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“The role of Christians in the world is to filter the atmosphere on earth and expand the atmosphere of the Kingdom of God.”
― Thaddeus of Vitovnica, Our Thoughts Determine Our Lives: the Life and Teachings of Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica

“The Lord is present everywhere, and nothing happens without His will or His permission, either in this life or in eternity. When we accept this idea, everything is made easier.”
― Thaddeus of Vitovnica, Our Thoughts Determine Our Lives: the Life and Teachings of Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica

“Even the easiest job is carried out with great difficulty. But when I commit myself, the brotherhood, and everything else unto the Lord, even the hardest of jobs gets done with ease.”
― Thaddeus of Vitovnica, Our Thoughts Determine Our Lives: the Life and Teachings of Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica

“You can see now how it goes. When we nurture evil thoughts, we become evil. We may think that we are good, but evil is in us. We do not have the strength to resist it. And we know that, as Christians, we must not even think evil, let alone do it.”
― Thaddeus of Vitovnica, Our Thoughts Determine Our Lives: the Life and Teachings of Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica

“Money cannot give us peace, neither can fame, honor, a high-ranking position, nor even our closest friends and family.”
― Thaddeus of Vitovnica, Our Thoughts Determine Our Lives: the Life and Teachings of Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica

“This is how we must live—controlling our thoughts. It is not good to dwell on every thought that comes to us; otherwise we lose our peace. If we learn to refuse such proposals, we are quiet.”
― Thaddeus of Vitovnica, Our Thoughts Determine Our Lives: the Life and Teachings of Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica

“you just turn your thoughts to prayer, and you will see that it will stop bothering you.”
― Thaddeus of Vitovnica, Our Thoughts Determine Our Lives: the Life and Teachings of Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica

“All things here on this earth,â€� said Fr. Thaddeus, “all that is good and also all that is not, everything comes from our thoughts. Our thoughts determine our whole life. If our thoughts are destructive, we will have no peace. If they are quiet, meek and simple, our life will be the same, and we will have peace within us.”
― Thaddeus of Vitovnica, Our Thoughts Determine Our Lives: the Life and Teachings of Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica

“Our relationship toward our fellow men defines our relationship toward God.”
― Ana Smiljanic, Our Thoughts Determine Our Lives: The Life and Teachings of Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica

“We should defend one another, for we are brothers—especially we who are of one Faith. There is an example of this in history. Once, when an official delegation of Constantinopolitan dignitaries was sent to the Saracens to negotiate peace, the Saracens argued that Christians disobeyed God’s commandment. They said: 'Why do you Christians disobey Christ’s commandment to love your enemies, but instead persecute and kill us?' Now, a certain Cyril was part of this delegation. His answer to the Saracens was: 'If, in a certain law, there are two commandments that must be fulfilled, which man shall be more righteous, he who fulfills both commandments or he who fulfills only one of them?' The Saracens answered, 'He that fulfills both, of course.' Then Cyril said, 'As individuals we forgive our enemies, but as a community we lay down our lives for one another. For the Lord has said that there is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s neighbor. As a community we protect one another and lay down our lives for one another. Not only is your aim to enslave us physically, you also aspire to enslave us spiritually. It is for this reason that we defend ourselves. This, therefore, is justified.”
― Ana Smiljanic, Our Thoughts Determine Our Lives: The Life and Teachings of Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica

“We should defend one another, for we are brothers—especially we who are of one Faith. There is an example of this in history. Once, when an official delegation of Constantinopolitan dignitaries was sent to the Saracens to negotiate peace, the Saracens argued that Christians disobeyed God’s commandment. They said: “Why do you Christians disobey Christ’s commandment to love your enemies, but instead persecute and kill us?â€� Now, a certain Cyril was part of this delegation. His answer to the Saracens was: “If, in a certain law, there are two commandments that must be fulfilled, which man shall be more righteous, he who fulfills both commandments or he who fulfills only one of them?â€� The Saracens answered, “He that fulfills both, of course.â€� Then Cyril said, “As individuals we forgive our enemies, but as a community we lay down our lives for one another. For the Lord has said that there is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s neighbor. As a community we protect one another and lay down our lives for one another. Not only is your aim to enslave us physically, you also aspire to enslave us spiritually. It is for this reason that we defend ourselves. This, therefore, is justified.”
― Ana Smiljanic, Our Thoughts Determine Our Lives: The Life and Teachings of Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica

“O Lord, I cannot even bear my own infirmities, yet now I must bear the burden of so-and-so. I cannot cope with all this responsibility. I cannot do this myself, and, because I feel that I have no desire to cope either, all this weighs even more heavily on my conscience. I wish to help my fellow man, but I don’t have the means. My neighbors think that I don’t want to help, and that is an additional burden to me.”
― Thaddeus of Vitovnica, Our Thoughts Determine Our Lives: the Life and Teachings of Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica

“This is why St. Isaac the Syrian says, “Preserve your inner peace at all costs and do not trade it for anything in this world.â€� He lived in the seventh century. Because of his virtuous life he lived long.”
― Thaddeus of Vitovnica, Our Thoughts Determine Our Lives: the Life and Teachings of Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica

