Saying of Eldress Gabriela (Papayannis)

Mother Gabrielia

Eldress Gabriela lived during the years 1897-1992. She is considered a Saintly Greek nun and many believe that one day, the Orthodox Church will canonize her.
Below are some of the saying of Eldress Gabriela to her spiritual children and laymen who visited her at her monastery in Greece.

* Not a knowledge that you learn, but a knowledge that you suffer. That is Orthodox spirituality.
* Do not desire many things–more than you have, that which is far away. Rather, seek to take care of       what you have so as to sanctify it.
* One thing is education: that we learn how to love God.
* Nothing is cheaper than money.
* It is not that which we say, but that which we live. It is not what we do, but what we are.
* We desire our freedom. Why? In order to be slaves to our passions.
* God often does not desire the act but the intention. It is enough that He sees you are willing to do His command.
* When God created us, He gave us life and breathed His Spirit into us. That Spirit is Love. When we lack love, we become corpses and are altogether dead.
* The spiritually advanced person is the one who arrives at a place of no identity and who has understood in his depths that whatever happens is the will of God or by the permission of God.
* Only when the person stops reading other books except the Gospel does he begin to make real interior progress. Only then, united with God through the Prayer, can he hear the will of God.
* Never desire anything but the will of God, and receive with love the evil that comes to you.
* Never say, “Why has this happened to me?” Or when you see someone with gangrene or cancer or blindness, don’t ask, “Why did this happen to them?” But ask God to give you the vision of the other bank of the river. Then you will see with the angels as it is in fact: Everything is according to the plan of God. Everything!
* The language of God is silence.
* Anxiety and worry is for those who don’t have faith.