The sacrament of baptism in Cyril's mystagogical catecheses I-III

Abstract

With the renewal of interest in the process of Christian Initiation today, especially with the restoration of the catechumenate after the Second Vatican Council, there is also a rejuvenated pursuit of the Patristic teaching and influence on such a process. It is with this same interest that I am undertaking in this article to see how Cyril in his time initiated new converts and his method of catechesisfor these new-comers of the Church in Jerusalem In this article I hope to uncover the various liturgical rites of Baptism in the initiation of Christians from the first three Mistagogical Catechesesof Cyril of Jerusalem. Before that, it might be good to put ourselves in the historical context of these Mistagogical Catecheses and the problem of authorship. To understand better the doctrinal content of these catecheses, we should first survey a few of the important terminology that Cyril used which contained specific meanings. Then I shall draw some conclusions with relation to our situation today.