MicroSynaxis: St Maximus the Confessor and Fr. Dumitru Staniloae

1. Bible: Saturday Gospel – John 6:14-27

At that time, when the people saw the sign which Jesus had done, they said, “This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world!”

Perceiving then that they were about to come and take Him by force to make Him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by Himself.

When evening came, His disciples went down to the sea, entered a boat, and started across the sea to Capernaum. It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. The sea rose because a strong wind was blowing. When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and drawing near to the boat. They were frightened, but He said to them, “It is I; do not be afraid.” Then they were glad to take Him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going.

On the next day the people who remained on the other side of the sea saw that there had been only one boat there, and that Jesus had not entered the boat with His disciples, but that His disciples had gone away alone. However, boats from Tiberias came near the place where they ate the bread after the Lord had given thanks. So when the people saw that Jesus was not there, nor His disciples, they themselves entered the boats and went to Capernaum, seeking Jesus.

When they found Him on the other side of the sea, they said to Him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life which the Son of man will give to you; for on Him has God the Father set his seal.”

 
2. Fathers: Question 51 by St Maximos the Confessor
One of the most important patristic works on the interpretation of Scripture was composed by St Maximus the Confessor around A.D. 633/634 as a response to various questions about difficult biblical passages. Here is the fifty-first question presented to Maximus by the presbyter and abbot Thalassios:
 

“And many brought offerings to Jerusalem for the Lord, and gifts to Hezekiah the king of Judah; and he was exalted in the eyes of all the nations” (2 Chr. 32:23). What are these offerings, and what are these gifts? And why does God receive “offerings” while the king receives “gifts”? And what does it mean that “he was exalted in the eyes of all the nations”?

 
Here is part of Maximus’s initial answer:
 

When, like the great king Hezekiah, every intellect naturally crowned with virtue and knowledge attains to rule over Jerusalem (cf. 4 Kgs. 18:1-2), that is, over the state in which one beholds only peace, which is a condition free of every passion—for Jerusalem means “vision of peace”—such an intellect, I say, has all creation at its command, by means of all the species of which it is comprised. Through the mediation of the intellect, creation brings to God, like offerings, the spiritual principles of knowledge. To the intellect, creation brings, like gifts, modes for the realization of virtue, which exist within creation, according to the natural law. Through both [i.e., the offerings and the gifts], creation welcomes and receives the one who is able mightily to esteem both. I mean the philosophical mind perfected in the principle of contemplation and in a life of practice. Thus the word of Scripture establishes a distinction when it says that whereas “offerings” are brought to the Lord, “gifts” are brought to the king. According to the experts on these matters, this is because “offerings” are distinctively said to be things brought to those who have no need of them, while “gifts” are given to those in need. And this is perhaps also why it is the general custom that things brought to kings are called “offerings,” with the idea that they do not stand in need of anything.

And here’s a later formulation of Maximus’s answer:
 

We can also understand the “offerings” in another way. Insofar as an “offering” is also something given to those who have previously brought forward nothing, the intellect engaged with knowledge receives “offerings” from the contemplation of beings, and brings them to the Lord. These offerings, which the intellect both receives and gives, are the sustaining principles of faith beyond rational demonstration; a faith to which no one has ever brought anything, insofar as a person naturally beholds his own Creator, proclaimed to him by creation, without any of the technical contrivances of various arguments—for what could one possibly bring forward that would be equal to faith, as if his faith were due to his own efforts, and not an offering to him from God?

 
Read the first fifteen paragraphs of this fifty-first question on Difficulties in Sacred Scripture here. And visit Eighth Day Books to purchase a copy of Fr. Maximos Constas's recent translation of this important work.
 
3. Books & Culture: Dumitru Staniloae's The Orthodox Dogmatic Theology Reviewed by Fr. Andrew Louth and Staniloae's Orthodox Spirituality reviewed by Fr. Calinic Berger
Earlier this week I was sorely disappointed to learn that almost all of Fr. Staniloae’s English translated works are currently out of print, including his masterful book on Orthodox Spirituality and his six-volume (in English; three volumes in Romanian) Orthodox Dogmatic Theology. The sole exception is volume three on The Person of Jesus Christ as God and Savior…Eighth Day Books has twelve copies on their way to the store. There are also a few used copies of volume two available but you’ll have to fork over more than $800 to obtain a copy! There is also an important collection of essays available at Eighth Day Books titled Theology and the Church, as well as a slender but dense book titled The Holy Trinity: In the Beginning There Was Love, plus three small but significant booklets: Prayer and Holiness, Time and Eternity, and The Victory of the Cross (see number seven below for an excerpt from this booklet). Although his major works are out of print in English, you can nevertheless learn a great deal about Staniloae from Fr. Andrew Louth in this review of The Orthodox Dogmatic Theology  and from Fr. Calinic Berger in this review of Orthodox Spirituality. 
 

Synaxis (continued for members below)
4. Liturgy: Sunday of St John Climacus

5. Poetry: “Iambic Verses on the Divine Ladder”
 
6. Essays et al: “Natural Revelation” by Fr Dumitru Staniloae

7. Essays et al: “The Cross Imprinted on the Gift of the World” by Dumitru Staniloae
 
8. Essays et al: “On the Filioque: The Son as Origin as Place of Repose?” by Fr. Joshua Burnett

Bonus: A Mini-Library of Articles by and about Fr. Dumitru Staniloae
Primary by Staniloae
“Jesus Christ, Incarnate Logos of God, Source of Freedom and Unity” 
 
“The Faces of Our Fellow Human Beings” 
 
“The Orthodox Concept of Tradition and the Development of Doctrine” 
 
“Unity and Diversity in Orthodox Tradition” 
 
Secondary about Staniloae
Berger, Fr. Calinic, “Florovsky’s ‘Mind of the Fathers’ and the Neo-Patristic Synthesis of Dumitru Staniloae” 
 
Costache, Doru, “A Theology of the World: Dumitru Staniloae, the Traditional Worldview, and Contemporary Cosmology”
 
Juhász, István, “Dumitru Staniloae’s Ecumenical Studies as an Aspect of the Orthodox-Protestant Dialogue” 
 
Visit your "Premium Patron+ Content" page here to access the new Hall of Men page which includes the three most recent presentations in video format (Samuel Johnson by Jeff Reimer, Fr. John Romanides by Kevin Mortimer, and Fr. Dumitru Staniloae by Fr. Calinic Berger), plus one from 2019 (John Climacus by Brandon Buerge).