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

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.

Every man that loves God loves a quiet life.

Remember, O my soul, the terrible and frightful wonder: that your Creator for your sake became Man, and deigned to suffer for the sake of your salvation. His angels tremble, the Cherubim are terrified, the Seraphim are in fear, and all the heavenly powers ceaselessly give praise; and you, unfortunate soul, remain in laziness. At least from this time forth arise and do not put off, my beloved soul, holy repentance, contrition of heart and penance for your sins.

Don't get lazy, and don't let time pass, for you will not recover the time that you waste idly everyday.

If you have received from God the gift of knowledge, however limited, beware of neglecting charity and temperance. They are virtues which radically purify the soul from passions and so open the way of knowledge continually.

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

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

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

If someone is judged worthy to receive the gift of knowledge but allows his heart to be full of bitterness or rancor or aversion to another, it is as if he had been struck in the eye by a thornbush. That is why knowledge is no good without charity.

He who does nothing while being able to work should not eat either.

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

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

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