Wondrous indeed and almost unparalleled is the number of manuscript codices which ascribe this most elegant homily to St. Maximus. First we shall commend two Vatican codices, 4951, page 99, and 6451, page 4; likewise two of Holy Cross in Jerusalem, 90 homily 48, and 99 homily 55; two of Monte Cassino, CXI, page 3, and 123, page 139; two also from Belgium, of Marchiennes and of Cambron; the Cistercian of Monte Amiata; and finally the Laurentian, Plut. XIV, page 193, on the reverse. With these mentioned codices the editors marvellously agree: Gymnicus page 146 with the title 'On the same solemnity,' Galesinius likewise page 133, Cundius vol. II page 1444, Raynaudus page 218, Margarinus in the Bibliotheca Maxima vol. VI page 25. Wherefore the Benedictine monks of the congregation of St.
Maurus, led by so great a harmony of manuscripts and printed books, established not Ambrose, as a few codices maintain, but Maximus as the author of this discourse. Not without reason, brethren, is this psalm read on the present day (Ps. XIII), in which the prophet bids us exult and rejoice; for holy David invites all creatures to the festivity of this day; for on this day, through the resurrection of Christ, Tartarus is opened, through the neophytes the earth of the Church is renewed, heaven is unbarred through the Holy Spirit; for Tartarus, now opened, gives back the dead, the renewed earth causes those who rise again to spring forth, the unbarred heaven receives those who ascend. Finally, the thief ascends into paradise; the bodies of the saints enter into the holy city;
the dead return to the living, and by a certain drawing-forth in the resurrection of Christ all the elements raise themselves to higher things. Tartarus gives back to those above those whom it held; the earth sends to heaven those whom it buried; heaven presents to the Lord those whom it receives; and by one and the same working of the Saviour, his Passion raises up from the depths, awakens from earthly things, and sets on high. For the resurrection of Christ is life to the dead, pardon to sinners, glory to the saints. Therefore holy David invites every creature to the festivity of the resurrection of Christ: for he says that on this day which the Lord has made we must exult and rejoice. But someone says: If we are to rejoice on this day, surely we should rejoice for those whom the day itself embraces;
but heaven and Tartarus are set outside the day of this world: how then can these elements be summoned to the festivity of this day, when they are not held within the compass of this day? But this day which the Lord has made penetrates all things, contains all things, embraces heaven and earth and Tartarus. For Christ the Light is not shut in by walls, is not divided by the elements, is not darkened by the shadows. The Light, I say, of Christ is a day without night, a day without end; everywhere it shines, everywhere it beams, everywhere it fails not. And that this day is Christ, the Apostle says: 'The night is far spent, the day is at hand' (Rom. XIII). 'The night,' he says, 'is far spent'; it does not follow after:
so that you may understand that, when the light of Christ comes upon us, the darkness of the devil is put to flight, and the gloom of sins does not follow, and by his perpetual splendour the shadows of the past are driven away, and creeping sins are held back. For that this day, Christ, illumines heaven, earth, and Tartarus, the Scripture bears witness. That he shines above the earth, John says: 'It was the true Light, which enlightens every man coming into this world' (John I). That he shines in hell, the prophet says: 'They who sat in the region of the shadow of death, light is risen upon them' (Isa. IX). That this day abides in the heavens, David relates, saying: 'I will set his seed for ever and ever, and his throne as the days of heaven' (Ps. LXXXVIII). And what is the day of heaven but Christ?
of whom it is said through the prophet: 'Day unto day utters the Word' (Ps. XVIII). For the Son is himself the Day, unto whom the Father, the Day, utters the hidden mystery of his Godhead. He, I say, is the Day who says through Solomon: 'I have caused an unfailing day to rise in heaven' (Ecclus. XXIV). Therefore, just as night in no way follows the day of heaven, so also the shadows of sinners do not follow the righteousness of Christ; for the day of heaven ever shines, gleams, and blazes, nor can it be shut in by any darkness; so too the light of Christ ever glitters, beams, and flashes, nor can it be overtaken by any gloom of transgressions; whence the evangelist John says: 'And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it' (John I).
Therefore in the resurrection of Christ all the elements glory; for I judge that the sun itself is on this day brighter than usual; for it must needs be that the sun rejoices at the resurrection of him at whose Passion it grieved; and that it receives with the splendour of a brighter light the life of him whose death it followed with a certain mournful darkness; and, like a good servant, just as it was then darkened for the obsequies of the burial, so now it flashes in homage to the resurrection. For at the Passion of Christ it wrapped itself in a night of gloom, and, with the world as witness, groaned at the crime of the Jews; for there is a certain judgment of grief in the sun, in that it denied the office of its light to so great a wickedness, and by a kind of vengeance poured darkness upon the eyes of the Jews;
so that those whose mind blindness had invaded, blindness should seize their eyes as well, and the light of the world should not shine for those by whom the light of salvation had been extinguished. A certain condemnation, therefore, is heaped upon the Pharisees, that they might already suffer among the living the darkness promised to sinners on the day of judgment. Among the living, then, the darkness lingered while he was crucified: what wonder if there is darkness among those above, when the Light descended to those below? Therefore, brethren, we all ought to exult on this holy day: let no one withdraw himself from the common joy through consciousness of his sins; let no one be called back from the public vows by the burden of his transgressions. For however great a sinner he be, on this day he ought not to despair of pardon; for the privilege is no small one;
for if the thief merited paradise, why should not a Christian merit pardon? And if the Lord had mercy on him when he was being crucified, much more will he have mercy on this one when he rises again; and if the humility of his Passion bestowed so much on him who trusted, how much will the glory of his resurrection grant to him who prays? For a joyful victory, as you yourselves know, is wont to be more generous in bestowing than a doomed captivity.