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Translated by Bl. Jackson.
St Basil the Great Resources Online and in Print
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88 Pages
Page 39
Baptism then symbolically signifies the putting off of the works of the flesh; as the apostle says, ye were "circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ; buried with him in baptism." [1011] And there is, as it were, a cleansing of the soul from the filth [1012] that has grown on it from the carnal mind, [1013] as it is written, "Thou shalt wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow." [1014] On this account we do not, as is the fashion of the Jews, wash ourselves at each defilement, but own the baptism of salvation [1015] to be one. [1016] For there the death on behalf of the world is one, and one the resurrection of the dead, whereof baptism is a type. For this cause the Lord, who is the Dispenser of our life, gave us the covenant of baptism, containing a type of life and death, for the water fulfils the image of death, and the Spirit gives us the earnest of life. Hence it follows that the answer to our question why the water was associated with the Spirit [1017] is clear: the reason is because in baptism two ends were proposed; on the one hand, the destroying of the body of sin, [1018] that it may never bear fruit unto death; [1019] on the other hand, our living unto the Spirit, [1020] and having our fruit in holiness; [1021] the water receiving the body as in a tomb figures death, while the Spirit pours in the quickening power, renewing our souls from the deadness of sin unto their original life. This then is what it is to be born again of water and of the Spirit, the being made dead being effected in the water, while our life is wrought in us through the Spirit. In three immersions, [1022] then, and with three invocations, the great mystery of baptism is performed, to the end that the type of death may be fully figured, and that by the tradition of the divine knowledge the baptized may have their souls enlightened. It follows that if there is any grace in the water, it is not of the nature of the water, but of the presence of the Spirit. For baptism is "not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience towards God." [1023] So in training us for the life that follows on the resurrection the Lord sets out all the manner of life required by the Gospel, laying down for us the law of gentleness, of endurance of wrong, of freedom from the defilement that comes of the love of pleasure, and from covetousness, to the end that we may of set purpose win beforehand and achieve all that the life to come of its inherent nature possesses. If therefore any one in attempting a definition were to describe the gospel as a forecast of the life that follows on the resurrection, he would not seem to me to go beyond what is meet and right. Let us now return to our main topic.
[1011] Col. ii. 11, 12.
[1012] cf. 1 Pet. iii. 21.
[1013] to sarkikon phronema. cf. the phronema tes sarkos of Rom. viii. 6. cf. Article ix.
[1014] Ps. li. 9.
[1015] cf. 1 Pet. iii. 21.
[1016] cf. Eph. iv. 5.
[1017] cf. John iii. 5.
[1018] cf. Rom. vi. 6.
[1019] cf. Rom. vii. 5.
[1020] cf. Gal. v. 25.
[1021] cf. Rom. vi. 22.
[1022] Trine immersion was the universal rule of the Catholic Church. cf. Greg. Nyss. The Great Catechism, p. 502 of this edition. So Tertull. de Cor. Mil. c iii., Aquam adituri, ibidem, sed et aliquanto prius in ecclesia, sub antistitis manu contestamur, nos renuntiare diabolo et pompae et angelis ejus. Dehinc ter mergitamur. Sozomen (vi. 26) says that Eunomius was alleged to be the first to maintain that baptism ought to be performed in one immersion and to corrupt in this manner the tradition of the apostles, and Theodoret (Haeret. fab. iv. 3) describes Eunomius as abandoning the trine immersion, and also the invocation of the Trinity as baptizing into the death of Christ. Jeremy Taylor (Ductor dubitantium, iii. 4, Sect. 13) says, "In England we have a custom of sprinkling, and that but once....As to the number, though the Church of England hath made no law, and therefore the custom of doing it once is the more indifferent and at liberty, yet if the trine immersion be agreeable to the analogy of the mystery, and the other be not, the custom ought not to prevail, and is not to be complied with, if the case be evident or declared."
[1023] 1 Pet. iii. 21.
Reference address : https://elpenor.org/basil/holy-spirit.asp?pg=39
