“If you want to correct your brother when he is doing wrong, you must keep yourself calm; otherwise you yourself may catch the sickness you are seeking to cure and you may find that the words of the Gospel now apply to you, ‘Why do you look at the speck of dust in your brother’s eye, and not notice the rafter in your own eye?’”
— St. John Cassian, Philiokalia, Vol 1
“If you believe what you like in the Gospels, and reject what you don’t like, it is not the Gospel you believe, but yourself.”
— St. Augustine of Hippo
In truth, to know oneself seems to be the hardest of all things. Not only our eye, which observes external objects, does not use the sense of sight upon itself, but even our mind, which contemplates intently another’s sin, is slow in the recognition of its own defects.
-St Basil The Great
I know the laws of allegory, though less by myself than from the works of others. There are those truly, who do not admit the common sense of the Scriptures, for whom water is not water, but some other nature, who see in a plant, in a fish, what their fancy wishes, who change the nature of reptiles and of wild beasts to suit their allegories, like the interpreters of dreams who explain visions in sleep to make them serve their own ends. For me grass is grass; plant, fish, wild beast, domestic animal, I take all in the literal sense. ‘For I am not ashamed of the Gospel’ [Romans 1:16]
-St Anthony the Great
“He who reads much and understands much, receives his fill. He who is full, refreshes others.”
― St
“Scripture brought me to the Gate of Paradise, and the mind stood in wonder as it entered.”
— Ephrem the Syrian
“The Holy Scriptures lead us to God and open the path to the knowledge of God.”
— St. John Chrysostom, Conversations on the Gospel of John, 59:2
“Moreover, if the Devil does not dare to enter into the house where the Gospel lies, much less will he ever seize upon the soul which contains such thoughts as these, and no evil spirit will approach it, nor will the nature of sin come near. Well, then, sanctify your soul, sanctify your body by having these thoughts always in your heart and on your tongue. For if foul language is defiling and evokes evil spirits, it is evident that spiritual reading sanctifies the reader and attracts the grace of the Spirit.”
+ St. John Chrysostom, Homily 32, Homilies on the Gospel of John
