Mystagogicae Catecheses. Mystagogische Katechesen (review)

This small book, nicely produced in hardcover, contains an introduction (pp. 7-91), the Greek text of the Mystagogical Catecheses ascribed to Cyril, bishop of Jerusalem from 348 or 350 to 386 or 387, with a new facing German translation (pp. 94-165). A list of abbreviations accompanies a bibliography of sources and secondary literature. Indexes of Bible passages, of persons mentioned in the book, of Greek words, and of the subjects treated follow, completing the volume (pp. 166-197).

The introduction first discusses the authorship of these five lessons given to the newly baptized during Easter week at the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. Since the 1942 article by W. J. Swaans in Le Muséon, many scholars have attributed these catecheses to Cyril's successor, John, bishop until his own death in 417. It is certain that an introductory "procatechesis" and the following preliminary series of eighteen instructions given to candidates for baptism during Lent of 348 or 350 belong to Cyril. Manuscripts containing both series name Cyril as the author of the prebaptismal Lenten lectures, but lack an indication of an author for the Mystagogical Catecheses. Others, transmitting only the latter, name only John or both Cyril and John, but no manuscript names Cyril alone as the author of the Easter week series. Edward Yarnold contended in the 1978 Heythrop Journal that "Cyril can have been, and probably was, the author of both works." Röwekamp lines up pro and con arguments for Cyril's authorship in six pages of fine print, concluding that scholars have still not definitively resolved the matter. He chooses to join a majority of scholars holding that John should be considered the author of the Mystagogical Catecheses in their present form, although this bishop may have taken the arrangement of the series, topics, and individual thoughts from his predecessor, St. Cyril.

The next part of the introduction (pp. 15-60) deals with Christian initiation as it appears in these lessons. Here Röwekamp supplies valuable orientation from other sources: notably Egeria's Pilgrimage to the Holy Places; other surviving mystagogies from the period, such as St. Ambrose's The Sacraments and The Mysteries, the catechetical homilies of Theodore of Mopsuestia and the baptismal catecheses by St. John Chrysostom. Armenian and Georgian lectionaries for Jerusalem published over the last several decades provide additional points of reference. The architectural and archaeological evidence cited regarding the place of baptism in the Jerusalem Church of the Holy Sepulchre also helps illuminate these texts (pp. 21-24). The introductory pages (25-28) on renouncement and commitment relating to the first catechesis seem to require more extended treatment than the "Fontes Christiani" framework allows, particularly regarding the religions of late antiquity, which the converts were forsaking. This part of the introduction points out some distinguishing features of these lectures. They fail, for instance, to mention the blessing of the baptismal water (pp. 31-32). Moreover, the author has also provided useful summaries of further questions which scholars have still not resolved, as for example, whether the Eucharistic liturgy explained in the fifth catechesis contained an account of the institution of the Eucharist (pp. 45-46). Röwekamp also shows that the interpretation of the Lord's prayer depends upon the work, On Prayer, by Origen.

The third section of the introduction (pp. 60-86) tries to situate this course of instruction within its wider historical and theological milieu. This includes conceptions of salvation and redemption, and in particular assimilation to God by "participation" and "deification." The sacramental spirituality of the early Church meant that in the ritual re-enactment of the dying and rising of Christ the participants experienced the saving mysteries in their own lives. Concerning the possible development of the liturgical cycle from Jerusalem (p. 82), one might also consult Thomas J. Talley, The Origins of the Liturgical Year, 2nd ed. (Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 1991). Of course, the historical background includes the enormous change in...