Quotes and Sayings for Encouragement and Edification

[ArmyMatt]

I never heard of St George...I will be looking at some things online about him. Very true words.

yep, he was only very recently added to the calendar. the Greeks have a lot of awesome 20th century elders.

 

[All4Christ]

Easy to forget, but it’s really important!

 

[All4Christ]

Posted this in another thread, but thought it was relevant for this thread.

"Special services, special foods, continence, not going to dances and events, all this awakes one to piety and reflection on our present purpose, on the past and on eternity. Seeing in ourselves a falling away from the commandments of God, we try to reconcile ourselves to God through repentance and communion of the most pure and life-giving Mysteries of Christ, which burn the thorns of our sins. You, when you have not fulfilled this duty during the year, of course will fulfill it during the Fast. The most merciful Lord loved us so much, that He gave us, through food and drink, His most pure Body and life-giving Blood, as a token of life eternal and the incorrupt future feast. Let us offer Him thanksgiving with pure hearts, lips and acts!" - St. Macarius of Optina (Letters...)

 

[Lukaris]

“Struggle until death to fulfill the commandments: purified through them, you will enter into life.”

St. Thalassios, 7th c. AD

From: The Philokalia vol.2, 2nd Century (sets of 100 sayings), #80.

 

[All4Christ]

 

[All4Christ]

"Do we forgive our neighbors their trespasses? God also forgives us in His mercy. Do we refuse to forgive? God, too, will refuse to forgive us. As we treat our neighbors, so also does God treat us. The forgiveness, then, of your sins or unforgiveness, and hence also your salvation or destruction, depend on you yourself, man. For without forgiveness of sins there is no salvation. You can see for yourself how terrible it is."

-St. Tikhon of Zadonsk, Journey to Heaven

 

[Glaucus]

A good one for Great Lent.

 

[ArmyMatt]

"If you cannot find Christ in the beggar, you will not find Him in the Chalice." -St John Chrysostom

 

[Glaucus]

"If you cannot find Christ in the beggar, you will not find Him in the Chalice." -St John Chrysostom

Good one at time in which Heaven recently gained Dobri Dobrev.

 

[ArmyMatt]

Good one at time in which Heaven recently gained Dobri Dobrev.

yep, also appropriate for Lent

 

[All4Christ]

Brethren and fathers, the season of Lent, when compared to the whole year, may be likened to a storm-free harbor, in which all who are sailing together enjoy a spiritual calm. For the present season is one of salvation not for monks and nuns only, but also for lay people, for great and small, for rulers and ruled, for emperors and priests, for every race and for every age. For cities and villages reduce their hubbub and bustle, while psalmody and hymns, prayers and entreaties take their place, by which our good God is propitiated and so guides our spirits to peace and pardons our offenses, if, with a sincere heart, we will only fall down before him with fear and trembling and weep before him, promising improvement for the future. But let the leaders of the churches speak of what is suitable to lay people, for just as those who run in the stadium need the vocal support of their fellow contestants, so fasters need the encouragement of their teachers. But I, since I have been placed at your head, honored brethren, will also talk to you briefly. Fasting then is a renewal of the soul, for the holy Apostle says, Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward is being renewed day by day. And if it is being renewed, clearly it is being made beautiful according to its original beauty; made beautiful in itself it is being drawn lovingly to the one who said, I and the Father will come and make our dwelling with him.

If then such is the grace of fasting, that it makes us into a dwelling place of God, we must welcome it, brethren, gladly, not grieving at the plainness of the diet, for we know that the Lord, though he is able to nourish lavishly, made a banquet for thousands in the wilderness from bread and water. Also because what is unusual, with enthusiasm becomes acceptable and painless. Fasting is not defined by foods alone, but by every abstinence from evil, as our godly fathers have explained. And so, I beg you, let us abstain from despondency, idleness, sluggishness, jealousy, strife, maliciousness, selfindulgence, self-reliance; let us abstain from destructive desire which the many-shaped serpent lays before us when we are fasting. Let us listen to the one who says, ‘The fruit which slew me was beautiful to behold and fair to eat’. And observe: he says beautiful to behold, not beautiful by nature. For just as if someone taking a pomegranate decked out with a scarlet rind should find it rotten, in the same way pleasure feigns untold sweetness, but when it is plucked it is found more bitter than gall, or rather, than a sharpened two-edged sword which devours the soul it has captured. This is what our forefather Adam suffered when he was tricked by the serpent; for when he touched the forbidden food, he found death instead of life. This too is what all they have suffered who from then until now have been similarly deceived by the dragon. For just as he, who is darkness, transforms himself into an angel of light, so he knows how to transform bad into good, bitter into sweet, dark into light, ugly into beautiful, deadly into life-giving; and so the all-evil one does not cease to lead the world astray at every opportunity.

But let us at least, brethren, not be led astray by his manifold deceptions, nor suffer the fate of the birds who greedily approach what seems to be food and fall into the hunter’s trap. Let us rather look on the outer coverings of evil as dung and when with the mind we have looked on evil in its nakedness we shall flee from it at once. In addition let us welcome the times of psalmody, be enthusiastic for hymnody, attentive to the readings, making prostrations according to the given measure at each hour; working with our own hands, because working is good and because one who does not work is not judged worthy of eating. Let us bear one another’s burdens, for one is weak and another strong, making use of food and drink and the other necessities with moderation, so that there is no provoking to jealousy among evil people, but zeal in goodness. In everything be good to one another, compassionate, reasonable, obedient, full of mercy and good fruits, and the peace of God which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and thoughts. And now, may you be found worthy without condemnation to reach the supreme day of the Resurrection, but in the age to come at the resurrection of the dead to gain the kingdom of heaven in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be the glory and the might, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and for ever, and to the ages of ages. Amen.
+++
St. Theodore the Studite on Fasting and Dispassion | Lenten Season

 

[All4Christ]

You heard me when I called, O God of my righteousness.
You strengthened my heart when I was in distress.
Have mercy in me; and hear my prayer.


(Psalm 4:1-2)

 

[All4Christ]

You heard me when I called, O God of my righteousness.
You strengthened my heart when I was in distress.
Have mercy in me; and hear my prayer.


(Psalm 4:1-2)

Seriously needed this last night! I’m thankful that Psalms is the PrayerBook of the Church (according to what I heard from Fr)

 

[~Anastasia~]

Seriously needed this last night! I’m thankful that Psalms is the PrayerBook of the Church (according to what I heard from Fr)

Me too. It's become VERY edifying for me to get to read the same Psalms over and over in Church. I look forward to it quite a bit.