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

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

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

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

'If our prayer is not in harmony with our deeds, we labor in vain,' Abba Moses often told the young monks. 'How are we to accomplish such harmony?' they asked him one day. 'When we make that which we seek fitting to our prayer,' explained the saint. 'Only then can the soul be reconciled with its Creator and its prayer be acceptable, when it sets aside all of its own evil intentions.'

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

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

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

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

Fear of the Lord conquers desire, and distress that accords with God's will repulses sensual pleasure.

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

The soul's health consists in dispassion and spiritual knowledge; no slave to sensual pleasure can attain it.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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440-526-5192 (Phone)