Elder St. Porphyrios on Passionate Love of God
“In the Song of Songs the bride says of Christ the Bridegroom,’ I sleep but my heart awakes. The voice of my beloved knocks at the door.’ The bride...
St. Nikolai Velimirovich on Seeing Our Real Selves
“Others have told you that you have an ugly passion, but you did not believe it. Why didn’t you? Do you now know that the ugliness of our face...
Elder St. Paisios on Obtaining a Spiritual Crown
“For the athlete to be crowned with victory takes patience, philotimo and spiritual bravery. Bravery stems from a heart filled with philotimo; and when one does something with his...
Elder St Paisios on the Preeminent Virtues
“love and humility. As soon as these two virtues are nurtured, pride and evil will become malnourished and the passions will start to perish. In this way, one by...
St. Nikolai Velimirovich on God as the ‘Subject’
“To have one’s sins forgiven and to be cleansed of passion to be untied from the world and in one’s entirety elevated to God; to have one’s heart cleansed...
Elder St Paisios on True Suffering
“If we only remembered that Christ suffered the greatest injustice of all, then we would be ready to accept with joy every injustice done to us. Though God, He...
Elder Ephraim on Death
“When we remember death, we find an excellent guide that helps us discover the truth of things. Death says, “Why are you treasuring things up, why are you proud,...
On the Martyrs…
“One marvels sometimes. What gave them such vigor to carry out such superhuman struggles? This is what really concerns us. We end up wondering sometimes: ‘Why can’t we do...
Elder Epiphanios on the Devil and Distraction
“Any person whatsoever can be concentrated, even for hours, thinking of a certain problem or a certain matter— without his attention being distracted by anything else. In...
Elder Joseph of Vatopaidi on Temptation
Generally speaking, temptations according to our Fathers are the bearers of every agitation and pain which occur in our lives. Sometimes they provoke sorrow, sometimes anxiety, at other times...