What was the Catechumenate?
For several centuries the Church ran a widespread programme of discipleship training called the Catechumenate. More than an extended period of spiritual formation, it was a process of initiation into the life of Christ, and the mission of the Church. In the context of our own culture of running courses and conferences, it is important to recognise that the Catechumenate wasn’t merely an intellectual exercise, but more of a sustained immersion into Christian worship and witness, an apprenticeship in the art of Christian living, in the loving of God and of neighbour.
The phenomenon of the Catechumenate is alien to many of our ways of thinking about evangelism, and Church-life more generally. But it was born out of deep pastoral wisdom, Apostolic precedent and missional experience. The first burst of spiritual enthusiasm, intrigue or excitement that can constitute a response to Christ in the Gospel is likely to evaporate, and certainly is insufficient to sustain the rigours and sacrifices of Christian life and worship. And all the more so in a context of persecution and martyrdom. Spiritual experience and fervour need to be tested, shaped, and brought to maturity. A Biblical vison for Christian living must be imparted, and those being apprenticed supported in their growth into that life.
For much of its existence, the Catechumenate formed a 3-year period of preparation. Hippolytus of Rome (a second century theologian and bishop) points out that the focus of the Catechumenate is not simply intellectual development, but spiritual and character formation. This simply takes time. Although he does concede: ‘Let the Catechumens spend three years as hearers of the Word. But if a man is zealous and perseveres well in the work, it is not the time, but His character that is decisive’.
It formed a ‘rigorous training program to form people in the faith, to prepare them for Church membership, and to equip them for effective mission in the [Roman] Empire. The simple fact of such a training program communicated very clearly that discipleship was not for a few special Christians, but for all Christians, that it is not an option but an expectation’.[1] Likewise Strengholt observes that ‘In the ancient Church, the normal Christian formation all (new) church members needed was primarily seen as a matter of catechesis’.[2]
In its broadest terms the Catechumenate was a four-stage progression, occasionally with a period of probation between each; and with subsequent stages connected by a ritual of initiation (culminating in what Chrysostom grandly called ‘the holy and awesome rites of initiation’).[3]
Theodore of Mopsuestia (Bishop of Antioch, modern day Turkey) explained these rites as they had developed by the early fifth century:
The scrutiny first: “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 witnesses or of the pastor of the city or the parish.” Then the initiation: “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 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 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.”
The terms and parameters of the Catechumenate varied over time and place, but substantively:
(i) Evangelisation (sometimes referred to as pre- / proto-Catechumenate).
This could be a formal, corporate evangelism, but was more likely to be personal, relational and individual.[4] Evangelism was seen as the work of all Christians, and the person who was formative in sharing the Gospel would often then function as a Mentor / Sponsor for the candidate, attesting in the first instance to the integrity and seriousness of the ‘seeker’, and accompanying them through the Catechumenate. This was an essential component and ensured a ‘relational bridge’ with the Church. It also had the added benefit of their revisiting the foundations of their faith again.
(a) Acceptance into the order of Catechumens
The Candidate was sealed (signed with the cross); hands were laid on them and they would be anointed with salt and oil, whilst being exorcised.
The ACNA, in ‘An Anglican Catechism’ provides A Rite of Admission of Catechumens, which includes an Examination, an Enrolment and Exorcism and a Blessing.
(ii) Catechesis / Catechumenate proper
This was the core of the process generally lasted three years.[5] During this period, teaching initially focussed on three main elements: right belief (the Creed); right worship (the Lord’s Prayer); right living (the Decalogue / Sermon on the Mount). It also included an overview of Scripture, as well as involvement in and teaching about aspects of the corporate worship and mission of the Church. Cyril of Jerusalem, spoke of those in this stage as ‘the Church’s Novices’ (Lecture 12).
(b) Enrolment for baptism
A candidate would submit their name for Baptism at the beginning of Lent. They would often be examined by the Bishop, and their Sponsor would be required to support their request, and to provide what was effectively a reference, testifying to their involvement in the Catechumenate and the authenticity of their conversion / discipleship.
(iii) Purification / Enlightenment
The period of Lent would in turn provide the context for an intensive period of instruction and formation. There could be daily teaching, vigils, fasting, examination, and further exorcism. In later models of the Catechumenate those entering this stage were known as ‘the chosen ones’, to distinguish them from the ‘Catechumens’.[6]
(c) Baptism, followed by participating in Holy Communion
Details varied from place to place, but are well attested, and a general pattern emerges which suggests a good deal of uniformity throughout the Church. The candidates were brought to the door of the Baptistery and conducted through the ceremony of ‘the opening’. The Priest / Bishop administering baptism would touch (or anoint) the eyes and ears of the candidates, using a form of words that evoked the memory of Jesus’ healing of the deaf-mute (Mk.7:34). This marked the transition from stage 2 (where the candidate was a Catechumen) to stage 3 (the enlightened). They then entered the Baptistery stripped off their clothes (symbolising the taking off of the old Adamic humanity), and were anointed again with oil. They recited their vows to renounce sin, the world and its pleasures (in some places, while standing barefoot on goatskin as a sign of repentance). This was often accompanied by a physical turning from west to east. As the Candidate faced the rising sun, they confirmed their commitment to follow Christ.
The candidate entered the waters of baptism, and after a final exorcism had been conducted, they were blessed and baptised in the Name of the Trinity. After they left the waters, they were clothed in a white robe, and again, anointed (or sealed) with oil.
(iv) Mystagogy
Sustained teaching on the sacramental life and worship of the Church followed their first experience of Communion (which in some places included a chalice of milk mixed with honey!). This was usually focussed on the 8 days following Easter.
