Man in the philosophical and theological system of Maximus the Confessor

The article examines the anthropological teaching of Maximus the Confessor in connection with ancient and Eastern Christian traditions. The author analyzes the creative heritage of the thinker, highlighting the anthropological component, and systematically expounds the doctrine of man in the philosophical and theological system of Maximus the Confessor. Man has always been mysterious to philosophical thought. In different eras, the place of man as a subject of research has changed: from central to completely moving it beyond the scope. But still, the Christian thinkers of the Middle Ages paid the closest attention to man. An example of such a multifaceted anthropological study is the philosophical and theological system of Maximus the Confessor. Many philosophers and theologians have turned and continue to turn to the creative heritage of St. Maxim. Among foreign researchers of the work of Maxim the Confessor, one can note G.U. von Balthasar, J.-C. Larcher, P. Sherwood, L. Thanberg, E. Laut. In Russian philosophical and theological thought, his work was addressed by I. Orlov, M.D. Muretov, S.L. Epifanovich, A.I. Brilliantov, G.V. Florovsky, A.I. Sidorov, D.A. Pospelov and others. True, it should be noted that most of the works devoted to the work of Maxim the Confessor, published before the revolution, have not been republished, and translations of the works of foreign researchers are few. However, recently interest in Maximus the Confessor from researchers has increased. Moreover, if back in the 19th century they talked about him, as a rule, in theological works about Dionysius the Areopagite, then later works devoted to the study of the work of Maximus the Confessor himself began to appear more and more often. Despite the fact that his work is actively studied, previously untranslated works are translated, dissertations devoted to the study of Maximus the Confessor are written and defended, he remains an inexhaustible source of ideas that are significant to this day. Of course, more often the focus is on the thinker’s Christological ideas, and he himself is more interesting to researchers either as a zealous fighter against the heresy of monothelitism, or as a commentator on the texts of Dionysius the Areopagite. Unfortunately, there is still no fundamental research into the anthropological views of Maximus the Confessor. Meanwhile, anthropological problematics in his teaching are the central point; his entire philosophical and theological system is anthropological. Although among the works of St. Maximus there is no separate work devoted specifically to this issue (such as, for example, the treatise of Gregory of Nyssa “On the Structure of Man”), there are anthropological ideas in each of his creations. This study is an attempt to consider the philosophy of Maximus the Confessor as an anthropological teaching and present it in its entirety. To make the presentation more systematic, we can divide this teaching into three sections: primordial man, man after the Fall, and saved, recreated, deified man. First of all, it is necessary to note the following: although the figure of Maximus the Confessor is inscribed in the general Christian tradition and his anthropological views are largely based on already existing patristic works - the Cappadocian Fathers (primarily Gregory of Nyssa), John Chrysostom, Dionysius the Areopagite - one cannot fail to recognize the uniqueness of his teaching about man. Thus, in comparison with the anthropology of Gregory of Nyssa, where the physiological approach predominates, the anthropology of Maximus the Confessor is more holistic and voluminous. From Dionysius the Areopagite, Saint Maximus borrows his epistemological views (the ascetic scheme of knowledge of God), but introduces new terminology. Through the prism of Dionysius the Areopagite, Maximus the Confessor turns to the ancient heritage, primarily to the Platonic tradition, as well as to the teachings of the Stoics. It must be said that Byzantine philosophical thought was generally characterized by a synthesis of two worldviews: ancient and Christian. Maximus the Confessor, setting out his anthropological views, relies on the patristic scheme of three states of life (history) of all mankind: the primitive, natural state of the first man before the Fall; present (unnatural, sinful, passionate); future (reborn, saved, deified). It seems most convenient to consider the doctrine of man precisely according to this scheme. In the natural state, man is the image and likeness of God. The image and likeness of God are ontological characteristics of man. Man's way of existence lies precisely in being the image of God; without this, man would not be man. The image of God is given to man immediately from the moment of creation and abides in man always and unchangeably. First of all, the image of God is manifested in the rationality of man. The human mind is a reflection of the Divine Logos, the Word of God, the second hypostasis of the Trinity, therefore the mind presupposes the possession of the gift of speech: “Reasonable [creatures] are characterized by natural beauty - the word” [14, p. 16]. The likeness of God lies in the spirituality, dispassion and incorruptibility of man and is manifested in his morality, goodness and wisdom. The first man (Adam) possessed the likeness of God before the Fall. In the anthropology of Maximus the Confessor, the problem of the composition of human nature occupies an important place. Man is a two-pronged