# Tractates of Maximus of Turin (Bruni's collection) - Author: [Maximus of Turin](https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/authors/maximus-of-turin/) - Latin title: *Maximi Taurinensis Tractatus* - Date: ca. 400-465 (disputed) - Source: J.-P. Migne, ed., Patrologiae cursus completus, series Latina, vol. 57 (Paris, 1862), reprinting Bruno Bruni's edition (Rome, 1784) (Latin text: Migne, Patrologia Latina, digitized by Open Greek and Latin (patrologia_latina-dev, University of Leipzig), CC BY-SA 4.0) - Translation: Claude, from the original text, unless a passage says otherwise; each passage below gives the translator - Editions and translations: Mutzenbecher, CCSL 23 (1962) - Work page: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/maximus-taurinensis-tractatus/ - Passages: 7 ## Tractate 1.1 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/maximus-taurinensis-tractatus/1-1/#p-1-1 - Source: PL 57:a–773d - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-11-05 Summary: The first of three instructions to the newly baptized, given after the catechumens leave: the anointing of the ears signifies hearing and doing God's word, and the anointing of the nostrils signifies keeping the faith to one's last breath and perceiving the fragrance of Christ. ### Latin text Omnis quidem Dei sermo, fratres, cum omni intentione et diligenlia mentis debet audiri, sed hic maxime quem hodie ad caritatem vestram habituri sumus. Ideo enim, dimissis jam catechumenis, vos tantum ad audiendum retinuimus; quia præter illa quæ omnes Christianos convenit in commune servare, specialiter de coelestibus mysteriis locuturi sumus, quae audire non possunt, nisi qui ea, donante jam Domino, perceperunt. Tanto ergo majore revcrentia debetis audire quæ dicimus, quanto majora ista sunt quae solis baptizatis et fidelibus auditoribus committuntur, quam illa quæ etiam catechumeni audire consueverunt. Non autem mirari debetis, fratres carissimi, quod vobis inter ipsa mysteria de mysteriis nihil diximus, quod non statim ea quæ iradi- dimus interpretati sumus. Adhibuimus enim tam sanctis rebus atque divinis honorem silentii, et inter illos sacros mysteriorum apparatus docendi cessamus officio, ut tantam divinæ gratiæ majestatem, quæ digne nullis hominum vocibus explicari potest, amplius tacendo veneremur. Sed quia instrui in omnibus et doceri vestram dilectionem necesse est, trans- acto Jam mysteriorum ordine, exponimus vobis ea quae ante tradidimus, ne dum minus intelligitis divini mysterii dignitatem, minus illud pretiosum patetis. Quod si intellexeritis, videbitis omnia quae in hoc mundo pretiosa creduntur, tanti sacramenti comparatione esse vilissima. Recordetur ergo unusquisque vestrum singulas mysteriorum species, quas per nostrum, donante Domino, estis ministerium consecuti, et ea quae tunc simpliciter et fideliter suscepistis, nunc intelligite prudenter, ut melius possitis intellecta servare. Imprimis certe aures vestras oleo benedictionis oblinivimus ; sed ob quam causam, secundum traditionem ecclesiasticam, ab omnibus catholicis Christi sacerdotibus fiat, agnoscite. Introitus fidei et totius sanctae doctrinæ ad animam per aures admittitur, et de auditu intellectus exoritur. Neque enim potest aliquis fidei sacramenta cono- scere, nisi audiat prædicantem, affirmante beato Apostolo, qui dicit: Quomodo autem audient sine prædicante? et rursus : Ergo fides ex auditu, auditus autem per verbum Dei (Rom. x). Recte ergo illo oleo ejus sensus organa sanctificantur, sine quo fides ad animam non potest pervenire. Simulque venturi ad , baptismum, ut aures suas ab omni malo et turpl verbo impollutas ad finem usque custodiant, vel detrahentem proximo suo, vel obscena et impudica loquentem quasi surdi non audiant, implentes illam divinæ Scriptune sententiam qua dicitur : Sepi aurei tuas spinis, et noli audire linguam nequam (Eccli. XXVIII, 28). Et alibi: Ne credas auditui vano. Et rursus: Da in disciplina cor tuum, et para aurem tuam verbis prudentia (Prov. XXIII; Eccli. n). Ergo adhibita auribus unctio sancta significat, ut omnes extra disciplinam sermones, quasi doctrinæ Christi obloquentis aversentur ac fugiant, seque ad sola Dei verba audienda convertant, quia illito oleo auditum suum Christi eloquiis conservaverunt. Ipse enim Salvator loquitur ad Patrem, et de ebedientia credentis in se populi gloriatur, dicens : Sacrificium et oblationem noluisti, aures autem perfecisti mihi (Psal. XXXIX). Tunc enim aures vere fidelium Christi perficiuntur, quando nihil præter Chrislum, et ea quæ Christi sunt, audire desiderante. Unde in Evangelio idem Dominus de coelestis regni mysterio cum loqueretur, dicebat: Qui kabet aures audiendi, audiat (Matth. XI, XIII; Marc. IV, et alibi). Nam cum omnium commune sit habere aures, tamen audiendi aures commune non est. Quicunque enim Dei verba contemnunt, quamvis non possint contemnere, nisi prius audiant, tamen quia contemnunt quod audiunt, nec audisse dicuntur, quia quæ audierunt tanquam non audita despiciunt. Et ideo habent isti aures, non quæ aures audiendi esse dicuntur, sed aures quæ audiunt ne audiant, id est, ut ea quæ audierint quasi nunquam, ut diximus, audita contemnant. Soli autem illi aures audiendi habere dicuntur a Christo, qui cum auribus audiunt, tirmiter animo commendant, et quod animo tradiderint, operibus exsequuntur. De hujusmodi auditoribus Domninus in Evangelio loquitur : Vestri autem beati oculi, qui vident; et aures vestræ, quæ audiunt (Matth. XIII). Et rursus : Omnis autem qui audit verba mea hæc et facit ea, assimilabitur viro sapienti qui ædificavit domum suam supra petram ; et descendit pluvia, et venerunt flumina, et flaverunt venti et venerunt in domum illam, et non cecidit, fundata enim erat supra firmam petram (Matth. VII et seqq.). Rursus de male audientibus, qui habent quidem aures, sed non in obediendo, ita pronuntiat : Omnis qui audit verba mea hæc et non facit ea, similis erit viro stulto qui ædificavit domum suam supra arenam : et descendit pluvia, et flaverunt venti et irruerunt in domum illam, et cecidit, et fuit ruina ejus magna (Ibid.). Videtis ergo quantum intersit inter bene audientem et male audientem : id est, Inter eum qui custodit verba Dei, et inter eum qui ea audierit, et quasi nunquam audita contemnit. Illi qui obedit et facit, sapientia; huic qui contempsit, stultitia deputator. Ille super solidum ædificat fundamentum, hujus vana aedificatio, et absque fundamento facile casura describitur. Ibi stabilitas, hic ruina est, et ruina magna. Nemo enim gravius corruit quam qui, audito verbo Dei, ad peccata convertitur, propter que æterna supplicia præparata sunt. Vos autem, postqnam vestræ aures oleo benedicto sunt illite, designati estis in numero auditorum sapientium; ut recte retinentes Dei verba, id est quæ audistis implentes, in die judicii audiatis vobis Christum dicentem : Venite, benedicti Patris mei, suscipite paratum vobis regnum a constitutione mundi (Matth. XXV). Illud autem non otiose, neque absque certa ratione my- sterii factum putetis, quod nares quoques vestras oleo benedictionis adunximus ; quod idcirco fieri intelligitur, ut hi qui ad baptismum veniunt, admoneantur tanti mysterii sacramentum usque ad mortem inviolatum atque integrum custodire, ut quandiu spiritum vitæ hujus naribus suis attrahunt, a Christi Domini nostri cultura et servitio non receJant. Unde et Job vir sanctus loquitur : Vivit Dominus, qui abstulit judicium meum, et Omnipotens, qui ad amariudinem adduxit animam meam, quia donec superest halitus in me et spiritus Dei in naribus meis, non loquentur tabid mea iniquitatem, nec lingua mea loquetur mendacium. Absit a me ut justos vos judicem; donec deficiam, non recedam ab innocentia mea. Justificationem quam semet tenere cœpi non deseram (Job XXII). Sed adhuc subtilior intellectus in hac narium unctione signatur. Illius enim olei odor, quod in Christi nomine et virtute benedictum est, ad odoratum vos provocat spiritalem, ut non corporis. sed mentis sensibus Christum inæstimabili suavitate sentire possitis; et de- lectati notitia oris ejus, ipsius vestigia subsequentes, dicere valeatis illud quod ad Deum credentium chorus loquitur: Post te in odorem unguentorum tuorum currimus (Cant. I). Hunc odorem commendat Apostolus Christianis cum dicit: Deo autem gratias, qui triumphat nos in Christo Jesu, et odorem notitiæ suæ manifestat per nos in omni loco, quia Christi bonus odor sumus Deo (II Cor. II). Considerate quantum apostoli profecerint sentiendo odorem Christi, et cum prædicationis innocentia et sanctitate vitae etiam cæteris præferendum, qui, dum odorem suavi fragrantiæ Christi undique diffundunt, ipsi quoque bonus Dco odor effecti sunt. Quod etiam in vobis, fratres dilectissimi, cupimus impleri; ut cum ipsi bonum odorem Christi notitiae ceperitis, suavissimus Deo odor ex vitæ etiam vestræ sanctitate conscendat. Per Domi. num, etc. ### English translation (Claude) 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. ### Scripture references - Rom 10:14: quotation, high confidence - Rom 10:17: quotation, high confidence - Exod 23:1: allusion, low confidence - Prov 23:12: quotation, high confidence - Ps 40:6 (39:7 Vulg.): quotation, high confidence - Matt 13:9: quotation, high confidence - Matt 13:16: quotation, high confidence - Matt 7:24: quotation, high confidence - Matt 7:25: quotation, high confidence - Matt 7:26: quotation, high confidence - Matt 7:27: quotation, high confidence - Matt 25:34: quotation, high confidence - Job 27:2: quotation, high confidence - Job 27:3: quotation, high confidence - Job 27:4: quotation, high confidence - Job 27:5: quotation, high confidence - Job 27:6: quotation, high confidence - Song 1:4: quotation, high confidence - 2 Cor 2:14: quotation, high confidence - 2 Cor 2:15: quotation, high confidence ### Extrabiblical texts - Sir 28:24 (Sirach): quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - The rite described is the anointing of ears and nostrils before baptism (related to the Ephphatha). 'Hedge your ears with thorns' is Sir 28:24 (Vulgate 28:28). 'Do not believe an empty report' is unidentified in this form (compare Exod 23:1). The quotation from Job is 27:2–6 (printed reference 'Job XXII'). 'Ears you have perfected for me' is the Old Latin form of Ps 40:6 (Vulgate 39:7). ### Citation (SBL) Maximus of Turin, Tract. 1.1 (PL 57:a–773d; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/maximus-taurinensis-tractatus/1-1). ## Tractate 2.1 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/maximus-taurinensis-tractatus/1-1/#p-2-1 - Source: PL 57:775a–777c - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-11-05 Summary: The second instruction explains the font: the renunciation, the water made effective by the Holy Spirit, the threefold questioning on the creed and the Trinity, the meaning of the Church and the resurrection of the flesh, and the threefold immersion as burial with Christ. ### Latin text Promisimus A primo tractatu nos de omnibus quae per ministerium nostrum et Christi gratiam consecuti estis, mysteriis locuturos, ne qua nobis de ignorantia negligentia nasceretur. Sed consuluimus labori vestro et memoriæ, providentes ne aut lassatus audiendo animus omnia intelligere non posset, aut multorum simul cognitione memoria prægravata, etiam quæ intellexisset, cito oblita deperderet. Prima ergo prædicatione de his tantum locuti sumus quæ vobis, priusquam ad fontem sanctum veniretis, juxta catholicae regulæ instituta tradidimus; et. quid significaret unctio quæ, diversis corporis vestri adhibita partibus, diversum intellectum designat, prout Dominus donare dignatus est interpretati sumus, cum ostenderimus vos per oleum sanctificationis ad audi- tum fidei præparatos et bonum Christi odorem vocatos, ex toto corde abrenuntiandum esse commonitos. Nunc vero de interioribus mysteriis locuturi sumus quæ in ipso sancto fonte celebrata sunt. Emissa enim certissima cautione, qua vos abrenunliare omuibus pompis et operibus ejus, et omni fornicationi diabolicæ spopondistis, descendistis in fontem sacrum, fontem vitae, fontem redemptionis, fontem sanctificatum virtute cœlesti, et ita sanctificatum, ut homines per multa peccata diluendo sanctificet. Non enim debetis illas aquas oculis aestimare, sed mente. Nam etsi substantia illius aquæ de communi aquarum natura sit, effectus tamen ipsius ex Dei gratia et virtute procedit, qui creavit aquas ut secreta potentiae suae virtute peccata quae non videntur ablueret. Spi- ritus enim sanctus in illa aqua operatur, ut qui ante baptismum diversorum criminum rei tenebantur, et cum diabolo in gehenna æterni ignis arsuri erant, post baptismum in coelorum regnum intrare mererentur. Unde Dominus in Evangelio potentiam tanti exprimens sacramenti ait: Nisi quis renatus fuerit ex aqua et Spiritu sancto, non potest intrare in regnum Dei (Joan. III). In hoc ergo fonte antequam vos tolo corpore tingeremus, interrogavimus : Credis in Deum Patrem omnipotentem? Respondistis : Credo. Rursus interrogavimus : Credis et in Jesum Christum Filium ejus, qui conceptus est de Spiritu sancto, et natus est ex Maria Virgine ? Respondistis singuli : Credo. Iterum interrogavimus : Credis et in Spiritum sanctum? respondistis similiter : Credo. Hæc autem fecimus juxta Domini nostri Jesu Christi Salva- toris imperium, qui cum ad Patrem in cœlos ascenderet, discipulis, id est apostolis demandavit dicene: Euntes baptizate omnes gentes in nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus sancti, docentes eos servare omnia quæcunque mandavi vobis (Matth. XXVIII). Nemo autem cum audit Patrem, et Filium , et Spiritum sanctum, tres Deos nos æstimet confiteri. Quod sacrilegium absit longe a fide nostra ! quia unum Deum tantum esse, ipso attestante, cognovimus. Ego, inquit, Deus, et non est alius præter me; justus et Salvator non est prater me. Convertimini ad me, et salvi eritis, quia ab extremo terræ ego sum Deus, et non est alius praeter me (Isai. XLV, et Ose. XIII.) Et in alio libro. Audi, Israel : Dominus Deus tuus, Deus unus est (Deuter. VI). Et rursus : Dominus Deus tuus hic est in cælo sur- sum et in terra deorsum, et non est alius præter ipsum (Deuter. IV). Tres ergo personas tenemus et credimus, id est Patrem, et Filium, et Spiritum sanctum, unius potentiæ, unius substantiae, unius æternitatis, unius voluntatis, unius etiam deitatis, et totam Trinitatem unius Dei appellatione veneramur. Credere autem plures Deos gentilis impietas est. Et iterum. Non credere tres personas unius substantiæ in una deitate atque æqualitate, vel coaeternitate, hæretica dementia est; cum manifesta hæc sit, quam diximus, auctoritas Christi: Baptizate omnes gentes in nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus sancti (Matth. XXVIII). Quod autem interrogavimus: Credis in sanctam Ecclesiam, et re- missionem peccatorum ? non eo modo interrogavimus, ut quomodo in Deum creditur, sic in Ecclesiam sanctam catholicam. Propterea sancta et catholica est, quia recte credit in Deum. Non ergo diximus, ut in Ecclesiam quasi in Deum crederetis, sed intelligite nos dicere et dixisse, ut in Ecclesia sancta et catbolica conversantes in Deum crederetis. Crederetis etiam resurrectionem carnis, quae futura est. Sicot ergo in Trinitatis mysterium credidistis, et unum Deum in Patris, et Filii, ac Spiritus sancti nomine suscepistis, sicut vobis credidistis dimittenda esse peccata, et nunc jam per baptismum creditis esse dimissa; ita etiam resurrectionem carnis futuram esse credite, quod certe vos credere spopondistis. In hoc enim Christianorum spes tota consistit, ut hujus non alterius corporis resurrectionem in veritate futuram esse credamus. Et quemadmodum nunc sta- mus in Ecclesia ante altare Dei, ita nos in die judicii staturos credamus ante tribunal Dei, dicente beato apostolo Paulo: OmneM nos manifestari oportet ante tribunal Christi, ut referat unusquisque propria corporis sui, prout gessit, sive bonum sive malum (II Cor. v). Et id est quod infideles animae non credunt futurum. Et sunt aliqui qui labiis credere promittunt, sed corde desperant; qui grandem omnipotenti Deo iujuriam faciunt, a quo homines post mortem suscitari et vivificari posse non credunt. Nos autem, qui divinis vocibus adhibemus fidem, de resurreclione nostra dubitare non possumus. Credimus enim quod Deus, qui fecit homines, cum ante non fuissent, facile possit reficere qui fuerunt. Qui coelum, et terram, et maria, et quæ in eis sunt, atque omnia elementa fecit ex nihilo, quomodo non potest reparare homi- nes, quos ideo fecit ut in hac vita agerent unde in alia judicarentur, et vel pro bona voluntale præmia, vel pro mala supplicia mererentur? Haec est enim Christianorum catholicorum Uides, ut credamus nos cum hac in qua nunc sumus anima resurgere, habentes idoneum futuræ nostræ resurrectionis exemplum Dominum nostrum, Verbum Patris, qui cum sit Deus et Dei Filius, seu Verbum, et secundum substantiam divinitatis Patri coxternus et consubstantialis, ideo naturæ nostræ suscepit hominem, juxta quem de virgine nasci, et postea pati, et mori voluit, et die tertia resurrexit, et ascendit in coelum, ut nos ad spem resurrectionis accenderet, ut sic nos credamus ex mortuis suscitandos, quemadmodum Christum ex mortuis resurrexisse confitemur. Unde beatus Apostolus infidelium animos increpat dicens : Si autem Christus prædicatur quod resurrexit. a mortuis, quomodo quidam dicunt in vobis quoniam resurrectio mortuorum non est (I Cor. xv)? Hoc ergo tenete constanter et credite, quod divinis vocibus affirmatur, quia resurrectio sit futura, in qua sanctis omnibus qui Christum diligunt et ejus faciunt. voluntatem immortalitas gloriosa donanda est, ut in conspectu Dei cum angelis et coelestibus virtutibus in perpetuum glorientur. Infideles vero et peccatores, et qui Dei præcepta non faciunt, ad hoc resurgere ut immortalis eorum facta caro aeternis incendiis deputetur; ut semper ardeat, et nunquam ardendo deficiat. Hoc enim et Domini nostri Jesu Christi sermo testatur, qui in Evangelio de peccatoribus pronuntiavit: Tunc ibunt impii in supplicium æternum, justi autem in vitam æternam (Matth,. xxv). Hæc autem quæ hucusque diximus, postquam vos credere promisistis, tertio corpora vestra in sacro fonte demersimus. Qui ordo baptismatis duplici mysterii significatione celebratur. Recte enim tertio mersi estis, qui accepistis baptismum in nomine Jesu Christi, qui tertia die resurrexit a mortuis. Illa enim tertio repetita demersio typum dominicæ exprimit sepulturæ, per quam Christo consepulti estis in baptismo, et cum Christo resur. rexistis in fide, ut peccatis abluti in sanctitate virtutum Christum vivatis imitando. Unde beatus Apostolus ait: An ignoratis quoniam quicunque baptizati sumus in Christo Jesu, in morte ipsius baptizati sumus. Consepulti enim sumus cum illo per baptismum in mortem, ut quomodo surrexit Christus ex mortuis per gloriam Patris, ita et nos in novitate vitæ ambulemus. Si enim complantati facti sumus similitudini morti ejus, simul et resurrectionis erimus, hoc scientes quod vetus homo noster simul crucifixus est, ut destruatur corpus peccati, ut ultra non serviamus peccato (Rom. vi). Considerate, fratres, qua conditione Apostolus nos esse dixerit baptizatos, ut ultra, inquit, non serviamus peccato. Quae enim tanta est, non dico, negligentia, sed amen- tia, cum per baptismum acceperis remissionem peccatorum, obligari velle peccatis : ut qui factus fueras ex peccatore sanctus, rursus ex sancto velis esse peccator, et post sacrum illum fontem, quo nonnisi semel ahlui licet, iterum ad vitiorum sordes reverti. Attendite ergo, dilectissimi, ut quod accepistis, quodque jam ulterius a vobis accipi non potest, usque ad finem integrum immaculatumque ser- vetis; et semel effecti absque peccato, in perpetuo a peccatis omnibus recedatis. Christus enim, qui vos pollutos ac diabolica suasione sordidatos sua miseratione mundavit, non vult mundatos iterum sordidari. Huic gloria et honor cum Patre, et Spiritu sancto in saecula sæculorum. Amen. ### English translation (Claude) 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. ### Scripture references - John 3:5: quotation, high confidence - Matt 28:19: quotation, high confidence - Matt 28:20: quotation, high confidence - Isa 45:21: quotation, high confidence - Isa 45:22: quotation, high confidence - Hos 13:4: allusion, medium confidence - Deut 6:4: quotation, high confidence - Deut 4:39: quotation, high confidence - 2 Cor 5:10: quotation, high confidence - 1 Cor 15:12: quotation, high confidence - Matt 25:46: quotation, high confidence - Rom 6:3: quotation, high confidence - Rom 6:4: quotation, high confidence - Rom 6:5: quotation, high confidence - Rom 6:6: quotation, high confidence - Col 2:12: allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - The baptismal questions (with the clauses on the Church, the remission of sins and the resurrection) are a valuable witness to the interrogatory creed of northern Italy. The explanation that one believes 'in God' while living 'in the Church', not 'in the Church as in God', is translated as written. The printed text gives the Isaiah quotation as Isa 45 with Hos 13; it is Isa 45:21–22. ### Citation (SBL) Maximus of Turin, Tract. 