Quotes

A collection of scriptural meditations from Saints and Fathers of the Church.

Commandments

Struggle until death to fulfill the commandments: purified through them, you will enter into life.

St. Thalassios the Libyan

Anger

He who is not indifferent to fame and pleasure, as well as to love of riches that exists because of them and increases them, cannot cut off occasions for anger. And he who does not cut these off cannot attain perfect love.

St. Maximus the Confessor

Commandments

Make the body serve the commandments, keeping it so far as possible free from sickness and sensual pleasure.

St. Thalassios the Libyan

Commandments

Keep the commandments, and you will find peace; love God, and you will attain spiritual knowledge.

St. Thalassios the Libyan

Anger

Truly, arrogance knows that it is guilty; therefore it places anger at the gate, to act as its sentry.

St. Nikolai Velimirovic

Commandments

Unless a man keeps the commandments of God, he cannot progress, even in a single virtue.

Abba Agathon

Anger

If, wishing to correct another, you are moved to anger, you gratify your own passion. Do not lose yourself in order to save another.

Abbot Macarius

Anger

Do not let the sun go down on the anger of your brother (Eph. 4:26); that is, let no one be angry and enraged against his brother until the setting of the sun.

Elder Ephraim of Mt. Athos

Anger

My children, desire to purify your hearts from envy and from anger with each other, lest death should overcome you, and you will be counted among the murderers. For whosoever hates his brother, kills a soul.

St. Anthony the Great

Anger

Paissy the Great, having lost his temper, begged the Lord to deliver him from irritability. The Lord appeared to him and said, ‘Paissy, if thou dost not wish to get angry, desire nothing, neither criticize nor hate any man, and thou wilt have no anger.’

St. Silouan of the Holy Mountain

Anger

Empty your mind of these two things: the belief that you are deserving of great things, or the thought that any man is beneath you. If you do this anger will never be permitted to rise up within you.

St. Basil the Great

Anger

Of the Only Case in Which Anger is Good... But we have a use for anger most properly planted within us, and for this use alone it is profitable and healthful for us to entertain it, namely, when we burn with wrathful indignation against the lustful motions of our own hearts, and are enraged to find that those things which we should be ashamed to do or to speak of before men have found admittance into the secret places of our minds. We may then well dread and fear exceedingly the presence of the Angels and the Omnipresence of God Himself, and His all-seeing Eye from which no secrets of our hearts can lie hid.

St. John Cassian

Anger

It is not possible for a man to control his anger when abused, or to overcome trials with patience when afflicted, if he is not willing to take the last and lowest place among other men.

St. Basil the Great

Anger

The first step toward freedom from anger is to keep the lips silent when the heart is stirred; the next, to keep thoughts silent when the soul is upset; the last, to be totally calm when unclean winds are blowing.

St. John Climacus

Anger

If you want to pray properly, do not let yourself be upset or you will run in vain.

St. Nilus of Sinai

Anger

It is necessary most of all for one who is fasting to curb anger, to accustom himself to meekness and condescension, to have a contrite heart, to repulse impure thoughts and desires, to examine his conscience, to put his mind to the test and to verify what good has been done by us in this or any other week, and which deficiency we have corrected in ourselves in the present week. This is true fasting.

St. John Chrysostom

Anger

Long-suffering and readiness to forgive curb anger; love and compassion wither it.

St. Thalassios the Libyan

Anger

Wrath is a reminder of hidden hatred, that is to say, remembrance of wrongs. Wrath is a desire for the injury of the one who has provoked you. Irascibility is the untimely blazing up of the heart. Bitterness is a movement of displeasure seated in the soul. Anger is an easily changeable movement of one’s disposition and disfiguration of soul.

St. John Climacus

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Struggle until death to fulfill the commandments: purified through them, you will enter into life.

He who is not indifferent to fame and pleasure, as well as to love of riches that exists because of them and increases them, cannot cut off occasions for anger. And he who does not cut these off cannot attain perfect love.

Make the body serve the commandments, keeping it so far as possible free from sickness and sensual pleasure.

Keep the commandments, and you will find peace; love God, and you will attain spiritual knowledge.

Truly, arrogance knows that it is guilty; therefore it places anger at the gate, to act as its sentry.

Unless a man keeps the commandments of God, he cannot progress, even in a single virtue.

If, wishing to correct another, you are moved to anger, you gratify your own passion. Do not lose yourself in order to save another.

Do not let the sun go down on the anger of your brother (Eph. 4:26); that is, let no one be angry and enraged against his brother until the setting of the sun.

My children, desire to purify your hearts from envy and from anger with each other, lest death should overcome you, and you will be counted among the murderers. For whosoever hates his brother, kills a soul.

Paissy the Great, having lost his temper, begged the Lord to deliver him from irritability. The Lord appeared to him and said, ‘Paissy, if thou dost not wish to get angry, desire nothing, neither criticize nor hate any man, and thou wilt have no anger.’

Empty your mind of these two things: the belief that you are deserving of great things, or the thought that any man is beneath you. If you do this anger will never be permitted to rise up within you.

It is not possible for a man to control his anger when abused, or to overcome trials with patience when afflicted, if he is not willing to take the last and lowest place among other men.

The first step toward freedom from anger is to keep the lips silent when the heart is stirred; the next, to keep thoughts silent when the soul is upset; the last, to be totally calm when unclean winds are blowing.

If you want to pray properly, do not let yourself be upset or you will run in vain.

Long-suffering and readiness to forgive curb anger; love and compassion wither it.

"For now is the time to labor for the Lord, for salvation is found in the day of affliction: for it is written: 'In your patience gain ye your souls' (Luke 21:19)"

Elder Ieronymos of Aegina

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