“Everything in this vain world will pass. The world and life are a fair, and each person can buy eternal life with the “money” of his life. How wise is the person who spends his money—his life—buying whatever he will need for the hour of death and the tribunal of God! Let us buy precious things that are pleasing to the great King: confession, humility, purity of soul and body from carnal sins, godly love, and keeping ourselves far from criticizing others, idle talk, lying, etc. When we master all this, we shall be wealthy in God’s blessed land. “Vanity of vanities; all is vanity” in this world, my child. This is what the wise Solomon cried out after he had tasted beyond satiety all the pleasures of the senses. He did not deprive his heart of any of the pleasures, and the end of all this was decay and destruction.”
– ‘Counsels from the Holy Mountain’