Andrew Louth - Syriac Christian Church

OPUSCULE 7
INTRODUCTION
This short work is addressed—like several of Maximus’ opuscula and
a letter—to Marinus, at the time of this work a deacon in Cyprus. 1
Sherwood (1952, 51) dates it to 642, mainly because it is clearly
written with knowledge of the Ecthesis. After an introduction praising
Marinus’ spiritual maturity, Maximus inveighs against the divisive
tendencies of heresies, before he embarks on an attack on the
Monenergist/Monothelite heresy. A major part of the argument is
discussion of passages from the Fathers: Athanasius, two of the
Cappadocian Fathers, and Cyril of Alexandria. Part of his discussion
consists of interpretation of the Agony in the Garden, in which he
draws on discussions of this event in a (possibly spurious) work by
Athanasius and in Cyril of Alexandria’s commentary on St John’s
Gospel. In addition he discusses a passage (no longer extant) from
Gregory of Nyssa, a favourite passage from one of Gregory
Nazianzen’s Theological Orations and the celebrated passage about the
‘theandric energy’ of the Incarnate Word in Denys the Areopagite’s
fourth letter.
His argument turns, as we have already seen in earlier works, on
the integrity of created natures, including the human nature that the
Word assumed. Although towards the end Maximus does refer to two
natural wills in Christ, in his arguments he mainly has in view the
heretical assertion that there is only one energy.
69B
TEXT
Dogmatic tome, sent to Marinus the Deacon in Cyprus: I do
not know whether rather to be amazed at the modesty of your
great reverence or astonished at the courage of your very great
zeal, all-holy servant of God and all-wise initiate in and guide