The Lord says to you, as he said to Matthew: “Follow me.: You, then, as you
pursue the Lord eagerly, if on the way you stumble on the stone of any
passion and fall unexpectedly into sin, or even many times, because there are
many muddy places, you have slipped unwittingly and fallen, as many times
as you happen to fall and torment your body, so many times get up and run
after the Lord until you reach Him. “So I have presented myself before Thee in
the temple of the intellect, to see Thy power and Thy glory that save me; and
in Thy name, O Lord, I will lift up my hands to pray and be heard; and I shall
feel as if I were full of food, and my lips shall rejoice to sing to Thee.” For I
consider it a great thing that I have merited to be called a Christian, as the
Lord tells me through the Prophet Isaiah: “It is a great honor for you to be
called My child.”
Saint John of Karpathos (7th century)
Translated by Dr. Nick Stergiou
