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

Just as the blessings of God are unutterably great, so their acquisition requires much hardship and toil undertaken with hope and faith.

The most important thing in any good effort and the height of all activities is to persevere in prayer, by means of which we can always acquire through supplication the other virtues from God as well.

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

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.

It is better to eat meat and drink wine and not to eat the flesh of one's brethren through slander.

The intellect becomes a stranger to the things of this world when its attachment to the senses has been completely sundered.

The person who is unaffected by the things of this world loves stillness; and he who loves no human thing loves all men.

Unless humility and love, simplicity and goodness regulate our prayer, this prayer - or, rather, this pretence of prayer - cannot profit us at all. And this applies not only to prayer, but to every labor and hardship undertaken for the sake of virtue.

The person who listens to Christ fills himself with light; and if he imitates Christ, he reclaims himself.

When a man gives God his secret things, that is, his mind and thoughts, not occupying himself elsewhere, nor wandering away, but putting constraint upon himself, then the Lord deems him worthy of mysteries, in greater sanctity and purity, and gives him heavenly food and spiritual drink

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

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

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

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

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

Knowing the exact nature of everything, God permits each person to be tested according to his strength. As St. Paul puts it: 'God is to be trusted not to let you be tried beyond your strength, but with the trial He will provide a way out, so that you are able to bear it' (1 Cor. 10:13).

If we keep remembering the wrongs which men have done us, we destroy the power of the remembrance of God...

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

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440-526-5192 (Phone)