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

Until we find love, our labor is in the land of tares, and in the midst of tares we both sow and reap, even if our seed is the seed of righteousness.

Reading the scriptures is a great safeguard against sin.

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

Let the love of your fellow man rise above the promptings of self love.

As memory of fire does not warm the body, so faith without love does not produce the light of knowledge in the soul.

The ignorance of Scripture is a great cliff and a deep abyss; to know nothing of the divine laws is a great betrayal of salvation.

It is better to eat meat and drink wine and not to eat the flesh of one's brethren through slander.

The sign of sincere love is to forgive wrongs done to us. It was with such love that the Lord loved the world.

Do not lend your ear to the tongue of the slanderer, nor your tongue to the ear of him who likes malicious talk, speaking or listening with enjoyment to words against one's neighbor. Cut yourself off from them, lest you fall away from love of God and find yourself exiled from eternal life.

If we use all means and all efforts to avoid death of the body, how much more must we seek to avoid death of the soul. For there is no obstacle for a man wishing to be saved, except negligence and laziness of soul.

He who has been granted the gift of knowledge and yet nurses bitterness, rancor or hatred towards another is like one who pricks his eyes with thorns and thistles. Thus knowledge of necessity has need of love.

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

Only with love is a weak person edified.

One should nourish the soul with the word of God: for the word of God, as St. Gregory the Theologian says, is angelic bread, by which are nourished souls who hunger for God. Most of all, one should occupy oneself with reading the New Testament and the Psalter, which one should do standing up. From this there occurs an enlightenment in the mind, which is in the mind, which is changed by a Divine change.

If you desire salvation, do everything that leads you to it.

If anyone thinks that he has love but does not have the same love for all, but distinguishes between persons, separating the lowly from the rich, the infirm from the healthy, a sinner from a righteous man, one far off from one near, one who is an enemy from one who loves you, such love is not perfect, but partial. Actual and perfect love consists in considering everyone and loving them equally, both those who love you and those who hate you. Such love, with which mercy is inseparable, is, in brief, a net for all virtues. It embraces and contains all the commandments of God within itself.

He who has been granted the grace of spiritual knowledge and yet harbors resentment, rancour or hatred for anybody, is like someone who lacerates his eyes with thorns and thistles. Hence knowledge must be accompanied by love.

Love, by its nature, is a resemblance to God, insofar as this is humanly possible. In its activity it is inebriation of the soul. Its distinctive character is to be a fountain of faith, an abyss of patience, a sea of humility.

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

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440-526-5192 (Phone)