Saint Maximus's hometown was the city of Arto in Albania, near Epirus. He was born around 1480 to pious and wealthy parents, Manuel and Irene, of Greek descent, which is why he is always referred to as "Greek."
His father was an important dignitary and distinguished by the purity of his Orthodox faith. Therefore, he raised Maximus in deep piety and the fear of God. Maximus received his initial education from his own father, for at that time, with the fall of Constantinople and the enslavement of all Greek regions under the Muslim yoke, all schools were destroyed. Thus, from an early age, Divine Providence ordained that Maximus would face trials in his homeland, thus preparing him, as it were, for the bitter sufferings he would endure in the later years of his life.
During those difficult times, it was impossible for an inquisitive mind to obtain a higher scientific education in enslaved Greece, so many young men from the Greek regions traveled to European countries to pursue their studies. At the same time, learned Greeks dispersed throughout the Western states, which welcomed them with love and patronized their studies. The courts of sovereigns, the chairs of universities, and the friendship of the rich and noble were open to them. Italy, in particular, was distinguished at that time for its particular patronage of learning; libraries were established in its most distinguished cities. Popes, sovereigns, and wealthy citizens hastened to save Greek manuscripts from destruction by ignorant conquerors.
It was natural for young Maximus, with his love of learning, to seek an education outside his homeland. So he went to Gaul, where he attended the lessons of his famous compatriot, John Lascaris, who was a professor at the University of Paris.
Having completed his education under Lascaris, Maximus, wishing to gain a more thorough acquaintance with ancient languages, traveled to Venice 56 and there became acquainted with the renowned printer and publisher Aldoso Manucci, who possessed a profound knowledge of ancient languages. He always had a company of scholars who assisted him in printing books from ancient manuscripts. With the help of these mentors, Maximus became familiar with the literary works of ancient Greece, so much so that he himself subsequently frequently cited ancient poets in his works.
From Venice, Maximus went to Florence, where he lived for a long time, also among scholars, but unfortunately infected with pagan beliefs. Like a wise bee, he extracted from the preached philosophy only that which was not alien to the Christian religion. At that time, Italy was cruelly afflicted by the disease of unbelief and, as is usually the case under the law of God's justice, for the rejection of pure faith it was given over to wretched superstition. Maximus's contemporary, the Italian Dominic Benieveni, wrote of this: "Sins and crimes multiplied in Italy because that country had lost faith in Christ." At that time, it was believed that everything in the world, and especially human destiny, was merely a matter of chance. Some believed that everything was governed by the movement and influence of the stars, rejected the future life, and ridiculed religion. Philosophers found it too simple, fit only for old women and the ignorant. Some saw it as a deception and a human invention. This was the case throughout Italy, and especially in Florence. Even the leaders of the Western Church were shaken in their faith.
The general infection of unbelief also partly shook Maximus, who in his youth, moving among the contagion, could not always correctly understand the relationship of philosophy to the Gospel truth, “...if,” as Maximus writes about this, “the Lord, who cares for the salvation of all, had not had mercy on me and had not visited me soon with His grace, and had not illuminated my thoughts with His light, then I too would have perished long ago with the preachers of wickedness who were there.”
Indeed, with the widespread infection of unbelief, it was impossible for the young man to resist without special help from God, seeing his mentors follow the tide of pagan morals. Therefore, Maximus was amazed at how he was able to escape the consuming wave, remain unharmed by the entanglement of atheists, and maintain his pure faith in God!
Thus, Maximus completed his education in the West, where he acquired profound insights into theology and philosophy, history and literature, and thoroughly studied ancient Greek, Latin, French, and Italian. However, it was not the University of Paris that completed Maximus's education, but Mount Athos. In Italy and Gaul, he could have received a secular education, but theological enlightenment and confirmation in the dogmas of the Orthodox faith could only be found in the East. God's grace disposed Maximus to dedicate himself to monastic life. His education could have earned him a prominent position in society, but the young scholar was not interested in honors and glory, rank and wealth, but in a peaceful life far from the hustle and bustle of the city, in a quiet monastery, among people dedicated to serving God. Maximus was even more able to choose monastic solitude, since here, above all, he could devote himself with complete freedom to the pursuit of his beloved science.
And so, upon returning from his journey, Maximus again left his native home and journeyed to Athos, which then, as now, served as a haven for souls wholly devoted to God, where one could find all the comforts not only for monastic endeavors but also for intellectual development and theological education. Maximus repeatedly heard from his mentor, John Laskaris , about the precious treasures preserved in the libraries of the Athonite monasteries, as well as about the great elder philosophers living on Mount Athos at that time, who were mirrors of spiritual learning in the highest sense of spiritual wisdom, based not only on contemplation but also on the deeds of ascetic life. At that time, all the richest Greek book depositories were concentrated in the monasteries of Athos, and especially in Vatopedi, which possessed rare treasures of ecclesiastical science, left after the death of two emperors who lived there: Andronicus Palaeologus and Kantakouzenos.
Around 1507, Maximus arrived on Mount Athos and joined the brotherhood of the Annunciation Monastery of Vatopedi, where he was tonsured a monk. And here, in solitude and far from the hustle and bustle of life, the vicissitudes and disagreements of life, Maximus, surrounded by experienced, great, and like-minded elders, began, like a hard-working bee, to gather honey from all the fragrant flowers of Athos and spend his life learning monastic asceticism.
Thus passed about ten years. Moreover, as an obedience, the monastery repeatedly entrusted him with the task of collecting alms, since at that time the Vatopedi Monastery could no longer support itself with its own resources. Although it was grievous for the young monk Maximus to be separated from the monastery, like a true novice, for the good and benefit of his neighbors, he set out on pilgrimages and, passing from city to city, collected abundant alms from willing donors. And, as if in exchange, he himself, from the inexhaustible source of his love of wisdom, preached to them the word of edification and the purity of the Orthodox faith.
At the same time, these assignments demonstrate that Maximus was already understood and valued as an experienced monk, capable of honorably fulfilling the difficult duty of a petitioner. Here, in the Vatopedi monastery, Maximus had hoped to peacefully end his days in obscure silence, in the struggles of monastic obedience. But the Lord decreed otherwise: a different life of learning and suffering lay before him in a land foreign to him. There, after many innocent sufferings for his love not only of learning but also of truth, in the correction of church books, he was to lay down his bones. For this, he was deemed worthy, if not of a martyr's crown, then at least of the glory of a confessor—for his longsuffering through years of sorrow, in chains and imprisonment, and even through unjust excommunication from the Church, to which he had been devoted with all the zeal of an Orthodox son and defender of its dogmas.
The Grand Prince of Moscow, Vasily Ivanovich, taking advantage of the peace of his realm, turned his attention to the precious treasure kept in his chambers, which, however, was not accessible to any Russian. This treasure consisted of a rare and enormous collection of ancient Greek manuscripts, which had come from Byzantium since the very first times of the enlightenment of Rus' with the Christian faith and had especially increased under Vasily Ivanovich's father (the great gatherer of the Russian land, Ivan III), to whom the last branch of the Constantinople Palaeologus, Sophia, was married. Desiring to learn the contents of these manuscripts and at the same time not finding a person in Russia who could satisfy this desire, Vasily Ivanovich, on the advice and with the blessing of his spiritual father, Metropolitan Varlaam, decided to turn to Athos with a request to send to Moscow an intelligent man 58 who would be able to review the Greek books in the prince's library and, if necessary, translate them; The Grand Duke wrote about this to Patriarch Theoleptus of Constantinople and Simeon, Protos of the Holy Mountain, asking them to send the Vatopedi elder Savvas to Moscow. Apparently, he had been nominated by the Vatopedi hieromonk Neophytos, who had been in Moscow on a collection and was now returning from Russia. With this request and a generous alms, the Grand Duke sent the merchants Vasily Kopyl and Ivan Varavvin to Athos in March 1515.
Upon arriving at the Holy Mountain, the messengers offered the elder Savva an invitation from the Grand Prince of Moscow, but Savva, citing old age and the ailing condition of his legs, declined. After this, Simeon, Archpriest of the Holy Mountain, on the advice of the Vatopedi brethren, decided to replace the aged Savva with the monk Maximus. However, Maximus, as if foreseeing the many years of suffering awaiting him in Russia, refused this difficult assignment and his departure from his beloved Holy Mountain. The Vatopedi abbot, seeing his steadfastness, declared that bringing spiritual nourishment to the hungry was a sacred act of the greatest love. These convictions softened Maximus, and he, submitting himself to the will of God, resolved to travel to Russia.
Upon Maximus's departure for Moscow, Abbot Anthimus of Vatopedi wrote to Metropolitan Barlaam that they had chosen and were sending Monk Maximus "as someone well-versed in Divine Scripture and capable of explaining and translating all kinds of books, both ecclesiastical and so-called Hellenic. True," he wrote, "Maximus does not know Russian, only Greek and Latin, but we hope that he will soon learn Russian." And so, with prayer and a parting blessing, Monk Maximus departed with the ambassadors for Russia, taking with him the aforementioned Hieromonk Neophyte and Monk Laurentiy to prepare themselves for the study of Russian, as they were somewhat familiar with it.
Their journey lasted two years, as the Grand Duke's envoys had to spend some time in Constantinople and then in Crimea. During this time, Maxim studied Russian and arrived in Moscow in early 1518.
Upon Maxim's arrival in Moscow, the Grand Duke received him cordially and, showering him with his attention and patronage, assigned him to reside at the Chudov Monastery and receive his allowance from the Grand Duke's court. Besides the Grand Duke, Maxim received special attention from the Primate of Moscow, Varlaam, a man of holy life. Varlaam was delighted by the learned man's arrival and subsequently willingly followed his wise advice to improve the state of the Church.
A tour of the Grand Duke's library delighted the inquisitive Maxim, who had never seen such a multitude of rare books, not even in the East. Having examined the entire library, Maxim presented the Grand Duke with a list of untranslated books. The Grand Duke, after consulting with the Metropolitan and the boyars, asked Maxim to undertake a translation of the Explanatory Psalter, as this book was the most frequently used: it was the beginning of literacy; it was most frequently used in church services; it also served for domestic piety—for both the solitary ascetic and the simple layman. Since Maxim was not yet proficient in Church Slavonic and unfamiliar with its peculiarities, he was assigned two translators: Dmitry Gerasimov and Vlasiy, both proficient in Latin. They were to render from Latin into Church Slavonic what Maxim would translate from Greek into Latin. To assist the translators, two scribes were appointed: Mikhail Medovartsev and Silouan, a monk from the Trinity-St. Sergius Monastery.
Maxim labored for a year and five months on the translation of the Psalter, which was finally presented to the Grand Duke. Vasily Ivanovich presented the book to Metropolitan Varlaam. The bishop enthusiastically approved of Maxim's first work at a council. As a reward, the Prince showered the monk with new favors. All this, however, did not deceive Maxim, as if he had a premonition of the disasters ahead. He foresaw that his work might be misunderstood or misinterpreted by those less educated, and especially those unfamiliar with Greek. Therefore, in a letter to the Grand Duke, the laborer, not considering his work perfect, wrote out of modesty and deep humility: "A book so full of merit would require a translator more experienced in the art of language, one who could not only worthily convey the profound sayings of these divinely wise men, but also compensate for what has been stolen by time and correct what has been damaged by the ignorance of copyists." For although we ourselves are Greeks and have studied under renowned teachers, we still stand somewhere below, at the foot of Mount Tabor, with nine disciples, as yet incapable, due to the crudeness of our minds, of participating in the divine visions of Jesus the Illuminator, which only those who have shone forth in high virtues are deemed worthy of. I say this because the Greek language, with its abundance of word meanings and the various modes of expression invented by ancient rhetoricians, presents many difficulties in translation, which would require much time and effort to overcome. However, as much as God has granted us from above and as much as we ourselves could comprehend, we have not neglected to strive to ensure that what we have said is translated clearly, correctly, and intelligibly. Wherever the scribe or time has corrupted, we have sought to supplement or correct, where possible, with the aid of books or by our own conjecture. Where we could do nothing, we have left it as it was. Moreover, Maxim did not deny that errors could creep into his translation, arising from oversight and misunderstanding, and he asked that they be corrected whenever possible, but on the condition that the corrector himself be strong in his knowledge of the Greek language, be well acquainted with grammar, rhetoric and the meaning of Greek words.
Having then pointed out the labors of his assistants and asked the sovereign for a fitting reward for them, Maximus, as his only favor, asked permission to return to the Holy Mountain along with his returning companions Neophytos and Laurentiy. "Deliver us," he wrote to the sovereign, "from the sorrow of a long separation, and return us safely to the venerable monastery of Vatopedi, which has long awaited us. Grant us to fulfill our monastic vows there, where we pronounced them, before Christ and His fearsome angels, on the day of our tonsure. Send us quickly in peace, that we may proclaim your royal virtues to the Orthodox there, so that the distressed Christians of those lands may know that there still exists in the world a king who not only rules over many nations, but also flourishes in truth and Orthodoxy , like Constantine and Theodosius the Great." May the Lord grant us another time to reign, having been freed by you from the slavery of the wicked” 59 .
Maximus's repeated requests to return to Athos already demonstrate that he had reason to fear the government's disapproval; on the other hand, they suggest that he was not so captivated by the favorable circumstances in Russia as to forget his wretched Athos. But Maximus was never destined to return to his homeland, first because of the necessity felt in his scholarly works, and then because of severe persecution.
The Grand Duke, seeing from his first experience of translating the Psalter the giftedness and profound knowledge of the learned Greek, was in no way willing to let him go to the Holy Mountain and begged Maximus to remain in Moscow for a while longer. And when Maximus, translating other books (the commentary of the ancient Fathers on the Acts of the Apostles and John Chrysostom's commentary on the Gospels of Matthew and John), had sufficiently mastered the Russian language, Vasily Ivanovich, on the advice of the Metropolitan, entrusted him with the revision and correction of the then current church service books. The work was not easy and extremely delicate; nevertheless, Maximus could not refuse it. Maximus spent much time in the labors of book correction and throughout this time enjoyed the Prince's favor. "Burned by divine zeal, he cleared away the weeds with both hands," as he himself expressed it. And, daring in the Lord, the saint sometimes expressed harsh opinions about what he saw. But what he saw, few saw. Therefore, a blind passion for antiquity considered all of Maximus's comments an insult to the sacred. A secret grumbling began against the "Greek alien"—as the grumbling men called Maximus; they began to whisper that Maximus wasn't correcting, but rather corrupting church books! Maximus was a heretic! However, no one dared slander this honest and selfless worker, fearing the Grand Duke, who, in addition to the love and respect he showed him, often invited him to his home and sought his advice in matters of church and state, seeing in him a wise man and a zealous champion of the Orthodox faith. Meanwhile, Maximus, seeing the sovereign's favor, did not conceal this royal favor from himself alone. Through this attention, he also benefited his neighbors, often interceding with the Grand Duke on behalf of boyars who had fallen foul of his wrath. Zealous for the purity of the Orthodox faith, the saint advised the spiritual council to act zealously against stubborn opponents of the faith, especially against the Jewish heresy that was disturbing the Church. He also suggested to Metropolitan Varlaam that he translate the collection of church rules. However, he proceeded cautiously in revising the liturgical books, submitting his doubts to the saint for resolution if he found anything excessive in regard to Greek books. Although the matter was conducted privately, it nevertheless aroused the displeasure of the clergy: everyone began to say that Maximus rejected Russian church books and claimed that in Rus' there was neither the Gospel, nor the Apostle, nor the Psalter, nor the Typikon. These slanders could not have had any consequences for the learned Greek newcomer, if a prudent pastor who patronized him had remained in the Moscow cathedra, but in 1521, Varlaam was forced to leave his cathedra, due to the displeasure of the Grand Duke - and his place was taken by Daniil, one of the monks of the Volokolamsk Monastery, who disliked Maxim; and from then on, all his misfortunes began.
Saint Maximus had previously noted that the obligation to accept no favors from the Patriarch of Constantinople was unfairly included in the bishop's oath. It might have been necessary when Orthodoxy in Constantinople wavered during the final years of the Greek Empire; but later, when the Patriarch strictly adhered to Orthodoxy, it proved offensive to the patriarchal throne, for the enslavement of the empire could have no influence on matters of faith. Maximus did not ignore this and wrote a sermon on the matter. The change of metropolitan also gave rise to another question: why was the new metropolitan installed without communication with the Greek Patriarch? The inquisitive monk was told that Moscow possessed a blessed charter from the Patriarch of Constantinople, which permitted Russian metropolitans to appoint their own bishops. But no matter how much Maximus inquired, he could not see this charter. Such questions and doubts, of course, were not pleasing to Daniel.
