The Opinions of the Eighty-Seven Bishops (Council of Carthage, 256)

When on the first of September very many bishops from the provinces of Africa, Numidia, and Mauretania had gathered at Carthage, with presbyters and deacons, and with the greater part of the people also present, and when the letter of Jubaianus written to Cyprian had been read, and likewise Cyprian's reply to Jubaianus on baptizing heretics, and what the same Jubaianus afterwards wrote back to Cyprian, Cyprian said: “You have heard, dearest colleagues, what Jubaianus our fellow bishop wrote to me, consulting our modest self about the unlawful and profane baptism of heretics, and what I wrote back to him, judging, as we have judged once and again and often, that heretics who come to the church must be baptized and sanctified with the church's baptism. Likewise another letter of Jubaianus has been read to you, in which, replying to our letter with sincere and religious devotion, he not only agreed but even confessed that he had been instructed, and gave thanks. It remains that each of us should bring forward what we think on this very matter, judging no one and removing no one from the right of communion if he thinks differently. For none of us sets himself up as a bishop of bishops or compels his colleagues to the necessity of obeying by tyrannical terror, since every bishop, by the freedom of his liberty and power, has 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 only has the power both of setting us over the government of his church and of judging our conduct.”

Caecilius of Biltha said: I know one baptism in the church alone, and none outside the church. It will be one here, where hope is true and faith sure. For so it is written: “One faith, one hope, one baptism”; not among heretics, where there is no hope and faith is false, where everything is done by lying, where a demoniac exorcizes, where he puts the sacramental questions whose mouth and words give off a cancer, where the unfaithful gives faith, the criminal grants pardon of sins, the antichrist baptizes in the name of Christ, one cursed by God blesses, the dead promises life, the unpeaceful gives peace, the blasphemer calls on God, the profane administers the priesthood, the sacrilegious sets up an altar. To all these is added this evil too, that a priest of the devil dares to celebrate the Eucharist. Or else let those who stand by them say that all these things are false about heretics. See to what sort of things the church is compelled to consent, and to hold communion without baptism and without pardon of sins! This thing, brothers, we ought to flee, and separate ourselves from so great a crime, and hold the one baptism that has been granted by the Lord to the church alone.

Primus of Misgirpa said: I judge that every man coming from heresy is to be baptized. For in vain does he think he was baptized there, since there is no baptism except the one true baptism in the church; for God is one, and faith is one, and the church is one, in which the one baptism stands, and holiness, and the rest. For what is done outside has no saving effect.

Polycarp of Hadrumetum said: He who approves the baptism of heretics makes ours void.

Novatus of Thamugadi said: Although we know that all the Scriptures bear witness to saving baptism, we ought nonetheless to state our faith: that heretics and schismatics who come to the church, who appear to have been falsely baptized, ought to be baptized in the everlasting font. And therefore, according to the testimony of the Scriptures and according to the decree of our colleagues, men of most holy memory, I have baptized all schismatics and heretics who have been converted to the church; and those also who appeared to have been ordained I have received as laymen.

Nemesianus of Thubunae said: That the baptism which heretics and schismatics give is not true is declared everywhere in the holy Scriptures, since their very leaders are false christs and false prophets, as the Lord says through Solomon: “He who trusts in falsehoods feeds the winds; he likewise follows flying birds. For he has forsaken the ways of his own vineyard and has strayed from the paths of his own field. He goes through trackless and dry places and a land appointed to thirst, and he gathers with his hands what bears no fruit.” And again: “Keep away from strange water, and do not drink from a foreign spring, that you may live a long time, and years of life may be added to you.” And in the Gospel our Lord Christ spoke with his own divine voice, saying: “Unless one is born again of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” This is the Spirit who from the beginning was borne over the water. For neither can the Spirit work apart without water, nor water without the Spirit. So some interpret wrongly for themselves when they say that they receive the Holy Spirit through the laying on of hands and are so received, since it is plain that they must be born again in the catholic church by both sacraments. Then they will be able to be sons of God, as the apostle says: “Taking care to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace: one body and one Spirit, as you were called in the one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism.” All these things the catholic church speaks. And again in the Gospel the Lord says: “What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit,” for God is Spirit, and he is born of God. So all heretics and schismatics, whatever they do, it is all carnal, as the apostle says: “For the works of the flesh are plain, which are sexual immoralities, impurities, incest, the service of idols, sorceries, enmities, strifes, jealousy, anger, divisions, heresies, and things like these; of which I have told you before, as I tell you now, that whoever does these things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” So the apostle condemns, along with all the wicked, those also who cause division, that is, schismatics and heretics. Unless, then, they receive saving baptism in the catholic church, which is one, they cannot be saved, but will be condemned with the carnal 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 so 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 tasteless, with what will it be seasoned? From then on it will be good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled by men”; and again after his resurrection, sending his apostles, he commands, saying: “All power has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and teach the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”; since, then, it is plain that heretics, that is, the enemies of Christ, do not have the complete confession of the sacrament, and likewise that schismatics cannot season with spiritual wisdom, since by withdrawing from the church, which is one, they have become tasteless and have been made its opponents, let it be done as it is written: “The houses of the opponents of the law need cleansing”; and consequently those who have been defiled by being baptized by opponents must first be cleansed and then at last baptized.

Crescens of Cirta said: In so great an assembly of most holy fellow priests, the letters of our dearest Cyprian to Jubaianus and also to Stephen having been read, which contain in themselves so much of the most holy testimonies drawn from the divinely given Scriptures that rightly we all, united by the grace of God, ought to agree, I judge, therefore, that all heretics and schismatics who wish to come to the catholic church may not enter before they have first been exorcized and baptized; excepting of course those who had been baptized before in the church: these, however, are to be reconciled to the church by the laying on of hands in penance.

Nicomedes of Segermes said: My opinion is this, that heretics coming to the church should be baptized, because outside, among sinners, they can obtain no remission of sins.

Monnulus of Girba said: The truth of the church, our mother, brothers, has both remained and remains with us, because in baptism there is the Trinity, as our Lord says: “Go and baptize the nations in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Since, then, we know plainly that heretics have neither the Father nor the Son nor the Holy Spirit, those who come to the church our mother ought to be born again and baptized, so that the cancer they had, and the wrath of condemnation, and the taint of error may be sanctified by the holy and heavenly washing.

Secundinus of Cedias said: Since our Lord Christ says, “He who is not with me is against me,” and the apostle John calls those who go out from the church antichrists, without doubt the enemies of Christ and those who have been named antichrists cannot minister the grace of saving baptism. And therefore I judge that those who flee to the church from the snares of heretics are to be baptized by us, who by his favor have been called friends of God.

Felix of Bagai said: As “a blind man leading a blind man,” so “they will fall into the pit”; just so a heretic baptizing a heretic, they will fall together into death. And therefore a heretic must be baptized and given life, lest we, the living, hold communion with the dead.

Pollianus of Milevis said: It is right that a heretic be baptized in the holy church.

Theogenes of Hippo Regius said: According to the sacrament of God's heavenly grace which we have received, we believe in the one baptism which is in the holy church.

Dativus of Vada said: As far as it lies with us, we do not hold communion with a heretic unless he has been baptized in the church and has received remission of sins.

Successus of Abbir Germaniciana said: Either nothing is permitted to heretics or everything is. 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, neither can they baptize spiritually. Therefore we judge that heretics are to be baptized.

Fortunatus of Thuccabori said: Jesus Christ, our Lord and God, the Son of God the Father and Creator, built his church upon Peter, 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 Thuburbo said: As much as water sanctified in the church by the priest's prayer washes away sins, so much does water infected, as by a cancer, with heretical speech heap up sins. Therefore we must strive with all peaceable strength that no one infected and dipped in heretical error refuse to receive the one 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: Let him who says that heretics have the power of baptizing first say who founded 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 the grace of God or confer it on anyone?

Privatus of Sufes said: He who approves the baptism of heretics, what else does he do but hold communion with heretics?

Hortensianus of Lares said: Let the presumptuous or the supporters of heretics see to it: we claim for the church the one baptism, which we know exists only in the church. Or how can those 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 judge, therefore, that wretched and wasting heretics are to be baptized when they begin to come to the church, and, washed with the sacred and divine washing and enlightened in the light of life, received into the church, made not enemies but peaceable, not strangers but members of the household of the Lord's faith, not adulterers but sons of God, not sons of error but of salvation; except those who, having been faithful members of the church, were tripped up and had passed over to the darkness of heresy: these are to be restored by the laying on of hands.

Another Januarius, of Vicus Caesaris, said: If error does not yield to truth, much more does truth not consent to error. And therefore we stand by the church over which we preside, so that, claiming its baptism for it alone, we baptize those whom the church has not baptized.

Another Secundinus, of Carpi, said: Are heretics Christians or not? If they are Christians, why are they not in the church of God? If they are not Christians, let them become Christians. Or what does the Lord's saying mean: “He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters”? Hence it is plain that upon strange sons and the offspring of antichrist the Holy Spirit cannot descend merely by the laying on of hands, since it is plain that heretics do not have baptism.

Victoricus of Thabraca said: If heretics may baptize and give remission of sins, why do we defame them and call them heretics?

Another Felix, of Uthina, said: No one doubts, most holy fellow priests, that human presumption does not have as much power as the adorable and venerable majesty of our Lord Christ. Mindful, therefore, of the danger, we ought not only to observe this but also to confirm it by all of us: that all heretics who run to the bosom of mother church be baptized, so that the heretical mind, polluted by long corruption, may be cleansed by the sanctification of the washing and reshaped for the better.

Quietus of Buruc said: We who live by faith ought to obey with believing observance what was foretold for our instruction. For it is written in Solomon: “He who is baptized by a dead man, what does his washing profit him?” This is certainly said of those who are dipped by heretics and of those who dip them. For if those who are baptized among them obtain eternal life through remission of sins, why do they come to the church? But if nothing of salvation is received from a dead man, and for that reason, having recognized their former error, they return to the truth with repentance, it is plain that they must also be sanctified by the one life-giving baptism which is in the catholic church.

Castus of Sicca said: He who, despising the truth, presumes to follow custom is either envious and malicious toward the brothers to whom the truth is revealed, or ungrateful toward God, by whose inspiration his church is instructed.

Eucratius of Thenae said: Our Lord and God Jesus Christ, teaching the apostles with his own mouth, fully set out our faith and the grace of baptism and the rule of the church's law, saying: “Go and teach the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” So the false and wicked baptism of heretics must be driven off by us and refuted with every protest, from whose mouth comes poison, not life, not heavenly grace but blasphemy of the Trinity. And therefore it is plain that heretics coming to the church must be baptized with whole and catholic baptism, so that, purified from their blasphemous presumption, they may be reshaped by the glory of the Holy Spirit.

Libosus of Vaga said: In the Gospel the Lord says: “I am the truth.” He did not say: I am custom. And so, now that the truth has been made plain, let custom yield to truth, so that even if in the past someone did not baptize heretics in the church, he may now begin to baptize them.

Leucius of Theveste said: I judge that heretics, blasphemous and wicked, who with empty words pluck apart the holy and adorable words of the Scriptures, are to be abhorred, and therefore are to be exorcized and baptized.

Eugenius of Ammaedara said: I too judge this same thing, that heretics are to be baptized.

Likewise another Felix, of Bamaccora, said: See, following the authority of the divine Scriptures, I judge that heretics are to be baptized, and also those who claim that they were baptized by schismatics. For if, according to Christ's provision, our fountain is private, let all the adversaries of our church understand that it cannot belong to another. Nor can he who is the shepherd of one flock give saving water to two peoples. And therefore it is plain that neither heretics nor schismatics can receive anything heavenly, since they dare to receive it from sinful men who are strangers to the church. When there is no room for the giver, it certainly profits not the receiver either.

Likewise another Januarius, of Muzula, said: I am surprised that, though 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; but if we have it, heretics cannot have it. And there is no doubt that the church alone possesses the baptism of Christ, since it alone possesses both the grace and the truth of Christ.

Adelphius of Thasvalte said: Without cause do some attack the truth with a false and spiteful word, saying that we rebaptize, since the church does not rebaptize heretics but baptizes them.

Demetrius of Leptis Minor said: We keep one baptism, because we claim for the church alone what is its own. But those who say that heretics baptize truly and lawfully are the ones who make not two but many baptisms. For since heresies are many, baptisms too would be counted according to their number.

Vincentius of Thibaris said: We know that heretics are worse than heathens. If, converted, they wish to come to the Lord, they certainly have the rule of truth which the Lord commanded the apostles by divine precept, saying: “Go, lay on hands in my name, cast out demons.” And in another place: “Go and teach the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” So first through the laying on of hands in exorcism, secondly through the regeneration of baptism, they can then come to the promise of Christ; otherwise, I judge, they ought not.

Marcus of Mactaris said: It is not surprising if heretics, the enemies and assailants of the truth, claim for themselves something belonging to another's power and favor. What is surprising is that some of our own, betrayers of the truth, support heretics and oppose Christians. Therefore we have decreed that heretics are to be baptized.

Sattius of Sicilibba said: If sins are forgiven 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, heretics have nothing to fear from the judgment of Christ if they have obtained remission of sins.

Victor of Gorduba said: Since sins are forgiven only in the baptism of the church, he who admits a heretic to communion without baptism acts against reason in both respects: he neither cleanses heretics nor keeps Christians undefiled.

Aurelius of Utica said: Since the apostle says that we must not share in the sins of others, what else does he do but share in the sins of others who holds communion with heretics without the church's baptism? And therefore I judge that heretics are to be baptized, so that they may receive remission of sins, and so be admitted to communion.

Iambus of Germaniciana said: Those who approve the baptism of heretics disapprove ours, so that they deny that those who were, I will not say washed, but soiled outside the church ought to be baptized in the church.

Lucianus of Rucuma said: It is written: “And God saw the light, that it was good, and divided between the light and the darkness.” If light and darkness can agree, then we and heretics can have something in common. Therefore I judge that heretics are to be baptized.

Pelagianus of Luperciana said: It is written: “Either God is God, or Baal is God.” So now too, either the church is the church, or heresy is the church. But if heresy is not the church, how can the church's baptism be among heretics?

Iader of Midili 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 he was 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 uphold the faith and truth of the church, since the apostle says: “For what if some of them have fallen away from the faith? Has their unbelief made void the faithfulness of God? By no means. For God is true, but every man a liar.” But if God is true, how can the truth of baptism be among heretics, among whom God is not?

Pomponius of Dionysiana said: It is plain that heretics cannot baptize and give remission of sins, since they do not have the power to loose or bind anything on earth.

Venantius of Thinisa said: If a husband, setting out abroad, had entrusted his wife to a friend to guard, the friend would keep her, entrusted to him, with all the care he could, so that her chastity and holiness might not be defiled by anyone. Christ, our Lord and God, setting out to the Father, entrusted his bride to us. Are we guarding her uncorrupted and inviolate, or are we betraying her integrity and chastity to adulterers and corrupters? For he who makes the church's baptism common with heretics betrays the bride of Christ to adulterers.

Ahymmus of Ausuaga said: We have received one baptism, and we practice it. But he who says that heretics may baptize makes two baptisms.

Saturninus of Victoriana said: If heretics may baptize, those who do unlawful things are excused and defended; and I do not see why either Christ called them his adversaries or the apostle called them antichrists.

Another Saturninus, of Thucca, said: The heathen, though they worship idols, yet know and confess the supreme God, the Father and Creator. Against him Marcion blasphemes; and some are not ashamed to approve Marcion's baptism. How do such priests either keep or uphold the priesthood of God, who do not baptize the enemies of God and so hold communion with them?

Marcellus of Zama said: Since sins are forgiven only in the baptism of the church, he who does not baptize a heretic holds communion with a sinner.

