The Unjust Sentence of St. Maximus and Those With Him

‘The present synod, with the assistance of the all-powerful Christ and true God, has passed the appropriate canonical sentence on you, Maximus, Anastasius and Anastasius. It was already in store for you, in view of what had been said and done impiously by you, that you would be subjected to the harsh penalties of the law in the present life — even though a just penalty does not exist for the kinds of trespasses and blasphemies you have committed; we leave you to the just judge with regard to the greater penalty — and on the question of penalty we have exhausted the precision of the law, [and] are sparing your life. We have passed sentence that the all-praiseworthy eparch who is with you is to take you immediately to the praetorium where he rules over many. And when he has flogged Anastasius and Anastasius he is to cut out from inside your mouth the organ your licentiousness, Maximus and Anastasius, that is your blaspheming tongue. Then he is to sever with his sword your sinister right hand because it ministered to your blasphemous argument. When you have been led around after the amputation of your abominable limbs, he is to walk around the twelve sections of this sovereign city, and to hand you over to lifelong exile and, what is more, permanent custody, so that afterwards and for every year of your lives you will bewail your own blasphemous errors, and the curse which you contrived against us is turned upside down on your head.’

 

The eparch took them, then, and punished them by cutting their limbs. And after leading them around the entire city, he sent them out into exile in Lazica. (Dispute at Bizya, 17. Maximus the Confessor and His Companions: Documents From Exile)