Quotes

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

Mercy

An unmerciful ascetic is a barren tree.

St. Isaac the Syrian

Mercy

Have confidence in the compassion of our Creator. Reflect well on what you are now doing, and keep before you the things you have done. Lift up your eyes to the overflowing compassion of heaven, and while He waits for you, draw near in tears to our merciful Judge. Having before your mind that He is a Just Judge, do not take your sins lightly; and having also in mind that He is compassionate, do not despair. The God-Man gives man confidence before God.

St. Gregory the Great

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

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

Commandments

The roof of any house stands upon the foundations and the rest of the structure. The foundations themselves are laid in order to carry the roof. This is both useful and necessary, for the roof cannot stand without the foundations and the foundations are absolutely useless without the roof-- no help to any living creature. In the same way the grace of God is preserved by the practice of the commandments, and the observance of these commandments is laid down like foundations through the gift of God. The grace of the Spirit cannot remain with us without the practice of the commandments, but the practice of the commandments is of no help or advantage to us without the grace of God.

St. Symeon the New Theologian

Commandments

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

St. Thalassios the Libyan

Commandments

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

Abba Agathon

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

Commandments

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

St. Thalassios the Libyan

Mercy

Ever let mercy outweigh all else in you. Let our compassion be a mirror where we may see in ourselves that likeness and that true image which belong to the Divine nature and Divine essence. A heart hard and unmerciful will never be pure.

St. Isaac the Syrian

Commandments

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

St. Thalassios the Libyan

Mercy

Go and have pity on all, for through pity, one finds freedom of speech before God.

Abba Pambo

Pleasure

The soul's health consists in dispassion and spiritual knowledge; no slave to sensual pleasure can attain it.

St. Thalassios the Libyan

Mercy

Love reveals itself in works of mercy.

St. Innocent of Alaska

Mercy

Even if we have thousands of acts of great virtue to our credit, our confidence in being heard must be based on God's mercy and His love for men. Even if we stand at the very summit of virtue, it is by mercy that we shall be saved.

St. John Chrysostom

Pleasure

You must set about rooting out the very desire to have things pleasant, to get on well, to be contented. You must learn to like sadness, poverty, pain, hardship. You must learn to follow privately the Lord's bidding: not to speak empty words, not to adorn yourself, always to obey authority, not to look at a woman with desire, not to be angry and much else. For all these biddings are given us not in order for us to act as if they did not exist, but for us to follow: otherwise the Lord of mercy would not have burdened us with them. If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, He said (Matthew 16:24), thereby leaving it to each person's own will-if any man will-and to each person's endeavor: let him deny himself.

Tito Colliander

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

Pleasure

Almost every sin is committed for the sake of sensual pleasure; and sensual pleasure is overcome by hardship and distress arising either voluntarily from repentance, or else involuntarily as a result of some salutary and providential reversal.

St. Maximus the Confessor

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An unmerciful ascetic is a barren tree.

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

Ever let mercy outweigh all else in you. Let our compassion be a mirror where we may see in ourselves that likeness and that true image which belong to the Divine nature and Divine essence. A heart hard and unmerciful will never be pure.

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

Go and have pity on all, for through pity, one finds freedom of speech before God.

The soul's health consists in dispassion and spiritual knowledge; no slave to sensual pleasure can attain it.

Love reveals itself in works of mercy.

Even if we have thousands of acts of great virtue to our credit, our confidence in being heard must be based on God's mercy and His love for men. Even if we stand at the very summit of virtue, it is by mercy that we shall be saved.

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.

Almost every sin is committed for the sake of sensual pleasure; and sensual pleasure is overcome by hardship and distress arising either voluntarily from repentance, or else involuntarily as a result of some salutary and providential reversal.

"Many people will be found pleasing God, for whom it will be possible, in the mountains and in desert places, to save themselves by much prayer….for God, seeing their many tears and sincere faith, will have mercy on them, as a tender Father, and will keep them."

St. Ephraim the Syrian

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