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

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

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

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.

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

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

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?

There is a difference, Dearly Beloved Brethren, between the delights of the body and those of the soul, that the delights of the body, when we do not possess them, awaken in us a great desire for them; but when we possess them and enjoy them to the full they straightway awaken in us a feeling of aversion. But spiritual delights work in the opposite way. While we do not possess them we regard them with dislike and aversion; but once we partake of them we begin to desire them, and the more do we hunger for them. In one case the appetite pleases, the reality brings displeasure; in the other it is the appetite [that] displeases, the reality delights us more and more. In the one case appetite leads to fullness, and fullness to disgust; in the other appetite begets fullness, and fullness in turn begets appetite. For spiritual delights, when they fill the soul, increase in us a desire of them; and the more we savor them, the more do we come to know what we should eagerly love.

Do not give to the body only; give the soul its share.

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.

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

Take care that the seed fall not on stony ground sending forth fruit of good works, but without the roots of perseverance.

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

There is a difference, Dearly Beloved Brethren, between the delights of the body and those of the soul, that the delights of the body, when we do not possess them, awaken in us a great desire for them; but when we possess them and enjoy them to the full they straightway awaken in us a feeling of aversion. But spiritual delights work in the opposite way. While we do not possess them we regard them with dislike and aversion; but once we partake of them we begin to desire them, and the more do we hunger for them. In one case the appetite pleases, the reality brings displeasure; in the other it is the appetite [that] displeases, the reality delights us more and more. In the one case appetite leads to fullness, and fullness to disgust; in the other appetite begets fullness, and fullness in turn begets appetite. For spiritual delights, when they fill the soul, increase in us a desire of them; and the more we savor them, the more do we come to know what we should eagerly love.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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440-526-5192 (Phone)