... those who could prohibit hostile attempts might slaughter them from within, and that, having again tasted the viscera, they might whirl their dancing circles as on that calamitous day. For these reasons I would wish that, as matters now stand, you would altogether withdraw yourself from public business; for what can the art of a physician do for sick men who do everything to ensure that they perish? But since the Emperor has placed you in charge of affairs, it behooves you to stand against fortune, and to invoke Him who alone can avert impending evils, and to make use of those in power, yet in such a way as to be burdensome to no one. It is also a great thing to persuade the nobles to understand that this is not the time for profit-seeking, nor for provoking those who are already desperate, but that they should act in a more popular manner and endeavor to mingle themselves with the populace. Nor will the best of emperors neglect his most loving and beloved city; but, remembering how much he was grieved by the injustice he suffered, and how much the city endured while looking to the public safety—for it was from there that the Prince set out to take up his paternal rule—he will surely not be reluctant to repay her with interest. He will not permit his magnanimity to be shown in any city less than this one; but he will exert every effort to raise her up, as she is tottering and inclined to fall. Furthermore, when we began to have a conversation with him about these matters, we understood that he did not even wish for consultations to be held, saying that time was being wasted in them without detriment to your republic. Wherefore, abandoning all other things, he strives for this one end alone: to save the city. B
AND NOW, I would wish to see you removed from common affairs (for what could the art of physicians accomplish if the sick do everything to ensure they perish?). Since the Emperor has set you over affairs, it is necessary that, while standing firm against fortune, you both call upon the One who alone is able to prevent such things, and utilize those who are capable, while being burdensome to no one. It is a great thing, too, to advise the elders that the present time is no moment for gain, nor for provoking those who have already lost hope, but that they should act more democratically and endeavor to mingle themselves with the people. Yet the king, who is in all things the best, will not neglect the city that loves him and is loved by him no less; but remembering how he suffered along with her when she was wronged, and how she has endured everything while keeping the common good (for, having set out from there, he regained his paternal inheritance), he will not deem it fit not to return to her a reward with interest, nor will he suffer his magnanimity to be shown in one city less than another, but he will do everything to straighten her as she inclines to fall. For we, having touched upon such words with him, found him unwilling even to listen to advice, saying that the moment for such counsel was not without harm to the affairs of the city. Having therefore departed from all else, he has become intent upon this one thing alone: to save the city. B
A.D. 1396
MAXIMUS CHRYSOBERGA MONK
EDITOR'S FOREWORD
The book of Maximus Chrysoberga, *On the Procession of the Holy Spirit*, although brief, is clearly worthy of being diligently studied by the Greek schismatics. For the author deplores with tears rather than with words the atrocious schism by which the Church of the East is divided from the West. He speaks with such persuasion and with such honest and pious grief that he moves the reader, even against his will. He demonstrates most beautifully that the Roman Pontiffs have preserved the dogmas of faith and the doctrine of the Church, especially when the heresy of the Iconoclasts was flourishing, and the four Eastern patriarchs, addicted to heresy, were betraying the truth and the Gospel. The Roman Pontiffs, resisting these patriarchs, vindicated the Christian faith from destruction, and by right and merit alone condemned all other patriarchs as heretics. The author also excellently exposes the crimes of Photius and criticizes the errors of the Photians. Therefore, he is to be highly esteemed by all Christians. J.-B. M.
MAXIMUS CHRYSOBERGA TO THE CRETANS ON THE PROCESSION OF THE HOLY SPIRIT ORATION
A Would that I might remain in silence, O men of Crete, and attend to my own tasks—which are nothing other than to occupy myself with the holy scriptures and to praise, with spiritual canticles, the divine Principle that is above every principle—yet some men, I know not by what arguments led, war not only against me but clearly against the truth of God, and will not permit it. Whence, often abandoning the longed-for quiet in which I delight, and which especially assists me in the pursuit of the most beautiful things, I am compelled to enter into discourse with these vulgar and sordid men. They are unbearable and difficult to deal with, neither understanding what is said, nor—which is the worst of all—suffering any distress at their own ignorance. But, jumping in rashly, they are more adept at asserting everything and insisting, than they are at attempting to understand the things about which they assert; such are they in their audacity, such are they in the looseness—that is, the wonted evil manner—of their tongue in speaking of divine things. B And they approach, O men, frequently wearing the mask of disciples, as if flattering, and feigning love and admiration, but soon, casting off the deceit, they reveal the malice concealed in their soul, which they are unable to cloak because of their anger, being indignant that we do not easily yield to them in those matters about which they babble in profound ignorance, although they ought either to have acknowledged their own ignorance from the start, or, being conscious of who they are, not to have attempted matters greater than their own powers. But indeed, O men, rashness knows how to refrain from nothing, if only one thinks that he surpasses the rest. This, O men, is what induces the many, having taken possession of themselves, to malign divine things, deeming that they act most piously if they cast reproach upon the Latin dogmas; but in truth, C they are setting themselves against those men who came before them and who obtained great praise for their virtue and their words; for the common opinion of the Latins will be found to be in harmony with these, if one examines with accuracy the dogmas of the Church
A For to me, O men of Crete, for a long time now when I honestly consider such matters, it seems that some have been led to war even against the doctrines of the faith because of their hatred for the Latins.
B II. It is possible, however, to behold the origin of the division if we examine it from above. There was a time when the fullness of the Church of Christ had the peace which He left to His disciples, which the world neither gives nor receives, and the harmony that occurred among the faithful held all things, and nothing was upsetting the order handed down by the Fathers; but each thing remained within its own boundaries, being directed toward the sacred end of the hoped-for blessedness. Although previously the headstrong nature of some had often brought no small storm upon the Church, innovating one thing after another and attempting to shake the well-established and defined [dogmas] with strange inventions; and now by attaching to the divinity of the Son of God some lowly and petty opinion, and now setting snares for His Spirit, and through these things also subverting the principle of God the Father—whom it is certainly not possible to honor while those who participate in the same dignity as Him are so ignorantly dishonored. Others, saying they knew how Christ ought to be worshipped, attempted to wage war against Him in a newer way, not only with the tongue, but even with the hand. For by pursuing His image with hatred, they were dishonoring Him whom the icon depicted. Thus, in the past, a multiform error for many successive years, like some multi-headed hydra, pervading all of Asia and the greater part of Europe, was attacking the healthy body of the Church now with the speeches of accursed patriarchs and bishops, now with the power of emperors or tyrants; and whoever would dare to speak against so many bishops seemed to be utterly ruined. Yet such people were, of course, rare; for there were so many who exchanged the truth for the life of the body, and while fleeing the pleasure of the present age, were held by the desire to obtain the joy in the heavens. C But nevertheless, O men, amidst so many billows and a fierce storm, stirred up by wicked blasts, the bark of the Church was not entirely overwhelmed, nor was the stronghold of the truth, which He spoke of concerning it, changed. For the gates of hell, gaping against it, did not strike it with fear, as it piously stirred up with prayers Jesus, who seemed to be sleeping within it, so that He might rebuke the winds and the world’s tempest and bring calm to the faithful. For the Apostolic Church of Rome, O men, stood above those waves, D and steered this bark with the rudder of piety toward the harbor of the eternal fatherland, while the other patriarchs of the Churches of the East did not fear to oppose the Pope, and considered and called the pastor of the Church a tyrant because he did not agree with them, but, being one, dissented from those four. Hence, many accusations were daily hurled against that healthy Church by those who of the primacy...
A of that Church were disputing, and everyone who would speak in favor of the Latins was deemed impure and wicked. Therefore, innocent men who had harmed no one were driven from the cities, asking only to defer to the decision of the Church of Rome and to keep the order of subjects and disciples toward their teacher. For they could not safely withstand those who, having fallen into not a few errors, were sitting in judgment over the entire inhabited world and were claiming to keep the truth of the Evangelical proclamation pure and free from any falsehood. Yet, when they said these things, O men, they seemed to the many and to the senseless to be raving and to be traitors to their race because they would not betray the truth. Nevertheless, a ceasefire of these evils subsequently occurred, and those who had foolishly separated were again united with the Westerners, and all confessed that those who had shortly before opposed the authority of that Church had fallen into error.
