"The four principal modes are: 1. Submersion; or total immersion, where the candidate goes briefly but entirely below the water, on the model of those baptised by John in the River Jordan; 2. Immersion; where the head, as the prime seat of Man's rational and spiritual being, is in some way submerged, with or without the candidate having to stand in the same container of water; 3. Affusion; …" (Charles Thomas, Christianity in Roman Britain to A.D. 500. University of California Press 1981 ISBN0-520-04392-8. p, 204
"In the early Church baptism was by one of four methods: complete submersion of the entire body, immersion of the head, affusion or pouring, or aspersion or sprinkling" (Steven J. Schloeder, Architecture in Communion. Ignatius Press 1998 ISBN0-89870-631-9. p. 113).
"There have been four different modes of conferring baptism throughout history: (1) submersion, also called dipping, in which the candidate is completely submerged under the baptismal waters; (2) immersion, in which the candidate stands or kneels in rather shallow water, and the water is either poured over the head of the candidate or the candidate's head itself is pushed partially into the water; (3) affusion, in which water is poured over the head of the candidate; and (4) aspersion …" (S. Anita Stauffer, On Baptismal Fonts: Ancient and Modern. Grove Books 1994, pp. 9-10).
britannica.com
"Baptistery", Encyclopædia Britannica, 2007. Retrieved March 7, 2007.
earlychristianwritings.com
"Didache" in The Ante-Nicene Fathers: Translations of the Writings of the Fathers down to A.D. 325. vol. 1. Roberts, Alexander; Donaldson, James; and Coxe, A. Cleveland, eds. (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company), 1951 (original pub. in U.S. 1885).
