Elder Paisios the Athonite
He who labours spiritually attacks his enemy, the devil, and therefore he himself suffers attacks from him. The man who defeats the bodiless enemy is adorned with the crown of Christ.
Prayer at night, when all is quiet and a person is at peace, is as fruitful and beneficial as a light night rain is beneficial to the growth of plants.
The sweetness of life is felt not by one who delights in the joys of this world, but by one who lives a spiritual life and gladly accepts affliction and illness as healing herbs for the soul, and is content with as much food as is enough to strengthen the flesh.
The joy a person feels when he receives something material with a blessing is a human joy, while the joy he feels when he gives is a divine joy. It comes only when one gives.
When someone insults you, do not say to him: “May God repay you,” because that is a polite curse.
A monk is a light, a lighthouse on a rock, and not a street lamp.
Monks are the signalmen of our Church: they withdraw from earthly interference so as to keep constant prayerful contact with God and to help other people.
For the soul to rise again, a person must be nailed to the cross, so as to put to death the passions of the soul and above all egoism — the unruly child of pride — which blocks the way of divine grace and makes a person fall flat on his face.
If a person does good but makes it known to others and is proud of it, he is already receiving his reward for it; he labours in vain and falls into sin.
The more a person flees from human consolation, the nearer divine consolation comes to him.
He who follows his own will casts aside the will of God and resists the working of divine grace.
After fasting bread is sweet, after vigil sleep is sweet; if you are tired, you will rest better on a hard stone than in an armchair.
Do not force yourselves out of egoism to labour beyond your strength and weigh down your soul. Christ is a loving Father, not a tyrant. What gladdens Christ is our zeal for ascetic labour.
Reverence is one thing and outward religiosity another. In the same way Eastern Orthodox reverence differs from Western European outward religiosity. Reverence is governed by divine grace; outward religiosity by the human mind.
In our time, when the mind wanders so, we have abandoned the books of the holy fathers and taken magazines into our hands, which bring still more confusion into the mind.
It is good to read spiritual books, but it is better still to put what you have read into practice — to live spiritually.
The real man is not one who speaks rightly but one who lives rightly — according to the Gospel.
He who strives after ranks himself will fight alone all his life. He who is promoted by people will have people as his helpers. But he whom God calls will have God alone as his helper.
Do not hurry to go to a monastery until you have untied all your worldly knots, if you wish to tie your life peacefully to that of the brethren.
Our good Father is all magnanimity; He rejoices even at the slightest offering! Though we humans eat the honey and bring Him the wax, even this offering gladdens Him.
All people receive abundant blessing from God, but few give thanks to Him, few feel contentment and joy at Christ’s side.
There are people who lack nothing, and yet do not lack sadness either, because they lack Christ.
