Maximus on theology that acts
“Theology without action is the theology of demons.”
Plain English
The saying reflects Maximus's insistence that knowledge of God and purification of life belong together. Correct ideas without love do not make a saint.
Why it matters
It is a severe patristic warning against treating theology as detached cleverness.
About Maximus the Confessor
Maximus paid for Christology with his body. He opposed Monothelitism, the imperial compromise that said Christ had only one will, because he believed a Saviour without a human will could not heal the human will. For that refusal he was tried, mutilated, and exiled, dying far from the centres of power. His theology is demanding, but its centre is pastoral: everything human must be assumed by Christ if everything human is to be saved.
- Lifespan
- c. 580 – 662
- Era
- Post Nicene
- Born in
- Constantinople
- Region
- East
Centuries on Charity
Maximus the ConfessorA more approachable route into Maximus than starting with the Ambigua.
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