to the Lord’s command, into the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, but into three Beings
without beginning, or into three Sons, or three Comforters, he shall be deprived.”
We see here that the power of administering Baptism was not restricted to the Bishop:
and Cyril speaks of it as possessed by “Bishops, or Presbyters, or Deacons,” assigning as the
reason the great increase of believers, “for the grace is everywhere, in villages and in cities,
on them of low as on them of high degree, on bondsmen and on freemen198.”
Thus the rule of Ignatius199, that “it is not lawful either to baptize or to hold a love-feast
apart from the Bishop (χωρὶς τοῦ ἐπισκόπου),” must be understood to mean “without the
authority and permission of the Bishop.”
Of certain minor ceremonies connected with Baptism, such as the “Kiss of peace,” and
the taste of milk and honey administered to the neophyte200, no mention is made by Cyril.
§ 6. Chrism. The custom of anointing the baptized with consecrated ointment is re-
garded by Cyril as a sacramental act representing the anointing of Jesus by the Spirit at His
Baptism. “As the Holy Ghost in substance lighted on Him, like resting upon like, so, after
you had come up from the pool of the sacred waters, there was given to you an unction the
counterpart (τὸ ἀντίτυπον) of that wherewith He was anointed, and this is the Holy
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Ghost201.” As “He was anointed with a spiritual oil of gladness, that is with the Holy Ghost,
called oil of gladness, because He is the author of spiritual gladness, so ye were anointed
with ointment, and made partakers and fellows of the Christ202.” The ceremony was very
ancient: there is probably a reference to it in the words of Theophilus of Antioch203 (c. a.d.
170): “We are called Christians, because we are anointed with the oil of God.” Tertullian,
a little later, after speaking of Baptism, says: “Immediately on coming out of the Laver we
are thoroughly anointed with a consecrated unction204;” and again, “After that, the hand
is laid upon us in benediction, invoking and inviting the Holy Ghost205.” In another pas-
sage206 he mentions also the sign of the Cross: “The flesh is washed, that the soul may be
cleansed; the flesh is anointed that the soul may be consecrated, the flesh is signed [with the
Cross] that the soul also may be guarded; the flesh is overshadowed by imposition of the
hand, that the soul also may be illuminated by the Spirit.”
198 Cat. xvii. 35.
199 Ad Smyrn. c. viii.
200 Bingham, Ant. XII. c. 4, §§ 5, 6.
201 Mystag. iii. § 1.
202 Mystag. iii. § 2.
203 Ad Autolycum, i.
204 De Bapt. c. 7.
205 Ib. c. 8.
206 De Resurr. Carnis, c. 8.
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Ceremonies of Baptism and Chrism.