Ethan D Good

“All the Holy Fathers lived a good life, a quiet life. All of them say that the perfection of the Christian life is in extreme humility. This means that patient long-suffering is what we most need in this life. We must bear everything patiently and forgive all. If we have good thoughts and desires, these thoughts will give us peace and joy even in this life, and even more so in eternity. Then we will see that there is no death, that the Lord has vanquished death, and that He has given us eternal life!”
― Thaddeus of Vitovnica, Our Thoughts Determine Our Lives: the Life and Teachings of Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica

“The Lord has taken all of our sufferings and cares upon himself, and He has said that He will provide for all our needs, yet we hold on to our cares so tightly that we create unrest in our hearts and minds, in our families, and all around us.”
― Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica

“The battle with thoughts—which Br. Tomislav had experienced and whose mystical depths he had touched even as a young child—began in earnest when he became a monk. He began to understand, based on his own experience, that being a Christian meant waging a constant and merciless battle against evil and death in one’s own heart, a battle with no front lines or cease-fires, in which the enemy neither sleeps nor tires.”
― Thaddeus of Vitovnica, Our Thoughts Determine Our Lives: the Life and Teachings of Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica

“When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.”
― Deitrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship