Puritan Quotes

The Cross is a sign of victory over the demons, the knife against sin, the sword by which Christ wounded the serpent. The Cross is the will of the Father, the glory of the Only-begotten, the exultation of the Spirit, the adornment of the angels, the safety of your Church, the boast of Paul, the fortification of the saints, the light of all the world.  +St. John Chrysostom

“O radiant fountain, ever gushing with life, creative power coeternal with the Father, who with surpassing beauty hast fulfilled the whole economy of the salvation of mankind; O Christ our God, who didst burst the indestructible bonds of death and the bolts of Hades, and hast trampled down multitudes of evil spirits; who didst offer thyself for us as a blameless victim, giving thine immaculate body as a sacrifice, inviolate and unblemished by an sin, and through that dread and indescribable act of sacrifice, didst bestow eternal life upon us; who didst descend into Hades and break down its eternal bars, showing forth the way up to those who sat below; thou who, in thy wisdom, didst bait and hook the ruler of evil, the dragon of the abyss, and with cords of gloom didst bind him in Tartarus, in unquenchable fire, confining him to the outer darkness by thine infinite might; O glorious Wisdom of the Father, who didst manifest thyself as a mighty ally to the oppressed, enlightening those that sat in darkness and in the shadow of death, thou Lord of eternal glory and beloved Son of the Father Most High, Light everlasting of Light everlasting, Sun of righteousness…” -Third Kneeling Prayer, Vespers of Pentecost

Happy Resurrection Sunday! Christ is Risen!

”“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.“ Matthew 5:43-48 LSB Pray for those who Persecute You “For neither did Christ simply command to love but to pray. Do you see how many steps he has ascended and how he has set us on the very summit of virtue? Mark it, numbering from the beginning. A first step is not to begin with injustice. A second, after one has begun, is not to vindicate oneself by retaliating in kind. A third, to refuse to respond in kind to the one who is injuring us but to remain tranquil. A fourth, even to offer up one’s self to suffer wrongfully. A fifth, to give up even more than the wrongdoer wishes to take. A sixth, to refuse to hate one who has wronged us. A seventh, even to love such a one. An eighth, even to do good to that one. A ninth, to entreat God himself on our enemy’s behalf. Do you perceive how elevated is a Christian disposition? Hence its reward is also glorious.” - John Chrysostom, The Gospel of Matthew, Homily 18.4.

“Therefore the Son of the Father declares [Him] from the beginning, inasmuch as He was with the Father from the beginning, who did also show to the human race prophetic visions, and diversities of gifts, and His own ministrations, and the glory of the Father, in regular order and connection, at the fitting time for the benefit [of mankind]. For where there is a regular succession, there is also fixedness; and where fixedness, there suitability to the period; and where suitability, there also utility. And for this reason did the Word become the dispenser of the paternal grace for the benefit of men, for whom He made such great dispensations, revealing God indeed to men, but presenting man to God, and preserving at the same time the invisibility of the Father, lest man should at any time become a despiser of God, and that he should always possess something towards which he might advance; but, on the other hand, revealing God to men through many dispensations, lest man, falling away from God altogether, should cease to exist. For the glory of God is a living man; and the life of man consists in beholding God. For if the manifestation of God which is made by means of the creation, affords life to all living in the earth, much more does that revelation of the Father which comes through the Word, give life to those who see God.” -Irenaeus, Against Heresies, Book 4, ch. 20:7

“At this point it must be mentioned that although God’s self-revelation in history through the chosen people of Israel—the revelation which culminates in the coming of Christ the Messiah—is of primary importance, it is also the doctrine of the Christian Church that all genuine strivings of men after the truth are fulfilled in Christ. Every genuine insight into the meaning of life finds its perfection in the Christian Gospel. Thus, the holy fathers of the Church taught that the yearnings of pagan religions and the wisdom of many philosophers are also capable of serving to prepare men for the doctrines of Jesus and are indeed valid and genuine ways to the one Truth of God.” - The Orthodox Faith Volume 1: Doctrine and Scripture Thomas Hopko

“Therefore the perfection of goodness is not in one individual, nor is it in any way the perfection of what is one’s own. No one can be called good who does not join himself constantly to the bad.” —Tertullian, On the Prescription of Heretics

“We must guard against the feeling that there is 'safety in numbers'. It is natural to feel that if all men are as bad as the Christians say, then badness must be very excusable. If all the boys plough in the examination, surely the papers must have been too hard? And so the masters at that school feel till they learn that there are other schools where ninety per cent of the boys passed on the same papers. Then they begin to suspect that the fault did not lie with the examiners. Again, many of us have had the experience of living in some local pocket of human society-some particular school, college, regiment or profession where the tone was bad. And inside that pocket certain actions were regarded as merely normal ('Everyone does it') and certain others as impracticably virtuous and Quixotic. But when we emerged from that bad society we made the horrible discovery that in the outer world our 'normal' was the kind of thing that no decent person ever dreamed of doing, and our 'Quixotic' was taken for granted as the minimum standard of decency. What had seemed to us morbid and fantastic scruples so long as we were in the'pocket' now turned out to be the only moments of sanity we there enjoyed. It is wise to face the possibility that the whole human race (being a small thing in the universe) is, in fact, just such a local pocket of evil—an isolated bad school or regiment inside which minimum decency passes for heroic virtue and utter corruption for pardonable imperfection.” - C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain

Ch. 26 Love of Ourselves and of our Neighbor “It may be thought that there is nothing here about man himself, the lover. But to think this, shows a want of clear perception. For it is impossible for one who loves God not to love himself. For he alone has a proper love for himself who aims diligently at the attainment of the chief and true good; and if this is nothing else but God, as has been shown, what is to prevent one who loves God from loving himself? And then, among men should there be no bond of mutual love? Yea, verily; so that we can think of no surer step towards the love of God than the love of man to man. Let the Lord then supply us with the other precept in answer to the question about the precepts of life; for He was not satisfied with one as knowing that God is one thing and man another, and that the difference is nothing less than that between the Creator and the thing created in the likeness of its Creator. He says then that the second precept is, “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself” (Matt. 22:39). Now you love yourself suitably when you love God better than yourself. What, then, you aim at in yourself you must aim at in your neighbor, namely, that he may love God with a perfect affection. For you do not love him as yourself, unless you try to draw him to that good which you are yourself pursuing. For this is the one good which has room for all to pursue it along with you. From this precept proceed the duties of human society, in which it is hard to keep from error. But the first thing to aim at is, that we should be benevolent, that is, that we cherish no malice and no evil design against another. For man is the nearest neighbor of man. - Augustine’s “The Morals of the Catholic Church”, Ch. 26, p. 342-43