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

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

Imitate the Publican and you will not be condemned with the Pharisee. Choose the meekness of Moses and you will find your heart which is a rock changed into a spring of water.

In the beginning there are a great many battles and a good deal of suffering for those who are advancing towards God and afterwards, ineffable joy. It is like those who wish to light a fire; at first they are choked by the smoke and cry, and by this means obtain what they seek -- as it is said, 'Our God is a consuming fire' -- so we also must kindle the divine fire in ourselves through tears and hard work.

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

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.

If you are not willing to repent through freely choosing to suffer, unsought sufferings will providentially be imposed on you.

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

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

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

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

Keep the commandments, and you will find peace; love God, and you will attain spiritual knowledge.

According to the degree to which the intellect is stripped of the passions, the Holy Spirit initiates the intellect into the mysteries of the age to be.

All sin is due to sensual pleasure, all forgiveness to hardship and distress.

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

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

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).

A treasure that is known is quickly spent: and even so any virtue that is commented on and made a public show of is destroyed. Even as wax is melted before the face of fire, so is the soul enfeebled by praise, and loses the toughness of its virtue.

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

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440-526-5192 (Phone)