DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.24719#0090
THE CEREMONIES OF THE PRIMITIVE CHRISTIAN CHURCH.
71
when the deacon, mounted on a raised place, proclaimed with a loud voice that it was time
for their exclusion.
According to St. John Chrysostom,1 the ceremony took place in this manner:—The deacon,
standing upon an elevated place, raised his hands in the air, and pronounced that the time
had come for withdrawal, with a high voice and a loud cry, like that of a herald. Then
there being silence, he ordered the Catechumens to pray for themselves, and the rest of the
congregation to pray for the Catechumens. These prayers having been said, the bishop blessed
the Catechumens, who bent their heads to receive his blessing; then the deacon requested them
to depart. These having departed, he called the Energumens, or Possessed; after the prayers
for them were said, he assembled the Penitents ; the prayers for them having been said, the
office of the Holy Communion Avas continued.
Dionysius the Areopagite, in his Ecclesiastical Hierarchy, ch. hi., mentions that when the
Holy Scriptures had been read, the Penitents, the Energumens, and the Catechumens were sent
out of church.
The Catechumens were placed nearest the door; then came the Energumens, and then the
Penitents.
There were tAvo classes of Catechumens — the Auditors, those who Avished to hear the
Word of God, and who, though they desired to become Christians, Avere not yet initiated to the
extent of being worthy of baptism (non tamen eo pervenerant ut digni baptismo haberentur) —and
the Competents, avIio, having been initiated into the articles of faith, Avaited the prescribed
time for baptism. The 14th Canon of the Council of Nice speaks thus: — “As to the fallen
Catechumens, it has pleased the great and sacred Council to look upon them as Auditors during
three years only; afterwards they may pray Avitli the Catechumens.”
The Auditors were not yet Christians; they were only a class of Gentiles avIio, after
having heard someAvhat of Christian doctrine, desired to be more fully instructed in it. All that
was required of them was to attend the assemblies punctually and to lead a life free from reproach.
Tertullian, in his book on the Penitents, speaking of the Auditors, says “ that a person
should not flatter himself that he AA'ill not again commit some fault, because he has been
placed in a state of probation amongst the Auditors.”
The Auditors remained in the lower part of the narthex, or in the exonarthex (exterior
porch); the esonarthex (interior porch), Avlien there Avere t\vo porches, being reserved for the
Catechumens. They had, also, places in the embolon of the church, and sometimes near the
fountains of ablution, which stood at the entrances of the temples. We learn from Eusebius 3
that there were placed opposite to the entrance of the temple, fountains supplied with
abundance of AArater, which served for those Avho entered into the holy portico to wash the
dirt from their bodies. These fountains represented the holy waters of baptism. This custom
of washing before prayers has been abandoned by the Eastern and Western Churches for the
following reasons: the Eastern Church, seeing that the Mussulmans used complete ablutions
before prayer, did not desire to maintain a custom common to the enemies of the faith;
in the West, cold ablutions in all seasons were not good for the health; besides, the fountains
were frozen a part of the year; therefore holy water was adopted as symbolical of ablution.
Entrance to the church was not only forbidden to those Avho had not been baptized,
but also, under certain circumstances, to Avomen.
There was also in the narthex of the church a place reserved for the cathceroumenoi, that
is to say, those who Avere undergoing purification. They had not received the Christian
faith, or, if they had received it, had contracted some defilement from the sins they had
committed. They made expiation, and engaged to lead a regular life, in order to be delivered
from the power of the demon.
The narthex was so arranged that they could hear the services, and also that, upon hearing
the voice of the deacon, they might retire from the church.
The ecclesiastical hierarchy established three ranks in this class: —
Tehsiouvrcov, those who had finished;
Tehougevcov, those who approached the end;
Ka$a.ipot)y.evwv, those Avho Avere purifying themselves.
1 Epistle to the Hebrews, homily 17.
2 Ecclesiastical History, book x. ch. 4.
71
when the deacon, mounted on a raised place, proclaimed with a loud voice that it was time
for their exclusion.
According to St. John Chrysostom,1 the ceremony took place in this manner:—The deacon,
standing upon an elevated place, raised his hands in the air, and pronounced that the time
had come for withdrawal, with a high voice and a loud cry, like that of a herald. Then
there being silence, he ordered the Catechumens to pray for themselves, and the rest of the
congregation to pray for the Catechumens. These prayers having been said, the bishop blessed
the Catechumens, who bent their heads to receive his blessing; then the deacon requested them
to depart. These having departed, he called the Energumens, or Possessed; after the prayers
for them were said, he assembled the Penitents ; the prayers for them having been said, the
office of the Holy Communion Avas continued.
Dionysius the Areopagite, in his Ecclesiastical Hierarchy, ch. hi., mentions that when the
Holy Scriptures had been read, the Penitents, the Energumens, and the Catechumens were sent
out of church.
The Catechumens were placed nearest the door; then came the Energumens, and then the
Penitents.
There were tAvo classes of Catechumens — the Auditors, those who Avished to hear the
Word of God, and who, though they desired to become Christians, Avere not yet initiated to the
extent of being worthy of baptism (non tamen eo pervenerant ut digni baptismo haberentur) —and
the Competents, avIio, having been initiated into the articles of faith, Avaited the prescribed
time for baptism. The 14th Canon of the Council of Nice speaks thus: — “As to the fallen
Catechumens, it has pleased the great and sacred Council to look upon them as Auditors during
three years only; afterwards they may pray Avitli the Catechumens.”
The Auditors were not yet Christians; they were only a class of Gentiles avIio, after
having heard someAvhat of Christian doctrine, desired to be more fully instructed in it. All that
was required of them was to attend the assemblies punctually and to lead a life free from reproach.
Tertullian, in his book on the Penitents, speaking of the Auditors, says “ that a person
should not flatter himself that he AA'ill not again commit some fault, because he has been
placed in a state of probation amongst the Auditors.”
The Auditors remained in the lower part of the narthex, or in the exonarthex (exterior
porch); the esonarthex (interior porch), Avlien there Avere t\vo porches, being reserved for the
Catechumens. They had, also, places in the embolon of the church, and sometimes near the
fountains of ablution, which stood at the entrances of the temples. We learn from Eusebius 3
that there were placed opposite to the entrance of the temple, fountains supplied with
abundance of AArater, which served for those Avho entered into the holy portico to wash the
dirt from their bodies. These fountains represented the holy waters of baptism. This custom
of washing before prayers has been abandoned by the Eastern and Western Churches for the
following reasons: the Eastern Church, seeing that the Mussulmans used complete ablutions
before prayer, did not desire to maintain a custom common to the enemies of the faith;
in the West, cold ablutions in all seasons were not good for the health; besides, the fountains
were frozen a part of the year; therefore holy water was adopted as symbolical of ablution.
Entrance to the church was not only forbidden to those Avho had not been baptized,
but also, under certain circumstances, to Avomen.
There was also in the narthex of the church a place reserved for the cathceroumenoi, that
is to say, those who Avere undergoing purification. They had not received the Christian
faith, or, if they had received it, had contracted some defilement from the sins they had
committed. They made expiation, and engaged to lead a regular life, in order to be delivered
from the power of the demon.
The narthex was so arranged that they could hear the services, and also that, upon hearing
the voice of the deacon, they might retire from the church.
The ecclesiastical hierarchy established three ranks in this class: —
Tehsiouvrcov, those who had finished;
Tehougevcov, those who approached the end;
Ka$a.ipot)y.evwv, those Avho Avere purifying themselves.
1 Epistle to the Hebrews, homily 17.
2 Ecclesiastical History, book x. ch. 4.