In Christian denominations that practice infant baptism, confirmation is seen as the sealing of the covenant created in baptism. Those being confirmed are known as confirmands. The ceremony typically involves laying on of hands.
Catholicism views confirmation as a sacrament. The sacrament is called chrismation in Eastern Christianity. In the East it takes place immediately after baptism; in the West, when a child reaches the age of reason or early adolescence, or in the case of adult baptism immediately afterwards in the same ceremony. Among those Christians who practise confirmation during their teenage years, the practice may be perceived, secondarily, as a coming of age rite.
In many Protestantism denominations, such as the Lutheran, Reformed, Anglican and Methodist traditions, confirmation is a rite that often includes a profession of faith by an already baptized person. Confirmation is required by Lutherans, Anglicans and other traditional Protestant denominations for full membership in the respective church; the covenant theology of Reformed churches considers baptized infants members of the church, while confirmation or "profession of faith" is required for admittance to the Lord's Table.
In Catholic theology, it is the sacrament of baptism that confers membership, while "reception of the sacrament of Confirmation is necessary for the completion of baptismal grace". The Catholic and Methodist denominations teach that in confirmation, the Holy Spirit strengthens a baptized individual for their faith journey.Confirmation is not practised in Baptists, Anabaptists and other groups that teach believer's baptism. Thus, the sacrament or rite of confirmation is administered to those being received from those aforementioned groups, in addition to those converts from non-Christian religions.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) does not practise infant baptism, but individuals can be baptized after they reach eight years old (the age of accountability). Confirmation in the LDS Church occurs shortly following baptism, which is not considered complete or fully efficacious until confirmation is received.
Various secular organizations also offer secular coming-of-age ceremonies as an alternative to Christian confirmation, while Unitarian Universalists have a similar coming-of-age ceremony.
Three texts make it certain that a laying on of hands for the imparting of the Spirit – performed after the Baptism and as a complement to this bath – existed already in the earliest apostolic times. These texts are Acts 8:4–20 and 19:1–7, and Hebrews 6:1–6.
In the Acts of the Apostles 8:14–17, different ministers are named for the two actions. It is not deacon Philip, the baptiser, but only the apostles who were able to impart the pneuma through the laying on of hands:
Further on in the text, connection between the gift of the Holy Spirit and the gesture of laying on of hands appears even more clearly. Acts 8:18–19 introduces the request of Simon Magus in the following way: "When Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles' hands". In Acts 19, baptism of the disciples is mentioned in quite general terms, without the minister being identified. Referring to 1 Corinthians 1:17, it can be presumed that Paul left the action of baptising to others. However, Acts 19:6 then expressly states that it was Apostle Paul who laid his hands upon the newly baptised. Hebrews 6:1–6 distinguishes "the teaching about baptisms" from the teaching about "the laying on of hands". The difference may be understood in the light of the two passages in Acts 8 and 19.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church in paragraphs 1302–1303, states:
In the Catholic Church, the sacrament is customarily conferred only on persons old enough to understand it, and the ordinary minister of confirmation is a bishop. "If necessity so requires", the diocesan bishop may grant specified the faculty to administer the sacrament, although normally he is to administer it himself or ensure that it is conferred by another bishop. In addition, the law itself confers the same faculty on the following:
"According to the ancient practice maintained in the Roman liturgy, an adult is not to be baptized unless he receives Confirmation immediately afterward, provided no serious obstacles exist." Christian Initiation of Adults, 34 Administration of the two sacraments, one immediately after the other, to adults is normally done by the bishop of the diocese (generally at the Easter Vigil) since "the baptism of adults, at least of those who have completed their fourteenth year, is to be referred to the Bishop, so that he himself may confer it if he judges this appropriate" However, if the bishop does not confer the baptism, then it devolves on the priest whose office it then is to confer both sacraments, since, "in addition to the bishop, the law gives the faculty to confirm to the following,... priests who, in virtue of an office which they lawfully hold, baptize an adult or a child old enough for catechesis or receive a validly baptized adult into full communion with the Church."Rite of Confirmation, 7
In Eastern Catholic Churches, the usual minister of this sacrament is the parish priest, using olive oil consecrated by a bishop (i.e. chrism) and administering the sacrament immediately after baptism. This corresponds exactly to the practice of the early Church, when at first those receiving baptism were mainly adults, and of the non-Latin Catholic Eastern Churches.
After the Fourth Lateran Council, Communion, which continued to be given only after confirmation, was to be administered only on reaching the age of reason. Some time after the 13th century, the age of confirmation and Communion began to be delayed further, from seven, to twelve and to fifteen. Kay Lynn Isca, Catholic Etiquette (Our Sunday Visitor 1997 ), p. 91 In the 18th century, in France the sequence of sacraments of initiation was changed. Bishops started to impart confirmation only after the first Eucharistic communion. The reason was no longer the busy calendar of the bishop, but the bishop's will to give adequate instruction to the youth. The practice lasted until Pope Leo XIII in 1897 asked to restore the primary order and to celebrate confirmation back at the age of reason, a change that lasted less than two decades. In 1910, his successor, Pope Pius X, showing concern for the easy access to the Eucharist for children, in his Letter Quam Singulari lowered the age of first communion to seven. That was the origin of the widespread custom in parishes to organise the First Communion for children at .
The 1917 Code of Canon Law, while recommending that confirmation be delayed until about seven years of age, allowed it be given at an earlier age. Only on 30 June 1932 was official permission given to change the traditional order of the three sacraments of Christian initiation: the Sacred Congregation for the Sacraments then allowed, where necessary, that confirmation be administered first Communion. This novelty, originally seen as exceptional, became more and more the accepted practice. Thus, in the mid-20th century, confirmation began to be seen as an occasion for professing personal commitment to the faith on the part of someone approaching adulthood.
However, the Catechism of the Catholic Church (1308) warns: "Although Confirmation is sometimes called the 'sacrament of Christian maturity,' we must not confuse adult faith with the adult age of natural growth, nor forget that the baptismal grace is a grace of free, unmerited election and does not need 'ratification' to become effective."
On the canonical age for confirmation in the Latin Church Catholic Church, the present 1983 Code of Canon Law, which maintains unaltered the rule in the 1917 Code, lays down that the sacrament is to be conferred on the faithful at about the age of discretion (generally taken to be about 7), unless the episcopal conference has decided on a different age, or there is a danger of death or, in the judgement of the minister, a grave reason suggests otherwise (canon 891 of the Code of Canon Law). The Code prescribes the age of discretion also for the sacraments of Reconciliation and first Holy Communion.
In some places the setting of a later age, e.g. mid-teens in the United States, 11 or 12 in Ireland and early teens in Britain, has been abandoned in recent decades in favor of restoring the traditional order of the three sacraments of Christian initiation. Confirmation before communion, Liverpool decides Interchurch Families Even where a later age has been set, a bishop may not refuse to confer the sacrament on younger children who request it, provided they are baptized, have the use of reason, are suitably instructed and are properly disposed and able to renew the baptismal promises.Letter of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments published in its 1999 bulletin, pages 537–540
One of the effects of the sacrament is that "it gives us a special strength of the Holy Spirit to spread and defend the faith by word and action as true witnesses of Christ, to confess the name of Christ boldly, and never to be ashamed of the Cross". Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1303. This effect was described by the Council of Trent as making the confirmed person "a soldier of Christ".
The same passage of the Catechism of the Catholic Church also mentions, as an effect of confirmation, that "it renders our bond with the Church more perfect". This mention stresses the importance of participation in the Christian community.
The "soldier of Christ" imagery was used, as far back as 350, by St Cyril of Jerusalem. In this connection, the touch on the cheek that the bishop gave while saying "Pax tecum" () to the person he had just confirmed was interpreted in the Roman Pontifical as a slap, a reminder to be brave in spreading and defending the faith: "Deinde leviter eum in maxilla caedit, dicens: Pax tecum" (). When, in application of the Second Vatican Council's Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, the confirmation rite was revised in 1971, mention of this gesture was omitted. However, the French and Italian translations, indicating that the bishop should accompany the words "Peace be with you" with "a friendly gesture" (French text) or "the sign of peace" (Italian text), explicitly allow a gesture such as the touch on the cheek, to which they restore its original meaning. This is in accord with the Introduction to the rite of confirmation, 17, which indicates that the episcopal conference may decide "to introduce a different manner for the minister to give the sign of peace after the anointing, either to each individual or to all the newly confirmed together".
The Sacred Tradition of the Orthodox Church teaches that the Apostles themselves established the practice of anointing with chrism (consecrated oil) in place of the laying on of hands when bestowing the sacrament. As the numbers of converts grew, it became physically impossible for the apostles to lay hands upon each of the newly baptized. So the Apostles laid hands upon a vessel of oil, bestowing the Holy Spirit upon it, which was then distributed to all of the (priests) for their use when they baptized. The same chrism is in use to this day, never being completely depleted but newly consecrated chrism only being added to it as needed (this consecration traditionally is performed only by the primates of certain Autocephaly on Great Thursday) and it is believed that chrism in use today contains some small amount of the original chrism made by the apostles.
When Catholics and traditional Protestants, such as Lutherans and Anglicans, convert to Orthodoxy, they are often admitted by chrismation, without baptism; but, since this is a matter of local episcopal discretion, a bishop may require all converts to be admitted by baptism if he deems it necessary. Depending upon the form of the original baptism, some Protestants must be baptized upon conversion to Orthodoxy. A common practice is that those persons who have been previously baptized by triple immersion in the name of the Trinity do not need to be baptized. However, requirements will differ from jurisdiction to jurisdiction and some traditional Orthodox jurisdictions prefer to baptize all converts. When a person is received into the church, whether by baptism or chrismation, they will often take the name of a saint, who will become their patron saint. Thenceforward, the feast day of that saint will be celebrated as the convert's name day, which in traditional Orthodox cultures is celebrated in lieu of one's birthday.
The Orthodox rite of chrismation takes place immediately after baptism and clothing the "newly illumined" (i.e., newly baptized) in their baptismal robe. The priest makes the sign of the cross with the chrism (also referred to as myrrh) on the brow, eyes, nostrils, lips, both ears, breast, hands and feet of the newly illumined, saying with each anointing: "The seal of the gift of the Holy Spirit. Amen." Then the priest will place his epitrachelion (stole) over the newly illumined and leads them and their godparents in a procession, circling three times around the Gospel Book, while the choir chants each time: "As many as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. Alleluia" (Galatians 3:27).
The reason the Eastern Churches perform chrismation immediately after baptism is so that the newly baptized may receive Holy Communion, which is commonly given to infants as well as adults.
An individual may be baptized in extremis (in a life-threatening emergency) by any baptized member of the church; however, only a priest or bishop may perform the mystery of chrismation. If someone who has been baptized in extremis survives, the priest then performs the chrismation.
The Catholic Church does not confirm converts to Catholicism who have been chrismated in a non-Catholic Eastern church, considering that the sacrament has been validly conferred and may not be repeated.
In the Eastern Orthodox Church the sacrament may be conferred more than once and it is customary to receive returning or repentant apostates by repeating chrismation.
The Rite of Confirmation of the Lutheran Churches includes:
The Lutheran rite of confirmation enjoins the laying on of hands upon each of the candidates, with certain Missals such as Evangelical Lutheran Worship including an invocation of the Holy Spirit to stir up in the confirmands the Gifts of the Holy Spirit received in the sacrament of Holy Baptism: "Stir up in them the gift of your Holy Spirit: the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord, the spirit of joy in your presence, both now and forever."
Lutheran Churches treat confirmation as a rite, not as a dominical sacrament of the Gospel, considering that only Baptism, Eucharist and Confession and Absolution can be regarded as sacraments. Some popular Sundays for this to occur are Palm Sunday, Pentecost and Reformation Sunday (last Sunday in October).
In Anglicanism, confirmation is the culmination of catechesis provided to the candidate, an emphasis made prominent under the guiding reformer of the Protestant Reformation in England, Thomas Cranmer.
"The renewal of the baptismal vows, which is part of the Anglican Confirmation service, is in no way necessary to Confirmation and can be done more than once.... When Confirmation is given early, candidates may be asked to make a fresh renewal of vows when they approach adult life at about eighteen." The 1662 Book of Common Prayer of the Church of England employs the phrase "ratify and confirm" with respect to these vows which has led to the common conception of confirmation as the renewal of baptismal vows. As with Lutheranism, the Anglican prayer book makes it "clear that Baptism involves full initiation into the church, including the gift of the Holy Spirit" and "Confirmation involves prayer for the 'daily increase' of a gift already given."
Though confirmation is seen as a rite by many Anglicans (especially those of an Evangelical Reformed churchmanship), Anglicans of Anglo-Catholic churchmanship count the confirmation as one of the sacraments. While most provinces of the Anglican Communion do not make provision for ministers other than bishops to administer confirmation, presbyters can be authorized to do so in certain South Asian provinces, which are united churches. Similarly, the American Episcopal Church recognizes that "those who have previously made a mature public commitment in another Church may be received by the laying on of hands by a Bishop of this Church, rather than confirmed." Furthermore, at its General Convention in 2015 a resolution advancing presbyteral confirmation was referred to committee for further review.
By Water and Spirit, an official United Methodist publication, states that "it should be emphasized that Confirmation is what the Holy Spirit does. Confirmation is a divine action, the work of the Spirit empowering a person 'born through water and the Spirit' to 'live as a faithful disciple of Jesus Christ'." The Methodist theologian John William Fletcher saw confirmation as a means of grace.
While the Holy Spirit strengthens the believer in confirmation, in Methodist theology, it is though entire sanctification that a believer is baptized (filled) with the Holy Spirit, thus being made perfect in love and wholly devoted to God, cleansed of original sin (the carnal nature), and empowered to accomplish all to which they are called. John Fletcher saw the attainment of entire sanctification as being the goal of the vows made at the ordinance of confirmation. John Wesley laid emphasis "upon a personal, non-ceremonial experience of sanctifying grace" and this second work of grace—entire sanctification—distinguishes Methodism.
The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) confirmation process is a profession of faith that "seeks to provide youth with a foundational understanding of our faith, tradition and Presbyterian practices".
Following the recitation of the vow, "young Christians receive the confirmation blessing, which is dispensed upon them through laying on of hands".
The ceremony is significantly simpler than in Catholic or Eastern Orthodox churches and is performed by an ordained clergyman as follows:
Other actions typically associated with confirmation in Catholicism or Eastern Orthodoxy, such as the reception of a Christian name, anointing of body parts with chrism, and the clothing of the confirmant in a white garment or chiton are conducted separately as part of a ceremony called the Initiatory.
As indicated by the different senses of the word christening, baptism and the giving of a personal name have traditionally been linked. At confirmation, in which the intervention of a godparent strengthens a resemblance with baptism, it became customary to take a new name, as was also the custom on other occasions, in particular that of religious profession. King Henry III of France (1551–1589) was christened Edouard Alexandre in 1551, but at confirmation received the name Henri, by which he afterwards reigned. Today usually no great use is made of the confirmation name, although some treat it as an additional middle name. For example, A Song of Ice and Fire author George R. R. Martin was born George Raymond Martin, but added his confirmation name Richard as a second middle name. However, even after the English Reformation, the legal system of that country admitted the lawfulness of using one's confirmation name in, for instance, purchasing land.
In the Lutheran Churches, those individuals who received the sacrament of baptism according to the Trinitarian formula in a non-Lutheran church are confirmed as Lutherans, ordinarily during the Easter Vigil—the first liturgy of Eastertide. The rite of confirmation is preceded by a period of catechetical instruction.
In the Anglican Communion, a person who was previously confirmed in another denomination by a bishop or priest recognized as validly ordained is "received" rather than confirmed again. Some dioceses of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America recognize non-episcopal Confirmations as well and these individuals are received into the Anglican Communion rather than re-confirmed. In other dioceses, confirmations of those Christian denominations are recognized if they have a valid apostolic succession in the eyes of the Anglican Communion (e.g. Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Catholic Church, etc.).
Eastern Orthodox churches occasionally practise what is seen by other Christians as "re-Chrismation", in that they usually chrismate/confirm – and sometimes rebaptize – a convert, even one previously confirmed in other churches. The justification is that the new Chrismation (or baptism) is the only valid one, the earlier one being administered outside of the Church and hence being little more than a symbol. The Eastern Orthodox will also chrismate an apostasy from the Orthodox Church who repents and re-enters communion. According to some interpretations, the Eastern churches therefore view confirmation/Chrismation as a repeatable sacrament. According to others, the rite is understood as "part of a process of reconciliation, rather than as a reiteration of post-baptismal chrismation".
Today, many Reform Jewish congregations hold confirmation ceremonies as a way of marking the biblical festival of Shavuot and the decision of young adults to embrace Jewish study in their lives and reaffirm their commitment to the Covenant. The confirmands represent "the first fruits of each year's harvest. They represent the hope and promise of tomorrow."Knoebel, Gates of the Seasons, 77 Confirmation is typically held in tenth grade after a year of study, but some synagogues celebrate it in other years of high school.
Confirmation, in the context of Reform Judaism, was mentioned officially for the first time in an ordinance issued by the Jewish consistory of the kingdom of Westphalia at Cassel in 1810. There it was made the duty of the rabbi "to prepare the young for confirmation, and personally to conduct the ceremony." At first only boys were confirmed, on the Shabbat ("Shabbat") that they celebrated becoming Bar Mitzvah; the ceremony was performed at the home or in the schoolroom. In Berlin, Jewish girls were confirmed for the first time in 1817, in Hamburg in 1818.
Confirmation was at first excluded from the synagogue, because, like every innovation, it met with stern opposition from more traditional rabbis. Gradually, however, it found more favor; Hebrew school classes were confirmed together, and confirmation gradually became a solemn celebration at the synagogue. In 1822 the first class of boys and girls was confirmed at the Hamburg Temple, and in 1831 Rabbi Samuel Egers, a prominent traditional rabbi of his time, began to confirm boys and girls at the synagogue of Brunswick. While in the beginning some Shabbat, frequently during Chanukah or Passover, was selected for confirmation, it became increasingly customary, following the example of Egers, to perform the ceremony during the biblical festival of Shavuot ("Feast of Weeks"). It was felt that Shavuot was well suited for the rite, as it celebrated the occasion when the Israelites on Mount Sinai declared their intention to accept the yoke of Torah, so those of every new generation should follow the ancient example and declare their willingness to be faithful to the Sinaitic covenant transmitted by their ancestors.
Confirmation was introduced in Denmark as early as 1817, in Hamburg in 1818, and in Hessen and Saxony in 1835. The Prussian government, which showed itself hostile to the Reform movement, prohibited it as late as 1836, as did Bavaria as late as 1838. It soon made its way, however, into all progressive congregations of Germany. In 1841 it was introduced in France, first in Bordeaux and Marseilles, then in Strasburg and Paris, under the name initiation religieuse. The first Israelitish synod in 1869 at Leipsic adopted a report on religious education, the 13th section of which contains an elaborate opinion on confirmation, recommending the same to all Jewish congregations. In America, the annual confirmation of boys and girls was first resolved upon by the congregation of Temple Emanu-El of New York in 1847. The ceremony soon gained so firm a foothold in America that soon there was no progressive Jewish congregation in which it did not occur during Shavuot.
Some atheist state have as a matter of policy fostered the replacement of Christian rituals such as confirmation with non-religious ones. In the historically Protestant German Democratic Republic (East Germany), for example, "the Jugendweihe (youth dedication) gradually supplanted the Christian practice of Confirmation." A concept that first appeared in 1852, the Jugendweihe is described as "a solemn initiation marking the transition from youth to adulthood that was developed in opposition to Protestant and Catholic Churches' Confirmation."
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