Then the herald of the Church commands all the people to give the Peace, each one to his companion, in the love of our Lord. First the priests give the Peace in the midst of the sanctuary; and the people also give it in the nave in the same manner. It behooves him that gives the Peace to his brother in the Church too wash his heart from all hatred and anger and lust.
-St. Narsai Harp of the Spirit
“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
“For I confess to your Charity that I have learned to yield this respect and honour only to the canonical books of Scripture: of these alone do I most firmly believe that the authors were completely free from error. And if in these writings I am perplexed by anything which appears to me opposed to truth, I do not hesitate to suppose that either the manuscript is faulty, or the translator has not caught the meaning of what was said, or I myself have failed to understand it.”
— St. Augustine of Hippo, Letter to St. Jerome, 1:3
“What is perfection in love? Love your enemies in such a way that you would desire to make them your brothers … For so did He love, Who hanging on the Cross, said ‘Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.’” (Luke 23:34)
— St. Augustine of Hippo, Sermons on I John, I.9
A brother renounced the world and gave his goods to the poor, but he kept back a little for his personal expenses. He went to see Abba Anthony. When he told him this, the old man said to him, “If you want to be a monk, go into the village, buy some meat, cover your naked body with it and come here like that.” The brother did so, and the dogs and birds tore at his flesh. When he came back the old man asked him whether he had followed his advice. He showed him his wounded body, and Saint Anthony said, “Those who renounce the world but want to keep something for themselves are torn in this way by the demons who make war on them.”
-St Anthony the great
Our life and our death is with our neighbor. If we gain our brother, we have gained God, but if we scandalize our brother, we have sinned against Christ.
“There is your brother, naked, crying, and you stand there confused over the choice of an attractive floor covering.”
— St. Ambrose of Milan
“Yea, O Lord and King, grant me to see my own sin and not to judge my brother, for You are blessed from all ages to all ages. Amen”
— Ephrem the Syrian
