Catechetical Lectures 3

Delivered extempore at Jerusalem, ON BAPTISM.

And a reading from the Epistle to the Romans:

'Or do you not know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death,' and what follows.

Rejoice, O heavens, and let the earth be glad, on behalf of those who are about to be sprinkled with hyssop and to be cleansed with the spiritual hyssop, even by the power of Him who at the Passion was given to drink by means of hyssop and a reed.

And let the heavenly powers rejoice;

and let the souls who are about to be joined to the spiritual Bridegroom make themselves ready.

For 'the voice of one crying in the wilderness:

Prepare the way of the Lord.'

For the matter is no small one, nor is it the customary, indiscriminate union of bodies;

but it is the choice according to faith, made by the Spirit who searches all things.

For the marriages and contracts of this world are not always made with discernment;

but wherever there is wealth or beauty, there the bridegroom quickly consents;

but here it is not where there is beauty of body, but where there is a soul of unreproachable conscience;

here it is not the condemned mammon, but the soul's wealth that lies in piety.

Be persuaded therefore, O children of righteousness, by John, who exhorts and says:

Make straight the way of the Lord;

remove all the stumbling-blocks and the offenses, that you may go straight on toward eternal life.

Prepare the vessels of the soul clean, through unfeigned faith, for the reception of the Holy Spirit.

Begin to wash your robes by repentance, that, being called clean into the bridal chamber, you may be found so.

For the Bridegroom calls all without distinction, since the grace is abundant;

and the voice of loud-voiced heralds gathers all together;

but afterward the same One distinguishes those who have entered within [into the typical marriage].

May it not happen that any of those enrolled should now hear:

'Friend, how did you come in here, not having a wedding garment?' But may it be that all of you hear:

'Well done, good and faithful servant;

you were faithful over a few things, I will set you over many;

enter into the joy of your Lord.'

For now meanwhile you stand outside the door;

but may it be granted that all of you may say:

'The King has brought me into His chamber;

let my soul rejoice in the Lord;

for He has clothed me with the garment of salvation and the robe of gladness;

as a bridegroom He has put on me a headdress, and as a bride He has adorned me with ornaments;'

so that the soul of every one of you may be found having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing;

I do not mean before you receive the grace;

[for how could that be, seeing you were called for the remission of sins?] but rather that, when the grace is being given, the conscience may be found unreproachable and may run together with the grace.

Great in truth is the matter, brethren; approach it with attentiveness.

Each one of you is about to stand before God, in the presence of myriads of hosts of angels;

the Holy Spirit is about to seal your souls;

you are about to be enlisted as soldiers of the great King.

Therefore prepare yourselves, make yourselves ready;

not by putting on most splendid robes of garments, but the conscientious piety of the soul.

Do not regard the laver as mere water;

but rather the spiritual grace given together with the water.

For just as the things offered upon altars, though by nature common, become defiled by the invocation of the idols;

so, on the contrary, the common water, receiving the invocation of the Holy Spirit and of Christ and of the Father,

acquires the power of holiness.

For since man is twofold, composed of soul and body, the purification also is twofold;

the incorporeal for the incorporeal, and the bodily for the body.

And the water cleanses the body, while the Spirit seals the soul;

that, having our hearts sprinkled [by the Spirit] and our bodies washed with pure water, we may draw near to God.

Therefore, when you are about to go down into the water, do not give heed to the bare water;

but await your salvation through the working of the Holy Spirit;

for without both it is impossible for you to be made perfect.

It is not I who say this, but the Lord Jesus [Christ], who has the authority over the matter, says:

'Unless a man be born [from above'—and He continues, saying—] of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.'

Neither does he who is baptized with the water, but is not counted worthy of the Spirit, have the grace in perfect measure;

nor, even if one becomes virtuous in his works, if he does not receive the seal that is given through water, will he enter into the kingdom of heaven.

A bold word, but not mine;

for it is Jesus who has so declared.

And take from me the proof of these words from the divine Scripture.

Cornelius was a righteous man, counted worthy of visions of angels, having set up his prayers and almsgiving as a good memorial pillar in the heavens before God.

Peter came, and the Spirit was poured out upon those who believed, and they spoke with other tongues and prophesied;

and after the grace of the Spirit, the Scripture says that Peter commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ;

in order that, the soul having been regenerated through faith, the body also might partake through the water of grace.

But if anyone longs to know why grace [is given] through water, and not through some other of the elements, he will find out by taking up the divine Scriptures.

For water is something great, and the most beautiful of the four visible elements of the world.

Heaven is the dwelling-place of angels, but the heavens are from waters;

earth is the abode of men, but the earth is from waters;

and before all the fashioning of created things in the six days, the Spirit of God was moving over the water.

and the beginning of the Gospels is the Jordan.

Freedom came to Israel from Pharaoh through the sea;

and freedom from sins came to the world, through the washing of water in the word of God.

Wherever there is a covenant with any, there too is the water.

After the flood, a covenant was established with Noah;

there was a covenant for Israel from Mount Sinai;

but it was with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop.

