Prayer and Holiness Quotes

“The man in whom God rests and who rests in God must reflect the infinity of the conscious light of God; the infinity of God must become proper to man, by grace. That is what is meant by the divinization of man in God and the humanization of God in man. It is the union of God and man in the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of light: the illuminating Spirit of God becomes the Spirit who illuminates man by grace.”
― Dumitru Stăniloae, Prayer and Holiness

“The Fathers speak of prayer as consisting of a single thought (monologistos euche). Strictly speaking it is not even a thought, but rather an awareness of being totally absorbed in the reality of God. One can, nevertheless, call this conscious experience ‘thought’, because it is not simply a state of confused feeling or the sensation of being lost in the ocean of inarticulate reality, but it is awareness of encounter with the personal infinity of God who loves us. It is the mind’s confirmation of the reality. I do not lose myself in this infinity, because it is the infinity of a personal God and of his love to which I respond with my love. For the heart is truly the place where one experiences the love of the other, and where one responds to the other. I do not lose myself, because it is the infinity of a personal God whose love is my delight; I depend on his love as I depend on his mercy, for face to face with him I still feel infinitely small, and a sinner.”
― Dumitru Stăniloae, Prayer and Holiness: The Icon of Man Renewed in God

“The feelings or imaginings which tend to prevent the mind from entering into the heart and so attaining to pure prayer, or prayer of the heart, are either those which are the result of sin, or an attraction towards sin, or those which make us think we are being drawn towards good actions or a real meeting with God himself, but which in fact do not lead to God. That is why the Fathers warn monks even against images that seem to be good. They exhort them not to rely on any kind of imagination or impression. Moreover the Fathers consider thought, even theological thought, to be a no less dangerous obstacle to the mind's entry into the heart. They must be watchful not to rest in theological thinking, or to slip into it, when they are moved to prayer or while they are praying. Thinking about God interrupts direct encounter with him. By theological thinking a man becomes shut in on himself.”
― Dumitru Stăniloae, Prayer and Holiness: The Icon of Man Renewed in God

“By its search for God the mind itself enters into the reality of the depth of the heart and knows it as depth set apart for God, the true Infinity. ‘Deep calls to deep’ (Psalm 42: 9). The infinity of God cannot be experienced apart from his love for us. This love of God for us calls to our love, and it is with the heart, the organ of love within us, that we experience his love. But we are speaking here of a heart that knows, thanks to the mind which has entered it, that this infinity is the infinity of a God who is personal, and that God enters into intimate relationship with us through Christ. That is why it is the mind which comes to rest in the heart. In the heart it finds the infinity of God. It is not the heart that comes to rest in the mind, for that would mean that the feeling of the infinity of God had become a theory, chilled by thought. It is not feeling that must be chilled by thought, but thought which must warm itself in the feeling of the heart in real contact with the infinity of God, and thus give this feeling a definite content.”
― Dumitru Stăniloae, Prayer and Holiness: The Icon of Man Renewed in God

“It is not in the mind that the heart finds its rest; but it is in the heart (or rather where the depths of the heart meet the depths of God) that the mind finds the rest for which it is searching.”
― Dumitru Stăniloae, Prayer and Holiness: The Icon of Man Renewed in God

“Pure prayer is concerned with the reuniting of the mind (nous) and the heart. Neither mind nor heart can be allowed to remain alone. Prayer that comes only from the mind is cold; prayer that comes only from the heart is sentimental and is ignorant of all that God has given us, is giving us now and will give us in Christ. It is prayer without horizon or perspective, prayer in which we do not know what to thank God for, what to praise him for, what to ask him for. The man who prays in this way has the feeling of being lost in an impersonal infinity. Such a feeling knows nothing of encounter with a personal God. And thus it is not prayer.”
― Dumitru Stăniloae, Prayer and Holiness: The Icon of Man Renewed in God

“This is the ‘rest’, the stability, the Sabbath into which the saints have entered (Heb. 3: 18–4: 11), those who have left the Egypt of the passions. It is not the Sabbath of an insensible Nirvana; for by resting in the eternity of unshakeable love, the love of God for men, the saint has power to draw others towards eternity and help them to overcome their suffering with courage, and not to give way to despair. Thus he is the forerunner and sustainer of humankind on the road which leads to the perfect fulfilment of the Last Day.”
― Dumitru Stăniloae, Prayer and Holiness: The Icon of Man Renewed in God

“St Maximus the Confessor says that the saints have attained to a pure simplicity, because they have overcome in themselves all duality and pretence. They have passed beyond the struggle between soul and body, between good intentions and works performed, between deceitful appearances and hidden thoughts, between what they pretend to be and what they actually are. They have become simple because they have given themselves entirely to God.”
― Dumitru Stăniloae, Prayer and Holiness: The Icon of Man Renewed in God

“There is indeed a distinction and nobility full of feeling in this higher form of tenderness that is very different from the conventional distinction and nobility which are distant and formal. This tenderness does not avoid contact with the most humble of men, and is unperturbed by situations in which others would be afraid of failing. The model of this tenderness is the kenosis, the condescension, of Christ. He did not wish to hold himself aloof from sinners, nor from the kind of women who are avoided by men concerned for their own reputation. The kenosis, the self-emptying of Christ is, in itself, the supreme form of tenderness. In it is shown the desire not to be a burden to the humble, nor to embarrass them. By his kenosis he desired to open up a way into their hearts. By kindness he intended to make them give up their cruel ways, instead of persisting in a hardness in which the ‘inferior’ returns the contempt of the ‘superior’.”
― Dumitru Stăniloae, Prayer and Holiness: The Icon of Man Renewed in God