Illuminated
Illuminated [1]
( φωτιζόμενοι ) was a term used in the early Christian Church for the baptized. (See Baptism). The apostle Paul writes in two places ( Hebrews 6:4; Hebrews 10:32) of those who were ἃπαξ φωτισθέντες; and the Council of Laodicea (A.D. 372), in its third canon, calls the newly baptized προσφάτως φωτισθέντας . Justin Martyr, in his second Apology, explains the name to refer to the spiritual knowledge acquired by those who were baptized, and there was probably an association between the term and the ritual use of lights in the baptismal service. — Blunt, Cyclop. of Theol. 1, 323. By some, however, the title "illuminated" is supposed to have been given to those newly baptized in the early Church, because a lighted taper was put into their hands as a symbol of their enlightenment. (See Lights). (J. H.W.)
