In some manuscript books this sermon too is read as attributed to Augustine, in others to Ambrose; which the Maurists transferred into the appendix of the sermons of the same St. Augustine under no. 137. By us it is ascribed to St. Maximus, together with the scribes of the two codices 90 and 99 of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme, of whose trustworthiness, after the opinion of the most illustrious Cardinal Besuti, no one can doubt. In codex 90, a very ancient one, it is sermon 41, and in the other, 99, sermon 31, in which 31st the title is of this kind: 'On the day of the Epiphanies, and on the Gospel where the Lord was baptized, and on Psalm XXVIII.' But in the codex of St. Gall: 'On the day of the Epiphanies.' But if anyone should compare this sermon with the homilies of St.
Maximus which treat of the same mystery of the Epiphany, he will find the same kind of arguments and the same manner of speaking. The Day of the Epiphanies is so called by a Greek name. For what we call 'apparition' or 'manifestation,' this the Greeks call Epiphany. And this we proclaim for this reason, because today our Lord and Saviour appeared according to the flesh upon the earth. For although He had of old been born of Mary, and had completed the age of thirty years, nevertheless He was unknown to the world. He was made known at that time when He came to John the Baptist to be baptized in the Jordan: and the voice of the Father thundering from heaven was heard: 'This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased' (Matt. III).
Him whom the Father had pointed out by a voice from the heavens, the same the true Holy Spirit, as it were in a dove, and sitting upon His head, willed to point out by His touch, lest any other of the people should be thought the Son of God. What is more sublime than this humility? What is more noble than this lowliness? He is baptized by a servant, and by God is called Son. Among publicans and harlots and sinners He comes to the laver, and is holier than His baptizer. He is baptized by John in the flesh; but He Himself washes John in the spirit. The waters, which had been wont to cleanse everything else, when our Lord washed, were themselves cleansed. The river Jordan, which at the time when Joshua son of Nun led the people of Israel and brought them into the land of promise had been dried up;
now, if it had been able, willed to gather itself together with all its waters, that it might touch the Lord's body. 'The Jordan,' it says, 'was turned back' (Ps. CXIII). See, brethren, how that which was read in the Gospel had been foretold beforehand in the twenty-eighth psalm: 'The voice of the Lord upon the waters' (Ps. XXVIII). For the Son of God spoke to John: 'Suffer it now; for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness' (Matt. III). It follows: 'The Lord of majesty hath thundered'; when the Father bore witness to the Son, saying: 'This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.' 'The voice of the Lord breaking the cedars' (Ps. XXVIII). For Christ was baptized, and the demons, first erect and lofty, fell down.
The Lord cut them down like the cedars of Lebanon, and broke them in pieces like calves (Ibid.). Scattering the fragments of the trees, and dispersing the stumps this way and that with His heels. On the contrary, what is said of the Saviour? 'And my beloved is like the son of the unicorns' (Ibid.). Beloved is our Lord and Saviour, the Son of God, of the unicorns, the son of the cross, of whom it is said in the canticle of Habakkuk: 'Horns are in His hands, there is His strength hidden' (Hab. III). After therefore this beloved one was crucified, that also was fulfilled which follows in the psalm: 'The voice of the Lord dividing the flame of fire' (Ps. XXVIII). For when He was baptized, and the whole world cleansed by Christ's washing, the fire of Gehenna was extinguished.
'The voice of the Lord shaking the desert' (Ibid.). A desert was the Church, which formerly had no sons. At the preaching of Christ this desert was stirred, and travailed, and a whole nation was born in one day. At once she who before was called the desert of Kadesh—that is, 'a desert,' since she had had no holiness—began to bring forth harts, and to send out flocks of her holy ones, who slay serpents on the earth, who despise poisons; and while these are running about, and preaching the Gospel of Christ throughout the whole world, in His temple all shall speak glory to God (Ibid.). It follows: 'The Lord maketh the flood to dwell.'
Let us consider the whole world, let us look upon the barbarian nations, let us survey the Roman empire also: everywhere men are being baptized into our Lord; and so it comes about that there is not one water, but in a manner a flood of baptisms. Wherefore, dearest brethren, since the tabernacle has been consummated (for by this is the title of that psalm inscribed), and since the Church has been built of living stones, let us bring to the Lord the sons of God, let us bring the sons of rams, of the apostles and of the holy ones, and let us imitate our Saviour, who is Himself called both Shepherd and Lamb, who for us is sacrificed in Egypt, who for Isaac is held by the horns in the thicket, and let us say: 'The Lord ruleth me, and nothing shall be wanting to me. In a place of pasture there hath He set me;'