THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
tullian's time, Septimius Severushad forbidden conversions to Christianity, and formal arrangements for the preparation of converts would have been direct rebellion. In Origen's day, on the other hand, the Church had enjoyed a long period of peace, and was not afraid to allow 3. First trusted catechumens to be present at Period of its services; but the large number of Develop- converts made it more probable that ment. some unworthy ones would be among them, and so to the original examination before baptism, a second and earlier one was added. Origen's account of the catechumenate gives all the essential features of the institution, as we meet with it when fully established, after persecution had ceased. Christianity had become the state religion, and it was possible to work out in detail institutions which had been carefully planned in the dark days preceding.
This second or established period covers roughly the fourth and early fifth centuries. The candidate, accompanied by a sponsor, announces his desire, normally to a deacon, who informs the bishop or presbyter. The grounds of his desire are investigated; people of certain sinful or dubious occupations are ipso facto excluded unless they will abandon them. If the candidate is acceptable, he receives a preliminary instruction, and is then set apart by the sign of the cross, laying on of hands, and (in the West) with blessed salt, as a catechumen. For a time he receives no special instruction, sharing that which the whole congregation gets in the missa catechumenorum, though depart- 4. Second ing before the later and more solemn Period of part of the liturgy. After two (or Develop- three) years, he may ask for baptism; ment. he enters the class of competentes , and his name is inscribed on the church list. The immediate preparation includes special instructions, usually given by the bishop; certain ceremonies, especially of exorcism, which show the influence of the pagan mysteries; and finally the traditio symboli, or instruction in the precise words of the baptismal creed, whose general sense has long been known to him. After learning and repeating this, he is taught the words of the Lord's Prayer, which has also been withheld from him until now by the Arcani disciplina (q.v.). The recitation of the creed as a solemn act and the final renunciation of paganism accompany the act of baptism, which usually takes place in the night before Easter. During the following week the neophyte receives further instructions, and on the next Sunday, still wearing his white baptismal robe, he takes his place among the congregation as a baptized Christian, and joins in the recitation of the Lord's Prayer, the prayer of the children of God. As to the matter contained in the instructions to the catechumen in this period, fullest information comes from Augustine in the West and Cyril of Jerusalem in the East.
The decline of the institution was brought about by the constantly increasing numbers of those who sought admission to the Church. A thorough examination of them all became impossible; the
preliminary instruction was gradually dropped, and the catechumenate was reduced to the immediate preparation for baptism. The 5. Decline growing practise of baptizing infants of the Cate- and young children completed the chumenate. process, since there was no place for instruction in their case. Something still remained, however, of the ancient procedure. On the Monday after the third Sunday in Lent, notice was given to present the children who were to be baptized at Easter. On the following Wednesday their sponsors brought them to the church, where their names were registered. The ceremonies of signing with the cross, laying on of hands, exorcism, giving of salt, and a final prayer made them catechumens. Seven masses were said on succeeding days, five containing similar ceremonies, while the last two were especially solemn. The sixth contained the " opening of the ears," a reminder of the ancient traditio symboli ; the book of the Gospels was borne in procession to the altar and a short extract from each Gospel 6. Ritual read, after which the creed was given Survivals, to the candidates, and an acolyte brought forward two children, a boy and a girl, and recited the creed for them (the ancient redditio symboli); with the subsequent communication of the Lord's Prayer were usually connected short expositions of each clause. The last " scrutiny " took place the day before Easter, and followed much the same order, but more solemnly and formally; and baptism took place at the traditional time.
When the time came that nothing remained of the original institutions of the catechumenate except the outward ceremonies, these were more and more condensed, until they formed but a single rite leading up to the baptism which immediately followed them. In the Ordo baptismi of the Roman Ritual the order of the ancient preparations for baptism may still be traced without difficulty, and not a few relics of it remain in the evangelical baptismal ceremonies (see Baptism).
(Ferdinand Cohrs.) A very interesting survival of the ancient catechumenate is found in the Armenian work found among the modern Paulicians, translated and edited by F C. Conybeare (The Key of Truth : A Manual of the PauUcian Church of Armenia, Oxford, 1S9S) and believed by the editor to have been written not later than the ninth century and to represent an almost primitive form of Oriental Christianity. It is adoptionist in its Christology and drastic in its opposition to infant-baptism. It provides for a solemn consecration of the infant of Christian parents by the minister when it is seven days old, the careful training by parents and church until maturity is reached, the thorough testing of the candidates for baptism in life and in knowledge of Christian doctrine and morals, and the administration of baptism with considerable ceremony to those who have fulfilled all the conditions and have attained to the age at which Christ was baptized. A brief catechism, embracing the points of doctrine in which catechumens must be grounded, is given at the end. A. H. N.