Understand, then, friend, that the baptism of John had no value for the remission of sins, but only for repentance. (Aphrahat, Demonstrations 12.10, in Thomas M. Finn, Early Christian Baptism and the Catechumenate: West and East Syria [Message of the Fathers of the Church 5; Collegeville, Minn.: The Liturgical Press, 1992], 149)