Oration XL. The Oration on Holy Baptism.

 I.  Yesterday we kept high Festival on the illustrious Day of the Holy Lights for it was fitting that rejoicings should be kept for our Salvation, an

 II.  The Word recognizes three Births for us namely, the natural birth, that of Baptism, and that of the Resurrection.  Of these the first is by nigh

 III.  Concerning two of these births, the first and the last, we have not to speak on the present occasion.  Let us discourse upon the second, which i

 IV.  And as Christ the Giver of it is called by many various names, so too is this Gift, whether it is from the exceeding gladness of its nature (as t

 V.  God is Light:   the highest, the unapproachable, the ineffable, That can neither be conceived in the mind nor uttered with the lips,

 VI.  Light was also the firstborn commandment given to the firstborn man (for the commandment of the Law is a lamp and a light and again, Because Thy

 VII.  For since to be utterly sinless belongs to God, and to the first and uncompounded nature (for simplicity is peaceful, and not subject to dissens

 VIII.  And since we are double-made, I mean of body and soul, and the one part is visible, the other invisible, so the cleansing also is twofold, by w

 IX.  For it is a strange thing to substitute for a painless remedy one which is more painful to cast away the grace of mercy, and owe a debt of punis

 X.  If after baptism the persecutor and tempter of the light assail you (for he assailed even the Word my God through the veil, the hidden Light throu

 XI.  Let us then be baptized that we may win the victory let us partake of the cleansing waters, more purifying than hyssop, purer than the legal blo

 XII.  Why wait for a fever to bring you this blessing, and refuse it from God?  Why will you have it through lapse of time, and not through reason?  W

 XIII.  I know of three classes among the saved the slaves, the hired servants, the sons.  If you are a slave, be afraid of the whip if you are a hir

 XIV.  Sow in good season, and gather together, and open thy barns when it is the time to do so and plant in season, and let the clusters be cut when

 XV.  But if you would fortify yourself beforehand with the Seal, and secure yourself for the future with the best and strongest of all aids, being sig

 XVI.  But are you afraid lest you should destroy the Gift, and do you therefore put off your cleansing, because you cannot have it a second time?  Wha

 XVII.  Art thou young? stand against thy passions be numbered with the alliance in the army of God:   do valiantly against Goliath.

 XVIII.  What more?  Are you living in Virginity?  Be sealed by this purification make this the sharer and companion of your life.  Let this direct yo

 XIX.  But you have to live in the midst of public affairs, and are stained by them and it would be a terrible thing to waste this mercy.  The answer

 XX.  But some will say, What shall I gain, if, when I am preoccupied by baptism, and have cut off myself by my haste from the pleasures of life, when

 XXI.  But supposing that the Parable does sketch the power of the font according to your interpretation, what would prevent you, if you entered first,

 XXII.  But then, you say, is not God merciful, and since He knows our thoughts and searches out our desires, will He not take the desire of Baptism in

 XXIII.  And so also in those who fail to receive the Gift, some are altogether animal or bestial, according as they are either foolish or wicked and

 XXIV.  Therefore since you have heard these words, come forward to it, and be enlightened, and your faces shall not be ashamed through missing the Gra

 XXV.  Take my advice, my friend, and be slow to do evil, but swift to your salvation for readiness to evil and tardiness to good are equally bad.  If

 XXVI.  Let nothing hinder you from going on, nor draw you away from your readiness.  While your desire is still vehement, seize upon that which you de

 XXVII.  Do not disdain to be baptized with a poor man, if you are rich or if you are noble, with one who is lowborn or if you are a master, with one

 XXVIII.  Be it so, some will say, in the case of those who ask for Baptism what have you to say about those who are still children, and conscious nei

 XXIX.  But, one says, Christ was thirty years old when He was baptized, and that although He was God and do you bid us hurry our Baptism?—You have so

 XXX.  But for you, what necessity is there that by following the examples which are far above you, you should do a thing so ill-advised for yourself? 

