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

When the flesh flourishes, the soul fades; when the flesh has full liberty, the soul is straitened; when the flesh is satiated, the soul hungers; when the flesh is adorned, the soul is deformed; when the flesh overflows with laughter, the soul is surrounded by misfortune; when the flesh is in the light, the soul is in darkness...

The fathers say that a man who sets store by the gold and silver he can amass does not believe that there is a God who provides for him.

Reading the Scriptures is a great means of security against sinning.

No virtue makes flesh-bound man so like a spiritual angel as does self-restraint, for it enables those still living on earth to become, as the Apostle says, 'citizens of heaven' (cf. Phil. 3:20).

Keep the body properly slim so that you reduce the burden of the heart's warfare, with full benefit to yourself.

Ignorance of the scriptures is a precipice and a deep abyss.

The Scriptures were not given merely that we might have them in books, but that we might engrave them on our hearts.

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

The more one reads and studies the Bible, the more he finds reasons to study it as often and as frequently as he can. According to St. John Chrysostom, it is like an aromatic root, which produces more and more aroma the more it is rubbed.

Holy Scripture is presented to the mind’s eye like a mirror in which the appearance of our inner being can be seen.

If you love the Sender, then also love the letter which is sent from Him to you. For the word of God is given by God to me, to you, and to everyone, so that everyone who desires to be saved may receive salvation through it.

Our flesh is an unfaithful friend.

Keep the body properly slim so that you reduce the burden of the heart's warfare, with full benefit to yourself.

God in His mercy gave us the Holy Scriptures that we might read them, and reading them we might fulfill what is sent by God to man, revealing His Holy Will and teaching us how to live. Consider with what attention and willingness that we ought to read God's letter to us. If an earthly king...wrote to you a letter, would you not read it with great joy? Certainly, with great rejoicing and careful attention. The King of Heaven has sent a letter to you, an earthly and mortal man; yet you almost despise such a gift, so priceless a treasure. Whenever you read the Gospel, Christ Him self is speaking to you. And while you read, you are praying and talking with Him. God speaks to man, the King of Heaven talks with the corruptible creature, the Lord holds converse with the servant. What can be more pleasant... more instructive?

Charity, temperance, contemplation, and prayer please God; gluttony, licentiousness, and what multiplies them, please the flesh. Therefore they who are in the flesh cannot please God. And they that are Christ’s have crucified their flesh with the passions and concupiscences.

Love and self-control purify the soul.

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

Let work humble the body, and when the body is humbled the soul will be humble with it, so that it is truly said that bodily labors lead to humility.

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

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440-526-5192 (Phone)