Maximus the Confessor and the Hesychast Tradition: Greek and Serbian Trajectories of the Essence–Energies Distinction

This study traces the diverse trajectories of the reception and interpretation of Maximus the Confessor within the hesychast tradition. It first examines Gregory Palamas’ reading of Chapters on Theology and Economy I.48–49, focusing on the phrase ἀπειράκις ἀπείρως, which received divergent interpretations not only from Palamas’ opponents, such as Akindynos, but also from his followers, including Philotheos Kokkinos. As a counterpoint, the article considers the reception of Maximus in Serbian-Slavic hesychasm, where the Four Hundred Chapters on Love served as a foundational text. In contrast to the Greek reception, which emphasized terminological analysis of ἀπειράκις ἀπείρως, the Slavic tradition read Maximus through a Dionysian lens, particularly via the diagrammatic representations of divine unity and differentiation included in Elder Isaiah of Serres’s 1371 translation of the Corpus Dionysiacum. The study argues that Serbian hesychasts articulated a relational rather than purely conceptual understanding of the essence–energies distinction, preserving the experiential and ontological dimensions of Palamite theology and shaping a distinct theological synthesis rooted in ascetic practice and contemplative knowledge.