“Just as the light of the sun attracts a healthy eye, so through love knowledge of God naturally draws to itself a pure intellect.” LightEyeChristianSunHealthyPureDrawsIntellectOrthodoxOrthodox ChristianKnowledge Of God Author:Maximus the Confessor
“When a man's intellect is constantly with God, his desire grows beyond all measure into an intense longing for God and his incensiveness is completely transformed into divine love. For by continual participation in the divine radiance his intellect becomes totally filled with light; and when it has reintegrated its passible aspect, it redirects this aspect towards God, filling it with an incomprehensible and intense longing for Him and with unceasing love, thus drawing it entirely away from worldly things to the divine.” MenLightChristianDesireGrowsDivineAspectFilledLongingIntellectDrawingIntenseOrthodoxTransformedParticipationWorldlyFillingDivine LoveRadianceWorldly ThingsLonging For God 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
“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 go beyond the literal meaning, and a view of the sensible world that relies exclusively on sense perception, are indeed scales, blinding the soul's visionary faculty and preventing access to the pure Logos of truth.” WorldDoeRealSoulEyeChristianUnderstandingViewsOpinionPrinciplesCasesHappenedPurePerceptionFoundationIntellectAccessScriptureScalesFormerRelyOrthodoxFacultySensibleProvidingVisionariesLiteralPreventingCfsLogosPreconceptionsReal KnowledgeSense Perception Author:Maximus the Confessor
“When we think of the height of God's infinity we should not despair of His compassion reaching us from such a height; and when we recall the infinite depth of our fall through sin we should not refuse to believe that the virtue which has been killed in us will rise again. For God can accomplish both these things: He can come down and illumine our intellect with spiritual knowledge, and He can raise up the virtue within us and exalt it with Himself through works of righteousness.” ThinkingShouldBelieveHas BeensChristianSpiritualFallSinCompassionVirtueDespairInfiniteDown AndRaisesDepthRefuseAccomplishIntellectHeightReachingOrthodoxRighteousnessInfinityRecallsRaise UpSpiritual Knowledge Author: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 - whose light is but limited - and the illuminating grace of the Spirit abide in him. The first by means of practice trains the flesh in virtue, the second illuminates the intellect so that it chooses above all else companionship with wisdom; and through wisdom it destroys the strongholds of evil and pulls down 'all the self-esteem that exalts itself against the knowledge of God' (II Cor. 10:5).” ShouldFirstsMeanSelfLightChristianSpiritEvilNaturalPracticeVirtueGraceSelf EsteemPrayingTrainStriveIntellectFleshInvisibleDiscriminationEsteemOrthodoxCompanionshipStrifeOrthodox ChristianIlluminatingKnowledge Of GodStrongholds Author:Maximus the Confessor
“Even in the life of a Christian, faith rises and falls like the tides of an invisible sea. It's there, even when he can't see it or feel it, if he wants it to be there. You realize, I think, that it is more valuable, more mysterious, altogether more immense than anything you can learn or decide upon It will keep you free - not free to do anything you please, but free to be formed by something larger than your own intellect or the intellects around you.” IfsThinkingWantFeelsChristianFallRealizingSeaPleaseValuableIntellectInvisibleMysteriousTidesImmenseChristian FaithRise And FallDecide Upon Author:Flannery O'Connor
“The Holy Spirit, out of compassion for our weakness, comes to us even when we are impure. And if He finds our intellect truly praying to Him, He enters it and puts to flight the whole array of thoughts and ideas circling within it, and He arouses it to a longing for spiritual prayer.” IfsIdeasWholeChristianSpiritualSpiritPrayerCompassionPrayingHolyWeaknessLongingIntellectFlightHoly SpiritOrthodoxOrthodox ChristianThoughts And Ideas Author:Evagrius Ponticus