Ante-Nicene Fathers/Volume III/Ethical/On Baptism/VII

Chapter VII.&#8212;Of the Unction.

After this, when we have issued from the font, we are thoroughly anointed with a blessed unction,&#8212;(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. Whence Aaron is called &#8220;Christ,&#8221; from the &#8220;chrism,&#8221; which is &#8220;the unction;&#8221; which, when made spiritual, furnished an appropriate name to the Lord, because He was &#8220;anointed&#8221; with the Spirit by God the Father; as written in the Acts: &#8220;For truly they were gathered together in this city against Thy Holy Son whom Thou hast anointed.&#8221; 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.