Office Of Readings | Week 17, Wednesday, Ordinary Time | A Reading From The Instructions Of Saint Cyril Of Jerusalem To The Catechumens | The Church Is The Assembly Of God’s People

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Office Of Readings | Week 17, Wednesday, Ordinary Time | A Reading From The Instructions Of Saint Cyril Of Jerusalem To The Catechumens | The Church Is The Assembly Of God’s People

‘The Church is the assembly of God’s people.’

Saint Cyril of Jerusalem, writing in the fourth century, speaks with a clarity and breadth that remains strikingly relevant for the Church today. In this catechetical excerpt, drawn most likely from his Catecheses delivered to those preparing for baptism, Cyril undertakes a profound reflection on what it means for the Church to be both Catholic and the assembly of God’s people. His insight provides not only a robust theological definition, but a spiritually rich vision of what it means to belong to the Church of Christ.

Catholic | More Than A Name

Cyril begins by defining the Catholic Church, explaining that it is so called because it is ‘scattered through the whole world from one end of the earth to the other’. This geographical universality, however, is only the outermost layer of its meaning. The Church is Catholic not merely because it exists in many lands, but because it ‘teaches universally and without omission all the doctrines which are to be made known to mankind’. In other words, her Catholicity is doctrinal, liturgical, moral, and spiritual. She leaves nothing out; she teaches the whole truth, for the whole person, in every circumstance of life.

This is a key point often misunderstood in modern discussions of Catholic identity. For Cyril, Catholicity is not a tribal badge, nor merely a denominational label. It denotes the Church’s wholeness—in scope, in message, and in mission. It embraces the rich and the poor, the learned and the unlettered; it offers ‘one way of worship to all men’. The Gospel does not discriminate. Its healing reaches both soul and body, both sin and suffering, addressing every aspect of the human condition.

This holistic universality also extends to the virtues. Cyril proclaims that within the Church ‘there is every kind of virtue in words and deeds and spiritual gifts of every sort’. This is a powerful vision of the Church not as a bureaucratic institution, but as a living body animated by grace—a people through whom God speaks, acts, and sanctifies the world.

Church | The Sacred Assembly

Having clarified the nature of the Church’s Catholicity, Cyril turns to the meaning of the word ‘Church’ itself. Drawing from the Greek ekklesia, which means an assembly or calling-together, he grounds this term deeply in the Old Testament. The Church is the continuation and fulfilment of Israel, the people whom God called out of Egypt and assembled before Him at Sinai.

Cyril makes reference to Leviticus and Deuteronomy, where God commands Moses to gather the people ‘at the door of the tent of meeting’, and later to assemble them so they may ‘hear My words’. This use of Scripture is no mere academic exercise. Cyril is demonstrating that the Christian Church is not a novelty but the continuation of God’s eternal plan—to call a people to Himself, to form them in His word, and to dwell among them. What began in Israel reaches its fullness in the Church of Christ.

Cyril is particularly keen to highlight that the first use of the word assembly occurs when Aaron is appointed high priest. This is no coincidence: he sees in this the foreshadowing of the New Covenant priesthood, where Christ is both High Priest and builder of a new, spiritual temple—the Church. The assembly is not merely a human gathering; it is a divinely called people, gathered around the new High Priest who offers the eternal sacrifice.

Cyril points also to the Psalms, where the assembly is the place of praise and thanksgiving: ‘I will give you thanks, O Lord, in the great Church, in the gathering of the throng I will praise you.’ The Church is thus also the place of right worship—where God is glorified by a multitude drawn from all nations.

From Israel To The Nations | The Expansion Of The Church

Cyril’s reflections move from the assembly of Israel to the universal Church founded by Christ. He speaks of a transition: ‘The second Church the Saviour built from the Gentiles, our holy Church of the Christians.’ This is the Church founded upon Peter—’On this rock I will build my Church’—and against which ‘the powers of death shall not prevail’.

The ‘particular Church of Judaea’, which first heard the promises, has now given way to a new and universal reality. The promises to Israel are not annulled but fulfilled and extended. This is confirmed in the prophetic words of Malachi, which Cyril quotes: ‘From the rising of the sun to its setting, my name is great among the nations.’ The new covenant is not bound to one land or one people, but is global in scope, embracing every language and culture.

This universality is not a vague hope—it is an observable reality in Cyril’s own day. He sees the Church multiplied throughout the known world, testifying to the living presence of Christ. The ‘new song’ that the Psalms call for is being sung in the ‘Church of the saints’—not just in Jerusalem, but across the Roman Empire and beyond.

The Pillar And Bulwark Of The Truth

Cyril concludes with a powerful quotation from Saint Paul’s First Letter to Timothy: the Church is ‘the household of God, which is the Church of the living God, the pillar and bulwark of the truth’. This is no passive structure, no fragile society. It is solid, enduring, a support and guardian of revealed truth in the world.

By placing this at the end, Cyril brings together the themes of his meditation: the Church is universal in reach, apostolic in foundation, spiritual in power, and truth-bearing in her mission. It is this Church to which the catechumens were about to be joined through baptism. It is this same Church into which we ourselves have been reborn.

A Reading From The Instructions Of Saint Cyril Of Jerusalem To The Catechumens | The Church Is The Assembly Of God’s People

The Catholic, or universal, Church gets her name from the fact that she is scattered through the whole world from the one end of the earth to the other, and also because she teaches universally and without omission all the doctrines which are to be made known to mankind, whether concerned with visible or invisible things, with heavenly or earthly things. Then again because she teaches one way of worship to all men, nobles or commoners, learned or simple; finally because she universally cures and heals every sort of sin which is committed by soul and body. Moreover there is in her every kind of virtue in words and deeds and spiritual gifts of every sort.

The Church, that is, the assembly, is designated by this apt term, because it assembles all and brings them together, as the Lord says in Leviticus: Assemble all the congregation at the door of the tent of meeting. Moreover it is worth noting that this word ‘assemble’ is first used in scripture in the place where the Lord appointed Aaron to the high priesthood. And in Deuteronomy God says to Moses: Assemble the people that they may hear my words, that they may learn to fear me. He mentions the Church or assembly again when he speaks of the tables of the law. In them were written all the words which the Lord spoke with you on the mountain, out of the midst of the fire, on the day of the Church or assembly – or to put it more clearly, On the day on which you were called by the Lord and assembled together. The psalmist also says: I will give you thanks, O Lord, in the great Church, in the gathering of the throng I will praise you.

Earlier the psalmist had sung: Bless the Lord in the Church, bless God, you who are Israel’s sons. The second Church the Saviour built from the Gentiles, our holy Church of the Christians, of which he said to Peter: On this rock I will build my Church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it.

After the particular Church of Judaea was repudiated, many Churches of Christ are now multiplied throughout the whole world, of which it is written in the psalms: Sing to the Lord a new song, let his praise be in the Church of the saints. Echoing this the prophet said to the Jews: I have no pleasure in you, says the Lord of Hosts and immediately adds, For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name is great among the nations. About the same holy Catholic Church Paul writes to Timothy: That you may know how one ought to live in the household of God, which is the Church of the living God, the pillar and bulwark of the truth.

Christian Prayer With Jesus Christ

Heavenly Father,
You have gathered your people from the ends of the earth
into one holy, Catholic, and apostolic Church.
We bless You for the gift of belonging to the Body of Christ,
a people united in truth, nourished in worship, and sent in love.

Lord Jesus Christ,
You are the rock upon which the Church is built.
Strengthen our faith in Your promises.
Make us faithful witnesses of Your Gospel,
eager to proclaim Your name from the rising of the sun to its setting.
Heal what is broken within us, and within Your Church,
so that we may truly be the assembly of saints,
alive with virtue, rich in charity,
and fearless in proclaiming the truth.

Holy Spirit,
You guide and sanctify the Church in every age.
Pour out Your gifts upon us: wisdom, courage, and unity.
Renew in us the grace of our baptism,
that we may live as true sons and daughters of the household of God,
praising the Lord in the great assembly.

We ask this through Christ our Lord.
Amen.

Glossary Of Christian Terms

Saint Cyril of Jerusalem
A fourth-century bishop and Doctor of the Church, best known for his Catechetical Lectures, addressed to catechumens preparing for baptism.

Catholic (katholikos)
From the Greek katholikos, meaning ‘universal’ or ‘according to the whole’. Refers to the Church’s universality in time, space, teaching, and mission.

Catechesis / Catechumen
Catechesis is religious instruction given to those preparing for baptism. A catechumen is someone undergoing this preparation.

Assembly / Ekklesia
From the Greek ekklesia, meaning ‘called-out ones’ or ‘assembly’. The word translated as ‘Church’ in the New Testament.

Aaron / High Priest
In the Old Testament, Aaron, brother of Moses, was appointed the first high priest of Israel. His priesthood prefigures Christ’s eternal priesthood.

Tent of Meeting
A portable sanctuary where God met with Moses and the Israelites during their desert journey — symbolising divine presence and communal worship.

Malachi 1:11
A prophetic verse pointing to the future universal worship of God: ‘From the rising of the sun to its setting, my name will be great among the nations.’

Psalms
A book of the Old Testament consisting of 150 prayers and hymns, many of which reference communal worship and the ‘assembly’ of the faithful.

1 Timothy 3:15
A letter by St Paul in which he refers to the Church as ‘the pillar and bulwark of the truth’, affirming her doctrinal authority.

Apostolic
One of the Four Marks of the Church, meaning that the Church is founded on the apostles and continues their mission under apostolic succession.

Body of Christ
A term used by St Paul to describe the Church, with Christ as the head and all believers as members of one body.

New Covenant
The covenant established by Christ through His death and resurrection, fulfilling the promises made in the Old Covenant (with Israel).

Universal Church / Particular Church
The ‘universal Church’ refers to the Church as a whole throughout the world. A ‘particular Church’ is a local expression, such as a diocese.