Fire in the Water: Apostolic Baptism, Corporate Fasts, & Common Prayer
Didache 7-8
Apostolic Baptism: Fire in the Water
Mode: All valid (cf. Tertullian) [Rite not exhaustive: Cf. Justin, Hippolytus, etc.]
Why do you think they fasted?
Modeled on Christ: Baptism, Prayer [Fasting], & Spirit indwelling (Luke 3:21-22)
Cf. Luke 3:15 baptized with Holy Spirit & Fire
Read Fathers & conclude with Nicaea I’s definition (apostolic fathers upheld)
Apostolic Rite: Confession, exorcism, immersion or pouring, chrism, & invocation
Book of Common Prayer (1662): Flood prayer, spiritual regeneration (read)
Hypocrites: Rabbinic Judaism
Megillat Ta’anit (Read portion)
Judean leaders authorized to bind communities to corporate fasts (cf. Esther, Maccabees) [Power of binding and loosing]
Apostolic era Christians exerted the same authority (Acts 15, 21:17-26) [cf. BCP Pg. li]
“It is enough for me that it is a customary practice for the bishops to issue mandates for fasts to the universal commonality of the Church.” -Tertullian
Why Wednesday & Friday?
Mark 2:20 “The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast on that day.”
Wednesday = Christ Betrayed by Judas
Friday = Christ killed
Lord’s Prayer: Common Prayer
Notice the placement in Didache: After baptism, before Communion (cf. Justin, Didascalia, etc.)
Apostles and bishops enforce Scriptural hours of prayer
Cyprian summarizes Tertullian’s Treatise on Prayer (Read)
Luke’s Gospel-Acts a study on the prophetic power of corporate prayer
Hours of Prayer retained by Anglicans (Morning, Midday, Evening, Compline)
Epistle of Barnabas (70-135 AD)
Let us further inquire whether the Lord took any care to foreshadow the water [of baptism] and the cross. Concerning the water, indeed, it is written, in reference to the Israelites, that they should not receive that baptism which leads to the remission of sins, but should procure another for themselves. The prophet therefore declares, Be astonished, O heaven, and let the earth tremble at this, because this people has committed two great evils: they have forsaken Me, a living fountain, and have hewn out for themselves broken cisterns. Is my holy hill Zion a desolate rock? For you shall be as the fledglings of a bird, which fly away when the nest is removed. Isaiah 16:1-2 And again says the prophet, I will go before you and make level the mountains, and will break the brazen gates, and bruise in pieces the iron bars; and I will give you the secret, hidden, invisible treasures, that they may know that I am the Lord God. Isaiah 45:2-3 And He shall dwell in a lofty cave of the strong rock. Furthermore, what says He in reference to the Son? His water is sure; you shall see the King in His glory, and your soul shall meditate on the fear of the Lord. Isaiah 33:16-18 And again He says in another prophet, The man who does these things shall be like a tree planted by the courses of waters, which shall yield its fruit in due season; and his leaf shall not fade, and all that he does shall prosper. Not so are the ungodly, not so, but even as chaff, which the wind sweeps away from the face of the earth. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in judgment, nor sinners in the counsel of the just; for the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish. Mark how He has described at once both the water and the cross. For these words imply, Blessed are they who, placing their trust in the cross, have gone down into the water; for, says He, they shall receive their reward in due time: then He declares, I will recompense them. But now He says, Their leaves shall not fade. This means, that every word which proceeds out of your mouth in faith and love shall tend to bring conversion and hope to many. Again, another prophet says, And the land of Jacob shall be extolled above every land. Zephaniah 3:19 This means the vessel of His Spirit, which He shall glorify. Further, what says He? And there was a river flowing on the right, and from it arose beautiful trees; and whosoever shall eat of them shall live forever. Ezekiel 47:12 This means, that we indeed descend into the water full of sins and defilement, but come up, bearing fruit in our heart, having the fear [of God] and trust in Jesus in our spirit. And whosoever shall eat of these shall live for ever, This means: Whosoever, He declares, shall hear you speaking, and believe, shall live forever.
Learn, then, how it shall be built in the name of the Lord. Before we believed in God, the habitation of our heart was corrupt and weak, as being indeed like a temple made with hands. For it was full of idolatry, and was a habitation of demons, through our doing such things as were opposed to [the will of] God. But it shall be built, you observe, in the name of the Lord, in order that the temple of the Lord may be built in glory. How? Learn [as follows]. Having received the forgiveness of sins, and placed our trust in the name of the Lord, we have become new creatures, formed again from the beginning. Wherefore in our habitation God truly dwells in us. How? His word of faith; His calling of promise; the wisdom of the statutes; the commands of the doctrine; He himself prophesying in us; He himself dwelling in us; opening to us who were enslaved by death the doors of the temple, that is, the mouth; and by giving us repentance introduced us into the incorruptible temple. He then, who wishes to be saved, looks not to man, but to Him who dwells in him, and speaks in him, amazed at never having either heard him utter such words with his mouth, nor himself having ever desired to hear them. This is the spiritual temple built for the Lord.
Justin Martyr (100-165 AD)
I will also relate the manner in which we dedicated ourselves to God when we had been made new through Christ; lest, if we omit this, we seem to be unfair in the explanation we are making. As many as are persuaded and believe that what we teach and say is true, and undertake to be able to live accordingly, are instructed to pray and to entreat God with fasting, for the remission of their sins that are past, we praying and fasting with them. Then they are brought by us where there is water, and are regenerated in the same manner in which we were ourselves regenerated. For, in the name of God, the Father and Lord of the universe, and of our Saviour Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Spirit, they then receive the washing with water. For Christ also said, "Except ye be born again, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Now, that it is impossible for those who have once been born to enter into their mothers' wombs, is manifest to all. And how those who have sinned and repent shall escape their sins, is declared by Esaias the prophet, as I wrote above; he thus speaks: "Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from your souls; learn to do well; judge the fatherless, and plead for the widow: and come and let us reason together, saith the Lord. And though your sins be as scarlet, I will make them white like wool; and though they be as crimson, I will make them white as snow. But if ye refuse and rebel, the sword shall devour you: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it." And for this [rite] we have learned from the apostles this reason. Since at our birth we were born without our own knowledge or choice, by our parents coming together, and were brought up in bad habits and wicked training; in order that we may not remain the children of necessity and of ignorance, but may become the children of choice and knowledge, and may obtain in the water the remission of sins formerly committed, there is pronounced over him who chooses to be born again, and has repented of his sins, the name of God the Father and Lord of the universe; he who leads to the laver the person that is to be washed calling him by this name alone. For no one can utter the name of the ineffable God; and if any one dare to say that there is a name, he raves with a hopeless madness. And this washing is called illumination, because they who learn these things are illuminated in their understandings. And in the name of Jesus Christ, who was crucified under Pontius Pilate, and in the name of the Holy Ghost, who through the prophets foretold all things about Jesus, he who is illuminated is washed.
Hermas, Shepherd (90-170 AD)
"On showing me these visions, she wished to retire. I said to her, What is the use of my having seen all this, while I do not know what it means? She said to me, You are a cunning fellow, wishing to know everything that relates to the tower. Even so, O Lady, said I, that I may tell it to my brethren, that, hearing this, they may know the Lord in much glory. And she said, Many indeed shall hear, and hearing, some shall be glad, and some shall weep. But even these, if they hear and repent, shall also rejoice. Hear, then, the parables of the tower; for I will reveal all to you, and give me no more trouble in regard to revelation: for these revelations have an end, for they have been completed. But you will not cease praying for revelations, for you are shameless. The tower which you see building is myself, the Church, who have appeared to you now and on the former occasion. Ask, then, whatever you like in regard to the tower, and I will reveal it to you, that you may rejoice with the saints. I said to her, Lady, since you have vouchsafed to reveal all to me this once, reveal it. She said to me, Whatsoever ought to be revealed, will be revealed; only let your heart be with God, and doubt not whatsoever you shall see. I asked her, Why was the tower built upon the waters, O Lady? She answered, I told you before, and you still inquire carefully: therefore inquiring you shall find the truth. Hear then why the tower is built upon the waters. It is because your life has been, and will be, saved through water. For the tower was founder on the word of the almighty and glorious Name and it is kept together by the invisible power of the Lord."
