Just as the gardener who does not weed his garden chokes his vegetables, so the intellect that does not purify its thoughts is wasting its efforts.
Search the Scriptures and you will find the commandments; do what they say and you will be freed from your passions.
When you have been given faith, self-control is demanded from you; when self-control has become habitual, it gives birth to patient endurance, a disposition that gladly accepts suffering.
~St Thalassios the Libyan
Prayerful Life 
For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.
So how do you suppose Maximos factors this into his theology|worldview? Doesn’t sound much like ‘self-control’
*Derek Simmons* retiredinsanclemente@gmail.com
On Wed, Oct 11, 2017 at 12:50 AM, Prayerful Life wrote:
> prayerfullife7 posted: “Just as the gardener who does not weed his garden > chokes his vegetables, so the intellect that does not purify its thoughts > is wasting its efforts. Search the Scriptures and you will find the > commandments; do what they say and you will be freed from your” >
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I think he would certainly agree with Paul about the difficulty sin presents and the impossibility to overcome on our own. I think, perhaps, he would say something about how things done with God’s assistance however, are possible. Small side note, the original quote was from St Thalassios not St Maximos.
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