Maximus the Confessor

“ For, as it befits us to be severe to those who persist in contumacy, so to those who are again humbled and penitent we ought not to deny a place of pardon.
Furthermore, as to our brother Sabinianus, bishop of Jadera [3] , and Honoratus [4] , archdeacon of Salona, or others who have had recourse to the Apostolical See, Maximus must be very earnestly dealt with, so that he may receive them with becoming charity, and in no way retain in his heart any grudge against them, but live with them with pure goodwill and sincere affection. ”

“ He and his companions were imprisoned at the very beginning of the Decian persecution (Cyprian, Ep. 24; al. 28) , i.e. early in the year 250, and while in prison they adopted rigoristic views and wrote to some Carthaginian confessors, urging strict methods in dealing with the lapsed (see Cyprian, Ep. 22; al. 27) . Early in the year 251, after eleven months in prison, the presbyter Moses, the leading spirit of the party, died, and Maximus became the chief one among them. ”

“ Yet, along with Plutarch, he shows us paganism at its best, striving to reform itself, groping after new sources of spiritual strength, trying to wed new and purer spiritual ideals to the worn-out mythology of the past. Maximus is very much in the position of one of our divines who finds himself bound in duty to edify the spiritual life of his flock, without disowning the religious traditions of the past, and without refusing to accept the ever-broadening revelation of God. ”

“ In my judgment thou shalt be taken into the city, and be put in chains in the forum, and the actors and actresses, and the women that stand for hire, and all the people shall be brought, that every man and woman may slap thee, and spit in thy face.” Abbot Maximus replied:—“Be it as thou hast said, if we have anathematised those who confess Two Natures of which the Lord is, and the two natural Wills and Operations corresponding to Him who is both God and Man. Read, my Lord, the acts and decree, and if what you have said is found, do all your will. ”

“ Agnese nella tradizione e nella legenda", in Römische Quartalschrift, Supplement X, Rome, 1899; cf. Acta SS., Jan. II, 350 sqq) . The Latin, and consequently, the shorter Greek text date back to the first half of the fifth century, when St. Maximus, Bishop of Turin (c. 450–470) , evidently used the Latin Acts in a sermon (P.L., LVII, 643 sqq.) . In these Acts the brothel episode is still further elaborated, and the virgin is decapitated after remaining untouched by the flames. We do not know with certainty in which persecution the courageous virgin won the martyr's crown. ”

“ Great tribulation cometh on.—Vat. Lo! Exceedingly great tribulation cometh on.—Lips. [Maximus seems to have been a lapser, thus warned in a spirit of orthodoxy in contrast with Montanism, but with irony.] ↑ [The sense is: This is the temptation of those who pervert the promises made to the penitent. They may say, “we are threatened with terrible persecution; let us save our lives by momentarily denying Christ: we can turn again, and the Lord is nigh to all who thus turn, as Eldad and Medad told the Israelites.”] ”

“ He also protests strongly against his bishops being allowed to appeal to the secular power in ecclesiastical causes. But he did not thus move the Emperor, who appears from one of Gregory’s letters to Maximus (VI. 25) to have directed any charges against the latter to be entertained in his own locality rather than at Rome. Meanwhile Maximus continued to disregard Gregory’s repeated letters summoning him to Rome, being apparently supported by a majority of his own people and of his suffragan bishops. ”

“ The latter thought that they had never heard anything which so clearly explained mysterious dogmas, and the heathen found that they were one with the Christians. “What, then, stands between us?” exclaimed Maximus, carried away by the sight of the harmony and mutual understanding which prevailed among his audience. “Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us? Why, then, strive one against the other? ”

“ If this was the private life of the greatest Roman of the world, who, at the time of his death, was Pontifex Maximus, the supreme head of the Roman religion, what must have been the social life of the average citizen who delighted to style Cæsar the demigod while living and to worship him as divine, when dead? ”

