Absolutely nothing quenches the passions as much as compassion… If thou wilt endure an offensive word, then thou hast extinguished an ember. But if thou wilt think about it, then, like someone kindling a fire, thou wilt produce smoke, which is confusion. However, one can conveniently extinguish it too by silence, prayer and a bow from the heart. ~ Venerable Dorotheos of Gaza
Category: Inspiration
Growing in Good Soil
It had been planted on good soil by abundant waters, that it might produce branches and bear fruit and become a noble vine. ~ Ezekiel 17:8
And he told them many things in parables, saying: ‘A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, but when the sun rose they were scorched. And since they had no root, they withered away. Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. He who has ears, let him hear.’ ~ St. Matthew 13: 3 – 9
And other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold. ~ St. Mark 4:8
And some fell into good soil and grew and yielded a hundredfold. As he said these things, he called out, ‘He who has ears to hear, let him hear.’ ~ St. Luke 8:8
As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience. ~ St. Luke 8:15
Fragrance of Humility
As with the appearance of light, darkness retreats; so, at the fragrance of humility, all anger and bitterness vanishes. ~ St. John Climacus
Humble-mindedness will bring all the virtues. ~ St. Anthimos of Chios
What salt is for any food, humility is for every virtue… Not every quiet man is humble, but every humble man is quiet. ~ St Isaac the Syrian
God gives us His Grace, when we are humble… If the grace of God comes, everyone and everything changes; however, in order for it to come, we must humble ourselves first. ~ Elder Porphyrios
…reading and spiritual knowledge are good, but only when they lead to greater humility… ~ St. Peter of Damaskos
God descends to the humble as waters flow down from the hills into the valleys. ~ St. John of Kronstadt
Meekness and humility of heart are virtues without which it is impossible to inherit the Heavenly Kingdom, to be happy on earth, or to experience inner calm. ~ St. Anthony of Optina
Seek God daily. But seek Him in your heart, not outside it. And when you find Him, stand with fear and trembling, like the Cherubim and the Seraphim, for your heart has become a throne of God. But in order to find God, become humble as dust before the Lord, for the Lord abhors the proud, whereas He visits those that are humble in heart, wherefore He says: “To whom will I look, but to him that is meek and humble in heart?” ~ St. Nektarios of Aegina
The Christian needs two wings in order to soar upward and attain Paradise: humility and love… Humility consists, not in condemning our conscience, but in recognizing God’s grace and compassion. ~ St. Kosmas Aitolos
The natural property of the lemon tree is such that it lifts its branches upwards when it has no fruit, but the more the branches bend down the more fruit they bear. Those who have the mind to understand will grasp the meaning of this. ~ St. John Climacus
Just as water and fire cannot be combined, so do self-justification and humility exclude one another. ~ St. Mark the Ascetic
Bee Ye Kinde
And bee ye kinde one to another, tender hearted, forgiuing one another, euen as God for Christs sake hath forgiuen you. ~ Ephesians 4:32; from the 1611 Original King James Version with archaic English spelling.
And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you. ~ Ephesians 4:32; the Authorized King James Version, the Cambridge edition with updated English Spelling from 1769.
It is beautiful.
The most accurate translations available [of the Bible] in English are the King James (or Authorized) Version (KJV or AV), the New King James Version (NKJV), and The English Standard Version (ESV)… The King James is in fact generally so accurate that one could reconstruct the original text with a high degree of accuracy by translating the text back into Hebrew and Greek, though unlike many [other] translations that are so woodenly literal they actually distort the meaning of the text… ~ Fr. John Whiteford
The Beauty of the Lord
Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the mountain of his holiness. Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King. ~ Psalm 48:1-2
The whole earth is a living icon of the face of God. ~ St. John of Damascus
Fullness of Blessing
Through the Holy Spirit comes our restoration to paradise, our ascension into the kingdom of heaven, our return to the adoption of sons, our liberty to call God our Father, our being made partakers of the grace of Christ, our being called children of light, our sharing in eternal glory, and, in a word, our being brought into a state of al “fullness of blessing,” both in this world and in the world to come, of all good gifts that are in store for us, by promise hereof, through faith, beholding the reflection of their grace as though they were already present, we await the full enjoyment. ~ St. Basil the Great, on the Holy Spirit
Lighting Our Little Lights
Two Bright Lights from my life: Metropolitan Vitaly and my godmother Princess Eve Galitzine, Memory Eternal!
