Church History (Vol.1-3). J. H. Kurtz
from the church. Habere non potest Deum patrem, qui ecclesiam non habet matrem. … Extra ecclesiam nulla spes salutis. Alongside of the Apostolic writings, the tradition which prevailed among the Apostolic churches (Sedes apostolicæ) was regarded as a standard of catholicity in constitution, worship and doctrine; indeed, it must even have ranked above the Apostolic writings themselves in settling the question of the New Testament Canon (§ 36, 8), until these had secured general circulation and acceptance.
§ 34.8. The Roman Primacy.—The claims of the Roman bishopric to the primacy over the whole church, which reached its fuller development in the 4th and 5th centuries (§ 46, 7), were founded originally and chiefly on the assertion that the promise of Matt. xvi. 18, 19, was given only and exclusively to the Apostle Peter as the Primate of the Apostles and the head of the church. This assumption overlooked the fact that in Matt. xviii. 18 and John xx. 21 ff., this promise was given with reference to all the Apostles. These claims were further supposed to be supported by the words addressed to Peter, “strengthen thy brethren” (Luke xxii. 31), which seemed to accord to Peter a primacy over his fellow Apostles; and also by the interpretation given of John xxi. 15 ff., where “lambs” were understood of laymen and “sheep” of the Apostles. It was likewise assumed that the bishop of Rome was the successor of Peter, and so the legitimate and only heir of all his prerogatives. The fable of the Roman bishopric of Peter (§ 16, 1) was at an early period unhesitatingly adopted, all the more because no one expected the results which in later times were deduced from a quite different understanding of Matt. xvi. 18. During this whole period such consequences were never dreamt of either by a Roman bishop or by anybody else. Only this was readily admitted at least by the West that Rome was the foremost of all the Apostolic churches, that there the Apostolic tradition had been preserved in its purest form, and that, therefore, its bishops should have a particularly influential voice in all questions that were to be judged of by the whole episcopate, and the Roman bishops were previously content with taking advantage of this concession in the largest measure possible.96
§ 35. The Administration of Baptism.97
As an indispensable means to participation in salvation and as a condition of reception into the communion of the church, baptism was practised from the earliest times. Infant baptism, though not universally adopted, was yet in theory almost universally admitted to be proper. Tertullian alone is found opposing it. All adults who desired baptism had, as Catechumens, to pass through a course of training under a Christian teacher. Many, however, voluntarily and purposely postponed their baptism, frequently even to a deathbed, in order that all the sins of their lives might be certainly removed by baptismal grace. After a full course of instruction had been passed through, the Catechumens prepared themselves for baptism by prayer and fasting, and before the administration of the sacred ordinance they were required to renounce the devil and all his works (Abrenuntiare diabolo et pompæ et angelis ejus) and to recite a confession of their faith. The controversy as to whether baptism administered by heretics should be regarded as valid was conducted with great bitterness during the 3rd century.
§ 35.1. The Preparation for Receiving Baptism.—After a complete exposition of the evangelical moral code in chap. 1–6, the Teaching of the XII. Apostles proceeds thus: Ταῦτα πάντα προειπόντες βαπτίσατε εἰς τὸ ὄνομα, etc. At this time, therefore, besides the necessarily presupposed acquaintance with the chief points in the gospel history, the initiation into the moral doctrine of the gospel of the person receiving baptism was regarded as most essential in the baptismal instruction. In this passage there is no mention of a doctrinal course of teaching based upon a symbol. But what here is still wanting is given in a summary way in chaps. 7 ff. in the instructions about baptism and the Lord’s supper attached to the baptismal formula and the eucharistic prayers. This therefore was reserved for that worship from which the candidates for baptism and the newly baptized had to gather their faith and hope as to the future completion of the kingdom of God. First the struggle against Gnosticism obliged the church to put more to the front the doctrines of faith which were thereby more fully developed, and to concern itself with these questions even in the instruction of the Catechumens. The custom, which the Didache and Justin Martyr show to have been prevalent in post-Apostolic times, of the baptiser together with others voluntarily offering themselves taking part with the candidate for baptism in completing the preparation for the holy ordinance by observing a two days’ fast, seems soon, so far as the baptiser and the others were concerned, to have fallen into desuetude, and is never again mentioned.—Since the development of the Old Catholic church the preparation of candidates for baptism has been divided into two portions of very unequal duration, namely, that of instruction, for which on an average a period of two years was required, and that of immediate preparation by prayer and fasting after the instructions had been completed. During the former period the aspirants were called κατηχοῦμενοι, Catechumeni; during the latter, φωτιζόμενοι, Competentes. As to their participation in the public divine service, the Catechumens were first of all as ἀκροώμενοι admitted only to the hearing of the sermon, and had thus no essential privileges over the unbelievers. They first came into closer connection with the church only when it was permitted them to take part in the devotional exercises, yet only in those portions which had reference to themselves, kneeling as γονυκλίνοντες, while also the congregation prayed kneeling. Only in cases of dangerous illness could baptism be given before the Catechumen had completed his full course (Baptismus Clinicorum). The Council of Neo-Cæsarea soon after A.D. 314 ordained that a Catechumen who as a γονυκλίνων had been guilty of an open sin, should be put back to the first stage of the Catechumenate, namely, to that of the ἀκροᾶσθαι, and if he then again sinned he should be cast off altogether; and the Œcumenical Council of Nicæa in A.D. 325 demanded that offending (παραπέσοντες) Catechumens should remain ἀκροώμενοι for three years and only then should be allowed to take part in the devotional service of the church.98
§ 35.2. The Baptismal Formula.—In close connection with the words of institution of baptism (Matt. xxviii. 19) and hence in a trinitarian framework, an outline of the doctrine common to all the churches, introduced first of all as a confession of faith professed by candidates for baptism, obtained currency at a very early date. Only a few unimportant modifications were afterwards made upon it, and amid all the varieties of provincial and local conditions, the formula remained essentially the same. Hence it could always be properly characterized with Irenæus as ἀκλινής, and with Tertullian as immobilis et irreformabilis. As a token of membership in the Catholic church it is called the Baptismal Formula or Symbolum. After the introduction of the Disciplina arcani (§ 36, 4) it was included in that, and hence was kept secret from heathens and even from catechumens, and first communicated to the competentes. As the “unalterable and inflexible” test and standard of the faith and doctrine, as well as an intellectual bond of union between churches scattered over all the earth, it was called Regula fidei and Κανὼν τῆς ἀληθείας. That we never find it quoted in the Old Catholic Age, is to be explained from its inclusion in the disciplina arcani and by this also, that the ancient church in common with Jeremiah (xxxi. 33), laid great stress upon its being engraven not with pen and ink on paper, but with the pen of the Holy Spirit on the hearts of believers. Instead then of literal quotation we find among the fathers of the Old Catholic Age (Irenæus, Tertullian, Origen, Novatian, etc.) only paraphrastic and explanatory references to it which, seeing that no sort of official sanction was accorded them in the church, are erroneously spoken of as Regulæ fidei. These paraphrases, however, are valuable as affording information about the creed of the early church, because what is found the same in them all must be regarded as an integral part of the original document. In harmony with this is the testimony of Rufinus, about A.D. 390, who in his Expositio Symb. apost. produces three different recensions, namely, the Roman, the Aquileian and the Oriental. The oldest and simplest was that used in Rome, traces of which may be found as early as the middle of the 2nd century. In the time of Rufinus there was a tradition that this Roman creed had been composed by the XII. Apostles in Jerusalem at the time of their scattering, as a universal rule of faith,