Little is known of St. Maximus, besides his writings and the fact that he was Bishop of Turin. It is thought he was a native of Rhaetia, in modern northern Italy, possibly born in the town of Vercelli. Some think he is the same Maximus who attended a few local synods and councils—the Synod of Milan in 451 and the Council of Rome in 465 (thus giving him a much longer life), but there is no certainty. What has truly cemented his legacy is a large collection of homilies and sermons, along with a few treatises.
Today, the true sun dawned on the world; today, into the world’s darkness, the light emerged: God became man, so that man would become God; the Lord took the form of a servant, so that the servant would turn into the Lord. Both inhabitant and creator of the heavens dwelt upon earth, so that man, a tiller of earth, would migrate to the heavens. O day more lucid than any sun! O time sought from all ages! What the angels await, what the cherubim and seraphim and mysteries of the heavens do not know, this is revealed in our time. What they saw through a mirror, and through an image, we discern in truth. He Who spoke to the Israelite people through Isaiah, Jeremiah, and the other prophets, now speaks to us through the Son. See what sits between the Old Testament and the New. In that, He spoke through a cloud; to us, He speaks through a clear sky. There God was seen in the bush; here, God is born of a virgin. There, He was fire, consuming the people’s sins; here, He is man, remitting the people’s sins; rather, God, forgiving His servants. For no one can remit sins, except God alone. Either the Lord Jesus was born today, or today He was baptized: for a diverse opinion is borne in the world, and, through the variety of traditions, our thought is that this stands fluid, that, today He was either born of the Virgin, or reborn in baptism, Whose nativity profits both our flesh and spirit. Either is my mystery; either is my utility. God’s Son had no need that He be born, that He be baptized, for He did not commit sin which is remitted Him in baptism; but His humility is our sublimity. His cross is our victory; His gibbet is our triumph. Rejoicing, let us lift this sign upon our shoulders, let us bear the banners of victories, let us bear the immortal labarum [1] on our foreheads. When the devil will look upon this sign on our posts, he will tremble; and they who do not fear the golden Capitols, [2] fear the Cross; they who condemn regal scepters, and the purples of Caesars, and the feasts, are terrified by Christ’s filth and fasts. Therefore, in Ezekiel the prophet, when all to whom the angel was sent were slain, and began to be killed by the saints, in a like manner, those were saved on whom the letter Tau, that is, the picture of the Cross, was signed (cf. Ez 9). Let us exult, therefore, beloved brethren, and let us raise holy hands to the similitude of the Cross, to heaven. So when armed demons see us, they are oppressed. When Moses had erect hands, Amalek was defeated; if he conceded a little, he prevailed. The antennae of ships and the horns of sails fly under the figure of our cross. Even the birds themselves, when they are taken into the heights, and hang in the air, with extended wings, imitate the Cross. But both trophies and victories of triumphs are adorned with the Cross, which, not only on our foreheads, but in our souls, we ought also to have, so that, when we are thus armed, we will tread upon asp and basilisk in Christ Jesus (cf. Ps 91:13), Whose is the glory, unto the ages of ages. Amen.
Footnotes: [1] The labarum is the name for the later Roman military standard which bears the Cross; it first describes the one which Constantine fashioned at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge, after seeing a vision of the Cross in the sky. Other manuscripts read lavacrum, “bath” or “font,” which does not fit the context well.
[2] St. Maximus is referring to the temples to pagan gods on the Capitoline Hill in Rome, which were decorated with gold.
Source: Patrologiae Cursus Completus, Series Latina, ed. J.-P. Migne, Tomus LVII (Paris: J.-P. Migne, 1862), 545A-546C. [PL 57:545A-546C]