St. Maximus the Confessor

  Posted on August 19, 2024  by admin  No comments

Born: c.580 at Constantinople

Died: 13 August 662 at Batum near the Black Sea of natural causes, strange lights reported hovering near his tomb.

Also known as Maximus of Constantinople, Maximus Confessor, Maximus the Theologian, Maximus Homogoletes

Born to the Byzantine nobility. Chief secretary to Emperor Heraclius, a post he resigned to become a monk at Chrysopolis. Spiritual student of Saint Sophronius. Abbot of Chrysopolis. His community broke up in 626 due to Persian invasion. Maximus fled to Alexandria, Egypt, then to Carthage, and then Rome, Italy. Worked with Pope Martin I against Monothelist heresy, and attended the Lateran Council of 649. Falsely accused of treason due to his defense of orthodox Christianity, he was arrested and forcibly returned to Constantinople. He spent years in prison misery, and at age 82 received his final sentence: he was flogged, his tongue cut out, his right hand cut off, he was exhibited in the streets as an example to the people, and was sent into exile at Skhemeris on the Black Sea, where he died soon after. He is best remembered today for his mystical, ascetical, and theological writings, and for his steadfast belief that the purpose of all history was the Incarnation.