Epistola Ad Senarium Virum Illustrem

The letter of John the Deacon to Senarius, an illustrious man. Concerning various rites pertaining to baptism and other things worthy of observation. I. To my lord, deservedly illustrious and ever magnificent son Senarius, John the Deacon. We received the letter of Your Sublimity, brought by our esteemed son, the noble man Renalus, in which you both made a pleasant remembrance of our former grace and, with catholic concern, did not conceal how great a flame of divine worship burns in your heart. For, as your letter says, you wished certain things to be written by us, and certain things to be transcribed and sent. But in the work of transcribing, the labor of the scribes has somehow aided our care; in those things which are to be written, however, I confess that you impose a great deal of labor, and I reply with a bold face that this exceeds my capacity. First, because to discuss these matters as they require is not, as your friendly estimation believes, within the power of my intellect. For the judgment of those who love is often deceived, when it attributes more to affection than the beloved shows by his merits. Then it also happens that, though I am weak in body, to say nothing else, I am constantly bound by ecclesiastical duty. Finally, the matter requires leisure time, so that, as we review the volumes of the Fathers, our speech, proceeding with their safe assistance, may set forth what ought to be said about each thing. What, therefore, can I do in this matter, unless perhaps what your wishes and desires have granted that I can do? For this reason, I will try to touch briefly upon the things you have asked about, lest if I remain completely silent, I incur the penalties of fruitless silence.

I trust that I may be aided by your prayers, since you compelled me to dare such difficult matters. Hence I ask that you expect from me neither eloquence nor the highest learning; for I have not fully pursued those, and I still prefer to be taught rather than to hear the name of teacher. Therefore, if in this inquiry my discourse, such as it is, pleases you or is awaited, let us now consider each of the matters that have been set forth. Meanwhile, I declare to your prudence that the order of the inquiries will not follow as your page reads; but as each one presents itself, it will be concluded with a fitting resolution. Thus the words of your inquiry are as follows. II. I ask, he says, of you, why before a person receives baptism he was a catechumen; or what this word or this catechesis means, or by what rule it was set forth in the Old Testament; or certainly, if it is a new rule, and took its beginning more from the New Testament. Likewise, what a scrutiny is, or why infants are scrutinized three times before Easter; or what this strictness or care of the scrutiny claims for itself, etc.

III. To this I respond as follows. I trust that I know your zeal: that the entire human race, in the very cradle of the world, so to speak, was justly cast down into death by the transgression of the first man; nor could it be redeemed from that state except by the grace of the Savior, who, though born of the Father before the ages, did not disdain to be born of a mother alone for our sake in time. There is therefore no doubt that before anyone is reborn in Christ, he is held bound to diabolical power; from whose snares, unless he first renounces them by a truthful profession at the very beginnings of faith and is freed, he does not approach the grace of the saving bath. And so he must first enter the catechumens' auditorium. For *catechesis* in Greek means instruction. For he is instructed by the ecclesiastical ministry through the blessing of the imposing hand, so that he may understand what he is and what he is to become; that is, that from one who is damned he becomes holy, from one who is unjust he appears just, and finally, from a slave he becomes a son: so that he who was lost in the first parent, restored by the benefit of the second, may become the possessor of the paternal inheritance. Therefore, after being exsufflated, he is exorcised, so that, with the devil put to flight, an entrance may be prepared for Christ our God; and, rescued from the power of darkness, he may be transferred into the kingdom of the glory of God's love: so that he who was once a vessel of Satan may now become a dwelling place of the Savior. He is exsufflated, then, because that ancient deserter is worthy of such ignominy. He is exorcised, that is, conjured, so that he may depart and—

