Quotes: The Fathers of The Faith

[No*s]

I laughed out loud to keep from crying when I read this.... thanks ! !

Yeah, I liked that one. It's a pretty good message .

 

[Linus7]

"We ought to remain in the Church that was founded by the Apostles and continues to this day. If you ever hear of any that are called Christians taking their name not from the Lord Jesus Christ, but from some other, for instance, Marcionites, Valentinians . . . you may be sure that you have not the Church of Christ there, but the synagogue of Antichrist. For the fact that they took rise after the foundation of the Church is proof that they are those whose coming the Apostle foretold. And let them not flatter themselves if they think they have scriptural authority for their assertions, since the devil himself quoted Scripture, and the essence of the Scriptures is not the letter, but the meaning. Otherwise, if we follow the letter, we too can concoct a new dogma and assert that such persons as wear shoes and have two coats must not be received into the Church" (St. Jerome, quoted in Mike Aquilina's The Way of the Fathers, p. 34).

 

[No*s]

Extirpate two thoughts within thyself: do not consider thyself worthy of anything great, and do not think that any other man is much lower than thou in worthiness. Learn humility beforehand, which the Lord commanded in word and showed forth in deed. Hence, do not expect obedience from others, but be ready for obedience thyself. -- Saint Basil the Great.

 

[No*s]

There is only one physician, who is both flesh and spirit, born and unborn, God in man, true life in death, both from Mary and from God, first subject to suffering and then beyond it, Jesus Christ our Lord. Therefore let no one deceive you, just as you are not now deceived, seeing that you belong entirely to God. For when no dissension capable of tormenting you is established among you, then you indeed live God's way. I am a humble sacrifice for you, and I dedicate myself to you, Ephesians, a church which is famous forever. -- St. Ignatius

 

[No*s]

Hold fast to the blessed and joyful sorrow of holy compunction and do not cease laboring for it until it lifts you high above the things of the world to present you, a cleansed offering, to Christ. -- St. John Climacus, The Ladder of Divine Ascent, 7

 

[No*s]

Toward the end of his life, Father Augustine the Russian (+ 1965) lived alone in a hermitage dependent on the monastery of Philotheou (on Mount Athos). He had a great love for every person, and every time he met anyone -- whether monk or layman -- he would make a deep bow to him. "He carries the grace of Holy Baptism," he would say whenever someone asked why he did this.

He overflowed with charity even for animals. Little by little, he transformed the enclosure of his hermitage into a hospice for elderly and ailing animals: asses and mules that were blind, lame, moribund, sick, or otherwise useless. The lay workers would open his gate and let such animals in without even asking him. The good old man would then take loving care of them. He used to go and cut fresh grass and store it for winter's provisions, for his "disciples," as he used to call them. When the fathers of the monastery saw how weak he had become, they suggested that they take him to the monastery infirmary. Father Augustine answered, "I can't leave my mules!" Finally, he accepted.

At night, he had no need of a kerosene lamp. "God gives me another light," he used to say, "and I can see more clearly than during the day." In his simplicity, he believed that everyone could see, just like he could, the uncreated light of God. One day, the eve of the Annunciation (March 25) -- the patronal feast of the monastery -- monks and laymen were busy polishing the monastery's brass. Suddenly, Father Augustine appeared, and he was radiant, quite transformed with the divine presence.

"Bless me, holy fathers!" he said, making his usual prostration.

"Say, how are are, Father Augustine?"

"I want to confide a thought to you. You must tell me if I am experiencing an illusion. This night, all night, there was a lot of light. One could see clearly, just like daylight, from Caracallou to Stavronikita. I could pick out the least detail. Was this, maybe, an illusion?"

One of the lay workers, mocking the old man, replied, "But, dear father, it was a sputnik satellite. It fell from the sky into your cell and lit everything up."

Reassured, Father Augustine thanked him, and took his leave.

-----------

When he was bedridden in the infirmary, he used often to shout, "The holy angels are coming, there! there! Don't you see them?" And he would wake up the elderly monks sleeping next to him and shake them. Then, a little later, "The saints are here! The All-Holy Mother of God!" And he would again awaken the other invalids. The infirmarian used to reprimand him severely, saying, "Won't you stop this? You're deluded. Who is someone like you that the saints should come visit you?" Every day it was like that. When Father Augustine finally passed away, his face suddenly lit up, blindingly, three times. The infirmarian then understood his error, and exclaimed, "Now I am sure that this one was a saint!"- -- The Living Witness of the Holy Mountain

 

[michel]

From the Divine Liturgy:

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.

