The Ancient Witnesses

Chapter 4: The Unfolding of Time, Part 1 • 149

Bitter to you are your hands which you bloodied, when you killed your Lord in the midst of Jerusalem. Just as quickly, Melito concluded by returning the scene to Egypt. Egypt was left childless in a moment of time, But Israel was kept by the sacrifice of sheep, and together they were illuminated through the spilling of blood, for the death of the sheep was found to be a hedge for the people. At the mention of the word illuminated , two ministers of the assembly quietly began resetting the altar furnishings. A young man and two women were recognized as having been baptized into the community earlier that day. They had already been immersed in “living water”—a nearby river. Now they repeated their vows with the assembled worshipers crowded around them. This included a simplified version of the creed, “I believe in God, the Father Almighty,” which we all recited together. They were asked to renounce the devil and his works. They were anointed with oil on the ear, the hand, and the foot, and with the sign of the cross made on their foreheads. Much was said by various ministers about the meaning of baptism in light of the Exodus—both in relation to the blood of the lambs on the doorposts, and Israel’s passing through the waters of the Red Sea. At some point the baptized were directed to face toward the East, “the direction from which the Lord will come again” one of the ministers explained. He then pressed a pinch of salt into the palm of their right hands. “Our Lord has commanded you to be salt!” declared the minister.