Whether Cyril calls his hearers Christians before they had been baptized is not very clear: in Cat. x. § 16, he seems to include them among those who are called by the "new name;" but in § 20 of the same Lecture he assumes that there may be present some one who "was before a believer (pistos)," and to him he says "Thou wert called a Christian; be tender of the name," and in Lect. xxi. i, speaking to those who had now been baptized, he says, "Having therefore become partakers of Christ, ye are properly called Christs. Now ye have been made Christs by receiving the antitype of the Holy Ghost," that is, Chrism.
§ 4. Candidates for Baptism. Bingham, who himself makes four classes or degrees of Catechumens, acknowledges that "the Greek expositors of the ancient Canons," and other writers, "usually make but two sorts [94] ." These were (1) the imperfect (atelesteroi), called also hearers (akroomenoi , audientes), because in Church they were only allowed to remain till the Holy Scriptures had been read, the Sermon preached, the special prayers of the Catechumens said, and the blessing given to each by the Bishop in the words of the "prayer of the imposition of hands [95] ." After this the Deacon says, "Go out, ye catechumens, in peace." (2) After the Energumens also have been dismissed, the more perfect (teleioteroi, photizomenoi) remain on their knees in prayer (gonuklinontes, euchomenoi). Then the Deacon is to cry aloud, "Ye that are to be illuminated, pray. Let us the faithful all pray for them. And being sealed to God through His Christ, let them bow down their heads, and receive the blessing from the Bishop." The "Prayer of the Imposition of hands" is then pronounced over them by the Bishop.
The period of probation and instruction varied at different times and places: according to Canon 42 of the Synod of Elvira, 305, it was to be two years: "He who has a good name, and wishes to become a Christian, must be a Catechumen two years: then he maybe baptized [96] ." After this probation had been satisfactorily passed, the Catechumens invited to give in their names as Candidates for Baptism. This invitation, described by Cyril as a call to military service (klesis strateias) [97] , appears to have been often repeated on the approach of Lent. Thus S. Ambrose, in his Commentary on S. Luke, v. 5; We have toiled all night and have taken nothing, complains, "I too, Lord, know that for me it is night, when I have not Thy command. No one yet has given his name: with my voice I have cast the net throughout Epiphany, and as yet I have taken nothing."
This preliminary "call to service" must be distinguished from the actual enlistment in the Christian army at Baptism, in anticipation of which Cyril prays for his hearers that God "may enlist them in His service, and put on them the armour of righteousness [98] ." The same metaphorical language in reference to the Christian warfare recurs in many passages [99] .
The next step for those who responded to the call was the registration of names (onomatographia ) [100] . It appears from passages of Dionysius Pseudo-Areopagites, quoted by Bingham [101] , that the Bishop, after laying his hand on each Catechumen's head, commanded his Presbyters and Deacons to register his name, together with that of his sponsor (anadochos) in the Diptychs of the living. This ceremony took place at Jerusalem at the beginning of Lent, as we learn from Procat. § 1: "Thou hast entered, been approved; thy name inscribed....A long notice is allowed thee; thou hast forty days for repentance." Those who had been admitted as candidates for Baptism were in most Churches still reckoned among the Catechumens, being distinguished as sunaitountes , "competentes." But from Cyril's language in several passages it appears that in the Church of Jerusalem they ceased to be regarded as Catechumens, and were reckoned among the Faithful. "Thou wert called a Catechumen, while the word echoed round thee from without. Think not that thou receivest a small thing: though a miserable man, thou receivest one of God's titles. Hear S. Paul saying, God is faithful. But beware, lest thou have the title of faithful,' but the will of the faithless [102] ." "Thou receivest a new name which thou hadst not before. Heretofore thou wast a Catechumen, but now thou wilt be called a Believer (Pistos) [103] ."
Again, "How great a dignity the Lord bestows on you in transferring you from the order of Catechumens to that of the Faithful, the Apostle Paul shews, when he affirms, God is faithful [104] ."
