Theodoret of Cyrus, one of the last and somewhat late representatives of Christian
apologists, follows his predecessors when he argues that any knowledge—including the
knowledge of and initiation into the mysteries—must be preceded by faith. This requirement
means that those who wish to attain initiation into any art, science, or knowledge,
including a spiritual or religious mystery, must manifest not only a certain level
of interest, but also faith and confidence both in the person who performs these initiations
and in the very mystery they intend to attain. The examples borrowed from various
philosophical schools, secret religious rites, and the like tend to show that for
Theodoret, initiation into the mysteries of the Christian faith is no exception. Of
course, these mysteries are also different in kind, consisting of doctrinal ones (e.g.
the mystery of the Incarnation, the mystery of the Trinity, etc.) and of ritual practices
including baptism and the Eucharist. Those wishing to be initiated (e.g. the catechumens)
are required to listen to the Lord himself, the Creator of the Universe, who uses
human mediators in order to convey the message to all. It is interesting to observe
that in his argumentation concerning the necessity of faith for the commencement of
the initiation, Theodoret not only uses biblical expressions and quotations, he even
adopts a language and phraseology borrowed from ancient sacred rituals, sometimes
even with strong physical connotations (e.g. “we, the lovers of the Trinity”: Ἡμεῖς
οἱ τῆς Τριάδος ἐρασταί). It appears that the persuasive rhetoric used by Early Christian
fathers to convince their listeners of the truth of the Gospel was not very different
from the style of non-Christian thinkers and orators. The longevity of the Greek rhetorical
school in Antioch may have played an important role in the formation and sustenance
of such phraseology.
