Quote for the Day

A brother questioned Abba Motius, saying, 'If I go to dwell somewhere, how do you want me to live?' The old man said to him, 'If you live somewhere, do not seek to be known for anything special; do not say, for example, I do not go to the synaxis; or perhaps, I do not eat at the agape. For these things make an empty reputation and later you will be troubled because of this. for men rush there where they find these practices.' The brother said to him, 'What shall I do, then?' The old man said, 'Wherever you live, follow the same manner of life as everyone else and if you see devout men, whom you trust doing something, do the same and you will be at peace. For this is humility: to see yourself to be the same as the rest. When men see you do not go beyond the limits, they will consider you to be the same as everyone else and no-one will trouble you.' 

-- The Sayings of the Desert Fathers

Quote for the Day

That is what our educational system has to encourage.  It has to foster the social goals of living together, and working together, for the common good.

-- Julius Nyerere

Quote for the Day

It is no use walking anywhere to preach, unless our walking is our preaching. 

-- St. Francis of Assisi

Quote for the Day

He [Abba Matoes] went on, 'It is not through virtue that I live in solitude, but through weakness; those who live in the midst of men are the strong ones.' 

-- The Sayings of the Desert Fathers

Quote for the Day

Abba Matoes said that three old men went to Abba Paphnutius, he who is called Cephalus, to ask a word of him. The old man said to them, 'What do you want me to say to you? A spiritual word, or a bodily word?' They said, 'A spiritual word.' The old man said to them, 'Go, and choose trials rather than quietness, dishonour rather than glory, and to give rather than to receive.'

 -- The Sayings of the Desert Fathers

Quote for the Day

He [Abba Matoes] also said, 'The nearer a man draws to God, the more he sees himself a sinner. It was when Isaiah the prophet saw God, that he delcared himself "a man of unclean lips."' (Is. 6.5) 

-- The Sayings of the Desert Fathers