"Don't criticize or judge other people - 

regard everyone else as an angel,

justify their strengths and weaknesses,

and condemn only yourself as the worst sinner.

This is step one in any kind of spiritual life."

-Fr Seraphim Rose

Music & the Soul: Restoring or Destroying the Inner Man

St. Boethius (500AD) 

“Music is part of us, and either ennobles or degrades our behavior.” 

St. Basil the Great (4th century)

“What did the Holy Spirit do when he saw that the human race was not led easily to virtue and that, due to our penchant for pleasure we gave little heed to an upright life? He mixed sweetness of melody and doctrine so that inadvertently we would absorb the benefit of the words through gentleness and ease of hearing, just as clever physicians frequently smear the cup with honey when giving the fastidious some rather bitter medicine to drink. Thus he contrived for us these harmonious psalm tunes, so that those who are children in actual age as well as those who are young in behavior, while appearing only to sing would in reality be training their souls.”

Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom - Mykola Leontovych

"Composed in the early twentieth century, Leontovych's liturgy was an entirely new phenomenon in Ukrainian sacred music, in which the composer synthesized religious and folk styles. Leontovych composed in his style, essentially synthesizing a folklore foundation with the models of the liturgy used in the Lavra. He incorporated the chant native to the Lavra, preserving its intonational uniformity and adding his personal interpretation." - Nataliya Kostyuk