2.1 (PL 57:775a–777c; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/maximus-taurinensis-tractatus/2-1). ## Tractate 3.1 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/maximus-taurinensis-tractatus/1-1/#p-3-1 - Source: PL 57:777d–781a - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-11-05 Summary: The third instruction explains the chrism after baptism, which confers royal and priestly dignity (1 Pet 2:9), and the washing of the feet of the newly baptized, which teaches humble hospitality; the hearers are urged to keep their baptismal promises. ### Latin text Hucusque de mysteriis locuti sumus quae vel ante baptismatis sacramentum, vel in ipso baptismate celebrantur. Nunc vero de his acturi sumus quae in jam baptizatis sancta institutione complentur. Impleto enim baptismate, caput vestrum chrismate, id est oleo sanctificationis infundimus, per quod osten- ditur baptizatis regalem et sacerdotalem conferri a Domino dignitatem. Nam in Veteri Testamento hi qui legebantur in sacerdotio vel in regno, sancto un- sebantur oleo et unctionc capitis; alii regnandi, alii sacrificia offerendi accipiebant a Domino potestatem. Sicut sanctum David et caeteros reges unctos legimus a prophetis, et de pnvatis in reges oleo sanctificationis mutatos. Sicut et sanctum Aaron a Moyse unctum legimus, ex laico in sacerdotem Domini sancto oleo consecratum. Unde et in psalmo canitur : Sicut unguentum in capite quod descendit in barbam, barbam Aaron (Psal. CXXXII). Sed illud in Veteri Testamento oleum temporale regnum, temporale sacerdotium conferebat : in hoc enim vita erat ad ministraudum paucorum annorum curriculo ter- minata; hoc autem chrisma, id est hæc unctio quae vobis imposita est, illius sacerdotii contulit digni • tatem , quod cum semel collatum fuerit, nunquam est finiendum. Mirum certe quod diximus, vos illo chrismate regnum futurae gloriæ, et sacerdotium esse consecutos. Verum non ego vobis, sed apo- stolus Petrus, imo per Petrum Christus collatam hanc pronuntiat dignitatem. Sic enim loquitur ad fideles, id est ad eos qui baptismate abluti et chrismate consecrati sunt : Vos autem genus regale et sacerdotale, gens sancta, populus acquisitionis, ut virlutes annuntietis ejus qui de tenebris vos vocavit in admirabile lumen suum (I Petre n). Considerate ergo honorem quem in illo estis mysterio consecuti, et cavete ne forte qui post peccata per baptismum filii regni facti estis, rursum peccando, quod absit, velilis effici filii gehennæ. Impletis autem omnibus sacramentis, etiam mandatum Christi vobis et exemplo et sermone tradidimus. Lavimus enim singulorum pedes, ad imitationem vos nostram, imo ipsius Domini et Salvatoris nostri vos provocantes; ut quem- admodum nos vestros pedes lavimus, ita etiam vos pedes fratrum et hospitum lavare debeatis. Non solum vos hospitales esse docemus, sed etiam humiles, ita honorantes quos in vestrasuscepistishospitia, ut erga eos servorum exercere non erubescatis officium. Quod ne sibi injuriosum quis putet, et diabolico inflatus tumore, mandatum Domini facere ne dedignetur; et quamvis ille in saeculo nobilis sit, pauperis et in hoc saeculo contemptibilis Christiani lavare pedes non erubescat. Qui et hoc praecepit et fecit, imo antequam praeciperet, facere dignatus est. Siquidem præmisit exemplum , ut facilius commendaret imperium. Sic enim in Evangelio legimus de Domino Jesu : Sciens, inquit, quod omnia dedit ei Pater in manus, et quia a Deo exivit, et ad Deum vadit, surgit a cæna, et posuit ",, Ii menta sua; et cum accepisset lienteum, præcinxit se. Deinde misit aquam in pelvim, et coepit lavare pedes discipulorum, et ex- tergere linteo quo erat præcinctus (Joan. xu). Et rursum : Postquam autem lavit pedes eorum, accepit vestimenta sua; et cum recubuisset, iterum dixit ei; : Scitis quid fecerim. Vos vocatis me magister et Dominus, et bene dicitis. Sum etenim. Si ergo ego lavi pedes vestros Dominus et magister, quanto magis et vos debetis alterutrum lavare pedes i Exemplum enim dedi vobis, ut quemadmodum ego facio vobis, ita et vos faciatis. Amen amen dico vobis, quia non est servus major domino suo, nec aposlotus major eo qui misit eum. Si hæc scitis, beati estis, si feceritis ea (Ibid.). Considerate ergo, fratres dilectissimi, cujus infelici- talis, cujus insaniæ sit, ut dedignetur servus conservo, discipulus condiscipulo layare pedes, quando omnium domiuus et magister senorum et discipu- lorum suorum pedes lavare dignatus est. Quod non aliunde quam de incredulitate evenit futurorum. Si enim vere et toto animo crederemus , per haec Domini praecepta, quae brevi toto vitæ nostrae tempore custodimus, ad æterna et coelestia nos praemia pervenire; non solum non erubesceremus omnia opera humilitatis implendo, verum etiam gloriaremur. Commendate ergo firmiter memoriæ vestrae quod audistis a nobis, et quod nobis, imo Domino promisistis. Nec ulla unquam tribulatio praesentis vitae recordationem vobis vestræ auferat sponsionis. Implete omnia quae audistis imperari. Nolite similes effici populo Judaeorum, qui cum audissent praecepta Dei, recte quidem dixerunt : Omnia quæ mandavit nobis Dominus audiemus, et faciemus ea (Exod. XIX); sed quod bene promiserant neglexerunt. Placuerunt enim Deo quoniam se mandata ejus servaturos promiserunt. Sic quidem legimus dixisse ad Moysen populum Israel: Accede, tu, et adi omnia quanta loquitur Dominus Deus noster ad te; et tu loqueris ad nos omnia quanta loquitur ad nos Dominus Deus noster; et audiemus, et faciemus. Et dixit ad Moysen Dominus : Audivi vocem sermonum populi hujus, quanta locuti sunt. Quis dabit cor eorum sic esse in eis, ut metuant me, et abservent praecepta mea omnibus diebus ? Placuerunt ergo, at diximus, Deo, quoniam polliciti sunt se mandata ejus esse facturos , sed displicuerunt, quoniam posita sibi mandata, et quae promiserunt servare, transgressi sunt. De ipsis enim propheta loquitur dicens : Dilexerunt eum in ore suo, et lingua sua mentiti sunt ei (Psal. LXXVII). Hoc est enim ore eum, et non corde diligere : quod promittunt se Dei voluntatem esse facturos, mentiuntur lingua, et ad faciendam diaboli refugiunt voluntatem; omnipotentem Deum ad iracundiam provocantes, qui se irrideri non patitur. Qui cum et opera bominum quamlibet in occulto facta couspiciat; qui cum verba omnia quamlibet secreto insusurrantis audiat; qui cum omnis omnium cogitationes intelligat et cognoscat, severissime judicabit. Qui hic ideo non semper contemptores suos punit, quia in futuro decrevit esse judicium, ubi æterna condemnatio et perpetua servatur peccatoribus poena : ibi erit fletus oculorum, et stri- dor dentium (Matth. VIII); ubi sicut ipse Dominus ait : Vermis eorum non morietur, et ignis eorum non exstinguetur (Marc. IX). Nos autem , fratres dilectissimi, credimus in nomine Domini, quod non transitorie audiatis verba nostra, imo divina, quia, quod vobis dicimus, ex sanctis et divinis eloquiis mutuamore Speramus in Domino quod facietis omnia quæ promisistis, adjuvante vos in ipsis sanctis operibus Demini nostri Jesu Christi gratia : cui est gloria et honor cum Patre et Spiritu sancto in sæcula saeculorum. Amen. ### English translation (Claude) 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. ### Scripture references - 1 Sam 16:13: allusion, high confidence - Lev 8:12: allusion, high confidence - Ps 133:2 (132:2 Vulg.): quotation, high confidence - 1 Pet 2:9: quotation, high confidence - Matt 23:15: allusion, low confidence - John 13:3: quotation, high confidence - John 13:4: quotation, high confidence - John 13:5: quotation, high confidence - John 13:12: quotation, high confidence - John 13:13: quotation, high confidence - John 13:14: quotation, high confidence - John 13:15: quotation, high confidence - John 13:16: quotation, high confidence - John 13:17: quotation, high confidence - Exod 19:8: quotation, high confidence - Deut 5:27: quotation, high confidence - Deut 5:28: quotation, high confidence - Deut 5:29: quotation, high confidence - Ps 78:36 (77:36 Vulg.): quotation, high confidence - Gal 6:7: allusion, medium confidence - Matt 8:12: quotation, high confidence - Mark 9:48: quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - The washing of the feet after baptism was a distinctive rite of the church of Milan and northern Italy. 'They loved him with their mouth' is Ps 78:36 (Vulgate 77:36); the quotation from Deuteronomy is Deut 5:27–29. ### Citation (SBL) Maximus of Turin, Tract. 3.1 (PL 57:777d–781a; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/maximus-taurinensis-tractatus/3-1). ## Tractate 4.1 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/maximus-taurinensis-tractatus/1-1/#p-4-1 - Source: PL 57:781b–781c - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-11-05 Summary: Opening of a treatise against the pagans: if all things happen by fate, as the pagans and astrologers claim, their own prayers and sacrifices to the gods are pointless. ### Latin text Est consuetudo servis Dei omne opus bonum in dicto fet in facto, in nomine Christi assumere, quod perficiendum sit ad gloriam Dei, monente ita Apostolo et dicente : Omnia quæcunque facitis in dicto vel facto, omnia in nomine Chriti facite (2 Cor. X). Hodie juvante Domino in ipsius nomine Christi Salvatoris nostri contra Paganos aciem instruimus et coelestia tela portamus, inimicos Christi veritatis jaculis ferituri, et contrarios hostes, et perfidiae castra, et supervacuas turres crebro ariete fidei prostraturi, sequentes Christum ducem, Dominum scilicet Christum, qui et per Jesum filium Nave, successorem Moysi, Jericho superbae civitatis muros destruxit, et per apostolos suos hujus mundi elationem extollentem se adversum scientiam Dei, usque ad funda- menta dejecit. Age nunc contemplemur istos paganos, et eorum assertiones in medium proferamus. Aiunt pagani fato omnia fieri, et nihil preces, nihil orationes valere; et idola ad deorum bonorem et similitudinem coli , vel universa elementa dicunt etiam deos et deas esse, et habitare in cœlis, et iu signis, et in stellis. Videmus igitur, fratres, istos paganos et astrologos vere fatuos, et astra haec inanibus telis armata, et in isto praelio sine mora casuros. Putant enim se snperbis et elatis arrogantiae suæ armis indutos, allophylorum socios aciem Dei, et Israeliticam virtutem posse turbare, et non putant Davidico lapide se facile posse prosternere. Lapis hic Christus est Dominus noster, qui et ipsi David victo- nam dedit, et Goliæ superbam frontem fasto temeri tatis erectam, potenti virtute dejecit. Hic Deus noster, hie Christus est, Dominus conterens bella, Dominus nomen est illi (Judilh. XVI), qui pro suo nomine pugnantibus servis suis, et praelium pre veritate swnentibus semper adjutor esse consuevit. Aiunt ergo pagani fato omnia fieri, et circa genus humanum totum esse fixum et immobile quidquid fatum habuerit vel decretum, et nihil preces, nihil orationes valere. Quibus primo breviter dicimus,velut uno aratro fidei, et securæ veritatis totam erroris eorum circum abscindimus et subvertimus silvam. Si nihil ergo preces vel orationes valent, o pagani, et totum fixum est, ut dicitis , quod fatum dederit vel decretum, cur vos deos et deas colitis? Car idolis immolatis? Cur preces, et thura , et victimas, cur aniversa dona in templis ineritis, si totum fixum est et decretum, et nihil precibus, nihil postulatio- nibus indulgetur vel impetratur? Cur ergo supplicatis ### English translation (Claude) 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? ### Scripture references - Col 3:17: quotation, high confidence - Josh 6:20: allusion, high confidence - 2 Cor 10:5: allusion, high confidence - 1 Sam 17:49: allusion, high confidence - Exod 15:3: allusion, medium confidence ### Extrabiblical texts - Jdt 16:2 (Judith): quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - 4.1–4.3 form one treatise against the pagans, whose attribution to Maximus is disputed. The opening quotation is Col 3:17 (printed reference '2 Cor. X'). 'The Lord who crushes wars; the Lord is his name' is Jdt 16:2 (Vulgate 16:3), echoing Exod 15:3. ### Citation (SBL) Maximus of Turin, Tract. 4.1 (PL 57:781b–781c; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/maximus-taurinensis-tractatus/4-1). ## Tractate 4.2 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/maximus-taurinensis-tractatus/4-2/#p-4-2 - Source: PL 57:781c–783c - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-11-05 Summary: The pagans' gods can neither harm nor help; all things happen by God's will or permission, not by fate, as the prophets' and apostles' miracles and the power of prayer show; the Church, unlike the 'grandmother' of pagan error, never believed in fate. ### Latin text Sed dicunt : Facimus ista, ne noceant. Quibus dicimus : Quomodo possunt nocere, qui non possunt præstare? Et quia vere nihil nee nocere nee prestare possunt , canum custodia circa eos deos quos dicitis vestros, et custodum vigilantia contestatur. Quando enim eos inveniunt fores, abripiunt atque confractos distrabunt. Tu dicis fato omnia fleri; sed quae tu dicis fato fieri, nescio qua opinione incerta ; ego dico voluntate vel permissu Dei fieri; quia Deus Pater omnia posuit in sua potestate (Act. I), el nihil fit quod Dominus ipse voluerit, vel fieri posse permiserit. Vis videre prophetas et aposlolos nostros, quanta faciebant, non fati Virtute, sed fidei et adjutono summi Dei, et divina potentia Christi. Ecce et confractos restituebant, quos dicitis fato vexari; pariter et infirmos curabant, mortuos suscitabant, OBcos illuminabant et claudos erigebant; et nihil a fato petebant, sed totum, ut dixi, sinceritate fidei et divinis opibus, et miserationibus adimplebant. Fato dicis omnia fieri? Sed stultus stulta loquitur, et cor ejus vana intelligit, et, sicut ille aiebat Tullius in Horlensio dicens : Aria mea dicebat hoc quod dicis, fato omnia fieri; mater autem mulier sapiens non existimavit. Et nos possumus dicere in veritate, quia avia nostra, id est error antiquus et genlilis stultitia hoc dicebal. Nam mater mulier sapiens, mater scilicet Ecclesia, quæ nos spiritali genuit partu, nunquam hoc arbilrata est, quæ scit Filium accepisse a Patre omnem potestatem in coelo et in lerra. Ideo in nomine ejus tantas virtutes fecerunt discipuli ipsius, qui et dicebat : Petite, et accipietis; quærite , et invenietis; pulsate, et aperietur vobis ( Joan. XVI). Utique quando hoc dicebat erroribus et dæmonibus opponebat, qui fata fingunt, et nihil preces valere contendunt, ne Deus rogelur, et eorum opera dissolvantur. Ideo populos Dominus ad se trahebat, ut fides in Deum plurimum posset, et non diffidentia prævaleret. Fatodicis, impudens, omnia lieri ? Addis et nihil preces, nihil orationes valere? Quantum vero preces vel orationes fidelium valeant, sacra omniuin divinorum voluminum monumenta loquuntur, et volentibus noscere facilis aditus conceditur ad salutem. Ergo non lato quidquam geritur, sed omnia factoris inundi providentia gubernantur. ### English translation (Claude) But they say: 'We do these things so that they may not harm us.' To them we say: how can those harm who cannot help? And that they truly can neither harm nor help, the guarding by dogs around those whom you call your gods, and the watchfulness of guards, bears witness. For when thieves find them, they carry them off and break them up and sell them. You say that all things happen by fate; but the things that you say happen by fate, by I know not what uncertain opinion, I say happen by the will or permission of God; because God the Father has placed all things in his own power, and nothing happens except what the Lord himself has willed or permitted to be able to happen. Do you wish to see our prophets and apostles, how great things they did, not by the power of fate but by the help of faith and of the supreme God, and by the divine power of Christ? See, they restored the broken, whom you say are troubled by fate; likewise they cured the sick, raised the dead, gave light to the blind and set the lame upright; and they asked nothing from fate, but, as I said, accomplished everything by sincerity of faith and by divine resources and mercies. Do you say that all things happen by fate? But the fool speaks foolish things, and his heart understands vain things; and, as that Tullius said in the Hortensius: 'My grandmother used to say what you say, that all things happen by fate; but my mother, a wise woman, did not think so.' And we too can say in truth that our grandmother, that is, the ancient error and Gentile folly, said this. For our mother, a wise woman, namely mother Church, who bore us by a spiritual birth, never thought so, for she knows that the Son received from the Father all power in heaven and on earth. Therefore in his name his disciples did such great mighty works, he who also said: "Ask, and you will receive; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you." Certainly when he said this he was opposing errors and demons, who invent fates and maintain that prayers avail nothing, so that God may not be asked and their works may not be undone. Therefore the Lord drew the peoples to himself, so that faith in God might avail very much and distrust might not prevail. Do you say, shameless man, that all things happen by fate? Do you add that prayers and supplications avail nothing? How much the prayers and supplications of the faithful avail, the sacred records of all the divine books declare, and to those who wish to know, easy access to salvation is granted. Nothing, then, is done by fate, but all things are governed by the providence of the maker of the world. ### Scripture references - Acts 1:7: quotation, high confidence - Matt 11:5: allusion, medium confidence - Isa 32:6: quotation, high confidence - Matt 28:18: allusion, high confidence - Matt 7:7: quotation, high confidence ### Extrabiblical texts - Cicero, Hortensius (Cicero): quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - The saying from Cicero's lost dialogue Hortensius (a known fragment) is applied to the Church as the wise 'mother'. 'The fool speaks foolish things' is Isa 32:6. 'Ask, and you will receive' is Matt 7:7 (printed reference 'Joan. XVI'; compare John 16:24). ### Citation (SBL) Maximus of Turin, Tract. 4.2 (PL 57:781c–783c; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/maximus-taurinensis-tractatus/4-2). ## Tractate 4.3 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/maximus-taurinensis-tractatus/4-2/#p-4-3 - Source: PL 57:783c–793a - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-11-05 Summary: The treatise continues against pagan worship of idols, elements and the immoral gods of myth (with quotations from Wisdom, Romans, Virgil and Cyprian), refutes fate and augury by the power of prayer in Scripture, cites the philosophers, the Sibyl's ΙΧΘΥΣ acrostic and Peter's speeches from the Clementine Recognitions, and ends with the one God. ### Latin text Nam de idolis, vel de elementis, quæ pagani æstimant deos, audite breviter, fratres, beatum prophetam nostrum paganos istos deridentem dc supervacuis eorum, et dicenlem : Idola gentium argentum et aurum , opus manuum hominum : os habent, et non loquuntur ; oculos habent, et non vident; aures habent, et non audiunt (Psal. CXXXIV), et cætera quæ ibi sequuntur. Interrogo te, pagane, si velis talis esse quales illi quos colis, sine anima, sine sensu, sine motu, sine aliquo vitali intellectu. Hoc ergo male- dictum putas; desine igitur tales colere quorum te similitudo sollicitat, et quorum cultus te honeslat. Sed dicunt pagani: Nos solem et lunam, vel stellas, et universa elementa colirnus et veneramur ; quibus iterum dicitur : Vani autem sunt omnes homines quibus non subest scientia Dei, et de his quæ videntur bona, non potuerunt intelligere eum qui est; nec operibus attendentes, agnoverunt quis esset artifex; sed aut ignem, aut spiritum, aut citatum aerem, aut gyrum stellarum, aut nimiam aquam, aut solem, aut lunam, deos putaverunt (Sap. XIII); quorum si propter spedem hoc aestimaverunt, sciant quanlo his Dominus speciosior est; speciei enim Creator omnia constituit, aut si in virtute et operibus eorum Durantur, intelligant ab ipsis quoniam qui haec constituit fortia, fortior est illis. Et Paulus apostolus dicit : Invisibilia enim Dei a creatura mundi, per ea quæ facta sunt, intellecta conspiciuntur, sempiterna quoque ejus virtus atque divinita, ut sint inexcusabiles; quia cum cognovissent Deum, non ut Deum venerati sunt, aut gratias egerunt, sed evanuerunt in cogitationibus suis, et obscuratum est insipiens cor illorum : dicentes enim se esse sapientes, stulti facti sunt. Et mutaverunt gloriam incorruptibilis Dei in imaginem corruptibilis hominis et volucrum, et quadrupedum, et serpentium (Rom. I), etc. Ergo aut ignem, ait, aut spiritum, aut citatum aerem, aut gyrum stellarum, aut nimiam aquam, aut solem, aut lunam,deos pulaverunt. Ignem colunt pagani,et deum dicunt, qui aqua restinguitur, aut terræ jactu comprimitur. Ignem colunt pagani, qui ligni fomento nutritur. Ignem colunt pagani, æterno igne arsuri. Sed forte fulgura colunt: ut quid ista colunt? non eniti motibus, sed imperio Dei aguntur, sicut sol et luna, pluviæ æque et stellarum cursus, ventorum motus et Dubium transitus. Spiritum ergo aeris et ventorum veneranlur. Sed isla rerum Domino famulantur, sicut scriptum est, flabit spiritus ejus, et fluent aquæ (Psat. CXLVII).... ................. ignis, grando, nix, glacies, spiritus procellarum, quæ faciunt verbum ejus (I bid). Gyrum stellarum colant pagani ab artilice Deo perfectum, ad mundi ornatum discriminato decore compositum. Aquam colunt, quæ ad.usum non solum hominum, sed et pecorum, et cæterarum rerum largitate Creatoris effunditur. Solem et lunam colunt, cum videamus et orientem et occidentem solem sic currere ut ei constitutam est. Unde intelligitur neminem posse indesinenter currere, et servitio suo insistere, nisi qui sub Domino sit, et qui habcat imperantem. Nam neque luna erementum vel detrimentum pateretur, nisi voluntate et arbitrio Conditoris; et sol si in sua potestate esset, perpetua luce fulgeret ........ .................. .................. famulari, et stellas suum ordinem sequi; mare etiam suis finibus contineri. Et ideo clamat propheta san- ctissimus, dicens ad Dominum Deum nostrum : Quam magnificata sunt opera tua, Domine! omnia in sapientia fecisti; repleta est terra creatura tua. Hoc mare magnum et spatiosum , illic repentia, quorum non est numcrua, animalia pusilla et magna (Psal x). Hic est Dominus Deus noster, de quo quidam sanctorum dicebat : Qui coelum alta sublimitate suspendit, terrena dejecta mole solidavit, maria soluto liquore diffudit, et hæc omnia propriis et condignis instrumentis plena et ornata digessit. Cum ergo videris ............... ................ Colunt adhuc pagani montes, et arbores, et fontes, et flumina, ubi et boves, et oves, et universæ bestiæ pascuntur, et ambulant, atque labantur. Nam simulacra et idola eorum digno honore ab araneis obteguntur, et a tineis vel vermibus perforantur, et a muribus habitantur, et a muscis conculcantur; nec se ab igne vel a pluvia defendunt, nec a latronibus vel furibus vindicant. Et ideo S. Cyprianus ad Demetrianum paganum bene dicebat: Pudeat te eos colere quos ipse defendis; pudeat te de eis auxilium sperare quos luem. Aut quid enim praestare colentibus se possent, qui se de non colentibus vindicare non possunt; sicut enim ad eos non pertinet quo colunlur; sic non sen- tiunt quo læduntur. Sed dicunt pagani: Nos deos colimus, vel deas quæ in coelo habentur. Quibus dicimus : Si deos illos dicitis vel colitis quos in vestris libris audimus recitare, id est Saturnum, Jovem, Mercurium, Martem, Apollinem, Vulcanum, Æsculapium cæterosque innumeros; et deas dicitis Junonern, Minervam, Dianam, Cybelem, Latonam, vel cæteras; ergo si omnes illos dicitis deos, cur aliquos in stellis ponitis, et aliquos non ponitis ? Dicitis enim Saturnum, Joyem, Martem, vel Mercurium in coelo esse, et Neptunum, Apollinem, Yulcanum, Æsculapium et caeteros non dicitis. An forte isti aliquid peccaverunt, et illi nihil peccaverunt, ideoque supernas regiones asseritis possidere, cum magis constet omnes.... homines, et .... hominibus. Ecce Saturnum, vel Jovem, Martem etiam, et Mercurium, etc., nefanda facinora commisisse scimus. Nonne Virgilius vester poeta ille præcipuus, cujus cannina hodieque veneramini sic clamat de Saturno dicens : Arnia Jovis fugiens, et regnis exsul ademptis; unde et Latium de latebra ejus nomen accepit, eo quod latuisset tutus in oris, id est fugiens in Italiæ Onibus latuisset; et iterum ait: ..... Fauno Picus pater; hisque parentem Te, Saturne, refert, tu sanguinis ultimus auctor. Hic litteras imprimere, et signare nummos in Italia primus instituit; inde ærarium Saturni vocatur; et rusticitatis hic cultor fuit, inde falcem ferens pingi- tur. Hic, cum vesano furore raperetur, filios devoravit suos; qui et operto capite, ne agnosceretur, effugit et ita in delubris vestris formatur. Jovem ejus filium a matre subtractum insula habet sepulcrum... despectus jacet..... unde Virgilius dixit: cremedio jacet insulade criminibus.... breviter commemorat dicens : Jovisque et soror, et conjux, et rapti, inquit, Ganymedis honores. Viic quam exsecrabilis habendus sit, imo potius quam detestabilis iste Jupiter, qui sororem voluerit habere uxorem, ut de cæteris ejus criminibus taceamus. Proh dolor! quæ inter homines sanctos habentur pietatis nomina, inter deos paganorum facta sunt foeda sacrilegia. Nam de Marte quid dicam, qui opud Thraces natus ................. ................ ................. infernis, sed... dicitur possidere. Ergo iste nullas proprias habet sedes, sed ut.... et miser in- certis, et nullissedibus Usus semper ex... citis filios et filias genuisse, quod non ex legitimis nuptiis, sed de nefandis incestis et adulteriis, sicut et ipsi nati sunt; adhuc autem non erubescilis et solem dicere filiam habuisse, et lunam amasse Endymionem. Quis fidelium ad tantam insaniam vestram non irascatur? Quis vos in talibus perseverantes non omni poena dignos existimet? sicut et Saturnum dicitis filium coeli, et Jovem ejus filium iterum dicitis, vel polius mentiniini Minervain ex capite genuisse... femore, et multa alia... Nam deæ vestræ..... asseritis veneranda. obscenitatis vitio continehtur: ex quibus unam solam Venerem dicitis esse in coelo, et in astris ponitis. Cur non (interrogo) et Junonem, et Minervam, vel Dianam, vel caeteras? An quia Vfnerem dicitis speciosam, ideo eam in coelo habitare memoratis..... fœditatis terrenis sedibus deputatis? Quid illam impudentissimam feminam inter tot viros facitis in coelo, quid sibi vindicat? Uxor est alicujus, an mater, an soror, an filia Sed si nihil horum est, et propter pulchritudinem tantum eam dicitis esse in coelo, quae fuerit fornicaria, vide quam nefarium sit criminosam pulchritudinem dicere esse in coelo, et Minervam non dicitis, quam dicitis castam et sapientem? Apparet vos quia carnales estis potius quam spiritales ..... .............. religionem qUe a vobis antiqui lib..... lumina cum bu.....picturis et signis et insa..... vestris talibus delectamini. Cur hodie quae in theatris ad acclamationes vestras impurissimi histriones exprimunt ipsam impudicam Venerem et adulterum Martem, Jovem illum principem vitiorum in terrenos amores cum suis fulminibus, id est magiis immutatum albescere; nunc aureo imbre defluere .......... ........ ............... Quicunque enim sine lege peccaverunt, sine lege peribunt, et quicunque in lege peccaverunt, per legem judicabunlur (Rom. II); et non erubescunt pagani tot deos et deas dicere, Saturnum genuisse et Jovem vel cæteros. Sed si tunc nati sunt dii, cur non hodieque nascuntur? nisi forlc, ut iterum sanctus Cyprianus dicebat, aut Jupiter senuit, aut partus in Junone de. fecit. Item pagani volatus avium observant et voces conorum vel cornicularum, et in fibris. ................. ............... ............... tionibus inquirunt sed din.•..... mus quod caver..... præterire nec es.... qua imminent vi..... clinare, quibus dicimus; si ergo vitari possunt per observautiam quæ futura sunt, jam ergo non sub fati sorte agitur homo et immobilis decreti, qui arbitrio suo et cautela poterit declinare quod imminet. Sed dicunt: Non poterunt declinari. Dicamus ad eos iterum : Cur ergo inquiri- tis? cur frustra sacrificia celebratis? cur voces avium? cur volatus attenditis. ................ .................. .. ingemueris...... Vis scire quantum preces valeant, quantum placeant Domino Deo orationes fidelium; inquire in libris nostris, in libris clara veritate perspicuis; inquire de Noe, inquire de Moyse, inquire do Jesu filio Nave, inquire de Elia vel Eliseo, inquire de Jona vel cæteris sanctis prophetis et beatis apostolis Christi discipulis, quibus totum Dominus dedit quidquid eorum fidelis oratio postulavit; inde ergo invenies quanta a te poterunt impetrari......... que......... iloto....... naufragio inter fu- rentes undas et strepitus..... ludentium etiam undique procellarum, per maris... discrimina perexcellentium aquarum metuenda cacumina fretus de Domini pietate feliciter evaserit, .... quique precibus fusis ad Dominum meruerit incolumis, cum suis omnibus reservari, ut miraretur et ipsa tempestas. omnibus ubique pereuntibus, unum solummodo cum suis superstitem evasisse. Dicant pagani, si possunt, quid hic fatum facere peluit : nunquid.omnes in illo diluvio fatum occidit, aut isli uni fatum vitam dona- vit? Si omnes fatum occidit, cur non et istum? si huic fatum vitam donavit, cur non et omnibus? Sed vere virtus et potentia omnipotentis Dei hæc sine dubio fecit, qui pervicacibus et contemnentibus Iribuit prenas, et justis et sua precepta servantibus salutem .............. ............. ............. .... .................... . dicam qui a magistro Moyse nullo virtutis merito de generasse cognoscitur, quique ad debellandam Jeria cho civitatem profectus, precibus suis, velu quodam fulmine, Jericho muros sine mora dejecit, et usque ad fundamenta prostravit; qui etiam solis citatissimos cursus supra Gabaon osando tenuit (Jésue x), et lunæ vias supra phalanges, sua interdi- ctione compressit, usquequo omnes adversarios superaret. Quid de Elia sanctissimo dicam, qui merito fidei clavem imbrium gestabat in labiis, de qua clausum ...... naufragorum ab opinione non destitit; ei totum a Domino quidquid postularit accepit, et velut naris fidelis iLla salva fuit, et perductum ad riparo, sicut acceoerat, internum repræsentavit. Omnes etiam san- cti prophetae inerito fidei suae, at diximus, multas virtutes et multa mirabllia perfecerunt. Beati etiam apostoli et confractos viribos restituebant, et nihil a fato petebant, et infirmos curabant, et mortaos suscitabant; sed omnia Dei virtute, et Christi auxilio adimplebant.... Diis pagano .... dilectissimis dicamus est et fidei nostræ ........... loquamur unus est ........... Dominus Deus, et sanctus est dicens................ limitas potest.. em cum sola babeat potestatem, hunc unum Deum credit et veneratur Ecclesia, qui omnia quæcunque sunt, verbo majestatis suæ et sapientia format, ra- tione et omnipotenti virtute consummat; hie non videri potest; visu clarior est, nec restimari; sensu major est; et ideo sic eum digne aestimamus, dum inæstimabilem dicimus.. Hic est, inquam, Dominus Deus noster, quem et ipsi ratione superati paganorum philosophi, etsi non venerantur; tamen agnoscunt Deum. Ideo quidem non vencrantur, quoniam in injuriam ipsius Creatoris multos asserunt deos, et honorem, ut diximus, Greatoris deferunt creaturæ. Ergo nunc Dominum Deum nostrum velint nolit' et ipsi philosophi veritate compressi, et invisibilem asserunt, et omnium praepotentem, in quo præcipuus Sostenes formam hujus mundi negat conspici posse, et angelos veros sedi ejus dicit assistere, in quo et Plato pari ratione consentit, et unum Deum prædicans, Ceteros angelos vel daemones dicit. Hermes quoque Trismegistus unum Deum fatetur, eumque inviaibilem atque incomprehensibilem confiletur. Hunc ergo nos in veritate confitemur, et novimus, et fatemur. Omnipotentem Deum, cujus opus est mundos, qui ooelum suspendit ut cameram, qui terram fundavit super aquam, maria soluto liquore diffudit, et miro libramine ex omni parte compositam totam hujus mundi molem ipse continet fabricator. Ipse solis vaporiferos ........ . .......... ... .................. ....... ipse cuncta animalia cum universis fetibus suis benigne utiliterque praeparavit ? ipse fontes, et flumina concavosque torrentes? ipse spatiosum mare.... rum campos mar. : .. fluctibus longe lateque.... et visibilia, et invisibilia cuncta... Christo Filio suo Domino nostro perfecit: sicut scriptum est, quia in Christo creata sunt omnia, attestante apostolo Paulo, quæ sunt in cælo et quæ sunt in terra visibilia etinvisibilia (Coloss. iv). Ergo unus Deus, fratres, adorandus est solus; sicut scriptum est. Dominum Deum tuum adorabis, et ipsi soli servies (Matth. IV); ipse diligendus est, icente Scriptura: Diliges Domitum Deum tuum ex toto corde IN, ex tota anima tua, et ex omni mente tua, et ex omni sensu tio, et proximum tuum sicut teipsum (Matth. IXII.). Quis etenim, rogo, proximus noster ? quam Dominus noster Jesus Christus, qui cum in forma Dei esset constitutus, formam servi accepit ? Et Verbum caro factum est, et habitavit in nobis (loan. I), quique dicebat: Hcec est vita aeterna, ut cognoscant te solum verum Deum, et quem misisti Jesum Christum (Joan. XVII). Iste Jesus Christus .... in principio erat Verbum apud Deum... a Sibylla ΙΧΘΥΣ, Græco nomine, quod significat piscis, operatus est, eo quod mundi vel sæcult hujus mare ingressurus esset. Nam et litterarum ipsarum Græcarum considera ingens mysterium ΙΧΘΥΣ: iota, hoc est Jesus; chi, id est X pios ; Θ theta, Theu; Y Yios, sigma Soter; quod Latine explanatur Jesus Christus Dei Filius SalMtor : in capite harum quinque litterarum Græcarum mysterium hoc est, quæri ergo magno... ................. ............ ................. ........ •. ... 9 ..• ••...... ..... de Domino Christo ipse beatus Petrus ... sermonem, vere propheta velit-recipere, aut not etiam .... nus ejus, id est mandata.. .. habet in sua potestate liberi, inquit, sumus arbitrii; si hoc esse! audientes eum jam non baberent in potestate aliud facere quam audierant. vis erat quaedam naturæ, per quam liberum non esset ad aliam migrare sententiam; aut si rursus ex audientibus nullus omnino reciperet, et hoc naturæ vis erat, quæ unum aliquid fieri cogeret, et alteri parti................ quia librum ............. velit partem declinare ...... . ... suum, et quam ............ viam constat............. ................. ................. Ab initio enim dum regna ....... et potestatem dedit ..... hominum; ut illius regni fiat portio, cui se ad obediendum ipso subjecerit : et quia definitum est apud Deum non posse unum hominem utriusque regni esse servum, omni studio date operam in boni regis foedus ac jura concurrere. Propter hoc denique verus propheta cum esset praesens nobiscum, et quosdam cx divitibus negligentes erga Dei cultum viderit hujus rei, ita aperuit . ................ et reliqua, usque hic pfrosequitur S. Petrus. Christus ergo dicebat: Hæc est vita æterna, ut cognoscant te solum verum Deum, et quem misisti Jesum Christum (Joan. XVII) ; in hac agnitione, fratres, est vita aeterna. Nam audi Scripturam sanctorum Evangeliorum referentem de summo Deo Patre, et Filio ejus Jesu Christo : In principio, inquit, erat Verbum, id est Filius, et Verbum erat apud Deum (Joan. I), apud genitorem suum ............... .... . . ..... ................................. ................................ ............................... ............................ .................................................. .................................. ................................ ...................... in sequentia .......... dicens, et Verbum caro acum est, ad velamen .. ..... interpretem ser....... docuit voluntatem Patris, ipsumque summum Deum credendum tradidit, et sic. passione completa, ipsum, quem assumpserat, hominem sacrificium obtulit Patri, totius mundi faciens redemptionem. Iterum S. Petri interponimus expositionem : Ac noscite, inquit, veritatem, et separamini ....... decipere ho.............. scriptiones... ......... ......... Deorum..... ...... ..... .......... sicut enim unus .......... habet sub se multos, tu dicis verbi gratia præfectos, consules, tribunos, et caeteras potestates. Similia arbitramur, modo cum unus sit major omnium Deus, et jam istos ad similitudinem earum quas diximus potestatum ordinatos esse in hoc mundo deos; illi quidem majori subjeclos; nOs tamen, et quia in hoc mundo sunt, dispensantes. Audite ergo ad hæc vos, pagani, quomodo in his ipsis quae ad deceptionem ... apponitis veritatis rationibus confitemini. Dicitis siquidem: Cum Cæsaris teneat Deus (sic) judicum vero ejus; et potestatum spectem servent qui dicuntur dii, servate ergo, ut proposuistis, exemplum Caesaris; et scitote quia sicut nulli ex judicibus vel administratoribus, id est præfectis, vel proconsulibus, vel ducibus, vel tribunis fas est Caesaris nomen imponi, alioquin et ille qui susceperit, et illi qui detulerint, pariter interibunt: ita et de hoc debetis advertere. Quod si qui nomen Dei alicui, quam præter ipsum imposuerit, et ille receperit unum eumdemque sortientur interitum, multo deteriorem forte quam ministri Caesaris. Hic enim qui delinquit in Cæsarem, interitum suscipiet temporalem ; qui vero in unum, qui solus est verus Deus, delinquit, in saeculum ........ ........ ..... ..... ..... Alii pagani dicunt, nos adhuc melius facimus, qui et ipsi summo Deo, et omnibus cum ipso gratias agimus, quibus dicendum est. Tale est hoc quale si quis æger ad medelam sui et medicum et venenanum vocet, cum illi quidem nocere quidem possint venenarii, et curare possint. Verus autem mcdicus venenis illorum recuset sua medicamenta miscere, de aut pernicies bono aut san ................. ................. ................ ......... ..... mundi................ ri largiatur ............. doloris sui lucem ........... cæteraque elementa exhibent servitutem. Denique . ... contra bonitatem Conditoris fatigata sceleribus impiorum vincuntur elementa; exiude est, quod aut terrae fructus corrumpitur, aut aeris temperies temcratur, aut supra modum ardor solis incenditur, vel imbrium aut rigorum vis immensa diffunditur. In ..... et mortis facies diversa percurrit; festina enim creatura in impios moveretur ad vindictam; Dei tamen bonitas reprimit eam, et ab indignatione impiorum refrenat, ac suæ misericordke ...... obedire magis quam peccatis hominum et sceleribus inflammari. Exspectat enim patientia Dei, dum in hoc corpore sunt, hominum conversionem, quod si usque ad exitum vitæ in impietate perstiterint, tunc jam discedens anima, quae immortalis est, pro impietatis suæ perseverantia luit poenas immortales. Nos vero, ait ipse sanctus Petrus, cujus hanc assumpsimus disputationem de historia beati Clementis ejus discipuli, et nostris in adjutorium sociavimus dictis. Nos ergo , ait, ad hoc missi sumus, ut prodamus vobis latebras antiqui serpentis, et absolventes inimicitias reconciliemus vos Deo ............. et placeat isti ..... sed fortasse... : . nihil curare, et Deo..... ad notitiam . .... possumus pervenire, quomodo.. ... gerat humanarum rerum ..... ................ ..... .......Dei esse ..... nisi enim potestate ex ..... nunquam po- Hora inferioribus ministraren, et per hoc non solum curam Dei erga homines, sed et grandem quemdam habere docetur affectum, quorum ministerio tam præclara mancipavit elementa. Sed dices : quid enim læditur Deus, si et ista coluntur a nobis, si quis vestrum honorem ......... .................. ................. ............... ............. .............. vel alia ........... Deus non sit .. ....... in his quae facile deprehendere potuistis animum ad discutiendum noluistis intendere, certum est quia in agnitione Dei impediti estis, non impossibilitatis, sed ignaviæ vitio. Nam si voluissetis, ex his ipsis inutilibus simulacris profecto accepissetis intelligentiæ viam ........ ...................... ........... .................. ........... ..... ad nocendum ....... tandum, seducentibus ..... monibus, ut quasi mir .... , utilia perficerent ... ... de est ambulare statuas ..... canes æreos, et lapides, .... per aerem ignis effici, mutari per varias figuras, et cætera, qux Simonem illum Magum vel cæteros fecisse accepimus ; nam et Jamnes et Mambres faciebant magias contra Moysen ..... est , .... diabolo in .... tempus aliqua facere ad seducendum infideles, ut ma ... in fide ... fidelium mens, et perficiat in dilectione et timore Dei, nec vincatur a malo .... tate. Et pithones futura et occulta loquuntur, et no...