For Israel was baptized in the midst
of the sea on that Passover night, on the day of salvation; and our Savior
washed the feet of His disciples on the Passover night—which is the Sacrament
of Baptism. And you knew already, my beloved, that until this night when the
Savior instituted true Baptism (literally, then the Savior gave the Baptism
of truth) and when He conferred it upon His disciples, the Baptism with
which the priests were baptizing was that Baptism of which John said: “Do
penance for your sins.”
And on that night of His passion and
death He showed them the Sacrament of Baptism, just as the Apostle has stated:
“You have been buried with Him in Baptism unto death, and you have risen up
with Him in the power of God.” know then, my beloved, that the Baptism of John
was of no value for the forgiveness of sins, but for repentance. (Aphraates,
Treaties 12.10, c. A.D. 336-345, in The Faith of the Early Fathers, 3
vols. [trans. William A. Jurgens; Collegeville, Minn.: The Liturgical Press,
1970], 1:304)