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

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

The greatest weapons of someone striving to lead a life of inward stillness are self-control, love, prayer, and spiritual reading.

A little fire softens a large piece of wax. So, too, a small indignity often softens, sweetens and wipes away suddenly all the fierceness, insensibility and hardness of our heart.

Offer to the Lord the weakness of your nature, fully acknowledging your own powerlessness, and imperceptibly you will receive the gift of chastity.

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

Most of us call ourselves sinners, and perhaps really think it; but it is indignity that tests the heart.

When we stand in prayer, those unclean and unspeakable thoughts (blasphemy) assail us; but if we continue praying to the end, they retire at once, for they do not fight those who stand up to them.

As galloping horses race one another, so a good community excites mutual fervor.

Blessed is he who, though maligned and disparaged every day for the Lord's sake, constrains himself to be patient. He will join the chorus of the martyrs, and boldly converse with the angels.

Do not go into detail in confessing carnal acts, lest you become a traitor to yourself.

It seems to me that, in all cases when indignity is offered to us, we should be silent; for it is our moment of profit.

Love and humility form a holy pair; what the first builds, the second binds, thus preventing the building from falling asunder.

If you feel sweetness or compunction at some word of your prayer, dwell on it; for then our guardian angel is praying with us.

Bring out the staff of patience, and the dogs will soon stop their insolence. Patience is an unbroken labor of the soul which is never shaken by deserved or undeserved blows. The patient man is a faultless worker, who turns his faults into victories. Patience is the limitation of suffering that is accepted day by day. Patience lays aside all excuses and all attention to herself. The worker needs patience more than his food, because the one brings him a crown, while the other may bring ruin.

Be concentrated without self-display, withdrawn into your heart. For the demons fear concentration as thieves fear dogs.

Until we have acquired true prayer, we are like those who introduce children to walking. Make the effort to raise up, or rather, to enclose your mind within the words of your prayer; and if, like a child, it gets tired and falters, raise it up again. The mind, after all, is naturally unstable, but the God Who can do everything can also give it firm endurance. Persevere in this, therefore, and do not grow weary...

Some, for the sake of forgiveness, give themselves up to labors and struggles, but a man who is forgetful of wrongs excels them. If you forgive quickly, then you will be generously forgiven.

Obedience is to give up one's own judgment but to do it with wise consultation.

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

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[email protected]
440-526-5192 (Phone)