Only the gospel of Christ fully knows the mystery of sin and the problem of sin and everything which hides within it. The prodigal son of the Gospel is the perfect example of the repentant sinner. The Gospel shows us that man, through his free will, can share his life with Earth and with Heaven, with Satan and with God, with paradise and with hell. Sin gradually strips man of everything divine in him, paralyzes his every divine inclination and desire, until it finally throws him into the bosom of Satan. And then man reaches the plight of grazing the swine of his master, the Devil. The swine are passions, which are always greedy and gluttonous. In such a life, the unfortunate man is nothing more than insane. In a shocking parable of the Gospel, the Lord says about the prodigal son, ‘he came to himself,’ (Luke 15:17) How did he come to himself? He came to himself through repentance. Through sin, man becomes mad, insane. Every sin, even the most seemingly insignificant one, is always an insanity of the soul. Through repentance, man comes to his senses becomes complete again, comes to himself. Then he cries out loud to God, runs to Him, and cries towards Heaven, ‘Father, I have sinned against Heaven, and in thy sight’ (Luke 15:21). And what is the heavenly Father doing? He is always infinitely merciful upon seeing His child in a state of repentance. He has compassion for him, runs, embraces him, and kisses him. He orders His heavenly hosts, the holy angels: ‘Bring forth the best robe and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: and bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry: for this is My son who was dead, and is alive again; and he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.’ (Luke 16:22-24) And this is taking place for each and every one of us, and for the sake of every sinner who repents. Namely, joy and happiness is taking place in the heaven of the All-merciful Lord and God, and together with Him, all of the holy angels.

St. Justin Martyr

O Lord and Creator of all, and especially of Your creature, man: You are the God and Father and ruler of Your children; You are the Lord of life and death; You are the guardian and benefactor of our souls.  You fashion and transform all things in their due season through Your creating Word, as You know to be best in Your deep wisdom and providence.  Receive now those who have gone ahead of us in our journey from this life.  Receive us too at the proper time, when You have guided us in our bodily life as long as may be for our profit.  Receive us prepared indeed by fear of You, but not troubled, not shrinking back on that day of death or uprooted by force like those who are lovers of the world and the flesh.  Instead, may we set out eagerly for that everlasting and blessed life which is in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory forever and ever.  Amen.

St. Gregory the Theologian

My friends, God does not ask or desire that man should mourn from sorrow of heart, but rather that, out of love for Him, he should rejoice with spiritual laughter. Remove the sin, and the tear of sorrow is superfluous for your eyes.

St. John Climacus

In order that you may move your will more easily to this one desire, in everything—to please God and to work for His glory alone—remind yourself often that He has granted you many favors in the past and has shown you His love. He has created you out of nothing in His own likeness and image, and has made all other creatures your servants; He has delivered you from your slavery to the devil, sending down, not one of the angels, but His Only-begotten Son to redeem you, not at the price of corruptible gold and silver, but by His priceless blood and His most painful and degrading death. Having done all this He protects you, every hour and every moment, from your enemies; He fights your battles by His divine grace; in His immaculate Mysteries He prepares the Body and Blood of His beloved Son for your food and protection. All this is a sign of God’s great favor and love for you; a favor so great that it is inconceivable how the great Lord of hosts could grant such favors to our nothingness and worthlessness.

St. Nicodemus of life Holy Mountain

You came into the world to save sinners; therefore You came to save Me also? You came to find and to save him who was lost; therefore You came to seek me too, for I am one of the lost. O Lord, O my God and Creator! I should have come to You as a transgressor of Your law. I should have fallen at Your feet, cast myself down before You, humbly begging forgiveness, pleading with You and craving Your mercy. But You Yourself have come to me, wretched and good-for-nothing servant that I am; my Lord has come to me, His enemy and apostate; my Master has come and has bestowed his love of mankind upon me. Listen my soul: God has come to us.

St. Tikhon of Zadonsk

Repentance is the renewal of baptism. Repentance is a contract with God for a second life. 

St. John Climacus

Where are You pasturing Your flock, O Good Shepherd, who carry the whole flock on Your shoulders? For the whole of human nature is one sheep, and You have lifted it upon Your shoulders. 

Show me the place of peace, lead me to the good pasture that will nourish me, call me by name so that I, Your sheep, may hear Your voice, and by Your speech give me eternal life. Answer me, You whom my soul loves. 

I give You the name “You whom my soul loves” because Your name is above every name and above all understanding, and there is no rational nature that can utter it or comprehend it. Therefore Your name, by which Your goodness is known, is simply the love my soul has for You. How could I not love You, when You loved me so much, even though my heart was black, that You laid down Your life for the sheep of Your flock? A greater love cannot be imagined than exchanging Your life for my salvation. 

Show me then (says my soul) where You pasture Your flock, so that I can find that saving pasture too, and fill myself with the food of heaven without which no one can come to eternal life, and run to the spring and fill myself with the drink of God. You give it, as from a spring, to those who thirst—water pouring from Your side cut open by the lance, water that, to whoever drinks it, is a fountain of water springing up to eternal life. 

If You lead me to pasture here, You will make me lie down at noon, sleeping at peace and taking my rest in light unstained by any shade. For the noon has no shade and the sun stands far above the mountain peaks. You bring Your flock to lie in this light when You bring Your children to rest with You in Your bed. But no one can be judged worthy of this noonday rest who is not a child of light and a child of the day. Whoever has separated himself equally from the shadows of evening and morning, from where evil begins and evil ends, at noon he will lie down and the sun of righteousness will shine on him. 

