1 The "blessedness" is the grace of Baptism, the hope which is as a fragrant odour already borne towards the Candidates. These were called no longer Catechumens, but , as already on the way "to be enlightened." Compare xvi. 26, the last sentence, and see Index, "Enlighten".
2 nohta/. The word is much used by Plato to distinguish things which can be discerned only by the mind from the objects of sight and sense. Here "the spiritual (or, mental) flowers" are the Divine truths in which "the fragrance of the Holy Spirit" breathes.
3 By "the vestibule" is meant "the outer hall of the Baptistery" (xix. 2), and by "the King's Palace" the Baptistery itself, which Cyril calls "the inner chamber" (xx. 1) and "the bride-chamber" (ii. 2; xxii. 2). See index. "Baptistery." Here the local terms have also an allegorical sense, Baptism being regarded as the marriage of the Soul to Christ.
4 Another allegory, form the season of Spring, when the Lectures were delivered.
6 That the Candidates on their first admission carried torches or lighted tapers in procession is a conjecture founded on this passage and I. 1: "Ye who have just lighted the torches of faith, preserve them in your hands unquenched." But see Index, "Lights."
7 Rom. viii. 28. in S. Paul's argument the "purpose" is God's eternal purpose of salvation through Christ (Eph. I. 11; iii. 11): but Cyril applies it here to sincerity of purpose in coming to Baptism.
10 Greek, u 9pografh/, meaning either an "indictment," or a descriptive "sketch." For the former meaning, see Plato, Theaet. 172, E. u'pografh\n . . . h@n a'ntwmosi/an kalou=sin.
13 "The faithful" are those who have been already baptized, and instructed in those mysteries of the Christian Faith which were reserved for the initiated. See Index. "aithful."
14 Matt. xxii. 12. The same passage is applied to Baptism in Cat. iii. 2.
15 See Cat. xxii. 8 and Index, "White."
16 The Greed word (xrw=ma) is used by Ignatius in the beginning of his Epistle to the Romans of a discolouring stain.
18 The Greek word (e'pisth/mh which commonly means "knowledge" or "understanding." is applied here and in vi. 1 to the intelligence and skill displayed in the arrangement of the public services of the Church. Compare Apostolic Constitutions, ii. 57, where the Bishop is exhorted to have the assemblies arranged meta\ pa/shj e'pisth/mhj.
19 In the same passage of the Apostolic Constitutions precise directions are given for reading a Lesson from the Old Testament, singing the Psalms, and reading the Epistle and Gospel.
20 By "the ordained" (kanonkw=n) are meant all whose names were registered as bearing office in the Church, Priests, Deacons, Deaconesses, Monks, Virgins, Widows, all having their appointed placed and proper duties. Apost. Canon. 70, ei! tij e'pi/skopoj, h@ presbu/tepoj, h@ o!lwj tou= katalo/gou tw=n klprikw=n, k.t.l.
21 Compare Apost. Const. as above: "Let the Presbyters one by one, not all together, exhort the people; and the Bishop last, as being the commander."
22 S. Aug. de Civit. Dei., ii. 28: "Though some come to mock at such admonitions, all their insolence is either humbled by a sudden conversation (immutatio) or suppressed by fear or shame."
23 Greek, profesmi/a. Compare Gal. iv. 2: "the time appointed of the father." At Athens it meant a "limitation," or fixed period within which a debt must be claimed or paid, or an action commenced.
25 S. Ambrose on the 119th Psalm, Serm. xx. § 48, speaks of some who pretended to be Christians in order to marry one whose parents would not give her in marriage to a heathen.
28 S.Cyril plays upon the word "Catechumen," which has the same root as "echo."
35 This sentence is omitted in one Ms. (Paris, 1824), but probably only through the repetition of the word "baptism." On the laws of the Church against the repetition of Baptism, and concerning the re-baptism of heretics, see Tertull de Baptismo, c. xv: Apost. Const. xv.: Bingham, xii. 5: Hefele, Councils, Lib. I. c. 2: Dictionary Christian Antiq. I. p. 167 a.
36 Rufinus, in the Exposition of the Creed, on the Remission of sins: "The Pagans are wont to say in derision of us, that we deceive ourselves in thinking that crimes which have been committed in deed can be washed out by words."
37 The reading in the Benedictine Edition, mhde\ o 9 nou=j sou r 9embe/sqw, has little authority, and is quite unsuitable. See below, to\ ble/mma r 9emBo/menon.
40 The Samaritans are frequently mentioned by Epiphanius and other writers of the 4th century among the chief adversaries of Christianity. "In their humble synagogue, at the foot of the mountain (Gerizim), the Samaritans still worship, the oldest and the smallest sect in the world." (Stanley, Sinai and Palestine, p. 240.)
43 On the Disciplina Arcani, or rule against publishing the Christian Creed and Mysteries to Catechumens and Gentiles, see Index, "Mysteries."
44 The title "King" (Basileu/j) is used in the Greek Liturgies and Fathers of the Roman Emperor, as in the Clementine Liturgy: u 9pe\r tou= basile/wj kai\ tw=n e'n u 9peroxh=, where it is taken from 1 Tim. ii. 2. Compare Cat. xiv. 14, and 22 Kwnotanti/nou tou= basile/wj.
45 Ps. xlvi. 10. Sept. sxola/sate, "give attention freely."
46 From S. Augustine, de Symbolo, I. 1 (Migne T. vi. p. 930), we learnt hat the Candidates were brought in before the Congregation on e by one for exorcism; and so, as Cyril here shews, they had to wait outside till the others returned.
47 Chrys. in Matt. Hom. lxxiv. § 3: "You ought to have within you the wall that separates you from the women: but since ye will not, our fathers have thought it necessary to separate you at least by these boards; for I have heard from my elders that there were not these walls in old times." These barriers had not yet been introduced at Jerusalem, or Cyril's admonition would have been needless. Compare Apostolic Constitutions, II. 57.
48 1 Cor. xiv. 34; 1 Tim. ii. 12.
49 1 Sam. I. 12, 20. On the various interpretations of the name Samuel, see Dict Bib. "Samuel," and Driver on the passage. Cyril adopts the meaning "heard of God."
50 Ps. cxxxix. 12. On Easter Eve the Church was full of lights which were kept burning all night, and the newly-baptized carried torches. Gregory of Nyssa, preaching on the Resurrection (Orat. iv.) describes the scene: "This brilliant night, by mingling the flames of torches with the morning rays of the sun, has made on e continuous day, not divided by the interposition of darkness."
51 Or, as the Benedictine Editor conjectures, "the waters which have a Christ-bearing (xristofo/ron) fragrance." On the epithet xristofo/roj,. see Bishop Lightfoot's note on Ignat. ad Eph. § 1 and § 9. Its meaning, as well as that of Qeofo/roj is defined in the answer if Ignatius to Trajan, 9O Xristo\n e!xwn e'n ste/rnoij (Matyr. Ign. Ant. § 2).
52 Cat. xxi. 1: "made partakers therefore of Christ, ye are rightly called Christs."
53 Ps. xxxii. 1, which verse is still chanted in the Greek Church as soon as the Baptism is completed.
54 S. Basil has a passage in praise of Baptism almost the same, word for word, with this. It is more likely to have been borrowed from Cyril by Basil and other Fathers, than to be a later interpolation here.
59 Greek prosfe/sqai, Sept. Deut. xiii. 4, "cleave unto Him." Compare Josh. xxiii. 12; Ps lxii. 10, "Set not your heart upon them."