Volume 6, 2018
Byzantine Philosophy
Filip Ivanovic
Pages 5-9
Philosophy as a Way of Life in Maximus the Confessor
The aim of the paper is to give a condensed presentation of the view on philosophy by one of the most important Church fathers and Byzantine thinkers, Maximus the Confessor. According to him the true Christian philosophizes three things, which are the commandments, the dogmas and the faith, so that “the commandments separate the mind from passions, the dogmas introduce it to the knowledge of beings, and the faith introduces it to the contemplation of the Holy Trinity”. In this way he defines the threefold spiritual development, which revolves around three kinds of philosophy: practical philosophy, natural philosophy and theological philosophy. These correspond to the participation in being, well-being and eternal-being, and play a core role on the goal of the Christian life; assimilation to God, i.e., deification. In addition, here the philosophy is seen as training for death, which was already present in ancient philosophizing, and thus these views of philosophy represent a connection between the ancient philosophical considerations and Christian faith which is the tradition to which Maximus eminently belongs.