You can’t go to Church on Sunday because you’re working? You can make yourself an altar at that time by saying a prayer. "Elder Ephraim of Katounakia" Read more “Words of Life” at www.pemptousia.com
Sacrifice everything for Christ. For Christ, though, not for anything or anyone. "Saint Paisios the Athonite" Read more “Words of Life” at www.pemptousia.com
All the virtues are aspects of the one, great virtue, the virtue of love. When, as a Christian, you acquire love, you’ve got all the virtues. It’s love that expels from our soul the root cause of all evil and all the passions, which, according to the Fathers, is selfishness. "Abbot Georgios Kapsanis of Gregoriou" Read more “Words of Life” at www.pemptousia.com
It’s not food or favourable living conditions that ensure our health. It’s a holy life, the life of Christ. I know ascetics who fasted very strictly and never had anything wrong with them. Nobody risks getting ill from fasting. Nobody’s ever done so. "Saint Porphyrios of Kavsokalyvia" Read more “Words of Life” at www.pemptousia.com
We labor in vain, in vain, pointlessly and to our detriment when we attempt to acquire the sublime gifts of the spirit prematurely. Our merciful God gives them at the appropriate time to those who steadfastly, patiently and humbly observe the Gospel commandments. "Saint Ignatius Brianchaninoff" Read more “Words of Life” at www.pemptousia.com
The devil’s managed to diminish himself to such an extent that he’s got people to use other names for him. They don’t accept that it’s the devil who moves and incites people to egotism. "Saint Porphyrios of Kavsokalyvia" Read more “Words of Life” at www.pemptousia.com
Fill yourself greedily with the word of God. Fill yourself greedily with observing Christ’s commandments. Fill yourself greedily with the food on the table which has been prepared before you by the Lord and get drunk on His exquisite wine. "Saint Ignatius Brianchaninoff" Read more “Words of Life” at www.pemptousia.com
Christians exchange their distorted intellect for that of Christ, their distorted heart for the heart and tenderness of Christ, their distorted ethos for that of Christ. "Abbot Georgios Kapsanis of Gregoriou" Read more “Words of Life” at www.pemptousia.com
If you don’t want to be enslaved to the passions and the devil on a daily basis, you have to set yourself an aim that you’ll always bear in mind and that you’ll try to achieve, overcoming all obstacles through the Lord’s assistance. "Saint John of Kronstadt" Read more “Words of Life” at www.pemptousia.com
In every age, not everyone betrays, not everybody deserts. Some remain faithful. Some keep up the struggle. Some don’t exchange their faith in the true God for anything worldly and secular. This, in any case, is why we have martyrs. "Abbot Georgios Kapsanis of Gregoriou" Read more “Words of Life” at www.pemptousia.com
The righteous are made sad by the just trials they undergo, but benefit from them, to the glory of God. The unrighteous, on the other hand, are at the mercy of their sins. "Saint John Chrysostom" Read more “Words of Life” at www.pemptousia.com
It’s enormously important that there should be someone in the family who really prays. Prayer draws down the Grace of God and all of the members of the family feel it, even those whose hearts have frozen over. Always pray. "Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica" Read more “Words of Life” at www.pemptousia.com
Even if you can’t become a first class saint. like Saint Anthony, don’t just shrug your shoulders and say ‘There’s nothing I can do about it’. Try even harder and double the talent that God gave you. "Saint Nicholas Velimirovich" Read more “Words of Life” at www.pemptousia.com
If you give all your love to God, you’ll receive all of His in return, to pass on to other people. "Saint Paisios the Athonite" Read more “Words of Life” at www.pemptousia.com
The supposedly ‘pious’ parents, whose concern was to make their children into ‘good Christians’, oppressed them through their human love and achieved the opposite to what they wanted. Children are pressed when they’re little and then, when they become sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, they go off in a different direction. "Saint Porphyrios of Kavsokalyvia" Read more “Words of Life” at www.pemptousia.com
God didn’t send us to earth so that we could live comfortably but for us to prepare for the eternal life that awaits us. Just think what a terrible tragedy it would be if our Maker and Creator couldn’t offer us anything better, more luminous and more protracted than this life on earth, which has the stench of decline and death and lasts less than the span of a raven! "Saint Nicholas Velimirovich" Read more “Words of Life” at www.pemptousia.com
The struggle is relentless and continuous, external and internal. Sometimes, the enemy acts visibly, through people and things, and at others he attacks people invisibly, through their thoughts. On occasion, he’ll appear openly, with a violent and merciless attack, like an enemy, but at others he’ll be disguised as a friend, who flatters and leads you astray with his cunning. "Saint Nicholas Velimirovich" Read more “Words of Life” at www.pemptousia.com
The tears of gratitude shed by the poor for your acts of charity towards them will be burnished pearls for you in the life beyond the grave. "Elder Arsenie Boca" Read more “Words of Life” at www.pemptousia.com
Correct teachings are of no value if we ignore them in the way we live our lives. "Saint John Chrysostom" Read more “Words of Life” at www.pemptousia.com
The spirit which hasn’t been darkened by sin looks up high into the heavens, it doesn’t look down at the tomb. But the spirit that’s been darkened by sin looks into the grave and doesn’t see the heavens at all. Sin and virtue govern our spiritual vision, depending on the aims of each, and each reveals its own world. "Saint Nicholas Velimirovich" Read more “Words of Life” at www.pemptousia.com
