Book I

The sacraments which you have received are the theme of my discourse. To have given a reasoned account of these earlier would not have been right; for in a Christian man faith is first. Therefore, at Rome the title of “faithful” is given to those who have been baptized; and also our father Abraham was justified by faith, not by works. So you received baptism, you believed. For it is wrong for me to think otherwise; for thou wouldst not have been called to grace, had not Christ thought thee worthy of his grace.

Therefore, what did we do on the Saturday? What but “the opening”? Which mysteries of “opening” were performed, when the priest touched thine ears and nostrils. It is this which our Lord Jesus Christ indicates in the Gospel, when a deaf and dumb man was brought to him, and he touched his ears and his mouth: the ears, because he was deaf; the mouth, because he was dumb: and said, Ephpheta. It is a Hebrew word, which rendered into Latin is adaperire, that is, Be opened. The reason, therefore, that the priest touched thine ears was that thine ears might be opened to the discourse and the address of the priest.

But thou sayest to me, “Why the nostrils?” In that case, because he was dumb, he touched his mouth; that, since he could not speak heavenly mysteries, he might receive utterance from Christ. Also, in that case because it was a man; in our case, because women are baptized, and there is not the same purity in the servant as in the Lord (for what comparison can there be, when the latter forgives sins, the former has his sins remitted?), therefore, on account of the grace bestowed by his act and office, the bishop touches not the mouth but the nostrils; that thou mayest receive a sweet savour of eternal godliness, and that thou mayest say, For we are a sweet savour of Christ unto God, as the holy Apostle said; and there may be in thee the full fragrance of faith and devotion.

We came to the font, thou didst enter. Consider whom thou sawest; consider what thou saidst, recall it carefully. A levite met thee, a presbyter met thee. Thou wast anointed as Christ’s athlete; as about to wrestle in the fight of this world, thou didst profess the objects of thy wrestling. He who wrestles, has something to hope for; where the contest is, there is the crown. Thou wrestlest in the world, but thou art crowned by Christ, and thou art crowned for contests in the world; for, though the reward is in heaven, yet the earning of the reward is placed here.

When he asked thee, “Dost thou renounce the devil and his works,” what didst thou reply? “I renounce.” “Dost thou renounce the world and its pleasures,” what didst thou reply? “I renounce.” Be mindful of thy words, and never let the contents of thy bond pass from thy memory. If thou givest a man thy note of hand, thou art held to be under acknowledgment of receiving his money; thou art held bound, and the lender keeps thee to it, however unwilling thou mayest be. If thou deniest, thou goest before the judge, and there thou art convicted by thy bond.

Consider where thou didst promise, or to whom thou didst promise. Thou sawest a levite. But he is the minister of Christ; thou hast seen him ministering at the altar. Therefore, thy note of hand is kept, not on earth, but in heaven. Consider where thou receivest the heavenly mysteries. If the body of Christ is here, the angels are stationed here also. Where the body is, there also are the eagles, hast thou read in the Gospel. Where the body of Christ is, there also the eagles are wont to fly, that they may shun earthly things, pursue heavenly.

Why do I say this? Because men also are angels, whosoever proclaim Christ, and seem to be admitted into the place of angels. How? Take the case of the Baptist. John was born of a man and a woman. Yet hear how even he is an angel: Behold, I send my angel before thy face, and he shall prepare thy way before thee. Take another passage of the prophet Malachi: For the priest’s lips keep knowledge, and they seek the law at his mouth: for he is the angel of God Almighty. These things are said to extol the dignity of the priest, not to claim anything for personal merits.

Therefore, thou hast renounced the world, thou hast renounced this life. Be careful. A man who owes money is always considering his bond. And thou who owest faith to Christ, keep faith, which is much more precious than money; for faith is an eternal possession, money a temporal. And, therefore, always remember what thou hast promised, and thou wilt be more cautious. If thou keepest thy promise, thou wilt keep also thy bond.

Then thou drewest near; thou sawest the font, thou sawest also the priest above the font. Nor can I doubt, that this may have occurred to your mind, which occurred to the Syrian Naaman; for, although he was cleansed, yet he doubted previously. Why? I will tell; listen.

Thou didst enter, thou sawest the water, thou sawest the priest, thou sawest a levite. Let not some one haply say, “Is this all?” Yes, it is all. It is truly all, where all is innocency, all is godliness, all is grace, all is sanctification. Thou hast seen all that thou couldst see with the eyes of thy body and with human vision. Thou hast not seen the things which are effected, because they cannot be seen. The things which are not seen are far greater than those which are seen; since the things which are seen are temporal, the things which are not seen are eternal.

Therefore, let us say this first (hold my words as a pledge, and exact full payment). We marvel at the mysteries of the Jews, which were given to our fathers, pre-eminent first in the antiquity of their sacraments, then in their holiness. This I promise, that the sacraments of Christians are more divine and older than those of the Jews.