« colendo aliquoties ....... futura et occulla dicunt, faciunt quidem hæc, non Divinitate, sed malignitate vel curiositate ; ideo, sicut dictum cst, ut seducant, ut decipiant; spiritus sunt vagi et insinceri, pervolantes et perscrutantes. Nam vere illi sunt sancti famuli, et vere illi ministri Dei, qui signa faciunt salutis, et vitam mortuis tribuunt, dæmones fugant : unde et vere ad Deum pertinere noscuntur, cujus lumine illuminant caecos, virtute sanant infirmos, misericordia mortuos resuscitant, qui in nomine Christi ad similitudinem ejus multa et faciunt et fecere virtute fidei. Ergo sectemur horum caritatem, sequamur horum innocentiam, ut indulgentiam et mansuetudinem eorum servemus, et a sempiterno adjuti Deo, æterno et beato Filio ejus semper honorem deferamus et laudes æternas; ipsum Patrem et Filium adorantes et contitentes in Spiritu sancto, cui gloria et majestas in sæcula. Amen. Deo gratias, semoer. ### English translation (Claude) As for the idols, or the elements which the pagans think are gods, hear briefly, brothers, our blessed prophet mocking these pagans for their useless things and saying: "The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the work of men's hands; they have mouths and do not speak; they have eyes and do not see; they have ears and do not hear," and the rest that follows there. I ask you, pagan, whether you would wish to be like those you worship, without soul, without sense, without motion, without any living understanding. You think that a curse; stop, then, worshipping such things as you would be troubled to resemble, and whose worship you think honours you. But the pagans say: 'We worship and venerate the sun and moon, or the stars and all the elements.' To them again it is said: "Vain are all men in whom the knowledge of God is not present, and who from the good things that are seen could not understand him who is; nor, attending to the works, did they recognize who was the craftsman; but they thought either fire, or wind, or swift air, or the circle of the stars, or the great water, or the sun, or the moon to be gods"; if they thought this because of their beauty, let them know how much more beautiful than these is their Lord, for the Creator of beauty established all things; or if they marvelled at their power and works, let them understand from them that he who established these strong things is stronger than they. And the apostle Paul says: "For the invisible things of God from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood through the things that are made, also his eternal power and divinity, so that they are without excuse; because when they had known God, they did not venerate him as God or give thanks, but became vain in their thoughts, and their foolish heart was darkened; for saying that they were wise, they became fools. And they changed the glory of the incorruptible God into the image of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed beasts and serpents," and so on. "They thought," then, he says, "either fire, or wind, or swift air, or the circle of the stars, or the great water, or the sun, or the moon to be gods." The pagans worship fire and call it god, which is put out by water or smothered by throwing earth on it. The pagans worship fire, which is fed by fuel of wood. The pagans worship fire, they who will burn in eternal fire. But perhaps they worship lightning: why do they worship these things? For they are moved not by their own motions but by the command of God, like the sun and moon, the rains too and the courses of the stars, the movements of the winds and the passing of the clouds. They venerate, then, the spirit of the air and of the winds. But these serve the Lord of things, as it is written: "His wind will blow, and the waters will flow" … "fire, hail, snow, ice, stormy wind, which do his word." The pagans worship the circle of the stars, perfected by God the craftsman and composed for the adornment of the world with distinguished beauty. They worship water, which is poured out by the generosity of the Creator for the use not only of men but also of cattle and other things. They worship the sun and moon, though we see the sun rising and setting run as has been appointed for it. From this it is understood that nothing can run unceasingly and persist in its service unless it is under a Lord and has one who commands it. For neither would the moon suffer increase or decrease except by the will and judgment of the Maker; and the sun, if it were in its own power, would shine with perpetual light … to serve, and the stars to follow their order, the sea too to be held within its bounds. And therefore the most holy prophet cries out, saying to the Lord our God: "How magnified are your works, O Lord! You have made all things in wisdom; the earth is filled with your creation. This great and wide sea, there are creeping things without number, living things small and great." This is the Lord our God, of whom one of the saints said: 'Who hung the heaven on high, made firm the earth as a cast-down mass, poured out the seas as a loosened liquid, and arranged all these things full and adorned with their own fitting instruments.' When, then, you see … The pagans also worship mountains and trees and springs and rivers, where oxen and sheep and all the beasts graze and walk and slip. For their images and idols are covered with fitting honour by spiders, pierced by moths or worms, inhabited by mice and trampled by flies; and they do not defend themselves from fire or rain, nor protect themselves from robbers or thieves. And so holy Cyprian well said to the pagan Demetrianus: 'Be ashamed to worship those whom you yourself defend; be ashamed to hope for help from those whom you protect.' For what could they provide to those who worship them, who cannot avenge themselves on those who do not worship them? For as it does not concern them that they are worshipped, so they do not feel that they are injured. But the pagans say: 'We worship the gods or goddesses who are held to be in heaven.' To them we say: if you call gods, or worship, those whom we hear recited in your books, that is, Saturn, Jupiter, Mercury, Mars, Apollo, Vulcan, Aesculapius and countless others, and call goddesses Juno, Minerva, Diana, Cybele, Latona and the rest; if, then, you call all of them gods, why do you place some in the stars and not others? For you say that Saturn, Jupiter, Mars and Mercury are in heaven, and you do not say so of Neptune, Apollo, Vulcan, Aesculapius and the rest. Or perhaps these sinned in something and those did not, and therefore you assert that they possess the upper regions, when rather it is agreed that all … men, and … from men. See, we know that Saturn and Jupiter, Mars too, and Mercury and the rest committed abominable crimes. Does not your Virgil, that chief poet, whose songs you venerate even today, cry out thus about Saturn, saying: 'Fleeing the arms of Jove, an exile from his kingdom taken from him'; whence also Latium took its name from his hiding place, because he had lain hidden safe on its shores, that is, fleeing he had hidden in the borders of Italy; and again he says: '… Picus father of Faunus; and he names you, Saturn, as his parent; you are the ultimate author of the blood.' He first established in Italy the stamping of letters and the marking of coins; hence the treasury is called Saturn's; and he was a cultivator of rustic life, hence he is painted carrying a sickle. When he was seized by mad fury, he devoured his own sons; and he fled with his head covered so as not to be recognized, and so he is represented in your shrines. Jupiter his son, stolen away by his mother, has his tomb in an island … he lies despised … whence Virgil said … of his crimes … he briefly recalls, saying: 'Both sister and wife of Jove,' and 'the honours of ravished Ganymede.' See how accursed, or rather how detestable, this Jupiter is to be held, who wished to have his sister as his wife, to say nothing of his other crimes. Alas! the names of kinship that are held holy among men have become foul sacrileges among the gods of the pagans. And what shall I say of Mars, who, born among the Thracians … the underworld … is said to possess. So he has no proper dwelling of his own, but … wretched in uncertain and no dwellings … you say they begot sons and daughters, not from lawful marriages but from abominable incests and adulteries, just as they themselves were born; and still you do not blush to say that the sun had a daughter and that the moon loved Endymion. Which of the faithful would not be angry at such madness of yours? Who would not think you worthy of every punishment when you persist in such things? As you say that Saturn is the son of Heaven, and again you say, or rather lie, that Jupiter his son begot Minerva from his head … from his thigh, and many other things … For your goddesses … you assert are to be venerated … are held by the vice of obscenity; of them you say that only one, Venus, is in heaven, and you place her among the stars. Why not (I ask) Juno and Minerva, or Diana or the rest? Or because you say Venus is beautiful, do you therefore record that she dwells in heaven, and assign … of foulness to earthly seats? What are you doing with that most shameless woman in heaven among so many men? What does she claim for herself? Is she someone's wife, or mother, or sister, or daughter? But if she is none of these, and you say she is in heaven only because of her beauty, she who was a fornicator, see how wicked it is to say that criminal beauty is in heaven, while you do not say so of Minerva, whom you call chaste and wise! It appears that you are fleshly rather than spiritual … the religion which the ancients … you delight in such paintings and images. Why do the most impure actors today represent in the theatres, to your applause, that shameless Venus herself and the adulterer Mars, and that Jupiter, the prince of vices, changed for his earthly loves, with his thunderbolts, that is, by magic arts, now to grow white, now to flow down as a golden shower … "For whoever have sinned without law will perish without law, and whoever have sinned under the law will be judged by the law"; and the pagans do not blush to speak of so many gods and goddesses, to say that Saturn begot Jupiter and the others. But if gods were born then, why are they not born today too? Unless perhaps, as holy Cyprian again said, either Jupiter has grown old or childbearing has failed in Juno. Likewise the pagans observe the flights of birds and the voices of crows or jackdaws, and in entrails … inquire … to avoid what threatens; to them we say: if, then, what is to come can be avoided by observance, man is no longer under the lot of fate and an immovable decree, since by his own choice and caution he will be able to turn aside what threatens. But they say: 'They cannot be avoided.' Let us say to them again: why then do you inquire? Why do you celebrate sacrifices in vain? Why do you attend to the voices of birds, why to their flights? … Do you wish to know how much prayers avail, how much the supplications of the faithful please the Lord God? Inquire in our books, in books clear with plain truth; inquire about Noah, inquire about Moses, inquire about Jesus the son of Nun, inquire about Elijah or Elisha, inquire about Jonah or the other holy prophets and the blessed apostles, Christ's disciples, to whom the Lord gave whatever their faithful prayer asked; from there you will find how much can be obtained by you … in the shipwreck, among raging waves and the din of storms … on every side, through the perils of the sea and the fearful crests of the waters, relying on the Lord's kindness, he happily escaped … and who by pouring out prayers to the Lord earned to be preserved unharmed with all his family, so that the very storm marvelled that, while all everywhere perished, he alone with his family survived and escaped. Let the pagans say, if they can, what fate could do here: did fate kill all in that flood, or did fate give life to this one man? If fate killed all, why not him too? If fate gave life to him, why not to all? But truly the power and might of almighty God without doubt did these things, who assigns punishments to the obstinate and the despisers, and salvation to the just and those who keep his precepts … Shall I speak of him who is known not to have fallen short in any merit of virtue from his master Moses, who, setting out to subdue the city of Jericho, by his prayers, as by a thunderbolt, cast down the walls of Jericho without delay and laid them flat to the foundations; who also by praying held back the swiftest courses of the sun above Gibeon, and by his prohibition checked the paths of the moon above the battle lines, until he overcame all his adversaries? What shall I say of most holy Elijah, who by the merit of faith carried the key of the rains on his lips … he received from the Lord whatever he asked … All the holy prophets too, by the merit of their faith, as we said, accomplished many mighty works and many wonders. The blessed apostles too restored the broken in strength, and asked nothing from fate, and cured the sick and raised the dead; but they accomplished all things by the power of God and the help of Christ … one is the Lord God, and he is holy … since he alone has power, the Church believes in and venerates this one God, who forms all things that are by the word of his majesty and by wisdom, and perfects them by reason and almighty power. He cannot be seen: he is brighter than sight; nor estimated: he is greater than sense; and so we estimate him worthily when we call him inestimable. This, I say, is the Lord our God, whom even the philosophers of the pagans, overcome by reason, acknowledge as God, even if they do not venerate him. They do not venerate him because, to the injury of the Creator himself, they assert many gods and, as we said, give the honour of the Creator to the creature. So now even the philosophers themselves, whether they will or not, constrained by truth, assert that the Lord our God is invisible and all-powerful; among whom the eminent Sostenes denies that the form of this world can be seen, and says that true angels stand by his throne; in which Plato too agrees with like reason, and, preaching one God, calls the others angels or demons. Hermes Trismegistus too acknowledges one God and confesses him invisible and incomprehensible. Him, then, we confess in truth, and know and acknowledge: the almighty God, whose work is the world, who hung the heaven like a vault, who founded the earth upon the water, poured out the seas as a loosened liquid, and who as maker himself holds together the whole mass of this world, composed on every side with wonderful balance. He the sun's warming … he kindly and usefully prepared all living things with all their young; he the springs and rivers and hollow torrents; he the wide sea … and he perfected all things visible and invisible … in Christ his Son our Lord; as it is written that in Christ all things were created, as the apostle Paul testifies, things in heaven and things on earth, visible and invisible. One God, then, brothers, is alone to be worshipped, as it is written: "You shall worship the Lord your God and serve him alone"; he is to be loved, as Scripture says: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your understanding, and your neighbour as yourself." For who, I ask, is our neighbour but our Lord Jesus Christ, who, being in the form of God, took the form of a servant? "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us"; and he said: "This is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent." This Jesus Christ … in the beginning was the Word with God … by the Sibyl he was named ΙΧΘΥΣ, a Greek name which means 'fish', because he was to enter the sea of the world or of this age. And consider the great mystery of these Greek letters, ΙΧΘΥΣ: iota, that is, Jesus; chi, that is, Christ; theta, of God; upsilon, Son; sigma, Saviour; which is explained in Latin: Jesus Christ, Son of God, Saviour. In the initials of these five Greek letters is this mystery … concerning the Lord Christ the blessed Peter himself … whether one is willing to receive the true prophet or not … 'we are,' he says, 'of free will; if this were so, those who heard him would not have it in their power to do otherwise than they had heard; there would be a kind of force of nature by which one would not be free to go over to another opinion; or again, if none of the hearers at all received him, this too would be a force of nature compelling one thing to be done …' … 'For from the beginning, while … kingdoms … and he gave power … of men, so that each becomes a portion of that kingdom to which he has subjected himself to obey; and because it has been determined by God that one man cannot be the servant of both kingdoms, make every effort to run to the covenant and laws of the good king. For this reason, then, when the true prophet was present with us and saw some of the rich negligent about the worship of God, he opened this matter thus …' and the rest, up to this point holy Peter continues. Christ, then, said: "This is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent"; in this knowledge, brothers, is eternal life. For hear the Scripture of the holy Gospels speaking of the supreme God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ: "In the beginning," it says, "was the Word," that is, the Son, "and the Word was with God," with his begetter … in what follows … saying, "and the Word became flesh" … as a veil … the interpreter … he taught the will of the Father and handed on the supreme God himself to be believed; and so, the passion being completed, he offered the very man whom he had assumed as a sacrifice to the Father, making the redemption of the whole world. Again we insert the exposition of holy Peter: 'Know,' he says, 'the truth, and separate yourselves … to deceive … of the gods … For as one emperor has under him many, you say for example prefects, consuls, tribunes and the other powers, so we suppose that, since there is one God greater than all, these gods have been ordained in this world after the likeness of the powers we have mentioned, subject indeed to the greater, yet, since they are in this world, administering it.' Hear, then, in answer to this, you pagans, how in the very things you put forward for deception you confess by reasons of truth. For you say: as the emperor holds … and those who are called gods keep the appearance of his judges and powers; keep, then, as you have proposed, the example of the emperor, and know that, just as it is not lawful for any of the judges or administrators, that is, prefects or proconsuls or generals or tribunes, to have the emperor's name given to him, otherwise both he who has accepted it and they who have conferred it will perish alike, so you ought to notice concerning this. If anyone gives the name of God to someone besides him, and that one accepts it, they will share one and the same destruction, perhaps much worse than the emperor's ministers. For he who offends against the emperor will undergo a temporal destruction; but he who offends against the one who alone is true God, for ever … Other pagans say: 'We do better still, who give thanks both to the supreme God himself and to all with him'; to whom it must be said: this is as if a sick man should call both a physician and a poisoner for his cure, since the poisoners can indeed harm and not cure, while the true physician refuses to mix his medicines with their poisons, lest either ruin … to good … the elements show service … Accordingly … against the goodness of the Maker the elements, wearied by the crimes of the impious, are overcome; hence it is that either the fruit of the earth is spoiled, or the temperateness of the air is disturbed, or the heat of the sun is kindled beyond measure, or an immense force of rains or frosts is poured out. In … and the face of death runs through in various forms; for creation would hasten to move against the impious for vengeance; yet the goodness of God restrains it and reins it in from indignation against the impious, and … of his mercy … to obey rather than be inflamed by the sins and crimes of men. For the patience of God awaits the conversion of men while they are in this body; but if they persist in impiety to the end of life, then the soul, departing, being immortal, pays immortal penalties for its persistence in impiety. 