In sanctum Joannem praecursorem

Let us celebrate the feast of John the Baptist; let us crown him with desire, than whom no greater has arisen among those born of women, according to the voice of the Master. For nothing so ennobled the prophet as the baptism of the Lord. Let us go, then, to the Lord’s baptism, which especially glorified the forerunner of the king of the heavens; and let us dwell with desire within the places of Judaea, from which we have reaped the harvest of good things; or rather, let us write the events with speech, and gather the fruit of the readings here. Let us imagine that Jordan, which received its own creator when he came in the flesh, flowing through our midst; and let us suppose John the Baptist standing at the river’s banks, and let us behold the Lord Christ approaching his own servant, being baptized by him, and being pointed out by him from heaven through the descent of the Spirit; and let us, the worshippers of the consubstantial Trinity, venerate the Father who bore witness, the Son who was witnessed, and the Holy Spirit who bore witness.

Let us follow the book of the Gospels, which leads us toward what we desire, and, treading upon the divine words as upon tracks, let us run to the mystery celebrated by the whole world. Then Jesus comes, it says, from Galilee to the Jordan, to John, to be baptized by him. The Master arrived at the Jordan; for the treasury of wisdom did nothing unseasonably or irrationally, but each of the things he arranged for our sake he accomplished at the opportune time. For, being God and creator of all time and all interval, he fashioned time, and by those condescensions there, as with flowers, he laid down the starting points of the things that have come from him. Then Jesus comes. Then—when? When he had run through all the stages of age; when he had ascended the whole ladder of nature; when the perfection of his body and soul had shone forth; when, having become a perfect man through thirty cycles of years, he then, without falsehood, reached the Jordan, and, sinless among sinners, approached baptism, and, bowing his head under the hand of that man, hastened to receive baptism.

But the Baptist John, having learned precisely what he had been taught by his father from the womb of his own mother, then with great fear and trembling, drawing back his right hand from the head, says, "What is this, O Master? What does this paradoxical wonder mean? What is this humble and gentle spectacle of this procession? Do you bow your head to me, the head of the Church? Do you bow your head to me, who bent the heavens and came down to earth? Do you bow your head to me, who have God as your head? Do you bow your head to me, which the Cherubim worship? Do you bow your head to me, which the Seraphim revere and tremble before? Do you bow your head to me, who adorned Adam and Eve in paradise as in a bridal chamber, and placed the crown upon their heads with your voice, and added the blessing of good offspring, and said to them, 'Increase and multiply and fill the earth'? Who by your word from that time have guided nature, the constitution of nature, who have waged war against death through birth, so that this may plant more, as that one prunes; who of life...

Roll the wheel as you will, you who fill with all sanctification the heads that bow to you, you who are contained nowhere, you who gush forth rivers of mercies—do you wish to descend into this river? And the maker of the streams, have you chosen to converse with these? And do you ask for the baptism which you yourself have given me to give to those in need? And what need have you of a baptism of repentance, you who have mercy on those repenting? What need have you of such a remedy, you who heal the wounds of others by a mere command? What need have you of repentance, you who do deeds worthy of praise? Did you not descend to men as the only lover of mankind? You wear the form of a servant, which you fashioned for yourself, and through this you sanctified your image, which the devil shattered, renewing it as you wished. You have become the parent of us all. Has not the exiled Adam been recalled in you? Does not the once-condemned race reign in you? Did you not raise up the fallen Eve through Mary? Do you not go about, wishing to make men equal to angels? Do you not drive lawlessness from the earth as a conspirator against the race? Do you not bring good order into life as a nurse of humanity? Do you not dispel the dark night of deceit? Do you not cause the day of the knowledge of God to dawn for those who wish to see its beauty? Do you not spread the light of truth over the souls of all? Do you not dissolve the clouds of impiety like smoke? Do you not, like a sun of righteousness clothed in the white cloud of the body, sow the rays of divinity everywhere?

Are you not a virgin in your gaze, your step, your bearing, your reasoning, your mind, and your soul? Did you not fashion for yourself a virgin body from a virgin? Do these things not require thought and compunction? For what reason, then, should I baptize you now, you who are the creator of the river and the provider of baptism, and, through love for humanity, a man? There is no trace of lawlessness in you, nor has any stain of sin defiled your undefiled flesh, nor has deceit ever lurked at your mouth. The venom of asps is hidden in Jewish lips; for they are offspring of vipers, and their tongues are deceitful; but in your mouth, springs of eternal life gush forth; for, being life itself, you utter and supply life. How, then, do you, the provider of present and future life, step upon the streams of the poor? All others baptized by me hear these words from me: Repent, for the kingdom of the heavens is near, and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the only-begotten. But in your case, as you are being baptized, what shall I say? What shall I utter? Shall I say, Repent? Then who will receive your repentance? For what God is greater than you? Shall I say, Repent, for the kingdom of the heavens is near? And shall I proclaim the kingdom to the kingdom? And shall I discourse with you about yourself? For do you not know what you are? Do you not understand the kingdom of the heavens, which you have brought from heaven to men? Shall I say to you, Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ? Shall I exhort you to believe in yourself? And who has ever been admonished to believe in himself? For the one who approaches must believe that God exists.

You are God, and Son of God, even if you appear as man, and you are justly believed by all. But shall I say to you: Believe in your Father? For when were you seen as faithless and hostile to the Father? When were you separated from the divinity of the one who gave birth to God? What then shall I say to you? Believe in the Holy Spirit? But this is established in you and with you. I need to be baptized by you, and you come to me? The only-begotten Son of God to the son of Zacharias? The one from the virgin to the one from the barren woman? The one who did not undo the virginity of his mother, to the one who undid the barrenness of the woman who bore him? The one worshipped from the womb, to the one who from the belly recognized your lordship? The one who became man, to the voice of the desert? The one so exalted to the one so lowly? The Lord of all creation to the unworthy servant of your goodness? The one rich by nature to the one poor by nature, but made prosperous only by your grace? The one heavenly and earthly to the one earthly only? The one having divinity from above and humanity from below, to the one who sprouted only from below? The one so great a master to me, the small servant? But a slave does not free a master, a lamp does not illuminate the sun, clay does not correct the potter, a sheep does not shepherd the shepherd, a forerunner does not glorify a king. A river does not bear your divinity; a river does not measure what heaven does not contain; the Jordan does not wash its own maker; the water recognizes its creator; these streams do not know the light, and shall I dare to perform the ministry?

My soul reels, my hand trembles and fears to approach your all-holy body. What shall I do? What shall I accomplish? I both tremble before you, Lord, and yearn for you; I dare not flee, and I lack the courage to approach; I shudder to give the baptism, and I long to receive sanctification. I have need to be baptized by you; I have been taught to worship you, not to baptize you; I rather bow my own neck to your right hand. Bless me, you who bless the years of the righteous; make me dance in the streams of the Jordan today, as you once made me leap in my mother’s womb. Yes, says the Lord, O Baptist, I marvel at your reverence, but I require your obedience. You have become an advocate of my kingdom, but you must also become a servant of my economy. I came to you, because this is beneficial for you and for those after you; I came to you, so that all men might come to me; I descended from the heavens, and I am wholly in the bosom of the Father, in order to unite the creature with the Creator; I came, who am present, to capture alive those who flee; I came as a man, where I was present as God, in order to make men gods; I took from you a poor mother, so that you might with confidence call my Father your own; I was nourished as an infant with the nourishment of milk, so that I might offer myself as food to the faithful; I was wrapped in infant swaddling clothes, so that I might break the bonds of lawlessness; I was laid not on a royal bed, but on a humble manger, so that after my reclining on the manger, no one among rational beings might any longer suffer irrationality as a brute.

I received in my flesh the circumcision which I myself had earlier legislated, in order to introduce the circumcision not made by hands; I offered the customary sacrifice as the firstborn, the Only-begotten, in order to transform that sacrifice and make myself a strange sacrifice. I fled to Egypt, but I did not cease being the refuge of all; I became a new infant, a full-grown man, as you see, in order to bestow perfection upon the imperfect; I passed through every age, in order to fortify every age by gradual progress. I even stepped onto a river, in order to make the earthborn step onto heaven; and I accept this baptism, in order to provide to my disciples the baptism of regeneration. I endure a descent, just as I endured the birth according to flesh. As a lawgiver, I honor the just requirements of the law, in order to renew the symbols of grace; as a healthy physician, I partake of the medicine of the sick, though I have no need of it, in order to devise a newer remedy, that of the font, for those who suffer. I accept the cross for the sake of sinners; shall I refuse a bath without danger? I am about to undergo a three-day death; shall I not undergo a painless descent? I hasten to descend into the very depth of Hades; shall I not embrace the stream of a river? Baptize me, then, who am about to baptize and save those who wish; baptize me, who am about to raise up to heavenly height the nature baptized by the sins of men; baptize me as a man below, who is hymned as God above by the angels. Become a swift servant of my mysteries; turn your refusal into a good deed.

Stop your tongue, and move your right hand to the work; confidently place your hand upon my head, taken from your own clay for your sake; gain from my baptism also for yourself the name of Baptist. Leave off now; for now, baptize, and then theologize; for now, baptize, and then worship; for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness. Nothing so exalts the high as voluntary condescension; for true height does not exalt acts of clemency. Then John releases him, crying out to him: Behold, I minister to your command, Master; what I learned in ignorance, I now gladly perform. Behold, I bring my right hand to your head, since you have commanded this; and I am your slave, and the son of your handmaid; and my hand is your creation, and this river is an outflow of your dominion, and these waters are your works, and this baptism is your gift; and you alone know what mystery you work. Be baptized, be baptized, I beseech you; and save, as you will, those whom you have formed. Blessed am I, born paradoxically through you, and strangely reared in the desert, and now deemed worthy of this ministry; blessed am I, tested by you to serve so great a mystery. O right hand, how you have been raised! O clay instrument, how you have been honored!

O philanthropic and great-gifted Lord, after mixing grace with the waters and giving to them, as it were, a leaven of sanctification, the descent, having come up from the waters (I kneel, Master), run up and overtake humanity, gasping out its soul and laboring, visit it as it willingly burns with fever, raise it up as it lies stretched out on the earth as on a bed, sick with various passion; as a physician, drive away the diseases. The lame await you, so that when you speak they may run; the blind await you, for sight; all the dead await your voice, for resurrection; those burning with the heat of misfortunes thirst for your presence; stand by all as a dew of healing. And Jesus, having been baptized, came up from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending, like a dove, and coming upon him. O strange and paradoxical mysteries! The heaven above worships him whom the river a short while ago washed over; and the Holy Spirit theologizes him whom the servant baptized. And behold, a voice from the heavens saying: "This is my beloved Son, in whom I was well pleased. This is the one who was baptized, not out of his own need, but for philanthropy alone, the one witnessed by the Holy Spirit, the one proclaimed by me who clearly saw him; the one born from me before the ages, and now born in flesh from Mary, the one consubstantial with me and with you; the one co-eternal with me, and of the same form as your form; the maker of Adam, and descendant of David; the creator of the Virgin, and son of the Virgin; the one who is thought and who appears.

He who is contemplated by faith and by sight; he who is perfect in divinity, and perfect in humanity. This is my beloved Son. This one, both working wonders as God and suffering as man, is my Son; for the cross does not separate from me him who is by nature inseparable. This one, even when pierced by the nails, is my Son; for nails do not harm his divine essence. This one, even when suffering, is my Son; for passion cannot seize his divinity. This one, even when voluntarily dying, as is natural for dying, is my Son; for to die is not natural to divinity, nor does it will it, nor can it; for death does not overcome life, and death does not prevail over immortality. This one, even when rising from the dead, is my Son; for as the creator of all, he will raise the temple of his body, which he allowed to be dissolved by his enemies. This one, ascending with this flesh into the heavens, from which he never departed, is my Son. He who receives this one, receives me with him; he who worships this one, worships me; he who believes in this one, believes in me; he who diminishes this one, diminishes me.

diminish it; for an insult to the child is a loss to the father. He who accepts this, and does not pry, but worships without curiosity, is blessed. This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Sinners, run to the one who takes away the sin of the world; the condemned, seize the compassionate judge; those deadened by sins, hasten to the source of life. These are the finest gifts of the Baptist's festival; all these have been provided to us by the Lord Christ our God, who appeared for our sake. Glory and power to him, together with his Father and his all-holy and life-giving Spirit, now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.