On God

God alone exists for Himself, and all of us exist for God. To please God — there is your blessedness; to be in union with Him — there is your purpose, the rule of all you do.

Take care for God, and God will take care for you.

Remember God, so that He may always remember you.

Without the Lord not only a city and a man’s house, but even a bird’s nest is not built.

In nothing do we need God’s help so much as in the work of our salvation; for in nothing are we so weak as in doing good.

When you find yourself before the mighty of this world, remember that almighty God sees all things, and strive to please Him, and not the mighty of this world.

To speak of God is a great thing, but a far greater thing is to purify oneself for God.

He who has known God deeply strives toward Him; he who has known Him a little now finds Him, now loses Him. He who has not known God mocks Him. Such people say: I believe in God, but I don’t like the priest and the Church. These words are empty and vain. If a person loves singing, he honours the singer; if he loves poetry, he pays honour to the poet; if he loves God, he pays honour to everything under heaven that glorifies the Lord — both to the Church and to the servant of God. This is a mask. Such a person cannot say, I am an atheist, and so he masks what he means in this way.