St. Maximus the Confessor's "Questions and Doubts"

Saint Maximus the Confessor, Despina D. Prassas

• Publisher: Northern Illinois University Press
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781501755347
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Biblical Criticism & Interpretation

Despina D. Prassas's translation of the Quaestiones et Dubia presents for the first time in English one of the Confessor's most significant contributions to early Christian biblical interpretation. Maximus the Confessor (580–662) was a monk whose writings focused on ascetical interpretations of biblical and patristic works. For his refusal to accept the Monothelite position supported by Emperor Constans II, he was tried as a heretic, his right hand was cut off, and his tongue was cut out. In his work, Maximus the Confessor brings together the patristic exegetical aporiai tradition and the spiritual-pedagogical tradition of monastic questions and responses. The overarching theme is the importance of the ascetical life. For Maximus, askesis is a lifelong endeavor that consists of the struggle and discipline to maintain control over the passions. One engages in the ascetical life by taking part in both theoria (contemplation) and praxis (action). To convey this teaching, Maximus uses a number of pedagogical tools including allegory, etymology, number symbolism, and military terminology. Prassas provides a rich historical and contextual background in her introduction to help ground and familiarize the reader with this work.

NOTES

INTRODUCTION

1. 1. For a more in-depth look at the research and its contribution to the study of Maximus, see Aidan Nichols, OP, Byzantine Gospel: Maximus the Confessor in Modern Scholarship (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1993), appendix A. Fr. Nichols’s work ends with the scholarship of the early 1990s.
2. 2. Notes two through eighteen provide examples of the types of scholarship discussed; these are not necessarily exhaustive references. Peter van Deun et. al., Maximi Confessoris liber asceticus, CCSG 40 (Turnhout: Brepols, 2000).
3. 3. Bronwen Neil and Pauline Allen, eds. and trans., The Life of Maximus the Confessor Recension 3. Early Christian Studies 6 (Strathfield, NSW, Australia: Pauls, 2003), with translation.
4. 4. Bart Janssens, ed., Maximi Confessoris Ambigua ad Thomam una cum Epistula secunda ad eundem, CCSG 48 (Turnhout: Brepols, 2002).
5. 5. Stephanos Sargologos, Florilege sacro-profance du Pseudo-Maxime (Hermopolis, Greece: Syros Typokykladike, 2001).
6. 6. Maximus the Confessor, On the Cosmic Mystery of Jesus Christ: Selected Writings of Maximus the Confessor, trans. Paul Blowers and Robert Wilken (Crestwood, N.Y.: Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2003).
7. 7. Pauline Allen and Bronwen Neil, eds. and trans., Maximus the Confessor and his Companions: Documents from Exile (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002).
8. 8. Maximus Confessor, La Mystagogie, trans. Marie-Lucie Charpin-Ploix (Paris: Migne, 2005).
9. 9. Maximus Confessor, Centuries sur la charite, trans. Joseph Pegon (Paris: Cerf, 2006). For the purposes of my translation, I will be using the critical edition of Aldo Ceresa-Gestaldo, Capitoli sulla carita, editi criticamente con introduzione, versione e note (Rome: Editrice Studium, 1963).
10. 10. Demetrios Batharellos, The Byzantine Christ: Person, Nature and Will in the Christology of Saint Maximus the Confessor (New York: Oxford University Press, 2004); and Melchisedec Toronen, Union and Distinction in the Thought of Maximus the Confessor (New York: Oxford University Press, 2007).
11. 11. Adam G. Cooper, The Body in Maximus the Confessor: Holy Flesh, Wholly Deified (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005).
12. 12. Pascal Mueller-Jourdan, Typologies patio-temporelle de l’ecclesia byzantine: la Mystagogie de Maxime le Confesseur dans la culte philosophique de l’antiquite tardive (Leiden: Brill, 2005); and Vasileios Betsakos, Stasis aeikinetos: he anakrainise tes aristotelikes kineseos ste theologia tou hagiou Maximou tou Homologetou (Athens: Ekdoseis Harmos, 2006).
13. 13. Assaad Elias Kattan, Veleiblichung und synergie: Grundzuge der Bibelhermeneutik bei Maximus Confessor (Leiden: Brill, 2003); and Edouard Jeauneau, La figure de Melchisedech chez Maxime le Confesseur (Chartres: Association des Amis du Centre Medieval de Chartres, 2000).
14. 14. Torstein Tollefsen, The Christocentric Cosmology of Maximus the Confessor (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008).
15. 15. D. A. Pospelov, Disputs Pirrom: prp. Maksim Ispovednik I khristologischeskie spory VII stoletiia (Moscow: Khram Sofii Premudrosti Bozhiei, 2004).
16. 16. Philipp Gabriel Renczes, Agir de Dieu et liberte de l’homme: recherches sur l’anthropologie theologiqu de saint Maxime le confesseur (Paris: Cerf, 2003); Bernardo De Angelis, Nature, persona, liberta: l’antropologia di Massimo il Confessore (Roma: Armando, 2002); and Michael Weeks, Maximus the Confessor: Re-ascending to God through his Anthropology (MA th...

Table of contents

• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• St. Maximus the Confessor’s Quaestiones et dubia Translation
• Abbreviations and References
• Notes
• Selected Bibliography
• Biblical and Patristic References Index
• General Index
• Names and Places Index