A Christ, who substantiates all things according to that by which He is understood to be God, holds fast that which He contains. B Ignorant that the identity of operation is merely significant of the connatural identity of the persons who are of the same nature.
OF SAINT HIPPOLYTUS BISHOP AND MARTYR SERMON ON THE HOLY THEOPHANY
A 1. The works of our God and Savior are surely all good, and very good; as many as either the eye sees or the mind thinks; as many as speech expresses or the hand touches; as many as the intellect grasps and human nature attains. For what beauty is more multiform than the celestial sphere? Or what appearance on the earthly soil is more flowering and variegated? What is swifter in its course than the solar chariot? What other chariot is more pleasing than the lunar star? And what is more worthy of admiration than the ineffable mosaic work of the stars? What is more fruitful for the yield of crops than timely winds? What mirror is purer than the light of day? What living creature is more preeminent than man? B Therefore, the works of our God and Savior are indeed all very good. But what gift is found to be more necessary than the nature of water? For there is nothing that is not washed, nourished, purified, and irrigated by waters. Water bears the earth, water produces the dew, it gladdens the vine; water brings the ear of corn to maturity, it rids the grape of its sourness, it softens the olive, it sweetens the date; water paints the rose with a red color, it pushes forth the flower of the violet, it nourishes the lily to be seen in its splendid calyxes. And why do I use many words? Without the nature of water, nothing of the things we see is able to consist; so necessary is it that, while other elements have taken their dwelling place beneath the vaulted heavens, the nature of water has taken its station even above the heavens. And the Prophet himself is witness to this fact, crying out: “Praise the Lord, ye heavens of heavens, and the water that is above the heavens.” C
A Nor does this alone establish the trustworthiness of the water, but also what is more venerable than all things: that Christ, the Creator of all, descended like rain, and was known as a spring, and was distributed like a river, and was baptized in the Jordan. For you heard just now how Jesus came to John and was baptized by him in the Jordan. O wonderful things! How is it that the infinite river which gladdens the city of God was washed in a little water? The incomprehensible spring, which causes life to sprout for all men and has no end, was covered by meager and temporal waters. He who is present everywhere and is nowhere absent, who is incomprehensible to angels and invisible to human sight, comes to baptism as it pleased Him. When you hear these things, beloved, do not understand what is said according to a natural sense, but accept what is put before you as a dispensation. Therefore, the very nature of the waters did not remain unaware that the Lord, in His love for mankind, was humbling Himself and working in secret. “For the waters saw Him and were afraid.” They were all but troubled and fled from their boundaries. Whence the Prophet, having seen this long before it happened, questions them and says: “What is it to you, O sea, that you fled? And you, Jordan, that you turned back?” But they responded and said: “We saw the Creator of all in the form of a servant, and, for we did not understand the mystery of the dispensation, we were shaken with fear.”
B C III. But we, to whom that dispensation is now known, adore His mercy, because He came to save the world, not to judge it. Whence also John, the forerunner of the Lord, having been taught and having understood this mystery which he had not known before—namely, that He was truly the Lord—cried out to those who had come to be baptized by him: “Brood of vipers, why do you gaze upon me so intently? I am not the Christ; I am a minister, not the master; I am a private citizen, not a king; I am a sheep, not the shepherd; I am a man, not God. I loosed the barrenness of my mother when I was born, I did not make virginity barren. I emerged from below, I did not descend from above. I bound my father’s tongue, I did not unfold divine grace. I was known by a mother, I was not signaled by a star. I am mean and the least, but there comes after me He who is before me; after me indeed in terms of time, but before me because of the inaccessible and ineffable light of His divinity. He comes who is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry; He shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. D I am subject to power, He possesses power by Himself. I am guilty of sins, He is the remover of sins. I inculcate the law, He brings forward the light of grace. I instruct as a slave, He judges as Master. I have the earth for a bed, He possesses the heaven.
A For He bestows the gift of adoption; He shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. Why do you give attention to me? I am not the Christ.
IV. B When John had said these things to the multitude, and the people waited with heads raised to behold some new spectacle with their bodily eyes, while the devil was also struck with amazement at such testimony from John; behold, the Lord is present, plain, alone, naked, without retinue, clothed in the human body as with a garment, hiding the dignity of His divinity so that He might elude the wiles of the dragon. And not only did the Lord come to John without royal guard, but also, as a plain man subject to sins, He bowed His head to be baptized by John. When he saw such condescension, John, stunned by the wonder of the thing, began to restrain Him, saying, as you have just heard: "I have need to be baptized by You, and do You come to me?" What are you doing, O Master? You are ordaining things out of order. I preached one thing concerning You, and You do another. The devil heard one thing, and sees another. Baptize me with the fire of the divinity; why do you wait for the water? Enlighten me with the Spirit; why do you await a created thing? Baptize me, the baptizer, that Your prerogative may be known. I, Master, baptize the baptism of repentance, and I cannot baptize those who come to me unless they have first confessed their sins. Even if I were willing to baptize You, what do You have to confess? You are He who takes away sins, and You wish to be baptized with the baptism of repentance? Even if I should endure to baptize You, the Jordan does not dare to draw closer to You: "I have need to be baptized by You, and do You come to me?"
V. What, then, does the Lord answer him? "Permit it now, for thus it becomes us to fulfill all righteousness." Permit it now, John, you are not wiser than I. You as a man look on; I as God foreknow. It behooves Me to do first, and thus to teach. I undergo nothing indecorous, for I am completely clothed in decorum. Do you marvel, O John, that I have not come with the insignia of My dignity? For royal purple does not befit a private citizen; but military attire befits a king: for have I not come against a tyrant, rather than to a friend? C But permit it now, for thus it is proper for us to fulfill all righteousness. I am the fulfiller of the law, I wish to leave nothing omitted toward the fulfillment of the whole, so that after Me Paul may be able to cry out: "Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes." Permit it now, for thus it is proper for us to fulfill all righteousness. Baptize me, John, so that no one may despise baptism. I am baptized by You, the servant, so that no one among kings or the powerful may disdain to be baptized by a lowly priest. Permit me to descend into the Jordan, that they may hear the Father’s testimony, and recognize the power of the Son. Permit it now; for thus it becomes every one
A of us to fulfill all righteousness. Then John permits him; and Jesus being baptized, forthwith ascended from the water; and the heavens were opened unto him, and lo, the Spirit of God descending in the form of a dove, and remaining upon him. And a voice from heaven saying: “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
VI. You see, beloved, what and how great were the good things we would have suffered the loss of, if the Lord had yielded to John’s entreaty and had declined the baptism? For the heavens were closed before this, the region above was inaccessible. Into the lower parts we had descended; but to the higher parts we did not ascend again. But was it merely the Lord who was baptized? He both renewed the old man, and again entrusted to him the scepter of adoption. For straightway B “the heavens were opened unto him.” A reconciliation was made between visible and invisible things; the celestial orders were filled with joy; diseases on earth were healed; things that were hidden were made manifest; those things which were in the number of enemies were restored as friends. For you heard the evangelist saying: “The heavens were opened unto him,” for the sake of three marvels. For the bridegroom Christ being baptized, it was fitting that the celestial bridal chamber should open its bright gates. Likewise, also with the Holy Spirit descending in the form of a dove, and the Father’s voice running through every place, it was fitting that the “celestial gates should be raised up.” And lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and a voice came, saying: “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
C VII. Beloved begets love, and immaterial light begets inaccessible light. “This is my beloved Son,” who appeared below, and yet was not separated from the Father’s bosom: he appeared and did not appear. For it is one thing that which appeared; indeed, as he appeared, the one baptizing was superior to the one being baptized. Therefore, the Father from heaven sent down the Holy Spirit upon the one being baptized. For just as in the ark of Noah the love of God toward men is signified by a dove, so also now the Spirit, descending in the form of a dove, as though bearing the fruit of an olive tree, rested upon him to whom testimony was borne. Why? So that the Fatherly voice also might be established as certain and firm, and that faith might be had in the prophetic prediction made many times before. What is that? “The voice of the Lord is upon the waters; the God of glory thundered, the Lord is upon many D waters.” What voice? “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” This is he who is named the son of Joseph, and is my Only-begotten according to the divine essence. “This is my beloved Son”: he who hungers, and feeds myriads; and who toils, and gives rest to those who toil; who has not where to lay his head, and yet bears all things in his hand; who suffers, and heals the passions; who is smitten with blows, and grants freedom to the world; who is pierced in his side,
A and corrects the side of Adam.
VIII. But apply your mind to me, I beseech you, with attention; for I wish to run back to the fountain of life, and to behold the fountain gushing forth with healings. The Father of immortality sent the immortal Son and Word into the world; who, having come to man, to wash them with water and Spirit; and having regenerated them to the incorruptibility of soul and body, breathed into us the spirit of life, and clothed us with an incorruptible panoply. If, therefore, man has become immortal, he shall also be God. And if he becomes God through water and the Holy Spirit after the regeneration of the laver, he is found to be also a co-heir of Christ after the resurrection from the dead. Therefore, I proclaim with the voice of a herald: Come, all you tribes of the nations, to the immortality of baptism. I announce life to you who are still dwelling in the darkness of ignorance. Come from slavery to freedom, from tyranny to the kingdom, from corruption to incorruptibility. And how, you say, shall we come? How? Through water and the Holy Spirit. This is the water joined with the Spirit, by which B paradise is watered, the earth is enriched, plants receive their increase, and animals are brought forth; and, to encompass all things in brief, through which man is regenerated and vivified, in which Christ was baptized, and into which the Holy Spirit descended in the form of a dove.
IX. This is the Spirit who from the beginning was moving over the waters; by whom the world is moved, by whom created nature subsists, and by whom all things receive life; who worked in the prophets, and flew down upon Christ. This is the Spirit who was given to the apostles in the form of fiery tongues. This was the Spirit whom David sought when he said: "Create a clean heart in me, O God, and renew a right spirit within my inward parts." Of Him Gabriel also said to the Virgin: "The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee." Through this Spirit Peter uttered that blessed voice: "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." C Through this Spirit the rock of the Church was established. This is the Spirit the Paraclete, sent for your sake, that He might show you to be a child of God.
X. Approach, therefore, and be regenerated, O man, into the adoption of a child of God. And how? you ask. If you no longer commit adultery, nor murder, nor worship idols; if you are not conquered by pleasure, if you do not allow the passion of pride to rule over you; if you wipe away the filth of impurity, and cast off the burden of sin; if you put off the armor of the devil and put on the breastplate of faith, as Isaiah says: "Wash yourselves, and seek judgment, rescue the oppressed, judge for the orphan, absolve" D