On the 21st day of January
From the «Lives of the Saints» of St. Demetrius (Dimitri) of Rostov
His Birth, Upbringing, and Withdrawal to the Monastery
The great imperial city of Constantinople gave birth to the venerable Maximus, great in name and in life alike, of noble and Orthodox parents, and brought him up sufficiently in book-learning: for he went right through all philosophy and theology, and was a man most wise, and renowned, and honoured in the imperial palace.
For seeing his mind and his good life, the Emperor Heraclius honoured him, though he did not wish to, with the rank of asekretis, and made him one of his own counsellors. And he was beloved and honoured by the whole Senate, and profitable to the whole imperial city.
In those days there arose the heresy of the Monothelites, that is, of the single-willers, who confessed that there is in Christ our Lord only one will and a single inclination. Now this heresy was born of the earlier heresy of Eutyches, which blasphemed that there is only one nature in Christ, contrary to the Orthodox confession, which establishes the faith in two natures in our Lord God made flesh, and likewise in two wills, two inclinations and operations, proper to each nature, yet in the one Person of Christ. For Christ God is not divided into two persons, but is known in a duality of natures, without confusion.
The defenders and spreaders of the heresy of the single-willers were at first Cyrus, Patriarch of Alexandria, and Sergius of Constantinople, and the Emperor Heraclius himself was seduced by them into that heresy. And having gathered local councils, Cyrus in Alexandria and Sergius in Constantinople, they confirmed that heresy and sent it out everywhere, and corrupted the whole East. Only the holy Sophronius, Patriarch of Jerusalem, resisted, not accepting their evil belief.
But the blessed Maximus saw that this heresy had touched even the imperial palace and had corrupted the emperor himself; and fearing lest he too be corrupted by it, since many had already been corrupted, he left his rank and all the glory of this world and went to a monastery situated far from the city, called Chrysopolis, choosing rather to abide in the House of God than to dwell in the dwellings of sinners. And there he became a monk. Then after several years, for his virtuous life, he was appointed abbot of that monastery.
The «Ekthesis» of the Emperor Heraclius and the Departure to the West
After this, the Patriarch Sergius persuaded the Emperor Heraclius to write out a confession of their unrighteous faith, the fulfilment of the Monothelite heresy. And the emperor called this the Ekthesis, that is, the Exposition, and commanded all men everywhere to believe thus; and the Church of Christ was greatly troubled.
But Abba Maximus, seeing how the churches were troubled in Constantinople and throughout the whole East, and how the heretics multiplied and grew strong, while Orthodoxy dwindled and was shaken by the storm of persecution, grieved in spirit, and sighed, and wept greatly. And he heard that in the West that heresy was not received but rejected in every way: for Severinus, Pope of Rome, did not accept the imperial Ekthesis, and after him John, who received the Roman see, anathematised the imperial Ekthesis outright.
Hearing this, the blessed Maximus left his monastery and set out for the western lands, making for Old Rome, since Jerusalem was unreachable because of the Hagarenes, who were then raiding Palestine. To Rome he went, so that, as one Orthodox, he might turn aside from the heresy, being well pleased to abide with the Orthodox. And as he journeyed he visited the African bishops in the cities that lay along his road, and in conversation with them he confirmed them in the faith, teaching them how they might avoid the wiles of their adversaries and escape their treacherous snares. And to others who were far away he sent his letters, which taught Orthodoxy and urged them to guard themselves carefully from the heresy.
Meanwhile Sergius, Patriarch of Constantinople, died, and after him Pyrrhus came, who was of that same heresy. And that Cyrus of Alexandria died also, and after them the emperor’s own end drew near. Before his death the emperor, seeing that many great and holy hierarchs and God-wise fathers rejected his Ekthesis and would not receive it, and even anathematised it, was greatly put to shame, and wrote again everywhere that it was not his confession, as he declared, but that of Patriarch Sergius who had gone before him, which Sergius himself had written, persuading him to sign it.
The Death of Heraclius, the Reign of Constans, and the Victory over Pyrrhus
When the Emperor Heraclius died, his son Constantine came after him, but he too reigned only four months, for he died, secretly destroyed by poison from his stepmother; and after him his stepmother Martina, by name, set her own son Heraklonas on the throne with the patriarch’s help. And after six months of Heraklonas’s reign the whole Senate rose against him and, seizing him, cut off his nose, and his mother Martina’s likewise, and sent them both dishonourably into exile.
And they chose for the throne the son of Constantine and grandson of Heraclius, by name Constans, who afterwards fathered Constantine surnamed Pogonatus. When Constans came to the throne, the then Patriarch of Constantinople, who was of one mind with Martina, and of whom the people believed that he had, together with her, poisoned the son of Heraclius, Constantine, the father of the newly installed emperor Constans, that is, the Patriarch Pyrrhus, was much afraid, and laid aside the patriarchal rank, and of his own will fled into exile in Africa. And after him Paul came to the throne in Constantinople, he too a Monothelite heretic. And the emperor himself was corrupted by that heresy, and was a great champion and spreader of it.
Now the venerable father was staying in the African land when Pyrrhus, Patriarch of Constantinople, who had fled from his throne, came there, and going about the cities was seducing the Orthodox into his evil belief; and he would have done much harm to the churches of Christ there, had he not met with an adversary, this venerable Maximus, with whom, when they met, he disputed about the faith continually. And the African bishops had need to gather at Carthage to hear the dispute of the two, for Gregory, the patrician of that land, wished it too.
And when the council was held and the dispute took place, the God-wise Maximus overcame Pyrrhus, defeating him from the divine books and the dogmas of the holy Fathers, and showing that in Christ God, as there are two natures, so there are two wills, inclinations and operations, yet in one Person indivisibly united. Pyrrhus was defeated, joined himself to the Orthodox, and was received by the Church with love and honour, together with the patriarchal title; and at that time he composed a booklet of Orthodox confession, and came to Rome to Pope Theodore, who had come after John. And the Pope received him honourably, as the Orthodox Patriarch of Constantinople.
In Constantinople they heard that Pyrrhus had joined himself to the Orthodox, and the heretical assembly was eaten up with envy over it; and they composed lying words and spread a rumour among the people, that the African bishops and the Pope had forced Pyrrhus against his will to come over to their way of thinking.
The «Typus» of the Emperor Constans and the Lateran Council at Rome
That rumour reached even the emperor himself, and the emperor at once sent into Italy a certain official by the name of Olympius, who was a heretic, to turn Pyrrhus back again to the Monothelite confession. And Olympius, reaching Italy and entering the city of Ravenna, summoned Pyrrhus from Rome and contrived that he should hold again to his former heresy. And he, like a dog, returned to his own vomit, and became worthy that the holy Fathers should hand him over to anathema together with his own companions in error, which indeed came to pass afterwards.
Meanwhile the Emperor Constans, persuaded by Paul of Constantinople the heretic, wrote, as his grandfather Heraclius had earlier written the Ekthesis, a confession of his own faith, full of heresy, and called it the Typus, and sent it out everywhere, commanding men to believe thus.
