St. Gregory Palamas, in preparation for the feast of Theophany, calls his flock to remember the grace of their baptism and the high calling they have as children of God. He provides a summary of the practical aspects of how a person is baptized, giving spiritual commentary about this apostolic tradition. He then details the example and teachings of St. John the Baptist and his perennial, soul-profiting wisdom as recorded in the Holy Scriptures.

This is a reading of Homily 59: "On What is Accomplished in Holy Baptism, and On Repentance, and What Saint John the Baptist Said About This Subject"

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St. Gregory taught:

Repentance is the beginning, middle, and end of the Christian way of life, so it is both sought and required before Holy Baptism, in Holy Baptism, and after Holy Baptism.

Holy Baptism is a symbol of death. After the holy anointing, he is immediately led to the sacred font, which has been thoroughly sanctified beforehand by various holy rites and ablutions. Once he has been brought, the bishop baptizes him by immersing him three times, invoking at each immersion one of the Three Persons whom we worship. Water is a means of cleansing, but not for souls. It can remove dirt from those being baptized, but not the grime that comes from sin. For that reason, the Healer of souls, the Father of spirits (Hebrews 12:9), Christ, Who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29), enters the water before us to be baptized, as we celebrate today in advance. He draws the grace of the All-Holy Spirit from above to dwell in the water with Him, so that later when those being baptized as He entered the water, He is there, clothing them ineffably with His Spirit, attaching Himself to them, and filling them with the grace that purifies and illumines reasonable spirits. And this is what the divine Paul referring to: "as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ" (Galatians 3:27).

While the three immersions in the water are also the saving invocation of the Life-Giving Trinity, they represent the Lord's three-day burial. Following this, the person being baptized comes out of the water the same number of times, because otherwise he could not have been submerged three times, but also because this signifies the resurrection from sin of the three parts of the soul, and the return of the mind, soul and body, all three together, to incorruption. Thus in divine baptism both death and life can be seen, the tomb together with the resurrection, just as the Lord, Who "in that He died, He died unto sin once: but in that He liveth, He liveth continuously unto God" (cf. Romans 6:10).

As repentance is the beginning and end of the Christian way of life, the Lord's Forerunner and Baptist, who was himself the starting point of this approach to living, preached saying, "repent ye: for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand" (Matthew 3:2). And the Lord Himself, the perfection of all goodness, said the same in His preaching (Matthew 4:17). Repentance means hating sin and loving virtue, turning away from evil and doing good (cf. Psalm 34:14; I Peter 3:11).

As I speak these words to you, brethren, I feel no small pain in my soul, that we who were long ago vouchsafed Christian baptism have not yet accomplished those very things which John demanded of those approaching his own baptism. Yet the Lord's baptism, of which we were deemed worthy, is as far superior to the baptism given by John in those days, as the grace of the Holy Spirit is more excellent than water…
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