Saint Diadochus of photice

Evil does not exist by nature, nor is any man naturally evil, for God made nothing that was not good. When in the desire of his heart someone conceives and gives form to what in reality has no existence, then what he desires begins to exist. We should therefore turn our attention away from the inclination to evil and concentrate it on the remembrance of God; for good, which exists by nature, is more powerful than our inclination to evil. The one has existence while the other has not, except when we give it existence through our actions.

* Taken from On Spiritual Knowledge and Discrimination: One Hundred Texts.

Saint Dismas the Good Thief

It is always possible to make a new start by means of repentance. ‘You fell,’ it is written, ‘now arise’ (Proverbs 24:16.) And if you fall again, then rise again, without despairing at all of your salvation, no matter what happens. So long as you do not surrender yourself willingly to the enemy, your patient endurance, combined with self-reproach will suffice for your salvation. ‘For at one time we ourselves went astray in folly and disobedience,’ says St. Paul. ‘…Yet He saved us, not because of any good things we had done, but in His mercy’ (Titus 3:5.) So do not despair in any way, ignoring God’s help, for He can do whatever He wishes. On the contrary, place your hope in Him and He will do one of these things: either through trials or temptations, or in some other way which He alone knows, He will bring about your restoration; or He will accept your patient endurance and humility in the place of works; or because of your hope He will act lovingly towards you in some other way of which you are not aware, and so will save your shackled soul. Only do not abandon your Physician, for otherwise you will suffer senselessly the twofold death because you do not know the hidden ways of God.”

*Taken from the Philokalia, Volume 3.

Saint Gregory Palamas

God is identical within Himself, since the three divine hypostases mutually co-inhere and inter-penetrate naturally, totally, eternally, inseparably, and yet without mingling or confusion, so that their energy is also one. This could never be the case among creatures. There are similarities among creatures of the same genus, but since each independent existence, or hypostasis, operates by itself, it’s energy is uniquely its own. The situation is different with the three divine hypostases that we worship, for there the energy is truly one and the same. For the activity of the divine will is one, originating from the Father, the primal Cause, issuing through the Son, and made manifest in the Holy Spirit.

* Taken from Topics of Natural and Theological Science.

St. Macarius the Great

Let us therefore, set aside such matters and seek rather, as skilled merchants, to possess the heavenly inheritance and those things that are of profit to our soul. Let us learn to lay hold of the good possessions that will remain always with us. But if man were to begin to investigate the mind of God and say: “I have discovered something and truly understand it,” the human mind would be found transcending the mind of God. Truly you wander far into error in such thinking. For the more you wish through knowledge to search and penetrate God, the more deeply you descend away from him and you comprehend nothing.

Those visits of God to you that happen each day, they are so mysterious and incomprehensible. You can receive them only with gratitude and belief. Have you been able to know your own soul from the moment of your birth until now? Tell me, then, from morning to night what are the thoughts that spring up in you? Tell me your thoughts over three consecutive days. If, then, you cannot understand the thoughts of your own soul, how can you scrutinize the thoughts of God and his very mind?

*Taken from Fifty Spiritual Homilies.

Saint John Climacus

 Prayer is by nature a dialog and a union of man with God. Its effect is to hold the world together. It achieves reconciliation with God. Prayer is the mother and daughter of tears. It is an expiation of sin, a bridge across temptation, a bulwark against affliction. It wipes out conflict, is the work of angels, and is the nourishment of everything spiritual. Prayer is the future gladness, action without end, wellspring of virtues, source of grace, hidden progress, food of the soul, enlightenment of the mind, an axe against despair, hope demonstrated, sorrow done away with… It is a mirror of progress, a demonstration of success, evidence of one’s condition, the future revealed, a sign of glory. For the one who really prays, it is the court, the judgement hall, the tribunal of the Lord – and this prior to the judgment that is to come.

 * Taken from The Ladder of Divine Ascent.

