Sayings of Saint John of Kronstadt:
Take upon yourself to lead at least one day in accordance with God’s laws, and you will see for yourself how good it is to fulfil the will of God. At least come to love God in the same way as you love your parents and your benefactors; appraise His love and grace toward you according to your evaluative powers. Mentally examine how He gave you life and with it, all its blessings; how He tolerates your frequent sinning with long-suffering forbearance; how He endlessly forgives your sins through the power of the suffering and death of His only Son on the Cross; remember what joy he has offered you in eternity if you are faithful to Him. Furthermore, love every human being i.e. do not wish him anything that you would not wish for yourself; contemplate, feel for him like you would for yourself; do not see in him that, that you would not want to see in yourself; let your memory forget the wrongs that have been inflicted upon you by others, just as you hope that your wrongs will be forgotten by others; do not suspect others in anything criminal or unchaste and imagine others as being good intentioned as you yourself are. At least do not inflict upon others that which you would not inflict upon yourself, and your heart will experience such tranquillity — such joy! You will be in Heaven before the advent of Heaven. "The kingdom of God is within you," says God (Luke 17:21). "Whoever lives in love — teaches the Apostle — lives in God, and God in him" (1 John 7:16).
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The science of sciences is the conquering of active passions within us. An example of great wisdom is not to be angry at, and not to speak ill of anyone even though they may have inflicted hurt upon us. Wisdom is to despise avarice and love benevolence, despise delicacies and be content with simple fare, eaten in moderation. Wisdom is not to indulge in flattery but to speak the truth boldly; wisdom is not to be captivated by the beauty of a face but to respect in every person the beauty of the image of God. Wisdom is to love your enemies and not seek revenge through deed, word or thought. Wisdom is not to accumulate wealth but to give alms to the poor in order to obtain treasures in Heaven. Alas! We have mastered almost all the sciences yet we have not learned at all how to distance ourselves away from sin and as a consequence, we often appear as total ignoramuses in the science on ethics. And it turns out to be that the truly wise were saints, disciples of the Teacher-Christ while we, the so-called erudite are ignoramuses, and often the more scholarly we are, the more ignorant are we because enslaved by various passions, we have not recognized that which is most important.
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When you have sinned and your sins burn and torment you, run quickly to the Only Living and Eternal Sacrifice of sins, and place all your sins before It. You will not find salvation in any other way. Don’t even think of saving yourself, by yourself.
Why is it that a sinful soul does not receive forgiveness for its sins until after it has deeply felt all their delinquency and destructiveness? Because, while sinning it accepted them as being pleasant and admirable, now in repenting, it has to acknowledge them as being calamitous and deceitful. Just as the desire to sin is born in the heart, so must the deliverance from it be accompanied with pain in the heart.
Genuine repentance is aided by conscience, memory, imagination, feeling and will. As we sin with all the powers of our soul, so should we repent with all our soul. Repentance in words only, without any intention to reform and without any feeling of contrition is called hypocritical. Realization of sin is dimmed from a negligent lifestyle — it needs to be illuminated; feeling becomes dulled — it needs to be awakened; the will weakens — it needs to be forced. It is said: "…the Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force" (Mat 11:12). Consequently, a confession should be heartfelt, deep and complete.
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The science of sciences is the conquering of active passions within us. An example of great wisdom is not to be angry at, and not to speak ill of anyone even though they may have inflicted hurt upon us. Wisdom is to despise avarice and love benevolence, despise delicacies and be content with simple fare, eaten in moderation. Wisdom is not to indulge in flattery but to speak the truth boldly; wisdom is not to be captivated by the beauty of a face but to respect in every person the beauty of the image of God. Wisdom is to love your enemies and not seek revenge through deed, word or thought. Wisdom is not to accumulate wealth but to give alms to the poor in order to obtain treasures in Heaven. Alas! We have mastered almost all the sciences yet we have not learned at all how to distance ourselves away from sin and as a consequence, we often appear as total ignoramuses in the science on ethics. And it turns out to be that the truly wise were saints, disciples of the Teacher-Christ while we, the so-called erudite are ignoramuses, and often the more scholarly we are, the more ignorant are we because enslaved by various passions, we have not recognized that which is most important.
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When you have sinned and your sins burn and torment you, run quickly to the Only Living and Eternal Sacrifice of sins, and place all your sins before It. You will not find salvation in any other way. Don’t even think of saving yourself, by yourself.
Why is it that a sinful soul does not receive forgiveness for its sins until after it has deeply felt all their delinquency and destructiveness? Because, while sinning it accepted them as being pleasant and admirable, now in repenting, it has to acknowledge them as being calamitous and deceitful. Just as the desire to sin is born in the heart, so must the deliverance from it be accompanied with pain in the heart.
Genuine repentance is aided by conscience, memory, imagination, feeling and will. As we sin with all the powers of our soul, so should we repent with all our soul. Repentance in words only, without any intention to reform and without any feeling of contrition is called hypocritical. Realization of sin is dimmed from a negligent lifestyle — it needs to be illuminated; feeling becomes dulled — it needs to be awakened; the will weakens — it needs to be forced. It is said: "…the Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force" (Mat 11:12). Consequently, a confession should be heartfelt, deep and complete.
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