Haste, Tiresias; believe, and thou wilt see. Christ, by
whom the eyes of the blind recover sight, will shed on thee a light brighter
than the sun; night will flee from thee, fire will fear, death will be gone;
thou, old man, who saw not Thebes, shalt see the heavens.
O truly sacred mysteries! O stainless light! My way is
lighted with torches, and I survey the heavens and God; I become holy whilst I
am initiated. The Lord is the hierophant, and seals while illuminating him who
is initiated, and presents to the Father him who believes, to be kept safe for
ever. Such are the reveries of my mysteries. If it is thy wish, be thou also
initiated; and thou shall join the choir along with angels around the
unbegotten and indestructible and the only true God, the Word of God, raising
the hymn with us.
Naked Baptism
From A Dictionary of Christian Antiquities p 160 ed W
Smith & S Cheetam 1875
A comparison of all the evidence leads to the conclusion
that the catechumens entered the font in a state of absolute nakedness. See
particularly St Cyril, Hieros. Myst. Catech. ii ad
init; St Ambrose, Serm. xx (Opp. t.v. p. 153, Paris 1642)and Enarrat. in Ps
lxi 32 (BB t.i.p. 966); St Chrysostom, ad Illum. Cat. i (Migne, tom. ii. p
268). Possibly a cincture of some kind (quo pudori consuleretur) may have been
worn, as indicated in some medieval works of art.
But surely this was not God's idea was it?
The general theme associated with Nakedness in the Old
Testament is Shame. But there
are exceptions to this, and notable exceptions at that. First
off there is the experience of the Garden of Eden, where the original couple
before sin and loss of innocence were naked and not ashamed. Nudity seems in
some way associated with prophecy in the Old Testament with a rather cryptic
passage concerning Saul when the Holy Spirit
came upon him.
Then there is David King of Israel praising the Lord in
Dance.
| Then we come to the new Testament and the concept of all
things being naked and laid bare before the Lord and some obtuse comments on
nakedness in the Gospels. Why does John need to mention the disciples
fishing in the nude why does Mark mention the beloved disciple fleeing the
Crucifixion naked? |
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Interestingly Clement of Alexandria speaks of a Secret
Gospel of Mark that seems to add context to the naked disciple fleeing
Gethsemane. It also gives an idea as to why the verse construction in
Mark 10:46 looks as if its had something cut out of it.
St Cyril of Jerusalem speaking of the rite of baptism (4th
Century)
Therefore, I shall necessarily lay before you the sequel
of yesterday's Lecture, that ye may learn of what those things, which were done
by you in the inner chamber(2), were symbolical. 2. As soon, then, as ye
entered, ye put off your tunic; and this was an image of putting off the old man
with his deeds(3). Having stripped yourselves, ye were naked; in this also
imitating Christ, who was stripped naked on the Cross, and by His nakedness put
off from Himself the principalities and powers, and openly triumphed over them
on the tree(4). For since the adverse powers made their lair in your members, ye
may no longer wear that old garment; I do not at all mean this visible one, but
the old man, which waxeth corrupt in the lusts of deceit(5). May the soul which
has once put him off, never again put him on, but say with the Spouse of Christ
in the Song of Songs, I have put off my garment, how shall I put it on(6)? O
wondrous thing! ye were naked in the sight of all, and were not ashamed(7); for
truly ye bore the likeness of the first-formed Adam, who was naked in the
garden, and was not ashamed. 3. Then, when ye were stripped, ye were anointed
with exorcised oil(8), from the very hairs of your head to your feet, and were
made partakers of the good olive-tree, Jesus Christ. For ye were cut off from
the wild olive-tree(9), and grafted into the good one, and were made to share
the fatness of the true olive-tree.
Why Naked Baptism?
Baptism - being born again - was a central mystery of the primitive church.
It was shrouded in secrecy. It was one of the pearls not to be cast before pigs.
It was all about the old body of death dying with Christ and being resurrected
as a spiritual body.
In the New Testament and primitive church the motif of clothing resonates
with the motif of tent or dwelling and body. All three are associated with the
Spiritual body, the Body of Christ and the virtues.
A body must match its environment.
The early church had a concept of Adam and Eve being stripped of spiritual
clothing in the garden. In losing this covering, they were given the covering of
dead animals. Their body ceased to be spiritual and became dead and animal like.
Then they were outed from the Garden into an environment that matched their
body.
The primitive church took people from this dead body state, killed them
(removed their outer clothing of death) and resurrected them in Christ through
baptism - being born of water and the Spirit.
This provided the newly born with a spiritual body that could live in a
spiritual environment called the Kingdom of God.
The substance of both the spiritual body and the Kingdom of God is the fruit
of the Holy Spirit. The virtues. We can refer to the Kingdom of God as a Virtue
space and spiritual bodies as virtue bodies.
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