After this, when we have issued from the font, [8593] we are thoroughly anointed with a blessed unction, -- (a practice derived) from the old discipline, wherein on entering the priesthood, men were wont to be anointed with oil from a horn, ever since Aaron was anointed by Moses. [8594] Whence Aaron is called "Christ," [8595] from the "chrism," which is "the unction;" which, when made spiritual, furnished an appropriate name to the Lord, because He was "anointed" with the Spirit by God the Father; as written in the Acts: "For truly they were gathered together in this city [8596] against Thy Holy Son whom Thou hast anointed." [8597] Thus, too, in our case, the unction runs carnally, (i.e. on the body,) but profits spiritually; in the same way as the act of baptism itself too is carnal, in that we are plunged in water, but the effect spiritual, in that we are freed from sins.

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Footnotes:

[8593] Lavacro.

[8594] See Exodus 29:7; Leviticus 8:12; Psalm 133:2.

[8595] i.e. "Anointed." Aaron, or at least the priest, is actually so called in the LXX., in Leviticus 4:5, 16, ho hiereus ho Christos: as in the Hebrew it is the word whence Messiah is derived which is used.

[8596] Civitate.

[8597] Acts 4:27. "In this city" (en te polei taute) is omitted in the English version; and the name 'Iesoun, "Jesus," is omitted by Tertullian. Compare Acts 10:38 and Leviticus 4:18 with Isaiah 61:1 in the LXX.