Liturgical symbolism in the baptismal homilies of St. John Chrysosthom and Theodore of Mopsuestia

Abstract

On account of the intensive missionary activity of the early Church and the changed situation brought about by the Constantinian settlement, the urgent need existed for an organization capable of coping with the increased number of persons asking for admission into the Church, so that only those worthy of membership would be accepted. There had always been an insistence that no one should be received into the Church unless he had first been fully instructed in the faith, but this instruction was originally more or less a private initiative. It was only later, perhaps after the great shock resulting from the large number of defections during the Decian persecutions, that instruction in the faith came under direct ecclesiastical supervision with the introduction of the catechumenate.