The Sacrament of Confirmation

Confirmation is one of the seven sacraments of the ancient faith. Sometimes called ‘chrismation,’ owing to the long-standing practice of using blessed oil (or chrism) as part of the rite, Confirmation bestows a unique grace to the baptized Christian, by which the nascent gifts of the Holy Spirit are stirred up in them and by which the Christian is sealed as belonging to Christ. The stirring up from within and sealing from without bestow strength upon the Christian, so that they may carry out their vocation as a member of the congregation of the faithful.

As Anglicans, Confirmation has a secure place in our faith and practice, as it is rooted in the apostolic tradition. At the beginning of the Church, as we see in the Acts of the Apostles, one of the Twelve always went out to administer “the laying on of hands” upon those who had been baptized, but who had not yet received the Holy Spirit (see Acts 6:6 and 13:3). That the ‘laying on of hands’ continued into the earliest days of the Church is attested to in the writings of Tertullian (2nd Century): “After baptism the hand is imposed, by blessing, calling and inviting the Holy Spirit, then the most Holy Spirit descends from the Father upon the bodies that are cleansed and blessed.” As the pastoral work of the Church passed from the Apostles to the bishops, their successors, the administration of Confirmation became one of the standard features of their ministry. Bp. Cyprian of Carthage (3rd Century) writes: “[Confirmation] is also descended to us, that they who are baptized might be brought by the rulers of the church and by our prayer and the imposition of hands may obtain the Holy Ghost and be consummated by the Lord’s signature.” Later, St. John Chrysostom (4th Century) distinguishes this ministry from other pastoral works: “The ministers that baptized had a power of doing signs and working miracles, but not of giving the Holy Spirit; therefore this gift was peculiar to the apostles, whence it comes to pass that we see the chiefs in the church, and no other, to do this.”

We can find the effects of Confirmation described in the catechetical writings of St. Cyril of Jerusalem, who also notes the use of blessed oil to accompany the laying on of hands—a Scriptural symbol of the Spirit’s anointing and presence: “This chrism is not simple or common when it is blessed, but the gift of Christ and the presence of His Holy Spirit, as it were effective the divinity itself … this using of oil was instead of baptism with fire which Christ baptized His apostles with in Pentecost, and oil being the most proper matter of fire is therefore used in confirmation.” Cementing that connection between the anointing of priests and kings in the Scriptures with the anointing of the royal priesthood of the Church in Confirmation, St. Jerome (5th Century) writes: “This observation for the honor of the priesthood did descend that the bishops only might by imposition of hands confer the Holy Ghost; that it comes from Scripture, that it is written in the Acts of the apostles, that it is done for the prevention of schisms, that the safety of the church depends upon it.”

As Anglicans contended during the Reformation with many pastoral innovations introduced in Protestant theology, the place of bishops and their unique ministries came under specific scrutiny. Partially the result of a broader skepticism about an ‘institutional’ church, and partially the result of Protestant movements breaking away from the Western Catholic Church and often lacking the presence of bishops, the Reformation saw a general diminishing of the place of Confirmation. It is worth noting that this is also when theologies of ordination also began to shift, as the two are connected. Anglicans, however, preserved through the Reformation their connection with the historical succession of bishops and the unique ministerial office they performed for the Church. Nor did they see any conflict between the preservation of a ministerial priesthood or episcopate with the Protestant assertion that all Christians were part of a ‘royal priesthood.’ In fact, Anglicans saw Confirmation as inaugurating the Christian precisely into this role. As Bp. Jeremy Taylor (17th Century) writes: “Because in confirmation we receive the unction from above, that is, then we are most signally ‘made kings and priests unto God, to offer up spiritual sacrifices,’ and to enable us to ‘seek the kingdom of God and the righteousness of it,’ and that the Holy Spirit is in Scripture called the unction from above.”

I am sometimes asked in catechesis as to why Confirmation is important to the Christian beyond its historical and sacramental place in the Church’s practice. The assumption behind this question seems often to be that many practicing Christians have not been confirmed (especially in Orange County, a dense locus of non-denominational churches) and yet are doing just fine in the spiritual life. Another way of posing their question would be to ask: ‘Why is Confirmation necessary?’ To this question we might respond in three different ways. First, we could address the matter of Christian initiation. It is the practice of the Apostles and the generations of chief pastors whom they ordained to administer this sacrament, and the Scriptures and Tradition bear witness to a gift of grace that it bestows that is distinct from Baptism, though closely connected to it. Here we might observe with Fr. Alexander Schmemann the reason why: “Confirmation is thus the personal Pentecost of man … It is his ordination as truly and fully man, for to be fully man is precisely to belong to the Kingdom of God … His whole body is anointed, sealed, sanctified, dedicated to the new life … the whole man is now made the temple of God, and his whole life from now on is a liturgy.” As baptism is the uniting of the Christian with Christ in His Death and Resurrection, so confirmation becomes the point at which the Christian becomes present with the Church on the Day of Pentecost, to receive power from on high for the purpose of mission. This also helps to guard us from the eccentricities of charismatic impulse that tends to afflict some Christian traditions. The Spirit does not descend in chaos, does not minister in chaos, but within and upon and among the Body of Christ.

Confirmation passes through the hands of a bishop, and so unites us with the Church beyond our local parish. As every bishop over his diocese is a local expression of the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church, so when we are confirmed we are initiated into full membership with Christ’s Body as lived in a particular place. It can be easy to fall into an unhealthy parochialism that bends our imagination to see the Christian life as defined by our local experience. When the bishop comes to us, it is an image of and practice for the visitation of the Chief Shepherd, who moves about the lampstands inspecting, encouraging, and correcting. As participants in a parish, it helps us to know that there are brothers and sisters elsewhere who are living out the robust life of the Church in a way that is connected to ours but distinct from it. Confirmation initiates us into the pastoral care of a bishop, and by that connection to the college of bishops who represent the company of the Apostles. Confirmation provides us with a living link to the global Church and the historical Church.

Second, we could address the question typologically. The Scriptures make frequent use of the figure of a temple to reveal the nature of Christian life. As the Old Testament scholar, John Walton, observes of ancient temple-making, one could always observe a three-fold process: constructing the place, inaugurating the rites, and seating the god for devotion. In the construction, stones are brought and fitted together after the design of the architect in collaboration with the priest. When all is prepared, the temple is inaugurated through a rite that initiates all other rites and movements of the temple—the first of which being the welcoming of the deity. From then on, it has a single-purpose for as long as it continues to exist. We can see, of course, how this sensibility for temple-making comes to a point in the construction of both Tabernacle and Temple in the Old Testament, which we also learn is a mirror of God’s own Temple in heaven. We can also see, ultimately, how this is fulfilled in the Body of Christ. And we can see the fittingness of the Christian sacraments by which we are brought into that Body: the Baptism that regenerates us, the Confirmation that inaugurates us, and the Eucharist that seats God within us.

Finally, Confirmation stamps us with the knowledge that our salvation is not given to us just for ourselves. In Baptism we are brought from death to life, but that life is not our own. We are given the gift of eternal life, and that life is inaugurated even now for the purpose of going out to exercise a ministry. For all Christians, this means to take a part of the heavenly worship into which we are invited every Sunday in the Mass. For each of us, as we go out in peace to love and serve the Lord, Confirmation bestows a vocation that as we live and pray becomes manifest. As we work and pray and give in the small and perceptible ways that emerge with our initiation into the Church, the next steps become visible as we are led further up and further into Christ to take part in His mission. As we carry out this mission in the world and experience, with Christ, the world’s hatred of that mission, Confirmation bestows the inward strength to stand fast and continue in diligence. In summary, the sacrament graces us with the spur to pray without ceasing and to never stop growing up in Christ.

If you would like to learn more about receiving Confirmation, please contact one of our pastoral staff, as they would be happy to guide you through the next steps.