(A brief word from Fr. Rector…) Pt 2/3
In our first piece of this 3-part series, we offered to your attention some thoughts on the dismissal of the catechumens in the middle of the Divine Liturgy.
In the current piece, we would like to echo these thoughts through the words of two men: a priest and a writer, who in their own ways offer commentary on this question, helping us to look beyond what is merely on the surface.
The first is the renowned professor of Holy Trinity Seminary in Jordanville and, according to the testimony of those who knew him, a saintly man:
Protopresbyter Michael Pomazansky (†1988).
“The exclamation, ‘Catechumens depart!’ before the Liturgy of the Faithful is still proclaimed, it is true, but hardly anywhere in the Orthodox world <…> are the non-Orthodox actually told to leave the church at this time. In some churches they are only asked to stand in the back part of the church, in the narthex, but can still observe the service. The full point of such an action is lost in our times, when all the ‘secrets’ of the Christian Mysteries are readily available to anyone who can read, and the text of St. Cyril’s Catechetical Lectures has been published in many languages and editions. However, the great reverence which the ancient Church showed for the Christian Mysteries, carefully preserving them from the gaze of those who were merely curious, or those who, being outside the Church and uncommitted to Christianity, might easily misunderstand or mistrust them, is still kept by Orthodox Christians today who are serious about their faith.”
The second testimony comes from the writings of Nikolai Gogol (†1852), one of the greatest authors of the nineteenth century, a man whose piety surprised many and was misunderstood by many.
“Although in our days it is rare to find people who have not received baptism and are numbered among the catechumens, nevertheless everyone present, thinking how far he is from those believers in the early days of Christianity who were granted to be present at the table of love, counts himself a learner or catechumen. He sees, we may say, that he is instructed by Christ but knows that he has not yet admitted Him into his own life; he knows that he hears the meaning of Christ’s words but does not realize them in his own life, and that his faith is still cold and the flame of all-forgiving love towards his fellow men is wanting, this flame which melts callousness of soul. Weighing all this, he stands contritely in the ranks of the learners.
‘As many as are catechumens, depart. Catechumens, depart. Let none of the catechumens remain. As many as are of the faithful: again and again, in peace let us pray to the Lord.’
“At these words all present shudder, all who feel their own unworthiness. Calling mentally upon Christ Himself, Who drove out of the temple of God the disorderly vendors and shameless traders who had turned His altar into a market, every person tries to drive out of the temple of his own soul the carnal man, the catechumen who is not ready to be present at the sacred action. Everyone calls upon Christ Himself that He may raise up in him the hidden man of the heart, the man of faith, numbered among the chosen flock, of whom the Apostle said: ‘A holy nation, a new people, living stones built into a spiritual temple.’ Each person prays that he may be numbered among the true believers who were present at the Liturgy in the first centuries of Christianity, whose faces look down at him from the iconostasis. Embracing them all at a glance, the worshipper calls upon them for help, as brothers now praying in heaven, that by their prayers they may raise up in him the true believer, for the most sacred acts are about to take place.”