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

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

Spiritual activity embodies Christ in our soul. This involves continual remembrance of the Lord: you hide Him within, in your soul, your heart, your consciousness.

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.

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

Reading the scriptures is a great safeguard against sin.

Always keep this in mind: you are not doing anything virtuous by your continence. Or can it be considered a virtuous act when a man who, out of his own carelessness, has been trapped deep down in a mine shaft, takes a pick and shovel and tries to work his way out? Is it not, on the contrary, quite natural for him to make use of the tools given him by a higher authority to make his way up out of the choking air and darkness? ...From this picture you can gain wisdom. The tools are the implements of salvation, the commands of the Gospel and the holy Sacraments of the Church, that were bestowed upon every Christian at holy baptism. Unused, they are of no profit to you. But used in the right manner they will open your way to freedom and light.

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

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

Only when you have seen your imperfection, can you be perfected.

Take remarks without grumbling: be thankful when you are scorned, disregarded, ignored. But do not create humbling situations; they are provided in the course of the day as richly as you need. We notice the person who is for ever bowing and fussily servile, and perhaps say, How humble he is! But the truly humble person escapes notice: the world does not know him (I John 3:I); for the world he is mostly a 'zero.'

Therefore we must not grow weary. We must be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord our labor is not in vain (I Corinthians 15:58). Having once begun, we must not cease to perform deeds worthy of our repentance. To rest is the same as to retreat.

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

A prayer offered while one has any cause to reproach a fellow man is an impure prayer. There is only one whom the praying person may and must reproach, and that is himself. Without self-reproach, your prayer is as worthless as it is while you are reproaching someone else in your heart. Perhaps you ask: How can one learn this? The answer is: One learns it through prayer.

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

Love and self-control purify the soul.

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

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

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

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440-526-5192 (Phone)