Quotes

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

Prayer

As a bird without wings, as a soldier without arms, so is a Christian without prayer.

St. Tikhon of Zadonsk

Prayer

The fruit of prayer consists in illumination of mind and compunction of heart, in the quickening of the soul with the life of the Spirit.

St. Ignatius Brianchaninov

Prayer

Whether you pray with brethren or alone, try to pray not simply as a routine, but with conscious awareness of your prayer. Conscious awareness of prayer is concentration accompanied by reverence, compunction and distress of soul as it confesses its sin with inward sorrow.

St. Evagrius the Solitary

Prayer

The best form of prayer is one that implants the clearest idea of God in the soul and thus makes space for the presence of God within us.

St. Basil the Great

Love

The man who has found love eats and drinks Christ every day and hour and so is made immortal. 'Whoever eats of this bread', He says, 'which I will give him, will never taste death.' Blessed is he who consumes the bread of love, which is Jesus! He who eats of love eats Christ, the God over all, as John bears witness, saying, 'God is love.'

St. Isaac the Syrian

Prayer

Your prayer must have four constituent parts, says Basil the Great: adoration, thanksgiving, confession of sin and petition for salvation.

Tito Colliander

Prayer

Prayer is the seed of gentleness and the absence of anger.

St. Nilus of Sinai

Prayer

When praying, endeavor by every means to feel in your heart the truth and the power of the words of the prayer; feed yourself upon them as upon an imperishable food; water your heart with them as with a dew; and warm yourself by them as by means of a beneficial fire.

St. John of Kronstadt

Love

As it is not possible to cross over the great ocean without a ship, so no one can attain to love without fear. This filthy sea, which lies between us and the paradise of the heart, we may cross by the boat of repentance, whose oarsmen are those of fear. But if fear's oarsmen do not pilot the boat of repentance whereby we cross over the sea of this world to God, we shall be drowned in the sordid abyss.

St. Isaac the Syrian

Prayer

The prayer of one who does not consider himself sinful is not well-pleasing to God.

St. Isaac the Syrian

Love

For love does not seek its own, it labors, sweats, watches to build up the brother: nothing is inconvenient to love, and by the help of God it turns the impossible into the possible.... Love believes and hopes.... It is ashamed of nothing. Without it, what is the use of prayer? What use are hymns and singing? What is the use of building and adorning churches? What is mortification of the flesh if the neighbor is not loved? Indeed, all are of no consequence. As an animal cannot exist without bodily warmth, so no good deed can be alive without true love; it is only the pretence of a good deed.

St. Tikhon of Zadonsk

Prayer

To pray with self-constraint is in our power, whereas to pray with compunction depends upon God. We must pray with what prayer we can, and for our self-constraint God will give us compunction also in due time, when this is pleasing to Him.

St. Joseph of Optina

Love

God loves us more than a father, mother, friend, or any else could love, and even more than we are able to love ourselves.

St. John Chrysostom

Prayer

Undistracted prayer is the highest doing of the mind.

St. Nilus of Sinai

Prayer

Prayer is the breathing of the soul.

St. John of Kronstadt

Prayer

Fire makes iron impossible to touch, and likewise frequent prayer renders the intellect more forceful in its warfare with the enemy. That is why the demons strive with all their strength to make us slothful in attentiveness to prayer, for they know that prayer is the intellect's invincible weapon against them.

St. John of Karpathos

Love

And so it often comes about that the life of one burning with love after having sinned is more pleasing to God than a life of innocence that grows languid in its sense of security.

St. Gregory the Great

Love

If you find that you have no love but desire to have it, do the works of love and the Lord will see your desire and effort and put love in your heart.

St. Ambrose of Optina

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As a bird without wings, as a soldier without arms, so is a Christian without prayer.

The fruit of prayer consists in illumination of mind and compunction of heart, in the quickening of the soul with the life of the Spirit.

Whether you pray with brethren or alone, try to pray not simply as a routine, but with conscious awareness of your prayer. Conscious awareness of prayer is concentration accompanied by reverence, compunction and distress of soul as it confesses its sin with inward sorrow.

The best form of prayer is one that implants the clearest idea of God in the soul and thus makes space for the presence of God within us.

Your prayer must have four constituent parts, says Basil the Great: adoration, thanksgiving, confession of sin and petition for salvation.

Prayer is the seed of gentleness and the absence of anger.

When praying, endeavor by every means to feel in your heart the truth and the power of the words of the prayer; feed yourself upon them as upon an imperishable food; water your heart with them as with a dew; and warm yourself by them as by means of a beneficial fire.

The prayer of one who does not consider himself sinful is not well-pleasing to God.

To pray with self-constraint is in our power, whereas to pray with compunction depends upon God. We must pray with what prayer we can, and for our self-constraint God will give us compunction also in due time, when this is pleasing to Him.

God loves us more than a father, mother, friend, or any else could love, and even more than we are able to love ourselves.

Undistracted prayer is the highest doing of the mind.

Prayer is the breathing of the soul.

And so it often comes about that the life of one burning with love after having sinned is more pleasing to God than a life of innocence that grows languid in its sense of security.

If you find that you have no love but desire to have it, do the works of love and the Lord will see your desire and effort and put love in your heart.

St. Joseph of Optina, Letters

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