Sermons of Maximus of Turin (Bruni's collection) 43.1–48.1

The depths of the heavenly will and disposition, dearest brothers, unless we follow them by faith, throw human understanding into confusion; and in the greatness of the divine works, unless we were held in awe by the will of almighty God, the reasoning of mortal wit gives way as though weak. And so the things God does are not to be probed with words but believed with devotion. For in Christ our Lord the sacraments of God and man so come together that, under a kind of twofold working, both lowliness shines in his majesty and majesty reigns in his lowliness. For Christ himself, under the unity of a diverse substance, through the mysteries of our redemption, was a mighty man and a lowly God; but according to the purpose of his glory, the lowliness of God is man, and the might of the man is God. God is indeed called lowly where, bending the prerogative of his own Godhead, he allowed his body to be fixed to the cross while the world itself mourned; and the man is mighty in his God when at the command of his word infirmities depart, health returns to the sick, unclean spirits flee, and angels obey. Since, then, this new man has such power, we ought to notice that all that lowliness of God is the kindness of condescension, not the destruction of power. Through this most sacred mystery of the incarnation, flesh and the Word so came together into one Lord and one person that God is thought to have been born of a woman and man is believed to have come from heaven, as the Saviour says: “No one has ascended into heaven except him who descended from heaven, the Son of Man, who is in heaven.” I ask now: how did Christ, before his passion, when he had not yet been glorified and hastened to the Father, say that he was in heaven, and had ascended and descended from heaven? How, brothers, unless because the son of man was the Son of God? Nor can we confess either the man apart without God or God apart without the man. Does not the man seem to have passed beyond heaven when in the Virgin's womb he was united to the Word of God? And to have come down from heaven when, claiming nothing for himself of his native majesty, he handed over his man to the penal passion? And so Christ was in heaven when by heavenly power he did wonderful things; he was nonetheless also on earth when, meek and lowly, he suffered earthly injuries through the impious. Hence it was too that, when among the disputing Jews differing opinion about the Lord boiled among the people …, one despised him as a man, another marvelled at him as God. Hence it was that some crucified him, others worshipped him; as also the thieves crucified with him: one, faithless, reviled him as a partner in punishment; the other, perceiving him as God, prayed to him. And so, brothers, because there was then at once in Christ both the dominion of one who reigns and the service of one who serves … For though he was in the form of God, as the apostle Paul teaches, he put on the form of a slave. Christ was indeed in the form of God when, by turning water into wine, he revealed himself as Lord of creatures. He was in the form of God when at his command demons were driven, protesting, from the bodies they had possessed and from their old seats. He was in the form of God when in the midst of the waves the water, made solid, served his venerable footsteps—though not without fear. But he was in the form of a slave when, wearied by the fatigue of the journey, he sat as though resting on the mouth of the well. He acted the form of a slave when the impious, insulting him, spat on him the spittle of their filthiest mouths. He had taken the form of a slave when he did not turn away his face, which believers trembled to look upon, from the slaps and blows of those who mocked him; and—what was most shameful for those who truly are slaves to endure—he even bent his shoulders, with which he had come to carry our sins, to the hands of those who scourged him. He was surely as a slave when a crown of thorns, woven by the hands of his enemies, disfigured his saving head. So, brothers, since one and the same Son of God did wonders and endured what is to be wept for, one and the same was both slave and Lord. For he could do all as Lord and suffered all as slave. But now let us see by what powers and by what steps especially he who was a slave confirmed to his disciples that he was God. First of all, the indispensable servant of the most faithful centurion, when he was pressed by a deadly illness, he, asked by his master, cured, absent the absent, sending health as truly God; and that sick man, lying bodily rather far off and whom he did not see, he visited with the eye of his Godhead. Then the only son of a pitiable widow, when he was being carried on the bier to the tomb for burial, he raised by the command of his life-giving authority and restored at once to life and to his mother in the midst of the crowds, with death itself as witness. After this, when the ruler of the priests begged for the life of his daughter, he who had given life to her at birth brought back the dead girl's soul into her own body. And so that no suspicion of collusion might remain among the impious concerning the miracles of these more recent deaths, and it be thought that those so quickly raised had not been dead, he goes to the tomb of blessed Lazarus, who, four days dead and stinking, and bound besides with bands, as is the custom, leapt out at the command of Christ calling him and at once became his Lord's partner in conversation and a guest in the fellowship of his table. All these things were done, dearly beloved, so that no one at all should dispute the return from the underworld of him who was proved to have raised the dead with such glory. And so let us believe the Lord our God, who does such astonishing wonders. Let us love him who confers such great benefits on us, raising the dead. Let us venerate him rising from the underworld; let us worship and adore him also seated at the Father's right hand, and with all devotion serve him who will come as judge of the living and the dead; who with the Father and the Holy Spirit, etc.

With very religious joys and devout gladness, dearest brothers, we must celebrate the feast of today's mystery, because Christ our Lord—to whom at the beginning of his combat the tempter said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread”—today, entering heaven, strengthens every believer with the defence of the living stone and gives life with the refreshment of the heavenly bread. And as the contriver of all deceit probed him, saying, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down,” he not only did not fall down, but, taking the wings of eternal glory, flew as victor over his rival to heaven. For he ascended, as it is written, upon the cherubim, and flew; he flew upon the wings of the winds. And he to whom the devil then promised the kingdoms and powers of the world if he would worship him, despising the vanity of the tempter, received dominion over the world and the everlasting rule of heaven, as he himself says: “All things have been handed over to me by my Father in heaven and on earth.” And not undeservedly was he rewarded with a most blessed kingdom, who, bearing the mind of a lawful king, despised the promises of a tyrant. So, with great and incomprehensible miracles proved, the mysteries and powers of Christ grow for us. For he whom a mother's womb brought forth by human increments for the use of the present life, united to the unbegotten Father, has sat down at his right hand as everlasting ruler; and he whom the impious voice of persecutors on earth blasphemed, the unwearied praise of obedient angels now celebrates, as it is written: “His praise endures for ever and ever.” Let us rejoice, then, brothers, and exult in the Lord, because today Christ, passing beyond the heights of heaven, ascended to the unthinkable majesty of the Father's throne, and set in the angelic homeland man, whom the envy of the malicious enemy had driven from that first dwelling of paradise and, cast down into this ruin of the world, had made a stranger; and he made the exile from paradise a citizen of heaven. For this reason, dearly beloved, we must rejoice with immense gratitude, because those whom the tempter dashed down, the Saviour raised up; and those whom the devil's sin had bound, the grace of Christ set free; as most blessed Paul the apostle says: “Where sin abounded, grace abounded still more.” Truly superabounding grace, which transferred ruined man from death to life and turned punishment into reward. For what greater reward can there really be for a sinner than that for his sake the Only-begotten of God put on flesh, bore the cross, deigned to be buried, did not shrink from the underworld, and, condemning the very author of the offence, carried the man he had taken up into heaven? Consider, then, dearly beloved, that the fault profited man more than it harmed him; for he who, humbled by the law of transgression, had as a captive put his neck under the devil's yoke, escaped all the chains of tyrannical captivity by being captured by the Son of God. As venerable David says of the Lord our Redeemer himself: “Ascending on high he led captivity captive; he gave gifts to men.” What profit, then, is it to us if the Lord led our captivity captive on high, and would not allow what had been captured by the devil to be captive? It profits us in every way, dearly beloved, and profits us inestimably, because in the devil's capture slavery is hard, and in Christ's captivity freedom is blessed. Nor is there doubt that everyone captured by the devil, handed over to the darkness of hell, is always in mourning, while Christ's captive exults in the light of the heavenly kingdom. Blessed David says, then: “He led captivity captive; he gave gifts to men.” See and notice how good it is for us to be Christ's captives, who not only grants his captives eternal freedom but also bestows the ineffable gifts of heavenly rewards. That is why in another place the patriarch sings: “Turn, O Lord, our captivity, like a torrent in the south.” “Turn,” he says, not “turn away”: that is, grant, O Lord, that we who have long been captured by the devil may at last merit to be your captives. For we know that to be subject to the devil is a most bitter and insatiable condition, but to serve you, O Lord, is delight. Nor is this doubtful, brothers, for the Lord himself says: “My yoke is sweet and my burden light.” Therefore, bursting the chains of unbelief and throwing the devil's yoke from our necks, let us with all devotion submit our necks to the Lord's rule, because the yoke of the Gospel and captivity to Christ bring great sweetness to believers. Who with the Father and the Holy Spirit, etc.

The mystery of the Lord's Ascension, dearest brothers, has established for us the feast of this day, so that we may rejoice that the Only-begotten of God, whom we are glad came to earth for the redemption of all, has entered heaven for our eternity; for this is the truth of saving faith, that we do not deny the glory of him whose passion we believe. Nor is it a matter of great wonder that he who came from heaven returns to heaven, but that he carried to the Father the man whom he took from the earth. Most blessed David says: “Let the heavens rejoice and the earth exult”; there is no doubt that he sang this of the sacrament of Christ: for the earth exults, which sees its Redeemer reigning in the heavens; heaven is glad, because it has not lost its God whom it had, and has received the man whom it did not have. The earth rejoices that the Son of God came down from heaven; but heaven exults no less that the Son of Man has ascended from earth. “He sat,” it says, “at the right hand of the Father.” How necessary it was, dearly beloved, that man's flesh, which had long been captive under the dominion of sin, should receive the freedom of living there where guilt cannot pass! The Saviour, then, ascended to the Father, both that he himself might take possession of the rule that was his due and that the hope of the promised eternity might remain whole for us. Nor should we doubt, brothers, this ascent of the Lord whom we preach. For if Elijah, once God's servant, for the merits of his chastity and faith was lifted up to heaven in a fiery chariot with horses of fire, why should we not believe with all devotion that our Christ could pass beyond the heavens, who is both the Word and the will of the everlasting Father? Of him indeed it was said by the Holy Spirit: “Kingdoms of the earth, sing psalms to the Lord, who ascended above the heaven of heavens toward the east”; and again: “The Lord has prepared his throne in heaven, and his kingdom will rule over all”; and elsewhere: “The Lord ascended above the heavens and thunders.” Or how could he not be received into heaven who was calling the human race to heaven? Let us exult, then, dearly beloved, and rejoice, because we know that our Redeemer is there whence he can both watch over and govern all things, and because he has placed man, snatched from the underworld, there where no tree of the knowledge of good and evil holds out deadly fruit, but the fullness of saving and simple goodness dwells.

How great and how unsearchable in his works the almighty Only-begotten of God is, the greatness of his ineffable mysteries declares: he who, having taken up the battle against the prince of the world, by fighting in man and conquering through man, made the inhabitant of heaven lord of the earth. He also exposed that body of our lowliness, which he took, fragile, from a woman, to the various injuries of persecutors, and even allowed it to be fixed to the cross; and today, the eternal gates being lifted, he carried it with him to the Father. Indeed, through the teaching of blessed David we have learned that these things were foretold to mortals as the powers of heaven conversed among themselves. For he says: “Lift up your gates, O princes, and be lifted up, O everlasting gates, and the King of glory shall come in.” Rightly, dearly beloved, were the everlasting gates lifted, because a wonderful entrance to the heights was being prepared for the most glorious King and Lord of eternity. It is announced, then, through the patriarch who was also a prophet, that the everlasting gates were lifted, so that we may notice that, with Christ going before, heaven now lies open to mortals. Those gates will lie open, dearly beloved, to the faithful, and will always lie open, which the Saviour, going ahead to the Father after conquering death and triumphing over the devil, opened. And to those who marvel and ask who this King of glory is, the answer is given at once: “The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle.” Mighty, then, because strong. And so indeed is that power to be proclaimed which rests not on others' strength but stands in all things by its own might; which our Lord and Redeemer did not usurp by ambition, did not buy by trading in gifts, did not seek by any flattery, but possessed by perfect and simple virtue. For because he was obedient to the Father unto the death of the cross, as the Apostle says, “he gave him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, on earth, and under the earth.” For when it says here, “The Lord strong and mighty,” it is not a second power of Christ from the Father that is praised, but the unconquered strength of the new man. For it was no great thing for him to be called strong through whom all things were created and who proceeded almighty from the Almighty. “Strong,” then, “and mighty in battle” is the Lord. Strong, not because he mightily killed his enemies, but because he was patiently killed for us. Mighty, because amid the reproaches and torments of his sufferings, conscious of so great power in himself, he would not display his might, so that he might fulfil the ministry of redemption. For “though he was in the form of God, he did not think it robbery to be equal with God, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave.” So he is strong, mighty, and glorious. Strong, while he is not conquered by the devil in the encounter. Mighty, while, about to subdue death, he broke the bars of the underworld. Glorious, while, having blotted out by his spotless blood the bond of our captivity drawn from the law, he ascended to the seat of the Father's glory, to be adored by all the powers of heaven. What, then, is the depth of this sacrament, how unsearchable the secret of the divine working, that he who came forth from the Father before the ages and he who came forth from a woman at the end of the times became one God? And this for this reason: that, since the Only-begotten was undivided from the Father, man might have in the Only-begotten of God a sharing in the Father's immortality. Therefore, brothers, let us so confess that the Lord ascended into heaven as not to believe that we have been left without him, because at the moment of his ascension he said to the apostles: “See, I am with you all days until the consummation of the age.” For he who so descended from the Father as to remain inseparable with the Father has surely so ascended from earth to heaven as not to leave the world. For such is the omnipotence of our God, such and so unlimited his power, that every creature everywhere has him present because of his immensity. To him be honour and glory for ages of ages. Amen.

Our Lord Jesus Christ, about to depart from this region of the shadow of death, so as to console his apostles, whom he had earlier taught as most beloved in faith, for his necessary absence, [promised] the Holy Spirit, who has one and the same will with him and the Father … [Fifteen lines are missing in the original, the letters having worn away.] Tartarus with its prince grieves over its plundering, while the whole heavenly host rejoices over the restoration of its loss. Today the flesh which he had taken on earth from the Virgin Mother by the working power of the Holy Spirit has been placed at the Father's right hand, and the natures of all the heavenly spirits are bowed to it. Today that new way of which the Apostle once spoke has been opened for us, because through that most blessed flesh of Christ the eternal entrance to heaven, through which no flesh had passed before, has been unlocked for us. Today that book which no one but the Lamb could open has been unsealed, since in his death the sacraments of that book were revealed; and the things found written of him in the law and the prophets have been fulfilled today, the dispensation of his majesty being completed. Christ came down first so as to become a sharer in our nature; he ascends now so as to make us sharers in his glory. Coming down, visible in a wonderful way of life, he gladdened the infants with miracles. Ascending, he gave gifts to men, so that, taught in faith and brought up to manly strength, they might no longer seek his temporal sight, but might strive with all the effort of their souls to follow him whither he had gone before them. Since, then, we have been bereaved of his temporal presence, let us hasten with all our intention to the eternal sight of him, and say to him with the Psalmist: “To you my heart has said: I have sought your face; your face, O Lord, I will seek; do not turn your face away from me.” For the whole most holy dispensation of Christ's humanity aims at and requires nothing else but to direct us to things above, so that, when the time of our mortality is completed, he may lead us to the open sight of himself and satisfy us with the eternal glory of his face; as the Apostle testifies: “We shall see him then as he is”; and, as the Psalmist says: “I shall be satisfied when your glory appears”; and we shall enjoy for ever those good things “which eye has not seen nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man, which God has prepared for those who love him.” These good things holy David contemplated with wonder, as far as he could in a riddle, when he said: “What have I in heaven, and what have I wished from you on earth?” For he could neither unfold the greatness of heavenly glory by speaking nor comprehend it by thinking. Let us not only hunger for these things but also thirst for them, since for this the high priest, our forerunner, ascended for us into the holy of holies and sits at the right hand of his Father, so as to confirm our hope by the example of his members: that the lowliness of the whole flock will one day come where it believes its shepherd has gone before. For so the Lord himself promised his apostles, saying: “Where the body is, there the eagles will be gathered.” For he calls eagles the saints who long to be dissolved and to be with Christ. For the nature of eagles is said to be such that when they scent carcasses across the waves of the sea, they betake themselves there in swift flight to satisfy their hunger. This hunger of eagles signifies the desire of holy souls, by which, perceiving with the nostrils of faith their Head, already set in highest rest beyond the whirlwinds of the world, they would by the flight of sweetest hope stand in the presence of their Creator and rejoice in being filled with his face. … Let us believe that he reigns at the right hand of his Father, and let us always strive toward him as with the twin wings of the virtues, love and hope. But so that we too may reign with him in eternal life, we … [Five lines are missing in the original.] so that, cleansed from all vices, we may merit to be made a dwelling of God, who may always remain in us. The end.

How great is the care of almighty God for the salvation of mortals the very frequent sacraments of our solemnities declare. For first of all, so that human nature might pass into heavenly glory, the divine substance took up the body of mortal man; and so as to prepare us for this great blessedness by the grace of the mystical washing, the Lord consecrated by his baptism the streams of the whole world, and the blessing of his sacred body gave to all waters everywhere the power of regenerating. Then, so that the just Lord might triumph in a just contest over the devil himself, the enemy of our salvation and of his will, he allowed himself to be crucified by him, by his own will and his Father's, so that the passion of the spotless one might become the condemnation of his persecutors. By dying, too, Christ made himself equal to mortals, so that, having overcome death, he might restore the life of mortals. He also climbed the heights of heaven, so as to confirm by the example sent ahead of his wonderful ascension the hope of believers, which he had nourished by gentle promise. But since all these gifts seemed in a manner to have been brought to us specially through the Only-begotten of God, the Holy Spirit too, whose saving coming we celebrate today, so as to show himself of the same will and Godhead as the Son of God, filled by the power of his majesty those redeemed by the blood of Christ; so that he who in the womb of blessed Mary had formed the body of the new man, her virginity preserved, might also strengthen the hearts of his apostles with heavenly vigour and enrich their tongues with new eloquence; so that the same Spirit who had wonderfully brought forth Christ from a woman's womb for the redemption of all might, by granting a variety of tongues, preach him to all nations through the apostles. Who would not notice, dearly beloved, that the Only-begotten of God and the Holy Spirit have a will in agreement in all things, since those whom Christ chose on earth the Spirit visited from heaven? And so, of those whose one grace we see in the apostles, we must believe one power also in the Godhead. So indeed the Paraclete filled the breasts of the apostles that Christ's presence was not lacking either; for those whose gifts are undivided certainly have an inseparable Godhead. That the Spirit enters those in whom Christ dwells does not add an increase to the Godhead but advances faith in the unity. The Son of God, who had created the use of speech, could certainly have given his disciples a diversity of tongues; but the power was reserved by which the Spirit too would be proved to be true God. For this, as we believe, is the dispensation of the incomprehensible Trinity: that while the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit work all things together inseparably by the effect of the same Godhead, certain things are nonetheless attributed specially to each. For as a remedy for our life the Father bestowed on us the Son; the Son granted the grace of regeneration; the Spirit supplied power; as the teaching of the psalm-singing patriarch announces when he says: “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made firm, and by the Spirit of his mouth all their power.” And how necessary it was that the Spirit gave the apostles to know the languages of the nations, so that all the Gentile world could hear through them the truth of saving faith! But what the Spirit grants, the Father also grants, [the Son,] who has all with the Father, [and the Spirit,] who always proceeds wholly from the Father. And what the Spirit grants with the Father, the Son also grants, since the Son is born of the same Father from whom the Spirit too proceeds. For Christ says: “All that the Father has is mine.” If all that the Father has is the Son's, then what the Spirit has is common with the Father and the Son. And so, of those in whose name there is no division, one will and power must be believed in every work. So, then, the Trinity accomplishes the heavenly sacraments in its faithful, that though the working seems distinguished, the command is proved undivided. One Godhead, then, belongs to the Son and the Holy Spirit with the Father; by which, as none but God could be born of God, so there is no doubt that he is God who proceeds from God. But how from one and the same Father both the Son, who was, was born, and the Spirit, who was not born, proceeds, is known to the Godhead alone, which, as it is unique, knows itself. For no one, as we have read, knows the Father except the Son. What the Son knows, then, the Spirit also knows, who has one name and one Godhead with the Son and the Father. He, as the apostle Paul says, “searches the depths of God.” The Spirit is said to search the depths of God, not as though he seemed to probe things hidden and concealed from himself in another, but so that you may notice that the things of God are unsearchable to you. Understand, then, brother, that no one can know the depths of the Father except the Son, who is from him, and the Spirit, who is from him. And do not try to strain toward what no one is permitted to see. For it is right to believe of him that he is; it is not permitted to investigate how that which he is, is. The apostles, then, received a diversity of tongues through the Holy Spirit; but one is the God whom they speak. And for this they took up a variety of tongues: so that the diversity of the nations might learn the unity of the faith in manifold speech. Indeed, as we have read, when most blessed Peter preached, three thousand men believed. Nor let this be incredible to us, because the same Spirit both taught the apostles' tongues to speak what was to be believed and prepared the hearts of the hearers so that the apostles might be believed as they preached. He who gave sense to the speakers granted understanding to the hearers, so that there is no doubt that the power in the mouth of the speakers and in the heart of the believers is one. In these things, dearly beloved, the work is visible but the worker invisible; the effect of the power is plain, but the majesty of the doer hidden. Most rightly, then, does the Spirit announce the victory and faith of Christ, who had promised his coming through the prophets, who was present in the virgin womb, who was present as a dove at his baptism with the testimony of the Father's voice. Believing, then, that the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are always of one will and work, and united also by the bond of Christian peace, let us direct the paths of our life according to the divine commands, so that we may merit the fullness of God's grace and the visitation of the Holy Spirit by soundness of faith and by the conduct of our actions, etc.