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{{Infobox saint
{{Infobox saint
| name = Maximos Kausokalybites
| name = Maximos of Kafsokalyvia
| image =
| image =
| imagesize =
| imagesize =
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| caption =
| caption =
| titles =
| titles =
| birth_date =
| birth_date = between 1272–1285
| birth_place =
| birth_place = [[Lampsacus]]
| death_date = 1365 or 1380
| death_date = 1365 or 1380
| death_place = [[Mt. Athos]]
| death_place = [[Mount Athos]]
| venerated_in = [[Eastern Orthodox Church]]
| venerated_in = [[Eastern Orthodox Church]]
| beatified_date =
| beatified_date =
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| canonized_by =
| canonized_by =
| major_shrine =
| major_shrine =
| feast_day= January 13
| feast_day= [[January 13 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)|January 13]]
| attributes =
| attributes =
| patronage =
| patronage =
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| suppressed_by =
| suppressed_by =
}}
}}
'''Maximos Kausokalybites''' ({{lang-el|Μάξιμος Καυσοκαλυβίτης}}; died 1365 or 1380) was a [[hesychast]] [[monasticism|monk]] who lived on [[Mount Athos]] in [[Greece]]. Some of Maximos' writings on prayer and ascetism are included in the ''[[Philokalia]]''.<ref name="Efthymiadis2011">{{cite book|author=Stephanos Efthymiadis|title=The Ashgate Research Companion to Byzantine Hagiography: Periods and Places|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=_MQEQOWFrAMC&pg=PA185|accessdate=7 January 2013|date=1 October 2011|publisher=Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.|isbn=978-0-7546-5033-1|pages=185–188}}</ref>
'''Maximos of Kafsokalyvia''' or '''Maximos Kausokalybis''' ({{lang-el|Μάξιμος Καυσοκαλύβης}}; died 1365 or 1380; also spelled Kafsokalyvis, from "of the burning hut"), also known as '''St. Maximos the Hut Burner''', was a [[hesychast]] [[monasticism|monk]] who lived on [[Mount Athos]] in [[Greece]]. Some of Maximos' writings on prayer and ascetism are included in the ''[[Philokalia]]''.<ref name="Efthymiadis2011">{{cite book|author=Stephanos Efthymiadis|title=The Ashgate Research Companion to Byzantine Hagiography: Periods and Places|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_MQEQOWFrAMC&pg=PA185|accessdate=7 January 2013|date=1 October 2011|publisher=Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.|isbn=978-0-7546-5033-1|pages=185–188}}</ref>


⚫
He is celebrated by the [[Eastern Orthodox Church]] on [[January 13 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)|January 13]].
⚫
Maximos lived an austere life, mostly as a recluse in crude shelters, moving from time to time to seek further seclusion. His habit of burning his hut at these times resulted in his nickname "the hutburner." Before settling at Mt. Athos, Maximos spent one year in Constantinople acting as a "[[holy fool]]." At Mt. Athos, he was a close associate of another renowned hesychast monk, [[Gregory of Sinai]]. In spite of his desire for seclusion and obscurity, four writers later wrote ''vitae'' on his life and teachings. These include ''The Life of Maximos'' by Theophanes and a ''vitae'' by his disciple [[Niphon Kausokalybites]].<ref name="Efthymiadis2011" />


==Biography==
The present-day skete of [[Kapsokalyvia]] is named after him.
According to Theophanes of Vatopedi, Maximos was born '''Manuel''' (his baptismal name) into an aristocratic family in [[Lampsacus]], a town on the [[Hellespont]]. He was born sometime between 1272 and 1285.<ref name="Holy Men"/>


The stories of Maximos's life recount that, as a child, he was devoted to the [[Virgin Mary]] and gave his food and clothing to the poor. When his parents arranged his marriage at age 17, he instead moved to [[Mount Ganos]], where he became the student of an elderly monk. Around this time he began his life of austerity, sleeping on the ground, staying awake for long periods, and fasting. He also spent time as a monk at [[Mount Papikion]].<ref name="Holy Men"/>
⚫
He is celebrated by the [[Eastern Orthodox Church]] on January 13.

