“If we live in a constant spirit of repentance and self-condemnation we will automatically have good relations with our brethren. When Father Sophrony visited Serbia, he heard an Abbess give a word to her nuns and he transmitted it to us with great pleasure. She said to them, ‘Wherever you go and whatever you do, always take second place.’ We must always give preference to our brother, for this is the mind of Christ. St. Paul says, ‘Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem the other better than themselves’ [Phil 2:3]. We ought always to set our brother above ourselves, honouring him and giving him the first place because, as St. Silouan so beautifully says, ‘Our brother is our life.’”
– Archmandrite Zacharias, Remember Thy First Love, pp. 249-250.
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