3.  Then, when ye were stripped, ye were anointed with exorcised oil Apost. Const. vii. 22:  “But thou shalt beforehand anoint the person with holy oil (ἐλαίῳ), and afterward baptize him with water, and in the conclusion shalt seal him with the ointment (μύρῳ), that the anointing (χρῖσμα) may be a participation of the Holy Spirit, and the water a symbol of the death, and the ointment the seal of the Covenants.  But if there be neither oil nor ointment, water suffices both for anointing, and for a seal, and for a confession of Him who died, or indeed is dying with us.”  The previous anointing “with oil sanctified by prayer” is mentioned in the Clementine Recognitions, III. c. 67, and in the Pseudo-Justin, Quæstiones ad Orthodoxos, Qu. 137.  It was not however universal, and seems to have been unknown in Africa, not being mentioned by Clement of Alexandria (Pæd. II. c. viii. On the use of ointments), nor Tertullian, nor Augustine., from the very hairs of your head to your feet, and were made partakers of the good olive-tree, Jesus Christ.  For ye were cut off from the wild olive-tree On the significance of the wild olive-tree, see Irenæus, V. 10., and grafted into the good one, and were made to share the fatness of the true olive-tree.  The exorcised oil therefore was a symbol of the participation of the fatness of Christ, being a charm to drive away every trace of hostile influence.  For as the breathing of the saints, and the invocation of the Name of God, like fiercest flame, scorch and drive out evil spirits See Index, “Exorcism.”, so also this exorcised oil receives such virtue by the invocation of God and by prayer, as not only to burn and cleanse away the traces of sins, but also to chase away all the invisible powers of the evil one.