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

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

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.

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.

Whoever is experienced in the spiritual interpretation of Scripture knows that the simplest passage is of a significance equal to that of the most abstruse passage, and that both are directed to the salvation of man.

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

Do not approach the words of the mysteries contained in the divine Scriptures without prayer and beseeching God for help, but say: 'Lord, grant me to perceive the power in them!' Reckon prayer to be the key to the true understanding of the divine Scriptures.

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.

The Holy Fathers teach us how to become familiar with the Gospel, how to read it and how to understand it, what helps and what opposes its understanding. Therefore, at first you must devote more time to reading the Holy Fathers...

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

The Scriptures were not given merely that we might have them in books, but that we might engrave them on our hearts.

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

Holy Scripture is presented to the mind’s eye like a mirror in which the appearance of our inner being can be seen.

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

The more one reads and studies the Bible, the more he finds reasons to study it as often and as frequently as he can. According to St. John Chrysostom, it is like an aromatic root, which produces more and more aroma the more it is rubbed.

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

Put aside bodily considerations when you stand in prayer, lest the bite of a flea, a gnat or a fly deprive you of the greatest gain afforded by prayer.

A humble and spiritually active man, when he reads the Holy Scripture, will refer everything to himself and not to another.

Ignorance of the scriptures is a precipice and a deep abyss.

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

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440-526-5192 (Phone)