“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