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Popular Patristics Series #59
On the Ecclesiastical Mystagogy
Popular Patristics Series Volume 59 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."
Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 650
About the author
Maximus the Confessor
37 books96 followersMaximus 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
May 10, 2021
Really interesting. Maximus has some wonderful reflections on the continuity of the Creator’s craftsmanship. It’s understandable that moderns would tisk as his reflections on how the world, body, soul, cosmos, human being, marriage, and church all relate symbolically as poetic licentiousness or fruitless speculation. But I prefer to see it as an exercise in consistent contemplation: Maximus really does believe that the Triune God is behind it all—that all things are from and through and to him.
September 23, 2024
This book absolutely blew me away. In it Maximus expounds the ultimate reality of the Church and its perichoresis with God, the cosmos, man, and the soul of man. He then examines the symbolic significance of the various elements of the liturgy and how the liturgy functions to work "the same things and in the same way as God does around us, as an image relates to its archetype." (53) The result, for me, was wonder at how God has brilliantly orchestrated the cosmos to be recapitulated in Christ through the Church.
March 1, 2023
Difficult but profound
This is the first and only piece of Maximus’ work that I’ve read. As a biblical scholar I’m way out of my depth in this type of writing.
However, let me say that from my perspective and basic grasp of Maximus, this was a profound read. Difficult, because it’s old and as such stylistically unfamiliar, but worth the effort.
Armstrong offers a good intro (to the work and Maximus), the English translation, and then the Greek text. All very helpful (although if the publisher were to have offered the Greek on opposing panels from the translation this would have been much more useful.
It you take your time with On the Ecclesiastical Mystagogy you’ll find some beautiful explorations of what he sees as happening in the church gathering for Eucharist. It’ll likely stretch someone unfamiliar with a mystical approach to church, but if you’re looking for a reading of a church gathering that observes it through an ‘enchanted’ lens (cf Charles Taylor) then this is good text.
For what it’s worth, his line about how saying the “our Father” deems you worthy is probably the best thing you’ll read this year.
This is the first and only piece of Maximus’ work that I’ve read. As a biblical scholar I’m way out of my depth in this type of writing.
However, let me say that from my perspective and basic grasp of Maximus, this was a profound read. Difficult, because it’s old and as such stylistically unfamiliar, but worth the effort.
Armstrong offers a good intro (to the work and Maximus), the English translation, and then the Greek text. All very helpful (although if the publisher were to have offered the Greek on opposing panels from the translation this would have been much more useful.
It you take your time with On the Ecclesiastical Mystagogy you’ll find some beautiful explorations of what he sees as happening in the church gathering for Eucharist. It’ll likely stretch someone unfamiliar with a mystical approach to church, but if you’re looking for a reading of a church gathering that observes it through an ‘enchanted’ lens (cf Charles Taylor) then this is good text.
For what it’s worth, his line about how saying the “our Father” deems you worthy is probably the best thing you’ll read this year.
June 6, 2025
Thought provoking.
May 4, 2022
I read this book for a Holy Cross Seminary course entitled Mystagogy: The Mystery of the Church that entailed a close reading of this work as well as Pseudo-Dionysius' On the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy and St. Maximus' Commentary on the Lord's Prayer. The course research culminated in a 3-day Colloquium on the Mystagogy in Boston, MA which gathered the top Maximus scholars in the world speaking on the book, including Paul Blowers, Marcus Plested, Fr. Maximos Constas (the course's instructor), and Jean-Claude Larchet.
This book, like all of St. Maximus the Confessor's works, is not a light read, despite its length. Maximus' syntax is incredibly complicated and often nests ideas within ideas, sentences within sentences. As such, close analysis is warranted, and this makes having the Greek and English facing texts especially helpful in the SVS Press edition featuring Armstrong's translation. However, it must be noted that this feature is also to Armstrong's own detriment. Indeed, in my and my classmate's study, we discovered numerous errors in Armstrong's translation to the work's detriment. Armstrong also has a tendency of offering an alternate word in the Greek footnote that appears in the CCSG, but then translating the alternate word into the English as opposed to the word he chooses to present in the Greek column. This is entirely unhelpful for analysis and Armstrong seemingly offers not reason for this method.
It goes without saying, however, that St. Maximus' work in and of itself may be an incredibly complex and advanced treatise amidst the Orthodox patristic corpus, but the pearl of wisdom it has to offer is enlightening and revolutionary.
