THE PHILOKALIA, VOLUME 2
various authors, compiled by St. Nikodimos of the Holy Mountain
A collection of texts written between the fourth and the fifteenth centuries by spiritual masters of the Orthodox Christian tradition.
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| 1 |
"The mystery of the incarnation of the Logos is the key to all the arcane symbolism and typology in the Scriptures, and in addition gives us knowledge of created things, both visible and intelligible. He who apprehends the mystery of the cross and the burial apprehends the inward essences of created things; while he who is initiated into the inexpressible power of the resurrection apprehends the purpose for which God first established everything." St. Maximos the Confessor, 'First Century on Theology'
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"Love…will remain for all eternity, always increasing beyond all measure." St. Maximos the Confessor, 'First Century on Love'
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"The noetic and intelligent creature, man, has been made…in God's image and likeness (cf. Genesis 1:26)." St. John of Damaskos, 'On the Virtues and the Vices'
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"Faith is a quality inherent in our nature." St. Theodoros the Great Ascetic, 'A Century of Spiritual Texts'
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"Our spiritual lamp is lit by pure prayer and perfect love." St. Theodoros the Great Ascetic, 'A Century of Spiritual Texts'
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"God is in an absolute sense one." St. Maximos the Confessor, 'First Century on Theology'
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"Like a good and loving physician, God heals with individual treatment each of those who are trying to make progress." St. Maximos the Confessor, 'Second Century on Love'
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"God made us so that we might become 'partakers of the divine nature' (2 Peter 1:4) and sharers in His eternity, and so that we might come to be like Him (cf. 1 John 3:2)." St. Maximos the Confessor, 'First Century of Various Texts'
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"Love restores the soul to health." 'A Discourse on Abba Philimon'
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| 10 |
"The will of the Maker, in His goodness, wills beings always to exist and always to receive His blessings." St. Maximos the Confessor, 'Third Century on Love'
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"When the intellect is rich in the knowledge of the One, the senses will be completely under control." St. Thalassios the Libyan, 'Second Century'
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| 12 |
"Indeed, the Saviour endured His sufferings so that 'He should gather together into one the scattered children of God' (John 11:52)." St. Maximos the Confessor, 'Fourth Century on Love'
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| 13 |
"Man's intellect is a holy place and a temple of God." St. Maximos the Confessor, 'Second Century on Love'
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"Every man possesses that which is according to the image of God, 'for the gifts of God are irrevocable' (cf. Romans 11:29)." St. John of Damaskos, 'On the Virtues and the Vices'
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| 15 |
"The principle of that wisdom which is revealed to all [is] that we should know and praise God through His creation and that by means of the visible world we should understand whence we came, what we are, for what purpose we were made and where we are going." St. Maximos the Confessor, 'Second Century on Theology'
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"St. John says: 'My children, let us love not in word or tongue, but in action and truth. And by this we know that we belong to the truth.' (1 John 3:18-19)" St. Theodoros the Great Ascetic, 'A Century of Spiritual Texts'
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"There is one Divinity, a Unity simple, beyond being, without parts and undivided." St. Maximos the Confessor, 'First Century of Various Texts'
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"It is God's purpose to endow created things through grace with a knowledge both of their own essential being and of that of other things; for He will reveal to them the inner principles of their creation, pre-existent in a unified manner within Himself." St. Maximos the Confessor, 'Fourth Century of Various Texts'
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"The most perfect work of love, and the fulfillment of its activity, is to effect an exchange between those it joins together, which in some measure unites their distinctive characteristics and adapts their respective conditions to each other. Love makes man god, and reveals and manifests God as man, through the single and identical purpose and activity of the will of both." St. Maximos the Confessor, 'First Century of Various Texts'
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"Blessed is he who can love all…equally." St. Maximos the Confessor, 'First Century on Love'
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"God created human nature a partaker of every divine blessing." 'A Discourse on Abba Philimon'
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"The disposition which makes us capable of receiving divine blessings depends on ourselves." St. Maximos the Confessor, 'Third Century of Various Texts'
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"God by nature is always one and alone, substantively and absolutely, containing in Himself all-inclusively the totality of substantive being." St. Maximos the Confessor, 'First Century on Theology'
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"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 equally." St. Maximos the Confessor, 'First Century on Love'
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"The treasures of wisdom truly are within us." St. Maximos the Confessor, 'Second Century on Theology'
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