Saint Maximos the Confessor - On Love |
||
Four
Hundred Texts on Love FORWORD
TO ELPIDIOS THE PRESBYTER In
addition to my treatise on the ascetic life I am also sending you, Father
Elpidios, this treatise on love divided, on the analogy of the four
Gospels, into four centuries of chapters. It may not fulfil your
expectations, but it is the best that I can do. Moreover, you should know,
Father, that these chapters are not the products of mine own mind. On the
contrary, I have gone through the writings of the holy fathers and
collected from them passages relevant to my subject, condensing much
material into short paragraphs and in this way making it easy to remember
and to assimilate. In
sending these chapters to you I beg you to read them with sympathy and to
seek out only what is profitable in them, overlooking the inelegant
language. I also ask you to pray for my unworthy self, bereft as I am of
all spiritual blessing. I have this request too: do not be annoyed by
what I have written, for I have merely carried out what I was commanded to
do. I say this because we who plague people with words are many nowadays,
while those who teach or are taught by actions are very few. Please
give careful attention to each chapter. For I suspect that not all the
chapters are easy for everyone to understand. Many of them will need to be
studied closely by most readers even if what they say seems to be very
simple. If anything in these chapters should prove useful to the soul, it
will be revealed to the reader by the grace of God, provided that he
reads, not out of curiosity, but in the fear and love of God. If a man
reads this or any other work not to gain spiritual benefit but to track
down matter with which to abuse the author, so that in his conceit he can
show himself to be the more learned, nothing profitable will ever be
revealed to him in anything. First Century 1.
Love is a holy state of the soul, disposing it to value knowledge of God
above all created things. We cannot attain lasting possession of such love
while we are still attached to anything worldly. 2.
Dispassion engenders love, hope in God engenders dispassion, and patience
and forbearance engender hope in God; these in turn are the product of
complete self-control, which itself springs from fear of God. Fear of God is
the result of faith in God. 3.
If you have faith in the Lord you will fear punishment, and this fear will
lead you to control the passions. Once you control the passions you will
accept affliction patiently, and through such acceptance you will acquire
hope in God. Hope in God separates the intellect from every worldly
attachment, and when the intellect is detached in this way it will acquire
love for God. 4.
The person who loves God values knowledge of God more than anything created
by God, and pursues such knowledge ardently and ceaselessly. 5.
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. 6.
When your intellect is concentrated on the love of God you will pay little
attention to visible things and will regard even your own body as something
alien. 7.
Since the soul is more noble than the body and God incomparably more noble
than the world created by Him, he who values the body more than the soul and
the world created by God more than the Creator Himself is simply a
worshipper of idols. 8. If you
distract your intellect from its love for God and concentrate it, not on
God, but on some sensible object, you thereby show that you value the body
more than the soul and the things made by God more than God Himself. 9.
Since the light of spiritual knowledge is the intellect’s life, and since
this light is engendered by love for God, it is rightly said that nothing is
greater than divine love (cf. 1 Cor. 13:13). 10.
When in the intensity of its love for God the intellect goes out of itself,
then it has no sense of itself or of any created thing. For when it is
illumined by the infinite light of God, it becomes insensible to
everything made by Him, just as the eye becomes insensible to the stars
when the sun rises. 11.
All the virtues co-operate with the intellect to produce this intense
longing for God, pure prayer above all. For by soaring towards God through
this prayer the intellect rises above the realm of created beings. 12.
When the intellect is ravished through love by divine knowledge and stands
outside the realm of created beings, it becomes aware of God’s infinity.
It is then, according to Isaiah, that a sense of amazement makes it
conscious of its own lowliness and in all sincerity it repeats the
prophet’s words: ‘How abject I am, for I am pierced to the heart;
because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell among a people of unclean
lips; and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts’ (Isa. 6:5). 13.
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”. 14.