 XXXI.  If then you will listen to me, you will bid a long farewell to all such arguments, and you will jump at this Blessing, and begin to struggle in

 XXXII.  Let the laver be not for your body only, but also for the image of God in you not merely a washing away of sins in you, but also a correction

 XXXIII.  What say I then, and what is my argument?  Yesterday you were a Canaanite soul bent together by sin today you have been made straight by the

 XXXIV.  If you were full of leprosy, that shapeless evil, yet you scraped off the evil matter, and received again the Image whole.  Shew your cleansin

 XXXV.  How shall this be?  Remember always the parable, and so will you best and most perfectly help yourself.  The unclean and malignant spirit is go

 XXXVI.  I will remind you again about Illuminations, and that often, and will reckon them up from Holy Scripture.  For I myself shall be happier for r

 XXXVII.  And as I know of two kinds of fire, so also do I of light.  The one is the light of our ruling power directing our steps according to the wil

 XXXVIII.  Let us cleanse every member, Brethren, let us purify every sense let nothing in us be imperfect or of our first birth let us leave nothing

 XXXIX.  And in addition to what has been said, it is good with our head cleansed, as the head which is the workshop of the senses is cleansed, to hold

 XL.  And what of the loins, or reins, for we must not pass these over?  Let the purification take hold of these also.  Let our loins be girded about a

 XLI.  Besides all this and before all, keep I pray you the good deposit, by which I live and work, and which I desire to have as the companion of my d

 XLII.  Do you fear to speak of Generation lest you should attribute aught of passion to the impassible God?  I on the other hand fear to speak of Crea

 XLIII.  I should like to call the Father the greater, because from him flows both the Equality and the Being of the Equals (this will be granted on al

 XLIV.  What need have I any more of speech?  It is the time for teaching, not for controversy.  I protest before God and the elect Angels, be thou bap

 XLV.  But not yet perhaps is there formed upon your soul any writing good or bad and you want to be written upon today, and formed by us unto perfect

 XLVI.  But one thing more I preach unto you.  The Station in which you shall presently stand after your Baptism before the Great Sanctuary is a forety

XVIII.  What more?  Are you living in Virginity?  Be sealed by this purification; make this the sharer and companion of your life.  Let this direct your life, your words, every member, every movement, every sense.  Honour it, that it may honour you; that it may give to your head a crown of graces, and with a crown of delights may shield you.52    Ecclus. xxxii. 3.  Art thou bound by wedlock?  Be bound also by the Seal; make it dwell with you as a guardian of your continence, safer than any number of eunuchs or of doorkeepers.  Art thou not yet wedded to flesh?  Fear not this consecration; thou art pure even after marriage.  I will take the risk of that.  I will join you in wedlock.  I will dress the bride.  We do not dishonour marriage because we give a higher honour to virginity.  I will imitate Christ, the pure Grooms-man and Bridegroom, as He both wrought a miracle at a wedding, and honours wedlock with His Presence.53    John ii. 1–11.  Only let marriage be pure and unmingled with filthy lusts.  This only I ask; receive safety from the Gift, and give to the Gift the oblation of chastity in its due season, when the fixed time of prayer comes round, and that which is more precious than business.  And do this by common consent and approval.  For we do not command, we exhort; and we would receive something of you for your own profit, and the common security of you both.  And in one word, there is no state of life and no occupation to which Baptism is not profitable.  You who are a free man,54    ἐν ἐξουσιᾳ evidently means Tui juris—your own master. be curbed by it; you who are in slavery, be made of equal rank; you who are in grief, receive comfort; let the gladsome be disciplined; the poor receive riches that cannot be taken away; the rich be made capable of being good stewards of their possessions.  Do not play tricks or lay plots against your own salvation.  For even if we can delude others we cannot delude ourselves.  And so to play against oneself is very dangerous and foolish.

ΙΗʹ. Τί ἔτι; Παρθενίαν ἀσκεῖς; Τῇ καθάρσει σφραγίσθητι: ταύτην ποίησαι τοῦ βίου κοινωνὸν, καὶ συνόμιλον: αὕτη ῥυθμιζέτω σοι, καὶ βίον, καὶ λόγον, πᾶν μέλος, πᾶν κίνημα, πᾶσαν αἴσθησιν. Τίμησον αὐτὴν, ἵνα σε κοσμήσῃ, ἵνα δῷ τῇ σῇ κεφαλῇ στέφανον χαρίτων, στεφάνῳ δὲ τρυφῆς ὑπερασπίσῃ σου. Δέδεσαι γάμῳ; Καὶ τῇ σφραγῖδι συνδέθητι: ταύτην συνοίκισον σεαυτῷ τῆς σωφροσύνης φύλακα: πόσων εὐνούχων οἴει, πόσων θυρωρῶν οὖσαν ἀσφαλεστέραν; Οὔπω σαρκὶ συνεζεύχθης; μὴ φοβηθῇς τὴν τελείωσιν. Καθαρὸς εἶ, καὶ μετὰ τὸν γάμον: ἐμὸς ὁ κίνδυνος, ἐγὼ τούτου συναρμοστὴς, ἐγὼ νυμφοστόλος. Οὐ γὰρ, ἐπεὶ ἡ παρθενία τιμιωτέρα, ἐν τοῖς ἀτίμοις ὁ γάμος. Μιμήσομαι Χριστὸν, τὸν καθαρὸν νυμφαγωγὸν, καὶ νυμφίον, ὃς καὶ θαυματουργεῖ γάμῳ, καὶ τιμᾷ συζυγίαν τῇ παρουσίᾳ. Μόνον ἔστω γάμος καθαρὸς, καὶ πόθοις ῥυπαροῖς ἀνεπίμικτος. Ἓν αἰτῶ μόνον: λάβε παρὰ τοῦ δώρου τὴν ἀσφάλειαν, καὶ δὸς τῷ δώρῳ τὴν ἁγνείαν κατὰ καιρὸν, ἕως εὐχῆς πρόκειται προθεσμία, καὶ ἀσχολίας τιμιωτέρα, καὶ ταύτην ἐκ κοινῆς ὁμολογίας καὶ συναινέσεως. Οὐ γὰρ νομοθετοῦμεν, ἀλλὰ παραινοῦμεν, καὶ τῶν σῶν τι λαβεῖν ὑπὲρ σοῦ βουλόμεθα, καὶ τῆς κοινῆς ὑμῶν ἀσφαλείας ἕνεκεν. Ἐν κεφαλαίῳ δὲ εἰπεῖν, οὐκ ἔστιν οὐ βίος, οὐκ ἐπιτήδευμα, ᾧ μὴ τοῦτο λυσιτελέστερον. Δέξαι, ὁ ἐν ἐξουσίᾳ, τὸν χαλινόν: ὁ ἐν δουλείᾳ, τὴν ἰσοτιμίαν: ὁ ἀθυμῶν, τὴν παραμυθίαν: ὁ ἐν εὐθυμίᾳ, τὴν παιδαγωγίαν, ὁ πένης, τὸν ἄσυλον πλοῦτον: ὁ εὐπορῶν, τὴν καλὴν ὧν ἔχεις οἰκονομίαν. Μηδὲν σοφίσῃ, μηδὲν τεχνάσῃ κατὰ τῆς σεαυτοῦ σωτηρίας. Κἂν γὰρ τοὺς ἄλλους παραλογιζώμεθα, ἡμᾶς γε αὐτοὺς οὐ δυνησόμεθα: ὡς τό γε καθ' ἑαυτοῦ παίζειν, λίαν ἐπισφαλὲς καὶ ἀνόητον.