On the Sacraments

is the encourager, or he who teaches in doctrine, he who shows mercy in cheerfulness, he who presides in diligence, and so forth. "There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are diversities of administrations, but the same Lord; and there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God who worketh all in all." But how did God create creatures? How did He foreknow? How did He comprehend? Is it because they are created that things participate in the substance of God? Alas, what a wicked blasphemy! By no means; for that substance is incomprehensible, but He Himself, the supersubstantial Creator, by His own creative power, gave and grants to the things which He determined to exist, cares for them by His providence, and holds and preserves all things by His omnipotent, all-encompassing, and sustaining faculty; and there is nothing that does not participate in the power and grace of God. For we would not exist, nor would anything exist at all, unless it participated in the power of God. Whence every creature, whether rational or lacking mind, ^A even if it be devoid of sense, is endowed with the same divine power, and lives, and thinks, and moves, and speaks, and acts, and remains, and preserves whatever properties each thing possesses. Yet they do not participate in the nature of God; for one alone is God, superior to all natures, the omnipotent Trinity. These things we have explained to you on this matter, as we have understood them from the Holy Scriptures, piously and according to our own strength. ^B

Cleric. These things you have said are sufficient, Master, and they are enough to confirm all in Christ, especially since they are drawn from the Holy Scriptures. We therefore reject this latest and most wicked heresy, and with the other impieties and heresies, we condemn it with anathema. May the Day-spring from on high, Jesus Christ our God, visit us by His divine grace, and shine into our hearts for the illumination of the knowledge of Him, more clearly and more purely. But we beseech you, since we have received the true knowledge of the faith, to be taught also about the sacraments of the Church: how many they are, what they are, what the power of each of them is, and what we receive from them.

OF THE SACRAMENTS

Pontiff. Brother, what you ask is beyond my strength. But know that, moved by the sake of charity beyond the limits of diligence and humility, I have ^D said for your sake whatever I have said, trusting in this alone, that I was discussing these things from the Holy Scriptures. Now therefore

since you desire to learn about the mysteries of the ^A Church, I will speak to you also about these, as much as I am able, fulfilling the law of love. Do not, however, be satisfied with the things said by us, but taking whatever benefit you might perhaps find from these, always seek more, and draw near to those who have a higher and purer mind and question them; and you will not fail of what you desire.

*Cleric.* And for this, Father, we give thanks, that you have given us many occasions for humility. And may the Lord grant us, through your holy prayers, not to think beyond what we ought to think, but to think with sober judgment. Relate to us, we beseech you, the things concerning the mysteries.

CHAPTER XXXIII. That there are seven mysteries of the Church.

*Pontiff.* Since you ask, I will speak according to my ability in Christ. There are seven gifts of the Spirit, as Isaiah says, and seven mysteries of the Church acting through the Spirit. These are: Baptism, Chrism, Communion, Ordination, Matrimony, Repentance, and the holy Oil. I will explain each of these to you in a few words, although I have previously spoken of them obscurely, as was necessary, in the interpretation of the divine liturgy.

CHAPTER XXXIV. On Baptism.

Baptism, therefore, regenerates in the Spirit, since we lost our first impassible birth, and we were conceived in iniquities, and in sins, as David sings, has every one of us been brought forth by his mother. ^B

CHAPTER XXXV. On Chrism.

And the Chrism puts back the first seal and the likeness of the image, which we lost through disobedience; and further, we receive the grace which he breathes into the soul by divine inspiration. For this reason, it imparts the power of the Spirit, and pours forth his fragrance, of which it smells sweet. It is a sign and character of Christ.

CHAPTER XXXVI. On Divine Communion.

Communion truly unites one to the Lord Himself, and we truly participate in his flesh and blood. And since we died through food and were separated from paradise and from God, we receive eternal life again through the Communion, and, casting off corruption, we are united to the Immortal, who for our sake became mortal through the flesh. ^C

CHAPTER XXXVII. On Ordination.

Ordination provides power and the virtue of the Creator. And since nothing of the things that exist can be without Him—and He Himself came that He might lead us to blessedness—having taken up that power for our sake, He exhibits it to us by the aid of the priesthood, by which all the mysteries are brought to pass for us, so that nothing is holy without a priest. Moreover, having once established us from the beginning as princes of the visible things, again in the present mystery in a way...

^A he sets us up as rulers of things greater through the priesthood. Hence David also says, "You shall set them as princes over all the earth." For he has handed over to us the keys of heaven.

Chapter XXXVIII. Concerning Marriage.

Marriage is truly a gift of God ^B for the sake of procreation, so long as this universe remains subject to corruption. For God did not wish the unreasonable and impure concretion in us and in our seed to exist; but since we died voluntarily, he allowed the propagation of the race to function as it does in animals, so that we might know into what state we have fallen. And this is until the Incorruptible One shall raise up and make immortal the nature, having himself died and risen for us: therefore he himself blesses marriage, so that the beginning of our life may not lack a blessing.

Chapter XXXIX. Concerning Repentance.

Repentance, moreover, raises us up again after the fall. And since after baptism there is no other restoration ^C according to grace and gift, without struggles and labors—unless through turning back and tears, and the confession of sins and abstaining from evils—this great gift is given, in which the monastic habit is also introduced, as being a pledge of repentance.

Chapter XL. Concerning Holy Oil.

Holy oil is handed down as a sacred rite and a type of divine mercy, granted for the redemption and sanctification of those who turn back from sin. Hence it provides the remission of sins, raises one up from sickness, and fills one with holiness. All these things Jesus Christ our God has delivered, and through him his divine disciples. For since we consist of a double substance, namely soul and body, he has bestowed these things upon us in a twofold manner, as truly he himself became twofold for us, being truly God ^D and having truly become man, so that by the grace of the Spirit he might sanctify our souls intellectually; while through sensible things, both water and oil, and bread and cup, and the other things that are sanctified by the Spirit, he might sanctify our bodies and grant us complete salvation.

Chapter XLI. Concerning the Resurrection, or the Raising of Bodies.

He also, in order that he might restore us as perfect as he created us, will resurrect the dead; and he will re-establish us with the very same bodies in which we have lived and acted, so that we may receive what we have done. Since, therefore, he will raise us up perfect (for he created nothing in vain), he will by no means leave our body in corruption; for he created all things to exist, and he does not wish anything to perish; being a perfect God, and truly being alone as such, he also became man like us, having assumed a body with a rational and

and spiritual soul, that he might cleanse our spiritual souls and might fulfill them with the grace of the Holy Spirit, and that he might at once render our bodies incorruptible and sanctify them. Therefore, he has also given these mysteries in a two-fold way: sensibly, as they consist of visible things, yet accomplished by the Holy Spirit, and effective of divine grace for both souls and bodies. He has handed these down not only in words but also in deeds; and the Word of God, having first become flesh in himself, acted out of his love for man, that while he exists as the first-fruits of good things for us, we all who are his might receive [them] as though from his own spring. For this reason, he became man, that we might be united to him, and that we might be sanctified through him. For this Word of God is indeed the one who fashioned us from the beginning, and this same one is again the one who re-fashions us by the good pleasure of the Father and the cooperation of the Holy Spirit. For the Trinity is God, who made the whole, and who administers the whole, and especially us who had fallen—we who are the most precious of visible things and according to the image of God. The Word of God, therefore, the living image and seal and radiance, takes his own image, us, the rational animal, into himself. And he does not renew it through any other creature. For it is not even possible.

Clericus. And how, Master, was it not possible even through an angel? Pontifex. Not at all, since every creature is circumscribed, and does not reach everywhere, and does not possess the natural power to save. Even if it were able by grace, as if through an instrument, to bestow ^B grace, it could not be present to all, nor could it restore integrity to those who first labored. But how could he provide life, who is not life by nature? Or how could he remain immutable, who is not immutable by nature? Since some of them fell, and this without having been clothed in flesh. For this reason, it was necessary for him, naturally immutable, who is the Word that always is, that always lives with the living Father and with the life-giving Spirit, to be united to us mortals, that by his immutability and incorruptibility he might restrain our corruption, and, being eternal life, might drive death away from us and implant immortality. And, as he is everywhere present and eternal, he is able to save through his mysteries and his own [servants] who possess his grace, both those who died before, and those who believed in the time of his sojourn on earth, and those who after this shall believe until the end of the age. And he himself ^C acts and reaches throughout all things forever. Therefore, he also implanted his grace in us, that he might act through us. And we, indeed—many of us—are deemed worthy of the priesthood, and live in different places; but he is one, in heaven and on earth, and on the sea, and in everything, and reaches everywhere to all, and works all things through all. Which is possible for no created nature. Therefore, we also do not act when we perform the mysteries, but we minister only, or rather we serve. He himself, however, acts through us. Wherefore, even if six hundred priests offer daily and at the same hour, one is the body

^A and the blood, and one is the sacrifice, and not many, for the Word of God is living and active, and everywhere, and above all.

Cleric. Marvelous are the things you have said, Master, and they have brought the greatest joy to my soul, and have displayed more clearly the mystery of the incarnation of the Word of God.

CAPUT XLII. Why the Word of God united Himself not to the nature of the angels, but to that of men.

