On Charity

Without Love Everything  is in Vain

By Saint Maximus the Confessor, abbot

Charity is a right attitude of mind which prefers nothing to the knowledge of God.  If a man possesses any strong attachment to the things of this earth, he cannot possess true charity.  For anyone who really loves God prefers to know and experience God rather than his creatures.  The whole set and longing of his mind is ever directed toward him.

For God is far superior to all his creation, since everything which exists has been made by God and for him.  And so, in deserting God, who is beyond compare, for the interior works of creation, a man shows that he values God, the author of creation, less than creation itself.

The Lord himself reminds us: Whoever loves me will keep my commandments.  And this is my commandment that you love one another.  So the man who does not love his neighbor does not obey God’s command.  But one who does not obey his command cannot love God.  A man is blessed if he can love all men equally.  Moreover, if he truly loves God, he must love his neighbour absolutely.  Such a man cannot hoard his wealth.  Rather, like God himself, he generously gives from his own resources to each man according to his needs.

Since he imitates God’s generosity, the only distinction he draws is the person’s need.  He does not distinguish between a good man and a bad one, a just man and one who is unjust.  Yet his own goodness of will makes him prefer the man who strives after virtue to the one who is depraved.

A charitable mind is not displayed simply in giving money; it is manifested still more by person service as well as the communication of God’s word to others.  In fact, in a man’s service toward his brothers is genuine and if he really renounces worldly concerns, he is freed from selfish desires.  For he now shares in God’s own knowledge and love.  For he now shares in God’s own knowledge and love.  Since he does possess God’s love, he does not experience weariness as he follows the Lord his God.  Rather, following the prophet Jeremiah, he withstands every type of reproach and hardship without even harboring an evil thought toward any man.

For Jeremiah warns us:  Do not say: “We are the Lord’s temple.” Neither should you say: “Faith alone in our Lord Jesus Christ can save me.”  

By itself faith accomplishes nothing.  For even the devils believe and shudder.  No, faith must be joined to an active love of God which is expressed in good works.  

The charitable man is distinguished by sincere and long-suffering service to his fellow man: it also means using things aright.

Saint Maximus the Confessor, abbot

Saint Maximus the Confessor, abbot

Feastday: August 13

Birth: 580

Death: 662

Abbot, mystic, and Doctor of the Church, called "the Theologian," who suffered persecution from Emperor Constans II and the Monothelitist heretics. He was born to a noble family in Constantinople, modern Istanbul, about 580 and served for a time as secretary to Emperor Heraclius before becoming a monk and abbot at Chrysopolis, modern Skutori, Turkey. When Emperor Constans II favored Monothelitism, Maximus defended Pope Honorius and debated and converted Pyrrhus in 645. 

He then attended the Lateran Council in 649, convened by Pope St. Martin I, and he was taken prisoner and brought to Constantinople, where he was charged with treason. Exiled from the Empire, he spent six years at Perberis and was brought back to Constantinople with two companions - both named Anastasius - to be tortured and mutilated. Their tongues and right hands were cut off and they were sent to Skhemaris on the Black Sea, where Maximus died. 

He is venerated for his mysticism and is ranked as one of the foremost theologians of his era, being especially noted for his contributions to the theology of the Incarnation. The author of some ninety works on theology, mysticism, and dogma, he is especially known for his Opuscula Theologica et Poleinica; the Ambigua on Gregory of Nazianzus, and the Mvstagogia, an examination of symbolism.