The Lord says to you what He said to Matthew: ‘Follow Me.’ But when you follow the Lord with burning love, it may happen that on the road of life you strike your foot against the stone of some passion and fall unexpectedly into sin; or else, finding yourself in a muddy place, you may slip involuntarily and fall headlong. Each time you fall and in this way injure your body, you should get up again with the same eagerness as before, and continue to follow after your Lord until you reach Him. ‘Thus have I appeared before Thee in the sanctuary’- the sanctuary of my thoughts- ‘that I might behold Thy power and glory,’ for they are my salvation. ‘In Thy name will I lift up my hands,’ and I shall be heard; I shall think myself ‘filled with marrow and fatness,’ and my lips will rejoice as they sing Thy praise. It is a great thing for me to be called a Christian, as the Lord tells me through Isaiah: ‘It is no light thing for you to be called My servant.’

St. John of Karpathos, Text for the Monks in India