“ It is not easy from a study of the Passions of the Saints to draw any sweeping generalisations as to what the public at large thought of the torture and execution of Christians. We get a glimpse, indeed, of the ferocity of the populace at Rome when Maximian went thither to celebrate the Ludi Cereales in 304. The “Passion of St. Savinus” shews an excited crowd gathered in the Circus Maximus, roaring for blood and repeating twelve times over the savage cry, “Away with the Christians and our happiness is complete. By the head of Augustus let not a Christian 37survive.” ”

“ The letter congratulating the Egyptian Bishops and the Clergy and people of Alexandria on the restoration of their Bishop is signed first by Maximus, who seems to have acted without reference to the Metropolitan Acacius, successor of Eusebius as Bishop of Cæsarea, and a leader of the Arians, a bitter enemy of Athanasius. ”

“ Socrates and Sozomen agree in the assertion that Acacius, Patrophilus the Arian Bishop of Scythopolis, and their adherents ejected Maximus and put Cyril in his place [19] . But according to the statement of Jerome already quoted [20] Maximus, when dying, had not only nominated Heraclius to be his successor, which, with the consent of the Clergy and people was not unusual, but had actually established him as Bishop in his stead (in suum locum substituerat) . ”

“ However, it is said that the wooden bridge itself does not date from the time of Numa, but that it was finished by Marcius, the grandson of Numa, when he was king.
The chief priest, or Pontifex Maximus, is an interpreter and prophet or rather expounder of the will of Heaven. He not only sees that the public sacrifices are properly conducted, but even watches those who offer private sacrifices, opposes all departure from established custom, and points out to each man how to honour the gods and how to pray to them. He also presides over the holy maidens called vestals. ”

“ Maximus, [1] bishop of the church at Turin, a man fairly industrious in the study of the Holy Scripture, and good at teaching the people extemporaneously, composed treatises In praise of the apostles and John the Baptist, and a Homily on all the martyrs. ”

“ Maximian, the fiercest and most savage. He had a bitter hatred of the Christian name, which was shared by Galerius; but, on the other hand, the wife of Diocletian was believed to be a Christian, and Helena, the wife of Constantius, was certainly one. However, Maximian and Galerius were determined to put down the faith. Maximian is said to have had a whole legion of Christians in his army, called the Theban, from the Egyptian Thebes. These he commanded to sacrifice, and on their refusal had them decimated—that is, every tenth man was slain. ”

“ St. Augustine on the honour to be paid to them, 180; increasing veneration to them in the Church, 181; discovery of skeletons, and cures effected, 181; procession conducted by Chrysostom and the Empress, on the removal of some reliques, 222, 223. Maruthas, bishop of Martyropolis, in Persia, an active missionary, 375 and note. Maruthas, bishop of Mesopotamia, accidentally causes the death of Cyrinus, 307. Maximian, persecution of, 56. Maximin, persecution of, 60. Maximus, bishop of Seleucia, adopts a secluded life, 27. Maximus the usurper’s progress arrested by Theodosius, 141 ”

“ And when the people saw this, they all believed, and ten thousand men were slain. And they also brought plates of iron made red-hot, and they made the saint to stand upon them, but it injured him not. And when the men of Rome saw [this] they believed on our Lord Jesus Christ, and twenty-thousand and two hundred of them, and forty children, believed and became martyrs. And when Maximianus saw that all the people believed, he was wroth with Christopher and commanded the soldiers to cut off his head with the sword. ”

“ That it is much better for him to confess his sins to one Priest, bound by secrecy, than to live always uneasy in sin, to die unhappy for ever, and to be put to shame at the last day before the whole world.
As the Confessor is bound to suffer even martyrdom rather than reveal anything heard in Confession, so is every one else, who may have accidentally overheard any part of a Confession, bound to the strictest secrecy. ”

“ Maximus and his soldiers, praying also, led Valerianus and Tiburtius over the well-known road as far as the temple in the Pagus Triopius, where the waiting priests of Jupiter commanded them to offer incense before the idol. For answer, the young men knelt down and offered their necks to the executioner’s sword. Those who had been charged with the cruel mission confessed loudly that they were Christians now, and refused to perform it, but others were present who offered themselves as substitutes. ”