being, “synthetic nature” [1, p. 126]: it combines two worlds: earthly and heavenly. “Man is the connecting line between God and creation” [7, p. 235]. For this, man was given two principles: the divine (soul) and the natural (body). The two-part nature of human nature is an expression of the harmony of the spiritual and material worlds, which gives man a special, preferential position in the world. Man is a “microcosm”, “a small world in a great one”, the focus of the entire created world, the center of the universe. The existence of the entire cosmos is connected with the existence of man. Maximus the Confessor says that “the whole world, consisting of visible and invisible [creatures]1 is similar to man, and man, consisting of body and soul, is called the world” [12, p. 167]. So, a person consists of soul and body. The soul has such properties as immortality, rationality, incorporeality: “man is a man because of his thinking and rational soul, thanks to which he is the image and likeness of God” [12, p. 167]. Following the ancient tradition, Maximus the Confessor adds that the soul consists of three forces: rational, desirable and irritable. Moreover, the rational part of the soul has two abilities: contemplative (mind) and active (mind). Contemplative abilities include wisdom, contemplation, and knowledge. With his mind, a person strives to know the truth. The active faculties include prudence, doing, virtue and faith. It is natural for the mind to strive for good. To know God, who is Truth and Good, a combination of these two abilities of the soul is necessary. The soul and body were created simultaneously; they “necessarily embrace each other and interpenetrate” [1, p. 126]. Maximus the Confessor does not declare the body sinful and does not accuse it of interfering with the soul, as was the case with the Neoplatonists (who, following Plato, considered the body to be the “fetters of the soul”), but, on the contrary, speaks of the unity of soul and body: “The soul resides equally in all members of the body as a vitalizing principle. If it had not come into contact with any of his members, then he would not have been alive, but dead” [14, p. 30]. Describing the ideal state of man, Maximus the Confessor relies on patristic teaching (primarily on the works of Gregory of Nyssa). Primordial man, writes Maxim the Confessor, was in a harmonious state with himself and with the world around him; was immortal, passionless, incorruptible: “The first man, having received being from God and originating [from Him], by the very origin of [his] existence, was free from corruption and sin” [14, p. 60]. Man was holy in everything, including the ability to reproduce inherent in him did not bear the slightest mark of sin. Initially, “the method of procreation of the human race should be carried out not through the union of the sexes, but thanks to spiritualized nature, which, being in a paradisiacal state, should have allowed people to reproduce themselves” [8, p. 111]. Man was created by God in freedom, that is, in a free creative act, and free, that is, possessing free will. Initially, the will of man was single, integral. Maximus the Confessor calls it natural, since it is a simple desire, the ability of human nature to want. But despite the fact that the natural will is a natural inclination towards good, it was at the level of will (human free will) that the Fall occurred. Man's purpose before the Fall was to overcome the divisions that arose as a result of the creation of everything that exists. God's act of creation of all things occurred through five divisions. The first of them is the division into the Uncreated and the created (God separated himself from creation). The second division is at the level of the created: creation is divided into the sensory and the intelligible (the material and spiritual world). In turn, the sensory is divided into heaven and earth. Earthly existence - to heaven and the universe. The last division occurs in the person himself - into male and female. The purpose of man, it is important to emphasize once again, was the unification of all divisions, “since by his very being he is connected with all the elements of “division”: with the earth - the body, with the sensory being - the feelings, with the mental - the soul, he could ascend to the Uncreated nature with his mind" [6, p. 63]. Having overcome divisions, man had to unite the whole world within himself and through himself connect it with God. So, as a result of free choice, the Fall occurs, and the single human will immediately splits into desire and choice. Choice, or rational (gnomic) will, is no longer just a desire, but a desire for something specific. The gnomic will is characterized by an oscillation between good and evil, a complex process of choosing and finding a solution to a problem, which is painful for a person. The gnomic will is constantly faced with a choice of various kinds of passions, sympathies, moods, and everyday relationships. It is the source of all clashes and disagreements between people. Will as desire is “a natural force striving for what is in accordance with nature” [9, p. 176]. According to Maxim the Confessor, freedom of choice is an imperfect, limited freedom, the freedom of fallen human nature. A perfect person does not need to choose: he knows good naturally, his freedom is based on knowledge. As a result of the Fall, man loses the likeness of God, the knowledge of good no longer belongs to his nature, and instead of perfect freedom, free will begins to operate in him, which turns out