Presbyters Uniwersytet Warszawski
ID
ER 1510
Bishop Maximus of Turin (Italy) speaks about respect due to the priests and ministers; he encourages clerics to be humble and innocent; Sermon 48, AD 397/423.
Sermo 48
 
DE EO QVOD SCRIPTVM EST: QVIS MAIOR EST IN REGNO CAELORVM.
 
1. Si diligenter audistis euangelicam lectionem, intellegere potestis, quae ministris ac sacerdotibus dei reuerentia debeatur, uel qua ipsos clericos inuicem humilitate se oporteat praeuenire; ait enim dominus percontantibus discipulis, quis eorum in regno caelorum maior esset futurus, statuto coram omnibus puerulo: Quicumque humiliauerit se sicut puer iste, hic maior erit in regno caelorum. [...]
 
Maximus speaks further on humility, poverty, and mildness as a means of returning to Paradise.
 
4. Quid autem ait euangelica lectio? Qui scandalizauerit unum de pusillis istis qui in me credunt, expedit ei ut suspendatur mola asinaria in collo eius et mergatur in profundum maris. Pusillos hic non aetate pueros sed malitia paruulos dicit, sicut apostolus ait: Malitia paruuli estote, ut sensibus perfecti sitis. Qui sunt isti nisi clerici idonei monachi religiosi uel laici?
 
He explains the metaphorical meaning of the punishment for a person who offends believers, then he speaks about the pagans.
 
(ed. Mutzenbecher 1962: 187-190)
Sermon 48
 
On What Is Written: "Who Is the Greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven?"
 
1. If you listened carefully to the Gospel reading you are able to understand what reverence is due to the ministers and priests of God and how it behoves the clerics themselves to surpass one another in humility. For as the disciples were arguing over which of them would be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven, the Lord, showing them all a little child, said: "Whoever humbles himself like this child will be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven." [...]
 
Maximus speaks further on humility, poverty, and mildness as means of returning to Paradise.
 
4. But what does the Gospel reading say? "Whoever offends one of these least ones who believe in me, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were drowned in the depths of the sea." It calls "least ones" not those who are children in age but those who are babes with respect to evil, as the Apostle says: "Be babes in evil so that you may be perfect in your thinking." Who are these if not worthy clerics, devout monks, and laypersons? [...]
 
He explains the metaphorical meaning of the punishment for a person who offends believers, then he speaks about the pagans.
 
(trans. B. Ramsey 1989: 112-114; summary M. Szada)

About the source:

Author: Maximus of Turin
Title: Sermons, Sermones, Collectio sermonum, Sermo 48
Origin: Turin (Italy north of Rome with Corsica and Sardinia)
Denomination: Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian
Maximus is the first known bishop of Turin. He held this see already in May 397 because he mentions the martyrdom of three clerics in Anaunia as the event from his episcopacy (Sermons 105–6). According to Gennadius of Marseille, Maximus died during the reign of Honorius and Theodosius II, that is between 408 and 423. He should not be confused with another Maximus of Turin attested in the middle of the fifth century (PCBE, Italie, v. 1, Maximus 10 and Maximus 14).
 
The collection of the sermons of Maximus of Turin were first edited by Bruno Bruni in 1784 (included in Patrologia Latina 57). Now, however, many sermons attributed by Bruni to Maximus are considered dubious or spurious. Most recent editor, Almut Mutzenbecher, decided to include in her edition 121 sermons. According to Mutzenbecher, 89 of those constituted the collection ascribed to Maximus already in the fifth century, though seven of those are spurious. Of the remaining sermons which are "out of order" (sermones extravagantes) she considers 30 to be genuine (Mutzenbecher 1962: xv–xxxvi).
 
Sermon 48 is genuine (Mutzenbecher 1961: 217–19; 1962: 186).
Edition:
Mutzenbecher Almut ed., Maximi Taurinensis Collectio sermonum antiqua nonnullis sermonibus extrauagantibus adiectis, Corpus Christianorum Series Latina 23, Turnhout 1962
 
Translation:
Boniface Ramsey trans., Sermons of Maximus of Turin, Ancient Christian Writers 50, New York 1989
Bibliography:
A. Mutzenbecher, "Bestimmung der echten Sermones des Maximus Taurinensis", Sacris Erudiri 12 (1961), 197-293.

Categories:

Described by a title - Sacerdos/ἱερεύς
    Described by a title - Clericus
      Reverenced by
        Described by a title - Minister/λειτουργός/ὑπηρέτης
          Theoretical considerations - On priesthood
            Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: M. Szada, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER1510, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=1510