Acts 8:38

Acts 8:38. And he baptized him. The comment of Gregory of Nazianzen, about A.D. 370-380, on this verse, quoted by Wordsworth, is curious and interesting: ‘Let me be a Philip, and be thou a minister of Candace. Say, Here is water, what hindereth me to be baptized? Seize the opportunity. Though an Ethiop in body, be thou pure in heart; and do not say: Let a bishop baptize me, and if a presbyter, let him be unmarried. Man looketh on the face, but God on the heart. Any minister can cleanse you by baptism if he is not alien from the Church. One minister may be of gold, another of iron, but they are both like rings which have the seal of Christ. Let them stamp on thee, who art the wax, the image of the great King; there may be a difference in the metal, there is none in the seal' (St. Greg. Nazianzen, An Oration to those who delay their Baptism).