Maximos the Confessor
The divine Maximus, who was from Constantinople, sprang from an
illustrious family. He was a lover of wisdom and an eminent theologian. At
first, he was the chief private secretary of the Emperor Heraclius and
his grandson Constans. When the Monothelite heresy became
predominant in the royal court, out of hatred for this error the Saint
departed for the Monastery at Chrysopolis (Scutari), of which he later
became the abbot. When Constans tried to constrain him either to accept
the Monothelite teaching, or to stop speaking and writing against it
- neither of which the Saint accepted to do - his tongue was
uprooted and his right hand was cut off, and he was sent into exile where
he reposed in 662. At the time only he and his few disciples were
Orthodox in the East
The divine Maximus, who was from Constantinople, sprang from an
illustrious family. He was a lover of wisdom and an eminent theologian. At
first, he was the chief private secretary of the Emperor Heraclius and
his grandson Constans. When the Monothelite heresy became
predominant in the royal court, out of hatred for this error the Saint
departed for the Monastery at Chrysopolis (Scutari), of which he later
became the abbot. When Constans tried to constrain him either to accept
the Monothelite teaching, or to stop speaking and writing against it
- neither of which the Saint accepted to do - his tongue was
uprooted and his right hand was cut off, and he was sent into exile where
he reposed in 662. At the time only he and his few disciples were
Orthodox in the East
