{"collection":"chr","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/chr/ecf/213/2130258.htm","path":"chr/ecf/213/2130258.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/chr/ecf/213/2130258.htm","text":"(Resp.\u2014Let the bodies rejoice which the Evil One had made naked, that in the water they have put on their glory!)\n1. Give thanks, O daughter, that thy crownings have been doubled;\u2014for lo! thy temples and thy sons rejoice.\u2014The dedication of thy temples is in the ministration;\u2014The dedication of thy sons is in the anointing.\u2014Blessed art thou that at once\u2026\u2026\u2014\u2026\u2026the tabernacle for them that dwell in thee,\u2014and the Spirit has abode upon thy sons!\n2. Our Lord opened up Baptism\u2014in the midst of Jordan the blessed river.\u2014The height and the depth rejoiced in Him;\u2014He brings forth the first fruits of His peace from the water,\u2014for they are first fruits, the fruits of Baptism.\u2014The good God in His compassion will bring to pass\u2014that His peace shall be first fruits on earth.\n3. Moses stretched out the temporal Tabernacle;\u2014the priests bathed themselves in water,\u2014and went in and ministered; and were stricken and punished,\u2014because their heart within was not cleansed.\u2014Blessed art thou that in the Passover of the great Passion,\u2014the priests by the savour of their oblations,\u2014lo! are cleansing souls in thee!\n4. Great was the mystery that the Prophet saw,\u2014the torrent that was mighty.\u2014Into its depths he gazed and beheld\u2014thy beauty instead of himself; thee it was he saw, for thy faith passes not away,\u2014thou whose flood unseen shall overwhelm\u2014the subtleties of idolatry.\n5. Though John was great among them that are born of women,\u2014yet he that is little is greater than he,\u2014in this that his baptized were again baptized,\u2014in the baptism p. 282 that was of the Apostles.\u2014Blessed art thou that thy priest is greater than he\u2014in this alone that forever\u2014abides his baptism.\n6. The baptism that was of Siloam\u2014did not bring mercy to the man that was laid there\u2014who for thirty and eight years awaited it,\u2014for he was a respecter of the persons of the Levites.\u2014Blessed art thou that thy healing is in thee for all men,\u2014and thy priests are devoted and ready\u2014for all that are in need of thy help.\n7. The Prophet healed the waters that were unwholesome,\u2014and cured the disease of the land that was barren,\u2014so that its death was done away and its region resounded, for its offspring increased and its bosom was filled.\u2014Greater is Thy grace, Lord, than Elisha\u2019s!\u2014Multiply my lambs and my flocks\u2014at the great stream of my fountain! 518\n8. Great is the marvel that is within thy abode;\u2014the flocks together with the Shepherds,\u2014those at the stream of the waters,\u2014two unseen with one manifest who baptizes.\u2014Blessed is he who is baptized in their fountains!\u2014for three arms have upheld him,\u2014and three Names have preserved him!\nEzek. xlvii. 1, sq.","title":"Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Ser. II, Vol. XIII: Selections from the Hymns and Homilies of Ephraim the Syrian and from the Demonstrations of Aphrahat the Persian Sage.: Hymn XI.","type":"page"}