Introduction — Historical footnotes

The earliest known example of a Catechetical work is the “Teaching of the Twelve Apostles,” which Athanasius names among the “books not included in the Canon, but appointed by the Fathers to be read by those who are just recently coming to us, and wish to be instructed in the word of godliness (κατηχεῖσθαι τὸν τῆς εὐσεβείας λόγον).” The use of the Didache for the instruction of recent converts from Paganism agrees with its original purpose as stated in the longer title, “Teaching of the Lord through the Twelve Apostles for the Gentiles.” The first six chapters are evidently adapted for those who need elementary instruction, more particularly for Catechumens of Gentile descent, as distinct from Jewish candidates for Baptism. The remaining chapters of the Didache relate chiefly to the administration of Baptism, to Prayer, Fasting, and the services of the Lord’s Day, and to the celebration of the Agape and Eucharist. This same division of subjects is observed in the two classes of S. Cyril’s Catechetical Lectures: the first class, including the Procatechesis, consists of XIX Lectures addressed to candidates for Baptism, and these are followed by five “Mystagogic” Lectures, so called as being explanations of the Sacramental Mysteries to the newly-baptized.

§ 3. Catechumens. The term Catechumen denoted a person who was receiving instruction in the Christian religion with a view to being in due time baptized. Such persons were either converts from Paganism and Judaism, or children of Christian parents whose Baptism had been deferred. For though the practice of Infant-Baptism was certainly common in the Early Church, it was not compulsory nor invariable. “In many cases Christian parents may have shared and acted on the opinion expressed by Tertullian in the second century, and by Gregory Nazianzen in the fourth, and thought it well to defer the Baptism of children, cases of grave sickness excepted, till they were able to make answer in their own name to the interrogations of the baptismal rite.”

§ 3. Catechumens. The term Catechumen denoted a person who was receiving instruction in the Christian religion with a view to being in due time baptized. Such persons were either converts from Paganism and Judaism, or children of Christian parents whose Baptism had been deferred. For though the practice of Infant-Baptism was certainly common in the Early Church, it was not compulsory nor invariable. “In many cases Christian parents may have shared and acted on the opinion expressed by Tertullian in the second century, and by Gregory Nazianzen in the fourth, and thought it well to defer the Baptism of children, cases of grave sickness excepted, till they were able to make answer in their own name to the interrogations of the baptismal rite.”

We know that unbelievers, Jews, and Heathens were allowed in the Apostolic age to be present at times in the Christian assemblies; and in Cyril’s days they stood in the lower part of the Church (νάρθηξ) to hear the Psalms, Lessons, and Sermon.

Any persons who by thus hearing the word, or by other means, were brought to believe the truth of Christianity, and to wish for further instruction, were strictly examined as to their character, belief, and sincerity of purpose. The care with which such examinations were conducted is thus described by Origen: “The Christians, however, having previously, so far as possible, tested the souls of those who wish to become their hearers, and having previously admonished them in private, when they seem, before entering the community, to have made sufficient progress in the desire to lead a virtuous life, they then introduce them, having privately formed one class of those who are just beginners, and are being introduced, and have not yet received the mark of complete purification; and another of those who have manifested to the best of their ability the purpose of desiring no other things than are approved by Christians.” Such as were thus found worthy of admission were brought to the Bishop Presbyter, and received by the sign of the Cross, with prayer and imposition of hands, to the status of Catechumens.

Any persons who by thus hearing the word, or by other means, were brought to believe the truth of Christianity, and to wish for further instruction, were strictly examined as to their character, belief, and sincerity of purpose. The care with which such examinations were conducted is thus described by Origen: “The Christians, however, having previously, so far as possible, tested the souls of those who wish to become their hearers, and having previously admonished them in private, when they seem, before entering the community, to have made sufficient progress in the desire to lead a virtuous life, they then introduce them, having privately formed one class of those who are just beginners, and are being introduced, and have not yet received the mark of complete purification; and another of those who have manifested to the best of their ability the purpose of desiring no other things than are approved by Christians.” Such as were thus found worthy of admission were brought to the Bishop Presbyter, and received by the sign of the Cross, with prayer and imposition of hands, to the status of Catechumens.

Persons who had been thus admitted to the class of Catechumens were usually regarded as Christians, but only in a lower degree, being still clearly distinguished from the Faithful. “Ask a man, Art thou a Christian? If he is a Pagan or a Jew, he answers, I am not. But if he say, I am, you ask him further, Catechumen or Faithful? If he answer, Catechumen, he has been anointed, but not yet baptized.” Augustine, like Tertullian, complains that among heretics there was no sure distinction between the Catechumen and the Faithful: and according to the second General Council, Canon 7, converts from certain heresies to the orthodox Faith were to be received only as heathen: “On the first day we make them Christians, on the second Catechumens, on the third we exorcise them by three times breathing on them on the face and on the ears; and so we instruct them (κατηχοῦμεν), and make them frequent the Church for a long time, and listen to the Holy Scriptures, and then we baptize them.”

§ 4. Candidates for Baptism. Bingham, who himself makes four classes or degrees of Catechumens, acknowledges that “the Greek expositors of the ancient Canons,” and other writers, “usually make but two sorts.” These were (1) the imperfect (ἀτελέστεροι), called also hearers (ἀκροώμενοι , audientes), because in Church they were only allowed to remain till the Holy Scriptures had been read, the Sermon preached, the special prayers of the Catechumens said, and the blessing given to each by the Bishop in the words of the “prayer of the imposition of hands.” After this the Deacon says, “Go out, ye catechumens, in peace.” (2) After the Energumens also have been dismissed, the more perfect (τελειότεροι, φωτιζόμενοι) remain on their knees in prayer (γονυκλίνοντες, εὐχόμενοι). Then the Deacon is to cry aloud, “Ye that are to be illuminated, pray. Let us the faithful all pray for them. And being sealed to God through His Christ, let them bow down their heads, and receive the blessing from the Bishop.” The “Prayer of the Imposition of hands” is then pronounced over them by the Bishop.

The period of probation and instruction varied at different times and places: according to Canon 42 of the Synod of Elvira, 305, it was to be two years: “He who has a good name, and wishes to become a Christian, must be a Catechumen two years: then he maybe baptized.” After this probation had been satisfactorily passed, the Catechumens invited to give in their names as Candidates for Baptism. This invitation, described by Cyril as a call to military service (κλῆσις στρατείας), appears to have been often repeated on the approach of Lent. Thus S. Ambrose, in his Commentary on S. Luke, v. 5; We have toiled all night and have taken nothing, complains, “I too, Lord, know that for me it is night, when I have not Thy command. No one yet has given his name: with my voice I have cast the net throughout Epiphany, and as yet I have taken nothing.”

Persons who had been thus admitted to the class of Catechumens were usually regarded as Christians, but only in a lower degree, being still clearly distinguished from the Faithful. “Ask a man, Art thou a Christian? If he is a Pagan or a Jew, he answers, I am not. But if he say, I am, you ask him further, Catechumen or Faithful? If he answer, Catechumen, he has been anointed, but not yet baptized.” Augustine, like Tertullian, complains that among heretics there was no sure distinction between the Catechumen and the Faithful: and according to the second General Council, Canon 7, converts from certain heresies to the orthodox Faith were to be received only as heathen: “On the first day we make them Christians, on the second Catechumens, on the third we exorcise them by three times breathing on them on the face and on the ears; and so we instruct them (κατηχοῦμεν), and make them frequent the Church for a long time, and listen to the Holy Scriptures, and then we baptize them.”

This preliminary “call to service” must be distinguished from the actual enlistment in the Christian army at Baptism, in anticipation of which Cyril prays for his hearers that God “may enlist them in His service, and put on them the armour of righteousness.” The same metaphorical language in reference to the Christian warfare recurs in many passages.

Others are of opinion that the custom of carrying torches or tapers was observed only in the procession of the newly-baptized from the Baptistery to the Church, and that here Cyril means by the “bridal lamps,” those motions of the Holy Ghost, and spiritual instructions, which had lighted their way to Christ, and to the entrance to His Kingdom. This latter interpretation is rather vague and far-fetched, and it is evident that the words, “Ye who have lately lighted the torches of faith,” gain much in clearness and force, if suggested by the visible symbolism of a ceremony in which the Illuminandi had just borne their part. The

That the word began very early to be used in this new sense, is evident from Justin Martyr’s explanation of it in his First Apology, c. 61; where, after speaking of instruction in Christian doctrine, of the profession of faith, and the promise of repentance and holy living, as the necessary preparations for Baptism, he thus proceeds: “And this washing is called Illumination (σωτισμός), because they who learn these things are illuminated in their understanding.” The same transition of the meaning from instruction to Baptism is clearly implied by Clement of Alexandria: “Among the barbarian philosophers also to instruct and to enlighten is called to regenerate,” and again: “For this reason the teaching, which made manifest the hidden things, has been called illumination (φωτισμός).”

