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Andrew Louth - Syriac Christian Church

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6 INTRODUCTION<br />

result of an adulterous union between a Samaritan man and a Persian<br />

slave-girl. He was christened Moschion. His father died when he was<br />

nine and his mother a year later. The young Moschion became the<br />

monk Maximus of the monastery of Palaia Lavra, where he was<br />

received by the abbot Pantaleon. This <strong>Syriac</strong> account adds that<br />

Maximus attracted the attention of Sophronius— indeed it gives the<br />

impression that the brilliant younger man influenced the learned<br />

Sophronius—and that the abbot who tonsured Maximus was a ‘wicked<br />

Origenist’. When he published the <strong>Syriac</strong> Life, Brock pointed out the<br />

plausibility of this account of the young Maximus: the Palaia Lavra<br />

was the monastery of St Chariton, not far from the monastery of St<br />

Theodosius where Sophronius was a monk, so the close relationship<br />

with Sophronius was long-standing. Tarring Maximus with the<br />

Origenist brush could be significant, except that the accusation of<br />

‘Origenism’ was hurled about pretty freely in monastic circles. The<br />

important thing about this <strong>Syriac</strong> account is that, unlike the tenthcentury<br />

Greek account, this Life is contemporary with Maximus,<br />

written by one George of Reshaina. Its hostile tone is explained by its<br />

Monothelite provenance: Monothelitism was, as we shall see, the<br />

Christological heresy against which Maximus struggled in the last<br />

decades of his life—a struggle that ultimately cost him his life. Its<br />

concrete details invite credence, and the tone would have perhaps<br />

seemed less hostile to Byzantine ears than it does to ours: according to<br />

his Life, St Theodore of Sykeon was the result of a one-night stand,<br />

and that was not held against him! But although the <strong>Syriac</strong> Life<br />

makes sense of his relationship with Sophronius, it does not explain<br />

Maximus’ apparent easy entrée at the court, nor the evidence of the<br />

considerably greater learning than he could have acquired as a<br />

provincial monk that is found in his writings, especially in the Books<br />

of Difficulties. It does remind us,however, that we have very little firm<br />

evidence for Maximus’ life before his stay in North Africa in the<br />

630s. 11<br />

POLITICAL SITUATION IN THE EARLY<br />

SEVENTH CENTURY<br />

Before we embark on the rest of Maximus’ life, it would perhaps be<br />

useful to fill in more of the detail of the century in which he lived his<br />

adult life. We saw that the later sixth century had seen a long drawnout<br />

war between the Byzantine Empire and Persia. This ended in<br />

Byzantine victory: a revolt in the Persian army led to the overthrow<br />

and death of Shah Hormisdas in 590. His successor Chosroes II fled to<br />

the Byzantine Emperor Maurice for protection. With Maurice’s<br />

assistance, Chosroes defeated the usurper Baram and, having married

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