Forgetting what to do during Mass, this is unlike me.

[AlexB23]

I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to possibly offend.

There was an instance when he told me in front of the congregation (before I was confirmed) that in apostolic times, new believers would have to take off all their clothes.

Another instance was during a healing service when he stood in front of the pew I was sitting in and leaned close to me and talked to me kind of affectionately in front of the congregation, but I sensed somehow that the way he was leaning over me was a different kind of leaning. It made me feel awkward.

Hey, if you want to DM me the name of the priest, I can look him up, and see if he is shady.

 

[Michie]

Yikes.

 

[AlexB23]

Yikes.

Yikes on trikes. I have to go rest now, but I will pray that @Lady Bug does not have to deal with bad apples of priests.

 

[RileyG]

Mine did that before I arrived, but they fixed that and it was apparently a very positive step for them.

I assume it’s the same but I haven’t been to that town in nearly five years.

 

[RileyG]

I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to possibly offend.

There was an instance when he told me in front of the congregation (before I was confirmed) that in apostolic times, new believers would have to take off all their clothes.

Another instance was during a healing service when he stood in front of the pew I was sitting in and leaned close to me and talked to me kind of affectionately in front of the congregation, but I sensed somehow that the way he was leaning over me was a different kind of leaning. It made me feel awkward.

It’s my understanding that new believers were actually baptized naked and put on new clothes? Maybe that’s what he meant?

Still not ok.

 

[AlexB23]

It’s my understanding that new believers were actually baptized naked and put on new clothes? Maybe that’s what he meant?

Still not ok.

Agreed. Not okay at all.

 

[Michie]

I was taught women always handled female baptisms. Sort of the equivalent of nuns today.

For instance, the rite of exorcism was performed when the catechumens were shoeless and clad in scant garments, mimicking prisoners of war who walked barefoot and naked, to remind the catechumens of their captivity in sin. The symbolism of man’s bondage in sin was heightened in Cyril’s Jerusalem where the ceremonial exorcisms were performed in the Church of the Resurrection, which offered the trembling catechumens views of Golgotha, the Holy Sepulchre, and the ruins of old Jerusalem. During the exorcism the bishop or exorcist used “frightening and horrible words” (according to John Chrysotosom’s Baptismal Instructions) and breathed on the catechumens to force the evil spirits out of them—just as Christ had forced the evil spirits out of possessed men and women—and to prepare them for the impending visitation of the Holy Spirit.

Baptism also offered great mystagogical moments because it re-enacted an actual event in the life of Christ. Time and again in their writings the mystagogues reminded their neophytes that baptism was a “bath of regeneration”; through baptism the neophytes had died to their old selves and were reborn in Christ to share in his death and Resurrection. Indeed, “triune” baptism, immersing the catechumens three times in the baptismal pool, was explained by Cyril as representing the three days Christ spent in the darkness of the tomb. Just as Christ emerged from the darkness after the third day, Cyril told his neophytes, they too had emerged from their spiritual darkness after baptism, unrecognizable to their former selves.

This fourth-century experience would have been especially potent in its symbolism because people were baptized naked. By removing their clothes the catechumens were putting off the “old men” with their old deeds, and instead were humbling themselves, imitating Christ’s nakedness on the cross, and preparing for the cleansing of his Resurrection.

Some modern pastoral leaders have a tendency to interpret the mystagogies of the fourth-century bishops as mere catechetical explanations of the sacraments. This results in the common notion that the mystagogical period of the RCIA is nothing more than a fifty-day catechesis to aid the converts in their reflection on initiation. This is an unfortunate and incomplete interpretation; it does not allow mystagogy to flourish throughout the entire period of conversion as the true and proper theology that it is. The brilliance of patristic mystagogy is that it caused the catechumens to actually participate in the saving activities of Christ through the experiences of exorcism, baptism, chrism, and Eucharist.

Continued below.

The Old Is New Again

Drop the word “mystagogy” at your next cocktail party and the response is likely to be “Mister who?” An archaic word, mystagogy is seldo...

www.catholic.com

 

[Michie]

Early Christian painting of a naked baptism from the 3rd Century, Saint Calixte Catacomb, Rome.

EARLY CHURCH BAPTISM WAS NUDE

Baptism of Jesus 13th century. I would like to apologize to all of the faithful readers of HopeFully Biblical who read my two dealings w...

www.hopefullybiblical.com

 

[RileyG]

That is what I was taught in my Sacraments class.