St. Paisios: "Everyone wants to sin and wants God to be good to us."

St. Paisios the Athonite and St. Arsenios of Cappadocia (source)

  



"Men who are distanced from God are always inconsolable and doubly-tormented.

Whoever does not believe in God and in the life to come, remains inconsolable and condemns his eternal soul.

Whichever master one serves, from him will he be paid. If one serves the dark master, he will make your life dark from here. If one serves sin, one will be paid by the devil. If one works virtue, he will be paid by Christ. And whoever works for Christ, will shine so brightly, will rejoice. But we say: "Have we lost it working for Christ?"

But this is terrible! Don't we recognize the sacrifice that Christ made for man! Christ was crucified in order to deliver us from sin, in order to re-purify the human race. What did Christ do for us? What do we do for Christ?

Everyone wants to sin and wants God to be good to us. Let Him forgive us and let us sin. We, in other words, want to do whatever we want and we want Him to forgive us...Men don't believe, and because of this they rush towards sin. All evil begins from there, from faithlessness.

They don't believe in the other life, they don't keep track of anything. They wrong people, abandon their children...

Things take place...serious sins. Not even the Holy Fathers had forseen such sins in the Holy Canons--like Sodom and Gomorrah, when God said: "I don't believe that these sins are occurring, I will go to see them myself!"

If men don't repent, if they don't return to God, they loose eternal life. Man must be helped to sense the deeper meaning of life, to come to his senses, in order to sense divine consolation. Our goal is for man to ascend spiritually, not simply to not sin."
-St. Paisios the Athonite
  
(amateur translation of text from source)
  

St. Paisios the Athonite (source)

  

Through the prayers of our Holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us! Amen!