The friends of Christ love everyone sincerely but are not loved by everyone. The friends of Christ maintain the continuity of love until the end. The friends of the world, on the contrary, maintain theirs until they clash with each other over the world’s goods.”” A faithful friend is a strong defense, for when his friend is prospering he is a good counselor and sympathetic collaborator, and when he is in distress, he is his sincere supporter and most sympathetic defender. Many people have said much about love, but only in seeking it among Christ’s disciples will you find it, for only they have true love, the teacher of love, of whom it is written, ‘If I have prophecy and know all mysteries and have all knowledge but do not have love, it profits me nothing.’ Therefore the one who possesses love possesses God himself, since God is love.
Saint Ephraim the Syrian
