When the intellect turns its attention to the visible world, it perceives things through the medium of the senses in a way that accords with nature. And the intellect is not evil, nor is its natural capacity to form conceptual images of things, nor are the things themselves, nor are the senses, for all are the work of God. What then, is evil? Clearly it is the passion that enters into the conceptual images formed in accordance with nature by the intellect; and this need not happen if the intellect keeps watch. (Maximos the Confessor)

I will guess - and that's all it is - that Maximos has written epipotheo for what is translated here (and previously) as passion. It is to have a very strong longing, to yearn for, to deeply desire, to crave.

Epipotheo can be good or bad. In Philippians 1:8 Paul writes that he longs for the Philippians with the affections of Christ Jesus. In James 4:5 we read of the "spirit that dwells in us lusts to envy."

The object of desire is not evil. The perceiving subject is not evil. The act of perception is not evil. The conceptualization of the object is not evil. But when we yearn after our conceptualizations the potential for evil abounds.

It is interesting that Maximos focuses on yearning for the conceptualization, not on the object itself. I don't disagree, but I hope he will give us more of his thinking on an emotional yearning for abstract conceptualization versus reality itself.

I am reminded of Plato's allegory of the chariot. In the Phaedrus he writes, "We will liken the soul to the composite nature of a pair of winged horses and a charioteer. Now the horses and charioteers of the gods are all good..." But among mortals the chariot depends on a noble white horse, an ignoble black horse, and a very perceptive and active charioteer. The black horse is epithumetikon, closely related to epipotheo.

It is necessary, Plato has Socrates explain, for the intellect - especially the foresight and discipline - of the charioteer to command the black horse, encourage the white horse, and guide the chariot.