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

Why do we live in pleasure in the presence of our brothers' affliction?

If anyone wants to drive out the demons, he must first subdue the passions, for he will banish the demon of the passion which he has mastered. For example, the devil accompanies anger; so it you control your anger, the devil of anger will be banished. And so it is with each of the passions.

Let the love of your fellow man rise above the promptings of self love.

Whom else does the Lord call by the name of Powers of heaven unless the Angels, the Archangels, the Thrones, Dominions, Principalities, and Powers, who at the coming of the Just Judge will then appear visibly to our eyes, to the end that they may sternly exact an account of that which the Invisible Lawgiver now patiently suffers?

And so it often comes about that the life of one burning with love after having sinned is more pleasing to God than a life of innocence that grows languid in its sense of security.

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

Believe me, brethren, the more we are now in earnest to keep ourselves free from sin, the more confident shall we then be in His Presence.

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

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

Long-suffering and readiness to forgive curb anger; love and compassion wither it.

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

A wise man is one who pays attention to himself and is quick to separate himself from all defilement.

The Law (as it is written in the Scriptures) was given to us by Angels and, both before and after the days of the Law, Angels guided our illustrious forefathers to God, either by declaring to them what they should do and leading them from error and an evil life to the straight path of truth, or by making known to them the Divine Law, or in the manner of interpreters, by showing to them holy Hierarchies, or secret visions of super-mundane Mysteries, or certain divine prophecies. Now if anyone should say that God has shown Himself without intermediary to certain holy men, let him know beyond doubt, from the most Holy Scriptures, that no man has ever seen, nor shall see, the hidden Being of God; but God has shown himself, according to revelations which are fitting to God, to His faithful servants in holy visions adapted to the nature of the seer.

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

Through anger the brightness of the Holy Spirit is shut out from the soul.

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

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

He Who before our offence forbids us to sin, after our offence ceases not from waiting for us to repent, He Whom we have rejected calls after us. We have turned away from Him, but He has not turned away from us.

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

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440-526-5192 (Phone)