The holy Apostle Paul said: "For if you were baptized into Christ, you put on Christ" (1085). This means: those who were baptized into Christ received at Baptism, in Baptism itself, a gift from the Holy Spirit, Who acted upon them: a living sensation of Christ, a sense of His attributes. But the freedom to arbitrarily choose the old or the new was not taken away from the baptized, just as the freedom of Adam in Paradise to keep the commandment of God or to violate it was not taken away from him. The Apostle says to those who believe and are baptized: "The night is past, and the day is near: let us put aside the works of darkness and put on the armor of light." For in the days let us walk decently, not with goats and drunkenness, not with fornication and fornication, not with zeal and envy: but put on our Lord Jesus Christ, and do not carnal pleasure in lust [1086]. Having the freedom of election, the baptized person is invited by the Holy Spirit to maintain unity with the Redeemer, to maintain a renewed nature in himself, to maintain the spiritual state granted by baptism, to abstain from pleasing the lusts of the flesh, that is, from deviating from the inclinations of carnal, spiritual wisdom. The words of the Apostle have the same meaning: "The first man is from the earth, of dust: the second man is the Lord from heaven." And as we have put on the image of the earthly — for we are all born in original sin, and with all the infirmities which were acquired in our nature as a result of the fall, which were revealed in Adam after his fall, that we may also put on the image of heaven through Baptism, which gives us this image, and carefully observe the commandments of the Gospel, who preserve in us the image as a whole, in its perfection and Divine grace [1087]. To put on the image of the Heavenly Man, to put on the Lord Jesus Christ, to always bear in the body the deadness of the Lord Jesus Christ [1088], means nothing else than to constantly mortify the carnal state in oneself by constantly abiding in the commandments of the Gospel. Thus did the holy Apostle Paul put on and remained clothed in the God-man; for this reason he could boldly say of himself: "I do not live, but Christ lives in me" (1089). He demands the same from all believers. Or do you not know to yourself, he says, that Jesus Christ is in you? Are you unskilful in the order (according to the Russian translation: unless you are what you ought to be) [1090]. A just demand and a just rebuke! By Holy Baptism, the fallen nature is cut off in every baptized person, and the nature renewed by the God-Man is grafted into man. For this reason, Baptism is called in Holy Scripture the bath of the Pakibizing, and the life after Baptism is called the Pakibizing. Every baptized person is obliged to manifest and develop a renewed nature in himself: this is what it is – to manifest the Lord Jesus Christ in himself living, speaking and acting. A Christian who does not do this is not what he should be.

The Holy Apostle Paul explains the Sacrament of Baptism with particular precision and detail: "Those who were baptized into Jesus Christ," he says, "were immersed [1093] in His death. And so we were buried with Him by baptism into death, so that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we also would walk in newness of life. For if we are united to Him in the likeness of death, then we must be united in the likeness of the resurrection, knowing that our old man was crucified with Him, so that the body of sin would disappear and we would no longer be slaves to sin. For whoever dies is free from sin. If we died with Christ, then we believe that we also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having risen from the dead, no longer dies, death no longer has power over Him. For when He died, He died once to sin: but when He lives, He lives for God. In the same way, consider yourselves dead to sin, and alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. And so let not sin reign in your mortal body, so that you do not obey it in its lusts. Do not give the members of your body to sin as an instrument of iniquity, but present yourselves to God as living from the dead, and your members to God as an instrument of righteousness. From this again it is evident that Baptism is both mortification and revival. At the sin of the forefathers, death immediately struck the soul, and the Holy Spirit, Who was the true life of the soul and body, immediately departed from the soul; Evil immediately entered the Soul, which constitutes the true death of soul and body. The threat of the Creator was fulfilled literally: but from the tree, if you understand good and evil, do not take away from it: but in the next day you take away from it, you will die of death [1095]. Death in an instant made the spiritual man carnal and natural, the saint sinful, the incorruptible corruptible; imparted to the body debilitation, sickness, impure lusts; and finally struck the body after several centuries [1096]. Holy Baptism, on the contrary, brings resurrection to the soul, transforms the carnal and sinful man into the spiritual and holy, mortifies the body of sin, that is, the bodily state of man, sanctifies not only the soul of man, but also his body, gives him the ability to be resurrected in glory; the resurrection itself will take place later, at the time determined by God. Just as a considerable time passed between the appearance of death in man, which was not evident to the eyes of the flesh, and the separation of the soul from the body, which was also evident to the eyes of the flesh, so between the manifestation of life in man and the revitalization by this life of the body, which was to be reunited with the soul, there was appointed a time known to God alone. What the soul is to the body, the Holy Spirit is to the whole person, to his soul and body. As the body dies the same death as all animals die when the soul leaves it, so the whole man dies, both body and soul, in relation to true life, to God, when the Holy Spirit leaves man. As the body comes to life and is resurrected when the soul returns to it, so the whole man, both in body and soul, is revived and resurrected spiritually when the Holy Spirit returns to him. It is this revival and resurrection of man that is accomplished in the Sacrament of Holy Baptism. The son of the first-created Adam is revived and resurrected through Holy Baptism, but no longer in the state of chastity and holiness in which Adam was created; he comes to life and is resurrected in a state incomparably higher, in a state brought to humanity by God, who has accepted humanity. People who are renewed by Baptism are clothed not in the original, immaculate image of the first-created man, but in the image of the heavenly man, the God-man [1097]. The second image is so much more excellent than the first, as the God-Man is more excellent than the first man in his state of chastity.

The change brought about by Holy Baptism in man is quite clear, fully felt, but this change remains unknown to the majority of Christians: we are baptized in infancy, from childhood we give ourselves over to occupations belonging to the transitory world and fallen nature, we darken within ourselves the Spiritual Gift given by Holy Baptism, just as the radiance of the sun is darkened by thick clouds. But the gift is not destroyed, it continues to dwell in us throughout our earthly life. In this way, the sun, covered by clouds, is not destroyed and continues to exist. Only the baptized person will abandon the activity of the fallen nature, begin to wash away his sins with tears of repentance, crucify the flesh with passions and lusts, enter the field of activity of the New Man – the gift of the Spirit again begins to reveal its presence in the baptized, to develop, to prevail. Purification by repentance is the consequence and action of the grace implanted by Baptism. Repentance is the renewal, the return of the state produced by Baptism [1098]. A person who has been cleansed by repentance may have an experienced understanding of the change brought about in a person by Baptism.

"When we are baptized," says St. John Chrysostom, "then the soul, cleansed by the Spirit, shines brighter than the sun, and not only do we behold the Glory of God, but we also borrow from it a certain radiance. Just as pure silver, placed against the sun's rays, also emits rays, not only by its own nature, but also from the radiance of the sun, so the soul, being purified and made lighter than silver, receives from the Spirit a ray of glory and mutually emits it" [1099].

