On God

God is a fire that warms and inflames hearts and souls. Therefore, if we feel in our hearts a coldness that comes from the devil—for the devil is cold—let us call upon the Lord, and He, coming, will warm our heart with perfect love not only toward Him but also toward our neighbor. And before the warmth of that love, the coldness of the hater of good will flee.

The Fathers wrote, when they were asked: “Seek the Lord, but do not inquire where He dwells.”

Where God is, there is no evil. Everything that proceeds from God is peaceful and beneficial, and brings a person to humility and self-reproach.

God shows us His love for humanity not only when we do good, but also when we offend Him with our sins and provoke His anger. How patiently He bears our lawlessness, and when He chastises, how mercifully He chastises!

“Do not call God just,” says Venerable Isaac, “for in your deeds His justice is not evident. True, David called Him both just and upright, but His Son has shown us that God is above all good and merciful… Where is His justice? In the fact that we are sinners, and Christ died for us” (St. Isaac the Syrian, Homily 90).

To the degree that a person advances here before God, to that same degree he walks in His footsteps; but in the true age to come, God will reveal His face to him. For the righteous, in proportion as they enter into contemplation of Him, see His image as in a mirror, while there they will be granted to behold the manifestation of truth.

If you do not know God, it is impossible for love for Him to be awakened in you. You cannot love God if you have not seen Him. And the vision of God comes from knowledge of Him, for contemplation of Him does not precede knowledge of Him.

Do not reason about the works of God after you have filled your belly: when the stomach is full, what knowledge of the mysteries of God is possible?