His Illness at Helenopolis and Prayers for Baptism

At first he felt some slight bodily discomfort, which was soon followed by real illness. Because of this he went to the hot baths of his own city, and from there on to the city that bore his mother’s name. There he spent some time in the church of the martyrs and offered up petitions and prayers to God. At length he was convinced that his life was drawing to its close. He felt that the time had come to seek cleansing from the sins of his past life, firmly believing that whatever errors he had committed as a mortal man, his soul would be cleansed of them through the power of the words of the mysteries and the saving waters of baptism. With these thoughts in mind he poured out his petitions and confessions to God, kneeling on the pavement in the church itself, and there he also received for the first time the laying on of hands with prayer. After this he traveled as far as the outskirts of Nicomedia, and there he called the bishops together and spoke to them in the following words. [a]