Maximus the Confessor

Maximus is called the Confessor because of his sufferings and labors for the true faith. During the seventh century when the monothelite heresy (belief that Christ had only one will-----a divine one) plagued the Church, Maximus eloquently demonstrated that Christ had both human and divine natures. Writing in the introduction to this volume Jaroslav Pelikan highlights the relevance of Maximus' writings for today: "It was the genius of Maximus Confessor that, in a measure that has been granted only to a few, he was fully bilingual, affirming by means of negation and speaking both the language of spirituality and the language of theology with equal fluency. From the looks of things within both Western and Eastern Christendom-------and beyond------that gift of being bilingual is one that people of faith will need more than ever in the years to come."

St Maximus' two main collections of theological reflections-his Ambigua (or "Difficulties") and his Questions to Thalassius - plus one of his christological opuscula, hitherto unavailable in English, are accompanied by immensely helpful notes, and prefaced by a long, brilliant introduction to the theology of the Confessor.

St Maximus the Confessor (c. 580-662) beautifully expounds the meaning of the Divine Liturgy in On the Ecclesiastical Mystagogy, which had a profound influence on the subsequent tradition, beginning with St Germanus of Constantinople (PPS 8). Maximus' vision of the liturgy contemplates the interpenetrating relationships of all things with each other and with Christ, In whom all things cohere. The church building and the human being and the cosmos are all mutually related and symbolically reflect each other. Further, In the liturgy we enter into the mystery of Christ. As St Maximus puts it, "Let us not be absent from the holy Church of God because she contains such great mysteries of our salvation according to... and she reveals the gift of adoption that is given through holy baptism in the Holy Spirit and that perfects each one into the image of Christ."

Long overlooked by scholars, this seventh-century Life of the Virgin, attributed to Maximus the Confessor, is the earliest complete Marian biography. Originally written in Greek and now surviving only in Old Georgian, it is now translated for the first time into English. It is a work that holds profound significance for understanding the history of late ancient and medieval Christianity, providing a rich source for understanding the history of Christian piety.This Life is especially remarkable for its representation of Mary's prominent involvement in her son's ministry and her leadership of the early Christian community. In particular, it reveals highly developed devotion to Mary's compassionate suffering at the Crucifixion, anticipating by several centuries an influential medieval style of devotion known as “affective piety” whose origins generally have been confined to the Western High Middle Ages.

Maximos the Confessor (580–662) occupies a unique position in the history of Byzantine philosophy, theology, and spirituality. His profound spiritual experiences and penetrating theological vision found complex and often astonishing expression in his unparalleled command of Greek philosophy, making him one of the most challenging and original Christian thinkers of all time. So thoroughly did his thought come to influence the Byzantine theological tradition that it is impossible to trace the subsequent history of Orthodox Christianity without knowledge of his work. The Ambigua (or “Book of Difficulties”) is Maximos’s greatest philosophical and doctrinal work, in which his daring originality, prodigious talent for speculative thinking, and analytical acumen are on lavish display. In the Ambigua, a broad range of theological topics—cosmology, anthropology, the philosophy of mind and language, allegory, asceticism, and metaphysics—are transformed in a synthesis of Aristotelian logic, Platonic metaphysics, Stoic psychology, and the arithmetical philosophy of a revived Pythagoreanism. The result is a labyrinthine map of the mind’s journey to God that figured prominently in the Neoplatonic revival of the Komnenian Renaissance and the Hesychast Controversies of the Late Byzantine period.This remarkable work has never before been available in a critically-based edition or English translation.

Popular Patristics Series Volume 53 The Chapters on Theology is one of Maximus’ most eclectic writings. In this short piece, Maximus discusses many diverse themes, including God's relation to the cosmos, monastic discipline and life, scriptural difficulties, and his vision of the consummated universe in relation to the incarnate Word of God. The work is arranged into two hundred “chapters,” which are often pithy pearls of wisdom that monks could learn from the respected figure of an elder or abbot. Chapters tend to address a range of issues monks would face in the course of their spiritual progress. As such, chapters differ in complexity, although many exhibit intentional ambiguities in order to speak meaningfully with the same sentence to those at different points in their spiritual journey. The wisdom of these ancient words has transcended its time and place, and continues to be an inspirational piece, the insights of which are just as applicable today as they were nearly a millennium and a half ago. Luis Joshua Salés is a native of Mexico City who has studied Patristics and is currently completing his doctorate in early, medieval, and Byzantine Church history at Fordham University, where he plans to write a dissertation on Maximus’ theory of virtue. His main interest is the Greek, Latin, Syriac, and Arabic Christian appropriations of the Classical traditions of ethics, logic, and metaphysics.

