According to Saint Maximus the Confessor, the basic passion from which all
passions, both physical and mental, originate and are born, is selfishness.
This man is the one who loves himself excessively and worships himself.
When man’s attention is distracted from God and he is not interested in
uniting with Him and doing His holy will, then he necessarily turns to himself,
whom he wants to satisfy all the time.
Metropolitan Fanariou Ayathangelos
Translated by Dr. Nick Stergiou
The physical and mental passions
