Just as the thought of fire does not warm the body, so faith without love does not actualize the light of spiritual… — Maximus the Confessor Copy Share Image
Let us be satisfied simply with what sustains our present life, not with what pampers it. Let us pray to God for this, as we have been taught, so that we may keep our souls unenslaved and absolutely free from domination by any of the visible things loved for the sake of the body. Let us show that we eat… — Maximus the Confessor Copy Share
When our intellect has shaken off its many opinions about created things, then the inner principle of truth appears clearly to it, providing it with a foundation of real knowledge and removing its former preconceptions as though removing scales from eyes, as happened in the case of St. Paul (cf. Acts 9:18). For an understanding of Scripture that does not… — Maximus the Confessor Copy Share
Humility and ascetic hardship free a man from all sin, for the one cuts out the passions of the soul, the other… — Maximus the Confessor Copy Share Image
In the beginning, passion and pain were not created together with the body; nor forgetfulness and ignorance together with the soul; nor… — Maximus the Confessor Copy Share Image
The man who has struggled bravely with the passions of the body, has fought ably against unclean spirits, and has expelled from… — Maximus the Confessor Copy Share Image
He who through virtue and spiritual knowledge has brought his body into harmony with his soul has become a harp, a flute… — Maximus the Confessor Copy Share Image
When what has been created in time according to the temporal order has reached maturity, it ceases from natural growth. But when what has… — Maximus the Confessor Copy Share Image
There are lots of those who speak but few who do. However, no one should distort the word of God by his own negligence,… — Maximus the Confessor Copy Share Image
If you make provision for the desires of the flesh and bear a grudge against your neighbor on account of something transitory, you worship… — Maximus the Confessor Copy Share Image
The Logos came down out of love for us. Let us not keep Him down permanently, but let us go up with Him to… — Maximus the Confessor Copy Share Image
Whatever a man loves he inevitably clings to, and in order not to lose it he rejects everything that keeps him from it. So… — Maximus the Confessor Copy Share Image
A passion is a contranatural movement of the soul or an irrational love, or an blindfold hatred toward any material thing, or because of… — Maximus the Confessor Copy Share Image
Unclean spirits increase the passions in us, making use of our negligence, and inciting them. But the angels decrease our passions, inciting us to… — Maximus the Confessor Copy Share Image
For him who is perfect in love and has reached the summit of dispassion there is no difference between his own or another's, or between Christians and unbelievers, or between slave and free, or between male and female. But because he has risen above the tyranny of the passions and has fixed his attention on the single nature of man,… — Maximus the Confessor Copy Share
Peace is truly the complete and undisturbed possession of what is desired. — Maximus the Confessor Copy Share Image
A Christian receives divine wisdom in three ways: by the commandments, teachings, and faith. The commandments free the mind from passions. Teachings lead it… — Maximus the Confessor Copy Share Image
Whoever sees in himself the traces of hatred toward any man on account of any kind of sin is completely foreign to the love… — Maximus the Confessor Copy Share Image
As we have borne the image of the earthy, let us also bear the image of the heavenly — Maximus the Confessor Copy Share Image
