182 Dimensions of Baptism
laws of the Gospel one cannot be baptized twice in water and the spirit for
the remission of sins. We are given, however, the baptism of martyrdom'
and then proceeds to quote Mk 10.38-39 and Lk. 12.50. He continues:
'Note also that the baptism of martyrdom, as received by our Saviour,
atones for the world; so, too, when we receive it, it serves to atone for
many.'^75 Later he exhorts his readers, 'May you now with heart and soul
submit to that baptism wherewith Jesus was straitened until it was
accomplished', a reference to Lk. 12.50, following this with a clear allu-
sion to Rev. 6.9: 'let us ask ourselves if we were not perhaps preserved
from ["the ordinary death"] in order that we might baptize ourselves in our
own blood and wash ourselves from every sin, and so take our place at the
heavenly altar along with our companions in the fight'.^76
Later, Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, asked, 'Can the power of baptism
be greater or of more avail than confession, than suffering, when one
confesses Christ before men and is baptized in his own blood?' He later
addresses the issue of what happens if a catechumen is martyred before
having been baptized in water:they certainly are not deprived of the sacrament of baptism who are
baptized with the most glorious and greatest baptism of blood, concerning
which the Lord also said, that He had' another baptism to be baptized with'.
But the same Lord declares in the Gospel, that those who are baptized in
their own blood, and sanctified by suffering, are perfected, and obtain the
grace of the divine promise, when He speaks to the thief believing and
confessing in His very passion, and promises that he should be with
Himself in paradise.^77In fact, Cyprian prizes the baptism of blood more than baptism in water:
- Origen, Exhortation to Martyrdom 30, in JJ. O'Meara (ed.), Origen, Prayer.
Exhortation to Martyrdom (ACW, 19; Westminister, MN: Newman Press; London:
Longmans, Green, 1954), p. 171. Cf. J.W.Trigg, Origen: The Bible and Philosophy in
the Third-Century Church (London: SCM Press, 1983), p. 24: 'martyrdom was con-
sidered a second baptism, procuring certain forgiveness of all sins the martyrs them-
selves had committed and, some thought, the sins of others as well. It was the one way
an early Christian could be absolutely certain of salvation.' - Origen, Exh. Mart. 37 and 39 respectively in O'Meara (ed.), Exhortation, pp.
181, 183, italics original. - Cyprian, The Epistles of Cyprian 72, To Jubaianus, Concerning the Baptism of
Heretics 21, in A.C. Coxe (ed.), ANF 5 (repr. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans; Edinburgh:
T. & T. Clark, 1995), p. 384, and To Jubaianus 22, p. 385. Cf. also Epistle 53, To
Cornelius, Concerning Granting Peace to the Lapsed 4, ANF 5, p. 337.