Of the challenges that the spiritual life brings to a priest’s life, one is particularly worth sharing: knowledge of the writings of the Church Fathers. The question is so simple, and patristic scholars often express it with simplicity. Reflecting on the life of Saint Justin the Martyr and Philosopher, and on his work, one such specialist writes: ‘Of all the Christian philosophers of the second century, Justin is the most important. It is he who touches us in the depths of our being. This layman, this intellectual, initiates dialogue with Jews and pagans. His life was a long quest for truth. His work, written with rigour and without affectation, stands as a testimony whose value has since grown. For him, Christianity is not a doctrine, but a Person: the Word made flesh and crucified. In this man, who lived eighteen centuries ago, we perceive the echo of our own quests, our own objections, our own certainties. In him we discover an open soul, a capacity for acceptance, and a willingness to engage in dialogue, which both disarms and delights. Although many of his works have been lost today, those that remain provide us with the intimate diary of this Christian and sufficient details to reveal his life from birth and his formative years right up to his martyrdom1”. The same seems to be true of the soul-searching readings on each of the Fathers, who were the spiritual teachers of the early Church, but also the bedrock of today’s theology. The Church is constantly engaged in the dynamic process of seeking and building up the truth that transcends social culture. For those who wonder why the Fathers were listened to, whilst we today find it difficult to tune into their spiritual wavelength, we must admit that there was a structure of communication in the patristic era from which we are now largely unable to draw nourishment for our catechetical identity.
What we must acknowledge is that the armies of Rome subjugated territories and cities, but it was the intellectual core of the age that was truly shaped. When the Church’s missionary-pastoral thinking is being formed, it is clear that the East shatters Roman pride. What exactly did the Church Fathers contribute beyond the poetry and philosophy of the age—which were the dimensions of their catechetical discourse through which they drew the sophisticated citizens of the sophisticated Roman Empire towards the Gospel? We are dealing with an early form of Christianity that was intellectually ‘contagious’, whereas today we are experiencing a contagion of fear, a sort of spiritual paralysis, in both speech and listening. And no, this is not a critical remark. Rather, it is an observation that requires analysis in order to become a cultural and spiritual impetus in equal measure. When the Church breaks away from the temple community and receives the gift of the Holy Spirit in abundance, it does not place itself in opposition to either the Temple or to Greek or Latin philosophical thought, but simply identifies the limits of these. And it proposes an alternative: a way of thinking emancipated through the work of the Holy Spirit and the practical wisdom of living life in Christ.
It must be emphasised from the outset that, beyond the development of the Gospels or the Apostles’ epistles, we have a series of texts which converge towards explaining the tenets of the faith, evolving like a catechetical framework from which the structures of the mechanism of the profession of faith were to develop. We are dealing with texts containing dialogues of the Risen One (Gnostic dialogues, the Epistle of the Apostles), works recounting the Birth of the Saviour (the Protoevangelium of James or the Gospel of Thomas) or a series of Apocryphal Acts2 All these texts, though not accepted by the Church, were used by those seeking to discover the truth about eternal life; they reveal to today’s reader a literary empathy for metaphor and the culture of a sincere quest. Over time, many other texts will join these—whether apocryphal or marked by Gnosticism severed from Christ. Some will receive appropriate responses; others will be erased from the memory of that difficult period of early Christianity. But all will constitute a treasure trove of thought, a way of thinking that will educate us in the perspective of interculturality coherently linked to Christ, somewhat opposed to our present perspective, which is fragmented into models of unreality: the psychoanalytic-relational, dialogical-personalist, critical-anthropological, innovative-transcultural and, only finally, Christian model, interpreted in an interdenominational manner as ‘3’. Perhaps for this reason, the study of the catechetical model of the Church Fathers deserves to be revisited as an alternative solution to the loss of perspective regarding the distinction between communal discourse, communication or social rhetoric, and preaching the Gospel.
The demands of conversion reflected in the Martyrdom Accounts 4 will also be evident in the internal structure of the catechumenate. Saint Justin (c. AD 150), whom we have already mentioned, described in Apology I, 61–62, in brief, the path by which those who believed in what he preached and who promised to live according to the high standards preached by the men of the Gospel were to be taught to pray and to ask, through fasting, for God’s forgiveness of the sins they had committed; but, as the Father writes, ‘we too pray and fast with them’. Demonstrating not only pastoral empathy, but also confidence that there is a shared experience (which we shall call communion and shall constantly embody in the Liturgy) of the knowledge of God, which cannot exist without knowledge of His will through preaching. Somewhat later, around 215 AD, Saint Hippolytus would speak of the catechumenate in much more technical terms. A three-year period of preparation, already organised around trained priests or laypeople, with those in training receiving support from their godparents. This model, widespread in Palestine and Syria, reflects the same warmth in education: a sense of shared knowledge, without unnecessary displays of erudition, and with great attention to detail. Thus, around 180 AD in Egypt, particularly in Alexandria, catechetical schools emerged where the primary focus was on highlighting the main elements of the ‘apostolic kerygma’5). They did not shy away from using the language of Greek philosophy, but they imbued it with ever-new meanings. What we take away are two fundamental aspects: communion and realism. These are expressions of faith manifested through the content of catechesis and homiletic structures.
We cannot go into detail regarding the catechumenal journey in the Early Church, but I believe it is worth recalling that, at each of the stages a new convert was to undergo—presentation before the community, admission into the group of catechumens and the sustained effort of learning, culminated in a liturgical rite, that of Baptism, through which the new person in Christ severed ties with their pagan past (Apostolic Tradition, 16), Baptism and the ‘laying on of hands’, the sign of Chrismation, establishing the catechumen fully in the life of Christ (Apostolic Tradition 18–19). In this context, not only did mystagogical catechesis develop—which today is almost entirely absent from parish practice—but also biblical catechesis, which then gave way to dogmatic and liturgical catechesis, distinct from purely mystagogical forms 6. A contemporary scholar, Francesco Trisoglio, holder of the Chair of Byzantine History and the History of Classical Civilisation at the Faculty of Arts of the University of Turin, has made an important contribution to the identification of a comparative catechetical model. He proposes the following keys to a patristic reading of catechetical reality:
1. Ascetic catechesis, Saint John Climacus and his Ladder, in which he emphasises seeing and hearing; analytical catechesis, through which anamnetic dialogue is constructed.
2. Catechesis in a multi-ethnic society, Saint Caesarius of Arles, in which the emphasis is on essentialisation and intellectual synthesis, on kindness rather than absurd pastoral zeal, and on the concreteness of the mission rather than on self-interest.
3. Catechesis rooted in both mystagogical and historical iconology, modelled on Saint John of Damascus, whose distinction stems from spirituality and the value of the icon as an epiphany. We are speaking of catechesis as the education of the reason of emotion.
4. The lucid catechesis of Theodore of Mopsuestia, a catechesis clothed in lucidity amidst a storm of meanings, a didactic construction of the message as pastoral thought in which the soul and salvation take precedence 7.
5. The catechesis that heals the ills of Hellenism, by Theodoret of Cyr: a metaphorical, analogical and vividly imagery-rich catechesis that proposes a robust theology with a profoundly apologetic character in relation to the culture of the time.
6. The Official Catechesis, preached by Saint Cyril of Jerusalem: a catechesis characterised by transparent dialogue and rich in teaching, a confession of faith constructed with relevance to symbolic theology.
7. The baptismal catechesis by Saint John Chrysostom, an excellent educational blend of baptismal homily, catechesis for catechumens, and catechesis for neophytes. It features catechetical language in a ‘liturgical rhythm’, which we shall refer to as the ‘liturgical integration’ of preaching (Fr Ilie Moldovan).
8. The liturgical catechesis of Saint Isidore of Seville 8, known as De ecclesiasticis officiis, which proposes a different framework for communicating revealed truth through the prism of liturgical language 9.
The eight directions identified can undoubtedly constitute eight themes for careful research into the dimensions through which the catechesis of the early Church can fundamentally assist the modern catechetical revival. We are not discussing a new neo-catechumenal path similar to that established by the Roman Catholic Church 10 within its own cultural context, nor are we speaking of a ‘charismatic-Pentecostal spring’, but rather of the urgent need for an internal reconstruction of the way in which we communicate the truth of the faith. It is not merely a question of methods and techniques, as we often believe, but of the spirit of understanding the profession of faith from within, from the fullness of the profession of faith which the catechesis of the Church Fathers preserves with simplicity and humility. What matters is not so much how much of ourselves we recognise in the Church Fathers’ endeavour to present the faith to the community— as diverse as they are today, and as human as the times in which they lived; what matters is that we must ask ourselves how much of what we do would find recognition in the mystery of their holiness, and how much of our preaching would inspire people of that time and of our own to strive for the Kingdom of Heaven, for, undoubtedly, the themes and tone of early catechetical preaching still stir the soul of people living in our own time.
- 1
Adalbert Hamman, The Church Fathers, Sapientia, Iași, 2005, p. 29.
- 2
Explanations as to their origins can be found in Claudio Moreschini and Enrico Norelli, A History of Early Greek and Latin Christian Literature. I. From the Apostle Paul to Constantine the Great, Polirom, 2001, pp. 163–180.
- 3
Filippo Toriello, Education from an Intercultural Perspective, Edizioni Scientifiche Italiane, 2001, pp. 53–84.
- 4
See Fr. Constantin Necula, ‘The Demands of Conversion Reflected in the Martyrdom Accounts – A Primary Source’. In From You, of Yours. Liturgy – Pastoral Care – Confession. A tribute to His Eminence Dr Laurențiu Streza on his 60th birthday, Andreiana Publishers, Sibiu, 2007, pp. 677–720.
- 5
For further details, see Lecturer Dr Constantin Preda, Apostolic Preaching: Rhetorical Structures in the Acts of the Apostles, published by the Biblical and Missionary Institute of the Romanian Orthodox Church, Bucharest, 2005, 331 pp.
- 6
Antonio Bollin, Francesco Gasparini, Catechesis in the Life of the Church: Historical Notes, Edizioni Paoline, 1989, pp. 38–43.
- 7
We should also mention here the work of Saint Irenaeus of Lyon, Epideixis, The Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching, with an excellent pastoral update by Giuseppe Betori in La Parola nel tempo della missione. Biblia, cultura, comunicazione, Ed. San Paolo, 2007, pp. 29–58.
- 8
The same Francesco Trisoglio also wrote an Introduzione a Isidoro di Siviglia, published by Morcelliana, 2009, 126 pp. He is also the editor of the volume Isidor di Siviglia, Le sentenze, published by Morcelliana, 2008, 285 pp.
- 9
For further details, see Francesco Trisoglio, Le Catechesi dei Padri della Chiesa. Uno scrigno di tesori da riscoprire, Effata Editrice, 2017, 174 pp.
- 10
Ezechiele Pasotti (ed.), The Neocatechumenal Way according to Paul VI and John Paul II, Ed. San Paolo, 1993, 198 pp.