Maximos the Confessor (580–662) occupies a unique position in the history of Byzantine philosophy, theology, and spirituality. His profound spiritual experiences and penetrating theological vision found complex and often astonishing expression in his unparalleled command of Greek philosophy, making him one of the most challenging and original Christian thinkers of all time. So thoroughly did his thought come to influence the Byzantine theological tradition that it is impossible to trace the subsequent history of Orthodox Christianity without knowledge of his work. The Ambigua (or “Book of Difficulties”) is Maximos’s greatest philosophical and doctrinal work, in which his daring originality, prodigious talent for speculative thinking, and analytical acumen are on lavish display. In the Ambigua, a broad range of theological topics—cosmology, anthropology, the philosophy of mind and language, allegory, asceticism, and metaphysics—are transformed in a synthesis of Aristotelian logic, Platonic metaphysics, Stoic psychology, and the arithmetical philosophy of a revived Pythagoreanism. The result is a labyrinthine map of the mind’s journey to God that figured prominently in the Neoplatonic revival of the Komnenian Renaissance and the Hesychast Controversies of the Late Byzantine period.This remarkable work has never before been available in a critically-based edition or English translation.

In Disputations with Pyrrhus, Saint Maximus the Confessor (A.D. 580-662) articulates the faith of the apostles, detailing the perfect natures and wills of the Incarnate Logos, Jesus Christ. Shedding light on the fullness of Christian life, Saint Maximus reveals God as One Who repeats all of the natural stages of humanity itself, but not only humanity as a whole but the stages of life of each individual human being in particular, illumining the mystery of our salvation as perfect union within Christ through His Church. An important document combating heresies against full union of man in God, the Disputations with Pyrrhus offers invaluable insight into the salvation of both man and cosmos through the Incarnate Word of God revealed to us in the Mystery of the Church.

A monumental project which brings the English-speaking work key selections from the remarkable literature of early Christianity -- vertiable trasures of Christian faith and theology in superb translations.

Maximos the Confessor (ca. 580-662) is now widely recognized as one of the greatest theological thinkers, not simply in the entire canon of Greek patristic literature, but in the Christian tradition as a whole. A peripatetic monk and prolific writer, his penetrating theological vision found expression in an unparalleled synthesis of biblical exegesis, ascetic spirituality, patristic theology, and Greek philosophy, which is as remarkable for its conceptual sophistication as for its labyrinthine style of composition. On Diculties in Sacred Scripture, presented here for the first time in a complete English translation (including the 465 scholia), contains Maximos's virtuosic theological interpretations of sixty-five difficult passages from the Old and New Testaments. Because of its great length, along with its linguistic and conceptual difficulty, the work as a whole has been largely neglected. Yet alongside the Ambigua to John, On Diculties in Sacred Scripture: The Responses to Thalassios deserves to be ranked as the Confessor's greatest work and one of the most important patristic treatises on the interpretation of Scripture, combining the interconnected traditions of monastic devotion to the Bible, the biblical exegesis of Origen, the sophisticated symbolic theology of Dionysius the Areopagite, and the rich spiritual anthropology of Greek Christian asceticism inspired by the Cappadocian Fathers.

Maximus the Confessor (580–662) was a monk whose writings focused on ascetical interpretations of biblical and patristic works. For his refusal to accept the Monothelite position supported by Emperor Constans II, he was tried as a heretic, his right hand was cut off, and his tongue was cut out. A major theologian of the Byzantine Church, St. Maximus is venerated in both Eastern and Western Christian traditions. Despina Prassas’s translation of the Quaestiones et Dubia presents for the first time in English one of the Confessor’s most significant contributions to early Christian biblical interpretation. The original work is believed to have been written before 626 while the monk was a member of a community located near Constantinople. The text is a series of 239 interrogations and responses addressing theological, philosophical, ascetical, spiritual, and liturgical concerns. In his work, Maximus the Confessor brings together the patristic exegetical aporiai tradition and the spiritual-pedagogical tradition of monastic questions and responses. The overarching theme is the importance of the ascetical life. For Maximus, askesis is a lifelong endeavor that consists of the struggle and discipline to maintain control over the passions. One engages in the ascetical life by taking part in both theoria (contemplation) and praxis (action). To convey this teaching, Maximus uses a number of pedagogical tools including allegory, etymology, number symbolism, and military terminology. Prassas provides a rich historical and contextual background in her introduction to help ground and familiarize the reader with this work. As the first study focused exclusively on the Quaestiones et dubia, this important book will appeal to the growing audience of readers interested in Maximus the Confessor and, more broadly, to scholars and students of early Christianity, early Byzantine monasticism, and patristic biblical exegesis.