to be not freedom at all: “In free will there is more need than independence” [1, p. 120]. Free will condemns a person to torment; he constantly faces the problem of choosing between good and evil. Constantly tormented by this, a person tries to come to wholeness and harmony, but his passionate nature prevents this. However, his situation is not hopeless. Even after the Fall, a person retains a natural desire for good; he can overcome this state of fragmentation and, as already redeemed by the Savior from slavery to sin, reunite with God. Since the Fall is the falling away of man from God, then along with the fall of man the fall of the world occurs, and the gap between the spiritual and material world worsens. Instead of uniting the divided, on the contrary, division is affirmed; instead of the deification of man, the subordination of his matter occurs. He turns to sensory existence, as a result of which “from a spiritual being he became grossly material, like an animal. Through eating the fruit from the forbidden tree, man entered for the first time into the stream of constantly changing material existence” [3, p. 227–228]. The meaning of human existence also changes. Now there is an impassable gap between man and God, which man must overcome and which he cannot overcome without God. He can no longer (no matter how hard he tries) unite the divisions and through himself connect the world with God. He cannot save the world because he himself becomes the creature most in need of salvation. The history of fallen humanity is divided into two very different periods, the border between which is the Incarnation. Before the Incarnation, fallen man is a man subject to sin and death, a perishing man. After the atoning Sacrifice of Christ, he is freed from slavery to corruption. Now the goal of his life is to ascend to God, and now he has been given all the means for this. And the purpose of man becomes the desire for personal deification, through which the whole world will be deified. So, as a result of the Fall, man becomes mortal (“death is separation from God” [10, p. 120]), corruptible, passionate. Moreover, all the consequences of the Fall are interconnected: “Death and the frailty of nature are mysteriously tied to original sin... passion and death are analytically connected” [1, p. 122]. Man loses his original integrity. The nature of the mutual existence of soul and body changes: “The soul, without wanting it, has its own body and to the same extent it must be subject to it; without wanting it, she gives him life precisely through her being in him; by nature, she participates in his suffering and illness due to her inherent passivity” [2, p. 74]. A distortion of the three components of the soul occurs: the human mind becomes clouded by passions (it can no longer penetrate into the essence of things, as it was before the Fall), the desirable part of the soul turns into “lustful”, the irritable part into “furious”. Thus, man, although he still remains the image of God, loses the likeness of God that was originally given to him. Fallen man falls into obsession with passions. Passion is a disease of the will, an unnatural movement of the soul, a limitation or loss of freedom. Weakness of the will is a consequence of ignorance of the mind: a person loses the ability to directly contemplate and recognize God. Referring to Gregory of Nyssa, Maximus the Confessor says that “the passions were introduced into humanity as a result of the falling away from perfection. Through the passions, instead of the divine image, immediately, along with the transgression of the commandment, his likeness to unreasonable animals became obvious and clearly visible in man” [14, p. 28]. Maxim the Confessor, examining in detail such a phenomenon as human passion, points to the main, initial passion: “The mother of passions is self-love” [10, p. 108]. Self-love is “the cause of all passionate thoughts; for from it the three most important thoughts of the lustful part of the soul are born: gluttony, love of money and vanity. From gluttony the thought of fornication is born, from the love of money - covetousness, from vanity - the thought of pride; the rest all follow each of these three” [10, p. 128]. A person who overcomes selfishness will be able to overcome all other passions in himself. Maxim the Confessor gives a classification of passions: anger, sadness, rancor (memory), despondency, oblivion, envy, slander, pride - and shows their relationship. All passions concern only one part of the soul (irritable, lustful or mental), except for the only passion - despondency: “Despondency, embracing all the forces of the soul, suddenly, behind one spirit, sets in motion almost all passions, which is why it is heavier than all other passions” [10, p. 103]. Passions are divided into physical and mental. “The bodily receive their motive from the body, and the spiritual from external objects” [10, p. 102]. Burdened with numerous passions becomes the “property” of every person, but everyone approaches this differently. A person who has completely given himself over to passions and forgotten about God becomes petrified in his heart and becomes carnal from a spiritual being. A person striving for God, oppressed by his passions, feels the need for an incessant and fierce struggle against them. “He who courageously overcomes bodily passions, steadfastly withstands the battle with unclean spirits and expels their thoughts from the confines of his soul” [11, p. 250–251], frees himself from passions and comes to purity of heart. Divine grace comes to a pure heart. “A heart is called pure in which there is no natural movement towards anything [carnal]. Thanks to the highest simplicity, God is born in such a heart and inscribes His laws on it, as if on a smooth tablet” [11, p. 250–251]. Maximus the Confessor not only examines in detail the every possible damage of the human being by passions, but also gives guidance on how to get rid of them. (It is important to note that this guidance is all the more valuable because it is not naked scientific knowledge, a dry abstract theory, but experimental knowledge obtained by Maximus the Confessor as a result of an ascetic life.) The main way to overcome passions is the acquisition of virtues: “There are means that stop the movement of passions and do not allow them to grow; and there are others who diminish them and lead to exhaustion. Thus, fasting, labor and vigil do not allow lust to increase; and solitude, contemplation, prayer and love for God diminish it and lead to disappearance. Whose mind is constantly directed towards God, his lust exceeds the desire for God, and all irritability turns into Divine love” [10, 113–114]. Virtues are physical and mental: “physical virtues are: fasting, vigil, sleeping on bare ground, service, handicraft, so as not to be a burden to others, or for alms, etc. And the essence of the soul is: love, generosity, meekness, abstinence, prayer, etc.” [10, p. 115]. Virtues free a person from passions, and deliverance from passions is a direct path to deification. The deification of man would be impossible without the Incarnation. Since man, who was destined to become a bridge between God and the world, to unite in himself all the divisions that arose as a result of the creation of all things, violated the law, “the great plan of unification seemed to collapse” [5, p. 86]. Therefore, it was necessary to “descent into the world and incarnate the Logos” [3, p. 229] in order to save man and unite divisions. Having perceived “corruptibility, mortality and passion (natural and blameless passions) of our true nature, but without sinfulness” [8, p. 140], Christ healed fallen human nature. Maximus the Confessor reveals the doctrine of man through Christological dogmas: God became incarnate to correct human nature and show the way of salvation. The doctrine of deification is connected with the problem of knowledge of God. Strictly speaking, deification is man’s knowledge of God. And knowledge of God, in turn, is impossible without self-knowledge. A person should not look for truth outside, it is inside him: “The kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21). Through penetration through prayer into one’s heart, a person comes to the knowledge of divine properties. Maximus the Confessor speaks of three stages of knowledge of God (this three-part scheme corresponds to the ascetic teaching of Dionysius the Areopagite about the three stages of the ascent of the soul to God). The first stage is practical philosophy (doing). At this stage, a person must make great efforts to combat passions and acquire virtues. At this stage, the mind must clear itself of sensory existence and gain integrity and unity with itself. The second stage is natural contemplation (theory). At this stage, the mind is freed from spiritual ignorance. Study of the Holy Scriptures and prayer lead to contemplation. Through prayer, the mind becomes quiet, the thought is not pronounced and becomes completely silent. Florovsky calls this “renunciation and release of her <thought>2 from the categorical structure of discursive cognition” [16, p. 254]. Silent, the mind comes to contemplation. Contemplation is the search for the Divine “logoi” of existence, the contemplation of divine properties in the entire created world. The ability of contemplation was characteristic of man before the Fall. The third stage is mysterious (mystical) theology. At this stage, the mind, through pure prayer, enters a state of ecstasy, frenzy, and here the knowledge of God (deification) occurs. Deification is the union of a person with God in an act of the greatest love, therefore love needs to be said in more detail. Love is the main factor in the knowledge of God. Maximus the Confessor says that “there is nothing more god-like, more mysterious, more elevating people to deification than Divine love... the sacrament of love makes us gods from people” [13, p. 146]. Maximus the Confessor says in the words of Holy Scripture: “God is Love” (1 John 4:8; 4:16), therefore “he who is alien to love is alien to God” [10, p. 100]. God “for the sake of love for us, he humbled himself, taking on the form of a slave” [10, p. 148]. The Incarnation (incarnation) of the Son of God and His saving sacrifice is a manifestation of God’s deepest love for people. Divine love is so great that it surpasses all human understanding. God Himself gave people an example of endless and saving love: by personal example, Jesus preached the idea of ​​love for one’s neighbor throughout his entire earthly life. Man must imitate Christ. There cannot be love for God without love for man, which includes brotherly love, sympathy, compassion, gentleness, long-suffering, good will and peace towards everyone. “He who loves God cannot help but love every person as himself” [10, p. 98]3. Love for God is manifested in the fulfillment of His commandments (“love is the fulfillment of the law” [10, p. 101]), in life according to the Gospel: “The Lord says: He who loves me keeps My commandments. And this is My commandment, that you love one another. Therefore, one who does not love his neighbor does not keep the commandment. And he who does not keep the commandment cannot love the Lord” [10, p. 98]. Love for one's neighbor, that is, for every person, is a necessary condition for love for God. Love for one's neighbor is the main step on the path to ascension to deification. “People’s love for each other can lead them out of the slavish, humiliated state into which hatred and enmity have plunged them” [4, p. 74]. Love is a gift from God that perfects human nature. Man must unite the created world with the uncreated God through love. This union took place in Christ, and now must also be accomplished in man through the descent of the Holy Spirit. Salvation accomplished through the Incarnation must be learned and experienced by every person. This is possible in the Church and through the sacraments of Baptism and the Eucharist. In the sacrament of Baptism, the Holy Spirit - “The Giver of wisdom and knowledge - washes away the external bodily dirt and cleanses the internal stains [of sin]” [11, p. 246]. In the sacrament of the Eucharist, through partaking of the Flesh and Blood of Christ, man partakes of incorruption, unites with God, and is deified. Deification is also “the reward for a sacred and godlike life here” [15, p. 203]. The Church is the image of the world and the image of God, it is she who does the same thing as God: she connects, combines, brings unity and harmony into the chaotic world of people. Thus, following the tradition of classical patristics, Maximus the Confessor considers man as the highest divine creation, the crown of creation. It is man who is destined to fulfill the greatest destiny: to unite the whole world with God. But at the same time, Maximus the Confessor places a clear emphasis on the fact that human nature before the Fall differs from its current fallen state. A person who has committed the Fall can no longer fulfill his original purpose, since the values ​​of a sinful person are of a purely material nature. A person loses integrity and plunges into the world of passions. The purpose of human existence is changing: now man must strive to correct his fallen nature and, through the knowledge of God through the forces of love, unite with Him, become deified, thereby deifying the entire universe. The philosophy of Maximus the Confessor is a practical philosophy, it is inseparable from real life, and is a guide for man. Maximus the Confessor not only creates a theoretical teaching about man, but also gives man advice on how to act in relationships with other people, how to correctly direct one’s free will, how to deal with passions, and what a person should do for his salvation, for eternal life. 1 Square brackets are given as they appear in the cited edition. 2 Triangular brackets are mine (Yu. M.). 3 All Christian teaching about man is based on the commandments spoken by Jesus Christ in the Sermon on the Mount. These commandments proclaim a new morality based on the principles of love. In addition, Jesus Christ reminds man of the two most important commandments about love, known back in Old Testament times: “thou shalt love thy Lord with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind” and “thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself” (Matt. 22:37–39). By His life and atoning death He proves the possibility of fulfilling these commandments. List of used literature: 1. Balthasar H. Urs von. Cosmic liturgy. Venerable Maximus the Confessor // Alpha and Omega. 1998. No. 2 (16). 2. Balthasar H. Urs von. Cosmic liturgy. Venerable Maximus the Confessor // Alpha and Omega. 2000. No. 1 (23). 3. Brilliantov A.I. The influence of Eastern theology on Western in the works of John Scotus Erigena. M.: Mar- 4. Bychkov V.V. The ideal of love of the Christian-Byzantine world // Philosophy of love. T.1. M.: Political publishing house. lit., 1990. 5. Epifanovich S.L. St. Maximus the Confessor and Byzantine theology. M.: Martis, 1996. 221 p. 6. Ionaitis O.B. Maximus the Confessor: the experience of Christian anthropodicy // Anthropodicea: Sat. scientific Art. Ekaterinburg: Publishing house Ural. Univ., 2003. pp. 57–72. 7. Archimandrite Cyprian (Kern). Anthropology of St. Gregory Palamas. M.: Pilgrim, 1996. 450 p. 8. Larcher J. -C. St. Maximus the Confessor is a mediator between East and West. M.: Sretensky publication 9. Lossky V. Essay on the mystical theology of the Eastern Church // Mystical theology. Kiev: Path to Truth, 1991. 10. Maxim the Confessor. Chapters about love // ​​Maxim the Confessor. Creations. Book 1: Theological and ascetic treatises- You. M.: Martis, 1993. pp. 96–145. 11. Maxim the Confessor. Chapters on theology and the economy of the incarnation of the Son of God // Maxim the Confessor. Creations. Book 1: Theological and ascetic treatises. M.: Martis, 1993. pp. 215–256. 12. Maxim the Confessor. Mystagogy // Maxim the Confessor. Creations. Book 1: Theological and ascetic treatises. M.: Martis, 1993. pp. 154–184. 13. Maxim the Confessor. Epistle to John Cubicularius about love // ​​Maximus the Confessor. Creations. Book 1: Theologian- Chinese and ascetic treatises. M.: Martis, 1993. pp. 146–153. 14. Maxim the Confessor. Creations. Book 2: Questions and answers to Thalassia. Part 1: Questions I – LV. M.: Martis, 1993. 351 p. 15. Maxim the Confessor. Theopemptus Scholasticus // Maximus the Confessor. Creations. Book 1: Theological and ascetic treatises. M.: Martis, 1993. pp. 203–207. 16. Florovsky Georgy (archpriest). Byzantine fathers V – VIII centuries. Minsk: Publishing house Belorus. Exarchate, 2006. 336 p.