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.

11. Let me give thee this charge also. Study our teachings and keep them for ever. Think not that they are the ordinary homilies  43  See above, § 4, note 3. ; for though they also are good and trustworthy, yet if we should neglect them to-day we may study them to-morrow. But if the teaching concerning the laver of regeneration delivered in a consecutive course be neglected to-day, when shall it be made right? Suppose it is the season for planting trees: if we do not dig, and dig deep, when else can that be planted rightly which has once been planted ill? Suppose, pray, that the Catechising is a kind of building: if we do not bind the house together by regular bonds in the building, lest some gap be found, and the building become unsound, even our former labour is of no use. But stone must follow stone by course, and corner match with corner, and by our smoothing off inequalities the building must thus rise evenly. In like manner we are bringing to thee stones, as it were, of knowledge. Thou must hear concerning the living God, thou must hear of Judgment, must hear of Christ, and of the Resurrection. And many things there are to be discussed in succession, which though now dropped one by one are afterwards to be presented in harmonious connexion. But unless thou fit them together in the one whole, and remember what is first, and what is second, the builder may build, but thou wilt find the building unsound.

43 See above, § 4, note 3.

Παραγγελία δέ σοι καὶ τοῦτο ἔστω: τὰ λεγόμενα μάνθανε, καὶ τήρει εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα. Μὴ νομίσῃς τὰς συνήθεις εἶναι προσομιλίας: κἀκεῖναι μὲν γὰρ ἀγαθαὶ, καὶ πίστεως ἀξίαι: ἀλλ' ἐὰν σήμερον ἀμελήσωμεν, αὔριον μανθάνομεν: τὰ δὲ περὶ τοῦ λουτροῦ τῆς παλιγγενεσίας κατ' ἀκολουθίαν διαδιδόμενα διδάγματα ἐὰν σήμερον ἀμεληθῇ, πότε κατορθωθήσεται; Νόμισόν [μοι] φυτείας εἶναι δένδρων καιρόν: ἐὰν μὴ σκάψωμεν καὶ βαθύνωμεν, πότε δύναται ἄλλοτε καλῶς φυτευθῆναι τὸ ἅπαξ κακῶς φυτευθέν; Νόμισόν μοι οἰκοδομὴν εἶναι τὴν κατήχησιν: [ἐὰν μὴ βαθύνωμεν, καὶ θεμέλιον θῶμεν,] ἐὰν μὴ κατ' ἀκολουθίαν δεσμοῖς οἰκοδομῆς ἁρμολογήσωμεν τὸν δόμον, ἵνα μὴ εὑρεθῇ τι χαῦνον, καὶ σαθρὰ γένηται ἡ οἰκοδομὴ, οὐδὲν ὄφελος οὐδὲ τοῦ προτέρου κόπου: ἀλλὰ δεῖ κατ' ἀκολουθίαν λίθον μὲν λίθῳ ἀκολουθεῖν, καὶ γωνίαν γωνίᾳ ἕπεσθαι: ἀποξεόντων δὲ [ἡμῶν] τὰ περιττὰ, οὕτως τελείαν οἰκοδομὴν ἀναβαίνειν: οὕτω προσφέρομέν σοι λίθους ὥσπερ γνώσεως: δεῖ ἀκούειν τὰ περὶ Θεοῦ ζῶντος: δεῖ ἀκούειν τὰ περὶ κρίσεως: δεῖ ἀκούειν τὰ περὶ Χριστοῦ: δεῖ ἀκούειν τὰ περὶ ἀναστάσεως: καὶ πολλά ἐστιν ἀκολούθως λεγόμενα, νῦν μὲν σποράδην εἰρημένα, τότε δὲ καθ' ἁρμονίαν προσφερόμενα: ἐὰν δὲ μὴ συνάψῃς ἐν τῷ ἑνὶ, καὶ μνημονεύσῃς τῶν πρώτων καὶ τῶν δευτέρων, ὁ μὲν οἰκοδομῶν οἰκοδομεῖ, σὺ δὲ σαθρὰν ἕξεις τὴν οἰκοδομήν.