Maximi: Name Day and Patron Saint

St Maximus the Confessor was born in Constantinople around 580 into a devout Christian family and received an excellent education in philosophy and theology. He rose to become first secretary to the Emperor Heraclius, but when he saw the court drawn into the Monothelite heresy, which taught that Christ has only one will, he left it all and became a monk at Chrysopolis across the Bosphorus. From then on he spent his life defending the truth that Christ, being both God and man, has two natures and two wills, a divine will and a human will freely obedient to the Father. He travelled to Africa and Rome, debated the former patriarch Pyrrhus, and took part in the Lateran Council of 649, which condemned the heresy. For this he was arrested, tried as a traitor and imprisoned. In his old age his tongue was cut out and his right hand cut off, and he was sent into exile, where he died in 662. Lights were seen over his grave, and many were healed there. His writings, among them the Chapters on Love and the Mystagogy on the divine services, still feed the Church. His feast is kept on 21 January (3 February on the Old Calendar). The faithful ask his prayers for faithfulness to the truth and for growth in love of God.

What the faithful pray for

• faithfulness to the truth when it costs dearly
• growth in love of God and neighbour
• understanding of the faith and of the divine services
• those persecuted for their confession of Christ