624 FOUKTH PERIOD. A. D. 590-1049.
(i. e. that there are in Christ two perfect natures, two wills and two operations) against the Severians. One treatise is on the Holy Trinity; another is on the procession of the Holy Spirit; the rest are upon cognate topics. (2) Debate with Pyrrhus (held July, 645) upon the Person of Christ, in favor of two wills.1 It resulted in Pyrrhus' retraction of his Monotheletic error. This work is easier to read than most of the others. (3) Five Dialogues on the Trinity.2 (4) On the Soul.3
IV. Ethical and ascetic. (1) On asceticism* a dialogue be tween an abbot and a young monk, upon the duties of the mo nastic life. A famous treatise, very simple, clear and edifying for all Christians. It insists upon love to God, our neighbors and our enemies, and the renunciation of the world. (2) Chap ters upon Charity,5 four in number, of one hundred aphorisms each, ascetic, dogmatic and mystical, added to the preceding, but not all are upon charity. There are Greek scholia upon this book. (3) Two Chapters, theological and osconomical,6 each of one hundred aphorisms, upon the principles of theology. (4) Catena,7 five chapters of one hundred aphorisms each, upon theology.
V. Miscellaneous. (1) Initiation into the mysteries,8 an alle gorical exposition of the Church and her worship. Incidentally it proves that the Greek liturgy has not changed since the seventh century. (2) Commonplaces,9 seventy-one sections, con taining texts of Scripture and quotations from the Fathers, arranged under heads. (3) Letters,10 forty-five in number, on theological and moral matters; several are on the Severian heresy, others supply biographical details. Many of his let ters exist in MS. only. (4) Hymns,11 three in number.
I I. c. col. 288-353. * Migne, XXVIII. col. 1116-1285. 3 XCI. col. 353-361. * XC. col. 912-956.
5 I c. cols. 960-1080. • /. c. cols. 1084-1 176.
* I c. cols. 1177-1392. 8 XCI. cols. 657-717.
9 1. c. cols. 721-1017. 10 /. c. cols. 364-649.
II 1. c. cols. 1417-1424, and this vol., p. 409.
§ 143. ST. MAXIMUS CONFESSOR. 625
Maximus was the pupil of Dionysius Areopagita, and the teacher of John of Damascus and John Scotus Erigena, in the sense that he elucidated and developed the ideas of Dionysius, and in turn was an inspiration and guide to the latter. John of Damascus has perpetuated his influence in the Greek Church to the present day. Scotus Erigena introduced some of his works to Western Europe. The prominent points of the theology of Maximus are these:1 Sin is not a positive quality, but an inborn defect in the creature. In Christ this defect is supplied, new life is imparted, and the power to obey the will of God is given. The Incarnation is thus the Divine remedy for sin's awful consequences : the loss of free inclination to good, and the loss of immortality. Grace comes to man in consequence of Christ's work. It is not the divine nature in itself but in union with the human nature which is the principle of atoning and saving grace. God is the fountain of all being and life, the alpha and ome2ra of creation. By means of the Incarnation he is the Head of the kingdom of grace. Christ is fully Man, and not only fully God. This is the mystery of the Incarna tion. Opposed to the Monophysites and Monothelites, Maximus exerts all his ingenuity to prove that the difference of natures in Christ requires two wills, a human and a divine will, not sepa rated or mixed, but in harmony. Christ was born from eternity from the Father, and in time from the Virgin, who was the veritable Mother of God. Christ's will was a natural, human will, one of the energies of his human nature. The parallel to this union of the divine and human in Christ is the human soul wrought upon by the Holy Spirit. The divine life begins in faith, rules in love, and comes to its highest development in the contemplative life. The Christian fulfils the comm:1.!??! to pray without ceasing, by constantly directing his mind to God in true piety and sincere aspiration. All rational essences shall
1 Cf. Neander and Bach in loco.