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

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

To act 'according to one’s strength' means to use a little less than necessary both of food, and drink, and sleep... As for food, restrain yourself when you wish to eat a little more, and in this way you will always make use of it moderately.

Love and self-control purify the soul.

If you lay down rules for yourself, do not disobey yourself; for he who cheats himself is self-deluded.

Spiritual freedom is release from the passions; without Christ’s mercy you cannot attain it.

We are sons of God or of Satan according to whether we conform to goodness or to evil.

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

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

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

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

My brother, the passions are afflictions; and so the Lord does not excommunicate us because of them, but He says: 'Call upon me in the time of affliction; and I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me'. Therefore, when beset by any kind of passion, there is nothing more useful than to call upon the Name of God. All we can do, weak as we are, is to flee for refuge to the Name of Jesus. For the passions, being demons, retreat if this Name is invoked.

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

Acquire humility, which scorches the demons, obedience, which opens the door for the Son of God to enter a man, faith which saves a man, hope which makes him unashamed; and love which lets not a man fall away from God.

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

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.

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

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

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

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440-526-5192 (Phone)