Selected quotes from St. Maximos the Confessor:

 "Give no ear to the slanderer's talk nor let your talk run on in the fault-finder's hearing, by readily speaking and listeneing to things against your neighbor; otherwise you will fall from divine charity [love] and be found a foreigner to eternal life."

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"Let us love one another and be loved by God; let us be patient with one another and He will be patient with our sins. Let us not render evil for evil, and we shall not receive our due for our sins. For we find the forgiveness of our trespasses in the forgiving of our brothers; and the mercy of God is hidden in mercifulness to our neighbor. Therefore the Lord said: 'Forgive, and you shall be forgiven.' And: ' If you will forgive men their offences, your heavenly Father will forgive you also your offences.' And again: 'Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.' And: 'With what measure you mete, it shall be measured to you again.' See, the Lord bestowed on us the method of salvation and has given us eternal power to become sons of God. So finally then our salvation is in our will's grasp."

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"The one who is living a life in Christ has gone beyond the righteousness of both the Law and of nature, as the divine Apostle has pointed out in these words, 'For in Christ there is neither circumcision nor uncircumcision.' By circumcision he meant the righteousness of the Law, and by uncircumcision he signified in an obscure way the equality that comes from nature."
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