Inasmuch as you pray with all your soul for the one who has slandered you, so much will God reveal the truth to them who have believed the slander.
Maximus the ConfessorCreated man cannot become a son of God and god by grace through deification, unless he is first through his own free choice begotten in the Spirit by means of the self-loving and independent power dwelling naturally in him.
Maximus the ConfessorHe 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).
Maximus the ConfessorLove is manifested not only through the distribution of one's possessions, but even moreso through the spreading of the word of God and helpful deeds.
Maximus the Confessor