The Treason of Theology: The Ambiguous case of Maximus the Confessor and
Pope Martin – Ben Delee (UCLA)

       For most of the seventh century Byzantium faced unprecedented threats
and fought for its very survival. It was a time that required strong leadership in the person of the emperor. Internal divisions could not be tolerated. The Emperor Heraclius took the initiative to reconcile the non-Chalcedonian churches with the imperial Chalcedonian church. Monotheletism seemed to offer a convenient solution. It had the
support of the Bishop of Rome, Honorius, and it faced no major opposition

in the East. It would unify the separated churches of Armenia, Syria, and Egypt. Unlike earlier theological controversies or later ones like iconoclasm, this one did not stir-up popular passions. Heraclius and Constans II were  assuming the role that
previous emperors since Constantine had done; they were trying to ensure church unity. Monotheletism was a political solution to an ongoing division in the imperial church.

However, because of oppostion from Pope Martin and the work of Maximus the Confessor, who mobilized opposition in North Africa and Rome, unity
would prove elusive and an old schism would be replaced with a new.

       Maximus the Confessor and Pope Martin, the main opponents of
Monotheletism, would become famous as martyrs for Orthodoxy. Traditional scholarship has focused on the theological works of Maximus and has framed him as the victim of an intolerant Emperor Constans II.Yet a reevaluation of sources, including hagiographical sources, trial proceedings, conciliar documents of the Lateran Synod (649), and
the the theological writings of Maximus and some of his contemporaries,
reveals that Maximus was appealing to obscure and innovative theological and philosophical categories that did not immediately resonate with most of his contemporaries. Moreover, with the empire’s very existence at stake, Pope Martin
and Maximus were challenging the very notions of imperial authority and
ecumenicity by their handling of the Lateran Synod. Martin and Maximus both allowed themselves to be implicated in political revolts; hence, they were both charged with treason. The fact that very few theologians came to their defense reveals just how isolated they were. It is Constans who sought unity and compromise while Pope Martin and
Maximus steadily rejected it.