This book, like all of St. Maximus the Confessor's works, is not a light read, despite its length. Maximus' syntax is incredibly complicated and often nests ideas within ideas, sentences within sentences. As such, close analysis is warranted, and this makes having the Greek and English facing texts especially helpful in the SVS Press edition featuring Armstrong's translation. However, it must be noted that this feature is also to Armstrong's own detriment. Indeed, in my and my classmate's study, we discovered numerous errors in Armstrong's translation to the work's detriment. Armstrong also has a tendency of offering an alternate word in the Greek footnote that appears in the CCSG, but then translating the alternate word into the English as opposed to the word he chooses to present in the Greek column. This is entirely unhelpful for analysis and Armstrong seemingly offers not reason for this method.
It goes without saying, however, that St. Maximus' work in and of itself may be an incredibly complex and advanced treatise amidst the Orthodox patristic corpus, but the pearl of wisdom it has to offer is enlightening and revolutionary.
March 1, 2024
This was my second read of this book and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Further background on the logos/logoi relation and the question of the relation of God to the world (Cretor/created) from my creation module this semester helped open up for me the significance of Maximus' vision for christology.
April 18, 2020
I've never been able to appreciate the writings of Maximus or Pseudo-Dionysius. This work is no exception for me. I have never really studied philosophy, and often find it vapid - it's just speculation, even though it might be written by a very intelligent person. It is very human - an effort to systematize thoughts based on human principles of logic and reason. But it still strikes me as just speculation and opinion, which is how I relate to Maximus. He is no doubt a brilliant intellect, but his writing doesn't speak to me, probably because I haven't any inclination toward mysticism or asceticism. And his commentary on the divine services seem to me to be exactly what Fr Alexander Schmemann rejected as a misguided understanding of liturgy. In that sense, I certainly find any of Schmemann's writings on the Liturgy to be a far better understanding of Orthodox services. Maximus hoped God would bless him for his efforts, I'm sure God did. But I certainly do not hope that his ideas will gain in popularity again.
March 11, 2022
Mind bending, soul opening, enriching. A meeting of heaven and earth.
The real beauty of this treatise is in how St Maximus sets up a hierarchy of meaning, really a series of microcosms that connect heaven-earth, church-world, sanctuary-nave, alter-santuary, connecting these to the human soul-body, and again to soul to the intellectual-sensisble, and even further yet into contemplation-reason. Ultimately, contemplating the interconnectedness of all these microcosms (and more that are discernable but are not explicitly mentioned), is the main trust of his intent. His explanation of the link between the structure of the cosmos to the structure of the Church to the structure of the Human is astounding, and truly worth contemplating.
His explanation of the various elements of the liturgy itself seems lacking compared to the above.
The fact that his treatise on the mysteries of the Church drives so clearly toward the centrality of contemplation itself, but then moves beyond a disembodied contemplation as the end goal, but returns through the hierarchy of meaning, uniting contemplation of the oneness of all things explicitly with encountering Christ himself in those in need is utterly important and apparently too easy to entirely gloss over (at least by those who wrote the introduction).
The ultimate culmination of all this contemplation of these seemingly esoteric microcosms is that this contemplation renews our whole being, including our actions outside our prayer closet, and we become united to Christ (theosis) mystically, but also through bodily participation, encouraging Christ in and being Christ to the poor.
"For he ordained that nothing be more conducive for righteousness and theosis... and suitable for closeness to God than mercy from the soul administered to those in need with pleasure and joy... The one who is able to do good and does it *truly is God* according to grace and participation, for he has assumed by successful imitation the out working and particularity of God's own doing of good". (emphasis mine)
I was not expecting that as the culmination of contemplation. But it makes perfect sense. Uniting the one and the many, the Logos and the logoi, and seeing Christ and being Christ.
The real beauty of this treatise is in how St Maximus sets up a hierarchy of meaning, really a series of microcosms that connect heaven-earth, church-world, sanctuary-nave, alter-santuary, connecting these to the human soul-body, and again to soul to the intellectual-sensisble, and even further yet into contemplation-reason. Ultimately, contemplating the interconnectedness of all these microcosms (and more that are discernable but are not explicitly mentioned), is the main trust of his intent. His explanation of the link between the structure of the cosmos to the structure of the Church to the structure of the Human is astounding, and truly worth contemplating.
