Early Christian Mosaic in Basilica of Sant' Apollinare Nuovo in Ravenna, Italy

I came across some references to early Christian ritual vestments this morning in Matthew Brown’s The Gate of Heaven.  He cited The Awe-Inspiring Rites of Initiation by Edward Yarnold, and The Archæology of Baptism by Wolfred N. Cote.  I looked up these references and they were intriguing in describing an early Christian practice of face veiling during initiation rites: 

In some places a white linen cloth was also spread over the candidate’s head.  Theodore took this to be a mark of freedom: slaves have to uncover their heads.  John the Deacon believed it to be a symbol of the priesthood: ‘for the priests of that time always wore on their heads a mystic veil.’ St. Augustine in a Low Sunday sermon takes the opposite view to Theodore: it is unveiling that symbolizes freedom:

Today is called the octave of the infants [newly baptized, not necessarily young].  The veils are due to be removed from their heads and this is a sign of freedom… Today, as you see, our infants mingle with the faithful and fly as it were from the nest.

In another place Yarnold informs us:

St. Cyril tells the candidate that when he is exorcised he will be breathed on and his face will be covered to secure for him peace of mind from the dangers of a roving eye. 

Wolfred Cote likewise agrees:

Some days before baptism they were veiled, or with their faces covered, in order that their mind might be more at liberty, and that the wandering of their eyes might not distract their soul. 

I looked up St. Cyril of Jerusalem‘s word about this in the Procatechesis or Prologue to his catechetical lectures in the fourth century CE (see my intro to these lectures).  As part of the initiation rite was an exorcism, or a casting out of Satan and any devils from the initiate.  As part of that rite, Cyril tells us that the face was veiled as a means of focus:

Thy face has been veiled, that thy mind may henceforward be free, lest the eye by roving make the heart rove also. But when thine eyes are veiled, thine ears are not hindered from receiving the means of salvation. 

The early Christian veil served many more symbolic purposes than shielding the eyes, but these we will study at another time.

Early Christian Face Veiling

But he said something on the program that night which resonated with me, and with LDS beliefs. He had received a letter from a listener that was having problems at home. This woman and her son were very fearful in their home. She did not believe she was raising her son right, and she also believed there was something going on in her kitchen. She said that they had been hearing unexplained sounds and noises, which continued to make them more fearful.

After reading the letter, Steve said that these so-called “demons” that many people believe exist are really lower thought patterns, and that the fear she was experiencing, a lower thought pattern itself, was attracting more lower thought patterns and “lower entities,” in the way that light attracts light or dark attracts dark (cf. D&C 88:40). Latter-day Saints know that these could very well could be evil spirits, Satan’s devils from those 1/3 spirits cast down from heaven to earth, and that they are very real and presence can be literally felt. Steve did, however, offer a way to get rid of them from their home, or “smudge” them, as he put it. While the traditional smudging method involves burning sage (which has interesting implications in incense burning), he didn’t like that method, and so he offered another method he liked better. He said something like:

You can take a white candle(s), like the kind you get at the grocery store, and put them into the rooms of your home, and light them. Make sure to be careful with the candles, as they can be dangerous. Light the candle and then you do a ritual. You say, “In the name of God, I cast out all demons or lower entities, and purify this room by the Holy Ghost,” or something like that. That’s it. Very simple and easy thing to do. You can word it how you like…

I immediately recognized a pattern in this of casting out unclean spirits, which is similar in many religious traditions and cultures. I believe that such a tradition exists throughout the world because it descended from the teachings of the temple in antiquity. LDS temple scholar Matthew Brown has offered as much:

The renunciation of Satan and everything associated with him is a common element in early Christian initiation texts (see Yarnold, The Awe-Inspiring Rites of Initiation, 17-18, 178). In some texts it appears that Satan was considered to be present when this renunciation occurred (see Riley, Christian Initiation, 42-43, 49). In one set of initiation texts, the candidate raises one hand while renouncing Satan (see Vellian, ed., Studies on Syrian Baptismal Rites, 93).

One of the clearest examples of this tradition in early Christianity’s mystagogical teachings is from Cyril of Jerusalem (ca. 313-386 A.D.) in his first lecture on the mysteries. In fact, the practice of a renunciation of Satan before the real teaching begins is the focus of the entirety of Cyril’s first lecture to the newly initiated, the first thing one does before further sacred instruction occurs:

First ye entered into the vestibule of the Baptistery, and there facing towards the West ye listened to the command to stretch forth your hand, and as in the presence of Satan ye renounced him. Now ye must know that this figure is found in ancient history. For when Pharaoh, that most bitter and cruel tyrant, was oppressing the free and high-born people of the Hebrews, God sent Moses to bring them out of the evil bondage of the Egyptians. . . .

. . . here, the blood of the Lamb without blemish Jesus Christ is made the charm to scare evil spirits . . .

This is done as if Satan is actually there:

But nevertheless you are bidden to say, with arm outstretched towards him as though he were present, “I renounce you, Satan.” . . .

Indeed, this is the correct way to renounce Satan, for many other methods have been given, but to no avail:

After this you say, “and all your service.” Now the service of the devil is prayer in idol temples; things done in honour of lifeless idols; the lighting of lamps, or burning of incense by fountains or rivers, as some persons cheated by dreams or by evil spirits do [resort to this], thinking to find a cure even for their bodily ailments. Go not after such things. The watching of birds, divination, omens, or amulets, or charms written on leaves, sorceries, or other evil arts, and all such things, are services of the devil; therefore shun them.

Once renounced in this way, Cyril gives imagery of breaking with the Adversary, moving in a different direction, and perhaps even Satan leaving:

When therefore you renounce Satan, utterly breaking all your covenant with him, that ancient league with hell, there is opened to you the paradise of God, which He planted towards the East . . .

Guarded therefore by these discourses, be sober. For our adversary the devil, as was just now read, as a roaring lion, walks about, seeking whom he may devour. . . . [1 Peter 5:8]

And these things were done in the outer chamber.

Of course, this practice is part of what is well-known as religious exorcism. We are informed that this word comes from the Latin exorcismus, from Greek exorkizein, meaning “to adjure,” or “to charge a person to do something as though on oath,” or “command solemnly.” Wikipedia does a good job of showing how ancient this practice is, and its universality. It is shown to exist in Christianity (Matthew 10:1; Matthew 10:8; Mark 6:7; Luke 9:1; Luke 10:17; Mark 16:17; Acts 16:18), Judaism, Hinduism, Scientology, Islam, and other belief systems.

Wikipedia has some interesting notes on the Christian form:

In Christianity, Exorcisms are performed using the “power of Christ” or “In the name of Jesus.” . . .

According to the Catholic Encyclopedia article on Exorcism: Jesus cast out demons as a sign of his Messiahship and empowered his disciples to do the same.

The Jewish Encyclopedia article on Jesus stated that Jesus “was devoted especially to casting out demons” and also believed that he passed this on to his followers, however he was superior to them in the Exorcisms.

One interesting non-Christian associated example of a similar pattern that I’ve written about before comes from a Buddhist legend, and incorporates the use of a hand gesture called the Abhaya mudra, which is essentially a raised right hand:

Devadatta, a cousin of the Buddha, through jealousy caused a schism to be caused among the disciples of Buddha. As Devadatta's pride increased, he attempted to murder the Buddha. One of his schemes involved loosing a rampaging elephant into the Buddha's path. But as the elephant approached him, Buddha displayed the Abhaya mudra, which immediately calmed the animal.

I believe these things have descended from teachings given to Adam and Eve, which have spread into many cultures and traditions throughout the world, and that the Latter-day Saints today are taught the true form of casting out devils in the House of the Lord, as well as having the priesthood authority from God to do so.

Casting out Satan

I was first introduced to Cyril’s Catechetical Lectures by Hugh Nibley in his phenomenal work The Message of the Joseph Smith Papyri. Cyril of Jerusalem is a prominent early Christian theologian, and is considered a saint by many. His most famous writings are set of twenty-three catechetical lectures which he delivered around 347 or 348 A.D. while still a presbyter or priest before he became the Bishop or See (Seer?) of Jerusalem. Most of these lectures were given as instruction to candidates before baptism and initiation. One of the appendices of Dr. Nibley’s book contains snippets from Cyril’s lectures on the “mysteries” (ordinances) or advanced instruction given to the newly baptized or initiated, having already performed these rites. These are contained in the last five of the twenty-three lectures, or lectures 19-23, often called the lectures on the mysteries. All the lectures can be read in full online at New Advent or at the Christian Classics Ethereal Library, albeit the translation is different than Nibley’s which he takes directly from the Patrologia Graeca by J.P. Migne (Vol. 33, cols. 1065-1105).

These last five lectures are entitled Mystagogikai Katecheseis, literally Mystagogic Cathechisms, or as Nibley gives the translation, “Five Explanatory Lectures to the Newly Enlightened,” or “Instructions to Initiates into the Mysteries” or “Lessons on the Initiatory Ordinances”. As we have discussed previously, the word mystery was used by the early church to mean ordinances. Nibley explains that these lectures were delivered at a time of much temple activity in the church, and that these lectures give the most detailed record of the ordinances of the church at that time. These lectures all give much insight into the ordinances that were being practiced at the time.

The portions of the lectures that we’ll look at today are those pertaining to washing and anointing ordinances. Lecture 2 of the mysteries, or 20 of the set of twenty-three, begins to speak about anointings. This translation will be from Nibley’s notes unless otherwise noted:

You were true imitators of Adam, the first man to be created, who was naked in the Garden and was not ashamed.

Then, when you were stripped, you were anointed with exorcised oil [Nibley's says olive oil], from the very hairs of your head to your feet, and were made partakers of the good olive-tree, Jesus Christ. (New Advent)

A “baptism” takes place where the initiate is taken into and out of the water three times, in symbolism of the three days Christ was in the tomb. Nibley notes that this was a washing rather than a baptism, because there was no immersion. Lecture 3 continues:

Having therefore become partakers of Christ, you are properly called Christs, and of you God said, Touch not My Christs, or anointed. Now you have been made Christs, by receiving the antitype of the Holy Ghost; and all things have been wrought in you by imitation, because you are images of Christ. He washed in the river Jordan, and having imparted of the fragrance of His Godhead to the waters, He came up from them; and the Holy Ghost in the fulness of His being lighted on Him, like resting upon like. And to you in like manner, after you had come up from the pool of the sacred streams, there was given an Unction [anointing], the anti-type of that wherewith Christ was anointed; and this is the Holy Ghost; of whom also the blessed Esaias, in his prophecy respecting Him, said in the person of the Lord, The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me: He has sent Me to preach glad tidings to the poor… (New Advent)

He was anointed with … what is called the olive oil of exaltation (agalliaseos elaio--a coronation figure) … while you were anointed with myrrh (scented oil), making you companions and copartners (koinonoi kai metochoi) with Christ.

You were anointed on your brow and your other sense-organs, and so while the body is anointed in outward appearance with myrrh, the soul (psyche) is sanctified by the life-bestowing Holy Spirit.

First of all you were anointed on the brow (metopon, forehead and eyes, lit. “space between the eyes”) to free you from the shame which completely involved the First Man when he fell, and that you might clearly perceive (or reflect, katoptrizisthe), the glory of the Lord with wide-open mind (lit. with uncovered face). Then your ears that you might receive the hearing ears of the mysteries of God…. Next come the nostrils, that upon receiving the holy ordinance you may say: “We are the sweet odor of Christ to God among the saved.” After that (you were anointed) on the breast (tastethe, “the seat of feeling, passion and thought,” Liddell and Scott), that, clothed with the breastplate of righteousness, you may stand against the wiles of the Devil--(countering his evil thoughts with good ones).