“ He retained the title Pontifex Maximus, head of the old religion. The Edict of Milan protected paganism and he continued that policy. After defeating Maxentius at Milvian Bridge he had his triumphal arch erected. The original inscription said that he triumphed over his rival by the favour of Jupiter. But these words were later erased and the neutral phrase "instinctu Divinitas" substituted. [123:1] In Rome he restored pagan temples and said: "You who consider it profitable to yourselves, continue to visit the public altars and temples and to observe your sacred rites." ”

“ And then he goes on further to say: "That man is dead who has not been worthy to be born again in true baptism; he is likewise dead, who, although born in genuine baptism, has joined himself to a traditor." If, therefore, the followers of Maximianus are not dead, why do the Donatists say, in their general Council, that "the shores are covered with their dying bodies?" But if they are dead, whence is there life in the baptism which they gave? Again, if Maximianus is not dead, why is a man baptized again who had been baptized by him? ”

“ The constancy of the martyrs, however, was unshaken; and the sentence of one only had the effect of the advance of others to confess themselves Christians at the tribunal. He was at length cast into prison; but how long he remained there, or by what means he was delivered is no where related. Even Rome was not exempt from persecution, though the western parts were generally peaceable. The tyrant Maxentius not only oppressed the Christians, but condemned Marcellus, bishop of that city, to keep beasts in a stable, and then banished him. ”

“ Then the messengers rode quickly back again,
and made known to the Emperor that the Christians would not
obey his hest concerning his idolatry.
Then Maximian became inflamed with great anger,
and bade the heathen go and slay the saints,
that men might see how Maximian would avenge
his own dishonour and eke that of his gods. ”

“ On the morrow his prisoners were beheaded at the place called Pagus Triopius on the Via Appia at the fourth mile from Rome. When the news reached the prefect that Maximus also had become a Christian, he ordered him to be scourged to death with leaden balls. Soon afterwards he sent his officers to Caecilia and bade her sacrifice to the gods. As she refused, he commanded her to be shut up in her bath, and that the furnace should be heated with wood seven times hotter than it was wont to be. ”

“ Forced to confess their sins as if doing some stealthy action, they kill in their souls the bright light and, elasticity of spirit which the great Creator gave them. God is not a tyrant, but a merciful and beneficent father, whose smiles of love are ever around his children, and his priesthood are agents in the work of love to bring into even the erring heart the sunlight of a father's truth and mercy. The confessor is no minister of justice, but like his Master, the good Samaritan to bind up the wounds of the broken heart, to preach deliverance to the captive, and joy to the mourner. ”

“ And although he is young in days, still Christ dwelleth in him, and he is perfect in knowledge and in good works, and in all the Law of the Church.” When his father and mother heard this they rejoiced exceedingly, and they sent certain officers together with their troops, and they sent with them a letter which they had written to the governor of the country of Syria commanding him to send Maximus and Dumatheus to the city of Rome. ”

“ The persecution still continued in the East, where Maximin issued new edicts in every province, ordering the idol temples to be repaired, compelling all persons to do sacrifice, and forcing them to eat part of the flesh which was offered. It was likewise directed, that all provisions exposed for sale in the markets should be defiled with things which had been sacrificed: and by these means the miseries of the Christians became so prodigious, that many of the Pagans, themselves condemned the emperor's barbarities, and the cruelties of his officers. ”

“ Maximus, in the meantime, raised a large army of Britons, neighboring Gauls, Celts, and other nations, and marched into Italy. The pretext which he advanced for this measure was, that he desired to prevent the introduction of innovations in the ancient form of religion and of ecclesiastical order ”

“ Roman Catholics are raised to think and believe that by confessing their sins to the man representative of Christ in the confessional and receiving absolution, God has also forgiven them. God's Word says in 1st Timothy, second chapter, fifth verse, "For there is one God, and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus." Not any representative of Christ, but Christ Himself.
The confessional box is a trap for the convent, and after the poor girls are once there they are shackled more than ever in the faith of the religion by the priest in the confessional. ”