If your lust is earthly, you share it with dogs and swine – I mean gluttony and fornication. But if it is for God, then you share it with the angels.
[John of Dalyatha, Homily on the Gifts of the Holy Spirit]
Tag Archives: wisdom
Lord give me a contrite heart – Mar Isaac
God can never leave a contrite heart without solace.
[Mar Isaac the Syrian, Ascetical Homilies]
Remember the judgement – Abba Shenoute the Archimandrite
If those who are asleep and who are drunk at night are reproached then how much greater is the judgement and reproach of those who are asleep during the day.
I mean, if those who sin lie in their hardness of heart, not knowing God or His laws, are like judged, then how much greater is the judgement and reproach of those who will sin after they have received all knowledge and that there is no God but Jesus.
[Abba Shenoute of Atripe, De Discrimine Temporum]
A prayer for a new year – H.H. Pope Shenouda III
[Today marks the first day of the Coptic New Year, the Nayrouz, the Feast of the Martyrs. God send you all a year like that below:]
Lord, make it a blessed year,
A pure year to please You
A year in which Your Spirit prevails
And joins in working with us
Hold our hands and guide our thoughts from the beginning of the year till its end.
Let this year be Yours, to please You
It is a New Year, spotless; let us not spoil it with our sins or impurities
Lord, be with us in every work we intend to do this year
Let us rejoice in all Your deeds, and say with John the Evangelist: “All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.” (Jn 1:3).
Let this year, 0 Lord, be a happy year
Put a smile on each face and gladden every heart
Let Your grace emerge in our trials and help those who are tempted
Grant us peace and quietness of mind
Give those who are in need, cure the sick and console the grieved.
We do not ask You, God, only for ourselves
But we ask for the all, because they are Yours
You created them to rejoice in You, then make them happy with You
We ask You for the Church, for Your mission, that Your word may reach every heart
We ask you for our country, for the world’s peace that Your Kingdom may come everywhere.
Let it be a fruitful year, full of goodness
Everyday and every hour has its own work
Do not allow a futile moment
Fill our life with activity, work, and production
Grant us the blessing of a productive and holy toil. Let the communion of the Holy Spirit be with us in all our deeds.
We thank you, God, for you have kept us till this hour and granted us this year, that we may bless You. Amen
[H.H. Pope Shenouda III of thrice blessed memory, 117th Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of the See of St. Mark, Words of Spiritual Benefit]
Let your prayer be simple – John of the Ladder
“Let your prayer be completely simple. For both the publican and the prodigal son were reconciled to God by a single phrase.”
[John Climacus, Ladder of Divine Ascent]
Let us walk in humility – St. Clement of Alexandria
Let us therefore, brethren, be of humble mind, laying aside all haughtiness, and pride, and foolishness, and angry feelings; and let us act according to that which is written (for the Holy Spirit says, “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, neither let the rich man glory in his riches; but let him that glories glory in the Lord, in diligently seeking Him, and doing judgment and righteousness”), being especially mindful of the words of the Lord Jesus which He spoke teaching us meekness and long-suffering.
For thus He spoke: “Be merciful, that you may obtain mercy; forgive, that it may be forgiven to you; as you do, so shall it be done unto you; as you judge, so shall you be judged; as you are kind, so shall kindness be shown to you; with what measure ye mete, with the same it shall be measured to you.” By this precept and by these rules let us establish ourselves, that we walk with all humility in obedience to His holy words. For the holy word says, O” n whom shall I look, but on him that is meek and peaceable, and that trembles at my words. ” (Isaiah 66:2)
[St. Clement of Alexandria, Letter for the Corinthians]
Excerpt from Gospel of the Day – Matthew 25:31-46, the 3rd of Nesi – St. John Chrysostom
When the Son of Man comes in his glory, all the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on His right hand, “Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’
“Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, “Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ And the King will answer and say to them, “Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’
Of what honor, of what blessedness are these words? And He said not, Take, but, Inherit, as one’s own, as your Father’s, as yours, as due to you from the first. For, before you were, says He, these things had been prepared, and made ready for you, forasmuch as I knew you would be such as you are.
And in return for what do they receive such things? For the covering of a roof, for a garment, for bread, for cold water, for visiting, for going into the prison. For indeed in every case it is for what is needed; and sometimes not even for that. For surely, as I have said, the sick and he that is in bonds seeks not for this only, but the one to be loosed, the other to be delivered from his infirmity. But He, being gracious, requires only what is within our power, or rather even less than what is within our power, leaving to us to exert our generosity in doing more.
[St. John Chrysostom, Homily 79 on the Gospel of St. Matthew]
On pressing forwards – Abba Theodore of Pherme
Abba Theodore of Pherme said, ‘The man who remains standing when he repents, has not kept the commandment.”
[Apophthegmata Patrum]
Christ the Light – St. Clement of Alexandria
Sweet is the Word that gives us light, precious above gold and gems; it is to be desired above honey and the honey-comb. For how can it be other than desirable, since it has filled with light the mind which had been buried in darkness, and given keenness to the light-bringing eyes of the soul? For just as, had the sun not been in existence, night would have brooded over the universe notwithstanding the other luminaries of heaven; so, had we nor known the Word, and been illuminated by Him; we should have been nowise different from fowls that are being fed, fattened in darkness, and nourished for death.
Let us then admit the light, that we may admit God; let us admit the light, and become disciples to the Lord. This, too, He has been promised to the Father: I will declare Your name to my brethren; in the midst of the Church will I praise You. Praise and declare to me Your Father God; Your utterances save; Your hymn teaches that hitherto I have wandered in error, seeking God. But since You lead me to the light, O Lord, and I find God through You, and receive the Father from You, I become Your fellow-heir, (Romans 8:17) since You were not ashamed of me as Your brother (Hebrews 2:11).
Let us put away, then, let us put away oblivion of the truth, viz., ignorance; and removing the darkness which obstructs, as dimness of sight, let us contemplate the only true God, first raising our voice in this hymn of praise: Hail, O light! For in us, buried in darkness, shut up in the shadow of death, light has shone forth from heaven, purer than the sun, sweeter than life here below. That light is eternal life; and whatever partakes of it lives.
[St. Clement of Alexandria, Exhortation to the Heathen, Chapter XI]
I too am a sinner – Abba Bessarion
[On this day, 25th Mesra, the Coptic Church commemorates the great ascetic father St. Bessarion, his blessings be with us.]
A brother who had sinned was turned out of church by the priest. Abba Bessarion got up and left with him saying: “I too am a sinner.”
[Abba Bessarion, Apophthegmata Patrum]
sayingsoftheorthodoxfathers 