How was baptism done: immersion or pouring, and with what words?
What the sources show
Didachec. 100 · Tertullianc. 211 · Cyril of Jerusalemc. 350Immersion
The normal practice was going down into water, three times, at the three names of Matthew 28:19, with questions on the faith at each. Didache, Tertullian and Cyril all describe it. 135
Didachec. 100 · Cyprian of Carthagec. 255Pouring allowed
From the first manual on, pouring was allowed when there was too little water, and Cyprian accepted pouring for the sick as full baptism. 24
The answers given:
ApostolicBefore NicaeaNicaea and afterMiddle AgesReformation to today
Scroll through the centuries, or tap a dot. JK move between witnesses.
Apostolic Fathers
30–150
100c. AD
Immersion
Didache c. 100 ADDidache 7.1–4
Concerning baptism, baptize this way: having first said all these things, baptize in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, in living water. If you do not have living water, baptize in other water; if you cannot in cold, then in warm. If you have neither, pour water on the head three times in the name of Father and Son and Holy Spirit. Before the baptism, let the one baptizing and the one baptized fast, and any others who can.
"Living" water is running water. Pouring is allowed when there is not enough water. The words are the triple name of Matthew 28:19.
ἐὰν δὲ ἀμφότερα μὴ ἔχῃς, ἔκχεον εἰς τὴν κεφαλὴν τρὶς ὕδωρ εἰς ὄνομα πατρὸς καὶ υἱοῦ καὶ ἁγίου πνεύματος.Anonymus Kirsopp Lake The Apostolic Fathers William Heinemann The Macmillan Company London New York 1912 1 Hathi Trust (First1KGreek TEI, urn:cts:greekLit:tlg1311.tlg001) · English: translated for this page from the Greek
Before Nicaea
150–325
211c. AD
Immersion
Tertullian c. 155–c. 220 ADOn the Crown 3.2–3
When we are about to enter the water, there, and also a little earlier in the church under the bishop's hand, we declare that we renounce the devil, his pomp and his angels. Then we are immersed three times, answering somewhat more than the Lord laid down in the Gospel. Then, taken up, we taste a mixture of milk and honey, and from that day we abstain from our daily bath for a whole week.
Tertullian lists customs kept by tradition without a written text. "Answering" refers to the questions on the creed put at each immersion.
Full English of this work is being translated
aquam adituri ibidem, sed et aliquanto prius in ecclesia sub antistitis manu, contestamur nos renuntiare diabolo et pompae et angelis eius. Dehinc ter mergitamur amplius aliquid respondentes quam dominus in evangelio determinavit, Inde suscepti lactis et mellis concordiam praegustamus, exque ea die lavaero quotidiano per totam hebdomadem abstinemus.Quinti Septimii Florentis Tertulliani Quae Supersunt Omnia Tertullian Franz Oehler T. O. Weigel Leipzig 1853 1 HathiTrust (Perseus canonical-latinLit TEI, urn:cts:latinLit:stoa0275.stoa013) · English: translated for this page from the Latin
255c. AD
Pouring allowed
Cyprian of Carthage c. 200–258 ADLetter 69, to Magnus 69.12
You also asked, dear son, what I think of those who receive God's grace in sickness and weakness: whether they are to be counted true Christians, since they were not washed with the saving water but had it poured over them. ... As far as my small judgment reaches, I think that God's gifts cannot be cut short or weakened in any way, nor can less happen there, where what is drawn from God's gifts is received with full and whole faith by giver and receiver.
"Clinical" baptism, by pouring on the sick in bed. Cyprian accepts it as full baptism.
Full English of this work is being translated
Quaesisti etiam, fili carissime, quid mihi de illis nideotnr qui in infirmitate et languore gratiam Dei consecuntur, an habendi sint legitimi christiani, eo quod aqua salutari non loti sint sed perfusi. ... nos, quantum concipit mediocritas nostra, aestimamus in nullo mutilari et debilitari posse beneficia diuina nec minus aliquid illic posse contingere, ubi plena et tota fide et dantis et sumentis accipitur quod de diuinis muneribus hauritur.Wilhelm von Hartel Cyprian, Saint S. Thasci Caecili Cypriani Opera omnia Gerold Vienna 1871 Pars II Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum 3.2 Internet Archive (OGL CSEL TEI, urn:cts:latinLit:stoa0104a.stoa012) · English: translated for this page from the Latin
Nicaea to Chalcedon
325–451
350c. AD
Immersion
Cyril of Jerusalem c. 313–386 ADMystagogic Catecheses 2.4
And each of you was asked whether he believed in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. And you made the saving confession, and went down three times into the water and came up again, signifying by a symbol the three days of Christ's burial.
The Eastern churches still baptize by triple immersion.
Full English of this work is being translated · Source text
These writers also matter for this question. Their texts will join the timeline above once they are translated.
215
Hippolytus (attributed), Apostolic Tradition 21
The fullest early order of baptism, with the three questions. Survives in a Latin palimpsest.
390
Ambrose of Milan, On the Sacraments 2.20
Questions and immersion at Milan.
How this page was made
Every early quote was read in its Greek or Latin and translated for this page by Claude (Opus 5.5) on 13 October 2026. Each line names the printed edition it was read from. A quote marked indirect does not state the answer outright; read its note. A writer's silence is never counted as an answer.