The Quarterly Journal of St. Philaret’s Institute

This translation of Theodore of Mopsuestia’s third homily on baptism (the 14th Catechetical Homily) into Russian continues the translation project of the Catechetical Homilies. Since the text of the Homilies is not preserved in the original Greek, the Russian translation was made from the Syriac version surviving in the manuscript Mingana Syr. 561. The translation tends to be literal, simultaneously avoiding the redundancies of the Syriac text. The translation has an introduction and historical theological commentary in the footnotes. In the introduction, the baptismal rites, namely anointment of the whole body, baptism proper, putting on light garments, and post-baptismal anointment of the forehead, are described and analyzed from the perspective of the history of liturgy and sacramental theology. Theodore explains taking off the baptizand’s garments before the anointment of the whole body as the removal of mortality and the anointment itself, according to him, is a symbol of immortality. He describes immersions into the baptismal pool in a traditional way by using imagery of the death and resurrection with Christ, rebirth, adoption, and renewal. Theodore’s sacramentological theology is eschatological; he perceives baptismal rebirth as a type and symbol of future rebirth in the resurrection from the dead, while the resurrection itself is a true rebirth. To illustrate baptismal renewal, Theodore also uses the imagery of refashioning a clay vessel and baking it in a furnace. He interprets the light garments that the baptized put on right after they go out of the pool as a symbol of the future age which they sacramentally entered. The post-baptismal anointment, for Theodore, grants the first fruits of the Holy Spirit.