Gregory of Nyssa, On the Day of Lights

we hide ourselves as the Savior in the earth, and doing this a third time we portray for ourselves the three-day grace of the resurrection; and we do these things not receiving the mystery in silence, but with the three holy hypostases being invoked over us, in whom we have believed, on whom we also hope, from whom for us both our present being and our future being come. Perhaps you are annoyed, you who 9.229 boldly fight against the glory of the Spirit, and you envy the Paraclete the reverence with which he is revered by the pious; but leaving off your struggle with me, oppose the Lord's own words, if you can, which legislated for mankind the invocation of baptism. And what does the Master's command say? Baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. How, 'in the name of the Father'? Because he is the beginning of all things. How, 'in the Son'? Because he is the creator of creation. How, 'in the Holy Spirit'? Because he is the perfecter of all things. We therefore submit to the Father, that we may be sanctified; we submit also to the Son, that this very thing may happen; we submit also to the Holy Spirit, that we may become that which he is and is called. There is no difference in the sanctification, as if the Father sanctifies more, and the Son less, and the Holy Spirit less than the two. Why then do you slice the three hypostases into different natures and make three gods unlike one another, when you receive one and the same grace from all?

But since examples always make the discourse more vivid for the hearers, I wish to instruct the mind of the blasphemers with an image, clarifying the great and unseen things by means of earthly and lowly ones. For if it happened to you, having endured the misfortune of captivity, to be among enemies, and to be a slave and to suffer and to long for the old freedom which you had, and suddenly some acquaintances and fellow citizens, having come into the land of your masters and tyrants, freed you from your pressing necessity, giving a ransom equally and dividing the expense of the money 9.230 among themselves in equal shares, would you not, having received that favor, have seen the three equally as benefactors and offered a return for the ransom in equal shares, since the effort and the expense for you was undertaken jointly, if indeed you are a just judge of the benefaction? And these things are by way of examples; for it is not our purpose now to straighten out the doctrine of the faith, but let us run back to the present occasion and the proposed subject. For I find that not only did the gospels after the cross proclaim the grace of baptism, but also before the incarnation of the Lord, the old scripture everywhere prefigured the image of our regeneration, not revealing the form brightly, but indicating beforehand the loving-kindness of God in riddles. And just as the lamb was proclaimed beforehand and the cross was prophesied, so also was baptism indicated both in deed and in word; let us then remind the lovers of beauty of the types; for the occasion of the feast demands this remembrance as necessary. Hagar the handmaid of Abraham, whom Paul also allegorizes when speaking to the Galatians, having been sent out from the house of her master on account of the anger of Sarah (for a female slave suspected by lawful wives in relation to their master is a grievous thing), was carried into the desert to a desolate land, having the infant Ishmael at her breast. And when she came into want of necessities, 9.231 she herself came near to death, and before her, the child (for the water that was in the wineskin was used up, since it is not possible for the synagogue, which until now lives in the types of the ever-flowing spring, to have a self-sufficiency of life), an angel appeared unexpectedly and shows her a well of living water, and having drawn water from there she saves Ishmael. See then a mystical type, how right from the beginning salvation comes to the one who is perishing through living water, which did not exist before, but was given by an angel according to grace.

ἑαυτοὺς ἐγκρύπτομεν ὡς ὁ σωτὴρ τῇ γῇ καὶ τρίτον τοῦτο ποιήσαντες τὴν τριήμερον ἑαυτοῖς τῆς ἀναστάσεως χάριν ἐξεικονίζομεν· καὶ ταῦτα ποιοῦμεν οὐ σιωπῇ παραλαμβάνοντες τὸ μυστήριον, ἀλλὰ τῶν τριῶν ἁγίων ὑποστάσεων ἐπιλεγομένων ἡμῖν, εἰς ἃς ἐπιστεύ σαμεν, ἐφ' αἷς καὶ ἐλπίζομεν, ἐξ ὧν ἡμῖν καὶ τὸ νῦν εἶναι καὶ τὸ πάλιν ἔσεσθαι περιγίνεται. τάχα δυσχεραίνεις ὁ πρὸς 9.229 τὴν δόξαν τοῦ πνεύματος τολμηρῶς μαχόμενος καὶ ζηλοτυπεῖς τὸν παράκλητον τοῦ σεβάσματος, ᾧ παρὰ τῶν εὐσεβῶν σέβεται· καταλιπὼν δὲ ἐμοὶ συμπλέκεσθαι ἀντίστηθι ταῖς τοῦ κυρίου φωναῖς, εἰ δύνασαι, αἳ τὴν ἐπίκλησιν τοῦ βαπτί σματος τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἐνομοθέτησαν. τί δέ φησι τὸ τοῦ δεσπότου παράγγελμα; Βαπτίζοντες αὐτοὺς εἰς τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ τοῦ υἱοῦ καὶ τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος. πῶς εἰς τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ πατρός; ἐπειδὴ ἀρχὴ τῶν πάντων. πῶς εἰς τὸν υἱόν; ἐπειδὴ δημιουργὸς τῆς κτίσεως. πῶς εἰς τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον; ἐπειδὴ τελειωτικὸν τῶν πάντων. ὑποκύπτομεν οὖν πατρί, ἵνα ἁγιασθῶμεν· ὑποκύπτομεν καὶ υἱῷ, ἵνα αὐτὸ τοῦτο γένηται· ὑποκύπτομεν καὶ ἁγίῳ πνεύματι, ἵνα τοῦτο γενώμεθα ὅπερ ἐκεῖνό ἐστι καὶ λέγεται. οὐκ ἔστι τοῦ ἁγιασμοῦ διαφορὰ ὡς πλέον τοῦ πατρὸς ἁγιάζοντος, ἔλαττον δὲ τοῦ υἱοῦ, ἧττον δὲ τῶν δύο τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος. διὰ τί οὖν τὰς τρεῖς ὑποστάσεις κατακερματίζεις εἰς διαφόρους φύσεις καὶ τρεῖς ἐργάζῃ θεοὺς ἀνομοίους ἀλλήλων μίαν παρὰ πάντων καὶ τὴν αὐτὴν χάριν δεχόμενος;

Ἐπειδὴ δὲ τὰ ὑποδείγματα ἐμψυχότερον ἀεὶ πρὸς τοὺς ἀκούοντας τὸν λόγον ἐργάζεται, εἰκόνι βούλομαι παιδεῦσαι τῶν βλασφημούντων τὴν γνώμην ἐκ τῶν γηίνων καὶ ταπεινῶν σαφηνίζων τὰ μεγάλα καὶ καθ' αἴσθησιν μὴ βλεπόμενα. εἰ γάρ σοι συνέβη συμφορὰν αἰχμαλωσίας ὑπομείναντι εἶναι παρὰ τοῖς πολεμίοις, δουλεύειν δὲ καὶ ταλαιπωρεῖσθαι καὶ στένειν τὴν παλαιὰν ἐλευθερίαν ἣν εἶχες, ἀθρόον δέ τινες γνώριμοι καὶ πολῖται ἐν τῇ χώρᾳ τῶν σῶν δεσποτῶν καὶ τυράννων γενόμενοι ἠλευθέρωσάν σε τῆς ἐπικειμένης ἀνάγκης λύτρα δόντες ἐξ ἴσης καὶ τὴν δαπάνην τῶν χρημάτων 9.230 ἐξ ἰσομοιρίας πρὸς ἑαυτοὺς διελόμενοι, ἆρα τῆς χάριτος ἐκείνης τυχὼν οὐκ ἂν ὁμοίως τοὺς τρεῖς ὡς εὐεργέτας ἑώρας καὶ τῶν λύτρων τὴν ἀμοιβὴν εἰς ἰσομοιρίας εἰσέφερες κοινῆς ὑπὲρ σοῦ καὶ τῆς σπουδῆς καὶ τῆς δαπάνης γεγενημένης, ἄν περ δίκαιος ὑπάρχῃς τῆς εὐεργεσίας κριτής; Καὶ ταῦτα μὲν ὅσον ἐν ὑποδείγμασιν· οὐ γὰρ νῦν ἡμῖν σκοπὸς τὸν τῆς πίστεως ἀπευθύνειν λόγον, πρὸς δὲ τὸν ἐνεστῶτα καιρὸν καὶ τὴν προκειμένην ὑπόθεσιν ἀναδράμωμεν. εὑρίσκω γὰρ ὅτι τὴν τοῦ βαπτίσματος χάριν οὐ τὰ μετὰ τὸν σταυρὸν ἐκήρυξεν εὐαγγέλια, ἀλλὰ καὶ πρὸ τῆς ἐνανθρωπή σεως τοῦ κυρίου πανταχοῦ ἡ παλαιὰ γραφὴ τῆς παλιγγενεσίας ἡμῶν προετύπωσε τὴν εἰκόνα οὐ τηλαυγῶς τὴν μοφφὴν ἐμφανίζουσα, αἰνίγμασι δὲ τοῦ θεοῦ τὴν φιλανθρωπίαν προϋποφαίνουσα. καὶ ὡς ὁ ἀμνὸς προεκηρύττετο καὶ ὁ σταυρὸς προεφητεύετο, οὕτω καὶ τὸ βάπτισμα πρακτικῶς καὶ λογικῶς ἐμηνύετο, ἀναμνήσωμεν δὲ τοὺς φιλοκάλους τῶν τύπων· ἀπαιτεῖ γὰρ ὁ τῆς ἑορτῆς καιρὸς ὡς ἀναγκαίαν τὴν μνήμην. Ἡ Ἄγαρ ἡ παιδίσκη τοῦ Ἀβραὰμ, ἣν καὶ Παῦλος ἀλληγορεῖ πρὸς Γαλάτας διαλεγόμενος, ἐκπεμφθεῖσα τῆς οἰκίας τοῦ κυρίου διὰ τὴν ὀργὴν τῆς Σάρρας (χαλεπὸν γὰρ ταῖς νομίμοις γυναιξὶν ὑποπτευομένη δούλη πρὸς τὸν δεσπότην) ἔρημος ἐφέρετο πρὸς ἔρημον γῆν ὑπομάζιον ἔχουσα βρέφος τὸν Ἰσμαήλ. ἐπειδὴ δὲ ἐν ἀπορίᾳ τῶν ἀναγκαίων γέγονεν 9.231 αὐτή τε ἐγγὺς ἦλθε θανάτου καὶ πρό γε αὐτῆς τὸ παιδίον (τὸ γὰρ ὂν ἐν τῷ ἀσκῷ ὕδωρ ἐδαπανήθη, ἐπεὶ μηδὲ οἷόν τε τὴν συναγωγὴν αὐτάρκειαν ἔχειν ζωῆς τὴν τέως ἐν τοῖς τύποις διάγουσαν τῆς ἀενάου πηγῆς), ἄγγελος ἐκ τοῦ παραδόξου φαίνεται καὶ δείκνυσιν αὐτῇ φρέαρ ὕδατος ζῶντος, κἀκεῖθεν ὑδρευσαμένη σῴζει τὸν Ἰσμαήλ. ὅρα τοίνυν τύπον μυστικόν, ὅπως εὐθὺς ἐξ ἀρχῆς δι' ὕδατος ζῶντος τῷ ἀπολλυ μένῳ ἡ σωτηρία οὐ πρότερον ὄντος, ἀλλὰ δι' ἀγγέλου κατὰ χάριν δοθέντος.