Quod de Baptismo Tertium Est

In the year of Christ 256, during the pontificate of Saint Stephen III, the Seventh Carthaginian Council under Cyprian. PREFACE. Since Pope Stephen had rejected by letters returned, as we said above, what had been decreed in the preceding African council concerning the baptism of heretics, Cyprian did not delay in celebrating another council at Carthage with a greater number of bishops. Therefore, having summoned eighty-seven bishops from Africa, Numidia, and Mauritania, and with them assembling at Carthage on the Kalends of September in the year 258, he celebrates this third council on the same matter of baptism. At its beginning, after letters written on both sides were read, he rebukes Stephen, though without mentioning his name. No more acts of this council survive than those which have been transferred here from Cyprian and Saint Augustine’s On Baptism against the Donatists, Book III, chapters 4, 5, 6, and Book VII, chapter 1, which contain nothing else besides the opinions of the eighty-seven bishops on the nullity of baptism conferred by a heretic. Whoever seeks their refutation should consult Augustine in the aforementioned place. That Canon XIX of Nicaea and Canon VIII of Laodicea offer no support to these opinions of the African bishops will be shown below. Annotations on the life, country, and character of each bishop subscribed here will be supplied by Pamelius; more also by Baronius under the year 258 and following. Severus Binius.

SENTENCES OF THE EIGHTY-SEVEN BISHOPS CONCERNING THE BAPTISM OF HERETICS. When many bishops from the province of Africa, Numidia, and Mauritania had assembled together at Carthage on the Kalends of September, with presbyters and deacons, and also with a very large part of the people present, and the letter of Jubaianus to Cyprian had been read, as well as the reply of Cyprian to Jubaianus concerning the baptism of heretics, and also what Jubaianus had afterwards written back to Cyprian, Cyprian said: You have heard, most beloved colleagues, what our fellow bishop Jubaianus wrote to our mediocrity, consulting us about the illicit and profane baptism of heretics, and what I replied to him, judging, as we have once, twice, and often judged, that heretics coming to the Church ought to be baptized and sanctified with the baptism of the Church. Likewise, the other letter of Jubaianus has been read to you, in which, writing back to our epistle with his sincere and religious devotion, he not only agreed but also confessed that he had been instructed, and gave thanks. It remains that each of us set forth what we think concerning this same matter, judging no one, nor removing anyone from the right of communion if he should think differently.

For no one among us sets himself up as a bishop of bishops, nor by tyrannical terror does he drive his colleagues into the necessity of obedience, since every bishop has, by the license of his own 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 solely has the power both to set us over the governance of His Church and to judge our action. Caecilius of Bilta said: I know only one Baptism in the Church, and none outside the Church. Here alone will there be one where true hope and certain faith exist. For it is written: One faith, one hope, one Baptism (Ephesians 4:5), not among heretics, where there is no hope and false faith, where everything is done through falsehood, where a demoniac exorcizes, a questioner administers the sacrament, whose mouth and words emit cancer, an unbeliever gives faith, a criminal grants remission of sins, and an antichrist baptizes in the name of Christ, one accursed by God blesses, a dead man promises life, an unpeaceful man gives peace, a blasphemer invokes God, a profane man administers the priesthood, a sacrilegious man sets up an altar. To all this is added that evil, that the priests of the devil dare to make the Eucharist; or that those who attend them say all these things are false concerning heretics—Behold to what the Church is forced to consent, and is compelled to communicate without Baptism and remission of sins.

This matter, brothers, we ought to flee and avoid, and separate ourselves from so great a crime, and hold to the one Baptism, which alone has been granted to the Church by the Lord. Primus a Misgirpa said: I judge that every man coming from heresy ought to be baptized. For he vainly thinks himself to have been baptized there, since there is no Baptism except the one and true one in the Church: because God is one, and the faith is one, and the Church is one, in which stand one Baptism and sanctity, and the rest. For those things which are performed outside have no effect of salvation. Polycarpus ab Adiumeto said: Those who approve the Baptism of heretics empty ours. Novatus a Thamugade said: Although we know that all Scriptures bear witness concerning the salutary Baptism, we ought nevertheless 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 font, and therefore according to the testimony of the Scriptures and according to the decree of our colleagues, men of most holy memory, all schismatics and heretics who have been converted to the Church are to be baptized, but also those 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 declared everywhere in the holy Scriptures: since their leaders themselves are false christs and false prophets, as the Lord says through Solomon: He who trusts in falsehoods feeds the winds, and the same himself follows flying birds. For he deserts the ways of his vineyard, and has strayed from the paths of his little field. He enters through pathless and arid places and a land destined for thirst, and gathers with his hands fruitless things (Prov. 9:12, 18, according to the LXX). And again: Abstain from alien water, and drink not from a foreign spring, that you may live a long time, and years of life may also be added to you. And in the Gospel our Lord Jesus Christ spoke with his divine voice, saying: Unless someone is born again from water and 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 operate without water, nor water without the Spirit. Therefore some interpret wrongly for themselves when they say that through the imposition of hands they receive the Holy Spirit and are thus received, when it is manifest that they ought to be reborn in the Catholic Church by both sacraments.

Then indeed can they be children of God, as the Apostle says: "Endeavoring to preserve 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" (Ephesians 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; because God is Spirit, and is born of God" (John 3:6). Therefore all heretics and schismatics, whatever they do, are carnal, as the Apostle says: "For the works of the flesh are manifest, which are fornications, impurities, incest, idolatries, sorceries, enmities, contentions, jealousy, anger, divisions, heresies, and the like; concerning which I have foretold you, as I foretell, that whosoever does them shall not inherit the kingdom of God" (Galatians 5:19-21). Thus the Apostle condemns along with all evils those who make division, that is, schismatics and heretics. Unless, therefore, they receive the saving Baptism in the Catholic Church, which is one, they cannot be saved, but with the carnal they will be condemned in the judgment of the Lord Christ.

Januarius of Lambaesis said: According to the authority of the holy Scriptures, I decree that all heretics are to be baptized, and thus admitted into the holy Church. Lucius of Castra Galbae said: Since the Lord said in his Gospel: "You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become insipid, with what shall it be salted?" Then it will be good for nothing except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men (Matthew 5:13); and again after his resurrection, sending his Apostles, he commanded, saying: "All power has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" (Matthew 28:18-19). Therefore, since it is manifest that heretics, that is, enemies of Christ, do not have the complete confession of the Sacrament, and likewise that schismatics cannot season with spiritual wisdom, since they themselves, by withdrawing from the Church, which is one, have become insipid and contrary, let it be done as it is written: "The house of those opposed to the law must be cleansed," and it follows that those who have been polluted by being baptized by such contrary persons must first be purified and then baptized.

Crescens of Cirta said: In such a great assembly of most holy fellow priests, having read the letters of our most beloved Cyprian to Jubaianus, and likewise to Stephen, which contain so many holy testimonies descending from the divine Scriptures that we all, united by the grace of God, ought rightly to agree, I decree that all heretics and schismatics who wish to come to the Catholic Church are not to enter unless they have first been exorcised and baptized, excepting of course those who were previously baptized in the Catholic Church, yet so that they are reconciled to the Church through the imposition of hands in penance. Nicomedes of Segermis said: My opinion is this, that heretics coming to the Church are to be baptized, because they obtain no remission of sins outside, among sinners. Munnulus of Girba said: The truth of our mother the Catholic Church has always remained and remains with us, brothers, and 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 we clearly know that heretics have neither the Father nor the Son nor the Holy Spirit, those coming to our mother the Church ought to be truly reborn and baptized, so that the cancer which they had, and the wrath of damnation and the infection of error, may be sanctified through the holy and celestial Laver.

Secundinus of Cedias said: Since our Lord Christ says: "He who is not with me is against me" (Matt. 12:30), and the apostle John (1 John 2:18-19) calls those who leave the Church antichrists, they are without doubt enemies of Christ, and those who have been named antichrists cannot administer the grace of salutary Baptism. And therefore I judge that those who flee from the snares of heretics to the Church ought to be baptized by us, who have been called friends of God by His grace (John 15:15). Felix of Bagai said: Just as a blind man leading a blind man falls into a pit together (Matt. 15:14), so a heretic baptizing a heretic falls into death together. And therefore a heretic must be baptized and given life, lest we, the living, commune with the dead. Polianus of Mileu said: It is just that a heretic be baptized in the holy Church. Theogenes of Hippo Regius said: According to the sacrament of divine heavenly grace which we have received, we believe there is one baptism, which is in the holy Church.

Dativus of Badiae said: As far as in us lies, we do not communicate with heretics unless they have been baptized in the Church and have received remission of sins. Successus of Abbir Germaniciana said: To 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, they cannot baptize spiritually either. Therefore we judge that heretics must be baptized. Fortunatus of Tuchabora said: Jesus Christ, our Lord and God, Son of God the Father and Creator (Matt. 21:18), built His Church upon a rock, not upon heresy, and gave the power of baptizing to bishops, not to heretics. Therefore those who are outside the Church, and standing against Christ scatter His sheep and flock, cannot baptize outside. Sedatus of Tuburbo said: To the extent that water sanctified by the prayer of a priest in the Church washes away sins, to that extent water infected by heretical speech like a cancer heaps up sins. Therefore it must be striven by all peaceful vines that no one, infected and stained by heretical error, should refuse to receive the singular and true Baptism of the Church; whoever has not been baptized with it will become a stranger to the kingdom of heaven.

Privatianus of Sufetula said: He who says that heretics have the power to baptize, let him first say who founded the heresy. For if heresy is from God, it can also have divine indulgence. But if it is not from God, how can it either have or confer God's grace on anyone? Privatus of Sulli said: He who approves the baptism of heretics, what else does he do but communicate with heretics? Hortensianus of Lari said: Let those who are either presumptuous or supporters of heretics see how many baptisms there are. We know one baptism, which we claim for the Church alone. Or how can they baptize anyone in the name of Christ, whom Christ himself calls his adversaries? 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 heretics, who are lamentable and diseased, are to be baptized when they begin to come to the Church, and, washed by the sacred and divine cleansing, and illuminated by the light of life, received into the Church not as enemies but as peaceful, not as strangers but as members of the Lord's household, not as adulterers but as sons of God, not as those of error but as those made for salvation, except for those who, being faithful from the Church, had passed over into the darkness of heresy, but these are to be restored through the laying on of hands.

Another Januarius from Vicus Caesaris said: If error does not obey truth, much more does truth not consent to error. And therefore we stand by the Church, in which we preside, so that claiming her baptism for ourselves alone, we baptize those whom the Church has not baptized. Another Secundinus from Carpi said: Are heretics Christians, or are they 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 Lord's word pertain, saying (Matthew 12:30): "He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters." Hence it is clear that the Holy Spirit cannot descend through the laying on of hands upon alien children and the offspring of Antichrist, since it is manifest that heretics do not have Baptism. Victoricus from Thabraca said: If it is permitted for heretics to baptize and to give remission of sins, why do we defame them and call them heretics?

Another Felix from Uthina said: No one doubts, most holy fellow priests, that human presumption can do as much as the adorable and venerable majesty of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, mindful of the danger, we must not only observe this, but it ought 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 corruption, may be purified by the sanctification of the Laver and reformed for the better. Quietus from Baruch said: We who live by faith owe it to obey with believing observance those things that have been foretold for our instruction. For it is written in Solomon (Ecclesiasticus 34:23): He who is baptized by the dead, what does his washing profit him? This undoubtedly speaks of those who are baptized by heretics and of those who baptize. 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 nothing of salvation is received from a dead person, and therefore, having recognized their former error, they return to the truth with repentance, they ought to be sanctified by the one life-giving Baptism, which is in the Catholic Church.

