The Sweetness of Grace Quotes

“Looking out the window of a large women's monastery after Divine Liturgy, my friend saw a few nuns walking toward the woods with satchels on their backs. Inquiring who they were, she was told they were ascetics who lived in the wilderness and had come to the monastery to attend Liturgy and to receive some food. Although we are much weaker in our times and far less ascetical than the early desert fathers and mothers, let it never be said that extreme Christian asceticism is extinct. Who knows how many St. Mary of Egypts are hidden in the wilderness?”
― Constantina R. Palmer, The Sweetness of Grace: Stories of Christian Trial and Victory

“The most-holy temple of the Comforter And the beloved of the All-Pure Theotokos, Let us praise Porphyrios from our heart, For he loves and heals all, he protects And intercedes that we be granted theosis. Therefore, we cry out: Rejoice, O Father Porphyrios! (Kontakion of the Saint)”
― Constantina R. Palmer, The Sweetness of Grace: Stories of Christian Trial and Victory