The Works of Saint Cyril of Jerusalem, Volume 2

Introduction to the Mystagogical Lectures

INTRODUCTION Authorship and Text DHE FIVE MYSTAGOGICAL (OR EASTER) LECTURES were delivered in Jerusalem, in the Church of the Resur- . rection (Myst. 2.4,7), during Easter Week (Cat. 18.33; Peregrinatio 47).1 Authorship2 Before W. J. Swaans's article in Le Museon in 1942 the Cyrilline authorship of the Easter Lectures was in this century rarely challenged. It had not, however, always been so, and the case for Cyril's authorship has always rested on thin ice. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the Cyrilline authorship was strongly contested by E. Aubertin and others. What later encouraged the belief in Cyril's authorship was the (unforeseen) result of Touttee's new departure (1720) in numbering the two series of Catecheses consecutively 1-23. This 1 However, for the fragility of the arguments that connect these lectures with Jerusalem, see Supplementary Note below, p. 150.-Peregrinatio sive Itinerarium Egeriae, ed. E. Franceschini and R. Weber, Corpus christianorum: Series latina 175 (Turnhout 1965) 88f. 2 F. L. Cross, pp. xxxvi-xxxix; W. Telfer, pp. 39-40; T. Schermann, reviewing J. P.' Bock, Die Brotbitte, in Theologische Revue 10 (1911) 575-579; reply by S. Salaville, "Une question de critique litteraire: Les Catecheses Mystagogiques de S. Cyrille," Echos d'Orient 17 (1915) 531-537; W. J. Swaans, "A propos des 'Catecheses Mystagogiques' attribuees a S. Cyrille de Jerusalem," Le Museon 55 (1942) 1-43; E. Bihain, "Une vie armenienne de S. Cyrille de Jerusalem," Le Museon 76 (1963) 319-348, esp. 340 n. 73; A. Piedagnel, pp. 18-40; A. A. Touttee, PC 33.136-142 (Diss. 2, ch. 3). C. Caritte, I believe, pioneered the research in the Armenian field. A. Renoux, "Les Catecheses Mystagogiques dans l'organization liturgique Hierosolymitaine du IV· et V· siecle," Le Museon 78 (1964) 355-359. 143 144 ST. CYRIL OF JERUSALEM gave the impression that the two series were a single work, and since the first series of eighteen was dearly Cyril's, it seemed that the second series must be his too. Actually, however, in all the manuscripts the numbering begins anew with the Mystagogical Lectures. This changes the picture; the independent evidence, manuscript and other, for the Cyrilline authorship of the Mystagogiae is weak. Again, the significance of the alleged cross-references between the two series and of the promise in Cat. 18.33 of six (sic) Easter Lectures is altered when it is appreciated that the general pattern of catechizing at Jerusalem was to some extent constant and survived Cyril, so that both series of lectures continued to be given by someone every year. Several liturgical elements in the Fifth Lecture probably suggest a date in the period 380-410. Here, however, the separation of the Mystagogiae from the Lenten Lectures favours Cyril, who could then have delivered these Easter Lectures any year in the period 350-386. A more important objection to the CyriIIine authorship is the marked differences between the two series' expositions of Baptism and Chrismation (Confirmation ), discussed below, though the last sentence of Cat. 16.26 provides a bridge between them in one important point. Again (d. the advertisement "To the Reader," with note 47, vol. I, pp. 84-85), the Mystagogiae would not have been available to ph6tizomenoi. But the nearly decisive evidence is that of the manuscripts. In his recent valuable discussion of the question, Auguste PiedagneI, who cannot decide between Cyril and John (see below), puts the case sympathetically towards Cyril when he observes3 that only one Greek manuscript, Monae. gr. 394, ascribes the Mystagogiae to John alone, and of the four manuscripts (Vatic. Ottob. 86 and 446, Monae. gr. 278 and Vaticanus gr. 602) which ascribe them to "Cyril and John," the last three depend upon Ottob. 86. The decisive facts, however, are the 3 P.37. INTRODUCTION 145 following.4 In by no means all of the manuscripts are the Lenten Lectures followed by the Mystagogiae, and often, where they are so followed, the latter have no author assigned; identity of authorship has simply been assumed by modern scholars. Of the seven Greek manuscripts earlier than 1200 in which the Mystagogiae are included, the tenth-century Monac. gr. 394 twice attributes them to John (i.e., Pr("SlIffiably Cyril's successor, John II, bishop of Jerusalem 387-417), in aUob. 86 Cyril's name has been inserted before that of John, and the other five do not name the author...