Saint Maximus the Confessor

Born in Constantinople in 580, Maximus was a highly educated chief counselor to Emperor Heraclius, who, alarmed by the corrupting influence of heresy, withdrew from the imperial court and became a monk. A gifted theologian and the greatest defender of the Orthodox faith against Monothelitism (the false belief in one will in Christ), Saint Maximus found himself branded an enemy of both the emperor and several patriarchs. With courage in Christ, Maximus endured to the end, proving that there were indeed two wills, as well as two natures, in Christ. Due to the saint's heroic efforts, councils were held in Carthage and in Rome, both anathematizing the teachings of the heretics. The great suffering of Saint Maximus for Orthodoxy cannot be described: he was tortured by princes, deceived by clergy, beaten by soldiers, imprisoned, until finally, with a severed tongue and hand, exiled for life to the land that is now Georgia, where he spent three years in prison and joined the Lord in 662.