Johannes Dominicus Vallarsius, whether because he did not consult the manuscript codices, or because he expended too little effort in discerning the works of St. Maximus, cast this sermon of the holy bishop of Turin—without even mentioning Maximus—among the spurious works of Jerome, in vol. II, p. 504, of the Works of St. Jerome, Verona edition, 1742. It is therefore our task to rescue this not uncultivated nor unlearned oration from obscurity, and to bring it forth into the light, adorned with its proper author's name. This is shown by three excellent codices, namely two of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme, 90 and 99, and the Laurentianus I, Plut. XIV, where after the title there is plainly read: 'On the Holy Epiphany, a sermon of St. Maximus the bishop.' In the codices of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme it is inscribed as a sermon:
'On the Day of the Holy Epiphany'—which title we have embraced. Consult especially those things which St. Maximus writes in the homily on the Cross; whence you will easily perceive that this sermon too is to be attributed to the same author. Today the true sun has risen upon the world; today in the darkness of the age the light has come forth: God was made man, that man might be made God; the Lord took upon Himself the form of a servant, that the servant might be turned into a lord. The inhabitant and founder of the heavens dwelt on earth, that man, the tiller of the earth, might pass over to the heavens. O day brighter than every sun! O time to be longed for through all the ages! What the angels awaited, what the cherubim and seraphim and the mysteries of the heavens knew not, this has been revealed in our time.
What they saw through a mirror and through an image, we behold in truth. He who spoke to the people of Israel through Isaiah, Jeremiah, and the other prophets, now speaks to us through the Son. See what difference there is between the Old Testament and the New. In the former He spoke through a cloud; to us He speaks through clear sky. There God was seen in the bush; here God is born of a virgin. There the fire consumed the sins of the people; here it is a man who forgives the sins of the people—nay, God pardoning His servants. For no one can forgive sins except God alone. Whether today the Lord Jesus was born, or today He was baptized:
Although diverse opinion is spread abroad in the world, and our judgement varies according to the variety of traditions, this stands perfectly clear: that whether He was today born of the Virgin, or reborn in baptism, His nativity of both flesh and spirit profits us. Either mystery is mine; either is my benefit. The Son of God had no need to be born, nor to be baptized, for He had committed no sin that should be remitted Him in baptism; but His humility is our exaltation. His cross is our victory; His gibbet is our triumph. Let us, rejoicing, raise this sign upon our shoulders, let us bear the standards of victory, let us bear the immortal laver upon our foreheads.
When the devil beholds this sign upon the doorposts, he trembles; and those who do not fear the gilded Capitols fear the cross; those who despise the royal sceptres and the purple robes of the Caesars, and their banquets, are terrified by the squalor and fasting of Christ. Indeed, in the prophet Ezekiel (Ezek. IX), when the angel who had been sent had slain all, and the slaughter had begun from the holy ones, those alone were kept safe whom the letter Tau, that is, the figure of the cross, had marked. Let us therefore exult, dearest brethren, and after the likeness of the cross let us lift up holy hands to heaven. When the demons see us thus armed, they will be overwhelmed. When Moses (Exod. XVII) kept his hands raised, Amalek was defeated; but if they sank down a little, Amalek regained strength.
The yardarms of ships and the horns of the sails fly aloft under the figure of our cross. The birds too, when they are borne up into the heights and hang in the air with wings outspread, imitate the cross. But the trophies and victories of triumphs also are adorned with the cross, which we ought to have not only upon our foreheads, but also within our souls, so that when we are thus armed, we may tread upon the asp and the basilisk in Christ Jesus, to whom be glory unto the ages of ages. Amen.