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General Introduction
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GENERAL INTRODUCTION 1. The Lenten Lectures St. Cyril delivered his pre-baptismal catechetical lectures in the Lent of (probably) 349 A.D.l The audience consisted principally of the higher class of catechumens, i.e., those who, having decided to "take the plunge," had, before Lent, given in their names with a view to receiving Christian initiation through baptism by total immersion, chrism and Holy Communion in the night of Holy Saturday and the early morning of Easter Sunday. Since a common name for baptism was "enlightenment," the candidates were called photizomenoi, "those to be enlightened" or "those being enlightened." Adult baptism, except in emergency, was the rule in the fourth century . Among those present were also many baptized Christians, for whom the Lenten exposition of the creed served as a refresher course. Men and women were separated, occupying opposite sides of the church.2 Cyril never formally published his Catecheses. According to a scribal note,3 we owe the preservation of their text to the fact that some of the spoudaioi (divots, probably the local monks and nuns) reported Cyril in shorthand as he was speaking. According to this note, Cyril's lectures were taken down in one year only. This statement is a little difficult to square with the extensive variations in the manuscripts,4 which suggests stratification there, i.e., that the manuscripts 1 For the year, see Telfer 36-38. 2 Procat. 14. 3 At the end of the Catecheses in the old Munich MS; RR 2.342-343 n. 20. 4 See especially Toutee's two recensions of Catechesis 2; there are two different versions of 2.16-20. 1 2 ST. CYRIL OF JERUSALEM reflect the catechizing of more than one year. Similarly, the advanced theology of the Holy Spirit in Catecheses 16 and 17 also suggests a date considerably later than 350. Again, the one-year view is difficult to harmonize with the various indications of the season5 and with Cyril's reference to "what has been said to previous classes,"6 for Cyril very probably did not give the Catecheses before 349, the year represented by our text if it represents the lectures of only one year. Owing to the rule of the secret (attested by the scribal note following the Procatechesis), the Catecheses must have circulated privately at first, being available only to the baptized and photizomenoi. Towards the end of the century, St. Jerome mentioned their being in (public?) circulation: "Exstant eius Catecheses, quas in adolescentia composuit."7 This perhaps implies Jerome's belief that the lectures had not been adequately revised. Syllabus and Arrangement The syllabus of the Catecheses, at least in the form in which they have reached us, is the exposition and "demonstration" of the Jerusalem Creed. The only exception is the second part (18-37) of Lecture 4, and Lecture 4 is somewhat exceptional . The fact that the Creed is delivered to the candidates only at 5.12 may seem to suggest that it was only part of the syllabus. But Catecheses 6-18 deal with the clauses of the Creed in order and, as Cyril points out in 18.22, Catecheses 1-3 have for their subject the clause in the Jerusalem Creed, "one baptism of repentance for the remission of sins." Catechesis 4.4-17 is a summary exposition of the Creed, and 5 At lS.7 ("The season is winter . . :), Gifford says that this passage and 4.30 "show that the Lectures were delivered in the year when Easter fell early." But in 14.10, spring had already arrived, and not merely official spring, but also the spring flowers. 13.1S may be relevant to this problem. 6 6.21. Cyril apparently refers here to his own previous lectures; he usually refers to himself either by "we" or in the passive voice. 7 De viris illustribus ll2. [18.212.102.174] Project MUSE (2024-03-28 19:45 GMT) GENERAL INTRODUCTION 3 Catechesis 5 deals with the "faith" by which we believe and "the faith (Creed)" which we believe. See also 4.3 and 18.32.8 But while it is possible to establish by inspection the fact that the syllabus of the extant Catecheses is substantially the Jerusalem Creed, this proves that the entire syllabus of Cyril's Lenten preaching was the Creed, only if it can be assumed that the extant Catecheses are complete. St. Jerome's Contra Ioannem Hierosolymitanum 11-139 probably implies that in 394 the syllabus was still...