Mystagogy

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Mystagogy ( Greek μυσταγωγία mystagogia "introduction to mysteries", from μυστήριον mysterion "secret" and ἀγωγή agogē "guidance, education") originally referred to the instruction of disciples in an ancient mystery cult . The instructing priest is called ( Greek μυσταγωγός ) mystagogue .

Course content

In ancient times , mystagogues were important officials or priests; in Eleusis, for example, which was famous for its mysteries , they were only recruited from special groups of the population. Colloquially, however, the term was already used in ancient times for less official professions such as travel guides.

The early Christian Church adopted the term for the introductory instruction given to catechumens prior to their baptism . In particular, the term referred to the last lessons of this teaching, given immediately before or even after baptism, which dealt less with the doctrine of virtues and other practical issues than with the Christian sacraments . Sermons that arose in this context are referred to as mystagogical homilies ; Such a collection of sermons by the church father Kyrill of Jerusalem from the 4th century has been handed down to this day .

In more recent Roman Catholic theology , mystagogy describes a special introduction to the Christian faith that assumes that a believer already knows experiences of faith, the meanings of which are not yet fully clear to him. The use of the term mystagogy in the context of (subsequent) catechesis is already widely documented in Christian terms as early as the 4th century. Thus, by Cyril of Jerusalem and Ambrose of Milan mystagogical catechesis on supplies that approached during Easter week the newly baptized as an explanation of the previously experienced mysteries. Karl Rahner has taken up the concept of mystagogical catechesis in modern times.

The Protestant theologian Sabine Bobert even describes “mystagogical approaches to Christianity” as “the future model of the people's church ”.

literature

Web links

Wiktionary: Mystagogy  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Remarks

  1. ↑ Otto Kern : Mystagogos . In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume XVI, 2, Stuttgart 1935, column 1209.
  2. ↑ Cyril of Jerusalem: catecheses mystagogicae. In: Library of the Church Fathers. Retrieved April 20, 2020 .
  3. ^ Ambrosius: De mysteriis. In: Library of the Church Fathers. Retrieved April 20, 2020 .
  4. ↑ Sabine Bobert: Megatrend Spirituality: On the way to a spiritual modernity - also in the national church? In: Paul M. Zulehner (Ed.): Spirituality - more than a megatrend. Ostfildern 2004, ISBN 978-3-7966-1174-2 , pp. 80–88 (here: 8–10, digitized version ( memento of July 30, 2014 in the Internet Archive )).