Andrew Louth - Syriac Christian Church

38 INTRODUCTION
THE WAY OF LOVE 10
As his second letter, one of the earliest of his writings, makes clear,
for Maximus, training in Christianity is a training in love (for which
Maximus usually uses the word agapê, but sometimes the word erôs: I
do not think we should make any great issue over his use of these
words). 11 His first Century on Love begins:
Love is a holy disposition of the soul, in accordance with which
it values knowledge of God above all created things. We cannot
attain lasting possession of such love while we are still attached
to anything worldly.
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.
(CC I.1–2)
Similarly, when at the beginning of the next century on love, he comes
to talk about pure prayer, he defines this in terms of love: ‘he who
truly loves God prays entirely without distraction, and he who prays
entirely without distraction loves God truly’ (CC II.1). Whereas
Evagrius’ doctrine of prayer and the spiritual life is about how the soul
is to regain the state of being pure mind from which it has fallen, for
Maximus the spiritual life is about how we love. In our fallen state,
apart from the call of God, we are in a state of self-love, philautia. It is
from this condition that all the passions flow: Maximus calls it the
‘mother of passions’. 12
Love is about how we relate—to God, to other people (and, indeed,
to ourselves): Maximus defines it as an ‘inward relationship’ of the
utmost universality (Ep. 2:401D). Instead of regarding the passions
simply as registering the state of the soul, Maximus sees the passions
as affecting our relationships with other people, and indeed as being
provoked by such relationships. So, though he makes much use of
Evagrius’ eight principal passions, he also gives a prominent place to
other passions that Evagrius ignores (or subsumes under the others),
especially passions such as resentment (or rancour) and envy, that are
essentially about our relationships with others. So we find Maximus
saying:
If you harbour resentment against anybody, pray for him and
you will prevent the passion from being aroused; for by means of
prayer you will separate your grief from the thought of the wrong
he has done you. When you have become loving and