Saint John Chrysostom

“How I am distressed when I called to mind that in festival days the assembled multitudes are like a broad expanse of the sea. But now, not even the smallest part of those multitudes is gathered here today. Where are those who oppress us with their presence on Feast Day? I look for them, and am grieved on their account when I mark what a multitude are perishing of those who are in a state of salvation; how large a part of the body of Christ is like a dead and motionless carcass! They, perhaps, make the summer season their excuse. I hear them saying, ‘The heat is excessive; the sun is intolerable; we cannot bear the heat and confined space.’ Such excuses are foolish without basis. When you have spiritual wells and rivers, are you afraid of material heat? No, in the market, where there is much turmoil and crowding and scorching wind, how is it that you do not suffocate and find the heat an excuse for absenting yourself there? It is plain that these silly excuses are the offspring of indolence and of supine disposition, destitute of the grace of the Holy Spirit.” 

Fr. Alexander Schmemann

Salvation is complete. After the darkness of sin, the fall and death, a man once again offers to God the pure, sinless, free and perfect thanksgiving. A man is returned to that place that God had prepared for him when he created the world. He stands at the heights, before the throne of God; he stands in heaven, before the face of God himself, and freely, in the fulness of love and knowledge, uniting in himself the whole world, all creation, he offers thanksgiving, and in him the whole world affirms and acknowledges this thanksgiving to be “meet and right.” This man is Christ. He alone is without sin, he alone is Man in all the fulness of his purpose, calling and glory. He alone in himself restores the ”fallen image” and raises it to God, and thus we now offer the thanksgiving of Christ, hear it and take part in it, when the celebrant begins the eucharistic prayer commanded to us by Christ, who has united us for all ages with God.

*Taken from The Eucharist.

St. Irenaeus of Lyons

God therefore has borne all these things for our sake, in order that, having been instructed through all things, henceforth we may be scrupulous in all things and, having been taught how to love God rationally [logikos], remain in His love: God exhibiting patience in regard to the human apostasy of human beings, and human beings being taught by it, as the prophet says: “Your own apostasy shall educate you” [Jerimiah 2:19]. God, thus determining all things beforehand for the perfection of human beings, and towards the realiziation and manifestation of his economies, that goodness may be displayed and righteousness accomplished, and that the Church may be “conformed to the image of His Son” [Romans 8:29], and that , finally, the human being may be brought to such maturity as to see and comprehend God.

*Taken from Against the Heresies.

St. John Chrysostom

 Accordingly, let us each day be concerned with the value of this exercise, let us scrutinize our conduct and not lose heart; let us render an account to ourselves both of what comes in and of what goes out-what we utter that is of some use and what words we pronounce to no effect, and again what value there is to our soul in what we receive through hearing and likewise what has the capacity to harm in what we are responsible for. Let us impose some rules and regulations on our tongue so as to initially to keep a check on our speech and only then deliver what we have to say. Let us train our mind not to give vent to harmful thoughts; instead, should something of that kind gain entry from outside, banish it as unnecessary and likely to cause harm, or if it rises inside us, expel it rapidly with a pious thought, and let us not think that fasting only till evening suffices for our salvation.

*Taken from Homilies on Genesis 1-17.

Fr. George Florovsky

“The quality of love is such that the loving and the beloved are no more two but one man”. Even more: true Christian love sees in every one of our brethren “Christ Himself.” Such love demands self-surrender, self-mastery. Such love is possible only in a catholic expansion and transfiguration of the soul. The commandment to be catholic is given to every Christian. The measure of his spiritual manhood is the measure of his catholicity. The Church is catholic in every one of its members, because a catholic whole cannot be built up or composed otherwise than through the catholicity of its members. No multitude, every member of which is isolated and impenetrable, can become a brotherhood. Union can become possible only through the mutual brotherly love of all the separate brethren.

*Taken from Bible, Church, Tradition: An Eastern Orthodox View.