Vier unerkannte Predigten des Maximus von Turin

Abstract

This paper presents four late-antique sermons which have been transmitted mostly anonymously or under the names of various patristic authorities, but which can now for the first time be ascribed to bishop Maximus of Turin († between 408 and 423). The texts include a sermon on Epiphany (Pseudo-Augustine, sermo Caillau II, 43), two sermons recently edited by Raymond Étaix from a Beneventan homiliary on John 15, 14 sqq. (AN s Et 9 and 10), as well as one on Eastertide (Pseudo-Augustine, sermo 162). Starting from the typical initial words in which the preacher refers his audience to a preceding sermon, this article analyzes the authenticity of the four sermons according to the criteria established by Almut Mutzenbecher in this journal (1961). Beside the incipits, the authenticity of the four sermons is proved by biblical quotations, language and style, theological ideas as well as manuscript transmission; two sermons are preserved in homiliaries (Monte Cassino 12 and Alanus), together with authentic sermons; two others, like many of Maximus‘ authentic sermons, were used for compiling new sermons. The enlargement of the corpus of Maximus‘ sermons enables us to reconsider sermons of uncertain authenticity and, as a result, to prove MAX s Mu 14, 61B, 61C, 87, 90 and 97 as genuine works of Maximus. As a further result, a portion of the compilation [MAX] s 93 can be assigned to a lost sermon of Maximus. In the final part of the article a new critical edition of the four sermons is given. The extensive apparatus of similarities intends to make the attribution of the sermons to Maximus easily conceivable.