Tractates of Maximus of Turin (Bruni's collection) 1.1–4.1

Every word of God, brothers, ought to be heard with all attention and diligence of mind, but this one especially which we are going to address to your love today. For that is why, having now dismissed the catechumens, we have kept you alone to hear: because, besides those things which it befits all Christians to keep in common, we are going to speak specially of the heavenly mysteries, which none can hear except those who, by the Lord's gift, have already received them. With so much the greater reverence, then, you ought to hear what we say, as these things which are entrusted only to the baptized and faithful hearers are greater than those which even catechumens are accustomed to hear. And you ought not to wonder, dearest brothers, that in the midst of the mysteries themselves we said nothing to you about the mysteries, that we did not at once interpret what we handed on. For we gave to things so holy and divine the honour of silence, and in the midst of those sacred rites of the mysteries we ceased from the office of teaching, so that we might venerate the more by keeping silent so great a majesty of divine grace, which cannot be worthily unfolded by any human voices. But since your love must be instructed and taught in all things, now that the order of the mysteries is completed we explain to you what we handed on before, lest, while you understand less the dignity of the divine mystery, you should think it less precious. But if you understand it, you will see that all things believed precious in this world are most cheap in comparison with so great a sacrament. Let each of you, then, recall the individual rites of the mysteries which by the Lord's gift you obtained through our ministry; and the things which you then received simply and faithfully, now understand prudently, so that you may be better able to keep what you have understood. First of all we certainly anointed your ears with the oil of blessing; but learn for what reason this is done by all catholic priests of Christ according to the tradition of the Church. The entrance of faith and of all holy doctrine into the soul is admitted through the ears, and understanding arises from hearing. For no one can know the sacraments of faith unless he hears one who preaches, as the blessed Apostle affirms, saying: "How will they hear without a preacher?" and again: "So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of God." Rightly, then, the organs of that sense are sanctified with that oil without which faith cannot reach the soul. At the same time those who are about to come to baptism are reminded to keep their ears undefiled by every evil and base word to the end, and, as though deaf, not to hear one who slanders his neighbour or speaks obscene and immodest things; fulfilling that saying of divine Scripture which says: "Hedge your ears with thorns, and do not listen to a wicked tongue." And elsewhere: "Do not believe an empty report." And again: "Give your heart to instruction, and prepare your ear for words of prudence." The holy anointing applied to the ears, then, signifies that they should turn away from and flee all words outside discipline, as speaking against the teaching of Christ, and turn themselves to hearing only the words of God, because, the oil having been smeared on, they have kept their hearing for the words of Christ. For the Saviour himself speaks to the Father and glories in the obedience of the people who believe in him, saying: "Sacrifice and offering you did not wish, but ears you have perfected for me." For the ears of Christ's faithful are truly perfected when they desire to hear nothing but Christ and the things that are Christ's. Hence in the Gospel the same Lord, when he spoke of the mystery of the heavenly kingdom, used to say: "He who has ears to hear, let him hear." For though it is common to all to have ears, yet it is not common to have ears to hear. For whoever despise the words of God, though they cannot despise them unless they hear them first, yet because they despise what they hear, they are not even said to have heard, because they look down on what they have heard as though unheard. And so these have ears, not those which are called ears to hear, but ears which hear so as not to hear; that is, so that they despise the things they have heard as though, as we said, never heard. But only those are said by Christ to have ears to hear who, when they hear with the ears, commend it firmly to the mind, and carry out in works what they have entrusted to the mind. Of hearers of this kind the Lord speaks in the Gospel: "But blessed are your eyes, which see, and your ears, which hear." And again: "Everyone who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house upon the rock; and the rain came down, and the floods came, and the winds blew and came against that house, and it did not fall, for it was founded upon firm rock." Again, of those who hear badly, who have ears indeed but not for obeying, he pronounces thus: "Everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house upon the sand; and the rain came down, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was its fall." You see, then, how great a difference there is between one who hears well and one who hears badly; that is, between him who keeps the words of God and him who has heard them and despises them as though never heard. To him who obeys and does, wisdom is ascribed; to him who has despised, folly. The one builds on a solid foundation; the other's building is described as vain and, without a foundation, easily falling. There is stability, here ruin, and great ruin. For no one falls more heavily than he who, having heard the word of God, turns to sins, for which eternal punishments are prepared. But you, after your ears were smeared with blessed oil, have been marked in the number of wise hearers; so that, rightly keeping the words of God, that is, fulfilling what you have