Elijah is taken up, but not apart from water;

for first he crosses the Jordan, then he is driven up to heaven in the chariot.

First the high priest bathes, then he offers incense;

for first Aaron bathed, then he became high priest.

For how could he have prayed for others, while not yet himself cleansed through water? And a symbol of baptism was set up, the laver that lay within the Tabernacle.

Baptism is the end of the Old Covenant and the beginning of the New.

For John was its author, than whom there is none greater among those born of women;

for all the prophets and the law were until John;

and he was the first-fruits of the Gospel events.

For 'the beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ,' [it says,] and what follows:

'John came in the wilderness baptizing.'

Even if you should name Elijah [the Tishbite] who was taken up,

yet there is none greater than John.

Enoch was translated, yet there is none greater than John.

Moses was a most great lawgiver, and all [marvelous] are the prophets;

I do not presume to compare prophets with prophets;

but the Master both of them and of us, the Lord Jesus, has declared:

'There has not arisen among those born of women a greater than John;'

not among those born of virgins, but of women.

The comparison is of the great servant with his fellow-servants;

but as for the Son in comparison with household servants, the surpassing excellence and grace is incomparable.

Do you see what manner of man God chose as the author of this grace? One without possessions and a lover of the wilderness, yet not a hater of men;

eating locusts and having wings sprouted upon his soul;

filled with honey, yet speaking things sweeter and more profitable than honey;

clothed about with camel's hair, and showing in himself the pattern of ascetic discipline;

who also was sanctified by the Holy Spirit while yet being carried in his mother's womb.

Jeremiah also was sanctified, but he did not prophesy in the womb;

John alone, while being carried in the womb, leaped for joy;

and not seeing with the eyes of the flesh, he recognized the Master in the spirit.

For since the grace of baptism was great, it required also a great minister.

This man baptized in the Jordan, and all Jerusalem went out to him, enjoying the first-fruits of baptisms;

for the dignity of all good things is in Jerusalem.

But know, O people of Jerusalem, how those who went out were baptized by him, confessing their sins.

First they showed their wounds, then he applied the remedies, and to those who believed he gave deliverance from the eternal fire.

And if you wish to be convinced of this very thing, that the baptism of John was a deliverance from the threat of fire, hear him saying:

'You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?' Therefore do not henceforth be a viper, but, having once been the offspring of a viper, put off, he says, the substance of your former sinful life.

For every serpent, creeping into a narrow place, puts off its old skin, and having stripped off its oldness through the squeezing, it grows young again in its body;

so do you also enter through the narrow and afflicted gate;

squeeze yourself through fasting, force out your perdition;

put off the old man with his deeds, and say that word in the Song of Songs:

'I have put off my coat, how shall I put it on again?' But perhaps there is among you some hypocrite, a man-pleaser, who feigns piety but does not believe from the heart, having the dissimulation of Simon the magician;

who comes not in order to partake of the grace, but to pry into what is given;

let this man also hear from John:

'And even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees;

every tree therefore that does not bring forth good fruit is cut down and cast into the fire.'

The Judge is inexorable; put away your hypocrisy.

What then must one do? And what are the fruits of repentance? 'He who has two coats, let him share with him who has none;'

[the teacher was worthy of belief, since he was also the first to perform what he taught;

for his conscience did not restrain his tongue, hindering it;] 'and he who has food, let him do likewise.'

Do you wish to enjoy the grace of the Holy Spirit, and yet do you not count the poor worthy of perishable food? You seek great things, and you do not impart small things? Even if you be a tax-collector, even if you be a fornicator, hope for salvation.

'The tax-collectors and the harlots go before you into the kingdom of God;'

and Paul bears witness, saying:

'Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor the rest, shall inherit the kingdom of God;'

'but you were washed, but you were sanctified;'

he did not say, 'you are some such persons,' but, 'such were some of you;'

the sin done in ignorance is pardoned, but persistent wickedness is condemned.

You have for the boast of your baptism the very Son of God, the only-begotten.

For what remains for me to say concerning a man? Great is John, but what is he compared to the Lord? Loud-voiced is the voice, but what is it compared to the Word? Most excellent is the herald, but what is he compared to the King? Good is he who baptizes in water, but what is he compared to Him who baptizes in the Holy Spirit and fire? The Savior baptized the Apostles with the Holy Spirit and fire, when suddenly there came from heaven a sound as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting;

and there appeared to them tongues as of fire, distributing themselves;

and it sat upon each one of them, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit.

If anyone does not receive baptism, he has no salvation;

except only the martyrs, who even without the water receive the kingdom.

For the Savior, redeeming the world through the cross, and being pierced in His side, brought forth blood and water;

that some, in times of peace, might be baptized in water, and others, in times of persecution, might be baptized in their own blood.

For the Savior knows how to call martyrdom also a baptism, saying:

'...which I drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized, to be baptized?' And the martyrs make confession, having become a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men;

and you also, after a little while, will make confession.

But it is not yet the time for you to hear concerning these things.

Jesus sanctified baptism by being Himself baptized.

If the Son of God was baptized, what man who despises baptism can be godly? But He was baptized not in order to receive forgiveness of sins—for He was sinless—but, being sinless, He was baptized that He might bestow divine and worthy grace upon those who are baptized.

For just as, since the children share in blood and flesh, He likewise also partook of the same, that, becoming partakers of His incarnate presence, we might also become partakers of His divine grace;

so Jesus was baptized, that through this also we might in turn, by the fellowship, receive, together with salvation, the worthiness;

The dragon was in the waters, according to Job—the one who 'takes up the Jordan in his eye;'

since therefore it was necessary to crush the heads of the dragon, He went down into the waters and bound the strong one, that we might receive authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions;

the beast was not a small one, but a fearful one.

No fishing vessel could carry even one hide of its tail;

before it ran destruction, ravaging those it met;

Life ran up, that henceforth death might be muzzled, that all of us who are saved might say:

'O death, where is your victory? O Hades, where is your sting?'

And the sting of death is loosed through baptism.

For you go down into the water bearing your sins;

but the invocation of grace, having sealed your soul, does not thenceforth permit you to be swallowed up by the fearful dragon.

Going down dead in sins, you come up made alive in righteousness.

For if you have become united with the likeness of the death of the Savior, you shall also be counted worthy of His resurrection.

For just as Jesus, taking upon Himself the sins of the whole world, died, that having put sin to death He might rise again in righteousness;

so you also, going down into the water, and in a manner being buried in the waters as He was in the rock, are raised again, walking in newness of life.

Then, when you have been counted worthy of grace, He gives you the authority to wrestle against the opposing powers.

For just as after His baptism He was tempted for forty days;

not that He could not conquer even before this, but because He willed to do all things in order and sequence;

so do you also, not daring to wrestle against the adversaries before baptism, but having received the grace and henceforth being of good courage, then contend with the weapons of righteousness, and, if you will, preach the good news.

Jesus Christ was the Son of God;

yet He did not preach the good news before His baptism;

if the Master Himself proceeded according to order in due time, ought we the servants then to presume to act disorderly? 'From that time Jesus began to preach,' when the Holy Spirit came down upon Him in bodily form like a dove;

not that Jesus might see this first;

[for He knew it even before the bodily coming,] but that John the baptizer might behold it.

'For I,' he says, 'did not know Him;

but He who sent me to baptize in water, that One said to me:

Upon whomever you see the Spirit descending and remaining upon Him, that is He.'

If you also have unfeigned piety, the Holy Spirit comes down upon you too, and a fatherly voice resounds upon you from above;

not, 'This is My Son,' but, 'This one has now become My son.'

For in His case it is the word 'is';

since 'in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God;'

since He is ever the Son of God;

but in your case it is the word 'has now become';

since you do not possess sonship by nature, but you receive the adoption by placing;

you receive the grace by way of advancement.

Therefore prepare the vessel of your soul, that you may become a son of God, and an heir of God, and a joint-heir with Christ;

provided you prepare yourself, that you may also receive;

if you approach out of faith, that you may be made faithful;

if you put off the old man out of deliberate choice.

For everything you have done shall be forgiven, whether fornication, or adultery, or any other

such kind of licentiousness it may be.

What is greater than to crucify Christ? Yet even of this, baptism is the purification.

For to the three thousand who came to him—those who had crucified the Lord, when they inquired and said,

'What shall we do, men and brethren?'—for great was the wound—Peter said:

'You have brought us face to face with our own downfall, O Peter, by saying:

You killed the Author of life.'

'What plaster is there for so great a wound? What cleansing for so great a defilement? What is the salvation for such perdition? Repent,' he says, 'and let each one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.'

O the unutterable loving-kindness of God!

They do not hope to be saved, and yet they are counted worthy of the Holy Spirit.

You see the power of baptism.

If any of you crucified Christ with blasphemous words;

if any of you out of ignorance denied Him before men;

if any by wicked works caused the doctrine to be blasphemed;

for the same grace is present even now.

'Take courage, O Jerusalem, the Lord will take away all your iniquities;

the Lord will wash away the filth of His sons and daughters, by the spirit of judgment and the spirit of burning; He will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be cleansed from all your sin;'

angels will dance around you and will say:

'Who is this that comes up, made white, leaning upon her kinsman?' For the soul that was formerly a slave has now enrolled the Master Himself as her kinsman;

who, accepting her unfeigned purpose, will call out:

'Behold, you are fair, My companion, behold, you are fair;

your teeth are like flocks of shorn sheep;'

because of the confession made with a good conscience;

because of the twofold grace—I mean that which is accomplished from water and the Spirit, or that which is proclaimed from the Old and the New Covenant.

And may it be that all of you, having finished the course of the fast, remembering the things said, bearing fruit in good works, standing blameless before the spiritual Bridegroom, may obtain from God the forgiveness of sins;

in Christ Jesus Himself our Lord, to whom be the glory unto the ages of ages. Amen.