Now, the virtues are natural, and they are also naturally inherent in all men, even though all of us do not act naturally. For, because of the fall, we went from what is according to nature to what is against it. But the Lord brought us back from what is against nature to what is according to it – for this last is what is meant by ‘according to his image and likeness’ (Cf. Isa. 7.16.). Now, asceticism and the labours connected with it were not intended for the acquisition of virtue as of something to be introduced from the outside, but for the expulsion of evil, which has been introduced and is against nature – just as the steel’s rust, which is not natural but due to neglect, we remove with hard toil to bring out the natural brightness of the steel.
St. John of Damascus, An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith, Book Three, Chapter 14. Quoted from The Fathers of the Church, Volume 37, CUA Press
Bringing out the Natural
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GOCPriestMark
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Bringing out the Natural
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Priest Mark Smith
British Columbia