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

Love and self-control purify the soul.

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

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.

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

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

Suppose you have ordered yourself not to eat fish; you will find that the enemy continually makes you long to eat it. You are filled with an uncontrollable desire for the thing that is forbidden. In this way you can see how Adam's fall typifies what happens to all of us. Because he was told not to eat from a particular tree, he felt irresistibly attracted to the one thing that was forbidden him.

A single word made the thief pure and holy, despite all his previous crimes, and brought him into paradise (cf. Luke 23:42-43). A single ill-advised word prevented Moses from entering the promised land (cf. Num. 20:12). We should not suppose, then, that garrulity is only a minor disease. Lovers of slander and gossip shut themselves out of the kingdom of heaven.

A monk should practice the virtue of fasting, avoid ensnarement by the passions, and at all times cultivate intense stillness.

Do all in your power not to fall, for the strong athlete should not fall. But if you do fall, get up again at once and continue the contest. Even if you fall a thousand times because of the withdrawal of God's grace, rise up again each time, and keep on doing this until the day of your death. For it is written, 'If a righteous man falls down seven times' - that is, repeatedly throughout his life - 'seven times shall he rise again' [Prov. 24:16].

Long-suffering and readiness to forgive curb anger; love and compassion wither it.

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

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

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

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

If the base of a felled tree that has grown old in the earth and rock ‘will bud at the scent of water . . . like a young plant’ (Job 14:9), it is also possible for us to be awakened by the power of the Holy Spirit and to flower with the incorruptibility that is ours by nature, bearing fruit like a young plant, even though we have fallen into sin.

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

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

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

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

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440-526-5192 (Phone)