(Source: Goodnews, London, May 2005)
John the Baptist said "He who sent me to baptize with water had said to me: ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and rest is the one who is going to baptize with the Holy Spirit" (John 1 .33). The Jerusalem Bible footnote to this passage says that this phrase sums up the whole purpose of the Messiah's coming, namely that mankind might be born again in the Spirit and that the Old Testament had already foretold it for according to the prophets the gift of the Spirit would
characterise the Messianic era (Ezekiel 36:27 and Joel 3: 1-2). The
characteristic of the Messianic age is to be an extraordinary outpouring of the
Spirit (Zc 4:6b.6:8) on all mankind, endowing them with special graces. The
Jerusalem Bible states that ''more mysteriously, for each receiver the Spirit will
be the principal of an inward renewal making possible a faithful observance of
the law of God (Ezek 36:26-27).
Thus the Spirit will be the principle of the new covenant (Jer 31:31); like
life-giving water it will nourish fruits of integrity and holiness." On
the feast of Pentecost the Jews celebrated the giving of the law. In the New Testament
the Spirit is given on this festival perhaps to show that the only way to keep
the law is through the Holy Spirit, one of whose 'fruits' is self control (Gal
5) - a victorious life lived according to God's law and not as a slave to the
flesh. St Cyril was very faithful to these biblical ideas and promoted them
with enthusiasm. For his labours he was later to be declared a doctor of the
Church.
St Cyril’s famous lectures
If you visit the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem built over Calvary and the
tomb of Christ you can still see the remains of the fourth century Constantinian
church where St Cyril delivered his two sets of instructions on Christian
initiation – baptism, confirmation and the Holy Eucharist – since they were all
received together just as in the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA)
today restored after the Second Vatican Council . The 1 9 catechetical lectures
were delivered to candidates for baptism in the Martyrion between 348-350 while
Cyril was stills priest. The 5 Mystagogical Catecheses were delivered after
Easter at the Anastasis or tomb of Christ when Cyril was a bishop.
Baptism in the Holy Spirit synonymous with Christian Initiation
The American Scripture scholars Fathers Kilian Mcdonnell and George Montague
say that the evidence for identifying Christian initiation with what the
contemporary Charismatic movement calls the ''baptism in the Spirit",
comes mostly from St Cyril's catechetical lectures 16 and 17. They are the
joint authors of "Christian Initiation and Baptism in the Holy Spirit:
Evidence from the First Eight Centuries" which devotes four detailed chapters
to St Cyril and to which I am largely indebted for this article.
The two authors say that "baptism in the Holy Spirit '' was a
synonym for Christian initiation in Justin Martyr, Origen, Didymus and Cyril of
Jerusalem.
The great patrology scholar Quasten says that Cyril's baptism
instructions represent "one of the most precious treasures of Christian
antiquity" and that no other early writer has given so detailed an account
of baptism and the Eucharist. Cyril in fact was exemplary in his presentation
of the sacramental as well as the charismatic. I think that he would not have
been surprised by the Vatican ll statement that it is not only through the
sacraments and church ministries that the Holy Spirit sanctifies and leads the
People of God and enriches it with virtues." (Lumen Gentium, 12).
Example the only way to exert influence
Raised in Jerusalerm Cyril was a zealous pastor with normal physical and
intellectual gifts. His homilies show no sign of great originality or skilful
literary style. He uses a clear and common language but his call to the
obedience of faith and evangelical fervour is deeply moving. C.S.Lewis once
observed in his work on "Christianity and Culture" that Pope Gregory
the Great vaunted the barbarity of his literary style to show that the message
was more important than the medium. Cyril seems to have done likewise.
Cyril was a man of deep faith and holiness and this shines out in his
lectures. Theodoret recorded the fact that Cyril in exile in Tarsus won the
hearts of the people by his wonderful preaching which was always highly
Biblical and free of philosophical speculation. And yet this man so ordinary in
his ways and without the personality that attracts attention attracted young
people to himself and inspired many of them to leave everything for the sake of
the kingdom of God. He inspired by his example. Albert Schweitzer once said that
example is not the major way of exerting influence but rather it is the only way.
Though a greatly spiritual man, it could never be said of Cyril that he lost
contact with the earthly problems and anxieties of the poor. Once he incurred
the wrath of his superiors by selling sacred vessels to feed the poor during a
famine.
According to the chronicles of the time there is one special incident which
sets Cyril apart from all his contemporaries. At the beginning of his
episcopacy an immense luminous cross miraculously appeared in the heavens over
the place of Calvary. All through his problems and exiles Cyril kept his eyes
firmly fixed on the redeeming cross of Christ.
