The Discourse on the Holy Theophany.

 1. Good, yea, very good, are all the works of our God and Saviour—all of them that eye seeth and mind perceiveth, all that reason interprets and hand

 2. Nor is this the only thing that proves the dignity of the water. But there is also that which is more honourable than all—the fact that Christ, the

 3. But we, who know the economy, adore His mercy, because He hath come to save and not to judge the world.  Wherefore John, the forerunner of the Lord

 4. As John says these things to the multitude, and as the people watch in eager expectation of seeing some strange spectacle with their bodily eyes, a

 5. And what saith the Lord to him?  “Suffer it to be so now, for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness.” “Suffer it to be so now,” John tho

 6. Do you see, beloved, how many and how great blessings we would have lost, if the Lord had yielded to the exhortation of John, and declined baptism?

 7. The beloved generates love, and the light immaterial the light inaccessible. “This is my beloved Son,” He who, being manifested on earth and yet un

 8. But give me now your best attention, I pray you, for I wish to go back to the fountain of life, and to view the fountain that gushes with healing.

 9. This is the Spirit that at the beginning “moved upon the face of the waters ” by whom the world moves by whom creation consists, and all things ha

 10. Come then, be begotten again, O man, into the adoption of God. And how? says one. If thou practisest adultery no more, and committest not murder,

10. Come then, be begotten again, O man, into the adoption of God. And how? says one. If thou practisest adultery no more, and committest not murder, and servest not idols; if thou art not overmastered by pleasure; if thou dost not suffer the feeling of pride to rule thee; if thou cleanest off the filthiness of impurity, and puttest off the burden of sin; if thou castest off the armour of the devil, and puttest on the breastplate of faith, even as Isaiah saith, “Wash you, and seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, and plead for the widow. And come and let us reason together, saith the Lord.  Though your sins be as scarlet, I shall make them white as snow; and though they be like crimson, I shall make them white as wool. And if ye be willing, and hear my voice, ye shall eat the good of the land.”55    Isa. i. 16–19. Do you see, beloved, how the prophet spake beforetime of the purifying power of baptism? For he who comes down in faith to the laver of regeneration, and renounces the devil, and joins himself to Christ; who denies the enemy, and makes the confession that Christ is God; who puts off the bondage, and puts on the adoption,—he comes up from the baptism brilliant as the sun,56    This seems to refer to what the poets sing as to the sun rising out of the waves of ocean. (Fabricius.) [Note, this is not said of such as Simon Magus, but of one who puts off the bondage, i.e., of corruption. Our author’s perorations are habitually sublime.] flashing forth the beams of righteousness, and, which is indeed the chief thing, he returns a son of God and joint-heir with Christ. To Him be the glory and the power, together with His most holy, and good, and quickening Spirit, now and ever, and to all the ages of the ages. Amen.

[10] δεῦρο τοίνυν, ἀναγεννήθητι, ἄνθρωπε, εἰς υἱοθεσίαν θεοῦ. καὶ πῶς; φησίν. ἐὰν μηκέτι μοιχεύσῃς μηδὲ φονεύσῃς μηδὲ εἰδωλολατρεύσῃς, ἐὰν μὴ κρατηθῇς ὑφ' ἡδονῆς, ἐὰν μὴ πάθος ὑπερηφανίας κυριεύσῃ σου, ἐὰν ἀποξέσῃς τὸν ῥύπον τῆς ἀκαθαρσίας καὶ ἀπορρίψῃς τὸ φορτίον τῆς ἁμαρτίας, ἐὰν ἀποδύσῃ τὴν πανοπλίαν τοῦ διαβόλου καὶ ”ἐνδύσῃ τὸν θώρακα τῆς πίστεως”, καθώς φησιν Ἡσαΐας „λούσασθε καὶ καθαροὶ γένεσθε, ἀφέλετε τὰς πονηρίας ἀπὸ τῶν καρδιῶν ὑμῶν: μάθετε καλὸν ποιεῖν: ἐκζητήσατε κρίσιν: ῥύσασθε ἀδικούμενον: κρίνατε ὀρφανῷ καὶ δικαιώσατε χήραν. καὶ δεῦτε καὶ διαλεχθῶμεν, λέγει κύριος. καὶ ἐὰν ὦσιν αἱ ἁμαρτίαι ὑμῶν ὡς φοινικοῦν, ὡς χιόνα λευκανῶ: ἐὰν δὲ ὦσιν ὡς κόκκινον, ὡσεὶ ἔριον λευκανῶ. καὶ ἐὰν θέλητε καὶ τῆς φωνῆς μου ἀκούσητε, τὰ ἀγαθὰ τῆς γῆς φάγεσθε„. εἶδες, ἀγαπητέ, πῶς προεῖπεν ὁ προφήτης τὸ τοῦ βαπτίσματος καθάρσιον. ὁ γὰρ καταβαίνων μετὰ πίστεως εἰς τὸ τῆς ἀναγεννήσεως λουτρὸν ἀποτάσσεται τῷ πονηρῷ, συντάσσεται δὲ τῷ Χριστῷ: ἀπαρνεῖται τὸν ἐχθρόν, ὁμολογεῖ δὲ τὸ θεὸν εἶναι τὸν Χριστόν: ἀποδύεται τὴν δουλείαν, ἐνδύεται δὲ τὴν υἱοθεσίαν: ἀνέρχεται ἀπὸ τοῦ βαπτίσματος ”λαμπρὸς ὡς ὁ ἥλιος”, ἀπαστράπτων τὰς τῆς δικαιοσύνης ἀκτῖνας. τὸ δὲ μέγιστον, ἄνεισιν υἱὸς θεοῦ καὶ συγκληρονόμος Χριστοῦ. αὐτῷ ἡ δόξα καὶ τὸ κράτος σὺν τῷ παναγίῳ καὶ ἀγαθῷ καὶ ζωοποιῷ αὐτοῦ πνεύματι νῦν καὶ ἀεὶ καὶ εἰς τοὺς σύμπαντας αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. ἀμήν.