III. In this manner, O men, while the world was at peace and the Church was rejoicing in the salvation of her lost children, another storm invades, more atrocious, as it seems, than all the previous ones, even if it did not have a similar origin nor did it seem to be warring against the faith, but rather to be disputing concerning a certain ecclesiastical dignity. For a man is cast out from the throne of Constantinople—a man pious in faith, most devout in conduct, and to all who beheld him most worthy of reverence B by reason of his virtue—I mean the divine Ignatius. He indeed was accused of nothing, except that, showing divine zeal for the holy mysteries, he debarred a certain man, rich and having the greatest power with the Emperor, and by his consent exerting his power and strength against others, but of intemperate morals, not subject to honest pleasures or to ecclesiastical laws, from the divine mysteries. And that holy man suffered grievous misfortune; he was beaten, bound in chains, punished with exile, entrusted as an innocent man to wretched guards C, and in short was subjected to all the punishments by which the most wicked are punished, in this also imitating the exit of the Lord Jesus from the city of Jerusalem, who, although he had never sinned, was reckoned by the unjust as one who ought to pay the penalty. Indeed all those who were of upright character and who had justice at heart were pained by this; but the rest, who feared the presence of that shepherd, rejoiced, finding freedom to occupy themselves with pleasures and shameful gains, and they subscribed to the vote of the unjust rulers. And thus Constantinople becomes, as it were, worthy of tears, having unjustly cast out such a pastor and having ordained in his stead another, D a man who had never before touched the ecclesiastical life, but who then, driven by a desire for rule after the injury done to that man, seized the episcopate in no way belonging to him—Photius. And he, having been surrendered to certain barbarian shepherds on the island of Lesbos, was suffering extreme misery, lacking necessary food and, as they say, confined to a certain cave. But that wolf was ravaging the flock of Christ, and was admired by sycophants, and as a noble
feat, he was puffed up with great thoughts. What need is there, O men of Crete, to pursue these things with a long discourse, when the history of them is at hand for those who wish to examine it more clearly? A Nevertheless—for the things that were done did not please everyone, but there were those who embraced the truth—all those bishops who were learned in the laws and praiseworthy in their conduct were agitated and became angry with Photius. The President of Rome, too, as they say, a man distinguished for his piety, Nicholas, was indignant. But that robber, not having entered the sheepfold through the door, but having intruded by another way, first attempted with the greatest effort to persuade the Roman Pontiff by letters that he had followed the decrees of the laws and had taken possession of the episcopate of Ignatius in accordance with the strictures of the law. And since he had done and said many things that seemed to him likely to discredit the man—for he passes over the events that occurred in the meantime because of their number, as all the things he contrived were full of insults and calumnies, for the arrangement of which he had gathered to himself partners who burned with the same desire as he—since, I say, he had stirred up much, and had vexed and disgraced the man with B his wicked tongue and pen, and had been unable to move his opinion by a better and wiser firmness of mind, he proposed to himself to stand against the Pope, not moved by zeal for a novelty introduced concerning the Spirit, as those who are ready to utter anything whatever imagine: for Ignatius, having shown many signs of his holiness and adorned with spiritual wisdom, although he knew that the Church of Rome defined [the Spirit] as proceeding from the Father and the Son, or through the Son, was not troubled, nor did he think such a dogma was alien to the faith. And Photius himself, in turn, when he was begging the Pope to grant him the throne of the great city, never brought his mind to raise a question about these dogmas; but when he could not make those who hindered him yield to his wicked deeds, he impiously attempted to attach a charge against the faith of the Church, for the sake of the love of power, O men, and not out of zeal for piety toward God. C That these things are so, you will know if you read the chroniclers. Hence, therefore, Photius conceives this wicked division, and brings forth iniquity, and speaks loftily D to the heights, and falsely writes regarding the Spirit, O the audacity! that He proceeds from the Father alone, not showing reverence for Basil, nor being put to shame by Gregory, nor fearing if he were about to contradict Cyril, and considering Athanasius the Great to be of little account. And, in short, he thought to overturn everything of the terrors, for the sake of showing that Nicholas was a heretic; and with certain old wives' arguments, or arguments befitting men who are inexperienced in discourse, he foolishly attempted to tear down the unshakable tower of the Church.
