“Critical for every servant of God, given our unavoidable struggle against the passions, is prayerful watchfulness…God endows each person with many gifts. However, instead of being grateful to God for these gifts, he is often not watchful. He claims them as his own, inwardly boasting. Then the cunning devil, the thief that he is, goes and steals the gifts—infects them with his poison, rendering them useless” (Dynamis 10/4/2019, St. Paisios the Athonite) “Without watchfulness…ignorance is not recognized, it is camouflaged, it hides, it is full of conceit, especially in the contemporary technological, conceited, and arrogant man.” (Archimandrite Ioannikios Kotsanis) “Do we choose to follow the world and its options, or the Lord Jesus and His eternal promises? The world prefers to ignore what Christ says. Secular men call it mere pious talk or religious jargon. They discount eternity as a vague prospect far removed from the measurable future and having no bearing on foreseeable events. However, dismissing concerns about the ultimate end of all things is contrary to the Lord Jesus’ advice. Our Savior is firm and definite – He desires us to be alert to the signs of the ultimate conclusion of all things (Luke 28:32). He repeats the admonition to be watchful twice (vss. 28, 30-31), saying in effect, that our perspective is urgent and crucial. We die only once, and then judgment is our lot (Heb 9:27).” (Dynamis 1/9/2020) “The Lord God has led us out to work and has given us the gifts of His grace in order that, by reaping the ears of the salvation of our fellow-men and bringing as many as possible into the Kingdom of God, we may bring Him fruit—some thirtyfold, some sixtyfold and some a hundredfold. Let us be watchful, my son, in order that we may not be condemned with that wicked and slothful servant who hid his talent in the earth, but let us try to imitate those good and faithful servants of the Lord who brought their Master four talents instead of two, and ten instead of five (Cf. Mat. 25:14-30).” (St. Seraphim of Sarov) “Great is the power of prayer, and it brings most of all the Spirit of God, and is most easily practiced by everyone. We shall be happy indeed if the Lord God finds us watchful and filled with the gifts of His Holy Spirit.” (St. Seraphim of Sarov)
“St. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 16:13, “Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong.” The word “watch” in this Scripture comes from a Greek word from which we get Nepsis. Here, Paul used it as a command to be watchful…Nepsis may not be a familiar term to some. It essentially means to be awake, or a state of watchfulness…Our task as Christians is to be awake, to be watchful and aware. Christ also says multiple times in the Gospel for us to watch and be watchful.” (Sacramental Living Podcast Episode 36)
“Watchfulness over one's own soul protects against all manner of evil and undoing.” (Orthodox Study Bible, 1 Kingdoms 15:17-22)
“…we must be vigilant and watchful of the messages we receive and careful of the words that we speak to one another. All have a vital influence upon our souls. We must be intentionally mindful of what actually feeds the soul – resisting words, images, and conversations that distract us from living a life of true holiness.” (Fr. Tom Tsagalakis)
“One of the keys to spiritual life is nepsis, or watchfulness. Basically, this means we have to stay awake and aware of what we are doing. This takes practice. The good news, however, is that you are supposed to still have fun, maybe even more because you notice that you are having fun.” (George Stavros, PhD)
“…watchfulness and readiness do not mean a wearisome, spiritless performance of formal and empty obligations. Most certainly it does not mean inactivity and slothfulness. Watchfulness signifies inner stability, soberness, tranquility and joy. It means spiritual alertness, attentiveness and vigilance. Watchfulness is the deep personal resolve to find and do the will of God, embrace every commandment and every virtue, and guard the intellect and heart from evil thoughts and actions. Watchfulness is the intense love of God.” (Rev. Alkiviadis Calivas)