Pontiff. These things that are said, beloved, are not ours, but are excerpted from the Fathers, as you will find if you examine their discourses in many places. Furthermore, consider this so that you may have a perfect and at the same time true knowledge of the divine mystery: Why did the Word of God, when He willed to be joined to His creatures, not unite Himself to the ^B better nature—I mean that of the angels—which has, in a way, a certain affinity and kinship with Him because of its immateriality, but rather joined Himself to this nature of ours, which is corruptible and material? It was rightly done; the matter is indeed great and divine. For if He had been joined to the angelic nature, it alone would have partaken of His communion, and it would not have been saved (for it is already saved), but would only have been exalted and raised to a greater dignity, deemed worthy of the communion of God; but it would have profited the other creatures in no way, and they would have remained in corruption, especially the fallen human, for whose sake the creature was made, and through whom it fell into corruption. ^C Therefore, consider the wisdom of God, and the truly principal counsel by which, as I think, He made both the world and the angels and finally man out of nothing. For since He is good, for this reason He brought forth the creature, that the creature might partake of His benefits; for He Himself, since He is wealthy and rich and eternal, was in need of none of these things that exist, inasmuch as He is the supreme good. Since every creature of God is either spiritual or sensible, but man alone is composed of both—namely, of a spiritual soul and a sensible body—God assumes man alone, and is most closely united to him, having assumed human nature in Himself from the holy Virgin by the Holy Spirit, without sin; and receiving a body with a soul endowed with reason and will, He is joined ^D through His divine flesh to the sensible creature, and through His spiritual soul to the nature of the angels, and thus sanctification and grace flow rightfully not only into man, who is a spiritual soul and a sensible body, but into every nature. The rational nature of souls and angels is joined to God, perceives God, becomes a partaker of Him, and is greatly illumined by Him, receiving the divine light congruously from the holy soul of the Word, as being spiritual and rational. For now the angels contemplate that holy soul of the Savior according to its nature, and they gather a light even clearer from that invisible one; they are also filled with greater wisdom from the divine mind of the living Wisdom; and by a certain affinity they approach and draw near to it, and are filled with admiration, and the more they are deemed worthy of greater things, the more humble they feel themselves to be.

^A Following this, the sanctified souls of the saints likewise share according to their proportion. Now, the sensible creation, together with our bodies, through that holy and deified—or rather, to put it better, co-divine—flesh, which was sacrificed for us upon the cross and rose again and received incorruptibility, has obtained and now holds the first-fruits of immortality. And this whole creation, according to Paul, waits with longing for this incorruptibility. This, too, shall come to pass, when the incorruptible and living Word, with His own flesh now clothed in incorruption, is revealed to us at His second and most fearful coming; when there shall be ten thousand angels, trembling and struck with awe at His beauty and at the same time rejoicingly partaking of the glory which they receive from Him; and the elements shall be changed, and the righteous shall shine as the sun, receiving brightness from the Sun of Justice who has been united to us; ^B and thus we shall always be with the Lord. Have you understood the mystery, O man, as far as it is permitted for us to explain the incarnation of the Savior?

Cleric. I have meditated upon this and have been filled with wonder. Glory be to God, who has deigned to bestow such things upon us.

CHAPTER XLIII

That Christ Himself received the sacraments into His own person.

Priest. It remains for us to say now, as is necessary, how the Savior Himself performed the sacraments in His own person. And first, indeed, there is Baptism, the foremost of His spiritual gifts; He Himself was the first to be baptized in the Jordan by John, not because He stood in need of it Himself—for how could He who alone is pure need it?—but for our sake, that we might be purified and wash away the filth of the fall and of ancestral sin; for we who were formed from clay in the beginning, which is earth and water—our body being the image of the earth—are born again in holy water and Spirit along with the soul, and so we are born as a new and sinless man. ^C Second is the chrism, that is, the divine oil and myrrh, which the Savior received at His baptism when the Spirit descended upon Him in the form of a dove. And Isaiah says concerning this, as if from Christ Himself: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has anointed me.” Concerning this, Peter also says that God has made Him both Lord and Christ, namely, corporally, when the Spirit came upon Him. And that God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit, blessed Peter proclaims again from every side. But Paul says: “In Him, he says, dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.” This chrism, therefore, is the grace of the Spirit in its fullness, which, as it is said, He received humanly at His baptism, as it was also seen by John. ^D And this He had always as God the Word, inseparable from Himself, yet He also had it by grace once He had become incarnate, since His own connatural and inseparable Spirit was always with Him, and it was by the Holy Spirit that He constituted for Himself that divine flesh; yet He showed it also at His baptism as descending upon Him for our sake. For since He also submitted to baptism for us—seeing that He was Himself pure—it was so that, by being baptized,

we might receive ^A spiritual ointment; and this is more necessary at baptism. For no one who has not also received the ointment will be perfectly baptized. By baptism, indeed, a person is regenerated and his sins are washed away by the Spirit; yet he does not thereby possess the pledges of grace, nor the fragrance of life, nor the seal of the Spirit. Thus, just as there is a necessity to be baptized, so too is there a necessity to be anointed with the ointment. For this reason, ^B Peter and John laid their hands upon those who had been baptized by Philip—since they had only received baptism—and they received the Holy Spirit, which is the ointment. For the laying on of hands provided the ointment, as it happened in the case of the apostles and, through them, for many others. Then, the laying on of hands was the practice; now, in place of the hands, there is that which is sanctified and called the "great ointment." It is sanctified not by presbyters, but by patriarchs and high priests, through sacred prayers and blessings, possessing the power of Peter and John; and being sent to the ends of the earth, it possesses the power of the laying on of hands. And it is necessary for every believer to be sealed with this [ointment] in baptism, so that the most divine baptism ^C may find perfection in the one who has been baptized. For if our Savior received the Spirit when He was baptized, and if those baptized by Philip received the Spirit through the laying on of the hands of Peter and John, so that they might not be imperfect and unsealed by the Spirit, why then are believers, upon being baptized, obligated to be anointed with this ointment in their baptism, and not remain imperfect and unsealed—as are the firstborn among the Latins or some others—not receiving the grace of the Spirit, nor being marked with the mark of Christ? For the ointment is the seal of Christ in the Spirit. And the priest invokes this when sealing with the ointment, saying: "The Seal of the gift of the Holy Spirit. Amen." He, therefore, who has not received the ointment is without grace and unsealed for Christ. ^D The ointment, however, is not simply oil, but that which has been sanctified by prayers at the altar by the high priests of Christ—the successors of the apostles, or rather, those who are enriched with the power of Christ Himself. Furthermore, the ointment is not that which comes from the relics of saints, such as that from the body of the divine and myrrh-streaming Demetrius, or any other of the saints, as is rumored, or, among the Cypriots, that of the great martyr Mamas, or of a holy icon, such as the one called "Sitta," or that which flows from the oil of the lamps hanging by holy icons or relics. These are indeed venerable, and have divine grace, and provide cures, but they do not have the power of this most divine ointment; for this [ointment] is unique, and is provided through the high priesthood and the high-priestly prayers. And it is not performed simply, but is placed at the altar at the time of the liturgy, in accordance with the holy and great Thursday, being hallowed by prayers at the end of the liturgy, and perfected by the divine sign of the cross, just as the divine mysteries are. And just as there will not be the body and blood of Christ, which has not first been [consecrated] by the prayers of the priest...

so neither will that holy ointment be, which has been consecrated by neither priestly prayers nor by the most divine high priests.

By the power of this baptism and of this ointment, we are called and are Christians; and more especially by the ointment, which is also called chrism, since Christ is said to be anointed corporally by the Holy Spirit. And blessed Peter says this, as we have mentioned, and David himself: “Therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions.” That is to say, He filled You with all gifts (for You received the fullness of the Godhead), but your companions [received them] from a fountain, as it were, by analogy. Our Savior received the ointment in baptism, as the Holy Spirit descended upon Him; but when it behoved Him to suffer, He was again anointed with ointment—which He said was for His burial. Whence it was seen that, even while dying for us, He remained living, inasmuch as He is God; and furthermore, He retained in Himself, undivided, the living powers of the Holy Spirit.

CAPUT XLIV. That the Savior Himself celebrated the Eucharist by performing it.

That He Himself celebrated the consecration of His most holy body and blood by performing the Eucharist, and left it for us to celebrate, is an unshakable truth. “For this,” He says, “do in my remembrance.” And also that He Himself is a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek (in bread, clearly, and wine), never ceasing; and rather, an eternal priest, because He even offered Himself voluntarily on the cross, and still offers, and presents to the Father, and brings [Himself] as an offering, and lies as an everlasting propitiation for us. Whom we also have as a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God; and let us hold fast to the confession of Him. “For such a high priest it was fitting for us to have, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners, and become higher than the heavens, who was humbled for us sinners.”

CAPUT XLV. That the Savior was corporally ordained as priest and high priest.

That our priest and high priest, the Savior, was also indeed ordained, He Himself provided [evidence], since being the Word of God, He was made flesh for our sake, and was testified to by the Father, and was ordained by the Holy Spirit, just as Isaiah also prophesied: “A rod shall come forth from the root of Jesse, and a flower shall rise from the root. And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him,” and the rest. And observe how the things pertaining to the ordination, in such a miraculous and most glorious way, He received; although He is God by nature, and possesses omnipotence and every virtue and holiness—for He is the living Word of God, holy and omnipotent—yet for our sake He was also corporally ordained by the Father. And first indeed in baptism itself; for as He was then being baptized and having hands laid upon Him, as if He were being ordained, with John indeed raising his hand over Him, and He receiving the Spirit.