Irenaeus of Lyon (150-202 AD)
His disciples, the witnesses of all His good deeds, and of His teachings and His sufferings and death and resurrection, and of His ascension into heaven after His bodily 115 resurrection----these were the apostles, who after (receiving) the power of the Holy Spirit were sent forth by Him into all the world, and wrought the calling of the Gentiles, showing to mankind the way of life, to turn them from idols and fornication and covetousness, cleansing their souls and bodies by the baptism of water and of the Holy Spirit; which Holy Spirit they had received of the Lord, and they distributed and imparted It to them that believed; and thus they ordered and established the Churches. By faith and love and hope they established that which was foretold by the prophets, the calling of the Gentiles, according to the mercy of God which was extended to them; bringing it to light through the ministration of their service, and admitting them to the promise of the fathers: to wit, that to those who thus believed in and loved the Lord, and continued in holiness and righteousness and patient endurance, the God of all had promised to grant |107 eternal life by the resurrection of the dead; through Him who died and rose again, Jesus Christ, to whom He has delivered over the kingdom of all existing things, and the rule of quick and dead, and also the judgment. And they counselled them by the word of truth to keep their flesh undefiled unto the resurrection and their soul unstained. For such is the state of those who have believed, since in them continually abides the Holy Spirit, who was given by Him in baptism, and is retained by the receiver, if he walks in truth and holiness and righteousness and patient endurance. For this soul has a resurrection in them that believe, the body receiving the soul again, and along with it, by the power of the Holy Spirit, being raised up and entering into the kingdom of God.
Tertullian (200 AD)
Thus the nature of the waters, having received holiness from the Holy, itself conceived power to make holy. Let no one on that account object, 'But are we then baptized in those
same waters which were there in the beginning?' Not those very same - yet still the same, to the extent that the species is one, though there are many individual instances, and that which has become an attribute of the species overflows into the individuals. Consequently it makes no matter whether one is washed in the sea or in a pond, a river or a fountain, a cistern or a tub: and there is no difference between those whom John baptized in Jordan and those whom Peter baptized in the Tiber - unless perhaps that eunuch whom Philip baptized in casual water in the course of his journeyings obtained a greater, or a less, amount of salvation. Therefore, in consequence of that ancient original privilege, all
waters, when God is invoked, acquire the sacred significance of conveying sanctity: for at once the Spirit comes down from heaven and stays upon the waters, sanctifying them from within himself, and when thus sanctified they absorb the power of sanctifying - though the simile would equally apply to the simple act, that as we are defiled by sins as though with filth, we are washed clean in water. But as sins are in the flesh yet are not visible (since no one carries on his complexion the stains of idolatry, adultery, or embezzlement), so people of this sort are filthy in their spirit, which is where sin begins: for the spirit is the master, and the body the servant. Yet each of these imparts guilt to the other, the spirit by its directive, the flesh by service rendered. Thus when the waters have in some sense acquired healing power by an angel's intervention, the spirit is in those waters corporally washed, while the flesh is in those same waters spiritually cleansed.
Nicaea I (325 AD)
Of Holy Baptism: Our baptism is not to be considered with physical eyes but with spiritual eyes. When you see water, recognize the power of God which is hidden in the water. Holy Scripture teaches that we are baptized ‘with the Holy Spirit and fire’ [Matt. 3:11]. Recognize that by the faith of the baptizer and the faith of the person being baptized, through sacred invocation, the water is full of the Spirit’s sanctification and divine fire, for it says, ‘He will baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire.’ So the person being baptized descends guilty of his sins and subject to ‘the slavery of decay’ [Rom. 8:21], but he ascends free from such slavery and from sin. By God’s grace he has become God’s son and heir, and co-heir with Christ, having clothed himself with Christ, as is written: ‘All of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ’ [Gal. 3:27].
