Cyril of Jerusalem

Let us see, then, how Abraham is the father of many nations. We confess that he is the father of Jews, through descent according to the flesh. But if we hold to the descent according to the flesh, we are forced to say that the prophecy was false. For he is no longer father of us all according to the flesh. Yet the example of his faith makes us all children of Abraham. How and in what manner? With people it is unbelievable that one should rise from the dead. In the same way, it is also unbelievable that there should be offspring from aged persons as good as dead. Yet when Christ is preached as having been crucified on the tree, as having died and risen again, we believe it. By the likeness of our faith, therefore, we become the adopted children of Abraham. And consequently by our faith, like him, we receive the spiritual seal, being circumcised by the Holy Spirit through the font of baptism, not in the foreskin of the body, but in the heart, according to the words of Jeremiah: “For the sake of the Lord, be circumcised, remove the foreskins of your hearts.” And according to the apostle: In the “circumcision that is of Christ, buried together with him in baptism,” and so forth.

For since the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise partook of the same (Heb 2.14), that having been made partakers of His presence in the flesh we might be made partakers also of His Divine grace: thus Jesus was baptized, that thereby we again by our participation might receive both salvation and honour. According to Job, there was in the waters the dragon that draws up the Jordan into his mouth [Job 40.23]. Since,
Therefore, it was necessary to break the heads of the dragon in pieces (Ps 74.14), He went down and bound the strong one in the waters, that we might receive power to tread upon serpents and scorpions (Luke 10.19). The beast was great and terrible. No fishing- vessel was able to carry one scale of his tail (Job 40.26): destruction ran before him (Job 41.13), ravaging all that met him. The Life encountered him, that the mouth of Death might henceforth be stopped, and all we that are saved might say, O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory (1 Cor 15.55)? The sting of death is drowned by Baptism. - "Catechetical Lectures 3, Chapter 11."

For since the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise partook of the same (Heb 2.14), that having been made partakers of His presence in the flesh we might be made partakers also of His Divine grace: thus Jesus was baptized, that thereby we again by our participation might receive both salvation and honour. According to Job, there was in the waters the dragon that draws up the Jordan into his mouth (Job 40.23). Since,
Therefore, it was necessary to break the heads of the dragon in pieces (Ps 74.14), He went down and bound the strong one in the waters, that we might receive power to tread upon serpents and scorpions (Luke 10.19). The beast was great and terrible. No fishing- vessel was able to carry one scale of his tail (Job 40.26): destruction ran before him [Job 41.13], ravaging all that met him. The Life encountered him, that the mouth of Death might henceforth be stopped, and all we that are saved might say, O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory (1 Cor 15.55)? The sting of death is drowned by Baptism. - "Catechetical Lectures 3, Chapter 11."

This Holy Spirit came down when the Lord was baptized so that the dignity of him who was baptized might not be hidden.… The heavens too were opened because of the dignity of him who descended. For see, he says, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove, and lighting upon him. The Spirit descended voluntarily. For it was appropriate, as some have interpreted, that the primacy and firstfruits of the Holy Spirit promised to the baptized should be conferred upon the humanity of the Savior first since the Spirit is the giver of such grace. But perhaps he came down in the form of a dove, as some say, to exhibit a figure of that dove who is pure and innocent and undefiled—who also helps the prayers of the children she has begotten and who brings forgiveness of sins. It was emblematically foretold that Christ should be made known in this way in the appearance of his eyes. For in the Song of Songs she cries concerning the Bridegroom, and says, “Your eyes are as doves by the rivers of water.”69The dove of Noah, according to some, was in part a figure of this dove. In the time of Noah, salvation came to them by means of wood and water along with the beginning of a whole new generation. And, the dove returned to him towards evening with an olive branch. Just as this happened, they say, so the Holy Spirit also descended upon the true Noah, the author of the second birth, who draws together into one the wills of all nations. The various dispositions of the animals in the ark were in fact a figure of him too—him at whose coming the spiritual wolves feed with the lambs, in whose church the calf, and the lion, and the ox, feed in the same pasture, as we behold to this day the rulers of the world guided and taught by churchmen. The spiritual dove therefore, as some interpret, came down at the season of his baptism so that he might show that it is he who by the wood of the cross saves those who believe, he who when evening comes grants salvation through his death.

Let us drink waters out of our own cisterns and out of our own springing wells. We drink of living water springing up into everlasting life. But this is what the Savior said of the Spirit, which those who believe on him should receive. For observe what he says: “He who believes on me—not simply this, but—as the Scripture has said—here he sends you back to the Old Testament—out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.” These are not rivers perceived by sense that merely water the earth with its thorns and trees. But these are rivers that bring souls to the light. And in another place he says, “But the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of living water springing up into everlasting life”—a new kind of water living and springing up, springing up to those who are worthy.And why did he call the grace of the Spirit water? Because by water all things subsist; because water brings forth grass and living things; because the water of the rain showers comes down from heaven; because it comes down one in form but works in many forms. For one fountain waters the whole of paradise, and one and the same rain comes down on all the world, yet it becomes white in the lily, and red in the rose, and purple in violets and hyacinths, and different and varied in each. So it is one in the palm tree, and another in the vine, and all in all things; and yet it is one in nature, not diverse from itself. For the rain does not change itself and come down first as one thing, then as another, but adapting itself to the constitution of each thing that receives it, it becomes to each what is suitable. And so the Holy Spirit also, being one, and of one nature and indivisible, distributes to each his grace, as he wills. And as the dry tree, after being nourished with water, puts forth shoots, so also the soul in sin, when it has been through repentance made worthy of the Holy Spirit, brings forth clusters of righteousness. And though he is one in nature, yet many are the virtues he inculcates by the will of God and in the name of Christ. For he employs the tongue of one person for wisdom; the soul of another he enlightens by prophecy; to another he gives power to drive away devils, while another is given ability to interpret the divine Scriptures. He strengthens one person’s self-control while another learns how to give to the poor. He teaches one to fast and be disciplined and another to despise the things of the body, and still another he trains for martyrdom—diverse in different people, yet not diverse from himself.