Quotes on Orthodoxy – Page 15

Quotes on Orthodoxy / St. Symeon the New Theologian

“…to regard poverty as wealth, and lowliness as glory and honor…”

To have faith is to die for Christ and for His commandments; to believe that this death brings life; to regard poverty as wealth, and lowliness and humiliation as true glory and honor; to believe that by not possessing anything one possesses everything (2 Cor. 6:9-10) or, rather, that not possessing anything is to possess the ‘unsearchable riches’ of the knowledge of Christ (Eph. 3:8); and to look upon all visible things as dross and smoke. To have faith in Christ means not only to stand aloof from the delights of this life, but also to endure patiently every temptation and test that brings upon us distress, affliction and misfortune, for as long as God wishes and until He comes to us. I waited patiently for the Lord and He heard me (Ps. 40:1).

– St. Symeon the New Theologian, Philokalia, Vol. 4

Featured image: Photographer Joanna Kosinska. source

Quotes on Orthodoxy / St. Nikolai of Žiča & South Canaan

“Why do some envy the evil man when evil is a greater sickness than leprosy?”

Be not envious of evil men (Proverbs 24:1).
Does anyone envy the leper? No one envies him. Why then do some envy the evil man when evil is a greater sickness than leprosy?
Leprosy is a disease of the flesh but evil is a disease of the soul. A leper can be healthy within while he is unhealthy on the outside. However, the evil man can be healthy on the outside but his interior is ill, his heart is sick. Greater value has a tree that is sick on the outside but has a healthy core than a tree that is healthy on the outside but has a rotten core.
Does the physician envy the sick person? He does not envy him. Neither does the righteous one envy the sinner. If you do not know whether you are righteous examine your heart: do you envy the sinner? If you envy the sinner then you are not righteous; if you do not envy the sinner, then rejoice, O righteous one of God. A physician recognizes a fatal illness of his patient and, knowing that, he pities him but does not envy him. The righteous one recognizes the sickness of sin, horrifying and deadly, and does not envy the sinner but pities him.

O good and compassionate Lord, uproot envy from our hearts and implant love. To You be glory and thanks always. Amen.

– St. Nikolai of Žiča

Featured image: St. Nikolai blessing a young child during a visit to London in the early 1950s

Philotheos of Sinai / Quotes on Orthodoxy

“They do not take into account the defeats and the victories that occur on the plane of thought.”

Many monks are not aware how the demons deceive the intellect. Being naive and undeveloped, they tend to give all their attention to the practice of the virtues and do not bother about the intellect. They move through life, I fear, without having tasted purity of heart, and are totally ignorant of the darkness of the passions within.
Such people, unaware of the battle about which Paul speaks (Eph. 6:12) and not imbued with personal experience of true goodness, regard as lapses only those sins which are actually put into effect. They do not take into account the defeats and the victories that occur on the plane of thought, for these, being internal, cannot be seen by natural sight and are known only to God our judge, and to the conscience of the spiritual contestant. I take it that the scriptural words, They said, ‘Peace’, but there was no peace (Ezek. 13:10), apply to such people. The other brethren pray for them in their simplicity, and as best they can teach them to avoid the actual commission of sin. But for those who have a divine desire to cleanse the vision of the soul there is another form of activity in Christ and another mystery.

– Philotheos of Sinai, “40 Texts on Watchfulness (Nepsis)“, the Philokalia

Featured image: Photographer Gintare Vilcinyte. source

Quotes on Orthodoxy / St. Joseph of Optina

“Do not starve the soul.”

Prayer is food for the soul. Do not starve the soul, it is better to let the body go hungry. Do not judge anyone, forgive everyone. Consider yourself worse than everyone in the world and you will be saved. As much as possible, be more quiet.

– St. Joseph of Optina

Featured image: St. Joseph of Optina. source

Elder Sergei of Vanves / Quotes on Orthodoxy

“What makes a saint is not outward perfection, it’s that the old man is conquered on the inside.”

There are saints who were very anxious, who had nervous tics, and also those who were very brusque. Others were exceptionally slow. Some saints had physical defects. What makes a saint is not outward perfection, it’s that the old man is conquered on the inside. The saints are not yet totally transfigured, and the old man continues to be visible on the outside. These appearances can trick us and hide their inner reality from us.

– Elder Sergei of Vanves

Featured image: source

Quotes on Orthodoxy / St. Thalassios the Libyan

“A man deadened by the passions…”

A man deadened by the passions is impervious to advice and will not accept any spiritual correction.

– St. Thalassios the Libyan, “On Love, Self-control and Life in Accordance with the Intellect.” Philokalia, Vol. 2

Iconography & Liturgical Arts / St. John of Damascus

“A contentious unbeliever will maintain that we worship images in our churches.”

Possibly a contentious unbeliever will maintain that we worship images in our churches and are convicted of praying to lifeless idols. Far be it from us to do this. Faith makes Christians, and God, who cannot deceive, works miracles. We are not content with mere colored pictures. With the material picture before our eyes we see the invisible God through the visible representation, and glorify Him as if present, not as a God without reality, but as a God who is the essence of being. Nor are the saints whom we glorify fictitious. They are living with God, and their spirits being holy, they help, by the power of God, those who deserve and need their assistance.

– 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

Quotes on Orthodoxy / St. Ignatius Brianchaninov

“Do not undertake to explain the Gospels yourself.”

Do not undertake to explain the Gospels or the other books of Holy Scripture yourself. The Scriptures were not expressed arbitrarily by the prophets and apostles, but by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. How mindless then is it to explain them arbitrarily? The Holy Spirit, having expressed the Word of God through the prophets and apostles, explained it through the Holy Fathers. Both the Word of God and its explanation are a gift of the Holy Spirit. The holy Orthodox Church and its true children accept only this patristic interpretation!

– St. Ignatius Brianchaninov, On Reading the Gospel

Featured image: Orthodox priests at Sinai, 1923. From the G. Eric and Edith Matson Collection. Library of Congress

Quotes on Orthodoxy / St. Theognostos

“Do not pursue theology beyond the limits of your present state of development.”

Do not try to embark on the higher forms of contemplation before you have achieved complete dispassion, and do not pursue what lies as yet beyond your reach…Do not pursue theology beyond the limits of your present state of development: it is wrong for us who are still drinking the milk of the virtues to attempt to soar to the heights of theology, and if we do so we will flounder like fledglings, however great the longing roused within us by the honey of spiritual knowledge.

– St. Theognostos, “On the Practice of the Virtues, Contemplation, and the Priesthood.” Philokalia, Vol. 2

Featured image: “Nasa Bro, Mo.” c. 1860-1900. Photographer Ole Tobias Olsen. National Library of Norway.