Andrew Louth - Syriac Christian Church

THE SOURCES OF MAXIMUS’ THEOLOGY 31
healed—how this is achieved in the liturgy—what contribution the
Christian ascetic struggle has to make: all this can be found, drawn
together into an inspiring vision, in the work of the Confessor. It seems
to me that Denys provides the cosmic framework for Maximus’
vision. 33 Into this framework there fits the wisdom of the ascetic
tradition, with its understanding of human nature, and his deepened
understanding of the Incarnation in which the creaturely will is
united in full integrity to the will of the Creator. The ascetic tradition
and the dogmatic tradition cross-fertilize, notably in the way the
ascetic tradition fills out an understanding of the modalities of that
human nature assumed by the Son of God. In this synthesis there is
much genuine originality, which often takes the form of linking
together traditional notions in a profoundly illuminating way, a good
instance of this being Maximus’ application of the Dionysian language
of apophatic and cataphatic theology, not simply to our understanding
of God, as in Denys, but directly to the Incarnation and the doctrine of
the two natures in a single person. 34 It is this brilliant theological
synthesis that we shall explore in the rest of this Introduction.