Casting Pearls Before Swine: On Necessary Presuppositions Before and After Baptism and Why Priests Should Not Indiscriminately Baptize All People (Part Three)
By: Prof. Savvas Bournelis
Table of Contents
7. A Noteworthy Practice from the Early Church
8. Repentance Must Continue After Baptism
9. Priests as Guardians and Gatekeepers of the Sacraments
10. Concluding Remarks
Part Three
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7. A Noteworthy Practice from the Early Church
These Patristic testimonies point out a great truth long forgotten by many: the Catechumenate period is above all a time of preparation for Baptism through purification by the means of repentance.[67] As Fr. John Romanides notes, purification is not only “the central task set before the catechumen, but it is also the chief duty of his spiritual father who is to open the eyes of the catechumen’s soul and to prepare him for Baptism.”[68]
Metropolitan Hierotheos Vlachos describes in great detail how in the Early Church the clergy would actually investigate the intentions and spiritual life of the Catechumens by asking either them or their Godparent(s) various questions regarding these matters, asking them to give an account or testimony of sorts. Here we see conversion was a matter taken very seriously in those days! If the Catechumen was not living a genuine life of repentance prior to being baptized, and did not come with the proper intentions but instead came with some worldly ulterior motive(s), they were refused baptism! The Bishop would tell them to correct their way of life and then come back to see if they were properly prepared to be baptized. This is because, as we saw earlier, the grace of God is given only to those who have prepared themselves to receive it through repentance and purification, otherwise, it can harm them, so barring the Catechumen from the initiatory rites is actually a great act of charity and concern for their spiritual well-being:
Today, we see that many people are asking to be baptized and become members of the Church. On the one hand, it is very good news, since it is not a small thing for someone to wish to become a member of the Body of Christ, and as a member of the Church to be made worthy of receiving the Body and Blood of Christ. However, this task must be performed with responsibility and seriousness. Knowledge of the Tradition of our Church will help us in this regard. We must see how Baptism took place within Tradition. If we do not do this, we will make our own proposals with unforeseen consequences for our ecclesial body. Unfortunately, we also see that secularization has even made inroads into this serious matter, as it has done in all aspects of our ecclesial life, and thus we do things superficially and without discretion. To begin with, we must look at how people were prepared before receiving Holy Baptism within Church Tradition, and then go on to see how all those who take on this responsible ministry can put this into practice today... Within the Tradition of the Church preparation for Baptism was taken very seriously. There was a combination of exorcisms, catechism lessons, prayer, ascesis, and participation in the worship of the Church. Baptism only went ahead when it was confirmed that the Catechumen was ready. Consequently, there was complete pastoral concern (one could say a therapeutic science) for someone’s entrance into this membership of the Church. In the same way, they even examined the intentions of the person asking to be baptized. If someone did not have good intentions, he would be unable to stay in the class of Catechumens for very long. After following this whole procedure, which demanded a long period of time, even as long as three years, the Church appointed the day for the Catechumens’ Baptism. Yet, even then, there was some corresponding preparation. The Pilgrimage of Etheria describes the way in which the Catechumens were included in the list of those who were to be enlightened. This period coincides with a great season of the Church, that of Great Lent: “The person who gives the name, gives it on the eve of Great Lent and a priest writes down all the names; that is to say, this takes place on the eve of all the eight weeks that are included in Lent here. When the priest writes down all the names, on the next day, the beginning of Lent, the day on which the eight weeks begin, they place a seat for the Bishop in the middle of the Church, i.e. in the place of Martyrdom. The priests sits on either side and the rest of the clergy remain standing. Then they bring in the candidates one by one. If they are men they come with their male sponsors; if women, with their female sponsors. Then, for each one, the bishop questions those next to the person approaching, saying, “Does he lead an honorable life? Does he respect his parents? Is he perhaps governed by drunkenness and lies?” He asks each one the same questions, with some severity, about all their sins. If the candidate is a person who is not burdened by all that he has been asked before witnesses, then the bishop writes his name down in his own hand. However, if he is accused of certain faults, the bishop does not accept him, and says, “Correct yourself, and when you become better, then approach baptism.” This is done, first for the men and then for the women. Those who are foreigners, unless they have witnesses who know them, approach baptism with greater difficulty.’ We know very well from our Tradition that purification always precedes Baptism, and that with Holy Baptism and especially with Chrismation the Catechumen has attained illumination. The fact that the Church carefully considers the intentions of those who are going to be baptized is clear in a canon from Neocaesarea. There it says that if someone is baptized because of sickness, he cannot become a priest, unless, of course, he repents; this even if men who want to be ordained are rare. Justifying this ban it says: “his faith was not by choice, but of necessity.” It is important whether faith is by choice or from necessity. This canon states: “if anyone be baptized when he is ill, in that his faith was not voluntary, but of necessity, he cannot be promoted to the presbyterate, unless he later shows eagerness and faith, even if there is a lack of men.” St. Nikodemos the Athonite interprets this canon saying: “The present canon determines that a Catechumen who put off Baptism while healthy, yet was baptized out of fear, when he fell into mortal danger through illness, cannot become a priest, for it seems that he was not baptized of his own free intention, but from the necessity of his illness.” This canon, amongst other things, demonstrates that there was pastoral concern for the Catechumen. It does not mean that since he was baptized he was now free to do what he liked. Indeed, we know very well from other canons that if the candidate was approaching the day of his baptism and committed a grave sin, he was put in order by the Bishop and started the Catechism again from the very beginning. From its first beginnings the Church carefully prepared anyone wanting to become a member. In this way, Catechism was a journey towards purification, so that once purified the person would be baptized, chrismated and become a temple of the All-Holy Spirit. From this purification of his heart, he then had to attain illumination and theosis.[69]
This practice of the Bishop investigating the intentions and lifestyle of the Catechumen is also attested by St. Gregory Palamas. In his day (14th century), the Bishop would directly investigate the inquirer’s intentions for wanting to be baptized even before making them a Catechumen. Only if the person expressed the desire to be baptized, so as to keep growing in holiness afterwards for the sake of their salvation, did the Bishop allow the person to begin the process of being incorporated into the Church.[70] The same was true in St. Hippolytus’ time; Catechumens were actually examined by their Godparents as to whether or not they were living a life of repentance prior to Baptism, and if not, they were not permitted to be baptized.[71] This ancient practice will be discussed more in depth later.
However, it is interesting to note that this is precisely why it was the long-standing tradition of the Early Church for Catechumens only to read the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) since they place a great deal of attention on repentance and purification, which the Catechumens themselves were supposed to be doing before Baptism, whereas the “spiritual Gospel” of John focuses a lot on illumination and deification, which describes the life of those already initiated in the Body of Christ through Baptism, Chrismation and Communion. As Fr.
John Romanides states:
The material contained in the Gospels is classified accordingly. We have the Gospel of Mark, the aim of which is clearly to oppose demonic energies. The whole of Marks’ Gospel is predominantly about purification. The same is true of the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. These Gospels were written in this way in the early Church because they were used prior to Baptism. They were catechetical handbooks for the catechumens, who were at the stage of purification. After they had been baptized they used the ‘spiritual Gospel,’ the Gospel for those who have the Spirit. As one received the Holy Spirit at Baptism and Chrismation, afterwards special instruction was given based on the Gospel of John. This is why it is obvious that the Gospel of John spends hardly any time on the devil, whereas the so-called Synoptic Gospels are very concerned with demons and driving them out. It is immediately clear from the way the material in the Gospels is organized that there is a marked distinction between the teaching given to those on their way to purification and the teaching for those who have received the Holy Spirit and are in a state of illumination. In the Church’s calendar we see that the three Synoptic Gospels are read and interpreted all the year around, and when we come to Easter, the Easter Gospel at the second Resurrection service begins, “In the beginning was the Word. and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). And from the second Resurrection service at Easter up until Pentecost there is daily interpretation of the fourth Gospel. The Gospel of John is mainly apologetic and dogmatic, and aims to illumine those who have passed through the stage of purification as catechumens and have become newly-baptized Christians. It is not by chance that the Gospel of John is read and interpreted from Easter until Pentecost. That is why the Fathers of the Church call this Gospel the ‘spiritual Gospel.’ It is not for everyone, but only for those who have been baptized and so on.[72]
The Catechumanate period, which focuses primarily on repentance and purification, is precisely designed to prepare one to receive and assimilate the grace of the initiatory rites (Baptism, Chrismation, and Communion). It is how one synergizes with the grace of God mentioned earlier. This is why Catechumens typically waited for three years before being baptized. It gave them sufficient time to adequately prepare and purify themselves for these great Mysteries of the undivided Church.
