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

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.

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

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

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

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

One day, a young monk came to see an elder and asked him, 'What must I do, Father? I fall continuously in the same sin.' The elder replied, 'If you fall into sin, get up and do penance.' Monk: 'And if I fall again?' Elder: 'Then get up and repent of your sin again.' Monk: 'But until when?' Elder: 'Until your death.'

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).

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

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

Abba Poemen also said this about Abba Isidore that whenever he addressed the brothers in church he said only one thing, 'Forgive your brother, so that you also may be forgiven.'

A brother asked Abba Isidore the priest, 'Why are the demons so frightened of you?' The old man said to him, 'Because, ever since the day I began practicing ascesis, I have striven to prevent anger from reaching my lips.'

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

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

An old man was asked, 'How can I find God?' He said, 'In fasting, in watching, in labors, in devotion, and, above all, in discernment. I tell you, many have injured their bodies without discernment and have gone away from us having achieved nothing. Our mouths smell bad through fasting, we know the Scriptures by heart, we recite all the Psalms of David, but we have not that which God seeks: charity and humility.'

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

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

I prefer a defeat accompanied by humility to a victory accompanied by pride.

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

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440-526-5192 (Phone)