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.

3. A certain man in the Gospels once pried into the marriage feast  14  Matt. xxii. 12. The same passage is applied to Baptism in Cat. iii. 2. , and took an unbecoming garment, and came in, sat down, and ate: for the bridegroom permitted it. But when he saw them all clad in white  15  See Cat. xxii. 8 and Index, “White.” , he ought to have assumed a garment of the same kind himself: whereas he partook of the like food, but was unlike them in fashion and in purpose. The bridegroom, however, though bountiful, was not undiscerning: and in going round to each of the guests and observing them (for his care was not for their eating, but for their seemly behaviour), he saw a stranger  not having on a wedding garment , and said to him,  Friend, how camest thou in hither? In what a colour  16  The Greed word (χρῶμα) is used by Ignatius in the beginning of his Epistle to the Romans of a discolouring stain. ! With what a conscience! What though the door-keeper forbade thee not, because of the bountifulness of the entertainer? what though thou wert ignorant in what fashion thou shouldest come in to the banquet?—thou didst come in, and didst see the glittering fashions of the guests: shouldest thou not have been taught even by what was before thine eyes? Shouldest thou not have retired in good season, that thou mightest enter in good season again? But now thou hast come in unseasonably, to be unseasonably cast out. So he commands the servants,  Bind his feet , which daringly intruded:  bind his hands , which knew not how to put a bright garment around him:  and cast him into the outer darkness; for he is unworthy of the wedding torches  17  Compare § 1, note 6. . Thou seest what happened to that man: make thine own condition safe.

14 Matt. xxii. 12. The same passage is applied to Baptism in Cat. iii. 2.
15 See Cat. xxii. 8 and Index, “White.”
16 The Greed word (χρῶμα) is used by Ignatius in the beginning of his Epistle to the Romans of a discolouring stain.
17 Compare § 1, note 6.

Ἐπολυπραγμόνησέ τίς ποτε τὸν γάμον ἐν τοῖς εὐαγγελίοις: καὶ ἀνάξιον ἔνδυμα λαβὼν εἰσῆλθε, καὶ ἀνέπεσε, καὶ ἔφαγε: συνεχώρησε γὰρ ὁ νυμφίος. Ἔδει δὲ αὐτὸν ἰδόντα τὸ λευχειμονοῦν πάντων, καὶ αὐτὸν ἀναλαβέσθαι τοιοῦτον ἔνδυμα. Ἀλλ' ἴσων μὲν μετελάμβανε βρωμάτων: ἀνισότητα δὲ εἶχε σχημάτων καὶ προαιρέσεως. Ἀλλ' ὁ νυμφίος, εἰ καὶ δαψιλὴς, ἀλλ' οὐκ ἄκριτος: περιερχόμενος δὲ τῶν ἀνακειμένων ἕκαστον καὶ θεωρῶν, [ἔμελε γὰρ αὐτῷ, οὐχ ὅπως φάγωσιν, ἀλλ' ὅπως εὐσχημονῶσιν] ἰδών τινα ἀλλότριον, μὴ ἔχοντα γάμου ἔνδυμα, ἔλεγε πρὸς αὐτόν: Ἑταῖρε, πῶς εἰσῆλθες ὧδε; ποίῳ χρώματι; ποίᾳ συνειδήσει; ἔστω, ὁ θυρωρὸς οὐκ ἐκώλυσε, διὰ τὸ δαψιλὲς τοῦ παρέχοντος: ἔστω, ἄγνοιαν εἶχες ποταπῷ δεῖ σχήματι εἰσελθεῖν εἰς τὸ συμπόσιον: εἰσῆλθες, εἶδες ἀστράπτοντα ὥσπερ τὰ σχήματα τῶν ἀνακειμένων: οὐκ ἔδει σε κἂν ἐκ τῶν φαινομένων διδαχθῆναι; οὐκ ἔδει σε ἐξελθεῖν εὐκαίρως, ἵνα καὶ εὐκαίρως εἰσέλθῃς; Νῦν δὲ ἀκαίρως εἰσῆλθες, ἵνα ἀκαίρως ἐκβληθῇς. Καὶ προστάσσει τοῖς ὑπηρέταις: Δήσατε αὐτοῦ πόδας, τοὺς τολμηρῶς εἰσβάλλοντας: δήσατε αὐτοῦ χεῖρας, τὰς μὴ εἰδυίας ἔνδυμα περιβαλέσθαι φαιδρόν: καὶ ἐκβάλετε αὐτὸν εἰς τὸ σκότος τὸ ἐξώτερον: ἀνάξιος γάρ ἐστι λαμπάδων νυμφικῶν. Ἰδὲ τί συνέβη τῷ τότε: ἀσφάλισαι τὰ σεαυτοῦ.