His explanation of the various elements of the liturgy itself seems lacking compared to the above.
The fact that his treatise on the mysteries of the Church drives so clearly toward the centrality of contemplation itself, but then moves beyond a disembodied contemplation as the end goal, but returns through the hierarchy of meaning, uniting contemplation of the oneness of all things explicitly with encountering Christ himself in those in need is utterly important and apparently too easy to entirely gloss over (at least by those who wrote the introduction).
The ultimate culmination of all this contemplation of these seemingly esoteric microcosms is that this contemplation renews our whole being, including our actions outside our prayer closet, and we become united to Christ (theosis) mystically, but also through bodily participation, encouraging Christ in and being Christ to the poor.
"For he ordained that nothing be more conducive for righteousness and theosis... and suitable for closeness to God than mercy from the soul administered to those in need with pleasure and joy... The one who is able to do good and does it *truly is God* according to grace and participation, for he has assumed by successful imitation the out working and particularity of God's own doing of good". (emphasis mine)
I was not expecting that as the culmination of contemplation. But it makes perfect sense. Uniting the one and the many, the Logos and the logoi, and seeing Christ and being Christ.
March 6, 2025
Some interesting food for thought on the liturgy and the church.
June 15, 2024
Maximus provides a robust understanding of the symbolic and efficacious elements of the liturgy. This book is helpful in understanding the meaning of each part of the eastern church’s liturgical practices and can be helpful to Protestants to retrieve a more robust understanding of their own liturgical practices.
July 11, 2026
I'm deeply impressed by this work. Below are my notes on it.
1. Dionysius clearly influenced him; neither positive nor negative way brings us a total understanding of God. Role of the affectus (not the term used, but similar enough); we can come to know God in ways other than intellectual, as we would know a friend. Sin interferes with this.
2. Church active in the same activity as God. God is the uniting factor in a world of plurality due to His position as Creator of all. Unlike Hinduism, our plurality is not denied or something to be obliterated, but our relations to each other can only be understood if they are referred to our mutual relation to God. Distinctly Catholic, in the sense of the word Katholicos, as membership in the City of God is not based on language, ethnicity, sex, but all are one in Christ. No “national” churches here. This unity in God provides the metaphysical foundation for “love thy neighbor.” Without it, screw your neighbor makes just as much sense, as Freud overly honestly stated.
3. We are limited creatures by the very fact that we are creatures. These limits are important and not a punishment. Overstepping them is dangerous, both to the well being of the community (of which we cannot separate ourselves) and to ourselves as being based on a lie; then we would be based on non-being, a separation from God. This very overstepping was seen as Satan’s sin by St. Anselm. A great deal of our anxiety in modern times might be because we do not understand or respect these limits in our pitiful attempts to become gods ourselves.
4. Similar to Durandus in that St. Maximus sees the physical church building to as symbols for us to understand. Nave/Sanctuary distinction represents multiple divisions: visible/invisible, body/spirit, sensible/intellectual realms, etc. But the point is not the division; the point is that they work together. The sensible world has an intellectual meaning, and that intellectual world comes down to us in sensible forms and symbols. Very similar to St. Thomas Aquinas here. The intellectual and sensible worlds must connect in God. Pure intellectualism sends us into goofy spiritualism that rarely holds our attention, much less transforms us. Pure materialism is by definition pointless and without meaning. The crisis of modernity is very much a crisis of meaning, and neither of those mentalities is doing a thing to fix it.
5. Compares man and the church in similar terms; body as the nave, mind as the sanctuary. A quote I particularly liked from page 58: “And through the mind as through the altar, man summons by means of another kind silence- one that is composed of many syllables and notes- the often-sung “silence in the inner sanctuaries.” I know this isn’t exactly what St. Maximus was describing, but he had been in Rome after St. Gregory the Great, and anyone who has experienced Gregorian Chant during a liturgy should know this kind of silence in many syllables and notes.
6. Discussion of the soul itself, its division of interests between the intellectual and physical worlds, both of which are legitimate in their respective spheres. We are not Quietists. Truth is the end of the intellectual part, and Good is the end of the rational part; the True and the Good reveal God. Interesting note about the faith being the infallible certainty of divine things. There is something to this I think apologists have forgotten. The best “proof” of God is to encounter Him. There really isn’t any other.
7. That encounter should change us radically. Mystics who have encountered God long for that experience again, and become virtuous, not necessarily to earn their way back to Him, but because being virtuous is to be like Him they desire to dearly. Virtue literally is its own reward here, rather than the bean counting “do my good works outweigh by sins and do I have enough credits to buy a mansion in Paradise” mentality. Being virtuous is to be connected with Him we long to be united to.
8. Pg 67 could have been written by St. Teresa of Avila, or St. Bonaventure, or St. John of the Cross. In an “ineffable and unknowable fashion for an intercourse with God that is absolutely beyond truth and beyond good and that he offered us according to his most trustworthy promise.” The liturgy should prepare us for this. Catholics following the news recently have heard enough about whether the Novus Ordo is “valid” or not. That is missing the point. If it is not preparing us to encounter God, Creator and Redeemer of the World, then it is not worthy of being offered regardless of what canon law says. Paradise is described in very liturgical terms in the Bible; if the thought of spending eternity at Mass causes you to gnash your teeth, you are preparing for the wrong place.
9. Only the last half is really a “commentary” on the Divine Liturgy. A toned down Durandus, but still, Christian worship is meant to be a highly stylized, symbolic action. Saints who quite literally lived in worship day and night made minuscule changes to the liturgy. Expecting an average priest/pastor/committee to come up with a new version of this every week is simply ridiculous. St. Maximus’ comment on divine hymns is worth considering: they are meant to awaken a love for divine things and a hatred of evil. There are few things I dislike more that flat, cringy music that tries to stand as an equal to the hymns of antiquity.
10. The division of the liturgy between those of the Catechumens and the Faithful is an ancient feature of Christian worship found in both the East and the West. St. Maximus has an insightful comment about this: it is starkly eschatological, as those unworthy of feasting with the Lamb are sent away, while those faithful who remain are truly, even physically, united to our Christ. He mentions that we who cannot offer the Eucharist as a gift to God have nothing at all to offer God, which in a certain sense is true.
11. The beginner/proficient/perfect distinction mentioned by many mystics is present here. The first step, whether in St. Maximus or St. Bonaventure or St. Teresa or St. Bernard or any other mystic worth their salt, is the rejection of sin and sorrow for our own part in it. The beginner turns to God out of fear of punishment, the proficient for the rewards promised of Paradise, the perfect to be united to God alone.
1. Dionysius clearly influenced him; neither positive nor negative way brings us a total understanding of God. Role of the affectus (not the term used, but similar enough); we can come to know God in ways other than intellectual, as we would know a friend. Sin interferes with this.
2. Church active in the same activity as God. God is the uniting factor in a world of plurality due to His position as Creator of all. Unlike Hinduism, our plurality is not denied or something to be obliterated, but our relations to each other can only be understood if they are referred to our mutual relation to God. Distinctly Catholic, in the sense of the word Katholicos, as membership in the City of God is not based on language, ethnicity, sex, but all are one in Christ. No “national” churches here. This unity in God provides the metaphysical foundation for “love thy neighbor.” Without it, screw your neighbor makes just as much sense, as Freud overly honestly stated.
3. We are limited creatures by the very fact that we are creatures. These limits are important and not a punishment. Overstepping them is dangerous, both to the well being of the community (of which we cannot separate ourselves) and to ourselves as being based on a lie; then we would be based on non-being, a separation from God. This very overstepping was seen as Satan’s sin by St. Anselm. A great deal of our anxiety in modern times might be because we do not understand or respect these limits in our pitiful attempts to become gods ourselves.
4. Similar to Durandus in that St. Maximus sees the physical church building to as symbols for us to understand. Nave/Sanctuary distinction represents multiple divisions: visible/invisible, body/spirit, sensible/intellectual realms, etc. But the point is not the division; the point is that they work together. The sensible world has an intellectual meaning, and that intellectual world comes down to us in sensible forms and symbols. Very similar to St. Thomas Aquinas here. The intellectual and sensible worlds must connect in God. Pure intellectualism sends us into goofy spiritualism that rarely holds our attention, much less transforms us. Pure materialism is by definition pointless and without meaning. The crisis of modernity is very much a crisis of meaning, and neither of those mentalities is doing a thing to fix it.
