Πηγή: www.modeoflife.org
In 1551 he was released
after the sovereign replied favourably to the requests of pious boyars and
those of the Abbot of the Trinity-St Sergius Lavra. He was eventually
transferred to the Lavra where he enjoyed greater liberty and continued with
his literary production until his strength was exhausted.[7] Tzar Ivan IV recruited Saint Maximos to
refute the Calvanist heresy brought into Russia by Matthew Baskin and the Saint
responded by composing an admirable refutation which he sent to the council –
this marked his final work for the church. He fell asleep in the Lord at the
age of eighty-six, on 21 January 1556. Soon after his death he was recognised
and venerated as a holy Martyr and ‘Enlightener of Russia’.[8]
In 1496 he went to Venice where
he remained there for two years during which time he became associated with
Aldus Manutius who was producing editions of the Greek classics. Obolensky
states that he may have been employed in the Aldine Press, and that he worked
on the edition of Aristotle which Aldus was preparing in Venice.[13] His scholarly inclinations are evident
in a letter dated 1498 where he mentions several offers of lucrative employment
which he received. He also worked for Gianfrancesco Pico della Mirandola who
was a distinguished Hellenist. Mirandola had a major influence on Maximos.
Besides being a classical scholar he was a true ἑλληνομανής, as the
Saint had once wrote, but he was also a “convinced Christian, a student of
patristic writings, and a great admirer of Savonarola”.[14]
Maximos severely criticized
many Latin beliefs and practices which he denounced as heretical in his Russian
writings. Among the beliefs he condemned was the doctrine of the Filioque
which, was the main point of dispute between the Greek and the Latin churches
since the 9th century. He also condemned the claim of universal
jurisdiction by the Pope. His criticism on the whole was “measured and courteous,
and lacked the emotional overtones of the anti-Latin pronouncements of many of
his contemporaries”.[19]
Maximos spent ten years on
Mount Athos, a crucial time of his life which are not well documented. Only a
few writings by him have survived from this period,[20] and have been described by Obolensky
as being “distinguished by elegance of form and a liking for classical
imagery”.[21] Undoubtedly Maximos, during his time
at the monastery of Vatopedi would have immersed himself in the works of the
Fathers as well as other Byzantine literature both religious and secular.
Because of the increase of Slav monks on the Holy Mountain in the late middle
ages which, resulted in the copying and collation of manuscripts and the
exchange of literary works, one can say that Maximos would have been affected
by the Graeco-Slav environment. This environment would of consequently
prepared him for his work in Russia.[22] St Maximos gave himself over to strict
asceticism for approximately ten years at the monastery of Vatopaidi.
Archimandrite Ephraim writes that St Maximos’ “insatiable yearning for the
acquisition of virtues and his enviable diligence in exercising himself therein
rendered him a vessel of the loftiest virtues of humility, nonacquisitiveness,
and love.”[23]
Maximos arrived in Moscow
in 1518 and his first task was to translate patristic commentaries on the
Psalter. [28] The motive behind this translation was
to fight against the heresy of the ‘Judaizers’ which gained powerful support in
government and church circles.[29] The Judaizers were eventually
exterminated by a militant group led by Joseph who was the abbot of the monastery
of Volokolamsk.[30] A study published in 1969 by the
Soviet scholar Aleksey Ivanov, listed and described 365 works attributable to
Maximos which, covered topics ranging from Theology, secular philosophy,
statecraft and social problems. Maximos was also responsible for works on
grammar and lexicography as well as the revision of the existing Slavonic texts
of the Scriptures and liturgical books.[31]
Two different types of
monasticism were prevalent in Russia during the late middle ages. Firstly, the
large coenobitic house, owning land, practising works of charity and involved
in administrative and economic activity which came to be known as ‘Josephian’.[32] Secondly, those groups of small
hermitages found in forests, known as lavrai in Greek and skity
in Russian. Their monks led by Vassian Patrikeev, objected to landowning and
also urged that heretics should be treated leniently. Vassian was also
responsible for a new edition of the Nomocanon, the Orthodox manual of
canon law in which he demonstrated that monasteries which owned land estates
were violating canon law. Maximos took the side of the ‘Non-Possessors’ and was
eventually asked to arbitrate on the meaning of the word προάστεια
which had a broader connotation in the original translation of the Nomocanon.