Maximus the Confessor also known as Maximus the Theologian and Maximus of Constantinople (c. 580 – 13 August 662) was a Christian monk, theologian, and scholar.When one of his friends began espousing the Christological position known as Monothelitism, Maximus was drawn into the controversy, in which he supported an interpretation of the Chalcedonian formula on the basis of which it was asserted that Jesus had both a human and a divine will. Maximus is venerated in both Eastern Christianity and Western Christianity. His Christological positions eventually resulted in the mutilation of his tongue and right hand, after which he was exiled and died on August 13, 662 in Tsageri, Georgia.

Ο Μάξιμος Ομολογητής είναι ένας από τους σπουδαιότερους Πατέρες της Εκκλησίας. Το έργο του εξέφρασε όλη την προγενέστερη εκκλησιαστική παράδοση, επηρέασε καθοριστικά τους κορυφαίους μεταγενέστερους βυζαντινούς θεολόγους και η επιρροή του υπήρξε εν γένει τεράστια. Σήμερα μεταφράζεται, θαυμάζεται και μελετάται σε όλο τον κόσμο. Τα τετρακόσια (400) Κεφάλαια περὶ ἀγάπης είναι το κυριότερο από τα ασκητικά-συμβουλευτικά έργα του Μαξίμου. Δίνουν έμφαση καταρχάς σε θέματα ασκητικής ζωής, πρώτιστα, όμως, μαρτυρούν τη μέριμνα του αγίου να οικοδομήσει την πνευματική ζωή της Εκκλησίας. Κεντρική έννοια των Κεφαλαίων είναι η αγάπη· όλη η ζωή της εκκλησίας παρουσιάζεται με πυρήνα της την αγάπη, ως ανιδιοτελή και θυσιαστική σχέση προς τον πλησίον.Οι «Εκδόσεις Ζήτρος» συνεχίζουν να προσφέρουν, δίπλα στις επιμελημένες εκδόσεις αρχαίων Ελλήνων συγγραφέων, και μνημειώδη έργα της βυζαντινής γραμματείας. Τα 400 Κεφάλαια Περί ἀγάπης είναι καρπός της μακροχρόνιας ενασχόλησης του δρ. Βασιλείου Μπετσάκου με τη θεολογική διδασκαλία του Μαξίμου του Ομολογητού.Αποτελεί, όμως, μεγάλη τιμή για τις «Εκδόσεις Ζήτρος» το γεγονός ότι τη συγκεκριμένη έκδοση πλαισιώνουν:α) Πρόλογος του Αρχιεπισκόπου Τιράνων και πάσης Αλβανίας Αναστασίου(Γιαννουλάτου), ειδικά γραμμένος για το συγκεκριμένο πόνημα. Πρόκειται για ένα έξοχο θεολογικό κείμενο που μαρτυρά την καρδιακή μέριμνα του Μακαριωτάτου για την μεγάλη ανάγκη της εποχής μας: τη διδασκαλία της αγάπης, όπως τη δίδαξε ο ίδιος ο Χριστός.β) Εκτεταμένο Επίμετρο του μακαριστού Γέροντος Αιμιλιανού Σιμωνοπετρίτη, μιαςπολύ μεγάλης μορφής του σύγχρονου αγιορειτικού μοναχισμού. Στο συγκεκριμένο Επίμετρο παρουσιάζεται η -χαρισματική στην απλότητά της- ερμηνεία του Αρχιμ. Αιμιλιανού πάνω σε επιλεγμένα κεφάλαια του Περί Αγάπης, του μνημειώδους έργου του αγίου Μαξίμου του Ομολογητού.

