“The patient endurance of the saints exhausts the evil power that attacks them, since it makes them glory in sufferings undergone for the sake of the truth. It teaches those too much concerned with a life in the flesh to deepen themselves through such sufferings instead of pursuing ease and comfort; and it makes the flesh's natural weakness in the endurance of suffering a foundation for overwhelming spiritual power. For the natural weakness of the saints is precisely such a foundation, since the Lord has made their weakness stronger than the proud devil.” MadeChristianSpiritualSufferingEvilNaturalLordTeachToo MuchProudComfortGloryWeaknessDevilConcernedStrongerFoundationPatientSakeSaintFleshEaseEnduranceOrthodoxOverwhelmingOrthodox ChristianSpiritual Power Author:Maximus the Confessor
“What is the average type of a counterfeit church? A hammock, attached on one side to the cross, and, on the other, held and swung to and fro by the forefinger of Mammon; its freight of nominal Christians elegantly moaning meanwhile over the evils of the times, and not at ease unless fanned by eloquence and music, and sprinkled by social adulations into perfumed, unheroic slumber.” ChristianEvilSocialSidesChurchTypeCrossesAverageEaseEloquenceSlumberCounterfeitMoaningAdulationHammocks Book:Scepticism and Rationalism: Elective Affinities and Hereditary Descent Source: Scepticism and Rationalism: Elective Affinities and Hereditary Descent