"We should make every effort to ensure that each of our initiatives is the common work of all those who stand in need of it, and not [simply part of] some charitable organization, where some perform charitable actions and are accountable for it to their superiors while others receive the charity, make way for those who are next in line, and disappear from view. We must cultivate a communal organization rather than set up a mechanical organization, Our concept of sobornost [conciliarity] commits us to this. At the same time we are committed to the personal principle in the sense that absolutely no one can become for us a routine cipher, whose role is to swell statistical tables. I would say that we should not give away a single piece of bread unless the recipient means something as a person for us. "
"The way to God lies through love of people. At the Last Judgment I shall not be asked whether I was successful in my ascetic exercises, nor how many bows and prostrations I made. Instead I shall be asked, Did I feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the sick and the prisoners. That is all I shall be asked. About every poor, hungry and imprisoned person the Savior says “I” : “I was hungry, and thirsty, I was sick and in prison.” To think that he puts an equal sign between himself and anyone in need- I always knew it, but now it has somehow penetrated to my sinews. It fills me with awe."
"When spreading Christianity, the Orthodox Church does not have the habit of building on the foundations put up by others — establishing Christianity in places where it has already been preached. Yet other Christian communities often gather the crop where others sowed first, and they do not hesitate to seize “the sheep from the neighbor’s yard” with money and force. The Orthodox Church stays away from those methods which are sometimes permitted by missionaries of other confessions. She does not use unlawful means to convert people to Christianity, She does not strike bargains with the prejudices and passions of man, and She does not distort the purity of the evangelical Truth in order to acquire for Herself more members, since She is concerned not only about the number of the faithful, but also about the quality of their faith. But the most important fact is that the Orthodox Church conducts Her missionary work quietly, with humility and reverence, being conscious of the powerlessness of man and the strength of God. Missionaries of other confessions often do not mind to make noise, to make a din about their work. They meticulously record their heroic deeds so that the whole world might know of their actions and glorify them, and it is for this reason that they are much spoken about. But the Orthodox messengers of the Good News act differently. They undertake their holy endeavor not to gain glory for themselves from people, but to receive the mercy of God for themselves and salvation for others. They do not trumpet their own successes before the world, and they attribute them not to themselves but to the might of God.
...Can a Church that produces such selfless messengers of the Good News, who passed through the unreachable wilderness preaching Christ, and there gave their lives for the Faith of Christ — can a Church like this be accused of being lifeless, inactive, without a missionary spirit, and not concerned about spreading the Gospel?"
+ St Tikhon of Moscow, From the Homily Preached on the Sunday of Orthodoxy at the San Francisco Cathedral in the Spring of 1899
"Renunciation teaches us not only that we not greedily seek advantages for our soul but that we not be stingy, that we always be extravagant in our love, that we achieve a spiritual nakedness, that our soul holds nothing back, that we not hold back anything sacred and valuable which we would not be ready to give up in Christ's name to those who need it. Spiritual renunciation is the way of holy foolishness, folly in Christ. It is the opposite of the wisdom of this age. It is the blessedness of those who are poor in spirit. It is the outer limit of love ... According to material laws ... if I give away a piece of bread, then I became poorer by one piece of bread ... (and by extension) if I give my love, I have become impoverished by that amount of love, and if I give up my soul then I become completely ruined and have nothing left to save ... According to the law of the spirit, every spiritual treasure given away not only returns to the giver like an unspent ruble but it grows and becomes stronger. He who gives receives back in return; he who becomes poor becomes wealthier. ... In turning away from the exclusive focus upon Christ in a genuine act of self-negation and love, one offers himself to others...then one meets Christ himself face to face in the one for whom he offers himself and in that communion he unites with Christ himself ... the mystery of union with man becomes the mystery of union with God. That which was given away returns. The love which was expended never diminishes the source of that love, because the source of love in our heart is Love itself, Christ ... Here we are speaking about a genuine emptying out, in a partial imitation of how Christ emptied himself by becoming incarnate in humanity. We must likewise empty ourselves completely, becoming, so to speak, incarnate in another human soul, offering to it the full measure of God's image which is contained in ourselves."
“You will find that charity is a heavy burden to carry, heavier than the bowl of soup and the full basket. But you will keep your gentleness and your smile. It is not enough to give bread and soup. This the rich can do. You are the servant of the poor... They are your masters, and the more difficult they will be, the unjust and insulting, the more love you must give them. It is for your love alone that the poor will forgive you the bread you give them.”
“We should make every effort to ensure that each of our initiatives is the common work of all those who stand in need of it,” she wrote, “and not [simply part of] some charitable organization, where some perform charitable actions and are accountable for it to their superiors while others receive the charity, make way for those who are next in line, and disappear from view. We must cultivate a communal organization rather than set up a mechanical organization, Our concept of sobornost [conciliarity] commits us to this. At the same time we are committed to the personal principle in the sense that absolutely no one can become for us a routine cipher, whose role in to swell statistical tables. I would say that we should not give away a single piece of bread unless the recipient means something as a person for us.”
"Unless you love, the poor will never forgive you for the bread you give them."