St. Gregory Palamas ca. 1296-1359
Let us be merciful to ourselves by being merciful to others, gain compassion by showing compassion, and do good that good may be done to us. For we receive the like in return: good works, benevolence, love, mercy, and compassion, but not merely to the same value and measure of excellence. You give out of what you possess as a man, and only as much as a man can bestow. But you receive in return a hundredfold from the inexhaustible divine treasures, together with eternal life, and benefit from as many great bounties as God can bestow, which “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man” (1 Cor. 2:9).
May we make haste to obtain the riches of kindness and buy an eternal kingdom in exchange for a little money. We should be afraid even now of the sentence pronounced on the unmerciful, lest we receive the same condemnation. (Homily 4.24-25, On Christ’s Second Coming)
Canon in honor of St. Demetrius of Thessaloniki /Dimitar Solunski/
Oh, wise Demetrius, as thou standest brightly in glory before the throne of God, do not forget us, pray for us, the wretched, who – strangers in this land – contemplate thy great deeds today and glorify thee, hoping strongly for thy intercession!
Hear now, Oh glorious Demetrius, thy poor servants, and have mercy on them: we have strayed far from thy bright temple, but our hearts burn, and we deeply long to worship one day in thy church, with thy prayers.
Why, Oh wise Demetrius, should only we, your poor servants, be deprived of thy beauty and of love for the creator; wander through foreign countries and cities; and suffer from the cruel soldiers of the pagans and heretics...
Methodius
