SOME NOTES ON THE HISTORYOF THE RITE OF ANNOUNCEMENT IN CHRISTIANITY

Abstract

A study of the problem of reducing the status of the rite of announcement in the history of the Christian Church
was conducted. It is noted that one of the most ancient rites, which appeared at the very beginning of the formation of
the Christian religion and existed in the activity of the church for centuries, had specially developed forms of
performance, was widely mentioned in the literature of different eras, and is currently called “practice of preparation for
baptism”, which occupies a rather limited period of time and is applied, in certain situations, quite symbolically. The
content of the catechesis program was reviewed. The features of the semantic content of the terms “announcement” and
“catechization”, their similarities and differences are shown. Conclusions about the historical conditions and reasons for
the reduction of the status of the catechetical rite to the level of “pre-baptismal practice” are made.