anyone be freed from the bonds of that condemnation except through the mystery of the Savior’s incarnation. For the devil, who had cast down man from the felicity of paradise by his wicked persuasion, yields, recognizing the advent of the one whose image, erected in the felicity of paradise, he had cast down. The catechumen now receives blessed salt, by which it is signified that, just as all flesh is preserved when seasoned with salt, so the mind, moist and fluid with the waves of the world, is seasoned with the salt of wisdom and the preaching of the Word of God, so that, having thoroughly digested the moisture of corruption, it may arrive at the solidity of stability and permanence through the sweetness of divine salt. This, therefore, is the purpose of the frequent imposition of hands, the reverence for the Trinity, and the threefold invocation of the Creator’s blessing over his head. IV. Then, by a certain progress and advancement, he who had previously renounced the devil’s snares and pomps, after being exsufflated, now deserves to receive the words of the creed handed down by the apostles: so that he who a little while ago was called only a catechumen, is now also called a competens or electus. For he has been conceived in the womb of Mother Church, and he is already beginning to live, even if the time for the sacred birth has not yet been fulfilled. Then those things are done which, by ecclesiastical custom, are called scrutinies. For we scrutinize their hearts through faith, whether after their renunciation of the devil they have fixed the sacred words in their minds; whether they have acknowledged the future grace of the Redeemer; whether they profess to believe in God the Father Almighty. And when it becomes clear from their response that these things are so, because it is written: “With the heart it is believed for righteousness, but with the mouth confession is made for salvation” (Rom.

their ears are anointed with the oil of sanctification, and their nostrils are also anointed. But the ears are anointed because through them faith enters the understanding, as the Apostle says: “Faith comes through hearing, and hearing through the word of God” (ibid., 17); so that, as if fortified by a wall of sanctification, the ears, thus instructed, may admit nothing harmful, nothing that could draw them back. V. When their nostrils are anointed, they are undoubtedly admonished that, as long as they draw the breath of this life through their nostrils, they should persevere in the service of God and in his commandments. Hence that holy man said: “As the Lord lives, who has taken away my judgment, and the Almighty, who has brought my soul to bitterness: because as long as breath remains in me and the spirit of God in my nostrils, my lips will not speak iniquity, nor will my tongue utter falsehood” (Job 27:2-4). Another meaning is also signified in the anointing of the nostrils: that, because that oil is blessed in the name of the Savior, their inner senses are led by some ineffable sweetness to his spiritual fragrance, so that, delighted, they may sing: “Your name is like poured-out ointment; we will run after the scent of your ointments” (Song of Songs 1:2-3); by which mystery the sense of the nostrils, thus fortified, can admit nothing voluptuous of the world, nothing that could weaken the mind.

VI. Next, their chest is anointed with the oil of consecration, in which is the seat and dwelling of the heart: so that they may understand that they ought to promise with a firm conscience and a pure heart that, having now rejected the devil, they will follow the commands of Christ. They are also commanded to walk with bare feet, so that, having laid aside dead and carnal garments, they may recognize that they are undertaking the journey of that way in which nothing rough, nothing harmful can be found. Therefore, this ecclesiastical solicitude has been established by prudent arrangement through the successions of time, although the old page does not show its traces. Accordingly, when the deacon or catechumen has advanced in faith by means of these spiritual vehicles, as it were, then, as is necessary, he is consecrated by the baptism of the single laver, in which sacrament the baptized person is perfected by a threefold immersion. And rightly so. For he who approaches to be baptized in the name of the Trinity must indeed mark that same Trinity by a threefold immersion, and acknowledge himself a debtor to the benefits of the one who rose from the dead on the third day for him. Then, having taken up white garments, his head is anointed with the oil of sacred chrism; so that the baptized person may understand that the royal and sacerdotal mystery has come together in him. For priests and princes were anointed with the oil of chrism, so that the former might offer sacrifices, the latter rule over peoples. Indeed, to express the image of the priesthood more fully, the head of the one being reborn is adorned with the beauty of linen.

For the priests of that time always adorned their head with a certain mystical veil; but all the regenerated are clothed in white garments for the ministry of the rising Church, just as the Lord and Savior Himself was transfigured on the mountain before certain disciples and prophets, so that it might be said: His face shone like the sun; and His garments became as white as snow (Matt. 17:2). By this act, as has been said, He prefigured the splendor of the future rising Church, of which it is also written: Who is this that ascends, made white (Song 3:6; 8:5)? Therefore they use white garments, so that those whose infancy of the first birth the garment of old error had darkened may, in the habit of the second generation, bring forth the garment of glory, so that a new man, clothed in the wedding garment, may approach the table of the heavenly bridegroom. VII. But lest it seem that this is passed over, we state beforehand that all these things are also done for little children, who, on account of the very beginning of their age, understand nothing yet. Hence you should know that when they are offered by parents or by any others, it is necessary that they be saved by the profession of others, just as they had been condemned by the error of others. And accordingly you add that I should say why it is permitted only to the pontiff to consecrate the holy chrism, which does not seem to be granted to a presbyter. And rightly so: because the bishop holds the rank of the supreme pontiff, while the presbyter is known to retain the place of the second priesthood.

