How can we Satisfy our Need to Know?
True knowledge is the light whereby we can infallibly distinguish good from evil.
That limitless light illumines the way of righteousness which leads the mind towards the Sun himself. In that light the mind strives with all its energy after divine charity.
Our longing for true knowledge is satisfied by spiritual discourse, provided it comes from God through the exercise of charity.
The intellect ceases to be tormented as it concentrates upon the Word of God.
Whereas previously it was troubled and made wretched by its worries, now the exercise of love expands the compass of its reflections.
Diadochus of Photica Spiritual Works, 6, 7 (SC5b, pp.87ff.)
Knowledge is no Good without Charity
If you have received from God the gift of knowledge, however limited, beware of neglecting charity and temperance. They are virtues which radically purify the soul from passions and so open the way of knowledge continually.
The way of spiritual knowledge passes through inner freedom and humility. Without them we shall never see the Lord.
‘Knowledge puffs up whereas charity builds up.’ [1 Cor. 8:1] Therefore unite knowledge with charity and by being cleansed from pride you will become a true spiritual builder. You will build up yourself and all those who are your neighbours.
Charity takes its power to build up from the fact that it is never envious nor unkind. It is natural for knowledge to bring with it, at the beginning anyway, some measure of presumption and envy. But charity overcomes these defects: presumption because ‘it is not puffed up’ and envy because ‘it is patient and kind.’ [1 Cor. 13:4]
Anyone who has knowledge, therefore, ought also to have charity, because charity can save his spirit from injury.
If someone is judged worthy to receive the gift of knowledge but allows his heart to be full of bitterness or rancour or aversion to another, it is as if he had been struck in the eye by a thorn bush. That is why knowledge is no good without charity.
Maximus the Confessor Centuries on Charity, 4, 57 ff. (SC9, pp.164ff.)
~ Thomas Spidlik, Drinking from the Hidden Fountain, A Patristic Breviary: Ancient Wisdom for Today’s World
