I was first introduced to Cyril’s Catechetical Lectures by Hugh Nibley in his phenomenal work The Message of the Joseph Smith Papyri. Cyril of Jerusalem is a prominent early Christian theologian, and is considered a saint by many. His most famous writings are set of twenty-three catechetical lectures which he delivered around 347 or 348 A.D. while still a presbyter or priest before he became the Bishop or See (Seer?) of Jerusalem. Most of these lectures were given as instruction to candidates before baptism and initiation. One of the appendices of Dr. Nibley’s book contains snippets from Cyril’s lectures on the “mysteries” (ordinances) or advanced instruction given to the newly baptized or initiated, having already performed these rites. These are contained in the last five of the twenty-three lectures, or lectures 19-23, often called the lectures on the mysteries. All the lectures can be read in full online at New Advent or at the Christian Classics Ethereal Library, albeit the translation is different than Nibley’s which he takes directly from the Patrologia Graeca by J.P. Migne (Vol. 33, cols. 1065-1105).
These last five lectures are entitled Mystagogikai Katecheseis, literally Mystagogic Cathechisms, or as Nibley gives the translation, “Five Explanatory Lectures to the Newly Enlightened,” or “Instructions to Initiates into the Mysteries” or “Lessons on the Initiatory Ordinances” ((Hugh Nibley, The Message of the Joseph Smith Papyri, 1st ed., 279)). As we have discussed previously, the word mystery was used by the early church to mean ordinances. Nibley explains that these lectures were delivered at a time of much temple activity in the church, and that these lectures give the most detailed record of the ordinances of the church at that time ((ibid.)). These lectures all give much insight into the ordinances that were being practiced at the time.
The portions of the lectures that we’ll look at today are those pertaining to washing and anointing ordinances. Lecture 2 of the mysteries, or 20 of the set of twenty-three, begins to speak about anointings. This translation will be from Nibley’s notes unless otherwise noted:
You were true imitators of Adam, the first man to be created, who was naked in the Garden and was not ashamed. ((ibid., 281))
Then, when you were stripped, you were anointed with exorcised oil [Nibley’s says olive oil], from the very hairs of your head to your feet, and were made partakers of the good olive-tree, Jesus Christ. (New Advent)
A “baptism” takes place where the initiate is taken into and out of the water three times, in symbolism of the three days Christ was in the tomb. Nibley notes that this was a washing rather than a baptism, because there was no immersion ((Hugh Nibley, “Meaning and Functions of Temples,” Encyclopedia of Mormonism, 1461)). Lecture 3 continues:
Having therefore become partakers of Christ, you are properly called Christs, and of you God said, Touch not My Christs, or anointed. Now you have been made Christs, by receiving the antitype of the Holy Ghost; and all things have been wrought in you by imitation, because you are images of Christ. He washed in the river Jordan, and having imparted of the fragrance of His Godhead to the waters, He came up from them; and the Holy Ghost in the fulness of His being lighted on Him, like resting upon like. And to you in like manner, after you had come up from the pool of the sacred streams, there was given an Unction [anointing], the anti-type of that wherewith Christ was anointed; and this is the Holy Ghost; of whom also the blessed Esaias, in his prophecy respecting Him, said in the person of the Lord, The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me: He has sent Me to preach glad tidings to the poor… (New Advent)
He was anointed with … what is called the olive oil of exaltation (agalliaseos elaio—a coronation figure) … while you were anointed with myrrh (scented oil), making you companions and copartners (koinonoi kai metochoi) with Christ.
You were anointed on your brow and your other sense-organs, and so while the body is anointed in outward appearance with myrrh, the soul (psyche) is sanctified by the life-bestowing Holy Spirit.
First of all you were anointed on the brow (metopon, forehead and eyes, lit. “space between the eyes”) to free you from the shame which completely involved the First Man when he fell, and that you might clearly perceive (or reflect, katoptrizisthe), the glory of the Lord with wide-open mind (lit. with uncovered face). Then your ears that you might receive the hearing ears of the mysteries of God…. Next come the nostrils, that upon receiving the holy ordinance you may say: “We are the sweet odor of Christ to God among the saved.” After that (you were anointed) on the breast (tastethe, “the seat of feeling, passion and thought,” Liddell and Scott), that, clothed with the breastplate of righteousness, you may stand against the wiles of the Devil—(countering his evil thoughts with good ones).