The new metropolitan was dissatisfied because they found him too servile to the secular authorities. Maximus had acquaintances among these dissatisfied people who came to him for advice. At one point, Daniel asked a learned monk to undertake a translation of the Church History of Blessed Theodoret —for what purpose, it is unknown. Saint Maximus refused the commission because the book contained many heretical acts that could be offensive to the common people. This greatly upset the metropolitan.
Discontent with Saint Maximus grew from other directions as well. In various writings, he denounced the pretentiousness of monks who cared only about accumulating their estates, recalled the vows each had made upon tonsure, and praised the monasteries of mendicant brothers he had seen in the West. Maximus's enemies took advantage of all this and spread slander against him, claiming he was criticizing the holy Russian monks, who did not refuse generous offerings made to their monasteries, accepting and acquiring villages and hamlets. Furthermore, social vices, the violence perpetrated against the weak by the strong, the poor by the rich—all drew his denunciations. His position was quite unique. As an impartial monk, as a learned man who had seen much of the world, he was questioned about many things done by the highest authorities, and his speeches were then reported with their own interpretations.
But Maxim, like a diamond, firmly fought for piety, he did not lose heart and looked fearlessly at all the slanders spread about him, for his pure soul desired only one thing: to tirelessly and zealously act for the truth of Christ, for the benefit of his neighbors.
At that time, the Roman Church, weakened in the West by Luther, was greatly concerned with extending its authority to Russia and persuading the Russians to unite with it. For this purpose, the Pope sent legate Nikolai Schonberg, who, upon his arrival in Moscow, began spreading among the people "words of the union of the Russians and Latins." He succeeded in seducing the boyar Feodor Karpov and swaying others; his thoughts about fortune, in particular, stirred up a stir among the superstitious populace.
Saint Maximus closely followed the progress of the case and, armed with the weapon of truth, rose up against Roman guile, shattering and refuting all of Schonberg's arguments and schemes. He wrote up to fifteen works on the subject, persecuting the papists' perfidy at every turn. At the same time, his wise writings were directed against Jews, pagans, and Muslims. These works temporarily protected Maximus from the malice of widespread ignorance, for they were not contrary to the spirit of the times.
Maxim did not fear human passions, for he had not yet experienced their full force. "God's commandment commands us," he said, "to preach to all who question us about the Gospel truth, despite the malice of ignorance." And he did not spare his pride, denouncing the vices of the clergy and nobles. The blazing light of his teaching was too harsh for sore eyes; they only awaited the opportunity for irritated pride to fall upon this zealot of truth and piety, and this opportunity presented itself in 1524. Grand Duke Vasily Ivanovich, bored by the 20-year barrenness of his wife, the virtuous Solomonia, conceived the idea of annulling their marriage and entering into a new one with Elena Glinskaya, in order to have an heir to the throne. Since the Gospel law and church canons did not permit the dissolution of a marriage for such reasons, those around the sovereign found it useful to achieve their goal by eliminating those who might oppose this plan. Metropolitan Daniel sided with the Grand Duke; Elder Maximus, as expected, was on the side of the church canons, and with him was his upright friend, Elder Vassian, a descendant of Lithuanian princes, whom the Grand Duke had previously held in high esteem. Driven by zeal, the saint wrote instructions to the Grand Duke, urging him not to succumb to carnal passions. "Consider him a true autocrat, O most faithful Tsar," he wrote, "who seeks to arrange the lives of his lieutenants with truth and justice and always strives to overcome the lusts and dumb passions of his soul, for he who is overcome by them is not an animated image of the heavenly Lord, but only a humanoid likeness of dumb nature." Then the ill-wishers had a long-desired opportunity to take revenge on the foreigner who dared to condemn the Russians. The Grand Duke was informed that Vassian, Maxim, and their friends were disgracing the Russian Empire and wilfully distorting church books. They were accused of suspicious dealings with two disgraced boyars, Bersen and Zhareny, and even of alleged contacts with the Turkish ambassador Iskender, who was in Moscow. Through him, Maxim allegedly wrote to the Sultan urging him to wage war against Russia and spoke unfavorably of the Grand Duke's military strength and cruelties. After nine years of constant honor, Maxim was suddenly seized in February 1524 and, without question, thrown in chains into the dungeon of the Simonov Monastery, where he languished for several days. Maxim was then summoned to court and questioned about his dealings with the disgraced boyars, but the virtuous elder had nothing to hide from his conversations, for many came to him for edifying advice. He recounted what the intelligent, though unaccustomed to patience, boyars had told him, and he even revealed what he himself had told them when they complained that a land that changed its customs would not last long: "No, boyars, the tsar's and zemstvo rulers change customs as is best for the state, but the land that transgresses God's commandments must await God's punishment." Sincere in all his deeds,He didn't even conceal his secret thoughts about the Grand Duke, his heartfelt complaint about the sovereign's inattention to the widows' tears, which could also be applied to Grand Duchess Solomonia, for this was the main source of his displeasure. But Maximov's denunciations had no effect: in February he was imprisoned, in November Solomonia had already taken the veil, and in January the Grand Duke married Elena Glinskaya: all this took place within a single year.
They were, however, forced to release the saint, as he could not be convicted of any state crime. But his enemies would not remain quiet; they turned to a subject that would be easier to accuse him of: the matter of the correction of church books. By the will of Metropolitan Daniel, a council was convened in the palace of the Grand Duke, and accusers of the Greek stranger appeared, alleging that he had distorted the meaning of Holy Scripture and attributed a past tense to an everlasting action, such as the expression about the Son of God, "sat at the right hand of God," which he replaced with the past tense of the same verb, "sat," and called the resurrected flesh of Christ the one described. Maximus, in his own defense, pointed to the grammatical meaning of the words he cited, which expressed a past tense. But this, too, was held against him, as if he were acknowledging the Son's seat at the Father's right hand as already ended, and they cited the testimony of the Holy Fathers against him, as if he were a heretic. Maximus then humbly acknowledged his first correction as an error, saying that he was not sufficiently familiar with the Russian language at the time and the differences between these expressions, for he had conveyed his thoughts in Latin to Russian interpreters, whom he had honestly questioned whether such expressions were appropriate. Regarding the word "described," he tried to defend it with the conclusions of Holy Scripture, but no one would listen.
Three times he fell to the ground before the Council, begging for mercy for the sake of God's mercy toward human infirmities, and tearfully asking for forgiveness for any errors he had committed in his books. All was in vain: he was condemned as a heretic who had corrupted God's Scriptures, seized again, and spirited out of the city so secretly that in Moscow they didn't even know whether he was alive or where he was imprisoned. But the sufferer languished in the stifling prison of the Joseph-Volokolamsk Monastery, where, as an unrepentant sinner, he was excommunicated from the Holy Mysteries, under the strict supervision of spiritual elders. Not only was he forbidden to see any strangers, but he was even forbidden to attend church: such was the bitter fate of the Greek immigrant, so honorably summoned from the Holy Mountain. From the smoke and stench, from the bonds and beatings, he fell at times into a kind of numbness, but then an Angel appeared to him and said: “Be patient, elder, with these torments you will be delivered from eternal torment,” and here, on the walls of his Volokolamsk prison, he wrote with charcoal a canon to the Comforter of the Holy Spirit, which is still sung in the church today.
“You who fed Israel with manna in the desert of old, fill my soul, O Master, with the All-Holy Spirit, so that through him I may always serve You in a God-pleasing manner.”
“Always disturbed in my soul by storms of destructive passions and spirits, I entrust my soul to You, the all-blessed Paraclete, as to God, for my salvation.”
The abbot of the Volokolamsk Monastery at that time was the stern Niphon, one of Daniel's disciples, and, according to Prince Kurbsky, the saint suffered greatly at the hands of the so-called Josephites, for his harsh imprisonment in their monastery lasted four years. Maximus's disciples and friends shared his fate: Silouan was taken to the Solovetsky Monastery and there starved to death; Mikhail Medovartsev was exiled to Kolomna, and Savva the Athonite, Archimandrite of the Savior, was imprisoned in the Vozmitsky Monastery in Volokolamsk. A little later, Maximus's friend Vassian, despite his princely lineage, was also exiled to the same Joseph Monastery. Meanwhile, Maximus's enemies, distorting his defenses, reported him to Moscow, claiming that Maximus did not repent and merely repeated the same words: "From my mother's womb and until now, I am pure from all sin."
But the saint's sufferings did not end there; five years later, Maximus was again summoned to the capital city for trial. This was in 1531. Archbishop Macarius of Novgorod, who was compiling his Chetyi Menaion, drew the Metropolitan's attention to the translation of the Life of the Most Holy Theotokos completed by Maximus ten years earlier. Many errors were found in the copies of this translation. The Metropolitan opened a new Council and recalled the sufferer's previous accusations. With horror, Maximus rejected the blasphemous utterances included in his translation: "I did not translate it thus!" he exclaimed. "I did not write it thus, nor did I order it to be written. This is a lie against me, I do not philosophize thus. If anyone utters such blasphemies, let him be damned." But his denials were not accepted, and they believed two false witnesses who claimed to have heard Maximus himself repeatedly say, when they expressed doubts about his translation: "This is how it should be." Maximus was also asked why he excluded the Great Dismissal from the Trinity Vespers service and the word "true" from the eighth article of the Creed. Saint Maximus defended himself as best he could, replying that he had not ordered anything to be excluded. Regarding the exclusion from the Creed, he cited ancient Greek manuscripts, where the word "true" was replaced by the word "of the life-giving Lord."
Despite this, the prisoner was not released, nor even permitted to receive the Holy Mysteries; only his place of confinement was changed, assigning him to the Tver Otroch Monastery, under the strict supervision of Bishop Akakiy of Tver. This confinement was easier; the bishop, unconstrained by the council's decree, often invited the innocent prisoner to his meals; it was a great consolation for him that he could read books, and he wrote for himself, as a consolation, the words of a monk locked in prison and grieving, by which he strengthened himself in patience: "Do not grieve, do not grieve, nor be distressed, dear soul, for you suffer unjustly, at the hands of those from whom you should have received all good, for you benefited them spiritually, offering them a meal filled with the Holy Spirit, that is, "The stories of the divinely inspired hymns of David, which I translated from the Greek discourse to the discourse of the noisy Russian broadcast, but rather give thanks to your Master and glorify Him, for He has granted you in this life, through temporary sorrows, to repay with interest the entire debt of the many talents with which you were possessed. Take heed to yourself, lest you think that this time is a time of lamentation, but rather of divine joy, lest you, wretched one, suffer double poverty, tormented for your ingratitude in this and the next age. If you thus always arm yourself, rejoice and be glad, as the Lord commands you, for great is your reward in heaven!"
In 1534, the Grand Duke died, and Saint Maximus considered taking advantage of the opportune moment to justify himself in writing against the slanders leveled against him. In his written confession, he offered his own faith, which was entirely Orthodox, and testified that heretical words were not found in the books he had corrected, but in those his opponents considered sacred.
