A History of the Catechumenate
Part 3: The Vicissitudes of the Catechumenate (Fourth-Sixth Centuries)

The Peace of Constantine, inaugurated in 313, marks an important turning point in the history of the Church. From an illegal religion, Christianity became legally tolerated, and this position was soon transformed into one of privileged liberty. The Christians rejoiced, and rightly so, in being able to profess their faith without being harassed. But this change brought with it grave new pastoral problems, especially when it became the official religion instead of being only a permitted religion.

I shall first take up these new problems, and we shall see that they were very far from indicating any qualitative progress. In the face of the laxity brought about by the facility created by the inception of a Christian regime, the bishops struggled to maintain the same authenticity in the administration of the sacraments that was known in the preceding missionary centuries.

The New Problems
In a certain way, Origen regretted the passing of persecution, as we have seen, since the dangers abroad then compelled the catechumens to acquire faith of a very high quality. With the ease of the Constantinian era, quality unfortunately gave way to quantity. The decline of fervor manifested itself in defective motivation for conversion and in lengthy delays of baptism.

The Defective Motivation for Conversion
Defective motivation for conversion constitutes the most typical and most grave deviation of this period. When the obstacles confronting the baptismal candidates began to disappear, it became easier to enter the Church. The motivation for the step the new Christians were taking was far from always supernatural and often was grounded in self-interest. ¹

For example, sometimes the request for entry into the catechumenate was motivated by the desire to marry a Christian. Though this could well constitute a point of departure, it often led some to simulate a faith they did not have. These cases were not rare. Thus in Jerusalem, Cyril wanted to discriminate between the candidates who presented their names for baptism:

Let there be no Simon among you, let there be no hypocrisy, let there be no idle curiosity to see what happens.

Perhaps you had a different reason for coming. For it is quite what might happen, that a man should be wanting to advance his suit with a Christian woman, and to that end has come here. And there is the like possibility the other way round. Or often it may be a slave that wanted to please his master. ²

Cyril mentions the desire to please a master or a friend, and some of these friends were in "high places," so baptism was being requested for reasons of political ambition. In fact, one became a "Christian" by virtue of the rite of entry into the catechumenate and this simple title facilitated access to public positions. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, courageously denounced this practice:

And here is one who comes to the Church because he is looking for honors under the Christian emperors ' ; he pretends to request baptism with a simulated respect; he bows, he prostrates; but he does not bend his knees in spirit. ³

What is serious in all this, says Ambrose, is hypocrisy and duplicity:

To have a spouse who is refused them by Christian parents—because they are pagans—some simulate having the faith for a time, then they show that they have confessed exteriorly what they deny in their hearts. ⁴

To these hypocrites, Augustine opposes the case of someone who wants sincerely to become a Christian and not "to obtain the hand of a Christian girl he wants to marry." ⁵ This is why he advises constant vigilance regarding the motives that lead someone to request instruction:

For if he wishes to become a Christian in the hope of deriving some benefit from men whom he thinks he could not otherwise please, or to escape some injury at the hands of men whose displeasure or enmity he dreads, he in reality , does not wish to become a Christian so much as he wishes to feign being one... It is well, certainly to be informed, if possible, beforehand by those who know him of his state of mind and of the causes that have induced him to come and embrace religion...If he has come with a counterfeit motive, desirous only of temporal advantages, or thinking to escape some loss, he will, of course, lie. ⁶

The Postponement of Baptism
The deterioration of the motives for conversion increased the number of those asking to become Christians by entry into the catechumenate. At the same time, it triggered a second and inverse deviation: the indefinite postponement of baptism. What the "candidates" sought to obtain was simply the title of "Christian"; they had no true desire for baptism.

