Holy Apostles Orthodox Church

1. Know Your Faith IV:
The Fathers of the Church
Lesson 8: St Maximus the Confessor
Defender of the Faith Against Heresy
1

2. St Maximus the Confessor
580-662
Ardent Defender of Orthodoxy
Pious in His Monasticism
Fought Against Monotheletism
Tortured for His Faith
Constantinople in the Time of St Maximus
2

3. Constantinople in the 7Th Century
St Justinian the Great The Great Church of Hagia Sophia
3

4. 4
Attacks On the Byzantine Empire:
Islam and Montheletism

5. 5

6. Flight to Africa, Maintaining Orthodoxy
6

7. 7
The Relationship of the Church and the State

8. 8
Like I said, “That
which is not
assumed cannot
be redeemed.”

9. 9
Heretical Patriarchs of the Mid 7th Century
Orthodox and Faithful Patriarchs of the Mid 7th Century

10. 10
Oriental Orthodox Churches
Differing in Terminology, But Not in Faith
• The Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria
• The Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch
(sometimes called 'Jacobite')
• Malankara Syriac Orthodox Church, a branch and
integral part of the Syriac Orthodox Church with
the Oriental Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch as its
supreme head.
• The Church of Armenia (sometimes called the
Armenian Apostolic Church)
• The Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church
(sometimes called the Indian Orthodox Church)
• The Ethiopian Orthodox Church
• The Eritrean Orthodox Church

11. 11
St Pope Martin of Rome
And Confessor
Born in Tuscany, Italy
Pope: 649-655
“Even if they cripple me, I will not have
relations with the Church of Constantinople
while it remains in its evil doctrines.”

12. 12
The Writings of St Maximus the Confessor
• Quaestiones ad Thalassium (Questions to
Thalassius)—65 questions and answers on
difficult passages of Holy Scripture
• Ambigua—an exegetical work on St. Gregory
the Theologian (329-390).
• Paraphrases of the works of Dionysius the
Areopagite (though this may be the work of
John of Scythopolis, who wrote in the first half
of the 6th century, some 100 years before
Maximus)
• Several dogmatic treatises against the
Monothelites
• Liber Asceticus (Book on Asceticism)
• Capita de Caritate
• Mystagogia—a mystical interpretation of the
Divine Liturgy

13. 13
The Spiritual Legacy of St Maximus

14. 14
The Spiritual Legacy of St Maximus
Discussion
1. Why does it matter that Jesus Christ took on a human will, in addition
to the Divine will?
2. What does it mean to be a Confessor, and how should this challenge
our daily Christian lives?
3. What is the role of secular society and the decrees of governments in
the life of the Church? If we must live in a society such as ours, where
do we draw the line of governmental interference, or where do we
open the gates for the synergy of the church and the state?
4. Should the Church ever allow something from outside of itself to
determine the teachings of the Church? Does the answer change if
we recall that the Church is the Body of Christ (because then the
question would look like this: Should the body of Christ ever allow
something from outside of itself to determine the its witness of
itself?)
5. What are some steps, mundane or momentous, that put us on the
path of salvation and urge us to theosis?
6. What other writings, whether St Maximus or not, are edifying in your
spiritual struggles within the Orthodox Christian tradition?