The 400 Chapters of Love, by St. Maximos the Confessor
Talk by Metropolitan Jonah (Paffhausen), part 6

Chapters 226-275. 
Quotation: "God, full beyond all fullness, brought creatures into being not because He had need of anything, but so that they might participate in Him in proportion to their capacity and that He Himself might rejoice in His works (cf. Ps. 104:31), through seeing them joyful and ever filled to overflowing with His inexhaustible gifts."

This lesson includes discussions of 
1. The importance of the motive of love for God: "Through genuine love for God we can drive out the passions. Love for God is this: to choose Him rather than the world, and the soul rather than the flesh, by despising the things of this world and by devoting ourselves constantly to Him through self-control, love, prayer, psalmody and so on." 
2. On the role of the Divine services, Prayers of the Church, and Scripture meditation toward that goal.
3. On discerning our own sins, not focusing on the sins or supposed sins of others. On the restoration of empathy that this brings. On the dangers of judging another man's sins.
4. "Theology" with passions is a delusion. The goal is love, selfless love, and communion with God.

Russian Orthodox Cathedral of St John the Baptist in Washington, DC
March 30, 2021
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