Praise the Lord, O my soul!
I will praise the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praises to my God while I have being.
Put not your trust in princes, in sons of men in whom there is no salvation.
When his breath departs he returns to his earth; on that very day his plans perish.
The Lord will reign forever; Thy God, O Zion, to all generations.
Now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.

Only-begotten Son and Immortal Word of God,
Who for our salvation didst will to be incarnate of the holy Theotokos and ever-virgin Mary,
Who without change didst become man and wast crucified,
Who art one of the Holy Trinity, glorified with the Father and the Holy Spirit:
O Christ our God, trampling down death by death, save us!
​

That is truly beautiful No*s; thank you.

 

[No*s]

An old man said to a brother: Do not measure your heart against your brother, saying that you are more serious or more continent or more understanding than he. But be obedient to the grace of God, in the spirit of poverty, and in charity unfeigned. The efforts of a man swollen with vanity are futile. It is written, "Let him that thinks he stands take heed lest he falls." In your spirit be seasoned with salt -- and so be dependent upon Christ.​

Sadly, I don't know the source on this one. I got it in the mail.

 

[Linus7]

"The proud one does not know himself. If he knew himself and his own stupidity, he would not be conceited."

- St. Mark the Hermit

 

[No*s]

They said of Abba Pambo that as he was dying, at the very hour of his death, he said to the holy men who were standing near him, "Since I came to this place of the desert and built my cell and dwelt here, I do not remember having eaten bread which was not the fruit of my hands and I have not repented of a word I have said up to the present time; and yet I am going to God as one who not yet begun to serve him."

Abba Pambo was greater than many others in that if he was asked to interpret part of the Scriptures or a spiritual saying, he would not reply immediately, but he would say he did not know that saying. If he were asked again, he would say no more.​

I pale in comparison to him in how fast I offer my opinion...

 

[No*s]

Some quotes from St. Isaac the Syrian (list here):

• The purpose of the advent of the Saviour, when He gave us His life-giving commandments as purifying remedies in our passionate state, was to cleanse the soul from the damage done by the first transgression and bring it back to its original state. What medicines are for a sick body, that the commandments are for the passionate soul.
• What salt is for any food, humility is for every virtue. To acquire it, a man must always think of himself with contrition, self-belittlement and painful salf-judgment. But if we acquire it, it will make us sons of God.
• It is a spiritual gift from God for a man to perceive his sins.
• To bear a grudge and pray, means to sow seed on the sea and expect a harvest.

 

[No*s]

THE HOLY CHURCH is God's most supreme, most holy, most good, most wise, and most necessary establishment upon the earth. She is "the true tabernacle'' of God, "which the Lord pitched, and not man" (Heb. 8:2) -not Luther, not Calvin, and not Mohammed, nor Buddha, nor Confucius, nor any other suchlike sinful, passionate person. The Church is a union of people established by God, united among themselves by the Faith, Doctrine, Hierarchy, and Mysteries. She is Christ's spiritual army, equipped with spiritual weaponry against the numberless armed hordes of the devil: "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual wickedness in high places" (Eph. 6:12). She is a spiritual hospital where mankind, enfeebled by the open wound of sin, is cured by grace-filled treatments given by God - by repentance and communion in the Holy Mysteries of Christ, in Christ's Body and Blood, and by the word of God, by the instructions and counsels and consolations of the shepherds of Christ's rational flock. She is a common laver of purification, rebirth, and sanctification; she is God's sanctuary in which all are sanctified by the Holy Spirit through Baptism, Chrismation, the Divine Service, and other Mysteries. She is the spiritual sun of the world, enlightening and giving life to all who sit in the darkness and shadow of death, and who are dead through sin. -- St. John of Kronstadt​

SOURCE HERE​

 

[No*s]

The light of dawn comes before the sun, and meekness is the precursor of all humility. So let us listen to the order in which Christ, our Light, places these virtues. He says: "Learn from Me, because I am meek and humble of heart." Therefore before gazing at the sun of humility, we must let the light of meekness flow over us. If we do, we will then be able to look steadily at the sun. The true order of these virtues teaches us that we are totally unable to turn our eyes to the sun before we have first become accustomed to the light.

Meekness is an unchangeable state of mind, which remains the same in honour and dishonour.

Meekness is a rock overlooking the sea of anger, which breaks all the waves that dash against it, yet remains completely unmoved.

