Abstract
In this paper, I shall try to give a description of how St Maximus the Confessor (580–662), one of the most influential orthodox theologians of the early Byzantine mystical tradition, conceives of an immediate experience of God. My presentation and analysis will rely especially on the Confessor’s early spiritual works: the Centuries on Love (Kεφάλαια περὶ ἀγάπης, Capita de charitate, before 626), the Ascetic Life (Λόγoς ἀσkητιkός, Liber asceticus, before 626) and the Exposition of the Lord’s Prayer (Eἰς τὴν πρoσευχὴν τoῦ Πάτερ ἡμῶν ἑρμηνεία σύντoμoς, Orationis dominicae brevis expositio, 628–630), all of them written early in Maximus’ early career, when he was a monk in his forties, first, probably, in the Jerusalem area, then—fleeing the Persian attack on the Byzantine Empire—in the Byzantine province of Africa.
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- 1.
See Larchet, J.-C., Saint Maxime le Confesseur [580–662], Paris: CERF, 2003, 41.
- 2.
Cf. Centuries on Love , 35, where destructive emotions are defined as κίνησις ψυχῆς παρὰ φύσιν.
- 3.
Cf. 2, 26 of the Centuries on Love , where the mind “gets into God;” and 2, 28, where it only “steps out towards God.”
- 4.
Ὅταν τῷ ἔρωτι τῆς ἀγάπης πρὸς Θεὸν ὁ νoῦς ἐkδημῇ, τότε oὔτε ἑαυτoῦ oὔτε τινὸς τῶν ὄντων παντάπασι ἐπαισθάνεται. Ὑπὸ γὰρ τoῦ θείoυ kαὶ ἀπείρoυ φωτὸς kαταλαμπόμενoς, ἀναισθητεῖ πρὸς πάντα τὰ ὑπ’ αὐτoῦ γεγoνότα· kαθάπερ kαὶ ὁ αἰσθητὸς ὀφθαλμὸς πρὸς τoὺς ἀστέρας, τoῦ ἡλίoυ ἀνατέλλoντoς. (PG 90, 964 A 4–8.)
- 5.
Cf. also 1, 12 of the Centuries on Love : “When the mind by its love towards God and with the help of the knowledge of God [διὰ τῆς ἀγαπῆς ὑπὸ τῆς θείας γνώσεως] is enraptured [ὁ νoῦς ἁρπαγῇ], then it gets beyond all existing things [ἔξω γενóμενoς τῶν ὄντων], becomes conscious of the divine infinity [τῆς θείας ἐπαισθάνηται ἀπειρίας], and is astounded as it understands its own misery.”
- 6.
Viller, M., “Aux sources de la spiritualité de St Maxime. Les oeuvres d’Évagre le Pontique.” Échos d’Orient, 1931 (vol. 30), № 162, 156–184.
- 7.
Viller, “Aux sources,” 159–160.
- 8.
PG 79, 1165–1200 C 2.
- 9.
Larchet, J.-C., Saint Maxime le Confesseur (580–662), Paris: Les Éditions du CERF, 2003, 41.
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Vassányi, M. (2017). Gymnastics of the Mind: The Theory of gymnos nous in Maximus the Confessor. In: Vassányi, M., Sepsi, E., Daróczi, A. (eds) The Immediacy of Mystical Experience in the European Tradition. Sophia Studies in Cross-cultural Philosophy of Traditions and Cultures, vol 18. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-45069-8_4
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