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Humility and ascetic hardship free a man from all sin, for the one cuts out the passions of the soul, the other those of the body. This is what the blessed David indicates when he prays to God, saying, Look on my humility and my toil, and forgive all my sins (Ps. 25:18).

Maximus the Confessor

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Maximus the Confessor
Philosopher
Theologian
Istanbul
Maximus of Constantinople
Maximus the Theologian
Men
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Ascetic
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Forgiveness
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More quotes by Maximus the Confessor

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There is a single energy of God and the saints? they are living icons of Christ, being the same as He is, by grace rather than by assimilation.
Maximus the Confessor
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'The long-suffering man abounds in understanding' (Prov. 14:29), because he endures everything to the end and, while awaiting that end, patiently bears his distress. The end, as St. Paul says, is everlasting life (cf. Rom. 6:22). 'And this is eternal life, that they might know You the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent' (Jn. 17:3).
Maximus the Confessor
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He who has realized love for God in his heart is tireless in his pursuit of the Lord his God, and bears every hardship, reproach and insult nobly, never thinking the least evil of anyone.
Maximus the Confessor
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Peace is truly the complete and undisturbed possession of what is desired.
Maximus the Confessor
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Some passions are bodily, other spiritual. Bodily passions have their sources in the body, while spiritual ones come from external things. But love and temperance cut out both the one and the other: Love cuts out spiritual passions, and temperance bodily ones.
Maximus the Confessor
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Trials are sent to some so as to take away past sins, to others so as to eradicate sins now being committed, and to yet others so as to forestall sins which may be committed in the future. These are distinct from the trials that arise in order to test men in the way that Job was tested.
Maximus the Confessor
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When what has been created in time according to the temporal order has reached maturity, it ceases from natural growth. But when what has been brought about by the knowledge of God through the practice of the virtues has reached maturity, it starts to grow anew. For the end of one stage constitutes the starting point of the next.
Maximus the Confessor
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If everything that exists was made by God and for God, and God is superior to the things made by Him, he who abandons what is superior and devotes Himself to what is inferior shows that he values things made by God more than God Himself.
Maximus the Confessor
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Temptations come on some people for the cleansing of previous sins, on other for the beautification of their current perfection, and on yet others, as preparation for things to come, except temptations, which are for the increase of a man's faith and virtue, as it was with Job.
Maximus the Confessor
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We must not only put bodily passions to death but also destroy the soul's impassioned thoughts. Hence the Psalmist says, 'Early in the morning I destroyed all the wicked of the earth, that I might cut off all evil-doers from the city of the Lord' (Ps. 101:8) - that is, the passions of the body and the soul's godless thoughts.
Maximus the Confessor
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He has as yet no perfect love, whose disposition towards men depends on what they are like, loving one and despising another for this or that, or sometimes loving, sometimes hating one and the same man. Blessed is the man who can love all men equally.
Maximus the Confessor
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You will be able to check envy if you rejoice with the man whom you envy whenever he rejoices, and grieve whenever he grieves.
Maximus the Confessor
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If you make provision for the desires of the flesh and bear a grudge against your neighbor on account of something transitory, you worship the creature instead of the Creator.
Maximus the Confessor
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Humility and suffering free a man from all sin for the first cuts out spiritual passions, and the latter bodily.
Maximus the Confessor
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Those who seek the Lord should not look for Him outside themselves on the contrary, they must seek Him within themselves through faith made manifest in action. For He is near you: 'The word is... in your mouth and in your heart, that is, the word of faith' (Rom. 10:8) - Christ being Himself the word that is sought.
Maximus the Confessor
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The person who loves God cannot help loving every man as himself, even though he is grieved by the passions of those who are not yet purified. But when they amend their lives, his delight is indescribable and knows no bounds.
Maximus the Confessor
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To harbor no envy, no anger, no resentment against an offender is still not to have charity for him. It is possible, without any charity, to avoid rendering evil for evil. But to render, spontaneously, good for evil - such belongs to a perfect spiritual love.
Maximus the Confessor
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If you expound the teaching of the Logos from the standpoint of the moral life, using materialistic words and examples which correspond to the capacity of your hearers, you make the Logos flesh. Conversely, if you elucidate mystical theology by means of the higher forms of contemplation you make the Logos spirit.
Maximus the Confessor
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Love is manifested not only through the distribution of one's possessions, but even moreso through the spreading of the word of God and helpful deeds.
Maximus the Confessor
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Unclean spirits increase the passions in us, making use of our negligence, and inciting them. But the angels decrease our passions, inciting us to the perfection of virtue.
Maximus the Confessor