Let us then leave the task of searching into what is beyond human power, and seek rather that which shows signs of being partly within our comprehension:—what is the reason why the cleansing is effected by water? and to what purpose are the three immersions received? That which the fathers taught, and which our mind has received and assented to, is as follows:—We recognize four elements, of which the world is composed, which every one knows even if their names are not spoken; but if it is well, for the sake of the more simple, to tell you their names, they are fire and air, earth and water. Now our God and Saviour, in fulfilling the Dispensation for our sakes, went beneath the fourth of these, the earth, that He might raise up life from thence. And we in receiving Baptism, in imitation of our Lord and Teacher and Guide, are not indeed buried in the earth (for this is the shelter of the body that is entirely dead, covering the infirmity and decay of our nature), but coming to the element akin to earth, to water, we conceal ourselves in that as the Saviour did in the earth: and by doing this thrice we represent for ourselves that grace of the Resurrection which was wrought in three days: and this we do, not receiving the sacrament in silence, but while there are spoken over us the Names of the Three Sacred Persons on Whom we believed, in Whom we also hope, from Whom comes to us both the fact of our present and the fact of our future existence. It may be thou art offended, thou who contendest boldly against the glory of the Spirit, and that thou grudgest to the Spirit that veneration wherewith He is reverenced by the godly. Leave off contending with me: resist, if thou canst, those words of the Lord which gave to men the rule of the Baptismal invocation. What says the Lord’s command? “Baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost13    S. Matt. xxviii. 19..” How in the Name of the Father? Because He is the primal cause of all things. How in the Name of the Son? Because He is the Maker of the Creation. How in the Name of the Holy Ghost? Because He is the power perfecting all. We bow ourselves therefore before the Father, that we may be sanctified: before the Son also we bow, that the same end may be fulfilled: we bow also before the Holy Ghost, that we may be made what He is in fact and in Name. There is not a distinction in the sanctification, in the sense that the Father sanctifies more, the Son less, the Holy Spirit in a less degree than the other Two. Why then dost thou divide the Three Persons into fragments of different natures, and make Three Gods, unlike one to another, whilst from all thou dost receive one and the same grace?

Καταλιπόντες τοίνυν τὸ ὑπὲρ δύναμιν ἀνθρωπικὴν πολυπραγμονεῖν ἐκεῖνο μᾶλλον ζητήσωμεν, ὃ καὶ μερικὴν ὑποφαίνει κατάληψιν: τίνος ἕνεκεν δι' ὕδατος ἡ κάθαρσις, καὶ πρὸς ποίαν χρείαν αἱ τρεῖς καταδύσεις παραλαμβάνονται; ὃ τοίνυν καὶ οἱ πατέρες ἐδίδαξαν καὶ ὁ ἡμέτερος νοῦς συντιθέμενος κατεδέξατο, τοῦτο τυγχάνει. τέσσαρα στοιχεῖα γνωρίζομεν, ἀφ' ὧν ὁ κόσμος ἔχει τὴν σύστασιν, γνώριμα πᾶσι, κἂν σιωπηθῇ τὰ ὀνόματα, εἰ δὲ προσῆκε διὰ τοὺς ἁπλουστέρους καὶ τὰς προσηγορίας εἰπεῖν: πῦρ καὶ ἀήρ, γῆ καὶ ὕδωρ. ὁ τοίνυν θεὸς ἡμῶν καὶ σωτὴρ τὴν ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν οἰκονομίαν πληρῶν τὸ τέταρτον τούτων ὑπῆλθε τὴν γῆν, ἵν' ἐκεῖθεν τὴν ζωὴν ἀνατείλῃ: ἡμεῖς δὲ τὸ βάπτισμα παραλαμβάνοντες εἰς μίμησιν τοῦ κυρίου καὶ διδασκάλου καὶ καθηγεμόνος ἡμῶν εἰς γῆν μὲν οὐ θαπτόμεθα (αὕτη γὰρ τοῦ νεκρωθέντος παντελῶς σώματος γίνεται σκέπη τὴν ἀσθένειαν καὶ φθορὰν τῆς φύσεως ἡμῶν περιστέλλουσα), ἐπὶ δὲ τὸ συγγενὲς τῆς γῆς στοιχεῖον τὸ ὕδωρ ἐρχόμενοι ἐκείνῳ 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 ἐπιστεύσαμεν, ἐφ' αἷς καὶ ἐλπίζομεν, ἐξ ὧν ἡμῖν καὶ τὸ νῦν εἶναι καὶ τὸ πάλιν ἔσεσθαι περιγίνεται. τάχα δυσχεραίνεις ὁ πρὸς 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 βαπτίσματος 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;