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Monastic Life Quotes

Browse 37 quotes about Monastic Life.

Monastic Life Quotes

“[A]s though mindful of the wife of Lot, who looked back from behind him, thou deliveredst me first to the sacred garments and monastic profession before thou gavest thyself to God. And for that in this one thing thou shouldst have had little trust in me I vehemently grieved and was ashamed. For I (God [knows]) would without hesitation precede or follow thee to the Vulcanian fires according to thy word. For not with me was my heart, but with thee. But now, more than ever, if it be not with thee, it is nowhere. For without thee it cannot anywhere exist.”

MenLoveWomenGriefSacrificeLonelinessTrustIntegrityDignityShameFollowingAbandonmentCelibacySubjectionMonastic LifeConventSelf AbandonmentSelf Abnegation
Book:The Letters of Abélard and Héloïse
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“The normal daily routine varies somewhat according to the monastery, but, taking Kyoto's Sokoku-ji as an example, the monks schedule generally follows this pattern. The monks rise at 3 A.M., quickly rinse out their mouths with one scoopful of water, wash their faces and immediately begin the morning sutra recitation. Following this they have an opportunity to have a private interview with the roshi; those monks not doing so practice zazen. Breakfast is next, followed by zazen and daily cleaning. On days set aside for them, lectures begin from 7 A.M. in the summer and 8 A.M. in the winter. On days for mendicancy, the monks leave the monastery immediately after the daily cleaning. The midday meal is served at 10 A.M. on lecture days and at 11 A.M. when the monks have been out practicing mendicancy. Following lunch the monks may do zazen individually until 1 P.M., when the manual labor period begins. This manual labor, continuing until 3 P.M. in winter and 4 P.M. in summer, is followed by the evening sutra recitation. The evening meal is eaten at 3:30 P.M. in winter and 4 P.M. in summer. As dusk falls, evening zazen begins, and the monks once more have the opportunity to visit the roshi in his room. The day formally ends at 8 P.M. in winter and 9 P.M. in summer, although not until 10 P.M. during sesshin. Truly, a monastic day is a full and earnest one.”

ZenMonastic LifeDaily Routine
Book:The Zen Life
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“Mental discipline, prayer and remoteness from the world and its disturbing visions reduce temptation to a minimum, but they can never entirely abolish it. In medieval traditions, abbeys and convents were always considered to be expugnable centres of revolt against infernal dominion on earth. They became, accordingly, special targets. Satan, issuing orders at nightfall to his foul precurrers, was rumoured to dispatch to capital cities only one junior fiend. This solitary demon, the legend continues, sleeps at his post. There is no work for him; the battle was long ago won. But monasteries, those scattered danger points, become the chief objectives of nocturnal flight; the sky fills with the beat of sable wings as phalanx after phalanx streams to the attack, and the darkness crepitates with the splintering of a myriad lances against the masonry of asceticism.”

MythologyAsceticismMasochismMonastic Life
Book:A Time to Keep Silence
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“If you are forgetful of the Lord, you will not pray, and without prayer the soul will not dwell in the love of God, for the grace of the Holy Spirit comes through prayer.”

OrthodoxChristian QuotesOrthodoxyAncient WisdomOrthodox ChristianityMonastic LifeMonasticismGreek OrthodoxMonasteryOrthopraxy
Book:A Year in the Holy Spirit with Saint Silouan the Athonite: - A Calendar of Daily Quotes
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“Seclusion Won’t Do (The Sonnet) Each of you must turn into a sufi saint, Each of you must turn into a latin lover. Each of you must turn into a shaolin monk, Each of you must turn into a bengal tiger. It won't do to seclude yourself in a monastery, It won't do to seclude yourself behind a desk. The monk must come down to the streets of life, The scholar must till the soil with their sweat. Service of humanity is the fulfillment of divinity, Service of humanity is the right use of intellect. Occasional seclusion is good, to charge up the mind, But life-long seclusion from society is sheer waste. Enlightenment that doesn't eliminate separation is no enlightenment. Intelligence that doesn't elevate the collective is no intelligence.”

