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

Nothing is better than to realize one's weakness and ignorance, and nothing is worse than not to be aware of them.

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.

If you give gladly, even if you give only a little, it is a big gift. If you give unwillingly, even if you give a big gift, you turn it into a small one.

Self-knowledge is a true idea of one's spiritual growth, and an unbroken remembrance of one's slightest sins.

Love and self-control purify the soul.

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

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.

Self-control and strenuous effort curb desire; stillness and intense longing for God wither 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).

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

Everything has already begun, and everything always begins anew for the Church, with the Resurrection of our Lord.

One who is capable of seeing himself is better than one who has been made worthy to see angels.

The Resurrection of the Lord is the renewal of human nature, and the renewal, re-creation and return to immortality of the first Adam who was swallowed up by death because of sin, and through death went back to the earth from which he was formed.

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

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440-526-5192 (Phone)