Conciliar Acts 6 part 1/2

When Pope Stephen had rejected, by letters sent in reply (as we said above), those things which had been established in the preceding African council concerning the baptism of heretics, Cyprian did not hesitate to celebrate another council at Carthage with a greater number of bishops. Therefore, having summoned eighty-seven bishops from Africa, Numidia, and Mauritania, and these convening at Carthage on the Kalends of September in the year 258, he celebrated this third council in the same matter of baptism. At its beginning, after letters written on both sides had been read out, he taunts Stephen, his name being passed over in silence. No more of the acts of this council survive than those which have been translated here from Cyprian and from St. Augustine, On Baptism against the Donatists, book III, chapters 4, 5, 6, and book VII, chapter

1, which have been translated hither; in which, besides the sentences of the eighty-seven bishops concerning the nullity of baptism conferred by a heretic, nothing else is contained. Whoever seeks the refutation of these, let him consult Augustine in the aforesaid place. That canon 19 of Nicaea and canon 8 of Laodicea give no support whatever to these sentences of the African bishops will be made clear below. But annotations concerning the life, country, and character of the individual bishops here subscribed, Pamelius will supply; Baronius too will supply much, in the year 258, number 42 and following. SEVERINUS BINIUS. THE SENTENCES OF THE EIGHTY-SEVEN BISHOPS, CONCERNING THE BAPTIZING OF HERETICS.

When very many bishops from the province of Africa, Numidia, and Mauritania had assembled into one at Carthage on the Kalends of September, together with the presbyters and deacons, a very great part of the people also being present, and the letters of Jubaianus written to Cyprian had been read, and likewise Cyprian's letters written in reply to Jubaianus, concerning the baptizing of heretics, and what afterward the same Jubaianus had written back to Cyprian—Cyprian said:

You have heard, most beloved colleagues, what Jubaianus our fellow-bishop wrote to me, consulting our mediocrity concerning the unlawful and profane baptism of heretics, and what I wrote back to him, judging indeed—what once and again and often we have judged—that heretics coming to the Church ought to be baptized and sanctified with the baptism of the Church. Likewise there have been read to you other letters of Jubaianus, in which, writing back to our epistle out of his sincere and religious devotion, he not only consented but also confessed himself to have been instructed, and gave thanks.

It remains that each of us set forth what we think concerning this very matter, judging no one, nor removing anyone from the right of communion if he should think differently. For neither does any of us set himself up as a bishop of bishops, nor by tyrannical terror compel his colleagues to the necessity of obeying, since every bishop has, according to the allowance of his liberty and power, his own judgment, and can no more be judged by another than he himself can judge another. But let us all await the judgment of our Lord Jesus Christ, who alone and singly has the power both of setting us over the governance of His Church and of judging concerning our act. Caecilius of Bilta said:

I know one baptism in the Church alone, and outside the Church none. Here will it be—one, where there is true hope and sure faith. For thus it is written: 'One faith, one hope, one baptism' (Eph. 4:5)—not among heretics, where there is no hope and the faith is false, where all things are done through falsehood, where the demoniac exorcizes, the criminal interrogates the sacrament, whose mouth and words emit a cancer, the unfaithful gives faith, the wicked bestows pardon of sins, antichrist baptizes in the name of Christ, one cursed by God blesses, the dead promises life, the peaceless gives peace, the blasphemer invokes God, the profane administers the priesthood, the sacrilegious sets up an altar.

To all these evils is added also this evil, that the prelates of the devil dare to make the Eucharist; or that those who assist them say that all these things concerning heretics are false. Behold to what things the Church is forced to consent, and is compelled to communicate without baptism and pardon of sins. Which thing, brethren, we ought to flee and shun, and to separate ourselves from so great a crime, and to hold the one baptism which has been granted by the Lord to the Church alone. Primus of Misgirpa said: I judge that every man coming from heresy is to be baptized. For in vain does he there think himself baptized, since there is no baptism except in the Church, one and true:

because both God is one, and the faith is one, and the Church is one, in which stands the one baptism and holiness, and the rest. For those things which are practiced outside have no effect of salvation. Polycarp of Adrumetum said: Those who approve the baptism of heretics make void our own. Novatus of Thamugada said:

