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Quotes

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

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

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

Lack of self-control is actually an evil both ancient and modern, though it did not precede its antidote, fasting. By means of our Forefathers' self-indulgence in paradise and their contempt for the fast already in existance there, death entered the world. Sin reigned and brought in the condemnation of our nature from Adam until Christ.

If the passions strike you from time to time, this should not distress you. We must continue the 'unseen warfare' all our lives. The battle itself is not a problem; there is trouble only if we become weak in it. If this does not happen, our spiritual life is in good order. The peace that is with you in battle bears witness to this. But we must beware that we do not feel a different kind of peace, the kind one feels when there is no battle. This kind of peace is dangerous. It indicates that the enemy has done away with open battle and wants to build an invisible and clever snare for us! In cases like this one must intensify one's usual vigilance and sobriety! Do not weaken in any way!

Spiritual freedom is release from the passions; without Christ’s mercy you cannot attain it.

Keep the commandments, and you will find peace; love God, and you will attain spiritual knowledge.

As a general rule, decide whether a thing is permissible by the effect it produces within. Permit yourself what is constructive, but never what is destructive.

Even if thy soul should suffer somewhat from an offense, keep the sorrow within thyself. For it is said: 'Within me my heart is troubled' (Psalm 142:4), that is, the passion has not come out, but has been humbled like a wave that has broken up on the shore. Calm thy raging heart. Let thy passions be ashamed at the presence of reason in thee, as playful children are ashamed before a man commanding respect.

Do not allow a passion to harden into a habit.

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

The conscience is nature's book. He who applies what he reads there experiences God's help.

The roof of any house stands upon the foundations and the rest of the structure. The foundations themselves are laid in order to carry the roof. This is both useful and necessary, for the roof cannot stand without the foundations and the foundations are absolutely useless without the roof-- no help to any living creature. In the same way the grace of God is preserved by the practice of the commandments, and the observance of these commandments is laid down like foundations through the gift of God. The grace of the Spirit cannot remain with us without the practice of the commandments, but the practice of the commandments is of no help or advantage to us without the grace of God.

It is up to us now to either bury our conscience under the ground, or to have it shine forth and illuminate us if we obey it. When our conscience says to us, 'Do this,' and we treat it with contempt, or it says it again and we refuse, then we are trampling it down, burying it under ground. Thus, it cannot speak to us clearly because of the weight upon it.

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).

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

If the main goal of the repentant sinner should be total, light-bearing and blessed communion with God, then the main hindrance to this is the existence of the passions still active and working in him - the virtues being as yet unsealed in him - and the unrighteousness of his powers. Therefore his main work upon conversion and repentance should be the uprooting of the passions and sealing the virtues - in a word, correcting himself.

St. Paul says: 'The person engaged in spiritual warfare exercises self control in all things' (I Cor. 9:25). Aware of all that is said in divine Scripture, let us lead our life with self-control, especially in regard to food.

Unless a man keeps the commandments of God, he cannot progress, even in a single virtue.

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Parish

Mailing Address

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

Email, Phone, and Fax

[email protected]
440-526-5192 (Phone)