Nectarius of Aegina Quotes

Sin debases the divine beauty of the image of both the soul and of the body and makes it ugly and useless.

His true followers are not those who accept the principles of Christianity in word alone and yet reject them in deeds, but rather those who embrace them in both word and deed, and bring their life and manners and morals to order according to the divine commandments of Christianity.

Christianity demands the whole man, ... to and refashion him into a new man and to breathe into him a new religious and moral life.

The Christianity in discussion is a religion which demands not only the knowledge of its theories, but also their application in life.

Christianity ... does not demand from its followers only the knowledge and theory thereof, but also their application; ... it demands the cooperation of the volition.

We renounce the law of the flesh along with the passions and desires,

It is necessary for us to will our salvation so as to seek it;

We should regulate those passions rationally and lead them with authority and hold the reins, ... in no way enduring the subjugation of our free agency.

We should employ even the irrational passions with rationality,

Christianity is not a system of philosophy, nor is it established solely on the knowledge of man, but also upon volition and conscience, because the origin of Christianity is not simply the formation of the spirit, but the moulding of the heart.

We renounce the law of the flesh along with the passions and desires.

Only through self-denial can we be saved.

The divine law was written on the heart of man because God formed his heart to be the seat of the love of the good.

The true will is the will of the spirit, which is the desire for the good.

In the Kingdom of God the old man who is corrupted by sin cannot enter. For this reason, he must strip himself of the old man along with the passions and desires and be clothed in “the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him.”