As Christ after his baptism … went forth to confront the Adversary, so you after your holy baptism and mystic anointing, were clothed in the armor of the Holy Ghost to stand against the opposing … power.

It is because you are worthy of this holy anointing (chrism) that you are called Christians…. it is by following this road that you have advanced to the point of earning that title.

When Moses received the order to make his brother a High Priest, after washing him with water he anointed him, and he was called a Christ, because of the anointing which was the type. Thus also Solomon, being called to the Kingship, was anointed after a bath in Gihon by the High Priest. For them it was a type (making them kings and priests), but for us it is not symbolical but real, since you really have been anointed by the Holy Ghost. The King (arche) of your salvation is Christ, for he is the true first-fruits and you are the unleavened bread. If the first-fruits (i.e., the priestly office) is holy, that holiness will be transferred to the unleavened bread (i.e., you too will become kings and priests).

Nibley jumps around a bit in the lectures to piece together the end of the purification rites as given by Cyril:

Having put off the old man’s garment of sorrow, you now celebrate as you put on the garment of the Lord Jesus Christ. (Lecture 1)

Having been baptized in Christ and having put on Christ like a garment, you come to resemble (symmorphoi gegonate) the Son of God. (Lecture 3)

After you put off the old garments and put on those of spiritual white, you should keep them always thus spotless white. That is not to say that you must always go around in white clothes, but rather that you should be always clothed in what is really white and glorious, that you may say with the blessed Isaiah (61:10), “Let my soul exult in the Lord, for he hath clothed me in a robe of salvation and clothing of rejoicing.” (The word here used for “clothe” is endy, to place a garment on one, and is the ultimate source of our word “endowment,” derived in the Oxford English Dictionary from both induere, to invest with a garment, and inducere, to lead into or initiate.) (Lecture 4)

You can see that the early Christian Church, even several centuries after Christ, still had a strong understanding of particular purification ordinances, namely washings and anointings, within the gospel, and their symbolic meaning in taking upon oneself the name, and thus the sufferings and atonement, of Christ.

The Encyclopedia of Mormonism tells us about “Washings and Anointings”:

Washings and anointings are preparatory or initiatory ordinances in the temple. They signify the cleansing and sanctifying power of Jesus christ applied to the attributes of the person and to the hallowing of all life. They have biblical precedents (see Oil; Temples Through the Ages; Washing and Anointing). Women are set apart to administer the ordinances to women, and men are set apart to administer the ordinances to men. Latter-day Saints look forward to receiving these inspired and inspiring promises with the same fervent anticipation they bring to baptism. They come in the spirit of a scriptural command: “Cleanse your hands and your feet before me” (D&C 88:74; cf. 1 John 2:27). A commemorative garment is given with these ordinances and is worn thereafter by the participant (see Garments).

Nibley also adds his commentary in the Encyclopedia of Mormonism:

According to Cyril, this is followed by an anointing, making every candidate, as it were, a messiah. The anointing of the brow, face, ears, nose, breast, etc., represents “the clothing of the candidate in the protective panoply of the Holy Spirit,” which however does not hinder the initiate from receiving a real garment on the occasion (CWHN 4:364). Furthermore, according to Cyril, the candidate was reminded that the whole ordinance is “in imitation of the sufferings of Christ,” in which “we suffer without pain by mere imitation his receiving of the nails in his hands and feet: the antitype of Christ’s sufferings” (Patrologiae Graecae 33:1081). The Jews once taught that Michael and Gabriel will lead all the sinners up out of the lower world: “they will wash and anoint them, healing them of their wounds of hell, and clothe them with beautiful pure garments and bring them into the presence of God” (R. Akiba, cited in CWHN 4:364).

Cyril of Jerusalem on Washings and Anointings