Sayings of The Holy Fathers:
"Let us charge into the good fight with joy and love without being afraid of our enemies. Though unseen themselves, they can look at the face of our soul, and if they see it altered by fear, they take up arms against us all the more fiercely. For the cunning creatures have observed that we are scared. So let us take up arms against them courageously. No one will fight with a resolute fighter."
St. John Climacus
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"Fortunate is the man who has come to have God as his helper and to have his hopes in Him alone. Let the Devil bear malice towards him, let all men persecute him and plot against him, let all his adversaries fight against him - he never fears anyone, because his has God as his helper. He remains always a victor, always glorified, always happy, always rich, always cheerful and joyful, even if he happens to fall into extreme poverty and into a great many adverse and grievous circumstances of this present life. For inasmuch as he hopes in Almighty God, he does not despair, he is not sorry, is not anxious, but expects help from Above. Fortunate, then, is such a man and worthy to be deemed happy, just as the Prophet king David regards such a man as happy, saying: 'Blessed is he whose helper is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God.' Such were all the Prophets, the Apostles, the Martyrs, the Holy Ascetics and all the Saints from the beginning of time."
St. Nikephoros of Chios
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"Each of us individually is searching for a meaningful fullness of life which is not to be found in subjective personal pleasure, inanities, and the mirages which so easily surface in our lives. The goal is not to have a short and illusory pleasurable life with it's resultant melancholy and despair. A life is meaningful only when it is moving or striving toward Absolute Good."
Bishop Mitrophan (Znosko)
[Path to a Meaningful and Fruitful Life, Pg. 3]
St. John Climacus
+ + +
"Fortunate is the man who has come to have God as his helper and to have his hopes in Him alone. Let the Devil bear malice towards him, let all men persecute him and plot against him, let all his adversaries fight against him - he never fears anyone, because his has God as his helper. He remains always a victor, always glorified, always happy, always rich, always cheerful and joyful, even if he happens to fall into extreme poverty and into a great many adverse and grievous circumstances of this present life. For inasmuch as he hopes in Almighty God, he does not despair, he is not sorry, is not anxious, but expects help from Above. Fortunate, then, is such a man and worthy to be deemed happy, just as the Prophet king David regards such a man as happy, saying: 'Blessed is he whose helper is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God.' Such were all the Prophets, the Apostles, the Martyrs, the Holy Ascetics and all the Saints from the beginning of time."
St. Nikephoros of Chios
+ + +
"Each of us individually is searching for a meaningful fullness of life which is not to be found in subjective personal pleasure, inanities, and the mirages which so easily surface in our lives. The goal is not to have a short and illusory pleasurable life with it's resultant melancholy and despair. A life is meaningful only when it is moving or striving toward Absolute Good."
Bishop Mitrophan (Znosko)
[Path to a Meaningful and Fruitful Life, Pg. 3]
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