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Faith, Hope, Love: greeting cardstranslated

September 29, 2026 · 1 min read

Traditionally, each of the three virtues after which the holy sisters Faith, Hope and Love were named has its own special symbol. For faith it is a cross, for hope it is an anchor, and for love it is a heart. They can be seen in particular on some vintage postcards for the holiday of September 30th.

Hope is the treasury of the human mind; it stores all kinds of supplies for our lives.

Saint Gregory of Nyssa

As long as a person is alive, he should never lose hope.

Seneca Lucius Annaeus

It is always better to hope than to despair.

Johann Wolfgang Goethe

When the soul is intoxicated with the joy of hope and the joy of God, the body does not feel sorrows, although it is weak.

Venerable Isaac the Syrian

Without faith, hope and love, you cannot destroy the bad in yourself, and you cannot establish anything good in yourself.

Venerable Maximus the Confessor

Hope is hope in work, the door of love; it kills despair, it is the guarantee of future blessings.

John Climacus

If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries, and have all knowledge and all faith, so that I could move mountains, but do not have love, then I am nothing. And if I give away all my property and give my body to be burned...

Source: Журнал ФОМА · Read the full story →

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Stefan Popović

I didn't know the anchor was a symbol of hope, that's interesting to me. Here, we always have a cross on the glory, but now I will also pay attention to those old greeting cards. The quote from Venerable Maxim the Confessor is the strongest for me, without those three things, nothing really holds.