When death has been brought upon a saint, we ought not to think that an evil has happened to him but a thing indifferent; which is an evil to a wicked man, while to the good it is rest and freedom from evils. ‘For death is rest to a man whose way is hidden’ (Job 3:23 LXX). And so a good man does not suffer any loss from it.”
— John Cassian
Beauty is indeed a good gift of God; but that the good may not think it a great good, God dispenses it even to the wicked.
— St. Augustine of Hippo
What is the benefit of fasting in our body while filling our souls with innumerable evils? He who does not play at dice, but spends his leisure otherwise, what nonsense does he not utter? What absurdities does he not listen to? Leisure without the fear of God is, for those who do not know how to use time, the teacher of wickedness.”
-St Anthony the Great
The woman who purposely destroys her unborn child is guilty of murder. With us there is no nice inquiry as to its being formed or unformed. In this case it is not only the being about to be born who is vindicated, but the woman in her attack upon herself; because in most cases women who make such attempts die. The destruction of the embryo is an additional crime, a second murder, at all events if we regard it as done with intent. The punishment, however, of these women should not be for life, but for the term of ten years. And let their treatment depend not on mere lapse of time, but on the character of their repentance.”
— St. Basil the Great, Letter 188:2 or First Canonical Letter, Canon 2
Reject pride, and consider everyone more righteous than yourself
-St Anthony the great.
“Blessed the one who farms fair and good thoughts each day and by hope conquers the wicked passion of despondency, by which the Lord’s ascetics are warred upon.”
–St. Ephrem of Syria
