What were the catechumens taught?

• a. Special studies were taught to those who were from a Jewish background, which differed from that offered to those who were from a pagan background. Each group were taught whatever suited their culture, prior studies, and knowledge.

• b. The teacher ( didascalos ) read to them from Scripture and some important Church books. Origen refers to certain books which are known for their focus on the behavioral life such as Esther, Judith, Tobit, and Wisdom.¹³²³ St. Athanasius also refers to the same books along with some ecclesiastical books such as the Didache and the Shepherd of Hermas.

• c. Theological reflections were also taught in a simplified way that include the most important Christian dogmas such as the Apostles’ Creed, which was like a constitution for the Christian faith. It also became the basis on which the Athanasian Creed was formulated in the Council of Nicaea in 325 A. D., and was then completed in the Council of Constantinople in 381 A. D. This creed is considered a comprehensive summary of the faith and hence was taught to all catechumens along with some explanation so they can memorize it and fully understand it.

• d. It is stated in the Apostolic Constitutions , “Let him, therefore, who is to be taught the truth regarding piety be instructed before his baptism in the knowledge of God the Father, in the understanding of His only begotten Son, in the assured acknowledgment of the Holy Spirit. Let him learn the order of the several parts of the creation, the series of providence, the different dispensations of Your laws. Let him be instructed why the world was made, and why man was appointed to be a citizen therein; let him also know his own nature, of what sort it is; let him be taught how God punished the wicked with water and fire, and did glorify the saints in every generation — I mean Seth, and Enos, and Enoch, and Noah, and Abraham and his posterity, and Melchizedek … let him be instructed in the doctrines concerning our Lord's incarnation, and in those concerning His passion, and resurrection from the

1322 St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures 15.18 (NPNF II/7:109–110) amended.

1323 Origen, Homilies on Numbers , trans., Thomas P. Scheck (Downers Grove, Illinois: IVP Academic, 2009) 27.1.3: pp. 168.

dead, and ascension. And when it remains that the catechumen is to be baptized, let him learn what concerns the renunciation of the devil, and the joining himself with Christ.”¹³²⁴

• e. The Church’s interest in teaching the Orthodox Creed is revealed in the fact that the bishop himself was the one who taught it, as was mentioned in St. Ambrose’s letter to his sister Marcellina: “On the following day, which was the Lord’s day, having dismissed the catechumens after the lessons and sermon, I was explaining the Creed to some candidates for baptism in the baptistery of the basilica.”¹³²⁵ St. John of Jerusalem wrote to St. Jerome, “It is our tradition to teach about the Holy Trinity in general terms within forty days to those who will be baptized.”

• f. After teaching the Orthodox Creed and explaining it, the candidate for baptism learned the Lord’s Prayer. St. Augustine says that after we learn who we believe in, we must pray to Him, because how can we pray to someone we do not know or believe in?

• g. In the last phase, the preachers helped them to memorize some recitations or short prayers.

• h. Finally, the Church offered them a rich banquet about the rites of baptism, chrismation, and the eucharist.

In short, we can divide the teaching material into two main sections: a behavioral study along with simplified dogmatic studies; and then a simplified study of the Church sacraments.