Transcendent Time in Maximus the Confessor

TRANSCENDENT TIME IN MAXIMUS THE CONFESSOR ATHEY ATTEMPTED to rethink the biblical tradition in terms of Greek philosophy Christian theologians found it natural to relate the contrast between Creator and creation to the Neo-Platonic contrast between transcendent and phenomenal reality. In Neo-Platonism the two poles are tied together by a great chain each link of which represents a phase of the diffusion of reality from the timeless to the temporal plane: from the radical unity of the One beyond all categories, through the unity-in-plurality of intelligible being on its higher levels and its plurality-in-unity on lower levels, through the still more diffuse plurality-in-unity of soul and finally down to the actual flow of time. Eternity (awn) is at the highest levels of intelligible reality and embodies its unity as a dimensionless point or timeless present which expands in time into the serial order of past/present/future as well as into the actual succession of moments. Between time and eternity and closely associated with soul is a transcendent time which combines the absence of process in eternity with the serial order of time. In later Neo-Platonism it is conceived of as a' number' or formula embracing the life span of the universe and of its parts. Timelessness is thus seen from this point of view in structural terms, i.e., it is (in the case of transcendent time) the serial order of time stripped of process or (in the case of true eternity) it is that order contracted to radical unity.1 Maximus's concept of time rests on his division of reality into three stages (beginning, middle and end) which are de1 S. Gersh, From lamblichua lo Eriugena (Leiden: Brill, 1978), p. 72, n. 212; P. Plass, 'Timeless Time in Neo-Platonism,' The Modern Schoolman, vol. 55 (1977)' p. If. 259 ~60 PAUL PLASS fined in a variety of ways. The most important of the triads are 'becoming/motion/rest' (genesis/kinesis/stasis) and 'being/ well-being/ever-well-being.' 2 'Coniing to be is presupposed by the natural motion of all created things and motion is naturally presupposed by all rest (91.1£17D) .' 'Becoming' or 'being' is the brute, unaccountable fact that there is a creation; it is the absolute dependence and contingence of created being. 'Motion' (or 'change') is the cosmic process-characterized by space and especially by time-in which things achieve individuality and develop toward their destinies. Though it may be diverted into 'evilbeing ,' Maximus takes a decidedly positive view of creation 8 and sees in it not merely motion but directed motion; as ' being ' corresponds to 'genesis,' 'well-being' corresponds to 'motion.' Hence time generally answers to 'well-being' because it has a natural goal-the cessation of motion in ' rest,' i.e., the perfecting of well-being in ever-well-being. Maximus borrows the Cappadocian notion of ' extension ' (diastema) for the middle member of the triad. Time and space are generated by motion from' beginning' to ' end ': ' All that is created has a beginning of existence since it has come to be and an interval (diastihna) from the time when it began (91.1397B) .' Diastema includes both intelligible and sensible creation (91.1072A) and is not only' extension' of the creature through time but ' distance between,' i.e., the infinite gap 2 For a brief review of early theological views on time and motion cf. Hans von Balthasar, Kosmische Liturgie; (Einsiedeln: Johannes-Verlag, 1961), 2nd ed., p. 60lf. Other triads are being/choice/grace; power/activity/rest; being/relation/ grace; birth/baptism/resurrection (90.1084B; 91.1073C; 1217Cf; 1237A; 1325B; l392Af) . All references to Maximus are to the Migne Patrologia Graeca edition, volumes 90 and 91. For parallels among the triads cf. Polycarp Sherwood, The Earlier Ambigua of Saint Maximus the Confessor and his Refutation of Origenisrn (Rome: Herder, 1955), Studia Anselmiana, XXXVI, p. 42£; Balthasar, p. 139f. For faith/hope/charity cf. Lars Thunberg, Microcosm and Mediator (Lund: Gleerup, 1965), Acta Seminarii Neo-Testamentici Uppsaliensis, XXV, p. 338. For a detailed outline of Maximus's ontology cf. W. Volker, Maximus Confessor als Meister des Geistlichen Lebens (Wiesbaden: Steiner, 1965), p. 23f. 8...