Quotes

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

Talking

If Moses, who was a god to Pharaoh, was shut out from the Land of Promise because of one word, how much more will not the evil speech of our tongue, by which we offend and hurt both God and man, shut us out from heaven?

St. Ephraim the Syrian

Commandments

Almsgiving heals the soul's incensive power; fasting withers sensual desire; prayer purifies the intellect and prepares it for contemplation of created beings. For the Lord has given us commandments which correspond to the powers of the soul.

St. Maximus the Confessor

Talking

He who guards his lips preserves his soul; but he who is bold with his lips dishonors himself.

St. Nazarius of Valaam

Commandments

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

Abba Agathon

Sin

If you feel no pang in committing minor offences you will through them fall into major transgressions.

St. Gregory Palamas

Sin

Let us not put off from day to day, without observing how sin is injuring us.

St. Macarius the Great

Sin

Just as desire and rage multiply our sins, so self-control and humility erase them.

St. Thalassios the Libyan

Sin

For never is a man forced into sin by another’s fault, unless he have, stowed away in his heart, matter for evil deeds. Nor is a man to be held a victim of sudden deception if at the sight of a woman’s beauty he fall into an abyss of vile lust. Rather is it that diseases of soul, deeply hidden away and lost to view, come then to the surface on the occasion of the sight.

St. John Cassian

Sin

The only thing God requires of us is that we do not sin. But this is achieved, not by acting according to the law, but by carefully guarding the divine image in us and our supernal dignity. When we thus live in our natural state, wearing the resplendent robe of the Spirit, we dwell in God and God dwells in us. Then we are called gods by adoption and sons of God, sealed by the light of the knowledge of God.

St. Symeon the New Theologian

Sin

It is vain that some unenlightened people seek the greatest evil for man somewhere else, rather than in sin. Some consider disease to be the greatest evil, others - poverty, and others - death. But neither disease, nor poverty, nor death, nor any other earthly disaster can be such a great evil for us as sin is. These earthly misfortunes do not separate us from God if we are seeking Him sincerely, but, on the contrary, they bring us closer to Him.

Archimandrite Seraphim Aleksiev

Hypocrisy

Christ told His friends, that is, His disciples, to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and scribes, meaning by leaven their false pretence. For hypocrisy is a thing hateful to God, and abominated by man, bringing no reward, and utterly useless for the salvation of the soul, or rather the cause of its perdition. Though sometimes it may escape detection for a little, yet before long it is sure to be laid bare and bring disgrace upon them, like ill-featured women, when they are stripped of that external embellishment which they had produced by artificial means. Hypocrisy, therefore, is a thing foreign to the character of the saints. That it is impossible for those things that are done and said by us to escape the eye of the Deity, He showed by saying: “There is nothing covered that shall not be revealed; neither hid that shall not be known.” For all our words and deeds shall be revealed at the day of judgment.

St. Cyril of Alexandria

Sin

Do not hate the sinner. Become a proclaimer of God's grace, seeing that God provides for you even though you are unworthy.

St. Isaac the Syrian

Sin

Woe is he who knowingly chooses to sin with the intention to repent when morning comes, for he knows not what the coming day or the night that precedes it will bring.

St. Ephraim the Syrian

Talking

You have a mouth sealed by the Spirit? When you are speaking, think first of what you are saying, of what words are fitting for a mouth such as yours.

St. John Chrysostom

Talking

He who has become aware of his sins has controlled his tongue, but a talkative person has not yet come to know himself as he should.

St. John Climacus

Talking

The more a man's tongue flees verbosity, the more his intellect is illumined so as to be able to discern deep thoughts; for the rational intellect is befuddled by verbosity.

St. Isaac the Syrian

Sin

Those who have sinned must not despair. Let that never be. For we are condemned not for the multitude of evils, but because we do not want to repent...

St. Mark the Ascetic

Sin

He who does not consciously choose to distance himself from a cause for sin, will be drawn to sin, even against his will.

St. Isaac the Syrian

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If Moses, who was a god to Pharaoh, was shut out from the Land of Promise because of one word, how much more will not the evil speech of our tongue, by which we offend and hurt both God and man, shut us out from heaven?

Almsgiving heals the soul's incensive power; fasting withers sensual desire; prayer purifies the intellect and prepares it for contemplation of created beings. For the Lord has given us commandments which correspond to the powers of the soul.

He who guards his lips preserves his soul; but he who is bold with his lips dishonors himself.

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

If you feel no pang in committing minor offences you will through them fall into major transgressions.

Let us not put off from day to day, without observing how sin is injuring us.

Just as desire and rage multiply our sins, so self-control and humility erase them.

Do not hate the sinner. Become a proclaimer of God's grace, seeing that God provides for you even though you are unworthy.

Woe is he who knowingly chooses to sin with the intention to repent when morning comes, for he knows not what the coming day or the night that precedes it will bring.

You have a mouth sealed by the Spirit? When you are speaking, think first of what you are saying, of what words are fitting for a mouth such as yours.

He who has become aware of his sins has controlled his tongue, but a talkative person has not yet come to know himself as he should.

The more a man's tongue flees verbosity, the more his intellect is illumined so as to be able to discern deep thoughts; for the rational intellect is befuddled by verbosity.

Those who have sinned must not despair. Let that never be. For we are condemned not for the multitude of evils, but because we do not want to repent...

He who does not consciously choose to distance himself from a cause for sin, will be drawn to sin, even against his will.

"The adversary will sit in the temple of Jerusalem, in order to show himself as Christ, he will demand that those who are captivated by him should worship him as Christ. The Antichrist will demand worship as if he were God."

St. Irenaeus of Lyons, Against Heresies

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