While St Maximus conceives the “end” as causing everything that exists without being caused by anything, in these teleologies the historical future not only depends on the past but becomes itself past, that is, nonexistent—every historical “tomorrow” inevitably becomes a “yesterday”, and a “tomorrow” which follows upon a “yesterday” is bound to become itself a “yesterday.” A historical future not only cannot grant being but it ceases to exist itself, becoming a “fact,” i.e., something that has “passed” and exists no longer.
