The Mysteries of the Church
are not celebrated without a priest, for the Holy Spirit has not permitted (any
other) to celebrate them. The priest received the power of the Spirit by the
laying on of hands; and by him are performed all the Mysteries that are in the
Church. The priest consecrates the bosom of the waters of baptism; and the
Spirit bestows the adoption of sons on those that are baptized. Without a
priest a woman is not betrothed to a man; and without him their marriage
festival is not accomplished. Without a priest the defunct also is not
interred; so do they let him down into his grave without the priest. Common
(lit. ‘unclean’) water is not consecrate with the priest; and if there were no
priest the whole house would be unclean. (Narsai, “Homily XVII (A): An
Exposition of the Mysteries,” in The Liturgical Homilies of Narsai [trans.
R. H. Connolly; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1909], 21)
Without the name of the
Divinity, the three Names, he consecrates the water, that it may suffice to
accomplish the cleaning of the defiled. The defilement of men he cleanses with
water: yet not by the water, but by the power of the name of the Divinity which
there lights down. The power of the Divinity dwells in the visible waters, and
by the force of His power they dissolve the might of the Evil One and of Death.
The Evil One and Death are undone by Baptism; and the resurrection of the body
and the redemption of the soul are preached therein. In it, as in a tomb, body
and soul are buried, and they die and live (again) with a type of the
resurrection that is to be at the end. It (Baptism) fills for men the office of
the grave mystically; and the voice of the priesthood (is) as the voice of the
trump in the latter end.
In the grave of the water
the priest buries the whole man; and he resuscitates him by the power of life
that is hidden in his words. In the door of the tomb of Baptism he stands equipped,
and he performs there a mystery of death and of the resurrection. With the
voice openly he preaches the power of what he is doing-how it is that a man
dies in the water, and turns and lives again. He reveals and shews to him that
is being baptized in whose name it is that he is to die and swiftly come to
life.
Of the name of the Divinity
he makes mention, and he says three times: 'Father and Son and Holy Spirit, one
equality.' The names he repeats with the voice openly, and thus he says: 'Such
a one is baptized in the name of the Father and the Son and the Spirit.' And he
does not say 'I baptize,' but 'is baptized'; for it is not he that baptizes,
but the power that is set in the names. The names give forgiveness of iniquity,
not a man; and they sow new life in mortality. In their name he that is
baptized is baptized (and buried) as in a tomb; and they call and raise him up
from his death.
Three times he bows his head
at Their names, that he may learn the relation-that while They are One They are
Three. With a mystery of our Redeemer he goes into the bosom of the font (lit.
'of baptism') after the manner of those three days in the midst of the tomb.
Three days was our Redeemer with the dead: so also he that is baptized :- the
three times are three days2. He verily dies by a symbol of that death which the
Quickener of all died; and he surely lives with a type of the life without end.
Sin and death he puts off and casts away in Baptism, after the manner of those
garments which our Lord departing left in the tomb.
As a babe from the midst of
the womb he looks forth from the water; and instead of garments the priest
receives and embraces him. He resembles a babe when he is lifted up from the
midst of the water; and as a babe every one embraces and kisses him. Instead of
swaddling-clothes they cast garments upon his limbs, and adorn him as a
bridegroom on the day of the marriage-supper. He also fulfils a sort of
marriage-supper in Baptism; and by his adornment he depicts the glory that is
prepared for him. By the beauty of his garments he proclaims the beauty that is
to be: here is a type, but there the verity which is not simulated. To the
Kingdom of the height which is not dissolved he is summoned and called; and the
type depicts beforehand and proclaims its truth. With a type of that glory
which is incorruptible he puts on the garments, that he may imitate mystically
the things to be. Mystically he dies and is raised and is adorned; mystically
he imitates the life immortal. His birth (in Baptism) is a symbol of that birth
which is to be at the end, and the conduct of his life of that conversation
which is (to be) in the Kingdom on high. (Narsai, “Homily XXI (C): On the
Mysteries of the Church and on Baptism,” in The Liturgical Homilies of Narai
[trans. R. H. Connolly; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1909], 50-52)
233. John sowed these words
in the ear of the people,
234. and each man began to ear up the deed of his sins.
235. He showed them at the deed of sins is erased in water,
236. until the One who comes who erases sin and gives the Spirit [Matt 3:11].
237. He erased the sin of the people with water alone, (Narsai, “Memra 7: On John
the Baptist,” in Narsai: Selected Sermons [trans. Andrew Younan; The
Classics of Western Spirituality; Mahwah, N. H.: Paulist Press, 2024], 173)
264. and he sanctified water
and forgave them their debts,
265. The Forgiver of Debts taught him the ritual of the forgiveness of debts,
266. that he may tread the path for that complete and good forgiveness.
267. The forgiveness of debts that John gave was not complete,
268. and he could not give the Spirit to those who were forgiven [cf. Acts
18:25]
269. He only promised to forgive through water,
270. and showed that there is a forgiveness greater than his. (Narsai, “Memra
7: On John the Baptist,” in Narsai: Selected Sermons [trans. Andrew
Younan; The Classics of Western Spirituality; Mahwah, N. H.: Paulist Press,
2024], 174)
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