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

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 perfection.  Let us go within the cloud.  Give me the tables of your heart; I will be your Moses, though this be a bold thing to say; I will write on them with the finger of God a new Decalogue.190    Exod. xxxviii. 28.  I will write on them a shorter method of salvation.  And if there be any heretical or unreasoning beast, let him remain below, or he will run the risk of being stoned by the Word of truth.  I will baptize you and make you a disciple in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost;191    Ib. xix. 13. and These Three have One common name, the Godhead.  And you shall know, both by appearances192    Matt. xxviii. 19. and by words that you reject all ungodliness, and are united to all the Godhead.  Believe that all that is in the world, both all that is seen and all that is unseen, was made out of nothing by God, and is governed by the Providence of its Creator, and will receive a change to a better state.  Believe that evil has no substance or kingdom, either unoriginate or self-existent or created by God; but that it is our work, and the evil one’s, and came upon us through our heedlessness, but not from our Creator.  Believe that the Son of God, the Eternal Word, Who was begotten of the Father before all time and without body, was in these latter days for your sake made also Son of Man, born of the Virgin Mary ineffably and stainlessly (for nothing can be stained where God is, and by which salvation comes), in His own Person at once entire Man and perfect God, for the sake of the entire sufferer, that He may bestow salvation on your whole being, having destroyed the whole condemnation of your sins:  impassible in His Godhead, passible in that which He assumed; as much Man for your sake as you are made God for His.  Believe that for us sinners He was led to death; was crucified and buried, so far as to taste of death; and that He rose again the third day, and ascended into heaven, that He might take you with Him who were lying low; and that He will come again with His glorious Presence to judge the quick and the dead; no longer flesh, nor yet without a body, according to the laws which He alone knows of a more godlike body, that He may be seen by those who pierced Him,193    Rev. i. 7. and on the other hand may remain as God without carnality.  Receive besides this the Resurrection, the Judgment and the Reward according to the righteous scales of God; and believe that this will be Light to those whose mind is purified (that is, God—seen and known) proportionate to their degree of purity, which we call the Kingdom of heaven; but to those who suffer from blindness of their ruling faculty, darkness, that is estrangement from God, proportionate to their blindness here.  Then, in the tenth place, work that which is good upon this foundation of dogma; for faith without works is dead,194    James ii. 17. even as are works apart from faith.  This is all that may be divulged of the Sacrament, and that is not forbidden to the ear of the many.  The rest you shall learn within the Church by the grace of the Holy Trinity; and those matters you shall conceal within yourself, sealed and secure.

