Maximus the Confessor
c. AD 580–662
Byzantine monk and theologian whose defense of Christ's human and divine wills shaped the Sixth Ecumenical Council.
Life and Historical Setting
Maximus left imperial service for monastic life and traveled through a Mediterranean transformed by Persian and Arab conquest. He opposed imperial formulas designed to reconcile Christological divisions and was tried, mutilated, and exiled.
Work and Contribution
He argued that Christ possesses a complete human will freely harmonized with the divine will. His wider theology joins creation, incarnation, liturgy, ascetic practice, Scripture, and humanity's vocation to unite the divisions of the cosmos.
Reception and Influence
The Council of Constantinople in 680–681 upheld two wills in Christ, vindicating the position for which Maximus suffered. Eastern and Western theologians continue to study his accounts of freedom, deification, and cosmic mediation.
Evidence, Debate, and Interpretation
The place of Maximus's birth and details of his early career are disputed because sources conflict. His dense synthesis should not be reduced to one conciliar slogan or detached from his monastic practice.
Known For
- Dyothelite Christology
- Mystagogy
- Ambigua
Key Works
Influenced By
Influenced
Conversations
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