Homilia exhortatoria ad sanctum baptisma

Homily 13. Exhortation to Holy Baptism. The wise Solomon, distinguishing the seasons of life's affairs and assigning to each event its proper time, said: "For all things there is a time, and a season for every matter: a time to give birth, and a time to die." But I, slightly altering the wise man's declaration, would say, proclaiming to you the saving message, that it is a time to die and a time to be born. What is the reason for this reversal? Because he, discoursing on things subject to generation and decay, following the bodily nature, placed birth before death (for it is impossible for one not first born to experience death); but I, about to speak of spiritual regeneration, set death before life. For by dying to the flesh we attain being born in the spirit, as the Lord also says: "I will kill, and I will make to live." Let us therefore die, that we may live. Let us kill the mind of the flesh, which cannot be subjected to the law of God, so that the mind of the spirit may become strong in us, through which life and peace naturally arise. Let us be buried with Christ, who died for us, that we may also rise with him who procured resurrection for us. Now, different times are suitable for different things: there is a time for sleep, and a time for waking; a time for war, and a time for peace; but the time for baptism is the whole of human life. For it is no more possible for the body to live without breathing than for the soul to exist without knowing its creator. For ignorance of God is death for the soul.

The one who is not baptized has not been illuminated. Without light, neither can the eye see its own objects, nor can the soul receive the contemplation of God. Every time, therefore, has a suitable opportunity for salvation through baptism—whether you speak of night, day, an hour, a moment of time, or even the briefest instant. But it is evidently much more fitting that the most appropriate time be chosen. What could be more akin to baptism than the day of Pascha? For the day is a memorial of the resurrection, and baptism is a power for resurrection. Therefore, on the day of the Resurrection, let us receive the grace of the resurrection. For this reason, the Church summons her own children from afar with a lofty proclamation, so that she may then give birth to those whom she has long been carrying, and, having weaned them from the words of catechesis, she may give them a taste of the solid food of the doctrines. John proclaimed a baptism of repentance, and all Judea went out to him. The Lord proclaims a baptism of adoption; and who among those who have hoped in him will not obey? That baptism was introductory; this one is perfective. That was a departure from sins; this is a drawing near to God. The proclamation of one man, John, drew all to repentance; but you, taught through the prophets: "Wash yourselves, become clean"; admonished through the Psalms: "Approach him and be illuminated"; evangelized through the apostles: "Repent, and let each of you be baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you will receive the promise of the Holy Spirit"; and taken up by the Lord himself, who says:

Come to me, all who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest (for all these things have come together today for the reading). Do you hesitate and deliberate and delay? Catechized in word from infancy, have you not yet assented to the truth? Always learning, have you not yet come to knowledge? A trier throughout life, a spy until old age, when will you become a Christian? When will we recognize you as one of us? Last year you awaited the present occasion, now again you await the coming one. See that you are not found making promises longer than your life. You do not know what the coming day will bring; do not promise what is not yours. We call you to life, O man; why do you flee the call? To a share in good things; why do you pass over the gift? The kingdom of heaven is opened; the caller is truthful; the road is easy, there is need of no time, no expense, no business; why do you delay? Why do you shrink back? Why do you fear the yoke, like some heifer unused to the yoke? It is gentle, it is light; it does not chafe the neck, but glorifies it. For the yoke is not bound around the neck; it seeks a willing puller. You see that Ephraim is accused, like a heifer in heat, because it wanders disorderly, dishonoring the yoke of the law. Submit your untamed neck; become a beast of burden for Christ, so that, freed from the yoke, you may not, while living without restraint, be easy prey for wild beasts. Taste and see that the Lord is gentle. How can I announce the sweetness of honey to those who do not know it? Taste and see. Experience is clearer than any word.