Meekness is the fellow-worker with obedience, the guide of the brotherhood, a bridle for the enraged, a check for the irritable, a minister of joy, the imitation of Christ, something proper to angels, shackles for demons, a shield against bitterness. -- St. John Climacus, The Ladder of Divine Ascent 24.1-6​

 

[thant12121]

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[No*s]

This is an old hymn from England before the Norman invasion called Caedmon's hymn.

We should now obey the Ward of the Kingdom of Heaven, the might of the Creator, and His way of thinking, the worc of the Father of Glory, as He, the eternal Lord, established the beginning of every wonder. First He, the heavenly Shaper, shaped for the sons of the dirt heaven as a roof. Then afterwards the Ward of mankind, the eternal Lord, God Almighty, prepared the world, the earth, for men.
​

My Old English isn't the best in the world (I'm having to teach myself; there aren't any teachers I know that I can contact for this one lol), but I was careful. If I made an error, the jist of the song is still accurate. The original is found at this website.

 

[Quiddity]

Wow, those were pretty neat No*s. Thanks for sharing.

 

[No*s]

Welcome . Thanks for the thanks .

 

[No*s]

Kyriacos Markides, in his book The Mountain of Silence, includes the following quote (itself taken from Fr. Seraphim Rose's biography):

"The experience you just described [one of initial spiritual work being floor-scrubbing] is similar to that of another novice who went to Mount Athos to become a master of spiritual secrets," I interrupted while takingout of my handbag a book I was reading. I began flipping through the pages. I then translated a relevant passage into Grek sentance by sentence.

"Not many years ago," I read, "a young monastic aspirant went to Mount Athos. In talking with the venerable abbot of the monastery where he wished to stay, he told him, `Holy Father! My heart burns for the spiritual life, for asceticism, for unceasing communion with God, for obedience to an elder. Instruct me, please, Holy Father, that I may attain spiritual advancement.' Going to a bookshelf, the abbot pulled down a copy of David Copperfield by Charles Dickens. `Read this, son,' he said. `But, Father!' objected the disturbed aspirant. `This is heterodox Victorian sentimentality, a product of the Western captiviity! This isn't spiritual, it's not even Orthodox! Ineed writings which will teach me spirituality!' The abbot smiled, saying, `Unless you first develop normal, human, Christian feelings and learn to view life as little Davey did--with simplicity, kindness, warmth, and forgiveness--then all the Orthodox spirituality and Patristic writings will not only be of no help to you--tthey will turn you into a spiritual monster and destroy your soul.'"​

May God help us all in our humility and love that we don't simply make the faith an abstract thing for debate.

 

[James the Persian]

Kyriacos Markides, in his book The Mountain of Silence, includes the following quote (itself taken from Fr. Seraphim Rose's biography):

"The experience you just described [one of initial spiritual work being floor-scrubbing] is similar to that of another novice who went to Mount Athos to become a master of spiritual secrets," I interrupted while takingout of my handbag a book I was reading. I began flipping through the pages. I then translated a relevant passage into Grek sentance by sentence.

"Not many years ago," I read, "a young monastic aspirant went to Mount Athos. In talking with the venerable abbot of the monastery where he wished to stay, he told him, `Holy Father! My heart burns for the spiritual life, for asceticism, for unceasing communion with God, for obedience to an elder. Instruct me, please, Holy Father, that I may attain spiritual advancement.' Going to a bookshelf, the abbot pulled down a copy of David Copperfield by Charles Dickens. `Read this, son,' he said. `But, Father!' objected the disturbed aspirant. `This is heterodox Victorian sentimentality, a product of the Western captiviity! This isn't spiritual, it's not even Orthodox! Ineed writings which will teach me spirituality!' The abbot smiled, saying, `Unless you first develop normal, human, Christian feelings and learn to view life as little Davey did--with simplicity, kindness, warmth, and forgiveness--then all the Orthodox spirituality and Patristic writings will not only be of no help to you--tthey will turn you into a spiritual monster and destroy your soul.'"
​

May God help us all in our humility and love that we don't simply make the faith an abstract thing for debate.

So true. When I see the excesses some converts go to in their search for 'true' Orthodoxy and the senseless and unloving arguments they make it really makes me sad.

James

 

[No*s]

So true. When I see the excesses some converts go to in their search for 'true' Orthodoxy and the senseless and unloving arguments they make it really makes me sad.

James

Sadly, I often catch myself doing exactly that sort of thing. It's so easy to become cold and calculating