After his spiritual father died, he went to Constantinople, spending a year in the city, where he acted as a "[[holy fool]]," pretending to be mad while living in the gateway of a famous church.<ref name="GothóniSpeake2008">{{cite book|author1=René Gothóni|author2=Graham Speake|title=The Monastic Magnet: Roads to and from Mount Athos|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xKsL6gpDJwEC&pg=PA59|accessdate=8 January 2013|date=30 March 2008|publisher=Peter Lang|isbn=978-3-03911-337-8|pages=58–61}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Cavallo|first=Guglielmo|title=The Byzantines|year=1997|publisher=University of Chicago Press|isbn=0226097927|page=38}}</ref>

Maximos then settled at the [[Great Lavra]]. During his time there, he experienced three divine visions from the Virgin Mary, who told Maximos to ascend the summit of Mount Athos. After the third vision, Maximos finally obeyed and climbed up to the summit of [[Mount Athos]], where he spent three days before receiving a vision of the Virgin Mary, who told him to remain on Mount Athos. Thus began around ten years of wandering. Maximos lived an austere life, mostly as a recluse in crude shelters, moving from time to time to seek further seclusion. He wore only a single piece of clothing, lived on a diet of wild nuts and berries, and would regularly burn down his hut as he moved on to new locations. His habit of burning his old hut when it was time to move resulted in his nickname "The Hut-Burner."<ref name="Speake"/>

He continued this lifestyle for about ten years until his meeting with the renowned hesychast monk [[Gregory of Sinai]], after which Maximos discontinued his nomadic lifestyle and lived as an ascetic in a hut for fourteen years.<ref name="Speake">{{cite book|last=Speake|first=Graham|title=Mount Athos: renewal in paradise|publication-place=Limni, Evia, Greece|date=2014|isbn=978-960-7120-34-2|oclc=903320491|page=89}}</ref>

At Mount Athos, he was a close associate of [[Gregory of Sinai]]. During his life, he was held in high repute as a holy man and spiritual adviser, admired for his austerity, and a reputation for clairvoyance, prophecy, healing, and exorcizing demons. Legend had him seen flying in the air, turning seawater into drinking water, and more.

Circa 1350, the Byzantine emperors [[John VI Kantakouzenos]] and [[John V Palaiologos]] visited Maximos.<ref name="Holy Men"/>

Patriarch [[Callistus I of Constantinople]], who was a monk and disciple of Gregory of Sinai at Mount Athos for 28 years, once passed through Mount Athos on his way to Serbia and met Maximos, who greeted the Patriarch in a seemingly humorous manner, "This old man will never see his old lady again." This turned out to be a prophecy of how Kallistos would never see Constantinople ("his old lady") again, since he would die before being able to return there. Maximos then bid farewell to Kallistos by chanting, "Blessed are the blameless in the way" (from [[Psalm 118]], a funeral psalm).<ref name="Philokalia-5">{{cite book | last=Skoubourdis | first=Anna | title=The Philokalia of the Holy Neptic Fathers, Volume 5: compiled by St. Nikodemos of the Holy Mountain and St. Makarios of Corinth | publisher= Virgin Mary of Australia and Oceania | date=2020 | isbn=979-8-7096-9499-6 | oclc=1291631709}}</ref> Kallistos subsequently journeyed on to Serbia, where he then died.<ref name="OCA">{{cite web | title=Venerable Callistus Xanthopoulos of Mount Athos | website=Orthodox Church in America | date=2021-11-22 | url=https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/2021/11/22/103373-venerable-callistus-xanthopoulos-of-mount-athos | access-date=2022-08-21}}</ref>

⚫
During his final years, Maximos gave his hut to [[Niphon Kausokalybites]] and moved closer to the [[Great Lavra]] so that he could hear its bells.<ref name="Speake"/> At his request, he was buried in a grave that he dug himself. The present-day skete of [[Kapsokalyvia]] is named after him.<ref name="GothóniSpeake2008" /> In spite of his desire for seclusion and obscurity, four writers later wrote ''vitae'' on his life and teachings. These include ''The Life of Maximos'' by Theophanes and a ''vitae'' by his disciple Niphon Kausokalybites.<ref name="Efthymiadis2011" />

