Saint Maximus the Confessor was born in Constantinople around 580 and raised in a pious Christian family. He received an excellent education, studying philosophy, grammar, and rhetoric. He was well-read in the authors of antiquity and he also mastered philosophy and theology. When Saint Maximus entered into government service, he became first secretary (asekretis) and chief counselor to the emperor Heraclius (611-641), who was impressed by his knowledge and virtuous life.
Saint Maximus soon realized that the emperor and many others had been corrupted by the Monothelite heresy, which was spreading rapidly through the East. He resigned from his duties at court, and went to the Chrysopolis monastery (at Skutari on the opposite shore of the Bosphorus), where he received monastic tonsure. Because of his humility and wisdom, he soon won the love of the brethren and was chosen igumen of the monastery after a few years. Even in this position, he remained a simple monk.
In 638, the emperor Heraclius and Patriarch Sergius tried to minimize the importance of differences in belief, and they issued an edict, the “Ekthesis” (“Ekthesis tes pisteos” or “Exposition of Faith),” which decreed that everyone must accept the teaching of one will in the two natures of the Savior. In defending Orthodoxy against the “Ekthesis,” Saint Maximus spoke to people in various occupations and positions, and these conversations were successful. Not only the clergy and the bishops, but also the people and the secular officials felt some sort of invisible attraction to him, as we read in his Life.
When Saint Maximus saw what turmoil this heresy caused in Constantinople and in the East, he decided to leave his monastery and seek refuge in the West, where Monothelitism had been completely rejected. On the way, he visited the bishops of Africa, strengthening them in Orthodoxy, and encouraging them not to be deceived by the cunning arguments of the heretics.
The Fourth Ecumenical Council had condemned the Monophysite heresy, which falsely taught that in the Lord Jesus Christ there was only one nature (the divine). Influenced by this erroneous opinion, the Monothelite heretics said that in Christ there was only one divine will (“thelema”) and only one divine energy (“energia”). Adherents of Monothelitism sought to return by another path to the repudiated Monophysite heresy. Monothelitism found numerous adherents in Armenia, Syria, Egypt. The heresy, fanned also by nationalistic animosities, became a serious threat to Church unity in the East. The struggle of Orthodoxy with heresy was particularly difficult because in the year 630, three of the patriarchal thrones in the Orthodox East were occupied by Monothelites: Constantinople by Sergius, Antioch by Athanasius, and Alexandria by Cyrus.
Saint Maximus traveled from Alexandria to Crete, where he began his preaching activity. He clashed there with a bishop, who adhered to the heretical opinions of Severus and Nestorius. The saint spent six years in Alexandria and the surrounding area.
Patriarch Sergius died at the end of 638, and the emperor Heraclius also died in 641. The imperial throne was eventually occupied by his grandson Constans II (642-668), an open adherent of the Monothelite heresy. The assaults of the heretics against Orthodoxy intensified. Saint Maximus went to Carthage and he preached there for about five years. When the Monothelite Pyrrhus, the successor of Patriarch Sergius, arrived there after fleeing from Constantinople because of court intrigues, he and Saint Maximus spent many hours in debate. As a result, Pyrrhus publicly acknowledged his error, and was permitted to retain the title of “Patriarch.” He even wrote a book confessing the Orthodox Faith. Saint Maximus and Pyrrhus traveled to Rome to visit Pope Theodore, who received Pyrrhus as the Patriarch of Constantinople.
In the year 647 Saint Maximus returned to Africa. There, at a council of bishops Monotheletism was condemned as a heresy. In 648, a new edict was issued, commissioned by Constans and compiled by Patriarch Paul of Constantinople: the “Typos” (“Typos tes pisteos” or “Pattern of the Faith”), which forbade any further disputes about one will or two wills in the Lord Jesus Christ. Saint Maximus then asked Saint Martin the Confessor (April 14), the successor of Pope Theodore, to examine the question of Monothelitism at a Church Council. The Lateran Council was convened in October of 649. One hundred and fifty Western bishops and thirty-seven representatives from the Orthodox East were present, among them Saint Maximus the Confessor. The Council condemned Monothelitism, and the Typos. The false teachings of Patriarchs Sergius, Paul and Pyrrhus of Constantinople, were also anathematized.
When Constans II received the decisions of the Council, he gave orders to arrest both Pope Martin and Saint Maximus. The emperor’s order was fulfilled only in the year 654. Saint Maximus was accused of treason and locked up in prison. In 656 he was sent to Thrace, and was later brought back to a Constantinople prison.
The saint and two of his disciples were subjected to the cruelest torments. Each one’s tongue was cut out, and his right hand was cut off. Then they were exiled to Skemarum in Scythia, enduring many sufferings and difficulties on the journey.
After three years, the Lord revaled to Saint Maximus the time of his death (August 13, 662). Three candles appeared over the grave of Saint Maximus and burned miraculously. This was a sign that Saint Maximus was a beacon of Orthodoxy during his lifetime, and continues to shine forth as an example of virtue for all. Many healings occurred at his tomb.
Saint Maximus has left to the Church a great theological legacy. His exegetical works contain explanations of difficult passages of Holy Scripture, and include a Commentary on the Lord’s Prayer and on Psalm 59, various “scholia” or “marginalia” (commentaries written in the margin of manuscripts), on treatises of the Hieromartyr Dionysius the Areopagite and Saint Gregory the Theologian. Among the exegetical works of Saint Maximus are his explanation of divine services, entitled “Mystagogia” (“Introduction Concerning the Mystery”).
The dogmatic works of Saint Maximus include the Exposition of his dispute with Pyrrhus, and several tracts and letters to various people. In them are contained explanations of the Orthodox teaching on the Divine Essence and the Persons of the Holy Trinity, on the Incarnation of the Word of God, and on “theosis” (“deification”) of human nature.
“Nothing in theosis is the product of human nature,” Saint Maximus writes in a letter to his friend Thalassius, “for nature cannot comprehend God. It is only the mercy of God that has the capacity to endow theosis unto the existing... In theosis man (the image of God) becomes likened to God, he rejoices in all the plenitude that does not belong to him by nature, because the grace of the Spirit triumphs within him, and because God acts in him” (Letter 22).
Saint Maximus also wrote anthropological works (i.e. concerning man). He deliberates on the nature of the soul and its conscious existence after death. Among his moral compositions, especially important is his “Chapters on Love.” Saint Maximus the Confessor also wrote three hymns in the finest traditions of church hymnography, following the example of Saint Gregory the Theologian.
The theology of Saint Maximus the Confessor, based on the spiritual experience of the knowledge of the great Desert Fathers, and utilizing the skilled art of dialectics worked out by pre-Christian philosophy, was continued and developed in the works of the saints that followed him.
“.... let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12: 1-2)
When our lives are filled with pain and suffering, we must look to the future to our eternal life to find hope and joy that can soothe our weary souls. Our hope and happiness must be based on looking to God and our inheritance that we will receive in this age and the age to come, which is the life of God, the eternal life. This is what Jesus did, and He was able to endure the cross because of the joy that was set before Him. We, too, must realize that the suffering we endure in this life cannot compare with the joy laid up for us in Jesus. To count all suffering as joyful, we must be able to trust God. Even if you cannot see your circumstances changing, God is working behind the scenes, and the most important thing is that he is changing you in the midst of it all to be able to receive eternal life.
For let not the mouth only fast, but also the eye, and ear, and the feet, and the hands, and all the members of our bodies. Let the hands fast, by being pure from rapine and avarice. Let the feet fast, but ceasing from running to the unlawful spectacles. Let the eyes fast, being taught never to fix themselves rudely upon handsome countenances, or to busy themselves with strange beauties. For looking is the food of the eyes, but if this be such as is unlawful or forbidden, it mars the fast; and upsets the whole safety of the soul; but if it be lawful and safe, it adorns fasting.
Middle Eastern and Pharaonic religions have mostly bequeathed to humanity the idea that eternal life is a reward from God to good people. On the other hand, eternal torment is God’s punishment for the wicked people, which will happen after the Day of Resurrection. This belief was expressed by Martha, Lazarus’ sister, who Christ raised from the dead, when she was speaking to Christ. In the Gospel of John, chapter eleven, verse twenty-five, Jesus corrected this concept with a new definition when He said to Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.” So eternal life is the participation in God’s life through Jesus Christ.
