Quotes

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

Body

Charity, temperance, contemplation, and prayer please God; gluttony, licentiousness, and what multiplies them, please the flesh. Therefore they who are in the flesh cannot please God. And they that are Christ’s have crucified their flesh with the passions and concupiscences.

St. Maximus the Confessor

Intellect

Fear God and keep His commandments both in your feelings and in your intellect. If you force yourself to keep them in your intellect, bit by bit you will attain to fulfilling them in your feelings.

St. Hesychius the Priest

Body

Our flesh is an unfaithful friend.

St. Ignatius Brianchaninov

Knowledge

If you have received from God the gift of knowledge, however limited, beware of neglecting charity and temperance. They are virtues which radically purify the soul from passions and so open the way of knowledge continually.

St. Maximus the Confessor

Body

As a man cannot remain unscathed who spares his enemy on the field of battle, so a man engaged in spiritual warfare cannot save his soul if he spares his body.

St. Isaac the Syrian

Intellect

The intellect becomes a stranger to the things of this world when its attachment to the senses has been completely sundered.

St. Thalassios the Libyan

Body

You are accustomed to look upon your body as upon your own inalienable property, but that is quite wrong, because your body is God's edifice.

St. John of Kronstadt

Intellect

According to the degree to which the intellect is stripped of the passions, the Holy Spirit initiates the intellect into the mysteries of the age to be.

St. Thalassios the Libyan

Body

Let work humble the body, and when the body is humbled the soul will be humble with it, so that it is truly said that bodily labors lead to humility.

St. Dorotheus of Gaza

Tests

As work according to God is called virtue, so unexpected affliction is called a test.

St. Mark the Ascetic

Body

Keep the body properly slim so that you reduce the burden of the heart's warfare, with full benefit to yourself.

St. Philotheus of Sinai

Tests

Grace always precedes temptation, as if to notify you saying, 'Prepare yourself and lock your doors.'

Elder Joseph the Hesychast

Body

Break the bonds of your friendship for the body and give it only what is absolutely necessary.

St. Thalassios the Libyan

Body

When the flesh flourishes, the soul fades; when the flesh has full liberty, the soul is straitened; when the flesh is satiated, the soul hungers; when the flesh is adorned, the soul is deformed; when the flesh overflows with laughter, the soul is surrounded by misfortune; when the flesh is in the light, the soul is in darkness...

St. John of Kronstadt

Body

It is an insult to the intelligence to be subject to what lacks intelligence and to concern itself with shameful desires.

St. Thalassios the Libyan

Body

Self-love -- that is, friendship for the body -- is the source of evil in the soul.

St. Thalassios the Libyan

Tests

When tested by some trial you should try to find out not why or through whom it came, but only how to endure it gratefully, without distress or rancor.

St. Mark the Ascetic

Body

You were commanded to keep the body as a servant, not to be unnaturally enslaved to its pleasures.

St. Thalassios the Libyan

Parish

Faith

Ministries

News

Calendar

Contact

Charity, temperance, contemplation, and prayer please God; gluttony, licentiousness, and what multiplies them, please the flesh. Therefore they who are in the flesh cannot please God. And they that are Christ’s have crucified their flesh with the passions and concupiscences.

Fear God and keep His commandments both in your feelings and in your intellect. If you force yourself to keep them in your intellect, bit by bit you will attain to fulfilling them in your feelings.

Our flesh is an unfaithful friend.

If you have received from God the gift of knowledge, however limited, beware of neglecting charity and temperance. They are virtues which radically purify the soul from passions and so open the way of knowledge continually.

As a man cannot remain unscathed who spares his enemy on the field of battle, so a man engaged in spiritual warfare cannot save his soul if he spares his body.

The intellect becomes a stranger to the things of this world when its attachment to the senses has been completely sundered.

You are accustomed to look upon your body as upon your own inalienable property, but that is quite wrong, because your body is God's edifice.

According to the degree to which the intellect is stripped of the passions, the Holy Spirit initiates the intellect into the mysteries of the age to be.

Let work humble the body, and when the body is humbled the soul will be humble with it, so that it is truly said that bodily labors lead to humility.

As work according to God is called virtue, so unexpected affliction is called a test.

Keep the body properly slim so that you reduce the burden of the heart's warfare, with full benefit to yourself.

Grace always precedes temptation, as if to notify you saying, 'Prepare yourself and lock your doors.'

Break the bonds of your friendship for the body and give it only what is absolutely necessary.

It is an insult to the intelligence to be subject to what lacks intelligence and to concern itself with shameful desires.

Self-love -- that is, friendship for the body -- is the source of evil in the soul.

When tested by some trial you should try to find out not why or through whom it came, but only how to endure it gratefully, without distress or rancor.

You were commanded to keep the body as a servant, not to be unnaturally enslaved to its pleasures.

"The joint prayer of husband and wife is a great force."

St. Macarius of Optina

Join our Parish Mailing List