^A Yet He was ordained in a preeminent way by the Father, with the Spirit descending instead of a hand, and the Father Himself saying, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."

He received the ordination more clearly for the second time on the mount of the Transfiguration, for He Himself shone brightly with the light of divine glory, being the perfect Sun of righteousness; and He stood in the midst of that luminous cloud, which signified the Spirit, who was indeed always with Him. From that cloud, the Father at that time perfected Him also according to the flesh, bearing witness to Him at the same time and expressing His favor in Him, and proclaiming His own living Wisdom as teacher. For, "This again," He says, "is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." And He added, "Hear Him," which is indeed a token of doctrine. This, too, Christ Himself said when delivering it to His disciples: "He who hears you, hears me." Do you see, therefore, how He was ordained by the Father in the Holy Spirit?

CHAPTER XLVI

Learn now how He united and blessed marriage, as a minister. For you have heard that He Himself was present at the wedding in Cana. For He was born that, as a permanent companion to man, He might sanctify our generation.

CHAPTER XLVII

Yet He preferred virginity to marriage, since His Father is also a virgin, begetting Him impassibly and incorporeally. And His Mother, too, having given birth in the flesh to Him who is God incarnate, was a virgin and remained so, and still remains so, having brought forth without corruption ^C Him whom she conceived without seed. But also consider in your heart His wondrous and truly virginal and divine marriage; for the most beautiful Bridegroom desired our souls and loved us, as He said, and for our love laid down His soul and offered Himself to us as a dowry, and betrothed us to Himself in His own immaculate blood, as His pure Church; which the noble best man, Paul, proclaims: "I have betrothed you," he says, "to one husband, to present you as a chaste virgin to Christ." And the Bridegroom Himself, who is more beautiful in comeliness than all other sons of men, as He is pure and immaculate, testifies in the Gospels to those things that pertain to the weddings of this bright and splendid King's Son. He indeed accomplished those things that pertain to the marriage ^D in Himself and of Himself.

CHAPTER XLVIII

Wherefore also, he who is able and desires to be wed to Christ, who has even become a eunuch for the sake of the kingdom of heaven—as one desiring to receive this Word within himself—the chaste and thrice-holy Christ receives him marvelously, and is joined to him, and as pure

^A truth in him, and abides in him altogether. If, however, He so benignly bestows honor upon the marriage within Him, He does not therefore disdain the generation of children; for through this, says the most divine Paul, some can be saved, for he says, "She will be saved through the bearing of children." For Christ Himself became a child, though impassibly, and was praised by children, and He blessed and embraced children; but fornication and adultery He repelled, even to the glance and the movement of the heart. The Sodomites, on the other hand, He consumed with fire from the beginning, and He teaches that they are still being punished. For He says that it will be more tolerable in the day of judgment for Sodom and Gomorrah than for those who did not receive the preaching; so that for such, along with the ungodly, the punishment is eternal. But after He had thus acted and taught concerning marriage, He performed certain works of repentance and confession in Himself.

Clericus. Regarding the former things, holy master, we have profited sufficiently, having heard what is necessary, and especially how He, who alone is by nature all-powerful and alone holy, was ordained; and how he has betrothed, and how the unstained and pure Lamb came to marriage most holily, being united to His saints in divine and fervent love. But how He who is without sin should have come to repentance, we are at a loss to know.

CHAPTER XLIX.

Pontifex. You have spoken well. Yet He does not come for His own sake, but for ours. For He Himself took our iniquities and bore our infirmities. He did not, therefore, repent, but He taught the things of repentance. And He said this first, knowing our susceptibility to slipping: "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." For how should He who alone among men is blameless repent? Or rather, He who alone is holy and pure? But He taught repentance for our sake. For, He says, "I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." Therefore, He did not refuse to eat and drink with publicans and sinners. And for this reason He was reproached by the Jews, yet He graciously received harlots. For they would fall at His feet, and pour ointment upon His head, and wash His feet with tears, and wipe them with their hair. And the Canaanite Greek woman He did not send away. The woman caught in adultery He did not condemn, but only told her not to sin anymore; and the informer and robber, who had eagerly and manifoldly ^D restored his injustice; and the covetous man and tax collector, having abandoned tax collecting; and the murderer, and that a thief, whom He converted with but one word upon the Cross; and the one who had denied Him three times, and that one, His chief disciple, whom He looked upon only as he wept, and whom He acknowledged again three times in love; and the blasphemer and persecutor, I mean blessed Paul, whom He turned toward godly zeal. And through all these, and the parables He told, of the prodigal and

others, He set forth for us the works of repentance and performed them.

CHAPTER L. That Christ performed the works of penance for our sake.

^A In Himself, indeed, Christ performed the works of repentance, even though He was exempt from them, that He might show us the way of repentance and humility. For He fasted, and He prayed, and He lived soberly, humbly, and continently, being nourished by barley loaves and small fishes. And often He appeared not to have bread, yet for those who accompanied Him He multiplied the few loaves by blessing them; He also traveled on foot, and was a wanderer, and had not, as He Himself said, where to lay His head; He bore insults, and reproaches, and stonings; and He did not return evil, but rather did good; and finally, He was betrayed by a friend and suffered at the hands of His own servants, for whom He was struggling; and He endured being slandered, and spat upon, and buffeted, and stripped, and scourged, and condemned; and finally, as if He were a guilty man, He was put to death upon the cross with robbers, though He Himself was the Lord of all. Whence also He was called a curse, that He might dissolve the first curse upon us and provide a blessing. And dying at the end, that ^B He might grant the gifts of repentance both to the living and to those in Hades. For even there He saves those who have believed. And having risen, He bestowed upon the whole inhabited world the resurrection and restoration through repentance. For through this, both the unbelieving and the unclean, having been turned toward faith and the holiness of Christ, and toward purity and virginity, appeared as angels; and even until now Christ saves, both drawing the unbelievers to faith—even if they have committed myriads of evils, granting the gift of forgiveness through baptism—and saving those believers who have sinned through confession, and tears, and contrition, and mercy, and other good works, by which they approach Him to the extent they are able.

Chapter 51. That because of penance, the grace of binding and loosing was granted to bishops, and this by Christ.

^D For which cause He also granted to us men the power to loose and to bind, first bestowing this grace upon the apostles from Himself. For He breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit; whose sins you shall remit, they are remitted to them; and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained," that men coming with a humble heart to confession, after they have first departed from sins through sincere works of repentance, might truly obtain the grace of remission. And this Christ continues to provide even until now; and this same power of the Spirit, working in the priests, is able to make manifest to all those who have been loosed and those who have been bound after death.

CHAPTER LII.

In this repentance is included the most holy habit of the monks, which is indeed called angelic, as it imitates and professes their innocence, poverty, hymns, prayers, obedience, and purity. It is also called a garment of repentance, as being mournful, humble, and frugal; as being simple and divorced from all human finery; as being not only unmixed with all worldly thoughts, words, and deeds, but also tending toward the dissolution and flight from worldly affairs. For it is a symbol of a life above the earth; it teaches that everything seen, and everything temporary among men, is corruptible. It meditates upon the wisdom from above, philosophizes, and remembers death and the end. It is therefore black in color, since it calls to mind death and sorrow; yet it does not live in this life, but aspires to another, incorruptible life, and hastens to run toward it. Wherefore, if any one is a true monk, according to Paul, he loves Christ even from this life, and nothing can separate him from the love of Christ; he desires to be dissolved and to be with Christ. This he shows by his deeds, by fleeing into deserts, mountains, and solitudes for the love of Christ. He strives to be with Christ, so that Christ may dwell in him with the Father and the Spirit. Hence, he zealously imitates the whole life of Christ; he humbles himself, he becomes poor, he is obedient, he cares for nothing here below, he is crucified to the world, and he professes ^B to preserve virginity, to possess nothing, to devote himself to fasts, prayers, and supplications, and to persevere in these and like things even unto death, and bears all things for Christ. These are all works of repentance. And every faithful person ought to persevere in these, except for virginity alone, which pertains to the monks. For monks—and those in the world who have not yet been joined to a wife, and everyone who has professed it—ought to observe this especially. Or rather, every faithful person, and especially he who has fallen into sin (and who is it that has never fallen?), ought to follow in the steps of the Lord and perform the works of repentance. This is what the Baptist—who first, after Elijah, put on the habit of repentance—taught, saying: "Bring forth fruits worthy of repentance," and "Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand," ^C prescribing to each one the conduct appropriate to him.

CHAPTER LIII.

For the Savior and our God, after He... ^D

had given the great gift of repentance and had announced it through the prophets and the Forerunner, and through Himself and His disciples, later also showed and delivered the holy habit itself in like manner through the apostles and Himself, saying: ^A "If anyone wills to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me." And that no one among all the believers might understand this only as that which all the faithful are alike bound to do—namely, to profess the faith even unto death, as they who ought to follow Christ, who bore witness to the good confession of the Father and of Himself and of the Spirit under Pontius Pilate—but rather that this commandment also concerns those who are bound to perform the testimony according to conscience, which is the life according to Christ, and most especially the mode of life of the monks; hear what He says to Peter, who had said: "Behold, we have left all, and followed Thee." For He makes a promise, saying, "You who have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man shall sit on the throne of His glory, you also shall sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel." This belongs ^B to the pontifical grace which He bestowed upon His disciples. Then He adds: "And everyone who has left houses, or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake and the Gospel's, shall receive a hundredfold, and shall inherit eternal life." This is undoubtedly the life of the monks. And indeed, this saying is fulfilled also in martyrdom, for many of them, having abandoned all things, died for Christ; but it is manifested in a particular way in the mode of life of the monks, which the Savior Himself also lived, as did His disciples. For He Himself was a virgin and poor, though He was rich; and He prayed on the mountain, and became obedient to the Father even unto death, even the death of the cross; and He did not do His own will, but the will of the Father who sent Him, and this He kept even unto death, saying: "Yet not my will"—that is, of the flesh—"but Thine be done"—for the divine ^C will was not one thing and the Father's another, but one and the same. And everywhere He delivered to us the life of the monks, saying: "He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me," and, "He who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me." And, "Whoever does not renounce all that he possesses cannot be my disciple." And to the young man: "If you wish to be perfect," He said, "go, sell what you have, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me." This is surely not the life of martyrdom, but the monastic life. And to him who said, "Permit me first to go and bury my father," what did He who taught these things say? "Honor your father and your mother." ^D In order to lead us to the more perfect life, namely, the divine life of the monks, He persuades us here to renounce even our parents, and in the most urgent matters of all. Why this? Because God, who created us, is to be honored above all others; and if we desire to live for Him and according to Him, we need not be anxious about our own kinsmen according to the flesh, because pre-

^Asidiously [Latin: providentially] He will care for those whom we leave behind for Him, through others.

CHAPTER LIV

What is the meaning of the saying in Matthew 8:22: "Leave the dead to bury their own dead."

Now, however, He restrained him, saying: "Leave the dead to bury their own dead," in order that He might snatch him away to incorruptible things and unite him to the immortal angels, while he also proved himself an imitator of their zeal. You are not dead, He says; and therefore, regarding your dead parents who are being dissolved, do not be anxious any longer.

CHAPTER LV

What is the meaning of the saying in Luke 9:62: "No one who puts his hand to the plow..."

And to another who wished to say farewell to those who were in his house—that is, to his wife and the others—what does He say? "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of heaven." You have begun, He says, not a human tilling, but you are tilling in heaven. You will not be fit if you turn toward temporal things. And learn what things you are exchanging for your house and those in your house: the kingdom of heaven. We find, then, that the Lord Himself lived according to the way of the monks, and handed it down. Such also was the life of the apostles, whom He urged not to have two tunics, nor a staff, nor a wallet, nor sandals, and the rest that belongs to the monastic life. And He did not merely strengthen the work with words and prayers alone, as He did for teaching, but He also sent them forth blessing them. And He gave them power when He sent them out against unclean spirits, and to cure every disease and every infirmity, which at that time was not only in the apostles, but also later in the saints, and especially in the ascetics. That this was a rite from the beginning, and a mystery of monastic perfection, even from the apostles themselves, the great Dionysius bears witness, who, after the other sacred rites, writes also of the mystery of monastic profession. They are mistaken, therefore, who say that the habit is something more recent, and that it does not derive its origin from the Savior or from His apostles. For it has been shown how Christ our God handed this down to us, as did His disciples. For it was fitting that the mystery should be handed down from the very beginnings of the monastic order, and that the monastic habit should be one thing, and the worldly garment another. And the divine Dionysius says this. But that which is written in the stories of the Fathers concerning the holy Pachomius, that the habit was later given to him by an angel, is well and truly written. For certain signs of the habit were given to him, bearing a more perfect doctrine than the former habit. For as the things of piety began to advance little by little, and the good order ^B of the Church became greater, and the things of the liturgy and of baptism were being composed more brilliantly, and—

the sequences and orders of psalmodies and prayers by holy men moved at times by the Spirit, and the monastic habit, for the sake of better order and dignity, was shown to Pachomius by an angel. ^A And the tunic is a more reverential garment; then the girdle and the clavus, then the cowl, and the pallium, and the sandals, and the mantle, which provide a symbolic concept of certain divine things. These are seven in number, just as there are seven vestments of the high priest, bearing witness to the most perfect life, derived from the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit. But we shall speak more clearly of these, when we also speak of those things which pertain to each mystery.

CHAPTER LVI.

That the mystery of the holy oil, or oil of prayer, was delivered by the Savior.

Now, however, it is incumbent upon us to speak of the seventh of the mysteries, that of the holy oil, how it was delivered to us by the Savior, how He Himself was also anointed with oil—not for His own sake, but for ours, just as He made use of other mysteries—and what power He finally bestowed upon it. He delivered it, indeed, at the time when He sent out His apostles two by two before His face; and going out, He says, they preached that they should repent. Do you see also how these works of repentance are perfected by oil? And they cast out many demons, and they anointed many sick people with oil and healed them. Behold, the consecrated oil is delivered to those practicing repentance; and it heals the sick, caring not only for bodies, but for souls as well. ^B And of this, Theadelphus bears witness, saying: "Is anyone among you sick? Let him call the elders of the Church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith shall save the sick one, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he has committed sins, they shall be forgiven him." From this, another opinion of the innovative Latins is also destroyed. For they say that the holy oil ought not to be given to those who have hope of life, but only to those who are dying, since it contains within it the power of forgiving sins; in a manner contrary to the apostolic traditions, as in all things, so also in these, they are ^C thinking and acting. For the Apostle (Theadelphus) crying out, "And the Lord shall raise him up," they say that this is to be delivered to those who are not being raised, and they limit the remission of sins to the oil alone; although this remission of sins is always granted through confession, and is always perfected by this holy oil, and by the communion of the body and blood of Christ and our God, to those who come solely by repentance. And that the Savior was also anointed with oil for us, one may learn from the ointment with which the harlot who approached Him anointed Him: not she who was near to the passion, Mary, the sister of Lazarus—a woman also to be held in honor—and that myrrh, as he says, was being poured out for His future burial, when even that woman who was in the house of Simon the leper, if indeed she is another, cannot also be Mary; and this in the pas-

- ^A sion season happened, and at His burial, as He Himself says. But this ointment which the woman described in Luke brought—she who also watered His feet with tears and anointed them and wiped them with her hair—is certainly the oil of repentance, rightly offered to Him by the sinner, through which she too, being anointed by the hair with which she wiped His feet, received the forgiveness of numberless sins, as the Gospel itself clearly subjoins. For the Lord narrates to the host Simon first the parable of the two debtors, of whom one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty; and when the debt was remitted to them, which of the two, He asks, will love the remitter more? And when Simon had said, "He to whom He forgave more," the Lord said, "You have judged rightly." And turning to the woman, He said to Simon, ^B "Do you see this woman? I entered into your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has watered my feet with tears. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. Therefore I say to you, Her many sins are forgiven, for she loved much; but to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little." Do you see that this signifies the holy oil? Being contaminated by sin, we approach men of God; and repenting, we make confession of our transgressions. By their command, we offer holy oil to God as a type of His mercy and kindness, in which the divine and joyful light of His grace also shines forth. For we also offer lights. ^C But when the prayer is added, and the oil is consecrated, those who are anointed with the oil find the forgiveness of sins, just as the harlot also, having anointed the saving feet, was herself anointed thence.

CHAPTER LVII.

How also does oil in the divine and greatest chrism bear the seal of the Spirit, and oil in the oil of those who are repenting and are infirm likewise? Because both there and here the oil holds the place of divine mercy. ^D For there, in the chrism, it signifies salvation for us and redemption from death, and the seal of the vivifying and gracious Spirit, by whom we have also been rescued from the flood of sin. Therefore, at the time of the flood of Noah, the dove, acting in the place of the Spirit, by carrying an olive branch in its mouth, was signifying salvation. And also in the flood of sin, through the baptism of the Lord, the Spirit descended in the form of a dove, testifying to the divine mercy and grace. And here too, as we have said, this oil, being brought as a type of the divine mercy towards us and sympathy, is consecrated, and through it we draw down the mercy of God. Are these things sufficient for the demonstration of the holy mysteries of the Church, or do you have need of more?

y, is consecrated, and through it we draw down the mercy of God. Are these things sufficient for the demonstration of the holy mysteries of the Church, or do you have need of more?

Cleric: These are sufficient, master, and we have no need of others. Yet we entreat you to set forth each of the mysteries, and to unfold the sacred symbols to us, and to teach us the power that belongs to each of the rites being performed.

^A Pontiff: This, brother, as we have already said, is above us, and pertains to a higher virtue and wisdom. For if even Dionysius and Maximus approached such sacred things with such trembling and fear—which it is not my place to recount—how shall it be possible for us to discourse upon such matters? Yet since it is expedient to trust in God, who can do all things, and who Himself provides for the faithful according to their faith and according to charity, and teaches them that He Himself is charity; since, moreover, we speak for your charity, we have confidence that our mouth will be opened to bring forth speech. And behold, we endeavor, out of obedience in the charity of Christ, to fulfill your request. Regarding each of the sacred symbols, we shall speak whatever we have heard from the most holy Scriptures; and we shall say what our Fathers have taught us, to the extent that we have been able to attain knowledge. And first we speak concerning divine baptism, since ^B among us it holds the first place among the mysteries. Furthermore, before baptism is conferred, carnal birth is allotted to us, and hence it must be said what prayers ought first to be performed in that regard. For just as we are born in the flesh, so are we led to regeneration through the Holy Spirit; and the Church of Christ, being spotless and sanctified in Christ, immediately in the faithful purifies our sin and our carnal birth.

CHAPTER LVIII

Why the priest offers prayers over a newborn infant.

When an infant is born of a pious woman, the priest is called, and he glorifies God, giving thanks that a man has been born into the world; and by the impression of the Lord’s cross, he blesses the newborn, and prays that it may persevere to receive both baptism and chrism. As for those things which pertain to salvation, while the mother prays, he brings grace and purification to her and to the women who are with her, ^C and grants them the faculty to sanctify their works, and in no way to be hindered, whether by communicating with the unclean, or by doubting through the fallacious appearances of sin, since they once produced a birth of uncleanness and pleasure, which some truly proclaim to be the beginning of corruption and death, as indeed it is.

CHAPTER LIX

An exposition of the individual things that are performed before baptism, in baptism, and after baptism.

Furthermore, he who has signed the water with the sign of the cross as a prelude to divine baptism, sprinkles the house; and having signed the infant on the forehead for the sake of the mind, and on the mouth for the sake of speech and breath, and on the heart for the sake of the vital power, so that he may remain preserved ^D for the saving baptism, these things having been thus completed, he proceeds...

nte signato propter mentem, necnon in ore propter locutionem et spiritum atque in corde propter vim vitalem, ita ut servatus maneat in salutarem baptismum, his ita perfectis, egre ditur. ^A On the eighth day, the infant is brought by some to God, and before the doors—for it has not yet been sanctified by baptism—the priest signs it again on the forehead, the mouth, and the breast; and he gives it a name through a sacred prayer, whatever name the parents may wish, with which it is also baptized.

Chapter 60. That the Lord also received a name on the eighth day and was called Jesus.

Just as this happened with the Lord—for on the eighth day He was circumcised and called Jesus. We, however, do not have circumcision; for the Savior has fulfilled the things of the law for us, and has delivered us from legal servitude. But He has given another circumcision in the whole of nature: divine baptism, which does not cut off the flesh but cleanses sins. ^B Each of the infants, like Jesus Christ, is baptized in its own name. And yet, not all are baptized in the name of John and Mary, as some who are simple-minded and ignorant have said. Circumcision at that time was on the eighth day for the Jews. But we faithful receive our name on this day, because the eighth day is a renewal. For when the week has been completed, which this life possesses, being circled by seven days, it begins again on the eighth. This is a sign of the resurrection, and a preamble to eternal life. For on the eighth day the Lord also rose again, and we hope for the final day of eternal life, which shall have no end, as we are taught. ^C In this eighth day, therefore, the Jews used to be circumcised, according to the males only, as being imperfect, they who were signed on the member of pleasure, themselves also bearing witness to the resurrection through the eighth day, and in being circumcised, signified that the pleasure of the flesh would one day cease, and that there would be a life incorruptible, and not worked through the flesh; but they neither understood this, nor did they discern the true circumcision, the putting away of sin, which is holy baptism. For this teaches us ^D to be wholly incorrupt and unharmed, and not maimed in any part; for he who is circumcised in the flesh is maimed, and does not bear about the integrity of nature; and because it is not possible to be born without sin from pleasure, therefore He did not wish us to be generated from pleasure; but to us, through baptism, it shall be given to be born, not of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. This is to be reborn through the laver of regeneration. Whence, on the eighth day, the infant receives its name, just as the Savior was called Jesus, a name of salvation; and having been signed and having received a holy prayer, as one brought to the Lord, and having had its forehead signed with the cross, as I said, because of the intellect, its mouth because of the faculty of speech, and its heart because of the life-giving power, and having been inscribed in the eternal book through the name given to it, it is returned to its mother. On the fortieth day, it is again brought by its mother to the temple, and this is offered to God as a gift. For the priest, standing before the doors of the temple (for it is not lawful to enter before the prayers) with the mother and also the infant signed and sanctified by prayers, grants to the mother purification from the shameful [nature of] pleasure—

her forty-day period after the birth having been completed, in which the infant also was perfected and began to leap. And after having granted her entrance into the temple, for hitherto she was not worthy to enter or to partake of the Pure One—the priest himself taking the child into his hands, representing Simeon embracing the Lord, [and] crying out the "Now lettest thou depart," ^B praying that the infant might be released from sin and see the light, Christ, the revelation of the gentiles and the glory of the new Israel, himself also born of the Spirit, and gazing upon God face to face. And if the infant has been baptized, he brings him into the sanctuary and carries him around it, as if performing an act of worship, showing that he is an offering to God, and he worships the Creator. But if the child has not yet been baptized, standing before the columns, and having performed an act of worship in the sanctuary through the infant, and having returned him to the mother, he dismisses them. Hence, therefore, the infant becomes a catechumen; ^C but the mother has received permission, as having been purified, to enter both the temple and to participate in the mysteries whenever she is ready and desires. And these things are thus.

CHAPTER LXI. Consideration of those things which are performed in divine baptism.

Now learn those things which pertain to the most holy baptism. First of all, know that there is no prescribed day or hour for this, lest the infant should pass away without the illumination of the sacrament; but if death is feared, everything is done immediately upon birth according to the rule, provided that there is attention, and a pious and holy priest. And if the time allows, and death is not feared, baptism is conferred immediately after the sacred service, ^D so that the infant may communicate in the mysteries. ^A And concerning this, Dionysius says that all the mysteries perfect us through communion; for this is the end of all. Indeed, the priest ought to study the sacred prayers well and to say them with attention, and slowly, unless there is some necessity, so that he may be heard as he pronounces them. For we have learned from the Fathers that those who are often terrified by phantoms suffer this because the priests who baptized them said the exorcisms and the other sacred prayers without mental attention. Therefore, if there is the ability, it is necessary to say the words of the exorcisms and the other prayers not just from the beginning, but many times. For in the Euchologion it is written to be recited eight or ten times, ^B because there was an ancient custom of the Church, according to which these were said by the catechizing priests to those being baptized, daily for seven days, and on the eighth day again by the chief priest, or the priest who was to baptize; and thus they were baptized by the chief priest or the priest. We have indeed seen pious priests saying these three times without omission, and thus baptizing. The most divine baptism is performed in this manner. The one to be baptized is brought forward; if, indeed, it is an infant, carried by a woman, and with the sponsor present; but if he has age, he is [brought] by those who are with him, since it is necessary that he approach willingly, and the sponsor also...

^A with him. For he himself is his guarantor before Christ, so that he may keep the matters of the faith and live as a Christian, and the name itself signifies this; for a sponsor (anadochos) is, as it were, taking [the responsibility] upon himself.

CHAPTER LXII.

That the sponsor of the baptized must be orthodox and pious.

Here indeed we must pay close attention to ensure that sponsors are chosen who are friends of piety and almost teachers of the faith. But I have heard of something extremely absurd and grave: for some, for the sake of human convenience, call upon persecutors and revilers of the faith, even atheists and heretics, ^B to serve as sponsors for their own children! Alas! These people spurn the mystery, and do not bathe their children in light, but rather shroud them in darkness; and the officiating priest reveals himself as a participant with the enemies of God. And how could one who blasphemes against piety teach it? But “what partnership has light with darkness? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever,” as it is written? He who does such things is condemned; and [so is] he who receives the infants of the impious, unless they first confess that the baptism is holy and divine, and that it cleanses from sin, regenerates in Christ, and that he who receives it becomes a Christian (for if this is the case, while one may confess that the infant will be a believer, but another perhaps conceals it out of some fear, it is good to receive and sanctify the infant, lest he be caught by God in such a state). The person being baptized ^C therefore stands with the sponsor, showing that he has approached willingly, and he has a guarantor. And once the priest has pronounced the blessing, one must give thanks to God from the beginning and always for the salvation of him who was lost. Immediately, the priest thrice breathes crosswise upon the catechumen, who is naked and stripped of his garments, clad only in a loincloth. By this breath, he rekindles that first inspiration in Adam, concerning which it is said: “And he breathed into his face the breath of life,” and the priest figures Christ the God; therefore, it is good to baptize and to breathe upon [the candidate] after the communication of Christ. He breathes three times on account of the Trinity, since the grace and operation is common to the Trinity; but he breathes in the form of the cross on account of the one from the Trinity, Christ, who was crucified for us and suffered in the flesh, and who won the victory through the cross. Wherefore the sign of the cross signifies His sacrifice, His humility, and His victory, because through it He dissolved the pangs of death, destroyed him who held the dominion of death, namely, the devil, and triumphed over the opposing ^D wicked powers. By this same cross we also overcome the devil in Christ, and we put the demons to flight. And the cross is the sign of the Savior, and a seal, and a trophy. Having, therefore, breathed three times upon the catechumen, the priest again signs him three times with his hand with this sign of the cross, because of the verse, “Thy hands have made me and fashioned me,” and on the forehead, as I said above, on account of the mind; and on the mouth, on account of speech; and on the heart, on account of the vital power, he lays his hand upon him as one consecrated and acting in the Spirit, and recites the sacred prayers. But before

^A he breathes upon him and signs him, as has been said, he unbinds the girdle and strips the catechumen of his garments, and presents him bareheaded and barefooted, facing the East. What does this signify? That he who approaches God, and already beholds the true light, which the East signifies (for from thence the light comes), must be free from passions, loosed from unbelief, and stripped of all malice, estranged from the garment of sin, and proclaiming his servitude to God. For this reason, then, he stands naked. Furthermore, this form of nakedness testifies that man became naked through sin and lost the garment woven by God. For as he approaches to cast off the filth of sin and unbelief, so that he may become wholly new, and put on the form of the new Adam, and return to a state better than that which he had before, he exhibits this nakedness, testifies to his disgrace, and so, standing, is cleansed, seeking transformation.

But so that we do not, by lengthening our discourse, cause satiety to the ears, let us now speak summarily of the matter at hand. The pontiff and priest baptizing, represents the Lord, who in all things does all things, since he also bears His power, He who first created and now again recreates; the one being baptized, however, represents the fallen Adam, since the very coming forward indicates the freedom of his will. But if an infant is brought by some believer, it signifies that he is brought in faith and not by necessity, and the sponsor acts as surety both for the faith and for the life. By being stripped of his garments and girdle, he stands showing that he desires to cast off all malice, to be absolved from the bonds of sin, and that he approaches Christ naked of error and corruption, while also showing that he was made naked, having lost the former robe, which he now comes to put on more brightly through baptism.

And he looks towards the East, seeking the true light, which is the Trinity, and Christ, who is one of the Trinity, incarnate, who came from Theman, that is, from the East, seeking also the paradise from which he fell, which was planted towards the East. He is breathed upon by the pontiff on account of the first in-breathing, for he is being renewed. He is breathed upon three times on account of the divine action ^B of the life-giving Trinity. For by It man was created and is recreated. He is signed by the hand of the pontiff with the sign of the cross, because the hands of God-the Son and the Spirit-fashioned us. The cross is the sign and trophy of Christ; for being victorious through it, He overthrew the demons; and now, through it, the cross being depicted, the demons flee. ^C First he is signed on the forehead, so that the one being initiated may be sanctified in his mind, with error put to flight. Second, on the mouth, so that he may be sanctified in speech and confess the truth. And third, on the chest, so that he may be pure in heart, see God, hide nothing, and act and remain in Him. Afterwards the pontiff blesses God, for it is fitting to bless Him for the finding of him who was lost and for the salvation of man. Then follows the laying on of hands for the communication of grace and renewal. The first prayer is made in the name of the Trinity; for through it the one baptized is offered to God alone and is sanctified, and it is requested that he may always confess the name of the Trinity. ^D

^A Likewise, it is requested that the name of the Trinity remain in the one being baptized, and that he be perfected by holy baptism, by Chrism, and by divine Communion. The second prayer, moreover, is an adjuration, repelling and driving away the devil and all his activity by fearful and divine names and mysteries; it drives him and his demons from man, and commands him to flee from him and not to trouble him any further. Similarly, the third prayer—which is also an exorcism—drives away the demons by the divine name. ^B The fourth prayer, again, is one referred to God, entreating him to drive the evil one away entirely from his divine creation and to strengthen him in the faith. Wherefore he immediately makes a fifth prayer, which is more necessary, and through it he commits the baptized person to God. In this prayer, again, there is breathed into him a second element, which is the more solid work, whereby his coming to life and renewal are signified. And he signs him thrice again upon the forehead, the mouth, and the breast, on account of his mind, his word, and his life—and furthermore, the mind, the word, and the Spirit are the Trinity, our God, who brings him to life and restores to him the image according to which he was created, which he had lost. ^C “And cast out from him,” he says, “every evil and unclean spirit, hidden and lurking in his heart.” For demons dwell in the souls of the unbaptized, wishing to lead them astray and to defile them. And they are able to do this because of that transgression. Wherefore they dwell openly in the hearts of those who have not been initiated and are unbelievers, and they defile them and stir them up toward things hateful to God. At the end of the prayer, the renunciation and the commitment take place in this manner. The archpriest turns the one being baptized toward the west, by which darkness is signified, in which the devil is. He commands him to lift up his hands withal, showing that the one baptized has nothing of the evil one hidden within ^D himself, and that he is beginning to imitate Him who was crucified for our sake. And he is commanded by the archpriest to say: “I renounce Satan, and all his works,” and the rest. And the one being baptized performs the renunciation of the evil one, and the complete rejection of his works. And he says this three times, for the confirmation of the renunciation of the enemy; and also out of a desire to flee the evil one with his whole soul, and further in honor of the Holy Trinity, who confirms and perfects all things. Having asked again three times, “Hast thou renounced Satan?” and the one being baptized having agreed three times, and having said, “I have renounced,” that is to say, “I have denied and cast away the evil one,” for it is necessary that the renunciation of evil be manifest and stable, the archpriest “breathes upon him,” he says, that is, “root him out from your heart, cast him away from your heart, and treat the enemy with ignominy”; this he does three times so that the renunciation of the evil one may be firm, and to the glory of the one God in Trinity who drives away the evil one. Afterward, he turns him toward the east, for he leads him to the light out of darkness, from falsehood to the truth. And the pontiff says: “Say, ‘And I believe in one God, the Father Almighty,’ and the rest”; for it is fitting that he should confess the light as the shining sun three times, so that he may receive its illumination in his heart. Therefore, he proclaims the whole of the sacred Symbol clearly with his mouth. This he also does three times, corroborating the confession, and at the same time, as we have said, in praise of the Divinity in three persons. This is manifest.

confess that he proclaims the truth, and it is necessary to preach this openly before angels and men, through whom he will be saved; it is also necessary to proclaim the God of all openly, I mean the consubstantial Trinity, the only truly existing God, but also the incarnation of one of the Trinity, the Word of God, which took place for our sake from the Virgin. ^A This having been done three times, and having been interrogated again three times, "Do you confess Christ?" and having answered three times from the heart, saying "We confess him," the pontiff adds, "And adore him." And being signed with the cross by his hand—which signifies the confession and manifestation of Christ—after he has adored three times, showing servitude and true obedience along with the confession, he turns toward the east. The pontiff blesses God, who desires all men to be saved; for so it is necessary to give thanks for all things, and especially for the salvation of men. And thus taking the catechumen by the hand, as if finding one who was lost, he leads him into the temple, as if into heaven or into paradise, showing that he is leading him back to the Lord who had lost him. Expressing the joy, moreover, with which he rejoices with the angels over a sinner doing penance, he says while chanting, "Rejoice, full of grace," ^B and enters. For she is the cause of saving joy, the saving gate, who dispensed salvation to us, and brought forth the true joy to the world, the Word of God incarnate from her, in a holy and virginal birth for our restoration. Further, likening himself to Simeon, the pontiff brings the baptized one into the sight of the altar, indicating that he is offering him; he also commands him to adore God three times, since he has returned into the grace of God through conversion, just like that prodigal son, and [is approaching] the dignity of sonship and incorruption, the first robe of the Spirit, to which nothing better or more excellent has yet come, through divine baptism. But so that the conversion and confession may be certain, the pontiff also calls for a sponsor, whom he commands to adore the altar three times, in which God dwells, ^C thereby demonstrating that he gives his word to carefully keep the baptized one in the faith and in a pious manner of life. Then, if an infant is to be baptized, the sponsor takes him having bowed before the sacred doors, as if from the hands of Christ. If, however, he is of age, he takes the baptized one from his hand, signifying the same thing, namely that he is receiving him from Christ, and that he has become his surety before Christ, and will be his spiritual father. Whence, taking him, he leads him to the sacred font, showing that the initiate comes willingly, and not by force, to baptism, and he leads him also to the witnesses—namely, first and foremost God, then the pontiff and the standing faithful, who all are witnesses of the mysteries, the sponsor himself who is bringing him, ^D and especially the divine and most holy angels who are invisibly present and rejoice over the salvation of the one baptized in spirit, and who in the heavens ascribe to him, now having become acquaintances and friends through the cleansing obtained from the divine bath and the seal of the ointment. Therefore it is then necessary that almost all the faithful be present with piety and joy, and to believe that the angels stand by who rejoice over a sinner

^A who repents, and that at that time the one being baptized is committed to a holy guardian angel. And this one will always be with him, driving away the envious demons and every assault of the most deceitful enemy, if only the baptized person keeps the baptism pure by faith and works, and saves it for the kingdom of heaven. Because the work of most divine baptism is ^B greatest, for this reason formerly the Church, through the high priests in the catholic churches, used to perform the baptisms of those approaching, and at the time when we sing in the divine liturgy, “As many as have been baptized into Christ,” and especially on the Great Sabbath before the divine liturgy, with several readings read from the divine prophets. Since most holy baptism is regeneration, and restoration, and purification, and illumination, and adoption as sons, and grace, and sanctification, and ten thousand other things, as the Fathers say. It especially typifies the death of Christ, and the third-day resurrection. ^C Which that time also represents more clearly. For from the death of Christ and the three-day burial and the resurrection, we have received immortality and incorruption, and we expect that future resurrection and restoration and eternal life, of which Christ has become the firstfruits, who alone being without sin, suffered for us sinners, and though he ought not to have died, as having committed no sin at all, he died for us. For sin is the sting of death, as Isaiah and Paul say, or rather the beginning, root, and author. But Christ himself, although he had not committed sin, nor ought he to have died, died for us; and for this reason, having abolished death, he has risen, and has loosed our passions and condemnation, having suffered—he who is impassible—by his own self; and having been made the leader of our life, he was taken up into the heavens. ^D And those who have put on him in baptism, we expect him from heaven, when he will raise us up and will bestow altogether incorruptibility, the pledge of which he has already given through baptism. Likewise also at every time it is necessary to baptize, lest perhaps some misfortune happens and someone dies unsanctified, that is, without baptism, and there will be great loss from this; for whoever has not been baptized will not be saved. It behooves, however, as much as possible, for baptisms to be performed with solemnity and power, and for the priest to be diligent and sober, for he works the greatest work of God, namely the restoration of man. But let us return to the subject. With the pontiff leading, the sponsor brings the baptized person to the holy pool, as he approaches willingly. The pontiff stands by, representing Christ himself, having his power, and the pool is filled with water, expressing the Jordan. Lights are also kindled by which the illumination of the Spirit is shown, and because the baptized person comes from darkness to light and now becomes a son of light. Around the altar the pontiff burns incense, signifying the good odor and sanctification of the Spirit, who washes away all the stench of sins, for the Spirit is holy. Then the pontiff blesses and celebrates the kingdom of the holy Trinity, one God, for she alone reigns, and now having snatched the regenerate one from the evil one, she has reigned.

^C When the deacon has recited the prayers of peace and the supplications, and the people have cried out, "Lord, have mercy," for truly a great mercy is dispensed there, in the adoption as a son of him who was previously a sinner and an enemy, the pontiff prays on his own behalf with his own mouth, asking to find purity and propitiation from God, lest while he cleanses others, he himself be found defiled by sins. He also asks for the power and grace to minister at the mystery well and in the appropriate manner. For it is a great mystery, with the angels standing round, with Christ bestowing the form upon the waters, with the Holy Spirit arriving, and with the baptized person—once polluted, a sinner, unclean, an enemy, and corrupt—now becoming holy, ^D pure, a son of God, and incorruptible. Oh, the great grace! Oh, the gift of God! Oh, the immense beneficence and grace towards us! Therefore, when the prayers are completed, the pontiff, rising from his prayer, cries out, "You are great, O Lord, and Your works are wonderful." He repeats this three times, praising the trinity of the Godhead and magnifying the benefactor. Then, directing his prayer to the Son of God who was incarnate for our sake, and recounting all His wonders from the beginning, he brings to remembrance His mystery and His incarnation from the Virgin by the Spirit, and His baptism in the Jordan, by which He refashioned us, having crushed the heads of the dragons upon the water, as the Prophet says. For this reason, he implores Him to be present through the descent of the Holy Spirit and to sanctify the water; for the Son is indivisible from the Father and the Spirit, and the grace is common to them. And the pontiff blesses and celebrates the kingdom of the holy Trinity, one God, for she alone reigns, and now having snatched the regenerate one from the evil one, she has reigned.

^A And he seals the water three times with his hand in the form of a cross, imprinting Christ upon it. And he prays that he may make it a fountain of incorruption, and so forth. Then, after a little while, he breathes into the water a third time, infusing into it more abundantly the divine grace, imitating Christ, and [reciting] that, "The Spirit of God was moving over the water," ^B to be a witness from the beginning for the sake of baptism. And he seals it again with his hand, imprinting the cross, and says, "Let all the adverse powers be crushed under the mark of the sign of Thy cross." And he says the remaining things, so that the water may be spiritual and holy, and that nothing of the evil one may remain hidden in it, but rather that it may be opposite to him and a pursuer of him, and [that it may possess] the power to recreate, to sanctify, and to adopt those who are baptized in it, and to make them children of light.

Having thus prayed, and having given peace—which is Jesus Christ, for Christ, the peace that surpasses all understanding, is present there—the hierarch, having received the peace, and having bowed his head, again prays by himself in silence, calling upon the peaceful and quiet Jesus, who is everywhere, saying, "Thou who camest to the Jordan and didest sanctify the waters, receive us also who fall down before Thee as servants, and sanctify these waters and us, and let them be for us for the health of soul and body." ^C And standing up, showing that Christ raised us who had fallen, he praises [God], having proclaimed this as the sanctification of all. Then, therefore, the font is full of the Spirit, and the water is holy, and it bears Christ invisibly within itself.

But since it is also necessary that the type of the divine mercy be present, holy oil is also brought into operation. For the water signifies the washing and cleansing, and it has already been sanctified; but the oil shows the divine mercy and the cheerfulness of His kindness. This is also provided for those wounded and bruised by the common enemy, as Christ says in the Gospels. This was also shown in the case of Noah. For a dove came ^D to those who were in the water, even while they were still with the ark, bearing an olive branch in its mouth. And the water was a prototype of baptism, but the dove [was a type of] the Holy Spirit; and the olive branch which it carried in its mouth was a token of mercy and of the infinite kindness of God. Whence also here, in baptism, holy oil is brought forward.

It is sanctified as follows: it is brought by a certain clean vessel to the archpriest or to the priest, if the archpriest is not present; and he breathes upon it. And he seals it three times with his hand in the form of the cross, by the breathing declaring the grace of the Spirit which the archpriest received from Christ through the divine breathing upon the Apostles, and by the cross imprinting Him who was crucified for us, who through the cross accomplished our salvation. Wherefore the cross itself is also perfection, and without the cross nothing of the divine [mysteries] is performed. Then, having bowed his head, he prays that the oil be sanctified by the Holy Spirit, by Him who also sent the branch of the olive through the dove to Noah, and who gave this oil in the Law, and provided it to the Apostles. Having finished the prayer, and having given thanks, he pours the sanctified holy oil first into the water in the form of a cross, three times, [while singing] the much-sung song, Alleluia.

CAPUT LXIII. What the meaning of Alleluia is.

This song, the Alleluia, the prophets inspired by the Holy Spirit used to say. It signifies the coming of God, and the [phrase] "God comes, and praise Him," ^A was set forth and chanted prophetically, because the Lord was about to come, both according to His first and His second coming, and [because He was] about to send His grace always to us in the Holy Spirit. Wherefore the Church, having received Christ, and awaiting Him from heaven as we have said, always sings this song. The divine Dionysius says that oil is poured into the sacred font; but now oil is poured.

^A as a prelude to the myron; the myron is afterwards. It is possible to consider that the holy Dionysius calls this oil "myron" as a prelude to the myron, so that through this the one being baptized receives the beginning of sanctification, and is anointed for the divine struggles, and afterwards is strengthened completely, perfected, and sealed by the most perfect myron of grace. Therefore, he mentions both of these in baptism. The high priest, after he has sanctified the oil, perfects the one baptized. But what need was there later to anoint the one being baptized with myron, if the myron was in the baptism? From this oil, therefore, he himself first anoints the one already about to be baptized, saying: "So-and-so is anointed with the oil of gladness in the name of the Trinity." Gladness is the property of the Spirit, who saves us graciously and joyfully. For David cries out: "Restore to me the gladness of Thy salvation, and establish me with Thy princely Spirit." Then from the head, by some deacon or minister, the whole body is anointed. For he is being made ready completely for the divine struggles; for he did not approach so that he might fall, but that he might imitate Christ, whom he puts on, and fight against the evil one, and struggle as a man; for those struggling in the flesh formerly anointed their bodies with oil. ^B Then, therefore, he is led into the water entirely naked, just as he was born and just as the first man was fashioned. But the latter indeed had that divine garment at first, and though he was naked, he was not ashamed; but now, having been born naked in the flesh, he bears the signs of the shame of the transgression. However, having entered the holy water, he casts off the shame of sin, and receives the glory and the garment of incorruptibility. For the high priest or the priest, taking hold of him by the head—where all the senses and the ruling faculty are active—and having submerged him in the water once, cries out: "The servant of God, [Name], is baptized in the name of the Father," and immediately draws him up. Then he submerges him again, saying: "And of the Son." And again he draws him up. And having submerged him a third time, he says: "And of the Holy Spirit." And in this way he brings him up perfected by the most divine baptism, ^C at once through the holy Trinity renewing and perfecting him, and proclaiming the three hypostases in one Divinity; for by saying "in the name"—which indicates the uniqueness of the Godhead—and then "of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit," he makes a confession of the three divine, indivisible, and unconfused persons; and at the same time through the three immersions and emersions, he signifies the three-day burial and the resurrection of Him who for our sake was crucified in the flesh and rose again. ^D

CHAPTER LXIV. That the formula, "The servant of God is baptized," differs from the formula, "I baptize the servant of God."

He says: "Is baptized," not "I baptize," as the Latins, who introduce innovations in this matter as well; the high priest bears witness to the voluntary nature of the one being baptized. For the words "I baptize" do not indicate that the one being illuminated is baptized voluntarily. For it is possible that by some coercion, and against his will, a baptizer might immerse one who is being baptized.

The expression "is baptized" ^A signifies also the voluntary action, and it is understood thus: "by me, the bishop or priest, is shown the work both of the agent and of the one God in Trinity, whose name is clearly invoked upon the one being baptized." Thus, therefore, the one who has been reborn and baptized emerges as entirely new and illuminated, and a Son of God from the sacred font, our spiritual mother, which stands in place of the pure and holy virgin womb. For just as Christ [was born] of the Virgin, in order to cleanse the defiled state of birth, so we too [are born] of the pure font; and just as there the pure blood and holy womb of the Virgin effected the incarnation of the Word in the Holy Spirit, so too within us the clean water of the font and the divine Spirit have accomplished the pure regeneration. Moreover, just as there, at the baptism of the Savior, the Spirit descended to show that the whole fullness of the Godhead dwelt bodily in the Incarnate One, so too in us the anointing of the myron takes place after baptism, so that we also may receive the grace of the Spirit. For, he says, "From his fullness we have all received, and grace for grace."

CAPUT LXV. What does the chrism, or myron, confer upon the baptized?

Wherefore, he immediately anoints him with the holy myron, which is not oil alone, but is also composed of many other fragrant substances, representing also in symbols the omnipotence and the varied and manifold operations of the gifts of the Spirit, and the fragrance of His holiness. This is therefore given to us also as a seal and sign of Christ, since Christ is so named for this very reason, that He had the whole power of the Spirit bodily within Himself from the Father. And Isaiah says this: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me." And we, having received grace from Him in the myron, are called Christians and are anointed ones of the Lord; for He does not disdain to call us such—since He calls sons of God by adoption him who is Son by nature, and gods by grace him who is God by nature, and christs/anointed by grace him who has the grace of nature within himself, inasmuch as He is the Word of God the Father and is indivisible from the Spirit. The bishop, therefore, anointing the one already baptized, says thus: ^B "The seal of the gift of the Holy Spirit. Amen." Thereby showing that the chrism is a sign of Christ, since the one being anointed is anointed in the form of a cross, and [the bishop] bestows the gift of the Holy Spirit.

CAPUT LXVI. That every one baptized and anointed has within himself the divine gifts, to be revealed in due time, except for the priesthood.

For the one who is baptized and anointed has the divine gifts within himself by power, and these are revealed to him in due time, according to the measure that he cleanses himself and proves himself worthy for [God] to work these things within him—except for the divine priesthood alone. For that, as a peculiar gift and the sole work of God, [is granted] by

the laying on of hands. And no one shall perform any of the sacred offices ^B, even if he be a worker of miracles, without the laying on of hands. Yet to perform healings, and to prophesy, and to be pure in both body and thoughts, and to live truly in virginity, and to pray continuously and without distraction, and to be warmed and moved toward divine love, and to be deemed worthy of divine illuminations and sacred revelations and heavenly mysteries and such things, and to become almost like the angels, as indeed many have become—this can happen even without the laying on of hands. Many, through the grace from baptism and the myron, have possessed and do possess the power to attain, and are deemed worthy of, such things. And this much regarding that matter.

Furthermore, before the chrism after baptism, the high priest, while the baptized one is being clothed in a tunic which has been blessed by him, offers thanks to God, praising Him for the salvation of the one regenerated by water and the Spirit. Then he beseeches that he may be deemed worthy of the chrism, and through it of the gift and holiness of the divine Spirit. For he is shown to be holy and marked with Christ, and is made recognizable to the angels by the divine myron, and is not easily conquered by the enemies, if only he remains vigilant. He also prays that he may partake of the communion of the mysteries, and no longer be a child of the flesh, but a child of the kingdom of God.

CHAPTER LXVII. Why those being baptized are tonsured, and clothed in a cowl and a humeral veil.

After the chrism—that is, the most holy myron—he tonsures the hairs of his head in the form of a cross, ^C both because he has Christ as his head and ought to pray with his head uncovered, as Paul also teaches, and also because he performs this in the manner of a seal, for he tonsures him in the form of a cross so that he may cast away every superfluous thought. For this reason monks are also tonsured. And every believer ought to reject things that are superfluous and not as necessary for the uses of life. Moreover, the hair of the baptized person is offered to Christ as the first-fruits and sacrifice of the human body, for they are like an incense of the whole body. Therefore the hierarch, taking them, does not cast them wherever chance leads, but places them in a holy place.

Thus, then, the baptized man having been clothed in a tunic, and anointed, and tonsured, and receiving a cowl on his head—which is precisely called a head-covering, the tunic indeed showing innocence and new infancy and purity, but the cowl representing the protection which is from God and the guarding of the senses, for most of the senses are gathered in the head—then also wearing a white tunic, which is also called an humeral veil, in sign of the divine light and of angelic purity, for the baptized is made a son of light and has been shown to be entirely untainted and pure, he stands thus perfected. If he is of age, he himself carries the candle in demonstration and glory of the most divine light; but if he is an infant, the sponsor carries it in his stead, and the chanters of the Church sing: 'Who

^A 'Who in Christ are baptized,' while the high priest, having finished the remaining prayers, that the grace of baptism may remain unstained for the baptized, and the seal indelible, and the tonsure for the protection of the senses, and having prayed for many other things for his salvation, and having glorified God, takes the baptized one again, rejoicing, from the hand of the sponsor who accompanys him. And having made a procession, as if dancing and singing together with the angels, he circles the font three times, rejoicing in the spiritual mother and in the one born from her in the Holy Spirit. And he sings along with the chanters the 'Who in Christ are baptized.' Then the 'Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven,' and the rest of the Psalm ^B of the chanters, while he himself precedes the baptized one, bringing him before the altar, and there makes him a partaker of the fearful communion.

CHAPTER LXVIII. That the end and purpose of baptism and chrism is the communion of the mysteries.

This is indeed the end of every mystery, that being delivered from error and the filth of sin, and having become pure and signed by Christ in the Holy Spirit, we may communicate in the flesh and blood of Christ himself, and be most intimately united to Him. For this is what He says through the Prophet: 'I will dwell in them and walk among them'; and what He himself prayed for to the Father, saying, 'That they may be one even as we are,' and, 'Behold, I am with you always, even unto the end of the days.' Since until that time He will be with us invisibly through the mysteries. But then He shall be seen as He is, as the Beloved says. And for this reason He was incarnate ^C of the Virgin, that He might be united to us. And for this sake He was crucified, and poured out His blood for us, that we might communicate of it. And before the cross, by the holy ministration, He gave the mysteries, that He might be with us, and that we might be partakers of Him, both now and in the world to come, and that we all might partake of His benefits, because He loved this. And His Father so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, that all who believe in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. And for this reason He similarly participated in flesh and blood, that we might have communion with Him; for this is the true God and life eternal, as the Beloved apostle says again. To that true light be glory unto the ages. Amen.

The high priest then, after distributing the communion ^D to the baptized one, having given thanks to the Saviour, and having dismissed and blessed the baptized one with the sponsor, withdraws; but the baptized one goes to the house, escorted with lights as a son of light; and those who escort him sing, 'Who in Christ are baptized.' For the baptized one has put on Christ in himself, and Christ is formed within him; and the grace of the Spirit has descended upon him. He who ought to pray and to put on the sacred vestments, namely the hood and the linen cloth—which is also called luminous—and it was a prior garment which the illuminated, or baptized, used to put over themselves until the seventh day.

the eighth day, because they ought to be vested in it on account of the holy chrism, and not wash it off at all; but they should wipe their hands upon these garments, as one who is sanctified. After the seventh day, which signifies the end of this sevenfold life of misery, he must approach the temple and the priest, and be washed by him. The priest, with holy prayers, washes him with a sponge and water in those places on the head and hands where he had anointed him with the most holy myrrh, but not upon the other parts of the body. For the baptized person himself washes these in a secluded place, so that none of those holy things—I mean the water of baptism or the myrrh—may be dropped and trodden underfoot. Therefore, he who has reached the age of reason should be admonished by the priest to be vigilant, to pray, to assemble in the temples, to remain pure, and to participate assiduously in the mysteries; for this is true life. But if it is an infant, let its mother be cautioned regarding the same, and let her be instructed to bring the infant to the priest after the seventh day to be washed, to have it washed by her over its whole body, and for the water of the washing to be poured out in a secluded and clean place. And the garments in which she wrapped the infant during the seven days she ought to wash separately, and bring the infant ^B assiduously to the communion of the mysteries; for thus it will be better preserved and increased by Christ.

CHAPTER LXIX. Against the Latins, that one ought not to bar infants from communion.

Nor is it right to neglect this, as some foolishly say, in this matter also innovating, nor to remove infants from communion: "For they do not know," they say, "what they partake of." O insane and discordant statement! And why then do you baptize? Or why do you anoint with myrrh? Nay, the Latins do not even anoint, as we have learned, after baptism; and everything for them is contrary to the Catholic Church. But he who thinks rightly, just as he himself offers the infant to God in faith and makes the confession through a faithful sponsor, and the baptized infant is regenerated into the kingdom of heaven, and is anointed with myrrh and perfected, and if it dies, it becomes a citizen of the kingdom of God, so also let it be brought by a faithful person to communion, since this is eternal life. And just as «he who has not been born again of water and the Spirit shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven,» so also «he who has not eaten the flesh of the Son of man,» as the Lord Himself said, «and has not drunk His blood, shall not have eternal life.»

These things regarding the divine baptism I have spoken and written to you, my dearest ones, according to my ability; and you receive them according to your own. There will be higher discourses for you from those who are higher in divine things; for these things we, being humble, have written for your sakes who asked us, and perhaps for the sake of others who do not investigate everything, ^D nor do they know the reasons at all for those things which occur; for which reason we shall also speak to you about the remaining mysteries, just as you have requested.