16 by dying a death like his, so we shall be by a resurrection like his; realizing that our former self was crucified with him, so that the self which belonged to sin should be destroyed and we should be freed from the slavery of sin. Someone who has died, of course, no longer has to answer for sin”. (Rom. 6, 3-7). This freedom from sin and the old way of life, as well as purification in the Blood of the Lamb, was always expressed through the whiteness of the baptismal garment, from which the Second Sunday of Easter, called White Sunday, also took its name. “Upon emerging from the baptismal font, neophytes put on a garment, but it was not the same one they wore when approaching the sacrament. The garment had to be new, white, and shining, symbolizing the new life that started with their baptism.”16 Therefore, the white garment of the neophytes has always symbolized a new life in Christ and with Christ from the beginning. For the Christians in ancient Rome, the significance was even more profound, as it was customary to wear white on one’s birthday. Thus, the day of Baptism was perceived, even by pagans observing the white garments of the neophytes from the outside, as a day of new birth, dies natalis. 16 A. Grzywa, Symbolika szaty w starożytnych obrzędach katechumenalnych i chrzcielnych, in: Biblica et Patristica Thoruniensia 13 (2000), p. 284.
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