ST. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM: BAPTISMAL INSTRUCTIONS

TRANSLATED AND ANNOTATED

BY

PAUL W. HARKINS, Ph.D., LL.D.

Professor of Classical Languages

Xavier University

Cincinnati, Ohio

PAULIST PRESS

New York / Mahwah

De Licentia Superioris S.J.

Nihil Obstat

J. Quasten

Cens. Dep.

Imprimatur:

Patricius A. O’Boyle, D.D.

Archiep. Washingtonen.

COPYRIGHT 1963

BY

REV. JOHANNES QUASTEN

AND

REV. WALTER J. BURGHARDT, S.J.

Library of Congress

Catalog Card Number: 62-21489

ISBN: 0-8091-0262-5

PUBLISHED BY PAULIST PRESS

997 Macarthur Blvd.

Mahwah, NJ 07430

Ancient Christian Writers

THE WORKS OF THE FATHERS IN TRANSLATION

EDITED BY

JOHANNES QUASTEN

Catholic University of America

Washington, D.C.

WALTER J. BURGHARDT, S.J.

Woodstock College

Woodstock, Md.

No. 31

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

Life

Stavronikita

Chrysostom’s Catechetical Homilies

The Series of Montfaucon

The Papadopoulos-Kerameus Series

The Stavronikita Series

Authenticity

Antioch 390 (?)

TEXT

The First Instruction (Stav. 1)

The Second Instruction (Stav. 2)

The Third Instruction (Stav. 3 and PK 4)

The Fourth Instruction (Stav. 4)

The Fifth Instruction (Stav. 5)

The Sixth Instruction (Stav. 6)

The Seventh Instruction (Stav. 7)

The Eighth Instruction (Stav. 8)

The Ninth Instruction (Montf. 1 and PK 1)

The Tenth Instruction (PK 2)

The Eleventh Instruction (PK 3)

The Twelfth Instruction (Montf. 2)

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

INDEXES

1. Old and New Testament

2. Authors

3. General Index

INTRODUCTION

Baptism, its symbolism, and its place in the economy of redemption have always been a matter of extreme interest to theologians, liturgists, and all members of Christ’s Body. No part of the Church Militant can remain indifferent to any knowledge, new or old, of the sacrament of regeneration; when some new knowledge emerges from the obscurity of nearly sixteen centuries, the entire Church must leap for joy. The recent discovery of a MS. in a monastery on Mount Athos in Greece gives occasion for such joy because, among other things, this MS. contains a complete series of eight instructions on baptism given by St. John Chrysostom, probably at Antioch, about 390 a.d.

Life

This discovery throws new light on a hitherto little-known aspect of Chrysostom’s pastoral activity. He was born about 347 a.d. at Antioch, where he acquired fame as a student and speaker in the school of the pagan rhetorician Libanius. His reputation as an orator followed him into the Church. Baptized in 370, he abandoned the world to take up the study of Scripture as both monk and hermit; but the rigors of his fasts undermined his health and forced his return to Antioch, where he was ordained to the priesthood in 386. Here began his outstanding career as an exegete, preacher, and moralist, functions which he fulfilled under Bishop Flavian until 397.1

In that year Chrysostom was at once elevated to the patriarchate of Constantinople and plunged into a morass of intrigue, both political and ecclesiastical. Always standing firm on principle, but often lacking the prudence ...