Oldal 90 [90]
ISTVÁN PÁSZTORI-KUPÁN
could ever rationally demonstrate this, because if one removes width from a line,
the length will surely disappear with it. Still, the geometer commands us to think
like this, and the one who desires to study these geometric forms submits oneself
and believes readily.”
After presenting the analogies of faith, according to which “every person who
wishes to learn a certain profession goes to a school of a specialist capable of
teaching him and cherishes the lessons presented” by the master, Theodoret
concludes:
You see now, my dear friends, that faith is a certain common property [koivév] of
everyone: both of those who long to learn any art [...]. Knowledge, on the contrary,
does not belong to all, but only to specialists.*°
It is at this point that he emphasizes the importance of initiation into
the Christian community by faith:
This is also why we bring forth the teaching of faith [tiv tio niotews didacKadiav
mpoogépouev] before everything else to those who approach us and desire to learn
the divine things; and once they have been consecrated and initiated /teAoupévoic
Kai uvovuévois], we show them the hidden meaning of the mysteries /dnAodpev,
tivwv Eotiv alviyuata T& yıvöueval.?'
Ihe initial faith required of the novices, then, is followed by their
consecration and initiation consisting of the subsequent and gradual
revelation of the meaning of the mysteries for them during the period of
their catechumenate. Furthermore, the amount of information transmitted
to different members of the community is conditioned by their own level of
initiation, much as happens in the case of some mystery rites:
Neither among you does everyone know what the hierophant® says; the masses
watch the sacred performance and those who are called priests accomplish
the ritual ceremonies, yet the hierophant is the only one who knows the meaning
of the words and he makes them known only to those he deems fit.**
29 Theodoret, Curatio I, 90-95.
30 Theodoret, Curatio I, 104.
31 Theodoret, Curatio I, 109.
52 The hierophant’s duty was to teach the rites. In Eleusis, he also initiated the uninitiated into
the mysteries. See Canivet’s observation in SC 57, 132, note 2.
33 Theodoret, Curatio I, 110.
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