Nathan Duffy

“The purpose of theology is to safeguard against misunderstandings that frustrate a Christian life of prayer.”
― Andrew Louth, Maximus the Confessor

“the easiest way of practicing unceasing prayer is to pray the Jesus Prayer, a beginner should apply himself to the Jesus Prayer as often as possible. Do you happen to have a moment free? Do not waste it in idleness! Do not waste it by using it for some impracticable and fatuous castle-building, or for some vain and trivial employment! Use it for the practice of the Jesus Prayer.”
― Ignatius Brianchaninov, The Arena: Guidelines for Spiritual and Monastic Life

“We show right judgment and evince salutary intelligence when, in reading about the rules and experiences of the ancient Fathers and of their obedience—equally amazing both in the directors and in those who were being directed—we see at the present time a general decline of Christianity and recognize that we are unfit to inherit the legacy of the Fathers in its fullness and in all its abundance. And it is a great mystery of God, a great blessing for us, that it is left to us to feed on the crumbs that fall from the spiritual table of the Fathers.”
― Ignatius Brianchaninov, The Arena: Guidelines for Spiritual and Monastic Life

“In the renunciation of one’s own will to follow the will of God consists the self-renunciation commanded by the Savior, which is an indispensable condition of salvation and Christian perfection. In fact, this is so indispensable that unless this condition is satisfied, salvation is impossible, and Christian perfection even more impossible.”
― Ignatius Brianchaninov, The Arena: Guidelines for Spiritual and Monastic Life