Quotes of the Day for March 12, 2026 – Thoughts on self-knowledge
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“Know thyself” is one of the greatest Greek maxims. But today, almost no thought or effort is applied to genuine, deep self-knowledge. Rather, we are self-absorbed and often seek affirmation from the world to feed our pride. The emphasis in our culture is on feeling important or presenting an appealing image of oneself…Christian enlightenment…consists in sincere faith in Christ, in self-knowledge, in sincere repentance and separation from evil, and in the constant pursuit of Christian virtue and perfection for the sake of eternal blessedness in and with God.” (Reverend Christopher T. Metropulos, D. Min, St. John of Kronstadt)
“Without Christ, our self-knowledge would turn into barren self-condemnation. We would simply drown in the awareness of our imperfection. But our weeping is different. According to the holy fathers, it is “joy-creating.” Why? Because we cry out not into emptiness, nor to ourselves, but into the Face of the Merciful God.” (Metropolitan Luke Kovalenko)
“What we are after in soul therapy of any kind is that we should become “information” ourselves, rather than that we should get so bogged down in learning information “about” ourselves. The difference between these two is that the person who is information, has a coherence, a peace, and the freedom to focus clearly on what is outside of themselves–God and others. Whereas the person who focuses on self-knowledge in a pathological way is constantly mistaking their passions, their memories, or suggestions from outside forces for their real selves. We will have to renounce a host of information about ourselves, if we wish to become information–to become meaningful and real.” (Timothy G. Patitsas)
“Despondency is also very common and happens in each one of us to a greater or lesser degree. And if it happens in too great a degree, I tell you, you won’t be saved, because you won’t be able to do the things you need to do to learn of God. But if you learn of yourself and God at the same time, God will reveal Himself and self-knowledge also, within you. Then you will believe in the depths of your soul that you are a great sinner, but you will nonetheless say to yourself with confidence, "God will receive my repentance!’ and you will see the situation you are in, and you will want to be better, and you will know that you can become better! I see this again and again, where people do not accept that they can change.” (St. Nicholas Orthodox Church)
“It seems to me that a person’s knowledge of himself and of God is the key to freedom from condemning others. This freedom is given either by grace or as the result of struggle, internal work. And condemnation happens because we on the one hand do not tend towards deep self-knowledge, and on the other haven’t gotten to the level of repentance. Looking into oneself is the beginning of a spiritual process. The conscience gives a person knowledge about himself, and when he sees himself, he sometimes even gets to the point of hating, thinking: “I hate myself like this!”. Yes, you have approached self-knowledge. It’s bitter, but this knowledge may be the most important and significant thing in life, because it is the point of departure for repentance, for the possibility of the rebirth of your nous, for a qualitative change of your relationship to yourself and the whole world, and first of all, to your Creator.” (Archpriest Georgiy Bryeyev)
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