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

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 cleansing to me your Priest, that I may recognize how much more precious it is than the legal one.  Do not range yourself with the nine unthankful men, but imitate the tenth.111    Luke xvii. 12, &c.  For although he was a Samaritan, yet he was of better mind than the others.  Make certain that you will not break out again with evil ulcers, and find the indisposition of your body hard to heal.  Yesterday meanness and avarice were withering your hand; to-day let liberality and kindness stretch it out.112    Ib. vi. 6.  It is a noble cure for a weak hand to disperse abroad, to give to the poor,113    Ps. cxii. 9. to pour out the things which we possess abundantly, till we reach the very bottom; and perhaps this will gush forth food for you, as for the woman of Sarepta,114    1 Kings xvii. 8, &c. and especially if you happen to be feeding an Elias, to recognize that it is a good abundance to be needy for the sake of Christ, Who for our sakes became poor.  If you were deaf and dumb, let the Word sound115    Mark vii. 32. in your ears, or rather keep there Him Who hath sounded.  Do not shut your ears to the Instruction of the Lord, and to His Counsel, like the adder to charms.116    Ps. lviii. 4, 5.  If you are blind and unenlightened, lighten your eyes that you sleep not in death.117    Ib. xiii. 3.  In God’s Light see light,118    Ib. xxxvi. 9. and in the Spirit of God be enlightened by the Son, That Threefold and Undivided Light.  If you receive all the Word, you will bring therewith upon your own soul all the healing powers of Christ, with which separately these individuals were healed.  Only be not ignorant of the measure of grace; only let not the enemy, while you sleep, maliciously sow tares.119    Matt. xiii. 25.  Only take care that as by your cleansing you have become an object of enmity to the Evil One, you do not again make yourself an object of pity by sin.  Only be careful lest, while rejoicing and lifted up above measure by the blessing, you fall again through pride.  Only be diligent as to your cleansing, “setting ascensions in your heart,”120    Ps. lxxxiv. 6.  So LXX. and Vulgate.  Various interpretations are given of these Steps, but they differ only by indicating different virtues and good works as especially intended, and may well be summed up under the three heads of the purgative, illuminative, and unitive ways of salvation.  A man can set in his heart such a “going up” by the co-operation of grace and free will.—Neale & Littledale in Pss. and keep with all diligence the remission which you have received as a gift, in order that, while the remission comes from God, the preservation of it may come from yourself also.

ΛΔʹ. Εἰ λέπραν ἔβρυες τέως τὴν ἄμορφον πονηρίαν, ἀπεξέσθης δὲ τῆς κακῆς ὕλης, καὶ τὴν εἰκόνα σώαν ἀπέλαβες, δεῖξον ἐμοὶ τῷ ἱερεῖ σου τὴν κάθαρσιν, ἵνα γνῶ, πόσον τῆς νομικῆς αὕτη τιμιωτέρα. Γενοῦ μὴ τῶν ἐννέα τῶν ἀχαρίστων, ἀλλὰ τὸν δέκατον μίμησαι: καὶ γὰρ εἰ Σαμαρείτης ἦν, ἀλλὰ τῶν ἄλλων εὐγνωμονέστερος. Ἀσφάλισαι, μὴ πάλιν κακῶς ἐξανθήσῃς, καὶ δυσθεράπευτον ἕξεις τὴν ἀνωμαλίαν τοῦ σώματος. Πρώην ἐξήραινέ σου τὴν χεῖρα μικρολογία καὶ φειδωλία: σήμερον ἐκτεινάτω μετάδοσις καὶ φιλανθρωπία. Καλὴ θεραπεία χειρὸς ἀῤῥωστούσης, σκορπίζειν, διδόναι τοῖς πένησιν, ἐξαντλεῖν ὧν ἔχομεν δαψιλῶς, μέχρις ἂν καὶ τοῦ πυθμένος ἁψώμεθα (ἴσως καὶ οὗτος πηγάσει σοι τροφὴν, καθάπερ τῇ Σαραφθίᾳ, καὶ μάλιστα εἰ τύχοις Ἡλίαν τρέφουσα), καλὴν εὐπορίαν εἰδέναι, τὸ διὰ Χριστὸν ἀπορεῖν, τὸν δι' ἡμᾶς πτωχεύσαντα. Εἰ κωφὸς ἦσθα καὶ ἄλαλος, ὁ Λόγος ἐνηχησάτω σοι: μᾶλλον δὲ κάτασχε τὸν ἐνηχήσαντα. Μὴ κλείσῃς τὰ ὦτα πρὸς παιδείαν Κυρίου καὶ νουθεσίαν, ὡς ἀσπὶς πρὸς ἐπᾴσματα. Εἰ τυφλὸς καὶ ἀφώτιστος, φώτισον τοὺς ὀφθαλμούς σου, μή ποτε ὑπνώσης εἰς θάνατον. Ἐν τῷ φωτὶ Κυρίου θέασαι φῶς, ἐν τῷ Πνεύματι τοῦ Θεοῦ τὸν Υἱὸν αὐγάσθητι, τὸ τρισσὸν φῶς καὶ ἀμέριστον. Ἐὰν ὅλον εἰσδέξῃ τὸν Λόγον, πάσας τὰς Χριστοῦ θεραπείας ἐπὶ τὴν σεαυτοῦ συνάξεις ψυχὴν, ἃς κατὰ μέρος ἕκαστος τεθεράπευται. Μόνον μὴ ἀγνοήσῃς τὸ μέτρον τῆς χάριτος: μόνον μὴ καθεύδοντί σοι καὶ ἀμεριμνοῦντι κακῶς ἐπισπείρῃ ὁ ἐχθρὸς τὰ ζιζάνια: μόνον ἐπίφθονος τῷ πονηρῷ γεγονὼς διὰ τὴν καθαρότητα, μὴ πάλιν σεαυτὸν ἐλεεινὸν καταστήσῃς διὰ τῆς ἁμαρτίας: μόνον μὴ τῷ ἀγαθῷ περιχαρεὶς, καὶ ὑψωθεὶς ἄμετρα, καταπέσῃς ἐν τῷ ἐπαρθῆναι: μόνον ἀεὶ φιλοπόνει τὴν κάθαρσιν, ἀναβάσεις ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ τιθέμενος: καὶ ἧς ἔτυχες κατὰ δωρεὰν ἀφέσεως, ταύτην ἐπιμελείᾳ συντήρησον: ἵνα τὸ μὲν ἀφεθῆναί σοι παρὰ Θεοῦ, τὸ δὲ συντηρηθῆναι, καὶ παρὰ σοῦ γένηται.