And this reached Rome when Pope Theodore was already at the point of death. When he died, the blessed Martin came, and the emperor wished the newly appointed Pope to accept his Typus, written concerning the faith. But he rejected it, saying: «Even if the whole world should wish to accept that new teaching, which is contrary to Orthodoxy, I will not accept it; I will not depart from the evangelical and apostolic teaching and the tradition of the holy Fathers, even though I must suffer death.»
And the holy Maximus, Abbot of Chrysopolis, was then in Rome, and he counselled the blessed Pope Martin to gather a local council and to anathemise that imperial writing, called the Typus, by conciliar judgment, as heretical and contrary to the Church of Christ. And so it was. The Pope summoned his bishops, one hundred and five in number, and among them was Abba Maximus; and the errors of Cyrus, of Sergius, of Pyrrhus and of Paul, together with the imperial heretical writing, they set before themselves and handed over to anathema. And the Pope wrote to all the faithful throughout the inhabited world, confirming them in Orthodoxy, exposing the heretical error, and bidding them guard themselves from it with care.
The Arrest of Pope Martin and the Seizing of the Venerable Father at Rome
Hearing of this, the emperor was filled with wrath and with unspeakable fury, and sent into Italy his viceroy, by name Theodore Calliopas, charging him to seize Pope Martin, laying accusations against him, that he was in league with the Saracens, inciting them against the Greco-Roman empire, and that they wished to rise in war against the emperor, and that he kept unrighteously the faith handed down from the fathers, and moreover blasphemed the most pure Mother of God.
And the imperial viceroy came to Rome and laid those accusations on the Pope before all men. But the blessed Pope Martin, being guilty of none of those offences, cleared himself of the unrighteous slander. «With the Saracens», he said, «I have never had any agreement whatever, save only that I sent alms to my Orthodox brethren who lived in poverty and affliction among the Saracens. And if any man does not honour and confess and worship the most pure Mother of God, let him be accursed in this age and in the age to come. And the holy faith, handed down from the holy apostles and the holy fathers, is not kept unrighteously by us», he said, «but by those who think contrary to it.»
But the imperial viceroy, not listening to the Pope’s defence, made him guilty in everything, adding at the last even this, that he had come to the throne unrighteously. And one night, when no one knew of it, they took the Pope by force of arms and sent him away to the emperor. Then he was imprisoned at Cherson, where he also died.
Not long before the seizing of the Pope, the venerable Maximus was taken, by imperial command, at Rome, together with his disciple Anastasius, and they led him bound to Constantinople; for the emperor saw by whose counsel and urging that council had been gathered for the condemnation of the single-willers and of his own writing.
And when the venerable father came to Byzantium by sea, men sent by the emperor came to him, showing great ferocity in their very appearance. They took the venerable father shamelessly, barefoot and without clothing, and dragged him in chains through the squares, and his disciple followed him with sighing; and leading him to a certain dark prison, they locked him up alone, and did not let his disciple be with him, but locked him up separately in the prison.
The First Examination Before the Senate
After several days the venerable father was led to examination in the imperial palace, when the whole Senate sat there without the emperor. And when he came out before them, they all looked at him with menacing eyes, showing anger and fury, and they commanded one of the dignitaries, the gazophylax, to examine him: a man ready of speech, eloquent, and skilled above all men in composing lying speeches, in turning truth into falsehood and in harming the truth.
What malice and shamelessness did he not show? What threats and provocations did he not utter? He was not ashamed of his venerable old age, for the blessed one was then more than seventy years from his birth; he did not fear the grace that bloomed on the face of the saint; he spared neither his gentle and seemly, free and courteous temper, nor his monastic rank.
And then the most unrighteous man said many things against the innocent one, such as in no way answered to the truth and to sound sense, showing only his own most cunning mastery in eloquence, his insolence and the craft of his temper. Great was the shamelessness and madness he showed in so many things of this kind; and truly, against the words of the righteous man, words righteous, gentle and full of good sense, he could not answer justly, but it was plain that he spoke everything without judgment and without decency, and the all-malicious one was defeated.
And what was said and done, and how guilt was laid on the innocent, and how the liars tried to show their falsehood as truth, the disciple of that same venerable Maximus, the second Anastasius, who was apocrisiary of the Roman Church, described in detail; and we shall recall here a little out of his great account.
The Slander of Treason to the Saracens
And when that lawless man, the gazophylax by rank, stood before the face of the saint, he at once began with the most cruel words to provoke the guileless one and to frighten him with threats, calling him unrighteous and a traitor to his country, and an enemy of the emperor, and saying everything vile and hateful. And the saint asked him for what reason he said such things against him, and for what treason he reviled him.
He wove an unrighteous slander and brought forward witnesses who openly lied, who spoke evil of the venerable father, that he had handed over great cities to the barbarians: Alexandria, and Egypt, and the Pentapolis. «Those», he said, «he took away from our borders and joined to the Saracens, for he is friendly with them and well disposed towards them.» But the saint called what was said a falsehood worthy of laughter. «For what have I, a monk», he said, «to do with those who take cities? And what does a Christian have in common with the Saracens? Do I not rather desire what is profitable for the Christian cities?»
And that shameless slanderer turned to other falsehoods, weaving as it were certain dreams, raising a clamour with disorderly voices and alleging that the blessed Maximus had reviled the emperor of the East, saying that the western emperor was more glorious, and he brought forward false witnesses to this.
And the venerable father, sighing heavily, said: «I give thanks to my God that I am given into your hands and am tested by such unrighteous charges, that by them my wilful transgressions and the sins of my life may be cleansed. But that I may answer your slanders in few words, let me first ask you: did you hear from me myself what you say about the reviling of the emperor, or did someone else tell you?» And they said that «we heard it from others, who heard it from your own lips». And when the saint asked that those men be produced and give testimony face to face, they spoke of men who were no longer among the living, for they had died out.
Then the saint said: «If you say that those who heard the blasphemy from my lips have all died out, then why, when they were alive, did you not bring me earlier to examination? For so you would have been freed from many labours, and I would have borne punishment for a thing that was true. But it is plain that what you have laid against me is not the truth. And those who have judged me have not set before their eyes God, who searches the hearts of men. May I never see the Face of my Lord, nor be called a Christian, if ever I thought or said before anyone, or heard from anyone, that lying testimony which you have woven.»
The False Witness Gregory and the Examination of the Disciple Anastasius
After this they brought a certain Gregory, a false witness, who told that he had heard at Rome from Maximus’s disciple Anastasius that he called the emperor a priest, and that this Anastasius had learned it from his teacher Maximus. But the holy Maximus, standing against Gregory, boldly exposed that lying slander, declaring that when Gregory was at Rome, then, he said, «he held conversations with us about single-willing, that we should accept the teaching called the Typus, and to that we answered the contrary, seeing what was profitable for our souls. But what you say today, that I do not know, for neither I nor my disciple ever said any such thing; God is my witness.
