Academics - Orthodox Church Quotes

St. Sebastian Dabovich: If you are truly interested in the welfare of your children . . .

If you are truly interested in the welfare of your children, why do you not watch as strictly, but once a week, how they attend to their lessons in the study of the Law of God, as you do in some home-work, which the children seemed to be forced to have prepared within the next twelve hours for their public school? You must obey God, above the public and all other masters, or lose your souls for the responsibility which rests upon you for the present and future welfare of your children.

Where there is intellect, there always will be knowledge. Still, you must educate the child. Teach the boy and girl geography and history; but if you do not train the child’s will, in order not only to please you, its parents, but to bend before the holy will of Him, who is the only just rewarder of good and evil, then you are a failure as a Christian. Where there is no discipline, there is no constancy.

+ St Sebastian Dabovich, “On the Education of Children,” Preaching in the Orthodox Church: Lectures and Sermons by a Priest of the Holy Orthodox Church

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Elder Thaddeus: We think we know a lot . . .

We think we know a lot, but what we know is very little. Even all those who have striven all their life to bring progress to mankind — learned scientists and highly educated people — all realize in the end that all their knowledge is but a grain of sand on the seashore. All our achievements are insufficient.

+ Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica, Our Thoughts Determine Our Lives

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St. Anthony the Great: Men are often called intelligent wrongly. Intelligent men are not those who . . .

Sayings from Saints, Elders, and Fathers, St. Anthony the Great / By Orthodox Church Quotes

“Men are often called intelligent wrongly. Intelligent men are not those who are erudite in the sayings and books of the wise men of old, but those who have an intelligent soul and can discriminate between good and evil. They avoid what is sinful and harms the soul; and with deep gratitude to God they resolutely adhere by dint of practice to what is good and benefits the soul. These men alone should truly be called intelligent.”

+ St. Anthony the Great, “On the Character of Men and on the Virtuous Life: One Hundred and Seventy Texts,” Text 1, The Philokalia: The Complete Text (Vol. 1)

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St. Anthony the Great: The truly intelligent man pursues one sole objective: to obey and to conform to the God of all. With this single aim in view . . .

Sayings from Saints, Elders, and Fathers, St. Anthony the Great / By Orthodox Church Quotes

“The truly intelligent man pursues one sole objective: to obey and to conform to the God of all. With this single aim in view, he disciplines his soul, and whatever he may encounter in the course of his life, he gives thanks to God for the compass and depth of His providential ordering of all things. For it is absurd to be grateful to doctors who give us bitter and unpleasant medicines to cure our bodies, and yet to be ungrateful to God for what appears to us to be harsh, not grasping that all we encounter is for our benefit and in accordance with His providence. For knowledge of God and faith in Him is the salvation and perfection of the soul.”

+ St. Anthony the Great, “On the Character of Men and on the Virtuous Life: One Hundred and Seventy Texts,” Text 2, The Philokalia: The Complete Text (Vol. 1)

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St. Nikolai Velimirovich: [T]he enormous difference is clearly seen between a pagan philosopher and a Christian saint. . . .

Sayings from Saints, Elders, and Fathers, Uncategorized / By Orthodox Church Quotes

. . . “[T]he enormous difference is clearly seen between a pagan philosopher and a Christian saint. The one (the philosopher) looses himself in abstractions, in cleverly twisted words, in logical provocations and in thoughtful sport while the other (the saint) directed his whole mind on the Living God and on the salvation of his soul. The one is abstract and dead, while the other is practical and alive.”

+ St. Nikolai Velimirovich

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St. Nektarios: Christian religion is not a certain philosophic system . . .

Sayings from Saints, Elders, and Fathers, St. Nektarios of Aegina / By Orthodox Church Quotes

“Christian religion is not a certain philosophic system, about which learned men, trained in metaphysical studies, argue and then either espouse or reject, according to the opinion each one has formed. It is faith, established in the souls of men, which ought to be spread to the many and be maintained in their consciousnesses.”

— St. Nektarios

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St. John Chrysostom: We spare neither labors nor means in order to teach our children . . .

Sayings from Saints, Elders, and Fathers, St. John Chrysostom / By Orthodox Church Quotes

“We spare neither labors nor means in order to teach our children secular sciences, so that they can serve well the earthly authorities. Only the knowledge of the holy Faith, the service of the Heavenly King are a matter of indifference to us. We allow them to attend spectacles but we care little whether they go to Church and stand within it reverently. We demand an account from them of what they learned in their secular institutes—why do we not demand an account from them of what they heard in the Lord’s house?”

+ St. John Chrysostom, Twenty-first Homily on the Epistle to the Ephesians

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St. Mark the Ascetic: Understand the words of Holy Scripture . . .

Sayings from Saints, Elders, and Fathers, St. Mark the Ascetic (St. Mark the Monk) / By Orthodox Church Quotes

“Understand the words of Holy Scripture by putting them into practice, and do not fill yourself with conceit by elaborating on theoretical ideas.”

+ St. Mark the Ascetic, On the Spiritual Law Two Hundred Texts, The Philokalia: The Complete Text (Vol. 1)

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St. Silouan the Athonite: We may study as much as we will . . .

Sayings from Saints, Elders, and Fathers, St. Silouan the Athonite / By Orthodox Church Quotes

“We may study as much as we will but we shall still not come to know the Lord unless we live according to His commandments, for the Lord is not made known through learning but by the Holy Spirit. Many philosophers and scholars have arrived at a belief in the existence of God but they have not come to know God. And we monks apply ourselves day and night to the study of the Lord’s command but not all of us by a long way have come to know the Lord, although we believe in Him.”

— St. Silouan the Athonite

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