Letter 155: On the Apostle: "He is a chosen vessel of mine" [Acts 9:15].

To Arsenouphios. On the grace of holy baptism. Since your great intelligence wrote wishing to learn for what reason infants, who are without sin, are baptized, I thought it necessary to write back. Now some, splitting hairs, say that infants are washed clean of the defilement that was transmitted to our nature through the transgression of Adam. But I, for my part, believe that this too takes place, yet not this alone (for that would be no such great thing), but rather that many other gifts are bestowed as well, gifts far surpassing our nature. For our nature did not merely receive as much as it needed for the removal of sin, but was also adorned with divine gifts. For it was not only set free from punishment and renounced all wickedness, but it was also born again from above (a divine rebirth, one that surpasses reason, contrived as though by some device), and it was redeemed, and sanctified, and brought to the adoption of sons, and justified, and became a fellow-heir of the Only-Begotten, and was constituted of one body with him through participation in the holy mysteries, and shares in his flesh; and just as the body is united to the head, so it is united to him. The inspired Paul, the steward of the thoughts of Christ, considering these things, at one point said, "And he gave him over all things, as head of the Church" [Ephesians 1:22], that is, above all the other gifts he granted her this, that Christ should be her head. And at another point, "Much more shall those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift and of righteousness reign in life" [Romans 5:17]. He did not say grace, but the abundance of grace, showing that we did not receive only a remedy to counterbalance the wound, as certain hairsplitters suppose, men insensible to the divine bountifulness, but also comeliness and honor and glory and dignities far surpassing our worth. Do not then, my friend, think that baptism is merely the remover of sins, but that it is also the maker of adoption and of divine kinship and of countless other good things, both those that have been mentioned and those that have been left unmentioned. For the King of all things not only redeemed our captive nature, but also raised it up to the very highest honor.

Περὶ τῆς χάριτος τοῦ ἁγίου βαπτίσματος. Ἐπειδὴ τέγραφέ σου ἡ μεγαλόννοια βουλομένη μαθεῖν δι’ ἣν αἰτίαν τὰ βρέφη ἀναμάρτητα ὄντα βαπτίζεται, ἀναγκαῖον φήθην ἀντεπιστεῖλαι. Τινὲς μὲν οὖν σμικρολογοῦντές φασιν, ὅτι τὸν διὰ τὴν παράβασιν τοῦ Ἀδὰμ διαδοθέντα τῇ φύσει ῥύπον ἀποπλύνονται. Ἐγὼ δὲ καὶ τοῦτο μὲν γίνεσθαι πι- στεύω, οὐ μὴν μόνον (οὐδὲν γὰρ ἂν τοσοῦτον ἦν), ἀλλὰ καὶ ἄλλα πολλὰ μακρῷ τὴν ἡμετέραν ὑπερβαί- νοντα φύσιν δίδοσθαι χαρίσματα. Οὐ γὰρ ὅσον ἔχρη- ζεν ἡ φύσις εἰς τὴν τῆς ἁμαρτίας ἀναίρεσιν ἔλαβε μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ θείοις ἐκοσμήθη δώροις. Καὶ γὰρ οὐ μόνον κολάσεως ἀπηλλάγη, καὶ πονηρίαν ἀπη- φιάσατο πᾶσαν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀνεγεννήθη ἄνωθεν, (παλιγ- γενεσίας θείας, καὶ λόγον ὑπερβαίνουσας, ὥσπερ ἐκ μηχανῆς τινος ἐπινοηθείσης), καὶ ἀπελυτρώθη, καὶ ἡγιάσθη, καὶ υἱοθεσίαν ἠνέχθη, καὶ ἐδικαιώθη, καὶ ἐγένετο συγκληρονόμος τοῦ Μονογενοῦς, καὶ σύσσωμος αὐτῷ διὰ τῆς μετοχῆς τῶν ἱερῶν μυστη- ρίων κατέστη, καὶ εἰς τὴν σάρκα αὐτοῦ τελεῖ· καὶ ὥσπερ τὸ σῶμα τῇ κεφαλῇ, οὕτως αὐτῷ ἥνωται. Ἅπερ ὁ θεσπέσιος ἐννοήσας Παῦλος, ὁ τῶν τοῦ Χρι- στοῦ νοημάτων ταμίας, ποτὲ μὲν ἔλεγε· « Καὶ αὐτὴν ἔδωκεν ὑπὲρ πάντα, κεφαλὴν τῆς Ἐκκλησίας» τουτ- έστιν, ὑπὲρ τὰ ἄλλα πάντα χαρίσματα, τοῦτο αὐτῇ ἐδωρήσατο, τὸ τὸν Χριστὸν κεφαλὴν αὐτῆς εἶναι. Ποτὲ δὲ, « Πολλῷ μᾶλλον οἱ τὴν περισσείαν τῆς χάρι- τος, καὶ τῆς δωρεᾶς, καὶ τῆς δικαιοσύνης λαμβάνον- τες, ἐν ζωῇ βασιλεύσουσιν». Οὐκ εἴπε χάριν, ἀλλὰ περισσείαν χάριτος· δείκνὺς, ὅτι οὐ φάρμακον ἐλά- βομεν ἀντίῤῥοπον τοῦ τραύματος μόνον, ὡς οἴονται σμικρολόγοι τινὲς, καὶ τῆς θείας μεγαλοδωρεᾶς ἀναί- σθητοι· ἀλλὰ καὶ εὐμορφίαν καὶ τιμὴν, καὶ δόξαν, καὶ ἀξιώματα, πολλῷ τὴν ἡμετέραν ὑπερβαίνοντα. ἀξίαν. Μὴ τοίνυν, ὦ φίλος, νόμιζε ἁμαρτιῶν μόνον ἀναιρετικὸν εἶναι τὸ βάπτισμα, ἀλλὰ καὶ υἱοθεσίας καὶ θείας συγγενείας καὶ ἄλλων μυρίων τῶν τε λεχθέντων, τῶν τε παραλειφθέντων ἀγαθῶν ποιητικόν. Ὁ γὰρ τῶν ἁπάντων βασιλεὺς, οὐ μόνον ἐλυτρώσατο τὴν αἰχμαλωτευθεῖσαν φύσιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ εἰς τὴν ἄνω τάτω τιμὴν ἀνήγαγεν.