Yet I know that I said then, not to my disciple, but to this same Gregory himself, this: that it belongs to hierarchs rather than to emperors to search into and to legislate the dogmas of the faith, since to them it is entrusted to anoint even the emperor, and to lay on hands, and to offer the Heavenly Bread, and to stand before the altar, and all the other most divine and highest mysteries are committed to them to perform. This I said then, and this I say now; those words of mine Gregory himself will not deny that he remembers, and if he denied them he would deny himself. For this let every man either condemn me, or let him judge me innocent.»
Not knowing what to do, those who had set their hope on lying words led the righteous one away, and brought in his disciple Anastasius. And they frightened him with menacing words and cruel threats, and tried to persuade him to say something against his teacher. And they forced him to say that his teacher had abused Pyrrhus at Rome when he disputed with him about the faith. But Anastasius held firm, saying that his teacher had not only done Pyrrhus no harm whatever, but had greatly honoured him. And when Anastasius said this, they began to beat him with their fists on the neck, and on the face, and on the head, thus wishing to destroy the truth with falsehood; and they sent him away to be locked up again in the prison. And the holy Maximus was summoned once more.
The Slander of Origenism
Not satisfied with the first slander against him and the searching examination, they tried to overcome the unconquerable one with another slander. And the slander was this: that he was a follower of the dogmas of Origen and agreed with them in everything. And when the saint at once easily denied their lying slander as unfounded, declaring that Origen was cut off from Christ and from the Christian community, and that he who follows him and his fables will receive judgment from God, then they questioned him again about Pyrrhus, and as to why he had separated himself from the Patriarch of Constantinople, not wishing to receive communion with him; and they examined him with other questions.
They set before him that imperial Typus which the saint despised, and said that the Typus ought to be held in great honour, as a great and unchanging dogma of the faith. And when the saint denied this, they reviled him with many reproaches.
Then, seeing that in all his answers the venerable Maximus defeated them and that they caught themselves in their own nets, they dissolved the council and went quickly to the emperor, reporting the invincible courage of the Abbot of Chrysopolis. «Maximus», they said, «is unconquerable in words, and no one can persuade him to be of one mind with us, even if anyone should wish to torture him.» And the venerable father was put in prison again.
«Of Which Church Are You?» — On the Catholic Church and the Two Operations
After a short time others came to him, thinking that if they disputed with him often and frightened him with menacing words, it would be easier to incline him to their faith. And those who came said that they were sent by the patriarch. And they began to question the saint: «Of which Church are you», they said, «of the Byzantine? Or of the Roman? Or of the Antiochene? Or of the Alexandrian? Or of the Jerusalem? These are all the Churches, with the lands belonging to them, which are in agreement with us. If you too are of the Catholic Church, then be with us, so that you do not begin a life of suffering in exile; before you know it you will suffer.»
To them the blessed man answered most wisely, saying: «Christ the Lord declared that the Catholic Church is the righteous and saving confession of the faith; and for this reason He called Peter blessed, because he confessed well, and on his confession the Lord promised to build such a Church. But for this reason too I wish to learn about your confession, by which all the churches, as you say, have been united. And I shall not wish to separate myself, if that confession is well composed.»
And he who was sent answered him: «Although we were not charged to speak with you about this, yet we shall say. We say that there are in Christ two operations because of the difference of natures, and one operation because of the union of both natures in one Person.» And the saint said: «You name two operations that have become one operation, because of the union of the natures into one Person? Then here, besides those two operations, you introduce another, a third, compounded operation.» «No», they said, «but we say two operations, and one because of the union.»
The saint said: «You compose for yourselves an unstable faith, and confess that God is without being. For when you mingle two operations into one operation, because of the union of the natures into one Person, and again divide one acting into two operations because of the difference of natures, then there will be neither unity nor duality in the operations, which separate from one another and make inoperative that in which they subsist; and it does not exist at all, not having one single natural motion, so that a nature cannot be taken away or changed, for otherwise the nature would be deprived of its whole being, according to the understanding of the Fathers, not having natural operation. This I cannot say, nor have I learned from the holy Fathers to confess thus; and what pleases you, who have authority, that do.»
And they had nothing to answer to this, and they told him that if he did not submit to them he would be subject to anathema and would bear the death appointed for him. And the saint answered gently and humbly: «If this is God’s will concerning me, then let it be now, to the glory of His Holy Name.»
Exile to Bizya and the Conversation with Bishop Theodore
And they, having heard what the venerable father said, went and reported it to those who had sent them; and the emperor took counsel with the patriarch, as Pilate once did with the Jews concerning the Lord, and condemned the saint to exile in a certain small town called Bizya, in Thrace. And his disciple Anastasius they sent at once into exile to the farthest land of the Greek empire, to a certain very bad place called in the barbarian tongue Perberis. And they did the same to the second disciple of the venerable father, who was also called Anastasius, and who had formerly been apocrisiary at Rome, and who later wrote the life of this venerable Maximus. And they sent him to Mesembria, a Thracian city.
Meanwhile the blessed Martin, Pope of Rome, was brought to Constantinople, and after great suffering was sent into exile at Cherson. Before they led him away to Cherson, while he was still in Constantinople, Paul, Patriarch of Constantinople, died. After Paul the aforementioned Pyrrhus came again, but he too died after four months; and then Peter came to the patriarchate, who also held firmly to the Monothelite heresy.
And many days having passed, honourable men were sent by the emperor and by Patriarch Peter to the saint, to persuade him to their way of thinking: Theodore, Bishop of Caesarea in Bithynia, and two patricians, Paul and another Theodore. And they laid many and various words before the venerable father, now flattering, now threatening, now testing and questioning.
And when they sat down and bade the saint sit, and the Bishop of Bizya was there too, Bishop Theodore said to the venerable father: «How do you live, Lord Abba Maximus?» And he answered: «As the Lord foreknew from everlasting and ordained the working of my life, upheld by His providence.» Theodore said: «What then, did God foreknow and ordain beforehand the doings of every one of us?»
What Lies Within Our Power, and What Does Not
The saint said: «God foreknew our thoughts, and words, and actions, which are within our power; and those things which are to come upon us, which are not within our power but in the will of God, these He established and ordained beforehand.» Bishop Theodore said: «Which things are within our power, and which are not?» The holy Maximus said: «My Master knows all things; He asks His servant in order to test him.»
The bishop said: «Truly, not understanding, I do not know, and I wish to learn: what is the difference between what is within our power and what is not, and how one is foreknown by God and the other foreordained?» The venerable Maximus said: «All that is subject to our will is good deeds and bad. Punishments and misfortunes that befall us, or the opposite of these, are not within our power. For we have no power over the sickness that torments us, nor over health, but only over those causes which either bring sickness or preserve health. And if intemperance is the cause of sickness, then temperance is the cause of good health. And so the obtaining of the Kingdom of Heaven comes of the cause of keeping the Commandments of God, while the transgression of them becomes the cause of the fire of Gehenna.»
