On the Baptism of Christ.

 The time, then, has come, and bears in its course the remembrance of holy mysteries, purifying man,—mysteries which purge out from soul and body even

 Christ, then, was born as it were a few days ago—He Whose generation was before all things, sensible and intellectual. To-day He is baptized by John t

 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 comprehensi

 As, however, examples always render an argument more vivid to the hearers, I propose to instruct the mind of the blasphemers by an illustration, expla

 I find that not only do the Gospels, written after the Crucifixion, proclaim the grace of Baptism, but, even before the Incarnation of our Lord, the a

 Hagar, the handmaid of Abraham (whom Paul treats allegorically in reasoning with the Galatians ), being sent forth from her master’s house by the ange

 Again, at a later time, Isaac—the same for whose sake Ishmael was driven with his mother from his father’s home—was to be wedded. Abraham’s servant is

 According to the same force of the text, Jacob also, hastening to seek a bride, met Rachel unexpectedly at the well. And a great stone lay upon the we

 Again, the great Moses, when he was a goodly child, and yet at the breast, falling under the general and cruel decree which the hard-hearted Pharaoh m

 Even these instances might be enough to confirm our present position but the lover of good thoughts must yet not neglect what follows. The people of

 Now herein, by that wondrous sacrifice, Elijah clearly proclaimed to us the sacramental rite of Baptism that should afterwards be instituted. For the

 Let us for the rest consider the prophecies of it in words and language. Isaiah cried saying, “Wash you, make you clean, put away evil from your souls

 But do ye all, as many as are made glad, by the gift of regeneration, and make your boast of that saving renewal, show me, after the sacramental grace

 Therefore, also, it is that after the dignity of adoption the devil plots more vehemently against us, pining away with envious glance, when he beholds

 And now we have spoken sufficiently for the holy subject of the day, which the circling year brings to us at appointed periods. We shall do well in wh

 For all these things then let us sing to God that hymn of joy, which lips touched by the Spirit long ago sang loudly: “Let my soul be joyful in the Lo

On the Baptism of Christ.

A Sermon for the Day of the Lights.1    That is, for the Festival of the Epiphany or Theophany, when the Eastern Church commemorates especially the Baptism of our Lord.

Now I recognize my own flock: to-day I behold the wonted figure of the Church, when, turning with aversion from the occupation even of the cares of the flesh, you come together in your undiminished numbers for the service of God—when the people crowds the house, coming within the sacred sanctuary, and when the multitude that can find no place within fills the space outside in the precincts like bees. For of them some are at their labours within, while others outside hum around the hive. So do, my children: and never abandon this zeal. For I confess that I feel a shepherd’s affections, and I wish, when I am set upon this watch-tower, to see the flock gathered round about the mountain’s foot: and when it so happens to me, I am filled with wonderful earnestness, and work with pleasure at my sermon, as the shepherds do at their rustic strains. But when things are otherwise, and you are straying in distant wanderings, as you did but lately, the last Lord’s Day, I am much troubled, and glad to be silent; and I consider the question of flight from hence, and seek for the Carmel of the prophet Elijah, or for some rock without inhabitant; for men in depression naturally choose loneliness and solitude. But now, when I see you thronging here with all your families, I am reminded of the prophetic saying, which Isaiah proclaimed from afar off, addressing by anticipation the Church with her fair and numerous children:—“Who are these that fly as a cloud, and as doves with their young to me2    Is. lx. 8 (LXX.).”? Yes, and he adds moreover this also, “The place is too strait for me; give place that I may dwell3    Is. xlix. 20..” For these predictions the power of the Spirit made with reference to the populous Church of God, which was afterwards to fill the whole world from end to end of the earth.

ΓΡΗΓΟΡΙΟΥ ΕΠΙΣΚΟΠΟΥ ΝΥΣΣΗΣ ΕΙΣ ΤΗΝ ΗΜΕΡΑΝ ΤΩΝ ΦΩΤΩΝ Νῦν γνωρίζω τὴν ἐμὴν ἀγέλην, σήμερον βλέπω σχῆμα τῆς ἐκκλησίας τὸ σύνηθες, ἡνίκα καὶ τῶν σαρκικῶν φροντίδων τὴν ἀσχολίαν μισήσαντες ἀκεραίῳ τῷ πληρώματι πρὸς τὴν θεραπείαν τοῦ θεοῦ συνεδράμετε. καὶ στενοχωρεῖ μὲν ὁ λαὸς τὸν οἶκον εἴσω τῶν ἱερῶν ἀδύτων γενόμενος, πληροῖ δὲ τὸν ἔξω χῶρον ἐν τοῖς προτεμενίσμασιν, ὅσος οὐ χωρεῖται παρὰ τῶν ἔνδον κατὰ τὴν εἰκόνα τῶν μελισσῶν: αἱ μὲν γὰρ ἔνδον ἐργάζονται, αἱ δὲ ἔξωθεν περιβομβοῦσι τὸ σμῆνος. οὕτως οὖν ποιεῖτε, ὦ παῖδες, καὶ μή ποτε ταύτην τὴν σπουδὴν ἀπολίπητε: πάθος γὰρ ὁμολογῶ πάσχειν ποιμαντικὸν καὶ βούλομαι ἐπὶ τῆς ὑψηλῆς ταύτης καθήμενος σκοπιᾶς κύκλῳ περὶ τοὺς πρόποδας τῆς κορυφῆς βλέπειν ἠθροισμένον τὸ ποίμνιον. κἂν οὕτως μοι συμβαίνῃ, προθυμίας τε ἐμπίπλαμαι θαυμαστῆς καὶ κάμνω τὸν λόγον ἡδέως ὡς οἱ ποιμένες τὰ μέλη τὰ νόμια, ὅταν δὲ ἑτέρως ἔχῃ καὶ τὴν ἔξω πλάνην ἦτε πλανώμενοι, ὡς ὑπόγυον ἐπὶ τῆς παρελθούσης κυριακῆς πεποιήκατε, σχετλιάζω πολλὰ καὶ τὴν σιωπὴν ἀσπάζομαι, βουλεύομαι δὲ τὴν ἐνθένδε φυγὴν καὶ ζητῶ τὸν Ἠλίου τοῦ προφήτου Κάρμηλον ἤ τινα πέτραν ἀοίκητον: φίλον γάρ πως τοῖς ἀθυμοῦσι τὸ ἄμικτον καὶ φιλέρημον. νῦν δὲ βλέπων ὑμᾶς σὺν αὐτοῖς τοῖς γένεσιν ἀθρόως πανηγυρίζοντας ὑπομιμνήσκομαι λογίου προφητικοῦ, ὃ πόρρωθεν Ἠσαΐας ἀνύμνησε τὴν εὔτεκνον τοῦ Χριστοῦ καὶ πολύπαιδα προαναφωνῶν ἐκκλησίαν: Τίνες, φησίν, οἵδε; ὡς νεφέλαι πέτονται καὶ ὡς περιστεραὶ σὺν νεοσσοῖς ἐπ' ἐμέ. οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ πρὸς τούτῳ κἀκεῖνο: Στενός μοι ὁ τόπος, ποίησόν μοι τόπον, ἵνα κατοικήσω. ταῦτα γὰρ ἡ τοῦ πνεύματος δύναμις εἰς τὴν πολυάνθρωπον τοῦ θεοῦ ἐκκλησίαν ἐθέσπισεν, ἣ χρόνοις ὕστερον ἔμελλεν ἀπ' ἄκρων εἰς ἄκρα πληρώσειν τὴν οἰκουμένην ἅπασαν.