The Minister

The first recorded Confirmation, which of course is not the same as the first Confirmation, was at Samaria, a town in Palestine about half way between Nazareth and Jerusalem.  After the martyrdom of St Stephen, a persecution was launched against the Christians in Jerusalem with the result that many of them scattered and made their way to other places.

Philip, one of the seven deacons, went to Samaria and there he preached the Gospel and baptised a large number of people.  The next thing, of course, was that they should be confirmed.  Philip could not do this because he was not an Apostle.  So this is what happened: “Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them.  The two went down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit…Then Peter and John laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit” (NRSV, Acts 8:14,15,17).

From this you can see that only the Apostles had this power to administer the Sacrament of Confirmation.  This was because the Apostles had been appointed by Jesus to act on his behalf, and so it was they who admitted people to full membership of his Church by bestowing on them the full gift of the Holy Spirit.  Later, this power was given to the bishops who took the Apostles’ place, and that is why Confirmation is administered today by a bishop.

The Matter

In the Church of England the matter of Confirmation, that is, the outward sign, is the laying on of hands.  In the Eastern Church it is the anointing of the forehead with oil, or chrism as it is called.  In the Eastern Church priests confirm immediately after a Baptism whether the person they baptise is a baby or an adult, but the oil they use must have been blessed by a bishop.  Oil, together with the laying on of hands, was used in the Early Church and still is today in the Roman Catholic Church.  It was given up in the Church of England in 1549.