Cosmic Liturgy: The Universe According to Maximus the Confessor (Communio Books)

213 Pages·2003·19.31 MB·English

by  Hans Urs von Balthasar

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HANS DRS VON BALTHASAR
Cosmic Liturgy
The Universe According to
Maximus the Confessor
Translated by
Brian E. Daley, S.].
A COMMUNIO BOOK
I ,NATIU PRES SAN FRANCISCO
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Title ofthe German original:
KosmischeLiturgie:Das We/thadMaximus' des Bekenners
Thirdedition Dedicated to Louis Bouyer
©1988 JohannesVerlag,Einsiede1n
Scripture quotations in theEnglish edition are from
the Revised Standard Version,©1946
CatholicEdition,©1965
Copyright 1946, 1952, and 1971 by the
Division of Christian Education ofthe
National Councilofthe ChurchesofChrist Thereisamongstusasetofcriticswhoseem toholdthatevery
in the United States ofAmerica
possible thoughtandimageistraditional; whohavenonotion
Usedby permission
thatthere are such thingsasfountains in theworld, smallas
well asgreat; andwhowouldtherefore charitably deriveevery
rilltheybeholdflowingfrom aperforation madeinsomeother
man's tank.
- S. T. Coleridge
Cover artby ChristopherJ.Pe1icano
Cover design by RoxanneMei Lum
©2003 IgnatiusPress,San Francisco
Allrights reserved
ISBN 0-89870-758-7
Library ofCongress ControlNumber 99-75360
Printed in the United States ofAmerica(00)
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CONTENTS
Translator's Foreword 11
Foreword to the Second Edition (1961) 23
I. INTRODUCTION 29
1. The Free Mind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
a. Opening Up the Tradition 29
b. Between Emperor and Pope 37
2. East and West 44
a. Religion and Revelation 44
b. Scholasticism and Mysticism 50
3. The Synthesis 56
a. Contents and Levels 56
b. Christ and the Synthesis 65
4. Chronology ofHis Life and Work 74
II. GOD 81
1. The Dark Radiance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
a. The Dialectic ofTranscendence 81
b. The Dialectic ofAnalogy 85
2. Divine Unknowing 91
3. A Thrice-Praised Unity 97
a. The Blighted Image . . .:. ... . ... ... . .. .. ... 97
b. Hidden Fruitfulness 103
4. Transformations ofthe One . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
a. Elements ofthe Tradition 106
b. Number and What Is Beyond 109
7
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8 COSMIC LITURGY CONTENTS 9
III. IDEAS II5 3. The Synthetic Person 235
a. Parallels in Creation 237
1. Ideas in God: A Critique ofPseudo-Dionysius 115
b. From Leontius to Maximus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240
a. The Ontological Approach II5
c. The Free Synthesis 242
b. The Epistemological Approach 122
d. Christology ofEssence and Christology ofBeing . . 246
2. Ideas and the World:A Critique ofOrigenism . . . . . . 127 e. Beyond Antioch and Alexandria 250
a. Correcting the Myth 127
4. Healing asPreservation 256
b. The Truth ofthe Myth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
a. The Exchange ofProperties 256
IV. THE SYNTHESES OF THE COSMOS 137 b. The Meaning ofthe Doctrine of Two Wills 260
c. The Drama ofRedemption 263
I. Being and Movement 137
a. "The Age" 137 5. The Syntheses ofRedemption
b. Extension 143
c. Realization and Grace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146 VII. THE SPIRITUAL SYNTHESES 277
d. Between East and West 152
I. Christian Realization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277
2. Generality and Particularity . 154
2. The Synthesis ofthe Three Faculties . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284
a. Being in Motion . 154
b. Essence in Motion . 157 3. The Synthesis ofthe Three Laws . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29I
c. A Balance ofContrary Motions . 159 a. Nature and Scripture Grounded in Christ 291
b. Relation between Natural and Biblical Law 297
3. Subject and Object 165
c. The Essential Points ofTension 30I
4. Intellect and Matter . 171 d. The Contemplation ofNature 303
a. The Macrocosm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171 e. The Scriptural Law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308
b. The Microcosm . 173 f. The Synthesis ofChrist 312
V. HUMANITY AND SIN 179 4. The Synthesis ofThree Acts ofWorship . 314
a. Ecc1esial and Sacramental Worship . 315
I. History and the Parousia . 179 b. The Worship ofMind and Spirit . 326
2. Paradise and Freedom . 180 c. The Worship ofLove . 328
3. Passivity and Decay . 185
4. Existence as Contradiction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188 5. The Synthesis ofthe Three Acts . 331
5. The Dialectics ofPassion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193 a. Action and Contemplation . 331
6. The Sexual Synthesis . 196 b. Love asUnity . 339
6. Now and Eternity 343
VI. CHRIST THE SYNTHESIS 207
a. The Centuries on Knowledge 344
I. Setting the Question . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207 b. Movement and Rest 351
2. The Terminology 216 c. Restoration 354
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10 COSMIC LITURGY
Appendix: The Problem ofthe Scholia to Pseudo-Dionysius 359 TRANSLATOR'S FOREWORD
Bibliography 389
General Index 409
Index ofCitations from Maximus' Works 4
15
To publisha translation ofalong and difficult book, now almostsixty
years old, which deals with an even more difficult, still relatively ob
scure Greek theologian ofthe seventh century, may seem to call for
somejustification.Yetto readersevenslightlyfamiliarwiththethought
ofeitherMaximusthe ConfessororHansUrsvonBalthasar,suchjusti
fication will surelybe unnecessary:vonBalthasar's CosmicLiturgy: The
Universe according to Maximus the Corfessor deserves to be considered a
classic, both because ofits ownliterarycharacter, asaworkcombining
historical interpretation with constructive argument in a way seldom
encountered today, and because ofits crucial importance in the devel
opment ofmodern scholarship's estimate ofMaximus aswell asin the
growth ofvon Balthasar's own theology.
AlthoughthegreattheologiansoftheearlyChurchexercisedastrong
influence on von Balthasar's thought throughout his life, his direct
scholarly engagement with them was mainly confined to his early ca
reer. Von Balthasar's doctoral thesis, largely completed before his en
tranceintotheSocietyofJesusin 1929, was awide-rangingstudyofthe
eschatology ofeighteenth- and nineteenth-century German romantic
literatureandphilosophy,laterpublishedin threevolumesasDieApoka
lypse derdeutschenSeele (1937-1939). In 1934, however, von Balthasar
was sent to the Jesuit faculty at Lyons/Fourviere, to study theology
in preparation for ordination as apriest. There, especially through the
influence ofHenri de Lubac, he came into contact with the revival of
patristic studies then under way, a movement that was to have a pow
erfully shapingeffect on Catholic theology, spirituality,andworshipin
the decades after World War II and that was to be one ofthe decisive
forcespreparingthewayfor the SecondVaticanCouncil. Forde Lubac
and his youngercontemporaries, thestudyofthe Fathersofferedanew
approach to the mysteryofChristiansalvation, asit is containedin the
word ofScripture and the livingtraditionofthe Church: awaylargely
free ofthe rigid intellectual confines ofthe scholasticism oftwentieth
century theological manuals, more self-consciously rooted in biblical
proclamation andliturgicalpracticeandmoreoptimisticabout the pos
sibilities ofa direct, experiential union ofthe human subject with the
I I
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12 COSMIC LITURGY TRANSLATOR'S FOREWORD 13
infinite God. Forsome ofvonBalthasar'sFrenchand Germancontem theology." In 1939, also, von Balthasarpublished an article in French
poraries, especially some ofhis young Jesuit confreres, such asJean on the religious philosophy ofGregory ofNyssa," which would be
Danielou, Claude Mondesert, Alois Grillmeier, and Heinrich Bacht, come the third andfinal section ofhis book on Gregory's philosophy,
the Catholic rediscovery ofpatristic literature in the late 1930S led to Presence etpensee, published three years later.6 In that same year, too,
scholarly careers thatwouldsetnew boundaries for textualand histor his German translation ofexcerpts from Gregory ofNyssa's commen
ical scholarship on the early Church; but even for those whose later taryon the Song ofSongs appeared, with the title Derversiegelte Quell.?
workwould be more in systematic or dogmatic theology, such asKarl Finally, 1939 saw the publication ofan important early article by von
Rahner, Otto Semmelroth, andvonBalthasarhimself, serious study of Balthasar, "Patristik, Scholastik und Wir" (The Fathers, the Scholas
the Fathers was a decisive force in freeing their thought, early in their tics, and ourselves), in which he attempted to characterize what he
careers, for fresh ways ofconceiving and formulating the heart ofthe saw as both the promise and the danger ofearly Christian Platonism
Catholic tradition. and to contrastit with the underlying premises ofscholastic and mod
Almost immediately after finishing his theological studies at Four ern views ofthe reality and value ofthe created order.8 During the
viere, von Balthasar began publishing a series of books and articles following year, as the firstfruits ofhis study ofthe work ofMaximus
on the Church Fathers that included critical textual studies and Ger Confessor, vonBalthasarpublishedapathfindingarticleon the author
man translations, as well as essays in philosophical and theological in ship ofthe earliestcommentaryonthe works ofPseudo-Dionysius the
terpretation. The focus ofhis interest was not so much the classical Areopagite: here he showed, by painstaking analysis ofthe surviving
controversies andstages in the early development ofChristian dogma, text, that most ofthis important commentary, attributed variously in
but rather patristic literature ofa more explicitly spiritual or mystical the manuscripts to Maximus and to the sixth-century scholarJohn of
character, especially the Platonizing tradition ofOrigen and his intel Scythopolis, isin fact the workofthe earlierwriterand thatMaximus'
lectual heirs. The first work he published in this field was a two-part role was mainly that ofeditor and enhancer.9
article in French, in 1936 and 1937, while he was still a student at The present book first appeared in 1941, with the title, Kosmische
Fourviere, on the notion ofmysteryin Origen; this appeared twenty Liturgie: Hohe und Krisedesgriechischen Weltbildes beiMaximus Corifessor
1
years later, with some reediting, as Parole etmystire chez Origene (Paris, (Cosmic liturgy: Apex and crisis ofthe Greek conception ofthe uni
1957). In 1938, Origenes: Geist und Peuer? appeared: an extensive an verse in Maximus Confessor).10 Von Balthasar's own translation of
thology ofpassages from Origen, which von Balthasar had not only Maximus' two hundred Chapters on Knowledge'! appeared separately
translatedbuthadarrangedthematicallyinawayintendedto evokethe the sameyear: atranslationthatpresentedthis perplexingworkasboth
systematic substructure ofOrigen's thought. The following year, von
Balthasar turned his attention to Origen's most controversial disciple,
4 "Metaphysik und Mystik des Evagrius Ponticus", Zeitschrijifiir Aszese undMystik 14
the late-fourth-century ascetical writerand speculative theologianEva
(1939): 31-47.
grius Ponticus, in two articles-one an important discussion ofbasic 5 "LaPhilosophiereligieuse de saint Gregoirede Nysse", Recherches desciencereligieuse 29
questions ofthe authenticity and scope ofthe ascetical works in the (1939): SI3-49·
Evagrian corpus," the other a briefer treatment ofEvagrius' spiritual 6 Presenceetpensee: Essaisur/aphilosophicreligieusedeGregoiredeNysse(Paris, 1942). English
translationbyMarcSebanc: PresenceandThought(San Francisco, 1995).
7 GregorvonNyssa. Derversiegelte Quell:AusZegungdes HohenLiedes(Salzburg, 1939).
BThis longand little-known article, which originally appearedin Theologie derZeit (Vi
1"LeMysteriond'Origene", Recherches desciencereligieuse 26 (1936): SI4-62; 27 (1937): erma) 3 (1939): 6S-I04, has recently appearedin a fine English translation by EdwardT.
38-64· Oakes, S).: Communio24 (1997): 34r96.
2,Origenes. GeistundFeuer: EinAujbau ausseinenSthrften(Salzburg, 1938; rev.ed., 19S2). 9 "DasScholienwerk desJohannesvonScythopolis", Scholastik: IS (1940): 16-38.
English translationbyRobert]. Daly: Origen:SpiritandFire(Washington,D.C., 1984). 10 Prciburg, 194I. AfterWorld War II,the workappearedin aFrench translation: Liturgie
3 "Die Hiera desEvagrius", Zeitschrijifiir leatholischcThe%gie63 (1939): 86- 106, 181 (osllIl1//(':Maximclc Conjesseur(Paris, 1947).
206. 11 / ie ://Mtisrlll' :mt//rim desMaxitnus Coujessor(Prciburg, 194.1).
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14 COSMIC LITURGY TRANSLATOR'S FOREWORD IS
continuationandcritiqueoftheOrigenisttraditionofspeculativetheo aspect ofits importance, first ofall, is the historical impact that it has
logy,by rearrangingtheorderofMaximus' textsandincludingparallels had on patristic studies in the second halfofthe twentieth century. As
drawn from Origen and Evagrius. By far von Balthasar's most ambi von Balthasar himselfremarks in the foreword to the second edition,
tious work on patristic theology, Kosmische Liturgie also signalled the Westernscholarship before this book hadalmost universallytended to
end ofthis early period ofvon Balthasar's activity as an interpreter of see Maximus' importance simply in terms ofhis decisive contribution
ancient theology. Two shorter collections oftranslated patristic texts to the seventh-century debate on the presence ofone or two natural
were to appear in the following two years: an anthology ofpassages wills in Christ; historians classed his other writings on the mystery of
from Augustine in 194212andanother drawnfrom lrenaeusin 1943,13 Christ and on the interpretation ofthe biblical and patristic tradition,
each with a briefintroduction. The second part ofhis later system as well as his many ascetical works, as simply the products ofa late
atic work Herrlichkeit (The Glory oftheLord) would include chapters compiler, a conscientious but unimaginative drone. After the publica
on Irenaeus,Augustine, and Pseudo-Dionysius, along with many later tion, in 1941, ofthe firsteditionofKosmischeLiturgie,and clearlyunder
thinkers,in the contextofthatwork'smuchlargertheologicalagenda.14 .its influence, patristic scholars began to look at the Confessor more
But nothing in von Balthasar's oeuvre would again compare with the seriously; they hadbeenpiqued,atleast,to curiosityby vonBalthasar's
depth,thoroughness,andoriginalityofanalysisandinterpretationgiven impassioned insistence that Maximus was not so much a compiler asa
to an early Christian theologian in Kosmische Liturgie. In 1961, von synthesizer ofearliertradition and that he had brought together many
Balthasarpublishedasecond edition ofthe work, substantiallyrevised varied strands ofChristian thought, ancient culture, and even Orien
in response to criticisms ofthe original version and drawing on the tal religious yearning with brilliant and fruitful originality. A glance
resultsofpostwar scholarship for a number ofhistorical issues; in par at the new bibliographywe have included with this translation ofthe
ticular, thissecond editionmodified the theory, expressedin the origi work reveals the massive expansion ofinterest in Maximus since the
nal text, that Maximus had undergone a "crisis"-inthe senseboth of late 1940s, and the recognition,alongwith vonBalthasar, that he is an
challenge and ofdiscernment-in his espousal ofOrigenist theology authorwithimportantand illuminatingthingsto sayonmanydifferent
and had noticeably moved away from the thinking ofOrigen in his aspects ofthe Christianmystery. This interest still goes on, despite the
mature works. This change ofemphasis on von Balthasar's part, due obvious difficulty, even opacity,ofMaximus' thought, and despite the
in large part to the arguments ofDom Polycarp Sherwood and Endre fact that many ofhis most important works are still without modern
von Ivanka in theirstudies ofMaximus publishedin the 1950Sbutalso translations. Von Balthasar'sbook stands as the fountainhead and con
to a nuancing ofhis own views ofOrigen and the Platonic element tinuing inspiration ofmodern Maximus scholarship.
in early Christian theology, can even be seen in the altered title of Secondly, although KosmischeLiturgieisastudy ofthebroadlines and
the (1961) second edition: it was now simply Kosmische Liturgie: Das implications ofMaximus' theology,it also offers an importantperspec
Weltbild Maximus des Bekenners (Cosmic Liturgy: The Universe according tive on the earlyformation ofvon Balthasar'sown thought. Many fea
J
toMaximustheConfessor). It is this second editionthat I have translated tures ofvonBalthasar'smature theological style are alreadyperceptible
here. [A third printing was done in 1988.] here,in his presentationofMaximus: his insistence that the heartofall
At thebeginningofthe twenty-firstcentury, it seems fair to askwhat Christian understanding ofthe world, history, and God is the person
gives this early work ofvon Balthasar's its claim to lastingvalue. One and life ofChrist, encountered in its fullness in the Paschal Mystery;
his frequent allusion to the "dramatic" and "tragic" character ofthe
12AureliusAugustinus:DasAntlitz derKirche (Einsiedeln, 1942). history ofcreation before God; his stress on analogy as fundamental
13 lrendus,GedulddesReifens:DiechristlicheAntwortaufdenMythusdes2.}ahrhrmderts(Basel, to a correctunderstanding ofcreatedbeing, and his vision ofparadox,
1~3)·
ofthe "coincidence ofopposites", as a central pattern of both Chris
14 Herrlichkeit:einetheologischeAstlletik,vol.2: FdtherderStile,pt.I: KlcrlkaleStile(Einsicdcln,
tian soteriology and Christian ontology. Even von Balthasar's cultural
1962; zd ed., 1969); English translation: The Gloryojtlu:Lord:A Th"o!.(~icalAesthetics, vol.
2: Studiesill Thcologica!Style,pt. I: ClericalStvlrs(San Francisco, 1911,1). breadth, his t.nden y-so striking in his mature works-to draw on
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16 COSMIC LITURGY TRANSLATOR'S FOREWORD 17
classical and modern European literature, on music and the theater, enterprise.IS In 1941 and even in 1961, von Balthasar's concern was
for parallels and elucidating categories in theological explanation, is al to find in the Catholic dogmatic tradition-in patristic thought, but
readypresent here. In this book, von Balthasarhas begun, for the first also in the Thomist tradition, as seen through the lenses ofJoseph
time on a large scale, to develop the rhetorical instruments and intel Marechal and Erich Przywara-an intelligent and convincing answer
lectual strategies that will become the trademarkofhis way ofwriting to the seductive call ofGerman idealism to let the concrete reality of
theology. creation dissolve into beingnothing more than the phenomena experi
A third reasonfor the lastingimportance ofKosmischeLiturgie, in my encedby the thinkinghumansubject. Evenin his readingofMaximus,
opinion, is the fact that it represents an unusual and risky, but fasci von Balthasar's questions are the questions ofHegel, and his answers
natingly suggestive, wayofdealingwith the thought ofother ages and those ofa christologically focused version ofthe philosophia and the
cultures. Von Balthasarwrites here, not asa historian, but asa theolo ologia perennis: the real distinction between essence and existence, the
gian who turns to his historical forebears for instruction. Clearly, he analogies ofbeing and offaith, the resolution ofthe inherent tension
has read the works ofMaximus, exhaustively and sympathetically, in between finite and infinite being in the personal unity of Christ, as
all thebaroque densityoftheirlanguageandinall the formidable com expressed in the formula ofthe Council ofChalcedon.
plication oftheir argument; clearly, too, he is constantly concerned to In his valuable andinsightfulbook onvonBalthasar'suse ofpatristic
fit Maximus into the longer stream ofGreek patristic thought and the theology, WernerLoser characterized the intellectual axis ofKosmische
continuing theological tradition ofthe Church-to see and point out Liturgie in the following way:
connections, to plot the outlines ofhis intellectual context. Yet von
Von Balthasar developed his view ofthe importance ofthe Confessor
Balthasar's interest is,just as clearly, notto be a detached observer of
within the horizon ofpatristic thought but also in the broadest possible
Maximus in his own milieu, patiently trying to reconstruct the man
context ofthe history ofthought.He considersthis possible, because he
and his thought from the bewildering mass ofevidence we possess; it
begins with the assumption that there is, in thefinal analysis, one single
is to be acritic ofwhathe sees asMaximus' excesses, butevenmore to
question for human thought at every time and in every place: whether,
be an advocate, an impassionedpromoterofthe syntheticviewofGod and under what conditions, the world can be affirmed in allits finitude.
and creation that he perceives in this seventh-century scholastic and As is evident here, the value that von Balthasar attaches to the work of
monk, precisely because he sees there many elements ofthe theolog a thinker is ultimatelydetermined by his answer to this question.16
ical synthesis he hopes to offer to his own world. In so many details
Putanotherway, theunderlyingissueforvonBalthasarin his attempt
ofMaximus' thought-his Christocentrism, his fascination with di
to interpretthe thoughtofMaximus the ConfessoristhewayMaximus
alectics, his focus on the distinctive ontology ofcreatedbeing, perhaps
and the tradition before him understand the relationship ofthe finite,
even his stylistic intensity and linguistic complication-von Balthasar
created being ofthe world and all its inhabitants, including man, to
seems to have found signs ofa kindred spirit.
the infinite, transcendent being ofGod and to the universal categories
The dangers inherent in this kind ofhistorical-theological study are
ofknowledge and truth that are rooted in God's own intelligence. For
obvious. Even scholars willing to acknowledge the magnitude and in
terpretive brilliance ofthis book, especially in reviews ofits second
"Sec Polycarp Sherwood,O.S.B., "SurveyofRecentWorkon Saint Maximus the Con
editionin 1961, suggestedweaknessesinvonBalthasar'sapproach:the
l"ssm", Traditio20 (1964): 428-37, esp.433f
questions he asksofMaximus are modernquestions, set by thepeculiar "./1/1 Ceiste des Origenes: Hans Urs von Balthasarals Interpret der Theologie derKinhenvdter,
situationofFrenchandGermanCatholictheologyin themid-twentieth h .uikfurter Theologische Studien, 23 (Frankfurt, 1976), 21I (translation mine; italics in
century; and the picture ofMaximus he draws is, in the end, an incor tlu-original). For Loser's whole discussion ofKosmische Liturgic, see ibid., 181-215. Von
II,Jltllasar's critique ofwhat heseesasthe tendency in many ofthe Fathersto overlook the
poration ofsubstantial and authentic elements ofMaximus' thought
V.JlII"and autonomyofthe created order in its relationship to God is developed at some
into the proportions and shadings of von Balthasar's own theological 1"IIgll1illthe articlementionedabove (n.8)."TheFathers, theScholastics,andOurselves".
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18 COSMIC LITURGY TRANSLATOR'S FOREWORD 19
von Balthasar,the ever-present danger is a gnosis, an idealism,that re "school" of christological interpretation in the fourth and fifth cen
fuses to take seriously and to value reverently the finite, ontologically turies-basedlargely on the pro-Antiochene revisionism ofa number
dependent concrete reality ofindividual material things-a danger he ofCatholic patristic scholars in the I950s-needs to be rethought, as
sees in the Origenist tradition ofearly Christianity as well asin Neo well: today it seems clearer that the real concern ofthe Antiochenes
platonism and in German idealism. The right approach, in his view, in their Christology was not to defend the full humanity of Christ
can be found in the cosmic sacramentalism ofPseudo-Dionysius, in so much as to prevent the transcendence ofGod from being compro
the scholastic Christology ofsuch sixth-century authors as Leontius misedbytoo close aninvolvementin humanhistory. Correspondingly,
ofByzantium, and-mostfully developed-in the synthetic system of manyscholarstodaymightwantto give amorepositiveappreciationof
Maximus Confessor. At its heart, this approach is an affirmation ofa Cyril ofAlexandria's theological breadth and sophistication than von
paradoxicalunityofontological opposites, rootedin the Chalcedonian Balthasarsuggests.VonBalthasar'sunderstandingofthetortuous chris
understandingofthe PersonofChrist-''oneindividualorpersonsub tological debates ofthe sixth century, and ofwhat is today sometimes
sistingin two natures, without confusion or change, without division called "Neo-Chalcedonianism", also needs to be revised in a num
or separation". It is only this personal presence ofthe infinite God in ber ofdetails.And his interpretation ofMaximus himselfseems, curi
ourworldasahumanindividual, andourown potentialpersonalunity ously, to neglect the influence ofthe Cappadocian Fathers, especially.
with God through and in him, as we walk his way, that can keep us Gregory Nazianzen and Gregory ofNyssa, on the shape ofMaximus'
from regarding the world as simply the extension ofour own minds, thought. On the other hand, von Balthasar's insistence on the ortho
the playground ofour own ideologies, or the mirror ofour own lim doxy and the fundamentally ChristianinspirationofPseudo-Dionysius
itations and vices. wouldfindgrowingechoestoday,particularlyin theworkofAlexander
It is,asIhave said, clearlyariskybusinessto approachtheworks ofa Golitzin, afterseveral decadesin which the predominantinterpretation
thinker from another age and culture with such a clear-cut intellectual was to link Dionysius resolutely with anti-Chalcedonian Christology
and theological agenda. Kosmische Liturgie, in my opinion, succeeds as and Neoplatonist philosophy.
historicalinterpretationmore than vonBalthasar's otherworks on the In the end, the real value ofthis book seems to be that it presents
Church Fathers simplybecause Maximus does, in fact, lend himselfto us with a powerful, attractive, religiously compelling portrait ofthe
this kind of reading much more readily than do Origen or Gregory thought ofamajorChristiantheologian who might, butfor this book,
of Nyssa. Maximus was interested in questions of ontology, and in have remainedonly an obscure namein the handbooks ofpatrology.It
the metaphysics ofthe Person ofChrist, far more than either ofthose is surely not the only portrait possible, and it certainly reflects aspects
earlier writers; his theological method, strongly influenced (through ofthe painter's own intellectual physiognomy to a degree that even a
Leontius ofByzantium and his contemporaries) by the sixth-century postmodern critic may find disturbing. Nonetheless, it is a plausible
scholasticism ofthe Neoplatonic commentators on Aristotle, shows portrait, based on an intelligent and careful reading ofMaximus' own
more obvious links to both Thomism and Germanidealismthan does writings, andone thatissuperblycalculatedto drawthe readerinto the
that ofthe earlier, more exegetically and pastorally oriented represen central issues ofChristian thought and Christian witness in our own
tatives ofthe Origenist tradition. age. Herethehistoryoftheologyhasbecomeitselfawayoftheological
Understandably, von Balthasar's interpretation ofMaximus and his reflection.
roots can be regarded as dated in a number ofways. His understand It seems appropriate to say a few words here about the principles I
ing of Origen's own thought-always a complex area-needs to be have followed in making this translation. Basically, I have attempted
revised in the light ofthe work ofmore recent interpreters, such as to be as faithful as possible to both the content and the style ofthe
Henri Crouzel; his identification ofsixth-century Origenismwith the German text, as it appearsin its second edition of1961. Some ofvon
Monophysite wing ofthe christological controversiesafter Chalcedon Balthasar'slong,sinuoussentences havehad to be divided andreshaped
also needs to be revised. Von Balthasar's reading of the Antiochene in the inter.st ofintelligibility: English obviously does not lend itself