Book by St. Maximus the Confessor

Gli "Ambigua" di Massimo il Confessore (580-655 circa d.C.) costituiscono il culmine della speculazione di questo grande Padre della Chiesa Orientale. Vissuto in un'epoca di accese controversie cristologiche, ispirato da una forte spiritualità, Massimo scrisse numerose opere di contenuto ideologico, ascetico, spirituale, esegetico e concluse la sua vita incarcerato e mutilato ad opera dell'autorità di Bisanzio per avere difeso la ortodossia e la dottrina di Roma. I "Problemi" rappresentano la sua opera più significativa sul piano del pensiero teologico e spirituale. La presente traduzione dal greco è la prima completa in lingua moderna, accompagnata dall'introduzione di Claudio Moreschini e da un ricco apparato di note.

God. Love. Symbolism. Faith. The Cross. The 'sacrament of the present moment.' All this and more is herein.The radical, iconoclastic, sans-culotte, ultra-ist ... is back! Maximus Confessor+ takes us into a religious world that is OTHER than we were taught it should be. All in all -- a spiritually sensuous voyage.

Susținător neclintit al învățăturilor calcedoniene la sfârșitul disputelor hristologice,unul dintre cei mai mari teologi bizantini, Sfântul Maxim Mărturisitorul a alcătuit un comput pascal, adică un tratat ce are ca scop calculul datelor succesive ale sărbătorii mobile a Paștilor, tradus acum pentru prima dată în limba română.

Is healing legitimate and viable in todays plastic, consumer-oriented, psycho-sexual world? If so, why is it not more prevalent? This book examines healing and prayer. Two concepts of spiritual and mystical thrust, that go hand in hand. Prayer is connecting to God, admitting weakness and helplessness. Healing is a taste of the future, right now! Something wonderful is going to happen! Physical, spiritual, mental, and emotional healing.

У збірнику опубліковано два твори видатного східного богослов першої половини VII ст. Максима Ісповідника. "Тлумачення Господньої молитви" - це пояснення молитви "Отче наш", у якому відчутний вплив олександрівської школи з характерним використанням алегорій та символічних значень. Натомість "Містрагорія", або "тайновведення" - богословсько-аскетичне пояснення головних реалій церковного життя на канві коментаря до Божественної літургії.

Esta edição foi primorosamente preparada: tem tradução direta do grego e apresenta um prefácio que situa a vida e a obra de São Máximo, chamado o Confessor. Além das Centúrias, inclui o Diálogo Ascético e a Interpretação do Pai-Nosso. São textos fundamentais da tradição cristã, cujo valor espiritual é permanente.

Latin, French (translation)Original Greek

Excerpt from Sancti Patris Nostri Maximi Confessoris De Variis Difficilibus Locis Ss. Pp. Dionysii Et Gregorii Ad Thomam V. S. Librum Ex Codice Manuscripto Gudiano Descripsit Et in Latinum Sermonem Interpretatus Post I. Scoti Et Th. Gale TentaminaPauli Epist. Ad Galat. 9, 28. Epist, ad Ephes. 1, 10 et 29. 4, 11. Epist. Ad Phi lipp. 2, 9. A, 11. Epist. Ad Co loss. 1, 16. 1, 20. Epist. II. Ad Ti moth. 2, 29. Epist. Ad Hebr.