MeditationEnlightenmentService Of HumanitySocial WorkerIntellectualismHumanitarian CrisisMonastic LifeMonasticismSocial Work PoetryMonkhood
Book:Amantes Assemble: 100 Sonnets of Servant Sultans
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“Once, when Geronda Joseph underwent a great temptation, he went into the desert to pray, and as he was crying out to God, he saw a vision of a large, beautiful bird singing. In a moment, he found himself in Paradise where there were many birds. The birds were angels, and among them was the large bird, singing and keeping the bass note. Imagine that! He saw it with his own eyes!”

OrthodoxOrthodoxyMonastic LifeMonasticismGreek OrthodoxHomilyMonastic TraditionsGreek Orthodoxy
Book:Daily Quotes from "Words of the Heart" by Gerondissa Makrina Vassopoulou
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“The Lord vouchsafed us to be in His likeness, but the Lord is so meek and lowly that wert thou to see Him, from much joy thou wouldst want to exclaim, "O Lord, I melt with Thy grace!" but at that moment thou art unable to utter a single word concerning God, for thy soul is transformed from the abundance of the Holy Spirit. Thus it was with St. Seraphim of Sarov - when he beheld the Lord, he was unable to speak.”

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Book:A Year in the Holy Spirit with Saint Silouan the Athonite: - A Calendar of Daily Quotes
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“[The Lord] is exceedingly meek and lowly, and when the soul sees Him she is all transformed into love for God and her neighbour...becomes meek and lowly herself. But if a man lose grace, he will weep like Adam cast out of paradise.”

OrthodoxChristian QuotesOrthodoxyAncient WisdomOrthodox ChristianityMonastic LifeMonasticismGreek OrthodoxOrthopraxyCatechumen
Book:A Year in the Holy Spirit with Saint Silouan the Athonite: - A Calendar of Daily Quotes
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“When a small child calls out, "I want bread! I am hungry," does his mother not...prepare him something to eat? Likewise, if all day we call out, "We want to be saved!...Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on us." will Christ not send us His mercy?”

OrthodoxChristian QuotesOrthodoxyAncient WisdomOrthodox ChristianityMonastic LifeMonasticismGreek OrthodoxOrthopraxyCatechumen
Book:Daily Quotes from "Words of the Heart" by Gerondissa Makrina Vassopoulou
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“The purpose of judgment must be that the one you are judging should mend his ways, and you must be compassionate with every soul...and in all things preserve a clear conscience yourself. Then deep peace will reign in mind and soul.”

OrthodoxChristian QuotesOrthodoxyAncient WisdomOrthodox ChristianityMonastic LifeMonasticismGreek OrthodoxOrthopraxyCatechumen
Book:A Year in the Holy Spirit with Saint Silouan the Athonite: - A Calendar of Daily Quotes
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“We believe that true freedom means not sinning, in order to love God and one's neighbour with our whole heart and our whole strength. True freedom means constant dwelling in God.”

OrthodoxChristian QuotesOrthodoxyAncient WisdomOrthodox ChristianityMonastic LifeMonasticismGreek OrthodoxOrthopraxyCatechumen
Book:A Year in the Holy Spirit with Saint Silouan the Athonite: - A Calendar of Daily Quotes
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“And the Mother of God - what was her love for the Lord, her Son? No human being can conceive of the nature of her love save the Mother of God herself. But the Spirit of God opens our eyes to love. And in her was and is this same Spirit of God, Which is love, and therefore he who has come to know the Holy Spirit is able in part to conceive of the nature even of her love.”

