"Give thanks to the Lord, but do not forget His great men, - the poor and the needy, for they can accomplish much with God the Lord." -- Abbot Nazarius of the Valaam Monastery

"All the stars in the heavens could be more easily counted than all the miracles worked on earth by prayer." -- St. Nicholai of Zica

"The weak man protects himself by hypocrisy, while the strong man protects himself by tyranny. No man, however, can defend his life before God - either by hypocrisy or tyranny." -- St. Nicholai of Zica

"My son, always strive to be simple and kind. Do not have one thing in your heart and another thing on your tongue, for this is a ruse and a lie." -- St. Nilus of Mount Sinai

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because of which He anointed Me. He sent Me to proclaim good news to the poor, to heal the brokenhearted, to preach liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind; to declare the acceptable year of the Lord, the day of recompense, and to comfort all who mourn." -- Isaiah 61:1-2

"As the poor should give thanks to God and love the rich who do them good, even more should the rich give thanks to God and love the poor; for they are saved by the providence of God ... because of their alms." -- St. Peter Damascene

St. Anthony rebukes those who refuse to receive back penitents: "A ship suffered shipwreck and lost its cargo, and only with great difficulty did that boat reach the harbor - and you want to sink even that which was saved from sinking!"

"St. John the Baptist's beheading occurred just before Passover, but its celebration on August 29 was established because a church that had been built over his grave in Sebastia by Ss. Constantine and Helena was consecrated on August 29." -- St. Nicholai of Zica

"If three men meet, of whom the first fully preserves interior peace, and the second gives thanks to God in illness, and the third serves with a pure mind, these three are doing the same work." -- Saint Poemen

"He who does not know the truth cannot truly have faith; for by nature knowledge precedes faith. What is said in Scripture is said not solely for us to understand, but also for us to act upon." -- St. Hesychios the Priest

St. Anthony said that three kinds of impulse exist in the body: "The first is from nature, the second is from lack of restraint in food and the third is from the demons."

"If man suppresses his stomach and his tongue, then he will be able to rule over himself." -- St. Poemen

The Patriarch Theophilus of Alexandria (385-412 A.D.) once visited the monks in the Nitrian Desert (El Wadi Natroun). The monks begged Abba Pambo, saying: "Give the patriarch an edifying word, which would be of benefit to him." The quiet Pambo replied: "If he does not benefit by my silence, he will not benefit by my word."

"The fabric of justice is thinner than silk, but it is more durable and less easily torn, and encompasses both worlds, while the fabric of injustice and violence is thick and breaks easily." -- St. Nikolai of Zica

"We were created for eternal life by our Creator, we are called to it by the work of God and we are renewed by holy Baptism. And Christ the Son of God came into the world for this that He should call us and take us there and He is the one thing needful." --St. Tikhon of Zadonsk