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

Strive to walk worthily of the vocation to which you were called.

Nothing is better for rendering the heart penitent and the soul humble than wise solitude and complete silence.

Obedience with abstinence gives men control over wild beasts.

Grace always precedes temptation, as if to notify you saying, 'Prepare yourself and lock your doors.'

Every man that loves God loves a quiet life.

Solitude offers us an excellent opportunity for calming our passions and giving our reason time to remove them thoroughly from our soul. For just as wild animals can be soothed by being stroked, so all our anger, fear and stress, which poison and disrupt our soul, can be soothed by an atmosphere of peace where the freedom from constant disturbance ensures that our soul can be brought more easily under the power of reason.

Once when a hippopotamus was ravaging the neighboring countryside the fathers called on Abba Bes to help them. He stood at the place and waited and when he saw the beast, which was of enormous size, he commanded it not to ravage the countryside any more, saying, 'In the name of Jesus Christ, I order you not to ravage this countryside anymore.' The hippopotamus vanished completely from that district as if driven away by an angel.

Abba Theon ate vegetables, but only those that did not need to be cooked. They say that he used to go out of his cell at night and stay in the company of the wild animals, giving them drink from the water he had. Certainly one could see the tracks of antelopes and wild asses and gazelles and other animals near his hermitage. These creatures always gave him pleasure.

The arrows of the enemy cannot touch one who loves quietness; but he who moves about in a crowd will often be wounded.

A dog is better than I am, for he has love and he does not judge.

Nothing so fills the heart with contrition and humbles the soul as solitude embraced with self-awareness, and utter silence.

When tested by some trial you should try to find out not why or through whom it came, but only how to endure it gratefully, without distress or rancor.

A fish swiftly escapes a hook and a sensual soul shuns solitude.

Knowing the exact nature of everything, God permits each person to be tested according to his strength. As St. Paul puts it: 'God is to be trusted not to let you be tried beyond your strength, but with the trial He will provide a way out, so that you are able to bear it' (1 Cor. 10:13).

As work according to God is called virtue, so unexpected affliction is called a test.

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

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