OrthodoxChristian QuotesOrthodoxyAncient WisdomOrthodox ChristianityMonastic LifeMonasticismGreek OrthodoxOrthopraxyCatechumen
Book:A Year in the Holy Spirit with Saint Silouan the Athonite: - A Calendar of Daily Quotes
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“When the soul is full of the love of God, out of infinite joy she sorrows and in tears prays for the whole world, that all men may come to know their Lord and heavenly Father. There is no rest for her, nor does she desire rest, until all mankind delights in the grace of His love.”

OrthodoxChristian QuotesOrthodoxyAncient WisdomOrthodox ChristianityMonastic LifeMonasticismGreek OrthodoxOrthopraxyCatechumen
Book:A Year in the Holy Spirit with Saint Silouan the Athonite: - A Calendar of Daily Quotes
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“Prayer comes with praying, as the Scriptures say; but prayer which is only a habit, prayer without contrition for our sins, is not pleasing to the Lord.”

OrthodoxChristian QuotesOrthodoxyAncient WisdomOrthodox ChristianityMonastic LifeMonasticismGreek OrthodoxOrthopraxyCatechumen
Book:A Year in the Holy Spirit with Saint Silouan the Athonite: - A Calendar of Daily Quotes
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“We must be careful not to judge - extremely careful! It is so terrible that it is beyond words! "Judge not, that ye be not judged." Have we kept this? Even if we have no virtue but we don't judge, Christ will save us and take us to Paradise.”

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Book:Daily Quotes from "Words of the Heart" by Gerondissa Makrina Vassopoulou
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“With my sins I am worse than a noisome cur but I began to beseech God for forgiveness, and He granted me not only forgiveness but also the Holy Spirit, and in the Holy Spirit I knew God.”

OrthodoxChristian QuotesOrthodoxyAncient WisdomOrthodox ChristianityMonastic LifeMonasticismGreek OrthodoxOrthopraxyCatechumen
Book:A Year in the Holy Spirit with Saint Silouan the Athonite: - A Calendar of Daily Quotes
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“Art is a vocation, as much as anything in this world. For the real artist, it is the most natural thing in the world, not as necessary as air and water, perhaps, but as food and water. But we really do lead almost a monastic life, you know; to follow it you very often have to give up something.”

KnowsWorldGivingArtRealArtistWaterNaturalAirThis WorldGiving UpArt IsVocationNatural ThingsAir And WaterReal ArtistsMonastic Life
Book:Katherine Anne Porter: Conversations
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“I think it would help if, when people are first ordained, they underwent a period of strict training, maybe for several years. During this time they would learn basic Buddhist philosophy in a monastic community where all the teaching and training was directed toward living a perfect monastic life and wasn't channeled out to fit into the lay life - which is what usually happens in Dharma centers where the teachings are directed toward how to live the Dharma in your everyday life.”

PeopleIfsThinkingYearsFirstsPhilosophyHelpingHappensCommunityPerfectTeachingPeriodsFitTrainingLaysEverydayBuddhistStrictEveryday LifeDharmaMonastic LifeBuddhist Philosophy
Author:Tenzin Palmo
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“If there are 1,500 people in a theater and they're all there to see you, there are no other guys. You're the guy. So it is a monastic life, it is very lonely, if I was prone to loneliness. It's a lot like wrestling, no one can throw a block for you, no one can give you a pass. Nobody can hand the ball off to you, it's you only for an hour and a half every night.”

PeopleIfsGivingHandsNightGuyHoursHalfLonelinessLonelyBallsTheaterBlockWrestlingEvery NightOther GuysMonastic Life
Author:Jay Mohr
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“By my monastic life and vows I am saying no to all the concentration camps, the aerial bombardments, the staged political trials, the judicial murders, the racial injustices, the economic tyrannies, and the whole socioeconomic apparatus which seems geared for nothing but global destruction in spite of all its fair words in favor of peace.”

WholeSeemsPoliticalEconomicFairsDestructionMurderInjusticeFavorsTrialsTyrannySpiteConcentrationCampsVowSaying NoJudicialConcentration CampMonastic Life
Book:Choosing to Love the World: On Contemplation
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