Preparing people for Baptism one of his most important roles
Something else which sets Cyril apart at a time of great controversy was
that his lectures were free of polemics. He produced for his people preparing
for the great sacraments of baptism the basics of the Christian faith. As a
pastor he seems to have seen preparation for baptism as one of his most
important roles, for his lectures clearly involved a lot of hard work and show an
extraordinary knowledge of the bible – Old and New Testaments including the
Deutero canonical books. Cyril’s teachings in the catechetical lectures are
firmly based in Tradition: the list of biblical readings and the themes for
catechizing seem to have been of some antiquity. Also he quotes St. Irenaeus,
in his two lectures on the Spirit and the charisma. Who was a witness to the
historic faith of the Church. From Irenaeus, Cyril would have learned that the
charisms belong both to the Church and to the Apostolic proclamation of the
Gospel.
St Irenaeus and the charisms
Irenaeus writes of the actuality of the charisms in the life of the
Church of his day: "we have heard of many of the brethren who have
foreknowledge of the future visions and prophetic utterances; others by
laying-on of hands heal the sick and restore them to health." He states
that he has heard of "many members of the Church who have prophetic gifts,
and by the Spirit speak with all kinds of tongues, and bring men's secret
thoughts to light for their own good and expound the mysteries of God.''
Irenaeus mentions prophecy in this passage and Cyril twice speaks of prophecy
which is God's light on the present. ''Let each one prepare oneself to receive
the heavenly gift of prophecy"(CL 17:19) and "God grant that you may be
worthy of the charism of prophecy '" (CL 1 7:37). In the last instruction
before the beginning of initiation, Cyril exhorts the candidates ''my final
words. beloved ones, in this instruction are words of exhortation, urging all of
you to prepare your souls for the reception of the heavenly
charisma.'' (CL 1 8:32). Cyril tries to show that the Church of
Jerusalem, as all others, stands in a charismatic succession, a history of the
Spirit beginning with Moses. The Spirit is a "new kind of water '' (CL 1
6. 11 ). What the Spirit touches, the Spirit changes. The Spirit sanctified the
baptized into the likeness of Christ. The Spirit bestows charisma. "Great,
omnipotent and admirable is the Holy Spirit in the charisms (CL 16:22). Cyril makes
no attempt to restrict the charisms to the clerical orders. Hermits, virgins
and "all the laity have charisms (CL 16:22) Cyril appeals to the
experience of the Church in Jerusalem, in ''the whole Roman Empire" and in
the "whole world" (CL16.22) In describing the experience of the Apostles
at Pentecost, Cyril says ''they were completely baptised'', ''baptised without
anything wanting'', ''Baptised in all fullness" (CL 17:14, 1 5.18).
Montanism and its consequences
Alas! This wonderful charismatic theology was to go into eclipse after the
death of Cyril due to the heresy of Montanus. This plus the excesses of Montanist
gatherings were to lead to a reaction against prophecy and the other charisms.
Cyril was aware of Montanus and refers to him a few times in his writings but
like Irenaeus he does not allow abuse of the gifts to rule out the use of them.
Irenaeus believed that the presence of the false prophets is not to serve as a
pretext for expelling the grace of prophecy from the Church" (Against the Heresies
3: 1 1.9). Balanced man that he was Cyril sticks to the via media; neither
charismania nor charisphobia but fidelity to the Apostolic preaching and the
tradition before him.
The Second Vatican Council prescribed the revision of the Rite of
Baptism of Adults and decreed that the catechumenate for adults in several
stages should be restored. This Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults
(RCIA) is very similar to the rites that Cyril was familiar with. In the
beautiful introduction to this rite in the Roman Ritual it mentions Christians
becoming a new creation through water and the Spirit at Baptism and being
signed with the gift of the Spirit in Confirmation. Nevertheless Christians are
exhorted to go on praying for what the Ritual calls a ''greater outpouring of
the Holy Spirit'' so that "the whole human race may be brought into the
unity of God's family''.
Importance of expectant faith to receive
This statement is re-echoing the words of St Paul in the New Testament.
In Ephesians 5: 1 8 Paul commands the Ephesians and us to be filled with the Holy
Spirit or go on being filled with the Spirit. Paul uses the imperative mood in
the Greek it is a command or obligation to go on being milled again and again
by the Spirit all through our lives. God can pour out his Spirit many times in
a person's life, often in response to faith-filled prayer. St Cyril exhorted
his catechumens to widen their expectations for the charisma and to have
expectant faith (CL 16.6). In the First Letter of Paul to the Corinthians,
chapters 12- 14, St Paul four times uses a Greek word "zelonte" with
regard to these charisma. This word suggests a passionate desire and an active seeking
of gifts, maintains Sr Nancy Kellar. It implies that the gifts do not come
simply automatically, but must be yearned for. Love has got to be the motive
for ''seeking the higher gifts those that build up the Church. Without this unselfishness.
Sr Nancy maintains, the gifts get side-tracked by self-interest self glorification
and lose their power to build up the body as happened in the case of the
Montanists.
Further reading: Christian
Initiation and Baptism in the Holy Spirit: Evidence from the First Eight
Centuries published by Liturgical Press, Collegeville, Minnesota 1991.
