Love is born of understanding. For if we do not comprehend and feel what God has given us and in particular to each one of us, and if we do not realize who we were because of our sins when God did this great deed of mercy--in short, if we do not come to know Him and ourselves--we will not bind our souls to the fear of Him, and we will not rejoice in the beauty of His eros.
The Apostle Paul said to the Christians in order to arouse in them greater love and thanksgiving to God: "What fruit did you have then (in idolatry) in the things of which you are now ashamed...for the wages of sin is death." (Rom.6:21,23)
Selected from Counsels from the Holy Mountain from the Letters and Homilies of Elder Ephraim
