The Temporality of Deification: Maximus the Confessor’s Ever-Moving Repose

Authors:

Pages: 40-59
DOI: https://doi.org/10.54664/CFSM4010

Abstract:

What is the temporality of deification, what becomes of motion and time when a person becomes deified? This article represents the third part of a wider project dedicated to the reconstruction of Maximus the Confessor’s conception of temporality as a threefold Maximian theory of time, in which time (χρόνος), the Aeon (αἰών) and the ever-moving repose (στάσις ἀεικίνητος) form three distinct modes of temporality. Temporality is a primary characteristic of createdness and is actualized in two different modes, time (χρόνος) and the Aeon (αἰών). Time is the numbering and delimitation of motion, temporality as perceived within sensible creation—as well as the reflection of the Aeon in the world of motion as we know and perceive it. The Aeon is time deprived of motion, and the temporality of the intelligible side of creation’s delimitation. The uncreated is not merely atemporal in the sense of not being either in time or in the Aeon, but is beyond any conception of temporality and createdness whatsoever—the very notion of a „temporality of the uncreated” is considered as a contradiction in itself. However, while there is no temporality of the uncreated, we can speak of the temporality of deification, or at least pose the question concerning it—i.e., the question of what happens in a person’s motion and temporality when it reaches deification. What is the state of temporality in θέωσις? An answer to that question through Maximus the Confessor’s ever-moving repose will be attempted here.

Keywords:

Maximus the Confessor, time, eternity, motion, deification, ever-moving repose

Download

Portugal / Greece / United Kingdom / United States / Germany / NA / Russian Federation / China / Sweden / Austria / Montenegro / Serbia / Ukraine