Although we know that all the Scriptures bear testimony concerning saving baptism, yet we ought to express our faith: that heretics and schismatics coming to the Church, who seem to have been pseudo-baptized, ought to be baptized in the perennial fountain; and therefore, according to the testimony of the Scriptures and according to the decree of our colleagues, men of most holy memory, that all schismatics and heretics who have been converted to the Church are to be baptized; and that those too who seemed to have been ordained are to be received among the laity. Nemesianus of Thubunae said: That the baptism which heretics and schismatics give is not true is everywhere declared in the holy Scriptures:

since their very prelates are false christs and false prophets, the Lord saying through Solomon: 'He who trusts in falsehoods, this man feeds the winds, and himself follows flying birds. For he forsakes the ways of his own vineyard, and has strayed from the paths of his own field. He goes through trackless and arid places, and a land destined for thirst, and gathers fruitless things with his hands' (Prov. 9:12, 18, according to the Septuagint). And again: 'Abstain from strange water, and drink not from a foreign fountain, that you may live a long time, and that years of life may be added to you also.' And in the Gospel our Lord Jesus Christ spoke with His own divine voice, saying:

'Unless a man be born again of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God' (John 3:5). This is the Spirit which from the beginning was borne over the waters. For neither can the Spirit work without water, nor water without the Spirit. Ill therefore do certain men interpret it for themselves, so as to say that by the imposition of hands they receive the Holy Spirit and are thus received—whereas it is manifest that they ought to be reborn by both sacraments in the Catholic Church. For then indeed shall they be able to be sons of God, the Apostle saying: 'Taking care to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace; one body and one Spirit, as you are called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God' (Eph. 4:3-4).

All these things the Catholic Church speaks. And again in the Gospel the Lord says: 'That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit; for God is Spirit, and is born of God' (John 3:6). Therefore all heretics and schismatics—whatever things they do are carnal, the Apostle saying: 'For the works of the flesh are manifest, which are fornications, uncleannesses, incest, idolatries, sorceries, enmities, contentions, jealousy, anger, divisions, heresies, and the like; of which I have foretold you, as I foretell, that whoever do them shall not inherit the kingdom of God' (Gal. 5:19, 20, 21).

The Apostle therefore condemns, together with all evil men, also those who make division—that is, schismatics and heretics. Unless therefore they receive saving baptism in the Catholic Church, which is one, they cannot be saved, but shall be condemned with the carnal in the judgment of the Lord Christ. Januarius of Lambaesa said: According to the authority of the holy Scriptures, I decree that all heretics are to be baptized, and thus to be admitted into the holy Church. Lucius of Castra Galbae said: Since the Lord in His Gospel has said: 'You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has lost its savor, wherewith shall it be salted? From thenceforth it is good for nothing but to be cast out and trodden under foot by men' (Matt. 5:13);

and again, after His resurrection, sending forth His apostles, He commanded, saying: 'All power is given to me in heaven and in earth. Go, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit' (Matt. 28:18, 19). Since therefore it is manifest that heretics—that is, the enemies of Christ—do not have the whole confession of the sacrament, and likewise that schismatics cannot season with spiritual wisdom, since they themselves, by departing from the Church, which is one, have been made insipid and contrary—let it be as it is written: 'The house of the contrary owes purification to the law'; and the consequence is that those who have been defiled by being baptized by the contrary must first be purged, and then at length be baptized.

Crescens of Cirta said: In so great an assembly of most holy fellow-priests, the letters of our most beloved Cyprian to Jubaianus and likewise to Stephen having been read—letters which contain in themselves so many holy testimonies drawn from the divine Scriptures that, being deservedly united through the grace of God, we ought all to agree—I judge that all heretics and schismatics who shall wish to come to the Catholic Church must not be admitted before they have first been exorcised and baptized, with the sole exception of those who had been baptized beforehand within the Catholic Church, yet in such a way that, through the laying on of hands, they be reconciled to the Church in penitence. Nicomedes of Segermes said:

My opinion is this: that heretics coming to the Church should be baptized, because they obtain no remission of sins outside, among sinners. Munnulus of Girba said: The truth of the Catholic Church, our mother, has always both remained and remains among us, brethren, and most especially in the Trinity of Baptism, our Lord saying: 'Go and baptize the nations in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit' (Matthew 28:19).

