“The more you Pray to God in times of sorrow, the sooner you will feel His sweet consolation.”
Saint Anthony of Optina
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“Even if you just lean your head on an Icon, you will find consolation.”
Saint Paisios the Athonite
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“When sorrows shake our Souls, our hearts tremble and our thoughts are confused, our only refuge is the Lord.”
Saint Nikon of Optina
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“Cleave to God and all His Strength will be with you. Confess your weakness before Him and He will send you His All-Powerful Grace.”
Saint Nikolai Velimirovich
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“You may think that your voice did not reach the Saints, Our Panagia or Christ. On the contrary, even before you cried out, they rushed to your aid.”
Saint Joseph the Hesychast
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“Remember, never to fear the power of evil more than your trust in the power and love of God.”
Apostle Hermas of the Seventy
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“Bear sorrows for the sake of the Heavenly Kingdom. Without sorrows there is no Salvation. On the other hand, the Kingdom of God awaits those who have patiently endured. And all the glory of the world is nothing in comparison. My joy! I implore you to acquire a peaceful spirit.”
Saint Seraphim of Sarov
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“Just Pray: ‘Lord, grant me Thy Grace!’ For when there is a cloud of griefs over you and you Pray: ‘Lord, grant me Thy Grace’ the Lord will carry you past the storm.”
Saint Nectarius of Optina
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“You cry out to Him, ‘Where art Thou, My God?’ And He answers, ‘I am present, my child! I am always beside you.'”
Saint Joseph the Hesychast
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“We should not be put off in the Spiritual life by any power of the enemy. On the contrary, we should depend on the Words of God: “Do not fear with their fear and do not be troubled, for God is with us. Sanctify the Lord your God and He shall be your fear” (Isaiah 8:12-13).”
Saint Seraphim of Sarov
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“For God to help, He wants to see our effort. We must do everything we can, so that He can do what we cannot.”
Saint Paisios the Athonite
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“The body is a slave, the Soul a sovereign, and therefore it is due to Divine Mercy when the body is worn out by illness: for thereby the passions are weakened, and a man comes to himself; indeed, bodily illness itself is sometimes caused by the passions.”
Saint Seraphim of Sarov
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“It is impossible to escape tribulation in this world but the man who is given over to the Will of God bears tribulation easily, seeing it but putting his trust in the Lord, and so his tribulations pass.”
Saint Sophrony of Essex
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“Wherever I am, as soon as I raise the eyes of my heart in my affliction to God, the Lover of men immediately answers my faith and Prayer, and the sorrow immediately departs. He is at every time and every hour near me, only I do not see it, but I feel it vividly in my heart.”
Saint John of Kronstadt
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“The Lord sees your need and your efforts, and will give you a helping hand. He will support and establish you as a soldier, fully armed and ready to go into battle. No support can be better than His. The greatest danger lies in the Soul thinking that it can find this help within itself; then it will lose everything. Evil will dominate it again, eclipsing the light that as yet flickers but weakly in the Soul, and it will extinguish the small flame which is still scarcely burning. The Soul should realise how powerless it is alone; therefore, expecting nothing of itself, let it fall down in humility before God, and in its own heart recognise itself to be nothing. Then Grace – which is all powerful – will, out of this nothing, create in it everything. He who in total humility puts himself in the hand of the Merciful God, attracts the Lord to Himself, and becomes strong in His Strength.”
Saint Theophan the Recluse
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“You find yourself in a darken room and you move your hands so as to try to brush away the darkness which, of course, doesn’t move. If you open a window and light enters, the darkness disappears. The same happens with study. The Holy Scripture, the Lives of the Saints, and the Writings of the Fathers are the light that chases away the darkness of the Soul.’
Saint Porphyrios of Kavsokalyvia
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“Always, in the midst of difficulties, I find Christ more easily and my Prayer is more fervent.”
Saint Theophan the Recluse
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“O Lord, my hope in despair. O Lord, my strength in weakness. O Lord, my light in darkness. Place just one finger on my forehead and I shall be raised.”
Saint Nikolai Velimirovich
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“You feel straitened upon Earth from all sides. Everything betrays you; your relations, friends, acquaintances, riches, the pleasures of the senses, your own body; all the elements – earth, water, fire, air, light – play you false. Cling, therefore, to God alone, ‘with Whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning’, (James 1:17) Who alone is Love.”
Saint John of Kronstadt
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“Do you ask for help from Jesus Christ or are you struggling alone? Have you told Christ of your weakness? You don’t humble yourself, you don’t ask Christ for help and then you say, ‘I have difficulties in my struggle’. When one is humble and asks for help from Christ, He helps. Often man makes an egotistical effort and this is why he gets no help.”
Saint Paisios the Athonite
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“O Lord Jesus Christ! You are my medicine when I am sick; You are my strength when I need help; You are Life itself when I fear death; You are Light when all is dark.”
Saint Ambrose of Milan
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“That’s how we should live through difficulties and tragedies. We should see them all as opportunities for Prayer, for approaching God. That’s the secret: how the man of God will transform everything into Prayer. That’s what Saint Paul the Apostle means when he says ‘I rejoice in my sufferings’… This is how Sanctification takes place. May God grant this to us.”
Saint Porphyrios of Kavsokalyvia
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“If the Lord allows sicknesses to test people, then He’ll also give the strength of patience. If people bear their illness with patience and gratitude to God they’re Crowned as Martyrs and strivers. Just as wax doesn’t become soft unless it’s heated enough to bear a stamp, so the Soul can’t accept the stamp of Virtue unless it’s been tried with labours and sicknesses.”
Saint Seraphim of Sarov
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“When we patiently endure our problems and turn to God for help, we notice that He gives us the best possible solution.”
Saint Paisios the Athonite
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“True hope seeks the Kingdom of God alone and is convinced that everything Earthly that is necessary for this transitory life will unfailingly be given. The heart cannot have peace until it acquires this hope. This hope pacifies it fully and brings joy to it. The most Holy lips of the Saviour spoke about this very hope: “Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).”
Saint Seraphim of Sarov
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“Grumbling is caused by misery and it can be put aside by doxology [Glorifying and thanking God]. Grumbling begets grumbling and doxology begets doxology. When someone doesn’t grumble over a problem troubling him, but rather Glorifies God, then the devil gets frustrated and goes off to someone else who grumbles, in order to cause everything to go even worse for him. You see, the more one grumbles, the more one falls into ruin. Sometimes the devil deceives us and makes us unable to be pleased with anything; however, one can celebrate all things in a Spiritual manner, with doxology, and secure God’s constant Blessing.”
Saint Paisios the Athonite
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“Whoever gives up his cross cannot be worthy of the Lord and become His disciple. The depths of the Divine Being are revealed to the Christian when he is crucified for Our Saviour. The Cross is the foundation of authentic Theology.”
Saint Sophrony of Essex
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“Since our sweet Jesus is so good, compassionate and kind, why should you despair? We seek one small thing from Him, and He gives us so much! We ask for one beam of light, and He gives us Himself as all Light, Truth, and Love. So humble yourself and rest all your hope in Him.”
Saint Joseph the Hesychast
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“The Healer stooped down to my unbearable pain.”
Saint Gregory the Theologian
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