St. Maximus the Confessor was born in Constantinople around the year 580 and grew up in a pious Christian family. In his youth, he received a diverse education: he studied philosophy, grammar, rhetoric, was well-read in ancient authors and perfectly mastered theological dialectics. When St. Maximus entered the civil service, his knowledge and integrity allowed him to become the first secretary of Emperor Heraclius (611-641). But court life burdened him, and he retired to the Chrysopolis monastery (on the opposite bank of the Bosphorus – now Scutari), where he took monastic vows. 
With his humility, he soon gained the love of the brethren and was elected abbot of the monastery, but even in this rank, due to his extraordinary modesty, he, in his own words, "remained a simple monk." In 633, at the request of a theologian, the future Hierarch Patriarch Sophronius of Jerusalem (commemorated on March 11), St. Maximus left the monastery and went to Alexandria.
Saint Sophronius became known by that time as an implacable opponent of the Monothelite heresy. After the Fourth Ecumenical Council (451) condemned the Monophysites, who professed one (Divine) nature in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Monothelite heretics introduced the concept of one Divine will and one (Divine) action, which led to the recognition of the rejected Monophysite false doctrine. Monothelitism has found numerous supporters in Armenia, Syria, and Egypt. Heresy, reinforced by national hostility, has become a serious threat to the ecclesiastical unity of the East. The struggle of Orthodoxy against heresies was especially complicated by the fact that by 630 three patriarchal sees in the Orthodox East were occupied by Monophysites.: Constantinople – Sergius, Antioch – Athanasius, Alexandria – Cyrus.
The path of St. Maximus from Constantinople to Alexandria lay through Crete, where his preaching activity began. There he encountered the episcopate, which held the heretical views of Severus and Nestorius. The monk spent about 6 years in Alexandria and its environs. In 638, Emperor Heraclius, together with Patriarch Sergius, in an effort to reduce religious differences, issued a decree, the so–called "Ekfesis" - "Statement of Faith", which finally commanded to profess the doctrine of one will with two natures of the Savior. Defending Orthodoxy, St. Maximus addressed people of various ranks and classes, and these conversations were successful. "Not only the clergy and all the bishops, but also the people and all the lay leaders felt some kind of irresistible attraction to him," his life testifies.
Patriarch Sergius died at the end of 638, and Emperor Heraclius died in 641. The cruel and rude Constans II (642-668), an outspoken supporter of the Monothelites, took the imperial throne. The attacks of heretics on Orthodoxy have intensified. St. Maximus went to Carthage and preached in it and the surrounding area for another 5 years. When Patriarch Sergius' successor, Patriarch Pyrrhus, arrived there, having left Constantinople because of court intrigues, a Monothelite by conviction, an open dispute took place between him and St. Maximus in June 645, at which Pyrrhus publicly admitted his errors and even wished to hand Pope Theodore a written renunciation of them. St. Maximus and Pyrrhus traveled to Rome, where Pope Theodore accepted the repentance of the former patriarch and restored him to his dignity.
In 647, St. Maximus returned to Africa. There, at the councils of bishops, Monothelitism was condemned as heresy. In 648, instead of the Ekphesis, a new decree was issued, drawn up on behalf of Constans by Patriarch Paul of Constantinople, the Typos, an Example of Faith, which forbade any discussion of one will or two wills while recognizing the two natures of the Lord Jesus Christ. At that time, St. Maximus appealed to Pope Martin I of Rome (649-654), who succeeded Pope Theodore, with a request to bring the issue of Monothelitism to the conciliar discussion of the entire Church. In October 649, the Lateran Council was assembled, which was attended by 150 Western bishops and 37 representatives of the Orthodox East, among whom was St. Maximus the Confessor. The Council condemned Monothelitism, and its defenders, Patriarchs Sergius, Paul, and Pyrrhus of Constantinople, were anathematized.
When Constans II received the Council's decree, he ordered the arrest of both Pope Martin and St. Maximus. This order was executed five years later, in 654. The Monk Maxim was accused of treason against the Fatherland and imprisoned. In 656, he was exiled to Thrace, and then brought back to the Constantinople prison. The monk, along with two of his disciples, were subjected to the most severe tortures: their tongues were cut off and their right hands were beheaded. Then they were exiled to Colchis. But then the Lord revealed an unspeakable miracle: they all gained the ability to speak and write. St. Maximus predicted his demise (+ August 13, 662). The Greek prologues of August 13 indicate the transfer of his relics to Constantinople; it could have been timed to coincide with the death of the monk. It is possible that the establishment of memory on January 21 is due to the fact that on August 13 the feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord is celebrated. Three miraculously revealed lamps were lit over the grave of St. Maximus at night and many healings were performed.
St. Maximus the Confessor left a great theological legacy to the Church. His exegetical works contain explanations of difficult passages from the Holy Scriptures, interpretations of the Lord's Prayer and the 59th Psalm, scholia to the writings of the Hieromartyr Dionysius the Areopagite (+ 96, October 3) and St. Gregory the Theologian (+ 389, January 25). Exegesis also includes an explanation of the divine service, entitled "Mystagogy" ("Introduction to the Sacrament").
The monk's dogmatic writings include an account of his dispute with Pyrrhus, several treatises, and letters to various individuals. They contain an exposition of the Orthodox teaching on the Divine essence and hypostasis, on the Incarnation of God and on the deification of human nature.
"Nothing in deification is a product of nature," wrote St. Maximus in a letter to his friend Phalassius, "for nature cannot understand God. God's grace alone has the ability to deify beings... Man (the image of God) becomes like God in deification, he rejoices in the abundance of everything that belongs to him by nature, because the grace of the Spirit triumphs in him and because God works in him" (letter 22). St. Maximus also wrote anthropological works. He examines the nature of the soul and its conscious-personal existence after a person's death. Among the moral writings, the "Chapters on Love" are especially important. St. Maximus also wrote three hymns in the best traditions of church hymnography, originating from St. Gregory the Theologian.
The theology of St. Maximus the Confessor, based on the spiritual expertise of the great hermit fathers, using the art of dialectics developed by pre-Christian philosophy, was continued and developed in the writings of St. Simeon the New Theologian (+ 1021; Comm. March 12) and St. Gregory Palamas (+ c. 1360; Comm. November 14).