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Renunciation

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Awe-Inspiring: Renunciation, Adhesion, and the Baptismal Immersion

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Last week Rhoda provided insights from the ancient mystagogy regarding the giving (tradition) and return (redditio) of the Creed and the Lord’s Prayer by the catechumens while on the doorstep of their baptisms. This week we turn to ceremonies that are a part of the baptismal rite itself: the Renunciation of Satan, Adhesion to Christ, and the Baptismal Immersion itself.

               The Renunciation of Satan, sin, end evil—still part of both western and eastern baptismal rites—was a dramatic event in the early church. The candidate for baptism faced Satan, turning to the west, and renounced him “in the face.” In some places the candidate knelt to do this, reflecting his bondage to sin. Cyril of Jerusalem in his mystagogy says of this dramatic rejection:

You are told to stretch out your hand, and to address the devil as if he were before you: I renounce you, Satan. I will tell you know, for you need to know, why you face westward. The west is the quarter from which darkness appears to us; now the devil is darkness, and wields his power in darkness. So we look to the west as a symbolic gesture, and renounce the leader of shadow and darkness. So what each of you said was: “I renounce you Satan, you wicked and most cruel tyrant,” and your meaning was, “I no longer fear your power. For Christ has dissolved that power by sharing with me in blood and flesh, so that he might annihilate death by death and save me from subjection to eternal slavery (Yarnold, 71).

Here is a dramatic reorientation of lordship. The candidates revile Satan’s rule.

               And as part of that reorientation they adhere to Christ—a ceremony only retained in eastern baptismal rites. For this act of adhering to the lordship of the true Lord of all creation, Christ Jesus, the candidate faces east. As Cyril says,

The gates of God’s paradise are open to you, that garden which God planted in the east, and from which our first parent was expelled for his transgression. When you turned from west to east, the region of light, you symbolized this change of allegiance. Then you were told to say: “I believe in the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and in one baptism of repentance” (Yarnold, 74-75).

John Chrysostom describes the renunciation and the adhesion as a contract/covenant. The candidate is annulling one contract with Satan and signing another contract with the Lord Jesus. In his words,

Have you seen the terms of the contract? After the renunciation of the Evil One and all the works he delights in, the priest instructs you to speak again as follows: And I pledge myself, Christ, to you. Do you see the overwhelming goodness of God? From you he receives only words, yet he entrusts to you realities, a great treasure. He forgets your past ingratitude; he remembers nothing of your past; he is content with these few words. And those few words bind the candidate to Christ, covenanting and cementing the relationship between Lord and believer (Yarnold, 158-9).

               In the baptismal waters the acts of renunciation and adhesion reach their culmination as the candidate is drowned and her sinfulness is washed away in the blood of the Lamb. Depending upon the size of the baptismal pool, the candidate’s entire body was submersed under the water or the candidate stood in water to their knees or thighs and water was poured profusely over their entire body. As Cyril recounts the baptismal dying,

Then you were conducted by the hand to the holy pool of sacred baptism, just as Christ was conveyed from the cross to the sepulcher which stands before us [literally in Jerusalem!]. Each person was asked if he believed in the name of the Father and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. You made the confession that brings salvation, and submerged yourselves three times in the water and emerged: by this symbolic gesture you were secretly re-enacting the burial of Christ three days in the tomb….In one and the same action you died and were born; the water of salvation became both tomb and mother for you (Yarnold, 77-78).

As one person has said, there is no missing the moment with baptismal submersion/immersion. This is death and resurrection, being born to new life. As Chrysostom says,

He takes you down into the sacred waters, at the same time burying the old nature and raising “the new creature, which is being renewed after the image of the creator” [Colossians 3:10]. Then by the words of the priest and by his hand the presence of the Holy Spirit flies down upon you and another man comes up out of the font, one washed from all the stain of his sins, who has put off the old garment of sin and is clothed in the royal robe (Yarnold, 161).

A dramatic joining to the Lord Jesus Christ, by renouncing the Evil One, adhering to Jesus, and being washed to new life by drowning and dying in the baptismal tomb and womb.

Scrutines of Lent 2019 (9)

A Ritual Journey: The First Scrutiny

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The first ritual practice following election in the RCIA is the First Scrutiny. There are three scrutinies in the Period of Enlightenment on the 3rd, 4th, and 5th Sundays in Lent. The Lutheran resources provide fewer aids toward scrutiny rites. Welcome to Christ provides a renunciation of evil on the 4th Sunday in Lent and Go Make Disciples advocates for public rites of blessing throughout Lent that support the “candidates in renouncing evil in their lives” (116).

The title “scrutinies” is unfortunately misleading. It appeals back to fourth century practice when the Christian community examined the elect’s commitment toward becoming disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ through baptismal initiation and to engage spiritual warfare against sin and evil. But the scrutinies in the RCIA are not primarily intensive examinations of the elects’ lives. The orientation and purpose of the scrutinies in the modern RCIA is for the elect to “renounce sin and evil and profess faith in the Triune God at their baptism” (Guide, 58)

These scrutinies are rites of purification as the elect learn about sin, especially their own, and the Holy Spirit elicits in them the desire to be delivered from sin and evil. As the RCIA says, they are

“to uncover, then heal all that is weak, defective, or sinful in the hearts of the elect; to bring out, then strengthen all that is upright, strong, and good. For the scrutinies are celebrated in order to deliver the elect from the power of sin and Satan, to protect them against temptation, and to give them strength in Christ, who is the way, the truth, and the life” (RCIA, 78).

Guide for Celebrating Christian Initiation with Adults calls them “rites of self-searching and repentance” (59). The rites and catechesis throughout this period promote among the elect genuine self-knowledge. As Ronald Lewinski says of the scrutinies,

“God’s Word searches our hearts and scrutinizes our values and way of life. This scrutinizing begins outside the formal rites—throughout Lent and long before—as the elect search their lives in the light of the Gospel and so identify the falsehoods that keep them from embracing the Kingdom of God as their way of life” (An Introduction to the RCIA, 54).

This self-examination and repentance includes attending to both personal and social sin. Personal sin would include “long-standing grudges, selfishness, poor health habits, personal prejudices, addictions to social media” and social sin would include “materialism, consumerism, sexism, racism, militarism, hedonism, and idolatry” (54).

As with most rites in the catechumenate, the elect are the primary symbol. They gather, along with their sponsors, at the front of the nave facing the assembly with their sponsors standing behind them. All three scrutinies follow the same pattern within the divine service:

  • Readings from Series A (woman at the well, the man born blind, and the raising of Lazarus, seeking to illuminate the lives of the elect)
  • Homily (which includes exploration of the meaning of the scrutiny)
  • Silent prayer by the presider, sponsors, elect, and the assembly
  • Intercessions for the elect
  • Exorcism Prayer
  • [Psalm/Hymn/Song]
  • Dismissal of the elect

The exorcisms are not rites for casting out a demonic spirit (aka. The Exorcist). Rather, they are prayers of spiritual warfare. In the RCIA there are two prayers, the first addressed to God the Father and the second addressed to Jesus Christ. The presider prays the first prayer with hands outstretched over all of the elect. The presider then lays hands on the head of each of the elect individually in silence. Sponsors are also encouraged to lay a hand or hands on the shoulders of the elect. The assembly also may extend their hands over the elect. The presider then prays the second prayer over all of the elect. The text of the exorcism prayers are general in nature, as seen in the first prayer for Lent 3:

“God of power, you sent your Son to be our Savior. Grant that these catechumens, who, like the woman of Samaria, thirst for living water, may turn to the Lord as they hear his word and acknowledge the sins and weaknesses that weigh them down. Protect them from vain reliance on self and defend them from the power of Satan. Free them from the spirit of deceit, so that, admitting the wrong they have done, they may attain purity of heart and advance on the way to salvation” (RCIA Study Edition, 84).

Setting aside some language that Lutherans might wish to change, these exorcistic prayers encourage the elect to identify and name their own sins and proclivities toward and participation in evil. They also indicate to the Christian assembly the desire to participate as well in such renunciation of sin and evil. Ultimately the scrutinies are rites of liberation from sin, evil, and the power of satan.

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Absorbed into Jesus Christ: A Life of Renunciation of the Old and Adhesion to the New

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One of the reasons that we should perceive the catechumenate as the beginning of a lifelong apprenticeship in the faith with other Christians is because becoming a Christian requires a reorientation of life. To use biblical language, it requires death and resurrection—death to the old life and birth of a new life. This is a radical change and it necessitates having Christian mentors to guide those moving toward this baptismal reorientation.

Paul Galbreath in the 4th chapter of Leading through the Water identifies the renunciations in the baptismal liturgy as very directly expressing this death to the old and rebirth into the new that it is at the heart of the baptismal journey. The renunciations—in Lutheran Service Book “I renounce the devil, and all his works, and all his ways”—express the radical reformation of identity that is taking place in the catechumenate through God’s baptismal work. Galbreath refers to this reformation of identity as a movement toward gospel values and away from values inconsistent with and contradictory of the gospel. The Word proclaimed throughout the catechumenate facilitates and works this movement away from the person’s past life into a renewed life within a new community.

Yet, this is a fundamentally challenging reorientation. It is not easy to renounce one’s own past identity. Lots of questions and doubts surface in the process. Aspects of Christian belief will seem strange and foreign to the inquirer and catechumen. That includes the renunciations themselves. What is the devil? How do I participate in evil? What is sin? Am I really to be identified as a sinner? What is this life in Christ that I am adhering to? Why does this community love the stranger and the foreigner? Is that really what my life is all about? Is being a Christian really who I am? As Galbreath observes, “The baptismal liturgy presents the demands of this new way of life” (67).

The Christian community holds the members of the community accountable to that baptismal vision. For the catechumens their mentors/sponsors personally embody that vision and the values of renunciation for the catechumens. Through the catechumenate the catechumens “catch” the vision of a new identity for themselves and the role that renunciation (death to the old, birth to the new) plays in this new vision.

The renunciations are a present-tense, ongoing reality. For each catechumen they are grounded in trust of the Triune God and the Christian community that bears witness to him.  That same community supports and upholds the catechumens as they make this radical transition. The renunciations take shape in the individual catechumens’ lives and decisions (ie. I can no longer pursue financial wealth at the cost of everyone in my path). Through the renunciations the catechumens see how the Word of God shapes a different understanding of their priorities.

The catechumenate shapes a life of ongoing renunciation (a synonym would be repentance). Through the ongoing act of renunciation and adhesion to Christ the Christian community becomes the living embodiment of Christ to each other and the world. It is a death and resurrection experience that forms the catechumen into a completely new vision of communal life under the lordship of Jesus Christ. Through this ongoing act of renunciation and adhesion all the baptized are absorbed into Jesus Christ and his story. And it all starts in the catechumenate.

*Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash