Wednesday, April 19, 2006

St. Maximus the Confessor on
Humanity before the Fall

I realize this is a little out of order, since I had said I was going to go through Meyendorff's Christ in Eastern Christian Thought chapter by chapter. However, this quote from chapter 7, "The Cosmic Dimension of Salvation," is worth sharing with you now. St. Maximus writes:
Today man in his actions is possessed by the irrational imagination of the passions, deceived by concupiscence, or pre-occupied either by the contrivances of science because of his needs, or by the desire to learn the principles of nature according to its laws. None of these compulsions existed for man originally, since he was above everything. For thus man must have been in the beginning: in no way distracted by what was beneath him or around him or near him, and desiring perfection in nothing except irresistible movement, with all the strength of love towards the One who was above him, i.e., God.


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see page 138 of Meyendorff's Christ in Eastern Christian Thought

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