heard, you may hear Christ saying to you on the day of judgment: "Come, blessed of my Father, receive the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." And do not think it was done idly or without a sure reason of mystery that we also anointed your nostrils with the oil of blessing; this is understood to be done so that those who come to baptism may be reminded to keep the sacrament of so great a mystery inviolate and entire until death, so that as long as they draw the breath of this life through their nostrils they may not depart from the worship and service of Christ our Lord. Hence too the holy man Job says: "As the Lord lives, who has taken away my judgment, and the Almighty, who has brought my soul to bitterness: as long as breath remains in me and the spirit of God in my nostrils, my lips shall not speak iniquity, nor my tongue speak a lie. Far be it from me to judge you just; until I fail I will not depart from my innocence. The justification which I have begun to hold I will not forsake." But a still subtler meaning is marked in this anointing of the nostrils. For the fragrance of that oil, which has been blessed in the name and power of Christ, calls you to a spiritual sense of smell, so that you may be able to perceive Christ with inestimable sweetness, not with the senses of the body but of the mind; and, delighted with the knowledge of his mouth, following his footsteps, you may be able to say what the choir of believers says to God: "We run after you in the fragrance of your ointments." This fragrance the Apostle commends to Christians when he says: "But thanks be to God, who triumphs in us in Christ Jesus, and makes manifest the fragrance of his knowledge through us in every place, for we are the good fragrance of Christ to God." Consider how much the apostles profited by perceiving the fragrance of Christ, and how they are to be preferred to the rest for the innocence of their preaching and the holiness of their life; who, while they spread the fragrance of Christ's sweet scent everywhere, themselves too became a good fragrance to God. This we desire to be fulfilled in you too, most beloved brothers: that when you yourselves have received the good fragrance of the knowledge of Christ, a most sweet fragrance may also rise to God from the holiness of your life. Through our Lord, and so on.

In the first discourse we promised to speak of all the mysteries which you have obtained through our ministry and the grace of Christ, so that no negligence might arise for us from ignorance. But we took thought for your labour and memory, providing that neither should the mind, tired by hearing, be unable to understand everything, nor should the memory, weighed down by knowing many things at once, quickly forget and lose even what it had understood. In the first preaching, then, we spoke only of those things which we handed on to you, according to the institutions of the catholic rule, before you came to the holy font; and we interpreted, as the Lord deigned to grant, what was signified by the anointing, which, applied to various parts of your body, marks a different meaning; since we showed that you were prepared by the oil of sanctification for the hearing of faith, and, called to the good fragrance of Christ, were admonished that you must renounce with your whole heart. Now we are going to speak of the inner mysteries which were celebrated in the holy font itself. For having given a most certain pledge, by which you promised to renounce all the devil's pomps and works and all devilish fornication, you went down into the sacred font, the font of life, the font of redemption, the font sanctified by heavenly power, and so sanctified that it sanctifies men by washing away many sins. For you ought not to judge those waters with the eyes but with the mind. For though the substance of that water is of the common nature of waters, yet its effect proceeds from the grace and power of God, who created the waters so that by the secret power of his might they might wash away sins that are not seen. For the Holy Spirit works in that water, so that those who before baptism were held guilty of various crimes and were to burn with the devil in the Gehenna of eternal fire might after baptism earn to enter the kingdom of heaven. Hence the Lord in the Gospel, expressing the power of so great a sacrament, says: "Unless one is reborn of water and the Holy Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God." In this font, then, before we dipped you with your whole body, we asked: "Do you believe in God the Father almighty?" You answered: "I believe." Again we asked: "Do you believe also in Jesus Christ his Son, who was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary?" You answered each one: "I believe." Again we asked: "Do you believe also in the Holy Spirit?" You answered likewise: "I believe." We did these things according to the command of our Lord Jesus Christ the Saviour, who, when he was ascending to the Father in heaven, commanded his disciples, that is, the apostles, saying: "Go, baptize all nations in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to keep all that I have commanded you." But let no one, when he hears Father and Son and Holy Spirit, think that we confess three gods. Far be that sacrilege from our faith! For we know that there is only one God, as he himself testifies: "I am God, and there is no other besides me; a just one and a Saviour there is none besides me. Turn to me and you will be saved, for from the end of the earth I am God, and there is no other besides me." And in another book: "Hear, O Israel: the Lord your God is one God." And again: "The Lord your God, he is in heaven above and on the earth beneath, and there is no other besides him." We hold and believe, then, three persons, that is, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, of one power, one substance, one eternity, one will, and also one deity; and we venerate the whole Trinity by the