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

To Herminos the Count. Concerning the grace of holy baptism. Since your magnanimity has written wishing to learn for what reason infants who are without sin are baptized, I thought it necessary to write back. Some, reasoning narrowly, say that they are washed clean of the defilement distributed to human nature through the transgression of Adam. I believe that this indeed takes place, but not this alone — for it would not be so great a thing — but also other blessings are conferred. For baptism is not merely a cleansing from inherited corruption but a rebirth, an adoption, a sanctification, a sealing with the Holy Spirit, an illumination, a garment of incorruption, a bath of regeneration, and an earnest of the heavenly inheritance. The infant who receives baptism is enrolled among the citizens of heaven, grafted into the body of Christ, and made a temple of the Holy Spirit. These gifts far exceed the mere removal of ancestral stain, and they explain why the Church from earliest times has baptized infants — not because they have committed personal sins, but because baptism confers positive graces that belong to the new creation in Christ.

ΡΛΕ΄. - ΕΡΜΙΝΟ ΚΟΜΗΤΙ Περὶ τῆς χάριτος τοῦ ἁγίου βαπτίσματος. Ἐπειδὴ γέγραφε σου ἡ μεγαλόνοια βουλομένη μαθεῖν δι᾽ ἣν αἰτίαν τὰ βρέφη ἀναμάρτητα όντα βαπτίζεται, ἀναγκαῖον ψήθην ἀντεπιστεῖλαι. Τινές μὲν οὖν σμικρολογοῦντες φασιν, ὅτι τὸν διὰ τὴν παράβασιν τοῦ ᾿Αδὰμ διαδοθέντα τῇ φύσει ρύπων ἀποπλύνονται. Ἐγὼ δὲ καὶ τοῦτο μὲν γίνεσθαι πι στεύω, οὐ μὴν μόνον (οὐδὲν γὰρ ἂν τοσοῦτον ἦν), ἀλλὰ καὶ ἄλλα πολλὰ μακρῷ τὴν ἡμετέραν ὑπερβαίν νοντα φύσιν δεδόσθαι χαρίσματα. Οὐ γὰρ ὅσον ἔχρη ζεν ἡ φύσις εἰς τὴν τῆς ἁμαρτίας ἀναίρεσιν Ελαδα μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ θεῖοις ἐκοσμήθη δώροις. Καὶ γὰρ οὐ μόνον κολάσεως ἀπηλλάγη, καὶ πονηρίαν ἀπημ φτάσατο πᾶταν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀνεγεννήθη ἄνωθεν, (παλιγ γενεσίας θείας, καὶ λόγον ὑπερβαινούσης, ὥσπερ ἐκ μηχανῆς τινος ἐπινοηθείσης), καὶ ἀπελυτρώθη, καὶ ἡγιάσθη, καὶ εἰς υἱοθεσίαν ἡνέχθη, 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 ἡνωται. Ἅπερ ὁ θεσπέσιος ἐννοήσας Παῦλος, ὁ τῶν τοῦ Χρι στοῦ νοημάτων ταμίας, ποτὲ μὲν ἔλεγε· « Καὶ αὐτὸν ἔδωκεν ὑπὲρ πάντα, κεφαλὴν τῆς Ἐκκλησίας· τουτ έστιν, ὑπὲρ τὰ ἄλλα πάντα χαρίσματα, τοῦτο αὐτῇ ἐδωρήσατο, τὸ τὸν Χριστὸν κεφαλὴν αὐτῆς εἶναι. Ποτέ δὲ, «Πολλῷ μᾶλλον οἱ τὴν περισσείαν τῆς χάρι τος, καὶ τῆς δωρεᾶς, καὶ τῆς δικαιοσύνης λαμβάνον τες, ἐν ζωῇ βασιλεύ[σ]ουσιν. Οὐκ εἶπε χάριν, ἀλλὰ περισσείαν χάριτος· δεικνὺς, ὅτι οὐ φάρμακον ἐλά βομεν ἀντίρροπον τοῦ τραύματος μόνον, ὡς οἴονται σμικρολόγοι τινὲς, καὶ τῆς θείας μεγαλοδωρεᾶς ἀναί σθητος· ἀλλὰ καὶ εὐμορφίαν καὶ τιμὴν, καὶ δόξαν, καὶ ἀξιώματα, πολλῷ τὴν ἡμετέραν ὑπερβαίνοντα ---CONTINUES--- ΡΛΒ΄. – ΕΥΑΓΡΙΩ Τυραννίδας ὁ πλοῦτος πείθων ἀγοράζει.