Hippolytus on New Converts
New converts to the faith, who are to be admitted as hearers of the word, shall first be brought to the teachers before the people assemble.  And they shall be examined as to their reason for embracing the faith, and they who bring them shall testify that they are competent to hear the word.  Inquiry shall then be made as the nature of their life; whether a man has a wife or is a slave.  If he is the slave of a believer and he has his master’s permission, then let him be received; but if his master does not give him a good character, let him be rejected.  If this master is a heathen, let the slave be taught to please his master, that the word be not blasphemed.  If a man has a wife or a woman a husband, let the man be instructed to content himself with his wife and the woman to content herself with her husband.  But is a man is unmarried, let him be instructed to abstain from impurity, either by lawfully marrying a wife or else by remaining as he is.  But if any man is possessed with demons, he shall not be admitted as a hearer until he is cleansed.

Inquiry shall likewise be made about the professions and trades of those who are brought to be admitted to the faith.  If a man is a pander, he must desist or be rejected.  If a man is a sculptor or painter, he must be charged not to make idols; if he does not desist he must be rejected.  If a man is an actor or a pantomimist, he must desist or be rejected.  A teacher of young children had best desist, but if he has no other occupation, he must continue.  A charioteer, likewise, who races  or frequents races, must desist or be rejected.  A gladiator or trainer of gladiators, or a huntsman, or anyone connected with these shows, or a public official in charge of gladiatorial exhibitions must desist or be rejected.  A heathen priest or anyone who tends idols must desist or be rejected.  A soldier of the civil authority must be taught not to kill men and refuse to do so if he is commanded, and to refuse to take an oath; if he is unwilling to comply, he must be rejected.  A military commander or civic magistrate that wears the purple must resign or be rejected.  If a catechumen or a believer seeks to become a soldier, they must be rejected, for they have despised God.  A harlot or licentious man or one who has castrated himself, or any other who does things not to be named, must be rejected, for they are defiled.  A magician must not even be brought for examination.  An enchanter, an astrologer, a diviner, a soothsayer, a user of magic verses, a juggler, a mountebank, an amulet maker must desist or be rejected.  A concubine, who is a slave and has reared her children and has been faithful to her master alone, may become a hearer; but if she has failed in these matters  she must be rejected.  If a man has a concubine, he must desist and marry legally; if he is unwilling, he must be rejected.

If now, we have omitted anything, the facts will instruct your mind; for we all have the Spirit of God.
Let the catechumens spend three years as hearers of the word, but if a man is zealous and perseveres well in the work, it is not the time but his character that is decisive.

When the teacher finishes his instruction, the catechumens shall pray by themselves, apart from the believers.  And women, whether believers or catechumens, shall stand for their prayers by themselves in a separate part of the church.

And when the catechumens finish their prayers, they must not give the kiss of peace, for their kiss is not yet pure.  Only believers shall salute one another, but men with men and women with women; a man shall not salute a woman.

And let the women have their heads covered with an opaque cloth, not with a veil of thin linen, for this is not a true covering.
At the close of their prayer, when the instructor  lays his hand upon the catechumens, he shall pray and dismiss them; whoever gives the instruction is to do this, whether a cleric or a layman.

If a catechumen should be arrested for the name of the Lord, let him not hesitate about bearing his testimony; for if it should happen that they treat him shamefully and kill him, he will be justified, for he has been baptized in his own blood.

They who are to be set apart for baptism shall be chosen after their lives have been examined: whether they have lived soberly, whether they have honored the widows, whether they have visited the sick, whether they have been active in well-doing.  When their sponsors testify that they have done these things, then let them hear the gospel.  Then from the time that they are separated from the other catechumens, hands shall be laid upon them daily in exorcism, and, as the day of their baptism draws near, the bishop himself shall exorcise each one of them that he may be personally assured of their purity.  Then if there is any of them who is not good or pure, he shall put aside as not having heard the word in faith; for it is never possible for the alien to be concealed.

Then those who are set apart for baptism shall be instructed to bathe and free themselves from impurity  and wash themselves on Thursday.  If a woman is menstruous, she shall be set aside and baptized on some other day.

They who are to be baptized shall fast on Friday, and on Saturday, and the bishop shall assemble them and command them to kneel in prayer.  And, laying his hand upon them, he shall exorcise all evil spirits to flee away and never to return; when he has done this he shall breathe in their faces, seal their foreheads, ears and noses, and then raise them up.  They shall spend all that night  in a vigil, listening to reading and instruction.

Those who are to be baptized shall bring with them no other vessels than the one each will bring for the eucharist; for it is fitting that he who is counted worthy of baptism should bring his offering at that time (Hippolytus, Apostolic Tradition 2:16-20)