The Relevance of St. Maximus the Confessor Today | with Fr. Maximos Constas 

Coming to Orthodoxy later after a life of unbelief in, and even hostility toward, Christianity, I confess that reading St. Maximus feels for me like coming to a hill overlooking the Promised Land before descending into that hopeful Land after 40 years in the desolate wilderness.

Fr. Maximus and I have known each other for years. He is one of the most knowledgeable people and explains in easy to understand terms that benefit everyone. Thank you for having him on.

The gospel is simple enough that a child gets it, the Bible is rich enough that it cannot be exhausted.

It is absolutely incredible that there are over 2000 people watching a video on St. Maximus' taught by one of the leading scholars on his work. Just think about how St. Maximus would be but a curiosity for only the most well read researchers on early Christian thinkers. Nowadays, his thought can be easily accessed by thousands of people with just a few clicks. The ease of information exchange in our times is indeed one of the greatest revolutions in humanity.

Jonathan, please speak to Iain Mcgilchrist. You two have such resonant voices today in bringing out the truth of our reality. Building a bridge would be fruitful for us all!! Love your work!

I think St. Maximus might be the best key to reuniting Catholics and Orthodox. St. Maximus, pray for us.

Every depth has a surface but every surface doesn't have depth. Thank you 😊

The Cosmic Mystery of Jesus Christ re-oriented my entire conception of reality

At the L’Abri community in Switzerland, bread was always made for meals. I remember distinctly a Sunday morning when one of the pastors brought a loaf of bread still warm from the oven into the chapel, having been made the day before and baked that morning. It was the making of the bread and used for communion. Art and the making, daily life and meaning all tied up nicely near the top of the mountain in the Swiss Alps. And we all lived with a family in their home. That kind of kills abstract concepts.

I watch these thrice and more sometimes and find something new each time.

I encourage all to watch anything on RU-vid by, Fr. Maximos Constas.

I made it 13 minutes in before my mind was blown, so clearly I'm gonna have to watch this in several pieces so that I can digest it all.

Beautiful discussion. I see the soul's time wrestling with imagination as an important sacrifice leading to meditation and in turn contemplation. Mysticism is the reward, a gift apart from and greater than the sum of these three parts. Imagine that:)

I love seeing the giddiness Jonathan shows when he finishes up statement and then Father Maximos picks right up off of it. It truly is a wonder, the way that the Holy Fathers unpack life and reality and plunge the depths of existence. For some this is too much to consider, they indeed reside only on the surface understanding of anything. The minute you give them a symbolic unpacking to explain further, they get nervous and want to run away from it, or some stand with a deer in the headlights look on their face. This discussion was beautiful and very thoughtful!

Please do have a Part 2 with this wonderful guest. It’s clear he has much more to impart to us. Also, please consider conversing with other great patrologists…Rev John Anthony McGuckin (perhaps focusing on the writings of St Gregory of Nyssa and St Gregory the the Theologian), Bishop Alexander Golitsin (on St Dionysios), Rev John Behr (Origen, St Irenaeus), and someone with expertise on Augustine.

'Every depth has a surface but not every surface has a depth'

A well-matched pair and very illuminating conversation. Please consider a part 2!

Wooooo!! Looking forward to listening to this.

This was a fantastic discussion! Thank you, Fr. Maximos for sharing your insight with Jonathan and all of us on the Symbolic World. ❤️ May Christ increase the wheat in your life and may the tares be few. Many years to both of you.

Here early and ready for more cosmic goodness!

Excellent conversations and guest. I've thoroughly benefited from a number of talks I've heard from Fr. Maximos.

Oh heck yes! My Monday just got so much better.

Thank you Johnathan and Father Maximos for a very engaging talk. Glory be to God for invitations to dive deeper into the life of the Spirit through discussions such as these.

The best Pageau interview I've seen so far.

Thanks

Wonderful video 🙏

Thank you!

Amazing, thank you

1:04:30 Same thing happened to Nikola Tesla when inventing the alternating current motor: 'As I uttered these inspiring words the idea came like a flash of lightning and in an instant the truth was revealed. I drew with a stick on the sand the diagrams shown 6 years later in my address before the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, and my companion understood them perfectly. The images I saw were wonderfully sharp and clear and had the solidity of metal and stone, so much so that I told him: "See my motor here; watch me reverse it." I cannot begin to describe my emotions. Pygmalion seeing his statue come to life could not have been more deeply moved.'

This was one of the best talks, I had to rewatch more than once.

