From the lips of Saint Paisios, whom we celebrated today:

“The internal purity of the beautiful soul of the true man beautifies his external person as well, and the divine sweetness of God’s love sweetens even his countenance. The internal beauty of the soul, apart from spiritually beautifying and sanctifying man externally, with Divine Grace revealing him to others, also beautifies and sanctifies the ugly clothes the graced man of God wears.

Of greater worth is the blessed man who has changed internally and been sanctified also externally, than those who continually change externally (their clothes) but internally maintain the old man with his ‘antiquated’ sins.

Of greater value is one word of a humble man, who has spiritual experience, coming with pain from the bottom of his heart, than a whole array of learned words from a superficial man, coming with great speed from his learned tongue. His tongue does not enlighten souls for it is fleshly and not that fiery tongue of Holy Pentecost.”

(Elder Paisios of Mount Athos (2002). Epistles. Souroti, Thessaloniki, Greece: Holy Monastery “Evangelist John the Theologian, ..”, pp.137-138)