For every bishop is a priest, but not every priest can be called a bishop. For in the Old Testament, to pass over other matters, they also differed in the habit of their vestments, so that the priests used four certain mystical vestments which seemed to be common to them with the bishop; but the bishop used four others, with which it was not at all permitted for priests to be vested. It is also added that once a year the bishop alone had access to the Holy of Holies. Hence, already in the new people, the bishop has merited the power of ordaining priests. Rightly, therefore, the apostolic power of blessing and anointing is in a certain way preserved for this tradition, which is known to hold the beginning of ecclesiastical orders. VIII. That also does not seem to be passed over, that the consecration of the presbyterate does not merit the same words of blessing which the pontifical apex is accustomed to hear. For if nothing special were reserved for the bishop, the grade would seem indifferent: nor would there be need of a different word, if the same blessing consecrated it. But let that not touch the mind, that necessity sometimes assumes certain things for itself, such as (which is said to be done now throughout Africa) that presbyters make the holy chrism: which would rightly move one, if pontifical authority had not given this license. Whence it is evident that even now it is in a certain way done by bishops, what in such a necessity of things, so that it can be effected by presbyters, the higher order has established.

IX. You also wish to know which heretics the Catholic Church does not baptize when they return? I will conclude this briefly, according to my modest ability: those who come are to be baptized who are not established to have received the mystery equally in the name of the Trinity. For if someone confesses only the Father, denying the Son and the Holy Spirit, he must certainly be baptized; or if he confesses the Son but denies the Father or the Holy Spirit, he should without doubt receive the sacrament of baptism; or if he denies the Holy Spirit but confesses the Father and the Son, he will equally, as we recall, be purified by the mystical font, according to that rule of the Lord saying: Go, baptize all nations in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19). But if someone has received the name of the Trinity, but makes any kind of distinction of inequality, like those who in that time followed Arius, they cannot be baptized at all: because they have followed that dominical rule, even if they seem to err. Hence such persons are rather to be taught than baptized, and to be incorporated into the bosom of mother Church with the succeeding blessing of the pontiff: so that through the love by which God and neighbor are truly loved, they may recognize what they have lacked or what has been completed in them. Concerning the Pelagians, however, or the Eutychians and Nestorians, all things are open and well known, which when you read in the book on Heresies, you will be able to understand more fully.

X. Acolytes, however, differ from exorcists in this order, in that the power of carrying the sacraments and of ministering them to the priests is denied to exorcists; they are only to devote themselves to the imposition of hands, on account of which they are called exorcists, or to hasten to fulfill the other things which are proven to be within the order of acolytes. Acolytes, on the other hand, receive the vessels for carrying the sacraments and hold the order of ministering to the priests. Therefore, an acolyte can become an exorcist; but the latter descends to the office of exorcists by no promotion whatsoever; if they have administered their own office excellently, they will be able to attain to the grade of subdeacon, whose order among us is this: upon receiving the most sacred chalice in which the pontiff is accustomed to immolate the mystery of the Lord’s blood, he is already called a subdeacon. If he, again, perseveres blamelessly, stained by no fault, he will be able to attain to the most sacred dignities of the diaconate or the presbyterate.

