In the codex of the Lambach library which we mentioned just now, this sermon, containing an exposition of the Creed, is read as ascribed to Maximus. But the exposition handed down by Maximus, which we published above as Homily 87, is altogether unlike this one in language and style. "Now that the mysteries celebrated up to this point have been examined, and it has been searched out lest any uncleanness cling to anyone's body, through exorcism sanctification has been sought and applied not only to the body but also to the soul. Now is the time and the day for us to hand over the Creed — the Creed which is a spiritual seal, the Creed which is the meditation of our heart, and, as it were, an ever-present guard, indeed the treasure of our heart. First, therefore, we ought to grasp the meaning of the name itself."
It is called "symbolum" in Greek, but in Latin "a bringing together"; and merchants especially have been accustomed to say "symbolum" when they contribute their money, and, as it were, when it has been massed into one from the contribution of each, it is kept whole and inviolate, so that no one may attempt to commit fraud against the common fund, and no one in the transaction (here something has been omitted, for the sense remains suspended). Finally, this custom exists among the merchants themselves: that if anyone commits fraud, he is cast out as fraudulent. So the holy apostles, coming together into one, made a summary of the faith, in which we might briefly comprehend the whole order of belief; brevity is necessary, that it may always be held by memory and recollection.
I know that in some regions, especially of the East, concerning those things which were first handed down by our forefathers, some spend fraud upon them while others spend diligence: the heretics intend fraud, the catholics diligence. So while the former fraudulently try to creep in and have added what is not needful, and while the latter strive to guard against fraud, they seem to have advanced beyond the boundaries of our forefathers, as it were out of a certain piety and carelessness. Therefore the holy apostles, coming together, made the Creed. Briefly, seal yourselves. When they had completed in this Creed the doctrine of the Godhead, the teaching of the eternal Godhead is comprehended. And this is our faith, that we believe in equal manner in the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
For where there is no distinction of majesty, there ought to be no distinction of faith either. Then I have frequently warned that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, alone took flesh in such a way, with a rational and perfect human soul, and took the form of a body, the true reality of this body, and was made as a man; but He has the special privilege of His generation. For He was not born of male seed, but generated by the Holy Spirit from the Virgin Mary, acknowledging the prerogative of His heavenly Author, made indeed as a man, that He might take up our infirmities in His own flesh, yet He came with the privilege of eternal majesty. Therefore let us say the Creed, and when you have said it, it is complete, saying: this is what the divine Scripture holds.
Should we with bold mind dare to go beyond the faith of the apostles? Are we more cautious than the apostles? But you say to me: afterwards heresies arose; for, as the apostle says, "There must be heresies, that the good may be proved" (1 Cor. 11). What then? See the simplicity, see the purity. When the Patripassians had emerged, even the catholics in this part thought that "invisible, impassible" should be added, as though the Son of God were visible and passible. If He was visible in the flesh, surely that flesh was visible, not the divinity; the flesh was passible, not the divinity. Finally, hear what He says: "God, my God, look upon me: why have you forsaken me" (Psalm 21).
In His passion our Lord Jesus Christ says this; He spoke this according to His humanity, He spoke according to the flesh, as if the flesh should say to the Divinity: "Why have you forsaken me?" Therefore, though our forefathers were physicians, they were unwilling to add medicine to the sickness in place of health. It is not asked, then, whether the medicine was necessary at that time; let the grave sickness of certain minds seek it, and thus it was to be sought at that time; now it is not, since the faith is whole against the Sabellians. The Sabellians have been shut out, especially from the regions of the West. From that remedy the Arians found for themselves a kind of calumny, and because we hold the Creed of the Roman Church, therefore they would reckon and say that the Father almighty is invisible and impassible;
or because the Creed states it thus, they would designate the Son as visible and passible. What then? Where the faith is whole, the precepts of the apostles suffice; the cautions, that is, of the priests, are not required. Why? Because tares are mingled with the wheat. Hence say the Creed thus concerning our one Lord: "His only Son" — not "our only Lord"; there is one God, there is one Lord. But lest they slander and say that we call the Son one person and also "our only Lord" — because I have spoken of the divinity of the Father and the Son, we come to His incarnation, by which He was born, and suffered, and was buried: you have His passion and burial. "On the third day He rose again from the dead": you have also His resurrection.
