Theophan the Recluse > Quotes

“If you examine your life well, you will find many instances when God showed His unmistakable mercy to you. Trouble was brewing, but it passed you by for some reason. God delivered you. Acknowledge these and thank God, Who loves you.”
― Theophan the Recluse

“I will declare to you plainly, the highest and most perfect matter one hopes to attain is to draw near to God, and abide as one with Him.”
― St. Theophan the Recluse, Unseen Warfare: The Spiritual Combat and Path to Paradise of Lorenzo Scupoli

“But how can it be that our good Shepherd, Who for three years sought the sheep which had wandered amiss, crying out so loudly that His throat was parched, and following roads so worn and full of thorns that He shed every drop of His blood and delivered His very life. How can it be, I say again, that now, if His sheep should follow after him, turning to Him with love and calling out to Him for help with hope, He would decline to cast His eyes on the sheep that had gone astray. How could He not take it into His divine embrace and, put it among the angels of heaven, and prepare a welcoming banquet for it?”
― St. Theophan the Recluse, Unseen Warfare: The Spiritual Combat and Path to Paradise of Lorenzo Scupoli

“destroy your wild lusts and passions, you will gratify God more, and you will work for Him more magnificently than if you scourge yourself until you issue blood or tire yourself out with fasting more than any elderly desert hermit. For even if you redeem hundreds of Christian slaves from the unbelievers and liberate them, it will not save you, if you continue to be a slave to your passions. And no matter what work you perform, however wonderful, and with whatever labor and sacrifice you might achieve it, it will not guide you toward your goal, if you do not pay attention to your passions, allowing them the liberty to live and work in you.”
― St. Theophan the Recluse, Unseen Warfare: The Spiritual Combat and Path to Paradise of Lorenzo Scupoli

“Reflect that the manifest beauty is the work of the unseen, most beautiful creative Spirit, with Whom is the source of all physical beauty.”
― St. Theophan the Recluse, Unseen Warfare: The Spiritual Combat and Path to Paradise of Lorenzo Scupoli

“We must continue to hold our attention on God during the day. To support our attention, I have said more than once: Remember God through a briefly worded prayer ... Stand with reverence before God, with the mind in the heart, and strive toward Him with longing.”
― Theophan the Recluse

“Don't be lazy. Descend. You will find life in your heart. There you must live.”
― St Theophan the Recluse

“Get out of the mind and into the heart.”
― St Theophan the Recluse

“While it is an absolute requirement of each Christian to restore peace that has been lost in his heart, so it is required that he not permit accidental occurrences in life to trouble his peace.”
― St. Theophan the Recluse, Unseen Warfare: The Spiritual Combat and Path to Paradise of Lorenzo Scupoli