Why were the names of those who sought baptism seekers registered, and how?

Egeria the Spanish pilgrim described this ritual in the fourth century, as she saw it in Jerusalem: “For those who give in their names give them in on the day before Quadragesima [the first Sunday in Lent], and a presbyter writes down the names of all, that is, before those eight weeks for which I have said Quadragesima is kept here. When the presbyter has written down the names of all, afterward on the next day of Quadragesima, that is, when the eight weeks begin, a chair is placed for the bishop in the middle of the major church, that is, at the Martyrium, the presbyters sit in chairs on each side and all the clergy stand. And then the competentes [those ready for baptism] are brought forward one by one; if they are males, they come with their ‘fathers,’ but if females, with their ‘mothers.’ And then the bishop asks the neighbors of each one who has entered, saying, ‘Is this person of a good life, obedient to their parents, not a drunkard or a liar?’ And he makes inquiry about particular vices that are more serious in people. And if they prove to be without blame in all these matters in which he has made inquiry of the witnesses present, he himself writes down their names with his own hand. But if they are accused in any matter, he orders them to go outside, saying, ‘Let them amend themselves, and when they have amended themselves, then let them come to the bath.’”¹³¹¹

Thus, the registration was combined with an examination in which the person seeking baptism was carefully examined in the presence of his/her sponsors and neighbors to confirm the person’s conduct and good intentions before registering their name. Nevertheless, the bishop tested the person again before their baptism.

St. Dionysius the Areopagite in his book The Ecclesiastical Hierarchy calls the church register “The Book of Life.” St. Gregory of Nyssa says that the finger of God Himself registers their names: “Give me your names so that I may write them in ink but the Lord

1310 St. Basil of Caesarea, On Baptism Sermon 13.

1311 Egeria, The Pilgrimage of Egeria: A New Translation of the Itinerarium Egeriae with Introduction and Commentary , trans., Anne McGowan and Paul F. Bradshaw (Collegeville, Minnesota: Liturgical Press, 2018) 45–46: pp. 112–113.

Himself engraves them on incorruptible tablets. He writes them with His finger as He did with the law of the Hebrews.”¹³¹²

The Church was first and foremost concerned with the intentions of the person seeking to be baptized, as mentioned in the Apostolic Tradition of St. Hippolytus : “Those who come forward for the first time to hear the word … let them be examined as to the reason why they have come forward to the faith. And those who bring them shall bear witness for them whether they are able to hear … If he be the slave of a believer and his master permit him, let him hear. If his master does not bear witness to him, let him be rejected … If a man have a wife or a woman a husband, let them be taught the man to be contented with his wife and the woman to be contented with her husband.”¹³¹³

In his homily to the catechumens, St. Cyril of Jerusalem says, “The honesty of purpose makes you called: for if your body be here but not your mind, it profits you nothing. Even Simon the sorcerer once came to the Laver: he was baptized, but was not enlightened; and though he dipped his body in water, he enlightened not his heart with the Spirit: his body went down and came up, but his soul was not buried with Christ, nor raised with Him.”¹³¹⁴