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

If you lay down rules for yourself, do not disobey yourself; for he who cheats himself is self-deluded.

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

If you are not willing to repent through freely choosing to suffer, unsought sufferings will providentially be imposed on you.

A wise man is one who pays attention to himself and is quick to separate himself from all defilement.

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

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

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

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

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

Self-love -- that is, friendship for the body -- is the source of evil in the soul.

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

Practice self-observation. And if you want to benefit yourself and your fellow men, look at your own faults and not those of others. The Lord tells us: 'Judge not, that ye be not judged,' condemn not that ye be not condemned. And the Apostle Paul says: 'Who art thou that judgest another man's servant?'

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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440-526-5192 (Phone)