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Lecture
XX.
(On the Mysteries. II.)
Of Baptism.
Romans vi. 3–14
Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into
Jesus Christ, were baptized into His death? &c..…for ye are
not under the Law, but under grace.
1. These daily
introductions into the Mysteries2393 , 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 ye may learn of what those
things, which were done by you in the inner chamber2394
2394 The renunciation and
the profession of faith were made in the outer chamber or vestibule of
the Baptistery. | , were symbolical.
2. As soon, then, as ye entered, ye put off
your tunic; and this was an image of putting off the old man with
his deeds2395
. Having
stripped yourselves, ye were naked; in this also imitating Christ, who
was stripped naked on the Cross, and by His nakedness put off from
Himself the principalities and powers, and openly triumphed over them
on the tree2396 . For since
the adverse powers made their lair in your members, ye may no longer
wear that old garment; I do not at all mean this visible one, but the
old man, which waxeth corrupt in the lusts of deceit2397 . May the soul 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
on2398 ? O wondrous
thing! ye were naked in the sight of all, and were not ashamed2399
2399 See Dict.
Christ. Antiq. “Baptism,” § 48: The
Unclothing of the Catechumens: Bingh. Ant. XI.
xi. 1: All “persons were baptized naked, either in
imitation of Adam in Paradise, or our Saviour upon the Cross, or to
signify their putting off the body of sin, and the old man with his
deeds.” | ; for truly ye bore the likeness of the
first-formed Adam, who was naked in the garden, and was not
ashamed.
3. Then, when ye were stripped, ye were
anointed with exorcised oil2400
2400 Apost. Const. vii.
22: “But thou shalt beforehand anoint the person with holy
oil (ἐλαίῳ), and afterward baptize him
with water, and in the conclusion shalt seal him with the ointment
(μύρῳ), that
the anointing (χρῖσμα) may be a
participation of the Holy Spirit, and the water a symbol of the death,
and the ointment the seal of the Covenants. But if there be
neither oil nor ointment, water suffices both for anointing, and for a
seal, and for a confession of Him who died, or indeed is dying with
us.” The previous anointing “with oil sanctified by
prayer” is mentioned in the Clementine Recognitions, III.
c. 67, and in the Pseudo-Justin, Quæstiones ad Orthodoxos,
Qu. 137. It was not however universal, and seems to have been
unknown in Africa, not being mentioned by Clement of Alexandria
(Pæd. II. c. viii. On the use of ointments),
nor Tertullian, nor Augustine. | , from the very
hairs of your head to your feet, and were made partakers of the good
olive-tree, Jesus Christ. For ye were cut off from the wild
olive-tree2401
2401 On the significance of
the wild olive-tree, see Irenæus, V. 10. | , and grafted into
the good one, and were made to share the fatness of the true
olive-tree. The exorcised oil therefore was a symbol of the
participation of the fatness of Christ, being a charm to drive away
every trace of hostile influence. For as the breathing of the
saints, and the invocation of the Name of God, like fiercest flame,
scorch and drive out evil spirits2402
2402 See Index,
“Exorcism.” | , so also this
exorcised oil receives such virtue by the invocation of God and by
prayer, as not only to burn and cleanse away the traces of sins, but
also to chase away all the invisible powers of the evil one.
4. After these things, ye were led to the
holy pool2403
2403 κολυμβήθραν.
The pool or piscina was deep enough for total immersion, and large
enough for many to be baptized at once. Cf. Bingh.
Ant. VIII. vii. 2; XI. xi. 2, 3. For engravings of
the very ancient Baptisteries at Aquileia and Ravenna, shewing the form
of the font or piscina, see Dict. Christian Ant.
“Baptistery.” | 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 he believed in the
name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, and ye made
that saving confession, and descended three times into the water,
and ascended again; here also hinting by a symbol at the three days
burial of Christ2404
2404 The same significance is attributed to the
trine immersion by many Fathers, but a different explanation is given
by Tertullian (Adv. Praxean, c. xxvi.): “Not
once only, but three times, we are immersed into the several Persons at
the mention of their several names.” Gregory of Nyssa
(On the Baptism of Christ, p. 520 in this Series) joins both
reasons together: “By doing this thrice we represent for
ourselves that grace of the Resurrection which was wrought in three
days: and this we do, not receiving the Sacrament in silence, but
while there are spoken over us the Names of the Three Sacred Persons on
whom we believed, &c.” Compare p. 529. Cf.
Apost. Const VIII. § 47, Can. 50: “If
any Bishop or Presbyter does not perform the three immersions of one
initiation, but one immersion made into the death of Christ, let him be
deprived.”
Milles in his note on this passage
mentions that “this form of Baptism is still used in the Greek
Church. See Eucholog. p. 355. Ed. Jac. Goar. and his notes
p. 365.” | . 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, ye saw
nothing, but in ascending again ye were as in the day. And at the
self-same moment ye were both dying and being born; and that Water of
salvation 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 die2405 ; 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 our salvation in
reality. Christ was actually crucified, and actually buried, and
truly rose again; and all these things He has freely bestowed upon us,
that we, sharing His sufferings by imitation, might gain salvation 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 His suffering He freely
bestows salvation.
6. Let no one then suppose that Baptism is
merely the grace of remission of sins, or further, that of adoption; as
John’s was a baptism2406 conferring only
remission of sins: whereas we know full well, that as it purges
our sins, and ministers2407 to us the gift of
the Holy Ghost, so also it is the counterpart2408
2408 ἀντίτυπον.
The “Antitype” is here the sign or memorial of that which
is past, and no longer actually present: See note 6 on xxi.
1. Cf. Heb. ix.
24. | of
the sufferings of Christ. For this cause Paul just now cried
aloud and said, Or are ye ignorant that all we who were baptized
into Christ Jesus, were baptized into His death? We were buried
therefore with Him by baptism into His death2409
2409 Rom. vi. 3. In the following sentence
several mss. have a different reading:
“These things perhaps he said to some who were disposed to think
that Baptism ministers remission of sins only, and not adoption, and
that further it has not the fellowship, &c.” Against
this reading, approve by Milles, the Benedictine Editor argues that
in Rom. vi. 3,
4, there is no reference to
adoption, but only to the fellowship of Christ’s Passion, and
that Cyril quotes the passage only to prove the latter, the gift of
adoption being generally admitted, and therefore not in question. | . These words he spoke to some who were
disposed to think that Baptism ministers to us the remission of sins,
and adoption, but has not further the fellowship also, by
representation, of Christ’s true sufferings.
7. In order therefore that we might learn,
that whatsoever things Christ endured, for us and for
our salvation2410
2410 This clause is
contained in the Nicene Creed, and in that which was offered to the
Council by Eusebius as the ancient Creed of Cæsarea. It
probably formed part of the Creed of Jerusalem, though it is not found
in the titles of the Lectures, nor specially explained. | He suffered
them in reality and not in appearance, and that we also are made
partakers of His sufferings, Paul cried with all exactness of truth,
For if we have been planted together with the likeness of His death,
we shall be also with the likeness of His resurrection. Well
has he said, planted together2411
2411 Ib. vi.
5. Cyril gives
the phrase “planted together” a special application
to those who had been baptized in the same place where Christ had been
buried. | . For
since the true Vine was planted in this place, we also by partaking in
the Baptism of death have been planted together with Him.
And fix thy mind 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 His soul was really
separated from His body, and real burial, for His holy 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 of salvation
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 I love
you2412 , because ye
always remember me, and hold fast the traditions, which I delivered
unto you. And God, who has presented you as it were alive
from the dead2413 , is able to grant
unto you to walk in newness of life2414 : because His is the glory and the
power, now and for ever. Amen.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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