A collection of scriptural meditations from Saints and Fathers of the Church.

If you abandon God and are a slave to the passions, you cannot reap God's mercy.

When we turn our spirit from the contemplation of God, we become the slaves of carnal passions.

Self-control and strenuous effort curb desire; stillness and intense longing for God wither it.

Worldly virtues promote human glory, spiritual virtues the glory of God.

I said to him, 'My sweet and good father, where do you receive the Eucharist on the Sabbath and the Lord's Day?' He said to me, 'Every Sabbath and every Lord's Day, an angel comes to me and gives me the Eucharist. And blessed is everyone who lives as a citizen in the desert on account of God and sees no human being -- He brings the Eucharist to them and comforts them. If they desire to see anyone, they are taken up to heavenly heights and they see them. They greet them and the hearts are filled with light. They rejoice in the Spirit and are glad in the good things they will never lack. When they see them, they are comforted, and they completely forget the afflictions that have been theirs. Afterwards they return to their places, and they are comforted for a long time, as though they had been removed to another world. Because of the great joy they have seen, they do not remember that this world even exists.'

Keep the commandments, and you will find peace; love God, and you will attain spiritual knowledge.

It is an insult to the intelligence to be subject to what lacks intelligence and to concern itself with shameful desires.

The soul's health consists in dispassion and spiritual knowledge; no slave to sensual pleasure can attain it.

He who fears God will pay careful attention to his soul and will free himself from communion with evil.

Fear of the Lord conquers desire, and distress that accords with God's will repulses sensual pleasure.

The study of divine principles teaches knowledge of God to the person who lives in truth, longing and reverence.

Then we say: 'Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.' Brothers, praying thus, we should very much fear lest the Lord reply to these words of our prayer: 'The judgments you give are the judgments you will get, and the amount you measure out is the amount you will be given.' And you who ask this, see whether you did to no one what you did not want done to you. Therefore before we hear these words of the Lord, brethren, let us first examine our hearts as to whether we are with justice asking of the Lord what we have not denied to those asking us. We ask that our trespasses be forgiven us. God hears and He wants to forgive us, but only if we first pardon those who ask us to do likewise.

Strive to love every man equally, and you will simultaneously expel all the passions.

He who fears God will pay careful attention to his soul and will free himself from communion with evil.

According to the degree to which the intellect is stripped of the passions, the Holy Spirit initiates the intellect into the mysteries of the age to be.

All sin is due to sensual pleasure, all forgiveness to hardship and distress.

Spiritual reading and prayer purify the intellect, while love and self-control purify the soul's passionate aspect.

Control your stomach, sleep, anger, and tongue, and you will not 'dash your foot against a stone.'

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Archangel Michael Orthodox Church
5025 E. Mill Rd
Broadview Heights, Ohio 44147

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440-526-5192 (Phone)