XI. Regarding what you have inquired about the seven altars which it is customary to consecrate in the city of Rome on Holy Saturday, I say this: whether our predecessors decreed that it be done on account of the Spirit of sevenfold grace, or because the ecclesiastical militia among us is contained in seven regions, from which these same altars are prepared, so that a blessing might be bestowed upon each; or whether the number seven itself is mystical and sacred because the whole world, which is often described by Scripture in four parts, believes in the name of the Trinity; and through this, the ternary joined to the quaternary produces the septenary, which, as it were, among those sacred and terrible things, represents the image of the whole world; or whether it was established for some other reason—it is certainly unknown to me. Yet I hold firmly in mind that the Church would not preserve what was handed down by the predecessors unless a certain reason of its own had demanded it. Nor can we say that these things seem empty and frivolous because we have not grasped their rationale. For many things that those who were immediately before us, and we ourselves, as reason persuades us, establish as new in the churches: when we transmit these to posterity to be observed, even if a later age far removed should be ignorant of the reason why it was done by us, it will not, however, consider them empty, if it understands the pious will of those preceding them in God. Therefore, in this way, even we... the reason of our predecessors itself does not come to us: for those things whose reason does come, both the reason and the thing are held; but those whose cause is hidden, and the thing does not conflict with faith, it is necessary to observe and hold them.

XII. As to what you have asked, why milk and honey are placed in the most sacred chalice and offered with the sacrifices on the Sabbath of Easter: the reason is this, because it is written in the Old Testament and figuratively promised to the new people: "I will lead you into the land of promise, a land flowing with milk and honey" (Leviticus 20:24). Therefore, the land of promise is the land of resurrection, and of that felicity which endures forever, which is nothing other than the land of our own body, which in the resurrection of the dead will attain the glory of incorruption and peace. This kind of sacrament is therefore offered to the baptized, so that they may understand that it is not others, but they themselves who become partakers of the body and blood of the Lord, who will receive the land of promise; and as they begin their journey, like little ones they are nourished with milk and honey, so that they may begin to sing: "How sweet are your words to my palate, O Lord, sweeter than honey and the honeycomb" (Psalm 118:103; 8:11). Therefore, milk and honey are brought to new men after bitter sins: so that those who in the first birth of corruption were nourished with milk and began the tears of bitterness, in the second generation may take up the sweetness of milk and honey in the womb of the Church, so that, nourished by such sacraments, they may be consecrated by the mysteries of perpetual incorruption.

XIII. As to what you have deigned to ask, why the Alleluia is sung in the Church until Pentecost, it is fitting for you to know that there are some things in the Catholic faith by which every Christian throughout the whole world is bound, such as the authority of the New and Old Testaments; there are other things, again, which are institutions of the Fathers, from which no Catholic is permitted to deviate, such as the canons of Nicaea, and anything of this kind; and likewise there are other things which each Church retains as its own, and guards as handed down to it by its predecessors, which, with the Catholic faith and peace preserved, another Church of a different region does not observe, as, for example, the Roman Church fasts on all Sabbaths, which the Eastern Church does not appear to do; or that here seven altars are set up, which elsewhere no one attempts; and again, other things are done elsewhere which are not approved of here. All these things, however, are done in different ways by different Churches, yet all of them make the garment of that queen of whom it is said: "The queen stood at thy right hand, clothed in a golden garment, surrounded by variety" (Ps. 44:10). Therefore, let nothing disturb you, when some things appear to be done here in the praises of God, which are proved to be done elsewhere in another way. For whether the Alleluia is sung until Pentecost, which is manifestly done among us, or whether it is said elsewhere throughout the whole year, the Church sings the praises of God.

XIV. It now remains to address what you thought to ask: if one who has been baptized should depart from this life without the anointing of chrism and the blessing of the pontiff, whether this harms him in any way or not. Concerning this matter, I would rather hear more fully from the learned than say anything myself. Yet I shall state what seems to me, saving a better understanding and the full judgment of my elders—which I wish to hold in all the above matters—for I have striven to comply with your will in such a way that, regarding all things, we both may keep what has been said better (as I do not doubt) by those greater than us. Therefore, I shall briefly say what seems fitting. Let a likeness be drawn from this first birth in which we are born, so that we may understand that second birth from which we truly live and in which we have been justified.

When an infant is born and has attained participation in this light, we say that a perfect human being has been born, and he is of the same substance as the one who begot him, that is, a rational, mortal, animate being: although that one is large, this one small—these are terms of accidents, not of nature. If, therefore, aids for advancement to maturity should occur, has anything been added to the definition of substance? Far from it, because the property of nature is neither extended nor diminished. The rest is missing.