A Conversation with Metropolitan Vitaly, 1986
Having been baptised recently, you are very happy and think everything is good- all of our sins have been erased from the Book of Life, and we are now assured of being admitted into Heaven, Paradise. But, for some reason, even though we’ve been baptised, we continue to commit many of the same sins. And when we meet with others, we sometimes find it difficult to get along with them. This is because both we and other people are full of passions which don’t get along with one another. I am asking you to be realistic. It is important to realize that the Church is not a Society of Saints, but a hospital in which we can sometimes hear screaming. And like all hospitals there are some doctors in it. And it is necessary to to take bitter medicine to help us struggle with our passions. Saints are people who have struggled with, and overcome their passions. They are healthy people, but they’re still in the hospital… We are all sinners, but we in the Church want to struggle with our sins. …
When we go before an icon it is important not just to bow down with our bodies, but to bow down our souls. Why do we light a candle before the icon? When we light a candle we are lighting our little light before Christ, and the burning candle symbolizes our life from beginning to end. In this context, all our actions must come from the inside, not the outside, including our work and everything we’re doing… All our life is a fight against two things, our soul and our body/flesh. The fight goes on until we die… We must always try to remember our goal of acquiring the Grace of the Holy Spirit, then we’ll be intelligent Christians.
As Sounding Brass
Rome, Italy – 2008
Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. ~ 1 Corinthians 13: 1
When you have thought of criticism… judging others, ask God to take hold of you at that hour so you can love that person as He loves. Then God will help you see your condition. If Christ were visible, could you criticize? ~Gerontissa Gavrielia
What we say remains to eternity. ~ Gerontissa Gavrielia
A dog is better than I, for he has love and does not judge. ~ St. Xanthias: The Sayings of the Desert Fathers
You cannot be too gentle, too kind. Shun even to appear harsh in your treatment of each other. Joy, radiant joy, streams from the face of him who gives and kindles joy in the heart of him who receives. All condemnation is from the devil. Never condemn each other. We condemn others only because we shun knowing ourselves. When we gaze at our own failings, we see such a swamp that nothing in another can equal it. That is why we turn away, and make much of the faults of others. Instead of condemning others, strive to reach inner peace. Keep silent, refrain from judgement. This will raise you above the deadly arrows of slander, insult and outrage and will shield your glowing hearts against all evil.
~ St. Seraphim of Sarov
You have not yet acquired perfect love if your regard for people is still swayed by their characters – for example, if, for some particular reason, you love one person and hate another, or if for the same reason you sometimes love and sometimes hate the same person. ~ St. Maximos the Confessor
Every Flower Breathes
My daughter’s wedding bouquet, arranged with some of our garden flowers.
Christ is Risen!
By the power of the Holy Spirit every flower breathes. Thy breath I feel in the quiet movement of the fragrant fields. Observing the harmony of colours I admire Thee. Wherever I look, I see all around me the beauty of the Great One in the little. Glory and thanks to the life-creating God Who covers the earth with flowery meadows, crowns the fields with golden ears of grain and embellishes them with blue cornflowers, and my soul with the joy of contemplation. Be glad and sing to Him: Alleluia! ~ Kontakion 3; The Akathist of Thanksgiving by Met. Tryphon of Turkestan
As the field is adorned by a multitude of flowers, so should the field of my own soul be adorned by all the flowers of virtue; as the trees bring forth flowers and afterwards fruit, so must my soul bring forth the fruits of faith and good works. ~ St. John of Kronstadt
Truly, He is Risen!
Put on Love
Christ is Risen!
The Greek word for charity (love) is agape, and caritas in Latin. Charity is not just giving alms (impersonally) to the needy. Charitable love is possible only by uniting our own love of God with others, as Christ commanded.
A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. ~St. John 13:34
If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love. These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. ~ St. John 15:10-12
And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity. ~ 1 Corinthians 13:13
With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. ~ Ephesians 4:2-3
And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. ~ Colossians 3:14
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. ~1 John 4:7-8
As the memory of fire does not warm the body, so faith without love does not bring about the illumination of knowledge in the soul. ~ St. Maximus the Confessor
Love of God loves always to give wings to the mind to speak of God and Divine things; and love of neighbour disposes it always to think well of him. ~ St. Maximus the Confessor
Love is a bomb the destroys all evil. ~ Gerontissa Gavrielia
If the face of a loved one clearly and completely changes us, and makes us cheerful, gay and carefree, what will the Face of the Lord do when He makes His Presence felt invisibly in a pure soul? ~ St. John Climacus
God is love. So he who wishes to define this tries with bleary eyes to measure the sand in the ocean. ~ St. John Climacus
Patience, forgiveness and joy are the three greatest characteristics of divine love. They are characteristics of all real love – if there is such a thing as real love outside divine love. Without these three characteristics, love is not love. If you give the name ‘love’ to anything else, it is as though you were giving the name ‘sheep’ to a goat or a pig. ~ St. Nikolai Velimirovic
Truly, He is Risen!