Although in the Vatican codex 1269, folio 77 on the reverse, this sermon is ascribed to St. Leo the Great, nevertheless the Ballerini brothers, most learned men, judged that it is not to be counted among the sermons of that same holy doctor. For this reason we too, following the illustrious Muratori, attribute this to St. Maximus, as it is read in the Ambrosian codex. Let us exult, brethren, and glory in the Lord our God, because the birthday of the apostles is the nourishment of the Church: for just as every little child is nourished by the milk of its mother's breast, so then the infancy of the rising Church grew strong by the abundance of the fathers' blood. For from the moment the barren earth received the blessing of that fruitful gore, from thence an innumerable multitude of believers sprang up throughout the whole world.
Who is so senseless as to deny that truth dwells in the Christian faith — a faith which sorrows do not weary, which torments do not disturb, and which no terror of bodily death bends down? For that faith the torments of persecutors even profit unto everlasting joy, and its kingdom, through eternal and unconquered power, holds dominion over earthly empires. But that we may more fully perceive how great is the distance between the heavenly kingdom and the earthly, let us take instruction from present examples. Behold, the kings of this passing age preserve the devotion of their soldiers toward themselves only in this life, by honours and rewards, having absolutely nothing that they could bestow upon their own and upon themselves after death.
But Christ, the King of all ages, allowed his chosen ones to be afflicted with toil, nakedness, hunger, torments, and moreover with death; because it is in his power to raise the dead, to clothe with the light of his kingdom him who has been stripped of the present life, and, removing the law of death, to give perpetuity to the mortal. And that sometimes the rewards of kings are refused by faithful men, that all the dignities of the age are abominable to them, that they spurn as vain whatever this world offers them as precious — that hope brings this about in every way, because through the grace of his Christ the faith that is kept presumes that better things will one day be bestowed upon it.
Who does not stand amazed that in the will of Christ there is so wonderful a mystery, who so promises his rewards to his saints that he sends torments ahead of them, and so proclaims the love of the life to come that he teaches that the present life is not to be loved? Here is the truth of religion, where sorrow begets joy, where destitute nakedness weaves for itself the garments of incorruption; where to be dishonoured is glory (perhaps it should read: where to be dishonoured is glory), where to be burned is refreshment, where to be slain is triumph. This is the death, beloved — if only the authority of the Holy Spirit raises and confirms our faith — which children do not refuse, which the young do not turn away from, which the more mature choose, which the old aspire to, which women did not dread.
For in the suffering of martyrdom, where a firmer faith reigns in a man, as has often already happened, neither does age withdraw itself nor does sex excuse itself. There, brethren, there is the weakness of the body put forward, where faith does not have firmness. Therefore the most glorious Peter, by the steadfastness of his faith firmer than any rock, while he preached the cross of Christ, overcame his own; nor did he fear to be crucified, because he had feared and loved the Crucified. Peter therefore suffered, as the best servant for his Lord, as a faithful disciple for his master, and as a shepherd chosen for the sheep committed to him, following unto death the footsteps of him whose path he was following unto
life; and because he underwent a passion like that of his King, having received the key of the heavenly kingdom, he took on the likeness of the One who reigns. Or how should he fear the ending of his own life, who had proved that his Christ reigns after death? How should he flee the cross, who had recognized the signs of the blessed cross on the body of his Lord returning from the dead? How should he refuse the wounds of those who crucify, who knew that the Redeemer of the world had borne the marks of the nails with him to the Father? Should he dread death for his own Lord, to whom the Author of life himself, with the mouth of his foreknowledge, had foretold both his death and the manner of his death? saying thus: 'When you were younger, you girded yourself and went where you wished; but when you shall be old, another shall gird you and lead you where you do not wish' (John 21).
This is to say: When you were younger, Peter, girding yourself by the service of your own hand, you followed your own will in all things. But when you shall be old, a hand not your own shall gird you, and lead you where you do not wish, and you shall change the freedom of your youth for the servitude of old age. 'It shall lead you,' he says, 'where you do not wish.' Never was Peter unwilling to suffer for his Lord, to whom he had already said before: 'I will lay down my soul for you' (John 13). He wished indeed, as a devoted man, to die; but because he thrust himself upon death, as it were of his own accord, he seemed to have a certain boldness of presumption, for he who as a weak man does not wish to die, and the same man as one strengthened by God does not flee suffering, at once shows in himself both the affection of trembling flesh and fulfils the office of a faithful soul.
Therefore, where the apostle offered himself to death of his own accord, there he feared to die; and where he was led unwilling to the cross, there he did not fear to be crucified, because in the former case human weakness was wearied, while in the latter the strength of the heavenly Spirit was conquering. For all our devotion, if it trusts as it were in its own powers, straightway grows faint as something weak. But if anyone by suppliant prayer commends to divine grace the accomplishment of his good purpose, no adversities of this age shall compel him to waver. Therefore, brethren, we must take care that we claim nothing for our own virtue and prudence out of the things that we do rightly, since the Lord teaches his apostles, saying: 'For without me you can do nothing' (John 15). By which sentence forewarning us, all things are to be hoped for from him.
All things also that come prosperously are to be reckoned as his gifts, without whom, as he himself says, we can have no success at all in our desires. In short, how did Peter presume to say to the Lord: 'I will lay down my soul for you' (John 13); yet not long after, troubled at the questioning of a servant-girl, he answered that he did not know the man — for which he wept most bitterly; and where Christ said that Peter was to be led where he would not, there he obtained the victory of a triumphal passion. Therefore the apostle is not to be blamed if for the honour of Christ he desired more eagerly even to die, because that presumption, which comes from the fervour of faith, though it does not seem praiseworthy, nevertheless has great confidence toward the Lord from the very devotion of his own conscience.
But for the caution of his faithful ones, and as a refuge for our weakness, the Saviour said to his disciples: 'If they persecute you in this city, flee to another' (Matthew 5). This is to say: Avoid indeed the suffering, lest perhaps you be overcome by torments; but once taken, do not yield to the persecutor; for I wish my servants neither to await death nor to fear it, so that the foolish persecutor may recognize both that wisdom is in you and that faith is not lacking; because not to avoid death, when you can, is a fault of rashness, but not to yield to the one who slays is the fortitude of a believer. Our reason and the virtue of our faith hold this: that in the confession of the Christian name we should neither desire death nor fear to be slain.
So that most glorious Paul, the vessel of election, lest he be defiled even by the rods of the Gentiles, cried out that he was a Roman citizen, and by the prescription of secular laws removed the injury to his body, and rejoiced with written exultation that he had been snatched from perils and deaths. But if, as one curious, you should ask why the Apostle protected himself by the privilege of the nations, know that this was of apostolic counsel: that he might confound with their own laws, having terrified them, those who had no reverence for our God, and that he did not wish to exercise the vengeance given him by the Lord against those whom he knew he had been sent to save, though they were persecutors. For what the power of the apostle could do, that blinded magician felt, and that man cast out of the divining woman with the spirit of Python experienced.
But nevertheless, when by the Lord's dispensation the time of his passion came, he confidently submitted his faithful neck to the Gentile sword, and he who once spurned the scourges did not flee the sword. For this is the holy and perfect measure of believing, this is the soundness of blameless devotion in the contest of faith: both to be unwilling to die, and yet patiently to succumb; because our God does not require our death, but that mind which death cannot overcome.