However, the translation incorporated by Vassian into his edition, was narrower
and was supported by the ‘Non-Possessors’.[33] Vassian posed further problems for
Maximos[34] which were compounded by Maximos
himself after many of his writings concerning the monasteries of Mount Athos,
were frowned upon by the ‘Josephians’. In 1522 the leader of the ‘Possessors’,
Daniel, abbot of Volokolamsk a disciple of Joseph, was appointed primate of the
Russian Church, which marked the beginning of Maximos’ downfall. Moreover, as
Geanakoplos states, Maximos became troubled because of the miserable conditions
and inequities of Russian life and society so much so that he began to assume
for himself role of critic of the Russian church and society.[35] Maximos censured clergy, monastics and
political representatives because of moral laxity as well as for inappropriate
behaviour towards the people.
Maximos was eventually
allowed to read and write books due to the compassion of the local Bishop
Akakiy. There were failed attempts in 1540 by the patriarchs of Constantinople
and Alexandria writing to Ivan IV requesting his release; [40] whilst Maximos himself repeatedly
begged his jailers to let him return to Mount Athos.[41] It was only in the last few years of
Maximos’ life, about 1551, that he was released where he was allowed to live in
St Sergius’ monastery of the Holy Trinity near
Moscow.
Whilst it can be argued
that Maximos’ influence on Russian ecclesiastical life was greater felt after
his death, it is evident that many prominent leaders of his time received his
letters and responded to them, and therefore would have been affected by his
thinking.[54] Others such as the modern Western
scholar Mack Haney believe that Maximos “influenced only the fringe elements of
Russian society”.[55] Whatever the case may be, St Maximos
wrote 365 books, of which 163 remain unpublished, thus his legacy of literary
and theological works was significant.[56] He initiated the Russian people into
ancient Greek philosophy and literature and was the first to introduce the art
of printing into Russia due to his connection with the Italian typographer
Aldus Manutius.[57] He was around eighty-six years old
when he reposed in 1556, and had served the Russian Church and its pious
faithful for a total of thirty-eight years, twenty-six of which he had spent in
prison.[58]
Introduction
Born in Arta[1] ca. 1470, Michael Trivolis[2] came from a well-to-do family from the Peloponnese who also gave birth to the Patriarch Saint Calistus I. In his early youth he left for Italy where he completed his studies at Florence after which he took a keen interest in religion and spiritual renewal.
In 1507 he became a monk at the Monastery of Vatopedi in Greece and received the name Maximos. Much of his time was devoted to study and meditation and after ten years (1516), he was sent to Russia in response to the request of Grand Prince Basil Ivanovich. He was given the task of translating Christian writings as well as countering the heresy of Judaism.[3]
The Tatar invasions of Russia had depleted Russian conscience, leaving Russians in a state of ignorance. St Maximos played a vital role in reviving the hearts and minds of the Russians with his preaching. He became caught up in various controversies: about monastic possessions; over the Slavonic translation of the Canon Law; because of treasonable relations; and condemned for heresy by a church court (1525).[4]
Eventually he was banished to the Monastery of Volokolamsk where he was forced to live a martyr’s life. He suffered from hunger, extreme cold, torment from enemies, deprivation from Holy Communion and books. Receiving consolation from an angel while imprisoned he gave thanks to God by composing a poetical canon in honour of the Holy Spirit.[5] In 1531 he was brought to trial for having defended the primacy of the see of Constantinople over that of the Russian Church, for which he was sent to a monastery in Tver and condemned to perpetual imprisonment (1531-1551).[6]
In 1551 he was released
after the sovereign replied favourably to the requests of pious boyars and
those of the Abbot of the Trinity-St Sergius Lavra. He was eventually
transferred to the Lavra where he enjoyed greater liberty and continued with
his literary production until his strength was exhausted.[7] Tzar Ivan IV recruited Saint Maximos to
refute the Calvanist heresy brought into Russia by Matthew Baskin and the Saint