St. Maximus the Confessor and St. Martin the Confessor, Pope of Rome pray for the reunion of East and West🙏

This is brilliant I'm grateful I listened to this.

47:15 this idea of not simply "regifting" reminds me of the parable of the three servants. It makes me think that the gift of the mind comes with a certain level of responsibility

What a great video! Fr Maximos Constas is an absolute gem!

It's wonderful that you had an opportunity to speak to Fr. Maximos Constas. His translations of the 'Ambigua' and 'Responses to Thalassions' have had a very profound impact in my spiritual development. I don't believe it's an overstatement to say that the Orthodox world is greatly indebted to his work and his effort. There are so many questions that I would have loved to have asked him, but below are the most pressing questions, in my view: 1. It's often asserted that St. Maximus, in the Ambigua, principally sought to correct the "Platoic" influences in Origen's corpus. More specifically, it is argued (by Joseph Farrell and others) that Origen's notion of divine simplicity (or what's referred to as "Absolute Divine Simplicity" by some) was rooted in the metaphysics of the Greeks/Neo-Platonists, rather than on the metaphysics of the Church (and which later, it is asserted, came into conflict with that of the Cappadocian fathers). However, this doesn't appear to be the position held by Fr. Maximos Constas in his work. More specifically, in a paper titled, "Maximos the Confessor, Dionysios the Areopagite, and the Transformation of Christian Neoplatonism," he writes the following: "Maximus also modified the second movement in the cycle, ‘procession.’ For Dionysius, the divine ‘processions’ - which he calls ‘powers,’ ‘participations,’ ‘providences,’ ‘manifestations,’ ‘activities,’ and ‘distributions’ of God - signify the presence of God ‘outside’ His essence, which refers to God’s causal presence in beings as their intelligible determinations. Dionysius does not hesitate to speak of the divine processions as an ‘overflowing outpouring of light,’ along with other metaphors of diffusion and radiation, which could imply that creation came about by necessity. However, Dionysius’ emphasis here is more likely on the non-substantial character of these processions as a deliberate rejection of Neoplatonic self-subsisting ‘heads’ (intermediary entities). Maximus adopts some of the same language and imagery, but for him the ‘processions’ are no longer the self-diffusing activities of a generic First Principle, but rather the multiplication of the One Logos into a plurality of logoi. In this way, Dionysius’ attempt to eliminate intermediaries by locating the source of multiplicity within the First Principle was transformed by Maximus, who identified the source of procession with the person of the Logos.” Fr. Maximos also has the following commentary in his translation of the Ambigua (footnote #2, Ambiguum 7): “The doctrine of “a unity (henad) of rational beings” epitomizes the cosmology of Origen of Alexandria and Evagrios of Pontus and was officially condemned during the reign of Justinian; see his ‘Letter to the Holy Synod Concerning Origen,’ dated to 553; and the appended anathemas. See also below, Amb 15.10-11. That Maximos identifies such a view with the “doctrines of the Greeks: means that the implications of his critique go far beyond Origenism, for he is undermining one of the most cherished principles of pagan Neo-Platonism, namely, that “remaining” in the One is prior to “procession” and “emanation” from it.” Here, it seems like St. Maximus' critique was not aimed at Origen's understanding of divine simplicity at all. Rather, one could argue that St. Maximus stressed a higher degree of divine unity, by moving the "unity-in-plurality" principle from God, as He "remains" in Himself to God as He is in His procession "outside" of Himself (viz. creation). Would Fr. Maximos Constas agree that St. Maximus, in his correction of Origen, really sought to purge the influence of Proclean pagan principles (of a divine plurality of Henads that subsist within the One as a unity-in-plurality structure, prior to the procession) rather than Greek notions of simplicity? 2. Related to #1, does Fr. Maximos agree that the "problem of the one-and-many" (or unity-in-plurality) applies to God qua God? Theologians such as Toronen argue that the Trinity is the par excellence of the "one-and-many." Or does he believe that unity-in-plurality is more applicable to Creator-creature or, more specifically, to the Logos-logoi? 3. It has been argued that St. Maximus deviated from the hierarchical structure (vertical causation) of St. Dionysius. For example, in Fr. Maximos' translation of the Responses to Thalassios (footnote #24, Response 54), it states the following: "Larchet highlights three themes here: first, that grace is given "according to measure" of the recipient's faith and disposition, and suggests that that Maximos's emphasis on the personal, spiritual state of the recipient 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐬 𝐚 𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐟𝐭 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐃𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐲𝐬𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 "𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐲," 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐢𝐬 𝐝𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 (although there are limits to what humanity can receive, as Maximos regularly affirms)." But is this truly a deviation from St. Dionysius' hierarchical structure, or is it more of an added (perhaps horizontal/hypostatic) dimension of human participation/mode of willing? I see St. Dionysius' hierarchies as the "base level" of participation (what St. Maximus calls the "logos of being") and St. Maximus' addition of tropos as the individual movement from "logos of being" to "logos of well-being." In other words, I see St. Maximus as complimentary to St. Dionysius, rather than contradicting or deviating from him. 4. Fr. Maximos Constas referred to St. Maximus' notion of "Theophany." Does he agree, along with theologians such as Tollefsen, Toronen, Cvetkovic, and others, that Perl's presentation of St. Dionysius failed to establish the proper ontological boundaries between Creator and creature? In my view, Perl appears to conflate the logoi with being and, as a result, flirts with a soft type of panentheism. Is this a fair criticism? 5. Finally, in Fr. Maximos view, how does he understand St. Maximus when he says that there will be "one energy" and "one alone" of God and the saints?

