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Orthodox Church Father Quotes

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  • coptic youthcoptic youth
    "My Son, have you sinned?
    No longer add to them, but pray About your former sins .
    Flee from sin as you would from the presence of a snake, for if you approach it, it will bite you; it's teeth are like lions teeth, destroying the souls of men."-Wisdom of Sirach 21:2
  • Miller50
    nice post,i like it.
  • coptic youthcoptic youth
    “Our way of life in this world resembles a document that is still in draft form: things can be added or taken out, and alterations can be made, wherever one wants. But life in the world to come resembles the case of completed documents that have the King’s seal already upon them, and no addition or subtraction can be made. While we are still here, where changes can be made, let us take a look at ourselves, and while we still have control over the book of our life, and it is in our hands, let us be eager to add to it by means of a good lifestyle, and delete from it the defects of our former lifestyle.” – St Isaac the Syrian.

    I absoluetely love this one!
  • jojo204
    +Do you want to be known unto God? Try, as much as you can, not be known unto the people. (St. Evagrios the Solitary)

    If the love of the world is within you, there is no space for the love of God. (St. Augustine)

    Above anything, welcome silence, for it brings fruits that no tongue can speak of, neither can it be explained. (St. Issac of Syria)

    Whoever wishes to see God must try to purify his heart by constantly thinking of God. (St. John Saba, The Spiritual Elder)
  • SmirserSmirser
    Thank you dear lovely people for quotes.
    God bless you for your wish to help with good advise.
    Alexander.
  • Mark96Mark96
    The World

    St Athanasius

    The Patriarch of Alexandria at the time St. Athanasius is famously quoted when an associate said to him “Your holiness but the whole world is against you on this matter” he replied “If the whole world is against me then I am against the whole world”.
  • Theophilus 1Theophilus 1
    [quote author=sandrahanna link=topic=1722.msg26520#msg26520 date=1117308091]
    [glow=red,2,300]"who ever escapes from trouble escapes from the lord"[/glow]
    i am not sure who said that!iether abba paul or st.anthony!


    “He who runs away from sacrifice runs away from God.” Theodore the Studite
  • ritarita
    a part from the book Father Arseny( Russian priest...)

    the supervisor the optimist hit father arseny in the face, and left, still smiling. wiping blood from his face , father arseny prayed, do not abandon me, do not leave me, a sinner. Have mercy on me
  • ritarita
    Father Arseny

    " a human person will always be a human person and, whoever he is, he is made in the image of God and this always stays with him. Only in one case did sins make this image pale; in other cases, the great power of a mans efforts in the name of God can make this man shine so that he bright as an angel of God." :):):)
  • ritarita
    People are often unreasonable and self-centered.
    Forgive them anyway.
    If you are kind, people may accuse you of ulterior motives.
    Be kind anyway.
    If you are honest, people may cheat you.
    Be honest anyway.
    If you find happiness, people may be jealous.
    Be happy anyway.
    Give the world what you have and it may never be enough.
    Give your best anyway.
    For you see in the end, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.
    - Mother Teresa
  • Tawfik John
    Abba Xanthios said;
    "A dog is better than I am, for he has love and does not judge"
  • joekelinyjoekeliny
    "There is no labour greater than that of prayer to God. For every time a man wants to pray, his enemies, the demons, want to prevent him, for they know that it is only by turning him from prayer that they can hinder his journey to the kingdom of God. Prayer is a warfare to the last breath". ~ Abba Aghathon
  • ReturnOrthodoxyReturnOrthodoxy
    “The word is true. The promise holds strong. The Church is invincible, even if hell itself was moved and the ruler of darkness summoned turmoil” (St. Athanasius).



  • minasolimanminasoliman
    For the Christians are distinguished from other men neither by country, nor language, nor the customs which they observe. For they neither inhabit cities of their own, nor employ a peculiar form of speech, nor lead a life which is marked out by any singularity. The course of conduct which they follow has not been devised by any speculation or deliberation of inquisitive men; nor do they, like some, proclaim themselves the advocates of any merely human doctrines. But, inhabiting Greek as well as barbarian cities, according as the lot of each of them has determined, and following the customs of the natives in respect to clothing, food, and the rest of their ordinary conduct, they display to us their wonderful and confessedly striking method of life. They dwell in their own countries, but simply as sojourners. As citizens, they share in all things with others, and yet endure all things as if foreigners. Every foreign land is to them as their native country, and every land of their birth as a land of strangers. They marry, as do all [others]; they beget children; but they do not destroy their offspring. They have a common table, but not a common bed. They are in the flesh, but they do not live after the flesh. They pass their days on earth, but they are citizens of heaven. They obey the prescribed laws, and at the same time surpass the laws by their lives. They love all men, and are persecuted by all. They are unknown and condemned; they are put to death, and restored to life. They are poor, yet make many rich; they are in lack of all things, and yet abound in all; they are dishonoured, and yet in their very dishonour are glorified. They are evil spoken of, and yet are justified; they are reviled, and bless; they are insulted, and repay the insult with honour; they do good, yet are punished as evil-doers. When punished, they rejoice as if quickened into life; they are assailed by the Jews as foreigners, and are persecuted by the Greeks; yet those who hate them are unable to assign any reason for their hatred.

