A REPLY TO A MONK: Why are you not circumcised? Do you imagine yourself to be better or worse than Jesus? You know that Jesus was circumcised on the eighth day after he was born (Luke 2:21), in accord with what is written in the Torah of Moses, On the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised (Lev. 12:3). And if he answers that the water of apostasy [i.e., baptism] takes the place of circumcision, tell him that (Jesus) submerged himself in the Jordan (only) at age thirty-three. You, too, should have done both: (first) circumcision and (then) baptism. And if you say that he did the wrong thing by being circumcised, then you want to be better than your God! What kind of a God do you have if you are better than he is?