A soul filled with thoughts of sensual desire and hatred is unpurified. 15. If we
detect any trace of hatred in our hearts against any man whatsoever for
committing any fault, we are utterly estranged from love for God, since love
for God absolutely precludes us from hating any man. 16.
He who loves Me, says the Lord, will keep My commandments (cf. John
14: 15, 23); and ‘this is My commandment, that you love one
another’ (John 15:12). Thus he who does not love his neighbour fails to
keep the commandment, and so cannot love the Lord. 17.
Blessed is he who can love all men equally. 18.
Blessed is he who is not attached to anything transitory or corruptible. 19.
Blessed is the intellect that transcends all sensible objects and
ceaselessly delights in divine beauty. 20.
If you make provision for the desires of the flesh (cf. Rom. 13:14)
and bear a grudge against your neighbour on account of something transitory,
you worship the creature instead of the Creator. 21.
If you keep your body free from disease and sensual pleasure it will help
you to serve what is more noble. 22.
He who forsakes all worldly desires sets himself above all worldly distress. 23.
He who loves God will certainly love his neighbour as well. Such a person
cannot hoard money, but distributes it in a way befitting God, being
generous to everyone in need. 24.
He who gives alms in imitation of God does not discriminate between the
wicked and the virtuous, the just and the unjust, when providing for men’s
bodily needs. He gives equally to all according to their need, even though
he prefers the virtuous man to the bad man because of the probity of his
intention. 25.
God, who is by nature good and dispassionate, loves all men equally as His
handiwork. But He glorifies the virtuous man because in his will he is
united to God. At the same time, in His goodness He is merciful to the
sinner and by chastising him in this life brings him back to the path of
virtue. Similarly, a man of good and dispassionate judgment also loves all
men equally. He loves the virtuous man because of his nature and the probity
of his intention; and he loves the sinner, too, because of his nature and
because in his compassion he pities him for foolishly stumbling in darkness. 26.
The state of love may be recognized in the giving of money, and still more
in the giving of spiritual counsel and in looking after people in their
physical needs. 27.
He who has genuinely renounced worldly things, and lovingly and sincerely
serves his neighbour, is soon set free from every passion and made a
partaker of God’s love and knowledge.
28. He who has realized love for God in his heart is tireless, as
Jeremiah says (cf. Jer. 17:16. LXX), in his pursuit of the Lord his
God, and bears every hardship, reproach and insult nobly, never thinking the
least evil of anyone. 29.
When you are insulted by someone or humiliated, guard against angry
thoughts, lest they arouse a feeling of irritation, and so cut you off from
love and place you in the realm of hatred. 30. You should know that you have been greatly benefited when you have suffered deeply because of some insult or indignity; for by means of the indignity self-esteem has been driven out of you. 31. 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. 32.
Just as the light of the sun attracts a healthy eye, so through love
knowledge of God naturally draws to itself the pure intellect. 33.
A pure intellect is one divorced from ignorance and illumined by divine
light. 34.
A pure soul is one freed from passions and constantly delighted by divine
love. 35.
A culpable passion is an impulse of the soul that is contrary to nature. 36.
Dispassion is a peaceful condition of the soul in which the soul is not
easily moved to evil. . 37.
A man who has been assiduous in acquiring the fruits of love will not cease
loving even if he suffers a thousand calamities. Let St. Stephen, the
disciple of Christ, and others like him persuade you of the truth of this (cf.
Acts 7:60). Our Lord Himself prayed for His murderers and asked the Father
to forgive them because they did not know what they were doing (cf.
Luke 23:34). 38.
If love is long-suffering and kind (cf. 1 Cor. 13:4), a man who is
contentious and malicious clearly alienates himself from love. And he who is
alienated from love is alienated from God, for God is love. 39. Do not
say that you are the temple of the Lord, writes Jeremiah (cf. Jer.
7:4); nor should you say that faith alone in our Lord Jesus Christ can save
you, for this is impossible unless you also acquire love for Him through
your works. As for faith by itself, ‘the devils also believe, and
tremble’ (Jas. 2:19). 40. We
actively manifest love in forbearance and patience towards our neighbour,
in genuinely desiring his good, and in the right use of material things. 41.
He who loves God neither distresses nor is distressed with anyone on account
of transitory things. There is only one kind of distress which he both
suffers and inflicts on others: that salutary distress which the blessed
Paul suffered and which he inflicted on the Corinthians (cf. 2 Cor.
7:8-11). 42. He who
loves God lives the angelic life on earth, fasting and keeping vigils,
praying and singing psalms and always thinking good of every man. 43. If a
man desires something, he makes every effort to attain it. But of all things
which are good and desirable the divine is incomparably the best and the
most desirable. How assiduous, then, we should be in order to attain what is
of its very nature good and desirable. 44. Stop
defiling your flesh with shameful deeds and polluting your soul with wicked
thoughts; then the peace of God will descend upon you and bring you love. 45. Afflict
your flesh with hunger and vigils and apply yourself tirelessly to psalmody
and prayer; then the sanctifying gift of self-restraint will descend upon
you and bring you love. 46.
He who has been granted divine knowledge and has through love acquired its
illumination will never be swept hither and thither by the demon of
self-esteem. But he who has not yet been granted such knowledge will readily
succumb to this demon. However, if in all that he does he keeps his gaze
fixed on God, doing everything for His sake, he will with God’s help soon
escape. 47. He who
has not yet attained divine knowledge energized by love is proud of his
spiritual progress. But he who has been granted such knowledge repeats with
deep conviction the words uttered by the patriarch Abraham when he was
granted the manifestation of God: ‘I am dust and ashes’ (Gen. 18:27). 48. The
person who fears the Lord has humility as his constant companion and,
through the thoughts which humility inspires, reaches a state of divine love
and thankfulness. For he recalls his former worldly way of life, the various
sins he has committed and the temptations which have befallen him since his
youth; and he recalls, too, how the Lord delivered him from all this, and
how He led him away from a passion-dominated life to a life ruled by God.
Then, together with fear, he also receives love, and in deep humility
continually gives thanks to the Benefactor and Helmsman of our lives. 49.
Do not befoul your intellect by clinging to thoughts filled with anger and
sensual desire. Otherwise you will lose your capacity for pure prayer and
fall victim to the demon of listlessness. 50.
When the intellect associates with evil and sordid thoughts it loses its
intimate communion with God. 51. The foolish man under attack from the passions, when stirred to anger, is senselessly impelled to leave his brethren. But when heated by desire he quickly changes his mind and seeks their company. An intelligent person behaves differently in both cases. When anger flares up he cuts off the source of disturbance and so frees himself from his feeling of irritation against his brethren. When desire is uppermost he checks every unruly impulse and chance conversation. 52. In time of trial do not leave your monastery but stand up courageously against the thoughts that surge over you, especially those of irritation and listlessness. For when you have been tested by afflictions in this way, according to divine providence, your hope in God will become firm and secure. But if you leave, you will show yourself to be worthless, unmanly and fickle. 53.
If you wish not to fall away from the love of God, do not let your brother
go to bed feeling irritated with you, and do not go to bed yourself feeling
irritated with him. Reconcile yourself with your brother, and then come to
Christ with a clear conscience and offer Him your gift of love in earnest
prayer (cf. Matt. 5:24). 54.
St Paul says that, if we have all the gifts of the Spirit but do not have
love, we are no further forward (cf. 1 Cor. 13:2). How assiduous,
then, we ought to be in our efforts to acquire this love. 55. If ‘love prevents us from harming our neighbour’ (Rom. 13:10), he who is jealous of his brother or irritated by his reputation, and damages his good name with cheap jibes or in any way spitefully plots against him, is surely alienating himself from love and is guilty in the face of eternal judgment. 56. If ‘love is the fulfilling of the law’ (Rom. 13:10), he who is full of rancour towards his neighbour and lays traps for him and curses him, exulting in his fall, must surely be a transgressor deserving eternal punishment. 57.
