Letter 70

Cyprian to his brother Quintus, greetings. Our co-presbyter Lucian has reported to me, dearest brother, that you have asked for my opinion on those who appear to have been baptized by heretics and schismatics and then seek to join us. To let you know what several of us fellow bishops, along with the presbyters present, recently determined in council, I am sending you a copy of our decree. I cannot understand what reasoning leads some of our colleagues to believe that people who were immersed by heretics should not be baptized when they come to us — on the argument that there is "one baptism." Yes, there is one baptism — and it is one precisely because the Church is one. There can be no baptism outside the Church. If there were two valid baptisms, and heretics truly baptize, then they have the real thing and we have nothing to argue about. Anyone who concedes this to the heretics yields the field entirely — granting the enemy of Christ the power to wash, purify, and sanctify a person. We say instead that those who come to us from heresy are not re-baptized but baptized for the first time. They received nothing valid where nothing valid exists. They come to us so that here they may receive grace and all truth — because both grace and truth are one. Yet some of our colleagues prefer to honor heretics rather than agree with us. By asserting "one baptism" and refusing to baptize converts from heresy, they effectively validate two baptisms — one in the Church and one outside it. Worse, they elevate the polluted washing of the heretics above the true, single, and lawful baptism of the Catholic Church. As the Lord himself says: "He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters" [Matthew 12:30]. And the blessed Apostle John drew no distinction between kinds of heresy — he called everyone who left the Church and acted against it an antichrist: "You have heard that Antichrist is coming, and even now many antichrists have appeared. By this we know it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not of us" [1 John 2:18-19]. There is one Church, one baptism, one Spirit. What is done outside these walls is done in the open air — exposed, unsanctified, and void. Farewell, dearest brother.

Epistle 70 Please help support the mission of New Advent and get the full contents of this website as an instant download. Includes the Catholic Encyclopedia, Church Fathers, Summa, Bible and more — all for only $19.99... To Quintus, Concerning the Baptism of Heretics. Argument.— An Answer is Given to Quintus a Bishop in Mauritania, Who Has Asked Advice Concerning the Baptism of Heretics. 1. Cyprian to Quintus his brother, greeting. Lucian, our co-presbyter, has reported to me, dearest brother, that you have wished me to declare to you what I think concerning those who seem to have been baptized by heretics and schismatics; of which matter, that you may know what several of us fellow bishops, with the brother presbyters who were present, lately determined in council, I have sent you a copy of the same epistle. For I know not by what presumption some of our colleagues are led to think that they who have been dipped by heretics ought not to be baptized when they come to us, for the reason that they say that there is one baptism which indeed is therefore one, because the Church is one, and there cannot be any baptism out of the Church. For since there cannot be two baptisms, if heretics truly baptize, they themselves have this baptism. And he who of his own authority grants this advantage to them yields and consents to them, that the enemy and adversary of Christ should seem to have the power of washing, and purifying, and sanctifying a man. But we say that those who come thence are not re-baptized among us, but are baptized. For indeed they do not receive anything there, where there is nothing; but they come to us, that here they may receive where there is both grace and all truth, because both grace and truth are one. But again some of our colleagues would rather give honour to heretics than agree with us; and while by the assertion of one baptism they are unwilling to baptize those that come, they thus either themselves make two baptisms in saying that there is a baptism among heretics; or certainly, which is a matter of more importance, they strive to set before and prefer the sordid and profane washing of heretics to the true and only and legitimate baptism of the Catholic Church, not considering that it is written, He who is baptized by one dead, what avails his washing? Sirach 34:25 Now it is manifest that they who are not in the Church of Christ are reckoned among the dead; and another cannot be made alive by him who himself is not alive, since there is one Church which, having attained the grace of eternal life, both lives for ever and quickens the people of God. 2. And they say that in this matter they follow ancient custom; although among the ancients these were as yet the first beginnings of heresy and schisms, so that those were involved in them who departed from the Church, having first been baptized therein; and these, therefore, when they returned to the Church and repented, it was not necessary to baptize. Which also we observe in the present day, that it is sufficient to lay hands for repentance upon those who are known to have been baptized in the Church, and have gone over from us to the heretics, if, subsequently acknowledging their sin and putting away their error, they return to the truth and to their parent; so that, because it had been a sheep, the Shepherd may receive into His fold the estranged and vagrant sheep. But if he who comes from the heretics has not previously been baptized in the Church, but comes as a stranger and entirely profane, he must be baptized, that he may become a sheep, because in the holy Church is the one water which makes sheep. And therefore, because there can be nothing common to falsehood and truth, to darkness and light, to death and immortality, to Antichrist and Christ, we ought by all means to maintain the unity of the Catholic Church, and not to give way to the enemies of faith and truth in any respect. 3. Neither must we prescribe this from custom, but overcome opposite custom by reason. For neither did Peter, whom first the Lord chose, and upon whom He built His Church, when Paul disputed with him afterwards about circumcision, claim anything to himself insolently, nor arrogantly assume anything; so as to say that he held the primacy, and that he ought rather to be obeyed by novices and those lately come. Nor did he despise Paul because he had previously been a persecutor of the Church, but admitted the counsel of truth, and easily yielded to the lawful reason which Paul asserted, furnishing thus an illustration to us both of concord and of patience, that we should not obstinately love our own opinions, but should rather adopt as our own those which at any time are usefully and wholesomely suggested by our brethren and colleagues, if they be true and lawful. Paul, moreover, looking forward to this, and consulting faithfully for concord and peace, has laid down in his epistle this rule: Moreover, let the prophets speak two or three, and let the rest judge. But if anything be revealed to another that sits by, let the first hold his peace. In which place he has taught and shown that many things are revealed to individuals for the better, and that each one ought not obstinately to contend for that which he had once imbibed and held; but if anything has appeared better and more useful, he should gladly embrace it. For we are not overcome when better things are presented to us, but we are instructed, especially in those matters which pertain to the unity of the Church and the truth of our hope and faith; so that we, priests of God and prelates of His Church, by His condescension, should know that remission of sins cannot be given save in the Church, nor can the adversaries of Christ claim to themselves anything belonging to His grace. 4. Which thing, indeed, Agrippinus also, a man of worthy memory, with his other fellow bishops, who at that time governed the Lord's Church in the province of Africa and Numidia, decreed, and by the well-weighed examination of the common council established: whose opinion, as being both religious and lawful and salutary, and in harmony with the Catholic faith and Church, we also have followed. And that you may know what kind of letters we have written on this subject, I have transmitted for our mutual love a copy of them, as well for your own information as for that of our fellow bishops who are in those parts. I bid you, dearest brother, ever heartily farewell.