== Hagiographies ==
There are a few different hagiographies of Maximos the Hutburner. One (MS BHG1236z) was written by the hieromonk [[Niphon of Athos]] (1315-1411), while another (MS BHG 1237) was composed by Theophanes of Vatopedi, a superior or ''[[hegoumen]]'' of [[Vatopedi]] Monastery.<ref name="Holy Men">{{cite book|last=Greenfield|first=Richard P. H.|last2=Talbot|first2=Alice-Mary Maffry|title=Holy Men of Mount Athos|series=Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library|volume=40|publisher=Harvard University Press|publication-place=Cambridge, Massachusetts|date=2016|isbn=978-0-674-08876-4}}</ref>

Other biographies of Maximos the Hutburner were written during the early 14th century by Makarios Makres (c. 1382/3-1431) and Ioannikios Kochylas (written c. 1400).<ref name="Holy Men"/>


== See also ==
== See also ==
* [[Niphon of Kafsokalyvia]]
* [[Kafsokalyvia]]
* [[Palamism]]
* [[Palamism]]
* [[Christian mysticism]]
* [[Christian mysticism]]
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==References==
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{wikiquote}}


{{Greek Orthodox Christianity}}
{{Greek Orthodox Christianity}}


{{authority control}}
{{Persondata <!-- Metadata: see [[Wikipedia:Persondata]]. -->

| NAME = Maximos Kausokalybites
⚫
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kafsokalyvia, Maximos of}}
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES =
| SHORT DESCRIPTION =
| DATE OF BIRTH =
| PLACE OF BIRTH =
| DATE OF DEATH =
| PLACE OF DEATH =
}}
⚫
{{DEFAULTSORT:Maximos Kausokalybites}}
[[Category:1360s deaths]]
[[Category:1360s deaths]]
[[Category:14th-century Christian saints]]
[[Category:14th-century Christian saints]]
[[Category:14th-century Eastern Orthodox bishops]]
[[Category:14th-century Byzantine monks]]
[[Category:14th-century Byzantine people]]
[[Category:14th-century Christian mystics]]
[[Category:Byzantine saints]]
[[Category:Byzantine saints of the Eastern Orthodox Church]]
[[Category:Christian mystics]]
[[Category:Eastern Orthodox mystics]]
⚫
[[Category:Christian theologians]]
[[Category:Eastern Orthodox saints]]
[[Category:Eastern Orthodox theologians]]
[[Category:Eastern Orthodox theologians]]
[[Category:Greek Christian monks]]
[[Category:Greek Christian monks]]
[[Category:Hesychasm]]
[[Category:Hesychasts]]
[[Category:Medieval Athos]]
[[Category:Medieval Athos]]
[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]

⚫
[[Category:Athonite Fathers]]

[[Category:Philokalia]]
{{Byzantine-bio-stub}}
[[Category:Miracle workers]]
{{Orthodoxy-stub}}
[[Category:Byzantine hermits]]

Latest revision as of 12:10, 7 July 2024

Maximos of Kafsokalyvia
Bornbetween 1272–1285
Lampsacus
Died1365 or 1380
Mount Athos
Venerated inEastern Orthodox Church
FeastJanuary 13

Maximos of Kafsokalyvia or Maximos Kausokalybis (Greek: Μάξιμος Καυσοκαλύβης; died 1365 or 1380; also spelled Kafsokalyvis, from "of the burning hut"), also known as St. Maximos the Hut Burner, was a hesychast monk who lived on Mount Athos in Greece. Some of Maximos' writings on prayer and ascetism are included in the Philokalia.[1]

He is celebrated by the Eastern Orthodox Church on January 13.

Biography

[edit]

According to Theophanes of Vatopedi, Maximos was born Manuel (his baptismal name) into an aristocratic family in Lampsacus, a town on the Hellespont. He was born sometime between 1272 and 1285.[2]

The stories of Maximos's life recount that, as a child, he was devoted to the Virgin Mary and gave his food and clothing to the poor. When his parents arranged his marriage at age 17, he instead moved to Mount Ganos, where he became the student of an elderly monk. Around this time he began his life of austerity, sleeping on the ground, staying awake for long periods, and fasting. He also spent time as a monk at Mount Papikion.[2]

After his spiritual father died, he went to Constantinople, spending a year in the city, where he acted as a "holy fool," pretending to be mad while living in the gateway of a famous church.[3][4]

Maximos then settled at the Great Lavra. During his time there, he experienced three divine visions from the Virgin Mary, who told Maximos to ascend the summit of Mount Athos. After the third vision, Maximos finally obeyed and climbed up to the summit of Mount Athos, where he spent three days before receiving a vision of the Virgin Mary, who told him to remain on Mount Athos. Thus began around ten years of wandering. Maximos lived an austere life, mostly as a recluse in crude shelters, moving from time to time to seek further seclusion. He wore only a single piece of clothing, lived on a diet of wild nuts and berries, and would regularly burn down his hut as he moved on to new locations. His habit of burning his old hut when it was time to move resulted in his nickname "The Hut-Burner."[5]

He continued this lifestyle for about ten years until his meeting with the renowned hesychast monk Gregory of Sinai, after which Maximos discontinued his nomadic lifestyle and lived as an ascetic in a hut for fourteen years.[5]

At Mount Athos, he was a close associate of Gregory of Sinai. During his life, he was held in high repute as a holy man and spiritual adviser, admired for his austerity, and a reputation for clairvoyance, prophecy, healing, and exorcizing demons. Legend had him seen flying in the air, turning seawater into drinking water, and more.

Circa 1350, the Byzantine emperors John VI Kantakouzenos and John V Palaiologos visited Maximos.[2]

Patriarch Callistus I of Constantinople, who was a monk and disciple of Gregory of Sinai at Mount Athos for 28 years, once passed through Mount Athos on his way to Serbia and met Maximos, who greeted the Patriarch in a seemingly humorous manner, "This old man will never see his old lady again." This turned out to be a prophecy of how Kallistos would never see Constantinople ("his old lady") again, since he would die before being able to return there. Maximos then bid farewell to Kallistos by chanting, "Blessed are the blameless in the way" (from Psalm 118, a funeral psalm).[6] Kallistos subsequently journeyed on to Serbia, where he then died.[7]

During his final years, Maximos gave his hut to Niphon Kausokalybites and moved closer to the Great Lavra so that he could hear its bells.[5] At his request, he was buried in a grave that he dug himself. The present-day skete of Kapsokalyvia is named after him.[3] In spite of his desire for seclusion and obscurity, four writers later wrote vitae on his life and teachings. These include The Life of Maximos by Theophanes and a vitae by his disciple Niphon Kausokalybites.[1]

Hagiographies

[edit]

There are a few different hagiographies of Maximos the Hutburner. One (MS BHG1236z) was written by the hieromonk Niphon of Athos (1315-1411), while another (MS BHG 1237) was composed by Theophanes of Vatopedi, a superior or hegoumen of Vatopedi Monastery.[2]

Other biographies of Maximos the Hutburner were written during the early 14th century by Makarios Makres (c. 1382/3-1431) and Ioannikios Kochylas (written c. 1400).[2]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b Stephanos Efthymiadis (1 October 2011). The Ashgate Research Companion to Byzantine Hagiography: Periods and Places. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. pp. 185–188. ISBN 978-0-7546-5033-1. Retrieved 7 January 2013.
  2. ^ a b c d e Greenfield, Richard P. H.; Talbot, Alice-Mary Maffry (2016). Holy Men of Mount Athos. Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library. Vol. 40. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-08876-4.
  3. ^ a b René Gothóni; Graham Speake (30 March 2008). The Monastic Magnet: Roads to and from Mount Athos. Peter Lang. pp. 58–61. ISBN 978-3-03911-337-8. Retrieved 8 January 2013.
  4. ^ Cavallo, Guglielmo (1997). The Byzantines. University of Chicago Press. p. 38. ISBN 0226097927.
  5. ^ a b c Speake, Graham (2014). Mount Athos: renewal in paradise. Limni, Evia, Greece. p. 89. ISBN 978-960-7120-34-2. OCLC 903320491.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  6. ^ Skoubourdis, Anna (2020). The Philokalia of the Holy Neptic Fathers, Volume 5: compiled by St. Nikodemos of the Holy Mountain and St. Makarios of Corinth. Virgin Mary of Australia and Oceania. ISBN 979-8-7096-9499-6. OCLC 1291631709.
  7. ^ "Venerable Callistus Xanthopoulos of Mount Athos". Orthodox Church in America. 2021-11-22. Retrieved 2022-08-21.
[edit]
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