"we transform those gifts" gotta love the LoC verbiage re: 'time' ;) awesome discussion.

Thank you for this talk. I'm a Protestant and just heard of St. Maximus through an online class I'm taking on Rhetoric (The 7 Liberal Arts, The Logos in All Things, Analogia Entis etc). My prof highly recommended The Analogy of Love: St Maximus the Confessor and the Foundations of Ethics, which I've been trying to locate. It blows my mind that St. Maximus's works are only just recently being translated into English, opening his thought to a whole new audience. I'm excited to dive further.

Εὐλογεῖτε!

Thank you Jonathan and Father Maximos, I thoroughly enjoyed every minute!

Very nice, especially the part on imagination and art. Thank you! :)

Thanks to father Constas for the hard grind of restoring a critical edition, but also curious exploration that will help us to recover Maximos from the tomb of archives, so that he may inspire, counsel and accompany our own callings and struggles in a modern world. The work of Maximos isn't new since he was part of Western tradition through the Hiberno-Scottish mission and the adaption by John Scotus Eriugena - but it was always looked down upon as heretic by the Roman See when it is in fact a key to the bridge that connects the Eastern and Western part of the ancient empire which needs to be inclusive of each other's *_unique charisma_* , in order to be functional as a major polity, _civilization_ or 'ecumene'. Without the _cautiously balancing_ , emphatic, fully tested and faithfull spirit of Maximos, it can't be _renewed_ , I'd say - otherwise being a ship lost at the open sea, without a lode star or in a labyrinthian library of concepts, interests and ideologies - trying to find answers to pressing questions about man when all books look the same.

Understanding the particularized nature of our being existing at the same time as does our collective union with God in my experience is analogous to the wave/.particle dual nature of matter. And what determines which aspect predominates at any given moment is where we place the focus of our awareness, which we have the free will to do. I heard someone on a RU-vid video recently recounting his experience of being out alone one night on his boat.. It was a beautiful still night, above him the sky was filled with stars. He turned off the motor and laid down in the boat, surrounded by total silence and gazed up at the stars . And in that moment, he had a spontaneous transcendent experience of realizing his Oneness with the Cosmos and with God. We can do this in meditation. It can become part of our spiritual practice, grounded in a little understanding and an image in our minds of the almost web-like unity, pattern like a weaving which I think is called Indra's Net in Hinduism, that depicts how the universe is all interconnected at the highest level. Thank you both for this presentation. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-xVLZ8_AzD1c.html

Well, you certainly chose the most apropos person to speak on St. Maximus.

I think the western Christian focus on redemption is right, though also challenged within the tradition, not least in Dante’s Divine Comedy, where in the Paradiso, which is to say with enlightened perception, Beatrice calls the fall a “digression” on the path to deification - which Dante calls “transhumanisation” (another notion now wildly misunderstood, but that’s another story…)

Excellent video, thank you!

@18:15 - I would love to hear JP interact with Rudolf Steiner and his Philosophy of Spiritual Activity (1895), which is exactly an experiential or phenomenological synthesis of matter and spirit, or perception and cognition, in the tradition of all the great thinkers, such as St. Maximus, who contributed to a synthesis of the visible and invisible throughout post-Christian history.

This was really really a great conversation. I totally enjoyed every bit of it. Thanks

Simply beautiful!

Thanks for this episode!

