Quote of the Day: St. Moses the Black

To die to one’s neighbor is this: To bear your own faults and not to pay attention to anyone else wondering whether they are good or bad. Do no harm to anyone, do not think anything bad in your heart towards anyone, do not scorn the man who does evil, do not put confidence in him who does wrong to his neighbor, do not rejoice with him who injures his neighbor. This is what dying to one’s neighbor means.

Quote of the Day: Fr. Tryphon (Parsons) of Vashon

When in my mid-20s I decided to take up weightlifting and joined a traditional Italian family-owned weightlifting gym. On my first trip to the gym I clearly remember standing there, feeling intimidated by all the equipment and not knowing where to begin. After observing my feeble attempt at lifting a weight that was too heavy for a beginner, a professional weightlifter came over and offered to guide me in the use of the weights.

There was another young first timer, but he was too proud to let anyone tell him what to do. I, however, agreed to let the pro teach me. A year later this pro came over, complemented me on my progress, and quietly pointed out the odd shape of the other young man, the one who'd been too proud to allow someone else to tell him anything. This fellow looked oddly like an ape, muscular on the front of his chest, but nowhere else. He was so concentrated on looking good to himself he had failed to notice that he'd created a body that looked off-kilter.

Pride is like that in the quest for deepening our relationship with Christ. If we don't want anyone telling us what do to or pointing out areas of our lives that need change, [then] we can become off-kilter spiritually. The spiritual father gives direction and sets standards that, like the weightlifting instructor, are based on experience. If we become defensive we miss the opportunity to grow spiritually...

"Spiritual Charity"

A great article by Fr. Oliver Herbel on the interconnectedness of salvation in Orthodoxy and giving can be found here.

Quote of the Day: Fr. Alexander Elchaninov

Only the first steps in the approach to God are easy; the feeling that we have wings, the enthusiasm caused by the certainty that we are approaching God, are followed by a gradual cooling down, by doubt. In order to sustain our faith, it is necessary to make an effort, to struggle, to fight for it.

From page 98 of "The Diary of a Russian Priest," a posthumous compilation of the notes of Fr. Alexander, who served as a priest in a Russian Orthodox parish in the south of France after the Bolshevik Revolution.

Quote of the Day: Elder Ephraim of Philotheou

Is there anyone who has entered paradise by a different path, a path without temptations, whom we can imitate? No. All the saints passed through fire and water, through various temptations and afflictions, and they glorified God with their patience and received crowns of eternal glory...when we are still in our youth, we must be tempted, for youth is easily derailed. In time, the war will cease and the desired grace will come. Just have courage and patience. Do not despair, no matter how much the passions may fight you...do not lose courage in the struggle; our Christ is invisibly standing by.

Quote of the Day: St. Niphon

Whoever says that it is impossible to be saved with a wife and children is a deceiver. Abraham had a wife and children and three hundred and eighteen servants, and also much gold and silver, and he was called the friend of God! Many servants of the Church have been saved, and many lovers of the desert; many aristocrats, and many soldiers; many craftsmen, and many farm laborers. Be devout towards God and loving towards men, and you will be saved.

Sunday of St. Gregory Palamas

Joyous feast! St. Gregory Palamas is incredibly significant in the condensation and defense of the Church's teachings on grace and salvation, but every once in a while I find myself wishing that this was still the Sunday of St. Polycarp as it had originally been :-). Nevertheless, more on St. Gregory's life can be found here. May his blessing and prayers be with us!

"The Grace of Just Showing Up"

Another good article from Fr. Stephen Freeman here.

Quote of the Day: Pope Shenouda III of Alexandria

All you need, dear brother, is to meet with Christ, and speak to Him, to listen to Him and form a relationship with Him, and you will find in Him all that you will ever need. With Christ you will lack nothing. Give Him your heart, and then you will feel all the triviality of the world, and you will be happy with God's love.

Quote of the Day: St. Seraphim of Platina

We are told by the Holy Fathers that we are supposed to see in everything something for our salvation. If you can do this, you can be saved.

Quote of the Day: St. Ephraim of Syria

Blessed is the person who has consented to become the close friend of faith and of prayer: he lives in single-mindedness and makes prayer and faith stop by with him. Prayer that rises up in someone's heart serves to open up for us the door of heaven: that person stands in converse with the Divinity and gives pleasure to the Son of God.

Quote of the Day: St. Ephraim of Syria

"If you, O man, do not forgive everyone who has sinned against you, then do not trouble yourself with fasting. If you do not forgive the debt of your brother...then you fast in vain. God will not accept you. Fasting will not help you, until you become accomplished in love and in the hope of faith. Whoever fasts and becomes angry, and harbors enmity in his heart, such a one hates God and salvation is far from him."

Quote of the Day: St. Seraphim of Sarov

"In spite of our sinfulness, in spite of the darkness surrounding our souls, the grace of the Holy Spirit, conferred by baptism in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, still shines in our hearts with the inextinguishable light of Christ...and when the sinner turns to the way of repentance the light smooths away every trace of the sins committed, clothing the former sinner in the garments of incorruption, spun of the grace of the Holy Spirit."

Quote of the Day: St. Peter of Damascus

"Should we fall, we should not despair and so estrange ourselves from the Lord's love. For if He so chooses, He can deal mercifully with our weakness. Only we should not cut ourselves off from Him or feel oppressed when constrained by His commandments, nor should we lose heart when we fall short of our goal...let us always be ready to make a new start. If you fall, rise up. If you fall again, rise up again. Only do not abandon your Physician, lest you be condemned as worse than a suicide because of your despair. Wait on Him, and He will be merciful, either reforming you, or sending you trials, or through some other provision of which you are ignorant."

Quote of the Day: Archbishop Anastasius of Tirana

"Always remember that at the Last Judgement we are judged for loving Him, or failing to love Him, in the least person."

Quote of the Day: St. Justin the Confessor of Chelije

"The Lives of the Saints are nothing else but the life of the Lord Christ, repeated in every saint to a greater or lesser degree in this or that form. More precisely it is the life of the Lord Christ continued through the saints, the life of the incarnate God the Word, the God-man Jesus Christ who became man. This was so that as man He could give and transmit to us His Divine life, so that as God by His life He could sanctify and make immortal and eternal our human life on earth."