"Since some, I know not why, are not afraid to call me a heretic, an innocent man, an enemy and traitor to the God-protected Russian Empire, I find it just and necessary to respond to my slanderers. By the grace of our true God, Jesus Christ, I, a faithful Christian in all things and a zealous pilgrim of the Russian Empire, though not great in understanding and knowledge of the Divine Scriptures, was nevertheless sent here from all of the Holy Mountain at the request and letter of the faithful Grand Prince, from whom I received numerous honors for nine years. Obeying his command, I not only translated the commentary on the Psalter from Greek, but also other divinely inspired books, variously corrupted by copyists, I have well corrected through the grace of Christ and the assistance of the Comforter Spirit, as is well known to all. I know not what has happened to some who are hostile to me, who assert that I do not correct, but only corrupt, divinely inspired books. They will give the Lord their due for not only hindering a godly work, but also slandering and hating me, a poor and innocent person, as a heretic. I, however, do not corrupt the sacred books, but diligently and with all attention, with the fear of God and a sound mind, correct in them what was corrupted either by unlearned and inexperienced copyists, or even at the beginning, during their translation, by men of illustrious memory who did not sufficiently understand the force of Hellenic speech. I correct not the Holy Scriptures, but what has crept into them through unworthy transcriptions, through the bewilderment or forgetfulness of ancient translators, or through the great ignorance and negligence of modern copyists. But perhaps some opponents will say: you greatly insult the miracle workers who shone forth in our land. With these sacred books, they pleased God in life, and after their death, they were glorified by Him through miraculous power. It is not I who will answer them, but may the blessed Apostle Paul himself teach them by the Holy Spirit, saying: “To one is given through the Spirit the word of wisdom, to another the word of understanding by the same Spirit, to another the gift of healing by the same Spirit, to another the working of miracles; to another prophecy, to another distinction of spirits, to another diversities of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. But all these things worketh that one and the same Spirit, distributing his power to every man as he will” ( 1 Cor. 12:7-11 ). Clearly, not everyone is given all spiritual gifts together. I also confess that the holy Russian miracle workers, by a gift bestowed upon them from above, shone forth in the Russian land, and I venerate them as faithful servants of God. However, they received neither the various languages nor their interpretation from above. Therefore, it should not be surprising if the correction of many of the typos I corrected was concealed from such holy men. Because of their apostolic humility, meekness, and holy life, they were given the gift of healing and wondrous miracles. Another, though more sinful than all those born on earth, was given the gift of understanding and interpretation of tongues, and this should not be surprising.
"Let the Lord Jesus Christ , our true God, bear me witness that, beyond my many sins, I know nothing blasphemous about our holy Christian faith. May the Lord not impute such a sin to those who called me an enemy of the Russian state." In conclusion, he begged to be released to Mount Athos, arguing that judgment on him belonged not to the Russian bishops, but to the Ecumenical Patriarch. But the fate of the sufferer Maximus remained unchanged; the seditious boyars who governed the state during John's minority were preoccupied only with their own machinations and destroyed one another. The saint did not long enjoy the leniency of Bishop Akakiy of Tver. The fire that destroyed the magnificent church built in Tver by Akakiy in 1555 gave Maxim the opportunity to express, as was his custom, the truth about the inhabitants of Tver and their pastor, and this aroused the strong indignation of Akakiy, who even declared such a denunciation to be un-Orthodox.
Meanwhile, the Empress Helena died, and Metropolitan Daniel himself, after ten years of governing the Church, was exiled to Joseph's Monastery. The suffering Maximus considered it his duty to reconcile with the exiled saint. Learning through a close associate that Daniel continued to harbor his former hostility toward him, he implored him in the name of the Heavenly Father to abandon his hostility. With profound humility, he declared his innocence and concluded by declaring that the accusation of heresy, which was continually repeated against him, was merely the product of wounded pride, always cruel to others. The saint resolved to write another report on his faith to the new Metropolitan Joasaph and a response to the boyars regarding the correction of Russian books, testifying with the same freedom of spirit that he was not writing to them out of hypocrisy or flattery, seeking temporary glory or some solace in his misfortunes.
The new metropolitan tried to console the sufferer with gracious words, but, himself harassed by seditious boyars, he could not alleviate the plight of the innocent prisoner: "We kiss your bonds, as one of the saints," he wrote to the saint, "but we can do nothing more for your benefit." He wished to allow the condemned man to receive the Holy Mysteries, but his opponents would agree only under the pretext of a fatal illness. Disgusted by the admixture of deception to a holy cause, Maximus refused such a condition and, finally, to his consolation, after thirteen years of unjust prohibition, received permission to partake of the Holy Mysteries whenever he wished. A new experience of sedition among the boyars, the overthrow of Saint Joasaph, aroused zeal in the saint; disregarding his own danger, he depicted with an experienced hand the disastrous state of the Russian kingdom in the image of a wife surrounded by fierce beasts, dressed in rags and sitting at a crossroads, for the misfortunes of his fatherland deeply struck the soul of Maxim, since its joys were joys for his heart.
In 1545, through the intercession of the Heavenly Lady, Moscow was saved from the countless hordes of the Crimean Khan by their unexpected flight, and Maxim sang a song of thanksgiving to the Lord Jesus for the salvation of Russia, and meanwhile, in his solitude, he poured out his sorrow for the fate of a sinful soul beyond the grave, translating the sermon of St. Cyril on the departure of the soul.
