Andrew Louth - Syriac Christian Church

THE SOURCES OF MAXIMUS’ THEOLOGY 25
explicitly heretical tendencies. 15 ‘Messalianism’ was condemned, at
various local councils in the fourth century, and at the third
Ecumenical Council in 431, and later, but—like Evagrianism— it
retained its popularity among certain sections of monasticism.
Maximus’ debt to the Macarian Homilies is sometimes direct and
literary: there is an allusion to the Macarian metaphor of the ‘earth of
the heart’ at the beginning of Opusc. 7. 16 But perhaps Macarian
influence is most deeply felt in the importance that Maximus attaches
to experience (peira). Knowledge of God is, for Maximus, a
transforming experience, which is why he lays such stress on
deification as the goal of the human life. 17 He does not, however, claim
such experience for himself, and in fact on several occasions explicitly
disclaims any experience that would qualify him to be a teacher of
others. 18 Rather he appeals to the experience of others, especially the
‘old man’ to whom he frequently defers. 19
There is a further tributary to the ascetic tradition that influenced
Maximus and that is the doctrine of Diadochus, the mid-fifth century
Bishop of Photikê in Epiros. It is possible that Maximus came to know
of Diadochus’ writings in Carthage, for it has been argued that
Diadochus may have been taken back to Carthage as a prisoner after
a Vandal raid on Epiros between 467 and 474 (a Bishop of Carthage of
the later fifth century—probably Eugenius, Bishop from 481 to 505—
is said to have been a disciple of Diadochus), and his renown may
have lived on in Christian circles there. 20 According to Hausherr,
Maximus had ‘studied Diadochus attentively’ (Hausherr 1952, 42). He
actually cites him at least twice, once with great respect in the
Dialogue with Pyrrhus, 21 and several scholars have detected further
borrowings from Diadochus. 22 But Maximus’ affinity with Diadochus
may be deeper than the mere borrowing of texts. For Diadochus is
important as an early example of an attempt to fuse together the
analysis of human nature that lies at the heart of Evagrius’ ascetical
wisdom and the emphasis on transforming experience perceived by
the heart that we find in the Macarian Homilies. 23 Precisely the same
fusion can be found in Maximus, and it is here, I would argue, that we
find the deepest affinity between the Confessor and the Bishop of
Photikê.
THE DOGMATIC TRADITION
The ascetic tradition was basic to Maximus, for the fundamental
interpretation of the tradition handed down in the Church is to be
found in the way it informs, and transforms, the lives of individuals
and thus contributes to the restoration of the fractured cosmos. But
even more fundamental in the restoration of the cosmos than ascetic