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instructions to catechumens.
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first instruction.
To those about to be illuminated;492
| 492 I.e., to be baptized. A common name for
Baptism was “illumination,” partly with reference to the
instructions which preceded it, as Justin Martyr says; “The laver
is called illumination because the minds of those who learn these
things are enlightened:” partly also (perhaps rather) because
baptism was regarded as a translation from the kingdom of darkness
into the kingdom of light, the recipient becoming a child of God,
and as such entitled to the grace of the illuminating Spirit.
Catechumens were divided into four classes according to the stages
of their preparation. It is to those who were in the final stage,
the competentes or elect as they were called, that the following
instructions are addressed. | and for what
reason the laver is said to be of regeneration and not of remission
of sins; and that it is a dangerous thing not only to forswear
oneself, but also to take an oath, even though we swear
truly.
1. How delightful and
lovable is our band of young brethren! For brethren I call you,
even now before you have been brought forth, and before your birth
I welcome this relationship with you: For I know, I know clearly,
to how great an honour you are about to be led, and to how great a
dignity; and those who are about to receive dignity, all are wont
to honor, even before the dignity is conferred, laying up for
themselves beforehand by their attention good will for the future.
And this also I myself now do. For ye are not about to be led to an
empty dignity, but to an actual kingdom: and not simply to a
kingdom, but to the kingdom of the Heavens itself. Wherefore I
beseech and entreat you that you remember me when you come into
that kingdom, and as Joseph said to the chief butler “Remember me
when it shall be well with thee,”493
this also I say now to you, do ye
remember me when it is well with you. I do not ask this in return
for interpreting your dreams, as he; for I have not come to
interpret dreams for you, but to discourse of matters celestial,
and to convey to you glad tidings of such good things as “eye
hath not seen, and ear hath not heard and which have entered not
into the heart of man, such are the things which God hath prepared
for them that love him.”494
Now Joseph indeed said to that
chief butler, “yet three days and Pharaoh will restore thee to
thy chief butlership.” But I do not say, yet three days and ye
shall be set to pour out the wine of a tyrant, but yet thirty days,
and not Pharaoh but the king of Heaven shall restore you to the
country which is on high, Jerusalem, which is free—to the city
which is in the heavens; and he said indeed, “Thou shalt
give the cup into the hands of Pharaoh.” But I say not that you
shall give the cup into the hands of the king, but that the king
shall give the cup into your hand—that dread cup, full of much
power, and more precious than any created thing. The initiated know
the virtue of this cup, and you yourselves shall know it a little
while hence. Remember me, therefore, when you come into that
kingdom, when you receive the royal robe, when you are girt with
the purple dipped in the master’s blood, when you will be
crowned with the diadem, which
has lustre leaping forth from it on all sides, more brilliant than
the rays of the sun. Such are the gifts of the Bridegroom, greater
indeed than your worth, but worthy of his lovingkindness.
Wherefore, I count you blessed already before those
sacred nuptials, and I do not only count you blessed, but I praise
your prudence in that you have not come to your illumination as the
most slothful among men, at your last breath, but already, like
prudent servants, prepared with much goodwill to obey your master,
have brought the neck of your soul with much meekness and readiness
beneath the bands of Christ, and have received His easy yoke, and
have taken His light burden. For if the grace bestowed be the same
both for you and for those who are initiated at their last hour,
yet the matter of the intention is not the same, nor yet the matter
of the preparation for the rite. For they indeed receive it on
their bed, but you in the bosom of the Church, which is the common
mother of us all; they indeed with lamentation and weeping, but you
rejoicing, and exceeding glad: they sighing, you giving thanks;
they indeed lethargic with much fever, you filled with much
spiritual pleasure; wherefore in your case all things are in
harmony with the gift, but in theirs all are adverse to it. For
there is wailing and much lamentation on the part of the initiated,
and children stand around crying, wife tearing her cheeks, and
dejected friends and tearful servants; the whole aspect of the
house resembles some wintry and gloomy day. And if thou shalt open
the heart of him who is lying there, thou wilt find it more
downcast than are these. For as winds meeting one another with many
a contrary blast, break up the sea into many parts, so too the
thought of the terrors preying upon him assail the soul of the sick
man, and distract his mind with many anxieties. Whenever he sees
his children, he thinks of their fatherless condition; whenever he
looks from them to his wife, he considers her widowhood; when he
sees the servants, he beholds the desolation of the whole house;
when he comes back to himself, he calls to mind his own present
life, and being about to be torn from it, experiences a great cloud
of despondency. Of such a kind is the soul of him who is about to
be initiated. Then in the midst of its tumult and confusion, the
Priest enters, more formidable than the fever itself, and more
distressing than death to the relatives of the sick man. For the
entrance of the Presbyter is thought to be a greater reason for
despair than the voice of the physician despairing of his life, and
that which suggests eternal life seems to be a symbol of death. But
I have not yet put the finishing stroke to these ills. For in the
midst of relatives raising a tumult and making preparations, the
soul has often taken its flight, leaving the body desolate; and in
many cases, while it was present it was useless, for when it
neither recognizes those who are present, nor hears their voice,
nor is able to answer those words by which it will make that
blessed covenant with the common master of us all, but is as a
useless log, or a stone, and he who is about to be illuminated lies
there differing nothing from a corpse, what is the profit of
initiation in a case of such insensibility?
2. For he who is about to approach these holy
and dread mysteries must be awake and alert, must be clean from all
cares of this life, full of much self-restraint, much readiness; he
must banish from his mind every thought foreign to the mysteries,
and on all sides cleanse and prepare his home, as if about to
receive the king himself. Such is the preparation of your mind:
such are your thoughts; such the purpose of your soul. Await
therefore a return worthy of this most excellent decision from God,
who overpowers with His recompense those who show forth obedience
to Him. But since it is necessary for his fellow servants to
contribute of their own, then we will contribute of our own; yea
rather not even are these things our own, but these too are our
Master’s. “For what hast thou,” saith He, “that thou didst
not receive? but if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as
if thou hadst not received it?”495
I wished to say this first of all,
why in the world our fathers, passing by the whole year, settled
that the children of the Church should be initiated at this season;
and for what reason, after the instruction from us, removing your
shoes and raiment, unclad and unshod, with but one garment on, they
conduct you to hear the words of the exorcisers. For it is not
thoughtlessly and rashly that they have planned this dress and this
season for us. But both these things have a certain mystic and
secret reason. And I wish to say this to you. But I see that our
discourse now constrains us to something more necessary to say what
baptism is, and for what reason it enters into our life, and what
good things it conveys to us.
But, if you will, let us discourse about the name
which this mystic cleansing bears: for its name is not one, but
very many and various. For this purification is called the laver of
regeneration. “He saved us,” he saith, “through the laver of
regeneration, and renewing of the
Holy Ghost.”496
It is called also illumination, and
this St. Paul again has called it, “For call to remembrance the
former days in which after ye were illuminated ye endured a great
conflict of sufferings;”497
and again, “For it is impossible
for those who were once illuminated, and have tasted of the
heavenly gift, and then fell away, to renew them again unto
repentance.”498
It is called
also, baptism: “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ
did put on Christ.”499
It is called also burial: “For we
were buried” saith he, “with him, through baptism, into
death.”500
It is called
circumcision: “In whom ye were also circumcised, with a
circumcision not made with hands, in the putting off of the body of
the sins of the flesh.”501
It is called a cross: “Our old
man was crucified with him that the body of sin might be done
away.”502
It is also
possible to speak of other names besides these, but in order that
we should not spend our whole time over the names of this free
gift, come, return to the first name, and let us finish our
discourse by declaring its meaning; but in the meantime, let us
extend our teaching a little further. There is that laver by means
of the baths, common to all men, which is wont to wipe off bodily
uncleanness; and there is the Jewish laver, more honorable than the
other, but far inferior to that of grace; and it too wipes off
bodily uncleanness but not simply uncleanness of body, since it
even reaches to the weak conscience. For there are many matters,
which by nature indeed are not unclean, but which become unclean
from the weakness of the conscience. And as in the case of little
children, masks, and other bugbears are not in themselves alarming,
but seem to little children to be alarming, by reason of the
weakness of their nature, so it is in the case of those things of
which I was speaking; just as to touch dead bodies is not naturally
unclean, but when this comes into contact with a weak conscience,
it makes him who touches them unclean. For that the thing in
question is not unclean naturally, Moses himself who ordained this
law showed, when he bore off the entire corpse of Joseph, and yet
remained clean. On this account Paul also, discoursing to us about
this uncleanness which does not come naturally but by reason of the
weakness of the conscience, speaks somewhat in this way, “Nothing
is common of itself save to him who accounteth anything to be
common.”503
Dost thou
not see that uncleanness does not arise from the nature of the
thing, but from the weakness of the reasoning about it? And again:
“All things indeed are clean, howbeit it is evil to that man who
eateth with offense.”504
Dost thou see that it is not to
eat, but to eat with offense, that is the cause of
uncleanness?
