is the foremost of all excellent achievements and the first of the commandments of the law. If ever, then, the soul reach this goal, it will be in no need of anything else; it will embrace that plenitude of things which are, whereby alone it seems in any way to preserve within itself the stamp of God's actual blessedness. For the life of the Supreme Being is love, seeing that the Beautiful is necessarily lovable to those who recognize it, and the Deity does recognize it, and so this recognition becomes love, that which He recognizes being essentially beautiful. This True Beauty the insolence of satiety cannot touch; and no satiety interrupting this continuous capacity to love the Beautiful, God's life will have its activity in life; which life is thus in itself beautiful, and is essentially of a loving disposition towards the Beautiful."

St. Gregory of Nyssa

Daily Reading:

     For God is my record, how greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ. And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment; That ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ. Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God. But I would ye should understand, brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel; So that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the palace, and in all other places; And many of the brethren in the Lord, waxing confident by my bonds, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.


     And it came to pass, when he was in a certain city, behold a man full of leprosy: who seeing Jesus fell on his face, and besought him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. And he put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will: be thou clean. And immediately the leprosy departed from him. And he charged him to tell no man: but go, and shew thyself to the priest, and offer for thy cleansing, according as Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them. But so much the more went there a fame abroad of him: and great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed by him of their infirmities. And he withdrew himself into the wilderness, and prayed.



Thou didst sow the knowledge of God in the hearts of the faithful,/ by cultivating the Faith;/ made radiant by the wounds of martyrdom/ thou didst shed thy light on all./ O Hierarch Gregory, pray to Christ our God to grant us His great mercy.

The prophecy of the first-called Apostle has been fulfilled today:/ grace has illumined these hills,/ the faith is increased,/ and those who were not a people are now the people of God, a holy nation,/ a flock of Christ of which thou, O Michael, art first shepherd,/ and thou dost serve it by giving it baptism./ O Hierarch standing before God, pray that all may be saved.

Amongst Angelsey's adornment of Saints,/ thy virtuous life shines forth to illumine these islands, O Father Midan./ We pray thee to intercede with Christ our God/ that His mercy, and not our weakness, will prevail that our souls may be saved.

Let us the faithful praise Hierarch Gregory/ who is a shepherd, teacher and enlightener;/ and he is an athlete for the Truth./ He intercedes with Christ our God that we may be saved.

Thou didst appear as a second Moses/ bringing the vine from Egyptian idolatry into the land of promise./ And thou didst say of it: Faith shall be established in this land,/ and fruit to nourish the world shall flourish on the summits of Kiev/ more than on the heights of Lebanon./ Having this fruit we bless thee,/ O Hierarch Michael.

Daily Reading:

Paul and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons: Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, Always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy, For your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now; Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ: Even as it is meet for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart; inasmuch as both in my bonds, and in the defence and confirmation of the gospel, ye all are partakers of my grace.

And the fame of him went out into every place of the country round about. And he arose out of the synagogue, and entered into Simon's house. And Simon's wife's mother was taken with a great fever; and they besought him for her. And he stood over her, and rebuked the fever; and it left her: and immediately she arose and ministered unto them. Now when the sun was setting, all they that had any sick with divers diseases brought them unto him; and he laid his hands on every one of them, and healed them. And devils also came out of many, crying out, and saying, Thou art Christ the Son of God. And he rebuking them suffered them not to speak: for they knew that he was Christ. And when it was day, he departed and went into a desert place: and the people sought him, and came unto him, and stayed him, that he should not depart from them. And he said unto them, I must preach the kingdom of God to other cities also: for therefore am I sent. And he preached in the synagogues of Galilee.
Thou didst make the wilderness thy dwelling/ and become an angel in the flesh and a wonderworker./ Thou wast found worthy of grace/ to heal all who hastened to thee, O blessed Cyriac./ Glory to Christ Who has glorified thee; glory to Him Who has crowned thee;/ glory to Him Who through thee works healings for all.

The sacred Lavra honours thee as a mighty champion and helper,/ and yearly celebrates thy memory./ Thou hast boldness towards the Lord: preserve us from all enemy attack/ that we may cry to thee: Rejoice Cyriac our holy father.

Daily Readings:

     The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre. Then she runneth, and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and saith unto them, They have taken away the LORD out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid him. Peter therefore went forth, and that other disciple, and came to the sepulchre. So they ran both together: and the other disciple did outrun Peter, and came first to the sepulchre. And he stooping down, and looking in, saw the linen clothes lying; yet went he not in. Then cometh Simon Peter following him, and went into the sepulchre, and seeth the linen clothes lie, And the napkin, that was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself. Then went in also that other disciple, which came first to the sepulchre, and he saw, and believed. For as yet they knew not the scripture, that he must rise again from the dead. Then the disciples went away again unto their own home.



     But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work: (As it is written, He hath dispersed abroad; he hath given to the poor: his righteousness remaineth for ever. Now he that ministereth seed to the sower both minister bread for your food, and multiply your seed sown, and increase the fruits of your righteousness;) Being enriched in every thing to all bountifulness, which causeth through us thanksgiving to God.


     And it came to pass, that, as the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God, he stood by the lake of Gennesaret, And saw two ships standing by the lake: but the fishermen were gone out of them, and were washing their nets. And he entered into one of the ships, which was Simon's, and prayed him that he would thrust out a little from the land. And he sat down, and taught the people out of the ship. Now when he had left speaking, he said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught. And Simon answering said unto him, Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net. And when they had this done, they inclosed a great multitude of fishes: and their net brake. And they beckoned unto their partners, which were in the other ship, that they should come and help them. And they came, and filled both the ships, so that they began to sink. When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord. For he was astonished, and all that were with him, at the draught of the fishes which they had taken: And so was also James, and John, the sons of Zebedee, which were partners with Simon. And Jesus said unto Simon, Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt catch men. And when they had brought their ships to land, they forsook all, and followed him.


O blessed Chariton,/ radiant with the grace of the Spirit/ thou wast luminous with virtue./ Thou didst shine from the desert by confession and labours./ Pray for those who sing thy praises.

Thou wast worthy of the light of prophecy/ and didst become companion to Jeremias./ Thou didst foretell the self-emptying of God the Word/ which He wrought for the world's salvation./ We who partake of this in the true Faith honour thee, O Prophet Baruch.

Taking to heart Christ's holy command, thou didst preach His Gospel to the nation of the Picts,/ O Father Conwall, setting us a laudable example./ Pray that we may be granted strength also to witness for Christ until our last breath,/ that having lived only for Him, we may be made worthy to enter His Kingdom.

Thou didst delight in monastic discipline/ and bridle carnal desire,/ and didst increase in faith, O blessed Chariton./ Thou hast flourished as the tree of life in the midst of Paradise.

Like a prophetic harp thou didst sing and foretell the Redeemer's dispensation:/ "This is our God Who did show Himself upon earth and none other shall be compared to Him."/ Thus hast thou revealed the gate of knowledge, O Baruch, to those who worship His coming.


We bring to Thee in prayer, O Christ, great Anthony and the assembly of the God-bearing Fathers;/ they are a fiery Pillar and a brilliant sun shining from the Kievan Caves./ By their prayers grant grace to our monastery and great mercy to our souls.

Let us honour with praises the ascetic choir/ as we behold them with our minds and in spirit./ As we venerate their relics, let us bring gifts of love,/ for they pray to God for our souls.

المجدلة الكبرى The Great Doxology in Arabic