Letter 333

To Antonius the Scholasticus [an advocate or legal counsel]. By the divine reckoning the Israelites are accounted to have been baptized when they crossed the Red Sea, even though they were not baptized. In the same way it seemed good to God that Ephraim, the second-born, should be called the firstborn and be preferred over the greater one, Manasseh, so that we may search out the meanings of these things.

Τῇ θείᾳ ψήφῳ βεβαπτίσθαι Ἰσραηλῖται, λογίζονται, περαιῶντες τὴν Ἐρυθρὰν θάλασσαν, καίτοι μὴ βαπτισθέντες. Οὕτως ἔδοξε θεῷ τὸν δευτερότοκον Ἐφραῒμ πρωτότοκον λέγεσθαι, καὶ προκρίνεσθαι τοῦ μείζονος Μανασσῆ, ἵν’ ἡμεῖς ζητῶμεν τὰς τούτων σημασίας.