Catechetical teachings

Secret teachings → Pre-Catechetical Teaching, or Preface to the Catechetical Teachings of Our Holy Father Cyril, Archbishop of Jerusalem The book of St. Cyril, Archbishop of Jerusalem (315–386), which contains his catechetical and secret teachings, clearly shows the height, beauty and saving power of Orthodox faith and moral teaching, an example of teaching Christian dogmas. These teachings made the saint especially revered as a skilled teacher of the right faith. The teachings enjoyed great respect and authority in the East, so that the holy fathers were not only guided by them in preaching the word of God, but also translated them from Greek into many other languages, so that as many Christians and all people seeking the truth as possible could be introduced to this storehouse of Christian wisdom. The book is intended for a wide circle of Orthodox readers, as well as for those who have not yet received Holy Baptism, but want to learn about Christian teaching. Saint Cyril, Archbishop of Jerusalem (315–386) - an outstanding ascetic, preacher and church writer. Initially a monk in the vicinity of Caesarea in Palestine, in 348 he was elected bishop. He was removed from the pulpit several times during periods of persecution from the Arians (in 357, 360, 362 and 367), and he spent some time in exile. In 381 he took part in the Council of Constantinople. From his sermons (improvisations recorded by his listeners), the catechetical (κατεκετικάι) and occult (μισταγωγικάι) teachings (among twenty-four) are important for the history of Christian dogmas, sacraments and rituals. Saint Cyril read them publicly around 347, or 350. At that time he was still a presbyter, whose duties included teaching the newly baptized. The first 19 teachings bear the imprint of colloquial speech, the rest, apparently, were published after the death of St. Cyril. These teachings were addressed to those preparing for Holy Baptism, as well as to those already worthy of receiving it. The first of them is introductory, the next five deal with the problem of turning to Christ, and the subsequent ones explain the foundations of faith. We call the last five teachings mystical, or occult, because they are intended for those who have already received Baptism and explain the meaning of the Christian Sacraments. The catechetical teachings are based on a detailed explanation of the Creed. The saint suggested that the Christian write down the Creed “on the tablet of the heart.” “The members of the faith,” teaches St. Cyril, “are not compiled according to human invention, but from the entire Scripture all the most important things are collected and thus one doctrine is compiled. Just as a mustard seed contains many branches in a small grain, so faith also combines in several sayings all the teachings of piety of the Old and New Testaments.” In the ancient Christian Church there were two kinds of people: those who were baptized (who were members of the Church and were called faithful) and those who wished to be Baptized (or catechumens). The word “catechumen” comes from the word “catechumen”, in Greek: κατήχησις (catechism), i.e. initial instruction in the dogmas of faith for those who want to be a Christian. The catechumens, unlike the faithful, could not participate in the Church Sacraments, especially to partake of the Holy Mysteries of Christ, listen to the Creed, the Lord's Prayer "Our Father", and teachings about the most important and hidden Sacraments of the Christian faith. The acceptance of catechumens into members of the Church did not occur immediately, but gradually and consistently. After sufficient testing of the sincerity of the desire of the catechumens to accept the Christian faith, the destructiveness of pagan superstition and the Orthodox dogmas of faith were initially explained to them, with interpretation and evidence of the Old and New Testaments. They were gradually introduced to church life: they were allowed to enter the assemblies of the faithful, but in their presence no mystery, and especially the Eucharist, was performed, according to the words of St. John Chrysostom: “With the doors closed we serve the mystery, but we forbid entry to the unenlightened.” To the catechumens, Saint Cyril spoke his first teachings, called catechumens. They were given a complete and accurate exposition of the Creed and a brief account of the Sacraments. And members of the Church, in turn, prayed for them, especially diligently during the days of Great Lent until Great Saturday, when the deliberate Baptism of the catechumens took place. And the secret teachings were addressed to the newly baptized. Although information about the life of St. Cyril is very scarce, his words, spoken so long ago in Jerusalem and captured in the written tradition of Christianity, made his name especially revered as the name of the great mentor of the right faith. The words of St. Cyril became the basis for numerous catechetical teachings and texts of Orthodoxy. Many catechisms that appeared in Russia are directly based on the texts of the Mysterious and Catechetical Words. This connection is not accidental: after all, Saint Cyril of Jerusalem, led by the grace-filled action of the Holy Spirit, was able to present the dogmatic basis of the teaching of the Church in an unusually laconic form. The teachings of this Jerusalem saint enjoyed great respect and authority in the East, so that the holy fathers not only were guided by them in preaching the word of God, but also translated them from Greek into many other languages, so that as many Christians as possible and all people seeking the truth could be introduced to this storehouse of Christian wisdom. The teachings of our holy father Cyril, Archbishop of Jerusalem, were translated into the Slavic language more than once and were always included in the circle of the most important edifying spiritual readings of both clergy and all Orthodox Christians, being a faithful guide in explaining the dogmas of Orthodoxy and pious life according to the laws of the Gospel. In the 19th century, two Russian translations of the works of St. Cyril of Jerusalem were published. The first of them, carried out by the Yaroslavl Theological Seminary, was first published in St. Petersburg in 1822. The second was published in the series “Works of the Holy Fathers in Russian translation, published at the Moscow Theological Academy” (Vol. 25. Works like the saints of our father Cyril, Archbishop of Jerusalem. M., 1855) and was last republished by P. P. Soykin in St. Petersburg in 1913. Saint Cyril of Jerusalem, with his teachings, clearly taught the height and beauty of the Orthodox faith and moral teaching and showed others the way of teaching Christian dogmas. The catechetical and occult teachings of St. Cyril proposed below are reproduced on the basis of a translation of his works made at the Yaroslavl Theological Seminary according to the publication of the Synodal Printing House (M., 1900); they are adapted for the modern Orthodox reader. We hope that they will bring considerable spiritual benefit to everyone who turns to the teachings of the Orthodox Church. All wishes and comments from readers will be gratefully accepted by the Publisher. 1. The stench of bliss is already upon you, enlightened ones! You are already gathering spiritual flowers to weave heavenly crowns; the fragrance of the Holy Spirit has already been poured out; you are already on the threshold of the royal palaces; Oh, if only the Tsar Himself would lead you inside them! There is color on the trees now; Oh, when would I see fruit on them! There has already been a census of your names. Also the naming of the army, and the wedding lamps. And the desire for heavenly community, and good intentions, and subsequent hope. For he who said is not a liar: all things work together for good to those who love God (Rom. 8:23) 1. Although God is generous in charity, he nevertheless expects unhypocritical will from everyone. That is why the apostle adds: to those called according to His purpose. An unhypocritical intention makes you invited. For if you are here in body, but not in spirit, then it is useless. 2. Once upon a time, Simon the Magus also approached the font; baptized, but not enlightened; he washed the body with water, but did not enlighten the heart with the Spirit; the body entered the font and came out of it, but the soul was not buried in Christ and did not rise with Him (see Col. 2:12; Rom. 6:4; 1 Cor. 10:2). I mention falls so that you do not fall; For educationally this happened to them, and it is written for the instruction of those who come to this day: Lest any of you dare to tempt grace, lest any root of bitterness spring up and cause harm (Heb. 12:15), Lest any of you come up saying: Let us see what the faithful do. When I get up, I’ll look to find out what’s going on with them. You want to be seen, but don’t you think they’ll see you too? Do you feel like you know what’s happening, but God doesn’t seem to know your heart? 3. Someone decided to find out what was happening at the wedding mentioned in the Gospel, and, putting on indecent clothes, he went up, lay down and began to eat, because the groom allowed it. Seeing everyone wearing white clothes, he should also put on the same. However, while eating the same food as others, he did not have the same clothes and did not have the same intention. But although the groom is generous, he is not without pickiness. Walking around each of those reclining and examining everyone (for he did not want them to be in rags, but in splendid clothes), when he saw a stranger who did not have a wedding robe, he said to him: friend! how did you get here! (Matthew 22:12). In what form? With what conscience? Let the gatekeeper not prevent you from inviting you to the feast out of generosity; let you not know what clothes you had to wear to the feast. You came and saw the shining clothes on those reclining; Shouldn't you have learned at least from what you saw? Shouldn't we have gone up at the right time so that we could go out at the right time? Now you have not risen at the right time, and you will be expelled at the wrong time. And he orders the servants: bind his feet, who dared to enter here, tie his hands, who did not know how to dress him in light clothes, and throw him into utter darkness. For he is not worthy of the wedding lamps. Do you see what happened to him? Beware of this too. 4. We, the servants of Christ, accept everyone and, being in the rank of gatekeepers, leave the door unlocked; So, you can ascend with a soul defiled by sins and with unclean intentions. You have ascended, you have been honored, your name is written down. Do you see such an important church position? Do you contemplate order and decorum? Reading Scripture? The presence of clergy and continuity of teaching? Revere this place and learn from what you contemplate. Go out in good time today and get up in good time tomorrow. If your soul is clothed in the clothes of the love of money, then go up, dressed differently: take off your former clothes, do not cover them; put off the robe of lust and impurity and put on the bright robe of chastity. I tell you before Jesus, the Bridegroom of souls, comes and sees the garments. You have plenty of time for this. You have forty days to repent. There is a lot of time to undress and wash, and get dressed and get up. If you remain in your evil will, then the one preaching to you will not be guilty, and you do not hope to receive grace. The water will accept you, but the Spirit will not accept you. Whoever sees a wound on himself, let him apply a plaster; whoever falls, let him rise. Let none of you be Simon, let there be neither hypocrisy nor curiosity about this matter in you. 5. You can come here for another reason; a husband can come to please his wife, and back - the same can be said about wives. Often a slave would come to please his master, or a friend would want to please a friend. I throw the bait and catch you, although you came with a bad intention, but with the good hope of being saved. Maybe you didn’t know where you were going and what kind of net you were caught in. Caught in church nets; surrender alive into captivity. Do not run away, for Jesus catches you not to kill you, but to, having killed you, to revive you. For you must both die and rise again. I heard the apostle saying: (count yourselves. - Ed.) dead to sin, but alive to righteousness (cf. Rom. 6:10). Die to sin and live in righteousness; from now on, live for her. 6. Look what dignity Jesus gives you: you were called a catechumen, having been announced from without; I heard the word of hope and did not know it; listened to mysteries and did not understand them; listened to the Divine Scripture and did not comprehend its depth. Now the announcement is pronounced not outside, but inside you. For the indwelling Spirit (see James 4:5) makes your mind the church of God. When you hear what is written about the sacraments, then you will understand what you did not know before. Don't think that what you're getting is unimportant. Being a pitiful person, you receive the name of God. Listen to what Paul says: God is faithful (1 Cor. 1:9). Listen to what other Scripture says: God is faithful and righteous (1 John 1:9). Having foreseen this (i.e. that people will receive the name of God), the psalmist, on behalf of God, said: I said: you are gods, and the sons of the Most High are all of you (Ps. 82:6). But be careful that there is no right name, but an unfaithful will. Enter the field, go; There is no other time like this for you. If the days of your marriage were approaching, then, having neglected everything else, would you not take up the preparation of a feast? But, wanting to dedicate your soul to the Heavenly Bridegroom, will you really not give up the physical in order to receive the spiritual? 7. You cannot be baptized twice or thrice; otherwise one could say: the first time it was useless to me, I’ll correct it the next time. On the contrary, if it was no good the first time, you won’t be able to improve it. For there is one Lord, one faith, one baptism (Eph.4:5). Only heretics are baptized another time, because their first baptism was not a baptism. 8. God does not require anything else from us other than good will. Do not say: how will my sins be cleansed? By desire and belief, I tell you. What's shorter than that? However, if your mouth says that you want this, but your heart does not speak, then the Knower of the Heart is the Judge. From now on, refrain from every evil deed; Let not your tongue utter unruly words, let not your eye sin, and let not your eye wander over useless objects. 