5. Compares man and the church in similar terms; body as the nave, mind as the sanctuary. A quote I particularly liked from page 58: “And through the mind as through the altar, man summons by means of another kind silence- one that is composed of many syllables and notes- the often-sung “silence in the inner sanctuaries.” I know this isn’t exactly what St. Maximus was describing, but he had been in Rome after St. Gregory the Great, and anyone who has experienced Gregorian Chant during a liturgy should know this kind of silence in many syllables and notes.
6. Discussion of the soul itself, its division of interests between the intellectual and physical worlds, both of which are legitimate in their respective spheres. We are not Quietists. Truth is the end of the intellectual part, and Good is the end of the rational part; the True and the Good reveal God. Interesting note about the faith being the infallible certainty of divine things. There is something to this I think apologists have forgotten. The best “proof” of God is to encounter Him. There really isn’t any other.
7. That encounter should change us radically. Mystics who have encountered God long for that experience again, and become virtuous, not necessarily to earn their way back to Him, but because being virtuous is to be like Him they desire to dearly. Virtue literally is its own reward here, rather than the bean counting “do my good works outweigh by sins and do I have enough credits to buy a mansion in Paradise” mentality. Being virtuous is to be connected with Him we long to be united to.
8. Pg 67 could have been written by St. Teresa of Avila, or St. Bonaventure, or St. John of the Cross. In an “ineffable and unknowable fashion for an intercourse with God that is absolutely beyond truth and beyond good and that he offered us according to his most trustworthy promise.” The liturgy should prepare us for this. Catholics following the news recently have heard enough about whether the Novus Ordo is “valid” or not. That is missing the point. If it is not preparing us to encounter God, Creator and Redeemer of the World, then it is not worthy of being offered regardless of what canon law says. Paradise is described in very liturgical terms in the Bible; if the thought of spending eternity at Mass causes you to gnash your teeth, you are preparing for the wrong place.
9. Only the last half is really a “commentary” on the Divine Liturgy. A toned down Durandus, but still, Christian worship is meant to be a highly stylized, symbolic action. Saints who quite literally lived in worship day and night made minuscule changes to the liturgy. Expecting an average priest/pastor/committee to come up with a new version of this every week is simply ridiculous. St. Maximus’ comment on divine hymns is worth considering: they are meant to awaken a love for divine things and a hatred of evil. There are few things I dislike more that flat, cringy music that tries to stand as an equal to the hymns of antiquity.
10. The division of the liturgy between those of the Catechumens and the Faithful is an ancient feature of Christian worship found in both the East and the West. St. Maximus has an insightful comment about this: it is starkly eschatological, as those unworthy of feasting with the Lamb are sent away, while those faithful who remain are truly, even physically, united to our Christ. He mentions that we who cannot offer the Eucharist as a gift to God have nothing at all to offer God, which in a certain sense is true.
11. The beginner/proficient/perfect distinction mentioned by many mystics is present here. The first step, whether in St. Maximus or St. Bonaventure or St. Teresa or St. Bernard or any other mystic worth their salt, is the rejection of sin and sorrow for our own part in it. The beginner turns to God out of fear of punishment, the proficient for the rewards promised of Paradise, the perfect to be united to God alone.
November 17, 2024
A great introduction to what happens during a church service and why we do it, from a 7th-century perspective. Maximus spends most of the book explaining how each small part of the Mass/Divine Liturgy is intended to divinize Christians- to make us more like Jesus Christ. For example, here are is words on how Jesus’ real presence in the Eucharist affects real change in a believer:
“After this, as the climax of everything, comes the distribution of the sacrament, which transforms into itself and renders similar to the causal good by grace and participation those who worthily share in it. To them is there lacking nothing of this good that is possible and attainable for men, so that they also can be and be called gods by adoption through grace because all of God entirely fills them and leaves no part of them empty of his presence” (Ch 21).
My favorite part, though, was Maximus’ explanation of how our involvement in regular worship connects us to God who never changes. Since God never changes, he is the only source of unending spiritual peace. This is good news in our anxious world:
“If God is completely without change and has nothing to trouble him (for what can escape his view?), then peace is an unshaken and unmoved solidity and an untroubled happiness” (Ch 5).
“After this, as the climax of everything, comes the distribution of the sacrament, which transforms into itself and renders similar to the causal good by grace and participation those who worthily share in it. To them is there lacking nothing of this good that is possible and attainable for men, so that they also can be and be called gods by adoption through grace because all of God entirely fills them and leaves no part of them empty of his presence” (Ch 21).
