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(On the Mysteries. II.)
Of Baptism.
Do you notknow, that so many of us as werebaptized intoJesus Christ, werebaptized into His death? etc.....for you are not under the Law, but undergrace.
1. These daily introductions into the Mysteries , and new instructions, which are the announcements of new truths, are profitable to us; and most of all to you, who have been renewed from an old state to a new. Therefore, I shall necessarily lay before you the sequel of yesterday's Lecture, that you may learn of what those things, which were done by you in the inner chamber , weresymbolic.
2. As soon, then, as you entered, you put off your tunic; and this was an image ofputting off the old man with hisdeeds.Colossians 3:9 Having stripped yourselves, you were naked; in this also imitating Christ, who was stripped naked on the Cross, and by His nakednessput off from Himself the principalities and powers, and openly triumphed over them on the tree. For since the adverse powers made their lair in your members, you may no longer wear that old garment; I do not at all mean this visible one, but theold man, which waxes corrupt in thelusts of deceit.Ephesians 4:22 May thesoul which has once put him off, never again put him on, but say with the Spouse of Christ in the Song of Songs,I have put off my garment, how shall I put it onSong of Songs 5:3? O wondrous thing! You were naked in the sight of all, and were not ashamed ; fortruly ye bore the likeness of the first-formed Adam, who was naked in the garden, and was not ashamed.
3. Then, when you were stripped, you were anointed with exorcised oil , from the very hairs of your head to your feet, and were made partakers of the good olive-tree,Jesus Christ. For you were cut off from the wild olive-tree , and grafted into the good one, and were made to share the fatness of thetrue olive-tree. The exorcised oil therefore was asymbol of the participation of the fatness ofChrist, being a charm to drive away every trace of hostile influence. For as the breathing of thesaints, and the invocation of the Name ofGod, like fiercest flame, scorch and drive outevil spirits , so also this exorcised oil receives suchvirtue by the invocation ofGod and byprayer, as not only to burn and cleanse away the traces ofsins, but also to chase away all the invisible powers of theevil one.
4. After these things, you were led to theholy pool of Divine Baptism, as Christ was carried from the Cross to the Sepulchre which is before our eyes. And each of you was asked, whether hebelieved in the name of theFather, and of theSon, and of theHoly Ghost, and you made that saving confession, and descended three times into the water, and ascended again; here also hinting by asymbol at the three days burial of Christ. For as our Saviour passed three days and three nights in the heart of the earth, so you also in your first ascent out of the water, represented the first day of Christ in the earth, and by your descent, the night; for as he who is in the night, no longer sees, but he who is in the day, remains in the light, so in the descent, as in the night, you saw nothing, but in ascending again you were as in the day. And at the self-same moment you were both dying and being born; and that Water ofsalvation was at once your grave and your mother. And what Solomon spoke of others will suit you also; for he said, in that case,There is a time to bear and a time to dieEcclesiastes 3:2; but to you, in the reverse order, there was a time to die and a time to be born; and one and the same time effected both of these, and your birth went hand in hand with your death.
5. O strange and inconceivable thing! We did not really die, we were not really buried, we were not really crucified and raised again; but our imitation was in a figure, and oursalvation in reality. Christ was actually crucified, and actually buried, andtruly rose again; and all these things He has freely bestowed upon us, that we, sharing His sufferings by imitation, might gainsalvation in reality. O surpassing loving-kindness! Christ received nails in His undefiled hands and feet, and suffered anguish; while on me without pain or toil by the fellowship of Hissuffering He freely bestowssalvation.
6. Let no one then suppose that Baptism is merely thegrace of remission ofsins, or further, that of adoption; as John's was abaptism conferring only remission ofsins: whereas weknow full well, that as it purges oursins, and ministers to us the gift of theHoly Ghost, so also it is the counterpart of the sufferings ofChrist. For thiscausePaul just now cried aloud and said,Or are youignorant that all we who werebaptized intoChrist Jesus, werebaptized into His death? We were buried therefore with Him bybaptism into His death. These words he spoke to some who were disposed to think that Baptism ministers to us the remission ofsins, and adoption, but has not further the fellowship also, by representation, ofChrist'strue sufferings.
7. In order therefore that we might learn, that whatsoever things Christ endured, for us and for oursalvation He suffered them in reality and not in appearance, and that we also are made partakers of His sufferings,Paul cried with all exactness oftruth,For if we have been planted together with the likeness of His death, we shall be also with the likeness of Hisresurrection. Well has he said,planted together. For since thetrue Vine was planted in this place, we also by partaking in the Baptism of death have beenplanted together with Him. And fix yourmind with much attention on the words of the Apostle. He said not,For if we have been planted together with His death,
but,with the likeness of His death. For in Christ's case there was death in reality, for Hissoul was really separated from His body, and real burial, for Hisholy body was wrapt in pure linen; and everything happened really to Him; but in your case there was only a likeness of death and sufferings, whereas ofsalvation there was not a likeness but a reality.
8. Having been sufficiently instructed in these things, keep them, I beseech you, in your remembrance; that I also, unworthy though I be, may say of you,Now Ilove you ,because ye always remember me, and hold fast the traditions, which I delivered unto you. AndGod, who has presented youas it were alive from the deadRomans 6:13, is able to grant unto youto walk in newness of life : because His is theglory and the power, now and forever.Amen.
Source.Translated by Edwin Hamilton Gifford. FromNicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series,Vol. 7.Edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace. (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co.,1894.)Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight.<http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/310120.htm>.
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