Christ, Our Way and Our Life Quotes

“Because Fr. Sophrony had the grace-given experience, unique to Christianity, of the personal (or as he preferred to say, hypostatic) principle, as well as knowing, from within, the content of the Indian religions, he proved an invaluable apologist for Orthodox hesychastic practice in a challenging epoch whose spirit is syncretistic. With persuasive and compelling authority he succeeded in describing the difference between the two ascetic theories, oriental and Christian, which are as far apart as the uncreated is from the created. He contrasted the spiritual suicide to which transcendental meditation leads, with the incomparable, life-giving experience of meeting and being united with the personal God of Scripture. Fr.”
― Archimandrite Zacharias, Christ, Our Way and Our Life: A Presentation of the Theology of Archimandrite Sophrony

“At that moment Fr. Sophrony was preparing tea for Fr. Vladimir, and he replied, ‘Stay on the verge of despair, but when you see that you are going to fall over, draw back and have a cup of tea.’ And he handed him some tea.”
― Archimandrite Zacharias, Christ, Our Way and Our Life: A Presentation of the Theology of Archimandrite Sophrony

“Suffering and death were offered to man by God as a new tree of the knowledge of good and evil. They become either a source of glorious life or a cause of eternal perdition, according to man’s reaction to them. They have eternal value when they are accepted with faith and trust in God’s will. Contrariwise, they are ruinous when they are lived in a fatalistic way, as if fallen conditions were ‘natural’.”
― Zacharias Zacharou, Christ, Our Way and Our Life: A Presentation of the Theology of Archimandrite Sophrony

“Detest yourself because of love for God, and you will embrace all that exists in your love!”
― Zacharias Zacharou, Christ, Our Way and Our Life: A Presentation of the Theology of Archimandrite Sophrony