What is chrismation or confirmation, and when did it begin?
What the sources show
Tertullianc. 203 · Cyprian of Carthagec. 256 · Cyril of Jerusalemc. 350Part of baptism
By about 200, baptism was followed at once by anointing and the laying on of hands for the Holy Spirit (Tertullian). Cyprian links it to Peter and John in Samaria; Cyril calls the chrism Christ's gift by the Spirit's presence. 123
Council of Trent1547 · Westminster Assembly1646
The East still gives chrismation with baptism. In the West it became a separate rite reserved to the bishop, which Trent defined as a sacrament. Protestants count only two sacraments. 56
The answers given:
ApostolicBefore NicaeaNicaea and afterMiddle AgesReformation to today
Scroll through the centuries, or tap a dot. JK move between witnesses.
Before Nicaea
150–325
203c. AD
Part of baptism
Tertullian c. 155–c. 220 ADOn Baptism 7.1; 8.1
Then, coming out of the washing, we are anointed with a blessed anointing, from the ancient practice by which they used to be anointed for the priesthood with oil from a horn. ... Then a hand is laid on us in blessing, calling and inviting the Holy Spirit.
Anointing and laying on of hands follow straight after the water, in one rite.
Full English of this work is being translated
Exinde egressi de lauacro perungimur benedicta unctione de pristina disciplina, qua ungi oleo de cornu in sacerdotio solebant ... Dehinc manus imponitur per benedictionem advocans et inuitans spiritum sanctum.August Reifferscheid Georg Wissowa Tertullian Quinti Septimi Florentis Tertulliani opera F. Tempsky G. Freytag Prague Vienna Leipzig 1890 1 Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum 20 Internet Archive (OGL CSEL TEI, urn:cts:latinLit:stoa0275.stoa011) · English: translated for this page from the Latin
256c. AD
Part of baptism
Cyprian of Carthage c. 200–258 ADLetter 73, to Jubaianus 73.9
What was lacking was done by Peter and John: prayer was made for them, hands were laid on them, and the Holy Spirit was called down and poured out on them (Acts 8:14–17). This is done among us now too: those baptized in the Church are brought to the leaders of the Church, and by our prayer and laying on of hands they receive the Holy Spirit and are made complete with the Lord's seal.
The bishop's laying on of hands, separate from the water but on the same day.
Full English of this work is being translated
sed tantummodo quod deerat id a Petro et Iohanne factum est, ut oratione pro eis habita et manu inposita inuocaretur et infunderetur super eos spiritus sanctus. quod nunc quoque apud nos geritur, ut qui in ecclesia baptizantur praepositis ecclesiae offerantur et per nostram orationem ac manus inpositionem spiritum sanctum consequantur et signaculo dominico consummentur.Wilhelm von Hartel Cyprian, Saint S. Thasci Caecili Cypriani Opera omnia Gerold Vienna 1871 Pars II Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum 3.2 Internet Archive (OGL CSEL TEI, urn:cts:latinLit:stoa0104a.stoa012) · English: translated for this page from the Latin
Nicaea to Chalcedon
325–451
350c. AD
Part of baptism
Cyril of Jerusalem c. 313–386 ADMystagogic Catecheses 3.2–3
You were anointed with chrism, becoming sharers and partakers of Christ. But do not think that this chrism is plain ointment. For just as the bread of the Eucharist, after the invocation of the Holy Spirit, is no longer plain bread but the body of Christ, so this holy chrism is no longer plain or, as one might say, common after the invocation, but Christ's gift, made effective by the presence of the Holy Spirit. It is applied as a sign on your forehead and your other senses.
The Eastern rite, still given with baptism, even to infants.
Full English of this work is being translated · Source text
Innocent I fl. 401–417 ADLetter to Decentius (Epistle 25) 3
But that infants are to be sealed, it is manifest, may be done by none other than the bishop. For presbyters, though they are second priests, do not have the summit of the priesthood. That this office belongs to bishops alone, either to seal or to give the Paraclete Spirit, not only ecclesiastical custom shows, but also that reading of the Acts of the Apostles which asserts that Peter and John were sent to give the Holy Spirit to those already baptized. ... For it is permitted to presbyters, whether apart from the bishop or in the bishop's presence, when they baptize, to anoint the baptized with chrism, but with chrism that has been consecrated by the bishop; not however to sign the forehead with the same oil, which is owed to bishops alone, when they give the Paraclete Spirit.
Innocent answers Bishop Decentius of Gubbio on the sacraments (19 March 416). There is no Innocent book in the library, so the passage is read from Denzinger's text of the letter, as the gap's source hint directed. The Western separation is growing here: presbyters may anoint with chrism the bishop has blessed, but the signing of the forehead, in giving the Spirit, is the bishop's alone.
Full English of this work is being translated · Source text
De consignandis vero infantibus manifestum est non ab alio quam ab episcopo fieri licere. Nam presbyteri, licet secundi sint sacerdotes, pontificatus tamen apicem non habent. Hoc autem pontificium solis deberi episcopis, ut vel consignent, vel Paracletum Spiritum tradant, non solum consuetudo ecclesiastica demonstrat, verum et illa lectio Actuum Apostolorum, quae asserit Petrum et Ioannem esse directos, qui iam baptizatis traderent Spiritum Sanctum. ... Nam presbyteris sive extra episcopum, sive praesente episcopo cum baptizant, chrismate baptizatos ungere licet; sed quod ab episcopo fuerit consecratum, non tamen frontem ex eodem oleo signare, quod solis debetur episcopis, cum tradunt Spiritum Paracletum.Denzinger, Enchiridion symbolorum, 11th ed. (1911), no. 98 · English: translated for this page from the Latin
Reformation
1500–1700
1547AD
Own sacrament
Council of TrentSession 7, Canons on Confirmation Canons 1, 3
If anyone says that the confirmation of the baptized is an idle ceremony, and not rather a true and proper sacrament; or that of old it was nothing but a kind of instruction in which those near adolescence gave an account of their faith before the Church: let him be anathema. ... If anyone says that the ordinary minister of holy confirmation is not the bishop alone, but any simple priest: let him be anathema.
In the West the bishop's anointing came to be separated from baptism by years. The East kept them together, with chrism blessed by the bishop.
Full English of this work is being translated · Source text
Si quis dixerit, confirmationem baptizatorum otiosam ceremoniam esse, et non potius verum et proprium sacramentum; aut olim nihil aliud fuisse quam catechesin quandam , qua adolescentiae proximi fidei suae rationem coram Ecclesia exponebant: A. S. ... Si quis dixerit, sanctae confirmationis ordinarium ministrum non esse solum episcopum, sed quemvis simplicem sacerdotem: A. S.Denzinger, Enchiridion symbolorum, 11th ed. (1911), no. 871, 873 · English: translated for this page from the Latin
1646AD
A rite
Westminster AssemblyWestminster Confession of Faith 27.4
There be only two sacraments ordained by Christ our Lord in the Gospel; that is to say, baptism, and the Supper of the Lord.
Protestants count confirmation, where they keep it, as a church rite of profession, not a sacrament. That is the view Trent condemned.
Every early quote was read in its Greek or Latin and translated for this page by Claude (Opus 5.5) on 13 October 2026. Each line names the printed edition it was read from. A quote marked indirect does not state the answer outright; read its note. A writer's silence is never counted as an answer.