The bishop said: «Why do you torment yourself with this exile, doing something worthy of such an affliction?» The saint said: «I ask God that, punishing me with that affliction, He may forgive me the transgressions of the holy Commandments that I have committed.» The bishop said: «Were not afflictions brought upon many for the sake of trial?» The saint said: «The saints are tried, that their hidden virtues may be made manifest to all, as it was with Job and with Joseph. For Job was tried for the revealing of the fortitude in him that was known to no one, and calamity fell upon Joseph, that his chastity and temperance might be made manifest, which make a man holy. And all the saints, though they suffer in this world against their will, suffer for this reason: that afflictions are brought upon them by God’s permission, and they may trample down the proud apostate, the serpent and devil; for patience under trial is the work of every saint.»
Bishop Theodore said: «Truly you have spoken well and profitably, and I should wish always to converse about such things; but since it is for another matter, a chief one, that I and my lords the honoured patricians have come to you over such a distance, therefore we ask you: accept what has been brought to you, and gladden the whole inhabited world.» The saint said: «Who are those lords? And who am I, and from where, that my consent to your proposal should become a joy for the whole inhabited world?» The bishop said: «As it is true that Jesus Christ is my Lord, so it is true that what I and my lords, the noble patricians, say to you, we heard from the lips of our lord the patriarch and the pious emperor.» The holy Maximus said: «Speak then, my lords, what you wish, what you have heard.»
Why I Do Not Unite Myself with the Church of Constantinople
Theodore said: «The emperor and the patriarch wish to learn from you through us why you do not unite yourself with the see of Constantinople.» Maximus said: «Know those innovations of the sixth indiction of the past cycle, which began from Alexandria because Cyrus, who was patriarch there, wrote nine chapters, accepted and confirmed from the see of Constantinople, and the other changes and additions, and the corrupting of the ancient synods, made by the elders of the Byzantine Church, Sergius, Pyrrhus and Paul. Those innovations are known to all the Churches; for that reason I, your servant, do not join myself to the Church of Constantinople.
Let the offences laid by the aforementioned men be taken away from the Church, let them be taken away together with those who decreed them, and let the stumbling-block be cast out of the path, and then you will walk the smooth road of the Gospel, cleansed of every heresy. And when I see the Church of Constantinople such as it was before, then I too shall be in it as I once was, and I shall come to its communion without any human persuasion. But while heretical offences are in it and its bishops are the authors of offence, until then no word or deed shall persuade me ever to join myself to them.»
Bishop Theodore said: «What do we confess badly, that you hold aloof from communion with us?» The venerable Maximus said: «If there is one operation of the Godhead and of the manhood of the Saviour, as you say, can we then believe the holy Fathers, who say: he who has one operation has also one nature? Then you confess the Holy Trinity not as a Trinity but as a Quaternity, as though the Incarnation of the Word were consubstantial with it, and had departed from the identity of kind which it has with us and with the most pure Virgin Mother of God according to human nature. And having departed from identity of kind, another composition was formed, consubstantial with the Word, for the Word too is consubstantial with the Father and the Spirit, and so there is formed no longer a Trinity but a Quaternity.
Again, when you reject the acting and assert that there is one will of the Godhead and of the manhood of Christ, you diminish His self-determining power in the bestowal of blessings. For if each nature does not have its own acting, then even if it wishes to do good to someone it will not be able, for doing good has been taken away from it, since without accomplishment and natural operation no thing can act or accomplish anything. And further, you say of the flesh of Christ that there is in the two natures one will; you confess that the will is the creator of all the ages and of all living things, together with the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and yet created by nature. Or rather, to say it more precisely: the will is without beginning, for the will of God is without beginning as the Godhead itself is without beginning, but the flesh is newly created in its own nature.
To confess this is not only unreasonable but impious, for you not only say that there is simply one will in Christ, but that it is divine, and of the divine will no beginning or end can be named, as none can be of the Godhead itself. All the signs and marks by which we know His Godhead and His manhood are taken away from Christ the Lord, when by law and by the Typus you assert that neither one nor two wills or operations in Him may be named: not one, because it is divided into two; not two, because they are merged into one.»
Such things and more, as his disciple Anastasius writes at length, the saint said to them; and they began to perceive their own error.
Is the «Typus» a Dogma, or a Decree of Silence?
And the bishop said: «Accept the Typus written by the emperor not as an exact dogma of the faith, but as a decision for those in doubt; for it is written not dogmatically but as a decision.» The holy Maximus said: «If the Typus is not a dogma establishing that our Lord has one will and one operation, then why do you hand me over in vain to the barbarians and to peoples who do not know God? Why am I condemned to stay at Bizya, and my fellow-servants some at Perberis, others exiled to Mesembria?»
And when that local council at Rome was mentioned, which the blessed Pope Martin gathered for the condemnation of the Monothelites, Bishop Theodore said: «That council has no authority, for it was not held by imperial command.» The venerable father said: «If councils are confirmed by imperial command, then the faith is not pious. Take the councils against the consubstantiality, which were held by imperial command, and on which they dogmatised blasphemously that God the Son is not consubstantial with God the Father: the first at Tyre, the second at Antioch, the third at Seleucia, the fourth at Constantinople under Eudoxius the Arian, the fifth at Nicaea, the sixth at Sirmium, and after a long time the seventh at Ephesus, at which Dioscorus was the elder; all those councils were gathered by imperial commands, yet all were rejected and handed over to anathema, because in them impious and God-opposing dogmas were established.
Why then do you not reject that council which deposed Paul of Samosata and handed him over to anathema? That council was held under Dionysius, Pope of Rome, and Dionysius of Alexandria, and Gregory the Wonderworker, who was also the elder of that council; and that council took place without imperial command, yet it has authority and is not rejected. The Church of the Orthodox knows those councils which are righteous and holy, whose righteous dogmas have been shown to be righteous. And indeed, as your holiness knows and teaches others, in every Christian country the canons command that local councils be held twice, for the defence of our saving faith and for the correction of those who need it, yet they make no mention of imperial commands.»
And after a long conversation and a firm resistance on both sides, the God-wise and eloquent mouth of the venerable Maximus, and his tongue moved by the Holy Spirit, overcame his adversaries; and they sat silent for a long time, with heads bowed and eyes cast down. Then, being moved to compunction, they began to weep, and rising they bowed down to the saint, and he bowed to them in return; and having prayed, they agreed with joy to the Orthodox confession of Maximus and received him lovingly, and promised to believe and confess as he did, and moreover to bring the emperor also to the same Orthodoxy. And that all this might be firm, they kissed the divine Gospel, and the precious Cross, and the holy icons of the Saviour and of the Mother of God. Then, having conversed enough about what was profitable, and having given one another the kiss in the Lord and peace, Bishop Theodore and the patricians returned to Byzantium.
Back to Constantinople: the Dispute with Epiphanius and Troilus
And when they reported to the emperor all that had been said and done, the emperor was greatly angered; and it came about that Bishop Theodore and both patricians, fearing the emperor’s wrath, turned back again to the heresy. And Paul the Patrician was sent again to Bizya, to bring the venerable Maximus from there to Constantinople, but with honour. And when he was brought, he was given to stay in the monastery of the holy Theodore.
