Andrew Louth - Syriac Christian Church
Andrew Louth - Syriac Christian Church Andrew Louth - Syriac Christian Church
3 MAXIMUS’ SPIRITUAL THEOLOGY We have already seen that, so far as his writings go, Maximus seems to have begun by addressing himself to matters of spiritual or ascetical theology. Before his arrival in Africa, round about 630, few of his writings raise questions of dogmatic or philosophical theology, though if it is indeed the case, as has been conjectured, that on his way from Asia Minor to Africa he engaged in disputation with Severan Monophysites in Crete, it would seem that he already had a reputation as a defender of Orthodoxy. I have already argued that it is probably not fortuitous that his concerns were initially ascetic. It is, it seems to me, of a piece with the way in which his theological writings are essentially occasional, the response to requests for elucidation on the part of his friends. He early acquired a reputation as a spiritual father (though it seems that he never became an abbot, still less a priest), and it was out of that relationship that he began to write both letters and short treatises many of which follow closely the forms of monastic catechesis. A THEOLOGICAL ASCESIS But from the beginning his ascetical theology is firmly set against a theological background: ascetical theology is about how we come to know God, it is not about some kind of spiritual technique; to come to know God is a matter of experience, not speculation; for a Christian to come to know God is to respond to a God who has made himself known. This is where Maximus begins. Early on in his short treatise on the Lord’s Prayer (written before 630) we read: The Logos bestows adoption on us when He grants us that birth and deification which, transcending nature, comes by grace from above through the Spirit. The guarding and preservation of this in God depends on the resolve of those thus born: on their sincere acceptance of the grace bestowed on them and, through
34 INTRODUCTION the practice of the commandments, on their cultivation of the beauty given to them by grace. Moreover, by emptying themselves of the passions they lay hold of the divine to the same degree as that to which, deliberately emptying Himself of His own sublime glory, the Logos of God truly became man. 1 This paragraph takes for granted the doctrine of the Trinity (which the preceding paragraph spells out quite explicitly), the doctrine of the Incarnation, and our adoption as children of God through Christ in the Spirit. But there are other themes more specifically characteristic of Maximus: the goal is deification, which is seen as the consequence (and purpose) of the Incarnation; and as the Incarnation of the Son involved his selfemptying (kenosis), so our deification involves our kenosis, the self-emptying of the passions. The way up is the way down: the kenosis of the Son demands the kenosis of the adopted sons; the manifestation of the One ‘more beautiful than the sons of men’ 2 calls for the ‘cultivation of the beauty given to them by grace’, through their acceptance of the grace offered and the practice of the commandments. For Maximus, the themes of dogmatic theology provide an outline that is filled in by his ascetical theology, that is, his theology of the Christian life: the manifestation of God’s glory prefigures our glorification, the Son’s self-emptying foreshadows our self-emptying—in short, God the Word’s becoming human opens up the possibility of human beings becoming God. This is not peculiar to Maximus—it is, in fact, a characteristic theme of much patristic theology—but Maximus fills in the details much more thoroughly than many of the earlier Fathers. He does this by drawing on the developed ascetical theology of Byzantine monasticism, that stretches back to the Desert Fathers, and beyond, and owes much of its systematic form to Evagrius. The quotation from his commentary on the Lord’s Prayer already includes a few of the technical terms of this ascetical theology —‘passions’, especially, and also the language of deification. If we look further afield in Maximus’ writings we shall find the whole range of such terminology drawn on to explore what is involved in responding to the Word’s seeking us out in his Incarnation. ASCETICISM FOR ALL Perhaps the first point to make clear is that Maximus’ ascetical theology in principle applies to all Christians. Although most of the writings that developed this ascetical theology in the Byzantine world were for monks and by monks (and Maximus himself was a monk),
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34 INTRODUCTION<br />
the practice of the commandments, on their cultivation of the<br />
beauty given to them by grace. Moreover, by emptying<br />
themselves of the passions they lay hold of the divine to the same<br />
degree as that to which, deliberately emptying Himself of His<br />
own sublime glory, the Logos of God truly became man. 1<br />
This paragraph takes for granted the doctrine of the Trinity<br />
(which the preceding paragraph spells out quite explicitly), the<br />
doctrine of the Incarnation, and our adoption as children of God<br />
through Christ in the Spirit. But there are other themes more<br />
specifically characteristic of Maximus: the goal is deification,<br />
which is seen as the consequence (and purpose) of the<br />
Incarnation; and as the Incarnation of the Son involved his selfemptying<br />
(kenosis), so our deification involves our kenosis, the<br />
self-emptying of the passions. The way up is the way down: the<br />
kenosis of the Son demands the kenosis of the adopted sons; the<br />
manifestation of the One ‘more beautiful than the sons of men’ 2<br />
calls for the ‘cultivation of the beauty given to them by grace’,<br />
through their acceptance of the grace offered and the practice of<br />
the commandments.<br />
For Maximus, the themes of dogmatic theology provide an<br />
outline that is filled in by his ascetical theology, that is, his<br />
theology of the <strong>Christian</strong> life: the manifestation of God’s glory<br />
prefigures our glorification, the Son’s self-emptying foreshadows<br />
our self-emptying—in short, God the Word’s becoming human<br />
opens up the possibility of human beings becoming God. This is<br />
not peculiar to Maximus—it is, in fact, a characteristic theme of<br />
much patristic theology—but Maximus fills in the details much<br />
more thoroughly than many of the earlier Fathers. He does this<br />
by drawing on the developed ascetical theology of Byzantine<br />
monasticism, that stretches back to the Desert Fathers, and<br />
beyond, and owes much of its systematic form to Evagrius. The<br />
quotation from his commentary on the Lord’s Prayer already<br />
includes a few of the technical terms of this ascetical theology<br />
—‘passions’, especially, and also the language of deification. If we<br />
look further afield in Maximus’ writings we shall find the whole<br />
range of such terminology drawn on to explore what is involved<br />
in responding to the Word’s seeking us out in his Incarnation.<br />
ASCETICISM FOR ALL<br />
Perhaps the first point to make clear is that Maximus’ ascetical<br />
theology in principle applies to all <strong>Christian</strong>s. Although most of the<br />
writings that developed this ascetical theology in the Byzantine world<br />
were for monks and by monks (and Maximus himself was a monk),
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