Sayings of The Holy Fathers:

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"My son, be merciful in all things, for it is written, 'Strive to be presented to God as having come through trial, like a workman who fears no shame.' Approach God as one who sows and reaps, and into your granary you will gather God's goods. Do not pray with much show, in the manner of hypocrites, but give up your whims and do what you do for God, acting thus for your own salvation."

St. Pachomius the Great

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A Christian should fast in order to purify his mind, encourage and develophis emotions, and incite his will to the doing of good. These threeabilities of man we obscure and suppress primarily through gluttony,drunkenness and earthly cares, and subsequently we fall away from thesource of life, which is the Lord God, and we fall into corruption andvanity, whereby we pervert and defile the image of God in ourselves.Gluttony and lechery nail us down to earth and clip our soul's wings. Andyet regard the high ascent achieved by all those who engaged in fasting andabstinence! They soared like eagles; they, earthly beings, lived with theirminds and hearts in the heavens, heard ineffable things there, and learneddivine wisdom there. Yet how does man humiliate himself by gluttony anddrunkenness!He corrupts his nature, created in God's image, and becomes comparable tomute beasts, and sometimes descends even lower. O, woe unto us for ourpassions, for our iniquitous habits! They prevent us from loving God andour neighbors, and from fulfilling God's commandments; they plant within usa criminal self-love of the flesh, whose end is eternal damnation. Thus adrunkard does not hesitate to spend a great deal of money on his bodilypleasure and satiety, yet begrudges pennies for the poor; those who love todress luxuriously, or who love to buy fashionable furniture and expensivechina spend an enormous amount of money on clothes and furnishings, yetwalk by the poor with coldness and disdain; those who love to eat well donot hesitate to spend tens and thousands of rubles on fine dining, yetbegrudge the poor even a brass farthing. It is also necessary for aChristian to fast because, through the incarnation of the Son of God, humannature has become spiritual, sacred, and we hurry towards the heavenlyrealm, which is not food and drink, but righteousness and peace and joy inthe Holy Spirit. To eat and to drink, i.e. be addicted to sensualpleasures, is characteristic only of pagans, who, not being cognizant ofspiritual heavenly pleasures, look upon the satisfaction of the belly ?indulgence in food and drink ? as the prime pleasure in life. It is forthis reason that the Lord denounces this ruinous passion so frequently inthe Gospel.

St. John of Kronstadt

"My Life in Christ"

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Abba Moses told his disciples: "The virtues are born with tears and through them forgiveness is given. But when we cry, we must not raise the voice of our groaning in order to be heard by others. Let not our left hand, that is, our vanity, know what our right hand, the sorrow of the heart, tell us".