3. Such is the defilement from which the laver
of the Jews cleansed. But the laver of grace, not such, but the
real uncleanness which has introduced defilement into the soul as
well as into the body. For it does not make those who have touched
dead bodies clean, but those who have set their hand to dead works:
and if any man be effeminate, or a fornicator, or an idolator, or a
doer of whatever ill you please, or if he be full of all the
wickedness there is among men: should he fall into this pool of
waters, he comes up again from the divine fountain purer than the
sun’s rays. And in order that thou mayest not think that what is
said is mere vain boasting, hear Paul speaking of the power of the
laver, “Be not deceived: neither idolators, nor fornicators, nor
adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with men, nor
covetous, not drunkards, not revilers, not extortioners shall
inherit the kingdom of God.”505
And what has this to do with what
has been spoken? says one, “for prove the question whether the
power of the laver thoroughly cleanses all these things.” Hear
therefore what follows: “And such were some of you, but ye were
washed, but ye were sanctified, but ye were justified in the name
of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the spirit of our God.”
We promise to show you that they who approach the laver become
clean from all fornication: but the word has shown more, that they
have become not only clean, but both holy and just, for it does not
say only “ye were washed,” but also “ye were sanctified and
were justified.” What could be more strange than this, when
without toil, and exertion, and good works, righteousness is
produced? For such is the lovingkindness of the Divine gift that it
makes men just without this exertion. For if a letter of the
Emperor, a few words being added, sets free those who are liable to
countless accusations, and brings others to the highest honors;
much rather will the Holy Spirit of God, who is able to do all
things, free us from all evil and grant us much righteousness, and
fill us with much assurance, and as a spark falling into the wide
sea would straightway be quenched, or would become invisible, being
overwhelmed by the multitude of the waters, so also all human
wickedness, when it falls into the pool of the divine fountain, is
more swiftly and easily overwhelmed,
and made invisible, than that spark. And for what
reason, says one, if the laver take away all our sins, is it
called, not a laver of remission of sins, nor a laver of cleansing,
but a laver of regeneration? Because it does not simply take away
our sins, nor simply cleanse us from our faults, but so as if we
were born again. For it creates and fashions us anew not forming us
again out of earth, but creating us out of another element, namely,
of the nature of water. For it does not simply wipe the vessel
clean, but entirely remoulds it again. For that which is wiped
clean, even if it be cleaned with care, has traces of its former
condition, and bears the remains of its defilement, but that which
falls into the new mould, and is renewed by means of the flames,
laying aside all uncleanness, comes forth from the furnace, and
sends forth the same brilliancy with things newly formed. As
therefore any one who takes and recasts a golden statue which has
been tarnished by time, smoke, dust, rust, restores it to us
thoroughly cleansed and glistening: so too this nature of ours,
rusted with the rust of sin, and having gathered much smoke from
our faults, and having lost its beauty, which He had from the
beginning bestowed upon it from himself, God has taken and cast
anew, and throwing it into the waters as into a mould, and instead
of fire sending forth the grace of the Spirit, then brings us forth
with much brightness, renewed, and made afresh, to rival the beams
of the sun, having crushed the old man, and having fashioned a new
man, more brilliant than the former.
4. And speaking darkly of this crushing, and
this mystic cleansing, the prophet of old said, “Thou shalt dash
them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.”506
For that the word is in reference
to the faithful, what goes before sufficiently shows us, “For
thou art my Son,” he says, “to-day have I begotten thee, ask of
me and I will give the heathen for three inheritance, the utmost
parts of the earth for thy possession.”507
Dost thou see how he has made
mention of the church of the Gentiles, and has spoken of the
kingdom of Christ extended on all sides? Then he says again,
“Thou shalt rule them with a rod of iron;” not grievous, but
strong: “thou shalt break them in pieces like a potter’s
vessel.”508
Behold then,
the laver is more mystically brought forward. For he does not say
earthen vessels: but vessels of the potter. But, give heed: For
earthen vessels when crushed would not admit of refashioning, on
account of the hardness which was gained by them from the fire. But
the fact is that the vessels of the potter are not earthen, but of
clay; wherefore, also, when they have been distorted, they can
easily, by the skill of the artificer, be brought again to a second
shape. When, therefore, God speaks of an irremediable calamity, he
does not say vessels of the potter, but an earthen vessel; when,
for instance, he wished to teach the prophet and the Jews that he
delivered up the city to an irremediable calamity, he bade him take
an earthen wine-vessel, and crush it before all the people, and
say, “Thus shall this city be destroyed, be broken in
pieces.”509
But when he
wishes to hold out good hopes to them, he brings the prophet to a
pottery, and does not show him an earthen vessel, but shows him a
vessel of clay, which was in the hands of the potter, falling to
the ground: and brings him to it saying, “If this potter has
taken up and remodelled his vessel which has fallen, shall I not
much rather be able to restore you when you have fallen?”510
It is
possible therefore for God not only to restore those who are made
of clay, through the laver of regeneration, but to bring back again
to their original state, on their careful repentance, those who
have received the power of the Spirit, and have lapsed. But this is
not the time for you to hear words about repentance, rather may the
time never come for you to fall into the need of these remedies,
but may you always remain in preservation of the beauty and the
brightness which ye are now about to receive, unsullied. In order,
then, that ye may ever remain thus, come and let us discourse to
you a little about your manner of life. For in the wrestling
schools falls of the athletes are devoid of danger. For the
wrestling is with friends, and they practice all their exercises on
the persons of their teachers. But when the time of the contest has
come, when the lists are open, when the spectators are seated
above, when the president has arrived, it necessarily follows that
the combatants, if they become careless, fall and retire in great
disgrace, or if they are in earnest, win the crowns and the prizes.
So then, in your case these thirty days are like some wrestling
school, both for exercise and practice: let us learn from thence
already to get the better of that evil demon. For it is to contend
with him that we have to strip ourselves, with him after baptism
are we to box and fight. Let us learn from thence already his grip,
on what side he is aggressive, on what side he can easily threaten
us, in order that, when the contest comes on, we may not feel
strange, nor become confused, as seeing new forms of wrestling; but
having already practiced them amongst ourselves,
and having learnt all his methods, may engage in these forms of
wrestling against him with courage. In all ways, therefore, is he
accustomed to threaten us, but especially by means of the tongue,
and the mouth. For there is no organ so convenient for him for our
deception and our destruction as an unchastened tongue and an
unchecked utterance. Hence come many slips on our part: hence many
serious accusations against us. And the ease of these falls through
the tongue a certain one showed, when he said, “Many fell by the
sword, but not so many as by the tongue.”511
Now the gravity of the fall the
same person shows us again when he says: “To slip upon a pavement
is better than to slip with the tongue.”512
And what he speaks of is of this
kind. Better it is, says he, that the body should fall and be
crushed, than that such a word should go forth as destroys the
soul; and he does not speak of falls merely; he also admonishes us
that much forethought should be exercised, so that we should not be
tripped up, thus saying “Make a door and bars for thy mouth,”513
not that we
should prepare doors and bars, but that with much security, we
should shut the tongue off from outrageous words; and again in
another place, after showing that we need influence from above,
both as accompanying and preceding our own effort so as to keep
this wild beast within: stretching forth his hands to God, the
prophet said, “Let the lifting up of my hands be an evening
sacrifice, set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth, keep the door of
my lips;” and he who before admonished, himself too514
says again
“Who shall set a watch before my mouth, and a seal of wisdom upon
my lips?”515
Dost thou
not see, each one fearing these falls and bewailing them, both
giving advice, and praying that the tongue may have the benefit of
much watchfulness? and for what reason, says one, if this organ
brings us such ruin, did God originally place it within us? Because
indeed, it is of great use, and if we are careful, it is of use
only, and brings no ruin. Hear, for example, what he says who spoke
the former words, “Death and life are in the power of the
tongue.”516
And Christ
points to the same thing when he says, “By thy words thou shalt
be condemned, and by thy words thou shalt be justified.”517
For the
tongue stands in the midst ready for use on either hand. Thou art
its master. Thus indeed a sword lies in the midst, and if thou use
it against thine enemies, this organ becomes a means of safety for
thee. But if thou thrust its stroke against thyself, not the nature
of the iron, but thine own transgression becomes the cause of thy
slaughter. Let us then take this view of the tongue. It is a sword
lying in the midst; sharpen it for the purpose of accusing thine
own sins. Thrust not the stroke against thy brother. For this
reason God surrounded it with a double fortification; with the
fence of the teeth and the barrier of the lips, that it may not
rashly and without circumspection utter words which are not
convenient. Well, dost thou say it will not endure this? Bridle it
therefore within. Restrain it by means of the teeth, as though
giving over its body to these executioners and making them bite it.
For it is better that when it sins now it should be bitten by the
teeth, than one day when it seeks a drop of water and is parched
with heat, to be unable to obtain this consolation. In many other
ways indeed it is wont to sin, by raillery and blasphemy, by
uttering foul words, by slander, swearing, and perjury.
5. But in order that we may not by saying everything
at once to-day, confuse your minds, we put before you one custom,
namely, about the avoidance of oaths, saying this much by way of
preface, and speaking plainly—that if you do not avoid oaths, I
say not perjury merely, but those too which happen in the cause of
justice, we shall not further discourse upon any other subject. For
it is monstrous that teachers of letters should not give a second
lesson to their children until they see the former one fixed well
in their memory, but that we, without being able to express our
first lessons clearly, should inculcate others before the first are
completed. For this is nothing else than to pour into a perforated
jar. Give great care, then, that ye silence not our mouth. For this
error is grave, and it is exceedingly grave because it does not
seem to be grave, and on this account I fear it, because no one
fears it. On this account the disease is incurable, because it does
not seem to be a disease; but just as simple speech is not a crime,
so neither does this seem to be a crime, but with much boldness
this transgression is committed: and if any one call it in
question, straightway laughter follows, and much ridicule, not of
those who are called in question for their oaths, but of those who
wish to rectify the disease. On this account I largely extend my
discourse about these matters. For I wish to pull up a deep root,
and to wipe out a long-standing evil: I speak not of perjury alone,
but even of oaths in good faith. But so and so, says one, a
forbearing man, consecrated to the priesthood, living in much
self-control and piety, takes an oath. Do not speak to me of this
forbearing person, this
self-controlled, pious man who is
consecrated to the priesthood; but if thou wilt, add that this man
is Peter, or Paul, or even an angel descended out of heaven. For
not even in such a case do I regard the dignity of their persons.
For the law which I read upon oaths, is not that of the servant,
but of the King: and when the edicts of a king are read, let every
claim of the servants be silent. But if thou art able to say that
Christ bade us use oaths, or that Christ did not punish the doing
of this, show me, and I am persuaded. But if he forbids it with so
much care, and takes so much thought about the matter as to class
him who takes an oath with the evil one (for whatsoever is more
than these, namely, than yea and nay, saith he, is of the devil),518
why dost
thou bring this person and that person forward? For not because of
the carelessness of thy fellow servants, but from the injunctions
of his own laws, will God record his vote against thee. I have
commanded, he says, thou oughtest to obey, not to shelter thyself
behind such and such a person and concern thyself with other
persons’ evil. Since the great David sinned a grievous sin, is it
then safe for us to sin? Tell me: on this account then we ought to
make sure of this point, and only to emulate the good works of the
saints; and if there is carelessness, and transgression of the law
anywhere, we ought to flee from it with great care. For our
reckoning is not with our fellow-servants, but with our Master, and
to him we shall give account for all done in our life. Let us
prepare ourselves therefore for this tribunal. For even if he who
transgresses this law be beyond everything revered and great, he
shall certainly pay the penalty attaching to the transgression. For
God is no respecter of persons. How then and in what way is it
possible to flee from this sin? For one ought to show not only that
the crime is grievous, but to give counsel how we may escape from
it. Hast thou a wife, hast thou a servant, children, friends,
acquaintance, neighbors? To all these enjoin caution on these
matters. Custom is a grievous thing, terrible to supplant, and hard
to guard against, and it often attacks us unwilling and unknowing;
therefore in so far as thou knowest the power of custom, to such an
extent study to be freed from any evil custom, and transfer thyself
to any other most useful one. For as that custom is often able to
trip thee up, though thou art careful, and guardest thyself, and
takest thought, and consideration, so if thou transferrest thyself
to the good custom of abstaining from oaths, thou wilt not be able,
either involuntarily or carelessly, to fall into the fault of
oaths. For custom is really great and has the power of nature. In
order then that we do not continually distress ourselves let us
transfer ourselves to another custom, and ask thou each one of thy
kindred and acquaintance this favor, that he advise thee and exhort
thee to flee from oaths, and reprove thee, when detected in them.
For the watch over thee which takes place on their part, is to them
too counsel and a suggestion to what is right. For he who reproves
another for oaths, will not himself easily fall into this pit. For
much swearing is no ordinary pit, not only when it is about little
matters but about the greatest. And we, whether buying vegetables,
or quarrelling over two farthings, or in a rage with our servants
and threatening them, always call upon God as our witness. But a
freeman, possessed of some barren dignity, thou wouldest not dare
to call upon as witness in the market to such things; but even if
thou attemptedst it, thou wilt pay the penalty of thine insolence.
But the King of Heaven, the Lord of Angels, when disputing both
about purchases and money, and what not, thou draggest in for a
testimony. And how can these things be borne? whence then should we
escape from this evil custom? After setting those guards of which I
spoke round us, let us fix on a specified time to ourselves for
amendment, and adding thereto condemnation if, when the time has
passed, we have not amended this. How long time will suffice for
the purpose? I do not think that they who are very wary, and on the
alert, and watchful about their own salvation, should need more
than ten days, so as to be altogether free from the evil custom of
oaths. But if after ten days we be detected swearing, let us add a
penalty due to ourselves, and let us fix upon the greatest
punishment and condemnation of the transgression; what then is this
condemnation? This I do not fix upon, but will suffer you
yourselves to determine the sentence. So we arrange matters in our
own case, not only in respect of oaths but in respect of other
defects, and fixing a time for ourselves, with most grievous
punishments, if at any time we have fallen into them, shall come
clean to our Master, and shall escape the fire of hell, and shall
stand before the judgment seat of Christ with boldness, to which
may we all attain, by the grace and lovingkindness of our Lord
Jesus Christ, with whom be glory to the Father together with the
Holy Spirit for ever and ever: Amen.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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