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FILIP DOROSZEWSKI initiated by a mystagogue and illuminated by God.” Certainly, in H. E. 2.1.13 it is Philip who, as an agent of God’s revelation, initiates the Ethiopian. But the point is that the illumination itself was regarded as strictly bound up with the rite of baptism. In his Paedagogus, Clement of Alexandria says that baptism is “jllumination ... bywhich we see God clearly,” and he assures his reader that “since knowledge springs up with illumination, shedding its beams around the mind, the moment we hear, we who were untaught become disciples.”® Thus, although the phrase “the dpyia of the divine word” refers primarily to the mysteries of the Christian faith, there can be no doubt that both Eusebius and his early Christian readers (who, as a matter of fact, knew from Acts that the Ethiopian was baptized) understood being admitted to such öpyıa as a consequence of baptism, which was regarded as a rite of Christian initiation.“ This baptismal context, however, does not change the fact that the word dpyta is not employed here by Eusebius for the rite of baptism itself." This understanding of öpyıa in HE, 2.1.13 is in fact supported by a Byzantine Church historian, Nicephorus Callistus, whose version of the Ethiopian’s account, although largely dependent on that of Eusebius, clearly speaks of both the öpyıa in which the dignitary was initiated and of the rite of baptism which he underwent. Another disputable passage from Eusebius in which the term öpyıa occurs is Vita Constantini 4.22.1, which praises emperor Constantine’s religious zeal: He himself, as if he were one participating in sacred mysteries [oid tig pétoxoc iep@v Opyiwv], would shut himself at fixed times each day in secret places within his royal palace chambers, and would converse with his God alone [uövog uövw T@ AVTOD TpoowpiAEt 020], and kneeling in suppliant petition would plead for the objects of his prayers. ° % Hamilton, The Church and the Language of Mystery, 486-487; Riedweg, Mysterienterminologie, 137-140; Bouyer, The Christian Mystery, 140-141, 150-153. 1.6.26.2: pwtiopa ... dt ob 1 Veiov dEvwrodpEV; 1.6.30.1 “Ott 5é 1 yvois ovvavatéhiet TO Qwtiopatt Meptactpantovoa tov vodv, Kai evOEwo dkovouev paOntai oi dpabeic; trans. William Wilson, revised by Kevin Knight. See e.g. Maxwell E. Johnson, The Rites of Christian Initiation: Their Evolution and Interpretation, Collegeville, Liturgical Press 2007, 115-200. See, however, Riggi, Vita Cristiana, 526 for a different interpretation of the term dpyta in H.E. 2.1.13. °° Hist. Ecc. 2.6.39-44 PG 145.769b: dr émipaveiac yap Orrin tiv Oddov Sudvtt TpooKoAANVeIc, Kai dia pac prjoews ‘Hoaiov tod mpogrtov ta Spyta tod Kad’ Hac AOyou pvNOeic, Kai TO Bantiopa eiode&änevog, Enel nPög TNV natpıov yiv Éralivoote, tois ëv Aldıonia np@tog tiv Kata TOv Oeöv Te Kal TOV Lwrijpa yv@ouw evnyyediCeto. Avdrög 8 old tig uEToXog lep@v öpyíwv év anopprtoic eiow Tois abtod Baoıkıkoig Taneioıg Kaupoig ÉKÁOTNG ÍHÉPAG TAKTOÍG Eavtöv éyKAEiwv, LOVOS HOVW TO adTOD TpoowLirel DEG, ixetikaic te Seroeot yovuttet@v katedvowret dv éd5eito tvxeiv; trans. Averil Cameron, Stuart G. Hall, adapted. 63 64 65 67 .76 + Daréczi-Sepsi-Vassänyi_Initiation_155x240.indb 76 6 2020. 06.15. 11:04:14