What stands out so much as the fact that the people of the Jews passed through the sea?—to speak for the present of baptism. Yet the Jews who passed through all died in the wilderness. But he who passes through this font, that is from earthly to heavenly things—for this is the “passing over,” therefore, pascha, that is, his passover, a passing over from sin to life, from guilt to grace, from defilement to sanctification—he who passes through this font, dies not, but rises again.

To resume, Naaman was a leper. A certain maid said to his wife, “If my lord wishes to be cleansed, let him go into the land of Israel, and there he will find him who can take the leprosy from him.” She spoke to her mistress, the wife spoke to her husband, Naaman spoke to the king of Syria, who sent him as his favourite to the king of Israel. The king of Israel heard that a man had been sent to him to be cured of his leprosy, and he rent his garment. Then Elisha the prophet charges him: “Wherefore hast thou rent thy garment, as if God were not able to cleanse a leper? Send him to me.” He sent him, and, when he came, the prophet said, “Go to Jordan, dip, and thou shalt be healed.”

He began to reflect and to say: “Is this all? I have come from Syria into the land of Judah, and I am told, Go and descend into Jordan, dip, and thou shalt be healed, as if there were not better rivers in my native land.” So his servants said to him, “My lord, why dost thou not carry out the word of the prophet? Do it rather, and make trial.” Then he went to Jordan, dipped, and arose whole.

What, then, does it mean? Thou sawest water. But it is not all water that heals, but that water heals which has the grace of Christ. The element is one thing, the consecration is another; the work is one thing, the working another. The water is the work, the working is of the Holy Spirit. Water does not heal, unless the Spirit has descended and consecrated that water; as thou hast read that, when our Lord Jesus Christ was giving the pattern of baptism, he came to John; and John said to him, “I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?” Christ answered him, “Suffer it now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness.” See how all righteousness is based on baptism.

Why, then, did Christ descend, unless that that flesh might be cleansed, the flesh which he took of our nature? For the washing away of his sins was not necessary for Christ, who did no sin; but it was necessary for us who remain subject to sin. Therefore, if baptism is for our sake, a pattern has been established for us, the pattern of our faith has been set forth.

Christ descended, John stood by baptizing, and, lo, the Holy Ghost descended as a dove. It was not a dove that descended, but as a dove. Remember what I said, Christ took flesh, not as it were flesh; but it was the reality of that flesh, real flesh, which Christ took. The Holy Spirit, however, descended from heaven, not in the reality of a dove, but in the likeness of a dove. Therefore, John saw and believed.

Christ descended, the Holy Spirit also descended. Why did Christ descend first, the Holy Spirit afterwards, since the form and practice of baptism provides that the font should be consecrated first, and then the person to be baptized should descend? For as soon as the priest enters, he makes an exorcism over the element of water, afterwards he offers an invocation and a prayer, that the font may be consecrated, and the presence of the eternal Trinity may come down. But Christ descended first, the Spirit followed. For what reason? That the Lord Jesus might not seem himself as it were to need the mystery of sanctification; but that he might sanctify, and the Spirit also sanctify.

Therefore Christ descended into the water, and the Holy Spirit descended as a dove. Also God the Father spake from heaven. Thou hast the presence of the Trinity.

Again, that there was a figure of our baptism in the Red Sea is asserted by the Apostle, when he says that our fathers were all baptized in the cloud and in the sea. And he added, Now all these things happened unto them by way of figure; to them in a figure, but to us in reality. Then Moses held his rod: the people of the Jews had been shut in; on one side the Egyptian pressed on with arms, and on the other side the Hebrews were shut in by the sea. They could neither cross the seas, nor return to the enemy. They began to murmur.

See that it tempt thee not, that they were heard. Although the Lord heard, yet they are not without fault who murmured. It is thy duty, when thou art in a strait, to believe that thou wilt escape, not to murmur; to appeal, to entreat, not to utter complaint.

Moses held his rod, and led the people of the Hebrews at night in a pillar of light, and in the day in a pillar of cloud. What is the light but truth, since it sheds a full and open brightness? What is the pillar of light but Christ the Lord, who scattered the shadows of unbelief, and poured the light of truth and spiritual grace on human hearts? The pillar of cloud, on the other hand, is the Holy Spirit. The people was in the sea, and the pillar of light went on before; then the pillar of cloud followed, as if the shadowing of the Holy Spirit. Thou seest that by the Holy Spirit and by the water he has shown a type of baptism.

As early as the flood there was also a figure of baptism, and, certainly, the mysteries of the Jews did not as yet exist. Therefore, if the figure of our baptism preceded, thou seest that the mysteries of the Christians are earlier than were those of the Jews.

But meanwhile, in view of the weakness of our voice and the consideration of the time at our disposal, let us content ourselves to-day with just having touched the mysteries concerning the holy font. To-morrow, if the Lord shall grant strength and ability to speak, I will declare them more fully. It behoves your holiness to have your ears prepared, your mind the more ready, that you may be able to retain what we may gather from the course of the Scriptures, and shall declare unto you, that you may have the grace of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, to which Trinity belongs an everlasting kingdom, from all ages, both now, and always, and for ever and ever.