ΜΕʹ. Ἀλλ' οὔπω τύπος οὐδεὶς ἐν τῇ σῇ ψυχῇ, οὔτε χείρονος γράμματος, οὐδὲ βελτίονος: σήμερον δέ σε γραφῆναι δεήσει, καὶ παρ' ἡμῶν τυπωθῆναι πρὸς τελειότητα; Εἴσω τῆς νεφέλης χωρήσωμεν: δός μοι τὰς πλάκας τῆς σῆς καρδίας: γίνομαί σοι Μωσῆς, εἰ καὶ τολμηρὸν εἰπεῖν: ἐγγράφω δακτύλῳ Θεοῦ νέαν δεκάλογον: ἐγγράφω σύντομον σωτηρίαν. Εἰ δέ τι θηρίον αἱρετικὸν καὶ ἀλόγιστον, κάτω μεινάτω: ἢ κινδυνεύσει λιθοβολούμενον τῷ λόγῳ τῆς ἀληθείας. Βαπτίσω σε μαθητεύων, εἰς ὄνομα Πατρὸς, καὶ Υἱοῦ, καὶ ἁγίου Πνεύματος. Ὄνομα δὲ κοινὸν τῶν τριῶν ἓν, ἡ θεότης. Γνώσῃ καὶ τοῖς σχήμασι καὶ τοῖς ῥήμασιν, ὡς ὅλην ἀποπέμπῃ τὴν ἀθεΐαν, οὕτως ὅλῃ θεότητι συντασσόμενος. Πίστευε, τὸν σύμπαντα κόσμον, ὅσος τε ὁρατὸς, καὶ ὅσος ἀόρατος, ἐξ οὐκ ὄντων παρὰ Θεοῦ γενόμενον, καὶ προνοίᾳ τοῦ ποιήσαντος διοικούμενον, δέξασθαι τὴν εἰς τὸ κρεῖττον μεταβολήν. Πίστευε, μὴ οὐσίαν εἶναί τινα τοῦ κακοῦ, μήτε βασιλείαν, ἢ ἄναρχον, ἢ παρ' ἑαυτῆς ὑποστᾶσαν, ἢ παρὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ γενομένην, ἀλλ' ἡμέτερον ἔργον εἶναι τοῦτο καὶ τοῦ πονηροῦ, ἐκ τῆς ἀπροσεξίας ἐπεισελθὸν ἡμῖν, ἀλλ' οὐχὶ τοῦ κτίσαντος. Πίστευε, τὸν Υἱὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ, τὸν προαιώνιον Λόγον, τὸν γεννηθέντα ἐκ τοῦ Πατρὸς ἀχρόνως καὶ ἀσωμάτως, τοῦτον ἐπ' ἐσχάτων τῶν ἡμερῶν, γεγενῆσθαι διὰ σὲ καὶ Υἱὸν ἀνθρώπου, ἐκ τῆς Παρθένου προελθόντα Μαρίας, ἀῤῥήτως καὶ ἀρυπάρως (οὐδὲν γὰρ ῥυπαρὸν οὗ Θεὸς, καὶ δι' οὗ σωτηρία), ὅλον ἄνθρωπον, τὸν αὐτὸν καὶ Θεὸν, ὑπὲρ ὅλου τοῦ πεπονθότος, ἵνα ὅλῳ σοι τὴν σωτηρίαν χαρίσηται, ὅλον τὸ κατάκριμα λύσας τῆς ἁμαρτίας: ἀπαθῆ θεότητι, παθητὸν τῷ προσλήμματι: τοσοῦτον ἄνθρωπον διά σε, ὅσον σὺ γίνῃ δι' ἐκεῖνον Θεός: τοῦτον ὑπὲρ τῶν ἀνομιῶν ἦχθαι εἰς θάνατον, σταυρωθέντα τε καὶ ταφέντα, ὅσον θανάτου γεύσασθαι, καὶ ἀναστάντα τριήμερον, ἀνεληλυθέναι εἰς τοὺς οὐρανοὺς, ἵνα σε συναγάγῃ κάτω κείμενον: ἥξειν τε πάλιν μετὰ τῆς ἐνδόξου αὐτοῦ παρουσίας, κρίνοντα ζῶντας καὶ νεκρούς: οὐκ ἔτι μὲν σάρκα, οὐκ ἀσώματον δὲ, οἷς αὐτὸς οἶδε λόγοις, θεοειδεστέρου σώματος, ἵνα καὶ ὀφθῇ ὑπὸ τῶν ἐκκεντησάντων, καὶ μείνῃ Θεὸς ἔξω παχύτητος. Δέχου πρὸς τούτοις ἀνάστασιν, κρίσιν, ἀνταπόδοσιν τοῖς δικαίοις τοῦ Θεοῦ σταθμοῖς. Ταύτην δὲ εἶναι φῶς τοῖς κεκαθαρμένοις τὴν διάνοιαν, τουτέστι Θεὸν ὁρώμενόν τε καὶ γινωσκόμενον, κατὰ τὴν ἀναλογίαν τῆς καθαρότητος, ὃ δὴ καὶ βασιλείαν οὐρανῶν ὀνομάζομεν: σκότος δὲ τοῖς τυφλώττουσι τὸ ἡγεμονικὸν, τουτέστιν ἀλλοτρίωσιν Θεοῦ κατὰ τὴν ἀναλογίαν τῆς ἐντεῦθεν ἀμβλυωπίας. Δέκατον, ἐργάζου τὸ ἀγαθὸν ἐπὶ τούτῳ τῷ θεμελίῳ τῶν δογμάτων: ἐπειδὴ, Πίστις χωρὶς ἔργων νεκρὰ, ὡς ἔργα δίχα πίστεως. Ἔχεις τοῦ μυστηρίου τὰ ἔκφορα, καὶ ταῖς τῶν πολλῶν ἀκοαῖς οὐκ ἀπόῤῥητα. Τὰ δὲ ἄλλα εἴσω μαθήσῃ, τῆς Τριάδος χαριζομένης, ἃ καὶ κρύψεις παρὰ σεαυτῷ σφραγῖδι κρατούμενα.