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

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

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

Listlessness is an apathy of soul; and a soul becomes apathetic when sick with self-indulgence.

For not only are spiritual riches and heavenly gifts received from God, but earthly and material possessions also proceed from His bounty, that He may be justified in requiring an account of those things which He has not so much put in our possession, as committed to our stewardship. God’s gifts, therefore, we must use properly and wisely, lest the material for good work should become an occasion for sin.

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

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

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

Apostolic teaching, Beloved, exhorts us that we put off the old man with his deeds (Eph. iv. 22; Col. iii. 9), and renew ourselves from day to day by a holy manner of life. For if we are the temple of God, and if the Holy Spirit is a Dweller in our souls, as the Apostle says: You are the temple of the living God (II Cor. vi. 16); we must then strive with all vigilance that the dwelling of our heart be not unworthy of so great a Guest.

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.

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

For by prayer we obtain the divine favor, by fasting we extinguish the concupiscences of the flesh, by almsgiving sins are redeemed (Dan. iv. 24); and by all three together, the image of God is renewed in us, provided that we are ever ready in His praise, eager without ceasing for our own purification, and disposed at all times to assist our neighbor.

Make the body serve the commandments, keeping it so far as possible free from sickness and sensual pleasure.

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

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

God-fearing sorrow mourns either its own sins, or those of others.

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

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

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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)