MAXIMUS, THE CONFESSOR OR MONK, a famous ecclesiastic, was born of noble parentage at Constantinople, about A.D. 580. He was educated with great care, and was early distinguished both for talents and piety. After he had attained his prime, he was reluctantly withdrawn from his favourite study of philosophy to become secretary to the Emperor Heraclius. It is also said that his royal patron wished him to write the civil history of that age. But when the emperor, about the middle of his reign, aimed at re-admitting the Monothelites within the church, Maximus boldly protested against such sinful policy by forthwith vacating his situation. This decisive step was probably accelerated by a lingering desire for the life of a recluse; for he immediately crossed to Asia, and entered a monastery at Chrysopolis (Scutari or Iskudar). There his extreme asceticism speedily raised him to the rank of abbot. At a later date Maximus, now well advanced in years, is found in the Roman province of Africa, arguing face to face with the Monothelites, writing letters and tracts to refute them, and summoning to his aid, in this determined warfare, all available power, both civil and ecclesiastical. He then, in 649, bent his steps towards Rome to fan the orthodox zeal of the new pope, Martin I. But Maximus, as the head of the Dyothelitic party in the church, and therefore the chief opposer of the imperial decrees in favour of Monothelitism, had become obnoxious to the Emperor Constantine II. He was accordingly apprehended in 653, carried to Constantinople, and thrown into prison. On the day of trial the far-famed piety of the aged abbot secured the respect of his judges. He was merely asked to sign a formulary which had been drawn up for the occasion, and which might have been shown, by an ingenious interpretation, to include his doctrinal tenets. But Maximus refused to conceal the very smallest of his honest convictions under the guise of ambiguous expression. Persuasions, threats, and flatteries were all tried in vain; and he was therefore sentenced to imprisonment in the castle of Bizya (Viza) in Thrace. There the most cruel and most ignominious treatment could not alter his opinions, and at last his constancy outlasted the patience of his enemies. In 662 he was dragged again to Constantinople, where, after being publicly scourged, he had his right hand chopped off and his tongue cut out. The old man was then banished to the Caucasus to die of his manifold sufferings.
The writings of Maximus display acute and profound thought, expressed in language often obscure and inelegant. A collection of his works, published by Combéfis in 2 vols. folio, Paris 1675, consists of letters, answers to theological questions, controversial tracts, and moral and monastic pieces. (For a list of his numerous productions, see Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography.)