This problem also arose for children whose Christian parents entered them into the catechumenate but who were never given any further instruction in the Christian faith. Therefore, they remained catechumens for life unless they underwent a true conversion when they were older. Basil, Gregory of Nazianzus, Augustine, and many others were in this category. Augustine, when he was very young, had been "signed with the sign of the cross of (Christ) and seasoned with his salt." During an illness, baptism was discussed, but when his health improved he again delayed the reception of the sacrament. He finally was baptized at the age of thirty-three, that is, after his conversion. ⁷

What should we think of these adults who became Christians without any desire to request baptism? Though they bore the name, they were not in fact Christians since they were not converted.

The bishops did not cease protesting vigorously against such abuses. In the West, it was customary on Epiphany for preachers to try to awaken these slumbering catechumens so that they would "give their names" at the beginning of Lent with a view to baptism on the coming Easter. But their appeals often remained fruitless. The sadness of a bishop like Ambrose was great when, in commenting on the miraculous catch of Lk 4:5, he noted that none had responded:

I, too, Lord, I know that for me it is dark when you do not command. No one has yet inscribed, it is still night for me. I put out the net of the word at Epiphany, and I have not yet taken anything. ⁸

Basil earnestly invited those already "conceived" (by entrance into the catechumenate) to accept the sacrament that would "bring them into the world":

Catechized since you were young, do you still not give your accord to the truth? You who do not cease studying, have you not yet arrived at knowledge? You who are tasting life, explorer until old age, will you finish by becoming Christian?... Better not to end by being surprised while making promises longer than your life. You do not know what tomorrow will bring, do not promise what is not yours. We are calling you to life, man; why do you flee from this call?... If I would distribute gold to the assembly, you would not say to me, "I shall come tomorrow and you will give to me tomorrow"; but you would claim your share of the distribution and you would take it ill if you were passed over; and when the great dispenser offers you, not shining matter, but purity of the soul, you make up excuses and enumerate motives, while you should come to the distribution... Depend on the Lord. Give your name, inscribe in the Church... Inscribe in this book, in order to participate in the inscription in that of heaven. Instruct yourself, study the evangelical constitution... Put sin to death; be crucified with Christ; carry all your love to the Lord. ⁹

Gregory of Nazianzus worked unceasingly to prove that there was absolutely no valid reason to defer baptism:

Let us be baptized today so as not to be forced to do it tomorrow. Let us not delay the blessing, as though it would cause us harm. Let us not wait to sin more so that we might be forgiven more. This would be to involve Christ in an unworthy commercial speculation: to burden ourselves with more than we can carry, to run the risk of seeing his ship totally perish and to lose in a shipwreck all the fruit of grace we did not know how to consume. ¹⁰

Gregory of Nyssa also denounced as detestable the motives alleged: under a false show of humility, it was actually a refusal to renounce sin that held back these people who were comparable to the unprofitable servant who hid his talent. ¹¹ "It is not sufficient to be conceived," wrote Augustine, "it is necessary to be born again to come to eternal life." ¹²

With the same vigor, John Chrysostom fought against the custom of postponing baptism until one was in extremis:

Is it not the utmost stupidity to postpone the gift? Listen you catechumens and you who put off your own salvation until the last gasp! ¹³

Such inertia, moreover, constituted a scandal that was highly amusing to the pagans. If one truly believed in the greatness of the sacrament, why wait until one was ill? This would be like a soldier who waits for the war to be over before going to battle. ¹⁴

In reality, this custom reveals the depths to which the catechumenate had fallen. The title of catechumen had lost its profound significance, since it no longer corresponded to a true conversion, so the catechumenate itself declined. Scandalized by this massive indifference, the bishops hurried the catechumens into baptism, with all the attendant dangers of formalism. Much was said about catechumens in this period, but though there were many catechumens, there were few true converts. Whether it was a question of children who had not yet given their assent to the truth even though they had been instructed in the rudiments of the faith, or adults who entered the Church for defective motives, the title no longer corresponded to the reality it expressed formerly. Nevertheless, pastors never forgot the theological exigencies of an authentic sacramental ministry.

Footnotes, Part 3

The Permanent Concern for Authenticity, the next chapter of A History of the Catechumenate, will be posted next Thursday. For information about ordering this book, please see Sadlier's Religion Catalog.