The opinion of others about us is the mirror before which almost everyone, without exception, poses.
A person makes themselves what they want to be seen as.
The real person, as they truly are, is known to no one, often including themselves, and a fabricated and embellished figure lives and acts.

Young man, do not forget to pray. Each time you pray, if you do so sincerely, there will be the flash of a new feeling in it, and a new thought as well, one you did not know before, which will give you fresh courage; and you will understand that prayer is education. Remember also: every day and whenever you can, repeat within yourself: “Lord, have mercy upon all who come before you today.”
For every hour and every moment thousands of people leave their life on this earth, and their souls come before the Lord- and so many of them part with the earth in isolation, unknown to anyone, in sadness and sorrow that no one will mourn for them, or even know whether they had lived or not.
And so, perhaps from the other end of the earth, your prayer for his repose will rise up to the Lord, though you did not know him at all, nor he you.
How moving it is for his soul, coming in fear before the Lord, to feel at that moment that someone is praying for him, too, that there is still a human being on earth who loves him.
And God, too, will look upon you both with more mercy, for if even you so pitied him, how much more will he who is infinitely more merciful and loving than you are.
And He will forgive him for your sake.

Each day examine yourself: What have you sown for the age to come: wheat or weeds? Having tested yourself, arrange to become better the next day, and spend the rest of your life in that manner.
In the event that you spent today badly, did not honestly pray to God, did not feel even once contrition in your heart, did not become humble in thought, gave no alms and did no act of charity, but instead did not refrain from anger, from words, from food and drink, or if you sank your mind in unclean thoughts, honestly examine all of this, condemn yourself for it, and firmly resolve that tomorrow you will be more careful to do good and to avoid evil.

Beware of laziness, for it will consume all the fruit of your labors.

I prefer a rule that is easy but constant, to a rule that is difficult at first and soon abandoned.

The Lord preserves your soul as long as you preserve your tongue.

Love to pray frequently, so that your heart might be illuminated.

A good memory is left by one who has fulfilled their duty and calling here on earth, who has developed and put to use all the talents given by God, who has lived a full Christian life here.
God bestows upon each of us many strengths and gifts, and at the same time, He assigns each a calling, entrusting a specific circle of duties and occupations, and placing the care for meeting our needs under His own unseen providence.
Hurry to understand what your duty is, which we must perform with fear and trembling, what talent has been given to you by the Lord.

Fasting frees a person from fleshly passions, while prayer wrestles with the passions of the soul and, having conquered them, it penetrates and permeates the person’s whole constitution, and purifies it.

He who sows his land without working it wastes his seed and instead of wheat reaps thorns.
So too if we sow seeds of prayer without refining our flesh, instead of righteousness we shall produce sin.
Our prayer will be ruined and robbed by various thoughts and fantasies, it will be defiled by sensual feelings.
Our flesh came from the earth and unless it is cultivated like the earth it can never produce the fruit of righteousness.

If we were in that mood we would, when we come to the doors of the church, be, however little, like Mary of Egypt. We would stop and say, 'How can I come in?' And if we did that with our whole heart, broken-heartedly, with a sense of horror of the fact that we are so distant from God, so alien, so unfaithful to Him, then the doors would open and we would see that we are not simply in a big space surrounded with walls but we are in a space which is God's Heaven come to earth.

Let us therefore learn from this experience what it means to go step by step towards the Resurrection, because in order to reach the Resurrection we must go through Calvary we must go through the tragedy of Holy Week and make it our own, partaking with Christ and His disciples and the crowds around in the horror, the terror of it; and also experience it as a scorching fire that will burn in us all that is unworthy of God and make us clean. And perhaps one day, when the fire will have burnt everything which is not worthy of God, each of us may become an image of the burning bush, aflame with divine fire and not consumed, because only that which could survive the fire of God would have remained is us. Amen.

