Voices September 21, 2020
Maximus ended life defending Jesus’ human and divine wills
By Father Anthony Ho
St. Maximus the Confessor was the greatest Greek theologian of the seventh century. He was born at Constantinople in 580 and appointed by the emperor Herachus as his first secretary of state.
About this time Monothelitism (the one-will heresy) gained admission at court. Father Alban Butler, author of The Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs and Other Principal Saints, wrote, “St. Maximus declared himself on every occasion the defender of the faith and of virtue. But neither his example nor advice was followed. Seeing then that his employment was incompatible with his principles, and that he strove in vain to arrest the impetuosity of the torrent, he extorted from the emperor a permission to retire to Chrysopolis, where he took the monastic habit.”
Pope Benedict explained the theological controversy which confronted Maximus: “Maximus refused to accept any reduction of Christ’s humanity. A theory had come into being which held that there was only one will in Christ, the divine will. To defend the oneness of Christ’s Person, people denied that he had his own true and proper human will. And, at first sight, it might seem to be a good thing that Christ had only one will. But St. Maximus immediately realized that this would destroy the mystery of salvation, for humanity without a will, a man without a will, is not a real man but an amputated man. Had this been so, the man Jesus Christ would not have been a true man, he would not have experienced the drama of being human which consists, precisely, of conforming our will with the great truth of being. Thus St. Maximus declared with great determination: Sacred Scripture does not portray to us an amputated man with no will but rather true and complete man: God, in Jesus Christ, really assumed the totality of being human – obviously with the exception of sin – hence also a human will. And said like this, his point is clear: Christ either is or is not a man. If he is a man, he also has a will.”
Maximus spent the last 25 years of his life opposing the one-will heresy and succeeded in obtaining its solemn condemnation at Rome by the Lateran Council of 649.
Maximus was banished by Emperor Constans II, and at the age of 82 he was brought to Constantinople and condemned. Maximus’ tongue and right hand – so often used to teach two wills in Christ – were cut off. He died soon after in exile.
Father Butler wrote that, during a public debate with an adherent to the one-will heresy, Maximus explained that “being God and man at the same time, the divine and human natures must have their respective powers of volition; that it is an impiety to assert that the will by which he hath created and governs all things is the same as that by which he ate and drank on earth, and prayed his Father to remove from him, if possible, the chalice of his passion; that the will is a property essential and inseparable from the nature, so that in denying Jesus Christ a human will, you strip him of an essential part of his humanity.”
This article is the 31st and last in the series on the Church Fathers. These articles are posted on the B.C. Catholic website. Holy Mother Church encourages us to read Sacred Scriptures and the writings of the Church Fathers. One practical way to read the Bible and Church Fathers regularly is to spend 10 to 15 minutes each day to read the two readings at the Office of Readings. The first reading is from the Bible, and the second reading is from the Church Fathers or a Church writer.
Nowadays, it is very easy to access the Liturgy of the Hours with cell phone apps such as Divine Office or iBreviary, which you can download to your phone or iPad. You can prayerfully read the two readings from the Office of Readings each day as Lectio Divina.
聖馬克西穆斯為基督的人性意願辯護
聖馬克西穆斯是第七世紀東方最偉大的神學家。他在公元580年出生於君士坦丁堡。赫拉丘斯大帝委任他為國家的首席秘書。
那時一意論的異端在朝廷得到認同。羅伯白敏神父寫道，「聖馬克西穆斯自稱他在任何情況下都是信仰和道德的捍衛者。但他的榜樣和勸告都未被步武。見到他的職位與他的原則不同，和他努力制止這狂瀾動力的失敗，他要求退隱到克雷索波利斯，在那裡接受隱修士的會衣。」
教宗本篤十六世指出：「馬克西穆斯拒絕接納基督人性上的任何減少。一個理論冒起指出基督只有一個意願，至聖的意願。去維護這基督意願的唯一性，人們否認祂有祂自己真的和合適的人性意願。和初步看來，基督只有一個意願似乎這是件好事。但聖馬克西穆斯立刻察覺這會破壞救贖的奧秘，因為人性上沒有一意願，一個人沒有一個意願就不是一個真人，只是一個殘缺的人。若是這樣，耶穌基督不會是一位真人，他不會體驗人生舞台，那包括，準確地說，把我們的意願順從真理。所以聖馬克西穆斯以最大的決斷宣稱：聖經沒有給我們描述一個殘缺而沒有意願的人，但卻是一個真的，完整的人；在耶穌基督內，天主真攝取全部的人性—明顯地只是沒有罪過—所以祂也有人的意願。按此說法，他的論點是很清楚：基督或是人或不是人。如果是人，他也有人的意願。」
馬克西穆斯花了他生命最後的25年去反對那“一意論異端”，成功地促成羅馬在公元649年拉特朗公議會嚴正指責該異端。
馬克西穆斯被君士坦丁大帝放逐; 82歲時他被帶到君士坦丁堡，他的舌頭和右手—經常使用去教導基督的兩個意願—被切除。他被放逐後不久離世。
在公眾辦論時，馬克西穆斯解釋：同時是天主又是人，神性和人性的本質都有各自的意志力。如果我們堅持說，祂創造和管治萬物的意願和祂在世上飲食和向天父祈求免除苦杯的意願是相同的，這會是很大的不敬。意願為本性是重要的和不可分離的，所以否認耶穌基督有人的意願，你剝奪祂人性的重要部份。
本文章是第三十一篇有關聖教教父的文章。它們都刊在B.C. Catholic網站。慈母教會鼓勵我們閱讀聖經和聖教教父著作。一個實用的方法去閱讀是每天花十至十五分鐘閱讀<誦讀日課>的兩篇讀經。第一篇是聖經，第二篇是聖教教父或教會作者的著作。
現時我們用手機很容易找到日課經。你可下載：<Divine Office>, <iBreviary> 或 <我靈讚頌主>。你每天可以兩篇讀經作神修閱讀。