The next day two patricians, Epiphanius and Troilus, were sent to the venerable father by the emperor. They came with many dignitaries following them, with soldiers and servants, with pride and worldly glory. And the aforementioned Bishop Theodore came with them, whom the venerable Maximus expected and hoped to see fulfil his promise, that he would not only himself believe rightly but would turn the emperor and others also to Orthodoxy. But he spoke falsely, pleasing the earthly emperor and the vain world more than the Heavenly King and His holy Church.
And when all had sat down and had persuaded the venerable father to sit, Troilus the patrician began the conversation, saying: «The emperor, lord of the inhabited world, has sent us to you to tell you what is pleasing to his God-established majesty. But first tell us whether you will do what is commanded, or not.» The holy Maximus said: «Let me first hear, my lord, what his majesty commands me, and I shall answer you as is fitting. For how am I to answer concerning what I do not know?» And Troilus went on: «We shall not tell you what we bring until you first answer us whether you will submit to the emperor.»
But the venerable man saw that they insisted firmly, looking fiercely and with cruel words demanding an answer from him as to whether he would submit to the imperial will. He answered, saying: «Because you do not wish to tell me, your servant, what our lord the emperor requires, I shall say, and let God Himself hear, and His angels, and all of you: if the emperor commands me something that is temporal and soon passes away, and does not contradict God nor harm the eternal salvation of the soul, to that I consent willingly.»
And when the saint said this, Troilus the patrician at once rose and wished to go out, saying: «I am leaving, for I see that this man will not do the emperor’s will.» And at once there arose a clamour and an uproar from the people, of whom many had gathered there. Bishop Theodore said to them: «First tell him the imperial command and hear his answer, for it is not right to go away, having told him nothing and heard nothing from him.»
Then Epiphanius the patrician said to the venerable father: «Behold, the emperor declares and says to you through us: Because the whole East and those in the West have turned in opposition against us, and the schismatics, who have multiplied, look to you, and through you all raise seditions, not wishing to unite with us in the faith, may the Lord soften your heart with compunction, that you join yourself to us, accepting the Typus that has been composed. And we shall receive you lovingly with great honour and glory, and shall bring you into the great church and set you with us where emperors customarily stand, and we shall be partakers together with you of the most pure and life-giving mysteries, of the Body and Blood of Christ, and we shall name you and proclaim you our father, and there will be joy not only in our Christ-loving city but throughout the whole inhabited world. For we know truly that if you join yourself to this holy Church of Constantinople, all who through you and your teaching have renounced us will come over to us.»
The Reproach to Bishop Theodore, and the Beating
But the holy Abba Maximus, turning to Bishop Theodore, said with tears: «We all await the great day of judgment. Know, my lord, that it was set and confirmed with us upon the holy Gospel and the life-giving Cross, and upon the holy icon of our Lord Jesus Christ and of His all-immaculate Mother, the most pure Mother of God and ever-Virgin Mary.» And the bishop, bowing his face to the ground, answered with a voice moved to compunction: «And what can I do, when the most pious emperor has wished otherwise?» Abba Maximus said: «Why then did you touch the holy Gospel, you and those who were with you, when you had no firm intention of carrying out what was said? Truly, all the Heavenly Powers will not persuade me to do what the emperor demands. For what answer shall I bring, I shall not say to God, but to my own conscience, if for the sake of human glory and honour, which are truly nothing, I renounce the righteous faith, which saves those who love it?»
And when the saint had spoken this, they all rose at once, filled with anger and fury, and throwing themselves upon him they began not only to reproach him with words but to lay hands on him. For seizing him they beat him with their hands, tore at him, dragged him this way and that, pushed him and kicked him with their feet, and each of them strove to strike him; and they would certainly have killed him there, had not Bishop Theodore forbidden it and calmed their riot. And when they ceased beating and tearing at him, they began to spit upon him and spat upon the man of God from head to foot, and a stench came from their vile spittle, with which his clothing was fouled.
The bishop said to them: «It should not have been so; we had only to hear his answer and report it to the emperor. For matters subject to the canons are judged otherwise.» And the bishop barely persuaded them to stop the clamour and sit down again. And so, having reviled the saint with countless abuses and unspeakable reproaches, they sat down.
Then Epiphanius the patrician, with great cruelty, breathing fury, said to the saint: «Tell us, evil old man, glutton, why did you say such a thing, that you hold us, and our city, and our emperor for heretics? Are we not better Christians than you, and Orthodox, and do we not confess our Lord Jesus Christ, who has a will both divine and human, and a rational soul, since every nature has reason, and every nature has a will from its own nature, and an operation, for motion is proper to life, and will is proper to reason? And we know the Lord who has the power of willing not by His Godhead alone, but also by His manhood, and above all we do not reject His two wills and operations.»
Abba Maximus answered: «If you believe thus, as rational nature and the Church of God believe, then why do you persuade me to join the Typus, which utterly rejects all that you have now said?» Epiphanius said: «That was done by a decision which is not easy to understand, so that men might not be harmed by such very subtle expressions.» Abba Maximus said: «It is the opposite, for every man is sanctified by the confession of the faith.»
To Silence a Word Is the Same as to Reject It
Troilus the patrician said: «The Typus does not reject the two wills in Christ, but commands silence for the sake of peace.» Abba Maximus said: «To silence a word is the same as to reject it. The Holy Spirit speaks through the prophet: There is no speech, nor words, whose voices are not heard. Therefore if some word is not spoken, then it is not a word at all.» Troilus said: «Hold it in your heart as you wish; no one forbids you.»
The holy Maximus said: «But God did not appoint the salvation of all men to the heart of one man, saying: If you do not confess Me before men, neither shall I confess you before My Father who is in Heaven. And the divine apostle teaches, saying: With the heart one believes unto truth, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For if God, and God’s prophets and apostles, command that words and voices be confessed, the mystery of the faith which brings salvation to the whole world, then it is not profitable to lay that silence upon confession, lest the salvation of men be diminished.»
And Epiphanius said in a most furious voice: «Did you sign the council that was held at Rome?» The saint said: «I signed it.» Epiphanius said: «And how did you dare to sign, and to anathemise those who confess as rational nature and the Catholic Church confess? Truly, by my judgment we shall bring you into the city and set you bound in the market-place, and shall call the buffoons, and the harlots, and all the people, that they may all strike you in the face and spit upon your mouth.»
To this the saint answered, saying: «Let it be as you have said, if we anathematised those who confess that there are two natures, of which our Lord is, and two natural wills and operations proper to each nature, in Christ the Lord, who by His divine nature is true God and by His human nature true man. Read, my lord, the little book which contains the acts of that Council, and if you find what you say, do what you will. For I, and my fellow-servants, and all who signed, anathematised those who, like Arius and Apollinarius, speak of one will and one operation in the Lord, and do not confess our Lord and God to be of both natures, of whom and in whom He is, and to have the power of willing and of operation, which accomplish our salvation.»