That the word began very early to be used in this new sense, is evident from Justin Martyr’s explanation of it in his First Apology, c. 61; where, after speaking of instruction in Christian doctrine, of the profession of faith, and the promise of repentance and holy living, as the necessary preparations for Baptism, he thus proceeds: “And this washing is called Illumination (σωτισμός), because they who learn these things are illuminated in their understanding.” The same transition of the meaning from instruction to Baptism is clearly implied by Clement of Alexandria: “Among the barbarian philosophers also to instruct and to enlighten is called to regenerate,” and again: “For this reason the teaching, which made manifest the hidden things, has been called illumination (φωτισμός).”

We thus see that the Present Participle (φωτιζόμενοι) describes a process of gradual illumination during the course of instruction, to be completed in Baptism, a sense which is well expressed in the Latin Gerundive “Illuminandi.” And as we have seen that the candidates are addressed as οἱ φωτιζόμενοι even before the course of instruction has commenced, the quasi-Future sense “follows necessarily from the context.”

The earliest known example of a Catechetical work is the “Teaching of the Twelve Apostles,” which Athanasius names among the “books not included in the Canon, but appointed by the Fathers to be read by those who are just recently coming to us, and wish to be instructed in the word of godliness (κατηχεῖσθαι τὸν τῆς εὐσεβείας λόγον).” The use of the Didache for the instruction of recent converts from Paganism agrees with its original purpose as stated in the longer title, “Teaching of the Lord through the Twelve Apostles for the Gentiles.” The first six chapters are evidently adapted for those who need elementary instruction, more particularly for Catechumens of Gentile descent, as distinct from Jewish candidates for Baptism. The remaining chapters of the Didache relate chiefly to the administration of Baptism, to Prayer, Fasting, and the services of the Lord’s Day, and to the celebration of the Agape and Eucharist. This same division of subjects is observed in the two classes of S. Cyril’s Catechetical Lectures: the first class, including the Procatechesis, consists of XIX Lectures addressed to candidates for Baptism, and these are followed by five “Mystagogic” Lectures, so called as being explanations of the Sacramental Mysteries to the newly-baptized.

Another duty often undertaken by the Bishop was to hear each Candidate separately recite the Creed, and then to expound to them all the Lord’s Prayer.

We have a description by Eusebius of some of these ceremonies in the case of Constantine: When the Emperor felt his life to be drawing to a close, “he poured forth his supplications and confessions to God, kneeling on the pavement in the Church itself, in which he also now for the first time received the imposition of hands with prayer.” Soon after this the Bishops whom he had summoned to Nicomedia to give him Baptism, “performed the sacred ceremonies in the usual manner, and having given him the necessary instructions made him a partaker of the mystic ordinances.”

Another ceremony used in the admission of Catechumens, at least in some Churches, mentioned by S. Augustine: “Sanctification is not of one kind only: for I suppose that Catechumens also are sanctified in a certain way of their own by the sign of Christ’s Cross, and the Prayer of the Imposition of Hands; and that which they receive, though it be not the Body of Christ, is yet an holy thing, and more holy than the common food which sustains us, because it is a sacrament.” From this passage it has been inferred that consecrated bread (εὐλογίαι, panis benedictus), taken out of the oblations provided for the Eucharist, was given to the Catechumens,—an opinion which seemed to have some support in the comparison between “that which the Catechumens receive,” and “the food which sustains us.” But Bingham maintains that S. Augustine here refers only to the symbolical use of salt, of which he says in his Confessions, I. xi., that while yet a boy he “used to be marked with the sign of His Cross, and seasoned with His salt.” The meaning of this so-called “Sacrament of the Catechumens” was that by the symbol of salt “they might learn to purge and cleanse their souls from sin.”

§ 4. Candidates for Baptism. Bingham, who himself makes four classes or degrees of Catechumens, acknowledges that “the Greek expositors of the ancient Canons,” and other writers, “usually make but two sorts.” These were (1) the imperfect (ἀτελέστεροι), called also hearers (ἀκροώμενοι , audientes), because in Church they were only allowed to remain till the Holy Scriptures had been read, the Sermon preached, the special prayers of the Catechumens said, and the blessing given to each by the Bishop in the words of the “prayer of the imposition of hands.” After this the Deacon says, “Go out, ye catechumens, in peace.” (2) After the Energumens also have been dismissed, the more perfect (τελειότεροι, φωτιζόμενοι) remain on their knees in prayer (γονυκλίνοντες, εὐχόμενοι). Then the Deacon is to cry aloud, “Ye that are to be illuminated, pray. Let us the faithful all pray for them. And being sealed to God through His Christ, let them bow down their heads, and receive the blessing from the Bishop.” The “Prayer of the Imposition of hands” is then pronounced over them by the Bishop.

Two passages in S. Cyril have been thought to imply that the newly-admitted Candidates for Baptism carried lighted torches in procession, perhaps on the first Sunday after the registration. He speaks of their having received “torches of the bridal procession;” and on this expression the Benedictine Editor observes that “Wax tapers” were perhaps given to the Illuminandi to carry, a custom which may also be indicated in the words, “Ye who have lately lighted the torches of faith, guard them carefully in your hands unquenched.”

Others are of opinion that the custom of carrying torches or tapers was observed only in the procession of the newly-baptized from the Baptistery to the Church, and that here Cyril means by the “bridal lamps,” those motions of the Holy Ghost, and spiritual instructions, which had lighted their way to Christ, and to the entrance to His Kingdom. This latter interpretation is rather vague and far-fetched, and it is evident that the words, “Ye who have lately lighted the torches of faith,” gain much in clearness and force, if suggested by the visible symbolism of a ceremony in which the Illuminandi had just borne their part. The

In two passages of the Epistle to the Hebrews, the Aorist (φωτισθέντας ) marks “the decisive moment when the light was apprehended in its glory,” from which the thought easily passes on to the public profession of the truth thus received, that is, to Baptism.

That the word began very early to be used in this new sense, is evident from Justin Martyr’s explanation of it in his First Apology, c. 61; where, after speaking of instruction in Christian doctrine, of the profession of faith, and the promise of repentance and holy living, as the necessary preparations for Baptism, he thus proceeds: “And this washing is called Illumination (σωτισμός), because they who learn these things are illuminated in their understanding.” The same transition of the meaning from instruction to Baptism is clearly implied by Clement of Alexandria: “Among the barbarian philosophers also to instruct and to enlighten is called to regenerate,” and again: “For this reason the teaching, which made manifest the hidden things, has been called illumination (φωτισμός).”

The spiritual “Illumination,” of which Baptism was to be the completion and the seal, thus became by a natural development one of the recognised names of Baptism itself. On the contrary, the inverse process assumed by the Benedictine Editor is entirely unnatural. Starting from the later ecclesiastical use of φωτίζω and φωτισμός as connoting Baptism, he supposes that this was the first application of those terms, and that they were transferred to the previous illumination acquired by instruction in Christian truth, only because this was a necessary preparation for Baptism. He therefore maintains that φωτιζόμενοι throughout the Catechetical Lectures is another term for βαπτιζόμενοι: and as a decisive proof of this he refers to Cat. xvi. 26: μέλλει δὲ καὶ ἐπὶ σὲ τὸν βαπτιζόμενον φθάνειν ἡ χάρις, not observing that the grace is to come upon “the person being baptized” at a time still future. This meaning of the passage is made absolutely certain by the words which immediately follow,—“But in what manner I say not, for I will not anticipate the proper season.” We may conclude, therefore, that in Cyril’s Lectures the term οἱ φωτιζόμενοι refers to the preparatory course of enlightenment rather than to Baptism. At the same time we must remember that in Cyril’s day, and long before, φωτίζω, φωτισμός, and φώτισμα were constantly used to denote Baptism itself, as being the time of special illumination by the grace of the Holy Spirit then given. Thus Clement of Alexandria writes: “In Baptism we are illuminated.…This work is variously called grace, and illumination (φώτισμα), and perfection, and washing:…illumination, by which that holy light of salvation is beheld, that is, by which we see God clearly.” Gregory Nazianzen speaks in the same way: “We call it gift, grace, baptism, chrism, illumination, garment of incorruption, washing of regeneration, seal, all that is precious.”