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.

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 metal: let the stubbornness of unbelief be hammered out: let the superfluous scales of the iron drop off, and what is pure remain; let the rust of the iron be rubbed off, and the true metal remain. May God sometime shew you that night, the darkness which shines like the day, concerning which it is said,  The darkness shall not be hidden from thee, and the night shall shine as the day   51  Ps. cxxxix. 12. On Easter Eve the Church was full of lights which were kept burning all night, and the newly-baptized carried torches. Gregory of Nyssa, preaching on the Resurrection (Orat. iv.) describes the scene: “This brilliant night, by mingling the flames of torches with the morning rays of the sun, has made one continuous day, not divided by the interposition of darkness.” . Then may the gate of Paradise be opened to every man and every woman among you. Then may you enjoy the Christ-bearing waters in their fragrance  52  Or, as the Benedictine Editor conjectures, “the waters which have a Christ-bearing (χριστοφόρον) fragrance.” On the epithet χριστοφόρος, see Bishop Lightfoot’s note on Ignat. ad Eph. § 1 and § 9. Its meaning, as well as that of Θεοφόρος is defined in the answer of Ignatius to Trajan, ῾Ο Χριστὸν ἔχων ἐν στέρνοις (Martyr. Ign. Ant. § 2). . Then may you receive the name of Christ  53  Cat. xxi. 1: “made partakers therefore of Christ, ye are rightly called Christs.” , and the power of things divine. Even now, I beseech you, lift up the eye of the mind: even now imagine the choirs of Angels, and God the Lord of all there sitting, and His Only-begotten Son sitting with Him on His right hand, and the Spirit present with them; and Thrones and Dominions doing service, and every man of you and every woman receiving salvation. Even now let your ears ring, as it were, with that glorious sound, when over your salvation the angels shall chant,  Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered   54  Ps. xxxii. 1, which verse is still chanted in the Greek Church as soon as the Baptism is completed. : when like stars of the Church you shall enter in, bright in the body and radiant in the soul.

51 Ps. cxxxix. 12. On Easter Eve the Church was full of lights which were kept burning all night, and the newly-baptized carried torches. Gregory of Nyssa, preaching on the Resurrection (Orat. iv.) describes the scene: “This brilliant night, by mingling the flames of torches with the morning rays of the sun, has made one continuous day, not divided by the interposition of darkness.”
52 Or, as the Benedictine Editor conjectures, “the waters which have a Christ-bearing (χριστοφόρον) fragrance.” On the epithet χριστοφόρος, see Bishop Lightfoot’s note on Ignat. ad Eph. § 1 and § 9. Its meaning, as well as that of Θεοφόρος is defined in the answer of Ignatius to Trajan, ῾Ο Χριστὸν ἔχων ἐν στέρνοις (Martyr. Ign. Ant. § 2).
53 Cat. xxi. 1: “made partakers therefore of Christ, ye are rightly called Christs.”
54 Ps. xxxii. 1, which verse is still chanted in the Greek Church as soon as the Baptism is completed.

Ὄψομαι τὴν σπουδὴν ἑκάστου, ὄψομαι τὸ εὐλαβὲς ἑκάστης. Πυρούσθω ἡ διάνοια πρὸς εὐλάβειαν, χαλκευέσθω ἡ ψυχὴ, σφυροκοπείσθω τὸ σκληρὸν τῆς ἀπιστίας, ἀποπεσάτωσαν αἱ περιτταὶ τοῦ σιδήρου λεπίδες, μενέτω τὸ καθαρόν: ἀποπεσάτω τοῦ σιδήρου ὁ ἰὸς, μενέτω δὲ τὸ γνήσιον. Ποτὲ ὑμῖν δείξῃ ὁ Θεὸς ἐκείνην τὴν νύκτα, τὸ σκότος τὸ ἡμεροφανὲς, περὶ οὗ εἴρηται: Σκότος οὐ σκοτισθήσεται ἀπὸ σοῦ, καὶ νὺξ ὡς ἡ ἡμέρα φωτισθήσεται: τότε ὑμῶν ἑκάστῳ καὶ ἑκάστῃ παραδείσου θύρα ἀνοιχθῇ. Τότε ὑδάτων ἀπολαύσητε Χριστοφόρων, ἐχόντων εὐωδίαν. Τότε Χριστοῦ προσηγορίαν λάβητε, καὶ ἐνέργειαν θείων πραγμάτων. Ἤδη μοι τῆς διανοίας τὸ ὄμμα ἀναβλέψατε: ἤδη μοι χοροὺς ἀγγελικοὺς ἐννοήσατε, καὶ δεσπότην τῶν ὅλων Θεὸν καθεζόμενον, Ὑιὸν δὲ μονογενῆ ἐν δεξιᾷ συγκαθήμενον, καὶ Πνεῦμα συμπαρόν, Θρόνους δὲ καὶ Κυριότητας λειτουργοῦντας: καὶ ὑμῶν δὲ ἕκαστον καὶ ἑκάστην, σωζόμενον καὶ σωζομένην. Ἤδη ὑμῶν τὰ ὦτα ὥσπερ κατηχεῖσθαι ποιήσατε ἐκείνην τὴν καλὴν ἠχὴν, ὅτε ὑμῶν σωθέντων οἱ ἄγγελοι ἐπιφωνήσουσι: Μακάριοι ὧν ἀφέθησαν αἱ ἀνομίαι, [καὶ ὧν ἐπεκαλύφθησαν αἱ ἁμαρτίαι] ὅτε, ὥσπερ ἀστέρες τῆς Ἐκκλησίας, εἰσέλθητε φαιδροὶ τῷ σώματι, καὶ φωτεινοὶ τῇ ψυχῇ.