Daily Reading for June 10 • Ephrem of Edessa, Syria, Deacon, 373
In Baptism Adam found again
that glory that was among the trees of Eden.
He went down, and received it out of the water;
he put it on, and went up and was adorned therein.
Blessed be He that has mercy on all!
Man fell in the midst of Paradise,
and in baptism compassion restored him:
he lost his comeliness through Satan’s envy,
and found it again by God’s grace.
Blessed be He that has mercy on all!. . .
Baptism is the well-spring of life,
which the Son of God opened by His Life;
and from His Side it has brought forth streams.
Come, all that thirst, come, rejoice!
Blessed be He that has mercy on all!
The Father has sealed Baptism, to exalt it;
and the Son has espoused it to glorify it;
and the Spirit with threefold seal
has stamped it, and it has shone in holiness.
Blessed be He that has mercy on all!
The Trinity that is unsearchable
has laid up treasures in baptism.
Descend, ye poor, to its fountain!
and be enriched from it, ye needy!
Blessed be He that has mercy on all!
Hymn XII of Ephrem the Syrian’s Fifteen Hymns for the Feast of the Epiphany; found at http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf213.iii.vi.xiii.html