The Jew does not put off circumcision because of the threat, that "Every soul which is not circumcised on the eighth day shall be cut off from its people." But you put off the uncut circumcision, accomplished in the stripping away of the flesh, perfected in baptism, having heard the Lord Himself: "Truly, truly I say to you, unless one is born through water and Spirit, he will not enter into the Kingdom of God." There, pain and wound; here, dew of the soul and healing of the heart's wound. Do you worship the one who died for you? Then consent to be buried with him through baptism. Unless you become united with the likeness of his death, how will you become a partaker of the resurrection? That Israel was baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, handing down the types to you and characterizing the truth to be shown at the end of the times. But you flee from baptism, not typified in the sea, but perfected in truth; not in a cloud, but in the Spirit; not into Moses the fellow servant, but into Christ the maker. If Israel had not passed through the sea, it would not have been separated from Pharaoh. And you, if you do not pass through the water, you will not be separated from the bitter tyranny of the devil. That one would not have drunk from the spiritual rock if he had not been typologically baptized; nor will anyone give you the true drink unless you are truly baptized. That one ate the bread of angels after baptism; but how will you eat the living bread if you do not first receive baptism? That one entered the promised land through baptism.

But how will you return to paradise, not having been sealed with baptism? Or do you not know that a fiery sword has been stationed to guard the path of the tree of life, terrible and blazing for the unbelieving, but for the believing it is approachable and shines with longing? And the Lord has made it turn: for when it sees a believer, it turns its back; but when it sees one of the unsealed, it meets them face to face. Elijah was not terrified by the chariot of fire and the fiery horses that came to him, but with a longing for the journey above he dared the fearful things, and with great joy he mounted the fiery vehicles, while still living in the flesh. But you, who are not about to mount fiery chariots, but to ascend to heaven through water and Spirit, do you not hasten at the call? Elijah showed the power of baptism at the altar of the burnt offerings, having consumed the sacrifice not by fire, but by water. In other respects, the nature of fire is opposed to water; but because the water mystically

Then for the third time it was poured over the altar, and the fire began, kindling the flame as if with oil. "Take water jars," he says, "and pour them on the burnt offering and on the kindling." And he said, "Do it a second time," and they did it a second time; "Do it a third time," and they did it a third time, the word showing that through baptism the one being presented is made familiar to God, and that a pure and heavenly light shines in the souls of those who approach through faith in the Trinity. If they were distributing gold in the church, you would not have said to me, "I will come tomorrow, and you will give tomorrow," but you would have demanded the distribution immediately, pressing and complaining about the delay. But since it is not the beauty of matter but the purity of the soul that the great giver offers you, you invent excuses and count up reasons, when you ought to run to the gift. O the wonder! It renews without being melted; it reshapes without being broken; it heals without pain, and you do not consider the grace. If you were a slave of men, and freedom was proclaimed for slaves, would you not have met the day, hiring advocates and appealing to judges, so that by every means you might be set free? You would even have accepted a slap, the last of the slaves' blows, for the sake of release from subsequent tortures. But since you, being a slave not of men but of sin, are called to freedom by the herald, so that he may release you from captivity, make you a fellow citizen of the angels, show you to be a son of God adopted through grace, and an heir of the good things of Christ, you still say it is not the time for you to receive what is given. O the wicked obstacles!

Oh the shameful and unending preoccupation! How long with pleasures? How long with delights? We have lived a long time for the world; let us now live also for ourselves. What is of equal value to the soul? What is of equal weight to the kingdom of heaven? Who is a more trustworthy counselor for you than God? Who is wiser than the wise? Or who is more beneficial than the good? Who is more akin to you than the Creator? Not even for Eve did it turn out well to be persuaded by the counsel of the serpent rather than by that of the Master. Oh the absurdity of the words! "I have no time to get well; do not yet show me the light; do not yet join me to the King." Are you not saying these things outright? Or rather, things even more irrational than these. But you, if you were enrolled among the public debtors, and cancellations of debts were announced for those liable, and then someone was attempting, to your detriment, to deprive you of this remission, you would be indignant and cry out, as one being robbed of your share of the common grace. But since not only remission of the past but also gifts of the future have been proclaimed, you, wronging yourself in a way that not even any of your enemies would have injured you, think you have deliberated fittingly and considered advantageously for yourself, you who do not accept the remission but die in your debts? And this, knowing that the debtor of ten thousand talents would have obtained remission, had he not himself renewed the exaction against himself by his inhumanity toward his fellow servant.

We must also guard against suffering this, when we obtain the grace, not releasing our debtors so that the gift may remain secure for us. Enter into the treasury of your soul, stir up the memory of your deeds. If your sins are many, do not be disheartened by the multitude; for where sin has abounded, grace has superabounded, if you receive the grace; for to one who owes much, much will also be forgiven, so that he may love more. But if your sins are small and trivial, and not unto your death, why do you agonize over the future, you who have borne the past not ignobly, even when not yet educated by the law? Now consider your soul as if standing on a balance, drawn on one side by angels, on the other by demons. To which will you give the inclination of your heart? What will prevail with you: pleasure of the flesh or sanctification of the soul? Enjoyment of present things or desire for future things? Will angels take you up, or will those who hold you back detain you? In a battle formation, the generals distribute the watchword to those under them, so that friends may easily call upon one another, and so that against enemies, if they become intermingled in the clashes, a clear separation may be possible. No one will recognize you, whether you are ours or of the adversaries, unless you provide affinity with the mystic symbols, unless the light of the Lord's face is marked upon you. How will the angel claim you? How will he take you away from the enemies, if he does not recognize the seal? And how will you say, "I am of God," if you do not bear the identifying marks?

Or do you not know that the destroyer passed over houses that were sealed, but in unsealed ones he slew the firstborn? An unsealed treasure is easily attacked by thieves; an unmarked sheep is plotted against without risk. Are you young? Secure your youth with the bridle of baptism. Has your prime passed? Do not lose your provisions, do not lose your safeguard, do not think of the eleventh hour as if it were the first; for it is fitting that even one beginning life should keep the end before his eyes. If some physician promised you to make you young from old by certain devices and contrivances, would you not have desired to see that day on which you were to see yourself returning to your prime? But since baptism promises to make your soul flourish anew, which you have aged, and have shown it wrinkled from your lawless deeds, and stained, do you despise the benefactor, and not hasten to the promise? Do you not desire to see what the great wonder of the promise is? How a man is reborn without a mother? How one who is aged and corrupted by the desires of deceit becomes vigorous again, and grows young, and returns to the true bloom of youth? Baptism is a ransom for captives, a remission of debts, a death of sin, a regeneration of the soul, a luminous garment, an inviolable seal, a vehicle to heaven, a promoter of the kingdom, a gift of adoption. Do you, wretched one, consider pleasure more honorable than so many and such great goods? For I perceive your delay, even if you conceal it with words; the facts themselves cry out, even if you are silent in speech.

Leave off; let me use the flesh for the enjoyment of shameful things, let me wallow in the mire of pleasures, let me bloody my hands, let me take what belongs to others, let me walk deceitfully, let me perjure myself, let me lie; and then I will receive baptism, when I finally cease from evils. If, then, sin is good, keep it to the end; but if it is harmful to the doer, why do you persist in destructive things? No one seeking to vomit bile gathers more of it for himself from a base and intemperate regimen. It is fitting to purge the body of what afflicts it, but not to make the disease greater than the power. The ship shows how much weight of cargo it can bear, but more than that sinks it. Fear lest you suffer the same, and having made your sins greater than the remission, you suffer shipwreck before the hoped-for harbors. Does God not see what happens? Or does he not perceive your thoughts? Or does he cooperate with you in your lawless deeds? "You supposed lawlessness," he says, "because I will be like you." But you, when seeking the friendship of a mortal man, win him over through benefaction, saying and doing those things by which you perceive he is pleased; but when seeking to be close to God, and hoping to be received in the place of a son, you do things hostile to God, and dishonor him through transgression of the law; from those things by which you most offend, do you hope for closeness? Take care lest, in hope of redemption, you gather a multitude of evils for yourself, and you accumulate sin, but fail to obtain forgiveness. God is not mocked. Do not traffic in grace. Do not say: "The law is good, but pleasure is sweeter.

Sin. Pleasure is the hook of the devil, dragging toward destruction. Pleasure is the mother of sin; and sin is the sting of death. Pleasure is the nurse of the eternal worm, which for a time soothes the one who enjoys it, but later makes its returns more bitter than gall. The postponement cries out nothing other than this: Let sin first reign in me, then the Lord will reign at some time. I will first set my limbs as weapons of injustice for lawlessness; then I will at some time set them as weapons of righteousness for God. Thus also Cain offered his sacrifices: the first to his own enjoyment, the second to the Creator and Giver God. When you are strong in deeds, you consume your youth on sins. When the instruments grow weary, then you bring them to God, when there is no use for them, but they must lie idle because their vigor has been paralyzed by the wasting of time. Temperance in old age is not temperance, but inability for licentiousness. A dead man is not crowned; no one is just because of inability to do evil. While you have strength, restrain sin by reason. For this is virtue: turning away from evil and doing good. Inactivity in wickedness is in itself worthy neither of praise nor of punishment. If you cease from sin because of age, it is the grace of weakness. We praise those who are good by choice, not those who are prevented by some necessity.

Who set the limit of your life? Who fixed the term of your old age? Who is so trustworthy a guarantor of the future in your eyes? Do you not see infants snatched away, those in the prime of life carried off? Life has no single term. Why do you wait for a fever to make baptism a gift to you, when you will not be able to utter the saving words, and perhaps not even be permitted to hear them clearly, with the disease itself dwelling in your head? You will not be able to raise your hands to heaven, to stand on your feet, to bend your knee in prostration, to be taught profitably, to make confession securely, to covenant with God, to renounce the enemy, and perhaps not even to follow intelligently as you are initiated, being uncertain among those present whether you perceived the grace or are insensible of what is happening. And when you do receive the grace consciously, then you have the talent, but you do not apply the work. Imitate the eunuch. He found the catechist and did not disregard the instruction, but the rich man took the poor man up onto his chariot, the proud and haughty man took the lowly and contemptible one; and having been taught the Gospel of the kingdom, he received the faith in his heart and did not put off the seal of the Spirit. For when they came upon water, he said, "Behold, water." The words come from great joy: "Behold what we seek. What prevents me from being baptized?" Where there is ready intention, there is no hindrance. For the one who calls is benevolent, the deacon is prepared, the grace is abundant; let zeal be present, and there will be no obstacle. There is one who hinders, who blocks the paths to salvation for us, whom we shall overcome by understanding.

That one instills hesitation in us; let us rouse ourselves to action. That one deceives our hearts with empty promises; let us not fail to recognize his designs. For does he not suggest committing the sin today, and persuade us to store up righteousness for tomorrow? For this reason the Lord, unraveling his wicked counsels, says, "Today, if you hear my voice." That one says, "Give me today, and give God tomorrow." The Lord cries in response, "Hear my voice today." Understand the enemy: he does not dare to advise complete abandonment of God (he knows that this is grievous for Christians to hear), but he contrives his attack with deceptive arts. He is clever at doing evil. He sees that we humans live in the present, and every action is performed in the present. So, by stealing our today through his scheming, he leaves us the hopes of tomorrow. Then, when tomorrow comes, our evil partner comes again, demanding today for himself and tomorrow for the Lord; and thus, always subtracting the present through pleasure and deferring the future to our hopes, he imperceptibly lures us away from life. I once saw such cunning in a resourceful bird. For since her chicks were easily caught because of their tenderness, she would put herself forward as ready prey, fluttering about in the hands of the hunters, yet she was not easily caught by the hunters, nor did she cause them to despair of the catch.

But by variously detaining them with hopes, by occupying them with herself, she procured for the nestlings the freedom to flee, and finally she herself flew away with them. Fear lest you too suffer something similar, abandoning what is certain for hopes of uncertain things. Come now, then, transfer your whole self to the Lord; give in your name; be enrolled with the Church. The soldier is counted in the rolls; the athlete, once registered, competes; the citizen, after being enrolled, is numbered among the tribesmen. You are subject to all these obligations, as a soldier of Christ, as an athlete of piety, as one whose citizenship is in the heavens. Be enrolled in this book, so that you may be transferred to the one above. Learn, be taught the evangelical way of life: precision of the eyes, restraint of the tongue, subjugation of the body, humble mind, purity of thought, annihilation of anger. When pressed into service, add more; when deprived, do not go to court; when hated, love; when persecuted, endure; when slandered, conciliate. Be dead to sin; be crucified with Christ; transfer all your love to the Lord. But these things are hard. Yet what good thing is easy? Who, while sleeping, set up a trophy? Who, while living in luxury and being flattered by music, was adorned with the crowns of endurance? No one who did not run carried off the prize. Labors produce glory, toils procure crowns. Through many afflictions we must enter the kingdom of heaven, I say as well; but these afflictions are followed by the blessedness in the kingdom of heaven.

But the labors of sin await the toil and gloom of Gehenna. Yet, upon close examination, even the works of the devil do not come effortlessly to the workers of lawlessness. What are the sweats of temperance? The fornicator is drenched with sweat, as pleasure consumes him. Does abstinence subtract as much from the body as vile and raving licentiousness destroys? There are sleepless nights for those who spend the night in prayers—but far more grievous are those of the ones who lie awake for injustices. For both the fear of being discovered and the sting of pleasures utterly drive away all rest. And if, fleeing the narrow path that leads to salvation, you pursue the broad way of sin, I fear that, having traveled the wide road to its end, you may find an end befitting the road. But the treasure is hard to guard. Be watchful, brother. You have helpers, if you wish: prayer that keeps vigil by night, fasting that stays at home, psalmody that soothes the soul. Take these along. Let them camp with you for the guarding of the valuables. What is better, tell me, for us to struggle over the guarding of our riches, or not to have at all what we guard? No one, from fear of loss, rejects good things. For thus nothing human would be established, if for every endeavor we reckoned the failures. For alongside farming lies crop failure, alongside trade shipwrecks, alongside marriages widowhoods, alongside child-rearing childlessness. Yet we still undertake the works, relying on more favorable hopes.

entrusting the outcome of what is hoped for to God, who administers our affairs. You, however, exalt sanctification in word, but in deed you linger among condemned things. See that you do not one day repent of your evil counsels, when repentance will be of no avail to you. Let the example of the virgins admonish you. Those women, not having oil in their vessels, when it was necessary for them to enter with the bridegroom, then, lacking the necessities, they perceived their deficiency. Hence the word called them foolish, because, having wasted the time for using the oil in going about and procuring it, they unwittingly shut themselves out from the brightness of the bridal chamber. See that you too, putting off from year to year, from month to month, from day to day, and not taking the oil, the nourishment of the light, do not one day fall into a day you do not expect, when the resources for living finally fail you; when there is distress from all sides and inconsolable affliction, physicians having given up, relatives having given up; when, seized by frequent and dry gasping, while a violent fever burns and smolders within, you groan from the depths of your heart, but find no one to share your grief. And you may utter something faint and feeble, but there will be no one to hear; everything said by you is despised as delirium. Who will then give baptism? Who will remind one stupefied by suffering? Those close to you are despondent, those outside the suffering are contemptuous, the friend hesitates to remind you as causing disturbance, or perhaps the physician deceives you, and you do not despair of yourself because of your natural love of life.

Night and the solitude of those who would help: the one who baptizes is not present. Death stands near; those who lead you away press urgently. Who will deliver you? God, whom you have despised? But He will listen then—for you listen to Him now. Will He grant an extension? For you have used the given time poorly. Let no one deceive you with empty words. For sudden destruction will overtake you, and the catastrophe will be present like a storm. A gloomy angel will come, violently dragging and pulling your soul, bound by sins, turning back often toward the things here, and lamenting without voice, the instrument of mourning now closed. Oh, how you will tear at yourself! How you will groan! Repenting fruitlessly for what you have planned, when you see the radiance of the righteous in the bright distribution of gifts, and the gloom of sinners in the deepest darkness. What will you say then in the pain of your heart? "Alas, that I did not cast off this heavy burden of sin, so easy to lay aside, but instead dragged along this heap of evils. Alas, that I did not wash away the stains, but remained marked by sins. Now I would have been with the angels; now I would have delighted in the heavenly goods. Oh, the wicked counsels! For the sake of a temporary enjoyment of sin, I am tormented eternally; for the pleasure of the flesh, I am given over to fire. The judgment of God is just: I was called, and I did not obey; I was taught, and I did not pay attention; they testified to me, and I laughed." These things and suchlike you will say, lamenting yourself, if you are snatched away before baptism. O man, either fear Gehenna, or lay claim to the kingdom.

Do not dishonor the calling. Do not say, "Consider me excused because of this or that." No excuse is sufficient for renunciation. Tears come to me when I reflect that you prefer the works of shame to the great glory of God, and that, clinging to the pleasure of licentiousness and unable to tear yourself away from sin, you shut yourself off from the good things promised, so as not to see the blessings of the heavenly Jerusalem. There are myriads of angels, festivals of the firstborn, thrones of apostles, presidencies of prophets, scepters of patriarchs, crowns of martyrs, praises of the righteous. Long to be numbered among them, having washed and been sanctified according to the gift of Christ. For to Him belongs the glory and the power, for ever and ever. Amen.