Confirmation is found in passages such as Acts 8:14-17, 9:17, 19:1-6, Hebrews 6:1-2, and 2 Cor 1:21-22, which speak of a laying on of hands for the purpose of bestowing the Holy Spirit. The Church Fathers and early Christian writers recognized confirmation as a sacrament distinct from baptism, even though it may have been given simultaneously with baptism and did not yet have its modern name. They wrote clearly about its reception. This “forgotten sacrament” was not forgotten by the first Christians.
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