History of Confirmation of sacraments

 In the early Church, adults who desired to become members of the Christian
community participated in a three-year process called the Catechumenate or
those person who receives instruction in the Christian in order to be baptized.
This was a time of intense study and preparation, which often took place in
secret because Christianity was illegal in the Roman Empire and Christians
feared persecution from Roman authorities. A sponsor guided the Catechumen
through the process and then presented him/her to the community and the
bishop at the time of baptism. The sponsor guaranteed the sincerity of the
person who was asking for baptism, vouching for his/her complete and total
dedication to the work of Christ. It was a process that involved both an individual
(“I decide to join Christianity”) and a communal decision (“We accept you into our
community”). In this way, the role of the Christian community and the individual
sponsor were vital in the initial and ongoing evangelization of new members.

 
In the very beginning of the Christian Church, baptism, confirmation and
Eucharist took place in a single celebration on the Easter Vigil. The culmination
of this three-year process from paganism was the ritual action of those
converting being led through the waters in a pool outside the church, where they
were baptized by priests and deacons out of view of the assembly (since they
were naked). It was here that they received baptism and the initial anointing. The
second anointing was done by the bishop (who had remained with the gathered
assembly). It was the bishop who “confirmed” the baptism and ratified and
accepted the conversion of the individual. After the confirmation, the assembly
gathered at the Eucharistic table. This would have been the very first experience
of Eucharist for those newly baptized and confirmed.
 

As Christianity grew, entire families were converted at one time, which included
the baptism of infants. When Christianity became legal in 313 A.D. and eventually
became the official religion of the Roman Empire in 380 A.D., the three-year
process of the Catechumenate became too cumbersome because so many
pagans were converting to Christianity. Since society itself was taking on a
Christian identity, it was believed that those who converted could learn about
 becoming Christian after they were baptized. Persecutions had ended, and along
with that, the secrecy surrounding initiation of new members.
 

With the increase in baptisms, priests were allowed to baptize, but they were
required to wait for the “confirming” of that baptism until a bishop could come to
the community to do the actual “Confirmation.” Because travel was dangerous,
roads were poor, and bishops few, many years often passed between the
baptism of a person and his/her confirmation.

Current Understanding of the Sacrament

Now through an accident of history, we have a separate sacrament, which gives
us an opportunity for the individual to ratify and accept the Church. In
confirmation one willingly assumes an active participation in the Church’s
apostolate, therefore there is a great deal to be said for waiting until the
candidates are not only aware of what they are assuming but also are willing to
assume it. The Church and individual are mutually confirming belief in one
another. This “confirmation” assumes a maturity in Christ, not merely passively
baptized and attendant at Mass, but actively engaged in doing the work of
building the kingdom.

When it comes to the early church, the history of these sacraments in certain sense run
in parallel that's simply the history of Christian initiation. So, for our purposes, we’re
separating them out, but you'll see that a lot of what you heard already appear in here as
well, but now focused more on confirmation. Kini nga presentation is just a highlights of
the history of the Sacrament of Confirmation, we can't possibly go into all of it. So,
you're getting kind of the broad strokes of things. So we're gonna look at some of the
earliest documents in the church. We're gonna look at the period of the fathers. it would
be slightly anachronistic or error in chronology to simply look back and say where's
confirmation, because of the unity of the sacraments of initiation in the early church. if
you would have asked as well. it depends on who you ask if you're asking in the Eastern
in the Western places or in what century. if you would have asked about the Sacrament
of Confirmation or the giving of the Holy Spirit after baptism, you will see you would
have received possibly different answers or maybe even a look of puzzlement. So now,
what we want to look for in a broad sense, is a post baptismal Rite or ritual that is seen
as imparting the Holy Spirit in a particular way and we'll see even with that there is
diversity in how that's approached. so let's take a look at some of the earliest
documents from the biblical times from about 100 to 200 AD. we have no witness to
any additional ceremony as regards the Rite of Christian initiation, and that is the laying
on of hands and the Acts of the Apostles not withstanding you do have that in Acts
chapter 8. but outside Acts of the Apostles and the biblical period, we have about a
hundred years silence when it comes to this post baptismal Rite of initiation. so these
would be documents you remember that we looked at like the dedicated that are simply
silent on the issue of anything after water baptism.

There's a very quick shift by about two hundred eighty, most Christian communities at
least most that we have records for had an initiation ritual which included both water
baptism, and that signified spiritual regeneration and an additional rites signifying the
reception of the holy spirit. so think here of things like the apostolic tradition and
documents like that moving forward. This is not really a separate Rite or separate
sacrament or They would not have conceived it that way early on, but it was a
multiplying of ceremonies within the one right which is in its entirety called baptism.
right so you have Christian initiation we're gonna see it's only later that us a separate
sacrament is discerned and kind of pulled outs for theological reflection. now I say in
this slide that most Christian communities had this post baptismal ritual or right but not
all.

The Syrian pattern

The second slide came through right in the baptism history as well there's
what's known as the Sirian pattern of initiation, which applies to several different
records we have. So it turns out that third century which is very early third century Syrian
documents stemming from the tradition of Antioch or A hellinistic city that was found in
the 4th century BC.. Many of them mention only an imposition of hands and anointing
but before the water ritual and nothing afterwards. So not only are they like the
dedicated on the matter yet they do mention this other ritual but it's all before baptism.

Consequenly, I am discussing only two eras in history for now. Chronologically, Those
other eras in history were the refinement of the sacraments of confirmation where
people in this generation understand the confirmation through holy spirit and from God.
And thats all thank you!.

John 14
Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God, you believe also in me. My
father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am
going there to prepare a place for you? and if go and prepare for you, I will come back
and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the
place where I am going

On June 30 1932, was official permission given to change the traditional order of the
three sacraments of Christian initiation.