Of the Resurrection of the Dead…Thus must the Lord glorify our bodies like his, no longer subject to wickedness nor any sufferings which presently exist, free from death and sin, and holy, so that we can live a new life with him in heavenly light, reigning forever with Christ himself. In this hope we have received holy baptism and receive saving communion with his holy members. This is the doctrine of the catholic church.
Book of Common Prayer, Baptismal Prayers (1662)
Almighty and everlasting God, who of thy great mercy didst save Noah and his family in the ark from perishing by water; and also didst safely lead the children of Israel thy people through the Red Sea, figuring thereby thy holy Baptism; and by the Baptism of thy well-beloved Son Jesus Christ, in the river Jordan, didst sanctify the element of water to the mystical washing away of sin: We beseech thee, for thine infinite mercies, that thou wilt mercifully look upon these thy servants; wash them and sanctify them with the Holy Ghost; that they, being delivered from thy wrath, may be received into the ark of Christ's Church; and being stedfast in faith, joyful through hope, and rooted in charity, may so pass the waves of this troublesome world, that finally they may come to the land of everlasting life, there to reign with thee world without end, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Almighty and immortal God, the aid of all that need, the helper of all that flee to thee for succour, the life of them that believe, and the resurrection of the dead: We call upon thee for these persons, that they, coming to thy holy Baptism, may receive remission of their sins by spiritual regeneration. Receive them, O Lord: and as thou hast promised by thy well-beloved Son, saying, Ask, and ye shall receive; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: So give now unto us that ask; let us that seek find; open the gate unto us that knock; that these persons may enjoy the everlasting benediction of thy heavenly washing, and may come to the eternal kingdom which thou hast promised by Christ our Lord. Amen.
Megallit Ta’anit (1st Century AD)
And our rabbis also decreed that some would fast on Mondays and Thursdays on account of three things: the destruction of the Temple, the Torah that was burnt, and blaspheming the Name. And in the future the Holy Blessed One will turn them to joy and happiness, as it is said, "And I will turn their mourning to joy, and comfort them, and make them rejoice from their sorrow." (Jeremiah 31:12). Rabbi Elazar said Rabbi Ḥanina said, students of the sages increase peace on earth, as is said, "And all your children are learned of God, and great is the peace of your children." (Isaiah 54:13). "May there be peace in your walls, tranquility in your palaces. For the sake of my brothers and friends, let me speak, please, peace in You. For the sake of the house of the LORD our God let me wish your good." (Psalm 122:7-9). "Great peace to those who love Your torah, they will have no obstacle." (Psalm 119:165). "The LORD grants strength to His people; the LORD bless His people with peace." (Psalm 29:11)
Cyprian, On the Lord’s Prayer (c. 250s AD) [Based on Tertullian’s "On Prayer," c. 200 AD]
And in discharging the duties of prayer, we find that the three children with Daniel, being strong in faith and victorious in captivity, observed the third, sixth, and ninth hour, as it were, for a sacrament of the Trinity, which in the last times had to be manifested. For both the first hour in its progress to the third shows forth the consummated number of the Trinity, and also the fourth proceeding to the sixth declares another Trinity; and when from the seventh the ninth is completed, the perfect Trinity is numbered every three hours, which spaces of hours the worshippers of God in time past having spiritually decided on, made use of for determined and lawful times for prayer. And subsequently the thing was manifested, that these things were of old Sacraments, in that anciently righteous men prayed in this manner. For upon the disciples at the third hour the Holy Spirit descended, who fulfilled the grace of the Lord's promise. Moreover, at the sixth hour, Peter, going up unto the house-top, was instructed as well by the sign as by the word of God admonishing him to receive all to the grace of salvation, whereas he was previously doubtful of the receiving of the Gentiles to baptism. And from the sixth hour to the ninth, the Lord, being crucified, washed away our sins by His blood; and that He might redeem and quicken us, He then accomplished His victory by His passion.
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