name of one God. To believe in many gods is Gentile impiety. And again, not to believe three persons of one substance in one deity and equality and co-eternity is heretical madness, since this authority of Christ which we have cited is manifest: "Baptize all nations in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." And as for our asking, "Do you believe in the holy Church and the remission of sins?", we did not ask in such a way that one should believe in the holy catholic Church as one believes in God. For it is holy and catholic for this reason, that it believes rightly in God. We did not say, then, that you should believe in the Church as in God, but understand that we say and have said that, living in the holy and catholic Church, you should believe in God. You should also believe in the resurrection of the flesh, which is to come. As, then, you believed in the mystery of the Trinity and received the one God in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit; as you believed that sins were to be forgiven you, and now believe that through baptism they have been forgiven; so also believe that the resurrection of the flesh is to come, which you certainly promised to believe. For in this the whole hope of Christians consists: that we believe that the resurrection of this body, not of another, will truly come. And as we now stand in the Church before the altar of God, so let us believe that on the day of judgment we shall stand before the judgment seat of God, as the blessed apostle Paul says: "We must all be made manifest before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may receive what belongs to his body, according to what he has done, whether good or evil." And this is what unbelieving souls do not believe will come. And there are some who promise with their lips to believe but despair in their heart; who do great injury to almighty God, by whom they do not believe that men can be raised and given life after death. But we, who give faith to the divine voices, cannot doubt our resurrection. For we believe that God, who made men when they had not been before, can easily remake those who have been. He who made heaven and earth and the seas and the things in them and all the elements from nothing, how can he not restore men, whom he made so that they might act in this life on the basis of which they would be judged in another, and might earn either rewards for good will or punishments for bad? For this is the faith of catholic Christians: that we believe that we shall rise with this soul in which we now are, having a fit example of our future resurrection in our Lord, the Word of the Father, who, since he is God and the Son of God, or the Word, and according to the substance of divinity co-eternal and consubstantial with the Father, took up man of our nature, according to which he willed to be born of a virgin and afterward to suffer and die, and on the third day rose again and ascended into heaven, so that he might kindle us to the hope of resurrection; so that we may believe that we shall be raised from the dead just as we confess that Christ rose from the dead. Hence the blessed Apostle rebukes the minds of unbelievers, saying: "But if Christ is preached as having risen from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?" Hold this firmly, then, and believe what is affirmed by the divine voices: that there will be a resurrection, in which glorious immortality will be given to all the saints who love Christ and do his will, so that they may glory for ever in the sight of God with the angels and the heavenly powers; but the unbelievers and sinners, and those who do not do God's commands, rise for this, that their flesh, made immortal, may be assigned to eternal fires, so that it may burn always and never fail by burning. For the word of our Lord Jesus Christ too testifies to this, who in the Gospel pronounced of sinners: "Then the wicked will go into eternal punishment, but the just into eternal life." After you promised to believe these things which we have said thus far, we plunged your bodies three times in the sacred font. This order of baptism is celebrated with a twofold meaning of mystery. For rightly were you plunged three times, who received baptism in the name of Jesus Christ, who rose from the dead on the third day. For that threefold repeated immersion expresses the type of the Lord's burial, through which you were buried with Christ in baptism and rose with Christ in faith, so that, washed of sins, you may live Christ by imitating him in the holiness of the virtues. Hence the blessed Apostle says: "Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? For we were buried with him through baptism into death, so that as Christ rose from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too may walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall also be in the likeness of his resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him, so that the body of sin might be destroyed, that we should no longer serve sin." Consider, brothers, on what condition the Apostle said we were baptized: "that we should no longer," he says, "serve sin." For what great, I do not say negligence, but madness is it, when through baptism you have received the remission of sins, to wish to be bound by sins; so that you who had been made holy from a sinner should wish again to become a sinner from a holy man, and after that sacred font, in which one may be washed only once, to return again to the filth of vices. Take heed, then, most beloved, that you keep entire and unstained to the end what you have received, which cannot be received by you again; and, having once been made without sin, that you depart for ever from all sins. For Christ, who in his mercy cleansed you when you were polluted and soiled by the devil's persuasion, does not wish you, once cleansed, to be soiled again. To him be glory and honour with the Father and the Holy Spirit for ever and ever. Amen.