"He ascended into heaven, He sits at the right hand of the Father." See therefore that the flesh could take nothing away from the divinity; nay rather, a great triumph was won for Christ from the incarnation. For by what reasoning, when He ascended from death, does He sit at the right hand of the Father? As one who has brought back to the Father the fruit of a good will. You have two things: He rose from death, He sits at the right hand; therefore the flesh could bring no detriment to the glory of the divinity. You have two things: either, as it were by the second prerogative of His divinity and the substance of His generation, our Lord Jesus Christ sits at the right hand when He rose from death; or certainly as an eternal victor, who has procured a good kingdom for the Father, He has claimed the prerogative of His victory.
"He sits at the right hand of the Father, from thence He shall come to judge the living and the dead." He Himself is the one who will judge us; beware then of disparaging Him whom you will have as your judge. Why this mystery? Is there not one judgment of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit? Is there not one will? Is there not one majesty? Why is it said to you that the Son will be judge, unless that you may understand that nothing is to be detracted from the Son? Therefore see: you believe in the Father, you believe in the Son, and what third? "And in the Holy Spirit"; whatever sacraments you will receive, you will receive in this Trinity — let no one deceive himself. You see therefore that the venerable Trinity is of one operation, one sanctification, one majesty.
Now receive the reasoning of how we believe in the Author, lest perhaps you say: But the Creed also has the Church, it also has the remission of sins, it also has the resurrection. What then? The case is equal: as we believe in Christ, so we believe also in the Father, in the same way as we believe also the Church, and the remission of sins, and the resurrection of the flesh. What is the reasoning? Because he who believes in the Author believes also in the Author's work. Finally, lest you think this to be of our own ingenuity, receive the testimony: "If you do not believe me, believe at least the works" (John 10). Therefore you have this: now your faith will shine forth the more, if you consider that true and whole faith is to be shown to the work of your Author: "the holy Church, and the remission of sins."
Believe therefore by faith that all your sins are remitted. Why? You have read in the Gospel, the Lord saying: "Your faith has made you whole" (Mark 10). "The remission of sins, the resurrection of the flesh." I believe that the flesh too will rise; for what need was there that Christ should take flesh? What need that Christ should taste death, undergo burial, and rise again, except for the sake of your resurrection? This whole mystery is of your resurrection; if Christ has not risen, our faith is vain; but because He has risen, therefore our faith is firm. We read that if anyone should violate his own creed, he is held wicked and detestable;
much more must we take care that nothing be detracted from the creed of our forefathers, since you have in the book of the Apocalypse of John (chap. 22): "If anyone," he says, "shall add or take away, he takes upon himself judgment and punishment." If nothing is to be detracted from the writings of a single apostle, how shall we defile the Creed which we received handed down and composed by the apostles? We ought to detract nothing, to add nothing. Now this is the Creed which the Roman Church holds, where Peter, the first of the apostles, sat, and brought the common judgment there. Therefore, just as there are twelve apostles, so there are twelve sentences. Seal yourselves.
I believe in God the Father almighty, and in Jesus Christ His only Son our Lord, who was conceived of the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried. Behold these four sentences. Let us see the others. On the third day He rose again, He ascended into the heavens, He sits at the right hand of God the Father, from thence He shall come, He shall judge the living and the dead. Behold four other sentences, that is, eight sentences. Let us see yet four more. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Church, the communion of saints, the remission of sins, the resurrection of the flesh, life everlasting. Amen. Behold, according to the twelve apostles, twelve sentences also have been comprehended.
This indeed I wish you to be admonished of: that the Creed ought not to be written, but to be held in memory. But you say to me: how can it be held, if it is not written? It can be held all the better if it is not written. By what reasoning? Receive it. For what you write, being secure, you as it were bind up and do not begin to review by daily meditation. But what you do not write, fearing lest you lose it, you begin to review daily: and this is a great safeguard. There arise stupors of soul and body, the temptation of the adversary who never rests, some trembling of the body, a weakness of the stomach: review the Creed, and search within yourself; above all, review it within you. Why?
lest you do it out of habit, and when you are alone you review it where the faithful are, but begin to be reckoned among the catechumens or the heretics. Here it ends.