Quote by Priest-confessor Sergei Pravdolubov ~ Judging others

If you have the sinful habit of judging your neighbor, then whenever you judge someone make three prostrations that day with this prayer: "Save, O Lord, and have mercy on him (whom I have judged) and by his prayers, have mercy on me, a sinner." Do this every time you judge someone. If you do this, God will see your sincerity and will deliver you from this sinful habit forever. And if you never judge anyone, then God will never judge you. In this way you will even receive salvation.



(Priest-confessor Sergei Pravdolubov)


Source:

http://orthodox.cn/patristics/300sayings_en.htm

Quote by Saint Symeon the New Theologian ~ Attachment

John tells us that we should neither love the world nor the things of the world. (1 John 2:15-16)} But what is "the world"? What are the "things that are in the world"? Listen! It is not gold, sliver, or horses, or mules. All these things that serve our physical needs we ourselves possess {even though we are monks}. It is not meat, nor bread, nor wine, for we ourselves partake of these things and eat them in moderation. It is not houses, nor baths, nor fields, nor vineyards, nor suburban properties, for great and small monasteries consist of these. So what is the world? It is sin, brethren, and attachment to things and passions…


Saint Symeon the New Theologian
949A>D>-1022A>D>

Quote by St. Nicholas of Japan ~ on Holy Tradition of The Church

   Sometimes Japanese protestants come to me and ask me to clarify some place in the Holy Scriptures. "You have your own missionary teachers," I tell them, "Go ask them. What do they say?" "We have asked them. They say: understand as you know how. But I need to know the real thought of God, not my own personal opinion." ... It's not like that with us. Everything is clear, trustworthy and simple, since we accept Holy Tradition in addition to the Holy Scriptures. And Holy Tradition is a living, unbroken voice of our Church from the time of Christ and His Apostles until now, and which will exist until the end of the world. In it all the meaning of the Holy Scriptures are preserved.

(St. Nicholas of Japan, Diary, January 15, 1897)


from:

http://orthodox.cn/patristics/300sayings_en.htm

Quote by St. Vincent of Lerina ~ Tradition of the Church

If someone wants to be protected from tricks and remain healthy in the faith, he must confine his faith first to the authority of the Holy Scriptures, and secondly to the Tradition of the Church. But someone may ask, is not the canon of Scripture sufficient for everything, and why should we add thereto the authority of Tradition? This is because not everyone understands the Scriptures in the same way, but one explains them this way and another that way, so that it is possible to get therefrom as many thoughts as there are heads. Therefore it is necessary to be guided by the understanding of the Church ... What is tradition? It is that which has been understood by everyone, everywhere and at all times ... that which you have received, and not that which you have thought up ... So then, our job is not to lead religion where we wish it to go, but to follow it where it leads, and not to give that which is our own to our heirs, but to guard that which has been given to us.


(St. Vincent of Lerina, Notes of a Pilgrim)


from:

http://orthodox.cn/patristics/300sayings_en.htm

Quote by St. John of the Ladder ~ Fear

Whoever has become a servant of the Lord fears only his Master. But whoever is without the fear of God is often afraid of his own shadow. Fearfulness is the daughter of unbelief. A proud soul is the slave of fear; hoping in itself, in comes to such a state that it is startled by a small noise, and is afraid of the dark.

(St. John of the Ladder, The Ladder, 21.11,1,4)


from:

http://orthodox.cn/patristics/300sayings_en.htm

Quote by St. John Chrysostom ~ Boldness

Sin makes man a coward; but a life in the Truth of Christ makes Him bold.

(St. John Chrysostom, On the Statues, VIII.2)


from:
http://orthodox.cn/patristics/300sayings_en.htm

Quote by Ephraim the Syrian ~ Prayer befor reading HS

When you begin to read or listen to the Holy Scriptures, pray to God thus: "Lord Jesus Christ, open the ears and eyes of my heart so that I may hear Thy words and understand them, and may fulfill Thy will." Always pray to God like this, that He might illumine your mind and open to you the power of His words. Many, having trusted in their own reason, have turned away into deception.
(St. Ephraim the Syrian)

from:

http://orthodox.cn/patristics/300sayings_en.htm