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

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

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

A little fire softens a large piece of wax. So, too, a small indignity often softens, sweetens and wipes away suddenly all the fierceness, insensibility & hardness of our heart.

Every man that loves God loves a quiet life.

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

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

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

Most of us call ourselves sinners, and perhaps really think it; but it is indignity that tests the heart.

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

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.

According to the degree to which the intellect is stripped of the passions, the Holy Spirit initiates the intellect into the mysteries of the age to be.

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

Almsgiving heals the soul's incensive power; fasting withers sensual desire; prayer purifies the intellect and prepares it for contemplation of created beings. For the Lord has given us commandments which correspond to the powers of the soul.

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

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.

Fear God and keep His commandments both in your feelings and in your intellect. If you force yourself to keep them in your intellect, bit by bit you will attain to fulfilling them in your feelings.

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

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

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440-526-5192 (Phone)