Category Archives: Faith

Four Hundred Texts on Love (Third Century) 2

By Scott | Published: September 2, 2010
4.  It is not food that is evil but gluttony, not the begetting of children but unchastity, not material things but avarice, not esteem but self-esteem. This being so, it is only the misuse of things that is evil, and such misuse occurs when the intellect fails to cultivate its natural powers. The physical world [...]
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Four Hundred Texts on Love (Third Century) 1

By Scott | Published: August 31, 2010
3.  When we misuse the soul’s powers their evil aspects dominate us. For instance, misuse of our power of intelligence results in ignorance and stupidity; misuse of our incensive power and of our desire produces hatred and licentiousness. The proper use of these powers produces spiritual knowledge, moral judgment, love and self-restraint. This being so, [...]
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Four Hundred Texts on Love (Second Century) 27

By Scott | Published: August 26, 2010
100. When the intellect is stripped of passions and illuminated with the contemplation of created beings, then it can enter into God and pray as it should. This is a short text, but it says a lot. Still it’s easy for us to misunderstand. As I’ve discussed in other posts, passion in our common usage [...]
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Four Hundred Texts on Love (Second Century) 26

By Scott | Published: August 24, 2010
94. A man writes either to assist his memory, or to help others, or for both reasons; or else he writes in order to injure certain people, or to show off, or out of necessity. In this age where we have made publication easy for all, the above text is perhaps more relevant than ever. [...]
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Four Hundred Texts on Love (Second Century) 25

By Scott | Published: August 19, 2010
93. Death in the true sense is separation from God, and ‘the sting of death is sin’  (1 Cor. 15:56). Adam, who received the sting, became at the same time an exile from the tree of life, from paradise and from God (cf. Gen. 3); and this was necessarily followed by the body’s death. Life, [...]
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Four Hundred Texts on Love (Second Century) 24

By Scott | Published: August 17, 2010
89. Some people with possessions possess them dispassionately, and so when deprived of them they are not dismayed but are like those who accepted the seizure of their goods with joy (cf. Heb. 10:34). Others possess with passion, so that when they are in danger of being dispossessed they become utterly dejected, like the rich [...]
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Four Hundred Texts on Love (Second Century) 23

By Scott | Published: August 12, 2010
81. Four things make a soul cut itself off from sin: fear of judgment, hope of future reward, love of God and, lastly, the prompting of conscience. There is a growth or progression in the path St. Maximos outlines. It seems to me that far too many Christians are trapped in one or both of [...]
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Four Hundred Texts on Love (Second Century) 22

By Scott | Published: August 10, 2010
80.  If you wish to find the way that leads to life, look for it in the Way who says, ‘I am the way, the door, the truth and the life’ (John 10:7; 14:6), and there you will find it. Only let your search be diligent and painstaking, for ‘few there are that find it’ [...]
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Four Hundred Texts on Love (Second Century) 21

By Scott | Published: August 5, 2010
72.  Just as it is easier to sin in the mind than in action, so warfare through our impassioned conceptual images of things is harder than warfare through the things themselves. I quit smoking slightly more than fourteen years ago. (I could count the days over fourteen years if I wanted, but I try not [...]
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Four Hundred Texts on Love (Second Century) 21

By Scott | Published: August 3, 2010
57.  There are virtues of the body and virtues of the soul. Those of the body include fasting, vigils, sleeping on the ground, ministering to people’s needs, working with one’s hands so as not to be a burden or in order to give to others (cf. 1 Thess. 2:9, Ephes. 4:28). Those of the soul [...]
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