'But we,' says holy Peter himself, whose disputation we have taken from the history of blessed Clement his disciple and joined to our words in support, 'we, then,' he says, 'have been sent for this, to expose to you the hiding places of the ancient serpent and, dissolving the enmities, reconcile you to God …' … we can come to knowledge how … conducts human affairs … for unless by power … the elements would never minister to inferior things; and by this not only God's care for men is taught, but also a certain great affection, since he has made such splendid elements subject to their service. But you will say: 'What harm is done to God if these things too are worshipped by us?' … in things which you could easily grasp, you would not turn your mind to examine; it is certain that you are hindered in the knowledge of God not by the fault of impossibility but of sloth. For if you had wished, you would surely have received from these very useless images the way of understanding … to harm … with demons seducing, so that as though by wonders they might accomplish useful things … statues walking … bronze dogs and stones … fire made through the air, changed into various shapes, and the other things which we have heard that Simon the magician and others did; for Jannes and Mambres too worked magic against Moses … to the devil for a time to do some things to seduce unbelievers, so that … the mind of the faithful … and be perfected in love and fear of God and not be overcome by evil. And the pythons speak of future and hidden things, and … sometimes … speak of future and hidden things; they do these things not by divinity but by malice or curiosity; therefore, as has been said, so that they may seduce, so that they may deceive; they are wandering and insincere spirits, flying about and prying. For truly those are holy servants, and truly those are ministers of God, who do signs of salvation, give life to the dead and put demons to flight; whence they are truly known to belong to God, by whose light they give light to the blind, by whose power they heal the sick, by whose mercy they raise the dead; who in the name of Christ, after his likeness, both do and have done many things by the power of faith. Let us follow, then, their love, let us follow their innocence, so that we may keep their indulgence and gentleness, and, helped by the everlasting God, may always render honour and eternal praises to his eternal and blessed Son, worshipping and confessing the Father himself and the Son in the Holy Spirit, to whom be glory and majesty for ever. Amen. Thanks be to God, always. ### Scripture references - Ps 115:4 (113:12 Vulg.): quotation, high confidence - Ps 115:5 (113:13 Vulg.): quotation, high confidence - Ps 135:15 (134:15 Vulg.): quotation, medium confidence - Rom 1:20: quotation, high confidence - Rom 1:21: quotation, high confidence - Rom 1:22: quotation, high confidence - Rom 1:23: quotation, high confidence - Ps 147:18: quotation, high confidence - Ps 148:8: quotation, high confidence - Ps 104:24 (103:24 Vulg.): quotation, high confidence - Ps 104:25 (103:25 Vulg.): quotation, high confidence - Rom 2:12: quotation, high confidence - Gen 7:23: allusion, high confidence - Josh 6:20: allusion, high confidence - Josh 10:12: allusion, high confidence - Josh 10:13: allusion, high confidence - 1 Kgs 17:1: allusion, high confidence - Col 1:16: quotation, high confidence - Matt 4:10: quotation, high confidence - Matt 22:37: quotation, high confidence - Matt 22:39: quotation, high confidence - Phil 2:6: quotation, high confidence - Phil 2:7: quotation, high confidence - John 1:14: quotation, high confidence - John 17:3: quotation, high confidence - John 1:1: quotation, high confidence - Acts 8:9: allusion, medium confidence - 2 Tim 3:8: allusion, high confidence - Exod 7:11: allusion, medium confidence - Acts 16:16: allusion, medium confidence ### Extrabiblical texts - Wis 13:1-2 (Wisdom of Solomon): quotation, high confidence - Cyprian, Demetr. 14 (To Demetrian): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Aen. 8.320 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Aen. 7.48-49 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Aen. 1.28 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Aen. 1.47 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Minucius Felix, Oct. 24.3 (Octavius): quotation, medium confidence - Sib. Or. 8.217-250 (Sibylline Oracles): allusion, high confidence - Ps.-Clem. Recogn. 5 (Recognitions): quotation, medium confidence - Plato (Plato (works)): allusion, low confidence - Jan. Jam. (Jannes and Jambres): allusion, medium confidence ### Translation notes - The printed text has many lacunae, marked here with '…'; several sentences are fragmentary and are translated as far as they can be construed. Virgil is quoted from Aeneid 8.320 and 7.48–49, and Aeneid 1.47 and 1.28; Cyprian from To Demetrianus (ch. 14); 'either Jupiter has grown old or childbearing has failed in Juno' is from Minucius Felix, Octavius 24.3, though ascribed to Cyprian. The speeches of 'holy Peter' are taken, as the author says, from 'the history of blessed Clement', the Pseudo-Clementine Recognitions (book 5 in Rufinus's Latin; exact chapters not identified here). 'Sostenes' is probably Ostanes; the identification is uncertain. The ΙΧΘΥΣ acrostic is from the Sibylline Oracles (8.217–250). The Psalm quoted first is Ps 115:4–6 (Vulgate 113:12–14); the printed reference 'Psal. CXXXIV' points to the parallel Ps 135:15–17. The 'neighbour' is identified with Christ. ### Citation (SBL) Maximus of Turin, Tract. 4.3 (PL 57:783c–793a; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/maximus-taurinensis-tractatus/4-3). ## Tractate 5.1 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/maximus-taurinensis-tractatus/5-1/#p-5-1 - Source: PL 57:793b–807d - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-11-05 Summary: A treatise against the Jews, in many places lacunose: the younger brothers of Genesis figure the Christian people preferred to the Jewish; Christ is the Son and Word through whom God created, foretold in the law, Psalms and prophets, born of a virgin, and seen by the patriarchs; Abraham was justified by faith, not circumcision. ### Latin text Dicunt secundum litteram Judæi non secundum .... adhortatur nos ratio ... .. fratres aliquantulum pre ..... ore contra Judaeos, vel ..... eis cum vestra sanclitate con.....et primo illud mihi ostendendum est, quod hic populus a mundi exordio divina Providentia reprobatur, et sequens populus eligitur, atque assumitur ex gentibus, id est populus Christianus, et ut certius approbetur quod dicimus, ab ipso prino homine Adam sumamus exordium. Adam genuit Cain et Abel. Cain natu major populum designabat Judæorum. Iste repellitur ob facinus suum, et Abel minor natu assumitur, qui populum Cbristianum ostendebat; reprobavit enim Deus sacrificia Cain, et Abel sacrilicium assumpsit. Occiditur ipse Abel a Cain; et nascitur alius filius Adæ in loco ejus nomine Seth. Considera mysterium. Abel luctus interpretatur, Seth resurrectio. Ergo in istis his duobus fratribus minoribus ................. ................ ............... ................................. quia mandatur, et ut relinquat priores errores et vetusta vitia, et exeat inde, efficiaturque in gentem magnam, id est in populo fideli Christiano, toto terrarum orbe diffuso; unde Scriptura annuntiabat dicens : Eritis gentes in caput Christiani, incredulus autem populus in cauda, id est Judæi. Genuit Abraham duos filios, Ismael et Isaac. Ismael major natu fuit ex ancilla Agar, Isaac minor natu ex libera Sara, quod apostolus noster Paulus, qui et ipse ex Judxis crediderat, dicehat : Jam non sumus ancillæ filii, sed liberæ (Galat. IV). ...................... ........... ...................... ................................. ............................................ vides quia prior reprobatur, et sequens assumitur; et ipse Jacob benedicit filios Joseph filii sui minoris. Jam intelligis, et in Joseph minori filio populum Christianum ostendit. Benedicit ergo Jacob illos duos pueros, et ponit manum lævam, id est sinistram super caput majoris natu, et dexteram super caput minoris, ut ostenderet minorem futurum esse bonorabiliorem atque majorem. Moyses quoque accipit tabulas, et propter culpam populi projecit eas; secundo alias conscriptas accipit et reservat, atque sacris voluminibus ........... ..... ' Prophetam degente tua, et de fratribus vestris; sicut me illum audite. Erit enim: omnis anima, quæ non adierit prophetam illum, interierit de populo suo (Deut. XVIII). Prophetam dixit Christum, quia propheta cst sui Pa- tris et Dei. Dominus autem et Deus est omnis creaturæ : de ipso dicebat iterum Moyses in libro Geneseos (Cap. I): In principio fecit Deus collum et terram; hic principium Filium taxans, in quo Deus Pater fecit coelum et terram, quod apostolus noster Paulus Moysi prosecutionem attestans, dicebat, quia in Christo creata sunt omnia quæ sunt in cælis, et quæ sunt in terra, visibilia et invisibilia, sive sedes, sive dominationes (Coloss. i) et cætera, quæ ibi sequuntur. In principio ergo fecit Deus cœlum et terram. Principium Christus est, qui dicebat per Salomonem : Dominus creavit me principiUm viarum suarum in opera sua (Prov. VIII)......... .. ......... aut fundatus est orbis terræ ...... pararet cœlum ..... Christus Dominus filius Dei ipse est ...... dicebat ....... Firmamentum, et factum est firmamentum, fiant luminaria in firmamento caeli, sic ut luceant super terram, el fecit duo luminaria majus et minus. Luminare majus in inchoationem die;, et luminare minus in inchoationem nocti: (Genes. I). Ergo Deus dixit, et Deus fecit. Audi adhuc, dicit Deus : Faciamus hominem ad ima- ginem et similitudinem nostram; et fecit Deus hominem, ad imaginem Dei fecit illum (Gen. I). Dicit forte Judæus: Ad angelos Deus dixit. Convincitur in eo quod dicitur et Deus fecit hominem; non enim angegeli, dixit, fecerunt, sed Deus, inquit, fecit hominem. Deus dixit, et Deus fecit; id est Pater imperavit, et Filius adimplevit. Et illud considera quod scriptum (Genes. XVIII) est de Abraham, quia apparuit illi Deus ad quercum Mambre; et postmodum habet Scriptura (Ibid.) in exustione Sodomæ et Gomorrhæ, quod Dominus a Domino pluerit ignem et sulphur super easdem civitates. Ergo est Pater et Filius, a quo Patre, id est et cujus jussione pluit Filius ignem et sulphur. In Filio ergo fecit Deus coelum et terram, qui erat ante coelum et terram: nonne ante facti sunt angeli, archangeli, omnesque spiritales virtutes et potestates ? Ergo quod ait, In principio fecit Deus cœlum et terram, in Christo dixisse declaratur, ex cujus persona et David dicebat : Verbo Domini cœli firmati sunt, et spiritu oris ejus omnis virtus eorum (Psal. XXXII) ; iste est Filius Dei, de quo iterum ipse David dicebat in secundo psalmo : Dominus dixit ad me : Filius meus es tu, ego hodie genui te. Vide secundum mysterium : in secundo psalmo hoc dicitur ....... secundus Filius ... .. sed die ...... certissime Deus Filium, quem genuit, non sicut homines, sed sicut decuit Deo generare impassibiliter, incorruptibiliter de se ipso; unus unum genuit, solus solum, Deus Deum, rex regem, ingenitus ingenitum, Pater Fi- ljum, auctor Verbum, creator creatorem, aeternus aeternum, Spiritus Spiritum, lux lucem, splendor splendorem, pius pium, bonus bonum, misericors misericordem, perfectus perfectum. Ad hunc Filium iierum David loquebatur dicens : Thronus tuus, Deus, in sœculum sœculi; virga æquitatis, virga regni tui. Dilexisti justitiam, et odisti iniquitatem; propterea unxit te Deus, Deus tuus (Psal. XLIV). Videte quia ad Deum loquens dicebat ei : unxit te Deus, Deus tuus, id est te Filium unxit Pater tuus illo unguento æternæ lætitiæ æterni sacramenti et cœlestis mysterii, aut adhuc............ , .. Dixit Dominus Domino meo: Sede a dextris meis (Psal. CIX)..... Dominum habuit iste rex, ad quem Dominus suns Deus dixerat: Sede a dextris meis. Quis est istc Dominus ad quem dixerat Deus Pater, nisi Dominus noster Christus Filius ejus? Nam et iterum audi de Christo suo Patrem dicentem: Paravi lucernam Christo meo; inimicos ejus induam confusione (Psal. CXXXI). Paravi lucernam Christo meo, id est Ecelesiam lumine ejus splendentem, atque ardentem, idelium numerum, qui, lumine veritatis et credulitatis in corde percepto , increduli- tatis et ignorantiae tenebras non derelinquit. Paravi lucernam Christo meo : iterum in Joannem sanctum dici, intelligimus lucemam populum illuminantem de isto Domino Salvatore et de ejus adventu in carne futuro. Et Isaias sanctissimus loquebatur: Confortamini, inquit, manus resolutæ et genua debilia et post paoca ait : Deus noster judicium retribuet; i,., veniet, salvabit ros: tunc aperientur oculi caecorum, et aures surdorum audient (Isai. XXXV), et caetera. Et Вarueh dicebat de Christo : Hic Deus noster non existimatur alter ad alterum. Qui invenit omnem viam prudentiæ, et dedit eam Jacob puero suo, et Israel dilecto sibi; post hæc in terris visus et inter homines conversatus est (Baruch III ): ut idem non Deus Pater v!sus est, et conversatus inter homines, sed Filius Dei, de cujus incarnationis adventu iterum Isaias annuntiabat dicens : Revelavit Deus brachium suum illum ' sanctum in conspectu omnium gentium, et videbunt omnes gentes ipsum super terram salutarem aDeo (Isai. LII). Adhuc autem repetit iterum et dicit: Ecce rirgo concipiet in utero, et pariet filium, et vocabitis nomen ejus Emmanuel, quod est interpretatum nobiscum Deus (Isai. VII). Nobiscum Deus, id est Deus in homine, Verbum in carne, niajestas in corpore. Descendit si- • cut pluvia in vellus (Psal. LXXI) ; non cum ambitu, non cum strepitu; sed rex coelestis humilis mundum ingressus est; triumphos immortalitatis et pacis omnibus donaturus corpus humanum assumpsit, ut suum fulgorem interim per velamen corporis obumbraret, et ad hominem Deus per interpretem hominem lo- queretur. In illo templo corporis Deus erat, ut mortalem hominem faceret immortalem. Sed non credit Judæus, sed nec paganus, nec virginem genuisse sine viri conjunctione credunt. Audiant et credant de nativitate Salvatoris ex virgine, sanctum angelum inis- sum a Deo Patre dixisse ad ipsam sanctissimam Virginem Mariam : Spiritus sanctus, inquit, superveniet in te, et virtus Altissimi obumbrabit tibi; ideoque et quod nascetur ex te sanctum vocabitur Filius Dei (Luc. II). Carnem humanam de sancta Maria assumpsit ille Spiritus immaculatus, id est Filius Dei mundus, sanctus, securus in se sibi sua potentia et possibilitate carnem effecit. Si enim hoc aliquantis avibus dedit, ut de vento aut de pulvere concipiant sine maribus, et cernerent, quanto magis ipse sibi, ut dictum est potuit corpus fabricare, et si iterum aves de ovis obumbratione alarum animatos pullos producunt, et terra sine coitu producit aliquanta animalia, ut vermes et caetera, quanto magis Deus potuit sibi inter homines mirabilibus modis. templum construere corporis sui : qui si voluisset, et ex lapide, vel ligno, vel aqua, vel terra, posset sibi corpus efficere, utpote qui et primum hominem Adam eo limo terrae plas- maverat, carnem humanam assumere, it ostepderet. se pro hominibus advenisse. Nam et nasci propterea ad similitudinem nostram et mori voluit atque resurgere, ut et nos et mori et iterum resurgere in semetipso monstraret, atqne spem nobis futuræ resurrectionis ostenderet. Sed dicit Judæus : Ergo ex femina habuit nasci Deus. Caro Christi ex femina Data est, quam Deus fecit, nec pollui potest majestas Christi in carne; si enim sol fulgens non inquinatur tactu quolibet, multo magis Dominus solis inquinari non potuit, licet mundus mundam tetigerit. Hunc ipsum habemus itineris ducem, quia via est ad Patrem; lucis principem, quia veritas est, qui nobis lumen veritalis infudit; salutis auctorem, quia quod factum est in eo vita est, qui cum Patre vivificat omnia : per ipsum Deo Patri semper gratias agimus, fratres, Sed adbuc increduli Judxi audent aliquoties et fidei Christianæ velle detrahere, et fideli Dei populo insultare; unde denuo recensenda sunt nobis divina volumina, quæ eos aperta veritate confundant et intelligant manifestesese sine spe et sine fide esse. Isti sunt Judæi, quos clara voce sanctus Stephanus increpabat dicens : Dura cervice, et incircumscisiscordibus et auribus, vos semper Spiritui sancto resistitis,sicut et patres vestri, ita et vos. Quem enim prophetarum non sunt persecuti patres vestri ? Et occiderunt eos qui pronuntiabant de adventu Justi hajus, et vos proditores et interfectores estis (Act. VII). Haec sanctus Stephanus ait, de quibus dicit et beatus apostolus Paulus: Semper discentes, et nunquam ad veritatis scientiam perve- nientes. Sicut enim Jamnes et Mambres restiterunt Moysi, ita et resistunt veritati, homines corrupti mente, sensu reprobi (II Tim. III). Dicunt enim : Nos Circumcisionem habemus, et filii sumus Abrahæ ; quibus merito Dominus dicebat : Si filii Abrahcc essetis, opera utique Abrahæ faceretis. Circumcisionem, inquiunt, habemus; quibus dicimus: Utinam haberetis odorem fidei Abrahæ, et non perfidix vestræ ! vos filii estis potius viperarum, in vobis ipsis veoena portantes : qui parentibus infertis necem, et ex hoc ipso quo alios occiditis, vobis ipsis interitum praeparatis. De vobis, o Judæi, dicit propheta David : Erraverunt a ventre, loculi sunt falsa. Ira illis secundum similitudinem serpentis (Psal. LVII). Et apostolus noster Paulus ait : Quorum Deus venter est, et gloria in confusionem eorum qui terrena sapiunt (Philip. III). Ergo erraverunt a ventre, locuti sunt falsa, ira illis secundum simililudinem serpentis : qui vipereis morsibus viscera parentum sanguinemque fundentes, et sceleris vestri lubrico dilapsi, in alienis vulneribus volvebamini; quique legis præcepta contemnendo per varias criminum culpas, velut per præscepitia multa diversis casibus corruistis. Vide jam, si potes, quam fœdus sit quamque turpis qui se sanguine comma- culat aliorum. Nam legimus ...... quod nullum ..... mei luminis contineat intellectum, nec per spostendat, ait Dominus ad eos : Vos de diabolo patre nati estis, et desideria patris vestri facere vultis (Joan. VIII). Nam et diabolus in serpente mutatus fallacibus linguis, novorum hominum piam rudemque innocentiam in paradiso factiosa malignitate decepit : cujus et isti insaniam subsecuti, serpentina generatio, nunc usque Christum Filium Dei negare conantur. Contra quos auxiliante ipso Domino Christo hanc disputationem suscepimus , quibus adhuc dicendum est . quod vobis assumitis, dicere patrem vestrum Abraham, et ejus circumcisionem vos asseritis suscepisse ? Abra- bam fide justificatus est, non circumcisione. Ita enim dicit Scriptura : Credidit Abraham Deo, et deputatum est illi ad justitiam, et amicus Dei appellatus est (Rom. IV). Ergo Abraham non ex circomcisione justificatus eat, sed ex fide. Credidit enim verbo Dei, et justificatus est, et benedictionem a Deo consecutus est, et ipse, et semen fidei ejus. Nam considera, ne putes circumcisionem signum esse fideliam, ante Abraham omnes sancti incircumcisi fuerunt, et puritate mentis Domino placuerunt, et populum Christianum magis ipsi in se monstrarunt. Percurre ordinem in sacro- sanctis Litteris positum, et invenies omnes ita esse ut dicimus. Primus ipse Adam, qui manibus Dei plasmatus est, incircumcisus permansit ; deinde Abel justus. Enos et Enoch, Noe et Melchisedech sacerdos summr Dei : justi omnes, neque circumcisi, ut dicimus, secundum carnem fuerunt, neque discretiones escarum habuerunt. Nam de Abraham, quod circumcisionem dicitur accepisse, illa circumcisio non habet praemium salutis, sed signum datum fuerat generis............... ................. ................. imos Israel, secundo ...... hapuit jam primo circumcisi ..... dere, sed spiritualiter intelligi oportet, quia per legem, id est per ' præcepta legis circumcidi ab idolorum cultu oportet, secundo per Evangelium circumcidi. Dicunt adhuc Judæ : Filii sumus Abrahae; quibus dicimus : Filii Abrahae estis, sed ex ancilla de qua scriptum est: Ejice ancillam et filium ejus ; non enim litera erit filius ancillæ cum filio liberæ (Genes. XXI, Galat. IV) ; nos in gloria Dei filii liberæ sumus. Vester ismael pater est, unde genus ducitis : noster pater Isaac est, unde ducimus genus.) In Isaac, inquit, vocabitur tibi semen ; ille sanctissimus Isaac, quem desiderantibus parentibus ........... .............. de quo dicitur : Quia in semine tuo benedicentur om- nes gentes (Genes. xx); non dixit in aemine tuo, quod est Christus. Iste est sanctissimus Isaac, qui patiens ad victimam ducebatur clementissimi patris præcipua proles; qui, ut diximus, Christi imaginem gestans, neque genitoris imperio contradixit, nec victimam suscipere recusavit. Ergo iste pater noster probatur; vestra Hierusalem, terrena civitas, mater est; nostra Hierusalem, cælestis civitas, mater; illa vestra, quæ periit; haecnostra, quæ permanet semper; vos priores, nossequentes; quia et lsmael prior, deinde Isaac : quia qui primi novissimi, et qui novissimi primi. Scriptum est : Eritis gentes in caput, incredulus aulem populus in cauda (Deut. XXVIII). Nam et ipse Isaac duos filios genuit Esau et Jacob, de quibus dictum fuerat ad Rebeccam conjugem lsaac divino responso : Duce gentes in utero tuo sunt, et duo populi de ventre tuo dividentur; et populus populum superabit, et major serviet minori; quia Jacob, inquam, dilexi, Esau autem odio habui (Genes. xxv). Sed hoc jam superius memoratum est,x nam ipse etiam Jacob duas describilur habuisse uxores, unam Liam majorem natu, oculis infirmam; aliam Rachel, minorem, speciosam : illa Lia, figuram Synagogae portabat, infirma, ut dictum est, oculis. Quare infirma oculis? quia visus Synagogæ languebat, et se In filiis infidelibus sxpe plangebat. Hæc vero Rachel, quae figuram portabat Ecclesiæ, de qua scriptum est: Speciosi oculi tui sicut columbæ (Cant. I) : et iterum noster apostolus Paulus dicit de ea : non habens ma - culam aut rugam Ephes. v, aut aliquod hujusmodi : hujus perspicuus et spiritalis fuerat visus. Nam et illud quod in mysterio loquitur apostolus, intellige quam populo Christiano conveniat : Prius, inquit, homo de terra terrenus, secundus vero homo de cœlo sælestis (I Cor. xv). Qualis terrenus, tales et terreni ; et qualis coelestis, tales et cœlestes, et lex quæ secundum litteram accipitur, occidit, spiritus autem vivficat (II Cor. IU). Moyses, nam ut commemoravimus, accipiens priores tabulas confractas projecit, ideo ut ostenderet vestrum lapideum cor confractum, et reprobatum; Christianorum vero divinis legibus aptum atque servandum. Unde dicit Scriptura de Christiano populo : Qui ostendunt opus legis conscriptum in cordibus suis (Rom. n) : Cognoscens omnia hæc, et ex lege et prophetis, adhuc majora considerans sanctus apostolus Paulus, separavit se a vobis, nec jugum cum infidelibus ducere voluit; quia non est societas lumini ad tenebras, nec pars fideli cum infideli (II Cor. vi); convertit se ad Christum maxime, quia ab eo crat admonitus, ut .... credulitatis jur... ..... discederet ..... populum Christianum ........... ,............. Sed dicunt Judaei ........ ................................. signum salutis apud nos ...... in signo Domini omnes pariter masculi feminæque signantur, signo Domini signamur in fronte super duos postes de sanguine Agni Dei, qui tollit peccata mundi, de quo jam tunc in lege fucrat scriptum; quod in sancto Evangelio completum esse dignoscilnr, quando cla- mabatis dicentes : Sanguis ejus suPer nos et super filios nostros (Matth. XXVII). Sed nobis hæc salu. briter competit dicere: sanguis ejus super nos ct su. per filios nostros, vobis ad condemnationem, nobis vero ad salutem; quia alio vos proposito, alio nos dicimus intellectu; vos furendo, nos orando; vos insultando, nos suppliciter postulando; vos ex odio, nos ex amore ; vos ut tristes, nos autem ut semper gaudentes. Vos latronem elegistis, quia omne animal ad sibi simile convertitur; nos Domino elegimus servire. Nos ergo, inquit Apostolus, Domini sumus ; vos secuti estis lalronem Domino improperantem, nos secuti sumus latronem Dominum adoranlem et confitentem in cruce : Domine, memento mei cum veneris in regnum tuum. Cui Dominus ait : Amen, dico tibi: hodie mecum eris in paradiso (Luc. XXIII). 0 beatum ipsum latronem, qui tantam repente meruit sanctitatem, et sub ipsa morte transivit ad lucem. Et ipsi duo latrones, unus vestram, alternostram ostendebat imaginem. Occidistis Dominum, et gratulamini : occidistis quidem, sed non occidistis, tamen occidistis voluntate, sed non occidistis in veritate, quia Chri. stus in æternum manet. Jacuit quidem corpus in monumento, sed Christus regnabat in cælo. Non euim poterat includere .......... .............. non includitur in monumento cum corpore, multo magis diviuitus includi non poterat. Ergo vivit Christus in seternum ; sicut et sanctus angelus Gabriel dicebat ad gloriosam Mariam : Regnabit in domo Jacob in æternum, et regni ejus non erit finis (Luc. XI) : et septuagesimo primo psalmo de ipso dicitur : Orietur in diebus ejus justitia et abundantia pacis. Quando die cebat : Qui te percusserit in dextram maxillam, præbe illi et alteram; et ei qui ult tecum judicio contenders et tunicam tuum tollere, dimitte illi et pallium. Quid justius, quid utilius, quam impatientem patientia superare, et damnis potius opprimi quam lucrando pec- care! Sunt enim præcepta justitiae Domini Salvatoris in sancto Evangelio designata. Et ne longum sit totum dicere, post aliquanta sequitur : et abundantia icis, donec auferatur luna (Psal. LXXI). Abundantia pacis, quia ipse est fons purissimus pacis, in quo nullæ sunt turbulentæ lites, nulla amaritudo malitiæ, redomnisplenitudo dulcedinis omnisque tranquillitas bonitatis. De islo ipse David propheta alio dicebat in loco : Gustate et videte quoniam suavis est Dominus. Beatus vir qui sperat in eum (Psal. XXXIII) ; quia Dominus dicebat: Pacem meam do vobis, pacem menm relinquo vobis. lu hoc enim scient omneshomines quod discipuli mei estis, si invicem diligatis (Joan. XIV). Et iterum dicebat : Beati pacifici, quoniam ipsi filii Dei vocabuntur. Beati pauperes spiritu, quoniam ipso- rum est regnum coelorum (Matth. v). Et abundantia, inquit,............ ................................. ................. ..... Sed postmodum extollitur et erigitur, cum ad cælestia regna Domino auxiliante perducitur. Sequitur in psalmo : Et dominabitur a mari usque ad mare, et a fluminibus, usque ad terminos orbis terræ (Psal. LXXI) : hoc est per universas gentes, et per totum mundum, qua se longe lateque diffusus Oceani ambitus ducit, et omnium terrarum fines includit. Sequitur : In conspectu ejus procident Æthiopes, et inimici ejus terram lingent (Ibid.). Æthiopes illi sunt spiritus tenebrarum qui in conspectu Domini, id est in ad- ventu ejus turbati ........... ................. ................. ................. sed lambere terram dicuntur, quomodo et isti .. .. et terram lambiunt? hoc est terrenam litteram et carnalem astutiam diligunt , spiritalem vero gratiam non requirunt? Sequitur in psalmo : Reges terræ et insulæ munera offerunt. Reges Arabum et Saba dona adducunt (Ibid.). Oriens ergo et Occidens, quod manifestatum est denuo in sancto Evangelio, quando magi venerunt portantes munera, aurum, thus, myrrham : aurum offerentes ut regi pretiosam fidem; thus suave, sacrificium laudis ut Deo; myrrham ad indicium et obsequium sepulturæ. Item aurum regi, thus sacerdoti, myrrham sacrificio : quia Christus Dominus et rex est, et sacerdos, et sacrificium. Quia rex est, ipse ait Ego autem constitutus sum rex ab eo (Psal. II) ; quod sacerdos : Tu, inquit ad eum Pater, es sacerdos in æternum secundum ordinem Melchisedech (Psal. IX). Sacrificium apostolus Paulus ait, qui seipsum obtulit oblationem et hostiam Deo in odorem bonæ suavitatis ( Ephes. v). Aurum, thus et myrrharn. Aurum rex quærit, id est electa corda ; thus Deus oraliones castas et bonas in odoreni bonæ. fragrantiæ ; myrrham ad sepulturam sanctorum ejus. Ergo undique populi ad Christum munera perrerunt. Sequitur in psalmo: Et adorabunt eum omnes reges terræ ; omnes gentes servient ei (Psal. LXXI) : quod impletum videmus; quia ubique nomen Domini Christi adoratur ab omnibus regibus, duntaxat Christianis, omnibusque gentibus. Sed et si sunt aliqui reges aut gentes aliquæ quæ nolunt adorare, sicut et vos Judaei, manet carcer æternus, manet judicium Dei: Deus, ait propheta, manifestus veniet Deus noster, et non tardabit (Psal. XLIX) ; qui venit in humilitate occultus, veniet in potestate manifestus. Tunc videbit eum omnis caro, id est omnis homo, quia omnes stabimus ante tribunal Christi, ut recipiat unusquisque propria corporis, prout gessit, sive bonum sive malum (Rom. xiv); nam et in ipso psalmo in capite ait: Deus, judicium tuum regi da, etjustitiam tuum filio regis (Psal. LXXI); quia rex et filius regis ipse est Dominus Christus; et in cOliclusione psalmi dicit: Replebitur gloria ejus omnis terra : fiat fiat (Ibid.). Et nos dicimus consentientes sancto prophetæ cum Domini voce : Amen amen, hoc est vere fideliter. Iteratio autem sermonis ista confirmationem in se continet veritatis. Deo gratias. Ergo convincuntur evidenter Judæi : Deo juvante sic dicamus contra eos, non studio nocendi, ut eos devictos perimamus, absit a nobis; spiritale prælium pro hominum salute geritur : arma nostra non sint carnalia, sed fortia a Deo. Itaque salvare eos cupimus et sub regis nostri Christi convertere. Non ergo litem quæramus, quia veritatem inquirimus; militamus sub rege pacifico, et pacis castra sectamur. Ideoque eos, ut dixi, volumus de tempestivis fluctibus crroris ad portum salutis perducere, et per atrium veritatis in domum rcgalem Domini nostri introducere, ut fiant de inimicis amici, et de antichristis Christiani. Videant pascuam spiritalem; videant, si merentur, cæleste convivium ; videant dominicam mensam, et cantent nobiscum cum David propheta sanctissimo dicentes : Dominus pascit me, et nihil mihi deerit; in loco pascuæ ibi me collocavit (Psal. XXII); et iterum : Quam amabilia sunt tabernacula tua, Domine virtutum ! concupiscit, et deficit anima mea in atria Domini (Psal. LXXXIII). Sed huic persuasioni contendunt impii Judaei, maluntque mori quam vinci, dicentes : Nos unum colimus Deum, sicut scriptum est in libris Moysi : Non erunt tibi dii alii absque- me, et Dominum Deum tuum adorabis et illi soli servies ; et : Audi, Israel, Dominus Deus tuus, Dominus unus est (Deut. vi). Hoc præceptum, clamant, patribus datum est, quod nos servare oportet et convenit. Quibus dicimus : Dicite ergo cur patres vestri, relicto isto uno Deo, ad idola conversi sunt ? Et fecerunt vitulum in Horeb, et adoraverunt sculptile, et immutaverunt gloriam suam in similitudinem vituli manducantis fenum (Psal. cv); et serviebant militiæ cœli ? Adjungunt : Illi vidcrint; nos nescimus. Quibus dicimus : Audite ergo, et discite : ideo ista admonitio a Deo dabatur, ut ad se converteret ...... care. Inde sibi lucos (IV Reg. XXI), inde sibi illicita sacrificia prcesumpsere, inde deos multos, inde falsa ligmenta et inania idola. Idcirco volens eos, ut diximus, Dominus a tantis erroribus ad cultum suæ majestatis convertere, sacro frequenter intonabat eloquio, dicens : Non erunt tibi dii alii absque me, et Dominum Deum tuum adorabis, et illi soli servies; et : Audi, Israel, Dominus Deus tuus, Dominus unus eat (Deut. vi). Nam, ut certo sciatis quae sit fides Christiana, nos ipsum unum Dominum invisibilem, incorporabilem, immortalem, sine origine et sine fine credimus, colimus et veneramur ....... mereamini studium gerimus prædicandæ veritatis; ideoque post quæ diximus adhuc divina sumimus testimonia; ut probemus Christum Deum et Dei Filium esse, sicut jam in aliquantis exposuimus. Dicit Deus omnipotens Pater ad Moysem in Deuteronomio (Cap. XVIII) de Christo Filio suo : Prophelam suscitabo illis de fratribus eorum sicut te; et dabo verbum ejus in os ejus, et loquetur ad eos quæcunque dixero illi. Et si quis non audierit prophetam tUum, ego vindicabo. Et iterum in Regnorum legimus: Suscitabo mihi sacerdotem fidelem, qui in omnia quæ sunt in corde meo faciet (I Reg. u); et in Evangelio ipse Pater dicit : Hic est Filius meus dilectissimus, in quo bene complacui; ipsum audite (Matlh. xvn) .. ..... to, ait; et illum ..... dicit ipsum audite ........... lis sibi sermo, et conveniens ipsis sit, ipse probatur esse, et propheta, qui est Christus Dominus Filius Dei, Propheta dicitur Patris; sed est Dominus prophetarum Patris; meritu Propheta, ut auctoris sui prædicator, cæteris autem gratiam prophetiæ ipse contribuens. Nam sicut Propheta et Angelus vocatur a Patre, ita scriptum est: Ecce mitto Angelum meum ante faciem tuam, qui præparabit viam tuam, observa eum, et obaudi ei, et ne fueris inobediens ei : non enim deerit tibi; nomen enim meum eat in illo (Exod. XXIII) ; unde et ipse Dominus Christus dicebat in sancto Evangelio : Ego veni in nomine Patris mei, et non suscepistis me; cum alius venerit in nomine suo, illum accipietis (Joan. v); et David dicebat: Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini (Psal. CXVII). Sed dicilur .. et caeterorum propbetarum litteras, et inde veritatis regulam perquiramus, et quae jam protulimus repe- tamus. Dicebat beatus Moyses in libro Geneseos (Cap. i) illuminatus Spiritu sancto : In principio fecit Deus cælum et terram. Attende statim illud, quia a principio coepit, et principium nominavit, quod nos intelligimus Christum principium dictum, in quo Deus Pater fecit coelum et terram; coelestia pariter et terrena in Christo fecit, id est in ipsius virtute, qui jubentis imperio ministrabat, in ipso fecit, quidquid jussum est adimplevit; quia de Patre scriptum est: Ipse dixit, et facta sunt; ipse mandavit, et creata sunt omnia (Psal. XXXII) ; ergo in principio, id est ... ........ fecit Deus coelum et terram creavit me principio viarum suarum in opera sua. Ante sæcula fundavit me, et iterum ex persona sapientiae ipse Christus de se dicit per prophetam : Ego ex ore Altissimi prodivi primogenita ante omnem creaturam (Eccli. XXIV). Ergo in isto Filio et per istum, sicut sæpius dictum est, Deus Pater omnipotens omnia fecit, sicut iterum in psalmo dicebat: In capite libri scriptum est de me (Psal. XXXIX). Sed, dicit Judacus, ipse qui dixit, ipse et fecit. Cui dicimus : Et quid necesse erat ut diceret ? si non erat alius qui audiret et faceret, nunquid sibi dicebat, fiat ? Sed iterum dicit Judæus : ad angelos dixit; quibus dicimus : Sed non fecerunt angeli, sed habet, et fecit Deus ..... ........ Judæus; et dicit: Quomodo ......... filium habere Deum ........ Judæus invisibilis, et in cor..... quibus iterum ..... respondemus sicut Dominus: Nonne dictum est in lege vestra, quia: Egb dixi: Dii estis, et filii Altissimi carissimi. Si illos dixit deos et filios Altissimi, ad quos sermo Dei factus est, et non potest solvi Scri ptura; Mihi, ait Dominus, irascimini, quia dixi Filius Dei sum ? Si non facio opera Patris mei, nolite credere mihi; si autem facio, elsi mihi non vultis credere, operibus credite (Joan. x). Deinde dicimus : Quid videtur dictum Judxis illud, quod ait David ex persona sine dubio Christi: Dominus dixit ad me : Filius meus es tu; ego hodie genui te ? Et iterum ex persona Patris dicit ipse propheta sanctissimus David ad Filium : Tecum principium in die virtutis tuæ in splendoribus sanctorum, ex utero ante luciferum genui te (Psal. CIX). Quem genuit ..... dicit, ergo creditis, quia ..... respondemus, sic Propheta ..... et nos ita credimus genuit ..... sed ut ..... ............... sanctæ divinae gen. ..... ut Deo generare, genuit Dominus Dominum, lux lucem, splendor splendorem, potens potentem, rex regem, unus unum, lolus solum, æternus aeternum, virtus virtutem, crcator creatorem. Hæc jani diximus, et dicimus, ut valemus. Cæterum illud inexplicabile est et indicibile, quod est Pater et Filius; Filius Patris, Verbum Patris, virtus et sapientia Patris, in quo et per quem fecit Pater omnia. Hoc Verbum intellige Filium Dei, quem misit pro salute mundi, sicut propheta dixit: Misit Verbum suum, et sanavit eos (Psal. CVI). Ergo Filius Dei dicitur, qui est Verbum Palris, non ut tu carneo et culpabili sensu intelligis Deum carnaliter nos dicere genuisse. Nam audi Isaiam (Cap. LIII) sanctum prophetam de Christo dicentem : Generationem autem ejus quis enarrabit? Nunqnid dici vel explicari potest, quomodo Pater Filium genuerit, Deus Verbum protulerit ? .....volo intelligere quemadmodum isla de Christo credatis; ad quem dicimus : Audi : scriptum eat Patre dicente : Tecum principium in die virtutis tuæ in splendoribus sanctorum, ex ultro aute luciferum genui te (Psal. CIX) ; qui dicit te, alium ostendit esse, hoc est secundum a se Filium suum, ad quem dicit te : te qui dicit, et sui loquentis, et ad quem loquitur duas declarat esse personas. Ex utero, ait, ante luciferum genui te. Uterum hic majestatis sensum intelligo, inenarrabilem plenitudinem, profundumque mysterium, Dei incomprehensibilem sapientiam : ante luciferum genui te; vel, ante cæli ornatum, vel ante Spiritus sancti inilium, ' quia ipse Spiritus sanctus lucifer dicitur, qui lucem veritatis et bonae fidei mentibus humanis infundit ; quique per prophetas aeterni solis Christi ut luciter adventum sæpissime nuntiavit. Nam iste Dominus Christus Filius Dei multis sanctis, et ante visus est, et prius apparuisse dignoscitur : Abrahæ, et Jacob, et Moysi, et filiis Israel in columna ignis et aubis, de quo Deus PaU, dixerat : Ecce ego mitto angelum meum ante faciem tuam, qui parabit viam tuam ante te (Marc. I) ; et filio Nave ipse visus est, qui et dicebat : Ego sum princeps militiæ virtutis Domini (Josue III), utique et Filius est Patris; et Angelus ejus dicitur, id est nuntius, et propheta, et sacerdos, et puer, et advocatus, et virtus, et sapientia, et cætera. Nam quia Abrahae visus est, audi Scripturam (Genes. XXII) dicentem : Vocavit angelus Domini Abraham de cœlo, et ait: Abraham, Abraham, non extendes manum tuam super puerum ..... unde in sequen invenies scriptum, quia pluit Dominus a Domino ignem et sulphur super duas civitates Sodomam et Gomorrham (Genes. XIX). Audis quia Dominus a Domino pluit? Qui Dominus? A quo Domino, nisi Filius a Patre ? Nam ipse apparuit et Jacob, et colluctatus est cum eo; unde ait ipso Jacob : Vidi Dominum facie ad faciem, et salva facta est anima mea (Genes. XXXII) ; utique in figura corporis Christum viderat quam erat postea suscepturus, cum quo est colluctatus. Nam de Patre scriptum est: Quem vidit hominum nemo, neque videre potest (Joan. 1); et iterum . Non potest, ait ipse Deus Paler, homo faciem meam videre et vivere (Exod. XXXIII). Ipse Angelus Domini, qui est Christus, apparuit Moysi in rubo, in igne; ipseque dixit : Ego sum Deus Abraham, et Deus. Isaac, et Jacob; qui di- ctus est Angelus primo Domini in igne apparuisse; ipse .... deinde dicitur (Exod. m) et dixisse : Ego sum Deus Abraham, et Isaac, et Jacob .... filio Nave in ripa fluminis stanti ad Jericboapparuissa ....... ipsum Dominum Christum gladium tenentem in manu, cui cum diceret Jesus : Dominus noster es, an adversariorum ? ait Dominus ad eum : Ego sum princeps militiæ virtutis Domini (Josue III) ; iste est princeps principatum quaerens, ipseque rex a Patre constitutus, ipso testante et dicente : Ego autem constitutus sum rex ab eo (Psal. 11). Nam et in quodam psalmo ex persona ipsius Christi loquentis dicebat David : Immola Deo sacrificium laudis, et redde Altissimo vota tua, et invoca me in die pressuræ, . et eripiam te, et glorificabis me (Psal. XLIX). Admonet in istis versiculis immolari deberi Deo Patri, et se invocari, ut auxilietur supplicibus suis, prout diceret : redde Patri obsequium laudis, et ego tibi præstabo auxilium protegentis ; honora genitorem, et me invenies adjutorem. Unde ipse et in sancto Evangelio dicebat : Ego honorifico Patrem meum, et vos inhono- rastis me (Joan. VIII). Nos ergo Christiani unum Deum Patrem credimus et confitemur, et unum Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum Filium ejus, qum et lex et prophetae locuti sunt, et per ipsum Deum Patrem oramus, et ipsi gratias agimus, quia et ipse Salvator ita nobis mandavit, dicens, et omnibus credere volentibus : Hæc est vita æterna, ut cognoscant te solum verum Deum, et quem misisti Jesum Christum (Joan. XVII). Ergo cognoscentes præcepta Salvatoris nostri Christi, unum Deum Patrem per ipsum semper laudemus, cui est gloria in sæcula. Amen. ### English translation (Claude) The Jews speak according to the letter, not according to … reason urges us … brothers, a little … against the Jews, or … with your holiness … and first I must show this, that from the beginning of the world this people is rejected by divine providence, and the people that follows is chosen and taken from the Gentiles, that is, the Christian people; and so that what we say may be more surely proved, let us begin from the first man himself, Adam. Adam begot Cain and Abel. Cain, the elder by birth, designated the people of the Jews. He is rejected for his crime, and Abel, the younger by birth, is taken up, who showed forth the Christian people; for God rejected Cain's sacrifices and accepted Abel's sacrifice. Abel himself is killed by Cain, and another son of Adam is born in his place, named Seth. Consider the mystery: Abel is interpreted 'mourning', Seth 'resurrection'. So in these two younger brothers … because it is commanded, and that he should leave his former errors and old vices and go out from there, and be made into a great nation, that is, into the faithful Christian people spread through the whole world; whence the Scripture announced, saying: "You nations shall be the head", the Christian; but the unbelieving people in the tail, that is, the Jews. Abraham begot two sons, Ishmael and Isaac. Ishmael, the elder by birth, was of the slave woman Hagar; Isaac, the younger by birth, of the free woman Sarah; which our apostle Paul, who himself too had believed from among the Jews, expressed: "We are no longer children of the slave woman but of the free." … you see that the former is rejected and the latter taken up; and Jacob himself blesses the sons of Joseph, his younger son. Now you understand that in Joseph too, the younger son, he shows forth the Christian people. So Jacob blesses those two boys, and puts his left hand on the head of the elder and his right on the head of the younger, to show that the younger would be more honoured and greater. Moses too receives the tablets and because of the people's fault throws them down; a second time he receives others written and keeps them, and in the sacred volumes … "A prophet from your nation and from your brothers, like me; hear him. For every soul which does not go to that prophet shall perish from his people." He called Christ a prophet because he is the prophet of his Father and God; but he is Lord and God of every creature. Of him Moses spoke again in the book of Genesis: "In the beginning God made heaven and earth"; here naming the Son as the beginning, in whom God the Father made heaven and earth; which our apostle Paul, confirming Moses' account, expressed, saying that in Christ were created all things that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions, and the rest that follows there. "In the beginning," then, "God made heaven and earth." The beginning is Christ, who said through Solomon: "The Lord created me the beginning of his ways for his works" … or the world was founded … to prepare the heaven … Christ the Lord, the Son of God, is himself … he said … "a firmament, and the firmament was made; let there be lights in the firmament of heaven, so that they may shine upon the earth; and he made two lights, the greater and the lesser: the greater light for the beginning of the day, and the lesser light for the beginning of the night." So God said, and God made. Hear further: God says, "Let us make man in our image and likeness; and God made man, in the image of God he made him." Perhaps the Jew says: 'God spoke to the angels.' He is refuted by what is said, 'and God made man'; for it does not say the angels made, but God, it says, made man. God said, and God made: that is, the Father commanded and the Son carried it out. And consider also what is written about Abraham, that God appeared to him at the oak of Mamre; and afterward Scripture has, at the burning of Sodom and Gomorrah, that the Lord rained fire and sulphur from the Lord on those cities. So there is Father and Son: from the Father, that is, at whose command, the Son rained fire and sulphur. In the Son, then, God made heaven and earth, who was before heaven and earth: were not the angels, archangels and all spiritual virtues and powers made before? So the saying, "In the beginning God made heaven and earth," is declared to have been said in Christ, in whose person David too said: "By the word of the Lord the heavens were made firm, and all their power by the breath of his mouth." This is the Son of God, of whom again David himself said in the second psalm: "The Lord said to me: You are my Son; today I have begotten you." See the second mystery: in the second psalm this is said … the second, the Son … most certainly God the Son, whom he begot, not as men do, but as befitted God to beget, impassibly, incorruptibly, from himself: one begot one, alone alone, God God, king king, unbegotten unbegotten, Father Son, author Word, creator creator, eternal eternal, Spirit Spirit, light light, splendour splendour, holy holy, good good, merciful merciful, perfect perfect. To this Son again David spoke, saying: "Your throne, O God, is for ever and ever; the sceptre of equity is the sceptre of your kingdom. You have loved justice and hated iniquity; therefore God, your God, has anointed you." See that, speaking to God, he said to him, "God, your God, has anointed you"; that is, your Father anointed you the Son with that ointment of eternal joy, of the eternal sacrament and heavenly mystery; or further … "The Lord said to my Lord: Sit at my right hand." … this king had a Lord, to whom the Lord his God had said, "Sit at my right hand." Who is this Lord to whom God the Father had spoken, if not our Lord Christ his Son? For hear again the Father speaking of his Christ: "I have prepared a lamp for my Christ; I will clothe his enemies with confusion." "I have prepared a lamp for my Christ," that is, the Church, shining and burning with his light, the number of the faithful, which, having received in the heart the light of truth and belief, leaves behind the darkness of unbelief and ignorance. "I have prepared a lamp for my Christ": again we understand it to be said of holy John, a lamp enlightening the people about this Lord Saviour and about his coming in the flesh that was to be. And most holy Isaiah said: "Be strong," he says, "you slack hands and weak knees"; and a little after he says: "Our God will render judgment; he himself will come and save you: then the eyes of the blind will be opened, and the ears of the deaf will hear," and the rest. And Baruch said of Christ: "This is our God; no other shall be reckoned beside him. He found out every way of prudence and gave it to Jacob his servant and to Israel his beloved; after this he was seen on earth and lived among men": so that it was not God the Father who was seen and lived among men, but the Son of God, of whose coming in the incarnation Isaiah again announced, saying: "God has revealed his holy arm in the sight of all the nations, and all the nations will see upon the earth the salvation that is from God." And further he repeats again and says: "Behold, a virgin will conceive in the womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Emmanuel, which is interpreted, God with us." God with us, that is, God in man, the Word in flesh, majesty in a body. He came down like rain upon the fleece; not with pomp, not with noise; but the heavenly king entered the world humble. About to give triumphs of immortality and peace to all, he took a human body, so that meanwhile he might overshadow his brightness by the veil of the body, and God might speak to man through man as interpreter. In that temple of the body was God, so that he might make mortal man immortal. But the Jew does not believe, nor does the pagan; they do not believe that a virgin bore without union with a man. Let them hear and believe about the Saviour's birth from a virgin, that the holy angel sent by God the Father said to the most holy Virgin Mary herself: "The Holy Spirit," he says, "will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore also the holy one who will be born of you will be called the Son of God." That immaculate Spirit, that is, the Son of God, pure, holy, secure in himself, took human flesh from holy Mary and made flesh for himself by his own power and ability. For if he granted to some birds that they conceive from the wind or from dust without males, and … how much more could he himself, as has been said, fashion a body for himself; and if again birds bring forth living chicks from eggs by the overshadowing of their wings, and the earth without intercourse produces some living things, such as worms and the rest, how much more could God build in wonderful ways among men the temple of his body; who, if he had wished, could have made himself a body from stone or wood or water or earth, inasmuch as he had also formed the first man Adam from that clay of the earth; he took human flesh to show that he had come for men. For that is why he willed to be born in our likeness and to die and rise again, so that he might show in himself that we too die and rise again, and might show us the hope of future resurrection. But the Jew says: 'So God had to be born of a woman.' The flesh of Christ was given from a woman, whom God made, and the majesty of Christ cannot be polluted in the flesh; for if the shining sun is not defiled by any touch, much more could the Lord of the sun not be defiled, even if the pure touched the pure. Him we have as guide of the journey, because he is the way to the Father; as prince of light, because he is the truth, who has poured the light of truth into us; as author of salvation, because what was made in him is life, who with the Father gives life to all things: through him we always give thanks to God the Father, brothers. But still the unbelieving Jews sometimes dare to wish to disparage the Christian faith and to insult God's faithful people; hence we must again go over the divine volumes, which may confound them with open truth, so that they may understand that they are plainly without hope and without faith. These are the Jews whom holy Stephen rebuked with a clear voice, saying: "Stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced the coming of this Just One, and you have become his betrayers and murderers." Holy Stephen said these things, of whom the blessed apostle Paul too says: "Always learning and never coming to the knowledge of the truth. For as Jannes and Mambres resisted Moses, so these too resist the truth, men corrupt in mind, reprobate in understanding." For they say: 'We have circumcision, and we are sons of Abraham'; to whom the Lord rightly said: "If you were sons of Abraham, you would do the works of Abraham." 'We have circumcision,' they say; to whom we say: would that you had the fragrance of Abraham's faith and not of your faithlessness! You are rather sons of vipers, carrying poisons in yourselves, who bring death on your parents, and by the very act by which you kill others prepare destruction for yourselves. Of you, O Jews, the prophet David says: "They have gone astray from the womb, they have spoken falsehoods. Their anger is after the likeness of a serpent." And our apostle Paul says: "Whose god is their belly, and their glory in their shame, who mind earthly things." "They have gone astray," then, "from the womb, they have spoken falsehoods; their anger is after the likeness of a serpent": you who, shedding the inward parts and blood of your parents with viperous bites, and slipping down by the slipperiness of your crime, were rolling in the wounds of others; and who, by despising the precepts of the law through various guilty crimes, as through many precipices, have fallen by different falls. See now, if you can, how foul and base is he who stains himself with the blood of others. For we read … that contains no understanding of my light … the Lord said to them: "You are born of your father the devil, and you wish to do the desires of your father." For the devil too, changed into a serpent, with deceitful tongues deceived by scheming malice the dutiful and untaught innocence of the new humans in paradise; following his madness these too, a serpent's brood, still try to deny Christ the Son of God. Against them, with the help of the Lord Christ himself, we have undertaken this disputation; to them we must further say: why do you claim to call Abraham your father and assert that you have received his circumcision? Abraham was justified by faith, not by circumcision. For so Scripture says: "Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as justice, and he was called the friend of God." So Abraham was justified not by circumcision but by faith. For he believed the word of God and was justified, and obtained a blessing from God, both he and the seed of his faith. For consider, lest you think circumcision is the sign of the faithful: before Abraham all the saints were uncircumcised and pleased the Lord by purity of mind, and showed forth in themselves rather the Christian people. Run through the order set out in the most holy Letters, and you will find all to be as we say. First Adam himself, who was formed by the hands of God, remained uncircumcised; then Abel the just, Enos and Enoch, Noah and Melchizedek, priest of the most high God: all just, and neither circumcised according to the flesh, as we say, nor did they keep distinctions of foods. For as to Abraham's being said to have received circumcision, that circumcision does not have the reward of salvation, but had been given as a sign of the race … Israel, secondly … had already first circumcised … but it must be understood spiritually, because through the law, that is, through the precepts of the law, one must be circumcised from the worship of idols, and secondly be circumcised through the Gospel. The Jews say further: 'We are sons of Abraham'; to whom we say: you are sons of Abraham, but of the slave woman, of whom it is written: "Cast out the slave woman and her son; for the son of the slave woman shall not be heir with the son of the free woman"; we are sons of the free woman in the glory of God. Your father is Ishmael, from whom you draw your race; our father is Isaac, from whom we draw our race. "In Isaac," it says, "shall your seed be called"; that most holy Isaac, whom to his longing parents … of whom it is said: "For in your seed all nations will be blessed"; he did not say 'in your seeds', but 'in your seed', which is Christ. This is that most holy Isaac, the chief offspring of a most merciful father, who was led patient to be a victim; who, as we said, bearing the image of Christ, neither contradicted his father's command nor refused to accept being a victim. So he is proved to be our father; your Jerusalem, the earthly city, is your mother; our Jerusalem, the heavenly city, is our mother; yours is that which perished, ours that which remains for ever; you are the former, we the latter; because Ishmael was first, then Isaac; because "the first will be last, and the last first." It is written: "You nations shall be the head, but the unbelieving people the tail." For Isaac himself too begot two sons, Esau and Jacob, of whom it had been said to Rebecca, Isaac's wife, by divine answer: "Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples will be divided from your womb; and people will overcome people, and the elder will serve the younger"; because "Jacob," I say, "I loved, but Esau I hated." But this has already been mentioned above; for Jacob himself too is described as having had two wives, one Leah, the elder by birth, weak in the eyes; the other Rachel, the younger, beautiful. That Leah bore the figure of the synagogue, weak, as was said, in the eyes. Why weak in the eyes? Because the sight of the synagogue was languishing, and it often wept over itself in unbelieving sons. But this Rachel bore the figure of the Church, of which it is written: "Your eyes are beautiful like a dove's"; and again our apostle Paul says of her: "not having spot or wrinkle" or anything of the kind: her sight had been clear and spiritual. And understand how what the Apostle says in a mystery fits the Christian people: "The first man is from the earth, earthly; but the second man from heaven, heavenly. As is the earthly, so are the earthly; and as is the heavenly, so are the heavenly"; and "the law which is taken according to the letter kills, but the spirit gives life." For Moses, as we have mentioned, receiving the first tablets, threw them down broken, so as to show that your heart of stone is broken and rejected, but the heart of Christians fit for the divine laws and to be kept. Hence Scripture says of the Christian people: "Who show the work of the law written in their hearts." Knowing all these things, both from the law and from the prophets, and considering still greater things, the holy apostle Paul separated himself from you and would not bear a yoke with unbelievers, because there is no fellowship of light with darkness, nor part of the believer with the unbeliever; he turned to Christ above all, because he had been admonished by him to … depart … the Christian people … But the Jews say … the sign of salvation with us … in the sign of the Lord all, men and women alike, are signed; with the sign of the Lord we are signed on the forehead, as on the two doorposts, with the blood of the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, of whom it had already then been written in the law; which is known to have been fulfilled in the holy Gospel when you cried out, saying: "His blood be on us and on our children." But it befits us to say this savingly: his blood be on us and on our children; for you to condemnation, but for us to salvation; because you say it with one purpose, we with another understanding; you raging, we praying; you insulting, we humbly asking; you out of hatred, we out of love; you as the sorrowful, but we as always rejoicing. You chose a robber, because every animal turns to its like; we have chosen to serve the Lord. "We, then," says the Apostle, "are the Lord's"; you have followed the robber who reviled the Lord, we have followed the robber who on the cross adored and confessed the Lord: "Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom." To whom the Lord said: "Truly I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise." O blessed that robber, who suddenly earned such holiness and passed over at the very moment of death to the light! And those two robbers showed, one your image, the other ours. You killed the Lord, and you rejoice: you killed him indeed, and yet you did not kill him; you killed him in will, but you did not kill him in truth, because Christ abides for ever. His body lay in the tomb, but Christ was reigning in heaven. For he could not enclose … is not enclosed in the tomb with the body, much more could the divinity not be enclosed. So Christ lives for ever; as the holy angel Gabriel too said to glorious Mary: "He will reign in the house of Jacob for ever, and of his kingdom there will be no end"; and in the seventy-first psalm it is said of him: "In his days justice will arise, and abundance of peace." When he said: "Whoever strikes you on the right cheek, offer him the other also; and whoever wishes to go to law with you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well." What is more just, what more useful, than to overcome the impatient by patience, and rather to be pressed by losses than to sin by gaining! For these are the precepts of the justice of the Lord Saviour set down in the holy Gospel. And not to make it long by saying everything, after some things it follows: "and abundance of peace, until the moon is taken away." Abundance of peace, because he himself is the most pure spring of peace, in whom there are no turbulent quarrels, no bitterness of malice, but all fullness of sweetness and all tranquillity of goodness. Of him the prophet David himself said in another place: "Taste and see that the Lord is sweet. Blessed is the man who hopes in him"; for the Lord said: "My peace I give you, my peace I leave you. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." And again he said: "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." "And abundance," it says … but afterward it is raised and lifted up, when by the Lord's help it is brought to the heavenly kingdoms. It follows in the psalm: "And he will rule from sea to sea, and from the rivers to the ends of the earth"; that is, through all nations and through the whole world, wherever the circuit of the Ocean, spread far and wide, extends and encloses the ends of all lands. It follows: "Before him the Ethiopians will fall down, and his enemies will lick the earth." The Ethiopians are those spirits of darkness which in the sight of the Lord, that is, at his coming, troubled … but they are said to lick the earth, as these too … lick the earth? That is, they love the earthly letter and fleshly cunning, but do not seek spiritual grace? It follows in the psalm: "The kings of the earth and the islands offer gifts; the kings of the Arabs and of Sheba bring gifts." East and West, then; which was again made manifest in the holy Gospel when the magi came bringing gifts, gold, frankincense and myrrh: gold, offering precious faith as to a king; sweet frankincense, a sacrifice of praise as to God; myrrh as a sign and service of burial. Again, gold for the king, frankincense for the priest, myrrh for the sacrifice: because Christ the Lord is king and priest and sacrifice. That he is king, he himself says: "But I have been set up as king by him"; that he is priest: "You," the Father says to him, "are a priest for ever according to the order of Melchizedek." That he is a sacrifice the apostle Paul says: he "offered himself as an offering and victim to God for a fragrance of sweet odour." Gold, frankincense and myrrh. The king seeks gold, that is, chosen hearts; God seeks frankincense, chaste and good prayers for a fragrance of good scent; myrrh for the burial of his saints. So peoples from everywhere brought gifts to Christ. It follows in the psalm: "And all the kings of the earth will adore him; all nations will serve him"; which we see fulfilled, because everywhere the name of the Lord Christ is adored by all kings, at least Christian ones, and by all nations. But if there are some kings or some nations that will not adore, like you Jews, the eternal prison awaits, the judgment of God awaits: "God," says the prophet, "our God will come manifest and will not delay"; he who came hidden in humility will come manifest in power. Then all flesh, that is, every man, will see him, because we shall all stand 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. For in the same psalm, at its beginning, it says: "O God, give your judgment to the king, and your justice to the king's son"; because the Lord Christ himself is both king and the king's son; and at the conclusion of the psalm it says: "The whole earth will be filled with his glory: so be it, so be it." And we, agreeing with the holy prophet, say with the Lord's voice: Amen, amen, that is, truly, faithfully. This repetition of the word contains in itself the confirmation of the truth. Thanks be to God. So the Jews are clearly refuted. With God's help let us speak against them thus, not with a desire to harm, so as to destroy them when conquered, far be that from us: a spiritual battle is waged for the salvation of men; let our weapons not be fleshly but mighty from God. So we desire to save them and to turn them under our king Christ. Let us not seek strife, then, because we seek the truth; we serve under a peaceful king and follow the camp of peace. And so, as I said, we wish to bring them from the stormy waves of error to the harbour of salvation, and through the court of truth to lead them into the royal house of our Lord, so that from enemies they may become friends, and from antichrists Christians. Let them see the spiritual pasture; let them see, if they deserve it, the heavenly banquet; let them see the Lord's table, and sing with us, with David the most holy prophet, saying: "The Lord feeds me, and I shall lack nothing; in a place of pasture there he has set me"; and again: "How lovely are your tabernacles, Lord of hosts! My soul longs and faints for the courts of the Lord." But against this persuasion the impious Jews contend, and prefer to die rather than be overcome, saying: 'We worship one God, as it is written in the books of Moses: "You shall have no other gods besides me," and "You shall worship the Lord your God and serve him alone"; and "Hear, O Israel, the Lord your God is one Lord." This precept,' they cry, 'was given to our fathers, and it is right and fitting for us to keep it.' To them we say: tell us, then, why your fathers, abandoning this one God, turned to idols? "And they made a calf in Horeb and worshipped a graven image, and changed their glory into the likeness of a calf that eats grass"; and they served the host of heaven? They add: 'Let them see to that; we do not know.' To them we say: hear, then, and learn: this admonition was given by God for this reason, to turn them to himself … From there they presumed groves for themselves, from there unlawful sacrifices, from there many gods, from there false figments and empty idols. Therefore the Lord, wishing, as we said, to turn them from such great errors to the worship of his majesty, often thundered in sacred speech, saying: "You shall have no other gods besides me," and "You shall worship the Lord your God and serve him alone"; and: "Hear, O Israel, the Lord your God is one Lord." For, so that you may know for certain what the Christian faith is, we believe in, worship and venerate this one Lord, invisible, incorporeal, immortal, without beginning and without end … that you may deserve, we take pains to preach the truth; and therefore after what we have said we take further divine testimonies, to prove that Christ is God and the Son of God, as we have already set out in some things. God the almighty Father says to Moses in Deuteronomy concerning Christ his Son: "I will raise up for them a prophet from their brothers like you; and I will put my word in his mouth, and he will speak to them whatever I tell him. And if anyone does not hear that prophet, I will avenge it." And again in Kingdoms we read: "I will raise up for myself a faithful priest, who will do according to all that is in my heart"; and in the Gospel the Father himself says: "This is my most beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear him." … he says; and him … he says, hear him … his word and fitting to them, he is proved to be, and the prophet, who is Christ the Lord, the Son of God. He is called the Father's prophet; but he is the Lord of the Father's prophets; prophet by merit, as preacher of his author, but himself bestowing the grace of prophecy on the rest. For as he is called prophet and angel by the Father, so it is written: "Behold, I send my angel before your face, who will prepare your way; observe him and obey him, and do not be disobedient to him; for he will not fail you; for my name is in him"; hence the Lord Christ himself said in the holy Gospel: "I have come in my Father's name, and you have not received me; when another comes in his own name, you will receive him"; and David said: "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord." But it is said … and the writings of the other prophets, and from there let us seek out the rule of truth and repeat what we have already brought forward. Blessed Moses, enlightened by the Holy Spirit, said in the book of Genesis: "In the beginning God made heaven and earth." Notice this at once, that he began from the beginning and named the beginning, by which we understand Christ called the beginning, in whom God the Father made heaven and earth; he made heavenly and earthly things alike in Christ, that is, in his power, who ministered to the command of the one who ordered; in him he made, and he carried out whatever was commanded; for of the Father it is written: "He spoke, and they were made; he commanded, and all things were created." So "in the beginning," that is … "God made heaven and earth"; "he created me the beginning of his ways for his works. Before the ages he founded me"; and again in the person of wisdom Christ himself says of himself through the prophet: "I came forth from the mouth of the Most High, the firstborn before every creature." So in this Son and through him, as has often been said, God the almighty Father made all things, as he said again in the psalm: "At the head of the book it is written of me." But, says the Jew, he who said is the same who made. To him we say: and what need was there for him to speak? If there was no other to hear and make, was he saying 'let it be' to himself? But again the Jew says: 'He spoke to the angels'; to whom we say: but the angels did not make; the text has, 'and God made' … the Jew; and he says: how … God to have a son … the Jew invisible, and … to whom again … we answer as the Lord did: "Is it not said in your law: I said, you are gods, and sons of the Most High? If he called them gods and sons of the Most High to whom the word of God came, and Scripture cannot be broken, are you angry with me," says the Lord, "because I said, I am the Son of God? If I do not do the works of my Father, do not believe me; but if I do them, even if you will not believe me, believe the works." Then we say: what do the Jews make of what David says, without doubt in the person of Christ: "The Lord said to me: You are my Son; today I have begotten you"? And again in the person of the Father the most holy prophet David himself says to the Son: "With you is the beginning in the day of your power, in the splendours of the saints; from the womb before the morning star I have begotten you." Whom he begot … he says; so you believe that … we answer, so the Prophet … and we so believe … he begot … but as … of the holy divine generation … as befits God to beget, the Lord begot the Lord, light light, splendour splendour, the mighty the mighty, king king, one one, alone alone, eternal eternal, power power, creator creator. These things we have already said and say, as we are able. But that is inexplicable and unspeakable, how there is Father and Son; the Son of the Father, the Word of the Father, the power and wisdom of the Father, in whom and through whom the Father made all things. Understand this Word as the Son of God, whom he sent for the salvation of the world, as the prophet said: "He sent his Word and healed them." So he is called the Son of God who is the Word of the Father, not as you, with a fleshly and faulty sense, understand us to say that God begot in a fleshly way. For hear Isaiah the holy prophet saying of Christ: "But who will declare his generation?" Can it be said or explained how the Father begot the Son, how God brought forth the Word? … I wish to understand how you believe these things of Christ; to whom we say: hear: it is written, the Father saying: "With you is the beginning in the day of your power, in the splendours of the saints; from the womb before the morning star I have begotten you." He who says 'you' shows that there is another, that is, his Son, second from himself, to whom he says 'you'; he who says 'you' declares that there are two persons, the one speaking and the one to whom he speaks. "From the womb," he says, "before the morning star I have begotten you." By 'womb' here I understand the sense of majesty, the unspeakable fullness and deep mystery, the incomprehensible wisdom of God: "before the morning star I have begotten you"; either before the adornment of heaven, or before the beginning of the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit himself is called the morning star, who pours the light of truth and good faith into human minds, and who through the prophets very often announced, like the morning star, the coming of Christ the eternal sun. For this Lord Christ, the Son of God, is known to have been seen by many saints before and to have appeared earlier: to Abraham, and Jacob, and Moses, and the children of Israel in the pillar of fire and cloud, of whom God the Father had said: "Behold, I send my angel before your face, who will prepare your way before you"; and he was seen by the son of Nun, who also said: "I am the prince of the host of the power of the Lord"; he is certainly the Son of the Father; and he is called his angel, that is, messenger, and prophet, and priest, and servant, and advocate, and power, and wisdom, and the rest. For that he was seen by Abraham, hear the Scripture saying: "The angel of the Lord called Abraham from heaven and said: Abraham, Abraham, do not stretch out your hand against the boy" … whence in what follows you will find written that the Lord rained fire and sulphur from the Lord on the two cities Sodom and Gomorrah. Do you hear that the Lord rained from the Lord? Which Lord? From which Lord, if not the Son from the Father? For he appeared to Jacob too and wrestled with him; whence Jacob himself says: "I have seen the Lord face to face, and my soul has been saved"; certainly he had seen Christ, with whom he wrestled, in the figure of the body which he was afterward to take up. For of the Father it is written: "Whom no man has seen nor can see"; and again: "No man," says God the Father himself, "can see my face and live." The angel of the Lord himself, who is Christ, appeared to Moses in the bush, in fire; and he himself said: "I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and of Jacob"; he who is called first the angel of the Lord appearing in fire; he himself … is then said to have said: "I am the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob" … to have appeared to the son of Nun standing on the river bank at Jericho … the Lord Christ himself holding a sword in his hand; and when Jesus said to him, "Are you ours or our adversaries'?", the Lord said to him: "I am the prince of the host of the power of the Lord"; this is the prince seeking a principality, and himself king appointed by the Father, as he himself testifies, saying: "But I have been set up as king by him." For in a certain psalm too, Christ himself speaking in his own person, David said: "Offer to God a sacrifice of praise, and pay your vows to the Most High, and call upon me in the day of distress, and I will rescue you, and you will glorify me." In these verses he admonishes that sacrifice must be offered to God the Father and that he himself must be called on, so that he may help those who entreat him; as if he said: render to the Father the service of praise, and I will give you the help of a protector; honour the begetter, and you will find me a helper. Hence he himself too said in the holy Gospel: "I honour my Father, and you have dishonoured me." We Christians, then, believe in and confess one God the Father, and one our Lord Jesus Christ his Son, of whom both the law and the prophets have spoken, and through him we pray to God the Father and give thanks to him, because the Saviour himself so commanded us, saying, and to all who are willing to believe: "This is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent." Knowing, then, the precepts of our Saviour Christ, let us always praise the one God the Father through him, to whom be glory for ever. Amen. ### Scripture references - Gen 4:4: allusion, high confidence - Gen 4:5: allusion, high confidence - Gen 4:8: allusion, high confidence - Gen 4:25: allusion, high confidence - Gen 12:2: allusion, medium confidence - Deut 28:13: quotation, medium confidence - Deut 28:44: allusion, medium confidence - Gal 4:31: quotation, high confidence - Gen 16:15: allusion, high confidence - Gen 48:14: allusion, high confidence - Exod 32:19: allusion, high confidence - Exod 34:1: allusion, high confidence - Deut 18:15: quotation, high confidence - Deut 18:19: quotation, high confidence - Gen 1:1: quotation, high confidence - Col 1:16: quotation, high confidence - Prov 8:22: quotation, high confidence - Prov 8:23: quotation, high confidence - Gen 1:6: quotation, high confidence - Gen 1:14: quotation, high confidence - Gen 1:16: quotation, high confidence - Gen 1:26: quotation, high confidence - Gen 1:27: quotation, high confidence - Gen 18:1: allusion, high confidence - Gen 19:24: quotation, high confidence - Ps 33:6 (32:6 Vulg.): quotation, high confidence - Ps 2:7: quotation, high confidence - Ps 45:6 (44:7 Vulg.): quotation, high confidence - Ps 45:7 (44:8 Vulg.): quotation, high confidence - Ps 110:1 (109:1 Vulg.): quotation, high confidence - Ps 132:17 (131:17 Vulg.): quotation, high confidence - Ps 132:18 (131:18 Vulg.): quotation, high confidence - John 5:35: allusion, medium confidence - Isa 35:3: quotation, high confidence - Isa 35:4: quotation, high confidence - Isa 35:5: quotation, high confidence - Isa 52:10: quotation, high confidence - Isa 7:14: quotation, high confidence - Matt 1:23: quotation, high confidence - Ps 72:6 (71:6 Vulg.): allusion, high confidence - Luke 1:35: quotation, high confidence - Gen 2:7: allusion, high confidence - John 14:6: allusion, high confidence - John 1:4: allusion, high confidence - Acts 7:51: quotation, high confidence - Acts 7:52: quotation, high confidence - 2 Tim 3:7: quotation, high confidence - 2 Tim 3:8: quotation, high confidence - John 8:39: quotation, high confidence - Matt 3:7: allusion, medium confidence - Ps 58:3 (57:4 Vulg.): quotation, high confidence - Ps 58:4 (57:5 Vulg.): quotation, high confidence - Phil 3:19: quotation, high confidence - John 8:44: quotation, high confidence - Gen 3:1: allusion, high confidence - Rom 4:3: quotation, high confidence - Jas 2:23: quotation, high confidence - Gen 15:6: quotation, high confidence - Gen 14:18: allusion, high confidence - Gen 17:11: allusion, high confidence - Gen 21:10: quotation, high confidence - Gal 4:30: quotation, high confidence - Gen 21:12: quotation, high confidence - Gen 22:18: quotation, high confidence - Gal 3:16: quotation, high confidence - Gen 22:9: allusion, high confidence - Gal 4:26: allusion, high confidence - Matt 20:16: quotation, high confidence - Gen 25:23: quotation, high confidence - Mal 1:2: quotation, high confidence - Mal 1:3: quotation, high confidence - Rom 9:13: quotation, high confidence - Gen 29:17: allusion, high confidence - Song 1:15: quotation, high confidence - Eph 5:27: quotation, high confidence - 1 Cor 15:47: quotation, high confidence - 1 Cor 15:48: quotation, high confidence - 2 Cor 3:6: quotation, high confidence - Rom 2:15: quotation, high confidence - 2 Cor 6:14: allusion, high confidence - 2 Cor 6:15: allusion, high confidence - Exod 12:7: allusion, high confidence - John 1:29: quotation, high confidence - Matt 27:25: quotation, high confidence - Matt 27:21: allusion, high confidence - Rom 14:8: quotation, high confidence - Luke 23:39: allusion, high confidence - Luke 23:42: quotation, high confidence - Luke 23:43: quotation, high confidence - Luke 1:32: quotation, high confidence - Luke 1:33: quotation, high confidence - Ps 72:7 (71:7 Vulg.): quotation, high confidence - Matt 5:39: quotation, high confidence - Matt 5:40: quotation, high confidence - Ps 34:8 (33:9 Vulg.): quotation, high confidence - John 14:27: quotation, high confidence - John 13:35: quotation, high confidence - Matt 5:9: quotation, high confidence - Matt 5:3: quotation, high confidence - Ps 72:8 (71:8 Vulg.): quotation, high confidence - Ps 72:9 (71:9 Vulg.): quotation, high confidence - Ps 72:10 (71:10 Vulg.): quotation, high confidence - Matt 2:11: allusion, high confidence - Ps 2:6: quotation, high confidence - Ps 110:4 (109:4 Vulg.): quotation, high confidence - Eph 5:2: quotation, high confidence - Ps 72:11 (71:11 Vulg.): quotation, high confidence - Ps 50:3 (49:3 Vulg.): quotation, high confidence - Isa 40:5: allusion, high confidence - 2 Cor 5:10: quotation, high confidence - Rom 14:10: allusion, high confidence - Ps 72:1 (71:1 Vulg.): quotation, high confidence - Ps 72:19 (71:19 Vulg.): quotation, high confidence - 2 Cor 10:4: quotation, high confidence - Ps 23:1 (22:1 Vulg.): quotation, high confidence - Ps 23:2 (22:2 Vulg.): quotation, high confidence - Ps 84:1 (83:2 Vulg.): quotation, high confidence - Ps 84:2 (83:3 Vulg.): quotation, high confidence - Exod 20:3: quotation, high confidence - Deut 6:13: quotation, high confidence - Deut 6:4: quotation, high confidence - Ps 106:19 (105:19 Vulg.): quotation, high confidence - Ps 106:20 (105:20 Vulg.): quotation, high confidence - Acts 7:42: allusion, medium confidence - 2 Kgs 21:3: allusion, high confidence - Deut 18:18: quotation, high confidence - 1 Sam 2:35: quotation, high confidence - Matt 17:5: quotation, high confidence - Exod 23:20: quotation, high confidence - Exod 23:21: quotation, high confidence - John 5:43: quotation, high confidence - Ps 118:26 (117:26 Vulg.): quotation, high confidence - Ps 33:9 (32:9 Vulg.): quotation, high confidence - Ps 40:7 (39:8 Vulg.): quotation, high confidence - John 10:34: quotation, high confidence - John 10:35: quotation, high confidence - John 10:36: quotation, high confidence - John 10:37: quotation, high confidence - John 10:38: quotation, high confidence - Ps 82:6 (81:6 Vulg.): quotation, high confidence - Ps 110:3 (109:3 Vulg.): quotation, high confidence - 1 Cor 1:24: allusion, high confidence - Ps 107:20 (106:20 Vulg.): quotation, high confidence - Isa 53:8: quotation, high confidence - Exod 13:21: allusion, high confidence - Mal 3:1: quotation, high confidence - Mark 1:2: quotation, high confidence - Josh 5:13: quotation, high confidence - Josh 5:14: quotation, high confidence - Gen 22:11: quotation, high confidence - Gen 22:12: quotation, high confidence - Gen 32:24: allusion, high confidence - Gen 32:30: quotation, high confidence - 1 Tim 6:16: quotation, high confidence - John 1:18: allusion, medium confidence - Exod 33:20: quotation, high confidence - Exod 3:2: allusion, high confidence - Exod 3:6: quotation, high confidence - Ps 50:14 (49:14 Vulg.): quotation, high confidence - Ps 50:15 (49:15 Vulg.): quotation, high confidence - John 8:49: quotation, high confidence - John 17:3: quotation, high confidence ### Extrabiblical texts - Bar 3:35-37 (Baruch): quotation, high confidence - Sir 24:3 (Sirach): quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - The polemic against the Jews (including the charges of Christ's death and the application of Ps 58, John 8:44 and Matt 27:25) is the author's own; translated as written. The treatise also states that it aims to win the Jews over 'not with a desire to harm'. Its attribution to Maximus is disputed. The printed text has many lacunae, marked '…'. 'You nations shall be the head, but the unbelieving people the tail' adapts Deut 28:13, 44. The Baruch passage is Bar 3:35–37; 'I came forth from the mouth of the Most High' is Sir 24:3 (Vulgate 24:5). Several printed references are wrong: Luke 1:32–33 (printed 'Luc. XI'), Ps 110:4 (printed 'Psal. IX'), Josh 5:14 (printed 'Josue III'), and Exod 3:6 (printed 'Exod. m'). The idea that some birds conceive from the wind follows ancient natural history. 'Before the beginning of the Holy Spirit' is the author's phrase; translated as written. Migne's marginal conjecture '[F. quia]' is removed from the text. ### Citation (SBL) Maximus of Turin, Tract. 5.1 (PL 57:793b–807d; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/maximus-taurinensis-tractatus/5-1).