IV. And that most audacious man of all first uttered that twisted voice: If the Spirit proceeds perfectly from the Father, what need is there to assert that He also proceeds from the Son, as if the progression from the Father were not sufficient
A? O the ignorance! That you think you can overturn this marvelous structure of theology with this flaccid and feeble argument. Those who, before you, Photius, warred against the divinity of the Son of God, appear to have used this very same argument, saying: "If the Father is perfect God, what need is there to believe that the Son is also perfect God?" Yet it escaped them that, as the Church most truly holds, while the Father alone is the true and perfect God, this does not cast the Son out of that paternal inheritance, by which He possesses all things of the Father just as He [the Father] does. Thus, since the Father is being and is believed to be the only perfect God, the Son is also, and is called, perfect God. And it is permitted to think the same regarding the Holy Spirit. For there is one and the same Godhead in number, common to the three, according to which each of the persons is taught to be both the only God and perfect, not excluding another from the divinity B—just as among us, if someone were the only one who was rich, we would not doubt that others were poor, since he keeps his treasures to himself, communicates his talents to no one, but collects gold from every place, making his storehouses larger day by day. It is not so, O sharp inventors of syllogisms—this is what I would answer to Arius or those afflicted by a similar disease—the God and Father, having gathered the riches of the Godhead in Himself, did not communicate to the Son some small part, perhaps moved by envy—which is your own madness—or, wishing to communicate it, was unable to do so, but He makes Him a participant of the whole essence and divinity. He gives Him the greatest of all things, so that He might be perfect God, and together with Him the Creator of all things, even if you burst with rage, setting up two creators against us and fearing a fear where there is no fear. C For you impiously divide the Son from the Father according to essence, and you suppose their nature and power to be either dissimilar or differing in number; and for this reason, you call them two powerful ones and two wise ones, which is what follows from your own arguments. For as we said a little while ago, since we assert the same power, divinity, and wisdom in number in both, we are therefore not remiss in concluding that there is rightfully one Creator. Such things, O men of Crete, might one say in response to the feeble syllogism of Photius. Believing that the Spirit proceeds perfectly from the Father, we nevertheless do not decline to say the same thing regarding the Son. But to infer against us that the progression of the Spirit from the Father is therefore imperfect is the discourse of ignorant men, and of those inexperienced in the most venerable principles of theology; D just as if someone were to deny that the Son is the bestower of the Spirit because He is perfectly bestowed by the Father, and from this were to rashly conclude there are two bestowers, because the Son also gives the Spirit in the same way as the Father. But Basil will contradict such a man, writing thus to Amphilochius: "Through this, the Father bestowing Him, the Son bestows the same by one bestowal and one supply."
V. Concerning the Spirit's bestower, that the Son is the only one
V. Atqui, o viri, jam in memoriam venit sanctum nescio quem, solum Spiritus datorem Filium do-
al and one supply." V. Concerning the Spirit's bestower, that the Son is the only one who teaches that the Father is the only source of the Spirit, but rather to signify the pure procession of the Spirit from the Son, being given by Him as His own, through whom He A completes the blessed deity, as seems right to the wise Basil. In the same way, others style the Father the only source of the superessential deity, not by denying that the Son is a source of deity—far from it. For the divine Athanasius clearly said: "Already David has said that the Son exists with the Father as the source of the Holy Spirit." For if someone does not concede this, it must necessarily follow that the Father is the only source of B divinity, while the Son is the source of the Holy Spirit but not of divinity, so that the Spirit who proceeds from Him would be considered bare of divinity—which is far removed from all piety. Or, alternatively, that the Son is posited as a source of divinity, but not in the same way as the one proceeding from the Father, so as to invent a difference between divinities, the one being hypostatic and the other non-hypostatic, the one being essential and the other non-essential, which is much more monstrous than the Greek myths.
And yet, O men, we are taught by the saints that the name of the Holy Spirit is suited to no other than the third person in the Trinity, C who is said to be poured forth from the Father and the Son, and to be supplied and sent. For straightway the holy Cyril says: "Even if the Holy Spirit is in His own hypostasis, in that He is Spirit and not the Son, nonetheless He is not alien to Him. For He is named the Spirit of truth, and Christ is the truth, and He is poured forth from Him, just as indeed [He is] from God the Father." Truly excellent, Cyril, how you have freed us from trouble, teaching that the Holy Spirit, existing in His own hypostasis, is poured forth from the Son of God in the same way as from the Father, and who in your other D discourses speak of the Spirit going forth from the Son, just as the Word from God the Father, and ordain that He be sent to us from His own nature.
But let us not pass over the divine Athanasius, either, O men, who writes: "For since the Son is one, the living Word, there must be one enlightening and sanctifying life, which is His operation and gift, which is said to proceed from the Father, when it also shines forth and is sent and given from the Word, who is claimed to be from the Father." How divinely, O men, he dissolves the arguments of some, having made manifest that the life proceeding from the Father, which He gave to the Son to have in Himself, is also given and sent by Him. But O the blinded thoughts of the many! O the unjust hatred against the truth! O the slippery contention with which they strive to fight against clear and manifest things, whereby some, wrangling over names, miserably become traitors to their own salvation, conceding at the same time the most absurd propositions—that the Spirit proceeds from the Father alone, and again that He proceeds from the Father through the Son—perceiving neither themselves nor their own words, nor understanding those with whom they confer; for they follow men distinguished by the art of speaking and by careful judgment of words, and proceed to believe similar things. However, there is nothing that the many and