Eschatology in Maximus the Confessor (original) (raw)

2015, The Oxford Handbook of Maximus the Confessor

Maximus struggled with the question of apocatastasis as it was known since the time of Origen, but did not address the concept of the time of God, or time beyond time, or the eighth day, only in a linear way. Instead, he reframed the question and examined it in a different context. Rather than place the dwelling of the soul in God at the end of linear time, he placed the end of time at the union of the soul and God. Maximus approached eschatology in relation to personal and ecclesial salvation and union with God, connecting it with protology, the time before time, and also exploring it in a mystagogical way. Although he considered the eschaton, the Second Coming of Christ and the time of God from many points of view, it is perhaps in his liturgical writings that we can find the clearest exposition of his eschatology. The expectation of an imminent second coming of Christ, which we often find in early Christianity, was gradually replaced by a different eschatological discourse. In the thought of Maximus the Confessor we find a much more mature perspective on eschatology. In several of the works of the Confessor we see a particular interest in the eschaton. Maximus does not address the issue of the time of God, or time beyond time, or the eighth day, in a linear way, but reframes the question and examines it in a different context. Rather than place the dwelling of the soul in God at the end of linear time, he places the end of time at the union of the soul and God. Maximus approaches eschatology in relation to personal and ecclesial salvation, and union with God; he connects it with protology, the time before time, and also explores it in a mystagogical way. Although he considers the end of time and the time of God from many points of view, it is perhaps in his liturgical writings that we can find the clearest exposition of his eschatology, in the form of a realized eschatology. As a particular topic in eschatological questions, Maximus reflected on the theological strand of the apokatastasis hypothesis. The idea of universal salvation, part of the legacy of Origen, is a scandal if it is approached as inevitability. Nevertheless, the 'honourable silence' with which Maximus treated such questions suggests that he distanced himself from a simplistic approach and recognized the contentious issue as a meaningful mystery. Finally, the way he approaches Pentecost demonstrates that the visitation of the Holy Spirit allows us to transcend historical time and pass from the existence that is limited by our created nature to the time of God.