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Maximusthe Confessor THE OXFORD HANDBOOK OF ...................... .. .... ................................... ........ ... ..... ..... .... ..... ..... ........ .... ... .... ....................................... MAXIMUSTHE CONFESSOR .................. ................. ...................................... ......... .. .... .................................................. .................. Edited by PAULINE ALLEN and BRONWEN NEIL OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS CoNTENTS List ofIllustrations xvii List ofAbbreviations xix List of Contributors xxvii PART I HISTORICAL SETTING 1. Life and Times ofMaximus the Confessor 3 PAULINE ALLEN 2. A New Date-List of the Works ofMaximus the Confessor 19 MAREK JANKOWIAK AND PHIL BOOTH 3. Byzantium in the Seventh Century WALTER E. KAEGI 4. Maximus, a Cautious Neo-Chalcedonian 106 CYRIL HovoRUN PART 11 THEOLOGICAL AND PHILOSOPHICAL INFLUENCES 5. Classical Philosophical Influences: Aristotle and Platonism 127 MARIUS PORTARU 6. The Foundation of Origenist Metaphysics 149 PASCAL MUELLER-JOURDAN 7. The Ascetic Tradition MARCUS PLESTED 8. Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite and Maximus the Confessor 177 Y SABEL DE ANDIA xiv CONTENTS CONTENTS XV 9· Mindset (yvwfl'l) in John Chrysostom 194 PARTIV RECEPTION RAYMOND J, LAIRD 22. The Georgian Tradition on Maximus the Confessor 439 10. Augustine on the Will 212 LELA KHOPERIA JoHANNES B6RJESSON 23. Maximus' Heritage in Russia and Ukraine n. Divine Providence and the Gnomic Will before Maxim us 235 GRIGORY BENEVICH BRONWEN NEIL 24. The Impact ofMaximus the Confessor on John Scottus Eriugena PART Ill WORKS AND THOUGHT CATHERINE KAVANAGH 25. Maximus the Confessor's Influence and Reception in Byzantine 12. Exegesis of Scripture 253 and Modern Orthodoxy 500 PAUL M. BLOWERS ANDREW LOUTH 13. Maximus the Confessor's Use of Literary Genres 274 26. The Theology of the Will 516 PETER VAN DEUN IAN A. McFARLAND 14. Passions, Ascesis, and the Virtues 27. Maximus and Modern Psychology 533 DEMETRIOS BATHRELLOS MICHAEL BAKKER 15. Christocentric Cosmology 28. Maximus the Confessor and Ecumenism 548 TORSTEIN T. TOLLEFSEN A. EDWARD SIECIENSKI I. 16. Eschatology in Maxim us the Confessor 322 29. Reception ofMaximian Thought in the Modern Era ANDREAS ANDREOPOULOS JOSHUA LOLLAR 17. The Mode of Deification 341 }EAN-CLAUDE LARCHET General Index 581 Index ofAncient Persons 595 18. Spiritual Anthropology in Ambiguum 7 Index ofModern Persons 599 ADAM G. COOPER Index ofBib.lical Citations 609 19. Mapping Reality within the Experience ofHoliness DoRu CosTACHE 20. Christian Life and Praxis: The Centuries on Love 397 GEORGE C. BERTHOLD 21. Liturgy as Cosmic Transformation 414 THOMAS CATTOI 532 IAN A. MCFARLAND Blowers, P. M. (2012), 'Maxim us the Confessor and John of Damascus on Gnomic Will (yVWf.!TJ) in Christ: Clarity and Ambiguity; Union Seminary Quarterly Review 63: 44-50. CHAPTER 27 Borjesson, J. (2015), 'Augustine on the Will', in P. Alien and B. Neil (eds.), The Oxford Handbook ofMaximus the Confessor (Oxford: Oxford University Press), 212-34. ········································································································ Dihle, A. (1982), The Theory ofWill in Classical Antiquity (Berkeley: University of California Press). Doucet, M. (1985), 'La Volonte humaine du Christ, specialement en son agonie: Maxime le Confesseur, interprete de l'Ecriture: Science et Esprit 27: 123-59. MAXIMUS AND MODERN Gavin, J., SJ (2009), 'They Are Like the Angels in the Heavens': Angelology and Anthropology in the Thought ofMaximus the Confessor (Rome: Institutum Patristicum Augustinianum). PSYCHOLOGY Grillmeier, A. with Hainthaler, T. (1995), Christ in Christian Tradition, 2. From the Council of Chalcedon (451) to Gregory the Great (590-604), part 2. The Church of Constantinople in the ········································································································ Sixth Century, trans. J. Cawte and P. Alien (London-Louisville, KY: Mowbray). Hovorun, C. (2008), Will, Action and Freedom: Christological Controversies in the Seventh Century MICHAEL BAKKER (Leiden: Brill). Lethel, F.