Pope Shenouda's testimony on the anointing and anointing of women with chrism oil

4 - Baptism * ([1]) Baptism by immersion, i.e. immersion = Immersion, and it was the ritual that was practiced since the beginning of baptism in all churches, because the ritual, spirit and theological philosophy of baptism is death and burial with Christ and then resurrection with Christ, and this is an expression of our death to sin and our resurrection to righteousness. As for the necessity of taking off the clothes, it was done according to the ritual and order of anointing with the oil of the exorcism, where the catechumen must be completely undressed for anointing with oil in all his limbs in a dark room , in which he renounces Satan and makes a covenant with Christ to join in His service, obey Him and work according to His commandments. After the anointing with oil to cast out Satan and after renouncing Satan and pledging to adhere to Christ, he is led to the baptismal font where he descends into the water. The catechumen’s taking off of his clothes to renounce Satan and the anointing with oil was an expression of taking off the body of the sins of humanity (Col. 2:11). When the catechumen descends into the water after the anointing with exorcism, the priest instructs him how to immerse his head and whole body under the water. Of course, cases of illness and disability are excluded, so water jets or sprinkling are used on the head. - Saint Chrysostom speaks about nakedness before descending into baptism, saying: * [ They become naked in the presence of God like Adam, except that Adam was naked because he sinned (i.e. was naked from grace), but here (in baptism) the person is naked in order to cast off the sins he has worn . [2] - And Saint Ambrose says: * [They come naked to baptism as they came naked into the world - so how can it be shameful or inappropriate for a person, as he was born naked, to be baptized naked and then go to heaven rich!] ([3]) - And Saint Cyril of Jerusalem says: * [ The first time you entered the interior of baptism ( an inner room), you took off your clothes, which is a symbol of taking off the old man with his deeds, and thus you stood naked in the likeness of Christ on the cross, who with his nakedness “disarmed the principalities and powers, and made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them on the cross ” (Col. 2:15) ... So you became naked in the sight of people, but not ashamed like the first man, Adam, who was naked in Paradise (before the fall) and was not ashamed .] ([4]) And we do not find in tradition any exception to this nakedness before Baptism: Men, women, or children, except the sick. But in spite of this there was never any improperness in the churches in this matter, because the works of baptism were divided into a section for men and a section for women, and the baptism of men was at a special time other than that of women. * p. 202-203 - The Ritual Part - Chapter Three - Baptism The First Origins of Christianity - Father Matta El Meskeen ([1]) The Greek and Latin texts of the sayings of all the saints recorded in this chapter are in the book: The Works of the Rev. Joseph Bingham , Oxford, 1855, vol. IV, pp. 177 ff.

We will indicate in the footnotes their places in the English editions of the sayings of the Fathers, such as: ANF, NPNF.
([ 2]) Homily 6 on Colossians , NPNF, 1st ser., vol. XIII, p. 287.
([3]) Serm. 20. (in Edit. Paris 1642), cited by Binghaum, op. cit., p. 178.
([4]) Catech. 20,2 (= Catech. Mystagog. 2,2); NPNF, 2nd, ser., vol. VIII, p. 147.