Sayings of the Holy Fathers:
"God reveals Himself to the humble, who live in accordance with virtue. Those who take up the wings of the imagination attempt the flight of Ikaros and have the same end. Those who harbor fantasies do not pray; for he that prays lifts his mind and heart towards God, whereas he that turns to fantasies diverts himself. Those who are addicted to the imagination have withdrawn from God's grace and from the realm of Divine revelation. They have abandoned the heart in which grace is revealed and have surrendered themselves to the imagination, which is devoid of all grace. It is only the heart that receives knowledge about things that are not apprehended by the senses, because God, Who dwells and moves within it, speaks within it and reveals to it the substance of things hoped for."
St. Nectarios of Aegina
"Modern Orthodox Saints, St. Nectarios of Aegina", Dr. Constantine Cavarnos, Institute for Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies, Belmont, Massachusetts., 1981., pp. 154-187
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"One should fear and beware of grumbling at God, for while the Lord God, according to His great mercy, is long-suffering and patient with our sins, His mercy does not extend to the tendency to complain."
St. Antony (Putilov) of Optina
Counsels of Venerable St. Antony (Putilov) of Optina
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"Let us not therefore be anxious, for we shall gain nothing by it, but tormenting ourselves. For whereas He gives both when we take thought, and when we do not, and more of the two, when we do not; what dost thou gain by thine anxiety, but to exact of thyself a superfluous penalty? Since one on the point of going to a plentiful feast will not surely permit himself to take thought for food; how is he that is walking to a fountain anxious about drink. Therefore seeing we have a supply more copious than either any fountain, or innumerable banquets made ready, the providence of God; let us not be beggars, nor little minded."
St. John Chrysostom.
St. Nectarios of Aegina
"Modern Orthodox Saints, St. Nectarios of Aegina", Dr. Constantine Cavarnos, Institute for Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies, Belmont, Massachusetts., 1981., pp. 154-187
+ + +
"One should fear and beware of grumbling at God, for while the Lord God, according to His great mercy, is long-suffering and patient with our sins, His mercy does not extend to the tendency to complain."
St. Antony (Putilov) of Optina
Counsels of Venerable St. Antony (Putilov) of Optina
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"Let us not therefore be anxious, for we shall gain nothing by it, but tormenting ourselves. For whereas He gives both when we take thought, and when we do not, and more of the two, when we do not; what dost thou gain by thine anxiety, but to exact of thyself a superfluous penalty? Since one on the point of going to a plentiful feast will not surely permit himself to take thought for food; how is he that is walking to a fountain anxious about drink. Therefore seeing we have a supply more copious than either any fountain, or innumerable banquets made ready, the providence of God; let us not be beggars, nor little minded."
St. John Chrysostom.
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