Friday, January 21, 2005
The Venerable Maximos the Confessor
1st Vespers Holy Monastic: Wisdom 3:1-9 Epistle: Philippians 1:12-20 Gospel: St. Luke 12:8-12
St. Luke 12:8-12, especially vss. 8, 9: "Also I say to you, whoever confesses Me before men,
him the Son of Man also will confess before the angels of God. But he who denies Me before men will be denied before the
angels of God." Maximos is called a Confessor, but, in all honesty, he approaches some blurred line between Confessors
and Martyrs. Repeatedly asked to deny that our Lord Jesus Christ has two wills - human and divine - for the sake of the
truth he would not do so. The subsequent brutality inflicted on Maximos for unflinchingly confessing the complete
Divinity and humanity of Christ certainly led to this noble man's death. Maximos' sufferings for Orthodoxy cannot be
described: tortured by hierarchs, spat upon by the mass of the people, beaten by soldiers, persecuted, imprisoned; until
finally, with his tongue cut out and one hand cut off, he was condemned to exile for life in Skhimaris, where he gave his
soul into God's hands in the year 662.
Confessing and denying, as Maximos reveals, take us directly into the realm of apostasy versus faithfulness. One either
stands up for Jesus or separates himself from Him in the sight of others who can physically account for our words and
deeds. We are for Him or against Him. Although our actions associated with confessing and denying occur before men, at
the court of human observation, in fact, they are made before God's dread judgment seat. The turning point is obedience.
Equivocating or waffling has to be counted as denial; will not our good Lord surely say, "I never knew you, depart from
Me" (Mt. 7:23) when we adroitly avoid confessing Christ by what we say, how we act, or what we choose? Our lives are
always on the line.
In regard to confessing Christ, Blessed Theophylact draws our attention to a significant point in the grammar of the original
which is regularly blurred by most translations. First, the original text actually reads: "Whosoever shall confess in Me
before men, in him shall the Son of Man confess before the angels of God; but he that denieth Me before men shall be
denied before the angels of God" (Lk. 12:8, 9). Of course it is the preposition, in, which most translators omit. About this
Theophylact says, "He means, 'Whosoever shall confess while in My strength and while I work in synergy with him, I also
shall confess in My strength and while I work in him, that is, in him who works in synergy with Me." We cannot confess
Christ unless we collaborate with Him. We need God to enter the ranks of witnesses, much less to be Confessors or
Martyrs. As Theophylact adds, "if we do not give Him cause to do so, He will not confess on our behalf."
Notice: the tiny in, the preposition, is not employed when denying is described, for in such cases certainly God is not in
those who deny Him. After all, those who deny the Lord do not dwell in Him, nor He in them. Wherever their hearts and
minds may be, they are separated from Christ Jesus. Nice people or not, if the Lord is not in people, they deny Him
perforce. This is why we Orthodox Christians always begin our services of worship with the prayer, "O Heavenly King, the
Comforter, Spirit of truth...come and dwell in us....!"
What then about those who speak "a word against the Son of Man" (vs. 10)? How is it God can forgive them?
Presumably, ignorance is involved in speaking against Jesus. There is another case, however: when the Spirit leads a man
to confess the Trinity, and he later denies the truth of the Spirit, he blasphemes against the Spirit. It is saying and
maintaining, "Him Whom I once knew is not real." Only those who once were truly among the Faithful can blaspheme.
"No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God" (Lk. 9:62).
Deliver us, O Good One, from every snare of the adversary, from encounter with evil, from the demon of the noonday, and
from evil visions, and keep us ever as children of the Light.
