Ethan D Good

“If we ourselves do not learn humility, God will not stop humbling us,” were words that Fr. Thaddeus often repeated during the last years of his earthly life when he recounted how he had tried to avoid his obediences and the cross that he had been given by the Lord. Or, as the old Byzantine saying goes: If it is the king that is persecuting you, run; if it is God Who is persecuting you, sit down!”
― Thaddeus of Vitovnica, Our Thoughts Determine Our Lives: the Life and Teachings of Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica

“When I understood that neither parents, nor family, nor friends, nor anyone in the world could offer me anything but pain, insults, and wounds, I resolved to stop living for the world and to dedicate my few remaining days in this life to the Lord. I understood that I had no one in the world except God.”
― Thaddeus of Vitovnica, Our Thoughts Determine Our Lives: the Life and Teachings of Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica

“He also undertook to translate some of these texts into Serbian, including The Homilies of St. Isaac the Syrian. This would one day prove to be of great significance for him, when he found himself in the same situation as St. Paisius (Velichkovsky): in the eighteenth century St. Paisius was unable to obtain a spiritual father, but he found spiritual guidance in the God-enlightened mind and experience of the Holy Fathers, expressed in their theology and teachings.”
― 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