Thus far we have spoken of the mysteries which are celebrated either before the sacrament of baptism or in baptism itself. Now we are going to treat of those which are completed by holy institution in those already baptized. For when baptism is completed, we pour chrism, that is, the oil of sanctification, on your head, by which it is shown that royal and priestly dignity is conferred by the Lord on the baptized. For in the Old Testament those who were chosen for the priesthood or the kingship were anointed with holy oil and with the anointing of the head; some received from the Lord the power of reigning, others of offering sacrifices. So we read that holy David and the other kings were anointed by prophets and changed from private men into kings by the oil of sanctification. So too we read that holy Aaron was anointed by Moses and consecrated by holy oil from a layman into a priest of the Lord. Hence too it is sung in the psalm: "Like the ointment on the head, which runs down on the beard, the beard of Aaron." But that oil in the Old Testament conferred a temporal kingdom and a temporal priesthood, for in it life for ministering was limited to a course of a few years; but this chrism, that is, this anointing which has been laid on you, has conferred the dignity of that priesthood which, once it has been conferred, is never to end. What we have said is certainly wonderful, that you have obtained by that chrism the kingdom of future glory and the priesthood. But it is not I but the apostle Peter, or rather Christ through Peter, who declares this dignity conferred. For so he speaks to the faithful, that is, to those who have been washed in baptism and consecrated with chrism: "But you are a royal and priestly race, a holy nation, a people of possession, so that you may declare the powers of him who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light." Consider, then, the honour you have obtained in that mystery, and beware lest you, who after sins were made sons of the kingdom through baptism, should by sinning again, which God forbid, wish to become sons of Gehenna. And when all the sacraments were completed, we also handed on to you the commandment of Christ by example and by word. For we washed the feet of each one, inviting you to imitate us, or rather our Lord and Saviour himself; so that as we washed your feet, so you too ought to wash the feet of brothers and guests. We teach you not only to be hospitable but also humble, so honouring those whom you have received into your lodgings that you do not blush to perform the office of servants toward them. Let no one think this an insult to himself and, puffed up with devilish swelling, disdain to do the Lord's commandment; and though he be noble in the world, let him not blush to wash the feet of a poor Christian contemptible in this world. He who commanded this also did it; rather, before he commanded it, he deigned to do it. For he sent the example ahead so that he might more easily commend the command. For so we read in the Gospel of the Lord Jesus: "Knowing," it says, "that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God, he rose from supper and laid aside his garments; and when he had taken a towel, he girded himself. Then he put water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel with which he was girded." And again: "After he had washed their feet, he took his garments; and when he had reclined again, he said to them: Do you know what I have done? You call me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. If then I, the Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, how much more ought you to wash one another's feet! For I have given you an example, that as I do to you, so you also should do. Truly, truly I say to you, a servant is not greater than his lord, nor an apostle greater than he who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them." Consider, then, most beloved brothers, what unhappiness, what madness it is that a servant should disdain to wash the feet of a fellow servant, a disciple of a fellow disciple, when the Lord and Master of all deigned to wash the feet of his servants and disciples. This comes from nowhere else than from unbelief in the things to come. For if we truly and with all our mind believed that through these commands of the Lord, which we keep for the short time of our whole life, we come to eternal and heavenly rewards, we would not only not blush at fulfilling all the works of humility but would even glory in them. Commit firmly to your memory, then, what you have heard from us and what you have promised to us, or rather to the Lord. And let no tribulation of the present life ever take from you the remembrance of your pledge. Fulfil all that you have heard commanded. Do not become like the people of the Jews, who, when they had heard God's commands, said rightly indeed, "All that the Lord has commanded