Love

Perfect Love is Dispassion

"For him who is perfect in love and has reached the summit of dispassion there is no difference between his own or another's, or between Christians and unbelievers, or between slave and free, or between male and female. For in him there is neither Greek nor Jew, male nor female, bond not free, but Christ who 'is all, and in all'" (Col. 3:11; cf. Gal. 3:28). -- St. Maximos the Confessor

God's Word is Efficacious

"God said, 'Let there be light', and there was light. God said, 'Be calm', and the seas were calm. God's word is efficacious. So what does it mean if God says, 'I love you'? It means his grace is showered upon us, and we are saved." -- Unknown (perhaps Fr. James Bernstein)

Love is the Purpose of Creation

"The real God is greater than any man's thought can imagine. He made life as deep and strong as the sea. Your gods are as shallow as a reeking pond. He's above us, and around us; in us, like the breath in our bodies. And he has one law that we break at our peril: the law is love. Whatever we do that breaks that law condemns us. And so that we should see what his love is, he sent his son, to live the life of a man. To show that God understands the life he has made. Tomorrow in the arena, show the emperor that we know what life is worth. Throw away your weapons. Do you think all the things of the earth and the heavens have been made for no other reason except that we should eat and make money and spawn children and kill and die? What a purpose for creation! If anything is beyond belief, that is." -- Character of Sahek in the Movie Barabbas (1961)

Love is Freedom

" The Lord wants us to love one another. Here is freedom: in love for God and neighbor. In this freedom, there is equality. In earthly orders, there may not be equality, but this is not important for the soul. Not everyone can be a king, not everyone a patriarch or a boss. But in any position, it is possible to love God and to please Him, and only this is important. And whoever loves God more on earth will be in greater glory in His Kingdom." -- St. Silouan the Athonite

Only In Love Can the Spirit Fill Us

"Be ready for the Spirit's filling. This happens only when we have cleansed our souls of falsehood, anger, bitterness, sexual impurity, uncleanness and covetousness. It happens only when we have become compassionate, meek and forgiving to one another, only when facetiousness is absent, only when we have made ourselves worthy. Only then does the Spirit come to settle within our hearts, only when nothing is there to prevent it. Then He will not only enter but also fill us." -- St. John Chrysostom, Homily on Ephesians 19.5.19-21

Perfection is Found in Love

"Fasts and vigils, the study of Scripture, renouncing possessions and everything worldly are not in themselves perfection, as we have said; they are its tools. For perfection is not to be found in them; it is acquired through them. It is useless, therefore, to boast of our fasting, vigils, poverty, and reading of Scripture when we have not achieved the love of God and our fellow men. Whoever has achieved love has God within himself and his intellect is always with God." -- Saint John Cassian

We Must Love God First

"One must love God first, and only then can one love one's closest of kin and neighbors. We must not be idols to one another, for such is not the will of God." -- Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica, Our Thoughts Determine Our Lives: The Life and Teachings of Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica

Love is the Head of Religion

"Love is the very head of religion, and someone who has no head is dead." -- Ambrosiaster, Commentary on Paul's Epistles

Love is our Wedding Garment

"But since you have already come into the house of the marriage feast, our holy church, as a result of God's generosity, be careful, my friends, lest when the King enters he find fault with some aspect of your heart's clothing. We must consider what comes next with great fear in our hearts. But the king came in to look at the guests and saw there a person not clothed in a wedding garment. What do we think is meant by the wedding garment, dearly beloved? (Matthew 22) For if we say it is baptism or faith, is there anyone who has entered this marriage feast without them? A person is outside because he has not yet come to believe. What then must we understand by the wedding garment but love? That person enters the marriage feast, but without wearing a wedding garment, who is present in the holy church. He may have faith, but he does not have love. We are correct when we say that love is the wedding garment because this is what our Creator himself possessed when he came to the marriage feast to join the church to himself. Only God's love brought it about that his only begotten Son united the hearts of his chosen to himself. John says that "God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son for us." -- St. Gregory the Great, Forty Gospel Homilies 38.9

Even Those in Hell Have God's Love

"It is totally false to think that the sinners in hell are deprived of God's love. Love is a child of the knowledge of truth, and is unquestionably given commonly to all. But love's power acts in two ways: it torments sinners, while at the same time, it delights those who have lived in accord with it." -- St. Isaac the Syrian (Homily 84)

Love vs. Correction

"The use of force in the correction of those who are living in opposition to the laws of God is often a temptation for Christians, yet it must be remembered that the sins of others is better corrected by lovingly demonstrating their value in God’s eyes. Demonstrating our own love for them by refusing to demonize them with our judgment and harsh treatment, we become agents of the love of Christ. In seeing ourselves as the worst of sinners, and demonstrating our personal gratitude for God’s love and mercy in our own lives, projects that hope of redemption, and forgiveness, to the persons living in sin. Our love for them helps open their hearts to the action of the Holy Spirit. God’s grace can change any heart, and we must be sure we are not the stumbling block for that change by harboring a judgmental tone.

'Christians, above all men, are forbidden to correct the stumbling of sinners by force…it is necessary to make a man better not by force but by persuasion. God gives the crown to those who are kept from evil, not by force, but by choice (Saint John Chrysostom).'" -- Abbot Tryphon, October 8, 2018, "The Morning Offering", Ancient Faith Blog [1]

See Also

The Purpose Of Life