All the pleasures of the world, and all the kingdoms of this earth, shall profit me nothing. It is better for me to die on behalf of Jesus Christ, than to reign over all the ends of the earth. For what shall a man be profited, if he gain the whole world, but lose his own soul? Him I seek, who died for us: Him I desire, who rose again for our sake. This is the gain which is laid up for me. Pardon me, brethren: do not hinder me from living, do not wish to keep me in a state of death; and while I desire to belong to God, do not give me over to the world. Allow me to obtain pure light: when I have gone there, I shall indeed be a man of God. Permit me to be an imitator of the passion of my God.

the utmost perfection of love cannot go beyond the love of enemies, therefore as soon as the Lord has bid us love our enemies, He proceeds, "Be ye then perfect, as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." He indeed is perfect, as being omnipotent; man, as being aided by the Omnipotent.

faith is likened to a light, because by it the goings of the inner man, that is, action, are lightened, that he should not stumble according to that, "Thy word is a light to my feet." [Ps 119:105] If that then be pure and single, the whole body is [p. 247] light; but if defiled, the whole body will be dark.

What is Holy Scripture other than a letter sent by Almighty God to those he has created? Imagine if the Emperor had sent you a personal letter! No matter where you were or what you were doing, you’d make it a priority to find out what he wanted to say to you. Well: the Emperor of heaven, the Lord of angels and of men has sent you these letters in order that you might draw life from them: yet you fail to make the effort even to read them! Study and meditate on your Creator’s words every day, I beg you! Learn the heart of God from the words of God, so that you may long more ardently for eternity; so that you may be ever more inflamed with desire for the joys of Heaven.

St. Gregory the Great,

Let us who mystically represent the cherubim, and who sing the thrice-holy hymn to the life-creating Trinity, now lay aside all earthly cares that we may receive the King of all, who comes invisibly upborne by the angelic host.

St. John III of Constantinople, Cherubic Hymn

You have in your possession, I am informed, a collection of discourses which delight the ear, but which do not nourish the soul. You are in need of the Living Word, which he who lacks is a mere sounding brass. If then you acquire this, it is a sweet-sounding instrument for God and well-tuned for men.

St. Isidore of Pelusium, Epistle to Prohairesios the Rhetorician CVIII

O you who fear the Lord, praise Him in the places where ye now are. Change of place does not effect any drawing nearer unto God, but wherever you may be, God will come to you, if the chambers of your soul be found of such a sort that He can dwell in you and walk in you. But if you keep your inner man full of wicked thoughts, even if you were on Golgotha, even if you were on the Mount of Olives, even if you stood on the memorial-rock of the Resurrection, you will be as far away from receiving Christ into yourself, as one who has not even begun to confess Him.

St. Gregory of Nyssa, On Pilgrimages I

Children, let us hold fast our discipline, and let us not be careless. For in it the Lord is our fellow-worker, as it is written, "to all that choose the good, God worketh with them for good." But to avoid being heedless, it is good to consider the word of the Apostle, "I die daily." For if we too live as though dying daily, we shall not sin. And the meaning of that saying is, that as we rise day by day we should think that we shall not abide till evening; and again, when about to lie down to sleep, we should think that we shall not rise up. For our life is naturally uncertain, and Providence allots it to us daily. But thus ordering our daily life, we shall neither fall into sin, nor have a lust for anything, nor cherish wrath against any, nor shall we heap up treasure upon earth.

St. Anthony of Egypt, quoted in Athanasius of Alexandria, The Life of St. Anthony XIX

The way to secure uninterrupted prayer is for every devout man to make his life one long prayer by works acceptable to God and always done to His glory: thus a life lived according to the Law by night and day will in itself become a nightly and daily meditation in the Law.

St. Hilary of Poitiers, Homily on Psalm I xii

On this day, dearest brethren, Christ was born unto us. Let us prepare for Him in our hearts a dwelling full of patient merits; let us prepare a crib, a cradle brilliant with the flowers of a good life and the perpetual sweetness of its fragrance. Let us receive the little tiny Lord in our hearts.

St. Caesarius of Arles, Homily on the Nativity of Our Lord CXC.i

Your praise, O most holy Virgin, surpasses all laudation, by reason of the God who received the flesh and was born man of you. To you every creature, of things in heaven, and things on earth, and things under the earth, offers the meet offering of honor. For you have been indeed set forth as the true cherubic throne. You shine as the very brightness of light in the high places of the kingdoms of intelligence; where the Father, who is without beginning, and whose power you had overshadowing you, is glorified; where also the Son is worshipped, whom you bore according to the flesh; and where the Holy Spirit is praised, who effected in your womb the generation of the mighty King. Through you, O thou that art highly favored, is the holy and consubstantial Trinity known in the world. Together with yourself, deem us also worthy to be made partakers of your perfect grace in Jesus Christ our Lord.

St. Gregory of Neocaesarea, Second Homily on the Annunciation IV