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was a true accuser of virginity. He ate, it says, locusts, and wild honey. He speaks of the Jews who leap away from the law and the commandments, as the Scripture says: Your mixed multitude was driven out like a locust, or as a locust on a hedge on a day of frost. The sun arose; and it was driven away, and knew its place no more. And wild honey, because the Jews, by the transgression of the commandments, had made wild the sweetness of the law. Then Jesus comes to him, it says, to the Jordan, to be baptized by him. But he forbade him, saying: I have need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me? But Jesus answering said to him: Suffer it now; for you must be a witness now of the voice sent to me; for thus it is fitting to fulfill all righteousness.

I must teach that unless one is born again of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven. I must therefore first do, and then teach, so that the Jews may not have an excuse: You who teach others, 59.492 do you not teach yourself? Suffer it now; for the saying of the patient Job must stand, that, No one is clean from filth, not even if his life be one day; I must wipe away the old sin of the body; I must renew the soul by the Spirit, and the body by water. Suffer it now; I must open the womb of water and Spirit, that I might become the firstborn among many brethren. For from this womb the prophet reproves the straying Jews, accusing them: Sinners are estranged from the womb. Then he suffered him. And when Jesus went down into the Jordan, it was possible to see, beloved, a great wonder, a fountain being washed in the river, and a river being baptized in the river. For Christ is a fountain, as he himself says: They have forsaken me, a fountain of living water. And the bride, the Church, to him: A sealed fountain, the one sending forth. The same is a river, as the prophet says: The river of God is full of waters.

He went down to the waters, and they were sanctified, and he made them wholesome. If any of you is uninitiated, beloved, in baptism, let him come and see how the Father cries from heaven: This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear him. The Jordan cries out, the Spirit cleanses the air, the Father calls the Son, the Son cleanses heaven, the Spirit adorns the earth, brightens the air. Now is fulfilled what was long ago spoken by the prophet: Day to day utters speech. The Father is Day, the Son is Day. The Father utters a word to the Son, as Paul says: Take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; by which word he will establish us all in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be the glory and the power, for ever and ever. Amen.

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παρθενίας ἦν ἀψευδὴς κατήγορος. Ἤσθιε, φησὶν, ἀκρίδας, καὶ μέλι ἄγριον. Τοὺς ἀποπηδῶντας Ἰουδαίους τοῦ νόμου καὶ τῶν ἐντολῶν λέγει, ὥς φησιν ἡ Γραφή· Ἐξήλατο ὡς ἀττέλαβος ὁ σύμμικτός σου, ἢ ὡς ἀκρὶς ἐπὶ φραγμῷ ἐν ἡμέρᾳ πάγους. Ἀνέτειλεν ὁ ἥλιος· καὶ ἀφήλατο, καὶ οὐκ ἔγνω ἔτι τὸν τόπον αὐτοῦ. Μέλι δὲ ἄγριον, διὰ τὸ τοὺς Ἰουδαίους τὴν γλυκύτητα τοῦ νόμου τῇ παραβάσει τῶν ἐντολῶν ἐξαγριᾶναι. Τότε παραγίνεται πρὸς αὐτὸν ὁ Ἰησοῦς, φησὶν, ἐπὶ τὸν Ἰορδάνην, ἐπὶ τὸ βαπτισθῆναι ὑπ' αὐτοῦ. Ὁ δὲ διεκώλυεν αὐτὸν, λέγων· Ἐγὼ χρείαν ἔχω ὑπὸ σοῦ βαπτισθῆναι, καὶ σὺ ἔρχῃ πρός με; Ἀποκριθεὶς δὲ ὁ Ἰησοῦς εἶπε πρὸς αὐτόν· Ἄφες ἄρτι· δεῖ σε μάρτυρα γενέσθαι τῆς εἰς ἐμὲ πεμπομένης φωνῆς ἄρτι· οὕτω γὰρ πρέπον ἐστὶ πληρῶσαι πᾶσαν δικαιοσύνην.

∆εῖ με διδάξαι, ὅτι Ἐὰν μή τις ἀναγεννηθῇ ἐξ ὕδατος καὶ Πνεύματος, οὐ δύναται εἰσελθεῖν εἰς τὴν βασιλείαν τῶν οὐρανῶν. ∆εῖ με οὖν πρῶτον ποιῆσαι, καὶ τότε διδάξαι, ἵνα μὴ ἔχωσι πρόφασιν οἱ Ἰουδαῖοι· Ὁ διδάσκων ἑτέρους, 59.492 σεαυτὸν οὐ διδάσκεις; Ἄφες ἄρτι· δεῖ γὰρ τὸ ῥῆμα τοῦ καρτεροψύχου Ἰὼβ στῆναι, τὸ, Οὐδεὶς καθαρὸς ἀπὸ ῥύπου, οὐδ' ἂν μία ἡμέρα ἡ ζωὴ αὐτοῦ εἴη· δεῖ με ἀποσμῆξαι τὴν παλαιὰν τοῦ σώματος ἁμαρτίαν· δεῖ με τῷ Πνεύματι καινίσαι τὴν ψυχὴν, καὶ ὕδατι τὸ σῶμα. Ἄφες ἄρτι· δεῖ με ἀνοῖξαι τὴν τοῦ ὕδατος καὶ Πνεύματος μήτραν, ἵνα γένωμαι πρωτότοκος πολλοῖς ἀδελφοῖς. Ἐκ ταύτης γὰρ τῆς μήτρας τοὺς ἀποσφαλέντας Ἰουδαίους ἐλέγχει ὁ προφήτης κατηγορῶν· Ἀπηλλοτριώθησαν οἱ ἁμαρτωλοὶ ἀπὸ μήτρας. Τότε ἀφίησιν αὐτόν. Καταβάντος δὲ τοῦ Ἰησοῦ ἐν τῷ Ἰορδάνῃ, ἦν ἰδεῖν, ἀγαπητοὶ, θαῦμα μέγα, πηγὴν ἐν τῷ ποταμῷ λουομένην, καὶ ποταμὸν ἐν τῷ ποταμῷ βαπτιζόμενον. Πηγὴ γὰρ ὁ Χριστὸς, καθὼς λέγει αὐτός· Ἐμὲ ἐγκατέλιπον πηγὴν ὕδατος ζῶντος. Καὶ ἡ νύμφη, ἡ Ἐκκλησία πρὸς αὐτόν· Πηγὴ ἐσφραγισμένη, ἡ ἀποστέλλουσα. Ὁ αὐτὸς ποταμὸς, καθώς φησιν ὁ προφήτης· Ὁ ποταμὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐπληρώθη ὑδάτων.

Κατῆλθεν ἐπὶ τὰ ὕδατα, καὶ ἡγιάσθησαν, καὶ ὑγίασεν αὐτά. Εἴ τίς ἐστιν ὑμῶν ἀμύητος, ἀγαπητοὶ, τοῦ βαπτίσματος, ἐλθέτω καὶ θεωρησάτω πῶς ὁ Πατὴρ οὐρανόθεν κράζει· Οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ Υἱός μου ὁ ἀγαπητὸς, ἐν ᾧ ηὐδόκησα, αὐτοῦ ἀκούετε. Ἰορδάνης κράζει, τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸν ἀέρα καθαρίζει, τὸν Υἱὸν καλεῖ ὁ Πατὴρ, τὸν οὐρανὸν καθαρίζει ὁ Υἱὸς, τὴν γῆν καλλωπίζει τὸ Πνεῦμα, τὸν ἀέρα λαμπρύνει. Νῦν πληροῦται τὸ πάλαι ὑπὸ τοῦ προφήτου εἰρημένον· Ἡμέρα τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐρεύγεται ῥῆμα. Ἡμέρα ὁ Πατὴρ, ἡμέρα ὁ Υἱός. Ὁ Πατὴρ τῷ Υἱῷ ἐρεύγεται ῥῆμα, καθὼς ὁ Παῦλος λέγει· Λάβετε τὴν μάχαιραν τοῦ Πνεύματος, ὅ ἐστιν ῥῆμα Θεοῦ· ᾧ τινι ῥήματι τοὺς πάντας ἡμᾶς συστήσει ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ τῷ Κυρίῳ ἡμῶν, ᾧ ἡ δόξα καὶ τὸ κράτος, εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας, τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν.