Beauty of Orthodoxy

,,Every man is the house of God and is meant to be the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit"

When He sees that we are unworthy of His benefits, He no longer does good to us, so that we may not become slothful. If, however, we change just a little, enough to recognize that we have sinned, He pours out His benefits upon us with greater richness than springs pour out their waters, and bathes us with His gifts more generously than the sea bathes its shores. The more we receive, the more He rejoices.

This moves Him to give us even more. For God considers our salvation His own wealth and gives it abundantly to those who ask for it. Paul also showed this through the words: "is rich unto all that call upon him". He becomes angry when we do not ask Him; He turns His back on us when we do not pray to Him. For this He became poor, to enrich us; for this He suffered the passions, to urge us to ask Him.

Let us not, therefore, lose hope, but, because we have so many opportunities and such good hopes, even if we should sin every day, let us draw near to Him, praying to Him, imploring Him, asking Him for the forgiveness of sins. Thus we will put an end to sins, we will put the devil to flight, we will draw upon ourselves the love for mankind of God, and we will obtain the good things to come, by the grace and love for mankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, to Whom belong glory and power, forever and ever. Amen."

"A woman who fears the Lord will be praised; but a woman who is external in her speech and attire, and does not possess the inner beauty of the virtues, is like a gold ring in a swine's snout."

"If you want to find peace and be free from all afflictions, die to everything before you die physically; then you will discover that you are alive in God."

"A pure mind sees things correctly; a trained intellect perceives what is hidden; but he who has received the grace of the Holy Spirit sees the mysteries of God."

,,God is not angered by being insulted, but He is angered that you are the one who insults Him and that you act like a drunken man. If we, being evil, suffer when our children insult us, how much more God, Who cannot even be insulted! If we act this way, we who have a natural love, then how much more God, who has a supernatural love. "Even if a woman should forget the fruit of her womb," says the Lord, "I will not forget you!" (Isaiah 49, 15)."

,,Earthly things can be known through the human mind, but the Lord and all heavenly things are known only through the Holy Spirit and cannot be known through the simple mind alone. He who has known God through the Holy Spirit forgets the earth as if it no longer existed, but after prayer he raises his eyes and sees it again.

Brothers, in the Kingdom of Heaven the saints see the glory of God, but let us humble ourselves and the Lord will love us and will give us on earth everything that is beneficial for soul and body, and He will reveal to us all mysteries.

People have attached their souls to the acquisition of earthly goods and have lost the love of God, that is why there is no peace on earth. Many want to know, for example, how the sun was formed, but they forget to know God. The Lord, however, did not speak to us about the sun, but revealed to us about the Father and the Kingdom of Heaven. He said that in the Kingdom of His Father the righteous will shine like the sun [Mt 13, 43]; and the Scripture says that the Lord will be the Light in paradise [Rev 21, 23; 22, 5] and the Light of the Lord will be in the soul, in the mind and in the body of the saints."