這篇講道取自蒙扎圖書館一部標記字母 B II、十二世紀的對開本羊皮抄本，由傑出人士、教士兼神學家安東尼奧·弗朗切斯科·弗里西發掘並寄給我們，我們將它歸入偽作之列，因為它毫無馬克西姆斯的優雅與尊嚴。此篇也不當題為〈論聖母蒙召升天〉。今日節期的隆重提醒我們，應當默想對童貞女的讚美。因為在如此偉大母親的日子，血肉的舌頭實在理當不緘默於對主的讚美。在這日，蒙福的童貞女馬利亞，那位屬天的新婦，實在合宜地坦然宣告說：你攙著我的右手，你以你的旨意引導我，並以榮耀將我接去（詩篇七十三篇）。
From a parchment codex of the Monza library, in folio, marked with the letters B II, of the twelfth century, this sermon was unearthed and sent to us by the distinguished man Antonio Francesco Frisi, canon and theologian, which we place in the class of spurious works, since it displays nothing of the elegance and dignity of Maximus. Nor ought this sermon to be entitled 'On the Assumption.' The solemnity of today's day admonishes us that we ought to dwell upon the praise of the Virgin. Because it is truly worthy that on the day of so great a mother the tongue of flesh should not be silent about the praises of the Lord. On this day indeed the blessed Virgin Mary, that heavenly bride, fittingly proclaims freely: You have held my right hand, and in your will you have led me, and with glory you have taken me up (Psalm LXXII).
Today, I say, let her also fittingly hear from her Bridegroom: Come, my kinswoman, my beautiful one, my dove. For behold, the winter is past, the rain is gone (Song II). And she, now blessed, answers: The flowers have appeared in the land, for the time of pruning has come (ibid.). My soul has exulted in the Lord, it shall delight in its salvation (Psalm XXXIV). And in the Lord shall my soul be praised. Let the meek hear and be glad (Psalm XXXIII). And I believe I shall see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living (Psalm XXVI). Let us see therefore, brethren, who this virgin is, so holy that the Holy Spirit deigned to come to her;
who was so beautiful that the Lord chose her as bride, who was so chaste that she could be a virgin after childbirth, that is, the temple of the Lord, that sealed fountain, and the gate in the house of the Lord that is shut. To her indeed the Holy Spirit descended; on her the power of the Most High overshadowed; from her Christ, mighty in virtues, comes forth. She is undefiled in intercourse, fruitful in childbearing, a virgin in chastity. She conceived, a virgin, not by a man, but by the Holy Spirit. She bore, not in pain, but in joy. She nourished the food of angels and of men. Happy indeed, and most worthy of all praise, who without human seed brought forth the heavenly bread of the world, and bore for the world the Savior. O covenant of faith! O secret of faith! The angel promises the virgin a son to be born;
the Virgin rejoices, and longs to be made a mother. Truly a great and saving mystery, that she so gave birth as to be called both mother and virgin. Nurse, O Mary, your own Creator; nurse the Bread of heaven; nurse the Ransom of the world; offer your breast to Him who suckles, that for you He may offer His cheek to the one who strikes it. Do you, as a mother, minister to Him a temporal sustenance, that He Himself may bestow upon us and upon you an everlasting life. Nurse, then, Him who made you, who made you such, that He Himself might be formed in you. Nurse Him who gave you the fruit of fecundity, and, being conceived, God the Author did not take away the honor of your virginity. See, brethren, how worthily virginity, consecrated to the Lord, renders its service to Him, whom He so deigned to love that one and the same woman could be called both virgin and mother;
she who is to be preferred by grace and proclaimed through all ages, who alone both obtained the dignity of a parent and did not lose her virginal chastity. Indeed, having no experience of a husband, she was astonished that she was to bring forth, she who knew not the marriage-bed. O how blessed is that mother, who conceived without defilement and gave birth to our Medicine without pain. Happy, I say, is the mother through whom the life of our race was restored, who received her offspring from heaven and brought forth the Savior for the world. For in a marvelous and unspeakable manner she gave birth to the Creator of all things, who was also her own Creator. For a virgin whole and entire was chosen, to whom the fecundity of a mother might be given, and she was made a fruitful mother, in whom the integrity of a virgin might be preserved.
For let us thus contemplate the Virgin, who without the concupiscence of the flesh conceived flesh, and without a man brought forth a man. For if we should wish to seek the reason of this deed, in our very inquiry we fail; since it is written: Who shall declare His generation (Isaiah 53)? For indeed the blessed Mary herself, whose nativity we today celebrate, by believing gave birth, by believing conceived. Finally, when the angel had announced to her that divine childbearing, and she, conscious of her own chastity but ignorant of the divine dispensation, had answered the angel: How shall this be, since I know not a man (Luke 1)? the angel answered her with a serene countenance: The Holy Spirit shall come upon you, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow you (ibid.).
Do not be terrified at the childbearing, O Virgin, do not fear, nor, being wholly inexperienced, be greatly alarmed; only believe, and you have conceived; love, and you have brought forth. For the Holy Spirit shall come upon you; therefore there is nothing for you to fear, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow you; from this comes cause for your joy. For sorrow would follow the childbearing only if lust had gone before the conceiving. But now the Holy Spirit shall come upon you, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow you, that is, He shall refresh you beneath the shade of the Holy Spirit, lest you be terrified by the heat of concupiscence. And therefore that which is born of you, being Holy, shall be called the Son of God (Luke 1). Having heard these things, Mary, already pregnant with the seed of faith, and conceiving Christ in mind before in womb, answered the Angel:
Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it done to me according to your word (Luke 1:38). And without delay, as soon as the Virgin's assent is disclosed, the heavenly Bridegroom enters her immaculate body, and He who is not contained by the whole world is poured into the members of an unwedded maiden. For hear, brethren, how the gate through which the Lord entered was ever shut, as the prophet Ezekiel beheld in a divine vision. He said: He turned me toward the way of the gate of the outer sanctuary, which looks toward the east, and it was shut; and the Lord said to me: This gate which you see shall be shut, and shall not be opened, and no man shall pass through it, and it shall be shut forever (Ezekiel 44).
Behold where He clearly shows us that the holy altar was ever a virgin, remained a virgin, a virgin before childbearing, a virgin after childbearing; she conceives and is a virgin, she gives birth and is a virgin, she nurses and is a virgin. Blessed Mary could indeed be a mother, could be a woman. Great is the merit, great the gift, great the grace: she gave birth to the Lord, the creature gave birth to the Creator; with fruitful womb and organs entire, the virgin mother poured forth the Lord upon the earth—conceiving a virgin, bearing a virgin, remaining a virgin, a virgin with child, a virgin rejoicing, a virgin perpetual. Why do you marvel at these things, O man? Thus it behooved God to be born, since He deigned to be man. Amid these things, then, let us with all our affection turn to the aid of the blessed Virgin.
Let us all with all our striving implore her patronage, and while we frequent her with suppliant homage on earth, may she deign to commend us with her assiduous prayer in heaven. May He deign to grant this, who in the perfect Trinity lives and reigns, God, unto the ages of ages.