Show me, then (says my soul), how I should sleep and how I should graze, and where the path is to my noonday rest. Do not let me fall away from Your flock because of ignorance and find myself one of a flock of sheep that are not Yours. 

Thus spoke my soul, when she was anxious about the beauty that God’s care had given her and wanted to know how she could keep this good fortune forever.

St. Gregory of Nyssa

If you find that there is no love in you, but you want to have it, then do deeds of love, even though you do them without love in the beginning. The Lord will see you desire and striving and will put love in your heart.

St. Ambrose of Optina

Only the foolish think that suffering is evil. A sensible man knows that suffering is not evil but only the manifestation of evil and healing from evil. Only sin in a man is a real evil, and there is no evil outside sin. Everything else that men generally call evil is not, but is a bitter medicine to heal from evil. The sicker the man, the more bitter the medicine that the doctor prescribes for him. At times, even, it seems to a sick man that the medicine is worse and more bitter than the sickness itself! And so it seems at times to the sinner: the suffering is harder and more bitter than the sin committed. But this is only an illusion – a very strong self-delusion. There is no suffering in the world that could be anywhere near as hard and destructive as sin is. All the suffering borne by men and nations is none other than the abundant healing that eternal Mercy offers to men and nations to save them from eternal death. Every sin, however small, would inevitably bring death if Mercy were not to allow suffering in order to sober men up from the inebriation of sin; for the healing that comes through suffering is brought about by the grace-filled power of the Holy and Life-giving Spirit. 

Blessed is the man who uses his sufferings, knowing that all suffering in this brief life is loosed on men by God in His love for mankind, for the benefit and assistance of men. In His mercy, God looses suffering on men because of their sins – by His mercy and not His justice. For, if it were by His justice, every sin would inevitably bring death, as the Apostle says: “Sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death” (James 1: 15). In place of death, God gives healing through suffering. Suffering is God’s way of healing the soul of its sinful leprosy and its death.

St. Nikolai Velimirovich

Thou, O Christ, art the Kingdom of Heaven; 

Thou, the land promised to the meet; 

Thou, the meadowland of Paradise; 

Thou, the hall of the celestial banquet; 

Thou, the ineffable bridal chamber; 

Thou, the table set for all; 

Thou, the bread of life; 

Thou, the unheard-of drink; 

Thou, both the urn for the water and the life giving water; 

Thou, moreover, the inextinguishable lamp for each one of the saints; 

Thou, the garment and the crown and the One Who bestoweth the crowns; 

Thou, the joy and rest; 

Thou, the delight and glory; 

Thou, the gladness and mirth; 

And Thy grace, the grace of the Spirit of all sanctity, will shine like the sun in all the saints; 

And Thou, the unapproachable Sun, wilt shine in their midst, and all will shine brightly, according to the measure of their faith, their asceticism, their hope and their love, their purification, and their illumination by Thy Spirit.

St. Symeon the New Theologian

There is not, never has been, nor ever will be a place on the earth without sorrows.  A place without sorrows can only be in the heart, when the Lord is within it.

St. Nikon of Optina

I judge my own case: if the Lord so loved me, it must mean that He loves all sinners in the same measure as He loves me.

St. Silouan the Athonite

If we want, Christian, to have our heart filled with divine love we must first empty it of the love of this world, its frivolous and sinful customs and then turn our hearts to the one God, our only good and happiness and eternal beatitude.

St Tikhon of Zadonsk

Prayer does not consist merely in standing and bowing your body or in reading written prayers….it is possible to pray at all times, in all places, with mind and spirit. You can lift up your mind and heart to God while walking, sitting, working, in a crowd and in solitude. His door is always open, unlike man’s. We can always say to Him in our hearts Lord , Lord have mercy.

St. Tikhon of Zadonsk

 The compassionate God still calls to Himself all that have turned away, and He awaits them and promises them mercy.

St. Tikhon of Zadonsk

Have confidence in the compassion of our Creator. Reflect well on what you are now doing, and keep before you the things you have done. Lift up your eyes to the overflowing compassion of heaven, and while He waits for you, draw near in tears to our merciful Judge. Having before your mind that He is a Just Judge, do not take your sins lightly; and having also in mind that He is compassionate, do not despair. The God-Man gives man confidence before God.

St. Gregory the Great

Prayer frees the mind of all thought of the sensory and raises it to God Himself, Who is above all, to converse with Him and daringly ask Him for anything. Thus a man spends his life in purity, as one who, having already experienced communion with God, is thereupon again preparing for this communion.

St. Nilus of Sinai

Open, O doors and bolts of my heart, that Christ the King of Glory may enter! 

Enter, O my Light, and enlighten my darkness; 

Enter, O my Life, and resurrect my deadness;

Enter, O my Physician, and heal my wounds; 

Enter, O Divine Fire, and burn up the thorns of my sins; 

Ignite my inward parts and my heart with the flame of Your love; 

Enter, O my King, and destroy in me the kingdom of sin; 

Sit on the throne of my heart and alone reign in me, O Christ, my King and Lord!

St Dimitri of Rostov 

Glory be to Him, Who never felt the need of our praising Him; yet felt the need as being kind to us, and thirsted as loving us, and asks us to give to Him, and longs to give to us. His fruit was mingled with us men, that in Him we might come near to Him, Who condescended to us. By the Fruit of His stem He grafted us into His Tree.

St. Ephraim of Syria

Do not think that you have a right to complain when your prayers are not answered. God fulfils your desires in a manner that you do not know.

St. Nectarios of Aegina