St John of Damascus affirms that the bodily virtues-or, rather, tools of virtue - are essential, for without them the virtues of the soul cannot be acquired.’But one must pursue them in humility and with spiritual knowledge. If they are not pursued in this way, but only for themselves, then they serve no purpose, just as plants are useless if they do not bear any fruit. Moreover, no one can fully master any art without long application and the excision of his own desires.
Hence, after ascetic practice we need spiritual knowledge, total devotion to God in all things, and careful study of the divine Scriptures; for without these things no one can ever acquire virtue.
The person enabled by grace to devote himself utterly and always to God has achieved the highest good; he who has not reached this point should take care not to grow negligent in any way.
Blessed are they who are completely devoted to God, either through obedience to someone experienced in the practice of the virtues and living an ordered life in stillness, or eke through themselves living in stillness and total detachment, scrupulously obedient to God’s will, and seeking the advice of experienced men in everything they say or think.
Blessed above all are those who seek to attain dispassion and spiritual knowledge unlaboriously through their total devotion to God: as God Himself has said through His prophet, ‘Devote yourselves to stillness and know that lam God’(Ps. 46:10).
St Peter of Damascus
