ABSTRACT
The Liber Asceticus (LA, λόγος ἀσκητικός) is one of the least-studied works by Maximus the Confessor.1 Characterised as one of the most captivating works in the entire Christian literature of spirituality (‘une des oeuvres les plus captivantes de toute la littérature spirituelle chrétienne’),2 it is a fine distillation of Maximus’s theology that became a Christian classic, if its manuscript tradition in Greek and Slavonic is anything to go by.3 Because of the heavy concentration of and epitomising of Maximus’s favourite emphases, scholars such as Dalmais were led to believe that it was probably one of, or probably the last of, Maximus’s works. The current consensus, however, seems to be that the LA belongs to Maximus’s early works, written around 626 CE.4
