8. Having been sufficiently instructed in these things, keep them, I beseech you, in your remembrance; that I also, unworthy though I be, may say of you, Now I love you [2412] , because ye always remember me, and hold fast the traditions, which I delivered unto you. And God, who has presented you as it were alive from the dead [2413] , is able to grant unto you to walk in newness of life [2414] : because His is the glory and the power, now and for ever. Amen.
[2393] mustagogiai.
[2394] The renunciation and the profession of faith were made in the outer chamber or vestibule of the Baptistery.
[2395] Col. iii. 9.
[2396] Ib. ii. 15. Cyril's use of this passage agrees best with the interpretation that Christ, having been clothed with the likeness of sinful flesh during His life on earth, submitted therein to the assaults of the powers of evil, but on the Cross threw off from Himself both it and them.
[2397] Eph. iv. 22.
[2398] Cant. v. 3.
[2399] See Dict. Christ. Antiq. "Baptism," § 48: The Unclothing of the Catechumens: Bingh. Ant. XI. xi. 1: All "persons were baptized naked, either in imitation of Adam in Paradise, or our Saviour upon the Cross, or to signify their putting off the body of sin, and the old man with his deeds."
[2400] Apost. Const. vii. 22: "But thou shalt beforehand anoint the person with holy oil (elaio), and afterward baptize him with water, and in the conclusion shalt seal him with the ointment (muro), that the anointing (chrisma) may be a participation of the Holy Spirit, and the water a symbol of the death, and the ointment the seal of the Covenants. But if there be neither oil nor ointment, water suffices both for anointing, and for a seal, and for a confession of Him who died, or indeed is dying with us." The previous anointing "with oil sanctified by prayer" is mentioned in the Clementine Recognitions, III. c. 67, and in the Pseudo-Justin, Quæstiones ad Orthodoxos, Qu. 137. It was not however universal, and seems to have been unknown in Africa, not being mentioned by Clement of Alexandria (Pæd. II. c. viii. On the use of ointments), nor Tertullian, nor Augustine.
[2401] On the significance of the wild olive-tree, see Irenæus, V. 10.
[2402] See Index, "Exorcism."
[2403] kolumbethran. The pool or piscina was deep enough for total immersion, and large enough for many to be baptized at once. Cf. Bingh. Ant. VIII. vii. 2; XI. xi. 2, 3. For engravings of the very ancient Baptisteries at Aquileia and Ravenna, shewing the form of the font or piscina, see Dict. Christian Ant. "Baptistery."
[2404] The same significance is attributed to the trine immersion by many Fathers, but a different explanation is given by Tertullian (Adv. Praxean, c. xxvi.): "Not once only, but three times, we are immersed into the several Persons at the mention of their several names." Gregory of Nyssa (On the Baptism of Christ, p. 520 in this Series) joins both reasons together: "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, &c." Compare p. 529. Cf. Apost. Const VIII. § 47, Can. 50: "If any Bishop or Presbyter does not perform the three immersions of one initiation, but one immersion made into the death of Christ, let him be deprived." Milles in his note on this passage mentions that "this form of Baptism is still used in the Greek Church. See Eucholog. p. 355. Ed. Jac. Goar. and his notes p. 365."
[2405] Eccles. iii. 2.
[2406] Tertullian (De Baptismo, c. 10) denies that John's Baptism availed for the remission of sins: "If repentance is a thing human, its baptism must necessarily be of the same nature: else if it had been celestial, it would have given both the Holy Spirit and the remission of sins." Cyril's doctrine is more in accordance with the language of the Fathers generally, and of St. Mark i. 4; Luke iii. 3.
[2407] proxenon.
[2408] antitupon. The "Antitype" is here the sign or memorial of that which is past, and no longer actually present: See note 6 on xxi. 1. Cf. Heb. ix. 24.
[2409] Rom. vi. 3. In the following sentence several mss. have a different reading: "These things perhaps he said to some who were disposed to think that Baptism ministers remission of sins only, and not adoption, and that further it has not the fellowship, &c." Against this reading, approve by Milles, the Benedictine Editor argues that in Rom. vi. 3, 4, there is no reference to adoption, but only to the fellowship of Christ's Passion, and that Cyril quotes the passage only to prove the latter, the gift of adoption being generally admitted, and therefore not in question.
[2410] This clause is contained in the Nicene Creed, and in that which was offered to the Council by Eusebius as the ancient Creed of Cæsarea. It probably formed part of the Creed of Jerusalem, though it is not found in the titles of the Lectures, nor specially explained.
[2411] Ib. vi. 5. Cyril gives the phrase "planted together" a special application to those who had been baptized in the same place where Christ had been buried.
[2412] 1 Cor. xi. 2: Now I praise you, &c.
[2413] Rom. vi. 13.
[2414] Ib. v. 4.
Lecture XXI.
(On the Mysteries. III.)
On Chrism.
1 John ii. 20-28
But ye have an unction from the Holy One, &c.....that, when He shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before Him at His coming.
1. Having been baptized into Christ, and put on Christ [2415] , ye have been made conformable to the Son of God; for God having foreordained us unto adoption as sons [2416] , made us to be conformed to the body of Christ's glory [2417] . Having therefore become partakers of Christ [2418] , ye are properly called Christs, and of you God said, Touch not My Christs [2419] , or anointed. Now ye have been made Christs, by receiving the antitype [2420] of the Holy Ghost; and all things have been wrought in you by imitation [2421] , because ye are images of Christ. He washed in the river Jordan, and having imparted of the fragrance [2422] of His Godhead to the waters, He came up from them; and the Holy Ghost in the fulness of His being [2423] lighted on Him, like resting upon like [2424] . And to you in like manner, after you had come up from the pool of the sacred streams, there was given an Unction [2425] , the anti-type of that wherewith Christ was anointed; and this is the Holy Ghost; of whom also the blessed Esaias, in his prophecy respecting Him, said in the person of the Lord, The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He hath anointed Me: He hath sent Me to preach glad tidings to the poor [2426] .
2. For Christ was not anointed by men with oil or material ointment, but the Father having before appointed Him to be the Saviour of the whole world, anointed Him with the Holy Ghost, as Peter says, Jesus of Nazareth, whom God anointed with the Holy Ghost [2427] . David also the Prophet cried, saying, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever; a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of Thy kingdom; Thou hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity; therefore God even Thy God hath anointed Thee with the oil of gladness above Thy fellows [2428] . And as Christ was in reality crucified, and buried, and raised, and you are in Baptism accounted worthy of being crucified, buried, and raised together with Him in a likeness, so is it with the unction also. As He was anointed with an ideal [2429] oil of gladness, that is, with the Holy Ghost, called oil of gladness, because He is the author of spiritual gladness, so ye were anointed with ointment, having been made partakers and fellows of Christ.
3. But beware of supposing this to be plain ointment. For as the Bread of the Eucharist, after the invocation of the Holy Ghost, is mere bread no longer [2430] , but the Body of Christ, so also this holy ointment is no more simple ointment, nor (so to say) common, after invocation, but it is Christ's gift of grace, and, by the advent of the Holy Ghost, is made fit to impart His Divine Nature [2431] . Which ointment is symbolically applied to thy forehead and thy other senses [2432] ; and while thy body is anointed with the visible ointment, thy soul is sanctified by the Holy and life-giving Spirit.
4. And ye were first anointed on the forehead, that ye might be delivered from the shame, which the first man who transgressed bore about with him everywhere; and that with unveiled face ye might reflect as a mirror the glory of the Lord [2433] . Then on your ears; that ye might receive the ears which are quick to hear the Divine Mysteries, of which Esaias said, The Lord gave me also an ear to hear [2434] ; and the Lord Jesus in the Gospel, He that hath ears to hear let him hear [2435] . Then on the nostrils; that receiving the sacred ointment ye may say, We are to God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved [2436] . Afterwards on your breast; that having put on the breast-plate of righteousness, ye may stand against the wiles of the devil [2437] . For as Christ after His Baptism, and the visitation of the Holy Ghost, went forth and vanquished the adversary, so likewise ye, after Holy Baptism and the Mystical Chrism, having put on the whole armour of the Holy Ghost, are to stand against the power of the adversary, and vanquish it, saying, I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me [2438] .
5. Having been counted worthy of this Holy Chrism, ye are called Christians, verifying the name also by your new birth. For before you were deemed worthy of this grace, ye had properly no right to this title, but were advancing on your way towards being Christians.
6. Moreover, you should know that in the old Scripture there lies the symbol of this Chrism. For what time Moses imparted to his brother the command of God, and made him High-priest, after bathing in water, he anointed him; and Aaron was called Christ or Anointed, evidently from the typical Chrism. So also the High-priest, in advancing Solomon to the kingdom, anointed him after he had bathed in Gihon [2439] . To them however these things happened in a figure, but to you not in a figure, but in truth; because ye were truly anointed by the Holy Ghost. Christ is the beginning of your salvation; for He is truly the First-fruit, and ye the mass [2440] ; but if the First-fruit be holy, it is manifest that Its holiness will pass to the mass also.
7. Keep This unspotted: for it shall teach you all things, if it abide in you, as you have just heard declared by the blessed John, discoursing much concerning this Unction [2441] . For this holy thing is a spiritual safeguard of the body, and salvation of the soul. Of this the blessed Esaias prophesying of old time said, And on this mountain,--(now he calls the Church a mountain elsewhere also, as when he says, In the last days the mountain of the Lord's house shall be manifest [2442] ;)--on this mountain shall the Lord make unto all nations a feast; they shall drink wine, they shall drink gladness, they shall anoint themselves with ointment [2443] . And that he may make thee sure, hear what he says of this ointment as being mystical; Deliver all these things to the nations, for the counsel of the Lord is unto all nations [2444] . Having been anointed, therefore, with this holy ointment, keep it unspotted and unblemished in you, pressing forward by good works, and being made well-pleasing to the Captain of your salvation, Christ Jesus, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
[2415] Gal. iii. 27.
[2416] Eph. i. 5.
[2417] Phil. iii. 21.
[2418] Heb. iii. 14.
[2419] Ps. cv. 15.
[2420] antitupon. Cat. xx. 6; xxiii. 20. Twice in this section as in Heb. ix. 24 (antitupa ton alethinon), antitupon is the copy or figure representing the original pattern (tupos, cf. Acts vii. 44). Otherwise (as in Cat. x. 11; xiii. 19; xxii. 3) tupos is the figure to be subsequently realised in the antitype.
[2421] eikonikos ....eikones tou Christou.
[2422] chroton, literally "tinctures." The Ben. Ed. writes: "For photon we have written chroton with Codd. Coisl. Ottob. Roe, Casaub., &c...But we must write chroton from chrota, not chroton from chrotes. Authors use the word chrota to signify the effluence of an odour. So Gregory of Nyssa takes it in his 3rd Homily on the Song of Songs, p. 512; and S. Maximus in Question 37 on Scripture: chrota we say is the godliness (eusebeian) whereby S. Paul was to the one a savour of life unto life.'...In the Procatechesis, § 15, Cyril calls the waters of Baptism hudaton christophoron echonton euodian. If however any one prefers the reading photon, he may defend himself by the authority of Epiphanius, who in the Exposition of the Faith, c. 15, says that Christ descending into the water gave rather than received,....illuminating them, and empowering them for a type of what was to be accomplished in Him." According to the Ebionite Gospel of St. Matthew in Epiphanius (Hær. xxx. Ebionitæ. c. 13), when Jesus came up out of the water a great light shone around the place: a tradition to which the Benedictine Editor thinks the reading photon may refer. Justin M. (Dialog. c. lxxxviii.): "When Jesus had stepped into the water, a fire was kindled in the Jordan." Otto quotes the legend, as found in Orac. Sibyll. vii. 81-83:-- Os se Logon gennese Pater Pneum' ornin apheken, 'Oxun apangeltera logon, Logon hudasin hagnois Rainon, son Baptisma di' hou puros exephaanthes .