When you’re praying alone, and your spirit is dejected, and you’re wearied and oppressed by your loneliness, remember then, as always, that God the Trinity looks upon you with eyes brighter than the sun; also all the angels, your own Guardian Angel, and all the saints of God. Truly they do; for they are all one in God, and where God is, there are they also. Where the sun is, thither also are directed all its rays
Remember with Whom you are conversing. Men very often forget with Whom they are conversing during prayer, Who are the witnesses of their prayer.
They forget that they are conversing with the Vigilant and the All-seeing God;
that all the Heavenly Powers and the saints of God are listening to their converse.

From the start of the morning and throughout the day, make the thought about Christ the soul of your life, the moving force of your actions. So, for example, if you glance over your dwelling, remember Christ in the manger, in swaddling clothes, lying on straw, all this life not having a place to lay His head, finally imprisoned, nailed to the Cross, and thank God for your house, your shelter, however humble and poor it may be. Do not envy magnificently decorated mansions: the mansion of Christ is a pure heart!

As you dress in your simple clothing, remember Christ stripped naked and then robed in the clothing of mockery. Do not dwell on apparel, do not follow slavishly the whims of fashion, but try to garb yourself in goodness, humility, meekness, long-suffering, gazing mentally on the meek and humble heart of Jesus.

If you are eating a meal, remember the vinegar and gall that Christ tasted, and do not demand plentiful, luxurious food and drink: the heavenly Guest loves to enter not the house of feasting, but always to the one that opens the door of his heart to Him. Place in your heart Christ suffering and dying on the Cross, and in His unseen presence mortify your passions and lusts.

The day is done – give thanks with gratitude, for the Lord has granted you to pass it without injury or ruin; sing with your heart and voice:
"I praise Thee in song, O Lord!"
You slept through the night and, having rested, arose – say:
"I bless Thee, O Lord!" Speak with the prophet: I laid down and slept; I awoke, for the Lord upholds me (Psalm 3:6).

If you show compassion to one who is suffering (and of course, this is not a great deed) you will be numbered among the martyrs.
If you forgive one who has insulted you, then not only will all your sins be forgiven, but you will be a child of the Heavenly Father.
If you pray from all your heart for salvation – even a little – you will be saved.
If you rebuke yourself, accuse yourself, and judge yourself before God for your sins, with a sensitive conscience, even for this you will be justified.
If you are sorrowful for your sins, or you weep, or sigh, your sigh will not be hidden from Him and, as St. John Chrysostom says, "If you only lament for your sins, then He will receive this for your salvation."

Marriage is a revelation and mystery. We see in it the complete transformation of a human being, the expansion of his personality, fresh vision, a new perception of life, and through it a rebirth into the world in a new plenitude.

Our modern individualism creates special difficulties in married life. To overcome them, a conscious effort on both sides is necessary, in order to build up the marriage and make it a “walking in the presence of God.”

And there is something further, something which may appear to be simplest thing of all, but which is nevertheless the most difficult to achieve-a firm intention to allow each partner to preserve his or her proper place in the marriage-for the wife humbly to assume the second place, for the husband to take up the burden and the responsibility of being the head.
If this firm intention and desire are present, God will always help us to follow this difficult path.

Clothing is needed for the body, and again, in church it is given for the soul.
As soon as a child appears in God’s world, he’s carried to the church of God to put on Christ Himself, to be clothed with the robe of Christ’s virtues.
And he no longer feels naked and uncovered as Adam once felt naked after sinning. In the snow-white robe of Baptism, man isn’t ashamed to appear before the very face of the Lord and His saints.
He can fearlessly appear at the very Dread Judgment of the Lord and the doors of the bridal chamber of Christ will be opened to him; and no one will ask: Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? (Mt. 22:12).
He won’t stand silent awaiting the terrible verdict: Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth (Mt. 22:13).
Even if the garment given in Holy Baptism becomes stained and defiled, if it’s as difficult for a man to preserve himself from stains and sin as it is to keep clothing unstained from dust, rain, and mud, even then the holy Church, like a caring Mother, gives a man the means to wash and cleanse the garment of his soul with tears in the Sacrament of holy Repentance, so that it again becomes “whiter than snow.”

