Seraphim Rose quotes

Why does man grow spiritually through pain and not through joys and rest? Simply because joy and comfort lead man to be satisfied with the present world. Grief and tribulations lead us to search for a deeper joy, beyond the limits of this life. (Seraphim Rose)
There are no coincidences in life. All things are providential. They are allowed for our salvation, in correspondence with our inner state and needs.
Seraphim Rose
Perhaps, never before since the coming of the Christian era have demons appeared so openly and extensively as today.
Seraphim Rose
No matter how "right” you may be on various points, you must be diplomatic also. The first and important thing is not "rightness” at all, but Christian love and harmony. Most "crazy converts” have been "right” in the criticisms that led to their downfall; but they were lacking in Christian love and charity and so went off the deep end, needlessly alienating people around them and finally finding themselves all alone in their rightness and self-righteousness. Don't you follow them!...
Seraphim Rose
Modern men have faith in machines, in material well-being, in the substantiality of all that seems obvious to common sense; this is a petty faith, the faith of petty men. The Christian has faith in God and the world to come, in the insubstantiality of all that is obvious, in the passing of this world and the coming of the new, transfigured world; if there is a faith worthy of men, it is surely this.
Seraphim Rose
Christ's kingdom is not of this world, and the world cannot bear it. We constantly rebel, try to make life easier, try to be half-Christian, try to make the best of both worlds. We must ultimately choose - our felicity lies in one world or the other, not in both.
Seraphim Rose
Orthodoxy is life. If we don't live Orthodoxy, we simply are not Orthodox, no matter what formal beliefs we might hold.
Seraphim Rose
Everything in this life passes away - only God remains, only He is worth struggling towards. We have a choice: to follow the way of this world, of the society that surrounds us, and thereby find ourselves outside of God; or to choose the way of life, to choose God Who calls us and for Whom our heart is searching.
Seraphim Rose
If Christ were to walk in this world today, do you know what would happen to Him? He would be placed in a mental institution and given psycho-therapy, just as would His Saints. The world would crucify Him today just as it did 2000 years ago, for the world has not learned a thing, except more devious forms of hypocrisy. And what would happen if, in one of my classes at the university, I would one day tell my students that all the learning of this world is of no importance beside the duty of worshipping God, accepting the God-man who died for our sins, and preparing for the life of the world to come? They would probably laugh at me, and the university officials, if they found out, would fire me-for it is against the law to preach the Truth in our universities. We say that we live in a Christian society, but we do not: we live in a society.
Seraphim Rose
Everywhere Christians are tempted to take the easy path, to seek "peace" and "security" and flee from pain and affliction, to view life as an occasion for the enjoyment of earthly blessings, instead of a time of trial in which our eternal destiny is to be decided. But God expects more than this from those who glory in the name of Orthodox Christians.
Seraphim Rose
The demons start the warfare in the imagination; they cultivate it with thoughts; they defile the nous, they take it down into the heart; and they make both the soul and the body filthy. What decides a person's entire progress or failure is whether he gives in to or resists the attacks of the imagination. If he makes the mistake of beginning a dialogue with the sinful assault and accepting the devil's garbage by his own consent, what will follow are falls of the sould, mind, heart, and body. As a result, the passion will take him captive. (Seraphim Rose)
Why is the truth, it would seem, revealed to some and not to others? Is there a special organ for receiving revelation from God? Yes, though usually we close it and do not let it open up: God's revelation is given to something called a loving heart.
Seraphim Rose
Don't worry too much about how spiritually poor you are - God sees that, but for you it is expected to trust in God and pray to Him as best you can, never to fall into despair and to struggle according to your strength. If you ever begin to think you are spiritually "well off" - then you can know for sure that you aren't! True spiritual life, even on the most elementary level, is always accompanied by suffering and difficulties. Therefore you should rejoice in all your difficulties and sorrows.
Seraphim Rose