O Lord and Creator of all, and especially of Your creature, man: You are the God and Father and ruler of Your children; You are the Lord of life and death; You are the guardian and benefactor of our souls.  You fashion and transform all things in their due season through Your creating Word, as You know to be best in Your deep wisdom and providence.  Receive now those who have gone ahead of us in our journey from this life.  Receive us too at the proper time, when You have guided us in our bodily life as long as may be for our profit.  Receive us prepared indeed by fear of You, but not troubled, not shrinking back on that day of death or uprooted by force like those who are lovers of the world and the flesh.  Instead, may we set out eagerly for that everlasting and blessed life which is in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory forever and ever.  Amen.

St. Gregory the Theologian

Three old men once came to Abba Sisoes [St. Sisoes the Great] because they had heard that he was a great man. And the first one said unto him, "Father, how can I escape from the river of fire?" And Abba Sisoes answered him never a word. Then the second old man said to him, "Father, how can I escape from the gnashing of teeth, and from the worm which never dies?" And Abba Sisoes answered him never a word. Then the third old man said to him, "Father, what will I do? For the remembrance of the outer darkness troubles me." And Abba Sisoes answered and said to them, "I never think on any of these things, but I believe that God is Merciful, and that He will show mercy to me"; then the old men went away grieved at the answer which Abba Sisoes had spoken to them. Now because he did not wish to send them away sorrowful, he brought them back, and said to them, "Blessed are ye, O my brothers, for I have been jealous of you"; and they said to him, "In what matter have you been jealous of us?" And he said, "The first one of you spake about a river of fire; and the second spake about the gnashing of teeth and the worm which dies not; and the third spake about the outer darkness; if remembrances of this kind have dominion over your minds it is impossible for you to commit sin. What can I do who am stubborn of heart? For hardness of heart will not allow me to perceive even that there a punishment for men existeth, and because of this I sin every hour." And when the old men had heard these words, they made excuses to him, and said, "In very truth according to what we have heard, even so have we seen."

from Sayings of the Holy Desert Fathers

“I have not come,” says the Lord, “to bring peace on earth (that is, love of parents for sons, and love of brothers for brothers who have resolved to serve Me), but war and a sword” in order to separate lovers of God from lovers of the world, the lovers of material things from lovers of spiritual things, the lovers of fame from the humble-minded.

St. John Climacus

Repentance must be the soul of prayer, without which prayer is dead, stinking with proud and seductive conceit!  Repentance is the only door through which one can obtain from our Lord the saving pasture.  He who neglects repentance is bereft of all grace...  The merciful Lord prepared the way for our divine heavenly eternal Kingdom, showed the door through which we might enter into the salvic pasture of the Holy Spirit and Truth, the door of repentance.  If we neglect to repent, without any doubt, we will remain outside the door.  Good deeds, natural in feeling, will in no way replace repentance.

St. Ignatius Brianchaninov

The man who really loves the Lord, who has made a real effort to find the future Kingdom, who is really pained by his sins, who is really mindful of eternal torment and judgment, who really lives in fear of his own departure, will not love, care, or worry about money, or possessions, or parents, or worldly glory, or friends, or brothers, or anything at all on earth.

St. John Climacus

The Lord said: Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me (Matthew 25:40). 

Similar things happen in almsgiving and in Holy Communion. In Holy Communion we receive the Living Lord Christ Himself, in the form of bread and wine; in almsgiving we give to the Living Lord Christ Himself, in the form of the poor and needy. A certain man in Constantinople was unusually merciful. Walking along the streets of the city, he would press his gift into the hands of the poor and hurry onward, so he would not hear their gratitude or be recognized. When a friend of his asked how he had become so merciful, he replied: “Once in church I heard a priest say that whoever gives to the poor, gives into the hands of Christ Himself. I didn’t believe it, for I thought, ‘How can this be, when Christ is in heaven?’ However, I was on my way home one day and I saw a poor man begging, and the face of Christ shone above his head! Just then a passerby gave the beggar a piece of bread, and I saw the Lord extend His hand, take the bread, and bless the donor. From then on, I have always seen Christ’s face shining above the beggars. Therefore, with great fear I perform as much charity as I can."

St. Nikolai Velimirovich