He who is made in the ‘image’ of God is made for life ‘after His likeness’, also.
The man who has found salvation in God receives life in the likeness of God’s own life. God is omnipresent and omniscient, and the saints in the Holy Spirit receive a likeness of that omnipresence and omniscience. God is Light, and the saints in the Holy Spirit become light. God is Love encompassing all that exists, and the saints in the Holy Spirit embrace the universe in their love. God is All-Holy, and the saints in the Holy Spirit are holy.
Holiness is not an ethical but an ontological concept.
A man is not holy because his morals or conduct are good, or even because he leads a righteous life in the sense of devoting himself to spiritual endeavor and prayers- indeed, the Pharisees kept the fasts and made ‘long’ prayers.
But that man is holy who bears within himself the Holy Spirit.
The One God is Truth and Life, and those who communicate in the Holy Spirit become true and have life; whereas those who fall away from God suffer spiritual death and depart into "outer darkness."

God weighs repentance not by effort, but by depth of lowliness (Luke 18:10–14).
Some labour hard to gain forgiveness, but the one who bears no grudges goes ahead of them, for the word is true: “Judge not, and you shall not be judged.
Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.” (Luke 6:37; and 1 Corinthians 13:1–8, 13).

Conscience is like an alarm. Rise the moment it rings and you will always hear it.
Ignore it, telling yourself, “I’ll lie a while,” and soon its call will never wake you.

Icons are reflections of men who have been regenerated into eternity; they aid us in uncovering and developing the beauty of holiness.
In other words, they help men attain likeness to God, following the basic principle that
“we become like that which we habitually contemplate”
(Constantine Cavarnos, Orthodox Iconography.)

Have you ever thought that everything that touches you touches Me as well? For that which touches you touches the apple of My eye.
You are dear in my eyes, precious, and I have loved you; therefore it is a particular pleasure for Me to educate you.
When temptations arise against you, and the enemy comes like a river, I want you to know–This was from Me.
Your weakness needs My strength, and your safety comes from giving Me the opportunity to fight for you. If you find yourself in difficult circumstances, among people who do not understand you, who do not take what you like into consideration, who alienate you–This was from Me.
I am God, Who arranges circumstances.
It was no accident that you find yourself in the place where you are; this is the place I have appointed for you.
Did you not ask that I teach you humility? Well, then, look: I have placed you in precisely that place, in that school, where this lesson is learned.
Your surroundings and those who live with you are only fulfilling My will...

If you are undertaking anything, before asking any other adviser, ask the advice of faith.
Appeal in the words of the Apostle: Lord, what wilt Thou have me do? (Acts 9:6).
Is what I would undertake pleasing to Thee, Lord?
If it is pleasing, bless it; if not, do not let me do what is displeasing to Thee.
And then listen to what the Lord tells you in your conscience, in your reason, in the counsels of pious and wise people and, having begun the course that you select, pray in your heart:
"O Lord, make haste to help me" (Ps. 69:1).

Here is the image for us:
In each of us Lazarus is lying dead, vanquished, and surrounded by our often hopeless grieving. But the Gospel reading just before the days of the Passion has this message: "Do not fear, I am the Resurrection and the Life. The Lord's friend that is in you, whom you consider irrevocably dead, can rise again at a single word of Mine, and indeed will rise again."
So let us enter the days of the Passion with the hope, with the certainty that we are going towards the transition from the temporary to the eternal, from death to life, from our defeat to the victory of God.
Let us enter these days of the Passion with trepidation at the knowledge of how much the Lord loves us and at what cost He gives us life.
Let us enter with hope and light in our hearts, and joy in the coming Resurrection.

Accustom yourself to pray your own prayers. For instance: it is the essence of evening prayer to thank God for the day and everything that happened, both pleasant and unpleasant; to ask forgiveness for all wrongs committed, promising to improve during the next day; and to pray that God preserve you during sleep. Express all this to God from your mind and from your whole heart.