Cyril of Jerusalem, The Catechetical Lectures

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Cyril of Jerusalem, The Catechetical Lectures

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

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 fail once, the thing cannot be set right; for there is one Lord, and one faith, and one baptism 35 Eph. iv. 5. : for only the heretics are re-baptized 36 This sentence is omitted in one ms. (Paris, 1824), but probably only through the repetition of the word “baptism.” On the laws of the Church against the repetition of Baptism, and concerning the re-baptism of heretics, see Tertull. de Baptismo, c. xv: Apost. Const. xv.: Bingham, xii. 5: Hefele, Councils, Lib. I. c. 2: Dictionary Christian Antiq. I. p. 167 a. , because the former was no baptism.

35 Eph. iv. 5.

36 This sentence is omitted in one ms. (Paris, 1824), but probably only through the repetition of the word “baptism.” On the laws of the Church against the repetition of Baptism, and concerning the re-baptism of heretics, see Tertull. de Baptismo, c. xv: Apost. Const. xv.: Bingham, xii. 5: Hefele, Councils, Lib. I. c. 2: Dictionary Christian Antiq. I. p. 167 a.

Οὐκ ἔνι δὶς καὶ τρὶς λαβεῖν τὸ λουτρόν: ἐπεὶ ἦν εἰπεῖν: Ἅπαξ ἀποτυχὼν, δεύτερον κατορθῶ: ἐὰν δὲ τὸ ἅπαξ ἀποτύχῃς, ἀδιόρθωτον τὸ πρᾶγμα. Εἷς γὰρ Κύριος, καὶ μία πίστις, καὶ ἓν βάπτισμα: μόνον γὰρ αἱρετικοί τινες ἀναβαπτίζονται: ἐπειδὴ τὸ πρότερον οὐκ ἦν βάπτισμα.