If ‘he who speaks evil of his brother, and judges his brother, speaks
evil of the law, and judges the law’ (Jas. 4:11), and the law of Christ is
love, surely he who speaks evil of Christ’s love falls away from it and is
the cause of his own perdition. 58. Do not
listen gleefully to gossip at your neighbour’s expense or chatter to a
person who likes finding fault. Otherwise you will fall away from divine
love and find yourself cut off from eternal life. 59.
Do not permit any abuse of your spiritual father or encourage anyone who
dishonours him. Otherwise the Lord will be angry with your conduct and will
obliterate you from the land of the living (cf. Deut. 6:15). 60. Silence
the man who utters slander in your hearing. Otherwise you sin twice over:
first, you accustom yourself to this deadly passion and, second you fail to
prevent him from gossiping against his neighbour. 61. ‘But
I say to you,’ says the Lord, ‘love your enemies. . . do good to those
who hate you, and pray for those who mistreat you’ (Matt. 5: 44.). Why did
He command this? To free you from hatred, irritation, anger and rancour, and
to make you worthy of the supreme gift of perfect love. And you cannot
attain such love if you do not imitate God and love all men equally. For God
loves all men equally and wishes them ‘to be saved and to come to the
knowledge of the truth’ (1 Tim. 2:4). 62. ‘But
I say to you, do not resist evil; but if someone hits you on the right
cheek, turn to him the other cheek as well. And if anyone sues you in the
courts, and takes away your coat, let him have your cloak also. And if
anyone forces you to go a mile, go with him for two miles’ (Matt.
5:39-41). Why did He say this? Both to keep you free from anger and
irritation, and to correct the other person by means of your forbearance, so
that like a good Father He might bring the two of you under the yoke of
love. 63. We
carry about with us impassioned images of the things we have experienced. If
we can overcome these images we shall be indifferent to the things which
they represent. For fighting against the thoughts of things is much harder
than fighting against the things themselves, just as to sin in the mind is
easier than to sin through outward action. 64. Some
passions pertain to the body, others to the soul. The first are occasioned
by the body, the second by external objects. Love and self-control overcome
both kinds, the first curbing the passions of the soul and the second those
of the body. 65. Some
passions pertain to the soul’s incensive power, and others to its desiring
aspect. Both kinds are aroused through the senses. They are aroused when the
soul lacks love and self-control. 66. The
passions of the soul’s incensive power are more difficult to combat than
those of its desiring aspect. Consequently our Lord has given a stronger
remedy against them: the commandment of love. 67.
While passions such as forgetfulness and ignorance affect but one of the
soul’s three aspects - the incensive, the desiring or the intelligent
-listlessness alone seizes control of all the soul’s powers and rouses
almost all the passions together. That is why this passion is more serious
than all the others. Hence our Lord has given us an excellent remedy against
it, saying: ‘You will gain possession of your souls through your patient
endurance’ (cf. Luke 21:19). 68.
Never strike any of the brethren, especially without reason, in case he is
unable to bear the affliction and leaves the monastery. For then you would
never escape the reproach of your conscience. It would always bring you
distress in the time of prayer and divert your intellect from intimate
communion with God. 69. Shun
all suspicions and all persons that cause you to take offence. If you are
offended by anything, whether intended or unintended, you do not know the
way of peace, which through love brings the lovers of divine knowledge to
the knowledge of God. 70. You
have not yet acquired perfect love if your regard for people is still swayed
by their characters - for example, if, for some particular reason, you love
one person and hate another, or if for the same reason you sometimes love
and sometimes hate the same person. 71. Perfect
love does not split up the single human nature, common to all, according
to the diverse characteristics of individuals; but, fixing attention always
on this single nature, it loves all men equally. It loves the good as
friends and the bad as enemies, helping them, exercising forbearance,
patiently accepting whatever they do, not taking the evil into account at
all but even suffering on their behalf if the opportunity offers, so that,
if possible, they too become friends. If it cannot achieve this, it does not
change its own attitude; it continues to show the fruits of love to all men
alike. It was on account of this that our Lord and God Jesus Christ, showing
His love for us, suffered for the whole of mankind and gave to all men an
equal hope of resurrection, although each man determines his own fitness for
glory or punishment. 72. If you
are not indifferent to both fame and dishonour, riches and poverty, pleasure
and distress, you have not yet acquired perfect love. For perfect love is
indifferent not only to these but even to this fleeting life and to death. 73.
Listen to the words of those who have been granted perfect love: ‘What can
separate us from the love of Christ? Can affliction, or distress, or
persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or the sword? As it is
written, “For Thy sake we are slain
all the day long, we are counted as sheep for the slaughter” (Ps. 43:23).
But in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved
us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor
principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor
height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, can separate us from the
love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord’ (Rom. 8:35-39). Those who
speak and act thus with regard to divine love are all saints. 74. Listen now to what they say about love for our neighbour: ‘I speak the truth in Christ, I do not lie, my conscience also bears me witness in the Holy Spirit: I have great distress and continual sorrow in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were severed from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh, who are Israelites’ (Rom. 9:1-3). Moses and the other saints speak in a similar manner. 75. He who is not indifferent to fame and pleasure, as well as to the love of riches that exists because of them and increases them, cannot cut off occasions for anger. And he who does not cut these off cannot attain perfect love. 76. 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, ‘Behold my lowliness and my toil, and forgive all my sins’ (Ps. 24:18). 77. It is through our fulfilling of the commandments that the Lord makes us dispassionate; and it is through His divine teachings that He gives us the light of spiritual knowledge. 78.
All such teachings are concerned either with God, or with things visible and
invisible, or else with the providence and judgment relating to them. 79.
Almsgiving heals the soul’s incensive power; fasting withers sensual
desire; prayer purifies the intellect and prepares it for the contemplation
of created beings. For the Lord has given us commandments which correspond
to the powers of the soul. 80.
‘Learn from Me’, He said, ‘for I am gentle and humble in heart’
(Matt. 11:29). Gentleness keeps the soul’s incensive power in a calm
state; humility frees the intellect from conceit and self-esteem. 81.
Fear of God is of two kinds. The first is generated in us by the threat of
punishment. It is through such fear that we develop in due order
self-control, patience, hope in God and dispassion; and it is from
dispassion that love comes. The second kind of fear is linked with love and
constantly produces reverence in the soul, so that it does not grow
indifferent to God because of the intimate communion of its love. 82.
The first kind of fear is expelled by perfect love when the soul has
acquired this and is no longer afraid of punishment (cf. 1 John
4:18). The second kind, as we have already said, is always found united with
perfect love. The first kind of fear is referred to in the following two
verses: ‘Out of fear of the Lord men shun evil’ (Prov. 16:6), and
‘Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom’ (Ps. 110:9). The second
kind is mentioned in the following verses: ‘Fear of the Lord is pure,
enduring forever’ (Ps. 18:9), and ‘There is no want to them that fear
Him’ (Ps. 33:9). 83. ‘Put
to death therefore whatever is earthly in you: unchastity, uncleanness,
passion, evil desire and greed’ (Col. 3:5). Earth is the name Saint Paul
gives to the will of the flesh. Unchastity is his word for the actual
committing of sin. Uncleanness is how he designates assent to sin. Passion
is his term for impassioned thoughts. By evil desire he means the simple act
of accepting the thought and the desire. And greed is his name for what
generates and promotes passion. All these Saint Paul ordered us to mortify
as ‘aspects’ expressing the will of the flesh. 84. First
the memory brings some passion-free thought into the intellect. By its
lingering there, passion is aroused. When the passion is not eradicated,
it persuades the intellect to assent to it. Once this assent is given, the
actual sin is then committed. Therefore, when writing to converts from
paganism, Saint Paul in his wisdom orders them first to eliminate the actual
sin and then systematically to work back to the cause. The cause, as we have
already said, is greed, which generates and promotes passion. I think that
greed in this case means gluttony, because this is the mother and nurse of
unchastity. For greed is a sin not only with regard to possessions but
also with regard to food, just as self-control likewise relates to both food
and possessions. 85. When a
sparrow tied by the leg tries to fly, it is held back by the string and
pulled down to the earth. Similarly, when the intellect that has not yet
attained dispassion flies up towards heavenly knowledge, it is held back
by the passions and pulled down to the earth. 86. The
intellect, once totally free from passions, proceeds undistracted to the
contemplation of created beings, making its way towards knowledge of the
Holy Trinity. 87.
