An Excerpt from the Life of Our Venerable Father Maximus, Called Kapsokalyvites
The divine Gregory the Sinaite came to Saint Maximus and, conversing with him, said to him among other things: “I beg you, my holy father, tell me: do you keep the prayer of the intellect?” And Maximus bowed his head, smiled, and answered: “I will not hide from you, honourable father, that a miracle of the Mother of God happened to me. From my youth I had great faith in my Lady the Mother of God, and I prayed to her with tears to grant me the grace of the prayer of the intellect. Once I came, as was my custom, with tears to her temple, fervently entreating her for this. I began to kiss the divine image with fear, and at that moment I felt a warmth descend into my heart. It did not burn my inward parts, but on the contrary made them sweet and moved my soul to compunction. From that time, father, my heart began to delight in the remembrance of my Jesus and of the Mother of God, and this prayer has never ceased in my heart.”
And the divine Gregory said: “Tell me, holy one, when you prayed this prayer, ‘Lord Jesus Christ…’, did you feel any change, or rapture, or some other fruit of prayer and of the Holy Spirit?”
The divine Maximus answered: “For this, father, I went to a desert place and always desired stillness, in order to obtain a more abundant and fuller fruit of prayer, that is, divine love and the rapture of the intellect towards the Lord.”
Saint Gregory then said: “I beg you, father, tell me: have you obtained that of which you speak?” And the divine Maximus again bowed his head and, smiling, said: “Give me food, and do not look for delusion.”
Then Saint Gregory said to him: “Oh, that I too might fall into such a delusion, holy one! But I beg you, tell me plainly: during prayer, when the intellect is absorbed in God, what does it then behold with the eyes of the intellect, and can it carry on prayer with the heart?”
And Saint Maximus answered: “It cannot at all. When during prayer the grace of the Holy Spirit comes and takes hold of the intellect, then prayer ceases, because the intellect is possessed by the coming of the Holy Spirit and cannot exercise its own power, but remains inactive and obeys only the Holy Spirit, wherever He leads it: either into the supernatural realm of divine and ineffable light, or into some other contemplation with indescribable rapture, or into divine converse. For the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, gives consolation to each one according to his worthiness and according to his desire. And what I am speaking of may be clearly seen in the prophets and apostles, who were counted worthy to behold such visions, even though people mocked them and considered them drunkards. The prophet Isaiah said: ‘I saw the Lord upon a throne high and lifted up, and round about Him stood the seraphim’ (Isa. 6:1). And Stephen the first martyr saw ‘the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God’ (Acts 7:56). Therefore even today the servants of Christ are granted to behold various visions, in which others do not believe, holding them to be false, and holding false also those who see them.
“I greatly marvel that those who are blinded in soul do not believe in the grace of the Spirit, which the prophet Joel once foretold, saying in God’s name: ‘I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh… and they shall prophesy’ (Acts 2:17–18). This same grace Christ gives now and will give to the end, as He promised, to His faithful servants. When such grace is in someone, it does not show him this ordinary and sensible world, but secretly teaches him what he had never seen nor imagined before. Then the intellect is secretly taught high and hidden mysteries, which, according to the divine Paul, the human eye cannot see and the mind cannot grasp by its own powers (1 Cor. 2:9).
“So that you may understand how our intellect beholds them, listen attentively to what I shall tell you: when wax lies far from the fire it is hard and can be held in the hands; but when it is cast into the fire it melts, the fire kindles it, it becomes active and becomes like light; all of it becomes such in that flame, and it is impossible for it not to melt in the fire and become fluid like water. In the same way the human intellect, so long as it is not united with God, reasons by its own strength; but when it is united with the fire of the Godhead and the Holy Spirit, then it becomes wholly possessed by that divine light and becomes light itself, and is caught up in the flame of the Holy Spirit, and is filled with the divine mind; and it is impossible for it, in the flame of the Godhead, to think of its own things or of what it wishes.”
Then Saint Gregory said to him: “There are other signs similar to these — signs of delusion.”
And that great Maximus answered: “The signs of delusion are one thing, and the signs of grace are another. The cunning spirit of delusion, when it draws near, acts upon the intellect and makes it wrathful and harsh; it darkens the heart, instils fear and terror and pride, makes the eyes fierce, disturbs the brain, causes trembling throughout the whole body, shows before the eyes in dreams a light that is not clear and pure but lurid, makes the intellect frenzied and demonic, and prompts the tongue to utter unseemly and blasphemous words. He to whom the spirit of delusion comes is exceedingly furious and wrathful; then there is in him no fragrance of humility, nor prayer, nor true tears. He begins to boast of his virtues, falls into vainglory, fearlessly gives himself over to his passions, and finally goes altogether mad and comes to complete ruin. May we be delivered from this delusion by your prayers to the Lord.
“And the signs of grace are these: the Holy Spirit comes and gathers the intellect, making it attentive and humble; He gives it the remembrance of death, of its sins and of eternal torments; He makes the soul contrite and weeping, and fills the eyes with gentleness and tears. The nearer He draws to a person, the more He calms the soul and consoles it with the holy sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ and with His immeasurable love for mankind, and grants the intellect lofty and unerring visions. The first is of God’s immeasurable power, for God created all things and sustains them by a single word, that they might be. The second is of the immeasurable power that holds all things, governs all and provides for all. The third is of the immeasurable Holy Trinity and the incomprehensible boundlessness of God’s being. And then the intellect receives the divine light and illumines its own understanding, and the heart becomes wholly still and brings forth the fruits of the divine Spirit: joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, mercy (Gal. 5:22), and divine humility after the pattern of Christ, which contains all things. And the soul receives His gladness indescribably.”
Hearing this, Saint Gregory the Sinaite was filled with love and wonder at what the divine Maximus had told him, and thereafter called him not a man, but an earthly angel.