“In the spiritual life things are in reverse: when you’re left holding the short end of the stick you feel good; and when you give it to someone else you feel badly. When you accept an injustice and are prepared to justify your neighbor you accept Christ himself into your heart Who was often wrong and maligned. It is then that Christ cannot be evicted from your heart and fills you with peace and gladness. Try it my children and experience this great joy! Learn to be happy with this spiritual joy not with the wordly one and every day it will be Easter.”
Elder Paisios
~Spiritual Struggle

“We were a blessed brotherhood centered around are illuminated Elder full of experience who guided our souls straight to Christ. We were like a small cenobium. Geronda highly praised the cenobictic way of life but didn’t criticize the other monasteries. He even told us about a few contemporary cenobia that were renowned for their spiritual life. He held their orderliness in high regard because when a cenobictic monk has his work cut out for him, his food ready, the church services set, all his needs taken care of and submits to the rules with obedience, his salvation is easy. The same applied to us because we simply obeyed Geronda and didn’t have to worry about anything else.”
Elder Joseph
~ My Elder Joseph the Hesychast

“In the area of Katounakia a possessed man became the disciples to two Elders. Through the obedience he did he was healed. He himself related that he would see the demon across from him. When he said the Jesus Prayer one time the demon became agitated. With the second repetition of the prayer he started to tremble. With the third he vanished.”
Elder Ephraim of Katounokia
~Obedience is Life

MODERN WEAKNESS…
“Everywhere today the disease of disbelief has entered deeply into the minds, and most of all the hearts, of men. Our Orthodoxy, even when it is outwardly still correct, is the poorest, the feeblest Christianity there has ever been And still the voice of the Northern Thebaid calls us—not, it may be, to go to the desert but at least to keep alive the fragrance of the desert in our hearts: to dwell in mind and heart with these angel-like men and women and have them as our truest friends, conversing with them in prayer; to be always aloof from the attachments and passions of this life, even when they center about some institution or leader of the church organization; to be first of all a citizen of the Heavenly Jerusalem, the City on high towards which all our Christian labors are directed, and only secondarily a member of this world below which perishes.”
Fr. Seraphim Rose

“Geronda was eager with everything he did. He was first in vigil, first in church when we had Liturgy and first at work. He constantly taught by his example. He worked very much and would only stop at the times allowed by our schedule. He told me: “When a monk realizes that he is working for God he becomes very eager.” Geronda never let us be idle because according to the patristic sayings idleness has brought people many evils and idleness is the mother of all evils. An idle person can’t produce anything to give as alms and doesn’t even earn his own bread. Primarily though the Fathers viewed monastic work as a prayer and as a means of salvation because when a person works he should also be saying the Jesus Prayer without stopping.”
Elder Joseph
~ My Elder Joseph the Hesychast

“If only we begin with the firm intention to live according to God’s law, we need not be afraid of any assaults by unreasonable men. For he who truly begins to live according to God’s law finds that all things done to him by men happen for his benefit, and to the glory of God . One especially need not fear being compelled to move from a place that he loves to a place that he doesn’t care for. Instead of empty fear and fruitless lamentation , it is better to seek out God’s intention for us. What harm did the evil actions of Joseph’s brothers do to him? Did not his involuntary departure to Egypt glorify him, save his brothers from famine, and create the necessary conditions for all the wondrous things God worked through Moses in Egypt and in the wilderness? The pagans and heretics often drove Orthodox Christians into barbarian regions. What did they accomplish by that? Did they destroy Orthodoxy? No— rather, they strengthened it even more in the souls of the persecuted , and spread it among the barbarian peoples . The evil heretic Lucius exiled the glorious Macarius, with several Tabennisiot ascetics, from Egypt to a barbarian island, where the entire population worshiped idols. But by the teachings and example of these holy men, the entire populace of the island was soon baptized. That island was later renamed the ‘Island of Repentance’.”
Saint Nikolai Velimirovich
~The Prologue (Reflection)

“When someone has a vice we should try to bombard him with rays of love and compassion that he may be cured and freed. These things are achieved only through the grace of God. Think that this person is suffering more than you. In a coenobitic monastery when someone is at fault we should not tell him that he is to blame. We must adopt an attitude of care, respect and prayer. We must endeavor not to do anything harmful. When we endure insults from our brother it counts as martyrdom. It is something we should endure with joy.”
Elder Porphyrios
~Wounded by Love

“The Lord said: Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me (Matthew 25:40). Similar things happen in almsgiving and in Holy Communion. In Holy Communion we receive the Living Lord Christ Himself, in the form of bread and wine; in almsgiving we give to the Living Lord Christ Himself, in the form of the poor and needy. A certain man in Constantinople was unusually merciful. Walking along the streets of the city, he would press his gift into the hands of the poor and hurry onward, so he would not hear their gratitude or be recognized. When a friend of his asked how he had become so merciful, he replied: “Once in church I heard a priest say that whoever gives to the poor, gives into the hands of Christ Himself. I didn’t believe it, for I thought , ‘How can this be, when Christ is in heaven?’ However, I was on my way home one day and I saw a poor man begging, and the face of Christ shone above his head! Just then a passerby gave the beggar a piece of bread, and I saw the Lord extend His hand, take the bread, and bless the donor. From then on, I have always seen Christ’s face shining above the beggars. Therefore, with great fear I perform as much charity as I can.”
Saint Nikolai Velimirovich
~The Prologue of Ohrid

“The essential contribution of monasticism is prayer for the salvation of the world.  The monk is purified from the passions by the grace of God, communion with the pain of the world, and understands (despite living outside the world) the error, the distresses, the sinfulness of the world and  grieves for it, mourns and prays for God to give the spirit of repentance in the world.”
Archimandrite Ephraim of Vatopedi
~2015 Interview

The life of self-centeredness and self-satisfaction lived by most of today’s Christians is so all-pervading that it effectively seals them off from any understanding at all of spiritual
life; and when such people do undertake spiritual life, it is only as another form of self-satisfaction. This can be seen quite clearly in the totally false religious ideal both of the
charismatic movement and the various forms of Christian meditation: all of them promise (and give very quickly) an experience of contentment and peace. But this is not the
Christian ideal at all, which, if anything, may be summed up as a fierce battle and struggle. Orthodox Christians! Hold fast to the grace which you have; never let it become a matter of habit; never measure it by merely human standards or expect it to be logical or comprehensible to those who understand nothing higher than what is human Let all true Orthodox Christians strengthen themselves for the battle ahead, never forgetting that in Christ the victory is already ours.
Fr. Seraphim Rose
~Orthodoxy and the Religion of the Future