Some may consider three years too long or arbitrary, but in reality the number three in this regard is quite significant when we consider its Biblical precedent. Christ began His earthly ministry at 30 years old, not only performing miracles but also teaching and preaching for a total of three years. Christ told His Disciples, “You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you” (Jn. 15:3). Here, Christ links purification with His spoken word because “Christ’s words are transmitted and transmit His uncreated energy,” and therefore, have a “penetrating quality” to them,[73] or as the Scriptures say, they are “words of eternal life” (Jn. 6:68) that are “living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” (Heb. 4:12-13). However:
The word of God does not work in the same way for all people. It depends on the spiritual condition of the listeners. Divine grace works differently in people, in accordance with the spiritual condition of each one. St. Maximos says that here too is something like what is true of water in relation to plants and animals. Water enters into everything that has life, but it creates different results. Every tree and plant has its own fruit, sweet, bitter, sour—even though all trees have received the same water. This depends on the constitution of each plant. Thus the divine word works and is manifested in proportion to the quality of the virtue and knowledge of each person, that is to say, practically and cognitively. If someone is impure, the word of God purifies, if he is in the process of illumination and deification, it illumines and deifies correspondingly. This makes it understandable that some are saved on hearing the word of God, and others are condemned. The Parables give us a characteristic example of this phenomenon. Christ did not speak the Parables in order to make His words better understood, but precisely in order to conceal the great truths. That is to say, the impression was created that Christ was speaking very simply in order for the simple of His time to understand. But this is not true. When He told the parable of the Seed, the Jews did not understand the deepest meaning and content of it. And when the Disciples drew near in order to ask Him what this parable meant, Christ said, “To you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to the rest it is given in parables, that ‘Seeing they may not see, And hearing they may not understand’” (Lk. 8:10). It seems clear that the images in Parables have been used to conceal the meanings of the parables, which indeed are analyzed for the Disciples, who were suited for it. St. Theophlactos [of Bulgaria], interpreting this point, says that the Disciples were worthy of knowing the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven, while others were told “obscurely” so that seeing and hearing they would not grasp their meaning. But Christ did this not out of some eclecticism, but out of love and charity. Since He knew that after having knowledge of the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven [some people] would scorn it, He concealed it “lest they further be condemned.”[74]
So, those three years of Christ’s teachings and preachings the Disciples heard were a time of purification, and they were capable of this because of the proper stance or disposition of heart necessary to receive the grace of God in this way. They made their heart receptive to the grace of God to bring about its effect (purification). This three-year period of purification was necessary precisely in order to prepare them to receive the grace of the Holy Spirit on Pascha (Jn. 20) and on Pentecost Day (Acts 2).[75] Those two feasts were their own personal Baptism, Chrismation, and Communion. Thus, sanctification presupposes purification. And so, in like manner, the Catechumanate period in the Early Church was established with the same amount of time—three years—in imitation of those three years the Disciples spent, so that, like them, the Catechumen(s) would have the appropriate and necessary time to be purified in order to receive the grace of the Holy Spirit in Baptism, Chrismation and Communion unto their salvation. Another interesting Biblical feature concerning this theme is Christ’s Baptism. It is not accidental that Christ Himself was first baptized, thereby granting a cleansing energy or property to the waters, and then the Holy Spirit descended on Him afterwards (Lk. 3). When we are baptized, we are first cleansed, and then we receive the Holy Spirit both in Baptism and further on in Chrismation, which is baptism’s seal. What this essentially shows is that purification precedes sanctification. So again, the underlying principle here extends even to the Catechumens: they must first be purified in order to receive the sanctifying grace of the Holy Spirit. As St. Gregory the Theologian writes, “Where there is purification there is illumination, for without the former the latter is not given.”[76] And as St. John Damascene writes, “The remission of sins, therefore, is granted alike to all through baptism: but the grace of the Spirit is proportional to the faith and previous purification.”[77]
In short, Catechumens are spiritual babes, so they are unable to receive the grace of God until a time of purification and preparation has passed. To arbitrarily or rashly baptize just anyone without them meeting the presuppositions of repentance and purification would be equivalent to giving a baby meat instead of milk (1 Cor. 3:2), or casting pearls before dogs and swine (Mt. 7:6-7). It is not only foolish and unwise, it is spiritually dangerous, and therefore, uncharitable. As Fr. Romanides succinctly writes, “Before Baptism there must take place a spiritual progress which in degrees prepares one for the death of Baptism and acceptance of the seal of the Spirit.”[78]
Footnotes for Part Three
[67] See “The Orthodox Catechumenate - a Time of Purification,” youtube.com, The Orthodox Catechumenate - a Time of Purification. See also “What the Catechumenate Is Really About,” youtube.com, What the Catechumenate Is Really About. See also “Practical Advice For Catechumens & Inquirers,” youtube.com, Practical Advice For Catechumens & Inquirers.
[68] Fr. John Romanides, “On the Experience of Theosis and the Three Stages of the Spiritual Life,” in Patristic Theology: The University Lectures of Fr. John Romanides (Florence, AZ: UMP, 2008), 112.
[69] See Metropolitan Hierotheos Vlachos, Entering the Orthodox Church (Levadia, Greece: Birth of the Theotokos Monastery, 2006), 19-20, 24-28, 32. See also Metropolitan Hierotheos Vlachos, Orthodox Spirituality: A Brief Introduction (Levadia, Greece: Birth of the Theotokos Monastery, 1994), 72-76.
[70] See St. Gregory Palamas, “Homily 59,” in Saint Gregory Palamas: The Homilies (Dalton, PA: Mount Thabor Publishing, 2022), 486-487.
[71] See St. Hippolytus, “The Apostolic Tradition.”
[72] Metropolitan Hierotheos Vlachos, Empirical Dogmatics of the Orthodox Catholic Church according to the Spoken Teaching of Father John Romanides, Volume 2 (Levadia, Greece: Birth of the Theotokos Monastery, 2013), 275-276.
[73] Vlachos, Feasts of the Lord, 130-134.
[74] Vlachos, Feasts of the Lord, 132-133. See also St. Theophylact of Ochrid, “Gospel Commentary for the Fourth Sunday of Luke (St. Theophylact of Ochrid),” johnsanidopoulos.com, ORTHODOX CHRISTIANITY THEN AND NOW: Gospel Commentary for the Fourth Sunday of Luke (St. Theophylact of Ochrid)
[75] Vlachos, Feasts of the Lord, 312-313. “For three years Christ, through His teachings, cleansed the hearts of His Disciples and made them worthy to partake of the Eucharistic Supper and later to receive the fullness of the grace of the Holy Spirit.” See Hiromonk Gregorios, “The Purpose of Catechism,” in The Orthodox Faith, Worship and Life: An Orthodox Catechism and Outline (Columbia, MI: NRP, 2020), 6.
As to the distinction of the Disciples receiving the Holy Spirit both on Pascha and Pentecost, see St. Cyril of Alexandria, “Commentary on John’s Gospel,” Book 12, tertullian.org, Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on John, LFC 43, 48 (1874/1885). Book 12. Vol. 2 pp. 589-708. (tertullian.org).
[76] Vlachos, Feasts of the Lord, 113 (Perhaps quoting St. Gregory’s Oration 39 (40) at least in part).
[77] See St. John of Damascus, Book 4, Chapter 9 in “Exposition of the Orthodox Faith,” newadvent.org, CHURCH FATHERS: An Exposition of the Orthodox Faith, Book IV (John of Damascus) (newadvent.org).
[78] See Fr. John Romanides, "Man and His True Life According to the Greek Orthodox Service Book," GOTR I:1 (1954), 73. See also Deacon Geoffrey Ready, “Prophetic Themes in the Orthodox Ecclesiology of Fr John Romanides,” johnsanidopoulos.com, ORTHODOX CHRISTIANITY THEN AND NOW: Prophetic Themes in the Orthodox Ecclesiology of Fr John Romanides (johnsanidopoulos.com).