Saints Edifying quotes from Orthodox Saints and Elders

A

Aboulia

Woodpecker
Orthodox
A man's neighbour has become his god:
every moment he seeks to please him;
if he does wrong, he feels shame before him,
if he does him an injury, he is afraid;
or if he does him some good,
then he has spoiled that good for his thirst for praise.
Such a man has become an abject slave in all these ways.
The Good One gave us freedom,
but we have reduced this to slavery,
May we exchange, for your lordship,
this overlord we have made for ourselves!

-St Ephrem the Syrian
Hymn VII on Paradise
 
SingularityOne

SingularityOne

Woodpecker
Orthodox
Aboulia said:
A man's neighbour has become his god:
every moment he seeks to please him;
if he does wrong, he feels shame before him,
if he does him an injury, he is afraid;
or if he does him some good,
then he has spoiled that good for his thirst for praise.
Such a man has become an abject slave in all these ways.
The Good One gave us freedom,
but we have reduced this to slavery,
May we exchange, for your lordship,
this overlord we have made for ourselves!

-St Ephrem the Syrian
Hymn VII on Paradise
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Man-pleasing is the passion of the century. May God bless us all with the fear of Him so we may serve Him for all of our lives in humility with prayerful repentance.
 
DanielH

DanielH

Ostrich
Moderator
Orthodox
"The strength of the righteous is to subdue the flesh, to love the hardships of this world for the sake of eternal rewards, to count the allurements of prosperity as nothing, and to overcome the dread of adversity in our heart." - Pope St. Gregory the Great. As a footnote in the OSB to Job 6:11-13
 
Roosh

Roosh

Cardinal
Orthodox
Vladika Theophan suffered many severe assaults by the demonic powers who tried to frighten the man of prayer into ceasing his labors. Several of his cell attendants were witnesses to these attacks. Yet another witness was Bishop Seraphim, at that time in charge of the Russian church communities in Bulgaria. Once, he and Vladika Theophan were traveling together in the same compartment of an overnight train. Bishop Seraphim suddenly woke up and saw an enormous black cat with flaring eyes in the middle of the compartment, he heard the loud voice of Vladika Theophan: "In the name of Jesus Christ the Son of the Living God, I adjure you: get away from me unclean spirit" The cat hissed, sending a shower of sparks, and then vanished. This so terrified Bishop Seraphim that he refused to ride again in the same compartment with Vladika Theophan.
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A Crowned Wrestler

http://www.roca.org/OA/37/37g.htm February, 1984 Orthodox America A Crowned Wrestler – Archbishop Theophan of ...
archbishopaverky.blogspot.com archbishopaverky.blogspot.com
 
E

Elicola

 
Banned
Roosh said:
The cat hissed, sending a shower of sparks, and then vanished. This so terrified Bishop Seraphim that he refused to ride again in the same compartment with Vladika Theophan.
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Sorry, but this does not make sense to me. Bishop Seraphim was a man of great faith, who would surely not be afraid of a cat, or another bishop. Then is he so afraid of demons that he abandoned his colleague, instead of praying and protecting him? Should he not pray for more faith to overcome his fear?
 
DanielH

DanielH

Ostrich
Moderator
Orthodox
Elicola said:
Sorry, but this does not make sense to me. Bishop Seraphim was a man of great faith, who would surely not be afraid of a cat, or another bishop. Then is he so afraid of demons that he abandoned his colleague, instead of praying and protecting him? Should he not pray for more faith to overcome his fear?
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I have no idea but maybe he had many virtues, but God allowed the demon to frighten him so that he could work on where he was lacking.
 
E

Elicola

 
Banned
DanielH said:
maybe he had many virtues, but God allowed the demon to frighten him.
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The story makes no sense, and the webpage is unreliable and sensationalized.
neighboring summer residents were bewildered by what they had witnessed there the previous night. "What went on at your bishop's place last night? .... Nothing," they replied. "Vladika left the day before and no one remained at the cottage." "That couldn't be," the Bulgarian exclaimed dumbfounded. "All night the windows were brightly lit and it could be seen that many people had gathered and were having some sort of party, dancing..." Later, one of the cell attendants approached Vladika about this incident. The bishop smiled and said humbly, "Such things happen with monks."
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Seraphim didn't tolerate Theophan being mean to stray cats. And Theophan held monk parties at night, in the 1800's, in Russia.

The webpage cites The Orthodox Word, Sept-Oct.. 1969, but I find nothing relevant there.

archive.org

The Orthodox Word Magazin #1 to #105 : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

The Orthodox Word Magazine Issues #1 to #105
archive.org
 
DRIIIVER

DRIIIVER

Sparrow
Orthodox Catechumen
Rebellion and Division in the Church

“Why do we conduct ourselves as if we were living in the despicable rebelliousness of this world? Why do we serve the devil who divides and not Christ Who unites? Why do we consider it within our rights to hate and be angry, to continually gossip and create scandals? Why do we consider it our right to be roused to indignation?

Such a thing is displeasing to the Lord. Such a thing is truly from Satan, who wants to divide Christians and destroy peace. Remember that the fate of the world and those countries where we find ourselves (including Russia) does not rest on the actions of atheists. What can you take from them? Understand that such a person is in darkness and under the influence of the devil.

Naturally, concerning those of another group, he hates and is angry; you can’t even expect anything else from them. But something more astonishing is that people, instead of remembering that we are indebted to live in peace, begin to bring that despicable rebelliousness of the world into the Holy Church. This, obviously, proceeds from the mouth of the devil. It is precisely he who inspires us with his monstrous, evil idea to divide us amongst ourselves.

We cannot live like those who are without. As the Lord has said, ‘How will they know that you are my disciples? Because you have love for one another.’ But if, as the apostle says, ‘You hate one another, envy and offend, take heed that ye be not consumed of one another.’

Truly, right now the devil wants to divide Christians and then to destroy everything that the Christians depend on. It is because of Christians that God maintains the world. Because of Christians, the Lord gives peace to nations. Why are there wars? It happens when Christians forget about their unity, when they relate themselves to this world...”

- Fr. Daniel Sisoyev [Martyr for Christ]
 
Lawrence87

Lawrence87

Kingfisher
Orthodox
"Do not search for exalted experiences in prayer---they are not proper to a sinner. Even the desire of a sinner to feel exalted is already delusion. Seek instead the resurrection of your dead, petrified heart, that it may become open to the knowledge of its own sinfulness and depth of its fall and its insignificance, to see it and to admit it with self-denial. Then you will find within yourself the true fruit of prayer---sincere repentance."

Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov
 
Roosh

Roosh

Cardinal
Orthodox
nagareboshi said:
Is it okay that the priest spoke about the details of confession? Isn't that breaking the seal of confession?
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He's not a priest, he's a Metropolitan (Bishop). Elders at his level can use discernment if sharing can save others.

Edit: You posted your comment without watching the full video (you posted 2 minutes after I posted but a video that is 5 minutes long). You made an immediate negative conclusion that accused the Bishop of a misdeed. Contemplate why you did that.
 
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nagareboshi

nagareboshi

Kingfisher
Orthodox
Roosh said:
You posted your comment without watching the full video (you posted 2 minutes after I posted but a video that is 5 minutes long). You made an immediate negative conclusion that accused the Bishop of a misdeed. Contemplate why you did that.
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Roosh, I’ve seen this video before. I’m a subscriber to this YouTube channel. I was one of the first people to watch it when it was uploaded 24 hours ago.

Ortho thread on the seal of confession:

You can plainly see why someone would be confused.
 
Roosh

Roosh

Cardinal
Orthodox
nagareboshi said:
Roosh, I’ve seen this video before. I’m a subscriber to this YouTube channel. I was one of the first people to watch it when it was uploaded 24 hours ago.

Ortho thread on the seal of confession:

You can plainly see why someone would be confused.
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Thank you for clarifying. Forgive me for reading into your intentions.
 
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O

OrthoSerb

Robin
Orthodox
NickK said:
Besides, it's anonymous. He didn't reveal names and places.
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This. Whether he is only a priest-monk or Bishop is irrelevant in this context. It's not his rank that gives him special dispensation to do this. Many priests have talked about similar cases. The point is that they provide these examples for the benefit of others without revealing the identity of those who they are referring to.
 
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