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The Apostolic See of St. Maximus The Theologian
commemorates and teaches the divine manifestations
arising from the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus
Christ. The divine manifestations that arise
from Christ's Incarnation shape the structure
of human society, underpin its intellectual
developments, and reinforce unexpected interventions.
These manifestations intersect both the small
and the cosmic, the earthly and the heavenly,
the natural and the supernatural, the received
and the perceived. They encompass lengths and
breadths, heights and depths.
The
Apostolic See has chartered The Maximilian International
University as a higher education institution
to bring together theologians, academics, professionals,
researchers, students, institutions and learning
organisations to engage the profound theological
insights and philosophical depths of St. Maximus
– for purposes of spiritual renewal, applied
studies, degree programmes, and international
projects. The University will extend its work
to include other Church fathers, Church doctors
and Christian monarchs/royals particularly in
regard to their contributions to theological
insights/application or philosophical thought.
This arrangement frees the Primates of the See
to concentrate on the immediate tasks within
the Churches and their incarnational missions.
An
Apostolic See is called by the Lord to a sphere
(heavenly and earthly) that receives and releases
the various manifestations that establish Church's
continuing mission on the earth (e.g. Luke 22:28-30).
This Apostolic See of St Maximus The Theologian
is working particularly with Church missions
that are rooted in, or raised from, the mystery
of Christ's Incarnation. The mystery of Christ's
Incarnation was acknowledged by the early Church
as both the Wisdom and the Power in the Christian
Gospel. This mystery has been the centre-point
of the Church's creeds.
Throughout
history various congregations and Church leaderships
have attempted to point to, or celebrate, a
sphere of biblical revelation that links the
mystery of Christ's incarnation to the Church's
mission on the earth. These attempts formed
into Christian field practices, mostly in the
areas of compassion, justice, family wellbeing,
and international relief.
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Bishop
Henry Kontor
Primate
of the Apostolic Congress
of Great Britain
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Before raising
this Apostolic See, Bishop Henry
underwent over fifteen (15) years
of ground-breaking church-related
field work in the United Kingdom
- from personal sacrifice, spiritual
renewal, leadership training, partnership
development, and consecration of
clergy.
He is currently giving
attention to, and advancing the
work of, the Maximilian International
University College, which is incorporated
in Ghana as a higher education institution.
He is working at collaborating academic
and professional programmes that
will enable scholars internationally
to achieve significant higher education
learning and obtain recognized awards.
He is aiming at applying the work
to resource local practitioners,
particularly Christian leaders who
seek to engage with the challenges
or the opportunities around them
with academic competence and professional
skills. The College's programmes
are tailored to provide learning
exchange to support professional
practice in Ghana and in related
diaspora communities. They are also
advancing contextual insights in
academic and professional practices,
with the aim of sharing those insights
with the learning community nationally
and internationally.
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Many
kinds of such Christian field practices (incarnational
missions/ministries) have formed and grown particularly
in the last 25 years, from World Mission desks
in Monrovia (California) to the racially sidelined
districts of Jackson Mississippi; from the run-down
inner city of Washington DC to the drugs-ridden
ghetto of Lawndale in Chicago; from the neglected
poor communities in Bangalore in India to the
post-graduate mission desks at the Oxford Centre
for Mission Studies; from the urban theology
battles from Sheffield to the urban mission
drives of Christian leaders in the London borough
of Newham; from apartheid struggles in Soweto
in South Africa to the racial disadvantaged
communities in the inner cities of the United
Kingdom.
Under
the grace of God, these field missions/ministries
have worked as pilots, fostered models of partnership
practices, and initiated mega-integrations.
Under the work pressure, they have had relatively
very little time to elaborate on the Christ's
incarnation mystery that has graced them to
do what they have been doing. Consequently,
there has not been a clear distinction between
the Christian incarnational mission/ministry
and the other good causes conducted by other
constituencies. This distinction is necessary
to ignite Christians towards the active revelations
under the mystery of Christ's incarnation, and
cause far-reaching impacts in the life of the
organisations and institutions that work from
this mystery.
The Orthodox Foundation, UK, serves mainly Churches
and leaders who work in the incarnational mission/ministry
fields. The leadership of the Foundation has
been in this incarnational mission field since
the late 80s. In the providence of God, the
Foundation touched the works of St Maximus from
the autumn of 2003.
St.
Maximus is regarded as one of the chief doctors
of the theology of Christ's Incarnation. He
showed God's measures of providence and judgement
operative in the mystery of the incarnation.
The Saint taught in his faithful beliefs that
"it is this mystery which circumscribes
all the ages, and which reveals the grand plan
of God (cf. Ephesians 1:10-11), a super-infinite
plan infinitely pre-existing the ages"
(St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, 2003, On The
Cosmic Mystery of Christ, p124). Patristic work
translators are convinced that St Maximus provided
an "integrative cosmic vision in which
the economies of creation-deification on the
one hand, and (postlapsarian) intervention-redemption
on the other, merge as one dramatic plot whose
'thickness' and internal connections can only
be truly discerned from the standpoint of the
mystery which is Jesus Christ, the 'mystery
hidden throughout the ages' (Colossians 1:26)
that discloses the providence and the judgement
of God operative in the logi of creation"
(Ibid, p26).
The
Catholic Encyclopedia records an impact of St.Maximus'
life, mission, and engagements even on Rome.
It acknowledges a wider respect for his works
in the following: "St. Maximus died for
orthodoxy and obedience to Rome. He has always
been considered one of the chief theological
writers of the Greek Church, and has obtained
the honourable title of the Theologian".
To
God be all the Glory!!
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