Two passages in S. Cyril have been thought to imply that the newly-admitted Candidates for Baptism carried lighted torches in procession, perhaps on the first Sunday after the registration. He speaks of their having received "torches of the bridal procession [105] ;" and on this expression the Benedictine Editor observes that "Wax tapers" were perhaps given to the Illuminandi to carry, a custom which may also be indicated in the words, "Ye who have lately lighted the torches of faith, guard them carefully in your hands unquenched [106] ."
Others are of opinion that the custom of carrying torches or tapers was observed only in the procession of the newly-baptized from the Baptistery to the Church [107] , and that here Cyril means by the "bridal lamps," those motions of the Holy Ghost, and spiritual instructions, which had lighted their way to Christ, and to the entrance to His Kingdom [108] . This latter interpretation is rather vague and far-fetched, and it is evident that the words, "Ye who have lately lighted the torches of faith," gain much in clearness and force, if suggested by the visible symbolism of a ceremony in which the Illuminandi had just borne their part. The lighted torches would be a significant symbol both of the marriage of the soul with Christ, and of its enlightenment by faith.
§ 5. photizomenoi. In the first words of his Introductory Lecture Cyril addresses his hearers as hoi photizomenoi, "Ye who are being enlightened," and from the Titles of the Catechetical Lectures i.-xviii., we see that this name was constantly used to distinguish the candidates preparing for immediate Baptism.
The Verb photizo is frequently used by the LXX., both in a physical and in a spiritual sense. In the New Testament it is found but rarely in the physical sense [109] , being generally applied to the light of spiritual truth, and to Christ as its source [110] .
In two passages of the Epistle to the Hebrews, the Aorist (photisthentas ) marks "the decisive moment when the light was apprehended in its glory [111] ," from which the thought easily passes on to the public profession of the truth thus received, that is, to Baptism.
That the word began very early to be used in this new sense, is evident from Justin Martyr's explanation of it in his First Apology, c. 61; where, after speaking of instruction in Christian doctrine, of the profession of faith, and the promise of repentance and holy living, as the necessary preparations for Baptism, he thus proceeds: "And this washing is called Illumination (sotismos), because they who learn these things are illuminated in their understanding. [112] " The same transition of the meaning from instruction to Baptism is clearly implied by Clement of Alexandria: "Among the barbarian philosophers also to instruct and to enlighten is called to regenerate [113] ," and again: "For this reason the teaching, which made manifest the hidden things, has been called illumination (photismos) [114] ."
That this is the sense in which Cyril uses the word is placed beyond doubt by a passage of the Lecture delivered immediately before the administration of Baptism: "that your soul being previously illuminated (prophotizomenes ) by the word of doctrine, ye may in each particular discover the greatness of the gifts bestowed on you by God [115] ."
We thus see that the Present Participle (photizomenoi) describes a process of gradual illumination during the course of instruction, to be completed in Baptism, a sense which is well expressed in the Latin Gerundive "Illuminandi." And as we have seen that the candidates are addressed as hoi photizomenoi even before the course of instruction has commenced, the quasi-Future sense "follows necessarily from the context [116] ."
The spiritual "Illumination," of which Baptism was to be the completion and the seal, thus became by a natural development one of the recognised names of Baptism itself. On the contrary, the inverse process assumed by the Benedictine Editor is entirely unnatural. Starting from the later ecclesiastical use of photizo and photismos as connoting Baptism, he supposes that this was the first application of those terms, and that they were transferred to the previous illumination acquired by instruction in Christian truth, only because this was a necessary preparation for Baptism. He therefore maintains that photizomenoi throughout the Catechetical Lectures is another term for baptizomenoi: and as a decisive proof of this he refers to Cat. xvi. 26: mellei de kai epi se ton baptizomenon phthanein he charis, not observing that the grace is to come upon "the person being baptized" at a time still future. This meaning of the passage is made absolutely certain by the words which immediately follow,--"But in what manner I say not, for I will not anticipate the proper season." We may conclude, therefore, that in Cyril's Lectures the term hoi photizomenoi refers to the preparatory course of enlightenment rather than to Baptism. At the same time we must remember that in Cyril's day, and long before, photizo, photismos, and photisma were constantly used to denote Baptism itself, as being the time of special illumination by the grace of the Holy Spirit then given. Thus Clement of Alexandria writes: "In Baptism we are illuminated....This work is variously called grace, and illumination (photisma), and perfection, and washing:...illumination, by which that holy light of salvation is beheld, that is, by which we see God clearly [117] ." Gregory Nazianzen speaks in the same way: "We call it gift, grace, baptism, chrism, illumination, garment of incorruption, washing of regeneration, seal, all that is precious [118] ."
[73] Acts xviii. 25; xxi. 21, 24; Rom. ii. 18; Gal. vi. 6. Cf. Clem. Alex. Fragm. § 28: ouk esti pisteusai aneu katecheseos.
[74] Festal Epist. 39. Compare Clem. Alex. Strom. V. c. x. § 67. Gala men he katechesis hoionei prote psuches trophe noethesetai.
[75] Schaff, Oldest Church Manual, p. 15.
[76] Ib. p. 26.
[77] Cat. xv. 18.
[78] Cat. iii. 13.
[79] Euseb. H. E. vi. 3.
[80] S. August. Serm. lviii. et. ccxv.
[81] Cf. Iren. II. c. xxii. § 4: "Omnes enim venit per semet ipsum salvare; omnes, inquam, qui per eum renascuntur in Deum, infantes, et parvulos, et pueros, et juvenes, et seniores. Cf. Concil. Carthag. iii. Epist. Synod. (Cypriani Ep. lix. vel lxiv. Routh. R. S. iii. p. 98.)
[82] Dict. Chr. Antiq. "Baptism," § 101. Tertull. De Baptismo, c. xviii. "And so, according to the circumstances, and disposition, and even age of each individual, the delay of Baptism is preferable; principally, however, in the case of little children." Cf. Gregor. Naz. Orat. 40 De Baptismo, quoted by Bingham, xi. c. 4, § 13.
[83] Antiq. X. i. § 4.
[84] Mark xvi. 16; Acts xviii. 8.
[85] 1 Cor. xiv. 23.
[86] Apostolic Constitutions, VIII. i. § 5: "And after the reading of the Law and the Prophets, and our Epistles, and Acts, and Gospels, let him that is ordained...speak to the people the word of exhortation, and when he has ended his discourse of doctrine, all standing up, let the Deacon ascend upon some high seat, and proclaim, Let none of the hearers, let none of the unbelievers stay: and silence being made, let him say, Ye Catechumens, pray, and let all the Faithful pray for them."
[87] Contra Celsum, iii. c. 51. Cf. Const. Apost. viii. 32: "Let them be examined as to the causes wherefore they come to the word of the Lord, and let those who bring them inquire exactly about their character, and give them their testimony. Let their manners and their life be inquired into, and whether they be slaves or free," &c.
[88] S. Aug. De Symbolo, Serm. ad Catechumenos, § 1: "Ye have not yet been born again by holy Baptism, but by the sign of the Cross ye have been already conceived in the womb of your mother the Church."
[89] Vita Const. iv. c. 60.
[90] De Peccatorum meritis, ii. 42.
[91] Antiq. X. ii. § 16.
[92] S. August. In Joh. Evang. Tract. xliv. § 2.
[93] Serm. xlvi. de Pastoribus, c. 13: Tertull. de Præscriptione Hæret. c. 41: "Imprimis quis Catechumenus, quis Fidelis, in certum est."
[94] Ant. X. ii. 1-5. The Council of Nicæa, Canon xiv., seems to speak only of two classes.
[95] Const. Apost. viii. § 6.
[96] Hefele, Councils, i. p. 155. Const. Apost. viii. 32: "Let him that is to be instructed be a catechumen three years."