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Patience


“ ‘Therefore we also pray always for you that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfill all the good pleasure of His goodness and the work of faith with power,…’ ( 2 Thessalonians 1:11). What is this, ‘work of faith in power’? Patient endurance through persecutions. How? He gives us power and strength; for patience is a work of faith.” (Blessed Theophylact)

“ ‘By your endurance you will gain your lives’ (2 Thessalonians 1:19, New English Translation). “By your endurance is a call to remain faithful because trusting in Jesus is the means to life.” (NET Bible)

“Hope and patience are the staffs to lean on when we are worn out by worldly trials.” (St. Gregory of Nyssa)

“Our behavior is only acceptable to God if we have the strength of purpose to complete any work we have undertaken…The reward is not promised to the one who begins, but rather to the one who perseveres…there is a promise to us that salvation will be ours if we endure to the end, and endurance is based on exercise, focus, daily practice, and confidence.” (St. Isidore of Pelusium, Father Barnabas Powell)

“Patience and endurance during troubles and suffering, perseverance during our most painful times in life, can actually be a time of growth in our faith and a peace that defies worldly understanding if we pray daily and persist in pursuing God. We also, and this is extremely important, must let go of any ego, pride, and shame, and let us others love us in our weakness to be able to have this type of endurance and patience. We cannot go it alone. The love of others can be a great source of strength to us because God designed us to be in Communion with Him through the love of others. Unfortunately, we often tend to want to isolate ourselves during trials and cloak ourselves in a veneer of “okayness” when we are suffering and need help.” (Sacramental Living Ministries)

"He is very patient, because a thousand years in His sight are like yesterday, which passed, and like a watch in the night (Psalm 89 (90):4; see also 2 Pt 3:8). He is very patient, because He does not will that anyone should perish (2 Pt 3:9).” (Orthodox Study Bible, Psalms 89:1)

“The relationship of the three persons of the Holy Trinity is perfect love as a community. By gathering together and showing love for one another, we emulate the Holy Trinity, gaining strength, courage, and patience to develop a truly Christian lifestyle.” (Father Michael Lewis)

“Since we know that God is patient, even though His patience surpasses our understanding, it indicates that we should strive for this type of patience. There is something holy about patience because when we are patient we remain in a state of calm and can stay attune to the guidance of the Spirit. There is something transforming in patience, something that will help our spiritual growth so we can be something better than we currently are.” (Sacramental Living Ministries)

“Do not try to resolve a tangled situation with contentiousness, but rather with what the spiritual law calls for: patience and prayer and unwavering hope.” (St. Mark the Ascetic)

“We gain possession of our lives by patience, since we learn to govern ourselves, we begin to gain possession of the very thing we are. True patience consists of bearing calmly evils done us by another…and in not being consumed by resentments again the person who inflicts them…It is a virtue in the sight of others to bear one’s opponents, but virtue I God’s sight is to love them.” (Saint Gregory the Great)

"We must be content to leave the fulfillment of God’s promises in His hand and wait for His time...we must patiently wait for God’s timing. He is in control of history, and He weaves together all our lives into His plan.” (Foundation Study Bible, Genesis 27:18-29, Life Application Study Bible, Isaiah 60:1-22)

“God is calling us to live upright and godly lives in this world, while awaiting our reward. It’s hard to do this in a world where there is so much instant gratification, where we are told we don’t have to wait for things.” (Fr. Stavros N. Akrotirianakis)

“We should not find it strange if the passions and sicknesses war against us, but rather we should entreat God to give us patience, that great balm for the wounds of the soul as well as of the body. Patience is the one and only diamond which beautifies the Christian and makes straight the rough road of our salvation. Patience is the fortitude of the soul, the support, the deep root that holds the tree when the winds beat against it and the streams strike it.” (Elder Ephraim of Arizona)

“…persist in our struggle to pray. ‘At times prayer seems over-slow in bringing results, and life is so short,…Instinctively we cry, ‘Make haste unto me’…God does not always respond to our prayer immediately. Like fruit on a tree, our souls may be left to bake in the heat of the sun, to the freeze in icy winds, to parch with thirst or be drenched in rainstorms.” (Dynamis 6/14/2018, Archimandrite Sophrony)

“Cultivate patience. When there is no patience, all goodness in the soul is quickly suppressed and sin grows. Patience adorns the soul with diamonds which are not of the earth but belong to the Jerusalem that is Above. Patience increases obedience to the Divine words that have been written, are being written, and will be written.” (St. Raphael of Lesbos)

“If you want to fight a good fight, then you have to be steady. Every life experiences its share of suffering. But we also know that it is suffering that produces character…No year passes without something good happening. And likewise, no year passes without some trial or tribulation. The good fight is one that is fought with consistency. We do not need to be a super-Christian, just a steady one. And we do not want to go through periods of spiritual ecstasy followed by spiritual mediocrity. Better to keep a steady pace, for the race is a marathon, not a sprint.” (Fr. Stavros N. Akrotirianakis)

“Patience is the strongest medicine that heals great and long-lasting trials. Most trials are endured only with patience. Great patience can resolve many problems and bring about divine results. When you don’t even expect a solution, God provides the best solution.” (St. Paisios)

“I must “acquire” my soul, my very life, our Lord tells me, through patience. That is to say, I become alive to God, responsive to God, and am able to grow in Him, through a willingness to await whatever He sends next, amidst the ambivalences and “not yets” of my here and now." (Sr. Dr. Vassa Larin)

“We must give thanks for all things to the Lord, Who has rightly given us difficulties that we may learn patience, which is more beneficial than comforts, and ennobles the soul.” (St. Moses of Optina)

“…if we let him, God uses the waiting times in our lives to reorient us to new ways of being.” (Marlena Graves)

“A person of love and humility knows how to forgive, to be patient and how to listen to others. Instead of these virtues, we more often find their corresponding vices within us. Today we tend to egotistically hold resentments and bear grudges, we are overly focused on our own stress which we pile on ourselves with a lack of simplicity and right perspective in our lives, and we love to talk about ourselves and our opinions and refuse to change and admit our wrongs.” (John Sanidopoulos)

“Patience is based on love. ‘Love … beareth all things’[I Cor. 13:7]. In order to endure the other, you must love him — feel pain for him. If you do not feel pain for the other person, you become tired of him.” (St. Paisios)

“Don’t give up on the people you love. Your patient love and faithfulness may be exactly what they need to make a complete turnaround.” (Jesus Saves@GodlyLife)

“Make it your care to love Christ greatly, and this love will move you to love other people also, and to acquire patience.” (Elder Ieronymos of Aegina)

“The heart, the seat of a person’s will and emotions, is the place where spiritual renewal begins. There God plants love and patience, traits that will produce a harvest of good works.” (Foundation Study Bible, 2 Thessalonians 3:5)

“Troubles and difficulties are a tool which refines and purifies our faith, producing patience and endurance…To “wait” for the Lord entails confident expectation and active hope, never passive resignation.” (Foundation Study Bible, James 1:2, Isaiah 40:31)

"...the importance of patience in the New Testament, which becomes the basic constituent of Christianity, more central even than humility: the power to wait, to persevere, to hold out, to endure to the end, not to transcend one’s own limitations, not to force issues by playing the hero or the titan, but to practice the virtue that lies beyond heroism, the meekness of the lamb which is led.” (Hans Urs von Balthasar)

“Being patient and humble is part of creating a more truthful society.” (Fr. Stavros N. Akrotirianakis)

“Our patience is an expression of our faith that God answers our prayers. Faith shouldn’t die if the answers come slowly, for the delay may be God’s way of working His will in our life.” (Life Application Study Bible, Colossians 4:2)

"Trust and patience are two pillars of our journey to"perfection." In psychological terms patience is attained by letting go of our"unrealistic urgent demanding expectations" and substituting reality the way it actually is. Trust in God and His Divine Providence becomes a powerful"technique" to challenge self-created urgencies and helps heal the malady of perfectionism.” (Father George Morelli)

"Because time is continuous and homogeneous, every action or emotion has meaning and value of its own, irrespective of cause, purpose, or result. Love, admiration and reverence have positive meaning, even when it turns out that their object does not deserve them. Care, patience and courage have positive meaning, even when the project fails. Conversely anger, scorn and disgust, no matter how justifiable, lower us, make us less; and boredom is not only a judgment about experience but a sin against ourselves.” (Jean Mouroux)

"We are to be gentle, understanding, and patient to all (2 Timothy 2:24), and to correct others with humility (vs. 25).” (OCPM 12/7/2015)

"Ultimately, this is how every Christian is to live every day of his life: we must pray, forgive, be generous, and live a simple life; we should go to church, confess our sins, endure all things with patience and humility, and show love to all." (Archimandrite Vassilios Papavassiliou)

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