Byzantine Gospel: Maximus the Confessor in Modern Scholarship

273 Pages·1994·1.81 MB·English

by  Aidan Nichols

BYlANTINE GOSPEL
.Maximus the Confessor in
Modern Scholarship
Aidan Nichols ().P.
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First Published 1993
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Preface
Thefollowingstudymakesnoclaimtooriginality.Itisessentially
asynthesisoftheEuropeanscholarshipwhichhasaccumulated
around the figure ofMaxirnus the Confessor in the course of
thelasttwenty-fiveyears.BothOrthodoxandCatholictheology,
in ContinentalEurope,makeevergreateruseoftheinsightsof
thisearlyByzantine theologian. He isincreasinglyregardedas
thegiantoftheGreektradition, to becompared,astheauthor
of its classical statement, only with Thomas Aquinas in the
Latin West. Although one outstanding student ofMaximus,
LarsThunberg, isSwedish, his workwas published in English,
thanksto thegoodofficesofCanonA.M.Allchin,nowWarden
of St Theosevia I-Iouse, Oxford. Otherwise, all the major
monographs are in languages other than English - though
the first large-scaleAmerican study appeared from the Notre
DameUniversityPressin 1991.i\1yaimhasbeen to providethe
English-speakingreaderwith a reliable guide to aselection of
these 'majormonographs', chosen - and commented on
in such a way that they provide a cornprehensive overview of
Maximus' theology: a 'Byzantine Gospel'. At the same time,
sufficientprimary texts have been included to give the reader
a sense of Maximus' powers both as a summariser of the
previous tradition, and as an original theologian in his own
right. In both capacities he deserves to be remembered, and
better known.
Blackfriars
Cambridge
Peas: ofStCrrego?y theGreat, 1992

Contents
.Preface IX
1. Background, Life, Work
2. Vittorio Croce on Maximus' Theological Method 24
3. Pierre Piret on the Trinity and Christology
in Maxirnus' Thought 64
on
4. Michel van Esbroeck Maximus' Mariology 111
5. Lars Thunberg and Alain Riou on World and
Church in Maximus 120
6. LarsThunberg on Maxirnus' Doctrine ofMan 158
7. Juan-M'iguel Garrigues on Maxirnian Soteriology 196
Conclusion' 216
Appendix: The Rediscovery ofMaxirnusr A Brief
History ofMaxirnian Scholarship 221
Bibliography 253
Index ofNames 261

1
Background, Life, Work
J.
When did Byzantium begin? ~1. Hussey, in her The Orthodox
C;hUTChin theByzantineEmpirehasIittle'hesiration in placingthe
truebeginningoftheByzantinepolity.notwith thefoundation,
onthesiteoftheancientByzanlion,ofthecityofConstantinople
as capital of the eastern, and senior, half of t.he Christian
H..oman ernpireybutwith t.he aftermath ofwhat she terms the
'seventh century watershed".' If true, then Maximus the
Confessor, who was nineteen years ofage when that century
i·opened, lived at a time of momentous importance in the
development ofEuropean Christian civilisat.ion.
j
j Why does Hussey attach so much weight to the seventh
century? In the first place, the rise of Mohammed and the
victoriesofIslaIIIin thesouthandeastcontractedtheboundaries
ofChristendom in a dramatic way while also bringing a fresh
religious challenge. Secondly, the arrival ofthe Slavs on the
border of Byzantium, and their acceptance ofChristianity,
broughtacornpensating~enlargernentandenrichment' to the
Christian family." Thirdly, the falling of those great cultural
and theological centres 'of early Christ.ianity Antioch and
Alexandria under the Muslimyoke gave a newprominence to
theseeofRome,which,withitsveneratedtombsoftheInartyr
apostles Peterand Paulwasthe apostolicseeparexcellence-as
well as to the claims of Constantinople to share in the
1].M. Hussey. TheOrthodoxChurchin theB)'7.tlJ1tineEmpire(Oxford 1986), p.9.
2Ibid" p. 10.
2 Byzantine Gospel
prerogatives of the 'elder Rome' as Nea Riima, 'New R.0I11e,
Romeredioiuus. Fortunately,asHusseypointsout,theernperors
ofByzantium in this periodwere ofsufficientcalibre to rise to
theprincipaldemandswhichanewsituationthusplacedupon
them, above all in the administrative reform oftheir polity, its
institutional reinvigoration.
Drawingon traditionsboth Christian and Roman-imperial,
the earlyByzantinestate had a capacity to induce respectand
evenawe whichmatchedtheformidable problems- military,
administrativeandeconomic- thatfaced it in thisperiod.As
J.
F. Haldan haswritten:
\The political systenl, with its formal ideology and its
.assumption of God-given jurisdiction, provided a focus
for unity in a culturally, linguistically and economically
diverseworld,inawaythatfewautocracieshavesucceeded
in doing."
But there was, as the same author points out, a 'price to be
paid': open criticism ofthe manner in which the emperor's
guidance of the oikoumene functioned, notably in its most
delicate aspect- the religious, was a dangerous proceeding.
Not the least of the problems which faced the Byzantine
rulingelitesatthestartoftheseventhcenturywasthecontinuing
crisis over theological doctrine, endemic since the earliest
yearsoftheChristianempirebutpresentin anespeciallyacute
formsincetheCouncilofChalcedon,451, 'unreceived'as this
was bythe nU111CrOUSdie-hardCyrillians,oryetmore extreme
christological 'high Churchrnen': the devotees of the
Monophysite I110Ven1entin Syria, Egypt and Constantinople
itself. The effort to find some doctrinal instrument which
wouldreconciletheMonophysitesto Chalcedon,oratanyrate
would bring them back into the fold ofthe imperial Church
without alienating Chalcedon's own fervent supporters, not
least in the West, dominated the ecclesiastical policy of the
EasternernperorsfromthetimeofZeuo'sHenotikonor·Proposal
]. F.Haldon, Byzantium in t!lfSruenth Century, Tht'Transformation oja Culture
(Cambridge 1990),p. 23.