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| Fresco of Mother Gavrilia in the Church of the Nativity of the Mother of God Saint John the Baptist Monastery Douma - Lebanon |
- Orthodox spirituality is knowledge acquired through the cross rather than through learning.
- Man wants his freedom. Why? So that he may be a slave to his own passions.
- True inner progress begins only when a person stops reading anything but the Gospel. It is only then that he unites with God through the Jesus Prayer, and can hear God’s Will.
- Never ask: “Why has this happened to me?”, and when you see someone suffering from gangrene or cancer or blindness, never say: “Why has this happened to him?”. Instead pray God to grant you the vision of the other shore… Then, like the angels you will be able to see everything in God’s plan… EVERYTHING.
- If you are to live only for yourself, it would have been better if you had not been born.
- If you do not like somebody, think that you see Christ in that person. Then you would not even dare to utter a word of criticism.
- When we need help, God will send someone to us for we are all fellow-travelers.
- Whoever lives in the past is like a dead man. Whoever lives in the Future in his imagination is naïve, because the future belongs to God. The Joy of Christ is found only in the Present, in the Eternal Present God.
- Our destination is to worship God and to love our fellow-men.
- We find happiness and peace only by living according to God’s Commandments.
- I could not get worried, even if I tried, because when we worry it is as if we say to God: “I do not agree. You don’t do things right”… besides this is sheer ingratitude.
- We are the first to feel the joy when we give to others.
- Better a prayer of the lips than no prayer at all.
- Let God intervene between you and your purpose, instead of letting your purpose intervene between you and God.
- Miracle is the normal course of events according to God’s Will. What we call a Miracle is only what is natural to God.
- Anxiety is for those who have no faith.
- Love is only on the Cross. True love is only lived on the Cross.
- Human relationships become difficult when the “I” stands above the “you”.
- Love alone is enough to make a miracle happen.
- Experience has taught me that no one can help anyone, no matter how strong his wish and love may be. Help comes only in the Hour of God, from the One.
- We are useful only when we do not exist for ourselves. And vice versa.
- How easy it is to go on a diet for the sake of one’s figure! And how difficult it is to fast on Wednesdays and Fridays because our Church has asked for…
- If we are interrupted while speaking, we must not continue. It means that what we were about to say should not be heard. The angels do this.
- We are the ones to be blamed for whatever happens to us.
- Never regret something that has happened.
- “Be still and know”… there is no better school than this “stillness”.
- I expect nothing, desire nothing, wonder about nothing, worry about nothing, care for nothing, cling to nothing… I do not exist…
- God’s gifts to us blossom only if watered with the water of Love.
- We are all vessels, sometimes of Light, sometimes of darkness.
- Do not say a word in the hour of crisis, when a problem is acute. Do not say anything, because you may regret it a thousand times. Instead, tell it to the angels so that they may place it at the Lord’s Feet, and pray the Lord for an angel of peace to calm your soul.
Reference:
Anthony H. (2000), The Ascetic of Love by Nun Gavrilia, EPTALOFOS SA, Athens, Greece.