Great talk. Thank you so much for making it happen!

I've watched for just a bit and so far it's as always, informative and appreciated! I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of this one.

Bernadette Roberts suggested learning about Maximus’ views. This is the first info I am getting on him. Thanks.

Thank you so much for continuing to ask about the issue of imagination, that has been something I've been wondering about! Really enjoyed this conversation and hope you have more with Fr. Maximus down the road.

Wow, thank you for this video. Just a comment on how the interviewer may be feeling when he's creating art. I think the fact of doing it is holy in itself. He could be doing anything else but he is doing that. That in itself is holy. Recently I've been saying prayers and being angry with myself that I am not being conscious and understanding deeply every word I am saying but then I realised, I'm trying to use that logical part of me. I need to use all of me. Just read it. Don't let anything stop me from just reading it because we are more than that surface one dimensional logical thought. Like an egg, even though we cannot see its' eventual form it is still going to have a complete animal form. It is what it is.

Based Maximus.

Amazing conversation.

Mind-blown at about @38:00 talking about Creation being God’s purpose, not redemption. So obvious once he said it.

Dear God I hope one day I will be able to sing a true Christ.

Informative discussion good stuff :) Christopher Walken looks so different with a long beard!

00:34:59 - Fall & redemption are part of a bigger story "the larger arc is really not fall and redemption but creation and deification" 00:38:29 - All of creation through man and Divine all of creation has as its telos to unite with God to the degree that its possible for created things 01:01:01 - The role of imagination storytelling and art that is not explicitly sacred can be a broader form of exegeses and commentary that still contain seeds of wisdom

I am thinking in such moments that it could always be worse. When you have gifts, you don't always remember their value. Unless you are coming from a much worse place.

Great guest. I imagine this video could be 10 hours long if you guys kept going.

The intro on this one really captivated me

The _'suspicion against artistic imagination'_ , addressed in the 'Philokalia' is likely the same as that of Plato who had noticed how writers like Homer make things up, sloppily (e.g. regarding the role of chariots in war before the 'bronze age collapse') in order to sell 'entertainment' (an aspect, Adorno will think about when trying to describe a modern, 'commodified' *'culture industry'* ). It takes *circumstances in which imagination is not dimmed by material comfort and self-complacency, but **_starving_** and **_thirsting_** for **_inspiration_* in order to overcome a state of utter _despair_ - the moment, when 'angels step in' and deliver a 'message', one could not make up, but which is *_'in tune'_** with a 'divine economy'* - often in contradiction with notions of secular 'success'. *The sacrifices, 'wrestled away' from **_an prophetic or apostolic life_** are the 'well shaped building blocks' on which a 'heavenly Jerusalem' will soundly rest in glory* - after all mundane cities will have decomposed - due to a *_'spiritual realism'_* , man may never _fully_ comprehend or explain, but can _experience_ and therefore _'witness'_ , indeed - explaining why men become _'confessors'_ when just going along with the politics of their time would have been simple and comfortable. I want Jonathan *to visualize the theology and anthropology of Maximos in artwork* - like medieval cathedral sculpture _illustrated_ eschatological stories to the iliterate farmer - including msyteries like *Christ, creating Adam* in Chartres. I know that it is too much to ask of virtually anyone - 'honeybadgers don't care'. God willing, it needs to be done, I'd say - _somehow_ .

It would be cool if you did a video about the symbolism in the film Stalker by Andrei Tarkovsky

32:25 The world becomes transparent once we can withdraw our projections.

I can no longer attend Dr. Jordon Peterson’s talk at DAR Constitution Hall in DC bc the mayor mandated the vaccine for all events in DC. I have three row B tickets for sale if anyone is looking for an up close and personal experience with this incredible man.

I’d like to see Fr John Behr on your channel, Jonathan! Y’all can discuss St Gregory of Nyssa , Origenis Adamantios , etc… ok?

losing your right hand and tongue for being right is a good reason as to why other past Christians would veil their divine revelation God gave them. really doubt origen would think the soul is dissolved in God and if those that claim to follow him think that, they did not know origen very well.

I scanned the Hexaemeron but could not find anything pertaining to the purpose of creation being unification with God. If anyone could point me to the right place I'd be very thankful!

I have heard a lot in my studies of Orthodoxy, that God is present with you in your suffering. Christ is there in the darkness, in our pain and weakness, perhaps that's where true grace abides, in the midst of our suffering. And perhaps this is to much further, but how much could God be suffering through his creation and on going providential perpetuation of all things... I came to the conclusion a while ago that the meaning of life was self-sacrificial love, but this would mean that life itself IS the self-sacrificial love of God.

