This one thing must be held firmly in our mind, that since we are a creation of the good God and are welded together by him, as he manages smaller and greater things concerning us, neither can we undergo anything that is not God’s will, nor do we truly suffer anything that is hurtful unless it can be understood to bring us something better.
– From On the Human Condition by St. Basil the Great, Translated by Nonna Verna Harrison, St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press: Crestwood, NY, 2005.
