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

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

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

Blessed stillness gives birth to blessed children: self-control, love and pure prayer.

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

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

Those who meditate unceasingly upon the holy and glorious name [of Jesus] in the depths of their heart can sometimes see the radiance of their own spirit-intelligence. For when the mind is profoundly concentrated on this invocation, we feel experientially how it starts burning off all the layers of dirt that normally suffocates the soul.

Among the virtues which must be instilled in a child's heart with special persistence, an important and fundamental place belongs to truthfulness, that is to say, a feeling of love for truth and an aversion towards falsehood. After obedience, this virtue should be given second place. If falsehood is the root of all sin, truth is the beginning and foundation for nearly all virtues, and for this reason parents must direct their attention primarily at nurturing truthfulness in children.

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

Fear of the Lord conquers desire, and distress that accords with God's will repulses sensual pleasure.

As therefore the Lord does nothing without the Father, for says He, 'I can of mine own self do nothing,' so do you, neither presbyter, nor deacon, nor layman, do anything without the bishop.

A dog is better than I am, for he has love and he does not judge.

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

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

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

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.

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

Please put this commandment into practice. Cultivate love towards the Person of Christ to such an extent that, when you pronounce His name, tears fall from your eyes. Your heart must really burn. Then He will become your teacher. He will be your Guide, your Brother, your Father, and your Elder.

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

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[email protected]
440-526-5192 (Phone)