“Repentance is a baptism of tears. Through repentance man is rebaptized, reborn. Through his denial the Apostle Peter betrayed Christ in a way but because he wept bitterly he received forgiveness for his fall. In other words his sincere repentance washed him clean again. You see God first created the earth He sees and all creation and then took from the dust of the earth and created man. Man is firstborn of the flesh and that in Baptism he is reborn spiritually through water, a creation of God and through the Uncreated Divine Grace of the Holy Spirit – through water and the Spirit – he becomes a new man.”
Elder Paisios
~Spiritual Struggle

“The grace of God gives help, comfort and consolation to all believers who live according to their conscience. He gives to each according to what he requires to strengthen or console him. These gifts are exceptional without repetition or continuation and belong to the overall general providence of God by which He sustains His creatures. But to those who are strong in their faith, who for love of God and with firm faith in Him have rejected everything and denied even nature itself exercising detailed vigilance in the strict keeping of His commandments – to these people divine providence does not appear exceptionally or in an undefined way in order to offer some consolation or save them from some particular situation that befalls them. It attends them with a system of motherly guardianship operating in a variety of ways.”
Elder Joseph
~Elder Joseph the Hesychast

“At night…the brothers retreated to rest and would wake two hours before the service to carry out their set prayer room on their own. The Abbot however straight after Compline had to complete whatever administrative responsibilities were left and to confess whoever was waiting for him: either pilgrims or monks from various other dwellings. Most of the time he went without sleeping at all. He heard confessions until it was time for the service. He then went to the service, liturgized, but before retired to his cell again he heard someone’s confession, saw someone else for guidance and was busy with them for quite a while. As soon as he went to rest a little the refrectory monk knocked on the door, “Elder it’s time for the meal, open so that I can make a reverence.”
Elder Haralambos (lifestyle)
~Abbot Haralambos Dionysiatis

“… Whoever is wronged in this life and wants to seek justice have know that it is this: to bear the burdens of his brother, of his neighbor until his final breath, and to be patient in all the sorrows of this present life. Because every affliction that befalls us whether from men, from the demons, or from our own very nature always has enclosed within it the corresponding profit. And whoever passes through it with patience receives the payment: it’s pledge here and its fulfillment there. So patience is necessary like salt in food. For there is no other road for us to gain, get rich and reign. This is the road that our Christ traced out.”
Elder Joseph
~Monastic Wisdom

“When we feel upset we should chant. Chanting drives away the devil because it’s prayer and at the same time it’s contempt for the tempter. We shouldn’t fight blasphemous thoughts with the Jesus prayer – that just opens up a new front with the devil and he attacks us even more. We ought to chant hymns instead and when the devil sees us treating his suggestions with disdain he’ll get so angry he’ll go to pieces.”
Elder Paisios
~Elder Paisios of Mt. Athos

“For most men today life is a small thing, a fleeting thing of small affirmation and small denial veiled in comforting illusions and the hopeful prospect of ultimate nothingness; such men will know nothing of hell until they live in it. But God loves even such men too much to allow them simply to forget Him and pass away into nothingness, out of His Presence which alone is life to man; He offers even to those in hell His Love which is torment to those who have not prepared themselves in this life to receive it. Many we know are tested and purified in those flames and made fit by them to dwell in the Kingdom of Heaven; but others with the demons for whom hell was made must dwell very eternally.”
Fr. Seraphim Rose
~Nihilism

A certain brother ecstatic after receiving the right answer to his problem asked him how do you receive the message with such precision? “This is not for everyone. It is difficult to discern if the answer is from God. However with the fiery flame of prayer the monk can stand like Moses and discourse with his Creator. So you should all try as much as you can to acquire this flame of prayer.” Another brother mentioned when I pray about a certain issue I asked the Lord and receive a message inside me. “Do you still have passions?” “Yes, Elder I do.” “When the passions still reign in us the seed is mixed. Where you think you have planted seed suddenly tares sprout. I suggest you entreat the Lord but you are not yet ready for receiving messages.”
Elder Haralambos
~Abbot Haralambos Dionysiatis

“When I went through up there for 15 days, struggling with the tempter – it defies description, you can’t even imagine! He was constantly telling me to go down to the monastery to see people and visit with them to be consoled. I’ll tell you one thing: for 15 days, I felt like I was nailed to the Cross. Later on the second Sunday, I came down to the monastery to attend Liturgy. When I communed the Holy Mysteries tasted like meat that was very sweet and I felt strength within me. It was the Body and Blood of Christ.” Strengthened by this sign, looking out his ascetic cell from the monastery, he said to the devil, “Come back now if you want to and will do battle. I’m not afraid of you anymore.”
Elder Paisios
~Elder Paisios of Mt. Athos

“Every sin a person commits is forgiven when he repents; however, the memory of it remains with him until his last breath. When he becomes a little slothful, when he is a little careless, the devil depicts it to him while awake or asleep in order to defile his thoughts and make him guilty of an old sin – or even just to make his mind wander.”
Elder Joseph
~Monastic Wisdom

“How can a religious seeker avoid the traps and deceptions which he encounters in his search? There’s only one answer to this question: the person must be in the religious search not for the sake of religious experiences, which can deceive, but for the sake of truth… The truly Orthodox person always has his feet firmly on the ground facing whatever situation is right in front of him. It is in accepting given situations which requires a loving heart that one encounters God. This loving heart is why anyone comes to a knowledge of the truth even though God sometimes has to break down and humble a heart to make it receptive – as in the case of the Apostle Paul, who at one time was breathing fire against and persecuting Christians. But to God the past, present and future of the human heart are all present and He sees where He can break through and communicate.”
Fr. Seraphim Rose
~God’s Revelation