St. Moses the Black - on Silence

+ A certain brother went to Abba Moses in Scete and asked him to speak a word. The elder said to him, "Go and sit ‎in your cell, and your cell will teach you everything."


St. Moses the Black

St. Moses the Black - Martyrdom

His Martyrdom ‎
‎+ On one occasion when the brethren were sitting with Abba Moses, he said to them, "Behold, this day has the ‎barbarians come to Scete; rise up and flee." And they said to him, "Will you not flee, father? He said to them, "I ‎have been expecting this day to come for many years past, so that might be fulfilled the command of our Redeemer, ‎‎"Those who take by the sword shall perish by the sword’" (St. Matthew xxvi, 52). And they said to him, "We then ‎will not flee, but will die with you." He said to them, "This is not my affair, but your own desire; let every man look ‎after himself in the place where he dwells." Now the brethren were seven in number. And after a little he said to ‎them, "Behold, the barbarians have drawn near the door"; and the barbarians entered and slew them. Now one of ‎them had been afraid, and he fled behind the palm leaves, and he saw seven crowns come down and place ‎themselves on the heads of those who had been slain.


St. Moses the Black

St. John of Damaskos - good is good when rightly done

For the good is not good if it is not rightly done. It is really good only if it is not done with the purpose of receiving some reward....

St. John of Damaskos
Philokalia volume II

St. Thalassios on pain, patience and purification

Patiently endure the distressing and painful things that befall you, for through them God in His providence if purifying you.

St. Thalassios

Philokalia volume II