[Rank]
In Octava Epiphaniae;;Duplex majus;;4;;ex Sancti/01-06

[Rank1960]
Commemoratio Baptismi Domini;;Duplex II. classis;;5;;ex Sancti/01-06

[Rule]
ex Sancti/01-06;
Lectio1 tempora
Doxology=Epi
9 lectiones
Comkey=20

[Oratio]
O God, Whose Only-begotten Son was made manifest in the substance of our flesh,~
mercifully grant that through Him our inward man may be changed into the~
likeness of Him Whose outward Man is made like unto us even the same our Lord~
Jesus Christ thy Son
$Qui tecum

[Lectio4]
From the Sermons of l St Gregory of Nazianzus, Patriarch (of Constantinople.)
!Discourse on the Epiphany 2
I AM not able to restrain the outbursts of my happiness. I feel changed and~
elated. I forget my own meanness while I undertake and try to discharge the~
office of the great John. It is true that I am not the Forerunner, but at least I~
come from the desert. Christ is enlightened, or rather, He enlighteneth us~
with His own light. Christ is baptized; let us go down with Him into the water,~
that we may come up with Him.

[Lectio5]
John is baptizing. Jesus cometh. He cometh that He may make holy him who~
baptizeth Him; He cometh to bury the old Adam in the waters; He cometh to hallow~
the blessed flood of Jordan. He Who is Flesh and Spirit cometh to open for all~
that should ever be baptized that power of generation whereby new peoples are~
constantly begotten of water and the Holy Ghost. The Baptist will not receive~
Him. Jesus striveth with him. I, saith John, have need to be baptized of thee.~
Thus speaketh the candle to the Sun, the voice to the Word.

[Lectio6]
Jesus came up out of the water, having, in a manner, washed the whole world, and~
brought it up with Him. And He saw the heavens opened not divided, even those~
heavens which Adam had once shut upon himself and us his descendants, when the~
cherub's fiery sword barred the gates of Paradise. And the Holy Spirit bare~
witness, witness unto Him Who is of One Substance with Himself. And witness was~
given from Heaven, unto Him that came down from heaven.

[Lectio7]
From the Holy Gospel according to John
!John 1:29-34
In that time John saw Jesus coming to him, and he saith: Behold the Lamb of God,~
behold him who taketh away the sin of the world. And so on.
_
Homily by St Austin, Bishop (of Hippo.)
!6th Tract on John.
John knew Jesus even before He came to be baptized of him in Jordan, as we~
perceive by the words I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest Thou to~
me? Behold, how he knew that He was the Lord, how he knew that He was the Son~
of God! How do we prove that he knew that He it was Who should baptize with the~
Holy Ghost? Before the Lord came to the river, when many betook themselves to~
John to be baptized of him, the Baptist said I indeed baptize you with water~
but One Mightier than I cometh; the latchet of Whose shoes I am not worthy to~
unloose He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire. (Luke iii.~
16.) Behold, John knew this also.

[Lectio8]
Yet John saith I knew Him Now, how are we to explain this without calling~
John a liar? and God forbid that we should ever even think anything of the~
kind. Was it not that when the Dove descended on Christ, John then for the first~
time knew Him to have that peculiar attribute, that, whosoever should baptize~
with His Baptism, whether they were themselves just or unjust, the virtue of the~
Sacrament should proceed, not from them, but from Him on Whom abode the Dove; so~
that He is the real Baptizer in every Christian Baptism until the end of time,~
and it is in this sense that it is said of Him the Same is He Which baptizeth~
with the Holy Ghost Whether it be Peter, or Paul, or Judas, that performeth~
the ceremony, the real Baptizer and effectual Worker is Christ. For if the~
holiness of the baptism depended on the holiness of the particular officiator,~
no two baptisms would be exactly alike, and every one would be supposed to be~
more or less regenerated according as the minister who baptized him was more or~
less of a saint.

[Lectio9]
Now, my brethren, understand me. The saints themselves, those good men who~
appertain to the Dove, those good men whose portion is in Jerusalem, those good~
men in the Church, of whom the Apostle saith, the Lord knoweth them that are~
His, (2 Tim. ii. 19,) these good men differ one from another by diversities of~
graces, and are not all of the same worthiness. Some are holier than others, and~
some are better than others. Supposing then for the sake of argument that A is~
baptized by B, a righteous saint, and C is baptized by D who is less worthy in~
the sight of God, who hath attained only a lower degree in godliness, who is not~
so chaste, and whose life is not so good as B's yet A and C receive just the~
same thing. And how is this, unless it be that it is Christ Himself Who is the~
effectual Baptizer?
&teDeum
