A. Edward Siecienski: Maximus, the Filioque, and the Papacy: From Prooftext to Mediator

For centuries, Christians in both the East and West have used the works of Maximus the Confessor to support their respective views on the procession of the Holy Spirit and the proper authority of the Bishop of Rome.  Both sides culled the work of Maximus to find quotations or “prooftexts” allegedly justifying their acceptance/rejection of the filioque and the universal jurisdiction of the pope.  For the East, Maximus’s Letter to Marinus clearly denied (contra the later Latin position) that the Son was a “cause” of the Holy Spirit, while for the West this same text was used to argue for Maximus’s acceptance of the filioque’s orthodoxy.  Maximus had also written quote eloquently on the exalted status of the Church of Rome (his ally during the monothelite controversy), providing a host of quotations that Latin writers employed to great effect in their battles with the East.

This process continued well into the twentieth century, until, for the first time in centuries, Catholic and Orthodox scholars began the process of re-examining Maximus’s writings and engaging the texts on their own terms.  His views on the procession, more complex and challenging than either East or West has previously admitted, are now viewed by many as the hermeneutical key necessary to solve the thorny problem of the filioque.  Maximus’s writings on the papacy have also received attention, especially as both Catholic and Orthodox hierarchs discuss the issues of primacy and conciliarity in the undivided Church.  As with the procession, ongoing study has revealed that Maximus challenges both the traditional Roman and Orthodox views on the papacy — i.e., that Rome has complete universal jurisdiction or that she possesses merely a “primacy of honor” — offering, perhaps, a more balanced view.

This paper is an attempt to document the use of Maximus’s writings on the filioque and the papacy, and, in particular, how scholars have ceased to see them merely as “prooftexts.”  Instead, Maximus has once again become the great mediator, the great bridge-builder, between East and West, a role he played in his own lifetime and a role he continues to play in theology today.