A History of the Catechumenate

A History of the Catechumenate
In Egypt and Palestine ca. 230-240 Part 1

The best witnesses to the vitality of the catechumenal stages during the first half of the third century in Egypt and Palestine are provided by the great catechist Origen. This astonishingly dynamic man never ceased to concern himself with the seriousness of baptismal formation. In the expanding Church of his time, it hurt him to see numbers threatening to submerge quality, and he struggled for the purity of the Christian life as it was during the second century. Already then he spoke words that apply to us today:

If we judge things according to the truth.. we have to recognize that we are not faithful. They were truly faithful then when martyrdom struck from the birth [of the Church]. . ., when the catechumens were catechized in the midst of martyrs and of the death of Christians who confessed the truth to the end, when these catechumens, surmounting these trials, attach themselves without fear to the living God . . . . Then the faithful were fewer, certainly, but they were truly faithful, advancing by the harsh and narrow way that leads to life. ⁵⁴

With his permanent concern to maintain an authentic Christianity, Origen always strove for a catechumenate of quality. Let us first see how he conceived this institution, and then we shall be able to specify the two great stages: evangelization and catechesis.

The Catechumenate by Stages
Origen often compared baptismal preparation to the biblical event of the Exodus. Though he considered the crossing of the desert by the Hebrew people as an image of the Christian life leading from baptism to entrance into heaven, he also considered this event as an image of the catechumenal journey extending from conversion (departure from Egypt) and the entrance into the catechumenate (crossing of the Red Sea) to baptism (crossing the River Jordan), which marks the entry into the Kingdom of Christ (the Promised Land). Here is how he addresses the catechumens:

When you abandon the darkness of idolatry and when you desire to arrive at the knowledge of the divine law, then begin your departure from Egypt. When you have been accepted into the crowd of the catechumens and when you have begun to obey the commandments of the Church, you have crossed the Red Sea. In the halts in the desert, each day, you apply yourself to listening to the law of God and to contemplate the visage of Moses which discloses the glory of the Lord. But when you arrive at the spiritual spring of baptism and when in the presence of the sacerdotal and levitical order you will be initiated into these venerable and sublime mysteries that are only known by those who have the right to know them; then, having crossed the Jordan, thanks to the ministry of the priests, you will enter in the land of the promise, this land where Jesus, after Moses, takes you in charge and becomes the guide for your new path. ⁵⁵

When, from the darkness of error, you are led to the light of knowledge, when, from a terrestrial life, you are converted to the beginnings of the spiritual life, you leave Egypt and you enter into the desert, that is into a kind of life in which, in the midst of silence and calm, you practice the divine laws and you are impregnated with the celestial oracles. Then, when you have undergone their formation and direction, after having crossed the Jordan, you hasten to the Promised Land, that is when, by the grace of baptism, you arrive at the evangelical precepts. ⁵⁶

These texts are witness of primary importance to the existence of catechumenal stages. In addition, they show the advantage of using expressive biblical images, which are easy to explain in a vivid manner to catechumens.

Evangelization
In the journey toward baptism, the catechumenate is not the first step. It follows a period of search and discovery that is too often forgotten. This is the time of evangelization, a period during which, after interest has been aroused in Christ or Christianity, direct contact is made with individual Christians.

This is the period when the Good News is proclaimed and awakens a global act of faith in the Christian mystery; it is the period of the first conversion to Christ that implies a decision to transform one's life, without which none would succeed in being admitted to the catechumenate.

Who does this evangelization? Those who continue the itinerant mission of the apostles:

. . . as far as they are able Christians leave no stone unturned to spread the faith in all parts of the world. Some, in fact, have done the work of going round not only cities but even villages and country cottages to make others also pious toward God. ⁵⁷

The missionary task was a concern of the entire Church. In addition to those permanently engaged in evangelization, there was the mass of Christians who announced the Good News to those around them. They did this spontaneously in their daily lives, not as a tactic, but naturally, on the basis of the relationships they had with their relatives, friends, and co-workers, each according to his charism.

Origen reports how a pagan, Celsus, described the evangelical activity of the laity (ca. 180):

In private houses also we see wool-workers, cobblers, laundry-workers, and the most illiterate and bucolic yokels, who would not dare to say anything at all in front of their elders and more intelligent masters. But whenever they get hold of children in private and some stupid women with them, they let out some astounding statements. . . . they alone, they say, know the right way to live . . . . if they like, they should leave father and their schoolmasters, and go along with the women and little children who are their playfellows to the wooldresser's shop, or to the cobbler's or the washerwoman's shop, that they may learn perfection. And by saying this they persuade them. ⁵⁸

What was the content of this first proclamation, this kerygma? It seems that it concerned the problem of the Living God and idolatry: God the Creator, the one God who loves man, who can be recognized in one's life and in history. In opposition to the religious authorities of paganism, they presented Jesus, sent by God, who took on our condition until death to open for us a transformed and infinite life. So the faith was awakened among those who were drawn by the manner of life of the Christians and who had begun to welcome Christ. This is how Origen answers Celsus, although the following passage probably concerns the first catechesis as well as chance conversations in shops or homes:

We clearly show the sacred character of our origin, and do not conceal it, as Celsus thinks, since even in people only just converted we inculcate a scorn of idols and all images, and in addition to this raise their thoughts from serving created things in the place of God and lift them up to the Creator of the universe. We prove clearly that he was the one prophesied by quoting both from the prophecies about him (and there are many of them), and from the gospels and the utterances of the apostles, which are carefully explained by those who are able to understand them intelligently. ⁵⁹

It is always the same common theme that we already find germinally in I Thessalonians 1:9-10: rejection of idols and recognition of the one Creator and faith in Christ. This is accompanied by an account of the excellence and purity of Christianity and terminates in an explicit appeal to receive the Kingdom. ⁶⁰

Footnotes, Part 2

The second part of In Egypt and Palestine ca. 230-240 , 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.

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