Baptism as Illumination

[I_Thirst]

Could someone offer some discussion on passage from St Justin Martyr?

This baptism is called “illumination” because of the mental enlightenment that is experienced by those who learn these things. The person receiving this enlightenment is also baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, who was crucified under Pontius Pilate, and in the name of the Holy Spirit, who through the prophets foretold everything concerning Jesus.

crossroadsinitiative.com/library_article/33/Baptism_as_Illumination_in_the_Early_Church____St._Justin_Martyr.html

I was baptized as an adult (RCIA), and I don’t recall anyone using this terminology.

Also wondering about the connection to the Epiphany, which is aka The Feast of Lights.

I hope I’m not being too vague about this. Thanks for any insight!

 

[Bookcat]

Yes this is a wonderful reality of Baptism!

“The early Church described Baptism as* fotismos*, as the Sacrament of illumination, as a communication of light, and linked it inseparably with the resurrection of Christ.”

–Pope Benedict XVI

Here read the whole text:

vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/homilies/2009/documents/hf_ben-xvi_hom_20090411_veglia-pasquale_en.html

(I included that quote on the holy card for my Sons baptism…)

Also here from the Catechism: vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P3H.HTM and read the rest of the CCC on Baptism it is very good…and also read the other Easter Vigil Homilies of Pope Benedict XVI vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/index.htm

 

[I_Thirst]

WOW! Thank you so much, Bookcat!

I hadn’t even thought about checking the CCC, and I didn’t even know about checking the homilies. Wealth of information!!!

---

The CCC uses enlightenment, which can have a certain amount of baggage – new age, Buddhism, historical, etc. Of course, there could be a Catholic use (such as in the CCC) that I’m unaware of. Do you think that there is any reason to prefer using enlightenment rather than illumination? Or is it just six of one, half dozen of the other?

 

[Bookcat]

WOW! Thank you so much, Bookcat!

I hadn’t even thought about checking the CCC, and I didn’t even know about checking the homilies. Wealth of information!!!

---

The CCC uses enlightenment, which can have a certain amount of baggage – new age, Buddhism, historical, etc. Of course, there could be a Catholic use (such as in the CCC) that I’m unaware of. Do you think that there is any reason to prefer using enlightenment rather than illumination? Or is it just six of one, half dozen of the other?

Your very welcome!

Use both…or either or…

Use indeed: fotismos … then translate it …

Note the second reading from Paul for the Sunday Mass today…we are “sons of light and sons of day…” (I Thes 5:5)

 

[I_Thirst]

Your very welcome!

Use both…or either or…

Use indeed: fotismos … then translate it …

Note the second reading from Paul for the Sunday Mass today…we are “sons of light and sons of day…” (I Thes 5:5)

Both … and!!!

I looked up today’s reading with my concordance. Light is phos in Greek, which reminds me of Phos Hilaron (for which, incidentally, I just wrote an a cappella piece).

A little googling dug up this for fotismos …

More Light – fotismos

Like John 8:12, 2 Corinthians 4:6 progresses from physical light to something else. The physical light comes in the phrase ek skotous fos, “light out of darkness.” (This is sometimes footnoted as a citation of Genesis 1:3. I’m not convinced.)

But in the second half of 2 Corinthians 4:6 we find the “light of the knowledge of the glory of God” (a phrase that is much less awkward in Greek). Here, however, instead of the usual word fos we find the less common fotismos. That Greek word is related to fos in roughly the way that “enlightenment” or “lighting” is related to “light,” but — as usual — we don’t want to let English happenstance mask what the Greek means.

In the LXX, we find fotismos a handful of times, and here’s what interesting: the word is often used in connection with the face! So we have Psalm 44:4 (43:4): o fotismos tou prosopou sou for the Hebrew or panecha (“light of your face”); Psalm 90:8 (89:8): fotismon tou prosopou sou for the Hebrew lim’ or panecha (“light of your face”). There are two Hebrew words for “light” here — or and ma’or — but even though they are both usually translated as fos, here we find fotismos, both for or and for *ma’or *in connection with panim (“face”).

It’s not clear how much to make of this — the sample is mostly limited to Psalms, and sometimes, as in Psalm 89:16 (88:16), or panecha is just fos tou prosopou — but it’s still suggestive.

The word fotismos is rarer still in the NT. We see it here in 2 Corinthians 4:6, and two verses earlier in 4:4. In verse 4:4 we find the fotismos of “the gospel of the glory of Christ,” and here in 4:6 of “the knowledge of the glory of God,” and then, toward the end of 4:6, the fotismos is connected to “Christ’s face.”
link

And that page has just a bit more.