As for the second part of your question, what is the proof of the existence of the eternal life, that is, man’s participation in the life of Christ? Participation in the life of Christ bears fruits and produces a life of love, holiness, and joy in the lives of true believers. Also, some of them fulfill the revelation of Christ’s works, such as the authority over demons and releasing people from their bondages, healing the sick, and all the rest of the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
The great among the prophets, Moses, explained the fall of man in the Book of Genesis, chapter three, in a simplified pictorial story that suits all minds. By the guidance of the Holy Spirit, He gave it a symbol of paradise and the tree from which it is forbidden to eat. With this expressive image of the meaning of the fall with the words used by Moses, that is, the tree, the paradise, and the serpent, he was able to enlighten our minds to understand the true meaning and the cause of the fall of man.
In Genesis, chapter three, verse four, Satan (who symbolized him with a serpent) said to the woman: “You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Thus, we can clearly understand that the fall of man occurred because Satan tempted man with the sin of pride. The trick Satan deceived man with was to rise to God’s level through the knowledge that Satan gave him. So, it is a matter of intellectual thinking and knowledge. Man’s fall under Satan’s temptation and acceptance of his evil thoughts has led him to be mentally and intellectually subdued under Satan’s evil power.
The fall of man is mainly intellectual and mental. The actual cause of the fall is the alienation of man’s mind and thoughts from God, who is the source of goodness, lightness, and knowledge, which filled his soul, mind, and spirit with love and goodness. He accepted the deceptive thoughts of the evil one, which is the source of selfishness, pride, and superiority. He meditated on the lust for bodies which led him to think about inventions for murder and destruction. He transformed his world and civilization into a material, selfish, and consumer civilization. He employed his knowledge of evil in making the tools of crushing and destruction that destroyed this civilization. And this is what the image of man has ended up with now.
The problem of man that brought him to misery and turned him into a vicious circle is that his human existence has become unrealized. It was the civilization he had created that erased and swallowed his humanity. It used its outputs of social media, films, and communications to eliminate his inner essence by pumping this massive amount of intellectual material, images, news, and culture that distorted his wonderful image. He shifted his focus from positive and enlightened thoughts that achieved his existence and his life in love and joy to empty thoughts of no content. He became living in fear and anxiety, spinning in the wheel of life that consumes him without stopping and this is the image we see of human life everywhere. Hollywood films and collapsed family life have plunged him into this painful and bitter situation.
Hence, we can conclude that changing the reality of humanity and getting man out of the predicament of emptiness, nothingness, and selfishness in which he is taking place can only be achieved by renewing human thought and mentality. He will only achieve this by finding a different alternative source that illuminates his mind with positive and comfortable thinking that expels this sense of fear, violence, and selfishness.
Jesus Christ is the true light “ In Him was life, and the life was the light of men” (John 1:4), that came into the world to enlighten every human being who has given many and can still give to many the renewal of thought and human nature to those who accept Him with faith, “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God” (Romans 12:2.)
Lord Jesus,
We ask that you help us trust you more. Remind us that you are good even when good isn’t showing up according to our plan. Forgive us for doubting you, for worrying, and for trying so hard to work together our plans on our own. We thank you in advance for positioning us for your purpose, for carving out pathways and detours so we can step into your mighty plan to help advance your Kingdom.
We choose to believe that you are able to accomplish far more, do far greater, than we ever thought possible. You are a good Father who has a good plan and purpose laid out before us. We lean on you for your guidance and direction.
In Jesus’ Name,
Amen
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him. In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory. In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.”
• Blessed be our God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
WHY?
• BECAUSE
1- He Blessed us with every spiritual blessings IN Christ.
2- He chose us IN Christ (before the foundation of the world).
• In order for us to be able to be:
1- Holy &
2- Without blame before Him in LOVE
• HE ALSO
Predestined us to adoption as sons BY Jesus Christ TO Himself
• And this is according
1-To the good pleasure of His will,
2-To the praise of the glory of His grace,
And all this by which He made us accepted in the Beloved (JESUS).
• In Jesus Christ we have:
1- Redemption through His blood,
2- The forgiveness of sins.
• And all this is according to:
1- The riches of His grace
2-In Which He made to abound toward us
3-In all wisdom and prudence.
• Jesus having made known to us the mystery of His will,
1-According to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself,
2-That He might gather together in one all things in Christ, (both which
are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him) in the dispensation of the
fullness of the times.
• In Him we have:
1-obtained an inheritance,
(being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things
according to the counsel of His will)
2- That we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory.
• In Him you also:
3- We trusted, the gospel of your salvation “after you heard the word of
truth”
• In whom also, having believed
4-You were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise,
“who is the guarantee of our inheritance” until the redemption of the
purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.”
