Abstract
The Study presents fundamental characteristics of the catechesis in the Patristic period, beginning with the Apostolic age (1st century), then the period of persecution that is characterised by a rigid observation of the catechumenate rules (2nd and 3rd century) and the era after the Constantine turn when the Christianity became legally acknowledged religion and the rigid rules for the catechumenate dissolve (4th century) to the last phase, when the Christianity is already a privileged religion and the catechumenate of the adult is already in decline (5th and 6th century). In its second part, the study focuses on the catechetical method of St Augustine of Hippo in his work De catechizandis rudibus.