When in a pure state, the intellect, on receiving the conceptual images of
things, is moved to contemplate these things spiritually. But when it is
sullied through indolence, while its conceptual images may in general be
free from passion, those concerned with people produce in it thoughts that
are shameful or wicked. 88.
When during prayer no conceptual image of anything worldly disturbs your
intellect, then know that you are within the realm of dispassion. 89.
Once the soul starts to feel its own good health, the images in its dreams
are also calm and free from passion. 90.
Just as the physical eye is attracted to the beauty of things visible, so
the purified intellect is attracted to the knowledge of things invisible. By
things invisible, I mean things incorporeal. 91.
It is already much not to be roused to any passion by material things. It is
even more to remain dispassionate when presented with mental images of such
things. For the war which the demons wage against us by means of thoughts is
more severe than the war they wage by means of material things. 92.
He who has succeeded in attaining the virtues and is enriched with spiritual
knowledge sees things clearly in their true nature. Consequently, he both
acts and speaks with regard to all things in a manner which is fitting, and
he is never deluded. For according to whether we use things rightly or
wrongly we become either good or bad. 93.
If the conceptual images that continually rise up in the heart are free from
passion whether the body is awake or asleep, then we may know that we have
attained the highest state of dispassion. 94.
Through fulfilling the commandments the intellect strips itself of the
passions. Through spiritual contemplation of things visible it casts off
impassioned conceptions of such things. Through knowledge of things
invisible it discards the contemplation of things visible. Finally it
denudes itself even of this through knowledge of the Holy Trinity. 95.
When the sun rises and casts its light on the world, it reveals both itself
and the things it illumines. Similarly, when the Sun of righteousness rises
in the pure intellect, He reveals both Himself and the inner principles of
all that has been and will be brought into existence by Him. 96.
We do not know God from His essence. We know Him rather from the grandeur of
His creation and from His providential care for all creatures. For through
these, as though they were mirrors, we may attain insight into His infinite
goodness, wisdom and power. 97.
The pure intellect is occupied either with passion-free conceptual images
of human affairs, or with the natural contemplation of things visible or
invisible, or with the light of the Holy Trinity. 98.
When the intellect is engaged in the contemplation of things visible, it
searches out either the natural principles of these things or the spiritual
principles which they reflect, or else it seeks their original cause. 99.
When the intellect is absorbed in the contemplation of things invisible, it
seeks their natural principles, the cause of their generation and whatever
follows from this, as well as the providential order and judgment which
relates to them. 100.
When the intellect is established in God, it at first ardently longs to
discover the principles of His essence. But God’s inmost nature does not
admit of such investigation, which is indeed beyond the capacity of
everything created. The qualities that appertain to His nature, however, are
accessible to the intellect’s longing: I mean the qualities of eternity,
infinity, indeterminateness, goodness, wisdom, and the power of creating,
preserving and judging creatures. Yet of these, only infinity may be
grasped fully; and the very fact of knowing nothing is knowledge surpassing
the intellect, as the theologians St. Gregory of Nazianzos and St. Dionysios
have said.’ The Philokalia: Volume Two – Saint Maximos the Confessor: First Century on Love, pp. 50-64
|
||
Back to: From the Holy Fathers |