36:33 - The Larger Arc is not "Fall and Redemption", but "Creation and Deification". God creates the world, what brings beings into existence, for no other reason than to ultimately unite them with himself. That's God purpose in creation. [Transgression and Redemption is a smaller arc between the bigger arc which is Creation accomplishing the purpose of God.] 56:17 - Art is the search for an Archetype. 56:55 - The image that emerges from the Archetype longs for reunion with its source. 1:05:00 - Numenius of Apamea: "What is Plato if not Moses speaking Attic Greek"

I think eternity will not be endless time, it will be more like our relationship with God grows deeper and deeper with no end. The dimensionality of time is not well understood. I think time is fractal, like the branches of a tree extending out into quality as well as quantity.

Hello Jonathan. This comment is about your chat with styx, but I am posting here with the hope that you'll see this comment instead of on the BTR video. I believe it would be helpful to ask styx that if reality is such that there actually is one "path" (for lack of a better term) to the top of THE mountain, would he commit to that? And as a corrollary; if so, does he believe it is possible for Man to actually know if he is on the correct "path?" It seems to me the elephant in the room is that styx doesn't believe it's even possible to KNOW and that all the talk about "paths" is a coping mechanism for this limitation and to justify his personal and arbitrary judgements.

My beard is half as long as his and grayer. We are all spiritual practicers.

It would be a delight for you to have a dialogue with David Bentley Hart.

32:10 Projection's change the world into the replica of one's own unknown face ~ C.G.Jung

People worship the god of their understanding, religion is the best example. Christianity is not a religion, it is a relationship.

Can the materialistic sight ever lead to believing in God? Like the people who say “I need scientific evidence that God exist, but no one ever gives me any real proof, and I believe in facts” Is there “evidence” just faith in disguise or what.

In Vervaeke's recent talk at the Chino conference, he mentions a quote from someone called Maximus the quote goes something like ~'God is within everything but not confined, outside everything but not excluded....' I'm wondering if the Maximus he referred to is Maximus the confessor or a different maximus? If it is Maximus the Confessor how can I find where he said it so I can learn about the context?

Power and anger are choice's of compitation, is . Our livings property. Use it if destroy than ??

When one reads the Philokalia it does generally speaking tend to have a wholly negative view of the passions, as Kallistos Ware once pointed out. Given that is the case, doesn't it imply a negative view of the body?

Resistance Free wire and current flow and heating of wire and healthy future of device. Is our life and tensions and fighting. How much angers flow ?? Is anti healthy. Or Mack distance Frome my point. See Pole to pole distraction. Love is attraction.

In regards to what was said about about iconographic art and how we should bear in mind Biblical revelation and tradition rather than individual creativity and imagination...OK, but what about art OUTSIDE the Church? Or is that always bad and should never be attempted or even appreciated by Orthodox Christians? I know that there are canons that forbid us going to the theatre, I assume that must apply to the cinema too in the modern day, so that means movies at home are a no-no too. But what about looking at art from outside the bounds of the Church? Are there any circumstances in which that is allowed? I'm curious as to whether it's OK to read novels and poems too. I know that many ancient Christian Saints were well-read in the pagan literature of their time and didn't see that as a bad thing per se.

Thinking's a fact near is a property for everyone, is marginal level, think imagine is property Frome Creator's part and has transfered to his created son as say order fruit" was for metarial world's, and behind was our countinue as per required essential information wee collecting and using it. Is our marketing and survival world.

Sorry....great MCM chair in the Father's office! Is this level of education standard for Orthodox priests?

I appreciate what it said in these podcasts. I like Jonathan Pageau. But I can’t help but feel that what was said in this podcast is a strawman of Western Christianity. Saint Augustine said “my heart is restless oh Lord until it rests and you”, and Saint Thomas Aquinas said that God is our ultimate ends, indeed our telos. Why should we think any traditional Christianity whether east or west would deny our obfuscate that God is our ultimate good for which we should attain? I’m not saying this didn’t happen in practical application or with the fulness of time in the west, but I would push back on the idea that a learned review of Western Christianity results in not having God as our ultimate end and the point of creation.

0:34 Let us make every effort to refrain from using such phraseology as "stars align", as we are not astrologers nor monthly prognosticators.

dude looks like david cross

The Bible is a hologram and Jesus is on every page, Living Word, (Logos).

Thanks