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+Affliction was allowed to make those afflicted more careful and more pious.
+--Saint John Chrysostom
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+What rain is for seeds tears are for those who are afflicted…
+--Saint John Chrysostom
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+Justifications for us to not do charity are an easy cause for greed.
+--Saint Basil the Great
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+Money doesn’t have any value, before love and support for him who asks in pain…
+--Blessed Fr. Dimitrios Gagastathis +1975
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+Presumption and boastfulness are causes of blasphemy. Avarice and self-esteem are causes of cruelty and hypocrisy.
+--Saint Kosmas Aitolos +1779
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+Guard your speech from boasting and your thoughts from presumption; otherwise you may be abandoned by God and fall into sin. For man cannot do anything good without the help of God, who sees everything.
+--Saint Kosmas Aitolos +1779
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+When the devil finds someone preoccupied needlessly with bodily things, he first deprives him of the hard-won fruits of spiritual knowledge, and then cuts off his hope in God.
+Saint Kosmas Aitolos +1779
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+He who enjoys bodily pleasures beyond the proper limit will pay for the excess a hundredfold in sufferings.
+--Saint Kosmas Aitolos +1779
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+All bodily pleasure results from previous laxity, and laxity results from lack of faith.
+--Saint Kosmas Aitolos +1779
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+God protects and loves the charitable and philanthropic person.
+--Saint John Chrysostom
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+He who has no love cannot be called a Christian…The whole Gospel is summarized in compassion. And this secures immortality and eternal life to man.
+--Fr Justin Popvitch +1979
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+When works of faith are lacking, the name of a Christian does not benefit us…hasten, oh Christian, with repentance and conversion the exit of the soul…because on earth repentance has its power.
+--Saint John Chrysostom
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+He who does not respect the feasts of the church does not have success
+--St. Ambrose of Optina (+1891)
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+If a man is treated with contempt by someone and yet does not react with anger in either word or thought, it shows he has acquired real knowledge and firm faith in the Lord.
+--Saint Kosmas Aitolos +1779
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+Correct faith does not benefit in anything, when life is corrupted.
+--Saint John Chrysostom
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+If someone does not obey you when you have told him once, do not argue and try to compel him; but take for yourself the profit which he has thrown away. For forbearance will benefit you more than correcting him.
+--Saint Kosmas Aitolos +1779
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+When someone boasts about his virtues, do not try to help him by reproving him. For a man cannot love showing off and at the same time love the truth.
+--Saint Kosmas Aitolos +1779
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+The chief cause of criticism and slander is pride and egotism, for man thinks himself better [than others]. For this reason it is very beneficial for a person to think of himself as smaller than all, so that he sees the brother as better, in order that he may, with the help of God, be delivered from this evil.
+--Elder Ephraim of Philotheou Mount Athos, "Counsels from the Holy Mountain"
+%
+If something pushes you to criticism about some business or other of a brother or of a monastery, you, rather, try to pray about the matter, without passing it under judgment of your reason.
+--Elder Ephraim of Philotheou Mount Athos, "Counsels from the Holy Mountain"
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+If you are enclosed within yourself through prayer, humility, and mourning, you will find a spiritual treasure -- only let pride and criticism be far from you.
+--Elder Ephraim of Philotheou Mount Athos, "Counsels from the Holy Mountain"
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+It is one thing to criticize someone and another to be fought against with regard to criticism. To criticize is a great passion, but to be fought against and to fight back -- this is the cause of crowns.
+--Elder Ephraim of Philotheou Mount Athos, "Counsels from the Holy Mountain"
+%
+The one must bear the weakness of the other -- who is perfect? Who can boast that he has kept his heart undefiled? So we are all sick, but whoever criticizes his brother does not feel that he is sick; for a sick person does not criticize a sick person.
+--Elder Ephraim of Philotheou Mount Athos, "Counsels from the Holy Mountain"
+%
+Criticism is a serious sin, just as it is likewise serious when someone does not bear the weaknesses of his neighbor.
+--Elder Ephraim of Philotheou Mount Athos, "Counsels from the Holy Mountain"
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+Love, endure, overlook, do not get angry, do not become irritated, forgive one another, in order that you resemble our Christ and are counted worthy to be near to Him in His kingdom.
+--Elder Ephraim of Philotheou Mount Athos, "Counsels from the Holy Mountain"
+%
+My children, avoid criticism -- a very great sin. God is grieved whenever we criticize and loathe people. Let us concern ourselves only with our own faults -- for these let us feel pain; let us criticize ourselves and then we will find mercy and grace from God.
+--Elder Ephraim of Philotheou Mount Athos, "Counsels from the Holy Mountain"
+%
+I beg, do not criticize one another, for it is egotism through and through. Let brother excuse fault of brother; this is testimony of humility and love. The brother who does this will find much grace from God, but that one who judges and scandalizes his neighbor must know that he will find no grace, and if he has any he will lose it, in order to learn the lesson of humility through misfortune.
