Of the things contingent upon those given us by God, some are in the soul, some are in the body, and some relate to the body. Those in the soul are spiritual knowledge and ignorance, forgetfulness and memory, love and hate, fear and courage, distress and joy, and so on. Those in the body are pleasure and pain, sensation and numbness, health and disease, life and death, and so on. Some of these are regarded as good and others as evil. Not one of them is evil in itself. According to how they are used they may rightly be called good or evil. (Maximos the Confessor)

Hate is not... fear is not... pain is not... death is not... evil in itself.

It is according to how each of these things - pleasant and unpleasant - are used that determines good and evil.

Evil - Maximos is almost certainly using a form of κακός or kakos - is to be contrary to nature and harmful to the self.

Even the bad can be used for good purpose. We can engage trouble with good outcomes.

Only when we use these contingencies as cause for separation from God or neighbor do our acts spawn evil.