“Do not let your hand be stretched out to receive and closed when it is time to give.” ~ Sirach 4:31
“Blessed is he who considers the poor; The Lord will deliver him in time of trouble.” ~ Psalms 40:1
Elder Paisios quote
April 15, 2009 at 12:42 pm (Pride/Humility)
I really love Elder Paisios. This comes from Fr. Luke Hartung who is in the process of translating his work:
I once asked someone: “What type of warrior do you consider yourself to be? Christ’s warrior or temptation’s warrior? Are you aware that the evil of temptation also has its own warriors?”
A Christian must not be fanatic; he must have love for and be sensitive towards all people. Those who inconsiderately toss out comments, even if they are true, can cause harm.
I once met a theologian who was extremely pious, but who had the habit of speaking to the (secular) people around him in a very blunt manner; his method penetrated so deeply that it shook them very severely. He told me once: “During a gathering, I said such and such a thing to a lady.” But the way that he said it, crushed her. “Look”, I said to him, “you may be tossing golden crowns studded with diamonds to other people, but the way that you throw them can smash heads, not only the sensitive ones, but the sound ones also.”
Let’s not stone our fellow-man in a so-called “Christian manner.” The person who – in the presence of others – checks someone for having sinned (or speaks in an impassioned manner about a certain person), is not moved by the Spirit of God; he is moved by another spirit.
The way of the Church is LOVE; it differs from the way of the legalists. The Church sees everything with tolerance and seeks to help each person, whatever he may have done, however sinful he may be.
I have observed a peculiar kind of logic in certain pious people. Their piety is a good thing, and their predisposition for good is also a good thing; however, a certain spiritual discernment and amplitude is required so that their piety is not accompanied by narrow-mindedness or strong-headedness. Someone who is truly in a spiritual state must possess and exemplify spiritual discernment; otherwise he will forever remain attached to the “letter of the Law”, and the letter of the Law can be quite deadly.
A truly humble person never behaves like a teacher; he will listen, and, whenever his opinion is requested, he responds humbly. In other words, he replies like a student. He who believes that he is capable of correcting others is filled with egotism.
A person that begins to do something with a good intention and eventually reaches an extreme point, lacks true discernment. His actions exemplify a latent type of egotism that is hidden beneath this behavior; he is unaware of it, because he does not know himself that well, which is why he goes to extremes.
Quite often, people begin with good intentions, but look where they may find themselves! This was the case with the “icon-worshippers” and the “iconoclasts” of the past: both cases were extremes! The former had reached the point of scraping off icons of Christ and placing the scrapings into the Holy Chalice in order to “improve” Holy Communion; the latter, on the other hand, burnt and totally discarded all icons. That is why the Church was obliged to place the icons in higher places, out of reach, and, when the dispute was over, lowered them so that we can venerate them and thus confer the appropriate honor to the persons portrayed therein….
Anger
April 15, 2009 at 12:40 pm (Anger)
“On one occasion, I was sitting with the Blessed Abbot Sergios from the Jordan Plain. While I was reading the Book of Proverbs, I came to the verse which says, ”With much wood, fire increaseth; but where there is not a contentious man, strife ceaseth” (Proverbs 26:20), and I asked the Blessed Sergios to explain it to me. He said in reply: “Just as wood causes a fire to flare up and, if we do not throw enough of it on the fire, it goes out, so also does it happen with the passions; that is, there are certain causes which, if cut off, no longer activate the passions. For example, the causes of anger are giving and taking, wanting to do one’s own will, taking delight in teaching and showing off to other people, and thinking oneself to be intelligent and wise.” ~ From the Gerontikon
Simplicity
March 6, 2009 at 12:49 pm (Simplicity)
“Hold faith and humility fast within you; for through them you will find mercy, help, and words spoken by God in the heart, along with a protector who stands beside you both secretly and manifestly. Do you wish to obtain these things, which are a fountain of life? From the very onset take hold of simplicity. Walk before God in simplicity and not with knowledge. Simplicity is attended by faith; but subtle and intricate deliberations, by conceit; and conceit is attended by separation from God.” ~ St. Isaac the Syrian.
Blessed are the merciful
March 4, 2009 at 12:58 am (Mercy)
” ‘Blessed are the merciful for they will receive mercy’ (Matt. 5:7). The merciful person is he who gives to others what he has himself received from God, whether it be money, or food, or strength, a helpful word, a prayer, or anything else that he has through which he can express his compassion for those in need. At the same time he considers himself a debtor, since he has received more than he is asked to give.” ~ St. Peter of Damaskos.
Meekness/Anger
February 26, 2009 at 12:45 pm (Meekness/Anger)
“If it is a mark of extreme meekness, even in the presence of one’s offender, to be peacefully and lovingly disposed towards him in one’s heart, then it is certainly a mark of hot temper when a person continues to quarrel and rage against his offender, both by words and gestures, even when by himself.” ~ St. John Climacus.
Uprooting the passions
February 24, 2009 at 3:08 am (Uprooting Passions)
“Let each one find out about his own condition, the state of his soul. A man is in one of three conditions: That of giving free rein to his passions or that of checking them or that of uprooting them. In the first he indulges his passions and gives in to vice; in the second he neither indulges his passions nor cuts them off completely but disputes with them and turns them back but allows them to remain inside him; in the third he is working to root them out and he struggles with them and acts contrary to them.” ~ St. Dorotheos of Gaza.
Garden of the Theotokos quotes
February 23, 2009 at 1:07 pm (Garden of Virtues/Garden of the Theotokos)
“Rightly do we , who have been saved through you, pure Virgin, confess that you are the Mother of God, extolling you with the angelic choirs. For God, whom men cannot see, on whom the ranks of angels do not dare to look, has through you become visible to men as the Logos made flesh. Glorifying Him with the heavenly hosts we proclaim you blessed. And what shall we call you, who are full of grace? Heaven, for you have made the Sun of Righteousness shine forth? Paradise, for you have put forth the flower of immortality? Virgin, for you have remained inviolate? Pure mother, for you have held in your embrace the God of all? Mother of God, you are the true vine, for you have born the fruit of life. We entreat you, intercede in your glory with the apostles and all the saints, that God may have mercy on our souls.” ~ St. Peter of Damaskos
“…the Word Himself became flesh, having been in truth conceived of the Virgin, but coming forth as God with the assumed nature which, as soon as He was brought forth into being, was deified by Him, so that these three things took place simultaneously, the assumption of our nature, the coming into being, and the deification of the assumed nature by the Word.” ~ St. John of Damascus.
Respecting one’s elders
February 16, 2009 at 1:07 pm (Respecting One's Elders)
“The glory of one’s father is one’s own glory, and it is a disgrace for children not to respect their mother.” ~ Sirach 3:1
Faith
February 16, 2009 at 1:06 pm (Faith)
“When Scripture says, ‘He will reward every man according to his works’(Matt. 16:27), do not imagine that works in themselves merit either hell or the Kingdom. On the contrary, Christ rewards each man according to whether his works are done with faith or without faith in Himself; and He is not a dealer bound by contract, but God our Creator and Redeemer.” ~ St. Mark the Ascetic.
“The believing man is not one who thinks that God can do all things, but one who trusts that he will obtain everything he needs.” ~ St. John Climacus.
“Faith is the wing of prayer, and without it my prayer will return to my bosom. Faith is the unshaken stance of the soul and is unmoved by any adversity.” ~ St. John Climacus
