"Let books be your dining table, / And you shall be full of delights. / Let them be your
mattress,/
And you shall sleep restful nights" (St. Ephraim the Syrian).


Thursday, April 12, 2012

Maximus the Confessor on the Life of the Virgin

Stephen Shoemaker, trans., The Life of the Virgin: Maximus the Confessor (Yale University Press, 2012), 232pp. 

About this book the publisher tells us:
Long overlooked by scholars, this seventh-century Life of the Virgin, attributed to Maximus the Confessor, is the earliest complete Marian biography. Originally written in Greek and now surviving only in Old Georgian, it is now translated for the first time into English. It is a work that holds profound significance for understanding the history of late ancient and medieval Christianity, providing a rich source for understanding the history of Christian piety.
This Life is especially remarkable for its representation of Mary's prominent involvement in her son's ministry and her leadership of the early Christian community. In particular, it reveals highly developed devotion to Mary's compassionate suffering at the Crucifixion, anticipating by several centuries an influential medieval style of devotion known as “affective piety” whose origins generally have been confined to the Western High Middle Ages.

1 comment:

  1. Christ is risen!

    I was wondering if you had a few recommendations on a book about St Mary Magdalena?

    ReplyDelete

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