講道集 第 197 章

In the Chisian codex, marked with the letters C VIII, on the back of page 237, we found this sermon attributed to our St. Maximus. The same, in a more corrected form, was furnished by the codex of the monastery of Subiaco, the Lectionary of the canons of the Church of Padua, and two Breviaries: one of the Church of Velletri, the other for the use of the Gallican Church. Wherefore, confirmed by these testimonies, we do not hesitate to publish it into the light under the name of this same holy bishop of Turin — although some codices, such as the Vatican 1273, p. 26 on the back, of the Basilica of St. Peter, no. 6 A, p. 250, and the Orvieto, p. 206, ascribe it to Ambrose or Augustine. The diction indeed does not seem unlike a Maximian oration.

Rightly and as a matter of duty does the Church celebrate the emblems of the blessed martyrs, who, illuminating innumerable peoples by the power of their own virtue, felt indeed the death inflicted upon them alone, yet possessed not alone the benefits of their death. For the immense mercy of our God — manifold unto goodness, and skilled unto salvation — proposing the arduous palm of the virtues, finds few who seek it, but in the triumphs of a few provides precious things for the advantages of the many. For He wills their merits to be our aids, and at the same time, while by the hard combat of martyrdom He commends to us the true faith, He makes the affliction of those who go before the instruction of those who come after. How great is the solicitude of our God concerning us? He examines them, that He may instruct us;

He crushes them that He may gain us, and He made their torments become our advantage. Rightly, therefore, do we honour those who fight amid our perils and do battle for our benefit; who, by their contempt of light and of life, teach us how great an affection we owe to our God. Let us know, then, that it is not without great risk that we dispute concerning the truth of religion, which we behold confirmed by the blood of so many. It is a matter of grave peril if, after the oracles of the prophets, after the testimony of the apostles, after the wounds of the martyrs, we should presume to shake the ancient faith as though it were some novelty, and if, after such manifest leaders, you remain in error, and after the death-sweats of the dying you contend with idle disputation. Let us therefore venerate, in the holy martyrs...

Let us honour our own faith in the glory of the martyrs; let us rejoice together, most beloved brethren, in our great faith, through which, while you receive the exiles with overflowing charity, you may also merit to have those very ones as your intercessors. For this is the glory of the holy martyrs: even though a portion of them be scattered throughout the whole world in their ashes, yet their fulness remains entire in their virtues. Let us therefore venerate our faith among so many soldiers of Christ. For the mother of martyrdom is the catholic faith, in which that illustrious athlete signed his name with blood and swore by his death. The mother, I say, of martyrdom is faith. Let us therefore venerate our faith in the glory of the holy martyrs. In what way our faith?

For by them, while the endurance of death is undoubtingly embraced, the hope of immortality is clearly affirmed. For never would they so steadfastly hold this life of small account, unless by settled conviction they perceived that another life is incomparably more blessed. Therefore in the holy proclamations there is both the magnanimity of truth and of suffering, and the authority of reason; for eagerly do they perish, to be restored to something better, since through the straits of tribulations there is opened for them a way out to this fulness of joys. The bloody sentences from the impious mouth they reject, they repudiate at the hearing, they flee from as a duty. And so by magnanimity they provoke the onslaught of suffering, and by humility they turn it aside.

When the fury of persecution presses upon them, the catechumens even now prepare their soul for heaven, are regenerated by death, are absolved by their condemnation, are consecrated by the sword. From this let us understand how greatly the Passion of the Redeemer availed to take away the sin of the world. Behold, the death of a man is proved to confer innocence and life; from this let us understand how greatly the holy death of the Son of God has profited for the salvation of all.

Behold, human blood washes away the proper and original guilt, and, what is more, no one can now take away what that blood has conferred by its own baptism. After the brightness of baptism, after the whiteness of holy regeneration bestowed on us, after we have acquired the angelic dignity of the wedding garment, I fear that, having relapsed into sins, rolled again in the mire of crimes, we defile the snow-white raiment with the foul contagions of iniquities and lusts, and stain with the spots of deadly corruption that silken robe on which we had received the imprinted seal of the divine image; and after the singular indulgence of our Lord we defile what has been renewed, tear apart what was whole, violate what was expiated, taking up again works that are now to be purged not by waters but by flames.

Blessed is such a baptism, by which every sin so departed from the catechumen that it can no more return; by which he so cancelled his own sins that he need no longer fear the creditor; by which by faith he cancelled in himself the sins of the enemies, and condemned them at the end; through which baptism he sought innocence by devotion, found it by perseverance, and preserved it by death. Since these things are so, dearly beloved, although each so great a witness of Christ is precious by his confession, yet he is more precious by his blood, more beautiful by his cruel wound, and whiter by his dyed garment; although in whatever place he may be thought to belong by the special privilege of his tomb, yet he is ours and belongs to all by the fellowship of his intercession.

For the overflowing charity of that aforesaid city, and its grasping faith, have not so far diminished it, while claiming it for itself, as to believe that the benefits of that patron are enclosed only within its own walls. He is not shut up by places who is diffused by his merits. You have invoked the martyr everywhere, and everywhere He hears who is prayed to in the martyr. Since, then, He governs who weighs your prayers and dispenses His own gifts, the nearby presence of an effectual advocate will be granted in such measure as the faith of him who has received him has been devout. For the prayer that is aided by the works of chastity, justice, and almsgiving, surpasses the world, penetrates paradise, and flies up even to the very sight of the sovereign Majesty, an angel offering it;

just as in a certain place the angelic voice testifies: 'And when you,' it says, 'were praying, I offered up your prayer in the sight of the brightness of God' (Tobit 12). Blessed is the soul, dearly beloved, whose vow, whose incense of contrition, whose holocaust of supplication is smoky with no unbelief, defiled by no stench of carnal enticement, bloodied by no savagery, stained by no rivalry of hatred; but fiery with faith, gleaming with a good conscience, fragrant with sincerity of heart, perfect in concord and charity, and is borne up even to the countenance of God by the ministry of the heavenly messengers. Since these things are so, let us honour the holy martyrs, the princes of faith, the intercessors of the world, the heralds of the kingdom, the coheirs of God. But if you say to me:

'Why do you honour flesh already dissolved and consumed, for which God now has no care?' And where, dearly beloved, is that word which He Himself speaks through the prophet: 'Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints' (Ps. 115); and again: 'But to me Your friends, O God, are exceedingly honoured' (Ps. 138)? If we ought to honour the servants of God, how much more the friends of God, of whom it is said in another place: 'The Lord keeps all their bones; not one of them shall be broken' (Ps. 33). I honour, therefore, in the flesh of the martyr the scars received for the name of Christ. I honour for the confession of the Lord the consecrated ashes. I honour in the ashes the seeds of eternity.

I honour the body that showed me to love my God, that taught me for God's sake not to fear death. Why then should I not honour that body, O faithful, which even the demons revere, which they afflicted in punishment but glorify in the tomb? I honour, therefore, the body that honoured Christ by the sword, that reigns with Christ in heaven.