Sayings of the Holy Fathers:
One of the fathers went off to the city to sell his manual work, and
seeing a naked beggar, he was moved by compassion and gave him his own habit. The poor man went and sold it. When he heard what he had done, the old man was very annoyed and repented of having given him the habit.
That night Christ appeared to the old man in a dream: He was wearing the habit and said to the old man, "Do not grieve, for see, I am still wearing that which you have given me."
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"Wisdom holds to the mean between shrewdness and simplicity. Neither the wisdom of the serpent nor the simplicity of the dove is to be praised, if one should choose either of these with respect to itself alone. Rather it is the disposition which closely unites these two by the mean that is virtue. The person who lacks moderation is a libertine, and he who goes beyond moderation has his conscience branded, and the Apostle says. For the one has given himself up without restrain to pleasures, and the other defiles marriage as if it were adultery. The disposition observed in the mean between these two is moderation."
St. Gregory of Nyssa
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"Discrimination is born of humility. On its possessor it confers spiritual insight, as both Moses and St. John Klimakos say: such a man foresees the hidden designs of the enemy and foils them before they are put into operation. It is as David states: `And my eyes looked down upon my enemies' (Ps. 54:7). Discrimination is characterized by an unerring recognition of what is good and what is not, and the knowledge of the will of God in all that one does. Spiritual insight is characterized, first, by awareness of one's own failing before they issue in outward actions, as well as of the stealthy tricks of the demons; and, second, by the knowledge of the mysteries hidden in the divine Scriptures and in sensible creation."
St. Peter of Damaskos
seeing a naked beggar, he was moved by compassion and gave him his own habit. The poor man went and sold it. When he heard what he had done, the old man was very annoyed and repented of having given him the habit.
That night Christ appeared to the old man in a dream: He was wearing the habit and said to the old man, "Do not grieve, for see, I am still wearing that which you have given me."
+ + +
"Wisdom holds to the mean between shrewdness and simplicity. Neither the wisdom of the serpent nor the simplicity of the dove is to be praised, if one should choose either of these with respect to itself alone. Rather it is the disposition which closely unites these two by the mean that is virtue. The person who lacks moderation is a libertine, and he who goes beyond moderation has his conscience branded, and the Apostle says. For the one has given himself up without restrain to pleasures, and the other defiles marriage as if it were adultery. The disposition observed in the mean between these two is moderation."
St. Gregory of Nyssa
+ + +
"Discrimination is born of humility. On its possessor it confers spiritual insight, as both Moses and St. John Klimakos say: such a man foresees the hidden designs of the enemy and foils them before they are put into operation. It is as David states: `And my eyes looked down upon my enemies' (Ps. 54:7). Discrimination is characterized by an unerring recognition of what is good and what is not, and the knowledge of the will of God in all that one does. Spiritual insight is characterized, first, by awareness of one's own failing before they issue in outward actions, as well as of the stealthy tricks of the demons; and, second, by the knowledge of the mysteries hidden in the divine Scriptures and in sensible creation."
St. Peter of Damaskos
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