And the friends of Epiphanius and the others who had come with those patricians said among themselves: «If we go on listening to him we shall neither eat nor drink; let us rise and dine, and go and report to the emperor and the patriarch what we have heard. For he, wretch, as we see, has given himself over to Satan.» And rising, they went to dine; for it was the forefeast of the Exaltation of the precious Cross, and the all-night vigil was approaching. And having dined, they went away to the city in anger.
Exile to Selymbria
The next day in the morning Theodore the patrician came to the venerable Maximus, and taking all the books the saint had, spoke the emperor’s words: «You did not wish to read; then go into the exile of which you are worthy.» And he handed him over to the soldiers, who led him first to Selymbria, where he stayed two days.
Meanwhile one of the soldiers of Selymbria went into the regiment and spread a rumour, stirring up the people against the elder and saying that «there is coming to us a certain monk who blasphemes the most pure Mother of God». And the military commander, calling the foremost clerics of the city of Selymbria, presbyters and deacons and the most honourable monks, sent them to the blessed Maximus to learn from him whether what they said of him was true, that he blasphemed the Mother of God.
And when they came, the venerable father rose and bowed to the ground, honouring their honourable faces, and they too bowed to the saint, and all sat down. Then one of the elders who had come, a man greatly revered, said to the saint with great gentleness and respect: «Father, because some have troubled us concerning your holiness, telling that you do not confess our Lady the most pure Virgin Mother of God, that she is the Mother of God, I adjure you by the most holy consubstantial Trinity to tell us the truth and take the trouble away from our souls, lest they be harmed, being troubled unrighteously through you.»
And the venerable Maximus stretched himself upon the ground in the form of a cross, and rising again and lifting his hands to Heaven, cried out with a loud voice and with tears: «Whoever does not confess our Lady, the all-praised, all-holy and all-immaculate, more honourable than every rational nature, to be truly the natural Mother of God, who made heaven and earth, the seas and all that is in them, let him be anathema from the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, the consubstantial and supernatural Trinity, and from all the Heavenly Powers, and from the company of the holy apostles and prophets, and from the countless multitude of martyrs, and from every righteous spirit which has accomplished its course in faith, now and ever and unto the ages of ages.»
And all who heard this were moved to tears and blessed him, saying: «May God strengthen you, Father, and grant you to accomplish your journey without hindrance.» And many soldiers gathered there to hear the profitable words which the fathers were speaking among themselves. And one of the household of the military commander saw that the soldiery had gathered and was profiting from the words of the saint, and was indignant at his exile, and at once ordered that he be taken from there and led two miles off, until those who were to lead him into exile at Perbera made ready.
But the clerics, moved by divine love, walked those two miles with him on foot, escorting him. And when the soldiers came to lead him into exile, those clerics carried the saint in their arms and set him upon a beast of burden, embracing him with weeping; and they gave him peace and returned to their city, and the saint was led to Perbera and locked up in prison there.
Back to Constantinople: «Are You a Christian?»
And when much time had passed, the emperor again sent to bring the venerable Maximus and both his disciples from exile to Constantinople. And when their ship put in to the city, at sunset, two commanders came with ten guards and led them out of the ship, naked and barefoot, and separated them from one another, guarding each apart.
And after several days they led them into the palace, and left both disciples outside with the guard, and brought the elder himself inside, where the Senate sat without the emperor, and a great gathering of honoured men; and they set him in the midst of the princes who were seated. Then the gazophylax said to him in anger: «Are you a Christian?» The elder answered: «By the grace of Christ the God of all, I am a Christian.» And the gazophylax was filled with great fury and said: «You lie.» The saint answered: «You say that I am not a Christian, but God says that I am, and that I abide unchangeably a Christian.»
The gazophylax said: «If you are a Christian, then why do you hate the emperor?» The saint said: «How do you know? For hatred is a hidden passion of the soul, as love is also.» The gazophylax said: «From what you have done it has become plain to everyone that you hate both the emperor and his city, for you yourself handed over to the Saracens Egypt, and Alexandria, and the Pentapolis, and Tripolis, and Africa.» The holy Maximus said: «What plain proof is there of this?»
The False Testimony of John the Sakellarios and the Dream of Abba Thomas
And they brought in a certain John, who had once been sakellarios of Peter when Peter was military commander in Numidia of Africa. And that John said: «Twenty-two years ago the grandfather of our lord the emperor commanded the blessed Peter to lead the army into Egypt against the Saracens. And Peter trusted you in everything as a servant of God, and wrote to you asking for profitable counsel. And you wrote back to him that it was not pleasing to God to help the kingdom of Heraclius and his heir.»
The saint said to him: «If you speak the truth, and have Peter’s letter to me and mine to Peter, show them and let them be read, and I shall accept the punishment that is deserved by law.» John said: «I said that I do not have your writing, nor do I know whether you wrote to one another, but all this was spoken in the regiments at that time.» The saint said: «If all the regiments said this, then how is it that you alone complain of me about it? Did you ever see me, or I you?» John answered: «I never saw you at all.»
And the saint turned to the Senate and said: «Whether it is just to bring such slanderers as witnesses, you judge. For with what judgment you judge, you shall be judged, and with what measure you measure, God, the righteous Judge of all, shall measure to you.»
Then they brought in Sergius Magoudas. And he said: «It is now the ninth year since the blessed Abba Thomas said to me, when he came from Rome: Pope Theodore, he said, sent me to Gregory, the patrician of the western lands, who had fallen away from the Greek empire, to tell him not to fear the forces of the Greeks, because the servant of God Abba Maximus had seen a dream, that in Heaven on the East and on the West there were many angels, and those on the East cried: Constantine Augustus, you shall conquer. And those who were on the West cried: Gregory Augustus, you shall conquer. And the voice of the West was clearer than the voice of the East.»
And when Magoudas said this, the gazophylax cried out to the saint: «Behold, the Lord has sent you into this city to be burned.» But the saint said: «I give thanks to God, who cleanses my wilful sins by involuntary punishments. Woe to the world because of offences, for offences must come, but woe to that man through whom the offence comes. It is not fitting to speak such lies before Christians, nor is it fitting that those go unpunished who say and do what pleases men who are here today and will not be here tomorrow.
It would have been fitting to say this at the time when Gregory was alive, and it would have been just to bring here the patrician Peter, and Abba Thomas, and the blessed Pope Theodore. Then before them all I should have said to the patrician Peter: Tell me, my lord patrician, did you ever write to me what your sakellarios testifies? Did I write to you? And in like manner I should have said to the blessed Pope: Tell me, my lord, did I ever tell you a dream? And even if the Pope had exposed me concerning the dream, yet the fault would have been his and not mine, for a vision in sleep is not a thing of the will, and the law judges only those things that proceed from one’s own will.»
