A statement which is important in this connexion is found in Mystag. ii. § 6: "Let no one then suppose that Baptism is the grace of remission of sins only, or further of adoption, as the Baptism of John conferred only remission of sins; but as we know full well that it cleanses from sins and procures a gift of the Holy Spirit, so also it is a counterpart (antitupon) of the sufferings of Christ."
Here besides "the remission of sins, which no man receiveth without the Holy Spirit [256] ," we find "a gift of the Holy Ghost," and the fellowship of Christ's Passion distinctly attributed to Baptism.
If the "adoption" mentioned at the beginning of this passage were identical (as Touttée thinks) with the "gift of the Holy Ghost," it would by no means follow that Cyril here means to include Unction in Baptism. For the grace which beyond all others is exclusively attached to Baptism, and not to Unction, is the new birth, and this is "the new birth into freedom and adoption [257] ." In fact Cyril's teaching on this point is in strict accordance with that of St. Paul in Gal. iv. 4-6, that we first receive the adoption of sons (huiothesian), and then "because ye are sons, God sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father." So again in Rom. viii. 15, 16, he says, "Ye received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit Himself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God." In both passages St. Paul clearly distinguishes two things, "the adoption" itself, and the witness of it by "the Spirit of adoption." Cf. Bengel on v. 4: "Prius adoptionem, deinde Spiritum adoptionis accepimus;" and on v. 6: "Filiorum statum sequitur inhabitatio Spiritus Sancti, non hanc ille." The adoption itself belongs to Baptism strictly so called, in which we are made children of God and joint heirs with Christ (cf. Cat. iii. 15): the witness of the indwelling Spirit of adoption is the special grace ascribed to Chrism in the Eastern Church, and to Confirmation in the Western. There are many other passages in which Cyril ascribes to Baptism itself, as distinct from Chrism, a gift of the Spirit, such as the following: "But He trieth the soul: He casteth not His pearls before the swine: if thou dissemble, men will baptize thee now, but the Spirit will not baptize thee [258] ."
"The Lord, preventing us according to His loving-kindness, has granted repentance at Baptism, in order that we may cast off the chief--nay, rather the whole burden of our sins, and having received the seal by the Holy Ghost, may be made heirs of eternal life [259] ."
Again, after speaking of "the invocation of grace having sealed the soul," he adds: "Having gone down dead in sins, thou comest up quickened in righteousness. For if thou hast been united with the likeness of the Saviour's death, thou shalt also be deemed worthy of His Resurrection [260] ." The benefits ascribed to Baptism in these several passages without any allusion to Chrism, are brought together with rhetorical effect in the Introductory Lecture, § 16: "Great is the Baptism that lies before you; a ransom to captives, a remission of offences, a death of sin, a new birth of the soul, a garment of light, a holy indissoluble seal, a chariot to heaven, the delight of Paradise, a welcome into the kingdom, the gift of adoption."
From such language it is clear beyond question that in Cyril of Jerusalem, not to speak of other Oriental Fathers, the tendency is not "to consider Baptism by itself as a bare rite, benefiting the body alone, and dependent for its spiritual efficacy upon other actions after and before," but as depending on the power of the Holy Ghost, and the sincerity of repentance and faith in man.
If further proof were needed, a glance at the Index under the word "Baptism" will shew the extraordinary richness, variety, and precision of Cyril's teaching, as to the gifts of the Holy Ghost conferred therein.
§ 2. Chrism. When spiritual blessings so many and so great have been ascribed to Baptism, in what light, it may be asked, does Cyril regard the Unction which follows? Does he treat it as being merely an additional ceremony subordinate to Baptism, or as having for its own proper grace some special gift of the Holy Ghost? We find no answer to this question in the earlier course of Lectures [261] . But that Chrism was not regarded by Cyril as a mere accessory to Baptism, as Milles thought [262] , may be safely inferred from the fact that in announcing the subjects of his Mystagogic Lectures, he mentions first Baptism, then "the seal of the fellowship of the Holy Ghost," and then "the Mysteries at the altar of the New Covenant [263] :" and this inference is fully confirmed by his language elsewhere: "Ye have heard enough of Baptism, and Chrism, and partaking of the Body and Blood of Christ [264] ." A mere additional ceremony of Baptism could not have been so independently placed between the two sacraments, and, as it were, in the same rank with them.
The importance thus attached to Chrism is further shewn in the fact that Cyril uses the very same language in reference to the consecration of the ointment of Chrism and of the water of Baptism, and of the Eucharistic elements. "The bread and wine of the Eucharist before the Invocation of the Holy and Adorable Trinity are simple (litos) bread and wine, but after the Invocation the Bread becomes the Body and the Wine the Blood of Christ [265] ." Regard not the Laver as simple (lito) water, but rather regard the spiritual grace that is given with the water [266] ." "The simple water having received the Invocation of the Holy Ghost, and of Christ, and of the Father, acquires a new power of holiness [267] ."
"But see thou suppose not this to be plain (psilon) ointment. For as the Bread of the Eucharist, after the Invocation of the Holy Ghost is no longer simple (litos) bread, but the Body of Christ; so also this holy ointment is no longer plain (psilon) ointment, nor, as one might say, common, after Invocation, but Christ's gift of grace (charisma), and is made effectual to impart the Holy Ghost by the presence of His own Godhead [268] ."
The spiritual benefits which Cyril ascribes to the Unction are set forth in the same Lecture. "This holy thing is a spiritual safeguard of the body, and salvation of the soul" (§ 7): it sanctifies all the organs of sense: "the body is anointed with the visible ointment, and the soul is sanctified by the Holy and Life-giving Spirit" (§ 3). After being anointed the Christian is now entitled to that name in its fullest sense [269] ; he is clothed with the whole armour of the Holy Ghost, that he may stand against the power of the adversary: he may say, "I can do all things in Christ who strengtheneth me" (§ 4).
In regard to the supposed identity of Chrism and Confirmation, it is important to notice carefully how Cyril speaks of the laying on of hands in the only passage where he mentions it [270] .
He first illustrates the freedom of the Spirit, and His independence of human agency, by the gift of prophecy to the seventy elders, including Eldad and Medad: he then refers to the gift of the spirit of wisdom to Joshua by the laying on of Moses' hands [271] , and adds, "Thou seest everywhere the figure (tupon) in the Old Testament, and in the New the same. In Moses' time the Spirit was given by laying on of hands (cheirothesia ), and Peter gives the Spirit by laying on of hands [272] : and upon thee also, who art to be baptized, the grace is about to come; but the manner (to pos) I tell thee not, for I do not forestall the time."
From this passage it has been inferred (i) that Cyril alludes to a gift of the Spirit by laying on of hands in immediate connexion with Baptism and Unction [273] , and (2) that he refers this gift of the Spirit not to Baptism itself, but to the laying on of hands, or to the Unction as a figure that answers to it [274] .
(1) The first of these inferences is opposed to the fact that Cyril neither mentions the laying on of hands as part of the actual ceremonial in Baptism or Unction, nor as the analogous rite in the old Testament, but on the contrary expressly says [275] that the symbol (to sumbolon) of this holy Chrism in the Old Testament lies in the consecration of Aaron to be High Priest, when Moses, "after the washing in water anointed him, and he was called anointed,' evidently from this figurative unction (tou chrismatos delade tou tupikou)."
(2) In support of the second inference the argument offered is as follows: "That the Spirit was to come upon them in the course of their Baptism is here again clearly stated; but that Cyril did not intend them to suppose that Baptism itself would convey the gift is equally clear. Again and again in earlier Lectures, as well as in the words actually before us, Cyril has taught them to expect the gift in Baptism; if therefore the immersion itself were to be the means of receiving it, he has already told them his secret. Yet now he says that he will not tell them how' they are to receive it. That remains for a future occasion [276] ." The mistake, as I venture to consider it, lies in the words which I have marked with italics. For of the mysteries which were to be concealed from the unbaptized (amuetoi) the first was the manner of administering Baptism itself, and the second, the unction of Chrism; and in the preceding Lectures Cyril has no more told the secret of the one than of the other. "Baptism, the Eucharist, and the oil of Chrism, were things that the uninitiated (amuetoi) were not allowed to look upon [277] ."
"We bless," says S. Basil [278] , "both the water of Baptism and the oil of the Chrism, and moreover the baptized (baptizomenon) himself. From what written commands? Is it not from a secret (siopomenes) and mystical tradition? Again, the very anointing with the oil, what word of Scripture taught that? And the dipping the man thrice, whence came it? And all the other accompaniments of Baptism, the renunciation of Satan and his angels, from what Scripture came they? Come they not from this unpublished and secret teaching, which our fathers guarded in a silence with which no prying curiosity might meddle, having been well taught to preserve the sanctity of the mysteries by silence? For how could it have been right to publish in writing the doctrine of these mysteries, which the unbaptized are not even allowed to look upon?"
As these secret ceremonies of Baptism and Unction are revealed by Cyril only in the Mystagogic Lectures, the supposed reason for saying, that in Cat. xvi. 26, the promised gift of the Spirit refers not to Baptism but only to Unction, at once falls to the ground.
The true state of the case is well expressed by Bingham [279] , "Though the ancients acquainted the Catechumens with the doctrine of Baptism so far as to make them understand the spiritual nature and design of it, yet they never admitted them to the sight of the actual ceremony, nor so much as to hear any plain discourse about the manner of its administration, till they were fitted and prepared for the actual reception of it,"--or rather, till they actually received it.
There is in fact no reason to exalt the benefits of Unction, or Confirmation, by robbing Baptism of its proper grace. "It was this Unction, as the completion of Baptism, to which they ascribed the power of making every Christian in some sense partaker of a royal priesthood. To it they also ascribed the noble effects of confirming the soul with the strength of all spiritual graces on God's part, as well as the confirmation of the profession and covenant made on man's part [280] ." We may well be satisfied that the doctrine of the early Church has been so fully retained in essential points in our own Office of Confirmation, recalling as it does by the ratification of the baptismal vows the immediate connexion of the ancient Unction with Baptism, and in its Prayers invoking the same gifts of the Holy Spirit,--"Strengthen them, we beseech Thee, O Lord, with the Holy Ghost the Comforter, and daily increase in them Thy manifold gifts of grace; the spirit of wisdom and understanding; the spirit of counsel and ghostly strength; the spirit of knowledge and true godliness, and fill them, O Lord, with the spirit of Thy holy fear, now and for ever. Amen."