“The righteous judgment of God is His forbearance, which also contains humility and love. God is very righteous and just but also most compassionate; and His compassion surpasses Is justice. I will give you an example to help you understand. If some person never had the opportunity to learn about God he would not be judged according to the condition in which he was found, but according to the condition he would have been in if he had come to know God. Otherwise, God would not be just. Divine righteousness has its own mathematical principles. One plus one sometimes equals two and sometimes 2 million.”
Elder Paisios
~Spiritual Struggle

“From his childhood he first heard about the Jesus Prayer from the hermit Fr.Theoktistos whom he would visit in his cave, up until ripe old age, Geronda Amphilochios uttered the name of Jesus unceasingly. The Name indeed of the King of Glory. This is precisely why his soul was adorned with all the virtues. He actually acquired that which he would say later on’ Through the Jesus Prayer a person is purified, he is refined and is sanctified.’”
Elder Amphilochios Makris
~Our Geronda

FORGIVENESS AND JUSTICE…
“… The Prophet David cried out when Nathan reproached him because of Bathsheba, “I have sinned against the Lord!” And the prophet told him, “The Lord has put away thy sin.” So, he was forgiven immediately yet he was punished throughout his life: first of all, the child that Bathsheba had, died. Then his son sinned against his sister Tamar. Afterwards his son Absalom pursued him – and he went through all of this after he had been forgiven. Do you see that even though the sin is forgiven the penance remains in proportion to the fault?”
Elder Joseph
~Monastic Wisdom

“So take courage my child and rise from your fault. Stand up. Get angry with the tempter knowing that he is one that contrived all this trickery. Don’t let him get away with it; fight him. When he brings the face to your memory take a cane and strike your thighs hard so that the carnal desire withers away. You will weep from the pain but your nous will be cleansed from that memory. Thus the filthy images disappear and the deception of the fantasy leaves. My child, you should fear this temptation greatly because it defiles the soul. This unclean demon needs beating without mercy.”
Elder Joseph
~Monastic Wisdom

“Your machine is enormous; your passengers are countless. You’re the driver of the whole world. Many, many passengers do not think about You, do not question the mystery of Your Being, but with faith they board the car and they ride and ride. And this must gladden You inexplicably. You know where You will give rest to Your passengers, where You will feed them, and whom You will take off the train and where. True, they know very little about the first and last station of Your most wondrous train but they board with faith, ride with faith and get off with faith – with faith and You who are hidden, invisible, unknown. Thousands and thousands of times I glorify You and praise You about him before You, my All seen and Almighty Creator and Driver. In You only I trust in face of all the dangers which lie before this train.”
St. Nikolai Velimirovich
~Missionary Letters #1

“If Christ had the worldly logic that many spiritual people have today He would not have left His throne Heaven to descend to earth, to suffer and be crucified for us miserable human beings. But hidden within his apparently human failure… is this salvation of us all. And what he enduredto bring about our salvation! He humbled Himself utterly, to the point of being slapped and mocked…what a terrible thing! And now we are seeking to have a type of Christianity without the crucifixion; we want to go straight to the resurrection. We’re trying to form a Christianity and a monasticism made to our measure. We don’t want to be deprived of anything. But if we are to experience the supernatural, we must live supernaturally.”
Elder Paisios
~Spiritual Struggle