St. John of Kronstadt
Rating: 10|Votes: 2
We can receive these spiritual powers in the temple of God through the Sacraments. Here a heavenly, unearthly spirit hovers; here is the school of Jesus Christ, in which future heavenly citizens are educated. Here you will receive heavenly lessons from the Divine Teacher, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit in the Gospels. Here is heavenly food and heavenly drink, spiritual, heavenly garments, and spiritual armaments against the enemies of salvation. Here you will receive the peace that is a foretaste of heaven, so necessary to our spiritual activity and education, and strength for spiritual labors and struggle with sin.
St. Gregory Palamas
Rating: 10|Votes: 10
Therefore, the High Priest, seeing that this child, more than anyone else, had divine grace within Her, wished to set Her within the Holy of Holies. He convinced everyone present to welcome this, since God had advanced it and approved it. Through His angel, God assisted the Virgin and sent Her mystical food, with which She was strengthened in nature, while in body She was brought to maturity and was made purer and more exalted than the angels, having the Heavenly spirits as servants.
Rating: 8,8|Votes: 15
While the sinister circumstances of his death are still unclear, it is tempting to speculate concerning the motive for such a ghastly murder; after all, the Icon was not in Brother Joseph's possession at the time. From a spiritual perspective, however, the explanation is apparent. As written in an obituary prepared by the Icon's Home: "We live in a time of great spiritual awakening, but the spirit that awakens is that of satan, and all that is of Christ, of Jesus, of God, is a goading irritant to the carnal man, inciting the infernal wrath of the deluded."
Archimandrite Ephraim of Vatopedi
Rating: 10|Votes: 6
Monasticism is the path of perfection, and therefore we monastics are called to acquire the fullness of grace. Not long ago, one monk came to me and said, "You know, I have no time to read." I said to him, "My child, the monastery is not a place of reading. You have come to the monastery not to read, and not even to pray. You have come to deny yourself and submit yourself to spiritual guidance.
Archpriest Artemy Vladimirov
Rating: 4,4|Votes: 8
Thus, casting aside and leaving behind all wavering and doubt, trustingly give me your hand, dear reader; and guided invisibly by the holy fathers, we shall step into the sacred world of Gospel Revelation, hidden from the wearying din of vain activity around us…