In the Book of the Acts of the Apostles, although there is no direct, factual account of the change that took place in those who were baptized by the Sacrament of Holy Baptism, because in the early Church everyone knew the change produced by Baptism, this change was evident to everyone through the fruits of the Holy Spirit, which for the most part were revealed immediately after baptism, but there are cases that have preserved for posterity proof of this change. Thus, when the eunuch of the Ethiopian queen was baptized and came out of the water, the Holy Spirit immediately descended upon him; the eunuch, no longer in need of a guide — the Spirit had become his satisfactory guide — set out with joy on his long journey, although he had just learned about the Lord Jesus Christ from the briefest conversation with the Apostle Philip [1100]. The Holy Spirit descended upon Cornelius the centurion, a pagan, and other pagans who were with him and believed in the Lord, even before baptism, and they began to speak in foreign languages, hitherto unknown to them, proclaiming the greatness of God, which they had not understood at all until that moment [1101]. In spite of the fact that the Spirit had already descended upon them, the holy Apostle Peter commanded that they be baptized in water, at the urgent request of the Sacrament. Church history has preserved for us the following event of great importance. The Roman emperor Diocletian, under whom the most cruel persecution of Christians was raised, spent the greater part of the year 304 after the birth of Christ in Rome. He arrived in the capital to celebrate his victories over the Persians. Among other entertainments to which the emperor indulged was a visit to the theater. A certain Genesius, a comic actor, greatly amused the audience with improvisations. Once, while playing in the theater in the presence of the emperor and a large assembly of the people, he, pretending to be sick, lay down on his bed and said: "Ah, my friends! I feel very heavy, I would like you to console me." Other actors answered: "How can we comfort you? Do you want us to stroke you with a scrape [1102] so that you feel better?" "Mad! he answered. "I want to die a Christian." "For what?" they said. "In order that on this great day God may receive me as a prodigal son." Immediately sent for the priest and the exorcist. They, that is, the actors who represented them, came, sat down by the bed on which Genesius lay, and said to him: "Our son, why have you called us?" They performed the entire rite of the Holy Mystery over him, then dressed him, according to the custom of the newly-baptized, in white clothes. Then the soldiers, continuing the game, took him and presented him to the emperor, as if for interrogation, like the martyrs. Genesius said: "The emperor and all his court! Wise men of this city! Listen to me. Whenever I happened to hear the name of a Christian, I felt a terrible aversion to this name, I heaped abuse on those who continued to confess this name, I hated even my relatives and friends on account of the name of a Christian, I despised this faith to such an extent that I studied its Sacraments exactly, in order to amuse you with their representations. But when the water touched me, naked, when I was questioned and answered that I believed, I saw a hand descending from heaven; surrounding her, the luminous angels descended upon me. They read in a certain book all the sins I had committed since childhood, washed them away with the same water in which I was baptized in your presence, and then showed me a book, which turned out to be clean (unwritten), like snow. Therefore, great emperor and people, you who have heaped ridicule on the Christian Sacraments, believe, as I believed, that Jesus Christ is the true Lord, that He is the Light of Truth, and that through Him you can receive forgiveness." Diocletian, utterly indignant at these words, gave orders to severely beat Genesius with rods, and then they delivered him up to the prefect Plautianus, in order to compel him to sacrifice to idols. For a considerable time he was beaten with iron nails and burned with burning torches. In the midst of these torments, he exclaimed: "There is no other king but Him Whom I have seen! I honor Him and serve Him! and if I were deprived of my life a thousand times for serving Him, I would always belong to Him! torments shall not pluck Jesus Christ out of my mouth or out of my heart. I am extremely sorry for my error, for the aversion I had to His holy Name, and for the fact that I became His worshipper so late." Genesius was beheaded [1103]. St. Gregory the Theologian, in his funeral homily for his father in the flesh, Gregory, Bishop of Nazianzus, who accepted Holy Baptism already in his old age, says the following: "The parent approaches regeneration by water and the Spirit, through which, as we confess before God, the man of Christ is formed and perfected, the earthly is changed into spirit and is recreated. He approaches the ablution with ardent desire, with bright hope, having purified himself as much as he could, becoming much purer in soul and body than those who were preparing to receive the tablets from Moses. Their purification extended to garments alone, consisted in short-term chastity and in bridling the belly somewhat; and for him the whole life that passed was a preparation for enlightenment and purification before purification, protecting the gift, so that perfection would be entrusted to purity and the good given would not be endangered by habits that opposed to grace. As he comes out of the water, light and glory shine upon him, worthy of the disposition with which he approached the gift of faith. This was evident to others as well. Although they then preserved the miracle in silence, not daring to divulge it, because each considered himself to have seen the same, nevertheless they soon informed each other about it. But to him who baptized and performed him with the Sacrament, the vision was very clear and intelligible, and he could not keep it secret, but publicly announced that he had anointed his successor with the Spirit" [1104]. Here St. Gregory the Theologian calls Holy Baptism rebirth by water and spirit, enlightenment, purification, gift, perfection, bestowed good, the gift of faith, the Sacrament. In the Homily on Baptism, the Theologian says the following: "This gift, like its Giver, Christ, is called by many and different names, and this comes either from the fact that it is very pleasant for us — usually he who has a strong love for something with pleasure hears the names of the beloved — or from the fact that the variety of blessings contained in it has produced names in us. We call it the gift, the grace, the baptism, the anointing, the enlightenment, the garment of incorruption, the bath of the Resurrection, the seal — everything that is worthy of honor for us" [1105]. In the same Sermon St. Gregory exclaims: "To know the power of this Sacrament is already enlightenment!" This is how Holy Baptism was understood by Gregory the Theologian, who was baptized in adulthood, who learned from his own experience and from the experience of other holy men of his time, that ineffable change, that complete rebirth, that new life which is felt from the Sacrament of Baptism by those who have been baptized worthily, who have prepared for Baptism properly, and therefore felt and knew all its power. As we have seen, St. Gregory the Theologian mentions the illumination of the wondrous Light of his parent, who came out of the font. A friend of the Theologian, St. Basil the Great, Archbishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia, was also subjected to a very perceptible effect of the Sacrament. This is narrated in his life [1106].

Careful preparation is necessary before receiving Holy Baptism. In careful preparation lies an indispensable condition for the great Mystery to bring forth its abundant fruit, so that it may serve for salvation, and not for greater condemnation. This is said to explain the Sacrament, and especially to those who approach it not in infancy, at which, due to the circumstances of the present time, almost all of us receive Baptism. Preparation for Holy Baptism is true repentance. True repentance is an indispensable condition for Holy Baptism to be received in a worthy manner, for the salvation of the soul. Such repentance consists in recognizing one's sins as sins, in regretting them, in confessing them, in forsaking a sinful life. In other words: repentance is the consciousness of the fall, the awareness of the need for a Redeemer, repentance is the condemnation of one's fallen nature and the renunciation of it for the sake of the renewed nature. It is necessary that our vessel – I call the human mind, heart and body a vessel in relation to Divine grace – be pre-cleansed in order to receive and preserve the Spiritual Gift taught by Holy Baptism. It is necessary that this vessel should not only be cleaned, but also examined diligently; it is necessary that the damage in it, especially the wells, is carefully repaired; but if they remain uncorrected, then the living water [1107] poured into the vessel by Holy Baptism will not remain in the vessel: it will pour out of it, to its greatest calamity. I call sinful habits wells. It is necessary that our Jerusalem should be surrounded everywhere, as by walls, by good manners and customs: only then can our fallen nature be offered as a sacrifice and burnt offering, in the font of Baptism, and the renewed nature, provided by Baptism, become an altar useful for offering sacrifices and burnt offerings, pleasing to God [1108].

What can be the use of Baptism when we do not understand our fall, when we do not even recognize that our nature is in a state of the most sorrowful fall? When do we consider the obscene good of fallen nature to be elegant and pleasing good? when we strive to do this good with perseverance, not noticing that it only nourishes and grows our self-love in us, only distances us more and more from God, only strengthens and imprints our fall and falling away? What can be the use of Baptism when we do not consider even mortal sins to be sins, for example, adultery with all its branches, but call them the enjoyment of life? when we do not know that our nature has been renewed by Baptism? when we completely neglect activity according to the laws of a renewed nature, showering it with blasphemy and ridicule?

John, the Forerunner of the Lord, whose baptism was only a baptism leading to repentance, and not bringing the Heavenly Kingdom, demanded that those who came to him be baptized confess their sins, not having the need for this confession himself, as John Climacus remarks [1109], but taking care of the spiritual benefit of those who were baptized by him.

Confession of sins has always been recognized in the Church of Christ as an integral part of repentance. He was demanded of all those who intended to be baptized with the aim that the Holy Baptism given would be received and preserved in the way that befits the great, unrepeatable Sacrament. Finally, repentance is an institution of God and a gift of God to fallen humanity.

Repent, O Kingdom of Heaven [1110], proclaimed the holy Forerunner to those who came to him and received from him the Baptism of repentance. The Heavenly Kingdom, as the Forerunner further explained, was signified in his sermon by the Holy New Testament Sacrament of Baptism [1111]. In order to receive the Heavenly Kingdom, repentance is needed. The Saviour of the world demanded repentance from people, in order to grant people the gift of salvation through Holy Baptism, in order to make people capable of receiving the heavenly spiritual Gift. Repent, he said, for the Kingdom of Heaven draws nigh [1112]; repent and believe in the Gospel [1113]. Everything has already been done for you, no work, no podvig, no application to the gift is sought from you! From you one purification is sought through repentance, because it is impossible to entrust the priceless, all-holy, spiritual treasure to the unclean and those who do not intend to be pure. Sending the disciples to preach, the God-Man commands them to proclaim repentance to mankind because of the approaching Heavenly Kingdom [1114]. The Apostle Paul says of himself that he, wandering throughout the world, proclaimed to all, both Jews and Greeks, repentance, conversion to God, and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ [1115]. When in Jerusalem thousands of Jews came to believe in the Saviour as a result of the preaching of the holy Apostle Peter and asked him and the other Apostles: "What shall we do, men, brethren?" Then the Apostle Peter said: Repent, and let everyone be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins: and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit [1116]. Everywhere we see repentance as the only entrance, the only ladder, the only threshold before the Faith, the Gospel, the Kingdom of Heaven, before God, before all the Christian Sacraments, before Holy Baptism — this birth of man into Christianity. It is necessary to reject one's former sinful life and to live one's life according to the Gospel commandments, in order to worthily accept and be able to worthily preserve within oneself the gift of the Holy Spirit received at Baptism. The ecclesiastical pastors of the Christian Church of the first centuries took every possible care that Holy Baptism, which was then accepted almost exclusively in adulthood, would be accepted by those who received it with a full understanding of the Spiritual Gift they were receiving [1117].

