“… man has a capacity (in incapacity) for faith. Thanks to his ekstatic personhood man confronts nothingness not as a sort of acceptable “nirvana,” but as a painful absence which makes him long for presence. The fact that this absence remains unacceptable to man is due to his personhood which drives him towards communion, and this is what makes faith a possibility for him: he is confident in presence in spite of absence.” (Metropolitan John Zizioulas)
“Faith is a perception and communion, which means that there is actually something (someone) to be perceived and with which to have communion. Faith is not an action reserved to some portion of our mind – it does not take place within us. It is a perception that is true communion.” (Father Stephen Freeman)
“There are some people who are led astray by heresies or false doctrines, to the point that they preach strange faiths concerning God. Some identify God with the material world (pantheism); others don’t accept the presence of God in the world (deism); yet others, including, unfortunately, many Christians, consider God to be a vague, impersonal ‘superior force’. We would make the point that erroneous views about God have most serious consequences for our spiritual journey and, ultimately, for our salvation. According to the teaching of the Church, unless we believe in the Holy Trinity, in the loving communion of the divine Persons, in the love of the Father, in the divinity and humanity of the Son and in the sanctifying and saving role of the Holy Spirit, our salvation isn’t possible.” (Lambros Skontzos)
“The Christian Faith is not philosophy, but rather communion with God…Prayer connects you to God, to the Holy Trinity, to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Prayer is God's language to man so that he will rise up to Him and enter into a relationship with Him. Thus, prayer teaches prayer and what comes before in it leads you to what comes after, just as the number one leads you to the number two and on to three and so forth. You do not need techniques in prayer. It comes to you of itself when you insist on standing in the presence of God and when your Lord gives you what you ask. God seeks communion and calls you to Him and when you take a step in His direction, He leads you to Him, just as a father takes the hand of his child or a guide walks ahead of a traveler. Nothing is closer to the human heart than prayer.” (Dynamis 11/12/2020, Fr. Touma Bitar)
“My experience has been that tragedy and suffering doesn’t lessen my faith in God. Instead, it diminishes my focus on so much that is trivial in life. So amidst the pain, the sorrow, the debilitating feelings of helplessness at times, is a stripping away of the distractions that serve as a barrier to my deeper communion with God and others. I find my faithfulness, that is the actions of faith, increase even as I struggle with life’s circumstances. It is not because my need for communion with God is now so much greater though it feels this way, but rather I regain the clarity that my need for Him is always great because without being a branch to His vine I am lost.” (Sacramental Living Ministries)