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St Maximus the Confessor is beloved to me, and he was absolutely instrumental in the formalisation of Christian doctrine. If you decide to investigate further, be aware that he has absorbed the influence of Neoplatonism, and he must be read with care and a critical mindset.
Musical composition is particularly fertile ground for revelations about creation. I believe that music presents us with a vision of the new creation. This is not its absolute function, but I believe that music derives much of its power from this fact. In this first post I will focus on Maximus' vision of the logoi of creation.
Anyone is more than welcome to respond with comments,insights and expansions.
In Maximian cosmology the logoi are God's 'original ideas or intentions for creation'. They have an 'ordering, determinative and defining' function (Cooper). The logos (singular) is a disclosure of the operation of the Word within creation which defines all being here-below.
Maximus believed that all creatures are drawn towards their natural logoi. Staniloae's translation of Maximus renders it: ‘the Logos contains the logoi of creation subsisting in him before the ages’. St Maximus uses the Dionysian idea of 'Divine wills' and 'predeterminations' by which God creates. Louth describes them as the 'principles in accordance with which everything in the cosmos was created'.
As a result of the fall, we now live in a world we do not understand. The fall corrupted the plasticised logoi – the concretised logoi. These are distinct from the pre-existing logoi which exist in the mind of God. The plasticised logoi can be shaped by human will, which imparts a new identity. The fall introduced disequilibrium and decay and obscured the logoi. Our tropos describes our actual movement through the world – towards salvation and sanctification, or away from it. Our aim is to bring our tropos into alignment with our logoi.
Salvation is not merely personal, it encompasses the entirety of creation. We are at once bringing our tropos into harmony with the divine logos, and becoming conscious of the logoi of all created things. The world itself is also in travail, as St Paul says, creation is 'groaning' Romans 8:19-23. God's salvific plan does not isolate humanity out of creation.
Music presents us with a vision of such a world. A musical composition consists of the interweaving of multiple lines into a unified whole. Each of these individual lines constitutes an identity with its own tropos in perfect alignment with their logoi. The composer references the Divine Ideas, shaping the emerging content in imitation of the eternal forms (Plato)
Musical composition is thus a microcosmic creation in which the composer participates in the eternal forms and in Divine Creativity. It is operant on two levels. On one level, it presents us with a metaphorical vision of a redeemed new creation in total equilibrium. On another level, we see human intellection brought into harmony with the logoi.
Even a secular musician must reference and participate in the Divine forms in order to conceive a creative work. The listener is presented with an intelligible universe in which the logoi are manifest plainly. The listener also has the task of segmenting the auditory scene into distinct lines and assembling it into a whole – itself an act of creation and an active process. Finally, the listener perceives the unfolding convergence between human and Divine will, as the composer shapes, channels and directs his creativity energies in ways which brings them into direct relationship with the Divine forms. This can be perceived with exquisite clarity in great musical work.
SOURCES
Adam G. Cooper Holy Flesh Wholly Deified
Andrew Louth Maximus the Confessor
Plato Timaeus
Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy
Orthochristian.com
Radu Bordeianu Maximus and Ecology
Dumitru Staniloae Various notes and translations
Musical composition is particularly fertile ground for revelations about creation. I believe that music presents us with a vision of the new creation. This is not its absolute function, but I believe that music derives much of its power from this fact. In this first post I will focus on Maximus' vision of the logoi of creation.
Anyone is more than welcome to respond with comments,insights and expansions.
In Maximian cosmology the logoi are God's 'original ideas or intentions for creation'. They have an 'ordering, determinative and defining' function (Cooper). The logos (singular) is a disclosure of the operation of the Word within creation which defines all being here-below.
Maximus believed that all creatures are drawn towards their natural logoi. Staniloae's translation of Maximus renders it: ‘the Logos contains the logoi of creation subsisting in him before the ages’. St Maximus uses the Dionysian idea of 'Divine wills' and 'predeterminations' by which God creates. Louth describes them as the 'principles in accordance with which everything in the cosmos was created'.
As a result of the fall, we now live in a world we do not understand. The fall corrupted the plasticised logoi – the concretised logoi. These are distinct from the pre-existing logoi which exist in the mind of God. The plasticised logoi can be shaped by human will, which imparts a new identity. The fall introduced disequilibrium and decay and obscured the logoi. Our tropos describes our actual movement through the world – towards salvation and sanctification, or away from it. Our aim is to bring our tropos into alignment with our logoi.
Salvation is not merely personal, it encompasses the entirety of creation. We are at once bringing our tropos into harmony with the divine logos, and becoming conscious of the logoi of all created things. The world itself is also in travail, as St Paul says, creation is 'groaning' Romans 8:19-23. God's salvific plan does not isolate humanity out of creation.
Music presents us with a vision of such a world. A musical composition consists of the interweaving of multiple lines into a unified whole. Each of these individual lines constitutes an identity with its own tropos in perfect alignment with their logoi. The composer references the Divine Ideas, shaping the emerging content in imitation of the eternal forms (Plato)
Musical composition is thus a microcosmic creation in which the composer participates in the eternal forms and in Divine Creativity. It is operant on two levels. On one level, it presents us with a metaphorical vision of a redeemed new creation in total equilibrium. On another level, we see human intellection brought into harmony with the logoi.
Even a secular musician must reference and participate in the Divine forms in order to conceive a creative work. The listener is presented with an intelligible universe in which the logoi are manifest plainly. The listener also has the task of segmenting the auditory scene into distinct lines and assembling it into a whole – itself an act of creation and an active process. Finally, the listener perceives the unfolding convergence between human and Divine will, as the composer shapes, channels and directs his creativity energies in ways which brings them into direct relationship with the Divine forms. This can be perceived with exquisite clarity in great musical work.
SOURCES
Adam G. Cooper Holy Flesh Wholly Deified
Andrew Louth Maximus the Confessor
Plato Timaeus
Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy
Orthochristian.com
Radu Bordeianu Maximus and Ecology
Dumitru Staniloae Various notes and translations
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