My favorite part, though, was Maximus’ explanation of how our involvement in regular worship connects us to God who never changes. Since God never changes, he is the only source of unending spiritual peace. This is good news in our anxious world:
“If God is completely without change and has nothing to trouble him (for what can escape his view?), then peace is an unshaken and unmoved solidity and an untroubled happiness” (Ch 5).
July 8, 2025
☩ ϹΚΗΝΗ ΤΟΥ ΛΟΓΟΥ ΖΩΝΤΟΣ
✠ Scaena Logi Vivens
fragmentum de libro αδημοσίευτον
I descended
Not steps but intervals
into a dome not built but uttered
vaulted not by stone but by Silence
walls: ∵ icons of what thinks you
floor: vapor
dome: seeing
axis: unstilled
At center: μορφή
robed in stars
beard in spirals
eyes in flame-language
No name was given
No voice, only Διάνοια
He lifted two fingers ☩
between them the Thread
gold, wounded, living
wound into rotation
☩ → φ ↻ α ∴ ψ
Not symbol
but of all, Syntax
He spoke ∵ yet lips sealed
thread-stitched silence
vow not to speak
until speech becomes essence
"The κόσμος is veil
not cage
You decode it
I wept through it"
Beside him opened a Codex
not written
but ontological
pages = beings
sentences = realms
spine = wound
Blood from margin
"Mystagogy
not authored
but assumed"
Then
the Λειτουργία
unfolded in recursion
not chant but hue
not rite but recursion
Chalice: καρδία
Bread: μνήμη
Wine: τρώμα
choirs: silence in shape
above altar
Veil
pulsing
membrane between σάρξ and φῶς
I moved to tear
He turned
"Do not tear
Be the veil"
He vanished
The Book burned in place
// final folium:
☩ Logos non legitur
Legit te ☩
✠ Scaena Logi Vivens
fragmentum de libro αδημοσίευτον
I descended
Not steps but intervals
into a dome not built but uttered
vaulted not by stone but by Silence
walls: ∵ icons of what thinks you
floor: vapor
dome: seeing
axis: unstilled
At center: μορφή
robed in stars
beard in spirals
eyes in flame-language
No name was given
No voice, only Διάνοια
He lifted two fingers ☩
between them the Thread
gold, wounded, living
wound into rotation
☩ → φ ↻ α ∴ ψ
Not symbol
but of all, Syntax
He spoke ∵ yet lips sealed
thread-stitched silence
vow not to speak
until speech becomes essence
"The κόσμος is veil
not cage
You decode it
I wept through it"
Beside him opened a Codex
not written
but ontological
pages = beings
sentences = realms
spine = wound
Blood from margin
"Mystagogy
not authored
but assumed"
Then
the Λειτουργία
unfolded in recursion
not chant but hue
not rite but recursion
Chalice: καρδία
Bread: μνήμη
Wine: τρώμα
choirs: silence in shape
above altar
Veil
pulsing
membrane between σάρξ and φῶς
I moved to tear
He turned
"Do not tear
Be the veil"
He vanished
The Book burned in place
// final folium:
☩ Logos non legitur
Legit te ☩
September 25, 2025
Great little book that walks through the mysteries of the Christian eucaristic liturgy. Maximos gives spiritual commentary of each component, and how it as a whole, and in their parts, are a michrocosm to the macrochsom of Christs work of salvation for his creation. He then closes things, urging people to go to church, and to partake in these mysteries, as they are tools that transform us into the image of Christ.
This is very insightful, but it will only really make sense if you have been going to Orthodox services for some time to climatise, otherwise it will likely not resonate. This text puts in clear terms why the format of Christian worship is so important, and must not be changed arbitrarily, as it is actually a matter of salvation, not in a legalistic sense, but in a practical sense.
Another piece of evidence that shows that Orthodoxy alone is the preserved catholic and apostolic faith, as it is the only major denomination that hasn't deviated in liturgical practice.
This is very insightful, but it will only really make sense if you have been going to Orthodox services for some time to climatise, otherwise it will likely not resonate. This text puts in clear terms why the format of Christian worship is so important, and must not be changed arbitrarily, as it is actually a matter of salvation, not in a legalistic sense, but in a practical sense.
Another piece of evidence that shows that Orthodoxy alone is the preserved catholic and apostolic faith, as it is the only major denomination that hasn't deviated in liturgical practice.
June 25, 2024
Required reading.
So many people I know find apophatic theology deeply meaningful and I'm gonna be real, I just don't get it. I find so much more meaning in talking about who and what God is rather than what God is not. Apophasis just feels useless to me in this life stage. Fortunately, Maximus does not dwell on it much.
My primary purpose for reading this was to expand my knowledge of the sacraments. I am struck, as with the previous text I read on this, of the intense connection between the Church and the Sacraments. The two cannot be separated. The mystical language of how the human and the church and the universe are all somehow the same is...odd, but I get the gist I think. Ecclesiology is not just how a church functions, but how Christ is present in the world. Very meaningful text, I will probably come back to this again, as I'm sure I've missed some things.
So many people I know find apophatic theology deeply meaningful and I'm gonna be real, I just don't get it. I find so much more meaning in talking about who and what God is rather than what God is not. Apophasis just feels useless to me in this life stage. Fortunately, Maximus does not dwell on it much.
My primary purpose for reading this was to expand my knowledge of the sacraments. I am struck, as with the previous text I read on this, of the intense connection between the Church and the Sacraments. The two cannot be separated. The mystical language of how the human and the church and the universe are all somehow the same is...odd, but I get the gist I think. Ecclesiology is not just how a church functions, but how Christ is present in the world. Very meaningful text, I will probably come back to this again, as I'm sure I've missed some things.
August 17, 2022
This is elaborate series of meditations on the church, worship and their cosmic significance. Maximus believed that the church was a model or microsom of the world, but also of the individual and of the soul. Having argued this, he then walks through the liturgy and explains how the process of divine worship leads us up to theois in God, and ultimately to the resurrection and the glorification of all creation.
Jonathan Armstrong's introduction provides a helpful introduction.
Why read this? It is good for us to be exposed to completely different ways of seeing the creation, church and the human person. We will not agree with much, but we are challenged to consider new (old!) angles of familiar territory.
Jonathan Armstrong's introduction provides a helpful introduction.
Why read this? It is good for us to be exposed to completely different ways of seeing the creation, church and the human person. We will not agree with much, but we are challenged to consider new (old!) angles of familiar territory.
April 4, 2024
Mystagogy - an initiation into the mysteries.
A beautiful explanation of the church that I believe Paul would have gone on to write about had he not have been working with basic errors such as denying the divinity of Christ, deception, manipulation in the church etc etc. simple things that needed to be addressed before anything “deeper”.
Where has the reverence gone?
Where is the mystical?
Why is Church secularized, and why is it scary to be deep?
Why does Paul only mention the basics? Because humanity cannot step out of the loop of simple mindedness and the list for power.
By the glory of God we are saved through grace and not knowledge, for knowledge is given to us post faith, and also according to each one’s own level of consciousness due to free will.
A beautiful explanation of the church that I believe Paul would have gone on to write about had he not have been working with basic errors such as denying the divinity of Christ, deception, manipulation in the church etc etc. simple things that needed to be addressed before anything “deeper”.
Where has the reverence gone?
Where is the mystical?
Why is Church secularized, and why is it scary to be deep?
Why does Paul only mention the basics? Because humanity cannot step out of the loop of simple mindedness and the list for power.
By the glory of God we are saved through grace and not knowledge, for knowledge is given to us post faith, and also according to each one’s own level of consciousness due to free will.
January 20, 2025
Finally sat down with this one for a couple hours to knock it out. It’s very good, although I have a difficult time rating patristic works, it is one I would recommend.
It is very cool that the parts of the liturgy he lays out are more or less exactly the same today as 1300 years ago when this was written, quite trippy when you think about it. It makes me wonder how different / similar the disposition of the faithful is during the Divine Liturgy.
Lastly I feel like some of what Maximus has to say about the soul and the mind, virtue and wisdom, and “enlightenment” (theoria) may be of further interest down the road.
It is very cool that the parts of the liturgy he lays out are more or less exactly the same today as 1300 years ago when this was written, quite trippy when you think about it. It makes me wonder how different / similar the disposition of the faithful is during the Divine Liturgy.
Lastly I feel like some of what Maximus has to say about the soul and the mind, virtue and wisdom, and “enlightenment” (theoria) may be of further interest down the road.
