Maximus the Confessor

If... Adam had trusted in God and been nourished from the tree of life (Gn. 2:9)? he would not have set aside…

— Maximus the Confessor

God, Who is by nature good and dispassionate, loves all men equally as His handiwork. But He glorifies the virtuous man because…

— Maximus the Confessor

In all our actions, God considers the intention: whether we act for Him or for some other motive.

— Maximus the Confessor

Cleanse your mind from anger, remembrance of evil, and shameful thoughts, and then you will find out how Christ dwells in you.

— Maximus the Confessor

Only wonder can comprehend His incomprehensible power.

— Maximus the Confessor

Food is not evil, but gluttony is. Childbearing is not evil, but fornication is. Money is not evil, but avarice is. Glory…

— Maximus the Confessor

If the words of God are uttered merely as verbal expressions, and their message is not rooted in the virtuous way of…

— Maximus the Confessor

When you are insulted by someone or humiliated, guard against angry thoughts, lest they arouse a feeling of irritation, and so cut…

— Maximus the Confessor

Humility and suffering free a man from all sin; for the first cuts out spiritual passions, and the latter bodily.

— Maximus the Confessor

...the Lord said as He drew near His passion, 'Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in Him.…

— Maximus the Confessor

Do not say that faith in Christ alone can save you, for this is not possible if you do not attain love…

— Maximus the Confessor

Every genuine confession humbles the soul. When it takes the form of thanksgiving, it teaches the soul that it has been delivered…

— Maximus the Confessor

The patient endurance of the saints exhausts the evil power that attacks them, since it makes them glory in sufferings undergone for…

— Maximus the Confessor

Before His visible advent in the flesh the Logos of God dwelt among the patriarchs and prophets in a spiritual manner, prefiguring…

— Maximus the Confessor

If you are remembering evil against someone, then pray for him; and as you remove through prayer the pain of the remembrance…

— Maximus the Confessor

Created man cannot become a son of God and god by grace through deification, unless he is first through his own free…

— Maximus the Confessor

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

Those who seek the Lord should not look for Him outside themselves; on the contrary, they must seek Him within themselves through…

— Maximus the Confessor

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

“In company with all of these achievements, and yet after them all, God fulfilled for our sake the truly new mystery of…

— Maximus the Confessor

The person who loves God cannot help loving every man as himself, even though he is grieved by the passions of those…

— Maximus the Confessor

He who has not yet attained divine knowledge energized by love is proud of his spiritual progress. But he who has been…

— Maximus the Confessor

He who devoutly strives to attain wisdom and is on his guard against the invisible powers, should pray that both natural discrimination…

— Maximus the Confessor

If you expound the teaching of the Logos from the standpoint of the moral life, using materialistic words and examples which correspond…

— Maximus the Confessor

He who asks to receive his daily bread does not automatically receive it in its fullness as it is in itself: he…

— Maximus the Confessor