Major Works

The writings of this father were in the middle ages held in the highest esteem, and possessed considerable authority. The more discriminating judgment of Photius has severely criticised the style of his , Dubia S. Scrip turae, or rather Γραφικῶν ἀπορημάτων λύσεις, Dubiorum S. Scripturae Solationes. He notices his long, spun-out sentences, his frequent transpositions and circumlocutions, and his metaphors, so carelessly and awkwardly employed as to render his meaning often very obscure, and making his works very wearisome to read. He charges him with wandering from his subject, and indulging in irrelevant and abstract speculations. Photius, however, is less severe in criticising his other works, and observes that all his writings in every part manifest the purity and earnestness of his piety. (Phot. Bibl. Cod. 192-195.) His orthodoxy on some points is questionable.

Miscellaneous Works

The works are too numerous, and many of them too unimportant for distinct notice. The following are the most important:--

1. Πρὸς Θαλάσσιον τὸν ὁσιώτατον πρεσβύτερον καὶ ἡγούμενον περὶ διαφόρων ἀπόρων τῆς Δείας γραφῆς, Ad Sanctissimum Presbyterum ac Praepositum Thalassium, de variis Scripturae Sacrae Quaestionibus ac Dubiis. This is the work already noticed as severely criticised in respect of style by Photius: it contains the solution of sixty-five scriptural difficulties, and is accompanied by the of an anonymous commentator, apparently of the close of the eleventh or beginning of the twelfth century.

2. Εἰς τὴν προσευχὴν τοῦ Πάτερ ἡμῶν πρός τινα φιλόχριστον ἑρμενεία σύντομος, Orationis Dominicae brevis Expositio, ad quendam Christo devotum.

3. Λόγος ἀσκητικὸς κατὰ πεῦσιν καὶ ἀπόκρισιν, Liber ad Pietatem exercens per Interrogationem et Responsionem. This piece had been published by Fl. Nobilius, with some small pieces of Chrysostom and Basil, Rome, 1578.

4. Κεφάλαια περὶ ἀγάπης, Capita de Charitate. This work, to which an ancient Greek writer has added Scholia, was published by Vicentius Opsopoeus (who ascribed the work to Maximus of Turin), with a Latin version, 8vo. Haguenau, 1531, and was repeatedly reprinted in the course of the same century; and a Latin version was given in most of the editions of the

5. Περὶ Θεολοψίας καὶ τῆς ἐνσάρκου οἰκονομίας τοῦ υἱοῦ Θεοῦ σ́, Ad Theologiam Deique Filii in Carne Dispensationem spectantia Capita Ducenta.

6. Κεφάλαια διάφορα Δεολοψικά τε καὶ ὀκονομικὰ, καὶ περὶ ἀρετῆς καὶ κακίας, Diversa Capita ad Thelogiam et Oeconomiam spectantia, deque Virtute ac Vitio, first published by Joannes Picus. 8vo. Paris, 1560.

7. Περὶ τῆς ἁψίας Τριάδος διάλοψοι έ, Dialoyi quinque de Sancta Trinitate. These are ascribed to Maximus in several MSS., and by various ancient Greek writers who have cited them. Other writers have, however, ascribed them to Athanasius, in some editions of whose works they consequently appear. The opinion of Garnier, that they are the production of Theodoret, has been generally rejected; and the preponderance of evidence seems to be decidedly in favour of the authorship of Maximus.

8. Μυσταψωψια περὶ τοῦ τίνων σύμβολα τὰ κατὰ τὴν ἁψίαν ἐκκλησιαν ἐπὶ τῆς συνάεεως τελούμενα καφέστηκε. Mystagogia qua explicantur quorum Signa sint quae in Sacra Ecclesia peraguntur in Divina Synaxi s. Collecta. This was published by David Hoeschelius, Augsburg, 1599; and afterwards in the of Ducaeus, vol. ii. fol. Paris, 1624.

9. Κεφάλαια Δεολοψικά, ἤτοι ἐκλοψαὶ ἐκ διαφόρων Βιβλίων τῶν τε καθ̓ ἡμᾶς καὶ τῶν γύραφεν, Capita Thelogica, id est scite dicta atque electa ex Diversis tum Christianorum turn Gentilium ac Profanorum Libris; or more briefly, Sermones per Excerpta, or Loci Communes. This selection of sentences is arranged in seventy-one λόψοι, Sermones, and has been repeatedly published. It first appeared, with the similar compilation of Antonins Mlissa [ANTONIUS No. 2], under the care of Conrad Gesner, fol Zurich, 1546; and a Latin version was given in the first edition of De la Bigne's Bibliotheca Patrum, fol. Paris, 1579.

10. Παρασημείωσις τῆς γενομένης ζητήσεως, κ. τ. λ., Acta Disputationis, &c.; a record of the discussion between Pyrrhus and Maximus in the presence of the patrician Gregory in Africa, already referred to. It was published by Baronius, with a Latin version by Turrianus, as an appendix to the 8th vol. of his and reprinted from thence in the

11. Epistolae, partim communes, partim dogmaticae et polemicae. The other works given in the edition of Combéfis are shorter and of little value, except as materials for a history of the Monothelite controversy, to which several of them refer.

Works not in Combéfis but published elsewhere

The following works of Maximus, not included in the collection of Combéfis, have been published elsewhere:--

12. Fragments, incorporated in the Catenae of the Fathers on the Sacred Books, and especially on the expository paraphrase of Solomon's Song (Expositio Cantici Canticorum per Paraphrasin collecta ex Gregorii Nysseni, Nili, et Maximi Commentariis), contained in the of Ducaeus, vol. ii. fol. Paris, 1624.

13. Scholia on the works of the pseudo-Dionysius Areopagita, first published with the works of Dionysius, 8vo. Paris, 1562, and repeatedly reprinted. Maximus earnestly contends that these are the genuine works of the Areopagite converted by St. Paul.

14. Ἐξήγησια κεφαλαιώδης περὶ τοῦ κατὰ Χρεστὸν τὸν Θεὸν ἡμῶν σωτηρίου πάσχα, τὸ διαψραφὲν κανόνιον ἑρμηνεύουσα, Brenis Enarration Christiani Paschatis, qua descripti Laterculi ratio declaratur, or Computus Ecclesiasticus. This calculation of Easter was drawn up by Maximus, according to his own declaration (pars iii. cap. 9), in the fourteenth indiction, in the thirty-first year of Heraclius (i. e. A. D. 640). Scaliger, in his lib. vii. p. 736, gave considerable extracts from the work, and it was first published entire in the of Petavius, p. 313, fol. Paris, 1630.

15. Ἄπορα, Ambigua sive Difficilia Loca in Orationibus quibusdam Gregorii Nazianzeni explanata, ad Joannem Cyzici Episcopum. These Ἄπορα were translated into Latin by Joannes Scotus Erigena about the middle of the ninth century; and the work itself, with the version, or perhaps only a part of them, was edited by Thomas Gale, with some of the works of Erigena, folio, Oxford, 1681. It is preceded by a letter of Maximus to Joannes of Cyzicus. Gale also added the following work of Maximus,

16. Περὶ διαφόρων ἀπόρων τῶν ἁψίων Διονυσίου καὶ Γρηγορίου, De variis Difficilibus Locis Dionysii Areopagitae et Gregorii Nazianzeni, with a Latin version by the editor himself.

17. A Fragment, thought to be from the Ἄπορα just mentioned (No. 15), is given in the to the fourteenth volume of Galland's Bibliotheca Patrum, fol. Venice, 1781. The fragment is entitled , Animaduersio breuis ad eos qui dicunt Animas ante vel post Corpora existere.

Other Lost or Unpublished Works

There are some other works of Maximus either lost, or at least unpublished, which are enumerated by Fabricius.