Saint Maximos the Confessor. "Four Hundred Texts on Love". From Philokalia, Vol. 2.
Third Century.
73. He who speaks dispassionately of his
brother’s sins does so either to correct him or to benefit another. If
he speaks for any other reason, either to the brother himself or to
another person, he speaks to abuse him or ridicule him. In this case he
will not escape being abandoned by God. On the contrary, he will fall
into the same sin or other sins and, censured and reproached by other
men, will be put to shame.
Fourth Century.
42. If you have no thought of any
shameful word or action in your mind, harbor no rancor against someone
who has injured or slandered you, and, while praying, always keep your
intellect free from matter and form, you may be sure that you have
attained the full measure of dispassion and perfect love.
53. A man can enjoy partial dispassion
and not be disturbed by passions when the objects which rouse them are
absent. But once those objects are present, the passions quickly
distract his intellect.
54. Do not imagine that you enjoy
perfect dispassion when the object arousing your passion is not present.
If when it is present you remain unmoved by both the object and the
subsequent thought of it, you may be sure that you have entered the
realm of dispassion. But even so do not be over-confident; for virtue
when habitual kills the
passions, but when it is neglected they come to life again.
passions, but when it is neglected they come to life again.
92. If when some trial occurs you cannot
overlook a friend’s fault, whether real or apparent, you have not yet
attained dispassion. For when the passions which lie deep in the soul
are disturbed, they blind the mind, preventing it from perceiving the
light of truth and from discriminating between good and evil. If you are
in such a state you have likewise not yet attained perfect love, the
love which expels the fear of judgment (cf. 1 John 4:18).
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