A History of the Catechumenate
The Catechumenate from 350 to 420: Part 2

Inscription at the Beginning of Lent
To safeguard the requirements for admission to baptism, the custom was established to have Lent be a time of intense formation. The so-called catechumens, if they agreed to submit their names, were to accomplish in a few weeks the vital transformation that, in the preceding century, required two or three years.

The Lenten period opened with the solemn inscription of the names. This was seen as a renewal of the ceremony of entrance into the catechumenate, a ceremony that had not been founded on true conversion. But, after the years of slumber, were the catechumens really ready to follow Christ?

The candidates who had finally decided to receive the sacrament enrolled for baptism on the coming Easter. This ceremony is described in detail by Egeria, who gives the practice of the Jerusalem Church of around the year 400:

I feel I should add something about the way they instruct those who are to be baptized at Easter. Names must be given in before the first day of Lent, which means that a presbyter takes down all the names before the start of the eight weeks for which Lent lasts here, as I have told you. Once the priest has all the names, on the second day of Lent at the start of the eight weeks, the bishop's chair is placed in the middle of the Great Church, the Martyrium, the presbyters sit in chairs on either side of him, and all the clergy stand. Then one by one those seeking baptism are brought up, men coming with their fathers and women with their mothers. As they come in one by one, the bishop asks their neighbours questions about them: "is this person leading a good life? Does he respect his parents? Is he a drunkard or a boaster?" He asks about all the serious human vices. And if his inquiries show him that someone has not committed any of these misdeeds, he himself puts down his name; but if someone is guilty he is told to go away, and the bishop tells him that he is to amend his ways before he may come to the font. He asks the men and the women the same questions. But it is not too easy for a visitor to come to baptism if he has no witnesses who are acquainted with him. ⁴⁴

According to this document, the examination of those who were henceforth called competentes apparently was carefully done. The life of the candidate was investigated. But, in these liturgies in front of all the people, did the rite truly match the requirements it signified? The same thing is found in the description Theodore of Mopsuestia gives of the ceremony as it was performed in Antioch at the same period:

Thus whoever desires to have access to the gift of holy baptism, let him present himself to the Church of God. He will be received by the one who is responsible for this, according to the custom that is established to inscribe those who want to be baptized. He shall inform himself of the morals. This function is performed for those who are baptized by the one who is called the guarantor. Now, he who is charged with the duty inscribes your name in the book of the Church and also adds that of the witness or of the pastor of the city or the parish. ⁴⁵

This text, which also gives us information on sponsorship, still requires some reserve. We have already seen that John Chrysostom received candidates only thirty days before baptism. Close examination of the homilies of Theodore of Mopsuestia yields support for the opinion that the ceremony of inscription did not take place on the first Sunday of Lent, but two weeks before Easter, ⁴⁶ which confirms the observation made above. At the beginning of Lent, the candidates were just barely converted. Their liturgical inscription, which supposed a sincere and proven conversion, could not be done prematurely. Thus, one was obliged to postpone it more and more, at the risk of reducing the forty days, already too brief, to a few weeks or even a few days. ⁴⁷

Significant here is the question that the Canons of Hippolytus (ca. 360) put on the lips of the bishop. It would never have been asked on the eve of baptism in the third century:

Are you hesitant, or held back for a reason or for fear of what people might say? For no one makes light of the kingdom of heaven, but it is given to those who love it with all their heart. ⁴⁸

The Lenten Retreat
Lent was a time of doctrinal and moral formation. Regular attendance at the sermons had to correspond to moral conversion. Continuous and thorough catechetical instruction was provided for the candidates. Egeria gives us a beautiful description of what was done in the Jerusalem Church:

They have here the custom that those who are preparing for baptism during the season of the Lenten fast go to be exorcized by the clergy first thing in the morning, directly after the morning dismissal in the Anastasis. As soon as that has taken place, the bishop's chair is placed in the Great Church, the Martyrium, and all those to be baptized, the men and the women, sit round him in a circle. There is a place where the fathers and mothers stand, and any of the people who want to listen (the faithful, of course) can come in and sit down, though not the catechumens, who do not come in while the bishop is teaching.

His subject is God's Law; during the forty days he goes through the whole Bible, beginning with Genesis, and first relating the literal meaning of each passage, then interpreting its spiritual meaning. He also teaches them at this time all about the resurrection and the faith. And this is called catechesis. After five weeks' teaching they receive the Creed, whose content he explains article by article in the same way as he explained the Scriptures, first literally and then spiritually. Thus all the people in these parts are able to follow the Scriptures when they are read in church, since there has been teaching on all the Scriptures from six to nine in the morning all through Lent, three hours' catechesis a day... So the dismissal is at nine, which makes three hours' teaching a day for seven weeks. ⁴⁹

To these catechetical lessons on Scripture and the Creed, ⁵⁰ some Churches also added catechesis on the Our Father. ⁵¹ Toward the end of Lent, the two ceremonies called the "traditions," of giving the Creed and the Our Father to the baptismal candidates, took place. In Jerusalem, the submission of the candidates to the Creed was customarily done on Palm Sunday. ⁵² During this formation, God strengthens those to be baptized with sacramentals and particularly the daily exorcisms of which Egeria speaks.