+--Elder Ephraim of Philotheou Mount Athos, "Counsels from the Holy Mountain"
+%
+Be more afraid of interior criticism, criticism in thought -- and this, because it does not come to light through the spoken word, where is it likely to be corrected by those who hear it. Be careful, I say, about criticism from within, which imperceptibly makes us fatally guilty and deprives us of the life of divine grace and offers, as a most bitter drink, the death of the soul.
+--Elder Ephraim of Philotheou Mount Athos, "Counsels from the Holy Mountain"
+%
+How many times do the sacred Gospel and Fathers speak about criticism? It is better to fall from a height than through the tongue. I pray that love and nonjudgmentalness will reign in every expression between you, so that the Holy Spirit may find rest in your souls.
+--Elder Ephraim of Philotheou Mount Athos, "Counsels from the Holy Mountain"
+%
+If we are not attentive, we heap up many criticisms and then repentance is needed; how many times has a person not repented because he spoke? Let us remember the words of Abba Arsenius: As often as I spoke, I repented; as often as I kept silent, I did not repent.
+--Elder Ephraim of Philotheou Mount Athos, "Counsels from the Holy Mountain"
+%
+If, feeling [our way], we many times go astray, how much more by the words of people; for this reason great attention is needed, for the devil roars to devour us. As the many-eyed Cherubim, so ought the Christian to be, for evil has multiplied greatly, especially the fault of criticism, as bread and cheese. May God cleanse us and sanctify us unto His glory.
+--Elder Ephraim of Philotheou Mount Athos, "Counsels from the Holy Mountain"
+%
+How much hope there is for those who do not trust in themselves too much and are not overly-critical of others! And how little hope for those whose orientation is the opposite!
+--Fr Seraphim Rose, "Letters"
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+Presumption and boastfulness are causes of blasphemy. Avarice and self-esteem are causes of cruelty and hypocrisy.
+--Saint Kosmas Aitolos +1779
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+One who is repentant cannot be haughty, just as one who sins deliberately cannot be humble-minded.
+Saint Kosmas Aitolos +1779
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+When the devil sees that our intellect has prayed from the heart, he makes a powerful attack with subtle temptations; but he does not bother to destroy the lesser virtues by such powerful attacks.
+--Saint Kosmas Aitolos +1779
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+Just as the thieves are hidden in shady areas to rob the passerby, thus the devil hides in enjoyments to overcome our soul.
+--Saint Basil the Great
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+Undistracted prayer is a sign of love for God; but careless or distracted prayer is a sign of love for pleasure.
+--Saint Kosmas Aitolos +1779
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+He who can without strain keep vigil, be long-suffering and pray is manifestly a partaker of the Holy Spirit. But he who feels strain while doing these things, yet willingly endures it, also quickly receives help.
+--Saint Kosmas Aitolos +1779
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+Where egotism is, there the Spirit of God does not exist…The person who has egotism does not draw anyone.
+--Elder Amphilochios of Patmos +1970
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+May you love one another and not be embittered by reason of egotism. Humility is a sure guide; it does not allow the one who has it to strike against the reefs of carelessness and be crushed, but as a luminous guide it leads faultlessly to safety.
+--Elder Ephraim of Philotheou Mount Athos, "Counsels from the Holy Mountain"
+%
+Egotism is the most evil of evils; this creates for us all faults, through insubmissive thoughts. Fear this, and endeavor to be free of it, for as much as it remains undefeated within us, by that much will it wound us with proportionate sufferings.
+--Elder Ephraim of Philotheou Mount Athos, "Counsels from the Holy Mountain"
+%
+I beg, do not criticize one another, for it is egotism through and through. Let brother excuse fault of brother; this is testimony of humility and love. The brother who does this will find much grace from God, but that one who judges and scandalizes his neighbor must know that he will find no grace, and if he has any he will lose it, in order to learn the lesson of humility through misfortune.
+--Elder Ephraim of Philotheou Mount Athos, "Counsels from the Holy Mountain"
+%
+He who suffers wrong and does not demand any reparation from the man who wronged him, trusts in Christ to make good the loss; and he is rewarded a hundredfold in this world and inherits eternal life (cf. Mk 10:30).
+--Saint Kosmas Aitolos +1779
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+In order for the nation to be straightened out evil habits and sin must cease.
+--Elder Joseph
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+The sign of sincere love is to forgive wrongs done to us. It was with such love that the Lord loved the world.
+--Saint Kosmas Aitolos +1779
+%
+Love, endure, overlook, do not get angry, do not become irritated, forgive one another, in order that you resemble our Christ and are counted worthy to be near to Him in His kingdom.
+--Elder Ephraim of Philotheou Mount Athos, "Counsels from the Holy Mountain"
+%
+Pray persistently about everything, and then you will never do anything without God's help.
+--Saint Kosmas Aitolos +1779
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+When you want to resolve a complex problem, seek God's will in the matter, and you will find a constructive solution.
+--Saint Kosmas Aitolos +1779
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+The most basic task of the Church leader is to discern the spiritual gifts of all those under his authority, and to encourage those gifts to be used for the full for the benefit of all.
+--Saint John Chrysostom
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+Pray without ceasing on behalf of other men...For cannot he that falls rise again?”
+― Ignatius of Antioch
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+He who busies himself with the sins of others, or judges his brother on suspicion, has not yet even begun to repent or to examine himself so as to discover his own sins...
+—St. Maximos the Confessor (Third Century on Love no. 55)
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+"Our wickedness shall not overpower the unspeakable goodness and mercy of God; our dullness shall not overpower God's wisdom, nor our infirmity God's omnipotence."
+—St. John of Kronstadt
+%
+A brother asked Abba Poemen, "If I see my brother sin, is it right to say nothing about it?" The old man replied, "whenever we cover our brother's sin, God will cover ours; whenever we tell people about our brother's guilt, God will do the same about ours."
+—Abba Poemen
+%
+"But I say to you," the Lord says, "love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, pray for those who persecute you." Why did he command these things? So that he might free you from hatred, sadness, anger and grudges, and might grant you the greatest possession of all, perfect love, which is impossible to possess except by the one who loves all equally in imitation of God.
+—St. Maximus the Confessor
+%
+"Everybody wants to change the world, but nobody thinks about changing himself."
+—Dostoevsky
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+"Love every man in spite of his falling into sin. Never mind the sins, but remember that the foundation of the man is the same - the image of God."
+—St. John of Kronstadt
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+The drunkard, the fornicator, the proud - he will receive God's mercy. But he who does not want to forgive, to excuse, to justify conciously, intentionally ... that person closes himself to eternal life before God, and even more so in the present life. He is turned away and not heard.
+—Elder Sampson of Russia
+%
+"Fire and water do not mix, neither can you mix judgment of others with the desire to repent. If a man commits a sin before you at the very moment of his death, pass no judgment, because the judgment of God is hidden from men. It has happened that men have sinned greatly in the open but have done greater deeds in secret, so that those who would disparage them have been fooled, with smoke instead of sunlight in their eyes."
+—St. John Climacus
+%
+"A man who is wrathful with us is a sick man; we must apply a plaster to his heart - love; we must treat him kindly, speak to him gently, lovingly. And if there is not deeply-rooted malice against us within him, but only a temporary fit of anger, you will see how his heart, or his malice, will melt away through your kindness and love - how good will conquer evil. A Christian must always be kind, gracious, and wise in order to conquer evil by good."
+—St. John of Kronstadt, "My Life in Christ".
+%
+“Christian religion is not a certain philosophic system, about which learned men, trained in metaphysical studies, argue and then either espouse or reject, according to the opinion each one has formed. It is faith, established in the souls of men, which ought to be spread to the many and be maintained in their consciousnesses.”
+-St. Nektarios of Aegina
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+It is only necessary to seek one thing: to be with Jesus. The man who remains with Jesus is rich, even if he is poor with regard to material things. Whoever desires the earthly more than the heavenly loses both the earthly and the heavenly. But whoever seeks the heavenly is Lord of the whole world.
+-St. Ignatius Brianchaninov, Patericon
+%
+A man in this world must solve a problem: to be with Christ, or to be against Him. And every man decides this, whether he wants to or not. He will either be a lover of Christ or a fighter of Christ. There is no third option.
+-St. Justin Popovich, Explanation of I John, 4.3
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+Cleanse your mind from anger, remembrance of evil and shameful thoughts, and then you will find out how Christ dwells in you.
+-St. Maximus the Confessor, Chapters on Love, 4.76
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+Sin makes man a coward; but a life in the Truth of Christ makes Him bold.
+-St. John Chrysostom, On the Statues, VIII.2
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+Whoever fears God stands above all manner of fear. He has become a stranger to all the fear of this world and placed it far from himself, and no manner of trembling comes near him.
+-St. Ephraim the Syrian, On the Fear of God and the Last Judgment
+%
+In truth there is only one freedom - the holy freedom of Christ, whereby He freed us from sin, from evil, from the devil. It binds us to God. All other freedoms are illusory, false, that is to say, they are all, in fact, slavery.
+-St. Justin Popovich, Ascetical and Theological Chapters, II.36
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+ It is better to pray with good will for our neighbor, rather than to denounce him for every sin.
+-St. Mark the Ascetic, Homilies, 1.132
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+Do you think that the man-loving God has given you much so that you could use it only for your own benefit? No, but so that your abundance might supply the lack of others.
+-St. John Chrysostom, Conversations on the Book of Genesis, 20
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+Save, O Lord, and have mercy upon those who envy and affront me, and do me harm, and do not let them perish through me, a sinner.
+-Orthodox Prayer
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+Do not forget prayer─it is the life of the soul.
++ St. Nikon of Optina, Living Without Hypocrisy: Spiritual Counsels of the Holy Elders of Optina
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+“He who fears God will pay careful attention to his soul and will free himself from communion with evil.”
++ St. Thalassios the Libyan, “On Love, Self-Control and Life in Accordance with the Intellect,” 2.63, The Philokalia: The Complete Text (Vol. 2)
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+How can one laugh at a clergyman? So what if he serves poorly? He still has grace. He is ordained. One must not, must not, laugh!
++ St. Anatoly of Optina, quoted from Living Without Hypocrisy: Spiritual Counsels of the Holy Elders of Optina
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