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

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

Live simply and God will not leave you...

It is a great work to shake from the soul the praise of men, but to reject the praise of demons is greater.

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

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

Whoever reproaches us gives us a gift, but whoever praises us, steals from us.

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

If they will praise you, you must remain silent—do not say anything.

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.

Pay no attention to praise and fear it; remember what one of the holy fathers says: 'If someone praises you, expect reproaches from him too.'

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.

A treasure that is known is quickly spent: and even so any virtue that is commented on and made a public show of is destroyed. Even as wax is melted before the face of fire, so is the soul enfeebled by praise, and loses the toughness of its virtue.

The garment of your soul must shine with the whiteness of simplicity.

People of high spirit bear offence nobly and gladly, but only the holy and righteous can pass through praise without harm.

Where there is simplicity, there are a hundred Angels, but where there is cleverness – there are none.

Let all of us who wish to attract the Lord to ourselves draw near to Him as disciples to the Master, simply, without hypocrisy, without duplicity or guile, not out of idle curiosity. He Himself is simple and not composite, and He wants souls that come to Him to be simple and guileless. For you will surely never see simplicity bereft of humility.

How harmful is the praise of man! Even though a person may have done something worthy of praise, when he enjoys the sound of praise he is already deprived of future glory, according to teachings of the holy fathers.

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.

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

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