As a part of the Philokalia, St. Maximos writes about how a person can become whole and pure so that they can love God, and thus love people, perfectly. Vices or passions come between the person and truly loving others. Ascetic exercises such as prayer and fasting help to control the bodily passions such as greed while virtues like humility and gentleness help to curb, even eliminate, passions of the soul. By eliminating the soul’s passions and replacing them with their opposing virtues, the person comes to a closer understanding and knowledge of God which in turn leads to deeper and truer love.
St. Maximos raises an interesting point when he says “when the intellect is detached [from every worldly attachment] it will acquire love for God,” (First Century 3). Normally, love is thought to be connected to the heart, not the intellect. It would seem to make more sense that it is when the heart is detached from every worldly attachment that love for God is acquired. How then does the detached intellect let one acquire love for God? Perhaps it is because what the mind contemplates is what the heart mulls over. The thoughts that run in the head are connected to what is felt in the heart and thus if the mind is clear of all sin and vice, it would be reasonable that the heart would only feel those things which are pure.
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