Various

The Church of Georgia was, is and always will be the soul of the Georgian nation. Ilia II, Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia

…I warn our people, our faithful: be watchful and attentive; do not lose the truth, do not lose our faith, do not exchange eternal life for an earthly temptation, or afterwards it will be too late, for the time is at hand. Ilia II, Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia

My soul belongs to God, my heart to my homeland, and with my body do as you please.

Not every peace is the peace of God! For there is a beautiful disagreement and there is a ruinous unanimity. We must love only true peace, well-intentioned and leading to God; for when we are dealing with open wickedness, then we must not shrink even from fire and sword, nor submit to the demands of the times or of rulers, and still less — never, never — share in the evil leaven or touch what is infected. The greatest sin is to fear anything more than God, and because of this fear to betray the teaching of the true faith.

…High culture and advanced technology are not enough for a people’s happiness; there are values that are created and take shape over centuries in the life of a nation, and whose loss is a crime. For us these are: the Orthodox faith, given by the apostles; music that stirs everyone; our language and script, full of mystery and majestic; wonderful art, iconography, architecture; our beautiful customs. What traditions of East or West can compare with these? Unfortunately, we do not fully realise what riches we possess. Ilia II, Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia

We have to live in a difficult age; the evil one tries in every way to bring schism and turmoil into the Church. Today an Orthodox Christian has to go against the current, which puts more and more obstacles in our way; but in spite of everything, we must still walk this road. Ilia II, Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia

If in the most perfect community — among Christ’s disciples — there was Judas, why are we horrified that in the Russian Church there is a Vvedensky, and in every parish its own little Judas, just as there is a meek, grace-filled John and a faithful, energetic Peter.

Do not be troubled or angry in the least if people do not listen to our good advice. We too do not listen to the Lord, and He does not punish us for it.

Guard your thoughts, for thoughts are heard in heaven.

Remember that the minute sloth takes from you may be the last of your life, and death and judgement may follow it. S. A. Nilus

Speak with a smiling face, so that the one you talk with may be glad.

One who attends to himself must give up every kind of daydreaming entirely, however attractive and lovely it may seem to him. All daydreaming is a wandering of the mind outside the truth, in a land of phantoms that do not exist and cannot come to be, that flatter the mind and deceive it. The result of daydreaming is the loss of attention to oneself, a scattered mind and hardness of heart in prayer; and from this comes spiritual disorder.

He who reproaches us gives us a gift, and he who praises us robs us. Of Optina

A good man, even if he is a servant and a slave, is always free; but a wicked man, even if he reigns, is still a slave and a captive, who has not just one master but as many as the vices he has acquired.

If a man does not labour according to his strength and join his own toil to the prayers of the saints, he will gain no benefit from the saints’ praying for him.

In the minds and deeds of our forefathers love of the faith and love of the homeland were as inseparable as the divine and human natures of Jesus Christ. Ilia II, Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia

How can Christianity, Islam and Buddhism be put on the same level? That is a sign of ignorance of religion, and means that we have not grasped the chief aim of life, do not care for our immortal soul, and are not troubled that because of a wrong position we may lose it for ever… The Orthodox faith is the backbone of our national spirit… Ilia II, Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia

I believe that the Catholicos-Patriarch of Georgia must be the father and teacher not only of those who come to church every day, but of every Georgian and indeed of every inhabitant of our country. The Catholicos-Patriarch must pay special attention to one who cannot, or has not the spiritual strength to, come to church. He must go to such a person himself, take him on his shoulders and so bring him to the Lord. Ilia II, Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia

Everything we take pride in over a history of twenty centuries is an expression of the life of the Church. Ilia II, Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia

Where the holy Gospel lies with faith and due reverence, no evil spirit can enter, nor can it tempt the Christian.

It often happens that we are innocent before the one who has offended us, but before God we have sinned much, which people do not see, but God sees. Archbishop Macarius

Do not disclose your thoughts to everyone, but confide only in those who are able to heal your soul.

We are always carried away by something complicated and difficult, and we love to build our house not on a foundation but in the clouds.

There are five chief impulses that move a person: personal income, his own pleasure, the ties of family and kin, conscience, and the saving presence. The fifth impulse is the first means of defence; if a person does not keep hold of it, he shifts to the fourth; if he cannot hold that either, he passes to the third, and so reaches the first. This is how a person degrades — degrades and perishes. Perishes indeed, for a person can lose even the last line of defence. Then nothing is left to him but a senseless indifference to everything, despair and suicide.

Everything that happens to us must be accepted as an accomplished fact, and we must not torment ourselves by fighting phantoms. What has happened has happened. Thy will be done, O Lord. Avdeev, Nevyarovich

It is the common lot of righteous people that even their good deeds are falsely represented and used against them to condemn them.

It is said in the Bible that man looks on the face, but God looks on the heart of man. That is why the prophet David says of purity of heart: “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.” God has given the Georgian nation a wonderful gift — a loving heart. Of course not all of us have a pure heart, for we are sinners and often fall; but we are able to love. “God is love,” says Saint John the Theologian of the Lord, and it is as though He has granted us this quality of His, for the heart of a Georgian is full of love. The enemy may bring us much harm, but like a child’s heart we are forgiving, and almost at once we forget the offence, every evil the enemy has done us, and are filled with love again. It is this quality that has saved the Georgian people. Ilia II, Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia

Conscience is an accuser within us that never falls silent, and it can be neither deceived nor bribed.

When you wake in the morning, what flashes first through your mind? Does your heart say to you: “Glory to the Lord, who hath shown us the light”? Or: “O Lord, this day…”? If so, it is a good sign. But if as soon as you wake a thought of something earthly carries you away and gives you no room to think of the Lord, then I doubt that you are seeking the Kingdom of God.

Nobility and freedom mean saying nothing humiliating to anyone, even if he deserves it.

Saint John Chrysostom likens those who receive Communion unworthily to Herod, who outwardly expressed a wish to worship Christ but in his heart intended to kill Him.

What struck me first of all in the writings of the holy fathers of the Orthodox Church? Their agreement — a wondrous, majestic agreement. Through their mouths eighteen centuries bear witness together to one divine teaching! When on a clear autumn night I look up at the sky and see the countless stars, so different in size yet giving out one light, I say to myself: such are the writings of the fathers. When on a summer day I look out at the sea and see a great many ships which, like white swans, have spread their sails and under one wind are making for one goal, one harbour, I think: such are the writings of the fathers. When I listen to a large, well-ordered choir in which many different voices sing one divine hymn, I say: such are the writings of the fathers. And still, what teaching do I find in them? All the holy fathers repeat with one voice that the only way of salvation is unswerving following of the counsels and instructions of the holy fathers.