An Constantinople citizen by birth. He was a high courtier under Emperor Heraclius, and then a monk and abbot of a nearby monastery. The greatest defender of Orthodoxy against the Monothelite heresy, which arose from the heresy of Eutychius. Just as Eutychius claimed that there was one nature in Christ, so the Monothelites claimed that there was one will in Christ. At Maximus's insistence, councils were held in Carthage and Rome, which anathematized the teachings of the Monothelites. Finding himself an opponent of both the emperor and the patriarch, he suffered indescribably for Orthodoxy: he was persecuted, imprisoned, the people spat on him, soldiers beat him, princes tortured him. With his tongue and hand cut off, he was exiled to the land of Scythia, where he spent three years in prison. He gave up his soul to the Lord in 662.

Blessed Maximus the Greek. Holy Martyr Neophytos. Holy Martyr Agnia.