Phos aprositon

"At the voice of him that cried out in the desert Prepare ye the way of the Lord! thou didst come, O Lord! taking to thyself the likeness of a servant, and, thou that knowest not sin, asking for Baptism! The waters saw thee, and trembled. The Precursor trembled, and exclaimed: 'how shall the lamp give light to the Light? How shall the servant impose his hands on his Lord? O Saviour! that takest way the sins of the world, sanctify me and the waters.'

"His right hand trembled, for, though Precursor, and Baptist, and Prophet greater than all prophets, he saw before him the Lamb of God that washes away the sins of the world: oppressed with anxious doubt, he exclaimed:"O Word! I dare not put my hand upon thy head: do thou sanctify and enlighten me, O merciful One! for thou art the life, and Light, and peace of the world'

"... Thou didst bend thine Head to thy Precursor; thou didst crush the heads of the serpents. Thou didst enlighten all things that they might glorify thee, O Saviour, thou Light of our souls!

"He that is clad with light as with a garment, deigned, for our sakes, to become like unto us ...

"The Precursor, the herald of Christ, exclaimed: 'Who is there that has seen a spot upon the sun, the orb of bightnesss! And how shall I, that am but as grass of the field, baptise thee thou brightness of glory, and image of the Eternal Father? How shall I dare touch the fire of the Divinity? for thou art the Christ, the wisdom and the power of God.'

"Christ , the great Light, has shone on Galilee of the Gentiles, the country of Zabulon, and on the land of Nephthalim; to them that sat in darkness there has appeared a bright Light in Bethlehem the bright. But, the Sun of Justice, the Lord, has risen from Mary, and shown far brighter rays on the whole earth. ... thou art come, O Christ! to be the clothing of the naked, and the Light of them that are in darkness. O Light inaccessible! thou hast appeared to the world."

Dom Gueranger, reproducing the Greek Menaia.