Redeeming The Time

Purpose of Baptism: Searching for the image which had been buried by sin and the passions and restoring it and adorning it. Exegesis of a verse in the Canon for the Forefeast of Theophany. "Thou didst light Thy precious flesh like a lamp in the midst of the Jordan, O Christ, and didst search for Thine image which had been buried by sin and the passions; and finding it, Thou didst adorn it with Thy baptism, O Good One. Wherefore, we hymn Thee." (Ode 7) As we leisurely explain this hymn, we touch on the personality of the Gospel of Mark, a definition of the Gospel, the purpose of baptism, some of the scriptural allusions in this hymn, and - how do we apply it all?