Sayings of the Holy Fathers
"Those, then, who from their birth are under the dominion of darkness and are unwilling to contemplate the spiritual light from which their forefather fell look on those who have come to that light and speak of the things of the light as adversaries and enemies, since their words wound them. When a sunbeam in some way penetrates into a dark house it pierces and cuts through the darkness like an arrow. So the divinely inspired word of a spiritual and holy man is like a two-edged sword (Heb. 4:12) in the heart of a carnal man. It causes him pain and provokes him to contradict and to hate because of his ignorance and unbelief."
St. Symeon the New Theologian
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HEIGHT OF HUMILITY
"Why does humility lead up to the heights of righteousness, whereas self-conceit leads down to the depths of sin? Because anybody who thinks he is something great, even before God, is rightly abandoned by God, as one who thinks that he does not need His help. Anybody who despises himself, on the other hand, and relies on mercy from above, wins God's sympathy, help and grace. As it says, 'The Lord resisteth the proud: but He giveth grace unto the lowly' (Prov. 3:34, James 4:6)."
St. Gregory Palamas
TRUE KNOWLEDGE
The light of true knowledge is the power to discriminate without error between good and evil. Then the path of righteousness leads the intellect upward towards the Sun of Righteousness and brings it into the boundless illumination of spiritual knowledge.
St. Diadochos of Photoki
EVERYWHERE
God's omnipresence is in space and thought -- that is, God is everywhere, both in respect to space and in respect to thought; wheresoever I may go, either in the body or in thought, everywhere I meet God, and everywhere God meets me.
St. John of Kronstadt
PERFECT
"What is the will of God that St. Paul urges and invites us to attain (cf. I Thess. 4:3)? It is total cleansing from sin, freedom from the shameful passions and the acquisition of the highest virtue. In other words, it is purification and sanctification of the heart that comes about through fully experienced and conscious participation in the perfect and divine Spirit. 'Blessed are the pure in heart,' it is said, 'for they shall see God' (Matt. 5:8), and again: 'Become perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect' (Matt. 5:48)."
St. Makarios of Egypt
EXPERIENCE
"That our union with God in the future world will come to pass, and that it will be for us the source of light, peace, joy, and beatitude, this we partly recognise by experience even in the present life. During prayer, when our soul is wholly turned towards God, and is united to Him, we feel happy, calm, easy, and joyful, like children resting on their mother's breast; or' I would rather say, we experience a sensation of inexpressible well-being. 'It is good for us to be here' (Luke 9:33). Therefore struggle unremittingly to obtain future everlasting bliss, the beginning of which you know by experience even in the present life..."
St. John of Kronstadt
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EASE
One who has found and possess within himself the heavenly treasure of the Spiri fulfills all the commands justly and practices all the virtues without blame, purely without forcing and with a certain ease.
St. Macarius the Great
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INTELLECT
"The intellect joined to God for long periods through prayer and love becomes wise, good, powerful, compassionate, merciful and long-suffering; in short, it includes within itself almost all the divine qualities. But when the intellect withdraws from God and attaches itself to material things,either it becomes self-indulgent like some domestic animal, or like a wild beast it fights with men for the sake of these things."
St. Maximos the Confessor
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INSIGHT
The command: "You will wear your belts around your waists, and your sandals on your feet" (Ex. 12:11) is a type of the new company of disciples which prepares to set out and announce the Gospels. "Your staffs in your hands" is a type of their crosses on their shoulders. "Standing on your feet," because no one receives the living Body while seated. And "No stranger shall eat of it" because no one eats the Body who is not baptized. "No bone in him shall be broken," because although our Lord's hands and feet were pierced and His side opened, not a bone in Him was broken.
St. Ephrem the Syrian
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