Pearls from a Syrian Saint

What salt is for any food, humility is for every virtue. To acquire it, a man must always think of himself with contrition, self-belittlement and painful salf-judgment. But if we acquire it, it will make us sons of God.

Let us love silence till the world is made to die in our hearts. Let us always remember death, and in this thought draw near to God in our heart–and the pleasures of this world will have our scorn.

Walk before God in simplicity, and not in subtleties of the mind. Simplicity brings faith; but subtle and intricate speculations bring conceit; and conceit brings withdrawal from God.

As a man whose head is under water cannot inhale pure air, so a man whose thoughts are plunged into the cares of this world cannot absorb the sensations of that new world.

It is a spiritual gift from God for a man to perceive his sins.

Ease and idleness are the destruction of the soul and they can injure her more than the demons.

The purpose of the advent of the Saviour, when He gave us His life-giving commandments as purifying remedies in our passionate state, was to cleanse the soul from the damage done by the first transgression and bring it back to its original state. What medicines are for a sick body, that the commandments are for the passionate soul.

A life of spiritual endeavor is the mother of sanctity; from it is born the first experience of perception of the mysteries of Christ–which is called the first stage of spiritual knowledge.

To bear a grudge and pray, means to sow seed on the sea and expect a harvest.

A small but persistent discipline is a great force; for a soft drop tailing persistently, hollows out hard rock.

The key to Divine gifts is given to the heart by love of neighbor, and, in proportion to the heart’s freedom from the bonds of the flesh, the door of knowledge begins to open before it.

Dispassion does not mean that a man feels no passions, but that he does not accept any of them.

This life has been given to you for repentance; do not waste it in vain pursuits.

From Orthodox America.

BE AT PEACE WITH YOUR OWN SOUL

Be at peace with your own soul
then heaven & earth will be at peace with you.

Enter eagerly into the treasure
house that is within you,

And you will see the things that are in heaven,
for there is but one single entry to them both.

The ladder that leads to the Kingdom
is hidden within your soul…

Dive into yourself and in your soul
and you will discover the stairs
by which to ascend.

Prayers of Saint Isaac of Nineveh

Do you wish to commune with God in your mind? Strive to be
merciful… One should first of all begin to be merciful in the
measure that our heavenly Father is merciful.

The purpose of prayer is for us to acquire love for God, for in
prayer can be discovered all sorts of reasons for loving God.

Love of God proceeds from conversing with Him; this conversation of
prayer comes about through stillness, and stillness comes with the
stripping away of the self.

Faith in Christ is living, noetic Light.

A monk who with the eyes of his intellect gazes intently into his
heart while praying will quickly be deemed worthy of mercy.

The Light of Jesus is noetic Light, and blessed is the soul which is
accounted worthy to see it!

PRAYERS OF SAINT ISAAC

I beg and beseech You, Lord, grant to all who have gone astray a true
knowledge of You, so that each and every one may come to know Your
glory.

0 Christ who are covered with Light as though with a garment….
May Your divinity, Lord, take pleasure in me, and lead me above the
world to be with You.

Illumine before me the path of darkness by means of the brilliance of
awareness of You.

O Name of Jesus,
key to all gifts,
open up for me the great door to your treasurehouse
so that I may enter and praise you
with the praise that comes from the heart
in return for your mercies
which I have experienced in latter days;
for you came and renewed me
with an awareness of the New World.

I give praise to your holy nature, Lord,
for you have made my nature
a sanctuary for your hiddenness
and a tabernacle for your Mysteries,
a place where you can dwell,
and a holy temple for your divinity.

Taken from a Yahoo list on Christian Mysticism.