Sayings of The Holy Fathers:

"Let us then not be ashamed to confess our sins unto the Lord. Shame indeed there is when each makes known his sins, but that shame, as it were, ploughs his land, removed the ever-recurring brambles, prunes the thorns, and gives life to the fruits which he believed were dead. Follow him who, by diligently ploughing his field, sought for eternal fruit: "being reviled we bless, being persecuted we endure, being defames we entreat, we are made as the offscouring of the world." If you plough after this fashion you will sow spiritual seed. Plough that you may get rid of sin and gain fruit. He ploughed so as to destroy in himself the last tendency to persecution. What more could Christ give to lead us on to the pursuit of perfection, than to convert and then give us for a teacher one who was a persecutor?"

St. Ambrose of Milan.

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"If a man insults me, kills my father, my mother, my brother, andthen gouges out my eye, as a Christian it is my duty to forgive him.We who are pious Christians ought to love our enemies and forgivethem. We ought to offer them food and drink, and entreat God for theirsouls. And then we should say: "My God, I beseech Thee to forgive me,as I have forgiven my enemies."

Saint Kosmas Aitolos
[Teachings of Saint Kosmas Aitolos]

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"Let none of you turn deserter. Let your baptism be your armor; your faith, your helmet; your love, your spear; your patient endurance, your panoply"

St Ignatius of Antioch (110 AD)
[Letter to Polycarp ]