And other slanders and unrighteous charges were laid upon the innocent and holy man, and most of all concerning reviling the emperor, as though he and his disciple had reviled the emperor at Rome. Yet the saint denied all those slanders in his guilelessness, with humble words, most wise and God-inspired, showing forth his innocence. And the disciple Anastasius was brought in separately, and they forced him to say something bad about his teacher; and when he would not speak falsehoods against the righteous one, they beat him hard with their fists. Then each was sent back to his own place in the prison.
The Conversation with Troilus and Sergius Euphratas
After this, on the next day in the evening, Troilus the patrician and Sergius Euphratas, the master of the imperial table, came to the venerable father. And sitting down and bidding the saint sit, they said: «Tell us, Lord Abba, what conversation you had with Pyrrhus in Africa and at Rome, and by what arguments you persuaded him to anathemise his own dogmas and accept yours.» The saint answered: «If my books were with me, in which I wrote down the conversations and disputations we had there with Pyrrhus, I should show you everything in detail. But because the books have been taken from me, and so I cannot recall it, I shall say what I can.»
And the saint told them what he could recall, and added this also: «I have no dogma of my own whatever, but those of the Catholic Church. For I have not introduced one single new word that would speak of dogmas of mine.»
Then they asked him: «Do you belong to the see of Constantinople?» The saint said: «I do not.» They said: «Why?» The saint answered: «Because it has rejected the four holy councils, through the nine chapters composed at Alexandria, and through the Ekthesis written afterwards in this city by Patriarch Sergius, and through the Typus lately laid down; and what it dogmatised through the Ekthesis it rejected through the Typus, and so has cursed and crushed itself so many times over. For since they are themselves self-cursed, and rejected by the local council at Rome, and alienated from the priesthood, what mysteries are those which they perform? And what spirit comes down upon those whom they ordain?»
They said to him: «What then? Are you alone saved, and does everyone else perish?» The saint said to them: «When all men in Babylon worshipped the golden image, the three holy children condemned no one to perdition; they did not look at the deeds of others, but only at themselves, that they might not fall away from the true faith. And Daniel also, cast into the pit, did not condemn those who did not pray to God at the command of Darius, but thought of himself, and took care, and chose rather to die than to sin before God and to be beaten by his own conscience for transgressing the law of God. God forbid that I should condemn anyone, or say that I alone am saved. But as far as I am able, I choose rather to die than to trouble my conscience by sinning in anything against the Orthodox faith.»
«What Will You Do When the Romans Unite with the Byzantines?»
He who had come said to him: «What will you do when the Romans unite with the Byzantines? For yesterday two apocrisiaries came from Rome, and tomorrow, on the Lord’s day, they will communicate with the patriarch in the most pure Mysteries.» The venerable father answered: «Even if the whole inhabited world should begin to communicate with the patriarch, I will not communicate with him. For I know the Holy Spirit through the apostle Paul, who handed even angels over to anathema if they should preach otherwise, introducing anything new.»
They said to him: «Must two wills always be confessed in Christ and in His acting?» The saint answered: «Always, because we wish truly to honour the faith; for no substance exists without its natural accomplishment. For the holy Fathers say plainly that no nature exists or is known without the operation proper to it. For if a nature neither exists nor is known without operation, how can one know Christ, that He is truly God and Man by nature?»
Then they said: «We know that it is truly so; yet do not grieve the emperor, who composed this Typus for the sake of reconciliation, not in order to take anything away from those who are known in Christ, but to make peace for the Church, commanding silence about those things which cause dissension.» And the man of God, casting himself on the ground, answered with tears: «Let not the good and God-loving emperor be grieved at my wretchedness, for I cannot anger God by being silent about what He has commanded to be spoken and confessed.
For if, according to the divine apostle, it is He who set in the Church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then through them He Himself spoke; and from all Holy Scripture, of the Old and the New Testaments, and from the holy teachers and councils, we learn to know that the incarnate Christ Jesus, our Lord and God, has the power to will and to act both by His Godhead and by His manhood. And nothing is lacking to Him of that by which He is known as God, or of that by which He is known as man, except sin. And if He is perfect from both and nothing is lacking to Him, then truly everything in Him is a mystery; and he commits adultery who does not confess Him as the very substance with the properties proper to Him, according to both natures, of whom and in whom He is and abides.»
And when the saint had said this and more, those who had come praised his wisdom and had nothing to answer him. And Lord Sergius said: «It is only this one thing that troubles everyone, Abba, that many people, looking at you, separate themselves from union with this Byzantine Church.» The saint said: «And who is there who has reported of me that I told anyone not to unite himself with the Byzantine emperor?» Lord Sergius answered: «Just as you yourself do not unite, you turn very many away from union.» The man of God said to him: «There is nothing heavier and more sorrowful than when a man’s own conscience convicts him, and nothing freer than when it is blameless in a man.»
Counselling the Emperor to Imitate Heraclius
And Lord Troilus, having said that throughout the whole West the imperial Typus had been handed over to anathema, said to the saint: «Is it good that we dishonour the judgment of our pious emperor?» The saint answered: «May God forgive those who counselled my lord the emperor in this, who composed the Typus and who agreed with the Typus.» Troilus said: «Who counselled? And who agreed?» The venerable father answered: «Those who are the elders in the Church persuaded him, and the princes agreed. And so the stench of the harm has returned upon the innocent man, who was a stranger to every heresy. But counsel the emperor to imitate his grandfather, the emperor Heraclius of blessed memory. For he, when he learned that many of the fathers did not accept the Ekthesis and exposed and rejected those who had fallen into that heresy, cleansed himself from that sin by sending letters everywhere, declaring that the Ekthesis was not his but Sergius’s, the former patriarch. Let this emperor do the same, and he will be free from every sin.»
And they were silent for a long time, shaking their heads; then they said: «All this is not easy, nor can it be as you say, Abba.» And after a sufficient conversation, having given peace, they went away.
And a week passed after that conversation, and on the following Saturday the saint was led to the imperial palace with both his disciples Anastasius, for examination. And his first disciple Anastasius was brought in first, but the second Anastasius, who had been apocrisiary of the Roman Church, was left outside. And when that Anastasius went in, where two patriarchs sat with the Senate, Thomas, who at that time was Patriarch of Constantinople, and another, the slanderers also came in straight away, having composed a great lie against the venerable Maximus, and asked Anastasius to declare their words true. But he, exposing their lie with great boldness, spoke without fear before the patriarchs and the Senate.
And when they asked him whether he had anathematised the imperial Typus, he answered: «Not only have I anathematised it, but I have also written a book against it.» The princes said to him: «What then? Do you not admit that you did badly?» He answered: «God forbid that I should say that I did evil, for according to the rule of the Church I did well.» And they questioned him about many other things.
«I Did Not Anathematise the Emperor, but the Charter»
And when he answered that God had helped him, he was led out, and the righteous elder Maximus was brought in. And Troilus the patrician said to him: «You see, Abba, speak the truth, and God will have mercy on you. For when we come to a lawful examination, if even one of the charges brought against you turns out to be true, you will be tortured according to the law.»