Intriguingly, there seems to have been an anxiety that the climax of three years ‘apprenticeship’ in the water of baptism and in the bread and wine of Communion may have been disappointing. Ambrose for one seeks to pre-empt this: ‘If anyone should perhaps be thinking of saying, ‘Is that all?’, Indeed I say it is. There truly is all… there is all innocence, all devotion, all grace, all sanctification. You saw all you could with the eyes of the body, all that is open to human sight … what is unseen is much greater’.[7]
Cyril, Bishop of Jerusalem from 346AD, stresses they are at the beginning of a journey. His focus is not on the elements of the sacraments, but their significance, and he promises rich insight ahead:
‘During these seven weeks you have received instruction in the whole biblical Law. You have heard about the faith and the resurrection of the body. You have also learned all you can as catechumens of the content of the Creed. But the teaching about baptism itself is a deeper mystery, and you have not the right to hear it while you remain catechumens. Do not think it will never be explained; you will hear it all during the eight days of Easter after you have been baptized. But so long as you are catechumens you cannot be told God’s deep mysteries. . . . In these you will be instructed again in the reasons for each of the things that took place. You will be given proofs from the Old and New Testaments, first, of course, for the things that were done before your baptism, and next how you have been made clean from your sins by the Lord with washing of water by the Word, then how you have entered into the right to be called ‘Christ’ in virtue of your ‘priesthood,’ then how you have been given the ‘sealing’ of fellowship with the Holy Spirit, then about the mysteries of the altar of the new covenant . . . and finally, how for the rest of your life you must walk worthily of the grace you have received’.
Chrysostom captures the sense of joy that ran throughout the Church when the process was completed, and the culture of growth it encapsulated:
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 favours, 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. 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 … There, 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 labours, his activity, and his zeal—the riches that God communicated to him.
Several scholars consider the Catechumenate to be a critical foundation to the life of a Church that in turn shaped, conquered and outlasted the Roman Empire. To reclaim and to rehabilitate an appropriate model of the Catechumenate for the contemporary Church would embed a means of making disciples that would in turn lead to significant benefit and effectiveness for the wider life and mission of the Church. Sittser argues this would lead people away from an attitude of entitlement and from a culture of entertainment, politics and personality and program that dominates the Christian landscape today, to a culture of discipleship, and a spirituality of growth.[8]
The Impact of the Catechumenate
The Catechumenate was ‘one of the most effective training programs in the history of the Church’.[9] Rather than the Church capitulating to the Roman Empire, it’s culture and its spiritualties in a futile quest for relevance, it enculturated those coming out of that world into the life of the Church. It created a bridge between the world of the Roman Empire and the that of the Church – a bridge that it took 3 years to cross. Rather than recalibrating the worship of the Church to the culture(s) of the surrounding society, the Early Church preferred to recalibrate those coming from the surrounding society to the worship of the Church. It was a huge gap to cross, and required time, patience, intentionality. The atmosphere resembled an athletic or perhaps even a military training camp. ‘Spectators’ were sure to fail in their confession of Christ in a society where suspicion of Christians was standard. Only the fully trained would stand.
Harmless is representative of those who celebrate the long-term impact of the Catechumenate when he writes, ‘The ancient Catechumenate … was an institution asked to achieve miracles … the thorough-going transformation of a huge mass of people. It worked reasonably well’.[10] In many ways this reads as an understatement: ‘reasonably well’? The Church in the centuries immediately following the death of the Apostles grew phenomenally. It consistently produced Christians who were courageous, proactive and bold in their witness for Christ. And its capturing of the Empire, for better or for worse, is a matter of simply historical observation.
The courage and boldness it instilled in the ‘rank and file’ Christian can hardly be over-estimated. This is an important observation as it could be assumed that such an introverted model of discipleship could undermine evangelistic potency. Origen (c.248 AD) writes, ‘Christians do not neglect, as far as they can, to take measures to disseminate their doctrine throughout the world. Some of them accordingly have made it their business to travel, not only through cities, but even villages and countryside, that they might make converts to God’.[11] This is a far cry from our own evangelistically impotent generation.
But evangelistic potency was not the only result. A full-orbed Christian compassion was cultivated that fuelled the Church’s service of the poor, marginalised and sick.
Through the Catechumenate the Spirit cultivated entire congregations of Christians prepared to suffer in an extraordinary way for the privilege of confessing Christ as Lord. The willingness of such significant numbers of Christians to endure imprisonment, exile, loss of property and civil rights, and at times excruciating torture and martyrdom for the name of Christ is legendary. Whilst the exact numbers of martyrs (‘bloodless’ and otherwise) produced through the varying persecutions of these centuries are contested, the fact of martyrdom cannot be, nor can the willingness of many ‘ordinary’ Christians to suffer in such fashion. What is striking is not just the theoretical willingness, but the actual endurance of that suffering amongst so many who were subjected to it. The testimony of celebrated leaders such as Ignatius or Polycarp are well known, but periodic (often localised) persecutions enlarged the lists of martyrs with many whose names are lost to history. The accounts of the Martyrs of Lyon (177), of Carthage (202), Palestine (303), as well as the way in which martyrdom is addressed in the writings of Tertullian, Clement, Origen and so on give us a sense of the immediacy of the prospect of martyrdom, and that significant numbers were willing to endure it.[12]
‘We must deny ourselves, and take up the cross of Christ and thus follow him. Now self-denial involves the entire forgetfulness of the past and surrender of one’s will … Readiness to die for Christ, the mortification of one’s members on this earth, the preparedness for every danger which might befall us on behalf of Christ’s name, detachment from this life – this is to take up one’s cross’.[13]
More poignant yet is Eusebius’ citing the Churches of Lyons and Vienne as they give an account of the Gallic Martyrs during Verus’ reign, to the Churches of Asia and Phrygia. After recounting the exhaustive efforts of the authorities in their pursuit of the Church, barring them from much of public life, arresting, bringing to trial and seeking to cause them to deny their faith through ‘every kind of abuse and punishment’, the account gives – as symptomatic – a detailed description of the trial of Vettius Epagathus. It then continues:
Then the rest fell into two groups. It was clear that some were ready to be the first Gallic Martyrs: they made a full confession of their testimony with great eagerness. It was equally clear that others were not ready, that they had not been trained and were still flabby, in no fit condition to face the strain of a struggle with death. Of these, some ten proved still-born, causing us great distress and inexpressible grief, and damping the enthusiasm of those arrested…[14]
There is a profound paradox at the heart of the idea of Catechumenate. On first sight it would appear to be a recipe for disappearing into a ghetto. The time and energy and effort it will require from those participating might look prohibitive, or at least it might look like it will rob new Christians of any life outside of the Catechumenate, and certainly rob them of any evangelistic opportunity. Laying aside the obvious issue that for all the ‘evangelistic opportunity’ our withdrawal from Church has supposedly produced, the Church is still haemorrhaging, there is a more profound point to make. It is a matter of simple historical observation that during the centuries the Church universally and effectively ran the Catechumenate it grew exponentially. Of course, chronological proximity doesn’t assume causality. Except that it is difficult to avoid the sense that the Catechumenate created an incredibly outward looking Church, that not only recognised the evangelistic opportunities it inevitably had, but was also well positioned to take advantage of them, and to endure the suffering they required. This is an example the contemporary (British) Church is singularly ill-equipped to follow.
