Quotes

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

Sin

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

St. Thalassios the Libyan

Sin

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

St. Thalassios the Libyan

Sin

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

St. Gregory Palamas

Sin

Do not stir up a memory that will cover your prayer with mud, do not root around in the soil of your old sins.

Tito Colliander

Sin

Sin disfigures a man, while grace brings beauty.

St. Silouan of the Holy Mountain

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

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

Will

Our own will is like a wall of brass between us and God, preventing us from coming near to Him or contemplating His mercy.

Abba Pimen

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

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

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

Will

The moral character and moral value of man's personality depends most of all on the direction and strength of the will. Of course, everyone understands that for a Christian it is necessary to have first, a strong and decisive will, and second, a will which is firmly directed toward the good of his neighbor, toward the side of good and not evil. How is one to develop a strong will? The answer is simple: above all through the exercise of the will. To do this, as with bodily exercise, it is necessary to begin slowly, little by little. However, having begun to exercise one's will in anything ( e.g., in a constant struggle with one's sinful habits or whims) this work on oneself must never cease. Moreover, a Christian who wishes to strengthen his will, his character, must from the very beginning avoid all dissipation, disorder and inconsistency of behavior. Otherwise, he will be a person without character, unreliable, a reed shaking in the wind, as we read in Holy Scripture.

St. Philaret of New York

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

Will

No one can be saved without the renunciation of his will, even though he might struggle fervently, for our will and our manner are like a bronze wall between us and God.

St. Paisius Velichkovsky

Sin

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

St. Gregory Palamas

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

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

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

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

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

Do not stir up a memory that will cover your prayer with mud, do not root around in the soil of your old sins.

Sin disfigures a man, while grace brings beauty.

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...

Our own will is like a wall of brass between us and God, preventing us from coming near to Him or contemplating His mercy.

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

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.

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.

No one can be saved without the renunciation of his will, even though he might struggle fervently, for our will and our manner are like a bronze wall between us and God.

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

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.

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

St. Theognostos

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