As Christ after his baptism … went forth to confront the Adversary, so you after your holy baptism and mystic anointing, were clothed in the armor of the Holy Ghost to stand against the opposing … power.
It is because you are worthy of this holy anointing (chrism) that you are called Christians…. it is by following this road that you have advanced to the point of earning that title.
When Moses received the order to make his brother a High Priest, after washing him with water he anointed him, and he was called a Christ, because of the anointing which was the type. Thus also Solomon, being called to the Kingship, was anointed after a bath in Gihon by the High Priest. For them it was a type (making them kings and priests), but for us it is not symbolical but real, since you really have been anointed by the Holy Ghost. The King (arche) of your salvation is Christ, for he is the true first-fruits and you are the unleavened bread. If the first-fruits (i.e., the priestly office) is holy, that holiness will be transferred to the unleavened bread (i.e., you too will become kings and priests). ((Hugh Nibley, The Message of the Joseph Smith Papyri, 1st ed., 280-281))
Nibley jumps around a bit in the lectures to piece together the end of the purification rites as given by Cyril:
Having put off the old man’s garment of sorrow, you now celebrate as you put on the garment of the Lord Jesus Christ. (Lecture 1)
Having been baptized in Christ and having put on Christ like a garment, you come to resemble (symmorphoi gegonate) the Son of God. (Lecture 3)
After you put off the old garments and put on those of spiritual white, you should keep them always thus spotless white. That is not to say that you must always go around in white clothes, but rather that you should be always clothed in what is really white and glorious, that you may say with the blessed Isaiah (61:10), “Let my soul exult in the Lord, for he hath clothed me in a robe of salvation and clothing of rejoicing.” (The word here used for “clothe” is endy, to place a garment on one, and is the ultimate source of our word “endowment,” derived in the Oxford English Dictionary from both induere, to invest with a garment, and inducere, to lead into or initiate.) (Lecture 4) ((ibid.))
You can see that the early Christian Church, even several centuries after Christ, still had a strong understanding of particular purification ordinances, namely washings and anointings, within the gospel, and their symbolic meaning in taking upon oneself the name, and thus the sufferings and atonement, of Christ.
The Encyclopedia of Mormonism tells us about “Washings and Anointings”:
Washings and anointings are preparatory or initiatory ordinances in the temple. They signify the cleansing and sanctifying power of Jesus christ applied to the attributes of the person and to the hallowing of all life. They have biblical precedents (see Oil; Temples Through the Ages; Washing and Anointing). Women are set apart to administer the ordinances to women, and men are set apart to administer the ordinances to men. Latter-day Saints look forward to receiving these inspired and inspiring promises with the same fervent anticipation they bring to baptism. They come in the spirit of a scriptural command: “Cleanse your hands and your feet before me” (D&C 88:74; cf. 1 John 2:27). A commemorative garment is given with these ordinances and is worn thereafter by the participant (see Garments). ((Allen Claire Rozsa, “Temple Ordinances,” Encyclopedia of Mormonism, 1444))
Nibley also adds his commentary in the Encyclopedia of Mormonism:
According to Cyril, this is followed by an anointing, making every candidate, as it were, a messiah. The anointing of the brow, face, ears, nose, breast, etc., represents “the clothing of the candidate in the protective panoply of the Holy Spirit,” which however does not hinder the initiate from receiving a real garment on the occasion (CWHN 4:364). Furthermore, according to Cyril, the candidate was reminded that the whole ordinance is “in imitation of the sufferings of Christ,” in which “we suffer without pain by mere imitation his receiving of the nails in his hands and feet: the antitype of Christ’s sufferings” (Patrologiae Graecae 33:1081). The Jews once taught that Michael and Gabriel will lead all the sinners up out of the lower world: “they will wash and anoint them, healing them of their wounds of hell, and clothe them with beautiful pure garments and bring them into the presence of God” (R. Akiba, cited in CWHN 4:364). ((Hugh Nibley, “Meaning and Functions of Temples,” Encyclopedia of Mormonism, 1461))
An interesting consequence is that the Catholic Church may be said to have types of the ordinances. For them, baptism is a type of washing; confirmation, which always uses a special type of oil called “chrism”, is a type of anointing; receiving the Eucharist is a type of an endowment of power if not the presence of God.