Not a Silver Bullet
It is easy to succumb to a kind of romanticism when considering something like the Catechumenate at a distance of some fifteen or sixteen centuries. But even at this distance it is obvious that the Catechumenate was not a panacea for all ecclesiastical ills.
The very period in which the Catechumenate functioned is notorious for its theological melees and for the plethora of heresies and schisms that afflicted the Church at a Creedal level. There was confusion over sacraments and Church discipline. Small ‘p’ politics were as much a feature in the first century as they are in the twenty-first. Cyril himself – Bishop of Jerusalem, and one of the greatest Catechists of the era – was looked on with suspicion for his entertaining a form of Creedal confession that might hold the Arians within the structures of the Catholic Church. When Gregory of Nyssa was appointed by Antioch to investigate, he decided that while the Bishop was theologically trustworthy, his diocese – Catechumenate or not - was in political and moral disarray.[15]
Still, careful study, and historical awareness will guard us against the temptation to see the rehabilitation of the Catechumenate as a ‘silver bullet’. It wasn’t in the Early Church and it won’t be if re-established meaningfully today. There is no room for idealised nostalgia, or for the sentimentalising of any particular period of Church history.
For several centuries the Catechumenal process functioned, as we have seen, ‘reasonably well’. But as it degenerated during the late 4th and 5th centuries (often being reduced to process lasting only a few weeks), even those most deeply involved in shaping and delivering the Catechumenate were aware of the gap that increasingly existed between aspirations and outcomes.
Chrysostom, another of the great Catechists, complained, ‘I see many after baptism living more carelessly than the uninitiated, having nothing that really distinguishes them in their way of life … neither in the market-place nor in the Church is it possible to figure out who is a member of the faithful and who is an unbeliever…’. For all its strengths, the Catechumenate didn’t seem to guarantee moral or spiritual results.
Likewise Augustine warns of ‘the drunkards, misers, cheats, gamblers, fornicators who fill the Churches on Christian fast days… and who [then] fill the theatres on the feast days of pagans’. He laments the spiritual immaturity of those who brought their legal struggles to his courtroom, and in so doing, exposed only their own greed and adultery. In the end, he concluded, for some ‘the weight of habit too often overwhelmed the desire for conversion’. Again, the impact of the Catechumenate seems to have had a certain ‘ambiguity’.
As noted above, these citations are from the latter period of the Catechumenate, and notably approaching the end of the fourth century, when the Catechumenate was already in decline, having been reduced to the period of Lent (Augustine, ordained Bishop 395; Chrysostom, named Patriarch of Constantinople 398). This isn’t to say that prior to the fourth century it was universally effective. But there is little doubt that where it was embedded in its fullest form, the Catechumenate engendered a depth of discipleship that inspired the Church to suffer, evangelise, demonstrate the love of Christ, and to win the Roman Empire. It may not have rid the Church of the sin that characterises the Church throughout her militant pilgrimage, but it did inspire a commitment and vision for following Christ that not all generations have shared.
Formal & Recognised
And for much of the early centuries, the process of discipleship training known as the Catechumenate was widespread and established. There was a shared vision for both content and purpose. Many scholars consider early Christian works such as the Didache, Epistle of Barnabas, Irenaeus’ Proof of Apostolic Preaching, and Hippolytus’ Apostolic Tradition all to have been written / developed for use within the context of the Catechumenate.[16]
Although these are the earliest indications of the Catechumenate, the testimony to it over the years is remarkable. Cyprian of Carthage, Origen of Alexandria; Ambrose of Milan; Cyril of Jerusalem; Theodore of Mospuestia; Chrysostom of Constantinople; Basil of Caesarea; Gregory of Nazianzus; Gregory of Nyssa; Augustine of Hippo all reference the Catechumenate, established Catechumenal schools, or have left to posterity bodies of teaching, lectures and manuals used in the instruction and formation of Catechumens. In addition they deal with pastoral concerns that the Catechumenate gave rise to, such as the state of the Catechumen who suffers martyrdom before baptism;[17] and of those Catechumens who lapse, or who ‘fall into sin’;[18] those who are converting to orthodoxy from heretical sects;[19] and concerns about how soon, after completing the Catechumenate, might it be appropriate to ordain someone to the presbyterate.[20]
In earlier iterations the emphasis falls on practical, moral instruction, and on questions of spiritual discipline and corporate worship (e.g. Baptism, Fasting, the Lord’s Prayer, Communion etc.). But by the end of the second century a stronger doctrinal element is already present. And by the early third century (Apostolic Tradition) there is a fully developed and self-conscious process of spiritual formation in place, that is widely recognised and implemented.
There are clear and ecumenically agreed instructions as to who may qualify for enrolment, and for the necessity of potential Catechumens to disassociate themselves from certain societal roles or professions before they can enter the 3-year period of ‘hearing the word’ and preparing for baptism (Ap. Trad. para.15-20, see also the Apostolic Constitutions (late 4th Century) which likewise designates 3 years to the Catechumenate). An emphasis on practical Christian service is paramount. Before receiving baptism, ‘their lives are to be examined, whether they have lived honourably while catechumens, whether they honoured the widows, whether they visited the sick, and whether they have done every good work’ (para.20).[21]
The Catechumenate is referenced or ratified in several Ecumenical Councils including Neocaesarea (315), Nicaea (325), and Constantinople (381), all of which produced Canons addressing the teaching and rituals of initiation associated with the Catechumenate. It appears to have been universally practised.
By the 4th Century the curricula of the Catechumenates are deeply established and well documented.[22] There were (so far as we can tell) fixed points in all Catechumenates. It’s foundational teaching – often conducted in the morning before work - revolved around the Apostles Creed, the Lord’s Prayer and the 10 Commandments. This was variously supplemented by overviews of the Bible, further instruction in doctrine and life, training in the disciplines of fasting, vigils, and prayer, as well as liturgy and sacraments. Other regularly attested features include the expectation of the Catechumens’ involvement in the preaching life and in the mission of the Church, as well as the process of examination, various anointings and exorcisms and the requirement of sponsors.
…but Flexible
Whilst the structure and several of the component parts of the Catechumenate were at some level a common and fixed reality, there is also evidence of variation across both time and geography, as the context demanded. It seems likely that part of the key to the effectiveness and the longevity of the Catechumenate as a feature of Church life and mission is precisely its being flexible enough to adapt to local needs.
It is worth noting that while contemporary evangelistic resources (such as Alpha & Christianity Explored) can be applied in a huge variety of cultural contexts, discipleship courses seem to have much more limited usefulness and appeal. In part this is because significant elements of discipleship formation will vary significantly in different pastoral contexts.
An example from my own experience might be the question of how to address a convert’s relationship with their non-Christian family. A moment’s consideration will highlight the fact that social and cultural expectations around family will make it very difficult for a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach. In a previous ministry in a large city, many of those who became Christians were already seeking to establish their own identity without any necessary reference to their family, who they had often moved away from to come to the city in the first place. In addition, we saw a number of folk from other faith and religious backgrounds confessing Christ as Lord. The discipleship issues relating to family raised in such a context are very different from the situation currently minister in, where family – whether Christian or not - can have an importance that borders on idolatrous.
As the context of the Early Church developed and shifted, so did the focus and purpose of Catechumenate. Ferguson has an insightful passage in which he shows the Catechumenate morphing to meet the challenges of particular situations and times. Whilst the fundamental question was always about formation and discipleship, that question needed subtly different answers as the Church faced different milieu. Justin Martyr’s Catechumenate was ‘concerned to define the Christian community over against a pagan world, and Judaism’; whereas Irenaeus shaped it to train his people to live as a community embedded within the history of salvation. Cyprian crafted it to equip those facing the prospect of martyrdom as he guided the Church through the Decian persecution(s). For Cyril, the need was doctrinal; for Ambrose it served as training to live in a State-Church; for Augustine, to live in the Heavenly City.[23]
And so, as we watch the Catechumenate across the centuries, there are elements that are fixed, but local Bishops and Catechumenal Schools also felt at liberty to adapt and teach to the situations they and their converts faced.
Scriptural Roots
The word Catechumenate (or rather the Greek cognates that lie behind it) is a New Testament word, and with the exception of Acts 21:21-24, it refers to instructing the Church.[24]
Luke 1:4, Luke expresses his intention that through his Gospel, Theophilus might know the certainty of the things [he has] been taught katēchēthēs
Acts 18:25, Luke again uses the word to describe how Apollos had come to be such a learned man with a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures. He had, Luke tells us, been instructed in the way of the Lord katēchēmenos
Rom.2:18, Paul uses the word to describe those who have instructed by the Law katēchoumenos
I Cor.14:19, Paul articulates his desire to use his spiritual giftedness in a way that will build up the Church in love, through intelligible instruction katēchēsō
Gal.6:6, Paul uses katēchumenos to refer to those being instructed in the Word. And those who are doing the instructing are called katēchounti
Whilst it can cover the reception of information in a more general sense, it appears to have quickly become associated with the oral instruction and teaching of the Church. Whether this refers to the formal structured Catechumenal process that we witness in some of the earliest post-Apostolic writings is difficult to determine. Is there any Biblical mandate or precedent for developing such a significant structure in the life of the early Church, and by extension, rehabilitating such a practise today?
For some, the fact that there is evidence of its existence in such chronological proximity to the Apostles (possibly during their lifetime) renders the question unnecessary. The consistent and widespread testimony of the Fathers (and Mothers if we include Egeria the Pilgrim) settles the matter. For others, the question of a specifically Biblical precedent cannot be so easily dismissed. This is perhaps, the more Anglican way (Arts 6, 20, 21, 34 are particularly apposite here). That there is a Biblical mandate for discipleship formation is beyond question (if only on the basis of Matt.28:19-20!). But is there any sense that the process that dominated the Church for the first 5 centuries was in fact practised, mandated or even envisaged by the Apostles?
There is always a danger of eisegesis in approaching a question such as this. But at the risk of allowing our theories to shape the data, rather than the data to shape our theories, there remain some tantalising suggestions. It is as intriguing as it is apparent that Catechumenal instruction retained a position of unassailable priority in the teaching and pastoral ministry of Bishops and Clergy from the earliest writings of the post-Apostolic era. For many it was a daily feature, and Catechetical duties would have consumed several hours a day. This sense of the priority of teaching – especially new converts – is clearly evident in the ministry of the Apostles. The vast influx of converts on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:41) were characterised by a ‘devotedness’ to the Apostles’ teaching (2:42, though notice also the immediacy of Baptism and subsequent devotedness to the ‘breaking of bread’); and we are told in this context that they continued to meet every day in the Temple Courts’ (2:46). While the agenda wasn’t exclusively ‘teaching’, there is every reason to assume this foundational instruction concerning Christian life and doctrine was embedded from the beginning.
The Apostles shared a corresponding sense of the priority of teaching those whom the Lord was adding daily to the Church as an integral part of their ministry (Acts 2:47). Luke grants us a revealing insight into this priority in the opening verses of Acts 6:
In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Hellenistic Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, “It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. Brothers and sisters, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word”. This proposal pleased the whole group...
Acts 6:1-5
The burden of teaching new converts is both paramount and dominating. Certainly, what is envisaged here could never have been contained within the strictures of a weekly meeting on the Lord’s Day. It appears this is a daily reality they dare not step back from it even in order to address a legitimate and significant pastoral and logistical concerns within the growing congregation.[25] Dujarier for one, argues that the evidence points to a period of initial intensive formation, designed to bring converts to spiritual maturity, as functioning members of the Church.[26]
At the very least we see the beginnings of a trajectory that finds its natural apex in something that would look an awful lot like the Catechumenate. My own suspicion is that initially it functioned as something integrated into the Sacramental life of the Church, and only later began to develop as a ‘pre-Church’ experience. This resonates much more with the evidence from Acts, in which the same people who devoted themselves to the Apostles teaching, also devoted themselves to the prayers, the fellowship and ‘the breaking of bread’.[27]
Whilst the ability to teach remains a standard expectation of those ordained to presbyterial ministry, it seems unlikely that we should tie this to any (proto-)Catechumenal responsibilities as tightly as some scholars might like (I Tim.2:3; II Tim.2:24; Titus 1:9). However, other indications of a focus on teaching new converts as a group in their own right can be discerned in Acts 19. At Corinth, Paul ‘took the disciples with him and had discussions daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus’ (Acts 19:9). This continued for two years. The idea that even in the Apostolic era there was a recognised content of initiatory teaching might also have an echo in passages such as Eph.4:20-24:
That, however, is not the way of life you learned when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
The commonality of such initiatory teaching may also find support in Paul’s assumptions about what Christians are expected to know, even in Churches he was not directly involved in planting. His repeated, ‘Don’t you know…?’, and similar phrases, being symptomatic of his referring to an assumed body of teaching (Rom.6:3; I Cor.3:16). Likewise, John’s addressing of ‘dear children’, in distinction from ‘young men’ and ‘fathers’ intimates a defined group of newer converts recognised within the life of the Church (I Jn.2:12-14); as does Peter’s recognition that there are ‘spiritual babes’ who should be craving ‘pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up into your salvation’ (I Pet.2:2). The Apostle Paul likewise recognises this stage of spiritual infancy, and also implies that through the teaching and structure of Church life, there is a justified expectation that new converts should grow beyond it.[28] This differentiation of stages of spiritual maturity, and a recognised body of teaching that is appropriate for those in spiritual infancy is also a recurring theme in the Epistle to the Hebrews. We also find resonance with the expectation that new converts should grow out of this stage through exposure to a recognised body of teaching:
In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil. Therefore, let us move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ and be taken forward to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God, instruction about cleansing rites [baptisms], the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. And God permitting, we will do so.
Heb.5:12 – 6:3
The wider passages in I Peter 2, I Cor. 3, and that cited from Hebrews all demonstrate that the growth expected is not simply intellectual but is behavioural. Whether the focus is on ‘living … good lives’ (Peter), unity (Corinthians) or righteousness / distinguishing good from evil (Hebrews), there is a lifestyle, and a relationship with the wider Church that new Christians are expected to grow into, and to be ‘trained’ into.
Whilst it would be disingenuous to suggest that there was a fully-fledged catechumenate in operation during the days of the Apostles (in the sense that we see it endorsed e.g. at Neocaesarea or Constantinople), nevertheless, the evidence is suggestive of a recognised status within the Church of new converts, and of a recognised body of teaching they were expected to master. There are enough ‘straws in the water’ to see the direction in which the Apostolic Church was developing, and the speed, consistency and universality with which the Catechumenate did develop in the period immediately following the Apostles is evocative of a precursor in the Apostolic ministry and in the structure of the Church. Such evidence as we have is consistent with that.
Post-Apostolic Era
Whatever the precise state of development at the end of the New Testament period, there is evidence that, by the end of the 2nd century, a widely recognised and institutionalised Catechumenate has emerged. Prior to this, documents such as the Didache (end of 1st Century), and the Shepherd of Hermas (c.140) alert us to a recognised period of ‘catechetical instruction’, and by Hippolytus (c. 215), the idea of the Catechumenate is both explicit, established, and fully developed in the format that it would be known for the next three centuries.[29]
Scholars highlight a notable change in vocabulary that accompanies these structural developments, and that change points toward the distancing of this process from the main sacramental worship of the Church. In contrast to the New Testament pattern in which converts are baptised (as at Pentecost) before devoting themselves to the Apostle’s teaching, we begin to see the idea of the Catechumenate as a preparation for baptism, and the Catechumen referred to not as a Christian, but as a Hearer / Listener; Recruit; Novice. It is in this period that Tertullian coined his dictum: ‘men are made, not born, Christians’, and in Against Heresies, he reproaches the heretics for not making a distinction between the faithful (i.e. the baptised), and the Catechumens.[30] This distinction finds regular and unconscious expression, such as when ‘the Church’ is invited to join fasting with and for those who are finishing the Catechumenal process and are preparing for imminent baptism.
By the end of the second century, a further development is also apparent: the formation of ‘schools’ which delegated and focussed the Church’s Catechumenal efforts, albeit removed again from the main sacramental, teaching and worshipping life of that Church. Eusebius, for example, tells us that Pantaenus found one such school in Alexandria (where the 18 year old Origen enrolled), and that Clement succeeded him c.190. This gives us a sense of just how established and recognised the process was. Under Clement, the Catechumenate lasted 4 years, ‘since time is also necessary for solid catechumenal formation…’. The same concept of Catechumenal Communities surfaces in Carthage (where many of the same structures of teaching, discipline and vocabulary feature), and Rome during this same period.[31] Elsewhere (Syria and Palestine) the Catechumenate was delivered in homes, and involved periods of probation before a candidate moved onto the next part of the process.
The conditions for enrolment in such schools were strict.
Those who come forward the first time to hear the word shall first be brought to the teachers at the house before all the people come in. And let them be examined as to the reason why they have come forward to the faith. And those who bring them shall bear witness for them whether they are able to hear. Let their life and manner of living be enquired into, whether he has a wife and whether he is a slave or free. If he be the slave or a believer and his master permit him, let him hear. If his master does not bear witness to him, let him be rejected. If his master be a heathen, let him be taught to ‘please his master’ that there is no scandal … If a man have a wife or a woman a husband, let the man be taught to be contented with his wife and the woman to be contented with her husband. A man who is unmarried let him be taught not to commit fornication but either to marry lawfully or to abide steadfast. But if there be one who has a devil, let him not hear the word from the teacher until he be cleansed.[32]
Not only was there the requirement for sponsorship, i.e. someone who could verify the integrity of your interest in Christ (important in times of persecution), but certain professions and ‘social arrangements’ could also be preclusive as they were deemed to be incompatible with Christian life and worship. These are variously spelled out in some detail. Homosexuals were to end any sexually active relationship they were involved with; and those with concubines were to either break off the relationship completely or marry legally. Refusal to do so meant rejection from the Catechumenate. Likewise, those who ‘supported harlots’: ‘Let him desist, or be rejected’. Gladiators, magistrates, charioteers, actors and play-writes were all excluded unless they were prepared to abandon their professions. Sculptors and painters were also expected to desist on the grounds that their work implicated them in idolatry.
It might seem strange to us that the Church considered itself to have the authority to exclude those not prepared to ‘desist’ such patterns of sexual and vocational behaviour. But this speaks to a much stronger sense of ‘the baptismal life’ as a recognised and agreed lifestyle than exists in the British Church today, and of the public and corporate reality of Christian faith and worship. Much of this has been lost in our own generations and replaced with a sense of Christianity as a personal and private ‘spirituality’ in which no-one else has any say, or right to interfere. Although there was a tendency to seek to diminish the demands made of those seeking enrolment, these were strongly resisted by Bishops, and the moral and spiritual requirements remained exacting throughout the centuries during which the Catechumenate was at its most influential. Hippolytus gives us insight into expectations at the other end of the Catechumenate also, and the examination prior to baptism:
And when they are chosen who are set apart to receive baptism let their life be examined, whether they lived piously while catechumens, whether ‘they honoured the widows,’ whether they visited the sick, whether they have fulfilled every good work. If those who bring them witness to them that they have done thus, then let them hear the gospel … Moreover, from the day they are chosen, let a hand be laid on them and let them be exorcised daily. And when the day draws near on which they are to be baptized, let the bishop himself exorcise each one of them, that he may be certain that he is purified. But if there is one who is not purified let him be put on one side because he did not hear the word of instruction with faith. For the evil and strange spirit remained with him … And let those who are to be baptized be instructed to wash and cleanse themselves on the fifth day of the week … Those who are to receive baptism shall fast on the Friday and on the Saturday. And on the Saturday the bishop shall assemble those who are to be baptized in one place, and shall bid them all to pray and bow the knee. And laying his hand on them he shall exorcise every evil spirit to flee away from them and never to return to them henceforward. And when he has finished exorcising, let him breathe on their faces and seal their foreheads and ears and nose and then let him raise them up … And they shall spend all the night in vigil, reading the scriptures to them and instructing them … And when these things have been accomplished, let each one be zealous to perform good works and to please God, living righteously, devoting himself to the Church, performing the things which he has learnt, advancing in the service of God.
Famously, Origen (mid-third century) is associated with a Catechumenal School, and considered his role in the baptismal formation it facilitated as a key priority. He is symptomatic of growing concerns as he battles against the pressure to downgrade the Catechumenate. He appreciated that a reduction in the quality of formation through the catechumenate would result in problems for the Church’s witness in years to come. His (and others who shared them) concerns were proved justified in the long term, though the context of periodic persecutions demanded ongoing rigour in spiritual formation in the meantime.
Edict of Milan
As with many other aspects of Church life, the Edict of Milan (313 AD) presented new challenges and opportunities for the Catechumenate. Most notable were the loss of the context of persecution that demanded such an obviously intentional approach to discipleship; and linked to this, the diminishing purity of motivation in those seeking to be enrolled. This becomes an increasingly significant feature in Bishops’ leading of the Catechumenate. Ambrose (Bishop of Milan, 374-397) is representative of these concerns, as he sought to identify and sift those with such defective motives early in the process:
‘…here is one who comes to the Church because he is looking for honours under the Christian emperors; he pretends to request baptism with a simulated respect; he bows, he prostrates, but he does not bend his knee in spirit’.[33]
Likewise in Hippo, Augustine laid renewed emphasis on the need for sponsors, who could testify to the authenticity of someone’s interest in Christ. He recognised that in this new world, where the Christian faith had become a dominating spiritual and cultural gatekeeper, it would be far from clear why people wanted to be baptised. For some it was ‘to obtain the hand of Christian girl he wants to marry’. More generally, ‘if he wishes to become a Christian in the hope of deriving some benefit from men whom he thinks he could not otherwise please … he in reality does not wish to become a Christian, so much as he wishes to feign being one. If he comes with a counterfeit motive, desirous only of temporal advantages, or thinking to escape some loss, he will of course lie’.[34]
The situation post-313 also gave rise to the phenomena of those entering the Catechumenate but then indefinitely postponing baptism, so-called ‘slumbering Catechumens’. The problem was widespread. In Caesarea, Basil complained of those who were ‘conceived, but not yet born’:
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.
And Gregory of Nazianzus faced similar problems in Constantinople:
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 any 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.
Chrysostom was characteristically blunt in addressing such perpetual Catechumens: “Is it not the upmost stupidity to postpone the gift?” But the shift in ‘atmosphere’ is almost palpable as we move through the 4th century. Whereas the Church had adopted a tendency to postpone baptism until confident of the candidate’s authenticity in conversion, anxious to be sure that they would remain faithful in the suffering that baptism would bring; now it is the candidate who is postponing baptism, seemingly having gained whatever benefit they desired by enrolling in the Catechumenate, and thus unwilling to become a full member of the Church, with the obligations such would entail.
This led to the somewhat undignified spectacle of Bishops having to beg at Epiphany for Catechumens to submit their names for baptism at Eater. In a tragic and widely cited passage, Ambrose laments in a sermon on Lk.4:5, that ’for me it is dark…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…’.[35]
In truth, the structure of the Catechumenate was weakening. The scandal of indifference undermined its very foundations. Somewhere between the mid-4th and early-5th century we find the first radical moves to reduce the process from 3 (or 4) years to less than a year, and then finally to an intensive single season of Lent![36]
Lent had always provided a particular focus during the Catechumenate, and seemingly took on a kind of ‘boot camp’ atmosphere, providing an arena for intensive training for battle against the forces of darkness. For those coming to the end of their time as Catechumens, this was the ‘last push’ before they would be baptised and welcomed into the full sacramental life of the Church. These weeks took on a spiritual intensity that is breath-taking. Daily fasts; all night vigils; extended periods of prayer and the reading of vast tracts of Scripture; distribution of alms; penitential practices; abstaining from sex; self-examination; scrutiny from older Christians; daily sermons for all and private instruction the Catechumens.
This period became particularly associated with the battle against sin and Satan. The language of the Church is militant, and the spiritual disciplines of this period are likened to the training exercises of athletes or soldiers. So Chrysostom opens his Catechetical Sermons:
Young athletes, the stadium is open, there are the spectators on the tiers of the amphitheatre, in front of them is the leader of the games. Then, there is no middle ground, either you fall like a coward and leave covered with shame, or you act bravely and win the crown and the prize. In the same way, these thirty days are the time of struggle, of apprenticeship, or exercise … Indeed, we speak not only for your ears, but for your spirits, in order that they may retain our words and that you let us see it through your works, or rather not us, but God who knows the depths of your hearts. We also appeal to our catechetical instructions because it is necessary that even in our absence the echo of our words resounds in your souls …You, therefore, have received our words and have put them into practice, persevere and advance. And you who have not yet begun the work, start from now on so that your efforts will keep you from being accused of negligence in the future.
The same sense of urgency and impending effort, and the same spiritual dynamism, pervades the imagery and exhortation of Ambrose in his Catechetical Lectures, delivered in Milan in the mid-4th century:
Can an athlete enjoy leisure once he has given in his name for an event? No, he trains and is anointed every day. He is given special food; discipline is imposed on him; he has to keep himself chaste. You too have given in your name for Christ’s contest; you have entered for an event, and its prize is a crown. Practice, train, anoint yourself with the oil of gladness, an ointment that is never used up. Your food should be frugal, without intemperance or self-indulgence. Your drink should be more sparing for fear drunkenness should catch you unawares. Keep your body chaste so as to be fit to wear the crown. Otherwise your reputation may lose you the favour of the spectators, and your supporters may see your negligence and abandon you. The Archangels, the Powers, and Dominions, the ten thousand times ten thousand Angels are watching you. Before such spectators have some sense of shame and consider how dishonourable such conduct should be.
Lent had for many years proved one of the most intense periods of the Catechumenate. It had featured exorcisms, and a focus on the breaking of bad habits and the cultivating of godly ones. New recruits were apprenticed to seasoned veterans. Or to change the analogy, it was a ‘time to purge the poison out of one’s system … to root out habits of sin… to recover from our addiction to the world’[37] But when the whole Catechumenate was restricted to the season of Lent, it becomes apparent that the nature of the Catechumenate had changed beyond recognition, and its impact was massively reduced. The recognition that ‘formation’ took time that we saw in Clement is receding, or at least has been pragmatically eroded. We find Bishop after Bishop lamenting the lack of any transformation of life in those who had ‘graduated’ from the truncated version of the Catechumenate. Chrysostom speaks for many when he laments:
I have said it before, I say it now, and I shall say it again and again: unless a man has corrected the defects of his character and has developed a facility for virtue, let him not be baptized. Consider your soul as a portrait that you have painted. Before the Holy Spirit comes to apply his divine brush, erase your bad habits…
Augustine likewise laments the loss of spiritual integrity that follows the collapse of the Catechumenate:
There are certain persons who are of the opinion that everybody without exception must be admitted to the font of rebirth which is in Christ Jesus our Lord, even those who, notorious for their crimes and flagrant vices, are unwilling to change their evil and shameful ways, and declare frankly (and publicly) that they intend to continue in their state of sin … With the help of our Lord God, let us diligently beware henceforth of giving men a false confidence by telling them that if only they will have been baptized in Christ, no matter how they will live in their faith, they will arrive at eternal salvation.
Cyril of Jerusalem adds his testimony, warning those who are presenting themselves for baptism, but whom he fears have not been adequately discipled:
For though you are present here in the body, that is no use if your heart be not here as well. Once upon a time there came to the font Simon the Sorcerer. He was baptized, but he was not enlightened, for while his body went under the water, his heart let not in the light of the Spirit. He plunged his body and came up, but in his soul, he was neither buried with Christ nor did he rise again with him … But if you just continue in your evil disposition, I have cleared myself of telling you, but you cannot expect to receive God’s grace. For though the water will receive you, the Holy Spirit will not.
Gregory of Nyssa, late in the 4th Century, also complains of the lack of impact this reduced version of enculturation into the life of the Church:
If the washing is applied to the body, while the soul does not wash away the stains of its passions, but the life after initiation is of the same character as the initiate life, even though it be a bold thing to say, yet I will say it and now draw back, in such cases the water is water, and the gift of the Holy Spirit nowhere appears in what takes place: the turpitude of the soul dishonours the image of God.
In hindsight, the demise of the Catechumenate was already sealed. In the hands of Bishops of the calibre of Augustine, Theodore, and Cyril it served some purpose still, albeit a different one from centuries past. But they simply staved off the inevitable for a time.[38]
Slowly the Catechumenate withered and died, devalued in region after region, until eventually it was extinct.
Conclusion
Having considered the history and rationale of the Catechumenate, it is time to turn our attention to the question of the rehabilitation of this process of forming disciples, and of reimagining it for a post-Christian context. In recent years, there has been discussion in a number of other denominations, including Lutheranism.[39] In Global Anglicanism it is worth noting the work of Dr Chan in an Asian / Global South context, and in a ‘western’ context, of the Anglican Church in North America. In the UK the ‘Anglican Catechumenate Network’ exists to be an exchange of ideas and experience between parishes and to develop the use of the Catechumenate in the Church of England.[40]
It is important to register that any such ‘recovery of ancient practices is not the mere restoration of ritual, but a deep, profound, and passionate engagement with truth – truth that forms and shapes the spiritual life into a Christlikeness that issues forth in the call to a godly and holy life and into a deep commitment to justice and to the needs of the poor’.[41]
Any desire to rediscover the Church’s wisdom in spiritual formation, must be driven by a longing for Christ, and for His being formed in His people. This proposal leads in a different direction to the contemporary emphases on restructuring Christian worship to make it ‘culturally relevant’ to those in a secularised context. It leads in a different direction to the increasing tendency to minimise the cost of discipleship and to normalise erratic Church engagement, Biblical illiteracy, and the privatised reimagining of Christian life and experience that passes for spirituality. It is to resist the infantilizing of Christians by institutionalising evangelism and franchising worship styles.
To implement a Catechumenal process, and the structures of worship and Church life that will entail, is to walk a different path. It is to recognise that ‘…conversion cannot be thought of simply as a change of heart; it is a change of citizenship. To use an Augustinian imagery, it is a move from the City of man to the City of God. The work of catechizing seeks to prepare individuals for incorporation into the church, the community in which the gospel finds its concrete expression in its worship, life and mission. It attempts to shape individuals to fit into the gospel story. The catechumenate is a practical way of preparing one to live as a citizen of a new country. It inculcates ecclesial values and clarifies for the new citizen the church’s self-identity: What does the church believe and practice? What does it mean to be baptized and to participate in the church’s Eucharistic celebration? Essentially, catechism helps individuals enter the church with a full understanding of what they are in for: they are making the commitment that Christ requires of all his followers’.[42]
Post script: we have no life outside of the Church
‘Mark, can I ask you something?’
I‘ve learnt over the years to be very careful in this sort of situation…
‘Sure, but I’m not promising I can give an answer here and now’.
‘Why do Christians in England always talk about their life outside of the Church..?’
I wasn’t sure what I’d been expecting, but this blindsided me. I wasn’t sure I understood what I was being asked. ‘What do you mean?’, I asked, stalling for thinking time as much as anything.
‘Well, even when they are in Church, they seem to be thinking about what they will be doing after Church… They worry about too many Church-things happening that mean they can’t do other things they want to do… They give up homegroups and services because of other things… Why do they worry so much about their life outside of Church?’
Bizarrely I still wasn’t entirely sure I understood the question. I started to stumble an answer about mission, and being involved in society and in the lives of people who aren’t Christians… but I could tell in his facial expression that I still hadn’t grasped the question he was asking.
‘In Iraq, when you become a Christian, you lose everything. You have no life outside of Church. Church is all you have’.
The penny dropped. And I didn’t really have anything to say.
Endnotes
[1] Sittser, Resilient Faith, 157
[2] Strengholt, Discipleship in the Early Church, 2 (emphasis added).
[3] The ACNA Catechism Task Force identifies 5 stages: Inquirers; Catechumens; Candidates; Newly Initiated; the Faithful. Vision Paper for Catechesis in the ACNA, 5
[4] Dujarier, History, 64
[5] Although there is evidence that it lasted four years under Clement at Alexandria, and conversely at the Council of Elvira (305) there is reference to a two-year catechumenate in Spain (Can. 42).
[6] Dujarier, History, 63
[7] Yarnold, Awe-Inspiring Rites, 104.
[8] So Sittser, Resilient Faith, 178
[9] Sittser, Resilient Faith, 156
[10] Harmless Augustine, 229
[11] Against Celsus, 3.9.
[12] A helpful overview of ‘martyrdom’ in the first centuries of the post-Apostolic Church can be found in ‘Suffering, Martyrdom and Rewards in Heaven’, Josef Ton; For an introductory essay, ‘Early Christian Martyrdom and Civil Disobedience’, Everett Ferguson.
[13] Basil, Longer Rule, 6
[14] Eusebius, The History of the Church, 140, emphasis added.
[15] See Aquilina, The Fathers, 188
[16] For example, the Constitutions of the Holy Apostles (Sec.3, XXXIX-XLV) outlines a syllabus for instruction, and directions on blessing and exorcising Catechumens, as well as anointing and thanksgiving for the same, ANF 7, 475-477
[17] ANF 5 256, Heads of the Canons of Abulides, or Hippolytus, (used by the Ethiopian Church) No.19.
[18] ANF 5, 293, The Epistles of Cyprian, XII; also NPNF 14, 31, Nice, Canon XIX & 81, Neo-Caesarea, Canon V
[19] NPNF 14, 185, Constantinople, Canon VII
[20] NPNF, 14, 10. I. NICE, Canon II
[21] Personally, I have reservations about the placing of ‘baptism’ at the end of such a period of preparation. It is unclear when this (re-)placement first occurred, but it may have been a response to the perceived problem of trying to preserve a mis-informed (i.e. unBiblical) concept of the integrity of Sacraments that led in time to the rise of the Dontatist movement. There is no mandate to withhold baptism in the Scriptures, and the result was the inability of those being discipled to participate in Communion prior to completing the Catechumenal process, and thus robbing them of significant spiritual resource.
[22] For example, Cyril of Jerusalem’s Catechetical Lectures (along with Egeria’s, Diary of a Pilgrimage, c.400 AD) give us detailed insight into the form and content of the Catechumenate in Jerusalem; likewise, Augustine’s ‘On the Catechising of the Uninstructed, and several designated sermons ‘to the Catechumenates’, see NPNF 3
[23] Ferguson, The Early Church at Work and Worship, Vol.2, 22-42
[24] https://www.billmounce.com/greek-dictionary
[25] Acts 6:7, records the result of this prioritisation by the Apostles (and the wider Church): ‘So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith’. it should be noted that those newly elected deacons were pretty useful preachers and evangelists in their own right (Acts 6-7, Stephen; Acts 8, also 21:8, Philip). Eusebius raises the possibility that at least some of these ‘deacons’ had been among the 72 appointed and sent out by Jesus (Lk.10).
[26] Dujarier stretches the evidence too far in arguing that a fully structured Catechumenate, complete with sponsorship, was in place from the earliest chapters of Acts. In seeking to establish the idea of ‘sponsor-ship’ he argues from Acts 6, just cited, that Deacons are appointed on the basis of the witness of the community, that Paul himself has a sponsor (Acts 9:26-28), and that Paul in turn takes Timothy on the basis of recommendation (Acts 16:2-3). All Dujarier’s examples focus on ‘office-holders’ in the Church, and it is unclear the extent to which this establishes a general principle for enrolment in the Catechumenate or any precursor. History, 12
[27] Acts 2:42, where breaking of bread almost certainly refers to the Eucharist see e.g. Acts 20:7; I Cor.10:16
[28] I Cor.3:2, ‘I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready’.
[29] See Dujarier, History, 35-36. Although Dujarier suggests that even by this stage it remained less of an institution, and more of a ‘widespread way of doing things’.
[30] Tertullian, Apology, Ch.18, ANF Vol.3, p.32. De praescr. adv. haer. 41. He also advocates (in this he is an exception) postponing baptism until the candidate is old enough to receive instruction, De bapt. 18.
[31] i.e. see the Apostolic Tradition (15-20), assuming the traditional view that The Tradition was penned by Hippolytus. At Rome, the Catechumenate covers the more common 3 years.
[32] Hippolytus, Apostolic Tradition, Enrolment
[33] Cited at Dujarier, History, 80.
[34] Cited at Dujarier, History, 81
[35] Egeria gives an account in her diary of the process of submitting Names at Jerusalem: “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 [sponsors] 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
[36] And I suppose this downward trend left the legacy of the ‘Lent Course’…
[37] Harmless, Augustine, 440
[38] Egeria again gives us insight into Lent at Jerusalem: “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 received 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 hour’s catechesis a day. . . . So the dismissal is at nine, which makes three hours’ teaching a day for seven weeks.”
[39] See e.g. https://www.livinglutheran.org/2018/09/an-ancient-journey-rediscovered/ OR https://blogs.elca.org/worship/317/ OR www.Forminglutherans.org
[40] http://www.catechesis.org.uk/
[41] Webber, Ancient-Future Worship, 109
[42] Chan, Rediscovering the Catechumenate