“Just as the thought of fire does not warm the body, so faith without love does not actualize the light of spiritual knowledge in the soul.” DoeSoulBodyLightChristianSpiritualFireWarmOrthodoxOrthodox ChristianWithout LoveSpiritual Knowledge Author:Maximus the Confessor
“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 for the sake of living, and not be guilty of living for the sake of eating. The first is a sign of intelligence, the second proof of its absence.” FirstsMayHas BeensSoulShowsBodyChristianTaughtPrayingEatingSakeProofAbsenceSatisfiedGuiltyVisibleOrthodoxDominationPraying To GodPresent Life Author:Maximus the Confessor
“He who through virtue and spiritual knowledge has brought his body into harmony with his soul has become a harp, a flute and a temple of God. He has become a harp by preserving the harmony of the virtues; a flute by receiving the inspiration of the Spirit through divine contemplation; and a temple by becoming a dwelling place of the Logos through the purity of his intellect.” SoulBodyInspirationChristianSpiritualSpiritVirtueDivineBecomingHarmonyIntellectContemplationPurityTemplesOrthodoxReceivingDwellingOrthodox ChristianHarpsLogosFlutesDwelling PlaceSpiritual Knowledge Author:Maximus the Confessor
“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.” SoulBodyMightEarthChristianPassionEvilCitiesLordMorningCuttingDestroyedWickedOrthodoxDoersImpassionedEvil Doers Author: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 his soul the conceptual images they provoke, should pray for a pure heart to be given him and for a spirit of integrity to be renewed within him (cf. Ps. 51:10). In other words, he should pray that by grace he may be completely emptied of evil thoughts and filled with divine thoughts, so that he may become a spiritual world of God, splendid and vast, wrought from moral, natural and theological forms of contemplation.” MenWorldShouldHeartMaySoulBodyChristianSpiritualFormSpiritPassionEvilGivenNaturalMoralGraceDivineHe ManPrayingIntegrityPureFilledContemplationOrthodoxProvokingSplendidTheologicalCfsPure HeartEvil Thoughts Author:Maximus the Confessor
“As long as I remain imperfect and refractory, neither obeying God by practising the commandments nor becoming perfect in spiritual knowledge, Christ from my point of view also appears imperfect and refractory because of me. For I diminish and cripple Him by not growing in spirit with Him, since I am 'the body of Christ and one of its members' (I Cor. 12:27).” LongBodyChristianSpiritualSpiritChristPerfectViewsGrowingBecomingMembersPoint Of ViewOrthodoxImperfectCommandmentsDiminishObeyingCripplesBody Of ChristSpiritual KnowledgeObeying GodBecoming Perfect Author:Maximus the Confessor
“If the divine Logos of God the Father became son of man and man so that He might make men gods and the sons of God, let us believe that we shall reach the realm where Christ Himself now is; for He is the head of the whole body (cf. Col. 1:18), and endued with our humanity has gone to the Father as forerunner on our behalf. God will stand 'in the midst of the congregation of gods' (Ps. 82:1 LXX) - that is, of those who are saved - distributing the rewards of that realm's blessedness to those found worthy to receive them, not separated from them by any space.” IfsMenBelieveWholeBodyMightChristianHumanityFoundFatherChristSpaceGoneDivineSonRewardsWorthySavedGods WillRealmsMidstOrthodoxBehalfCongregationCfsLogosBlessednessForerunners Author:Maximus the Confessor
“How can it be other than right to worship the Body of the Lord, all-holy and all-reverend as it is, announced as it was by the archangel Gabriel, formed by the Holy Spirit, and made the Vesture of the Word? It was at any rate a bodily hand that the Word stretched out to raise her that was sick of a fever (Mk. 1:31): a human voice that He uttered to raise Lazarus - the dead (Jn. 11:43); and, once again, stretching out His hands upon the Cross, He overthrew the prince of the power of the air, that now works (Eph. 2:2) in the sons of disobedience, and made the way clear for us into the heavens.” WayHumansMadeBodyHandsChristianSpiritHeavenVoiceLordClearAirSonHolyWorshipCrossesSickRaisesRateHoly SpiritOrthodoxDisobedienceFeverOrthodox ChristianStretchingGabrielArchangelHuman VoiceReverendsLazarus Author:John of Kronstadt
“The brother of my grandfather was the patriarch of the Orthodox Church and revered as a saint. So everything in my childhood is about total sacrifice, whether to religion or to communism. This is what is engraved on me. This is why I have this insane willpower. My body is now beginning to be falling apart, but I will do it to the end. I don't care. With me it is about whatever it takes.” EndsBodyCareFallChurchSacrificeChildhoodBrotherSaintDon't CareInsaneCommunismI Don't CareOrthodoxGrandfatherWillpowerFalling ApartMy GrandfatherWhatever It TakesEngravedPatriarchOrthodox Church Author:Marina Abramovic