This is one of my favorite subject, great post!
The old question of “Are Mormon’s Christian,” in my opinion should be answered with Cyril’s lectures. When we really understand that a person is a “Christian,” or one that is anointed, The word Christ mean anointed, when he/she is anointed.
I answer the above question, with yes, but can anyone (church) answer in the affirmative besides the LDS church? The answer is no.
So the real question is; Are there any true christian (giving proper anointings) churches besides the LDS church? Which we are forced to answer “no” to.
Check out my links on this topic: Are Mormons Christians and Cyril
-David
Of course, many Christians have forgotten what it means to be anointed – which such an ordinance here always means something preparatory to what will occur beyond the veil, which is to become kings and queens, priests and priestesses, “heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ” (Romans 8:17).
Catholics believe in each Christian’s apostolate: that is, each Christian is an apostle and, as such, duty-bound to spread the Gospel and perfect the saints. While this is true to some degree, the Temple teaches us that we actually go beyond this. We become christs, in a sense, with a small “c” (just as we all are prophets with a small “p”), saviors on Mt. Zion, to do those things to bring salvation to others that they cannot do themselves.
I like what you quoted, Bryce. Allow me to emphasize a part:
and all these things He has freely bestowed upon us, that we, sharing His sufferings by imitation, might gain salvation in reality
Quite revelatory of the Temple, where this is symbolically done, perhaps?
It is still done in a Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches in the context of the Paschal Liturgy. The way I see it, there are two templates, perhaps both being equally auspicious, that originate with the original Israelite temple cultus, namely the Masonic template and the Catholic template. I say perhaps….personally I believe the Catholic template to be the superior one. Nevertheless Joseph was right, Masonry had its origins from Solomon’s temple.
I continue to be amazed when Latter-day Saints point to ancient ritual in the early Christian/Catholic Church as something they believe has disappeared, when in fact, that ritual is very much still in place and can be easily witnessed. It is fine to point to it in comparison to LDS temple ritual, but incorrect to suggest it only existed anciently, and not currently. I recommend Latter-day Saints get themselves to an Easter Vigil mass, and to the masses leading up to it, to see the rites of initiation firsthand before assuming incorrectly they no longer exist. At no time have they disappeared. The anointing of sense organs with chrism (consecrated oil) is very much a part of the rite of initiation into the Church, as is baptism and confirmation.
Notes on Anointings through history:
Powel Mills Dawley wrote that candidates for baptism in the early Church would be anointed before they went down into the font. Thus, they “received the first anointing with oil.” Then, after stepping down into the font, they were asked three questions & immersed into the water or the water of Baptism was poured upon them. Upon coming up from the water they were anointed again.1
Tertullian, A.D. 145—220, wrote about washings and anointings, and the laying on of hands to receive the Holy Ghost: “The flesh indeed is washed that the soul may be cleansed; the flesh is anointed that the soul may be consecrated; the flesh is signed [with the cross] that the soul too may be fortified; the flesh is shadowed by the imposition of hands that the soul also may be enlightened by the Spirit. . .”2
About 610–630, on a Byzantine silver dish, excavated on the island of Cyprus, there is a depiction of the anointing of David by Samuel, who holds a horn filled with oil over David’s head. Thus, David becomes an anointed King.3
920-30, in the Bible of Leo the Patrician, made at Constantinople, is a depiction of The Anointing of David, for over his head is held a horn filled with anointing substance.4
936–1075, like other Christian kings, such as in France and Anglo-Saxon England, the early Germans, considered their “ecclesiastical anointment with holy oil upon coronation,”5 to have acquired a sacral or sacred nature. Hence, their acts of anointment raises the king above other laymen, making him the vicar of Christ on earth, anointed of God. Such acts were portrayed in Ottonian and Salian art, architecture and liturgical dramas and ceremonies.6
These anointing rituals of the Christian kings, preserved in part, the anointing rituals of the mystery dramas. The anointing of the kings was also called “The coronation” rite, or the “Unction with a special holy chrism”.7 This is often depicted in early to later Christian art works. One example of this is of Charles V. 8
“The Byzantine emperor was referred to as ‘anointed of the Lord’ and ‘living icon of Christ’. While the coronation ritual acclaimed him as ‘crowned by God’ and ‘crowned by Christ’.”9
End Notes:
1- Powel Mills Dawley, Our Christian Heritage, Church History and the Episcopal Church, (New York: Morehouse-Barlow Company, 1959, 3rd ed., 1960, pp.49-50.
2- Henry Bettenson, The Early Christian Fathers, A Selection from the writings of the Fathers from St. Clement of Rome to St. Athanasius, (London; New York; Toronto: Geoffrey Cumberlege, Oxford University Press, 1956), p. 198. Tertullian, De Resurrection Carnis, 8.
3- Kurt Weitzmann, Editor, Age of Spirituality, Late Antique and Early Christian Art, Third to Seventh Century, (New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1979). C. 610–630, on a Byzantine silver dish, excavated on the island of Cyprus, there is a depiction of the anointing of David by Samuel, who holds a horn filled with oil, over David’s head. See also: The New Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 1, p. 566.
4- John Beckwith, The Art of Constantinople, An Introduction to Byzantine Art 330–1453, (Greenwich – Connecticut: Phaidon Publishers Inc., Distributed by New York Graphic Society, 1961), p. 72, fig. 86. A.D. 920-30, in the Bible of Leo the Patrician, made at Constantinople, is a depiction of The Anointing of David, for over his head is held a horn filled with anointing substance. Vatican, Reg. gr. I, fol. 263r.
5- John W. Bernhardt, Itinerant Kingship And Royal Monasteries In Early Medieval Germany, c. 936–1075, (New York, New York: Cambridge University Press, 1993), pp. 48–49.
6- John W. Bernhardt, Itinerant Kingship And Royal Monasteries In Early Medieval Germany, c. 936–1075, (New York, New York: Cambridge University Press, 1993), pp. 48–49.
7- Eve Borsook, Messages In Mosaic, The Royal Programmes of Norman Sicily (1130—1187), (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1990), pp. 2—3.
8- Albrecht Durer, Lucas Cranach, Hans Holbein, & Pieter Bruegel, Great Artists Of The Western World, The Northern Renaissance, (London; New York; Sydney: Marshall Cavendish, 1985 & 1988, Reference Edition published in 1988).
9- Eve Borsook, Messages In Mosaic, The Royal Programmes of Norman Sicily (1130—1187), (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1990), p. 3, see also foot notes 35 & 36.
FOR THE AUTHOR:
Bryce,
I stumbled upon this website when I went looking for Cyril’s “On the Mysteries” and overall I must say that I appreciate the information and the way you have presented it. The tone, especially in response to those of other faiths is respectful and open. When talking about the mysteries of religious acts I often see Mormons stating that many things are new and profound when in actuality they partially existed–if not practiced on the whole–before Mormon temples were built. I think one of the most important things that God could reveal to his children is the purpose behind his sacraments and ordinances.
Thank you
Latter-day Saint Temple Ordinances as a Restoration? | Eternal Musings
[…] Cyril of Jerusalem. Bryce Haymond at the Temple Study has a very interesting post on the topic of Cyril of Jerusalem and Washing and Anointing. He quotes Cyril’s writings as […]
In response to Muslihoon’s first post, the Catholics got their mass from the endowment; which is why there are so many similarities still present. Like the ritual that happens every 25 years at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, where the Pope knocks on the door three times and lets the congregation “enter God’s presence.” There are plenty of other similarities, but that one is really obvious.
In relation to the washing,anointing and clothing ritual, a few years ago looked in my copy of Strong’s
Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, published by Abingdon Press in 1977. Below is what I found in the
Hebrew(H), Greek(G), and Chaldea(Ch) in relation to these topics. I will use the numbering system that is used
there.
Wash H Wash G
rachas 7364 louo 3068
kabas 3526 apolouo 628
to clean baptizo G : to overwhelm
Anoint H Anoint G
mashack H 4886 christos G 5548
maschiah H chrisma G 5547
to consecrate
clothe H clothe G
labesh H 3847 enduo G 1746
labash Ch 3848
to invest with clothing, to invest with authority.
These ordinances as shown by even the languages alone show they have been around since the beginning. I hope
this will aid others.
Mashack 4886