Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Tenth Sunday after Pentecost

I came to send fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! But I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how distressed I am till it is accomplished! Do you suppose that I came to give peace on earth? I tell you, not at all, but rather division. For from now on five in one house will be divided: three against two, and two against three. Father will be divided against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. (Luke 12:49–53)

A first baptism was that of the flood unto the cutting away of sin. A second was that by the sea and the cloud, for the cloud is a symbol of the Spirit, while the sea is a symbol of the water. A third is that of the Law, for every unclean person washed himself with water and also washed his garments and thus entered into the camp. A fourth is that of John, which was an introductory baptism leading those thus baptized to penance, so that they might believe in Christ. “I indeed,” he says, “baptize you in water: but he that shall come after me he shall baptize you in the Holy Ghost and fire.” Thus, John purified with water in advance to prepare for the Spirit. A fifth is the Lord’s baptism with which He Himself was baptized. He, however, was baptized not that He Himself stood in any need of purification but that by making my purification His own He might “crush the heads of the dragons in the waters,” wash away the sin and bury all of the old Adam in the water, sanctify the Baptist, fulfill the Law, reveal the mystery of the Trinity, and become for us a model and example for the reception of baptism. And we, too, are baptized with the perfect baptism of the Lord, which is by water and the Spirit. Christ is said to baptize in fire, because He poured out the grace of the Spirit upon the holy Apostles in the form of tongues of fire, as the Lord Himself says: “John indeed baptized with water; but you shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost and fire, not many days hence.” Or it is because of the chastising baptism of the fire to come that He is said to baptize with fire. A sixth is that which is by penance and tears and which is truly painful. A seventh is that which is by blood and martyrdom. Christ Himself was also baptized with this for our sake. It is exceedingly sublime and blessed in so far as it is not sullied by second stains. An eighth, which is the last, is not saving, but, while being destructive of evil, since evil and sin no longer hold sway, it chastises endlessly.

John of Damascus, Orthodox Faith 4.9