responded by composing an admirable refutation which he sent to the council –
this marked his final work for the church. He fell asleep in the Lord at the
age of eighty-six, on 21 January 1556. Soon after his death he was recognised
and venerated as a holy Martyr and ‘Enlightener of Russia’.[8]
Upbringing and Major Influences
Arta had fallen to the Turks some twenty years before the birth of St Maximos and at about the age of ten his family moved to Corfu. He received basic education at the schools of Arta and Corfu and about the age of twenty he moved to Italy where he underwent higher studies for around fifteen years at the universities of Venice, Padua, Ferrara, Florence and Milan.[9] He spent three years in Florence which then was the leading centre of Greek studies in Europe and his vocation as a scholar was shaped by the Greek philologist John Lascaris and by the influence of the Platonist Marsilio Ficino.[10] He spent several years studying ancient Greek and Latin literature in Renaissance Italy at the height of its humanist achievement.[11]
Another important influence on St Maximos was the Dominican friar Savonarola so much so that he wrote for the Russians a detailed account of Savonarola’s life which included his Lenten sermons, his conflict with the Pope and his execution in Florence. He praised him as a man “filled with every kind of wisdom” and was influenced by the Italian friar in relation to his concern with “moral problems, on his love for poverty and perhaps too on his outspokenness and courage in adversity”.[12]
In 1496 he went to Venice where
he remained there for two years during which time he became associated with
Aldus Manutius who was producing editions of the Greek classics. Obolensky
states that he may have been employed in the Aldine Press, and that he worked
on the edition of Aristotle which Aldus was preparing in Venice.[13] His scholarly inclinations are evident
in a letter dated 1498 where he mentions several offers of lucrative employment
which he received. He also worked for Gianfrancesco Pico della Mirandola who
was a distinguished Hellenist. Mirandola had a major influence on Maximos.
Besides being a classical scholar he was a true ἑλληνομανής, as the
Saint had once wrote, but he was also a “convinced Christian, a student of
patristic writings, and a great admirer of Savonarola”.[14]
Monastic Formation
There is a chronicle in the monastery of San Marco in Florence which states that St Maximos was professed as a monk of that monastery in 1502, however, his career as a Dominican was brief.[15] He had written to a friend in 1504 saying that he abandoned the monastic life.[16] A time of his life which he describes as quite distressing. Denissoff, who published the letter concluded that he “was deliberately vague as to the reasons for the apparent collapse of his religious vocation”.[17] In 1507 we find Michael as the monk Maximos in the monastery of Vatopedi on Mount Athos.[18]
Maximos severely criticized
many Latin beliefs and practices which he denounced as heretical in his Russian
writings. Among the beliefs he condemned was the doctrine of the Filioque
which, was the main point of dispute between the Greek and the Latin churches
since the 9th century. He also condemned the claim of universal
jurisdiction by the Pope. His criticism on the whole was “measured and courteous,
and lacked the emotional overtones of the anti-Latin pronouncements of many of
his contemporaries”.[19]
Life on Mount Athos
Maximos spent ten years on
Mount Athos, a crucial time of his life which are not well documented. Only a
few writings by him have survived from this period,[20] and have been described by Obolensky
as being “distinguished by elegance of form and a liking for classical
imagery”.[21] Undoubtedly Maximos, during his time
at the monastery of Vatopedi would have immersed himself in the works of the
Fathers as well as other Byzantine literature both religious and secular.
Because of the increase of Slav monks on the Holy Mountain in the late middle
ages which, resulted in the copying and collation of manuscripts and the
exchange of literary works, one can say that Maximos would have been affected
by the Graeco-Slav environment. This environment would of consequently
prepared him for his work in Russia.[22] St Maximos gave himself over to strict
asceticism for approximately ten years at the monastery of Vatopaidi.
