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 desire.  While the iron is hot, let it be tempered by the cold water, lest anything should happen in the interval, and put an end to your desire.  I am Philip; do you be Candace’s Eunuch.79    Acts viii. 36.  Do you also say, “See, here is water, what doth hinder me to be baptized?”  Seize the opportunity; rejoice greatly in the blessing; and having spoken be baptized; and having been baptized be saved; and though you be an Ethiopian body, be made white in soul.  Do not say, “A Bishop shall baptize me,—and he a Metropolitan,—and he of Jerusalem (for the Grace does not come of a place, but of the Spirit),—and he of noble birth, for it would be a sad thing for my nobility to be insulted by being baptized by a man of no family.”  Do not say, “I do not mind a mere Priest, if he is a celibate, and a religious, and of angelic life; for it would be a sad thing for me to be defiled even in the moment of my cleansing.”  Do not ask for credentials of the preacher or the baptizer.  For another is his judge,80    1 Sam. xvi. 7. and the examiner of what thou canst not see.  For man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.  But to thee let every one be trustworthy for purification, so only he is one of those who have been approved, not of those who are openly condemned, and not a stranger to the Church.  Do not judge your judges, you who need healing; and do not make nice distinctions about the rank of those who shall cleanse you, or be critical about your spiritual fathers.  One may be higher or lower than another, but all are higher than you.  Look at it this way.  One may be golden, another iron, but both are rings and have engraved on them the same royal image; and thus when they impress the wax, what difference is there between the seal of the one and that of the other?  None.  Detect the material in the wax, if you are so very clever.  Tell me which is the impression of the iron ring, and which of the golden.  And how do they come to be one?  The difference is in the material and not in the seal.  And so anyone can be your baptizer; for though one may excel another in his life, yet the grace of baptism is the same, and any one may be your consecrator who is formed in the same faith.

Κ2ʹ. Μηδὲν ἐπεχέτω σε τοῦ πρόσω: μηδὲν ἀνθελκέτω σου τὴν προθυμίαν. Ἕως σφοδρὸς ὁ πόθος, λαβοῦ τοῦ ποθουμένου: ἕως θερμὸς ὁ σίδηρος, τῷ ψυχρῷ στομωθήτω, μή τι παρεμπέσῃ μέσον, καὶ διακόψῃ τὸν πόθον. Φίλιππός εἰμι: γενοῦ Κανδάκης. Εἰπὲ καὶ αὐτός: Ἰδοὺ τὸ ὕδωρ: τί κωλύει με βαπτισθῆναι; Ἅρπασον τὸν καιρόν: τῷ ἀγαθῷ περιχάρηθι: καὶ εἰπὼν, βαπτίσθητι, καὶ βαπτισθεὶς σώθητι: κἂν ᾖς Αἰθίοψ τὸ σῶμα, τὴν ψυχὴν λευκάνθητι. Τύχε τῆς σωτηρίας, ἧς οὐδὲν ὑψηλότερον, οὐδὲ τιμιώτερον τοῖς γε νοῦν ἔχουσι. Μὴ εἴπης: Ἐπίσκοπος βαπτισάτω με, καὶ οὗτος μητροπολίτης, ἢ Ἱεροσολυμίτης (οὐ γὰρ τόπων ἡ χάρις, ἀλλὰ τοῦ Πνεύματος), καὶ οὗτος τῶν εὖ γεγονότων. Δεινὸν γὰρ, εἰ τῷ βαπτιστῇ τὸ εὐγενές μου καθυβρισθήσεται: ἢ πρεσβύτερος μὲν, ἀλλὰ καὶ οὗτος τῶν ἀγάμων, καὶ οὗτος τῶν ἐγκρατῶν καὶ ἀγγελικῶν τὴν πολιτείαν: δεινὸν γὰρ, εἰ ἐν καιρῷ καθάρσεως ῥυπωθήσομαι. Μὴ ζήτει ἀξιοπιστίαν τοῦ κηρύσσοντος, μηδὲ τοῦ βαπτίζοντος. Ἄλλος ὁ τούτων κριτὴς, καὶ τῶν ἀφανεστέρων δοκιμαστής: ἐπειδὴ, ἄνθρωπος μὲν εἰς πρόσωπον, Θεὸς δὲ εἰς καρδίαν. Σοὶ δὲ πᾶς ἀξιόπιστος εἰς τὴν κάθαρσιν: μόνον ἔστω τις τῶν ἐγκρίτων, καὶ μὴ τῶν προδήλως κατεγνωσμένων, μηδὲ τῆς Ἐκκλησίας ἀλλότριος. Μὴ κρῖνε τοὺς κριτὰς, ὁ χρῄζων τῆς ἰατρείας: μηδὲ φιλοκρίνει μοι τὰς ἀξίας τῶν σὲ καθαιρόντων, μηδὲ διακρίνου πρὸς τοὺς γεννήτορας. Ἄλλος μὲν ἄλλου κρείττων, ἢ ταπεινότερος: σοῦ δὲ πᾶς ὑψηλότερος. Σκόπει δὲ οὕτως: Ἔστω χρυσὸς, ἔστω σίδηρος, δακτύλιοι δὲ ἀμφότεροι, καὶ τὴν αὐτὴν ἐγκεχαράχθωσαν εἰκόνα βασιλικὴν, εἶτα κηρὸν ἐντυπούτωσαν: τί διοίσει ἡ σφραγὶς αὕτη τῆς σφραγῖδος ἐκείνης; Οὐδέν. Ἐπίγνωθι τὴν ὕλην ἐν τῷ κηρῷ, κἂν ᾖς σοφώτατος: εἰπὲ, τί μὲν τοῦ σιδήρου, τί δὲ τοῦ χρυσοῦ τὸ ἐκσφράγισμα, καὶ πῶς ἕν ἐστι: τῆς γὰρ ὕλης τὸ διάφορον, οὐ τοῦ χαρακτῆρος. Οὕτως ἔστω σοι πᾶς βαπτιστής. Κἂν τῇ πολιτείᾳ προέχῃ, ἀλλ' ἥ γε τοῦ βαπτίσματος δύναμις ἴση: καὶ τελειοποιός σοι πᾶς ὁμοίως, ὁ τῇ αὐτῇ πίστει μεμορφωμένος.