    To sum up all in one word-what the soul is in the body, that are Christians in the world. The soul is dispersed through all the members of the body, and Christians are scattered through all the cities of the world. The soul dwells in the body, yet is not of the body; and Christians dwell in the world, yet are not of the world.

    The invisible soul is guarded by the visible body, and Christians are known indeed to be in the world, but their godliness remains invisible. The flesh hates the soul, and wars against it, though itself suffering no injury, because it is prevented from enjoying pleasures; the world also hates the Christians, though in nowise injured, because they abjure pleasures. The soul loves the flesh that hates it, and [loves also] the members; Christians likewise love those that hate them. The soul is imprisoned in the body, yet preserves that very body; and Christians are confined in the world as in a prison, and yet they are the preservers of the world. The immortal soul dwells in a mortal tabernacle; and Christians dwell as sojourners in corruptible [bodies], looking for an incorruptible dwelling in the heavens. The soul, when but ill-provided with food and drink, becomes better; in like manner, the Christians, though subjected day by day to punishment, increase the more in number. God has assigned them this illustrious position, which it were unlawful for them to forsake.

    Epistle to Diognetus, late first-early second century




  • minasolimanminasoliman
    edited September 2014
    Content with the provision which God had made for you, and carefully attending to His words, you were inwardly filled with His doctrine, and His sufferings were before your eyes. Thus a profound and abundant peace was given to you all, and you had an insatiable desire for doing good, while a full outpouring of the Holy Spirit was upon you all.

    St. Clement of Rome, late first century
  • mabsootamabsoota
    thanks, that one before the last one was one we studied in church history with the british orthodox church.
    it is one of my favourites!
    :-)
  • minasolimanminasoliman
    For Christ is of those who are humble-minded, and not of those who exalt themselves over His flock. Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Sceptre of the majesty of God, did not come in the pomp of pride or arrogance, although He might have done so, but in a lowly condition, as the Holy Spirit had declared regarding Him.  ...  You see, beloved, what is the example which has been given us; for if the Lord thus humbled Himself, what shall we do who have through Him come under the yoke of His grace?

    St. Clement of Rome, late first century

  • minasolimanminasoliman
    Let us look steadfastly to the Father and Creator of the universe, and cleave to His mighty and surpassingly great gifts and benefactions of peace. Let us contemplate Him with our understanding, and look with the eyes of our soul to His long-suffering will. Let us reflect how free from the wrath He is towards all His creation. 

    St. Clement of Rome, late first century
  • minasolimanminasoliman

    He who has commanded us not to lie, shall much more Himself not lie; for nothing is impossible with God, except to lie. 

    St. Clement of Rome, late first century
  • minasolimanminasoliman
    All these, therefore, were highly honoured, and made great, not for their own sake, or for their own works, or for the righteousness which they wrought, but through the operation of His will. And we, too, being called by His will in Christ Jesus, are not justified by ourselves, nor by our own wisdom, or understanding, or godliness, or works which we have wrought in holiness of heart. 

    St. Clement of Rome, late first century


  • minasolimanminasoliman
    The good servant receives the bread of his labour with confidence; the lazy and slothful cannot look his employer in the face.

    St. Clement of Rome, late first century.
  • TITLTITL
    minasoliman said:

    The good servant receives the bread of his labour with confidence; the lazy and slothful cannot look his employer in the face.


    St. Clement of Rome, late first century.
    Can you explain this one?
  • minasolimanminasoliman
    To me it means working hard and diligently, and not to lay around doing nothing. At that point our confidence builds up. But when we do nothing, we can't even look our employer to the face for our own personal guilt. In a spiritual way, it could mean spiritual laziness as well, that when we don't try, we seem to struggle to look God in the face in times when we truly do need Him. Therefore, be diligent. Don't be lazy. This is from his letter to the Romans, chapter 34.
  • katanikhoroskatanikhoros
    Corinthians you mean
  • minasolimanminasoliman
    edited July 2015
    Yes...letter to the Corinthians...sorry for the mistake.

    In fact, anything I'm quoting with the name St. Clement of Rome only comes from that letter.  There is no other work we genuinely know of that is written by him.  Anything else is either spurious or conjecture.
  • TITLTITL
    "The Savior comes in various forms to each man for his profit. For to those who have need of gladness He becomes a Vine; and to those who want to enter in He stands as a Door; and to those who need to offer up their prayers He stands a mediating High Priest. Again, to those who have sins He becomes a Sheep, that He may be sacrificed for them. He is made all things to all men, remaining in His own nature what He is."

    St. Cyril of Jerusalem
  • minasolimanminasoliman

    How blessed and wonderful, beloved, are the gifts of God! Life in immortality, splendour in righteousness, truth in perfect confidence, faith in assurance, self-control in holiness! And all these fall under the cognizance of our understandings [now]; what then shall those things be which are prepared for such as wait for Him? The Creator and Father of all worlds, the Most Holy, alone knows their amount and their beauty. Let us therefore earnestly strive to be found in the number of those that wait for Him, in order that we may share in His promised gifts.
     

    St. Clement of Rome, late first century
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