Since therefore we plainly know that heretics have neither the Father nor the Son nor the Holy Spirit, those who come to the Church, our mother, ought truly to be reborn and baptized, so that the cancer they had, and the wrath of condemnation, and the contamination of error, may be sanctified through the holy and heavenly Laver. Secundinus of Cedias said: Since our Lord Christ says, 'He that is not with me is against me' (Matthew 12:30), and the apostle John (1 John 2:18, 19) calls those who go out from the Church antichrists, then without doubt the enemies of Christ, who have been named antichrists, cannot administer the grace of saving Baptism.

And therefore I judge that those who flee from the snares of the heretics to the Church must be baptized by us, who have been called the friends of God by His condescension (John 15:15). Felix of Bagai said: As the blind man, leading the blind, falls together into the pit (Matthew 15:14), so the heretic baptizing a heretic falls together into death. And therefore the heretic must be baptized and made alive, lest we, the living, have communion with the dead. Polianus of Mileum said: It is just that a heretic be baptized in the holy Church. Theogenes of Hippo Regius said: According to the Sacrament of the heavenly grace of God which we have received, we believe in the one baptism which is in the holy Church. Dativus of Badis said:

As far as it is in us, we do not have communion with heretics, unless they have been baptized in the Church and have received the remission of sins. Successus of Abbir Germaniciana said: For heretics either nothing is permitted, or everything is permitted. If they can baptize, they can also give the Holy Spirit. But if they cannot give the Holy Spirit, because they do not have the Holy Spirit, neither can they baptize spiritually. Therefore we judge that heretics must be baptized. Fortunatus of Tuchabori said: Jesus Christ, our Lord and God, the Son of God the Father and Creator (Matthew 21:18), built His Church upon the rock, not upon heresy, and gave the power of baptizing to the bishops, not to the heretics.

Wherefore those who are outside the Church, and standing against Christ scatter His sheep and flock, cannot baptize outside. Sedatus of Tuburbo said: As far as water sanctified in the Church by the priest's prayer washes away offenses, so far, when infected as it were with a cancer by heretical discourse, it heaps up sins. Wherefore we must strive by all peaceful means that no one infected and dyed with heretical error refuse to receive the singular and true Baptism of the Church; for whoever shall not have been baptized therewith shall become a stranger to the kingdom of heaven. Privatianus of Sufetula said: Let him who says that heretics have the power of baptizing first say who founded heresy.

For if heresy is from God, it can also have the divine indulgence. But if it is not from God, how can it either have the grace of God or confer it upon anyone? Privatus of Sufes said: He who approves the Baptism of heretics, what else does he do but have communion with the heretics? Hortensianus of Lares said: Let the presumptuous ones or the favorers of heretics see how many baptisms there are. We know of one Baptism, which is in the Church alone. We claim it for the Church. Or how can those whom Christ Himself calls His adversaries baptize anyone in the name of Christ? Cassius of Macomades said: Since there cannot be two baptisms, he who grants Baptism to heretics takes it away from himself.

I therefore judge that the wretched and corrupt heretics must be baptized when they begin to come to the Church, and—washed by the holy and divine washing, and illumined by the light of life, no longer enemies but peaceable, no longer strangers but members of the household of the Lord's faith, no longer adulterers but sons of God, made no longer of error but of salvation—they must be received into the Church; except for those faithful who, having been supplanted, had passed from the Church into the darkness of heresy, but these must be restored through the laying on of hands. Another Januarius of Vicus Caesaris said: If error does not yield to truth, much more does truth not consent to error.

And therefore we attend upon the Church, over which we preside, so that, claiming her baptism for ourselves alone, we may baptize those whom the Church has not baptized. Another Secundinus of Carpis said: Are heretics Christians, or not? If they are Christians, why are they not in the Church of God? If they are not Christians, how do they make Christians? Or to what will the word of the Lord pertain who says (Matthew 12:30): 'He that is not with me is against me, and he that gathereth not with me scattereth'? Hence it is established that upon strange sons and the offspring of antichrist the Holy Spirit cannot descend through the laying on of hands alone, since it is manifest that heretics do not have Baptism. Victoricus of Thabraca said:

If it is permitted to heretics to baptize and to give remission of sins, why do we defame them and call them heretics? Another Felix of Uthina said: It is doubtful to no one, most holy fellow-priests, that human presumption cannot avail so much as the adorable and venerable majesty of our Lord Jesus Christ. Mindful therefore of the danger, we ought not only to observe this, but it ought also to be confirmed by all of us, that all heretics who run to the bosom of mother Church be baptized, so that the heretical mind, which has been polluted by long-standing decay, being purged by the sanctification of the Laver, may be reformed for the better. Quietus of Buruc said:

We who live by faith ought, by trusting observance, to obey those things which have been foretold beforehand for our instruction. For it is written by Solomon (Ecclesiasticus 34:25): 'He that is baptized after touching a dead body, what doth his washing avail him?' Which assuredly speaks of those who are dyed by heretics, and of those who dye them. For if those who are baptized among them obtain eternal life through the remission of sins, why do they come to the Church? But if from the dead nothing of salvation is received, and therefore, having acknowledged their former error, they return to the truth with penitence, they must be sanctified by the one life-giving Baptism which is in the Catholic Church. Castus of Sicca said:

He who, despising the truth, presumes to follow custom, either is envious and malicious toward the brethren, to whom the truth is brought back, or is ungrateful toward God, by whose inspiration His Church is instructed. Euchratius of Thenae said: Our God and Lord Jesus Christ, teaching the apostles with His own mouth, fulfilled our faith and the grace of Baptism and the rule of the ecclesiastical law, saying: 'Go and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit' (Matthew 28:19). The false and iniquitous Baptism of heretics, therefore, must be repelled by us and refuted with all detestation, from whose mouth poison, not life, nor heavenly grace, but blasphemy of the Trinity is expressed.

And therefore it is manifest that heretics coming to the Church must be baptized with a whole and Catholic Baptism, so that, purified from the blasphemy of their presumption, they may be able to be reformed by the grace of the Holy Spirit. Libosus of Vaga said: In the Gospel the Lord says (John 14:6): 'I am the truth.' He did not say: 'I am custom.' Therefore, the truth being made manifest, let custom yield to truth, so that, even if in the past someone in the Church did not baptize heretics, he may now begin to baptize them. Lucius of Theveste said:

I judge that the blasphemous and iniquitous heretics, who tear apart the holy and adorable words of the Scriptures with various twistings, are to be held accursed, and therefore to be exorcised and baptized. Eugenius of Ammedera said: And I judge this same thing, that heretics must be baptized. Likewise another Felix of Amaccora said: And I myself, following the authority of the divine Scriptures, judge that heretics must be baptized—and also those who contend that they have been baptized among schismatics. For if, according to the ordinance of Christ, our fount is set apart, let all the adversaries of our Church understand that he who is the shepherd of one flock cannot be a stranger, nor can he bestow the water of salvation upon two peoples.

And therefore it is manifest that neither heretics nor schismatics can receive anything heavenly, who dare to take it from sinful men and from those who are strangers to the Church. When there is no standing for the one giving, surely it profits not the one receiving either. Likewise another Januarius of Muzula said: I marvel that, although all confess that there is one baptism, not all understand the unity of that same baptism. For the Church and heresy are two diverse things. If heretics have baptism, we do not have it. But if we have it, heretics cannot have it. And there is no doubt that the Church alone possesses the baptism of Christ, who alone possesses both the grace and the truth of Christ. Adelphius of Thasvalte said:

Without cause do certain men, with a false and malicious word, attack the truth, saying that we re-baptize, when the Church does not re-baptize heretics, but baptizes them. Demetrius of Leptiminus said: We keep one baptism, because we claim her own property for the Catholic Church alone. But those who say that heretics truly and lawfully baptize are themselves the ones who make not one, but many baptisms. For since there are many heresies, baptisms too will be reckoned according to their number. Vincentius of Thibaris said: We know that heretics are worse than the pagans. If therefore, being converted, they should wish to come to the Lord, we surely have the rule of truth, which the Lord by divine precept commanded to the Apostles, saying (Matthew):

(Matthew 10:8): 'Go, in my name lay on hands, cast out demons.' And in another place (Matthew 28:19): 'Go and teach the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.' Therefore first, through the laying on of hands in exorcism; secondly, through the regeneration of baptism—then can they come to the promise of Christ. Otherwise I judge it ought not to be done. Marcus of Mactaris said: It is no wonder if heretics, enemies and assailants of the truth, claim for themselves a matter of power and of a dignity not their own. But this is to be wondered at, that certain of our own people, betrayers of the truth, support the heretics and oppose the Christians. Therefore we decree that heretics must be baptized.

