The Discourse on the Holy Theophany.

 1. Good, yea, very good, are all the works of our God and Saviour—all of them that eye seeth and mind perceiveth, all that reason interprets and hand

 2. Nor is this the only thing that proves the dignity of the water. But there is also that which is more honourable than all—the fact that Christ, the

 3. But we, who know the economy, adore His mercy, because He hath come to save and not to judge the world.  Wherefore John, the forerunner of the Lord

 4. As John says these things to the multitude, and as the people watch in eager expectation of seeing some strange spectacle with their bodily eyes, a

 5. And what saith the Lord to him?  “Suffer it to be so now, for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness.” “Suffer it to be so now,” John tho

 6. Do you see, beloved, how many and how great blessings we would have lost, if the Lord had yielded to the exhortation of John, and declined baptism?

 7. The beloved generates love, and the light immaterial the light inaccessible. “This is my beloved Son,” He who, being manifested on earth and yet un

 8. But give me now your best attention, I pray you, for I wish to go back to the fountain of life, and to view the fountain that gushes with healing.

 9. This is the Spirit that at the beginning “moved upon the face of the waters ” by whom the world moves by whom creation consists, and all things ha

 10. Come then, be begotten again, O man, into the adoption of God. And how? says one. If thou practisest adultery no more, and committest not murder,

9. This is the Spirit that at the beginning “moved upon the face of the waters;”45    Gen. i. 2. by whom the world moves; by whom creation consists, and all things have life; who also wrought mightily in the prophets,46    Acts xxviii. 25. and descended in flight upon Christ.47    Matt. iii. 16. This is the Spirit that was given to the apostles in the form of fiery tongues.48    Acts ii. 3. This is the Spirit that David sought when he said, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.”49    Ps. li. 10. Of this Spirit Gabriel also spoke to the Virgin, “The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee.”50    Luke i. 35. By this Spirit Peter spake that blessed word, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.”51    Matt. xvi. 16. By this Spirit the rock of the Church was stablished.52    Matt. xvi. 18. This is the Spirit, the Comforter, that is sent because of thee,53    John xvi. 26. that He may show thee to be the Son54    τέκνον. of God.

[9] τοῦτο δέ ἐστιν τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἀπ' ἀρχῆς ἐπιφερόμενον ἐπάνω τῶν ὑδάτων, δι' οὗ κόσμος κινεῖται, δι' οὗ κτίσις ἵσταται καὶ τὰ σύμπαντα ζῳογονεῖται, τὸ ἐν προφήταις ἐνεργῆσαν, τὸ ἐπὶ Χριστὸν καταπτάν. τοῦτό ἐστι τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ δοθὲν τοῖς ἀποστόλοις ἐν εἴδει πυρίνων γλωσσῶν. τοῦτο τὸ πνεῦμα ἐζήτει Δαβὶδ λέγων „καρδίαν καθαρὰν κτίσον ἐν ἐμοί, ὁ θεός, καὶ πνεῦμα εὐθὲς ἐγκαίνισον ἐν τοῖς ἐγκάτοις μου„. περὶ τούτου καὶ Γαβριὴλ ἔλεγε τῇ παρθένῳ ”πνεῦμα ἅγιον ἐπελεύσεται ἐπὶ σέ, καὶ δύναμις ὑψίστου ἐπισκιάσει σοι”. διὰ τούτου τοῦ πνεύματος Πέτρος ἐφθέγξατο τὴν μακαρίαν ἐκείνην φωνὴν „σὺ εἶ ὁ Χριστὸς, ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ τοῦ ζῶντος„. διὰ τούτου τοῦ πνεύματος ἐστερεώθη ἡ πέτρα τῆς ἐκκλησίας. τοῦτό ἐστιν τὸ πνεῦμα ὁ παράκλητος τὸ διὰ σὲ πεμπόμενον, ἵνα δείξῃ σε τέκνον θεοῦ.