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

Every tribulation reveals the state of our will, whether it inclines to the right or to the left. An unexpected tribulation is called temptation, because it subjects a man to a test of his secret dispositions.

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

The self-indulgent are distressed by criticism and hardship; those who love God by praise and luxury.

We are sons of God or of Satan according to whether we conform to goodness or to evil.

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

If a man tries to overcome temptations without prayer and patient endurance, he will become more entangled in them instead of driving them away.

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

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

If you wish to be saved and 'to come unto the knowledge of the truth' (I Tim. 2:4), endeavor always to transcend sensible things, and through hope alone to cleave to God. Then you will find principalities and powers fighting against you (Eph. 6:12), deflecting you against your will and provoking you to sin. But if you prevail over them through prayer and maintain your hope, you will receive God's grace, and this will deliver you...

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

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

Deeper spiritual knowledge helps the hard hearted man: for unless he has fear, he refuses to accept the labor of repentance.

He who reveres the Lord does what is commanded, and if he commits some sin or disobeys Him, endures whatever he has to suffer for this as being his desert.

The grace of the Spirit is one and unchanging, but energizes in each one of us as He wills. When rain falls upon the earth, it gives life to the quality inherent in each plant: sweetness in the sweet, astringency in the astringent; similarly, when grace falls upon the hearts of the faithful, it gives to each the energies appropriate to the different virtues without itself changing.

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

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

No one is as good and kind as the Lord is; but He does not forgive one who does not repent.

Do not neglect the practice of the virtues; if you do, your spiritual knowledge will decrease, and when famine occurs you will go down into Egypt (Genesis 41:57, 46:6).

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

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440-526-5192 (Phone)