The elder answered: «I have said already, and I say again: one of those charges can be true only in so far as Satan can be God. But since Satan is not God and that apostate cannot be God, those charges cannot be true, if they are lies. Yet do what you will; I, honouring God piously, do not fear injury.» Troilus said to him: «Did you not anathematise the Typus?» The elder answered: «I have said more than once that I did.» Troilus said: «If you anathematised the Typus, then you anathematised the emperor too.» The righteous one answered: «I did not anathematise the emperor, but the charter, which is foreign to the Orthodox and ecclesiastical faith.» Troilus said: «Where did you anathematise it?» The holy Maximus answered: «At the local council held at Rome, in the church of the Saviour and of the Mother of God.»
Then the eparch said to him: «Will you unite yourself with our Church, or not?» The saint answered, saying: «I will not.» The eparch said: «Why?» The saint answered: «Because it has rejected the Orthodox Councils.» The eparch said to him: «If our Church has rejected the Councils, then how did they come to be in the diptychs of the calendar?» The saint said: «What profit is there from their names and the mention of them, when their dogmas have been rejected?» The eparch said: «Can you plainly show that the present Church has rejected the dogmas of the earlier holy Councils?» The elder answered: «If you ask me and command it, I can easily show it.»
«Why Do You Love the Romans and Hate the Greeks?»
And when all had fallen silent, the gazophylax said to him: «Why do you love the Romans and hate the Greeks?» The saint answered: «We have a commandment from God, that we should hate no one. I love the Romans, because they are of one faith with me. And I love the Greeks, because they are of the same language as I.»
Again the gazophylax: «How many years do you count for yourself?» He answered: «Seventy-five.» And he said to him: «How many years has your disciple been with you?» He answered: «Thirty-seven.» Then a certain cleric cried out: «May God reward you for what you did to the blessed Pyrrhus.» But the saint answered nothing to that cleric.
And there were many questions and examinations, and not one of the patriarchs seated there said anything. And when the matter of the council held at Rome was taken up again, a certain Demosthenes cried out: «That council was invalid, for it was gathered by Martin, a deposed Pope.» The man of God Maximus answered him: «Pope Martin was not deposed, but suffered through persecution.»
After this the saint was sent away, and they took counsel what to do with him.
The Torture in the Praetorium: the Cutting Off of His Tongue and Hand
And the inhuman torturers resolved, as though humanely granting him his life, to lay upon him torments heavier than death, and handed him over to the eparch of the city. And he, taking the venerable Maximus with his disciples and bringing them into the praetorium, first stripped the holy elder himself and stretched him on the ground, and ordered him to be beaten with the sharpest thongs. The lawless torturer spared not his old age, nor was ashamed of his virtue, nor was moved to pity at the sight of his body, worn out by ascetic labours. And they beat him so cruelly that the earth was stained with his blood, and his flesh was torn to pieces, and not one place on his body remained whole of wounds.
Then that fierce beast turned in fury upon the disciples of the venerable father and beat them both in the same way. And when they had been beaten, the herald cried out: «Those who do not obey the imperial commands and remain in disobedience are worthy of such suffering.» And so, barely breathing, they were thrown into prison.
And on the next day the holy and venerable man was led again from the dungeon to the praetorium with his foremost disciple Anastasius, barely alive, sore throughout with wounds, and it was grievous to look upon him: the honoured elder, the holy faster, the God-speaking teacher and confessor of theology, all covered with blood, wounded with cruel wounds, having no sound place from head to foot.
Yet the hard-hearted took no pity on him, but did him a crueller injury. For they drew out that God-speaking tongue of his, which for a year had been a fountain of most wise teachings and had drowned the reasonings of the heretics, and cut it off deep in the throat without mercy. Thus they wished to lay silence upon the theological lips. And they did the same to one of his disciples, the first Anastasius, and locked them up in the dungeon again.
But He who ordered the tongues of sucking babes to the praise of His holy Name, Christ the Lord, who gave the mute man to preach the good tidings, gave also to these His faithful and true servants, to the venerable Maximus the Confessor and Martyr and to his disciple the venerable Anastasius, beyond all hope, to speak even without a tongue, better and more clearly than before the cutting off of the tongue.
And the wretched heretics learned of it, and were put to shame, and were moved to yet greater envy: they cut off his right hand with a knife and a hammer and threw it on the ground. And they did the same to his disciple, the holy Anastasius, cutting off his hand. But they spared the second disciple Anastasius, the apocrisiary of the Roman Church, because he had once been notary to the emperors.
The Mockery in the Market-Place and Exile to Alania
After this the venerable Maximus with his disciples was led out of the praetorium, and they dragged them through the whole market-place with mockery, showing all the people their cut-off tongues and hands, and raising clamour and laughter with disorderly voices. And after that inhuman torture and dishonourable mockery they sent all three into exile, further than anyone, each separately, with no care for them, without food or clothing, naked and barefoot.
And they endured much affliction and sorrow on the way. The venerable Maximus they could in no way carry, because of his great pain, neither on a beast nor in a wagon; and the soldiers wove a basket like a couch and laid the very sick elder in it, and so in exile they could barely carry him with great labour. And having brought him to a certain Scythian region in Europe, called Alania, they locked him up in prison in the city of Schemaris.
And the venerable Anastasius, his disciple, who had endured with him the cutting off of tongue and hand, died on the way: he was very weary, and his body was in great pain, and his holy soul passed over to God, to life immortal.
The Last Three Years and His Blessed Departure
The venerable Maximus passed three more years among the living in that exile, but was shut up in the prison in great suffering, having care from no one in his old age, nor merciful pity from anyone.
And when the Lord wished to make an end of his sicknesses and sorrows, and to lead him out of the prison into the eternal space and joy of the Kingdom of Heaven, He first comforted him on earth with a certain divine vision, and made known to him the last day and hour of his death. And the blessed sufferer was filled with great joy; and though he was always ready for his departure, yet then he made himself most ready.
And that desired time and hour came, and with gladness he gave up his soul into the hands of Christ God, whom he had loved from his youth, and for whom he had suffered so much. And so the confessor and martyr of Christ passed from this world and entered into the joy of his Lord, and was buried in that same city.
The Three Candles upon the Tomb of the Venerable Father
And after the burial of the saint three candles were seen upon his tomb, which shone wondrously with a flame of unspeakable brightness and illuminated that place. For he who in his life had been a light to the world did not cease to shine after his departure. And now he shines by the pattern of his virtuous and much-suffering life and of his great zeal for God. And those three candles, seen at that time, were a plain sign that such a servant of the most holy Trinity is settled in unfading brightness in the Kingdom of God, where with the righteous he shines as the sun, enjoying the vision of the Light of the Trinity.
And after the death of the venerable Maximus there remained among the living, in a separate exile, his second disciple, Anastasius the apocrisiary. He later described in detail and at great length the life, and the labours, and the sufferings of his Father and Teacher. And from him this account has been gathered here briefly, as much as suffices for our profit, and for the glorification of God, who is glorified in His saints: the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, to whom be honour and glory and worship from us sinners also, now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen.