Sermons of Maximus of Turin (Bruni's collection) 71.1–78.1

Although, dearest brothers, the whole world is amazed with us at the passion which on this present day triumphed over the faithlessness of the age, yet the Roman Church marvels with special joy at the courage of her foster-son. For she ought to rejoice above the others, who, ennobled by such blood, possesses in a manner the special dignity of a native martyr. He, then, while he was performing the office of archdeacon in the apostolic see, and the greedy persecutor was pressing him to hand over the vessels dedicated to the heavenly mysteries, gathered a multitude of the needy, and that most faithful man mercifully distributed what the sacrilegious man was seeking to turn into plunder; and the singular man preferred to undergo the movements and onslaughts of imperial power rather than that the venerable vessels of the ministry should be betrayed through him to impious eyes. At this most religious deed of his, pagan fury at once blazed with unmeasured cruelty, and, seizing him, at once had him placed on a gridiron over fires, to test the vigour of his devoted mind by the burning of his body. For a most faithful breast, which the fervour of the Spirit had already kindled to all the strength of the age, does not know how to yield to a mortal fire. Why, perhaps, pagan, do you rage? Why do you meditate vain things? Your fire is not a punishment to Lawrence but a light; your flame, by which you think he is tortured, is the testing of truth, not the pitiable lot of a Christian. For that the divine power permits his little servants to suffer such things, brothers, belongs to the eternal majesty and its secret counsel, so that all unbelief may recognize that our faith rests on all truth. Whose possession is so secure that it laughs at the raging world and glories in the very tortures of its body. Lawrence is burned for confessing the true God; and while he endures the flames of the world, he puts out for himself the perpetual burning of Gehenna. O torment desirable to all the faithful, by which all that punishment of the dreadful judgment is undone! O longed-for fire, by which everlasting refreshment is obtained for devout minds! Lawrence's flesh is discoloured by the fires, but the martyr's soul is adorned; the body is ruined, but the spirit grows strong; and the corruption of the members sends the rejoicing soul to God, so that it might more gloriously re-form, by the privilege of the victorious soul, the body that did not yield to tortures for the truth. But let us see now with what patience of faith Saint Lawrence endured the torments of the flames. While, then, with the fire multiplied, he is broken by the scorching of red-hot iron, and while, driven by the dreadful torture, he is thought already to be failing, he suddenly burst out in the voice of one indignant and laughing: “Turn me over,” he said; “king, eat; it is cooked.” With what shame, I ask, was the most cruel torturer confounded, when he was not only honoured by no prayer from a man set amid tortures, but was rebuked by the reproof of one mocking him! And how great a laughing-stock Lawrence made of him, that, when he had taken away from him the food of a rich meal, he offered him the food of his own roasted body! These, then, brothers, are the merits of Lawrence, this the glory of his martyrdom. He enriched the poor, did not lose the sacred vessels, mocked the fires, and, leaving the world a victor, condemned the persecutor's madness with a triumphant voice.

Since, dearly beloved, the sum of all virtues and the fullness of all righteousness are born of that love by which God and neighbour are loved, in no one indeed is this love found to excel more loftily and shine more brightly than in the most blessed martyrs, who closely imitated the Lord Jesus Christ, who died for all men, both in the ardour of love and in the work of suffering. For though no one's kindness can equal that love by which the Lord redeemed us—because it is one thing for a man to die for a righteous man, being destined to die by his own necessity; another to fall for the ungodly, being free of the debt of death—yet the martyrs too have conferred much on all men, whose courage the Lord, the giver of it, so used that he willed the penalty of death and the cruelty of the cross to be terrible to none and made them imitable for many. If, then, no good man is good for himself alone, and wisdom is not a friend to any wise man only for himself; and this is the nature of true virtues, that whoever is bright with their light leads many away from dark error; there is no more useful pattern for instructing God's people than the unconquered patience of the martyrs. Reasoning is easy for entreating and effective for persuading; but examples are stronger than words, and it is more to teach by deed than by voice. In this most excellent kind of teaching, with what glorious dignity blessed Lawrence the martyr, by whose passion this day is famous, is strong, even his persecutors could perceive. With what wonderful fortitude of soul he was endowed, conceived principally from love of Christ, which not only did not itself yield but strengthened others by the example of his endurance! For when pagan fury was raging against all the choicest members of Christ, and especially attacking those of the priestly order, the impious persecutor boiled over against the deacon Lawrence, who was pre-eminent not only in the ministry of the sacraments but also in the stewardship of the Church's property. He sets before himself a double prey in one man: if he could, he would make him a betrayer of the sacred money and also an outcast from the true religion. So the man greedy for money and enemy of truth is armed with a twin torch: with avarice, to seize the gold; with impiety, to take away Christ. He demands of the spotless sacred minister the Church's wealth, which he was gaping most greedily to have brought to him. That most chaste deacon, showing where he kept them stored, presented countless flocks of holy poor, in whose food and clothing he had laid up resources that could not be lost. These were the more wholly safe, the more holily they were proved to have been spent. The robber, cheated, rages, and, burning with hatred of the religion that had established such a use of riches, sets about plundering a more precious treasure; with him in whom he had found no wealth of coins, he would take away that deposit with which he was rich: he orders Lawrence to renounce, and prepares to press that most solid fortitude of the deacon's soul with dreadful tortures; and when the first do not prevail, harsher ones follow: he ordered the torn limbs, cut by many strokes of the scourge, to be roasted over a fire beneath, so that on an iron grid, which from continuous heating already had in itself the power to burn, by the alternate turning of the members the torture might become fiercer and the punishment longer. You gain nothing, you achieve nothing, savage cruelty; while Lawrence is lifted up into heaven, you fail with your flames. The flame of Christ's love could not be overcome, and the fire that burned outside was weaker than the one that kindled within. You raged against the martyr, persecutor, and increased his palm while you heaped up his punishment. For what did your ingenuity not find for the victor's glory, when even the instruments of torture passed into the honour of his triumph? Let us rejoice, then, dearly beloved, with spiritual joy at the most happy end of the renowned man. Let us glory in the Lord, who is wonderful in his saints, in whom he has set us a defence and an example. And so he has glorified his glory throughout the whole world that from the rising of the sun to its setting the lights of the deacons' lamps flash out, and as Jerusalem was made glorious by Stephen, so Rome was made illustrious by Lawrence. By his prayer and patronage we trust that we shall be helped without ceasing, so that, since all, as the Apostle says, who wish to live godly in Christ suffer persecution, we may be strengthened by the spirit of love and fortified by the constancy of steadfast faith to overcome all temptations. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with the Father and with the Holy Spirit for ages of ages. Amen.

When pagan impiety, dearest brothers, had often been conquered by the virtues of innumerable martyrs, and, having exhausted every kind of punishment, saw that the people of God not only could not be overcome but was made stronger by its tortures, it was kindled by the torches of its fury and set about tormenting most blessed Lawrence with flames. But the most cruel persecutor found in him a fire which a mortal flame could not conquer. For he had kindled the breast of the most faithful martyr, of whom the Lord said: “I came to cast fire on the earth, and what do I want but that it be kindled?” The bravest of men so patiently endured those flames and so bravely overcame them that, while the executioner raged and his members were wholly burned, he neither denied Christ nor betrayed the vessels consecrated to the heavenly mysteries. In this, who could estimate the confidence of his mind, the vigour of his soul? He, in so great a bitterness of torture, neither made public the secret of the holy Church to impious eyes nor was forced to deny the name of his Redeemer. But notice into what execrable ferocity of cruel spirit the persecutor blazed, who, as if flame alone could not suffice for burning a human body—flame which, blazing up from the fires beneath, would torture the minister of God more fiercely—under the appearance of one torment, by a kind of doubled torture, tormented the most blessed martyr with both fire and iron. But earthly burning wastes away completely where the heavenly soul grows warm with the fervour of the Holy Spirit. Nor is he conquered by red-hot iron who calls upon the Creator of iron to help him in his contest. And so it came about that from unheard-of torments a new victory was born for the Christian soldier. Nor should it trouble us, brothers, that so much is permitted to the pagans against God's saints; this power is allowed them for this reason: that the more cruelly they rage, the more gloriously they are triumphed over in the martyrs.

Not undeservedly, dearest brothers, with a special celebration and a very crowded gathering, do you show particular honour to the most blessed martyr Cyprian, whom the excellence of his earlier life raised to the summit of the highest priesthood, and whose faithful ministry as bishop lifted him to the palm of martyrdom. It is truly pleasing and fitting that the Church, which glories no less in his teaching than in his blood, should honour the memory of his confession with more devout honour to Christ. For what among churchmen is holier than a martyr? Brighter than a teacher? Loftier than a priest? “Precious,” says blessed David, “in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.” With how great veneration, then, brothers, is he to be honoured here by the faithful, whose death was not only precious in the sight of the Lord, but whose life, in the abundance of faith, was rich and whose speech was most wealthy? Rightly, I think, is his life called rich, whose holy conduct rejoiced in a wealth of good morals and in a treasury of various virtues. Nor is his speech unfittingly called most wealthy and splendid, whose eloquence shone with such light that amid the threats of the wicked and the terrors of persecutors he raised up the faithful, strengthened the doubtful, refuted the unbelieving. For he could be called away by no fear from teaching that faith for which, secure in Christ's promise, he did not dread to be killed. And what confidence of faith he had, and what courage! What constancy! He not only armed himself against the onslaught of the world with the vigour of a noble mind, but, by building up the hope of future blessedness, taught many of the faithful not to fear death. Hence it appears, dearly beloved, with how great brightness he now shines among the angelic choirs, who is both wonderful by his own passion and glorious by the confessions of others. For so great were the ornaments of his spiritual words, and so forceful the severity of his heavenly sentences, that his exhortation moved the minds of believers more than the sword of the raging enemy. And what shall I say of blessed Cornelius? For whom this suffices for every praise: that he adorned the apostolic see, which he deservedly obtained, with the gift of his venerable blood.

Of what merit, dearest brothers, blessed Cyprian is, and of what glory, both his venerable martyrdom and his teaching, known to all, testify. For he needs no outside praises, whom the magnificence of his own speech makes illustrious among all men. Indeed, so that so great a man might reach our age too, the monuments of his admirable eloquence have brought it about; for while, as their usual teacher, he instructed the peoples entrusted to him in the observance of the heavenly commands, he transmitted his life and faith to posterity. That this is so every studious person recognizes with me, since in his books one notices how great a purity of chastity, holiness of goodness, and greatness of faith were in him. For while he chastises the vices of sinners with severe rebuke and follows the merits of the saints with fitting praise, he reveals the heavenly discipline present in his heart. Hence without doubt he is one of those brothers of whom it was said through the prophet: “Their sound has gone out into all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world.” The sound of most blessed Cyprian went out into all the earth, since under the whole heaven both the glory of his passion has become known and the trumpet of his most brilliant tongue has sounded. And truly the blast of the trumpet of his speech rang out when he kindled with the sound of heavenly eloquence the Church of God, fighting a spiritual battle against the threats and terrors of the pagans; and, lest he should seem to arm God's people for contempt of the present life more eloquently than bravely, he trampled on death, which he had taught by preaching was not to be feared, by undergoing the passion for Christ's name; and so it came about that he challenged every believer to undergo torments for religion not only by the exhortation of holy words but by the bravest example of his own blood. Truly is he to be venerated by all and by the whole world, who with all the perfection of divine virtue both proclaimed and fulfilled the work.

[Editor's note: We add here a fragment of another sermon of Saint Maximus on Saint Cyprian, which is found published by Muratori after the sermon on Saint Lawrence, Anecdota, vol. 4, p. 65.] … he kept; he urged peace in words, preserved peace in heart, rejected all vices with his holy mouth and condemned them with a holier mind; so he cut back the sprouting thorns of various crimes with the sharpest blade of his tongue that he cut them off still more by the integrity of a blameless life. He was also, as a truly spiritual master, bitter to vices and gentle to virtues, and he seasoned the tranquillity of the sinner in his care with the medicine of a sharper remedy, so that those whom the mildness of his goodness did not restrain the severity of his rebuking tongue might terrify. So he softened his sharpness with the sweetness of mingled gentleness, as boiling water is often tempered by a trickle of cold water. Some, indeed, harder in mind, he wounded with the saving darts of his armed mouth, so that spiritual wounds might help those whom gentle care could not profit. And this in the manner of a most skilled physician, who, when he has found deadly ulcers deeply settled in a man's body, though he is good and kindly, takes on as it were cruelty and attacks with the knife to cut away the harmful rottenness of dead flesh; and he does not spare the highest art of healing, so that he may spare; he is angry so as to help, and for the need of his patient puts on severity so as to heal; for the most wise Solomon also says: “The wounds of a friend are sweeter than the willing kisses of an enemy.” This life, this spirit both advanced most blessed Cyprian to the priesthood and consecrated him to martyrdom. This perfection of mind and speech made him famous to the world and glorious to heaven. “Precious,” it says, “in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.” Rightly, brothers, did venerable Cyprian's death become precious, which he purchased from the Lord his God at the manifold price of his virtues. Truly precious was his death, by whose trade he bought for himself the inheritance of heaven and an eternal kingdom. And so, dearly beloved, let us celebrate this magnificent martyrdom of his with all devotion and reverence, because a rich life, a most wealthy tongue and a precious death raise him to all that glory in Christ our Lord, who, etc.

How great is the greatness of Christian faith, and what its confidence, we must learn especially from this: that among the wonderful gifts of the heavenly promises a festive joy arises for us from the death of the saints. For it is the reckoning not of our nature but of religion that the death of a man, where God is the cause of dying, saddens the minds of unbelievers and gladdens Christian hearts. That is why the deaths of slain martyrs are kept in the Church of God as their true birthday, because by a new order of birth they are born to a new life of heaven with death in labour. For in a death of this kind, which comes for the truth of saving faith, because the living and true God is believed, by the hope of a better age carnal affection is driven far away: the father has no mourning, the mother does not wail, the son consoles his sighs, the brother repels grief, the husband forswears sadness, and the wife tramples on her affection for her beloved spouse. For the heat of earthly love yields, it yields, where the flame of divine love has kindled the Christian's mind. Kindled indeed by this fire, most ardent Cyprian despised his priesthood and his life in the passion, so that the passion might now make him a more glorious priest of Christ. What is more magnificent than this man, whose death is no less to be admired than his life? For he had faithful confession in speech and wonderful martyrdom in confession. There was in him a simple agreement and an undivided fellowship of heart and tongue; for whatever the Spirit of his heart brought to his mouth, his holy tongue dictated to all who heard, as the Saviour says: “A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things.” And who can have a good treasure in a mortal heart but one whose breast Christ inhabits, as the most glorious Paul taught, saying: “We have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the excellence of the power may be of God and not from us.” This, brothers, is the treasure of a good heart, which makes the mouth of God's servants good and the tongue rich. This is the treasure at whose price every believer buys for himself a blessed seat in paradise and an eternal kingdom. With this treasure venerable Cyprian enriched every believer by the flowing generosity of his tongue, yet he himself, while he is read by all, feels no poverty of his riches. For so great is the abundance of this treasure that the receiver obtains the whole and the giver loses nothing, in the manner of a burning lamp, which gives its flame to lamps brought near it and yet itself remains without loss of the light passed on. It is a thing, brothers, of a new miracle: to give what you have and not lose it by giving; to pour out the whole and feel no lack. Therefore most blessed Cyprian is to be celebrated by the devotion of all the faithful, who, by giving to the peoples what he had and keeping what he gave, both exalted his praiseworthy life with most brilliant speech and consecrated it with most precious blood, so that the courage of the sufferer might show the whole world the faith of the follower. Most rightly is that saying of David spoken of him: “His mouth will meditate wisdom, and his tongue will speak judgment, and the law of his God is in his heart.” In the perfection of his priesthood his heart was surely holy, his mouth wise; Cyprian's tongue was indeed terrible, which pressed upon sinners both the integrity of his breast and those fearful judgments of almighty God; he so poured himself wholly into holy speech that he left nothing at all in the secret of his breast to lie hidden. For every learned man lies hidden, hidden within himself, unless a tongue skilled in speaking reveals the wisdom of his heart. What was not outstanding, what not wonderful in that man in whose mouth was wisdom, in whose tongue judgment, in whose heart remained the law of God, which is the mother of righteousness? Nor idly, dearly beloved, did the following order of the same psalm add: “And his steps will not be supplanted.” Cyprian's footsteps were truly not supplanted, because the law of God flourishes in his heart. He who meditates heavenly wisdom and divine judgment in his mouth and tongue, his steps cannot feel a fall. Or what time of sin, what moment could the devil's stealth ever find in one whose mouth and tongue, through every space of night and day, savours and speaks the will of God, according to what was said by the prophet: “And on his law he will meditate day and night”? Believe, brothers, that his feet will never be moved among the adversities of this world whose breast does not turn aside from the path of true faith. And since most blessed Cyprian possessed every kind of virtue, as priest, as just man, as wise man, standing with unshaken foot he could not be moved in his passion. And hence it is that from one and the same man we hold both an unstumbling rule of right living and a most brave example of martyrdom. For he taught us to live for God and die for God not only by word but confirmed it by deed.

Some days ago, when we were celebrating the birthday of the most blessed martyr Cyprian, we were most sweetly gladdened at his feast; because, since he suffered at this time of the grape harvest, we too, as from a vintage, gathered sweet and various fruits from his passion. For he fattened and refreshed us with the new wine of his martyrdom. For it is new wine that refreshes and inebriates the Christian, but that drunkenness makes him rather more sober: for whoever is inebriated with heavenly grace is sobered from the burden of sins. Filled with this new wine, the holy apostles, as Scripture says, spoke the mighty works of God in foreign tongues. In this event they seemed at once drunk and sober: they were thought drunk because speech beyond nature sounded loudly in them; they were sober because, according to the custom of their mind, they praised God with devotion. That the holy men spoke in a foreign tongue did not come about from any pride or shamelessness, but was done by the providence of the Godhead; so that, because one language is not enough to magnify God, the devotion of the mind might be poured out through many tongues. We were gladdened, then, because we received the fruit of refreshment from the vineyard of the Lord of hosts. For “the vineyard of the Lord of hosts,” as the prophet says, “is the house of Israel”; and that house is we. For according to faith we are Israelites; hence the Apostle says: “Those who are of faith, these are sons of Abraham.” Since, then, we are Israel, we are the Lord's vineyard: let us see carefully that from the branch of our work there is not born a grape of gall rather than of sweetness; lest it be said to us what was said to the Jews: “I waited for it to make grapes, but it made thorns; not righteousness, but an outcry.” How hard a condition, that the property which ought to have brought its Lord the fruit of sweetness pricked him with the roughness of thorns—that is, they crowned him with the suffering of thorns. That crown, as far as the Jews were concerned, was a crown of [mockery; but in truth of] virtues. Hence holy Scripture says: “They looked on him whom they pierced.” See, then, brothers, that it is not said to you too: “I waited for it to make grapes, but it made thorns”; and that the thorns which the Jews put on the Lord with bloody hands we do not put on him with wicked thoughts, piercing him not with the roughness of briars but with the depravity of works. For there are thorns of the heart, which are accustomed to wound even the word of God, of which the Saviour makes mention in the Gospel, saying that the sower's seed fell among thorns, and they grew up and choked what was sown. What these thorns are he himself goes on to say: namely, worldly cares, which, when they grow in a man's heart, choke the commands of the Saviour in him. For who that was ever anxious about the world could be anxious about Christ? Who, while he provides for the profits of his house, could provide for the benefit of the Church? Hence the Apostle says: “He who is without a wife is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to please God; but he who is with a wife is anxious about the things of the world, how to please his wife.” See, then, brothers, that your vineyard does not make thorns instead of grapes, that your vintage does not bring vinegar instead of wine. For whoever gathers his vintage and does not give to the poor gathers vinegar, not wine. Whoever stores his harvests and does not minister to the needy has laid up not the fruits of nourishment but has gathered the thistles of avarice; for that is why Scripture says of our earth: “Thorns and thistles it will bring forth for you.”

