Counsel of Gregory of Sinai and Later Life
By the accounts a turning point came when Maximus met the renowned hesychast Gregory of Sinai. Gregory urged him to set aside his feigned folly, which scandalized those who did not understand his true state, and to settle in one place so that others might benefit from his experience. Heeding this counsel, Maximus gave up his wandering life and dwelt as an ascetic in a single place, by tradition for fourteen years, in a cave near the Elder Isaiah.
In his later years he was held in high repute as a holy man and spiritual adviser, admired for his austerity and credited with gifts of clairvoyance, prophecy, healing, and the casting out of demons. He reposed in the mid-fourteenth century, his repose traditionally placed in 1354 or 1365. The region of Mount Athos called Kavsokalyvia takes its name from him.