De Baptismo Primum

In the year of Christ 255, under Stephen III, the Fifth Carthaginian Council under Cyprian, the First on Baptism. (Er. I, 12; Pam., Rig., Bal. LXX; Ox., Lip. LXX; Par. LXIX; Routh, Rell. Scr. et 135.) PREFACE. After the practice of rebaptizing those who had been baptized by heretics had long been frequent in the African Church, with Agrippinus or even Tertullian as its author, and after Novatian had emulated this, so that at least in this way he might receive back into the Church the lapsed, whom he taught to be unclean, washed clean of all their impurity through Baptism; Magnus, a layman, taking occasion from the Novatians, who at that time observed the same form and rite of baptizing as the Catholics, was the first to doubt whether those returning to the Church, who were known to have been baptized by the Novatians, ought to be rebaptized. The first bishops found to have written letters to Cyprian and other bishops gathered at this synod in Carthage concerning the repetition of heretical Baptism were those of Numidia.

The first synodical consultation on this matter, held in the fourth year of the emperors Valerian and Gallienus, is shown by Cyprian’s Epistle 73 to Jubaianus, in which, while some of the African bishops, according to apostolic tradition, thought that those who had been legitimately baptized by heretics should not be rebaptized, others on the contrary judged that there is only one Baptism, that of the one Church, and therefore among heretics, who are outside the Church, true and Catholic Baptism cannot exist. After this preliminary inquiry, it was finally defined that, since there is one Baptism in the holy Church, no one can be baptized outside the Church. Those who misinterpreted the apostolic tradition, and also spoke wrongly, binding universally, added, as appears from Cyprian’s epistle to Quintus, that those who, having been duly baptized by Catholics, had fallen away to heretics, should be received, if they seek to return to the Church, not by Baptism, but by the mere imposition of hands. Baronius, in the year of Christ 258, numbers inclusive. With all these matters thus settled, Januarius and the other bishops of Numidia, having requested by letter the opinion and definition of this synod, were informed of them by this synodical epistle, which we subjoin below from Cyprian.

Cyprian, Liberalis, Caldonius, Junius 49, Primus, Caecilius, Polycarpus, Nicomedes, Felix, Marrutius, Successus, Lucianus, Honoratus, Fortunatus, Victor, Donatus, Lucius, Herculanus, Pomponius, Demetrius, Quintus, Saturninus, Marcus, another Saturninus, another Donatus, Rogatianus, Sedatus, Tertullus, Hortensianus, also another Saturnius, Sattius, to Januarius, Saturninus, Maximus, Victor, another Victor, Cassius, Proculus, Modianus, Cittinus Gargilius, Eutychianus, another Gargilius, another Saturninus, Nemesianus, Nampulus, Antonianus, Rogatianus, Honoratus, brothers, greetings. I. When we were together in council, most beloved brothers, we read your letter which you sent to us concerning those who are seen to have been baptized among heretics and schismatics, whether, when coming to the Catholic Church, which is one and true, they ought to be baptized. Concerning this matter, although you yourselves there hold the truth and firmness of the Catholic rule, nevertheless, since you thought we should be consulted out of common love, we set forth our opinion, not as new, but as long ago established by our predecessors and observed by us, and we join it with you in equal agreement, judging of course and holding for certain that no one can be baptized outside the Church, since there is one baptism established in the holy Church, and it is written, with the Lord saying (Jer.

They have abandoned the fountain of living water and have dug for themselves worn-out cisterns that cannot hold water. And again divine Scripture warns and says: "Abstain from alien water, and do not drink from another's fountain." Therefore the water must first be cleansed and sanctified by a priest, so that it can wash away the sins of the person being baptized in his Baptism, because through the prophet Ezekiel the Lord says: "And I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you will be cleansed from all your impurities, and I will cleanse you from all your idols, and I will give you a new heart and a new spirit within you." But how can one who is himself unclean and in whom the Holy Spirit is not present cleanse and sanctify water, since the Lord says in Numbers: "And everything that an unclean person touches will be unclean"? Or how can one who is baptizing give remission of sins to another when he himself cannot lay aside his own sins outside the Church?

II. But the very interrogation that takes place in baptism is a witness to the truth. For when we say: Do you believe in eternal life and the remission of sins through the holy Church? we understand that the remission of sins is given only in the Church, and that among heretics, where the Church is not, sins cannot be remitted. Therefore, those who assert that heretics can baptize must either change the interrogation or vindicate the truth, unless they also grant the Church to those whom they contend have baptism. It is also necessary that the one who has been baptized be anointed, so that, having received the Chrism, that is, the Unction, he may be an anointed of God and be able to have the grace of Christ within himself. Moreover, the Eucharist is that with which the baptized are anointed with oil sanctified on the altar. But he who had neither an altar nor a Church could not sanctify the creature of oil. Hence, spiritual unction cannot exist among heretics, since it is established that oil cannot be sanctified and the Eucharist cannot be made among them at all. But we ought to know and remember that it is written (Psalm 140:6): The oil of the sinner shall not anoint my head, which the Holy Spirit forewarned in the Psalms, lest anyone, straying and wandering from the path of truth, be anointed among heretics and adversaries of Christ. But also, what prayer can a sacrilegious and sinful priest make for the baptized, since it is written (John 9:31): God does not hear a sinner; but he who worships him and does his will, him he hears.

But who can give what he himself does not have, or how can he perform spiritual acts who has himself lost the Holy Spirit? And for that reason, the one who comes to the Church as a raw novice must be baptized and renewed, so that within, through the Saints, he may be sanctified, because it is written (Leviticus 19:2 and 20:26): "Be holy, for I also am holy," says the Lord: so that he who was led into error and was dipped outside in a true and ecclesiastical baptism may also lay aside this very thing, that a man coming to God, while seeking a priest, fell into the fraud of error through a sacrilegious man. III. Moreover, to approve the baptism of heretics and schismatics is to consent to what they have baptized. For that part cannot be empty and that part prevail. If he was able to baptize, he was also able to give the Holy Spirit. But if he cannot give the Holy Spirit, because, being placed outside, he is not with the Holy Spirit, he cannot baptize the one coming, since Baptism is one, and the Holy Spirit is one, and the one Church is founded by Christ the Lord upon Peter by the origin of unity and reason. Thus it happens that since everything among them is empty and false, none of those things which they have done ought to be approved by us. For what can be ratified and firm in the sight of God that they do, whom the Lord calls his enemies and adversaries in his Gospel, saying (Luke 11:23): "He who is not with me is against me; and he who does not gather with me scatters.

And the blessed apostle John also, keeping the Lord’s commands and precepts, set down in his epistle, saying (1 John 2:18-19): “You have heard that the antichrist comes. But now many antichrists have been made. Whence we know that it is the very last hour. They went out from us, but they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they would surely have remained with us.” Whence we too must gather and consider whether those who are adversaries of the Lord and are called antichrists can give the grace of Christ. Therefore, we who are with the Lord and hold the unity of the Lord and, according to his condescension, administer his priesthood in the Church, must repudiate and reject whatever his adversaries and antichrists do, and hold it as profane, and to those who, coming from error and depravity, acknowledge the true faith of the one Church, we must give them through all things the sacraments of divine grace and the truth of unity and faith. We wish you, dearest brothers, to fare well.