If you cannot close the mouth of one who reviles his brother, at least avoid conversation with him.
St. Isaac the Syrian
On the Saints
24 September 2026
Saints, People Like Us Through baptism we become part of a family much larger than our biological family. It is a family of people “set apart” by God to be light in the darkness. These set-apart people are called saints. Although we tend to think about saints as holy and pious, and picture them with halos above their heads and ecstatic gazes, true saints are much more accessible. They are men and women like us, who live ordinary lives and struggle with ordinary problems. What makes them saints is their clear and unwavering focus on God and God’s people. Some of their lives may look quite different, but most of their lives are remarkably similar to our own. The saints are our brothers and sisters, calling us to become like them.
Henri Nowen
Entrusting in God
3 September 2026
For someone to entrust himself to God means that, from that point onwards, he will no longer be devoured by anguish or fear over anything; nor will he again be tormented by the thought that he has no one to look after him.
St. Isaac the Syrian
On Prayer
13 August 2026
As a bird without wings, as a soldier without arms, so is a Christian without prayer.
St. Tikhon of Zadonsk
On Holy Scripture
8 August 2026
The reading of the word of God should be performed in solitude, in order that the whole mind of the reader might be plunged into the truths of the Holy Scripture, and that from this he might receive warmth, which in solitude produces tears; from these a man is wholly warmed and is filled with spiritual gifts, which rejoice the mind and heart more than any word.
Seraphim of Sarov
Justification by Faith
29 July 2026
Therefore they were all glorified and magnified, not through themselves or their own works or the righteous actions which they had produced, but through his will; and therefore we ourselves, who through his will have been called in Christ Jesus, are not justified through ourselves, nor through our own wisdom or understanding or piety or the works which we have produced in holiness of heart, but through faith, through which the Almighty God has justified all people from the beginning of the world; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Clement of Rome
On the Resurrection
18 July 2026
By His Resurrection, Christ conquered sin and death, destroyed Satan's dark kingdom, freed the enslaved human race and broke the seal on the greatest mysteries of God and man.
Nikolaj Velimirović
The Gospel
12 July 2026
If you believe what you like in the gospels, and reject what you don't like, it is not the gospel you believe, but yourself.
St Augustine
The Final Say
11 July 2026
What I see around me would drive me insane, if I did not know that no matter what happens, God has the last word.
Saint Paisios the Athonite
On Prayer
17 June2026
Whether, therefore, we receive what we ask for, or do not receive it, let us still continue steadfast in prayer. For to fail in obtaining the desires of our heart, when God so wills it, is not worse than to receive it; for we know not as He does, what is profitable to us.
Saint John Chrysostom
The Body of Christ
7 June2026
If you want to help the Church, it is better to try to correct yourself, rather than be looking to correct others. If you manage to correct yourself, one small part of the Church is immediately corrected. Naturally, if everyone did the same, the body of the Church would be in good health.”
Elder Paisios of Mount Athos
Death
1 June2026
Death is not scary for those who wait on the Lord. Scary is the one who lives as if there is no eternity.
St. Theophan the Recluse
Anima Christi
22 May 2026
Soul of Christ, sanctify me. Body of Christ, save me. Blood of Christ, inebriate me. Water from the side of Christ, wash me. Passion of Christ, strengthen me.
On Lens
18 May 2026
Love forgives many mistakes, while hatred imagines mistakes even where they do not exist.
St. John Chrysostom
Holy Scripture
12 May 2026
Let the inspired Scriptures then be our umpire, and the vote of truth will surely be given to those whose dogmas are found to agree with the Divine words.
John Chrysostom
Life's Lessons
8 May 2026
If you are an ardent reader, seek not brilliant and erudite texts; otherwise the demon of haughtiness will strike your heart. But like a wise bee that gathers honey from flowers, so also through your reading obtain healing for your soul.
Ephrem the Syrian
Grace
7 May 2026
Our whole life as the children of God is a life of reception. We have been justified by the grace of God the Father, so we now live by faith in His grace. Because we believe in Him we now receive every spiritual gift from Him. We receive grace upon grace from the fullness of the incarnate Christ.
John W. Kleing
On Sacred Scriptures
6 May 2026
I trust that you are well versed in every good thing of the Lord, having been trained in the sacred Scriptures.
Polycarp of Smyrna
On Christ and Faith
2 May 2026
And the trespass which came by the tree was undone by the tree of obedience, when, hearkening unto God, the Son of man was nailed to the tree.
Irenaeus of Lyon
On Repentance
28 April 2026
Even if we filled an ocean with the tears of our repentance, it would not be enough to thank the Lord, who gives us His body and blood for free to wash us of the filth of our souls, to purify us, to rejuvenate us and resurrect us.
Saint Seraphim of Sarov
Good Deeds
23 April 2026
A man should pray that God grant him the possibility of doing a kind act, or say a kind word. Every good deed comes from God, and without Him, men cannot do them.
St. Gabriel Urgebadze
Follow God
19 April 2026
Everything in this life passes away — only God remains, only He is worth struggling towards. We have a choice: to follow the way of this world, of the society that surrounds us, and thereby find ourselves outside of God; or to choose the way of life, to choose God Who calls us and for Whom our heart is searching.
Hieromonk Seraphim Rose
Egotism
7 April 2026
A truly humble person never behaves like a teacher; he will listen, and, whenever his opinion is requested, he responds humbly. In other words, he replies like a student. He who believes that he is capable of correcting others is filled with egotism.
St. Paisios of Mount Athos
The Humble Soul
6 April 2026
The Lord does not show Himself to a proud soul. The proud soul, no matter how many books it reads, will never know God, since by its pride it does not give place for the grace of the Holy Spirit, while God is known only by the humble soul.
St. Silouan the Athonite
Pagan Idols
29 March 2026
Men imitate the gods whom they adore, and to such miserable beings their crimes become their religion.
Cyprian of Carthage
Repentance
27 March 2026
He who busies himself with the sins of others, or judges his brother on suspicion, has not yet even begun to repent or to examine himself so as to discover his own sins,
St. Maximos the Confessor
Our Boast
11 March 2026
Seek nothing but to fear Him, to love Him, and to walk in all His ways. This is your boast, and this is your God.
St Gregory Palamas
Pride
9 March 2026
Pride is the extreme poverty of the soul that thinks itself to be rich and mistakes darkness for light.
St. John Climacus
Anima Christi
4 March 2026
Soul of Christ, sanctify me.
Body of Christ, save me.
Blood of Christ, inebriate me.
Water from the side of Christ, wash me.
Passion of Christ, strengthen me.
O Good Jesus, hear me.
Within your wounds hide me.
Permit me not to be separated from you.
From the wicked foe, defend me.
At the hour of my death, call me
and bid me come to you
That with your saints I may praise you
For ever and ever. Amen.
On Insolence
24 February 2026
He who is insolent towards men is insolent towards God, as many of us are. Respect in man the grand, inestimable image of God and be forbearing towards the faults and errors of fallen man, so that God may be forbearing towards your own, because the enemy of God and of mankind, being unable to vent his malice upon God, endeavours to vent it upon his image - man, as well as all his impurities, his darkness, pride, envy, etc. Respect, therefore, man and save him; watch yourself also, do not become irritable nor malicious, do not envy, do not offend, do not lie, do not commit adultery, do not steal, and so on.
St. John of Kronstadt
On Marriage
16 February 2026
The husband and wife should be like the hand and eye. When the hand hurts, the eyes should be crying, and when the eyes cry, the hand should wipe away the tears.
Saint John Chrysostomos
On Marriage
16 February 2026
The Husband and wife should be similar to the hand and the eye. When the hand hurts, the eyes should be crying. And when the eyes cry, the hand should wipe away the tears.
John Chrysostom
On Repentance
12 February 2026
There is no sin that God cannot forgive, big or small. God does not measure a man by the magnitude of his sins but by the intensity of his repentance.
Archmandrite Sebastianos Topalis
Hope of Salvation
10 February 2026
Never lose hope of salvation. Constantly cry out to God and weep. God never overlooks a soul that wants to be saved and repents, no matter how much it may be wounded in the fight.
Elder Ephraim of Arizona
The Creator of Matter
8 February 2026
The whole earth is a living icon of the face of God. ... I do not worship matter. I worship the Creator of matter who became matter for my sake, who willed to take His abode in matter, who worked out my salvation through matter. Never will I cease honoring the matter which wrought my salvation! I honor it, but not as God. Because of this I salute all remaining matter with reverence, because God has filled it with his grace and power. Through it my salvation has come to me.
John of Damascus
Prayer
2 February 2026
Whether you are in church, or in your house, or in the country; whether you are guarding sheep, or constructing buildings..., do not stop praying. When you are able, bend your knees, when you cannot, make intercession in your mind, 'at evening and at morning and at midday’. If prayer precedes your work and if, when you rise from your bed, your first movements are accompanied by prayer, sin can find no entrance to attack your soul.
St Ephraim the Syrian
On Temptations
29 January 2026
Satan always tempts the pure; the rest are already his.
Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen
On Holiness
28 January 2026
Holiness consists simply in doing God's will, and being just what God wants us to be.
Saint Thérèse of Lisieux
Be a Light
24 January 2026
Be a lamp in brightness, and make the works of darkness cease, so that whenever your doctrine shines, no one may dare to heed the desires of darkness.
Ephrem the Syrian
By Compunction
23 January 2026
When your soul is pricked by compunction and gradually changed, it becomes a fountain flowing with rivers of tears and compunction. ... If any one of you ever happens to communicate with tears, whether you weep before the Liturgy or in the course of the divine Liturgy, or at the very time that you receive the divine Gifts, and does not desire to do this for the rest of his days and nights, it will avail him nothing to have wept merely once. It is not this alone that at once purifies us and makes us worthy; it is daily compunction that does not cease until death.
Symeon the New Theologian
Loving God
22 January 2026
We truly love God and keep His commandments if we restrain ourselves from our pleasures. For he who still abandons himself to unlawful desires certainly does not love God, since he contradicts Him in his own intentions. . . Therefore, he loves God truly, whose mind is not conquered by consent to evil delight. For the more one takes pleasure in lower things, the more he is separated from heavenly love.
St. Gregory the Great
Accuse Ourselves
17 January 2026
The beauty of woman is the greatest snare. Or rather, not the beauty of woman, but unchastened gazing! For we should not accuse the objects, but ourselves, and our own carelessness. Nor should we say, Let there be no women, but Let there be no adulteries. We should not say, Let there be no beauty, but Let there be no fornication. We should not say, Let there be no belly, but let there be no gluttony; for the belly makes not the gluttony, but our negligence. We should not say, that it is because of eating and drinking that all these evils exist; for it is not because of this, but because of our carelessness and insatiableness. Thus the devil neither ate nor drank, and yet he fell! Paul ate and drank, and ascended up to heaven!
St. John Chrysostom
Deceptive Individuals
16 January 2026
For some are in the habit of carrying about the name [of Jesus Christ] in wicked guile, while yet they practice things unworthy of God, whom you must flee as you would wild beasts. For they are ravening dogs, who bite secretly, against whom you must be on your guard, inasmuch as they are men who can scarcely be cured.
St. Ignatius of Antioch
Who do you say that I am?
14 January 2026
Wherever the message is preached and brought in whatever language it comes from, the language it comes to and the culture into which it penetrates must, as some stage of its maturation, learn to answer yet again the question: “Who do you say that I am?” Because the “you say” in that question is the culture in which we live. He’s not asking, “Who does the fourth century say that I am?” when it was writing in Greek. That’s important, because without that we wouldn’t be where we are. But, at some point, you have to be who and what you are in the only culture in which you’re ever going to live, the only century in which you’re going to live and die, and, in that century, you have to answer with whatever linguistic and philosophical equipment you have, you have to answer the question: “Who do you say that I am?”
Jaroslav Pelikan
Confession, Humility and the Remission of Sin
12 January 2026
Whoever hates his sins will stop sinning; and whoever confesses them will receive remission. A man can not abandon the habit of sin if he does not first gain enmity toward sin, nor can he receive remission of sin without confession of sin. For the confession of sin is the cause of true humility.
Isaac of Nineveh
Perseverance in Faith
8 January 2026
Remember that after temptations follows Spiritual joy, and the Lord watches over those who endure temptations and sufferings for the sake of His Love. So, don’t lose heart and don’t be afraid. The path leading to perfection is long. Pray to God so that He will strengthen you. Patiently accept your falls and, having stood up, immediately run to God, not remaining in that place where you have fallen. Do not despair if you keep falling into your old sins. Many of them are strong because they have received the force of habit. Only with the passage of time and with fervor will they be conquered. Don’t let anything deprive you of hope.
Saint Nektarios of Aegina
New Year Reflection
6 January 2026
The New Year is a reminder that we are drawing closer to the Kingdom of God. Let us live with this hope, so that each day may bring us closer to God.
Saint Maximus the Confessor
On Prayer
4 January 2026
Virtues are formed by prayer. Prayer preserves temperance. Prayer suppresses anger. Prayer prevents emotions of pride and envy. Prayer draws into the soul the Holy Spirit, and raises man to Heaven.”
Ephrem the Syrian
The Great commission
2 January 2026
Christianity is not a matter of persuading people of particular ideas, but of inviting them to share in the greatness of Christ.
So pray that I may never fall into the trap of impressing people with clever speech,
but instead I may learn to speak with humility, desiring only to impress people with Christ himself.
St. Ignatius of Antioch
On Repentance
1 January 2026
To repent is to look, not downward at my own shortcomings, but upward at God's love; not backward with self-reproach, but forward with trustfulness. It is to see, not what I have failed to be, but what by the grace of Christ I can yet become.
St. John Climacus
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