Castus of Sicca said: Whoever, despising the truth, presumes to follow custom is either envious and malicious toward the brothers, to whom the truth is restored, or ungrateful toward God, by whose inspiration His Church is instructed. Euchratius of Thenis said: Our Lord and God Jesus Christ, teaching the apostles with His own mouth, fully established our faith, the grace of Baptism, and the rule of 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). Therefore, the false and iniquitous Baptism of heretics must be driven from us and rejected with utter detestation, from whose mouth comes not life, nor heavenly grace, but blasphemy against the Trinity. And so it is manifest that heretics coming to the Church ought to be baptized with the full and catholic Baptism, so that, purified from the blasphemy of their presumption, they may be reformed by the grace of the Holy Spirit.

Libosus of Vaga said: In the Gospel the Lord (John 14:6) says, "I am the truth." He did not say: I am custom. Therefore, with the truth revealed, 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 Thebeste said: I judge heretics, blasphemous and iniquitous, plucking with various words the holy and adorable words of the Scriptures, to be execrable, and therefore to be exorcised and baptized. Eugenius of Ammedera said: And I likewise judge that heretics are to be baptized. Likewise another Felix of Amaccora said: And I myself, following the authority of the divine Scriptures, judge that heretics are to be baptized, and also those who claim to have been baptized among schismatics. For if, according to the caution of Christ, our font is private, let all the adversaries of our Church understand that it cannot be foreign, nor can he who is the shepherd of one flock give salutary water to two peoples. And therefore it is clear that neither heretics nor schismatics can receive anything heavenly, who dare to receive from sinful men and from those alien to the Church. When there is no place for the giver, certainly it does not benefit the receiver.

Another Januarius of Muzula said: I am amazed that, although all confess that baptism is one, not all understand the unity of that same baptism. For the Church and heresy are two different things. If heretics have baptism, we do not have it. But if we have it, heretics cannot have it. There is no doubt that the Church alone possesses the baptism of Christ, which alone also possesses the grace and truth of Christ. Adelphius of Thasvalte said: Some men vainly and with a spiteful word attack the truth by calling us rebaptizers, when the Church does not rebaptize heretics, but baptizes them. Demetrius of Leptiminus said: We maintain one baptism, because we claim the Church’s own property for the Catholic Church alone. But those who say that heretics baptize truly and legitimately are themselves the ones who make not one, but many baptisms. For since there are many heresies, according to their number baptisms will also be counted.

Vincentius of Thibaris said: We know that heretics are worse than pagans. Therefore, if they wish to come to the Lord after conversion, we certainly have the rule of truth, which the Lord commanded to the Apostles by divine precept, saying (Matthew 10:8): "Go, in my name lay on hands, expel 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, second through the regeneration of baptism, then they can come to the promise of Christ. Otherwise, I consider it should not be done. Marcus of Mactaris said: It is not surprising if heretics, as enemies and assailants of the truth, claim for themselves a power and dignity belonging to others. But that is surprising, that some of our own, as betrayers of the truth, support heretics and oppose Christians. Therefore we decree that heretics are to be baptized.

Sattius of Sicilibba said: If sins are forgiven to heretics in their own 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 could fear from the judgment of Christ, if they have obtained 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 acts against reason in both respects: he neither purges the heretics, and he defiles the Christians. Aurelius of Utica said: Since the Apostle says (1 Tim. 5:22), "Do not communicate with the sins of others," what else does he do but communicate with the sins of others who communicates with heretics without the baptism of the Church? And therefore I judge that heretics ought to be baptized so that they may receive remission of sins, and thus communion be given to them. Jambus of Germaniciana said: Those who approve the baptism of heretics disapprove of ours, so that they deny that those who are—I will not say washed, but befouled—outside the Church ought to be baptized within the Church.

