Quotes on Orthodoxy – Page 11

Quotes on Orthodoxy / St. Diadochos of Photiki

“Ideas of value always shun verbosity.”

When the door of the steam baths is continually left open, the heat inside rapidly escapes through it; likewise the soul, in its desire to say many things, dissipates its remembrance of God through the door of speech, even though everything it says may be good.
Thereafter the intellect, though lacking appropriate ideas, pours out a welter of confused thoughts to anyone it meets, as it no longer has the Holy Spirit to keep its understanding free from fantasy. Ideas of value always shun verbosity, being foreign to confusion and fantasy.
Timely silence, then, is precious, for it is nothing less than the mother of the wisest thoughts.

– St. Diadochos of Photiki, “On Spiritual Knowledge and Discrimination.” Philokalia, Vol. 1

Featured image: Nun in cemetery, c. 1980s. Photographer Maryna Yurchenko. source

Abbot Nikon Vorobiev / Quotes on Orthodoxy

“It is better to ruin business…”

It’s better to ruin business but keep peace with others. Don’t forget it.

– Abbot Nikon Vorobiev

Featured image: Photographer Samuel Bourne, ca. 1868. Rijksmuseum

Quotes on Orthodoxy / St. John of Damascus

“With every way possible let us guard ourselves…”

With every way possible let us guard ourselves not to receive the communion of heretics nor administer it to them… this way we will not become participants of their falsehood and condemnation.

– St. John of Damascus

Featured image: The Mar-Saba Monastery (Monastery of St. Sava the Sanctified) where St. John of Damascus served as a hieromonk, and reposed. source

Fr. Seraphim Rose / Quotes on Orthodoxy

“Everywhere today the disease of disbelief has entered deeply into the minds, and most of all the hearts, of men.”

Everywhere today the disease of disbelief has entered deeply into the minds, and most of all the hearts, of men. Our Orthodoxy, even when it is outwardly still correct, is the poorest, the feeblest Christianity there has ever been.
And still the voice of the Northern Thebaid calls us—not, it may be, to go to the desert, but at least to keep alive the fragrance of the desert in our hearts: to dwell in mind and heart with these angel-like men and women and have them as our truest friends, conversing with them in prayer; to be always aloof from the attachments and passions of this life, even when they center about some institution or leader of the church organization; to be first of all a citizen of the Heavenly Jerusalem, the City on high towards which all our Christian labors are directed, and only secondarily a member of this world below which perishes.

– Fr. Seraphim Rose

Featured image: Sinai desert. Photo department of American Colony, c. 1920-1933. Library of Congress

Abba Poeman / Quotes on Orthodoxy

“It is not good to be liked by everyone.”

He who fervently desires the love of men is deprived of the love of God. In is not good to be liked by everyone, for it is said, Woe to you, when all men speak well of you (Luke 6:26).

– Abba Poeman, Ancient Patericon, 8:16

Featured image: Photographer Oleksandra Zhyvytsia. source

Quotes on Orthodoxy / St. John of Karpathos

“Such men present falsehood as truth.”

When a man outwardly praises someone, while accusing and disparaging him in his heart, it is hard for the simple to detect this. Similarly a person may be outwardly humble but inwardly arrogant. For a long time such men present falsehood as truth, but later they are exposed and condemned.

– St. John of Karpathos, for the encouragement of monks in India who had written to him. Philokalia, Vol. 1

Featured image: Photographer Ekaterina Astakhova. source

Quotes on Orthodoxy / St. Isaac the Solitary

“Guard your heart.”

Be attentive to yourself, so that nothing destructive can separate you from the love of God. Guard your heart, and do not grow listless and say: How shall I guard it, since I am a sinner? For when a man abandons his sins and returns to God, his repentance regenerates him and renews him entirely.

– St. Isaac the Solitary, “On Guarding the Intellect.” Philokalia, Vol. 1

Featured image: On the path to Ss. Sergius and Herman Russian Orthodox Church, Alaska. Chapel and cell of Father Gerasimos.

Quotes on Orthodoxy / St. Gregory of Sinai

“How close the vices are to the path of virtue.”

Many who practice the commandments think they are following the spiritual path. But they have not yet reached the city, and in fact remain outside it. For they travel foolishly, deviating unawares from the straight highway into side-roads, not realizing how close the vices are to the path of virtue.
For the true fulfillment of the commandments demands that we do neither too little nor too much but simply pursue a course acceptable to God and in accordance with His will. Otherwise we labor in vain and do not make straight the paths of the Lord (cf. Isa. 40:3). For in everything we do we must be clear about the goal we are pursuing.

– St. Gregory of Sinai, Philokalia, Vol. 4

Featured image: Sinai desert. Photographer Bernhard Moritz, 1914. Library of Congress.

Metropolitan Gregory Postnikov of Petersburg / Quotes on Orthodoxy

“Satiety is extremely harmful for the soul.”

Satiety is extremely harmful for the soul. Whoever overindulges in food or drink is incapable of spiritual exercises and can neither pray nor reflect on any thing divine, because excess in food draws a person into laziness, sleepiness, idleness, idle talk, ludicrous behavior, and a great multitude of impure thoughts and desires.

– Metropolitan Gregory Postinikov of Petersburg

Featured image: from the Orthodox Theological Encyclopedia, Vol. 4. 1903