grace

Remembering Grace Leads to Love

Once we recognize God as the Creator of every good thing, as our Father, Provider, and Protector, we must believe in Him with all our heart and soul. We must have our hope only in Him, and when we perceive His manifold benefactions, we shall love Him. And when we love God with all our heart as the Creator, then we shall also love our neighbor as ourselves, knowing that we are all brothers – by nature, in Adam; and by grace, in Christ.

Monastic Wisdom: The Letters of Elder Joseph the Hesychast.

The Gates of the Mysteries

The gates of the Mysteries are far more august and beneficial than the
gates of Paradise. The latter will not be opened to anyone who has not
first entered through the gates of the Mysteries, but these were opened
when the gates of Paradise had been closed. The latter were able to let
out those who were within, while the former only lead inside and let no
one out. It was possible to shut the gates of Paradise and so they were
shut; in the case of the Mysteries the curtain and the dividing wall
were  entirely destroyed and were taken away.

Nicholas Cabasilas, The Life in Christ.

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