In his leisure he pored over the New Testament, searching for ceremonials used in the primitive church that he had not yet incorporated into his own. He noted that among the early Christians, as well as the Jews, footwashing, anointing with oil, and even bathing had been religious rituals. The footwashing ceremonial he had incorporated about three years before, when he had girded himself with a towel after the fashion of Jesus and had washed the feet of the members of his council.
