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Work #1774

Ambigua

Maximus the Confessor
c. 628–634 CE (Ambigua ad Iohannem) and c. 614–625 CE (Ambigua ad Thomam) · Greek
Exegetical-speculative treatise in two collections (71 difficulties) · Byzantine Christian theology, patristic synthesis

Cosmic liturgy in seventy-one difficulties — every created thing moves from God, through Christ, back to God in theosis

Attribute Fingerprint

Rows where works disagree are highlighted in gold. The full ontology grid is shown.

Attribute Ambigua
Time · Extent Both
Time · Ontological Status Substantival
Time · Grain Continuous
Time · Freedom Non-Deterministic
Time · Traversability Linear
Time · Dimensionality One
Time · Direction Uni-directional
Space · Extent Finite
Space · Ontological Status Substantival
Space · Curvature not engaged
Space · Dimensionality Three
Space · Locality Local
Matter · Extent Finite
Matter · Ontological Status Emergent
Matter · Conservation Conserved
Matter · Dimensionality Three
Matter · Locality Local
Observer · Time Instance Multiple
Observer · Space Instance Single
Observer · Knowledge Extent Mediated
Observer · Knowledge Retainment Total
Observer · Physicality Both
Observer · Agency Active
Observer · Number Plural
Observer · Metaphysical Agency Personal
Observer · Moral Authority Tradition
Observer · Theological Method
Energy · Extent Infinite
Energy · Ontological Status Substantival
Energy · Conservation Conserved
Energy · Dispersibility Irreversible
Information · Ontological Status Substantival
Information · Cosmic Conservation Conserved
Information · Personal Conservation Conserved
Information · Granularity Continuous

Dimension-by-Dimension Evidence

What each work's passages reveal about its stance on each of the six dimensions.

Time

Ambigua

Both: created time is real and linear, but the logoi are eternal in God. The cosmic drama is a movement from origin (arche) through kinesis to telos (rest in God). Non-deterministic: the logoi establish natural ends, but free will determines whether creatures reach them.

Space

Ambigua

Finite, substantival. The five cosmic divisions (created/uncreated, etc.) describe the spatial-ontological structure of reality. All are unified in Christ as cosmic mediator.

Matter

Ambigua

Emergent from the logoi. The material creation is good, destined for transfiguration, not annihilation. The Incarnation sanctifies matter as the medium of God's self-revelation.

Observer

Ambigua

The human person as microcosm and mediator — containing within itself all five cosmic divisions and called to unite them. Both embodied and transcendent. Active: theosis requires synergy of divine grace and human willing. Knowledge is mediated through ascetical-contemplative stages.

Energy

Ambigua

The divine energies (energeiai) are the medium through which God communicates himself to creatures without his essence being diminished. Infinite at the divine level.

Information

Ambigua

The logoi are the eternal informational principles of all things, held in the Logos. They constitute the intelligible structure of creation. Conserved eternally in God; personal information is conserved through the soul's immortality and theosis.

Internal Tensions

Where each work's argument pulls against itself.

Ambigua

The Ambigua's relationship to Origen is the central tension: Maximus uses Origenist conceptual material (the cosmic drama, the logoi, the return of all things) while formally rejecting Origen's most distinctive doctrines (pre-existence of souls, apokatastasis as automatic restoration). Whether this rejection is consistent with the Origenist structure he retains is debated. The doctrine of the logoi risks collapsing divine freedom into a necessity of nature if the logoi are eternal and necessary. Maximus insists on God's freedom, but the tension between eternal logoi and free creation persists.