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

Meekness consists in praying calmly and sincerely for a neighbor when he causes many turmoils.

He who has put a stop to anger has also destroyed remembrance of wrongs; because childbirth continues only while the father is alive.

As a ray of sun, passing through a crack, lights everything in the house and shows up even the finest dust, so the fear of the Lord, entering a man's heart, reveals to him all his sins.

A servant of the Lord is he who in body stands before men, but in mind knocks at Heaven with prayer.

Some, for the sake of forgiveness, give themselves up to labors and struggles, but a man who is forgetful of wrongs excels them. If you forgive quickly, then you will be generously forgiven.

A sign of deliverance from our falls is the continual reckoning of ourselves as debtors.

Love and humility form a holy pair; what the first builds, the second binds, thus preventing the building from falling asunder.

The fathers have laid down that psalmody is a weapon, and prayer is a wall, and honest tears are a bath; but blessed obedience in their judgment is confession of faith, without which no one subject to the passions will see the Lord.

A fish swiftly escapes a hook and a sensual soul shuns solitude.

Meekness is an immovable state of soul which remains unaffected, whether in evil report or in good report, in dishonor or in praise.

Until we have acquired true prayer, we are like those who introduce children to walking. Make the effort to raise up, or rather, to enclose your mind within the words of your prayer; and if, like a child, it gets tired and falters, raise it up again. The mind, after all, is naturally unstable, but the God Who can do everything can also give it firm endurance. Persevere in this, therefore, and do not grow weary...

As galloping horses race one another, so a good community excites mutual fervor.

It seems to me that, in all cases when indignity is offered to us, we should be silent; for it is our moment of profit.

If a person swallows too much food, he is inviting impure thoughts. If he mortifies the stomach, he is creating pure thoughts. Often a lion if it is caressed becomes domesticated, whereas the more you coddle the body, the more it goes wild.

Repentance raises the fallen, mourning knocks at the gate of Heaven, and holy humility opens it.

Meekness is the fellow-worker of obedience, the guide of the brotherhood, a bridle for the enraged, a check to the irritable, a minister of joy, the imitation of Christ, something proper to angels, shackles for demons, a shield against bitterness.

Fire and water do not mix, neither can you mix judgment of others with the desire to repent. If a man commits a sin before you at the very moment of his death, pass no judgment, because the judgment of God is hidden from men. It has happened that men have sinned greatly in the open but have done greater deeds in secret, so that those who would disparage them have been fooled, with smoke instead of sunlight in their eyes.

Increasing self-criticism is the sign of increasing humility. Indeed, there is no clearer sign.

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

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440-526-5192 (Phone)