Once, and amazed acquaintance asked him [Elder Paisios] why he never went back home. “I left my parents out of love for Christ,” replied the elder, “and I made a promise so I can’t stay at my family’s house anymore. For me all the people in the world are my parents, my brothers and sisters, and my relatives.” This was the ultimate goal of his estrangement from the world he once remarked characteristically, “I haven’t done anything. But even though I used to have just seven siblings, God, who is so good, has granted me to feel that everyone in the world is my brother.”
Elder Paisios
~Elder Paisios of Mt. Athos
And Jesus answered and said , Verily I say unto you , There is no man that hath left house , or brethren , or sisters , or father , or mother , or wife , or children , or lands , for my sake , and the gospel’s, But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time , houses , and brethren , and sisters , and mothers , and children , and lands ,
Mark 10:29, 30