Sattius of Sicilibba said: If their sins are forgiven to heretics in baptism, they come to the Church without cause. For since on the day of judgment it is sins that are punished, there is nothing that heretics can fear concerning the judgment of Christ, if they have obtained the remission of sins. Victor of Gor said: Since sins are remitted only in the baptism of the Church, he who admits a heretic to communion without baptism does both things contrary to reason: he neither purges the heretics nor defiles the Christians. Aurelius of Utica said: Since the Apostle says (1 Timothy 5:22) that we must not have communion with the sins of others, what else does he do but have communion with the sins of others, who has communion with heretics without the baptism of the Church?

And therefore I judge that heretics must be baptized, so that they may receive the remission of sins, and thus communion may be granted to them. Jambus of Germaniciana said: Those who approve the baptism of heretics disapprove of ours, so as to deny that those outside the Church—I will not say washed, but defiled—ought to be baptized in the Church. Lucianus of Rucuma said: It is written (Genesis 1:4): 'And God saw the light, that it was good, and divided between the light and the darkness.' If light and darkness can agree together, something can be common to us and the heretics. Therefore I judge that heretics must be baptized. Pelagianus of Luperciana said: It is written (3 Kings 18:21): 'Either the Lord is God, or Baal is God.'

So also now: either the Church is the Church, or heresy is the Church. Further, if heresy is not the Church, how can the baptism of the Church be among heretics? Jader of Midila said: We know there is but one baptism in the Catholic Church. And therefore we ought not to admit a heretic unless he has been baptized among us, lest he think himself baptized outside the Catholic Church. Likewise another Felix of Marazana said: One faith, one baptism—but of the Catholic Church, to whom alone it is permitted to baptize. Paulus of Obba said: It does not move me if someone does not claim the faith and truth of the Church, since the Apostle says (Romans 3:3): 'For what if some of them have fallen away from the faith?'

'Shall their unbelief make the faith of God of none effect? God forbid! For God is true, but every man a liar.' But if God is true, how can the truth of baptism be among heretics, among whom God is not? Pomponius of Dionysiana said: It is manifest that heretics cannot baptize and give remission of sins, who do not have the power to either loose or bind anything on earth. Venantius of Timisa said: If a husband, departing abroad, had entrusted his wife to his friend to be guarded, that friend would preserve her, entrusted to him, with all the diligence he could, lest her chastity and sanctity be defiled by anyone.

Christ, our Lord and God, departing to the Father, entrusted His bride to us. Shall we keep her uncorrupted and inviolate, or shall we betray her integrity and chastity to adulterers and corrupters? For he who makes the baptism of the Church common with heretics betrays the bride of Christ to adulterers. Ahymnus of Ausvaga said: We received one baptism, and we hold it and practice it. But he who says that heretics too are permitted to baptize, himself makes two baptisms. Saturninus of Victoriana said: If it is permitted to heretics to baptize, those doing unlawful things are excused and defended,

and I do not see why Christ should have called them His adversaries, or the Apostle called them antichrists. Saturninus of Thucca said: The Gentiles, although they worship idols, nevertheless acknowledge and confess the supreme God, the Father and Creator. Against Him Marcion blasphemes, and certain men are not ashamed to approve the baptism of Marcion. How do such priests either keep or claim the priesthood of God, who do not baptize the enemies of God, and thus have communion with them? Marcellus of Zama said: Since sins are remitted only by the baptism of the Church, he who does not baptize a heretic has communion with a sinner. Irenaeus of Ulula said:

If the Church does not baptize a heretic for the reason that he is said to be already baptized, the heresy is the greater. Donatus of Cibaliana said: I know one Church and one baptism of hers. If there is anyone who says there is the grace of baptism among heretics, he must first show and prove that there is the Church there. Zosimus of Tharassa said: The truth having been revealed, let error yield to truth; for Peter too, who before circumcised, yielded to Paul preaching the truth (Galatians 3). Julianus of Telepte said: It is written (John 3:27): 'No one can receive anything, unless it be given him from heaven.' If heresy is from heaven, it can also give baptism. Faustus of Timida Regia said: