St Maximus the Confessor - Two Hundred Chapters on Theology | Patristic Christian Philosophy and Spiritual Wisdom | Orthodox Church Fathers Writings on Ascetic Life and Cosmology

Popular Patristics Series #53

by Maximus the Confessor, Luis Joshua Salés, John Behr (Editor)

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 coming 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.

Genres: Theology, Christianity, Religion, Christian, Nonfiction, Church History

188 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 633

About the author

Maximus the Confessor (Greek: Μάξιμος ὁ Ὁμολογητής) also known as Maximus the Theologian and Maximus of Constantinople (c. 580 – 13 August 662) was a Christian monk, theologian, and scholar.

In his early life, Maximus was a civil servant, and an aide to the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius. However, he gave up this life in the political sphere to enter into the monastic life. Maximus had studied diverse schools of philosophy, and certainly what was common for his time, the Platonic dialogues, the works of Aristotle, and numerous later Platonic commentators on Aristotle and Plato, like Plotinus, Porphyry, Iamblichus, and Proclus. 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. However, his theology was upheld by the Third Council of Constantinople and he was venerated as a saint soon after his death. He is almost unique among saints in that he has two feast days: the 13th of August and the 21st of January. His title of Confessor means that he suffered for the Christian faith, but was not directly martyred. The Life of the Virgin is commonly, albeit mistakenly, attributed to him, and is considered to be one of the earliest complete biographies of Mary, the mother of Jesus.

Reviews

[Joel Whitson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is not what you expect if you’re hoping for a Systematic Theology. Instead, what you get is Maximus saying what Maximus loves: unity and distinction in the Trinity, asceticism is good, be refined and purified and illuminated. Become who humanity was created to be.

A few bits and bobs where Maximus says things in THE most complicated way (ex. “And the same whole is the Father, and is in the whole Father and the whole Father is in the same whole, and the whole Father is the same whole. And the same whole is the Son, and is in the whole Son and the whole Son is in the same whole, and the whole Son is the same whole. And the same whole is the Holy Spirit, and is in the whole Holy Spirit and the whole Holy Spirit is in the same whole, and the whole Holy Spirit is the same whole. … Therefore, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are one God.”)

[Jacob Aitken · Rating 4 out of 5]

So the question of the hour is “How does this work compare to Maximus’s other treatment in Cosmic Mystery of Jesus Christ? Cosmic Mystery deals primarily with Maximus’s anti-Origenist polemic and his treatment of the two wills of Christ. This work certainly touches on those issues, but not directly. Luis Sales does a fine intro to this rather advanced work on theology. In doing so,

Sales clarifies key Maximian terms and suggests a unifying theme: the two ages. Tantum...quantum (hoson...tosouton). The two ages refer to a single, unifying movement of divine condescension. Human and divine experiences interweave the fabrics of space/time (Sales 26).
Maximus’s Two Ages: one age leads to Incarnation; the other to human deification. Yet they aren’t meant to stay apart. They interweave into one movement.

This work also deals more heavily with the doctrine of God proper. God is beyond substance, potentiality, and actuality (Maximus I.2). God isn’t substance. He causes substance. Further, it touches on the relation of God to thought: Since All thought contains plurality, “since there is a mediating relationship between the two specific extremes” (1.82)., and God is simple, then God is beyond thought (2.2).

The book ends with a beautiful section on the consummation of the Ages. Origen is wrong because we can’t fall into another age once we reach stasis with God because God is beyond, indeed even “preceding” those ages. Origen posits stasis, kinesis, genesis. Maximus says this won’t hold because it assumes that God is incapable of satisfying every desire, thus a fall. Therefore, we have instead Becoming, Movement, Rest.

Should you get this work? Yes, but perhaps not right away. You should definitely read St Gregory and Pseudo-Dionysius beforehand, or much of Maximus will be lost on you. This is theology at the highest level.

[Readius Maximus · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an outstanding and divinely inspired book. It has to be the perfect synthesis of Plato and Aristotle ever written and achieves a degree of success impossible by philosophy alone.

While being supremely theological as well as philosophical it is also a great ascetic work and explains what the life of a monk is all about in a very clear way.

Why I think it is the best answer to modern materialism and an absolute must read though is the spiritual and mystical movement upwards. Understanding the Sabbath as a day of rest from our vices and material preoccupations so that we can contemplate on the God's divine nature which is incomprehensible for us with our natural reason. We can only reach God by stripping away all our passions and materiality's and lowering our self so God can lift our spirit up into the heavens and give us understanding. In the introduction it says St. Maximus gives a cosmic vision which portrays the paradox of God's hiddenness in his revelation and his revelation in his hiddenness.

Saint Maximus also gives very helpful symbolical translations of several things that really helps to teach one how to think and see symbolically.

I really enjoyed his aphorism writing style which is perfect for what he is writing about and it is beyond hilarious to see presumably Western Christians probably Catholics complaining in reviews that it's not a systematic theology. It's just as out of touch as the woke complaining that past writers are not diverse or feminist enough.

In reading this it becomes clear that modern scientific materialism is the most satanic worldview possible.

1.61 Details the hierarchy of existence using the burial shroud as an example of the logoi lining up with the logos and pointing towards Got in his intelligibility.

1.86 Virtue as a perspective.

2.2 God is beyond thought.

2.5 The formlessness of thought in contemplation of God.

2.41 A focus on sensory perception leads to complete ignorance of God.

2.83 Having the mind of Christ.

2.91 The Kingdom of God is at hand is not talking about time but having a disposition towards God as the Kingdom of God is within us.

[Hayden Mills · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall, a great look into the theology of Maximus. He is convinced of allegorical interpretation of Scripture, so brushing up on this method before reading would be very helpful. The only difficulty in my mind with this work is its lack of organization. Many of the "chapters" seemed tenuously connected to the content before and after.

If you're looking for Maximus's take on allegory, aesthetic life, anthropology, theosis, theology proper, etc, this is the book for you.

[Matt Pitts · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ve struggled to get into Maximus for some reason. This work was not what I was expecting…it’s not really systematic or even noticeably ordered in a particular way most of the time (and the introduction acknowledges this). So this is definitely not the place I would recommend anyone to start in reading this series or even the later Greek fathers - for that I would recommend John of Damascus On the Orthodox Faith.

[Reese Avery · Rating 5 out of 5]

Essential stuff right here.

[Brad · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am trying to read the entire Popular Patristics Series. This volume did not disappoint. Odds are...you will hate Maximus the Confessor. His writing doesn't fit our paradigm. At all.

Moreover, it is difficult to read. So, don't skip the introduction by Luis Joshua Sales. It helps.

Here are some major topics in the work with quotations:

God-ness and Creation-ness

“God is one, without first principle, incomprehensible, throughout being the total potentiality of being; he excludes absolutely the concept of temporal or qualified existence, since inaccessible to everyone and not discernible to any being as a result of natural reflection.” (Page 43)

Divine Simplicity and Cosmic Plurality

“One of the centerpieces of the Confessor’s Chapters is the juxtaposition of divine simplicity and cosmic plurality. Any being is inherently manifold, even including the cognitive capacities, which are by nature at least a duality, as explained in 1.82 and 1.83. This is why Maximus furthers the Dionysian tradition of “unknowing” as a way to experience the divine, since it is solely by progress in the cultivation of passivity in the noetic faculties that one can ultimately render oneself passive to the divine. This theme develops the radical transcendence of the divine mentioned above by adding a qualified sense in which it is possible to experience it.” (Intro – Page 30)

Spiritual Readings

“The grace of the New Testament is mystically hidden in the letter of the Old; thus, the Apostle says that “the Law is spiritual.” The Law, consequently, although in the letter it ages and grows old when not being practiced, nevertheless in the spirit it constantly grows young, being energized. For grace is absolutely unaging.” (Page 97)

Experiencing the Word

“Such contemplations allow the human to transcend all things after God49 by seeing the Logos of God within them.” (Intro – Page 32)

Asceticism and Virtue

I can’t stand ascetical works like this one. His blind spots are annoying, and I obviously don’t have any.

But read this:

“He who divinely has completed the sixth day in himself with presentable deeds and thoughts, and who with God rightly has concluded his deeds, has transcended in his understanding every subsisting thing subject to nature and time and has transposed himself into the mystical contemplation of the ages and eternal things. He is keeping the Sabbath not knowing with his mind, in the total abandonment and transcendence of beings. And he who has also been deemed worthy of the eighth resurrects from the dead, I mean, from all things after God, sense-perceptible and intelligible, words and thoughts, and lives the blessed life of God—since he is both called and is life in the true and proper sense—so much so that he even becomes God by deification.” (Page 75)

Theosis

“Like most of Maximus’ works, the Chapters on Theology provides a vision of deification of substantial complexity. Developing themes already seen in the Ambigua to John and the Questions to Thalassius, the Chapters on Theology is perhaps distinguished by the intricacy with which it interweaves scriptural hermeneutics, the natural energies of humans, the Aristotelian metaphysical divisions of nature, and deification.” (Intro - Page 34)

God’s Home

“Finally, one of the key themes—the one with which the Confessor chooses to close the work—is the multi-level interpretation whereby humans are said to be the “dwelling place of God.”58 The idea is an expansion on deification by clarifying what it means that humans are the body of Christ, the temple of the Spirit, etc.” (Intro - Page 35)

“God is the sun of righteousness, as is written,16 shining his rays of goodness simply on everyone; but the soul by its natural capacity becomes in character either wax when God-loving or clay when matter-loving. Consequently, just as clay by nature is dried by the sun, yet wax is naturally softened, so also every matter-loving and world-loving soul, being admonished by God yet molding itself in character after clay, is hardened; and it thrusts itself, like Pharaoh,17 toward destruction. But every God-loving soul is softened as wax, and letting in both the impressions and characteristics of divine traits, it becomes “by the Spirit the dwelling place of God.” (Page 49-51)

Kingdom

“2.91 The passage, “The kingdom of heaven has drawn near,”339 does not mean, as I take it, the contraction of time: For it “does not come with warning, nor will they say: Look it is here, look it is there!”340 Rather, it is about the dispositional relationship with those worthy of it: “For the kingdom of God,” it says, “is within you.” (Ἡ γὰρ βασιλεία τοῦ Θεοῦ, φησίν, ἐντὸς ὑμῶν ἐστιν)

2.92 The kingdom of God the Father is in potentiality in all those who believe, but in actuality in those who have altogether thrust away from their disposition all life of soul and body according to nature and attain only the life of the spirit, those able to say, “And I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.”

2.93 Some say that the kingdom of heaven is the transferal of the worthy to the heavens; others, a condition of the saved similar to that of the angels; yet others, the form itself of the divine beauty of those who carry the image of the heavenly man. And the three opinions concerning this matter harmonize with the truth, as it seems to me. For the future grace is given to all in proportion to the justice—its quality and quantity—that is in them.” (Pages 172-175)

Buy a copy for yourself and a friend.

B. Grizenko

Ages 20+

[Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

Edifying. I loved having the Greek text on one side.

[Colm Alton · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ve been hearing a few YouTubers mention maximus the confessor and was intrigued to start reading his writings. I found reading this book very fascinating. I love some of the different sayings maximus had to teach about the realities of being a Christian and growing further as a Christian. This book highlighted to me the importance of moral purity in order to receive deeper revelation of God. However, some of the hermeneutics were strange to me. Instead of maximus looking at the plain meaning of some biblical texts, he employed a very mystical interpretation which seemed very far fetched. But overall, an interesting read even with some confusing interpretations.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

In some ways this book was mindblowing and groundbreaking for me. In other ways it went way over my head. At times it is downright weird. Do yourself a favour and hangout with the intellect from the east who rivals Aquinas.

[Luke Eshleman · Rating 5 out of 5]

As always, reading St. Maximus the Confessor is as thrilling as it is challenging. This is not easy reading, but it is worth the journey.

[John Simon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just read this so that if I get seated with the dyothelites in heaven I can have something to talk to them about.

[Greg Hoskins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Indeed mystical.

[Gavin Gortner · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite patristic writings I’ve read so far.

[Solomon Svehla · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent work from Maximus. So many great sections. Having the Greek and English together was excellent, though it showed the translator to have made some odd choices, as in 2.99 where he renders “των θειων δικαιωματων” as “divine retribution.”

[Chandler Collins · Rating 5 out of 5]

This work took two reads to appreciate the density and richness of Maximus’s theological writing style. As the translator notes in the introduction to this work, English “translation” of Maximus’s work is a near impossibility. Maximus exhibits his elite biblical, philosophical, and patristic education in all of his writing, but it is funny to note that he did not believe he had a good writing style or prose. Perhaps that is a fair self-assessment, but he was extremely well-versed in philosophical terminology—specifically Aristotelian and Neoplatonic concepts. The introduction to this work is excellent and essential to grasping the key themes and context of the work. It was written before the monoenergist controversy in Carthage probably around 632-633. There are significant connections in this work to his Ad Thalassium as well. These chapters pick up threads from Ad Thalassium and Ambigua. The work is divided up into two centuries. The two hundred chapters may also be referred to as century. The first century or 100 chapters represent incarnation. The second century of 100 chapters represents deification.

These chapters are a quest to find God in all things, and all things in God.

This work is an excellent summation of Maximus’s theological vision as he treats the otherness of God, the significance of incarnation, doing theology through spiritual interpretation of Scripture, as well as cutting off the vices in the pursuit of contemplation of God. These were the key themes that stood out to me.

To capture the density, complexity, and patristic faithfulness of Maximus’s thought, here is his rather unique reflection on the Trinity:

2.1: “God is one, because divinity is one: a unity without first principle, simple, and beyond substance, both inseparable and indivisible. The same is unity and Trinity: the same is a whole unity and the same is a whole Trinity, a whole unity in respect of substance, a whole Trinity in respect of persons. For the divinity is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and the divinity is in the Father, and in the Son, and in the Holy Spirit. The same whole is in the whole Father and the whole Father is in the same whole; and the same whole is in the whole Son and the whole Son is in the same whole; and the same whole is in the whole Holy Spirit and the whole Holy Spirit is in the same whole. The same whole is the Father, and is in the whole Father and the whole Father is in the same whole, and the whole Father is the same whole. And the same whole is the whole Son, and the same whole is in the whole Son, and the whole Son is the same whole, and the Son is in same the whole. And the same whole is the Holy Spirit, and in the whole Holy Spirit, and the whole Holy Spirit is the same whole, and the whole Holy Spirit is in the same whole. For the divinity is neither in the Father in part, nor is the Father in part God; neither is the divinity in part in the Son, nor is the Son in part God; neither is the divinity in the Holy Spirit in part, nor is the Holy Spirit in part God. For the divinity is neither separable, nor are the Father, the Son, or the Holy Spirit imperfect God; but the same whole is perfect perfectly in the perfect Father; and the same whole is perfect perfectly in the perfect Son; and the same whole is perfect perfectly in the perfect Holy Spirit. For the whole Father is perfectly in the whole Son and in the Spirit; and the whole Son is perfectly in the whole Father and in the Spirit; and the whole Spirit is perfectly in the whole Father and in the Son. Therefore, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are one God. For the substance, potentiality, and actuality of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are one and the same, since none of them is or is thought without the other.”

[Stuart · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Popular Patristics Series from St. Vladimir's Seminary Press is one of the most readable and accurate series of early Christian literature available to this day. It contains works from Sts. Athanasius, Basil the Great, Gregory of Nazianzus, Ignatius of Antioch, and John Chrysostom just to name a few. Today, I am going to tell you about one of the latest volumes entitled Two Hundred Chapters on Theology by St. Maximus the Confessor. It is Volume 53 in the series.

The book begins with a biography of St Maximus, but states that accurate biographical information is hard to come by. What we do know is that he was born around 580 A.D. and he was probably part of Constantinople's aristocracy. The Two Hundred Chapters were written between 628 and 630 with themes that include limitations of Creation; mystical contemplations of Scripture; and asceticism. The Chapters in this book contain Greek on one side and an English translation on the opposite page, which is especially handy for those who want to read the original text. The Chapters are also not we would think of as chapters, but short paragraphs whose messages have varying degrees of depth. I would now like to provide a few brief quotes to show you St. Maximus' wisdom.

"The wise man, when teaching and being taught, wills only to be taught and to teach profitable things; but he who would appear wise, hen asking and being asked, propounds only rather pretentious statements."

"A 'heart' is 'pure' that represents its recollections as altogether formless and shapeless before God and stands ready to be imprinted with his characteristics alone, through which he naturally becomes manifest."

These are two of the shorter and more straightforward Chapters. There are other, which are both longer and deeper in content. If you would like to read the words of a great saint, in little paragraph bites, I recommend this book. With 200 Chapters, you will have enough to get you through a little over half of the year with enough time to go back to some of the meatier ones and chew on them a little longer and extract all the spiritual nutrients they contain.

[Christian Proano · Rating 5 out of 5]

A different perspective, amazing reading.