3. Faith is a gift, which induces us toward creating good. It gives birth to a fear of God within us and this fear teaches us to observe the commandments and live benevolently. From a benevolent life comes a desired dispassionate state and from this — love that is the fullness of all the commandments, which it unites. (Blessed Theodore of Edessa).

3. Faith and hope are not simple or accidental spiritual states, because faith demands spiritual strength while hope — proper morals and a proper heart. Apart from this, how can a person freely believe in the unseen without the collaboration of grace? And how could he unwaveringly rely on the unseen and the future, if beforehand he had not accumulated a certain amount of personal experience in God’s gifts, assuring him of the future as they do the present? Therefore, these two virtues demand our willpower and simultaneously, God’s collaboration and His assistance without which, all our efforts would be useless. (Blessed Theodore of Edessa).

6. He who wants his entreaties to be heard by God quickly, above all other prayers, let him first pray for his enemies and because of this act, God will accept his prayer (Abba Xenon).

7. By its nature, water is soft while a stone is hard. However, when it runs along a watercourse and drips on a stone, it slowly but surely makes a hole in it. Likewise the word of God is soft while our hearts are tough. However, if a person frequently listens to the Word of God, his heart softens and becomes capable to accept the fear of God (Abba Pimen).

7. A tree is recognized by its fruit and the arrangement of the mind — by its thoughts, which dwell in it (Abba Isaiah).