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

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

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

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

In the beginning, there is struggle and a lot of work for those who come near to God. But after that, there is indescribable joy. It is just like building a fire: at first it's smoky and your eyes water, but later you get the desired result. Thus we ought to light the divine fire in ourselves with tears and effort.

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

Concern for one's soul means hardship and humility, for through these God forgives us all our sins.

Self-control and strenuous effort curb desire; stillness and intense longing for God wither it.

Patient endurance is the soul's struggle for virtue; where there is struggle for virtue, self-indulgence is banished.

Love and self-control purify the soul.

Let not us who would be Christians expect anything else than to be crucified...for to be Christian is to be crucified in this time and in any time since Christ came for the first time. His life is the example and warning to us all. We must be crucified personally, mystically; for through crucifixion is the only path to resurrection, if we would rise with Christ, we must be humbled with him even to the ultimate humiliation, being devoured and spit forth by the uncomprehending world...we must be crucified outwardly in the eyes of the world, for Christ’s kingdom is not of this world and the world cannot bear it, even a single representative, even for the single moment. The world can only accept Antichrist now or at any time.

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

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

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

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

The greatest weapons of someone striving to lead a life of inward stillness are self-control, love, prayer, and spiritual reading.

Break the bonds of your friendship for the body and give it only what is absolutely necessary.

A treasure that is known is quickly spent: and even so any virtue that is commented on and made a public show of is destroyed. Even as wax is melted before the face of fire, so is the soul enfeebled by praise, and loses the toughness of its virtue.

Strive to love every man equally, and you will simultaneously expel all the passions.

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

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440-526-5192 (Phone)