Letter to the Catholics on the Sect of the Donatists (On the Unity of the Church) 63–75

Let the heretic now say to me: "How do you receive me?" I answer quickly: As the church receives, to which Christ bears witness. Can you know better how you are to be received than our Saviour, the physician of your wound? Here perhaps you say: "Read me, then, how Christ commanded those to be received who want to come over to the church from heretics." This neither I read openly and evidently, nor do you. For if John had been a heretic and had baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, after whose baptism Paul commanded people to be baptized, you would win your point so that I would have nothing to say against it. Again, if Peter had been baptized by heretics in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, to whom the Lord said, "He who has been washed once has no need to be washed again," I would win my point so that you would have nothing to say against it. But now, since we do not find in the Scriptures that any came over to the church from heretics and were received either as I say or as you say, I think that if some wise man had appeared to whom the Lord Christ bore witness, and we consulted him on this question, we should in no way hesitate to do what he said, lest we be judged to resist not so much him as the Lord Christ, by whose testimony he was commended. Now Christ bears witness to his church. See, read the gospel where he says: "It was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise on the third day, and that repentance and the forgiveness of sins should be preached in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem." As, then, this church through all nations, beginning from Jerusalem, receives, so, all ambiguities and evasions removed, are you to be received. If you will not, you resist most ruinously, against your own salvation, not me or any man who wishes to receive you so, but the Saviour himself, since you will not believe that you are to be received as that church receives which he commends by his testimony, whom you confess it is wicked not to believe.

"But Jeremiah said: It has become to me like lying water that has no faithfulness." He did not say this of the water you think; read carefully. For in the prophetic manner, as they are accustomed to speak figuratively, he called the multitude of lying men itself "lying water," just as we know that in the Apocalypse peoples are called by the name of waters. For Jeremiah says: "Why do those who grieve me prevail? My wound is severe: how shall I be healed? It has become to me like lying water that has no faithfulness." He said that his wound had become to him like lying water, and he called those who grieved him his wound. For what he says first, "those who grieve me," he says afterwards as "my wound"; and what he said above, "prevail," he said afterwards as "is severe."

You do the same in the place where it is written: "Abstain from foreign water, and do not drink from a foreign spring." For you think it was said of the baptism that is among heretics, so that it is foreign water because heretics will not possess the kingdom of God. As if this were not so also with drunkards, the envious, and the rest of that kind, of whom it was equally said, "They will not possess the kingdom of God"; and yet in all such people, if they were baptized according to the gospel, the baptism is Christ's, not theirs. Hence that water is not foreign, though they themselves are foreign, to whom he will say, "I do not know you." Why, then, should I not rather understand the foreign water and the foreign spring as the doctrine of the evil spirit, by which those alienated from God through the ignorance that is in them because of the blindness of their heart are deceived and led astray, as the apostle commends more expressly: "But the Spirit says plainly that in the last times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons"? This is the foreign water and the foreign spring. For if water is understood in a good sense as the Holy Spirit, why should not water be understood in a bad sense as the evil spirit? For it is not always, where Scripture names water, that it wants this visible sacrament of baptism to be understood; but sometimes this, sometimes something else. For the Lord's disciples had already baptized others too with this visible baptism before the Holy Spirit came upon them according to his promise; and yet of the Spirit the same Jesus says: "If anyone thirsts, let him come and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture says, rivers of living water will flow from his belly." And the evangelist goes on to explain why this was said: "Now this he said of the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive; for the Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus had not yet been glorified." See, he calls water the Spirit who had not yet been given, when that water of baptism had already been given to many.

Hence also what is written, which you likewise do not understand: "Drink water from your own vessels and from the springs of your own wells, and let the fountain of your water be your own, and let no stranger share it with you; and let not your waters overflow outside, and let your waters run in your streets," commends not visible baptism, which even strangers can have, that is, those who will not possess the kingdom of God, but this gift of the Holy Spirit, which belongs only to those who will reign with Christ for ever, since "the love of God," as the apostle says, "has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us." For that very breadth of heart which charity makes, for which reason he says it is poured out, and for which he speaks thus to the Corinthians, "Our mouth is open to you, Corinthians; our heart is enlarged," is signified by the name of streets.

What, then, we hear openly, "Do not believe every spirit, but test the spirit that is from God," we hear figuratively: "Abstain from foreign water, and do not drink from a foreign spring." And what we hear openly, "The love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us," we hear figuratively: "Let the fountain of your water be your own, and let no stranger share it with you." For strangers can have many gifts of God: not only those common with stones and trees, such as existing and flourishing, nor only those common with cattle, such as breathing and feeling, but also greater ones proper to men, such as reason, speech, countless useful arts, and many others. Even of the gifts given to the house of God strangers have some, that is, those who will not possess the kingdom of God, to whom it will be said at the end, "I do not know you," even when they have said, "In your name we prophesied and did many mighty works"; for "even if I have prophecy," he says, "and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so as to move mountains, but have not charity, I am nothing." This, then, is the gift of the Holy Spirit proper to the saints, of which no stranger partakes. This is lacking to all the wicked and the sons of Gehenna, even if they are baptized with the baptism of Christ, as Simon had been baptized. This is lacking to heretics too; this they receive when they come corrected and sincerely embrace the bond of unity. If they did not receive it, even having the baptism of Christ they would not possess the kingdom of Christ, because they had not entered that fountain of their own, of waters running in the streets of the saints and not running outside, the fountain by which the love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. Stop, then, citing those testimonies which either you do not understand or understand to be for us and against you. And if, being set down ambiguously, they could be interpreted both for us and for you, they would certainly not help your case at all; for we too, if we wished to use such things, would use countless ones, which would likewise not help our case at all. But clearly such things prop up a bad cause, or at least cause delays.

"See," they say, "water flowed from the Lord's body." And how does this help you, heretic? "Much," he says; "for it signifies that baptism exists only in the Lord's body, that is, in the church." You would have done better to say "from the Lord's body, that is, from the church," even if it were already established (which perhaps must still be examined more carefully) that baptism was signified by that water. For we too say that the baptism you have is from the Lord's body, that is, from the church, though you yourselves are not in it, like all who do not build on the rock but on the sand. Yet why do you not notice that the water by which you say baptism was signified was not only in the Lord's body but also went out from his body, and that through the wound made by a persecutor? For heretics and all the wicked would not have drawn the sacraments outside with them, if they had kept the integrity of unity in the Lord's body. But you see how deep this too is and hidden in how great a depth of mystery.

Enough now; stop dealing in such things. All that you bring forward of this kind is either for us or, to make the least of our case, it is uncertain for whom it is; but you gladly linger in hidden things so as not to be compelled to confess open ones. See the church, I ask: what is the matter with you? See the church commended and expressed, foretold and shown by so many most manifest testimonies of the holy Scriptures: as we have heard, so have we seen. Why do you evade the question of how you are to be received? Why do you refuse to be received as that church receives, to which he bears witness who could not lie? Show that the canonical Scriptures have said openly that one who has been baptized among heretics in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit must be baptized in the catholic church. And if you cannot show this, show that some open and manifest testimony is borne by the canonical Scriptures to this communion of yours, that is, to the party of Donatus, where you learned it, and I will confess that I must go over to you, and that heretics are to be received no otherwise than as the church you are in receives them, since it has been declared by such testimony. Why do you fret, why are you disturbed? You do not find in the canonical Scriptures what we most justly demand of you. For what you usually say, "Where you feed, where you lie down at noon," you see what it is and how it is not for you. Do not, then, seek such things; for if the party of Donatus were in the northern parts, which are opposite to the southern, it would say it was said of itself: "Mount Zion, the sides of the north, the city of the great king." For the city of the great king is surely nothing but the church, and this sounds more undoubtedly of the church than "Where you feed, where you lie down at noon." But perhaps the heretic Marcion would use that testimony, who is said to have been from Pontus, which lies toward the north. Again, if the party of Donatus were in the west, it would say it was said of itself: "Make a way for him who ascends above the west; the Lord is his name." For perhaps it would say that "ascends above the west" is loftier than "lies down at noon." These things are mystical, hidden, figurative; we demand from you something manifest that needs no interpreter.

I, then, receive you as the seed of Abraham receives, in which all nations are blessed. This would perhaps be obscure if Paul had not disclosed that the seed of Abraham is Christ. I receive you as that barren woman receives, whose children are more than those of her who has a husband (which would be obscure if Paul had not said that she is the church, our mother, to whom it was said, "The Lord who delivered you will himself be called God of the whole earth," to whom it was said, "Your land is the whole world"); as that queen receives of whom it is said in the psalms, "The queen stood at your right hand," and to whom it is said, "In place of your fathers sons are born to you; you will make them princes over all the earth." Finally, not to mention many things, I receive you as the church receives through all nations, beginning from Jerusalem; as the church receives which is witness to Christ in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the whole earth. For he receives you who said this of her, who showed her in such words that no one might doubt about her. I receive you as the wheat sown in the field receives, which grows with the tares until the harvest; for these are the sons of the kingdom, and the field is the world, the harvest is the end of the age. The Lord explained it; it is the gospel; they are the Lord's words; they are manifest. I could say to you: I receive you as you received those whom Praetextatus and Felicianus, condemned by you, baptized outside your communion; and to this you have nothing at all to say against it. But I will rather say this, which is most invincibly valid also against the Maximianists themselves, who beat you entirely on two testimonies which you use most ignorantly yet most often, about fewness and about noon. I will say this, then, which extinguishes all of you, as if you rose up together against us: we receive you, if you will be corrected, as the church receives which the Lord Jesus said would begin from Jerusalem, and which we read in the Acts of the Apostles began from there; which he said would go through all nations, and which we read in the Acts of the Apostles went through many before it came to Africa; and which will go through all before the end comes, since the Lord himself says, "This gospel will be preached in all nations, and then the end will come." See its refuse: "Because iniquity has abounded, the love of many will grow cold." See its grain: "But he who perseveres to the end will be saved." Where here is Africa named in the party of Donatus? See again its grain: "That you may know," says the apostle, "how you ought to behave in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth. And without doubt great is the mystery of godliness, which was manifested in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, appeared to angels, preached among the nations, believed in the world, taken up in glory." See its refuse: "But the Spirit says plainly that in the last times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, doctrines of demons," and the rest. Where here too is Africa named in the party of Donatus, so that the pillar and foundation of the truth, or the mystery of godliness, should remain in it, of which he ran on to the end so as to say, "preached among the nations, believed in the world, taken up in glory"?

Why, then, should I hold you with more? Whoever thinks of answering this letter, let him search the Scriptures and either bring forward a manifest testimony about Africa, in which alone or from which alone the party of Donatus is (which he cannot bring forward, because Scripture cannot contradict those most manifest testimonies we have brought forward); or, if he seeks credulous followers of his suspicions, accusations, or slanders, and wants to lead us over to another gospel, which is not another, and to announce to us anything beyond what we have received, even if he were an angel from heaven, let him be anathema. For if the devil, who fell from heaven because he did not stand in the truth, had been anathema to man when he announced to him something beyond what he had received from the Lord God, the first parents of our flesh would neither have fallen into the penalty of death nor gone out from the place of happiness.

Therefore you, dearly beloved, to whom I write this letter, keep with a most faithful and firm heart the command of the shepherd who laid down his life for his sheep and now, glorified and exalted, sits at the right hand of God the Father, who says: "My sheep hear my voice and follow me." You have heard his most manifest voice, not only through his law and prophets and psalms, but also through his own mouth, commending his church that was to be; and how what he foretold followed in order you see by reading the Acts and the writings of the apostles, which complete the canon of the divine Scriptures. It is not an obscure question in which those can deceive you whom the Lord himself foretold would come and say, "Look, here is Christ, look, there; look, in the desert," as though where there is no thronging multitude, "look, in the inner rooms," as though in secret traditions and doctrines. You have the church spread everywhere and growing until the harvest; you have the city of which he who founded it says, "A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden." It is she, then, who is most well known, not in some part of the earth, but everywhere. She sometimes suffers temporal storms even in her grain, so that in some places they are not recognized; yet even there they lie hidden. For the divine sentence cannot be deceived, since they grow until the harvest.

So too in other nations some members of the church have often been pressed down and overshadowed by prevailing seditions of heresies and schisms, and yet, because they were there, a little later they shone out with no one doubting. And in Africa itself, after that seditious and turbulent council of Secundus of Tigisis at Carthage, where the corruption worked by the noble lady Lucilla was afterwards recorded in judicial proceedings, when letters had been sent from it through almost all Africa, wherever the churches of Christ had already sprung up, the letters of the council were believed (nor ought it to have been otherwise), and it seemed as though in some part of the field the Lord's grain had failed. But it had in no way failed, the grain that was truly predestined and sown and sprouting fruitfully with deep roots. For they had believed the council's letters with a clear conscience; for nothing incredible was being said by men about other men, nor was anything believed by them against the gospel. But after those men, with furious obstinacy, carried their most stubborn contention as far as sacrilegious dissension against the whole Christian world, and it became known to the good faithful whom false accusation had alienated from Caecilian, they saw that, if they persisted in that communion, they would be holding a perverse judgment no longer about some man or some men but about the church spread through the whole world; and they preferred to believe the gospel of Christ rather than the council of their colleagues. So, leaving them, many bishops, clergy, and people soon returned to catholic peace; and even before they did so they were counted as wheat. For they were not then acting against the church of God, which grows in all nations, but their opposition was directed against men badly represented to them by their colleagues. So in Africa too the wheat that the Son of Man had sown remained wheat, and from then until now has grown and grows, and will go on bearing fruit and growing until the harvest, as in the whole world.

Some too of good will, through fleshly darkness, went on erring for a longer time in that dissension even after the fury of the malicious against the church of God had become fixed, as if the grain were still tender and being trampled, and the vigour of the plant worn down though its root was alive. Yet God knew even these as his grain, though they had to be rebuked and reproved so as to revive. For it was not said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan," in the same way as it was said of Judas, "One of you is a devil." Some also contradicted the most manifest truth with evil intent. These were indeed uprooted or cut off, but, not remaining in unbelief, as the apostle says of certain broken branches, they were replanted or grafted in again by the divine hand. For each person is unfruitful, but not yet cut off from the root, when by evil desire he does those works of which it is said, "Those who do such things will not possess the kingdom of God"; but when, on behalf of those very works, he begins to resist even the most manifest truth by which he is reproved, then he is cut off. And many such people are in the communion of the sacraments with the church, and yet are no longer in the church. Otherwise, if each is cut off when he is visibly excommunicated, it will follow that he is grafted in again when he is visibly restored to communion. What, then, if he approaches feignedly and bears a most hostile heart against the truth and the church, though that solemn rite is performed on him: is he reconciled, is he grafted in? Far from it. As, then, one who communicates again is not yet grafted in, so whoever bears a hostile mind against the truth by which he is convicted and reproved is already cut off even before he is visibly excommunicated. So it comes about that both the good seed and the bad seed grow through the field until the harvest, that is, both the sons of the kingdom and the sons of the evil one grow through the world until the end of the age, the former bearing fruit with patience, the latter embittered with barrenness.

But you, relying on so many most evident testimonies of the law, the prophets, the psalms, the Lord himself, and the apostles about the holy church spread throughout the whole world, demand of these men that they show from Africa, as concerns the party of Donatus, some manifest testimonies from the canonical books. For, as I have already said, it could in no way be that the church, if (as they say, and God forbid) it was so soon to perish from so many nations, should be proclaimed by so many testimonies so loftily and so indubitably, while silence was kept about that church which they want to be theirs, which, as they contend, was to remain until the end. For remember what was said to that rich man when he was tormented in the underworld and wanted someone from the dead to be sent to his brothers: "They have Moses and the prophets there," he says. And when he said that they would not believe unless someone from the dead went to them: "If they do not hear Moses and the prophets," he says, "neither will they believe if someone rises from the dead." Moses said that in the seed of Abraham all nations would be blessed; the prophets said, "You will be called My delight, and your land the whole world," and, "All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord." These men would not believe these and such manifest prophecies showing the church. The Lord rose from the dead and said that repentance and the forgiveness of sins should be preached in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. Those who had not believed Moses and the prophets did not believe the Lord risen from the dead either. What remains but that they share the torments of that rich man? Fleeing these while there is still time, before departing from this life, cling steadfastly to the divine words, so that you may neither be troubled in life nor, after this life, fail to deserve to receive what was promised to the seed of Abraham.