Sayings of The Holy Fathers:
Wishing to open my mouth, O brethren, and speak on the exalted theme of humility, I am filled with fear, even as a man who understands that he is about to discourse concerning God with the art of his own words. For humility is the raiment of the Godhead. The Word Who became man clothed Himself in it, and therewith He spoke to us in our body. Everyone who has been clothed with it has truly been made like unto Him Who came down from His own exaltedness, and hid the splendor of His majesty, and concealed His glory with humility, lest creation should be utterly consumed by the contemplation of Him. Creation could not look upon Him unless He took a part of it unto Himself, and thus conversed with it, and neither could it hear the words of His mouth face to face... Now, when He poured out His grace upon the world through His own Coming, He has descended not in an earthquake, not in a fire, not in a terrible and mighty sound, but 'as the rain upon a fleece, and rain?drops that fall upon the earth' (Ps 71:6) softly, and He was seen conversing with us after another fashion. This came to pass when, as though in a treasury, He concealed His majesty with the veil of His flesh, and among us spoke with us in that body which His own bidding wrought for Him out of the womb of the Virgin, even Mary the Theotokos.
St. Isaac the Syrian, Homily 77
Let us, then, hold steadfastly and unceasingly to our Hope and to the Pledge of our righteousness, that is, Christ Jesus, who bore our sins in His own body on the tree, who committed no sin, neither was guile found on His lips. But for our sakes He endured everything that we might live in Him. Therefore, let us be imitators of His patient endurance, and if we suffer for the sake of His name, let us glorify Him. For He set us this example in His own person, and this is what we believed.
St. Polycarp of Smyrna
To the Philippians, 8
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We should love the Lord as we do our friends. Many a time I have seen people bring grief to God without being bothered by it, and I have seen these very same people resort to every device, plan, pressure, plea from themselves and their friends, and every gift, simply to restore an oldrelationship upset by some minor grievance.
St. John Climacus.
The Ladder of Divine Ascent
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Once when Abba Macarius was praying in his cell, he heard a voice which said, "Macarius, you have not yet reached the standard of two women in the city." On his arrival in the city, he found the house and knocked at the door. A woman opened it, and welcomed him to her house. He sat down, and called them to sit down with him. Then he said to them, "It is for you that I have taken this long journey. Tell me how you live a religious life." They said, "Indeed, how can we lead a religious life? We were with our husbands last night." But the old man persuaded them to tell him their way of life. Then they said, "We are both foreigners, in the world's eyes. But we accepted in marriage two brothers. Today we have been sharing this house for fifteen years. We do not know whether we have quarreled or said rude words to each other; but the whole of this time we have lived peaceably together. We thought we would enter a convent, and asked our husbands for permission, but they refused it. So since we could not get this permission, we have made a covenant between ourselves and God that a worldly word shall not pass our lips during the rest of our lives." When Macarius heard this, he said, "Truly, it is not whether you are a virgin or a married woman, a monk or a man in the world: God gives His Holy Spirit to everyone, according to their earnestness of purpose."
St. Isaac the Syrian, Homily 77
+ + +
Let us, then, hold steadfastly and unceasingly to our Hope and to the Pledge of our righteousness, that is, Christ Jesus, who bore our sins in His own body on the tree, who committed no sin, neither was guile found on His lips. But for our sakes He endured everything that we might live in Him. Therefore, let us be imitators of His patient endurance, and if we suffer for the sake of His name, let us glorify Him. For He set us this example in His own person, and this is what we believed.
St. Polycarp of Smyrna
To the Philippians, 8
+ + +
We should love the Lord as we do our friends. Many a time I have seen people bring grief to God without being bothered by it, and I have seen these very same people resort to every device, plan, pressure, plea from themselves and their friends, and every gift, simply to restore an oldrelationship upset by some minor grievance.
St. John Climacus.
The Ladder of Divine Ascent
+ + +
Once when Abba Macarius was praying in his cell, he heard a voice which said, "Macarius, you have not yet reached the standard of two women in the city." On his arrival in the city, he found the house and knocked at the door. A woman opened it, and welcomed him to her house. He sat down, and called them to sit down with him. Then he said to them, "It is for you that I have taken this long journey. Tell me how you live a religious life." They said, "Indeed, how can we lead a religious life? We were with our husbands last night." But the old man persuaded them to tell him their way of life. Then they said, "We are both foreigners, in the world's eyes. But we accepted in marriage two brothers. Today we have been sharing this house for fifteen years. We do not know whether we have quarreled or said rude words to each other; but the whole of this time we have lived peaceably together. We thought we would enter a convent, and asked our husbands for permission, but they refused it. So since we could not get this permission, we have made a covenant between ourselves and God that a worldly word shall not pass our lips during the rest of our lives." When Macarius heard this, he said, "Truly, it is not whether you are a virgin or a married woman, a monk or a man in the world: God gives His Holy Spirit to everyone, according to their earnestness of purpose."
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