February 16, 2024
They say Maximus the Confessor was the best mind of the 7th century. This work displays for the Church catholic just what entices one to make such a claim. This was such a fascinating read for me and I trust will be for you as well, especially if you are intrigued by topics like liturgy, typology, ecclesiology, and Christology. My head is still spinning, particularly with regard to chapter 5, but all in all this was a very soul gripping endeavor.
June 20, 2026
Interesting perspective, but not too applicable to modern day Protestantism. I think that there is an undue focus on man-made traditions that are reverse engineered into some sort of theological framework.
If you are like me, an atheist interested in theology in its modern application, it’s not necessary to read this.
If you are like me, an atheist interested in theology in its modern application, it’s not necessary to read this.
Read
April 13, 2025a very philosophical heavy and hard read but when you finally comprehend the ideas and thoughts of maximus the book helps you understand the mind of the Church
January 16, 2026
St Maximus the Confessor it’s extremely profound but really hard to understand if you don’t know the vocabulary he uses. Dense but beautiful read.
June 20, 2026
Liturgy as sign; theosis as signified. St Maximus’s metaphysical scheme should have more impact than it does I think. On to the Ambiguua!
February 28, 2025
A book so dense in content that it warranted a reread. Maximus sees mysteries or deeper meanings in the liturgy and the church building. The church reflects the image of God and the entire created order. Some things that stood out to me this time:
- Everything that exists discloses God as its ultimate cause. Because God is the cause of everything that exists, everything exists in relationship to God.
- Maximus denied that we experience a unity of nature with God. God by his grace unites himself with his church.
- Maximus’s mysterious cosmological theology is anchored in the Christology of Chalcedon!
- Will belongs to nature. If Christ has two natures, he has two wills.
- Maximus was a creative and original thinker in Byzantine theology, but he also stated, “I have no dogma of my own. Just the dogma of the catholic church.” He was a remarkably traditional thinker too.
Maximus never misses in his rich but dense theological reflections. I had no idea what Mystagogy was before reading this book, but Maximus explains well that catechesis is for those preparing for baptism. Mystigogy is for the Christian after baptism. This work is all about the symbolic or spiritual significance of the church and its liturgy. It is truly a work of mystical theology, and for Maximus, mystical theology is intimate union with God. Maximus also expounds on how the church is the image and representation of the invisible God. For Maximus, God transcends being and does not even belong to a class of being—talk about apophatic theology to the max (no pun intended). There is also some good material in here on the rational nature of the soul and wisdom. God as the creator of everything can be known through everything since his creativity is reflected through everything that exists. This is a helpful contribution to discussions on natural theology. This book might seem abstract and feel like unique or uncharted theological territory for our present age, but this book will take you out of your comfort zone to think about theological things in a very different manner. Maximus even has the audacity at the end to say that he did not touch on higher or more mystical matters in this work. What in the world!? If this book is not an exercise in high and mystical reflection then what is? Great read for anyone interested in patristic studies!
- Everything that exists discloses God as its ultimate cause. Because God is the cause of everything that exists, everything exists in relationship to God.
- Maximus denied that we experience a unity of nature with God. God by his grace unites himself with his church.
- Maximus’s mysterious cosmological theology is anchored in the Christology of Chalcedon!
- Will belongs to nature. If Christ has two natures, he has two wills.
- Maximus was a creative and original thinker in Byzantine theology, but he also stated, “I have no dogma of my own. Just the dogma of the catholic church.” He was a remarkably traditional thinker too.
Maximus never misses in his rich but dense theological reflections. I had no idea what Mystagogy was before reading this book, but Maximus explains well that catechesis is for those preparing for baptism. Mystigogy is for the Christian after baptism. This work is all about the symbolic or spiritual significance of the church and its liturgy. It is truly a work of mystical theology, and for Maximus, mystical theology is intimate union with God. Maximus also expounds on how the church is the image and representation of the invisible God. For Maximus, God transcends being and does not even belong to a class of being—talk about apophatic theology to the max (no pun intended). There is also some good material in here on the rational nature of the soul and wisdom. God as the creator of everything can be known through everything since his creativity is reflected through everything that exists. This is a helpful contribution to discussions on natural theology. This book might seem abstract and feel like unique or uncharted theological territory for our present age, but this book will take you out of your comfort zone to think about theological things in a very different manner. Maximus even has the audacity at the end to say that he did not touch on higher or more mystical matters in this work. What in the world!? If this book is not an exercise in high and mystical reflection then what is? Great read for anyone interested in patristic studies!
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