The Eastern saints did not remain indifferent to the plight of the long-languished sufferer in Russia. Both the Ecumenical Patriarch Dionysius and the centenarian elder Joachim, Patriarch of Alexandria, wrote to the young Tsar Ivan in 1545 about the release of the sufferer Maximus. The latter's message was especially touching. "We have a word and a small petition to pronounce to your kingdom, and we pray that you hear it clearly: here in the land of your kingdom there is a certain man, a monk from the Holy Mount Athos, a teacher of the Orthodox faith, his name is Maximus. Through the work of the devil and the wiles of evil men, your greatest kingdom has become greatly angered at him and has cast him into prison and unbreakable bonds, and he is unable to go here or there and teach the word of God, as God has granted him ." We have heard of him and received a letter from many great men there, and from the holy Mount Athos, that that Maximus, bound, was unjustly bound and taken from your kingdom and authority. Orthodox Christians do not act thus toward a beggar, much less a monk, and especially not kings, who have been deemed worthy of great authority and appointed by God as righteous judges, so as to have their door open to all who come. It is right to imprison those who do not fear you, who embitter you, and to bind those who wish you harm, but the poor, and especially a teacher like that poor Maximus, who instructed, taught, and benefited many Christians in your kingdom and elsewhere, it is not fitting to unjustly hold and abuse by force, for the sighs of the poor will not perish completely, especially those of monks. "It is improper for your kingdom to give credence to every word and every writing that comes to you without examination and testing. Therefore, we pray that when you see our letter, you will release the aforementioned monk Maximus the Athonite and grant him every freedom to go wherever he wishes, especially to his tonsure. Help him and hasten him as much as God places in your heart, according to the custom of your praiseworthy kingdom, and do not wish to shame us in this. If you listen to my words, you will have praise from God, and from us prayer and blessing. I have never written to you before, nor asked for any consolation from you, so do not offend me in this and do not force me to write another letter to your kingdom, a second prayer, for I will not cease from such requests until your great kingdom hears me and grants me this man."
But this petition also remained unsuccessful; the saint, for his part, sending the tsar a gentle exhortation to live as a Christian, asked him to bow to his tender prayers and fulfill the righteous petition of the saints on his behalf, but the suspicious spirit of that time did not allow such a petition to be fulfilled: the saint had seen too much in Rus' to be released from Russia; finally, only in 1551, after 20 years of imprisonment in Tver, the Trinity abbot Artemy, a friend of Maxim, with some virtuous boyars, begged the sovereign to release the innocent stranger, and the elder, peacefully received in Moscow, honorably entered the Lavra of St. Sergius, but he was already exhausted by the weight of fetters and prison, internal sorrows and external sufferings, and was weak not only in his legs, but in his whole body; however, his spirit was still vigorous and capable of lofty contemplation.
At the request of his disciple Nil, a descendant of the Kurlyatev princes, Saint Maximus, after so many storms, began translating the Psalter from Greek into Russian in the solitude of the Lavra of St. Sergius, despite his advanced years, for he was already nearly 70 years old. Two years after his placement under the protection of Saint Sergius, Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich visited the holy elder in his peaceful cell and revealed his intention to make a pilgrimage to the Kirillov Monastery, fulfilling a vow he had made for his own healing. The experienced elder spoke to the Tsar the sincere words he was always accustomed to uttering to sovereigns: "The vow of your kingdom does not agree with time, because the widows, orphans, and mothers of those killed near Kazan still shed tears, awaiting your swift aid: gather them under your royal roof, and then all the saints of God will rejoice over you and offer fervent prayers for your kingdom, for God and His saints hear our prayers not according to place, but according to the good will of our hearts." The Tsar humbly listened to the sincere words of the long-suffering Maximus, but did not want to change his intention, considering it pious; Then the holy elder spoke to Prince Kurbsky, one of the four boyars accompanying the Tsar, a prophetic word, which he asked him to convey to the sovereign: “If you do not listen to me, who advises you according to God, and you despise the blood of those killed by the pagans, know that your newborn son Dmitry will die!” But John persisted, and the prophecy of the saint came true.
This further endeared him to the formidable Tsar, not only as a confessor of the truth but also as a prophet. The following year, he invited the saint to a council in Moscow to denounce the new heresy of Matthew Bashkin, which had arisen there and which bore similarities to Calvinism, for Bashkin had become infected with this new Western teaching. When Maxim, due to decrepitude, declined to attend the council, the Tsar wrote him a letter asking the saint to send him his response to this strange teaching. “Let it be known to you for what fault we have risen to write this letter to you, for it has reached our ears that some heretics do not confess the Son of God equal to the Father, and do not consider the Holy Body of our Lord Jesus Christ and His precious blood to be anything, but accept them as simple bread and wine, and deny the Church and call the images of the Lord, His Most Pure Mother and all the saints idols, and do not accept repentance or the traditions of the fathers, placing their pride on the seven ecumenical councils, and teach others this wickedness: for this reason I shuddered in soul and sighed from the depths of my heart, and I was not a little grieved about this, that such wickedness has entered our land, in the present weak time in the last generations, and I thought to cast my sorrow on the Lord, that all the bishops, abbots and monks who are under my region would gather, yes, They will pluck the thorns from the pure wheat and will be assistants to the holy seven ecumenical councils. It has pleased me to send for you too, that you too may be a champion of Orthodoxy, like the first God-bearing fathers, and that the heavenly mansions may receive you, as they did the zealots of piety who labored before, whose names are known to you. So, be their assistant and increase the talent given to you by God, and send to me a rebuke of this present crime. We have heard that you are offended and think that we sent for you because we number you with Matthew. But do not stir up the believer to be numbered with the unbelievers; and you lay aside all doubt and, according to the talent given to you, do not forsake us in writing in response to this letter. And henceforth, peace be to you in Christ. Amen."
Thus, at the very end of his days, full justice was finally rendered to the confessor of truth, and this was the last ecclesiastical act of the great sufferer. A year later, in 1556, he died after forty years of labor and suffering, in a deep old age, tested by all the vicissitudes of life. An ancient narrator of Maximus's arrival in the capital city testifies that after the saint's death, general respect for him was awakened, and many flocked to the Lavra to his sacred remains as relics, calling him sometimes a prophet, sometimes a great teacher. Truly, the innocent sufferer Maximus the Greek must be unforgettable for the Russian people , for he illuminated the darkness of the situation more brightly than others, calling the unfortunate from it to the path of salvation with his painful cries. Although he paid dearly for his ardent love for the truth and his zeal for the glory of God, yet, despite all this, the seed he sown later bore abundant fruit from the labors of a righteous man.
Three years (1559) after the death of Saint Maximus, during the visit of Patriarch Jeremiah of Constantinople to Moscow, who had come to consecrate the first Patriarch of All Russia, Job, the Archimandrite of the St. Sergius Monastery and many pious people felt compelled by conscience to solemnly pronounce the absolution of the deceased laborer. The Patriarch praised the good wishes of the sufferer's admirers and lovingly granted his own absolution to this confessor.
Among the admirers of St. Maximus was Prince Kurbsky, a zealous defender of Orthodoxy and familiar with his life. He treated him with respect and referred to him as nothing less than holy and reverend. So did St. Dionysius, Archimandrite of the St. Sergius Monastery, who, with a special love for the saint, took great care to ensure that the works of this learned and righteous man were known to the Church. All of St. Maximus's writings on various subjects were published in "The Orthodox Interlocutor" (1859, 1860, 1861, and 1862) and include moral, denunciatory, and historical teachings. Metropolitan Platon of Moscow erected a reliquary and a tent over the unforgettable remains of St. Maximus. And in 1840, a zealous admirer of great people, the abbot of the Holy Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius, Archimandrite Anthony, out of his ardent love for everything historical, with the blessing of the Saint Philaret of Moscow, built a chapel over his grave, where at any time, according to the zeal of those who wish, memorial services for St. Maximus are served.
Saint Maximus left behind many zealous and intelligent disciples. These included, in addition to the aforementioned martyrs Silouan, Savva, Archimandrite of Novospassky, and Mikhail Medovartsev, monk Nil Kurlyatev, Dmitry Tolmach, Zinovy, monk of Oten—a man of enlightenment far surpassing the understanding of his time, Saint Herman, Archbishop of Kazan, and Prince Andrei Kurbsky, who used the oral instructions of the long-suffering Maximus in defense against the preachers of Lutheranism.
Having spoken of the life of St. Maximus, we cannot fail to mention the miracles that occurred at his grave, which are recorded in the traditions of the Lavra of St. Sergius. Thus, in 1651, during the reign of Patriarch Nikon of All Russia , a certain man from the Koshelnaya settlement of Moscow came to the monastery of St. Sergius as promised. After the Liturgy, having attended a service of thanksgiving, he sat down on the coffin board near the Church of the Descent of the Holy Spirit. Suddenly, by the power of God, he was thrown from the tomb, and the unfortunate man fell to his death, unable to rise for a long time. When, gathering his strength, he crawled to the grave and asked those standing there who rested beneath the board, they answered, "Monk Maximus the Greek." The paralytic then cried out, "Father Maximus, forgive me!" When, at his request, a memorial service was held for St. Maximus, the paralytic immediately received complete healing. At that time, John, the cell attendant of the cathedral elder Bassian, happened to be there. Overwhelmed by pride, he disbelieved the miracle and, in his presumption, sat on St. Maximus's tomb, thinking to himself, "Then I will believe the miracle when the same thing happens to me." But the unfortunate man suffered the wrath of God and was thrown from the tomb three times, leaving his face bloodied, his teeth shattered, and his tongue damaged. When he arose and remembered his unbelief, he bitterly repented of his impudence and, kneeling before the icon of our Lord Jesus Christ, began to beg forgiveness. At that moment, he fell into a deep sleep and saw a monk praying before the icon of the All-Merciful Savior, to whom John asked, "Who are you?" When the praying monk replied that he was Maximus the Greek, John begged his forgiveness, but the saint angrily said to him, "Why do you dishonor me? Have you heard that on this day a man was thrown down while sitting on my grave? And so, for your unbelief, you have received what you deserve." The elder, however, refused to forgive the crippled John and hid from him. This is how John himself recounted his appearance. And in 1851, according to the "Monastic Letters," St. Sergius of Radonezh, the miracle worker, himself testified to the sanctity of St. Maximus by his appearance to a Moscow merchant. The miracle occurred as follows: a certain Moscow merchant, Z., was ill, and while praying in his home, he called upon St. Sergius for help. Then, the following night, he saw St. Sergius in a dream, seemingly risen from the tomb. The sick man approached him and, falling at his feet, began to ask for his holy prayers and intercession before God, but St. Sergius said to him: "Your sins offend the Lord, and therefore try to correct yourself and repent." But the sick man, not losing hope for his help, again began to beg him. Then St. Sergius promised to offer prayers for him and help him in his illness. Seeing the merciful promise of the saint, the sick man said to him in rapture: "Reverend Father Sergius, how can I worthily show you my gratitude?!" "I do not need anything," the saint answered him, "but bring what you can to the saint."Maxim the Greek ." After this, the sick man received relief from his illness and, at the behest of St. Sergius, on December 4, 1851, he brought, through his zeal, two covers: one cover for the tomb of St. Sergius, and the other for the tomb of St. Maxim the Greek 60 .
Above the tomb of Saint Maximus, the following verses are carved on a copper plaque:
"Blessed Maximus rests here in body, But his soul abides with God in heaven. And what he divinely wrote in his books, He demonstrated with his life and deeds. He left us an image and examples of holiness, Humility, love, patience, and faith!"
Source: https://azbyka.ru/otechnik/Zhitija_svjatykh/afonskij-paterik/7_2