-M. (1982), 'La Priere de Jesus a Gethsemani clans la controverse monothelite: in Heinzer-SchOnborn, 207-14. Madden, J. D. (1982), 'The Authenticity of Early Definitions of the Will (thelt~sis): in Heinzer­ Schonborn, 61-79. Mu ell er-Jourdan, P. (2015), 'The Foundation ofOrigenist Metaphysics: in P. All en and B. N eil (eds.), PsYCHOLOGY as a science started to develop in the West when Maximus was still rela­ The Oxford Handbook ofMaxim us the Confessor (Oxford: Oxford University Press), 149-63. tively unknown. There are some analogies that are worth exploring, even though the~e Portaru, M. (2015), 'Classical Philosophical Influences: Aristotle and Platonism: in P. Alien and is no evidence of any significant influence of his thinking on modern psychology. In th1s B. Neil (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Maximus the Confessor (Oxford: Oxford University chapter the following two parallels will be treated: (1) that between Maximus' ascetic Press), 127-48. teachings and cognitive therapy and (2) that between his view of the soul and depth Sherwood, P. (1955b), The Earlier Ambigua ofSt Maximus the Confessor (Rome: Herder). psychology. Thunberg, L. (1995), Microcosm and Mediator: The Theological Anthropology of Maximus the By way of introduction, let us turn to Maximus' letter to George the prefect of the Confessor, 2nd edn. (Chicago: Open Court). province of Africa, the first of his epistles according to the numbering of the PG. After comparing his friend to nothing less than the sun, Maximus remarks that virtue is a mat­ ter of intention ( yvWflf]) rather than rank, and imitation of God a matter of disposition (ota8eat<;) rather than dignity (Bp. 1, PG 91. 364A). He also contrasts the blessed ones like prefect George, in whom the firm love for God has taken root in the depth of their souls, with those who prefer material things, whose disposition ( Ota8eat<;) is not fixed but is subject to change (PG 91. 364B-365A). He then writes the following: 'Nothing of what exists, my blessed master, can divert you from the good and deifying habit (e~t<;) that accompanies your intention (yVWflfJ) on your way towards God' (PG 91. 365B). We encounter here three keywords in Maximus' vocabulary-ota8eat<;, £~1<;, and YVWflTJ­ which often occur together in his oeuvre. The first of them, 8ta8ecnc;, can be translated in a straightforward manner as 'disposition. The second, £~1<;, is a noun derived from the Greek word 'to have' (like its Latin counterpart habitus), indicating an acquired state or pattern of behaviour. The third term, yv<.Of!fJ, has even more shades of meaning (opinion, choice, disposition of willing) in addition to the translation 'intention'; in fact, this is the word that Maximus used to differentiate the deliberative 'gnomic will' from the stable 'natural will' (as part of his intellectual battle with the monothelite heresy). In cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT), one encounters a similar stress on habits or behavioural patterns with which are connected opinions and automatic thoughts. 534 MICHAEL BAKKER MAXIMUS AND MODERN PSYCHOLOGY 535 In his letter Maximus also mentions the 'depth of the soul' (PG 91. 385C) and the of comparing thinkers who lived in different ages and under totally different circum­ 'hidden part of the heart' (PG 91. 38oB). These are notions one finds in other parts stances. While for modern humanity the devil is perhaps merely a figure of speech, of his writings as well and they suggest a parallel with depth psychology. The name Maximus interprets King Nebuchadnezzar ofBabylon in Jeremiah 34 (LXX= TM Jer. 27) of this type of psychology suggests a realm below, and is often associated with the as the devil ( Q. Thal. 26, Laga-Steel198o: 173). Moreover, he speaks about him as a notion of the unconscious, and the sexual and aggressive drives of a human being. real person, who has an intention ()'VWflfl) in line with sinners who willingly abandon The name that comes to mind in this context is of course that of psychiatrist Sigmund God to pursue pleasure (Laga-Steel198o: 175); God allows him and his demons to Freud (1856-1939), who is often associated with the term 'subconscious', although he tempt us, as he did with Job. 'The demons either tempt us themselves or arm against us himself preferred 'unconscious: In his topology of the soul he positions the drives in those who have no fear of the Lord. They tempt us themselves when we withdraw from the id, below the ego. The spatial metaphor is taken up by Kallistos Ware, who criti­ human society, as they tempted the Lord in the desert' (Car. 2. 13, Ceresa-Gastaldo cizes Freudian psychoanalysis for guiding us 'not to the "ladder that leads to the king­ 1963: 94; Palmer et al. 1981: 67). Maximus interprets the helpers given by God to the dom", but to the staircase that goes down to a dank and snake-infested cellar' (Ware king of Babylon as demons who attack humans according to their specialization in 1996: 56). The term 'unconscious', however, leaves room for a realm above; in fact, this evil ( Q. Thal. 26, Laga-Steel198o: 181). Elsewhere, he lists the three main thoughts was proposed by the Romanian theologian Dumitru Staniloae (1903-93), who dis­ (A.oyt<rflol} of'gluttony, avarice, and self-esteem' (Car. 3. 56, Ceresa-Gastaldo 1963: qo; cerned within the unconscious a 'supraconscious: This is the 'room upstairs, where Palmer et al. 1981: 92). From these are born, respectively, unchastity, greed, and pride. superior powers are stored and
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