9 . Let your feet hasten to the catechetical teachings. Accept spells with reverence, and whether they blow on you or cast a spell, consider these actions to be salvation for yourself. From rough and forged gold, mixed with various substances, with copper, tin, iron and lead, when we want to get only gold, then without fire the gold cannot be purified from foreign impurities; so the soul cannot be cleansed without spells. They are divine, extracted from the Divine Scriptures. Your face is covered so that your mind is free; so that the eyes, wandering, and the heart are not forced to wander; closing the eyes does not in the least prevent the ear from listening to the saving teaching. Just as goldsmiths, with the help of certain small tools, fan the fire and melt the gold placed in the crucible, intensifying the flame, and find what they are looking for, so do exorcists, when by the Spirit of God they create fear in a person, and in the body, as if in a crucible, they warm up the soul; then the devil flees, but salvation remains, the hope of eternal life, and, finally, the soul, cleansed of sins, receives salvation. Let us remain strong in hope, brothers, and, having surrendered ourselves to Him, let us hope that God, the Lord of all, seeing our will, will cleanse us from sins; to give us the good hope of things and grant us saving repentance. God called you, and you are called. 10. Do not shy away from public teachings, no matter how long they are spoken, so that your thoughts do not weaken. For you receive weapons against opposing forces, against heretics, Jews, Samaritans and pagans. You have many enemies, you try to have many weapons, you throw arrows at many, so you need to know how to hit a Greek with them, how to fight a heretic, a Jew and a Samaritan. And now the weapon is ready, and the spiritual sword is even more ready. Moreover, you must, with good will, stretch out your right hand in order to wage the battle of the Lord, overcome opposing forces, and be invincible in any heretical attack. 11. I advise you this too: learn what is said to you and keep it; Do not consider these teachings to be ordinary conversations. For although they are good and worthy of faith, if we leave something out in them today, we will find out tomorrow. And the teaching that was taught to you in order about the bath from birth, if it is omitted today, then when will it be rewarded? Imagine that it is time to plant trees: if we don’t dig up the earth and plant them, then at what other time can it be planted well that was planted poorly at first? Imagine that the catechetical teaching is a structure. If we do not strengthen it properly with ties so that there are no cracks, then the structure will be fragile. But one must place stone upon stone in order; associate angle with angle; discard what is unnecessary - and thus elevate the structure. Likewise, we deliver to you like stones of knowledge. We must hear about the living God, we must hear about judgment, we must hear about Christ, we must hear about the resurrection; Many things must be said in order; Now this is said separately, and then it will be presented in connection. If you do not put together and remember the first and second, then the creator will create, but your building will be bad. 12. Then, as the catechumen teaching says, if the catechumen asks you what the teachers told you, do not answer anything to a stranger. For we teach you the mystery and the hope of the age to come. Keep this secret for the sake of the Rewarder and don’t listen when someone tells you: what’s the harm if I find out? And the sick ask for wine; but if it is given untimely, then madness produces, from which two evils are born: the patient dies, and the doctor remains in disgrace. So, if the catechumen hears something from the faithful, then the catechumen falls into madness, because he does not understand what he heard, but it discredits and ridicules what is said, and the faithful is condemned as a traitor to this secret. Behold, you are already close to us; see, do not tell, not because what is being preached here is not worthy of telling, but because the ear is not worthy of hearing. You were once a catechumen; then I did not tell you what needed to be told. When you comprehend the height of the teaching by experience, then you will learn that those who are announced are not worthy of hearing. 13. You, whose names are included in the list of the enlightened, you have become sons and daughters of one mother. When you rise before the spells, then let each of you talk about something pious; and if one of you is not there, send for him. For if you were called to dinner, would you not wait for the person invited with you? If you had a brother, would you not try for his good? However, do not be curious about useless things, such as: what is happening in the city, what is happening in the countryside, what the king is doing, what the bishop is doing, what the presbyter is doing. Woe behold, this is what your time demands; Stop and know that I am God (Ps. 45:11). If you see faithful servants who are not embarrassed, then they have what is immutable, they know what they have received, they maintain grace. And you are still at the point of balance, whether you will receive it or not. Do not imitate those who are calm, but be filled with fear. 14. When a spell occurs, then, until the arrival of other conjured persons, husbands must remain with husbands, and wives with wives. By the way, now remember about Noah’s ark. In it were Noah, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives. Although there was only one ark