Quotes

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

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

Tests

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

Elder Joseph the Hesychast

Sin

Sin disfigures a man, while grace brings beauty.

St. Silouan of the Holy Mountain

Sin

Greater therefore is the rejoicing of heaven over the sinner converted than upon the soul that remained just. A captain in battle will feel a warmer regard for the soldier who at first faltered and ran, and then had bravely fought back, than over the one who had never yielded yet had never thrust bravely forward. So will the farmer love more the fields that cleaned of their weeds now bear a fruitful yield, than the land which had never known thorns, yet had never yielded a bountiful crop.

St. Gregory the Great

Sin

Sin, to one who loves God, is nothing other than an arrow from the enemy in battle. The true Christian is a warrior fighting his way through the regiments of the unseen enemy to his heavenly homeland.

St. Herman of Alaska

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 man who has come to loathe sin has mounted the first rung of the heavenly ladder.

St. Silouan of the Holy Mountain

Sin

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

St. Macarius the Great

Sin

All sin is due to sensual pleasure, all forgiveness to hardship and distress.

St. Thalassios the Libyan

Tests

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

St. Mark the Ascetic

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

Malice

As water standing behind an earth dam, and finding an aperture, washes it wider and wider and filters through it, if we do not strengthen the dam, or strengthen it insufficiently, at last, with growing weakness on our part and with repeated efforts, the water gets through with greater and greater force, so that at last it becomes very difficult, and even impossible to stop it; so also with malice hidden in the heart of man: if we let it pierce through once, twice, and thrice, it will pour out more and more powerfully, & may at last break through and overflow your dam.

St. John of Kronstadt

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

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

Sin

Believe me, brethren, the more we are now in earnest to keep ourselves free from sin, the more confident shall we then be in His Presence.

St. Gregory the Great

Sin

'And forgive us our debts as we also forgive our debtors.' For we have many sins. For we offend both in word and in thought, and very many things we do worthy of condemnation; and 'if we say that we have no sin' (I Jn. 1:8), we lie, as John says...The offenses committed against us are slight and trivial, and easily settled; but those which we have committed against God are great, and need such mercy as His only is. Take heed, therefore, lest for the slight and trivial sins against you, you shut out for yourself forgiveness from God for your very grievous sins.

St. Cyril of Jerusalem

Sin

Being delivered from bodily sins is not enough, we must also cleanse the inner energy which dwells in our souls.

St. Gregory Palamas

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

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

Sin disfigures a man, while grace brings beauty.

Sin, to one who loves God, is nothing other than an arrow from the enemy in battle. The true Christian is a warrior fighting his way through the regiments of the unseen enemy to his heavenly homeland.

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

The man who has come to loathe sin has mounted the first rung of the heavenly ladder.

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

All sin is due to sensual pleasure, all forgiveness to hardship and distress.

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

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.

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.

Believe me, brethren, the more we are now in earnest to keep ourselves free from sin, the more confident shall we then be in His Presence.

Being delivered from bodily sins is not enough, we must also cleanse the inner energy which dwells in our souls.

St. Tikhon of Voronezh

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