Maximus Confessor: Selected Writings (Classics of Western Spirituality)
Overview
This volume includes a translation of four spiritual treatises of Maximus the Confessor (c. 580–662), plus an account of his trial. Included are The Four Hundred Chapters of Love, Commentary on the Lord’s Prayer, Chapters on Knowledge, The Church’s Mystagogy, and Trial of Maximus.
For a massive collection including over a hundred and twenty of the volumes in this series, see the Classics of Western Spirituality Bundle (126 vols.).
- A clear presentation of Maximus the Confessor’s writings in an accessible form
- Fully integrates and cross references with other resources from your Logos library
- A primary source that is useful for research and historical study
Top Highlights
“The scope of the prayer, as I have said, mysteriously contains their meaning: theology,13 adoption in grace, equality of honor with the angels,14 participation in eternal life, the restoration of nature inclining toward itself to a tranquil state, the abolition of the law of sin, and the overthrowing of the tyranny of evil which has dominated us by trickery.” (Pages 102–103)
“Whenever you are suffering intensely from insult or disgrace, realize that this can be of great benefit to you, for disgrace is God’s way of driving vainglory out of you.” (Page 38)
“There are certain things which check the passions in their movement and do not allow them to advance and increase, and there are others which diminish them and make them decrease. For example, fasting, hard labor, and vigils do not allow concupiscence to grow, while solitude, contemplation, prayer, and desire for God decrease it and make it disappear. And similarly is this the case with anger: for example, long-suffering, the forgetting of offenses, and meekness check it and do not allow it to grow, while love, almsgiving, kindness, and benevolence make it diminish.” (Page 53)
“The one who has had success with the virtues and has become rich in knowledge as at last discerning things by their nature does and considers everything according to right reason and is in no way misled. For it is on the basis of whether we make use of things rationally or irrationally that we become either virtuous or wicked.” (Page 45)
“Eternally existing as Creator, God creates when he wishes by his consubstantial Word and Spirit out of infinite goodness. But do not object: For what reason did he create at this time, since he was always good? Because, I say in turn, the inscrutable wisdom of the infinite nature is not subject to human knowledge.” (Page 75)
St. Maximus the Confessor (580–662), was a major Byzantine thinker, a theologian and philosopher. He developed a philosophical theology in which the doctrine of God, creation, the cosmic order, and salvation is integrated in a unified conception of reality. Christ, the divine Logos, is the center of the principles (the logoi) according to which the cosmos is created, and in accordance with which it shall convert to its divine source.
Reviews
1 rating
Kevin Clarke, Ph.D.
12/17/2022
This is an excellent work for those who want an introduction to Maximus and a sampling of his works. For Verbum development, I would suggest moving the notation of Centuries on Charity in this work and in Sherwood's from page numbers to the following format: Car 2.53. That way, Berthold's and Sherwood's (and anyone else's) can be linked for Maximus scholars who want to compare translations.
