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

Woe is he who knowingly chooses to sin with the intention to repent when morning comes, for he knows not what the coming day or the night that precedes it will bring.

Every man who has committed sin, has stopped up the senses of his soul with the mud of pleasure.

He who does not consciously choose to distance himself from a cause for sin, will be drawn to sin, even against his will.

As a cloud veils the light of the moon, so the vapors of the belly banish the wisdom of God from the soul.

Those who have sinned must not despair. Let that never be. For we are condemned not for the multitude of evils, but because we do not want to repent...

Self-love precedes all passions, and the scorn of ease precedes all the virtues.

One should not ponder divine matters on a full stomach, say the ascetics. For the well-fed, even the most superficial secrets of the Trinity lie hidden.

If however any one thinks that he is not being burned when sinning, to him the Scripture saith, Shall a man wrap up fire in his bosom, and not burn his clothes? For sin burns the sinews of the soul, and breaks the spiritual bones of the mind, and darkens the light of the heart.

The greatest obstacle that obstructs God's grace is self-love. When God finds one's heart emptied of all desires, He fills it with His grace.

Sin, to one who loves God, is nothing other than an arrow from the enemy in battle. The true Christian is a warrior fighting his way through the regiments of the unseen enemy to his heavenly homeland.

The man who has come to loathe sin has mounted the first rung of the heavenly ladder.

Let us not put off from day to day, without observing how sin is injuring us.

Being delivered from bodily sins is not enough, we must also cleanse the inner energy which dwells in our souls.

Greater therefore is the rejoicing of heaven over the sinner converted than upon the soul that remained just. A captain in battle will feel a warmer regard for the soldier who at first faltered and ran, and then had bravely fought back, than over the one who had never yielded yet had never thrust bravely forward. So will the farmer love more the fields that cleaned of their weeds now bear a fruitful yield, than the land which had never known thorns, yet had never yielded a bountiful crop.

All sin is due to sensual pleasure, all forgiveness to hardship and distress.

Understand what I say: there can be no knowledge of the mysteries of God on a full stomach.

Strive to walk worthily of the vocation to which you were called.

He who loves himself cannot love God. But he who, for love of God, does not love himself, loves God.

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

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440-526-5192 (Phone)