and the door was closed, everything was in order there. Although the church and everything inside it are closed, there must be division between you; Husbands should be with their husbands, and wives with their wives, so that the assumption of salvation does not lead to destruction. A good idea is to sit one next to the other; but let the passions be removed. Why should sedentary men also have a useful book? let one read and the other listen; if there is no book, then let one pray, and the other should say something useful. And the virgins, when they gather, must either sing or read to themselves so that the lips speak, but not the ears of others hear. Let your wives be silent in the churches (1 Cor. 14:34; 1 Tim. 2:12). And a married wife should do the same and pray; let the mouth move, but let not the voice be heard, so that Samuel may come into being; so that your barren soul, being heard by God, gives birth to salvation. For this is the meaning of the name Samuel. 15. I will notice everyone's diligence, I will notice everyone's reverence. May the mind be inflamed to reverence, may the soul be opened, may the cruelty of unbelief be broken, may excess captivity be separated from iron; let only one clean remain; let the rust fall from the iron; let only the natural remain. When God shows you this night, the darkness shining with the light of the day, about which it is said: the darkness will not darken you, and the night is as bright as the day (Ps. 139:12), then let the gates of heaven be opened to everyone. Then may you enjoy the Christ-bearing, fragrant waters, then may you receive the name of Christ and the power of Divine things. Raise your mind's eye now; behold the faces of the Angels and the Lord of all, God seated, and the Only Begotten Son sitting at the right hand, and the Spirit co-present; Those who serve Thrones and Dominions, and of you, each and every one, are saved. Now make sure that, as you were announced, the pleasant voice that the Angels will pronounce when you are saved announces itself to you: Blessed is he whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered! (Ps. 31:1). When you, like the stars of the church, rise pure in body and bright in soul. 16. The great thing is the present baptism. It is the redemption of captives, the remission of sins, the death of sin, the rebirth of the soul, a bright, holy robe, an indestructible seal, a chariot to heaven, the consolation of heaven; kingdom intercession, gift of adoption. However, the serpent guards those passing by along the way; be careful that it does not sting you with unbelief. He sees so many being saved and is looking for whom to devour (see 1 Pet. 5:8). You enter the Father of spirits, but you pass by this serpent. How can you get past him? Shoe your feet with the readiness to preach the gospel of peace (Eph. 6:15), so that even if it hurts, you will not suffer harm. Establish faith in yourself, have firm hope, strong shoes, so that you can pass by the enemy and ascend to the Lord. Prepare your heart for the acceptance of the teaching, for the communion of the Holy Mysteries. Pray often that God will honor you with the heavenly and immortal Mysteries. Do not be idle either day or night, but as soon as sleep falls from your eyes, let your mind rise to prayer. And if you feel that an evil thought is entering into him, arouse in yourself the saving memory of judgment. Occupy your mind with teaching, so that it forgets the vile. If someone says to you: “And you want to dive into the water? Are there no baths in the city?” - then know that the sea serpent is telling you this. Do not listen to the words of the speaker, but to the active God. Guard your soul so that you remain undetected and, remaining in hope, become an heir of eternal salvation. 17. We, as people, command and teach; But do not build your building with straw, reeds, and chaff, lest we lose our labor when the work is burned; but do your work with gold and silver and precious stones. My business is to speak, yours is to agree, and God’s is to do. Let us direct our minds, tune our souls, prepare our hearts: let us strive for the soul, eternal treasures of tea. But God is mighty, who guides your hearts and knows who is sincere and who is hypocritical; to preserve the sincere and to make the hypocrite faithful. For God can make an unfaithful faithful (if only he gives his heart to Him), and blot out the handwriting that condemns us. May He consign your former sins to oblivion, may He plant you in the church and may He choose you into His army, clothed in the weapon of righteousness; may it be filled with the heavenly things of the New Testament and may it be sealed with the seal of the Holy Spirit, inviolable forever, in Christ Jesus our Lord. Glory to Him forever and ever. Amen. In the translation of works on which this publication is based, all quotations from the Holy Scriptures are given in the Slavic translation. We give quotes in the Russian translation, except for those that do not have the same meaning in the Russian translation. You might be interested in: