The Lord was baptized, not to be
cleansed Himself but to cleanse the waters, so that those waters, cleansed by
the flesh of Christ, which knew no sin, might have the power of Baptism.
Whoever comes, therefore, to the washing (lavacrum) of Christ lays aside
his sins. (Ambrose of Milan, Commentary on the Gospel of Luke 2.83, c. A.D.
389, The Faith of the Early Fathers, 3 vols. [trans. William A. Jurgens;
Collegeville, Minn.: The Liturgical Press, 1979], 2:162)
