§ 1. Catechesis. The term
“Catechesis” in its widest sense includes instruction by
word of mouth on any subject sacred or profane Acts xviii. 25; xxi. 21, 24; Rom. ii. 18;
Gal. vi. 6. Cf.
Clem. Alex. Fragm. § 28: οὐκ ἔστι
πιστεῦσαι
ἄνευ
κατηχήσεως., but is
especially applied to Christian teaching, whether of an elementary kind appropriate to
new converts, or, as in the famous Catechetical School of Alexandria,
extending to the higher interpretation of Holy Scripture, and the
exposition of Christian philosophy.