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Jonathan Greig on the Question of Universal Salvation in Maximus

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It is a fairly-widespread minority opinion that Maximus taught a doctrine of universal salvation, a doctrine which is not considered orthodox by any major Christian denomination (listeners interested in this theme in Christianity might want to check out our diachronic exploration of it with Morwenna Ludlow). Maximus has texts (like Ambiguum 65) which militate against such a reading, and others (like Ambiguum 15) that might seem to support it. A seeming contradiction in a single work by a careful philosopher must always make us sit up and take strict notice, asking the question, ‘Is this an inadvertent lack of clarity or a philosophical incoherence in our author, or is this our author inviting us to dig deeper into the text’?

In this interview we get into the philosophic stakes – the whole question is intertwined with the ‘Origenist’ doctrine of the pre-existence of souls in this era, after the fifth ecumenical council, when Origenism has been definitively condemned – and explore the contours of the resonant silence of Maximus on a cluster of questions to do with the nature of the resurrection, of redemption, and of man’s fate after death. The interview finishes with a short coda, in which we see just how much more scholarly work is needed on Maximus.

Works Cited in this Episode:

The interview centres on the following two Ambigua of Maximus, to be found at: Maximus the Confessor. 2018. On the Difficulties of the Church Fathers. The Ambigua. Edited and translated by Nicholas Constas. 2 vols. Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library. Harvard University Press. They are:

  • Ambiguum 65 (vol. 2): one main text that raises a difficulty for the universalist reading of Maximus (where the being-well being-eternal being triad is employed).
  • Ambiguum 15 (vol. 1): one of the main texts some point to as supporting a doctrine of universal salvation.

Leontius of Byzantium. 2017. Leontius of Byzantium: Complete Works. Edited and translated by Brian E. Daley. Oxford Early Christian Texts. Oxford University Press [on Christology, soul-body relation, mereological description of the soul-body].