American Orthodox Catholic Christianity
Faith Of Our Fathers Series
When the door of steam
baths is continually left open, the heat inside rapidly escapes through it;
likewise the soul in its desire to say many things, dissipates the remembrance
of God through the door of speech,
even though everything it says may be good. .. Ideas of value always shun
verbosity, being foreign to confusion and fantasy. Timely silence, then, is
precious, for it is nothing less than the mother of the wisest thoughts. -
Saint Diadochos of Photiki (c. 486), On Spiritual Knowledge
Apt silence bridles
anger.
Ilias the
Presbyter (early 12th c.)
If you pile up on one
side of the scales all the works demanded by ascetic life, and on the other
side-silence, you will find that the latter outweighs the former. Many good
counsels have been given us, but if a man embraces silence, to follow them will
become superfluous. - Saint Isaac of Syria
I shall indicate to
you the most direct and simple method to acquire the habit of silence:
...reflect as often as you can on the pernicious results of indiscriminate
babbling and on the salutary results of wise silence. When you come to taste the
good fruit of silence, you will no longer need lessons about it. -
Saint
Nikodemos of the Holy Mountain, Unseen Warfare