Translation of the relics of the Venerable Maximos the Greek on this day in 1996. The future venerable father Maximos was born Michael Trivolis around 1470 into the family of a wealthy Greek dignitary in the city of Arta (now Albania). He received an excellent education. In his youth he traveled widely and studied languages and sciences in European countries, visiting Paris, Florence, Venice. Italy left the most significant impact on Trivolis's life, including Girolamo Savonarola's sermons and his reform activities in the monastery and in Florence. To these events, including the execution of Savonarola, Maximos dedicated one of his best works written in Russia, The Tale is Terrible and Memorable. The structure and way of life of the “mendicant” orders of the Dominicans and Carthusians St. Maximos described as an example of “perfect monastic life,” expressing the judgment that even people professing “wrong teachings” can have “good beginnings,” and, referring to the Lord’s words, “He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” (Matthew 5:45). Under the influence of Savonarola’s sermons, on June 12, 1502, Trivolis entered the Dominican monastery of San Marco in Florence, but as a novice, he had not taken full monastic vows. Trivolis remained there for 10 months. He explained the reason for leaving in a private letter by saying that “he was overcome” by illness. Soon his friends helped him go to serve in Venice with Italian printer and humanist Aldus Manutius (1449-1515), who from 1502 formed his “New Academy” Florence. The heyday of Manutius's activity dates back to 1503-1504, but soon the printer encountered difficulties and left Venice. In 1506, Trivolis returned to Greece, and on Mount Athos he entered Vatopedi monastery. He enthusiastically studied ancient manuscripts left on the Holy Mountain by the monastic Greek emperors Andronikos Palaiologos and John VI Kantakouzenos. Maximos joined the delegation of the Athonite fathers which was sent to Moscow for raising funds. In 1518, he arrived in the Russian capital. Soon upon his arrival Maximos got himself involved in translating from Greek into Church Slavonic. With the blessing of Metropolitan Varlaam of Moscow, he translated the Explanatory Psalter, then, at the request of the Metropolitan, some interpretations of the book of the Acts of the Apostles and several liturgical books. The Monk Maximos diligently and carefully tried to fulfill all orders. Since no one in Moscow knew Greek, Maximos translated from Greek into Latin, and then translators of the “Russian Foreign Office” translated his texts into Church Slavonic. Clearly this process was prone to multiplying errors. Metropolitan Varlaam of Moscow highly valued the works of St. Maximos, whom he left in Russia (the Athos embassy departed already in 1519). When Metropolitan Daniel took the Moscow see, the situation changed. The new metropolitan demanded that the Monk Maximos translate the fifth century Church History of Blessed Theodoret of Cyrrhus into Church-Slavonic. Maximos the Greek resolutely refused this assignment, pointing out that “this story includes letters from the schismatic Arius, and this could be dangerous for simplicity.” This refusal sowed discord between the saint and the metropolitan. Despite the troubles, the Monk Maximos continued to work diligently in the field of spiritual enlightenment in Rus'. He wrote letters against Muslims, Roman-Catholics, and pagans. He translated interpretations of St. John Chrysostom on the Gospels of Matthew and John, and also wrote several of his own works. Another reason for disagreements with the new metropolitan was the confrontation between two currents in the modern Eastern Russian Church – the so-called possessors and non-possesors. The Monk Maximos leaned towards the latter, to which Metropolitan Varlaam also belonged, while the new Metropolitan Daniel was a disciple of the Venerable Joseph of Volotsk, who defended the ownership of villages by monasteries. Soon after his arrival in Russia, the Monk Maximos expressed his opinion about the installation of Moscow metropolitans by the Council of Russian Bishops since 1448 without sanction from Constantinople as non-canonical nature and about the need to subordinate the Russian Church to the Ecumenical Patriarchate. When Grand Duke Vasily III Ioannovich intended to dissolve his marriage with his wife Solomonia because of her infertility, the St. Maximos sent him Instructive Chapters for the Leaders of the Faithful, in which he convincingly proved that the situation obliges the prince not to submit to animal passions. The Monk Maximos was accused in spying for Ottoman sultan and imprisoned. From that time on, a new, long-suffering period in the saint’s life began. Inaccuracies discovered in the translations were blamed on St. Maximosus for deliberate damage to books. It was hard for the monk in prison, but in the midst of his suffering he also received the great mercy of God. An angel appeared to him and said: “Be patient, elder! With these torments you will be freed from eternal torment.” In prison, the ascetic wrote with charcoal on the wall a canon to the Holy Spirit, which is still read in the Church: “Who fed Israel with manna in the desert of old, fill my soul, O Lord, with the All-Holy Spirit, so that I may serve Thee with pleasure in Him...” Six years later, the Monk Maximos was released from prison and sent under church ban to the Otroch Monastery in Tver. There he lived under the supervision of the good-natured Bishop Akakii, who treated the innocent victim mercifully. The monk wrote an autobiographical work, Thoughts with Which a Sorrowful Monk, Imprisoned, Consoled Himself and Strengthened Himself in Patience. After twenty years of staying in Tver St. Maximos was allowed to live freely and the excommunication was lifted. St. Maximos the Greek spent the last years of his life in Holy Trinity-Sergius Lavra. He was already about 70 years old. Persecution and labor affected the health of the saint, but his spirit was cheerful; he continued to work. Together with his cell attendant and disciple Neil, the monk diligently translated the Psalter from Greek into Church-Slavinic. Neither persecution nor imprisonment broke the Monk Maximos. He died on January 21, 1556. The Russian Church canonized him at the 1988 Local Council. Source: N.V.Sinitsyna, "Maksim Grek," Pravolsavnaia Entsiklopeida |