Archimandrite Ephraim writes that St Maximos’ “insatiable yearning for the
acquisition of virtues and his enviable diligence in exercising himself therein
rendered him a vessel of the loftiest virtues of humility, nonacquisitiveness,
and love.”[23]
Life in Russia
An embassy from the Muscovite ruler, Basil III arrived on Mount Athos in 1516 for the purpose of recruiting a competent Greek translator.[24] Few Russians were capable of reading the manuscripts brought from Byzantium and there was need for an expert to translate them into Slavonic.[25] Prince Andreas Kurbsky, an illustrious scholar of the 16th century and a student of Maximos wrote that Russians languished from spiritual hunger. Ritualism, Pharisaism, occultism and astrology pervaded Russian society.[26] Due to political events in Russia and her occupation by the barbaric Tatars, as well as the conquest of Constantinople by the Turks in 1453, ties between Moscow and Constantinople were severely weakened. Compounded with other socio-economic factors, Russian society and the church found themselves in a state of moral and spiritual corruption. Therefore, by the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, Russia was going through a very dark period.[27]
Maximos arrived in Moscow
in 1518 and his first task was to translate patristic commentaries on the
Psalter. [28] The motive behind this translation was
to fight against the heresy of the ‘Judaizers’ which gained powerful support in
government and church circles.[29] The Judaizers were eventually
exterminated by a militant group led by Joseph who was the abbot of the monastery
of Volokolamsk.[30] A study published in 1969 by the
Soviet scholar Aleksey Ivanov, listed and described 365 works attributable to
Maximos which, covered topics ranging from Theology, secular philosophy,
statecraft and social problems. Maximos was also responsible for works on
grammar and lexicography as well as the revision of the existing Slavonic texts
of the Scriptures and liturgical books.[31]
Controversies
Two different types of
monasticism were prevalent in Russia during the late middle ages. Firstly, the
large coenobitic house, owning land, practising works of charity and involved
in administrative and economic activity which came to be known as ‘Josephian’.[32] Secondly, those groups of small
hermitages found in forests, known as lavrai in Greek and skity
in Russian. Their monks led by Vassian Patrikeev, objected to landowning and
also urged that heretics should be treated leniently. Vassian was also
responsible for a new edition of the Nomocanon, the Orthodox manual of
canon law in which he demonstrated that monasteries which owned land estates
were violating canon law. Maximos took the side of the ‘Non-Possessors’ and was
eventually asked to arbitrate on the meaning of the word προάστεια
which had a broader connotation in the original translation of the Nomocanon.
However, the translation incorporated by Vassian into his edition, was narrower
and was supported by the ‘Non-Possessors’.[33] Vassian posed further problems for
Maximos[34] which were compounded by Maximos
himself after many of his writings concerning the monasteries of Mount Athos,
were frowned upon by the ‘Josephians’. In 1522 the leader of the ‘Possessors’,
Daniel, abbot of Volokolamsk a disciple of Joseph, was appointed primate of the
Russian Church, which marked the beginning of Maximos’ downfall. Moreover, as
Geanakoplos states, Maximos became troubled because of the miserable conditions
and inequities of Russian life and society so much so that he began to assume
for himself role of critic of the Russian church and society.[35] Maximos censured clergy, monastics and
political representatives because of moral laxity as well as for inappropriate
behaviour towards the people.
Trials and Tribulations
Maximos was arrested in 1524/5 and tried by a court presided over by the Grand Prince Basil III and by Metropolitan Daniel of Moscow. In what was a biased trial, Maximos was sentenced to solitary confinement in the Volokolamsk monastery which was the stronghold of the ‘Possessors’. He was put in chains, excommunicated and was forbidden to read and write – an imprisonment which lasted for twenty-six years.
Because of his refusal to confess to the charges, he was tried again in 1531 and was sentenced to imprisonment in a monastery in Tver (pictured below).[36] The list of charges included: “heretical views, practicing sorcery, criticizing the grand prince, having treasonable relations with the Turkish government, claiming that the Russian Church’s independence from the patriarchate of Constantinople was illegal, and denouncing the monasteries and the Church for owning land peasants”.[37]
According to Obolensky, the allegation of sorcery was unfounded and equally unjust was the accusation of heresy.[38] Maximos denied that he ever criticized the grand prince – an accusation which was never proven. With reference to the treasonable relations with the Ottoman empire which he was accused of, these too could not be proven.[39] The last two charges were in fact accurate and Maximos remained outspoken on his belief that the Russian church should return to the obedience of its mother-Church and that monasteries should not own land. It is highly probable that Maximos’ condemnation of monastic landownership was the main reason for the severity of his sentence.
Maximos was eventually
allowed to read and write books due to the compassion of the local Bishop
Akakiy. There were failed attempts in 1540 by the patriarchs of Constantinople
and Alexandria writing to Ivan IV requesting his release; [40] whilst Maximos himself repeatedly
begged his jailers to let him return to Mount Athos.[41] It was only in the last few years of
Maximos’ life, about 1551, that he was released where he was allowed to live in
St Sergius’ monastery of the Holy Trinity near
Moscow.
His Martyrdom
In order to appreciate Maximos’ life of martyrdom we need to look with greater detail at the years he endured imprisoned. Metropolitan Daniel had placed in St Maximos’ prison cell two cruel guards, who tormented him without mercy for six continuous years. In a letter to Metropolitan Makarios of Moscow he wrote: “Imprisoned, I was kept in bonds, dying from the cold, smoke, and hunger.” His biographer, Kurbsky, writes that:
He suffered much from the burdensome bonds and the long confinement in a frightful prison, …being exceedingly beleaguered and mercilessly tortured, both physically and mentally, by intolerable ordeals for six years in iron fetters. …As a result of these tortures, St. Maximos would often fall completely unconscious, almost to the point of death. At one point, wishing to alleviate his affliction, he wrote a Canon to the Holy Spirit on the prison wall with a piece of charcoal, since he was not permitted paper on which to write. Under these conditions, he never grumbled or condemned anyone! At the end of his earthly life, St. Maximos would write a letter in which he prayed with regard to Metropolitan Daniel, who was the primary cause of his myriads of tortures: ‘May God not lay this sin to his charge’![42]
At the monastery of Volokolamsk in Tver “he was confined to a damp and dark, subterranean prison, deprived of light and heating, and of every human consolation to which even the vilest of malefactors is entitled.”[43] St Maximos’ urgent appeals to at least be permitted to partake of Holy Communion fell upon deaf ears. He said with deep pain:
I ask that you vouchsafe me to partake of the All-Immaculate and Live-giving Mysteries of Christ, which I have been denied for seventeen years now. …Grant me, I beseech you, this favor…, save this lost soul….” “…I seek mercy and benevolence….” “… I ask for mercy; show me mercy, that you might also be vouchsafed the same Grace.[44]
All together he spent fourteen years in iron bonds (1525-1539), and was imprisoned for a total of twenty-six years.[45] Giving testimony to his humility is his letter to Metropolitan Daniel in his defense against the charge of heresy and blasphemy. He suffered all of his ordeals with patience and without resentment:
But I tell you in this regard that you have [unjustly] condemned me for heresy and prohibited me from partaking of the Divine Mysteries. As for my other many and innumerable sins, I am not able to open my mouth. I must not despair, however, but rather hope in God’s immeasurable mercy….
And elsewhere:
The Just Judge, Who desires that all men be saved, Who has permitted me to undergo these afflictions on account of my many great sins, and not for heresy or blasphemy…[46]
He died in the Trinity monastery at the age of almost ninety and because of his extraordinary patience, enduring twenty-six years of cruel torments he came to be revered as a saint.[47] About 100 years after his death the patriarch Nikon agreed to his canonization, which was authorized by the patriarchates of both Moscow and Constantinople in 1988.[48]
Conclusion
Maximos was an outstanding scholar with an excellent training in ancient philosophy. He played an important role in the controversies that arose in sixteenth-century Russia. Obolensky states that Maximos was one of the last personalities who exemplified the Byzantine spirit and heritage.[49] He persisted until death in the work which he had undertaken i.e. that of raising the spiritual level of the Russian church and people, always in accord with Orthodox Byzantine theology, morality, and tradition. Billington numbers Maximos among four other influential Russians who “reproduced on Russian soil the philosophic opposition to both superstition and scholasticism that was characteristic of Western humanism”.[50] He was the first to introduce modern scientific, philological methods to Russia and his works on grammar and lexicography were later published by Moscow’s printing press and became before long authoritative texts in Russia.[51] Geanakoplos believes that Maximos not only helped to revitalize Orthodoxy in Russia, but his work also led “to the gradual recovery and strengthening of the virtually broken link between the patriarchate of Constantinople and Russia”[52]. There is also good reason to believe that his writings influenced the ecclesiastical reforms at the Stoglav Council of 1551, and the seventeenth century patriarch Nikon who affirmed: “I am Russian, but my faith and religion are Greek”.[53]
Whilst it can be argued
that Maximos’ influence on Russian ecclesiastical life was greater felt after
his death, it is evident that many prominent leaders of his time received his
letters and responded to them, and therefore would have been affected by his
thinking.[54] Others such as the modern Western
scholar Mack Haney believe that Maximos “influenced only the fringe elements of
Russian society”.[55] Whatever the case may be, St Maximos
wrote 365 books, of which 163 remain unpublished, thus his legacy of literary
and theological works was significant.[56] He initiated the Russian people into
ancient Greek philosophy and literature and was the first to introduce the art
of printing into Russia due to his connection with the Italian typographer
Aldus Manutius.[57] He was around eighty-six years old
when he reposed in 1556, and had served the Russian Church and its pious
faithful for a total of thirty-eight years, twenty-six of which he had spent in
prison.[58]
Bibliography
Billington, James H. The Icon and The Axe: An Interpretive History of Russian Culture. New York: Vintage Books, 1970.
Drosos, (Fr.) Nektarios. ‘Maximos the Greek, St’. In Encyclopedia of Greece and the Hellenic Tradition. Volume 2 L-Z. Edited by Graham Speake. London: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, 2000.
(Archimandrite) Ephraim. An Indomitable Herald of Patristic Tradition. MYSTAGOGY: The Weblog Of John Sanidopoulos at http://www.johnsanidopoulos.com/2011/01/saint-maximos-greek-of-vatopaidi.html. Accessed 04 March 2011.
ΦΕΙΔΑΣ, Ι. ‘Μάξιμος’. ΘΗΕ τ. 8ος (1966).
Geanakoplos, Deno. J. ‘The Post-Byzantine Athonite Monk Maximos “the Greek”: Reformer of Orthodoxy in Sixteenth-Century Muscovy’. Greek Orthodox Theological Review 33 (1988): 445-468.
Haney, Jack V. From Italy to Muscovy : the life and works of Maxim the Greek. Munich : 1973.
HieroMonk Makarios, The Synaxarion: The Lives of the Saints of the Orthodox Church. Vol. Three January, February. Ormylia: Holy Convent of The Annunciation of Our Lady, 2001.
Obolensky, Dimitri. Six Byzantine Portraits. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1988.
Pospielovsky, Dimitry. The Orthodox Church in the History of Russia. Crestwood, NY: St Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1998.
[1] The capital of the Greek province of
Epirus.
[2] He is also known as Maximus Vatopedinos
and in Russian as Maxim. Being a highly learned educator he was also referred
to as the “Enlightener of the Russians”. C.f. Fr. Nektarios Drosos, ‘Maximos
the Greek, St’, in Encyclopedia of Greece and the Hellenic Tradition.
Volume 2 L-Z (London: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, 2000), 1018-1020.
[3] HieroMonk Makarios, op. cit.,
250.
[4] HieroMonk Makarios, op. cit.,
251.
[5] HieroMonk Makarios, op. cit.,
251. He wrote the canon after he was gifted with a vision of a Holy Angel, who
descended into his prison cell and offered him Holy Communion. C.f.
Archimandrite Ephraim. An Indomitable Herald of Patristic Tradition.
MYSTAGOGY: The Weblog Of John Sanidopoulos at http://www.johnsanidopoulos. com/2011/01 /saint-maximos-greek-of-vatopaidi. html. Accessed 04 March
2011.
[6] HieroMonk Makarios, op. cit.,
251.
[7] HieroMonk Makarios, op. cit.,
252.
[8] HieroMonk Makarios, op. cit.,
252. It was only in 1998 that the Patriarchate of Moscow added his name to the
calendar of Saints.
[9] Archimandrite Ephraim. An
Indomitable Herald of Patristic Tradition. MYSTAGOGY: The Weblog Of John
Sanidopoulos at http://www.johnsanidopoulos.com/2011/01/saint-maximos-greek-of-vatopaidi.html.
Accessed 04 March 2011.
[10] His philological knowledge as we shall
see was also complemented on Mount Athos by his intensive occupation with the
Church Fathers.
[11] Deno. J Geanakoplos, ‘The
Post-Byzantine Athonite Monk Maximos “the Greek”: Reformer of Orthodoxy in
Sixteenth-Century Muscovy’, Greek Orthodox Theological Review 33
(1988): 447-448.
[12] Obolensky, op. cit., 203.
[13] Obolensky, op. cit., 204.
[14] Obolensky, op. cit., 204.
[15] Geanakoplos writes that Maximos may
have been dissatisfied with the “secular Italian humanist attitudes and mode of
life – not to underrate his always intense attraction to the Orthodox monastic
life”. Geanakoplos, op. cit., 448.
[16] A plausible explanation is related by
Archimandrite Ephraim: “St. Maximos, however, gave himself over to an intense
search for authentic way of Christian life, having seen for himself the
nakedness of humankind bereft of God’s Grace while living in Italy, where
Renaissance humanism was then flourishing.” Archimandrite Ephraim, op. cit..
Along similar lines Pospielovksy writes Maximos was “disappointed in Roman
Catholicism, he returned to Orthodoxy, became a monk on Mt Athos, and even
wrote several polemical tracts against the Latins.” Dimitry Pospielovsky, The
Orthodox Church in the History of Russia (Crestwood, NY: St Vladimir’s
Seminary Press, 1998), 64.
[17] Obolensky, op. cit., 204.
C.f. E. Denissoff, Maxime le Grec et l’Occident: Contribution a l’histoire
de la penmsee religieuse et philosophique de Michel Trivolis
(Paris-Louvain, 1942).
[18] It may very well have been because of
the monstery’s rich Athonite manuscript library of Greek church fathers and
ecclesiastical writings that he chose it. C.f. Geanakoplos, op. cit.,
448.
[19] Obolensky, op. cit., 206.
[20] Mostly Greek epitaphs in verse.
[21] Obolensky, op. cit., 206.
[22] Obolensky, op. cit., 207.
[23] Archimandrite Ephraim, op. cit..
[24] Fr Drosos points out that “Russian
sources do not explain clearly why Maximos was sent to Russia, though they
state that he went there to seek contributions for his monastery. This is
endorsed by his subsequent adversary, Bishop Daniel, who said that Maximos went
‘to beg for alms‘, because he asked Vasiliy not to forget the penury of the
Holy Monastery of Vatopedi.” Fr Drosos, op. cit., 1018.
[25] Maximos was recommended by his Abbot
as follows in his letter to the metropolitan of Moscow: “our most honourable
brother Maximos…, proficient in divine Scripture and adept in interpreting all
kinds of books, both ecclesiastical and those called Hellenic [i.e. secular],
because from his early youth he has grown up in them and learned [to
understand] them through the practise of virtue, and not simply by reading them
often, as others do.” According to Obolensky, Maximos knew no Russian upon his
arrival – he learnt the language soon after his arrival. Obolensky, op.
cit., 208. However, Geanakoplos points out that several scholars think he
may have learned a bit on the long trip to Moscow. C.f. Geanakoplos, op.
cit., 451.
[26] Fr Drosos, op. cit., 1019.
Maximos’ writings also bear witness to his shock at the superstitious
tendencies of the Russian people. For instance, Russians refused to bury bodies
that had drowned or had died as a result of violence for fear that their bodies
would make the soil infertile. C.f. Geanakoplos, op. cit., 463.
[27] Geanakoplos, op. cit., 447.
[28] The manner in which he performed his
task involved translating the Greek into Latin, which his Russian colleagues
then translated into Slavonic. This was an error prone procedure which resulted
in errors. Mistakes which Obolensky states that Maximos would pay for dearly.
C.f. Obolensky, op. cit., 209. At that time the Psalter was not only
important for the church but also in the social and educational life of Russia.
It was used in the primary schools as a tool for reading.
[29] One of the texts which the ‘Judaizers’
used to support their teaching was the Book of Psalms.
[30] They were publicly burnt.
[31] Early translations included scribal
errors which were heretical which Maximos corrected. Obolensky, op. cit.,
211.
[32] After the name of Joseph, abbot of
Volokolamsk, the leader of the hard-liners who wanted all heretics killed.
[33] “Previous Russian translators had
taken the word to mean ‘villages with resident peasants’… Maxim, on the other
hand, assured Vassian that the true meaning of προάστεια was ‘ploughed
fields and vineyards’” Obolensky, op. cit., 213.
[34] Vassian was prone to exaggeration
which worsened relations with the ‘Josephians’. For instance he said that “All
our books are false ones, and were written by the devil and not by the Holy
Spirit . Until Maxim we used these books to blaspheme God, and not to glorify
or pray to him.” Obolensky, op. cit., 213.
[35] Geanakoplos, op. cit., 452.
Geanakoplos describes Maximos as one having a critical mind with a
restless and intemperate personality, which led to him becoming eventually
condemnatory in his speech and in the letters he sent to various officials.
C.f. Geanakoplos, op. cit., 454.
[36] Obolensky, op. cit., 214.
