._ iv.) thus: "It makes no difference
whether one is washed in the sea or in a pool, in a river or spring, in a
lake or a ditch. Nor can we distinguish between those whom John baptized
(_tinxit_) in the Jordan and those whom Peter baptized in the Tiber." The
custom of baptizing in the rivers when they are annually blessed at
Epiphany, the feast of the Lord's baptism, still survives in Armenia and in
the East generally. Those of the Armenians and Syrians who have retained
adult baptism use rivers alone at any time of year.

The church of Tyre described by Eusebius (_H.E._ x. 4) seems to have had a
font, and the church order of Macarius, bishop of Jerusalem (_c._ 311-335),
orders the font to be placed in the same building as the altar, behind it
and on the right hand; but the same order lays down that a font is not
essential in cases of illness for "the Holy Spirit is not hindered by want
of a vessel."

2. _Status of Baptizer._--Ignatius (_Smyrn._ viii.) wrote that it is not
lawful to baptize or hold an _agap[=e]_ (Lord's Supper) without the bishop.
So Tertullian (_de Bapt._ xvii.) reserves the right of admitting to baptism
and of conferring it to the _summus sacerdos_ or bishop, Cyprian (_Epist._
lxxiii. 7) to bishops and priests. Later canons continued this restriction;
and although in outlying parts of Christendom deacons claimed the right,
the official churches accorded it to presbyters alone and none but bishops
could perform the confirmation or seal. In the Montanist churches women
baptized, and of this there are traces in the earliest church and in the
Caucasus. Thus St Thekla baptized herself in her own blood, and St Nino,
the female evangelist of Georgia, baptized king Mirian (see "Life of Nino,"
_Studia Biblica_, 1903). In cases of imminent death a layman or a woman
could baptize, and in the case of new-born children it is often necessary.

3. _Immersion or Aspersion._--The _Didach[=e]_ bids us "pour water on the
head," and Christian pictures and sculptures ranging from the 1st to the
10th century represent the baptizand as standing in the water, while the
baptizer pours water from his hand or from a bowl over his head. Even if we
allow for the difficulty of representing complete submersion in art, it is
nevertheless clear that it was not insisted on; nor were the earliest
fonts, to judge from the ruins of them, large and deep enough for such an
usage. The earliest literary notices of baptism are far from conclu