St Maximus the Greek, a man applicable to our times, His canon to the Holy Spirit & Orthodox prayer

St Maximus the Greek is the other “Maximus” commemorated on 21 January. The main commemoration is Maximus the confessor, but Maximus the Greek is every bit as edifying as his more illustrious companion. He was sent to Russia to help with translations and was imprisoned in a monastery and treated terribly. This was because of jealous and theological conflicts. He is therefore a man for our age because, today there are heretics wearing bishops robes who will persecute those whom they can when they are able. We should be prepared for this. So, therefore, St. Maximus teaches us that we should hold true to the faith even when we are persecuted, and sometimes we are persecuted by those who call themselves Orthodox. It is hard to maintain our temperament when those who are our supposed friends persecute us. We talk a lot about his canon to the Holy Spirit which he wrote it with charcoal on the walls of the cell. It is an amazing prayer that has aspects are so beautiful and unique Orthodox prayer, being deeply theological, thanking God especially for who He is in a theological way, deep compunction in prayer, and beautiful poetry.