And modern pastors have the sacred, indispensable duty to provide an accurate and detailed understanding of Holy Baptism to those who received the Sacrament in infancy and therefore do not have any experiential knowledge of the Sacrament. The Gift has been received by them: an account of the use of the Gift is inevitable. Timely preparation for the report is necessary, extremely necessary! Careless and ignorant possession of the Gift entails the most disastrous consequences. Whoever does not use the Gift according to the desire and command of the Giver, who does not develop the grace of Baptism in himself by acting according to the Gospel commandments, but hides the talent entrusted to him in the ground – that is, buries and buries the grace of Baptism, destroys in himself all its action, completely devoting himself to earthly cares and pleasures – the grace of Baptism will be taken away from him at the judgment of Christ. Its unworthy ruler will be plunged into utter darkness: there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth [1118]. In order to have a proper understanding of the importance of Holy Baptism, one must lead a God-pleasing, evangelical life: it alone reveals to the Christian the mysteries of Christianity with due clarity and satisfaction [1119].

Baptism is an unrepeatable Sacrament. I confess one Baptism for the remission of sins, proclaims the Orthodox Symbol of Faith. Just as the birth into existence can take place once, so the birth into existence – Baptism – can take place once. Just as the various ailments that befall a person at birth, which afflict him, shake him, and destroy his being, are cured by various medicines that find their support in the vital force connected with existence, so the various sins committed after Baptism, which slander and upset the spiritual life of man, are cured by repentance, the reality of which is based on the grace of the Holy Spirit, implanted in man by Holy Baptism, and consists in the development of this grace. suppressed and drowned out by transgressions. "Christ," says St. Mark the Ascetic, "as perfect God, granted to those who were baptized the perfect grace of the Holy Spirit, which does not receive application from us, but is revealed to us and appears to us according to the fulfillment of the commandments, and gives us an application, so that we may all attain to the union of faith, to the perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fulfillment of Christ" [1120]. By the union of faith is understood here the absorption of all the activity of a Christian by faith, and all activity serves as an expression of spiritual reason or the Gospel. "Therefore whatever we offer to Him (Christ), after our regeneration (by Baptism), all is already from Him and by Him was implanted in us (at the Sacrament of Baptism)" [1121].

6. On the renewal of the redeemed nature, in case of its damage, by repentance

Those who wish to acquire an experiential knowledge of Holy Baptism, who wish to discover the hidden Mystery and the priceless Spiritual Gift placed by the ineffable grace of God in the spiritual treasury, who wish to behold their nature in a state of renewal and recreation, who wish to feel and behold Christ in themselves, can achieve all this through repentance. The image of repentance that is appropriate and appropriate for a Christian corresponds to the Gift that he wishes to reveal in himself: true repentance corresponds to the Sacrament of Baptism. By baptism, alone, by the ineffable goodness of God, the Gift of God is communicated to man; and with the repentance of a Christian, who after Baptism has allowed himself the activity and life of a fallen nature, who has revived death in himself, who has killed life in himself, the Gift is returned only by the grace of God. At Baptism we are born of water and the Spirit; in repentance we are reborn through tears and the Spirit. Repentance is a childish, unceasing weeping before God for the loss of the Gift, in the hope of receiving the Gift again. Thou shalt not save my grapes! cries out in terrible sorrow the soul, which has descended from the nature renewed by Baptism into the realm of the fallen nature, having lost its freedom, being violated by sin; I feed my goats! there are no spiritual sensations and thoughts in me! all the flocks of my feelings and thoughts are useless! they are goats, as constituting a mixture of good and evil! they are mine, because they are born from my fallen nature! [1122] The properties of the nature which I have renewed have been lost! St. Isaac of Syria, being asked what meditations an ascetic of Christ should constantly engage in in his solitude, answered: "Do you ask about meditation and about that thought which should constantly occupy a person in his cell, in order to make him dead? (for the world, that is, for sin)? Does a zealous and sober person need to be asked how he should behave when he is alone, with himself?