Το να καταστήσει κανείς βασικά Πατερικά έργα προσιτά στο ευρύ κοινό είναι πλέον άθλος, λόγω των πολλαπλών παραπλανητικών αντιλήψεων, που έχουν επικρατήσει στις παραδοσιακά Χριστιανικές κοινωνίες κατά τους τελευταίους αιώνες.Στο βιβλίο αυτό παρουσιάζεται η περί φύσεως και προσώπου θεώρηση του Αγίου Μαξίμου κατοχυρωμένη με όσα επιχειρήματα οι προγενέστεροί του Πατέρες είχαν διατυπώσει, απαντώντας σε ερωτήματα που είχαν ανακύψει στην εποχή τους.Έγινε απόπειρα να παρουσιάσουμε ένα κείμενο βελτιωμένο, προβαίνοντας σε μικρές αναγκαίες κριτικές αποκαταστάσεις του πρωτοτύπου. Καλύφθηκαν σημαντικά κενά, σχετικά με την καταγωγή, νεανική ηλικία και έναρξη της Μοναχικής βιοτής του Αγίου Μαξίμου.Έγιναν πολλές διευκρινήσεις για βασικά θεολογικά / επιστημονικά δεδομένα της εποχής, που παρέχονται υπό μορφήν σημειώσεων, και κατέστη αναγκαία μία συστηματικότερη περιληπτική παρουσίαση της Κοσμοθεωρίας / Κοσμολογίας του Αγίου, καθώς και της Χριστοκεντρικής Ανθρωπολογίας του.ΣΗΜΕΙΩΜΑ ΤΟΥ ΜΕΤΑΦΡΑΣΤΗΑΝΤΙ ΠΡΟΛΟΓΟΥΕΙΣΑΓΩΓΙΚΑΒίος του Αγ. ΜαξίμουΚοσμολογία του Αγ. ΜαξίμουΑνθρωπολογία του Αγ. ΜαξίμουΚΕΙΜΕΝΟ - ΜΕΤΑΦΡΑΣΗΗ καθολική ομοφωνία των Πατέρων, από τον 5ο αι. και μετά, πάνω στη σημασία των όρων: ουσία = φύση και υπόσταση = πρόσωποΟι Έννοιες του ομοουσίου και του ομοϋποστάτου για τον Θεό και για τον άνθρωποΟ Χριστός, ο Πατέρας, η Μητέρα και η κατά την Υπόσταση ταυτότητα των δύο ΦάσεωνΕπεξηγήσεις και περαιτέρω εμβάθυνση στο Χριστολογικό Δόγμα της ΧαλκηδόνοςΈνωση και διάκριση στον Χριστό μοναδικότητα της Υποστάσεώς τουΣύντομη εισαγωγή στην έννοια της διαφοράςΕμβάθυνση στη σημασία των εννοιών της διαφοράς, του ποσού και του αριθμούΗ Ορθόδοξη Πίστη για το ζήτημα της Ένωσης και της διαφοράς στον ΧριστόΑναίρεση της διδασκαλίας του ΣεβήρουΣύντομη ανακεφαλαίωση, μαζί με την διαχρονική Ομολογία των Πατέρων υπέρ της αλήθειας της Ορθοδόξου ΠίστεωςΣΧΟΛΙΑ

"Two Hundred Chapters on Theology" by St. Maximus the Confessor, part of the Popular Patristics Series (Book 53), is a seminal work that presents a comprehensive collection of theological reflections and teachings. In this text, St. Maximus explores a wide range of theological topics, offering insights into Christian doctrine, the nature of God, and the process of spiritual transformation. His chapters provide a profound understanding of early Christian thought and the mystical dimensions of theology, making this work essential for those studying the development of Christian doctrine and spiritual practice.

With no sales this title is gonna d i s a p p e a r in no time. Full stop ! ! ! "This is what I set forth for the sake of the reward of obedience and in the measure of my forces concerning these [things], inasmuch as I was taught them, not daring to touch on [issues] more mysterious and lofty. If someone – out of curiosity – wants to know about them, too, then let him turn to the inspired works of Saint Dionysius the Areopagite and truly find there the revelation of unspoken secrets, given through his God-enlightened intellect and language to the human race for them who shall be heirs of salvation (Heb. 1:14). If [my work] has not disappointed you in your expectations, then for this you should thank Christ, the Beneficiary of goods, and you, who have forced me to talk about these subjects. And if it never at all justified your hopes, then what should you do or what should you do to me, the weak in the word? Indeed, weakness is forgivable, and not worthy of punishment. It is better to accept than to blame what can be given and what is given, especially to you, who have joined God for the sake of love." Maximos the Confessor (ca. 580-662) is now widely recognized as one of the greatest theological thinkers, not simply in the entire canon of Greek patristic literature, but in the Christian tradition as a whole. A peripatetic monk and prolific writer, his penetrating theological vision found expression in an unparalleled synthesis of biblical exegesis, ascetic spirituality, patristic theology, and Greek philosophy, which is as remarkable for its conceptual sophistication as for its labyrinthine style of composition.

The fruit of the Spirit, 'the image of God,' is the great enigma vitae, the solution of which is exposed herein. For Maximus Confessor+, the hermetical vendor of anagogical ideograms, opens the door to the reader and says, "You, too, can be as God."

In this landmark study of Love and its meaning, the celebrated arbiter elegantiae Maximus Confessor+ looks at Love in the world and in the human heartfrom the exudations of hate which lures mankind to a self-induced living Hell, to the compassion of goodness in the real world. Maximus Confessor+ interprets the movements of the heart as it holds others in Love. And with fresh new insights he shows us the real power of Love and its declaration over others. "Those who truly love are the happiest of mortals." So speaks the Confessor+. He is said to be fascinated with Love and its power in all variations and culminations. The surface of his prose glitters with coruscations; it blazes with pyrotechnic ideas and original concepts. The power of Lovefascinating.