SPIRITUAL MORSELS from the Ancient Fathers

[Arsenios]

O foremost in the ranks of Apostles,
and teachers of the world,
O Peter and Paul.
Intercede with the Master of all,
to grant safety to the world,
and to our souls
the Great Mercy.
--

Apolytikion of Saints Peter and Paul
Sung in prayer each June 29th in the Holy Orthodox Churches...

 

[Arsenios]

The holy Fathers
referred to 'mine' and 'thine' as cold words,
and wherever they are found,
the bond of love is absent
and Christ has departed.

St. Gregory Palamas

 

[MoreCoffee]

“Teach us to give and not count the cost.”
-St. Ignatius de Loyola

 

[MoreCoffee]

“Christ be with me, Christ within me, Christ behind me, Christ before me, Christ beside me, Christ to win me, Christ to comfort me and restore me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ in quiet, Christ in danger, Christ in hearts of all that love me, Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.”
-St. Patrick

 

[Arsenios]

“How mistaken are those people who seek happiness outside of themselves,
in foreign lands and journeys, in riches and glory, in great possessions and pleasures,
in diversions and vain things, which have a bitter end!

It is the same thing to construct the tower of happiness outside of ourselves
as it is to build a house in a place that is consistently shaken by earthquakes.

Happiness is found within ourselves,
and blessed is the man who has understood this.
Happiness is a pure heart,
for such a heart becomes the throne of God.

Thus says Christ of those who have pure hearts:
I will visit them,
and will walk in them,
and I will be a God to them,
and they will be my people.
(2 Cor 6:16)

What can be lacking to them?
Nothing, nothing at all!
For they have the greatest good in their hearts:
God Himself!”

St. Nektarios of Aegina

 

[Arsenios]

After the resurrection our bodies will be spiritual,
and not earthly ones,
everything earthly will remain upon earth.

Remembering what our future abode will be,
Christians, let us, then, gradually
detach ourselves from everything earthly.

St. John of Kronstadt

 

[Arsenios]

Remain constantly before His face,
think of Him,
remember Him in your heart.

Otherwise,
if youonly meet Him from time to time,
you risk losing your close friendship with Him.

Familiarity with God
is built on meditation
and self-abandonment to Him
during prayer.

St. Isaac the Syrian

 

[Arsenios]

When Grace approaches a person,
it does not change his nature,
but it fills and overfills
--
as much as each
person's vessel can hold
--
the same natural properties and good attributes
with which his nature is endowed.

Also it can reduce and remove natural weaknesses.

Elder Joseph the Hesychast

 

[Arsenios]

And when we have cleansed ourselves with repentance,
we shall see that the misfortunes sent to us
were actually signs of the Lord’s mercy and love for us.

And we shall understand that we need these
more than all the good things of the world.

Abbot Nikon Vorobiev

 

[Arsenios]

As the salvation of our souls
is not gained solely by fasting,
let us fill what is wanting in our fasting
with almsgiving to the poor.

Let us give to virtue
what we take from pleasure.
Let the abstinence of the man who fasts
be the dinner of the poor man.

St. Leo of Rome

 

[MoreCoffee]

“Dear friends, if you learn to discover Jesus in the Eucharist, you will also know how to discover Him in your brothers and sisters, particularly the very poor.”

(Saint John Paul II)

Not ancient, not yet anyway, give it 3,000 years

 

[Arsenios]

It is a good thing to believe in Christ,
because without faith in Christ it is impossible for anyone to be saved;
but one must also be instructed in the word of truth and understand it.

It is a good thing to be instructed in the word of truth, and to understand it is essential;
but one must also receive Baptism in the name of the Holy and Life-giving Trinity,
for the bringing to life of the soul.

It is a good thing to receive Baptism and through it a new spiritual life;
but it is necessary that this mystical life, or this mental enlightenment in the spirit,
also should be consciously felt.

It is a good thing to receive with feeling the mental enlightenment in the spirit;
but one must manifest also the works of light.

It is a good thing to do the works of light;
but one must also be clothed in the humility and meekness of Christ
for perfect likeness to Christ.

He who attains this and becomes meek and humble of heart,
as if these were his natural dispositions,
will unfailingly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven
and into the Joy of His Lord.

St. Symeon the New Theologian

 

[Arsenios]

It is a wonderful thing that,
no matter how much we trouble about our health,
however much care we take of ourselves,
whatever wholesome and pleasant food we eat,
whatever wholesome drinks we drink,
however much we walk in the fresh air,
still, notwithstanding all this,
in the end we are subjected to maladies and corruption;

whilst the saints,
who despised their flesh,
and mortified it by continual abstinence and fasting,
by lying bare on the earth,
by watchfulness, labours, unceasing prayer,
have made both their souls and bodies immortal.

St. John of Kronstadt

 

[Arsenios]

All the time,
no matter what you do,
whether you are sitting,
walking,
or working,
say with your heart,
“Lord have mercy!

St. Nikon of Optina

 

[Arsenios]

Complacency begins
when we no longer see the gift of each new day,
when we lose our gratitude for what we have been given.
God gives us all things simply because He loves us,
yet He lets us work for these things so we will
appreciate them more.

His Eminence, Metropolitan JOSEPH

 

[Arsenios]

He is spiritually courageous
who manages to take refuge in repentance
when caught in the snares of the enemy
and fallen into the nets of sin.

St. Gregory Palamas

 

[Arsenios]

We should try to live in such a way
that if the Gospels were lost,
they could be rewritten
by looking at us.

Metropolitan Anthony Bloom

 

[Arsenios]

Abba Poemen said of Abba John the Dwarf

that he had prayed God to take his passions away from him so that he
might become free from care.

He went and told an old man this;
I find myself in peace, without an enemy,' he said.
The old man said to him,
'Go beseech God to stir up warfare
so that you may regain the affliction
and the humility that you used to have,
for it is by warfare that the soul makes progress.'

So he besought God
and when warfare came,
he no longer prayed that it might be taken away,
but said,
'Lord, give me strength for the fight.'

St. John Kolovos (the dwarf)

 

[Arsenios]

If man suppresses his stomach and his tongue,
then he will be able to rule over himself.

St. Poemen

 

[Arsenios]

“We believe then, in One God,
One beginning, having no beginning,
Uncreated, Unbegotten, Imperishable and Immortal,
Everlasting, Infinite, Uncircumscribed,
Boundless, of Infinite Power,
Simple, Uncompound, Incorporeal, without flux,
Passionless, Unchangeable, Unalterable, Unseen,
The Fountain of Goodness and Justice,
The Light of the mind."

An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith."
St John of Damascus@;