Kourion Complex Palace (Mosaics) Fales, c. 1955 (1 of 2)De C. Fales (probably)

64

explanation for the use of hot water in this room (39) is baptism, although [handwritten: the] the hot water may not inconceivably have been used in the [handwritten: xxx] footbaths. While in the Constitutiones Apostolorum, the use of cold water for baptism is preferred to that of hot water, [handwritten: cold] water is not excluded. In the Syrian rites, [handwritten: the] hot and cold water were carefully mixed. [handwritten: 431]

Ambrose wrote that in remembrance of Christ's washing the feet of his disciples, the feet of those who had just been baptized were immediately upon leaving the font to be washed. [handwritten: 432] [handwritten: 433] In an inscription on the wall of the orthodox baptistery at [handwritten: Ravenna] Ravenna, this foot-washing is mentioned. [handwritten: 434] This inscription, moreover, is a reflection of the actual ceremony and not merely a non-functional remembrance of the words of the gospel, for on the floor of the same baptistery, is an inscription of similar content, placed next to the font. [handwritten: 435] Although the evidence for this practice is from the [handwritten: Ma] West, it may not have been unknown in the east. In the Constitutiones Apostolorum, the deacons are, as a [handwritten: sizzz] sign of humility, to wash the feet of the weak and lowly. It may not be accidental that in the paragraph preceding [handwritten: this] one, the conduct of one who has been baptized is set forth. In any case, before the steps that went up to the bath in room (41), there was a shallow footbath. It may have been used as [handwritten: such] such in the ceremony of baptism. [handwritten: 436]