“understood that in this life everything is vanity and pride and sickness of spirit. There is no lasting comfort....â€� These are Solomon’s words. Solomon was wise.”
― Thaddeus of Vitovnica, Our Thoughts Determine Our Lives: the Life and Teachings of Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica

“Have we helped by disseminating peace and harmony in the universe, or have we contributed to the existing chaos? For this reason we must always strive to perfect our thoughts.”
― Thaddeus of Vitovnica, Our Thoughts Determine Our Lives: the Life and Teachings of Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica

“God is a mystery to all beings. God is in us, and that is why we are a mystery to our own selves. God reveals Himself only to the meek and humble. He is present everywhere, and He is a mystery. We may learn a little about Him, or may gather some knowledge from nature, but for the most part, we are surrounded by a mystery.
When a person is meek and humble, he will advance in knowledge.”
― Thaddeus of Vitovnica, Our Thoughts Determine Our Lives: The Life and Teachings of Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica

“Therefore we need to recognize evil with discernment and to accept good with discernment. We must be vigilant at all times in order to prevent those with evil intentions from entering our innermost chamber. Vigilance and alertness, at all times!”
― Thaddeus of Vitovnica, Our Thoughts Determine Our Lives: the Life and Teachings of Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica

“The main thing is to become one with the Lord; then He will teach us how to love our neighbor, for we do not know how—our love immediately becomes transformed into something material, for it has not been cleansed from the inside.”
― Thaddeus of Vitovnica, Our Thoughts Determine Our Lives: the Life and Teachings of Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica

“God did not create evil. Evil comes from the noetic spirits who turned away from God’s love and toward themselves and ceased to obey God, following their own way of reasoning.”
― Thaddeus of Vitovnica, Our Thoughts Determine Our Lives: the Life and Teachings of Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica

“if we wish good for ourselves and our neighbors, we must change.”
― Thaddeus of Vitovnica, Our Thoughts Determine Our Lives: the Life and Teachings of Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica

“Every good and bad thing on earth has its origins in our thoughts. This is why we must struggle. We are a thought-apparatus that emits thoughts, that radiates thoughts by which we influence all beings: men, animals, and plants. The plants, too, have a nervous system. They expect peace, comfort, and love from us.”
― Thaddeus of Vitovnica, Our Thoughts Determine Our Lives: the Life and Teachings of Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica

“If the incorporeal angelic powers or we men were allowed to do as we please, there would be total chaos in the world and in the entire universe. But God is present everywhere and He is Light, a Light that penetrates all.”
― Thaddeus of Vitovnica, Our Thoughts Determine Our Lives: the Life and Teachings of Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica

“Our job is to conform to Him and become of one mind with Him, for He wants His rational flock, which has wandered away from Him and His love, to return to Him. But this is very difficult for us.”
― Thaddeus of Vitovnica, Our Thoughts Determine Our Lives: the Life and Teachings of Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica

“Our enemies are not made of flesh and blood, because if they were, we could hide from them or flee from them, but our spiritual enemies are everywhere. They suggest thoughts that are not rooted in love, chastity, goodness, and kindness. These noetic powers, or demons, who have different characters just as we humans do, are constantly putting impure thoughts into our heads, telling us to abandon ourselves to bodily passions, to thievery, malice, and envy. And if we listen to their suggestions and carry them out, these passions will become second nature to us.”
― Thaddeus of Vitovnica, Our Thoughts Determine Our Lives: the Life and Teachings of Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica

“We have not learned to be obedient to the will of God but always want our will to be done. Well, in that case there will be no place for us in heaven.”
― Thaddeus of Vitovnica, Our Thoughts Determine Our Lives: the Life and Teachings of Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica

“in spite of the ostensible faith, honor, and sacrifice of a person who struggles for justice in the world, this person’s desires continue to develop in the wrong direction”
― Thaddeus of Vitovnica, Our Thoughts Determine Our Lives: the Life and Teachings of Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica

“Man has been given great strength, and if we could only concentrate our thoughts in prayer, the fallen spirits would not be able to harm us or to do anything contrary to the will of God. Where there is prayer, the fallen spirits have no power.”
― Thaddeus of Vitovnica, Our Thoughts Determine Our Lives: the Life and Teachings of Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica

“We are too engrossed in things of this world and thus become spiritually impoverished, because one cannot sit on two chairs. One cannot drink both from the Cup of the Savior and from the cup of the adversary. We must decide whom we will serve: God or the things of this world. One cannot serve God and mammon at the same time.”
― Thaddeus of Vitovnica, Our Thoughts Determine Our Lives: the Life and Teachings of Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica

“If you are like that, calm and full of love, if all you think are good and kind thoughts, they will stop warring against you in their thoughts and will not threaten you anymore.”
― Thaddeus of Vitovnica, Our Thoughts Determine Our Lives: the Life and Teachings of Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica

“When we perform a task unwillingly, soon resistance and a feeling of disgust are born in us, and then our life becomes filled with resistance and disgust for everything, and we grow old in this manner.”
― Thaddeus of Vitovnica, Our Thoughts Determine Our Lives: the Life and Teachings of Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica