Take care never to receive communion while you have anything against anyone, even if this is only a hostile thought. Not until you have brought about reconciliation through repentance should you communicate. But you will learn this, too, through prayer. St Symeon the New Theologian

Pleasure is the mother of desire; bad temper, of anger; malice, of jealousy. Whoever does not struggle against the ringleaders will not be left in peace by their subordinates; nor can you restrain the passions if you practice the commandments only because you are forced to do so. Ilias the [...]

The body cannot be purified without fasting and vigil, the soul without mercy and truth, and the intellect (Nous) without contemplation of God and communion with Him. These pairs constitute the principal virtues in these three aspects of the human person. Ilias the Presbyter

Understand the words of Holy Scripture by putting them into practice, and do not fill yourself with conceit by expatiating on theoretical ideas. St. Mark the Ascetic

It is not food that is evil but gluttony, not the begetting of children but unchastity, not material things but avarice, not esteem but self-esteem. This being so, it is only the misuse of things that is evil, and such misuse occurs when the intellect fails to cultivate its natural [...]

Love and self-control purify the soul, while pure prayer illumines the intellect. St. Thalassios the Libyan

Everything that happens has a small beginning and grows the more it is nourished. St. Mark the Ascetic

There is one God because there is one Divinity, a Unity un-originate, simple, beyond being, without parts and undivided. The same Unity is a Trinity, also unoriginate, simple and so on. St. Maximos the Confessor

There is one God, because the Father is the begetter of the unique Son and the fount of the Holy Spirit: one without confusion and three without division. The Father is unoriginate Intellect, the unique essential Begetter of the unique Logos, also unoriginate, and the fount of the unique everlasting [...]

If you long to pray, do nothing that is opposed to prayer, so that God may draw near and be with you. Evagrios the Solitary

No one is as good and merciful as the Lord. But even He does not forgive the unrepentant. St. Mark the Ascetic

Just as the thought of fire does not warm the body, so faith without love does not actualize the light of spiritual knowledge in the soul. St. Maximos the Confessor

Never form a close friendship with someone who enjoys noisy and drunken feasts, or who likes telling dirty stories, even though he may have been a monk for many years. Do not let his filth defile you; do not fall under the influence of people who are unclean and uncircumcised [...]

All men are made in God's image; but to be in His likeness is granted only to those who through great love have brought their own freedom into subjection to God. For only when we do not belong to ourselves do we become like Him who through love has reconciled [...]

God is the source of every virtue, as the sun is of daylight. St. Mark the Ascetic

"The demon is very envious of us when we pray and uses every kind of trick to thwart our purpose. Therefore he is always using our memory to stir up thoughts of various things and our flesh to arouse the passions, in order to obstruct our way of ascent to [...]

Like a bee one should extract from each of the virtues what is most profitable. In this way, by taking a small amount from all of them, one builds up from the practice of the virtues a great honeycomb overflowing with the soul-delighting honey of wisdom. St Gregory of Sinai

The Lord is hidden in His own commandments, and He is to be found there in the measure that He is sought. Fulfilling a commandment is one thing, and virtue is another, although each promotes the other. Fulfilling a commandment means doing what we are enjoined to do; but virtue [...]

A person in the habit of contradicting others becomes a two-edged sword to himself. Unwittingly he destroys his own soul and alienates it from eternal life. St. Symeon the New Theologian

Men are of three kinds: slaves, hirelings or sons. Slaves do not love the good, but refrain from evil out of fear of punishment; this is a good thing, but not fully in accord with God’s will. Hirelings love what is good and hate what is evil, out of hope [...]