Lucianus of Rucuma said: It is written (Gen. 1:4): "And God saw the light, that it was good, and he divided between light and darkness." If light and darkness can agree, then there can be something common between us and heretics. Therefore I judge that heretics must be baptized. Pelagianus of Luperciana said: It is written (1 Kings 18:21): "Either the Lord God is God, or Baal is God." So also now: either the Church is the Church, or Heresy is the Church. Moreover, if Heresy is not the Church, how can the baptism of the Church exist among heretics? Jader of Midila said: We know that there is only 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 that he has been baptized outside the Catholic Church. Likewise another Felix of Marazana said: One faith, one baptism, but of the Catholic Church, to which alone it is permitted to baptize.

Paul of Obba said: It does not move me if someone does not vindicate the faith and truth of the Church, when the Apostle says (Rom. 3:3): For what if some of them have fallen away from the faith? Has their faithlessness ever emptied the faith of God? Far from it! For God is truthful, but every man is a liar. But if God is truthful, how can the truth of baptism exist among heretics, among whom God is not? Pomponius of Dionysiana said: It is manifest that heretics cannot baptize and give remission of sins, who have no power to either loose or bind anything on earth. Venantius of Timisa said: If a husband, setting out on a journey abroad, had commended his wife to his friend for safekeeping, that friend would preserve her, commended to him, with as much diligence as he could, lest her chastity and sanctity be adulterated by anyone. Christ our Lord and God, setting out to the Father, commended his spouse 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 spouse of Christ to adulterers.

Hymnus of Ausvaga said: We have received one baptism, and we hold and practice that one. But whoever says that heretics are also permitted to baptize, that person makes two baptisms. Saturninus of Victoria said: If heretics are permitted to baptize, then those who do unlawful things are excused and defended. Nor do I see why Christ called them his adversaries, or the Apostle called them antichrists. Saturninus of Thucca said: Gentiles, although they worship idols, nevertheless acknowledge and confess the supreme God, the Father and Creator. Against this God Marcion blasphemes, and some are not ashamed to approve Marcion’s baptism. How can such priests either preserve or defend the priesthood of God, when they do not baptize the enemies of God, and thus communicate with them? Marcellus of Zama said: Since sins are remitted only by the baptism of the Church, whoever does not baptize a heretic communicates with a sinner.

Irenaeus of Ululis said: If the Church does not baptize a heretic because he is said to have been already baptized, the heresy is greater. Donatus of Cibaliana said: I know one Church and one baptism of hers. If there is anyone who says that the grace of baptism exists among heretics, let him first show and prove that the Church is there. Zosimus of Tharassa said: With the revelation of the truth having been made, let error yield to truth; because even Peter, who formerly circumcised, yielded to Paul preaching the truth (Gal. 3). Julianus of Telepte said: It is written (John 3:29): No one can receive anything unless it has been given to him from heaven. If heresy is from heaven, it can also give baptism. Faustus of Timida Regia said: Let those who patronize heretics not flatter themselves. He who intercedes for heretics with ecclesiastical baptism makes them Christians and us heretics. Geminius of Furni said: Certain of our colleagues can prefer heretics to themselves, but they cannot prefer them to us. And therefore we hold what we have once decreed, that we baptize those coming from heretics.

Rogatianus of Nova said: The Church was instituted by Christ, heresy by the devil. How can the synagogue of Satan possess the baptism of Christ? Therapius of Bulla said: He who grants and betrays the Church’s baptism to heretics—what else is he but a Judas to the Bride of Christ? Another, Lucius of Membresa, said: It is written: God does not hear a sinner (John 9:31). A heretic, who is a sinner, how can he be heard in baptism? Another, Felix of Bussacenis, said: In admitting heretics without the Church’s baptism, let no one set custom before reason and truth, because reason and truth always exclude custom. Another, Saturninus of Avitinis, said: If Antichrist can give anyone the grace of Christ, then heretics, who are called antichrists, can also baptize. Quintus of Aggya said: He can give something who has something. But what can heretics give, who are known to have nothing?