Whenever, brothers, we celebrate the martyrdoms of the saints, so often do we speak the praises of the Saviour; and as often as we declare their passion, so often do we proclaim the glory of Christ. For we do not look up to what they suffered, but marvel at him for whose sake they suffered. Not the punishment, then, is in the praise, but the faith in the honour. We magnify the martyrs, then, not because they underwent heavy tortures, but because they bore those same tortures for righteousness' sake. For we have seen very many criminals suffer worse punishments, but these profit them nothing, because the cause justifies the martyrs, while their own conscience condemns the criminals. The blessed martyrs, then, are to be held in the highest and foremost place because of their faith. And see what place they merit among men, who have merited a place under the altar before God. For holy Scripture says: “I saw under the altar of God the souls of those slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held, and they cried out,” and so on. “Under the altar of God,” it says, “the souls of the slain.” What can be said more reverent, what more honourable, than to rest under that altar on which sacrifice is celebrated to God, on which victims are offered, on which the Lord is priest, as it is written: “You are a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.” Rightly, then, are the martyrs placed under the altar, because Christ is laid upon the altar. Rightly do the souls of the righteous rest under the altar, because the Lord's body is offered upon the altar. Nor is it undeserved that vengeance for blood is asked there for the righteous, where Christ's blood is also poured out for sinners. Fittingly, then, and as by a kind of fellowship, burial has been appointed for the martyrs there where the Lord's death is celebrated daily, as he himself says: “As often as you do these things, you will proclaim my death until I come.” That is, those who died because of his death rest in the mystery of his sacrament. Not undeservedly, I say, as by a kind of fellowship, is the tomb of the slain set there where the members of the Lord's slaying are laid, so that those whom the cause of one passion had bound with Christ the reverence of one place might also join. We read that many of the righteous are cherished in Abraham's bosom, some rejoice in the pleasantness of paradise; yet none merited better than the martyrs, namely to rest where Christ is both victim and priest; so that they may obtain both propitiation from the offering of the victim and receive the blessing and service of the priest. Among the other martyrs, then, whom we proclaim stand under the altar of God, blessed Cyprian too stands by, so as to pursue the vengeance of all with more abundant eloquence. For we must not doubt that in martyrdom he prays for more things than the others, who as a priest wrote more things than the others. And though he has received with all the robe of splendid reward, yet perhaps he ceases speaking less, the more he understands he merits. To them, then, as they ask for vengeance, it is said, after the gift has been given, that they should rest and wait until the number of their fellow servants is fulfilled, and so on. You see, then, that the martyrs' vengeance is deferred because of us. For while we delay, their blood is unavenged. But this happens through our sloth, who do not live religiously as is fitting, who do not act piously as is proper. For if the righteousness of our good works went ahead to God, the number of fellow servants that is awaited would already be fulfilled. There is no doubt that the martyrs will receive their vengeance after the judgment, who even after the judgment are honoured with heavenly rewards.