The Presbyters Project

LXXXVIII.

DE IOHANNE BAPTISTA.

6. [...] Sed et ille clericus iter domino facit, qui secundum euangelium uiuit et per omnia obtemperat sacerdoti. Aliquanti enim, cum sint minus subditi, moleste ferunt, cum a senioribus arguuntur, et dicunt: "Grauiter irascitur episcopus; patientior esse deberet." Audi ergo, optime clerice, sacerdotem exigis patientiam et te non exigis disciplinam? Nescis quia mihi salutis causa arguere aliquando permissum est, tibi numquam peccare concessum est? Dicit enim apostolus: Increpa opportune inportune, argue. Est ergo in omnibus subditus sacerdoti, si uis eum per omnia esse manusetum!

(ed. Mutzenbecher 1962: 362)

Sermon 88

On John the Bapstist

6. [...] And that cleric also makes a road for the Lord who lives according to the gospel and submits to the bishop in all things. For some, since they are less submissive, act in an annoying way when they are reproached by their seniors and say: "The bishop is very angry; he should be more patient." Listen, then, excellent cleric! Do you demand patience of the bishop and not demand discipline of yourself? Do you not know that it has been granted to me to make a reproach occasionally for the sake of salvation, but that you have never been conceded the right to sin? For the Apostle says: "Rebuke when convenient and inconvenient, reproach." Be submissive to the bishop in all things, then, if you wish him to be mild in all things.

(trans. B. Ramsey 1989: 211)

Place of event:

Region

Italy north of Rome with Corsica and Sardinia

City

Turin

About the source:

Author: Maximus of Turin
Title: Sermones, Sermons
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 88 is genuine (Mutzenbecher 1961: 217-219; 1962: 358).

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 - Clericus

Relation with - Bishop/Monastic superior

Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: M. Szada, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER1513, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=1513