Daily Quotes

14th July 2021

“If man removes himself and his own will from all his actions, then he progresses well, and he will definitely be enlightened by God and there will be a spirit of communication and understanding. Because when he removes his own thought, there come divine thoughts. One must acquire spiritual senses so that he can receive divine enlightenment. […] Even more so in our days, with the situation we live in, it is important for spiritual people to communicate with each other, to understand each other.”

Saint Paisios the Athonite

From the book of St Paisios the Athonite “Spiritual Awakening, Words B”.

17th April 2021

“We need to understand that without our Church there is no God.”

Archbishop Makarios of the Greek Orthodox Church of Australia

‘What does this mean? It means that if one member of the Church gets elevated, the Church gives something to one member of the Church. This is for the whole of the Church to be happy about. It’s not, “he did this and I didn’t make it.” It doesn’t work like that. We are all each others’ members. The church is the body of Christ. What does this mean? It means that if your eye is healthy you have to be happy about it. And if your eye hurts, you have to be sad. This is your brother we are talking about, and not something else.’ Explanation given by His Grace Bishop Emilianos of Meloa during the Q&A session with students at Saint Andrew’s Theological College in Sydney, NSW.

7th April 2021

“You who approach your brother, you who are a husband or a wife, when you approach your wife or husband, you who are a father or a mother, when you approach your child, whatever you say, whatever you are thinking to say, say it after you first say a few words that will make him happy, will give him some consolation, a breath of fresh air. Make him say ‘I feel better, I feel happier!’ Approach people in a way that makes them feel proud of you, love you, feel ecstatic when they see you. Because all people in their lives, in their homes, in their bodies, in their souls, have pain, sicknesses, difficulties, hardships; and each of them hide their pain inside their secret ‘basket’, inside their heart, inside their home, so that others are not aware of it. So, I don’t know your pain and you don’t know my pain. I may be laughing and shout, in order to cover my sorrow. For this reason, give a smile to the other person first.”

Elder Aimilianos of Simonopetra

30 March 2021

“If your heart has all the sense of sin, if you do not defile it with your requirements, with your expectations, with your temptations, then God will give you everything by Himself. God has placed inside us the tendency, the disposition, the longing for knowledge and talents, but only He can satisfy them. Let God arrange your course in life. He knows before you even ask for something.

So, ask for repentance, for forgiveness of your falls, and for the rest He knows. He knows which winds He will give you, if He may take your happiness and covert it into sorrow, if He may take your sorrow and convert it into happiness, if He gives you success or failure, if He removes your passions or leaves them with you, if He heals your sickness and grants you health, if He withdraws your health and gives you sickness.

What God gives us is a mystery, which helps us enter the Kingdom of God; whereas our requirements, expectations and requests mostly take us away from God. The wishes of our heart are generally a projection of our ego. That is why the Church removes all the common prayers and tells us to only say “Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on me, a sinner”. This prayer does not ask for anything else other than for God’s mercy. This way, the habitat of our soul becomes undefiled and pure, in other words it does not become devirginated because of our stench, our longings and desires. It is only then that God can come inside us.”

Excerpt from “Ascetic Words – Interpretation of Abba Isaiah” by Archimandrite Aimilianos of Simonopetra

29 March 2021

“So, in every test, let us say: Thank you, my God, because this was needed for my salvation.”

Saint Paisios the Athonite