us we will hear and do," but neglected what they had well promised. For they pleased God because they promised to keep his commandments. For so we read that the people of Israel said to Moses: "You draw near and hear all that the Lord our God says to you; and you shall speak to us all that the Lord our God speaks to us, and we will hear and do it. And the Lord said to Moses: I have heard the voice of the words of this people, all that they have spoken. Who will give that their heart be thus in them, that they may fear me and keep my commandments all their days?" They pleased God, then, as we said, because they promised that they would do his commandments, but they displeased him because they transgressed the commandments set before them which they had promised to keep. For of them the prophet speaks, saying: "They loved him with their mouth, and with their tongue they lied to him." For this is to love him with the mouth and not with the heart: they promise that they will do God's will, they lie with the tongue, and they flee back to doing the devil's will, provoking to anger almighty God, who does not suffer himself to be mocked. Since he sees the works of men however secretly done; since he hears all the words of one who whispers however secretly; since he understands and knows all the thoughts of all, he will judge most severely. He does not always punish those who despise him here because he has decreed that there will be a judgment in the future, where eternal condemnation and perpetual punishment are kept for sinners: there will be weeping of eyes and gnashing of teeth; where, as the Lord himself says, "their worm will not die and their fire will not be quenched." But we, most beloved brothers, believe in the name of the Lord that you do not hear our words, or rather God's words, in passing, because what we say to you we borrow from the holy and divine Scriptures. We hope in the Lord that you will do all that you have promised, with the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ helping you in those holy works: to whom be glory and honour with the Father and the Holy Spirit for ever and ever. Amen.

It is the custom of God's servants to undertake every good work, in word and in deed, in the name of Christ, as something to be completed for the glory of God, as the Apostle admonishes, saying: "Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of Christ." Today, with the Lord's help, in the name of Christ our Saviour himself, we draw up our battle line against the pagans and carry heavenly weapons, to strike the enemies of Christ with the javelins of truth, and to lay low the opposing foes, the camps of unbelief and the useless towers with the frequent battering ram of faith; following Christ as leader, that is, the Lord Christ, who both through Jesus the son of Nun, Moses' successor, destroyed the walls of the proud city of Jericho, and through his apostles cast down to the foundations the pride of this world that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. Come now, let us look at these pagans and bring their assertions into the open. The pagans say that all things happen by fate, and that prayers and supplications avail nothing; and that idols are worshipped for the honour and likeness of the gods; or they say that all the elements too are gods and goddesses, and dwell in the heavens, in the signs and in the stars. We see, then, brothers, that these pagans and astrologers are truly fools, and that these stars are armed with empty weapons and will fall in this battle without delay. For they think that, clothed in the proud and lofty arms of their arrogance, as allies of the foreigners they can throw into confusion the battle line of God and the strength of Israel, and they do not think that they can easily be laid low by David's stone. This stone is Christ our Lord, who gave victory to David himself and with mighty power cast down Goliath's proud forehead, raised in the arrogance of rashness. This is our God, this is Christ, "the Lord who crushes wars; the Lord is his name," who is always accustomed to be the helper of his servants who fight for his name and take up battle for the truth. The pagans say, then, that all things happen by fate, and that whatever fate has held or decreed concerning the human race is wholly fixed and immovable, and that prayers and supplications avail nothing. To them we first say briefly, and as with one plough of faith and of sure truth we cut round and overturn the whole forest of their error: if prayers or supplications avail nothing, pagans, and all that fate has given or decreed is fixed, as you say, why do you worship gods and goddesses? Why do you sacrifice to idols? Why do you bring prayers and incense and victims, why all gifts into the temples, if everything is fixed and decreed, and nothing is granted or obtained by prayers and requests? Why then do you make supplication?