Let not those who patronize heretics flatter themselves. He who intercedes on behalf of heretics for ecclesiastical baptism makes them Christians and us heretics. Geminius of Furni said: Certain of our colleagues may set heretics above themselves; they cannot set them above us. And therefore what we once decreed we hold, that we baptize those coming from the heretics. Rogatianus of Nova said: Christ instituted the Church, the devil heresy. How can the synagogue of Satan have the baptism of Christ? Therapius of Bulla said: He who grants and betrays the baptism of the Church to heretics, what else is he but a Judas to the bride of Christ? Likewise another Lucius of Membressa said: It is written: 'God heareth not a sinner' (John 9:31).
Heresies being set aside, he who is a sinner, how can he be heard in baptism? Likewise another Felix of Bussacenae said: In admitting heretics without the baptism of the Church, let no one set custom above reason and truth, because reason and truth always exclude custom. Another Saturninus of Avitini said: If Antichrist can give to anyone the grace of Christ, then heretics too can baptize, who have been called antichrists. Quintus of Aggya said: He can give something who has had something. But heretics, what can they give, who, it is established, have nothing? Another Julianus of Marcelliana said:
If a man can serve two masters, God and mammon, then baptism too can serve two, the Christian and the heretic (Matthew 6:24). Tenax of Horrea Caeliae said: Baptism is one, but it belongs to the Church. Where the Church is not, there baptism cannot be. Another Victor of Assuras said: It is written that God is one, and Christ is one, and the Church is one, and baptism is one (Ephesians 4:5, 6): how then can anyone be baptized there where God and Christ and the Church are not? Donatulus of Capse said: And I have always held this, that heretics, who can obtain nothing outside, should be baptized when they are converted to the Church. Verulus of Rusiccade said:
A heretical man cannot give what he does not have; much more a schismatic, who has lost what he had. Pudentianus of Cuicul said: The newness of my episcopate has caused, most beloved brethren, that I should wait to learn what the elders judged. For it is manifest that heresies have nothing and can do nothing. And so, if any of them should come, it has most justly been decreed that they be baptized. Petrus of Hippo Diarrhytus said: Since there is one baptism in the Catholic Church, it is manifest that one cannot be baptized outside the Church. And therefore I judge that those dyed in heresy, or coming from schism to the Church, ought to be baptized. Likewise another Lucius of Ausafa said:
According to the impulse of my mind and of the Holy Spirit, since there is one God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and one Christ, and one hope, and one Spirit, and one Church, there ought also to be one baptism. And therefore I say that, if anything has been moved or done by heretics, it must be rescinded, and those who come from there must be baptized in the Church. Likewise another Felix of Gurgites said: I judge that, according to the precepts of the holy Scriptures, one baptized by heretics unlawfully outside the Church, when he shall wish to flee to the Church, should obtain the grace of baptism where it is lawfully given. Pusillus of Lamasba said: I believe that saving baptism is not except in the Catholic Church;
whatever shall be outside the Catholic Church is a counterfeit. Salvianus of Gazaufala said: It is established that heretics have nothing; and therefore they come to us, that they may be able to receive what they do not have. Honoratus of Thucca said: Since Christ is the truth, we ought to follow the truth rather than custom, so that we may sanctify by the baptism of the Church the heretics who come to us precisely because they could receive nothing outside. Victor of Octavum said: As you yourselves also know, I was not appointed bishop long ago, and therefore I awaited the counsel of my predecessors. This therefore is my judgment, that whoever shall come from heresy should without doubt be baptized. Clarus of Mascula said:
Manifest is the sentence of our Lord Jesus Christ, sending forth His Apostles and permitting to them alone the power given to Himself by the Father—to whom we have succeeded, governing the Church of the Lord with the same power and baptizing the faith of believers. And therefore heretics, who have neither power outside nor the Church of Christ, can baptize no one with His baptism. Secundianus of Thambei said: We ought not to deceive heretics by our presumption, so that, not being baptized in the Church of our Lord Jesus Christ, and thereby not having obtained the remission of sins, when the day of judgment shall come it be imputed to us that through us they were not baptized and did not obtain the indulgence of the divine grace.
Wherefore, since there is one Church and one baptism, when they are converted to us, let them together with the Church also obtain the baptism of the Church. Likewise another Aurelianus of Chullabi said: The apostle John in his epistle stated, saying: 'If anyone comes to you and does not have the doctrine of Christ, do not receive him into your house, and do not say to him, Hail. For he who says to him, Hail, has communion with his evil deeds' (2 John 10, 11). How can such men be rashly admitted into the House of God, who are forbidden to be admitted into our private house? Or how can we have communion with them without the baptism of the Church, with whom, if we say only Hail, we have communion in their evil deeds? Litteus of Gemellae said:
If a blind man lead a blind man, both fall into the pit (Matthew 15:14). Since therefore it is established that heretics, being as it were blind, cannot enlighten anyone, their baptism is of no avail. Natalis of Oea said: Both I who am present, and Pompeius of Sabrata, and also Dioga of Leptis Magna, who have charged me—absent indeed in body but present in spirit—we judge what our colleagues also judge, that heretics cannot have communion with us unless they have been baptized with the ecclesiastical Baptism. Julius of Neapolis said: From what we once judged I do not depart, that we baptize heretics coming to the Church. Cyprian of Carthage said:
The letter which was written to Jubaianus, our colleague, expresses my opinion most fully: that heretics, according to the evangelical and apostolic testimony, called the adversaries of Christ and antichrists, when they come to the Church, must be baptized with the one baptism of the Church, so that from adversaries they may be made friends, and from antichrists Christians. This council is extant on page 329 of the Benedictine edition of St. Cyprian.