Sermons of Maximus of Turin (Bruni's collection) 32.1–36.2

We said last Sunday that blessed Thomas, so as to strengthen the faith of all believers by his own example, handled the members of the Lord's body after the resurrection, and, so as to drive away the uncertainty of all about the resurrection of Christ the Lord, wished to examine the scars of his wounds. The blessed apostle did this not for his own sake only; what he then did more inquisitively profited all. For when he exercised his anxious care in examining the whole body of Christ, he confirmed the faith of all. For who would still doubt that the Saviour returned from the underworld, whom Thomas not only saw but whose members he handled, examining each of the wounds? However small, then, his faith, however weak in mind a Christian may be, he could never compare his own anxiety with Thomas's inquiry; and indeed, after recognition and conversion, no one would have dared to ask, no one to seek, to search out Christ in Christ himself even by touch, and in the very man whom he saw to inquire still more curiously for a human body, and to prove his resurrection, which he had borne for us, by the injury [of his wounds]. Blessed Thomas, then, being holy, faithful, and righteous, anxiously sought out all these things, not because he doubted his resurrection, but to turn away all suspicion from all. For to confirm his own faith it would have been enough for him to have seen that body which he had known before. But he acted for us, so as to touch what he saw; so that if perhaps some unbeliever should say that his eyes had then been deceived in seeing Christ, he could not say that his hands had then been deceived in touching him. For in the manifestation of the resurrection one can indeed doubt sight, but one cannot doubt touch. For by the testimony of touch, of the truth itself, it is established that the Saviour returned from the underworld. If, then, Christ our hope has risen, who, brothers, would not believe that he too will rise? If we believe that he returned from the dead, why shall we doubt that we too shall rise? For the blessed Apostle says: “For if the dead do not rise, neither has Christ risen.” Since, then, Christ has risen, the dead too will be raised; because the Lord has risen, his little servants too will come to life again. For he himself, as the same Apostle has it, is the firstborn from the dead. Firstborn from the dead indeed, because he himself first rose from the underworld; and we trust that with him we too shall one day rise. For we ought to place our whole faith in the glory of the resurrection that is to come, and to hope in the Lord rather for the future life. Rightly, then, did the blessed Apostle say: “Hope that is seen is not hope.” Let us hope, then, in eternal life … [A leaf is missing here.]

Your holiness remembers, brothers, the earlier treatise, in which we wrote that the holy apostle Thomas, to confirm the faith of all, handled the members of the Lord's body after the resurrection, and, to drive away the uncertainty of all, wished to examine the scars of his wounds. For the blessed apostle did this not for his own sake only; what he did for himself profited all. For when he exercised his anxious care, he confirmed the faith of all. For who, from this, would doubt that the Saviour returned from the dead, whose presence after the underworld the eye recognizes, the hand handles, the finger examines? However small, then, a man's faith, however weak in mind a Christian, he could never have matched his anxiety with Thomas's inquiry. For never, after recognition, living together, and conversation, would he have dared to ask to search out Christ in Christ even by touch, and in the very man whom he saw to seek a man's body, and to prove his resurrection not so much by believing the glory of the wonders as by the injury of the passion. Thomas, then, being holy, faithful, and righteous, anxiously sought out all these things, not because he himself doubted anything, but to shut out all suspicion of unbelief. For to his own faith it would have been enough to have seen the one he knew; but he acted for us, so as to touch the one he saw; so that if perhaps we should say his eyes were deceived, we could not say that his hands had been mistaken. For in the manifestation of the resurrection, sight can be doubted; touch cannot be doubted. For it is established by the testimony of the truth itself that the Saviour returned from the underworld. Who would not place his hope in Christ? Who would not put his faith in the Lord, so that, as Christ [rose] from the underworld, he himself may rise from the dead? The blessed Apostle says: “For if the dead do not rise, neither has Christ risen.” Since, then, Christ has risen, the dead too will be raised; since the Lord has risen, his little servants too will come to life again. For he is, as the Apostle says, the firstborn from the dead. For as among those above he is the firstborn among many brothers, so from the underworld he is the firstborn from the dead. Someone is called firstborn because he is begotten first of others who are to follow; [he is firstborn because] he has brought forth a birth out of the darkness of hell into the light of the resurrection. For it is to be called a birth when, by a kind of exchange, the soul dies to the laws of Tartarus so as to be reborn to the revived use of the body. For the birth of the resurrection among those above is a kind of death of those below. So death itself in a manner suffers death, while the multitude of the dead is withdrawn from it into life. For as the blessed Apostle says: “The last enemy, death, will be destroyed.” And again: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” When, then, death is consumed in victory, it is destroyed by a kind of slaughter of its own failing. And it suffers failure when its power is emptied by the rising of all. But let us see what it means when he says that death has been consumed in victory. Death was plainly consumed in its own victory, when, subjecting Christ to the laws of hell, it overwhelmed itself when it conquered him. For in the very act in which it possessed him whom it believed it had overcome, it was conquered by him when he rose. We ought, then, to place our whole faith in the glory of the resurrection and to hope in the Lord rather for the future life. For so the blessed Apostle says: “But hope that is seen is not hope.” Let us hope in the Lord, then, for the future life, which is solid and everlasting, so that we may be not more miserable than all men but better; through our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns for ages of ages. Amen.

Today's paschal solemnity, consecrated by so great a mystery of our God, shows the power of the Lord's resurrection through the angels, makes it plain through the apostles, and multiplies everlasting goods through the hearts of all believers. This, then, is the day which the Lord has made, as you have heard, higher than all, brighter than all, on which our Lord, having conquered death, rose from the underworld; on which, as you see, he has won for himself a new people by the holy Spirit of regeneration; on which he floods the mind of each with joy and exultation. This day of Christ's resurrection, then, gives eternal life to the dead, longed-for pardon to sinners, and unfading glory to the saints. For by the working of his power he raises us from the earthly things to which we cling, sets us always in the heights toward which we should strive, builds up the righteous in his kindness, strengthens the doubtful in the way of salvation, but condemns all unbelievers. For Christ the Lord rose from the dead today for this purpose: [to show] the image of the future resurrection; and so on this day the faithful people, after the likeness of the future resurrection, gladden the Church by the life-giving washing with the whiteness of their snowy splendour. We ought, then, to give thanks to our Lord, that while we keep the most glorious solemnity of holy Easter we already see the likeness of the resurrection that is to come. For whereas at the future consummation of this age the whole human race must rise, now already it rises in baptism from sins to life. God's people will then be raised after sleep; it is raised now after unbelief; then it will be freed from the mortal condition, now it is taken out of the blindness of ignorance by which it was held; then it will be reborn to eternity, now it is born to salvation. Let us rejoice, then, brothers, and exult on this day, on which our Lord, rising, brought peace to all and bestowed on all the longed-for salvation. Let us rejoice because we see that he who had died for all has now risen. Let us exult, because we believe that he now sits at the right hand of the Father. Let us exult, then, and rejoice, as the Lord rises, so that we may rejoice with him as he reigns. This he in his mercy will grant, if not only true faith guards our life, but our life too does not disagree with his faith. Let us strive, then, to show all an example of our good conduct. The end.

That outstanding and greatest sacrament of the Lord's resurrection, brothers, which divine providence willed to be foreshadowed even in the venerable books of the Jews, by various figures of things and by the divine oracles of the holy prophets, we celebrate today with devoted hearts. Why God willed it to be prefigured from the very beginning of the newborn world, and many times elsewhere in the old law, was for no other reason than to show that through every age of the passing world the hope of all the saints tended continually toward him alone who is the expectation of all nations. Although we have made this known to your holiness at other times from the books of the Hebrews themselves, it pleases us to set it out for you again now. At the very beginning of the newborn world, when Eve, that mother of all the living, was brought forth from the rib of the sleeping Adam, it is shown that the Church, the mother of all believers, would be born from the side of Christ dying on the cross. In the act of Adam awakening, the resurrection of our Lord from death was figured. In Noah, who in the work of the ark, and also by his very name, signifies rest in the saints, in that he was a farmer and had planted a vineyard, and, drunk with a cup of wine, was uncovered in his dwelling, the figure of the same Redeemer of ours is represented, who was so drunk with the blood of his lamentable passion that for a time he was uncovered even of the very garment of his body; but, awaking in his resurrection, he blessed those who, like [Shem], venerate his passion in mystery, and gave a curse to those who mocked him. That rod of Moses too, which, thrown on the ground, was turned into a serpent, but when held by the tail turned back again into a rod, signified the power of the divine majesty descending from heaven, which willed to be mortal for us; but when the dispensation of the flesh he had taken was completed, it returned into a rod and withdrew to the right hand of the Father's majesty. Of Jonah, finally, whom the fish swallowed and spat out unharmed, we have the clear saying of the Lord himself: that as he was in the belly of the whale three days and three nights, so the Son of Man would be in the heart of the earth. These, brothers, are the most holy paschal joys of this day; these the longed-for and proclaimed solemnities, which we ought always to venerate with our whole soul and to imitate, as that most blessed apostle John says: “Whoever says he abides in Christ ought himself to walk as he walked.” Christ indeed was crucified for us for a time; we must take up the cross daily and follow him. He tasted death for an hour; we ought always to put to death our members that are on earth. He rose from the dead; we ought to rise from vices, as the Apostle says: “Rise, you who sleep, and Christ will give you light.” Let us, then, become like him in all things, so that when Christ our life appears, we too may appear with him in glory, etc. The end.

Divine providence willed, dearly beloved, that the sacrament of the Lord's resurrection should be foreshadowed several times by various figures of things and by oracles of the prophets, so that through all the ages of the passing world the whole hope of the saints might tend toward him alone who is the expectation of all nations. Hence the fact that at the very beginning of the newborn world Eve, the mother of all the living, was brought forth from the rib of the sleeping man shows that the Church, the mother of believers, arose from the side of Christ dying on the cross; just as in the act of Adam awakening there is a figure of the Lord rising from death. That is why the Apostle says: “The first man became a living soul, the second man a life-giving spirit.” Noah, who in the work of the ark and by his very name signifies the rest of God in the saints, represents the figure of our Redeemer most of all in this: that, being a farmer, he planted a vineyard, and, made drunk with a cup of wine, was uncovered in his tent. This refers properly to him who was so made drunk with the cup of the passion that he was stripped for a time of the very covering of his body, and at once, awaking in the resurrection, gave a blessing to those who venerate his passion in mystery, and a fitting curse to those who mocked him. Of this cup the Psalmist says: “My cup that inebriates, how splendid it is!” and the Lord in the Gospel: “The cup which the Father has given me, shall I not drink it?” The rod of Moses too, thrown on the ground and turned into a serpent, when held by the tail returned again into a rod; because that power of the divine majesty, descending from heaven to earth, willed to be mortal for us; but after the dispensation of the flesh he had taken was completed, he withdrew to the seat at the Father's right hand. Of Jonah, whom the fish swallowed and spat out unharmed onto dry land, we have the clear saying of the Lord himself, that as he was in the belly of the whale three days and three nights, so the Son of Man would be in the heart of the earth. There are very many other holy proclamations of this solemnity of solemnities, and the very reckoning of the seasons agrees with all of them, which assigned the paschal date to the spring equinox, the following full moon of the first month being awaited; so that, as the sun, advancing from the lower regions to the height, now first equals the nights in length, and the moon too by its daily increase appears at its fullest, so the Sun of righteousness, rising from the underworld, might illuminate with his light the Church, until then set in darkness. These are the most holy paschal joys of this day; these the solemnities longed for and proclaimed in all ages, which it is right for us always to venerate in mind and always to imitate in deed as far as we can, as the apostle John says: “Whoever says he abides in Christ ought himself to walk as he walked.” And he indeed was crucified for us for a time; we must take up the cross daily and follow him. He tasted death for an hour; we ought always to put to death our members that are on earth, sexual immorality, impurity, and so on. He rose from the dead; we are commanded to rise from vices, as the Apostle says: “Rise, you who sleep, and arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.” And if now we crucify our flesh with its vices and desires, and are planted together in the likeness of his death by the mortifying of vices, when Christ our life appears, we too shall appear with him in glory; who with the Father and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns for ages of ages. Amen.

So, brothers, no small price for our redemption has been paid by the Lord our God. So he who for the salvation of the mortal men he had created hung nailed on the tree, who bore death, and who rested in the tomb, has risen alive again from the underworld. Rejoice, then, and be glad, O Zion, in this most holy celebration of so great a day; for when Christ our Lord returned from the underworld to the world above, he made us pass from death to life. For we who by the original guilt of our origin had been condemned to death have now by his death been called back to our former innocence. We who by our sins had deserved the punishments of hell have been called back by his most precious death to the joys of eternal blessedness. We who were vessels of wrath through Adam's transgression have now, because of his resurrection, become citizens with the saints. Wonderful indeed is the love of our Saviour, which, to raise up the weak and call the fallen back to life, chose death for them. Who, then, does not exult in so great a joy of this day? Who does not rejoice with continued gladness on this day which the Lord has made? Heaven rejoices, the whole earth is glad, as it beholds its Creator and Redeemer returning from the underworld with death conquered. The whole multitude of angels rejoices, because by the death of their eternal King all the malice of the devil's fraud has been overcome. The sun itself rejoices, and that mournful darkness with which it covered the whole world when its Lord and Creator died it today turns into gleaming with more joyful rays. Let us too, then, brothers, rejoice and be glad on this day which the Lord has made, we who, when we were far off, have been made near, and who in his resurrection hope for the future resurrection of our flesh too. Rightly, then, shall we rejoice, brothers … [A leaf is missing; then the conclusion runs thus:] Since, then, brothers, with no preceding merits we have been freed from the fire of Tartarus and the punishments of eternal death, let us so order our life that we may be able to reach that eternal homeland which our Saviour opened to us today, with his help, etc.

We ought to rejoice no less now, brothers, than we rejoiced yesterday: for though the dark night of the past has come between our joys, still it is the same day of holiness; though the evening darkness has divided the times, the Lord's blessedness still shines with unending light. For Christ, who enlightened us yesterday, also cherishes us today. For as the blessed Apostle says: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today.” For he has become a day for us. He has been begotten for us today, as David says in the person of God the Father: “You are my Son; today I have begotten you.” “Today,” he says, “I have begotten you”: that is, not that on a day he begot the Son, but that he begot the Son himself as day and light. When, then, Christ the only-begotten is begotten today, it is understood that in the Saviour's birth there was born not so much a man as a light, to shine for all and give light to all. And it is called “today” because, as a present and unfailing light, he holds all the ages in unending light, and by that very perpetuity of brightness it seems to be one day. That is why the holy prophet says: “A thousand years before your eyes are as one day.” Christ plainly is one day, because in him is the one eternity of the Godhead. And it is called “today” because with him past things do not slip away into old antiquity, nor do future things pass by in ignorance; but as a most powerful light he holds all, knows all, and possesses all as though having them in the present; because with him past things do not glide away nor are future things hidden. But at what time it was said to the Son, “Today I have begotten you,” we ought to know: not at the time when he was born of the Virgin Mary according to the flesh, nor at the time when according to the Godhead he proceeded from the mouth of God the Father, but at the time when he rose from the dead; for as the apostle Paul says: “Raising up the Lord Jesus Christ, as it is written in the psalm: You are my Son; today I have begotten you.” Rightly, then, is it called “today” when he flashed out from the black night of the underworld to the world above like a brilliant light. Rightly is he called day, whom the dark action of the Jews could not darken. Nor could he plainly receive the light better than “today,” he who gives both day and salvation to all the dead; who by the presence of today's life raised men dissolved by death in their old age. Let us rejoice, then, and exult on this day, on which the Lord brought us light, brought salvation, brought peace. Peace, I say, Christ brought us when he rose, because even when he was about to suffer he did not deny peace to the traitor disciple—how then will he embrace those who confess him, who so kissed the one who denied him? I would not have you think that the kiss of Judas Iscariot was given by the Lord except out of love, though he knew beforehand that he would be the traitor. He plainly knew it as a pledge of love; and so he did not refuse it; for it is a kind of kindness not to refuse last kisses to those who are about to perish, and to pay the final comfort to those we have loved. At the same time he wished to correct him by that very duty of love, so that, admonished by kindness, he might not desert the one who loved him, might not betray the one who kissed him; and so that kiss was given as though for the judgment of Judas: that if he amended, it would be a bond of peace for the disciple; if he betrayed, it would be a testimony of crime against the traitor. The Lord says, then: “Judas, do you betray the Son of Man with a kiss?” Where is the subtlety of the plots, where the hidden tricks? See, every secret of wickedness is caught out, and the betrayer is betrayed before he betrays. “With a kiss,” he says, “do you betray the Son of Man?”—that is, do you inflict a wound with a pledge of love, shed blood with a duty of affection, bring death with a sign of peace? I ask, what love is this? You offer a kiss, and threaten. These are not kisses but poisons, by which the servant betrays the master, the disciple the teacher, the chosen one the author [of his choosing].

Let us rejoice, then, and exult on this day, dearly beloved, which we venerate with yearly devotion. As it promises us life and glory in the future, so also in the past the causes and occasions of our salvation are born from it; and so he who is worshipped in order that he may have mercy has already had mercy. Made and restored by him, then, let us now exult the more eagerly in his benefits, because those days on which we are set free are better than those on which by being born we are brought into the dangers of this life. And so we read: “Your mercy is better than lives.” Better, then, are the days on which we are reborn to eternal life than those on which we are begotten into this temporal one. For the gifts of grace are greater than those of nature. In this twofold work of our God, there it is a matter of power, here of bounty; there power, here mercy is contained. By the first birth we enter earthly things; by the second we are prepared for heavenly ones. As the feasts of the present season remind us, so he who joined battle for the salvation of the world, as we read of the mighty Samson, killed more of his enemies in death than he had slain in life. A tradition of secular literature too relates that a certain man in the practice of wrestling had this kind of strength and power: that whenever, at his opponent's thrust, he touched the earth, the friend and nurse of his strength, he rose from the ground and prevailed more and more over his opponent; and so the throwing down of the one laid low became the occasion of his triumph. For weakness in a manner gave him strength, his fall the palm, his ruin victory. I think all this can be applied more justly to that heavenly athlete who is read to have wrestled against Jacob; I judge it suits his person more truly. For when in time he fought with the public enemy in the arena of the world, he acted so as to rise more gloriously; he fell so as to lift all up; poured out, he overwhelmed the adversary; laid low, he crushed him; cast down, he raised up man who lay fallen; and while he succumbed he dealt death its blow, and while he rose he raised up the dead. This is that angel who wrestled with Jacob by night, as we have it in Genesis: “And see, a man wrestled with him until morning; and when Jacob had prevailed, the angel said to him: Let me go, for the dawn is already rising. Jacob answered: I will not let you go unless you bless me. So the angel blessed him and said to him: If you have been strong against God, how much more will you prevail against men. And the angel touched the broad part of his thigh, and he limped on his foot.” What is this? The one who is conquered blesses; and he who believed he had conquered limps. In Jacob, then, the people of the Jews is recognized, in the angel Christ; and so that we may know that the Lord was in that angel, blessed Jacob himself says: “I have seen the Lord face to face, and my soul has been saved.” Jacob, then, prevailed as the angel gave way. The Jews too prevailed for a time in Christ's passion, fleeing in that night of the day, and striking him with all impiety; they prevailed when they crucified him; they prevailed when they killed him. Yet when Jacob had conquered, he recognized that he could be blessed by the conqueror, saying: “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” What a mystery in the contest! He is thought the weaker, and is found fit to bestow a blessing. Christ plainly blessed his adversaries when he prayed even for those who killed him, saying: “Forgive them, Father, for they do not know what they do.” The conquered one blessed, he who frees by suffering; the accused interceded, and the condemned absolved; because if his adversaries come to their senses, the slain one grants them redemption. What is it, too, that after that wrestling Jacob received a blessing and walks lame? For it says: “And the angel touched the broad part of his thigh, and he limped on his foot.” The broad part of the thigh is the multitude of the Jewish race. What is it, I say, that he limped on one foot? This: that of Jacob, that is, the nation of the Jews, when Christ rose, part believed and part remained in unbelief and limped from the paths of righteousness and life. And what the angel himself says, “Let me go, for the dawn is already rising,” indicated that he could be conquered by death but could not be held. But after that night put to flight by the light of the passion, he promises that the dawn of the resurrection will at once be given back. Who lives and reigns for ages of ages. Amen.