Procatechesis, or, Prologue To The Catechetical Lectures Of Our Holy Father, Cyril, Archbishop Of Jerusalem.

 1. Already there is an odour of blessedness upon you, O ye who are soon to be enlightened : already ye are gathering the spiritual  that to them that

 2. Even Simon Magus once came to the Laver : he was baptized, but was not enlightened and though he dipped his body in water, he enlightened not his

 3. A certain man in the Gospels once pried into the marriage feast , and took an unbecoming garment, and came in, sat down, and ate: for the bridegroo

 4. For we, the ministers of Christ, have admitted every one, and occupying, as it were, the place of door-keepers we left the door open: and possibly

 5. Possibly too thou art come on another pretext. It is possible that a man is wishing to pay court to a woman, and came hither on that account . The

 6. See, I pray thee, how great a dignity Jesus bestows on thee. Thou wert called a Catechumen, while the word echoed round thee from without hearing

 7. We may not receive Baptism twice or thrice else it might be said, Though I have failed once, I shall set it right a second time: whereas if thou f

 8. For God seeks nothing else from us, save a good purpose. Say not, How are my sins blotted out? I tell thee, By willing, by believing . What can be

 9. Let thy feet hasten to the catechisings receive with earnestness the exorcisms : whether thou be breathed upon or exorcised, the act is to thee sa

 10. Attend closely to the catechisings, and though we should prolong our discourse, let not thy mind be wearied out. For thou art receiving armour aga

 11. Let me give thee this charge also. Study our teachings and keep them for ever. Think not that they are the ordinary homilies for though they als

 12. When, therefore, the Lecture is delivered, if a Catechumen ask thee what the teachers have said, tell nothing to him that is without . For we deli

 13. Ye who have been enrolled are become sons and daughters of one Mother. When ye have come in before the hour of the exorcisms, let each one of you

 14. And when the Exorcism has been done, until the others who are being exorcised have come , let men be with men, and women with women. For now I nee

 15. I shall observe each man’s earnestness, each woman’s reverence. Let your mind be refined as by fire unto reverence let your soul be forged as met

 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 l

 17. We for our part as men charge and teach you thus: but make not ye our building  hay and stubble  and chaff, lest we  suffer loss   work being burn

 (  To the Reader 

 FIRST CATECHETICAL LECTURE

 Lecture II.

 Lecture III.

 Lecture IV.

 Lecture V.

 Lecture VI.

 Lecture VII.

 Lecture VIII.

 Lecture IX.

 Lecture X.

 Lecture XI.

 Lecture XII.

 Lecture XIII.

 Lecture XIV.

 Lecture XV.

 Lecture XVI.

 Lecture XVII.

 Lecture XVIII.

 Lecture XIX.

 Lecture XX.

 Lecture XXI.

 Lecture XXII.

 Lecture XXIII.

1. Already there is an odour of blessedness upon you, O ye who are soon to be enlightened  1 : already ye are gathering the spiritual  2 flowers, to weave heavenly crowns: already the fragrance of the Holy Spirit has breathed upon you: already ye have gathered round the vestibule of the King’s palace  3 ; may ye be led in also by the King! For blossoms now have appeared upon the trees  4 ; may the fruit also be found perfect! Thus far there has been an inscription of your names  5 , and a call to service, and torches  6 of the bridal train, and a longing for heavenly citizenship, and a good purpose, and hope attendant thereon. For he lieth not who said,  that to them that love God all things work together for good . God is lavish in beneficence, yet He waits for each man’s genuine will: therefore the Apostle added and said,  to them that are called according to a purpose   7 . The honesty of purpose makes thee called: for if thy body be here but not thy mind, it profiteth thee nothing.

1 The “blessedness” is the grace of Baptism, the hope of which is as a fragrant odour already borne towards the Candidates. These were called no longer Catechumens, but φωτιζόμενοι, as already on the way “to be enlightened.” Compare xvi. 26, the last sentence, and see Index, “enlighten.”
2 νοητά. The word is much used by Plato to distinguish things which can be discerned only by the mind from the objects of sight and sense. Here “the spiritual (or, mental) flowers” are the Divine truths in which “the fragrance of the Holy Spirit” breathes.
3 By “the vestibule” is meant “the outer hall of the Baptistery” (xix. 2), and by “the King’s Palace” the Baptistery itself, which Cyril calls “the inner chamber” (xx. 1) and “the bride-chamber” (iii. 2; xxii. 2). See Index, “Baptistery.” Here the local terms have also an allegorical sense, Baptism being regarded as the marriage of the Soul to Christ.
4 Another allegory, from the season of Spring, when the Lectures were delivered.
5 ὀνοματογραφία. See Index.
6 That the Candidates on their first admission carried torches or lighted tapers in procession is a conjecture founded on this passage and Lect. I. 1: “Ye who have just lighted the torches of faith, preserve them in your hands unquenched.” But see Index, “Lights.”
7 Rom. viii. 28. In S. Paul’s argument the “purpose” is God’s eternal purpose of salvation through Christ (Eph. i. 11; iii. 11): but Cyril applies it here to sincerity of purpose in coming to Baptism.

Ἤδη μακαριότητος ὀσμὴ πρὸς ὑμᾶς, ὦ ΦΩΤΙΖΟΜΕΝΟΙ, ἤδη τὰ νοητὰ ἄνθη συλλέγετε πρὸς πλοκὴν ἐπουρανίων στεφάνων: ἤδη τοῦ Πνεύματος τοῦ ἁγίου ἔπνευσεν ἡ εὐωδία. Ἤδη περὶ τὸ προαύλιον τῶν βασιλείων γεγόνατε: γένοιτο δὲ καὶ ὑπὸ τοῦ βασιλέως εἰσαχθῆτε. Ἄνθη γὰρ νῦν ἐφάνη τῶν δένδρων: γένοιτο δὲ ἵνα καὶ ὁ καρπὸς [τέλειος ᾖ]. Ὀνοματογραφία τέως ὑμῖν γέγονε, καὶ στρατείας κλῆσις: καὶ νυμφαγωγίας λαμπάδες, καὶ οὐρανίου πολιτείας ἐπιθυμία, καὶ πρόθεσις ἀγαθὴ, καὶ ἐλπὶς ἐπακολουθοῦσα: ἀψευδὴς γὰρ ὁ εἰπὼν, ὅτι τοῖς ἀγαπῶσι τὸν Θεὸν πάντα συνεργεῖ εἰς τὸ ἀγαθόν. Ὁ μὲν γὰρ Θεὸς δαψιλής ἐστιν εἰς εὐεργεσίαν: περιμένει δὲ ἑκάστου τὴν γνησίαν προαίρεσιν. Διὰ τοῦτο ἐπήγαγεν ὁ Ἀπόστολος λέγων, τοῖς κατὰ πρόθεσιν κλητοῖς οὖσιν: ἡ πρόθεσις γνησία οὖσα, κλητόν σε ποιεῖ: κἂν γὰρ τὸ σῶμα ὧδε ἔχῃς, τὴν δὲ διάνοιαν μὴ ἔχῃς, οὐδὲν ὠφελῇ.