St. Mark the Ascetic on Living

St. Mark the Ascetic 5th Century

“Think nothing and do nothing without a purpose directed to God. For to journey without direction is wasted effort.”

“He who chooses maltreatment and dishonor for the sake of truth is walking on the apostolic path; he has taken up the cross and is bound in chains (cf. Mt. 16:24; Acts 28:20). But when he tries to concentrate his attention on the heart without accepting these two, his intellect wanders from the path and he falls into the temptations and snares of the devil.”

The Philokalia Vol. 1