Introduction — Historical footnotes

The consecration of the chrism could be performed by none but the Bishop, and he alone could anoint the forehead, Presbyters being allowed to anoint the breast, but only with chrism received from the Bishop. The several ceremonies are thus explained in the Apostolical Constitutions: “This baptism is given into the death of Jesus: the water is instead of the burial, and the oil instead of the Holy Ghost; the seal instead of the Cross; the ointment is the confirmation of the Confession.”

Then, still facing the East, the Candidate was bidden to say, “I believe in the Father, and in the Son, and in the Holy Ghost, and in one Baptism of repentance.” We have seen that in Cat. xviii. 22, 32, Cyril intimated to his Candidates that they would be required to profess publicly the Creed which he had delivered to them and which they had repeated after him. This public profession of faith (῾Ομολογία, “Redditio Symboli”) was in some Churches made on Holy Thursday, according to Canon 46 of the Synod of Laodicea: “Those to be baptized must learn the Creed by heart, and recite it to the Bishop or Presbyters on the fifth day of the week.” But in the Apostolic Constitutions, c. xli., Candidate is required to recite the whole Creed immediately after the Renunciation: “And after his renunciation let him in his consociation (συντασσόμενος) say: ‘And I associate myself to Christ, and believe and am baptized into One Unbegotten Being, the Only True God Almighty, the Father of Christ,.…and into the Lord Jesus Christ.…and I am baptized into the Holy Ghost,.…into the resurrection of the flesh, and into the remission of sins, and into the kingdom of heaven, and into the life of the world to come.’ And after this vow he comes in order to the anointing with oil.”

§ 3. First Unction. On passing from the outer to the inner chamber of the Baptistery, the Candidate who had made his renunciation and profession barefoot and wearing his tunic (Χιτών) only, now put off this inner garment also, as an emblem of putting off the man with his deeds. A further significance is ascribed by Cyril to this unclothing of Candidate, as being an imitation both of Christ, who hung naked on the Cross, and by His nakedness put off from Himself the principalities and the powers, and “of the first-formed Adam, who was naked in the garden, and was not ashamed.”

As great multitudes both of men and women were baptized at the special seasons, the Baptisteries were large buildings outside the Church, such as the Baptistery of the Lateran, said to have been originally built by Constantine. The font itself also was large enough for several persons to be baptized at the same time. In some places the men were baptized first, and then the women: in others different parts of the Baptistery were assigned to them, and curtains were hung across the Font itself.

Cyril ascribes the like effect to the consecration of the water, as imparting to it a new power of holiness by “the invocation of the Holy Ghost, and of Christ, and of the Father.”

§ 5. Trine Immersion. This short confession appears to have been ‘made by way of question and answer thrice repeated. “Thou wast asked, Dost thou believe in God the Father Almighty? Thou saidst, I believe, and dippedst thyself, that is, wast buried. Again thou wast asked, Dost thou believe in our Lord Jesus Christ and in His Cross? Thou saidst, I believe, and dippedst thyself; therefore thou wast buried with Christ also: for he who is buried with Christ, rises again with Christ. A third time thou wast asked, Dost thou believe also in the Holy Ghost? Thou saidst, I believe, a third time thou dippedst thyself; that the threefold confession might absolve the manifold fault of thy former life.” But Cyril of Alexandria, as quoted by Bingham, “makes these answers not only to be a confession of the three Persons of the Trinity, but a triple confession of Christ; which implies a repetition of the Creed (the shortened form?) three times over.”

The consecration of the chrism could be performed by none but the Bishop, and he alone could anoint the forehead, Presbyters being allowed to anoint the breast, but only with chrism received from the Bishop. The several ceremonies are thus explained in the Apostolical Constitutions: “This baptism is given into the death of Jesus: the water is instead of the burial, and the oil instead of the Holy Ghost; the seal instead of the Cross; the ointment is the confirmation of the Confession.”

Dr. Swainson represents the matter somewhat differently: “When we come to the profession of his own personal faith which was made at Jerusalem by the Candidate for Baptism, we find that this was far briefer not only than the collection of ‘necessary things’ (Cat. iv.), but also than the Creed of the Church of Jerusalem.” Then after quoting the short form in Cyril, Myst. i. § 9, “I believe in the Father, and in the Son, and in the Holy Ghost, and in one Baptism of repentance,” Dr. Swainson adds: “The words are clear and definite. In these words each answered the question of which we read elsewhere, ‘Did he believe in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit?’ In this his reply the Candidate ‘confessed’ what Cyril called ‘the saving confession.’”

“Then, when ye were stripped, ye were anointed with exorcised oil, from the very hairs your head to your feet.” The consecration of the “exorcised oil” is thus described: “Now this is blessed by the chief-priest for the remission of sins, and the first preparation for Baptism. For he calls thus upon the Unbegotten God, the Father of Christ, the King of all sensible and intelligent natures, that He would sanctify the oil in the name of the Lord Jesus, and impart to it spiritual grace and efficacious strength, the remission of sins, and the first preparation for the confession of Baptism, that so the Candidate for Baptism, when he is anointed may be freed from all ungodliness, and may become worthy of initiation, according to the command of the Only-begotten.”

chamber, the other at the very time of immersion. Chrysostom clearly distinguishes two Confessions, but places one before Baptism, and the other after: “What can be more beautiful than the words by which we renounce the devil? Or those by which we associate ourselves with Christ? Than that confession which comes before the washing? Or that which comes after the washing?”

§ 5. Trine Immersion. This short confession appears to have been ‘made by way of question and answer thrice repeated. “Thou wast asked, Dost thou believe in God the Father Almighty? Thou saidst, I believe, and dippedst thyself, that is, wast buried. Again thou wast asked, Dost thou believe in our Lord Jesus Christ and in His Cross? Thou saidst, I believe, and dippedst thyself; therefore thou wast buried with Christ also: for he who is buried with Christ, rises again with Christ. A third time thou wast asked, Dost thou believe also in the Holy Ghost? Thou saidst, I believe, a third time thou dippedst thyself; that the threefold confession might absolve the manifold fault of thy former life.” But Cyril of Alexandria, as quoted by Bingham, “makes these answers not only to be a confession of the three Persons of the Trinity, but a triple confession of Christ; which implies a repetition of the Creed (the shortened form?) three times over.”

In which of these ways the threefold interrogation (“usitata et legitima verba interrogationis”) was made at Jerusalem, is not quite certain from Cyril’s words: “Each was asked, Dost thou believe in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, and ye made that saving confession, and went down thrice into the water.” The Didaché enjoins baptism simply into the names of the Three Persons of the Holy Trinity. Justin Martyr adds a few words only to the names “of God the Father and Lord of the universe, and of our Saviour Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Spirit;” and Tertullian observes that “Wherever there are three, that is, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, there is the Church, which is a body of three.” The trine immersion had reference not only to the Trinity, but was also a symbol of the three days of our Saviour’s burial. The use of the three Holy Names was made more strictly indispensable as heresies were multiplied: thus the 49th Apostolic Canon, which, Hefele says, “must be reckoned among the most ancient Canons of the Church,” orders that “If any Bishop or Presbyter does not baptize, according to the Lord’s command, into the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, but into three Beings without beginning, or into three Sons, or three Comforters, he shall be deprived.”

Of certain minor ceremonies connected with Baptism, such as the “Kiss of peace,” and the taste of milk and honey administered to the neophyte, no mention is made by Cyril.

called oil of gladness, because He is the author of spiritual gladness, so ye were anointed with ointment, and made partakers and fellows of the Christ.” The ceremony was very ancient: there is probably a reference to it in the words of Theophilus of Antioch (c. a.d. 170): “We are called Christians, because we are anointed with the oil of God.” Tertullian, a little later, after speaking of Baptism, says: “Immediately on coming out of the Laver we are thoroughly anointed with a consecrated unction;” and again, “After that, the hand is laid upon us in benediction, invoking and inviting the Holy Ghost.” In another passage he mentions also the sign of the Cross: “The flesh is washed, that the soul may be cleansed; the flesh is anointed that the soul may be consecrated, the flesh is signed [with the Cross] that the soul also may be guarded; the flesh is overshadowed by imposition of the hand, that the soul also may be illuminated by the Spirit.”

The consecration of the chrism could be performed by none but the Bishop, and he alone could anoint the forehead, Presbyters being allowed to anoint the breast, but only with chrism received from the Bishop. The several ceremonies are thus explained in the Apostolical Constitutions: “This baptism is given into the death of Jesus: the water is instead of the burial, and the oil instead of the Holy Ghost; the seal instead of the Cross; the ointment is the confirmation of the Confession.”

In like manner the chrism is explained again, “The ointment is the seal of the covenants,” that is, both of God’s promises, and of the Baptismal vows.

Another ceremony, not alluded to by Cyril, was the saying of the Lord’s Prayer by the neophyte, standing up, and facing towards the East, after which he was also to pray, “O God Almighty, the Father of Thy Christ, Thine Only-begotten Son, give me a body undefiled, a clean heart, a watchful mind, an unerring knowledge, the influence (ἐπιφοίτησιν) of the Holy Ghost for attainment and full assurance of the truth, through Thy Christ, by whom be glory to Thee in the Holy Ghost for ever. Amen.”