“The elder greatly valued blessed labor. No one has ever become wholly without effort and struggle. God is moved by it. “The present generation,” he concluded, “has a laziness gets brought into the monastic life, to. We want to become wholly without effort. Wouldn’t it be better,” jokes the elder, “to do vigils while lying in bed, to get a tape player to play whatever chance you wanted? To make an ascetic out of straw with a motor who can do our prostrations and say the Jesus prayer on the prayer rope?””
Elder Paisios
~Elder Paisios of Mt Athos

“Changes and trials form an almost indistinguishable union in which either one may provoke the other and the two of them lead those who are prudent to profit and advancement. Whether the trial produces the change are the change the trial, we reached the same conclusion: that we must face them philosophically and with patient endurance. Abba Mark says, “afflictions that come to us are the result of our own sins. But if we accept them patiently through prayer we shall again find blessings.””
Elder Joseph
~Elder Joseph the Hesychast

“So when you want to find out the will of God, abandon your own will completely together with every other thought of your plan and with great humility ask for His knowledge in prayer. And whatever takes shape that carries weight in your heart, do it and it will be according to God’s will. Those who have greater boldness and practice in praying for His will hear a clear assurance within them, and will become more careful in their lives not to do anything without divine assurance. There is also another way of discovering the will of God which the Church uses generally, and that His advice through spiritual fathers or confessors.”
Elder Joseph
~Elder Joseph the Hesychast

“Elder Joseph would say “come, you.” and Haralambos (as he used to tell himself) would say to himself,” you? What you? Don’t I have a name? What are these matters? I work with secular people in the prefecture and I never hurt anyone speak like that.… Here until now, I haven’t heard one thank you, one please. They are strange people here… It didn’t take long for me to realize that although I had been a struggler in the world, by receiving praise and flattery, I overloaded myself with the vainglory without realizing it.”
Elder Haralambos
~Abbot Haralambos

“”As I find you I will judge you.” Behold the value of a moment. Did He find you in repentance? Did He meet you in confession? Did See reach you saying “I have sinned against heaven and before you”? Did He approach you when you had tears of genuine repentance and self-reproach in your eyes? Behold it is in one moment that God makes His decision. “The Lord is faithful in all his words.”

However, if he finds you otherwise, oh man, then the eyes of your soul will open and you will see that you have lost – but what is the use? If God condemns a person repentance is futile; with a pair of life ends words are pointless. It is all over!”
Elder Ephraim
~Counsels from the Holy Mountain

Father Arsenios would ask: “should we go to someone’s butt to stay the night?” Geronda would answer: “no we won’t because if we do we will lose our prayer, we will speak idly and we would hear things that are not beneficial. We might even start judging someone after hearing things concerning other people. It would be better for us to stay outside in the cold and do our vigil and are prostrations out here rather than judge others. Besides we certainly wouldn’t hear anything spiritual.”
Elder Joseph
~My Elder Joseph

“The soul must be constantly ready and alert and always in contact with the spiritual headquarters, that is, God. Only then it will feel secure, full of hope and joy. When I was in the army, during the war, I was a radio operator. I noticed that we felt secure only when we communicated with the Army Division on an hourly basis. When our communication was limited to every two hours, we felt a little bit insecure; sometimes, when we could only be in touch with them twice a day, we felt uncomfortable, lonely and lost. The same thing applies to our prayer. The more we pray, the more secure we feel, on a spiritual basis, of course.”
Elder Paisios
~Elder Paisios of the Holy Mountain

“There is a good example in our neighborhood of how the invisible web of God struck a false witness on the eyes. The man bore false witness for an acre of land for which he paid more than 1 million gold pieces – he paid for it with his soul. He was walking on his own land commonly. But as soon as he crossed over into the cursed piece of land, his eyesight was taken away. The invisible web of God struck this false witness on the eyes. And there he is now, sitting blind by his hearth.”
St. Nikolai Velimirovich
~Missionary Letters #2

“When he reflected on his own love the Elder found himself lacking. “If I had a Catholic brother think how much I would cry. Meanwhile, how many millions of people don’t believe in Christ and how much have I cried for them?””
Elder Paisios
~Elder Paisios of Mt. Athos

“When you are in pain get to the powers of your soul and try to understand what heaven is trying to tell you in this trial of yours. If perhaps you cry from the pain the tears will clinch your vision, as it did to joke the much suffering and then you too, will be able to say along with him, “Now mine eyes have seen Thee.” Don’t forget that God sees you and watching you when you are in pain. He perceives even the beating of your heart. Consequently he will not leave you without consolation and his fatherly protection. Naturally, the Saints rejoiced in their afflictions; as for us, that is at least manage to accept affliction or pain patiently.”
Elder Ephraim
~Counsels from the Holy Mountain