Feeding the hungry is a greater work than raising the dead
Interpretation
Helping those in need is a more significant act than miraculous deeds.
This quote emphasizes the importance of tangible actions that directly address human suffering over extraordinary miracles. Saint John Chrysostom suggests that providing for the basic needs of others, such as feeding the hungry, holds a higher moral value than performing miraculous acts like raising the dead, which may inspire awe but do not necessarily improve the daily lives of those in need.
In practice
In a speech on humanitarian efforts, one might cite this quote to inspire action.
No one has ever been accused for not providing ornaments, but for those who neglect their neighbour a hell awaits with an inextinguishable fire and torment in the company of the demons. Do not, therefore, adorn the church and ignore your afflicted brother, for he is the most precious temple of all.
It is simply impossible to lead, without the aid of prayer, a virtuous life.
When we teach our children to be good, to be gentle, to be forgiving (all these are attributes of God), to be generous, to love their follow men, to regard this present age as nothing, we instill virtue in their souls, and reveal the image of God within them.
Abba Moses asked Abba Sylvanus, Can a person lay a new foundation every day? The old man replied, If you work hard, you can lay a new foundation every moment. Abba Pimen said, To throw yourself before God, not to measure your progress, to leave behind all self-will; these are the instruments for the work of the soul. The desire to rule is the mother of heresies.
I hear no one boast, that he hath a knowledge of the Scriptures, but that he owneth a Bible written in golden characters. And tell me then, what profiteth this? The Holy Scriptures were not given to us that we should enclose them in books, but that we should engrave them upon our hearts.
Prayer should be the means by which I, at all times, receive all that I need, and, for this reason, be my daily refuge, my daily consolation, my daily joy, my source of rich and inexhaustible joy in life.
The old religionist cried out for his god. The new religionist cries out for some god to be his.
Americans have always been able to handle austerity and even adversity. Prosperity is what is doing us in.
Night is beautiful when you are happy--comforting when you are in grief--terrible when you are lonely and unhappy.
For some small number of people, a parental loss appears to be, ultimately, a desirable difficulty - again, not a large number.
Thus Carol hit upon the tragedy of old age, which is not that it is less vigorous than youth, but that it is not needed by youth.
What I call a mimetic crisis is a situation of conflict so intense that on both sides people act the same way and talk the same way even though, or because, they are more and more hostile to each other.
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