“If everything that exists was made by God and for God, and God is superior to the things made by Him, he who abandons what is superior and devotes Himself to what is inferior shows that he values things made by God more than God Himself.” IfsMadeShowsChristianValuesSuperiorsAbandonOrthodoxInferiorsOrthodox Christian Author:Maximus the Confessor
“If God suffers in the flesh when He is made man, should we not rejoice when we suffer, for we have God to share our sufferings? This shared suffering confers the kingdom on us. For he spoke truly who said, 'If we suffer with Him, then we shall also be glorified with Him' (Rom. 8:17).” IfsMenShouldMadeSaidChristianSufferingShareFleshKingdomsSpokesOrthodoxRejoiceOrthodox Christian Author:Maximus the Confessor
“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
“By His gracious condescension God became man and is called man for the sake of man and by exchanging His condition for ours revealed the power that elevates man to God through his love for God and brings God down to man because of His love for man. By this blessed inversion, man is made God by divinization and God is made man by hominization. For the Word of God and God wills always and in all things to accomplish the mystery of His embodiment.” MenMadeChristianMysteryConditionsAll ThingsBlessedSakeAccomplishGods WillGod LoveOrthodoxWord Of GodHis LoveGraciousOrthodox ChristianEmbodimentExchangingCondescensionInversions Author:Maximus the Confessor
“Those who seek the Lord should not look for Him outside themselves; on the contrary, they must seek Him within themselves through faith made manifest in action. For He is near you: 'The word is... in your mouth and in your heart, that is, the word of faith' (Rom. 10:8) - Christ being Himself the word that is sought.” ShouldLooksHeartMadeActionChristianChristLordMouthsContraryOrthodoxManifestOrthodox Christian Author:Maximus the Confessor
“How can it be other than right to worship the Body of the Lord, all-holy and all-reverend as it is, announced as it was by the archangel Gabriel, formed by the Holy Spirit, and made the Vesture of the Word? It was at any rate a bodily hand that the Word stretched out to raise her that was sick of a fever (Mk. 1:31): a human voice that He uttered to raise Lazarus - the dead (Jn. 11:43); and, once again, stretching out His hands upon the Cross, He overthrew the prince of the power of the air, that now works (Eph. 2:2) in the sons of disobedience, and made the way clear for us into the heavens.” WayHumansMadeBodyHandsChristianSpiritHeavenVoiceLordClearAirSonHolyWorshipCrossesSickRaisesRateHoly SpiritOrthodoxDisobedienceFeverOrthodox ChristianStretchingGabrielArchangelHuman VoiceReverendsLazarus Author:John of Kronstadt
“Our Savior was crucified for our sakes that by His death He might give us life and train and attract us all to endurance. To Him I press on, and to the Father and to the Holy Spirit. I strive to be found true, judging myself unworthy of this world's goods; and yet not I because of the world, but the world because of me. Think of all these things in your heart; follow them with zeal; fight, as you have been commanded, for the truth to the death: For Christ was made 'obedient' even 'to death'” ThinkingWorldGivingHeartHas BeensMadeMightChristianSpiritFightingFoundFatherChristThis WorldJudgingHolyPressesTrainStriveSakeHoly SpiritEnduranceOrthodoxGoodsSaviorZealOrthodox ChristianUnworthyObedientJudging Myself Author:Saint Basil