Quotes of the Day for February 19, 2026 – Thoughts on the sins of individualism and individual agendas
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“Sonic seeds of teeming individualism…now chokes new growth on both side of Christian divide…The path of “each man for himself” or “by myself” is the road to destruction. It is much easier the roaring lion, who walks about seeking whom he may devour, to destroy us one by one than to confront a united flock. Only by bearing one another’s burdens can we become like Christ, who bore the burdens of the whole world—and thereby enter into that joy which God has prepared for those who love Him.” (Sebastien Brock, Metropolitan Luke Kovalenko)
“…God is the source of peace. If we as individuals or community want peace, we have to place our hope, faith, and desires in God…The enemy of peace is sinful selfishness. Our sinful passions cause disharmony and disunity (James 4:1-4). Satan endeavors to sow distrust in us by turning us against each other and selfishly serving our own interests and to our own benefit regardless of the effects on others. We so want more things in this world that we are willing to go to war for them, hoping to take them from those weaker than ourselves. But as St James warns, when we do so, we make not only others into our enemies, but we make God into our enemy.” (Fr. Ted Bobosh)
“Certainly, the Holy Fathers and great theologians of the Church say that it is in this way, by overcoming our self-love and the anthropocentric philosophy of egotism; that we become real people, true men. Then we will meet God with reverence and love, but also meet our fellow man with respect and true dignity not seeing him as a tool of pleasure and exploitation, but as an icon of God destined for Theosis. As long as we are closed within ourselves within our ego we are individuals but not persons. Once we exit from our closed individual existence and begin, in agreement with this guidance based on Theosis, with the Grace of God, but also with our own cooperation - to love, to offer ourselves all the more to Him and to our neighbor, we become true persons. This is to say that when our ego encounters the Thou of God, and the "you" of our brother, then we begin to find our lost self.” (Archimandrite George)
“So, what is God’s intended purpose for us individually? Our purpose is to surrender our separated and separative disposition (which, after all, is the true ‘missing the mark,’ the definition of ‘sin’) and be restored to the primary love relationship with Him and others. We are called to retain our uniqueness but surrender our individuality. We do so by identifying with the Father’s Icon, who is Christ Himself. The primary “path to this is acknowledging the icon in the so-called ‘other.” (Reverend Christopher T. Metropulos, D. Min.)
“Members of the Body of Christ are persons in communion whose common life images that of the Holy Trinity. Contrary to the dominant assumptions of contemporary culture, they are not isolated individuals pursuing an indeterminate freedom that serves their self-defined pursuit of pleasure and fulfillment. Instead, they must humbly accept the guidance of the Body of Christ, of which they are organic members, in their discernment of how to offer every dimension of themselves to the Lord so that they will become more like Him in holiness and share more fully in His life.” (Fr. Philip LeMasters)