All the liturgical rites and penitential signs performed during Lent, explained Quodvultdeus, an African bishop, are to be considered as nutrition given by Mother Church to the children she carries in her womb and whom she will bring forth on Easter:

All the sacramental rites done for you by the ministry of the servants of God, the exorcisms, the prayers, the psalms, the insufflations, the hair-shirt, the bowings of the head, the genuflections . . . all this, I have said, is the nourishment that your mother gives you in her womb so that she can bring you to rebirth in the water of baptism and present you to Christ exulting with joy. ⁵³

In addition to the daily exorcisms administered by the clerics to the competentes, there was the final solemn exorcism, including an anointing that was done by the bishop. By this rite, God scrutinizes the candidates' hearts to eliminate the very last impurity. But the God who expels the evil spirit only works in hearts that have decided to live according to the Gospel. This is why Augustine insisted on the personal participation necessary for this ceremony, which is a true combat. ⁵⁴

Theodore of Mopsuestia describes this ceremony with an extended commentary on the symbolism of the customs (from nudity to the linen veil) and the positions (standing, hands outstretched toward God, kneeling). It is the definitive renunciation of Satan who held us in bondage; it is a contract binding us to Christ, the sole master of life.

After having said: "I renounce Satan, his angels, his service, his vanity and all his worldly errors," you say: "and I bind myself by vow; I believe and am baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." The same when you say: "I renounce" and that you abstain absolutely, you show that henceforth you will never turn back, that henceforth you will no longer take pleasure in his company; so, too, when you say: "I bind myself by vow," you show that you will remain resolutely near to God and that you from then on will be steadfastly with him, that in no way any longer will you turn from him and that you will consider it henceforth more precious for you than all things to live and converse with him and to conform to his laws...

This consignation with which you are now signed is the sign that you have been marked henceforth as a lamb of God, as a soldier of the King of heaven...

First, of course, you are naked, since this is how captives and slaves are; but when you have been marked, you place a linen veil on your head, which is the sign of the free state to which you have been called. ⁵⁵

The Baptism
Already begun, the celebration of baptism entered into its essential phase in Holy Week.

The baptismal ceremony as such began on the day before Easter and unfolded throughout the Vigil. The feast of the resurrection of Christ is indeed the most appropriate time for the celebration of the sacrament by which we die and rise again with Jesus. ⁵⁶

It is not my purpose here to describe the rites in detail. ⁵⁷ I only want to stress that this feast of initiation, which consisted of the three sacraments of baptism, confirmation, and the eucharist in one whole, was a feast of the entire Christian community. Here is how John Chrysostom described the joy of this Paschal celebration:

When the neophytes emerge from the sacred waters, all the congregation embraces them, greets them, gives them the kiss, congratulates them, and shares their joy at, having once been slaves and captives, becoming in an instant free men, sons invited to the royal table. As soon as they ascend from the waters, they are led to the awesome table, the source of a thousand favors, they taste the body and the blood of the Lord and become the dwelling of the Spirit: they are clothed with Christ himself and, as such, everywhere they go, they appear, like terrestrial angels, as radiant as a burst of sunlight. ⁵⁸

The Church of God is joyful because of her children. Indeed, like a loving mother who, seeing her children around her, rejoices, exults, and no longer contains her joy, so too the Church, in her spiritual maternity, when she gazes on her own children, is joyful and delighted, seeing herself as a fertile field full of spiritual grain. ⁵⁹

From then on, the newly baptized were called "faithful,, because their faith had been sealed by the Holy Spirit. ⁶⁰ But it is not enough to preserve it, it must be developed ceaselessly:

Therefore, imitate God according to your capacity and according to his command, in all he has confided to you. Add to the sanctity you have received; enhance and polish more the justice and grace of your baptism; act like Saint Paul who increased each day-through his labors, his activity, and his zeal-the riches that God communicated to him. ⁶¹

A New Life
During the week that followed the celebration of baptism, the neophytes returned each day to the church to hear a commentary on the sacraments they had just received. This is the mystagogical catechesis, which, according to Egeria, aroused a great deal of enthusiasm:

The newly-baptized come into the Anastasis, and any of the faithful who wish to hear the Mysteries; but, while the bishop is teaching, no catechumen comes in, and the doors are kept shut in case any try to enter. The bishop relates what has been done, and interprets it, and, as he does so, the applause is so loud that it can be heard outside the Church. ⁶²

What did the bishop talk about? In some churches, the preacher explained the various rites of initiation to help the newly baptized become aware of the reality they had experienced. In addition, this catechesis was directed more to the moral requirements of an authentic Christian life. ⁶³ Indeed, the whole purpose of catechumenal education was to lead to a new birth. Thus, far from being the end of a journey, baptism is the beginning of a life with and in Christ:

The Apostle says: "All you who have been baptized in Christ, you have put on Christ." Let the newly baptized from now on do everything and act everywhere as permanently dwelling in Christ, creator of the universe and master of our nature. And when I say Christ, I say also the Father and the Holy Spirit. ⁶⁴

Imitate him, you also, I implore you, and you will be called neophytes not only for two, three, ten, or twenty days, but you will still merit this name after ten, twenty, or thirty years, and in fact for all of your lives. ⁶⁵

This is the meaning of the white garment with which the neophyte was clothed. It invited him to live his life in imitation of Christ, a life that will be a permanent witness to men:

It is right that those who have Christ, not as represented by a garment but as permanently residing in their souls, and with Christ his Father and the presence of the Holy Spirit, give proof of a firm confidence and show everyone, by the correctness of their conduct and the probity of their lives, that they bear the royal image. ⁶⁶

Footnotes, Part 3

Evaluation of the Fourth and Fifth Centuries , 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.