Purify the Roots and You will be Entirely Pure
Discipline of the body, if it is combined with peace of mind, purifies it from all material tendencies.
Discipline of the soul makes it humble and purifies it from the impressions that push it in a material direction.
Discipline effects the transition from the emotions of passion to the activity of contemplation, or, better, it raises the soul above all terrestrial objects and feeds it on contemplation. The spirit then is turned towards God by means of the vision of his ineffable glory, and it derives joy from the hope of its future state.
Discipline of the soul is a painful commitment of the heart to reach purity.
Between purity of mind and purity of heart there is the same difference as there is between a particular limb and the whole body. The heart is the central organ of the senses, it gives meaning to the senses, it is in fact their root.
St Paul’s expression can be applied in this case: ‘If the root is holy, so are the branches.’ [Rom. 11:16]
Isaac of Nineveh
Philocalia
The Perfect Person’s Rule of Life
The perfect person does not only try to avoid evil. Nor does he do good for fear of punishment, still less in order to qualify for the hope of a promised reward.
The perfect person does good through love.
His actions are not motivated by desire for personal benefit, so he does not have personal advantage as his aim. But as soon as he has realized the beauty of doing good, he does it with all his energies and in all that he does.
He is not interested in fame, or a good reputation, or a human or divine reward.
The rule of life for a perfect person is to be the image and likeness of God.
Clement of Alexandria
Miscellaneous Studies, 4, 22, 135ff. (Stahlin II, p.308)
~ Thomas Spidlik, Drinking from the Hidden Fountain, A Patristic Breviary: Ancient Wisdom for Today’s World
