The Baptismal Creed in Traditio apostolica (original) (raw)
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Tractatus symboli: A Brief Pre-Baptismal Explanation of the Creed
Studia patristica, 2017
Tractatus symboli is an anonymous brief commentary on the Apostles' Creed. Compared with other creedal sermons and/or commentaries of the same time and provenance, it demonstrates certain theological autonomy. Thus and despite its brevity, Tractatus symboli should be taken as a relatively independent witness to the rite of traditio symboli. It also includes a full text of the creed which enables a comparison with other contemporary forms of the same creed. This article detects a particular closeness of the subject-matter of the Tractatus symboli to that of the creedal sermons of Peter Chrysologus. Yet, the treatise is theologically different enough for not being a mere eclectic compilation of ideas found in Chysologus' sermons. Every bishop was supposed to teach the creed, in whatever form it was known to him, at least a few times a year (i.e., on the occasions of traditio and redditio symboli). Yet only a fraction of patristic creedal sermons and/or commentaries in Latin are extant. There are over 40 expositiones of the Apostles' Creed which are still available, 1 and about one third of these are anonymous and of uncertain provenance.
In this note I will respond directly to Professor Bradshaw's comments on my commentary, and on my construction of the Hippolytean community; I will respond only occasionally to his own commentary, though my verdict on it is, interestingly, much as his on mine. Namely that there are many valuable discussions of individual points within his commentary, and his presentation of the versions in parallel columns is most enlightening, but that overall the work is methodologically flawed due to his conviction that the work must have been heavily interpolated in the fourth century, and this in turn devalues the whole. One example will suffice: the discussion of the length of the catechumenate (96-98) is excellent, and many interesting parallels are drawn. I would not dissent from the conclusion that a three-year catechumenate was not general in the ante-Nicene church, but this conclusion need not be drawn from the determination that the three-year period is fourth-century, but could be equally well reached from reckoning that the Hippolytean school, like that of Clement, 2 which is roughly contemporary, employed an extensive period of 1 My own approach was to produce an eclectic text. This method was preferred to a synopsis in respect of the intended audience, namely students, working clergy, and interested laypersons. As J. Baldovin, "Hippolytus and the Apostolic Tradition" Theological Studies, 64 : 520-42, at 511, notes, this approach is of "limited use for scholars"; I can only reply that I never said it was of any use to scholars, and that I made it clear in the preface that the approach was followed in order to make the work accessible to a non-scholarly audience. 2 Clement Stromata 2.18. 233 3 Baldovin, "Hippolytus and the Apostolic Tradition." 4 Baldovin, "Hippolytus and the Apostolic Tradition," 533. 5 The commentary has also received a hostile response from M. Simonetti in Augustinianum, 43 (2003): 501-11. Simonetti's response is based on his opposition to A. Brent's hypothesis rather than directly on my commentary, and Brent's restatement of his hypothesis in this journal must suffice as response in turn. 6 P. Bradshaw, "Who Wrote the Apostolic Tradition} A Response to Alistair Stewart-Sykes," SVTQ 48:2-3 (2003), 195-206 (above, this issue), at pp. 195-96. 7 The weakness is shown up, and exploited, by Christoph Markschies, "Wer schrieb die sogenannte Traditio Apostolical·. Neue Beobachtungen und Hypothesen zu einer kaum lösbaren Frage aus der altkirchlichen Literaturgeschichte," in W. Kinzig, C. Markschies, and M. Vinzent, Tauffragen und Bekenntnis (Berlin: de Gruyter, 1999), 1-56.
Early Christianity 5, 2014
It seems plausible that the Gospel fragment transmitted by P. Oxy. 840 claims the authority of the Saviour in order to polemicize against early Christian baptismal practice and theology; details of the ritual correspond with developments of the baptismal liturgy that are documented from the 4th century on. Therefore also the theological controversy may be situated in the milieu of the post-Constantinian era, when the ritual evolution and theological interpretation of Christian liturgy was not only the expression of an unprecedented flourishing of sacramental liturgy and theology in the wake of the Christianisation of the masses, but at the same time also a sign of its crisis, to which the author may have responded in line with earlier anti-ritualistic texts. The increasing sacramentalisation of common ecclesial practice and its cultic interpretation in the era of the imperial church would have provoked a cult-critical reaction. At any rate, questioning the purificatory effects of external washing demonstrates an awareness of such fundamental problems of any sacramental theology as the efficacy of liturgical rites as such, their relation to internal reality, and the correspondence between metaphor and meaning in the cultic reinterpretation of Christian liturgy. If indeed Baptism is the ritual at stake in P. Oxy. 840, two possibilities remain for its dating: either the text, which fits well in the general picture of the developed baptismal liturgy of the imperial Church, has to be dated into the 4th century and thus significantly later than previously assumed, or it has to be taken as an exceptionally early testimony of a number of liturgical features for which no unequivocal evidence exists from ante-Nicene times. In both cases, the text has more to say about controversies over the sacramental theology of the established Church than about the Jewish milieu of earliest Christianity.
Lord's Spirit, Who fills the earth. Motivated by this faith, it labors to decipher authentic signs of God's presence and purpose in the happenings, needs and desires in which this People has a part along with other men of our age. For faith throws a new light on everything, manifests God's design for man's total vocation, and thus directs the mind to solutions which are fully human. This council, first of all, wishes to assess in this light those values which are most highly prized today and to relate them to their divine source. Insofar as they stem from endowments conferred by God on man, these values are exceedingly good. Yet they are often wrenched from their rightful function by the taint in man's heart, and hence stand in need of purification. What does the Church think of man? What needs to be recommended for the upbuilding of contemporary society? What is the ultimate significance of human activity throughout the world? People are waiting for an answer to these questions. From the answers it will be increasingly clear that the People of God and the human race in whose midst it lives render service to each other. Thus the mission of the Church will show its religious, and by that very fact, its supremely human character. 1 1 The English translation of the text from paragraph #11 of the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, commonly known as Gaudium et Spes (GS), as found in http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist\_councils/ii\_vatican\_council/documents/vat-ii\_cons\_19651207\_gaudium-et-spes\_en.html, accessed May 14, 2015. The original Latin text is as follows: "Populus Dei, fide motus, qua credit se a Spiritu Domini duci qui replet orbem terrarum, in eventibus, exigentiis atque optatis, quorum una cum ceteris nostrae aetatis hominibus partem habet, quaenam in illis sint vera signa praesentiae vel consilii Dei, discernere satagit. Fides enim omnia novo lumine illustrat et divinum propositum de integra hominis vocatione manifestat, ideoque ad solutiones plene humanas mentem dirigit. Concilium imprimis illos valores, qui hodie maxime aestimantur, sub hoc lumine diiudicare et ad fontem suum divinum referre intendit. Hi enim valores, prout ex hominis ingenio eidem divinitus collato procedunt, valde boni sunt; sed ex corruptione humani cordis a sua debita ordinatione non raro detorquentur, ita ut purificatione indigeant. Quid Ecclesia de homine sentit? Quaenam ad societatem hodiernam aedificandam commendanda videntur? Quaenam est significatio ultima humanae navitatis in universo mundo? Ad has quaestiones responsio exspectatur. Exinde luculentius apparebit populum Dei et genus humanum, cui ille inseritur, servitium sibi mutuo praestare, ita ut Ecclesiae missio religiosam et ex hoc ipso summe humanam se exhibeat."
DE LIBRO FVTVRO, CVI TITVLVS «INSTITVTIONES LATINAE CHRISTIANAE» Primum omnium gratias plurimas ago omnibus vobis, sodales; magno gaudio est mihi tanti conventui interesse et coram vobis acroasin hanc habere. Admiror centenariam aetatem Prof.ricis D.ricis Azae Tacho-Godi ac stupeo dum in animo cogito, quantos viros, qualem fortunam experta sit per tot decennia, quanta humanitate ornata. 1 Sed iam propero ad argumentum dicturus de componendo libro scholastico linguae Latinae Christianae, cui insudo. Plures huius generis videntur extra Russiam editi, 2 apud nos Russos autem exstant perpauci, mihi saltem duo in mentem veniunt: alter illius Nicolai Kolotovkin olim magistri Sergiopolitani, 3 alter vero libellus in clericorum seminario Praesentationis Domini, Moscoviae scilicet, 1 Relatio die 10 o m. Dec. a. 2022 o ope systematis Zoom prolata inter annuum Mosquensium Lomonossovianorum conventum, c.t. «De utriusque linguae grammatica et quatenus illa cum omnium gentium litteris artibusque coniuncta sit». In praesentia autem celebratus est in honorem D.ricis habil. Azae Tacho-Godi veterrimae in cathedra philologiae classicae Profestricis discipulaeque Alexii Lossev philosophi.
JEBS, 2022
This article is about what creed as such was taken to be in early Christianity. It was believed to be what Romans 9:28 terms as verbum breviatum [Dei]. As a summary of Scripture and Christian faith, it rested on the apostolic authority. Yet, in time, there came to be many different 'summaries of Scripture' and, consequently, a need for certain hermeneutical criteria became evident. Various problems which became apparent with the proliferation of different creeds contributed to the reasons why confessing creed(s) was later discontinued altogether in some churches. The aim of this article is to revive the early Christian perception of creeds and encourage the use of the universally accepted ancient creeds (i.e. the Apostles' Creed and the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed) in the worship services of those churches which for one or another reason no longer confess them.