Notes Orthodox Liturgy of the Catechumens

1. THE DISMISSAL
OF THE CATECHUMENS: ITS ORIGIN
Deacon : Catechumens, pray to the Lord.
People: Lord, have mercy.
Deacon : Let us, the faithful, pray for the catechumens,
that the Lord have mercy on them.
People: Lord, have mercy.
Deacon : That he instruct them in the word of truth.
People: Lord, have mercy.
Deacon : That he reveal to them the Gospel of righteous-
ness.
People : Lord, have mercy.
Deacon: That he unite them to his holy, catholic, and
apostolic Church.
People : Lord, have mercy.
Deacon : Save them, have mercy on them, help and protect
them, 0 God, by your grace.
People: Lord, have mercy.
Deacon : Catechumens, bow your heads to the Lord.
People: To you, 0 Lord.
While the deacon and people sing the Ektenia of the Catechumens,
the pn:est says the Prayer for the Catechumens :
0 Lord, our God, you who dwell on high and still look
upon the lowly; who sent forth your only-begotten Son, our
Lord and God, Jesus Christ, as the salvation of mankind:
look down upon your servants, the catechumens, who bow
their heads before you. In due time make them worthy of
the waters of regeneration, the forgiveness of their sins, and
the robe of immortality. Unite them to your holy, catholic,
and apostolic Church, and number them among your chosen
:fiock.

2. Then he continues aloud :
That with us they also may glorify your most honorable
and magnificent name, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, now
and always and for ever and ever.
People : Amen.
The deacon finally pronounces the dismissal :
All catechumens, go out! Catechumens, go out! All
catechumens, go out! Let not one of the catechumens
remain! 1
How _diet _th~ various_ dismissals originate? Probably when the
Liturgy of the Word, the synaxis, was still an independent entity
and usually separated from the Eucharist, the whole proceedings
ended with the common, intercessory prayers. Later, however,
when the synaxis was often if not always joined to the Eucharistic
celebration, attended by the faithful, the ecc/esia alone, the problem
arose as to whether those who were not full members of the ecc/esia
(those not baptized or those who could not receive Communion)
should be allowed to participate actively in the formal prayers of the
faithful. 2
This question was raised not so much because of the
disciplina arcani which arose in the third century and lasted only a
comparatively short while, but because ofthe sound Christian feeling
that the most sacred things of the ecc/esia should not be heard by
profane ears nor seen by profane eyes. One of these sacred things
was the common intercessory prayer of the faithful. The idea won
out that those not entitled to full membership be dismissed before
it, 3
although in some Eastern Churches the catechumens apparently
were allowed to remain for it. '
1 Since Vatican II, the whole ektenia of the catechumens and its prayer (together
with their dismissal) are omitted by the Ruthenians.
• Distinguished from non-supplicatory types of prayers, such as singing of the
psalms, glorification of God, etc.
• In the Pontic Church of the third and fourth centuries, for example, not only
the catechumens but also the penitents were dismissed; cf. Gregory the Wonder-
Worker, Ep. can., II (PG 10, 1048 AB); Basil, Ep. 217, 56, 75 (PG 32, 697 A,
804 C); Gregory of Nyssa, De baptismo Christi (PG 46, 421 C). Other Churches
had similar dismissals, but the Syrian had the most developed form (cf. Apostolic
Constitutions, Book VIII; see above, p. 109-118).
•See Sahidic Canones, c. 64 f. (Brightman, LEW, p. 462; cf. ibid., p. 461);
also the Canones Basilii, c. 97 (edit. Rahmani, I fasti de/la chiesa patriarcale
Antiochena [Rome, 1920], p. xv).

3. The beginnings ofthe formal dismissals consisted in a prayer and
blessing by the celebrant-sometimes in the form of a" laying of
the hand" on each person individually, 5
but mostly on a group. •
Outside the area of Syrian influence, the dismissals affected only the
catechumens and the penitents, 7
or the catechumens alone, as in the
West, where penitents were generally allowed to remain in silence
during the Eucharistic Liturgy. 8
The catechumenate and the public penitential system, 9
in the
third and fourth centuries, were responsible for the embellished
forms of dismissals in the Syrian Church-and they were elaborate
(see above, pp. 109-nS). They survived the changes brought about
by Chrysostom's predecessor, Patriarach Nectarius, in A.D. 391, 10
and lasted as late as A.D. 520. The Syriac documents published by
Nau bear ample proof that the dismissal of penitents continued in
Syria and Constantinople even after A.D. 530. 11
In most Churches, the dismissal-formula of the catechumens
survived long after the disappearance ofthe catechumenate, and have
lasted even to this day in the Byzantine Liturgy (except, as noted,
1 E.g., Canon 19 of Council of Laodicea (NPNF, Series II, Vol. XIV, p. 136).
The catechumens are to go "under the hand" (lino xe:iprx) of the bishop, after
the prayer offered for them (cf. Brightman, LEW, p. 518).
• E.g., Sarapion, Euchologion, no. 21 f. (edit. Funk, Didascalia et Constitutiones
Apostolorum [Paderbom, 1905], Vol. II, pp. 158 ff.).
7 In fourth century Asia Minor, Council of Laodicea, Canon 19 (NPNF,
Series II, Vol. XIV, p. 136).
• Cf. H. Koch, " Die Biisserentlassung in der alten abendliindischen Kirche, ,.
(Theol. Quartalschr., LXXXII [1900], pp. 481-534). The only exception for the
West seems to be Canon 29 of the Bpaon synod which legislates that penitents
were to leave with the catechumens (Mansi, Saerorum conciliorum nooa et amplis-
sima collectio, VIII, 562).
• The Church historian, Socrates states that the penitential system was estab-
lished in the Church during the Novatianist controversy of the third century; its
object was to direct penitents regarding the exercises required of them when
they repented (Hist. eccl., V, 19 [PG 67, 614)); also Sozomen, Hist. eccl., VII,
I6 (PG 67, 1457).
10 According to Sozomen, Nectarius abolished the penitential system and
"bishops everywhere followed his example." Cf. Hist. eccl., VII, 16 (PG 67,
1457).
11 F. Nau, "Litterature canonique syrlaque inedite, n in Revue de ?Orient
chritien, XIV (1909), 46-68. In the sixth century in the West, the Dialogues
(ii, 23) of Gregory the Great contain what appears to be a vestige of a dismissal
for penitents : " if there be anyone who does not communicate, let him depart "
(si quis non communicet, det locum).

4. in the Ruthenian Rite since Vatican II). At the other extreme, in
Rome, the dismissal formula and its prayer vanished completely
from the Mass at a very early period, perhaps immediately after the
disappearance of the catechumenate. 12
After the sixth century, probably few catechumens remained in
Byzantium. Their dismissal would then have ceased to have any
real importance. Yet, St. Maximus the Confessor (A.D. 662) men-
tions the practice of dismissal and expulsion, not only of the cate-
chumens, but also of all the other people who were unworthy to
attend the Eucharist. 18
Historical sources show that they obeyed. 14
Today's formula of dismissal can be traced back to the eighth-
century Byzantine-Armenian Liturgies ofSts.Basil and Chrysostom.15
The eleventh-century formula, similar to that of today, contain no
dismissals ofpenitents or ofany other class except the catechumens. 18
At that time, however, there could hardly have been question ofany
actual departure of anyone, even the catechumens. Present day
Liturgika, both Greco-Byzantine and Byzantine-Slav, contain the
complete, unabridged formula of the dismjss31 for the catechumens,
but such a dismissal is an anachronistic formality. The Greeks often
omit it, especially on weekdays, but the Slavs have kept it, 11
with
the exception noted above.
Ifthe dismissal may be done away with, the prayers for the cate-
chumens should be maintained. Not only does the need to pray for
candidates to the Church remain unchanged, but the prayers them-
selves are far from anachronistic.
,. Elsewhere in the West, i.e., in Gaul, Spain, North Africa, and Milan, the
dismissals surviYed longer. The seventh century Expositio of the Gallican Liturgy
stillhasa litany-like prayer and collect for the catechumeos as well as their dismissal.
a Mystagogia, chap. 14 (PG 91, 692 D-693 B).
10 Ibid., chaps. 13, 15, 23, 24 (PG 91, 692 B, 693 BC, 700 B, 704 B). Prom his
Sclwlia in Ecdesiasticam Hierarchiam (chap. III, iii, iii [PG 4, 141 CJ), however,
we must conclude that all of them were collectively dismissed and not each class
individually.
11 Catergian-Dasian, Die Liturgien bei den Armeniern (Vienna, 1897), pp. 192,
365; cf. also G. Aucher, La versione armena della liturgia di S. Giovanni Crisostomo,
fatta sul principio delfVIII secolo, XPYCOCTOMIKA, p. 382.
11 The Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, contained in Codex Burdett-Couttss
III, 42 (edit. C. A. Swainson, The Greek Liturgies Chiefly from Original Authoritie,
London, 1884), p. 120).
17 Cf. A. Kyprian, Evkharistia (Paris, 1947), p. 189; A. King, The Rite of
Eastern Christendom (Rome, 1948), p. 178.

5. In the ektenia, the deacon first exhorts the catechumens to
prayer : " Catechumens, pray to the Lord. " This is good theology
and expert psychology. Without prayer, no one can be saved, much
less experience true conversion. He who prays much with sincerity
is psychologically disposed to receive it. Presumably, the cate-
chumens are to pray silently, since the rest of the ektenia applies
to the faithful alone, as indicated in the Apostolic Constitutions,
Book VIII (cf. above, p. 109). The present Byzantine dismissals
have borrowed from the fourth-century Syrian Liturgy, not only
their form, 18 but also the petitions of the ektenia, although they are
fewer than in the Apostolic Constitutions.
Present Form of the Ektenia
Catechumens, pray to the Lord.
Let us, the faithful, pray for the
catechumens, that the Lord have
mercy on them.
That he instruct them in the
word of truth.
That he reveal to them the
Gospel of righteousness.
That he unite them to his holy,
catholic, and apostolic Church.
Excerpts from the
Apostolic Constitutions
Ye catechumens, pray.
Let us all earnestly pray to God
that he who is good and the
lover ofmankind will mercifully
hear their prayers and suppli-
cations.
That he may instruct and teach
them wisdom.
That he reveal to them the
Gospel of his Christ.
That he unite and number them
with his holy flock.
The celebrant's prayer for the catechumens differs, but contains
a number of identical ideas and phrases.
Present Form of the Prayer
0 Lord, our God... you who
sent forth your only-begotten
Son ... Jesus Christ, as the
salvation ofmankind, look down
Excerpts from the
Apostolic Constitutions
0 almighty God. . . God the
Father of your Christ, your
only-begotten Son... who
through Christ didst appoint
18 I.e., exhorting the catechumens to pray (which they do in silence), the ektenia
of the catechumens (the deacon announces the petitions and the faithful answer
" Lord, have mercy "), the celebrant's prayer for them, and the actual words of
dismissal.

6. upon your servants, the cate-
chumens, who bow their heads
before you. In due time make
them worthy of the waters of
regeneration....
Unite them to your holy,
catholic, and apostolic Church
and number them among your
chosen flock.
your disciples to be the teachers.
of piety, do you now also look
down upon your servants who.
are being instructed in the
Gospel of your Christ, and give
them a new heart and renew
within their bowels a right
spirit....
Grant them a holy admission
and unite them to your holy
Church, and make them par-
takers of your divine myster-
ies....
In both Liturgies, the prayer is addressed, not to Christ, but to
God the Father, and both contain prayer-blessings before the
actual dismissal. Another prayer that closely parallels the present
Byzantine prayer for the catechumens is that of the Apostolic
Constitutions for those to be illumined (see above, p. I 14 f.).
Both classes were preparing for baptism, and the same scriptural
texts were used.
After exhorting the faithful to pray for the catechumens, that God
instruct them in the word of truth and reveal to them the gospel of
righteousness, the deacon begs them to pray that God unite them
to his holy, catholic, and apostolic Church. It not enough for
salvation to have the mind enlightened and to learn the truth, for
as St. James says, " ...faith without works is dead" (James 2:26).
Additional grace is needed to move the will to act, to receive baptism.
The catechumens are told to bow their heads to the Lord and the
celebrant recites the prayer-blessing over them. Reciting verses five
and six from Psalm n2, he implores God the Father who looks down
upon the lowly to look down upon the catechumens who have their
heads bowed to him. God gives grace more abundantly to the
humble and lowly than to the proud and exalted. The grace be-
seeched again is the waters of regeneration, that is, baptism and all
that it implies, forgiveness of sins, the robe of immortality or sanc-
tifying grace, and membership in Christ's Church. The four marks
ofthe true Church are mentioned specifically. The faithful are unite<!
in the holy, catholic and apostolic Church. God's chosen flock is one,
for a flock cannot be said to be one flock if the members composing

7. it differ in faith, worship or government. Only that Church can be
called holy which teaches a holy doctrine in faith and morals, has a
founder who is holy and enables its members to lead a holy life.
Only that Church is catholic which is truly universal in time, place,
.and doctrine. Finally, only that Church is apostolic which is histori-
cally joined to the apostles and has maintained the doctrine, sacra-
ments, and tradition they had established or kept. It is to this
Church, the only true one bearing the four marks, that the celebrant
begs God unite the catechumens.
At present, the words ofdismissal must be understood spiritually.
Recalling Christ who drove out the disorderly, dishonest vendors
from the Temple, everyone should drive out sinful, shameful, or
excessive cravings, thoughts, and desires from the temple of his soul.
In this sense, the words of the dismissal could be understood to
,mean, " All evil spirits go out (of my soul); evil spirits go out, all
,evil spirits go out; let not one of the evil desires remain." With his
.own temple emptied ofevil, the man offaith is prepared to participate
,in the sacred acts which are about to begin, the Liturgy of the
Faithful. In ancient times, the energumens (those afflicted with an
unclean spirit) were formally expelled. Today, when hearing the
words of the dismissal, we should expel all evil thoughts from our
soul.
While pronouncing the dismissal, the celebrant unfolds the
,iliton. 19 On this iliton the holy gifts will be placed, that is, the bread
.and wine after the Great Entrance (see, p. 491).
Liturgical texts place the rubric concerning the unfolding of the
:iliton immediately before the dismissal of the catechumens. Logic-
ally and historically, it belongs to the Liturgy of the Faithful, for it
is essentially the " spreading of the tablecloth. " As such, it is
traceable not only to the pre-Nicene days of the Church, but to the
very Apostolic era when the Eucharist was celebrated during the
common meal. In the early days, the tablecloth covered the whole
:table. 20 When the people ceased to bring their offerings to church,
.. The Greek eileton. This is a square of linen serving, in the Byzantine rute,
1:he same purpose as a corporal in the Latin.
H E.g., in Africa, c. A.D. 36o, cf. OptatuS of Mileve, Ds schismats Donatistarum,
"VI, 2 (PL II, 1o68 A).

8. and the number of communicants began to fall, there was no longer
any need for a large cloth. The smaller Eucharistic particles proba-
bly also resulted in the use of smaller cloths. In the West, the size
of the corporal-the Latin counterpart of the iliton-was reduced
only in the late Middle Ages : in the year 1000, it still covered the
entire mensa. 21
At solemn papal Masses, it still covers the whole
width of the altar. 22
The present iliton (Greek, dA.e:-rov) is nearly
the same size as the corporal. The date of its reduction in size
probably approximates that of the Latin. 18
The unfolding of the iliton is an example of those many liturgical
acts, practical in origin, and symbolical by later attribution. Theo-
dore of Mopsuestia is the first to have seen here anything more than
a tablecloth : he explains it as " the figure of the linen cloths at the
burial of Christ. " 24
So does Pseudo-Germ.anus. 25
This meaning
was accepted later by all liturgical commentators, even though the
size of the cloth was reduced to such an extent that it can no longer
be compared to a shroud.
11 Cf. J. Braun, Die liturgischen Paramente in Gegenwan und Vergangenheit.
Bin Handbuch der Paramentik (2nd edit., Freiburg, 1924), p. 206.
n It is spread out over the altar by the (Cardinal) deacon and subdeacon at
the beginning of the offering of the gifts. Cf. Brinktrine, Diefeierliche Papstmesse,
p. 18.
•• It is difficult to be precise regarding the dates. The process could have
begun just before the eighth century, immediately after the prothesis rite had
been transferred to the beginning of the Divine Liturgy and after the communion
particles were being cut out of the prosphoras-there would no longer be any need
for a large eileton on the holy table (altar). On the other hand, the regal ritual
and great number of concelebrants at Hagia Sophia in Constantinople would
not have been conducive to a significant reduction in the size of the eileton there
until much later. This may have influenced the other Byzantine churches to
keep the larger cloth, " as was done at the great Hagia Sophia, " longer than was
necessary.
•• Catecheses, V (edit. Mingana, Commentary of Theodore of Mopsuestia on the
Lord's Prayer and on the Sacraments ofBaptism and the Eucharist [Cambridge, 1933],
p. 86).
"'Migne, PG 98, 417.