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

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

Just as desire and rage multiply our sins, so self-control and humility erase them.

Struggle until death to fulfill the commandments: purified through them, you will enter into life.

Patient endurance is the soul's struggle for virtue; where there is struggle for virtue, self-indulgence is banished.

You were commanded to keep the body as a servant, not to be unnaturally enslaved to its pleasures.

Do not neglect the practice of the virtues; if you do, your spiritual knowledge will decrease, and when famine occurs you will go down into Egypt (Genesis 41:57, 46:6).

Just as desire and rage multiply our sins, so self-control and humility erase them.

I suppose that it is sometimes better to fall oneself and rise, than to judge one's neighbor; because one who has sinned is incited to self-abasement and repentance, while he who judges one who has sinned becomes hardened in an illusion about himself and in pride. Therefore everyone must guard himself, as much as possible, so as not to judge.

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

Self-love -- that is, friendship for the body -- is the source of evil in the soul.

Labor to acquire meekness. Concerning the heavenly virtues, meekness and humility, the Lord Himself teaches us, saying: Learn of Me, for I am meek and humble in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls (Matt. 11:29). Learn not from angels, nor from men, but from Me, He says; that is, from the higher wisdom.

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

If the soul is vigilant and withdraws from all distraction and abandons its own will, then the spirit of God invades it and it can conceive because it is free to do so.

Therefore with your whole soul you should acknowledge yourself as worthy of enduring more than you already endure; remember the words which Christ the Savior spoke concerning a good deed done to one’s neighbor, words which should apply equally to every offensive word or deed against one’s neighbor. Whatever you have done to your neighbor, He says, you have done to Me.

A wise man is one who pays attention to himself and is quick to separate himself from all defilement.

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

If you are not willing to repent through freely choosing to suffer, unsought sufferings will providentially be imposed on you.

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

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

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440-526-5192 (Phone)