[37] Obolensky, op. cit., 214.
[38] It must be noted that some of Maximos’
translations had grammatical errors which led to the accusation of heresy.
These mistakes were due to his inadequate knowledge of the Russian language.
[39] Maximos, however was in fact to some
degree frustrated with the Muscovite government. Obolensky writes that “as a
Greek, Maxim hoped that one day the Muscovite sovereign, the most powerful
Orthodox ruler on earth, would come to the help of his enslaved people and
liberate them from the infidel yoke. A war between Russia and the Ottoman
Empire was a necessary prelude to the liberation of the Christians of the
Balkans.” Obolensky, op. cit., 215.
[40] Geanakoplos writes that “the
xenophobic prince and no less xenophobic metropolitans and boyars, would not
accede to the Patriarch’s request. In view of the Russian ecclesiastical and
political authorities, Maximos was probably considered not only a dangerous,
even subversive, critic of Russian government, society, and the church, but an
official representative of the Patriarch of Constantinople – a leader, Russian
eyes, of a now generally mistrusted Greek Orthodox church”. Geanakoplos, op.
cit., 457-458.
[41] Billington writes that “Far from
showing bitterness toward the ungrateful land to which he had come, he
developed a love of Russia, and an image of it different from that of the
bombastic Josephite monks in the Tsar’s entourage.” James H. Billington, The
Icon and The Axe: An Interpretive History of Russian Culture (New York:
Vintage Books, 1970), 93.
[42] Archimandrite Ephraim, op. cit..
[43] Archimandrite Ephraim, op. cit..
[44] Archimandrite Ephraim, op. cit..
[45] Archimandrite Ephraim, op. cit..
[46] Archimandrite Ephraim, op. cit..
[47] Obolensky, op. cit., 217. In
subsequent generations a statue of Maximos was erected at the Russian
theological school at Zagorsk near Moscow.
[48] Fr Drosos, op. cit., 1019.
[49] Obolensky, op. cit., 219.
[50] Billington, op. cit., 90.
[51] Geanakoplos, op. cit., 459.
[52] Geanakoplos, op. cit., 464.
[53] Geanakoplos, op. cit., 465.
[54] To name a few: Boyar who frequently
visited Maximos in his cell; Metropolitan Iosaaf; Abbot Artemius; also members
of the imperial court. Geanakoplos, goes so far as to say that “because of the ultimate
success of much of his work in Russia, Maximos, I believe, should be regarded
as one of the greatest Orthodox reformers of the Slavic Orthodox world, perhaps
second only in importance to Cyril and Methodius”. Geanakoplos, op. cit.,
467. Though such statements may come across as exaggerated, Geanakoplos argues
convincingly in favour of Maximos’ intense contribution to Russian society.
Pospielovksy supports such statements writing that: “as he [Maximos] was
undoubtedly the best and most erudite scholar in Russia at the time, his
monastic apartment became an intellectual salon of the Moscow elite. Thus his
ideas, which were not to the liking of the possessors, became influential.”
Pospielovsky, op. cit., 64.
[55] Jack V. Haney, From Italy to
Muscovy : the life and works of Maxim the Greek (Munich : 1973),
183: “Maximos had only a marginal influence on most of his contemporaries; and
he was unable to stem the tide of Josephianism which came the arbiter of
Russian culture until well into the eighteenth century.”
[56] A sample of his works include the
Apostolic Canons; the canons of ecumenical and local councils collected and
interpreted by Matthew Vlastares; the homilies of St John Chrysostom; the
Gospels of Matthew and John; Symeon Metaphrastes’ Life of the Theotokos; the
life of Dionysius the Areopagite. In terms of corrections he made to liturgical
books the list includes: Triodion; Horologion; liturgical Gospel; Menaion. C.f. Ι. ΦΕΙΔΑΣ,
‘Μἀξιμος’, ΘΡΗΣΚΕΥΤΙΚΗ ΚΑΙ ΗΘΙΚΗ ΕΓΚΥΚΛΟΠΕΔΙΑ 8ΟΣ ΤΟΜΟΣ
(ΑΘΗΝΑΙ: ΠΑΝΕΠΙΣΤΗΜΙΟΥ, 1966), 629.
[57] Archimandrite Ephraim, op. cit..
[58] Archimandrite Ephraim, op. cit..
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