Another Julian from Marcelliana said: If a man can serve two masters, God and mammon, then baptism can also serve two, a Christian and a heretic (Matt. 6:24). Tenax from Horrea Caeliae said: Baptism is one, but it is the Church’s. Where the Church is not, baptism cannot be there. Another Victor from Assuras said: It is written that God is one, and Christ is one, and the Church is one, and baptism is one (Eph. 4:5-6): how then can anyone be baptized where there is no God, no Christ, and no Church? Donatulus from Capsa said: I have always held this opinion, that heretics, who can obtain nothing outside, when they convert to the Church, should be baptized. Verulus from Rusicade said: A heretical man cannot give what he does not have; much less can a schismatic, who has lost what he had. Pudentianus from Cuiculi said: The newness of my episcopate, most beloved brothers, has caused me to await what my elders would decide. For it is manifest that heresies have nothing and can do nothing. And so if any come from them to be baptized, it has been most justly decreed.

Peter from Hippo Diarrhytus said: Since baptism is one in the Catholic Church, it is manifest that one cannot be baptized outside the Church. And therefore I judge that those who have been dipped in heresy or in schism, when they come to the Church, ought to be baptized. Likewise another, Lucius from Ausafa, said: According to the movement 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, baptism also ought to be one. And therefore I say that if anything has been moved or done by heretics, it ought to be rescinded, and that those who come from them ought to be baptized in the Church. Likewise another, Felix from Gurgites, said: I judge that, according to the precepts of the holy Scriptures, one who has been baptized by heretics unlawfully outside the Church, when he wishes to take refuge in the Church, should receive the grace of baptism where it is lawfully given. Pusillus from Lamasba said: I believe that salutary baptism is not to be found except in the Catholic Church; whatever is apart from the Catholic Church is a pretense.

Salvian of Gazanfala said: It is established that heretics have nothing; and therefore they come to us so that they may receive what they do not have. Honoratus of Thucca said: Since Christ is truth, we ought to follow truth rather than custom, so that we may sanctify with the baptism of the Church heretics, who come to us for this reason, because they were able to receive nothing outside. Victor of Octavus said: As you yourselves know, I was not long ago made bishop, and therefore I awaited the counsel of my predecessors. I thus judge that whoever come from heresy should without doubt be baptized. Clarus of Mascula said: The sentence of our Lord Jesus Christ is manifest, sending His apostles and granting to them alone the power given to Him by the Father, to whom we have succeeded, governing the Lord’s Church 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 Thambeis said: We ought not to deceive heretics by our own presumption, so that those not baptized in the Church of our Lord Jesus Christ, and thus not having obtained remission of sins, may, when the day of judgment comes, have it imputed to us that they were not baptized through us and did not obtain the indulgence of divine grace. For this reason, since there is one Church and one baptism, when they convert to us, let them at the same time obtain both the Church and the baptism of the Church. Likewise another, Aurelianus of Chullabi, said: The apostle John placed in his epistle, saying: If anyone comes to us and does not have the doctrine of Christ, do not admit him into your house, and do not even say 'ave' to him. For whoever says 'ave' to him communicates in his evil deeds (2 John 1:10-11). How can such persons be rashly admitted into the House of God, who are forbidden to be admitted into our private house? Or how can we communicate with them without the baptism of the Church, when, if we only say 'ave' to them, we communicate in their evil deeds?

Litteus of Gemellae said: "If a blind man leads a blind man, both fall into a pit" (Matthew 15:14). Therefore, since it is established that heretics cannot enlighten anyone, being themselves blind, their baptism is invalid. Natalis of Oca said: Both I, present, and Pompeius of Sabrata, and also Dioga of Leptimagnus, who have instructed me, absent in body but present in spirit, judge, as do our colleagues, that heretics cannot have communion with us unless they have been baptized with ecclesiastical baptism. Julius of Neapolis said: I do not depart from what we have once decreed, that we should baptize heretics coming to the Church. Cyprian of Carthage said: My opinion is most fully expressed in the letter written to our colleague Jubaianus, that heretics, called adversaries of Christ and antichrists according to evangelical and apostolic testimony, when they come to the Church, are to be baptized with the one baptism of the Church, so that they may become from adversaries friends and from antichrists Christians. This council exists up to p. 329 of the Benedictine edition of St. Cyprian.