15 Quotations from Saint Luke (Voino-Yasenetsky)

  1. Physical fast helps us to repent and be saved, because, as we have already seen, gluttony is the mother of all other passions and at the same time the easiest of them to overcome. If we fulfill this simple and easy commandment to control our stomach, we will gain dominion over more complex passions as well.
  2. Humility is the first, the most important and basic thing that God requires of us. It is the first step, the first link in the golden chain. The second link is also connected with it: Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted (Matthew 5:4).
  3. As Christians, we cannot live worse than unbelievers, but we must work tirelessly to achieve virtue, glorifying the Name of God with all our lives. May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ help us.
  4. How rare it is for us to treat people as we would like them to treat us!
  5. Hold on to the faith which the Holy Church teaches us: the faith of the Gospel, the faith of Christ, the faith of the Apostles — and the Lord Jesus Christ will save you.
  6. Where our hearts are, there our actions are as well. If our hearts are pure, holy, and filled with a passionate love for the Lord Jesus Christ, then all our deeds, all our thoughts, all our social and political views, all our philosophy will be imbued with these feelings, these holy ordinances of our hearts.
  7. How important it is for us, who are burdened with many sins, to know and believe that even the worst sinner can be instantly pardoned and gain access to the Kingdom of Heaven by the unspeakable mercy of God!
  8. Love the Cross of Christ, and love Jesus who was crucified on it. The more often and the more deeply you ponder on the Cross of Christ and His Passion, the clearer, better, and softer your heart will become. These thoughts will drive away all that is black and bad, which hinders the Spirit of God from establishing his dwelling in you.
  9. All love is blessed, but there is the initial, the lowest kind of love, and we need to climb up from it to a much higher level of love for all people, for all the poor and the suffering. We have to rise up from it to the third degree of love – the divine love, the love of God Himself.
  10. People who are truly pious are always deeply focused, self-absorbed, and look into their hearts. The chatty mouths, however, not only keep talking gibberish, but also spew the adders’ poison (Psalm 140:3), the venomous words of condemnation, slander, gossip, and disgusting curses. Meanwhile, the Lord Jesus Christ strictly forbade any swear words, even the least rude…
  11. You should love the Lord with all your heart. You should be afraid of the slightest of your sins. You should strive to be like those holy ascetics who had no grave sins but spent their entire lives in penitence.
  12. The mercy of God is limitless. It is immeasurably greater than an infinite ocean. It is in this divine mercy that one can easily drown all his mortal sins if he repents with all his heart.
  13. Let us watch our hearts; let us evaluate what goes from within us and from our mouths, not what enters them. Let us live according to the commandments of holy love, for the entire Law of Christ can be summed up in one statement: Love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:39; Mark 12:31; Luke 10:27). Let us remember this, and God will bless us and forgive all our sins.
  14. We must wash, bandage, and heal our brothers’ nasty smelly festering wounds without any disgust. Also, with great humility and love, we must heal the spiritual wounds of our brothers, bear the burdens of the weak, as Paul commands; serve them, and not tyrannize over them; command no one, but be servants to all.
  15. Help us, O Lord, to love you till the end of our lives. Help us to pursue the path that You showed to us. Help us to get rid of the devil’s power and the temptations he comes up with. Guide us on the path of salvation and lead us into your Kingdom. Amen.

 

Source: St. Luke (Voino-Yasenetsky). Let Us Bring You Our Love (Conversations during Lent).

https://obitel-minsk.ru/chitat/den-za-dnyom/2020/15-citat-svyatitelya-luki-vojno-yaseneckogo

Prepared by Vadim Yanchuk.

About the author


Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Know everything about Orthodoxy? We can tell you a bit more!

Subscribe for our weekly newsletter not to miss the most interesting articles on our blog.

Spelling error report

The following text will be sent to our editors: