St. Nicodemus the Hagiorite: On Frequent Communion

I want to ask you this: If at the time of the Mystical Supper one of the Apostles said: "I do not want to receive Communion today," what would the Lord have said? Certainly, I believe that just as He said to Peter at the sacred washing of the feet, "If Is wash thee not, thou hast no part with Me" (John 13:8), He would likewise have said to one not wanting to receive Communion at the Divine Supper, "If thou dost not eat My body, and if thou dost not drink My blood, thou hast no part with Me."
Beloved, the Lord says this very same thing to us now at every Liturgy: "Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of  Man... ye have no life in you" (John 6:53).
+St. Nicodemus the Hagiorite, from Concerning Frequent Communion of the Immaculate Mysteries of Christ, Epilogue

St. Ephraim the Syrian: Thou didst come for our Redemption

May Thy compassion be praised, O Christ our King, O Son of God worshiped by all! Thou art our King, Thou art our God, Thou art the author of our life and our great hope.
With one soul do both the heavenly hosts and the ranks below praise Thee and sing unto Thee a song of thanks, for Thou Who wast concealed hast in the last days appeared in the flesh of us mortals.
When Thy compassion was aroused and when it pleased Thy love to do so, Thou didst come for our redemption and liberate our race.
Thou didst cure our afflictions, cleanse our sins and, according to Thy compassion, Thou didst raise those who were dead.
Thou didst establish on earth the holy Church in the image of the heavenly kingdom: Thou didst build her with love, establish her with compassion, and Thou didst spiritually betroth Thyself to her, and gain her by Thy suffering.
+St. Ephraim the Syrian, quoted by St. Theophan the Recluse in A Spiritual Psalter: or Reflections on God, psalm 86.

I will make Him my firstborn...

He shall call upon Me and shall say: My Father art Thou, my God, and the helper of my salvation.
And as for Me, I will make him My firstborn, higher than the kings of the earth.
For ever shall I keep for him My mercy, and My covenant shall be faithful unto him.
And I will establish his seed unto ages of ages, and his throne shall be as the days of heaven.
+Prophet David, from The Psalter According to the Seventy, psalm 88.

Abba Pior: The small sins of my brother

One day, the fathers of Scetis came together to judge a brother who had grievously sinned. Abba Pior kept silence while they discussed the case, then took a sack, filled it with sand and hoisted it onto his shoulder, he also put a little sand in a small bag that he placed in front of him. When he was asked what this action meant, he said, "This sack that contains a lot of sand is my many sins that I have left behind me, and these are the small sins of my brother that I place in front of me and spend my time judging! Would it not be better to do the opposite?" The father got to their feet edified, and recognized that Abba Pior had chosen the way of salvation.
+from The Synaxarion entry for the Venerable Father Pior, June 17.