When the soul has come to recognize evil it hates it like the stench of a foul beast; but he who does not recognize evil loves it, and it holds him captive, making a slave of its lover. Then the unfortunate and wretched man can neither see nor understand his true interest, but imagines that this evil is an adornment, and so he is happy.
– St Antony the Great
The Fathers define prayer as a spiritual weapon. Unless we are armed with it we cannot engage in warfare, but are carried off as prisoners to the enemy’s country. Nor can we acquire pure prayer unless we cleave to God with an upright heart. For it is God who gives prayer to him who prays and who teaches man spiritual knowledge.
~St Theodoros the Great Ascetic
One should not say that it is impossible to reach a virtuous life; but one should say that it is not easy. Nor do those who have reached it find it easy to maintain. Those who are devout and whose intellect enjoys the love of God participate in the life of virtue; the ordinary intellect however, is worldly and vacillating, producing both good and evil thoughts because it is changeful by nature and directed towards material things. But the intellect that enjoys the love of God punishes the evil which arises spontaneously because of man’s [laziness].
~St Antony the Great
Pharaoh entreated saying, ‘May God take away from me this death’ (Exodus 10:17), and he was heard. Similarly when the demons asked the Lord not to cast them into the abyss, their request was granted (Luke 8:31). How much more then will a Christian be heard when he prays to be delivered from spiritual death?
When recalling your sins, do not hesitate to beat your breast. With these blows you will dig into your hardened heart and discover within it the gold mine of the publican (Luke 18:13); and this hidden wealth will bring you great joy.
A single good word made the thief pure and holy, despite all his previous crimes, and brought him into paradise (Luke 23:42-43). A single ill-advised word prevented Moses from entering the promised land (Numbers 20:12). We should not suppose then, that garrulity is only a minor disease. Lovers of slander and gossip shut themselves out from the kingdom of heaven. A chatterbox may meet with success in this world but he will not do so in the next. There he will trip and fall; ‘evil will hunt him down and destroy him’ (Psalm 140:11 LLX). It has been well said: ‘Better to slip on the ground than to slip with your tongue’ (Ecclus.20:18). We should believe James the apostle when he writes: ‘Let every man be swift to hear and slow to speak.’ (James 1:19).
-St John of Karpathos
If the base of a felled tree that has grown old in earth and rock ‘will bud at the scent of water…like a young plant’ (Job 14:9), it is also possible for us to be awakened by the power of the Holy Spirit and to flower with the incorruptibility that is ours by nature, bearing fruit like a young plant, even though we have fallen into sin.
~St John of Karpathos
Fire makes iron impossible to touch, and likewise frequent prayer renders the intellect more forceful in its warfare against the enemy. That is why the demons strive with all their strength to make us slothful in attentiveness to prayer, for they know that prayer is the intellect’s invincible weapon against them.
-St John of Karpathos
One who is enslaved to greed may perhaps object: “I eat a great deal, and since this involves me in heavy expenses I am inevitably tied up with all kinds of worldly business.” Such a person should think of the huge whales that feed in the Atlantic Ocean: God gives them plenty to eat and they never starve, although each of them swallows daily more fish than a highly populated city would consume. “All things wait upon Thee, to give them their food at the proper time”. (Psalm 104:27). It is God who provides food both for those who eat much and for those who eat little. Bearing this in mind, anyone among you who has a capacious appetite should in future set his faith entirely in God, freeing his intellect from all worldly distractions and anxieties. “Be no longer faithless, but have faith”. (John 20:27)
-St John of Karpathos
When you are being tested by trials and temptations, you cannot avoid feeling dejected. But those who till the earth of hardship and tribulation in their hearts are afterwards filled with great joy, tears of consolation and holy thoughts.
-St John of Karpathos
The enemy knows that prayer is our invincible weapon against him, and so he tries to keep us from praying. He fills us with a desire for secular learning, and encourages us to spend our time in studies that we have already renounced. Let us resist his suggestions; otherwise if we neglect our own fields and go wandering elsewhere, we shall harvest thorns and thistles instead of figs and grapes. ‘For the wisdom of this world is folly in God’s sight’. 1 Cor. 3:19
-St John of Karpathos
Prayerful Life 