When God created human nature, at the same time as He gave it being and free will He joined to it the capacity for carrying out the duties laid upon it.
By this capacity I mean the impulse implanted in human nature on the level of both being and free will: on the level of being, so that man has the power to achieve the virtues; on the level of free will, so that he may use this power in the right way.
St Maximos the Confessor