Irenaeus of Ululi said: If the church does not baptize a heretic on the ground that he is said to be already baptized, heresy is the greater.

Donatus of Cibaliana said: I know one church and its one baptism. If there is anyone who says that the grace of baptism is among heretics, he must first show and prove that the church is there.

Zosimus of Tharassa said: Now that the truth has been revealed, let error yield to truth; for Peter too, who at first practiced circumcision, yielded to Paul when he preached the truth.

Julian of Telepte said: It is written: “No one can receive anything unless it has been given him from heaven.” If heresy is from heaven, it can also give baptism.

Faustus of Timida Regia said: Let those who act as patrons of heretics not flatter themselves. He who intercedes for heretics against the church's baptism makes them Christians and us heretics.

Geminius of Furni said: Some of our colleagues can prefer heretics to themselves; they cannot to us. And therefore we hold what we have once decreed, that we baptize heretics who come to us.

Rogatianus of Nova said: Christ founded the church, the devil heresy. How can the synagogue of Satan have the baptism of Christ?

Therapius of Bulla said: He who concedes and betrays the church's baptism to heretics, what else has he shown himself but a Judas to the bride of Christ?

Likewise another Lucius, of Membressa, said: It is written: “God does not hear a sinner.” How can a heretic, who is a sinner, be heard in baptism?

Likewise another Felix, of Buslacenae, said: In admitting heretics without the church's baptism, let no one put custom before reason and truth, for reason and truth always shut out custom.

Another Saturninus, of Avitinae, said: If antichrist can give anyone the grace of Christ, then heretics, who have been called antichrists, can also baptize.

Quintus of Aggya said: He who has something can give something. But what can heretics give, who, it is agreed, have nothing?

Another Julian, of Marcelliana, said: If a man can serve two masters, God and mammon, then baptism too can serve two, the Christian and the heretic.

Tenax of Horrea Caeliae said: It is written that God is one, and Christ is one, and the church is one, and baptism is one. How can anyone be baptized there, where there is neither God nor Christ nor church?

Another Victor, of Assuras, said: Baptism is one, but it is the church's. Where the church is not, baptism cannot be there.

Donatulus of Capsa said: I too have always held this, that heretics, who can obtain nothing outside, should be baptized when they are converted to the church.

Verulus of Rusicade said: A heretic cannot give what he does not have; much more has a schismatic lost what he had.

Pudentianus of Cuicul said: The newness of my episcopate, dearest brothers, made me wait to hear what my elders would judge. For it is plain that heresies neither have nor can do anything. And so, if any come from them, it has been most justly judged that they be baptized.

Peter of Hippo Diarrhytus said: Since there is one baptism in the catholic church, it is plain that one cannot be baptized outside the church. And therefore I judge that those who have been dipped in heresy or in schism must be baptized when they come to the church.

Likewise another Lucius, of Ausafa, said: According to the prompting of my mind and of the Holy Spirit, since there is one God, the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, and one Christ, and one hope, and one Spirit in the church, baptism too ought to be one. And therefore I say that whatever has been set in motion or done among heretics ought to be annulled, and that those who come from there are to be baptized in the church.

Likewise another Felix, of Gurgites, said: I judge that, according to the precepts of the holy Scriptures, those baptized unlawfully by heretics outside the church should, if they wish to take refuge in the church, obtain the grace of baptism where it is lawfully given.

Pusillus of Lamasba said: I believe that saving baptism exists only in the catholic church. Whatever is apart from the catholic church is a pretense.

Salvianus of Gazaufala said: It is agreed 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 the truth, we ought to follow truth rather than custom, so that we may sanctify with the church's baptism the heretics who come to us precisely because they could receive nothing outside.

Victor of Octavu said: As you yourselves know, I was appointed bishop not long ago, and therefore I was waiting for the counsel of my predecessors. So this is what I think: that those who come, being from heresy, should without doubt be baptized.

Clarus of Mascula said: The judgment of our Lord Jesus Christ is plain, when he sent his apostles and granted to them alone the power given to him by the Father; we have succeeded them, governing the Lord's church with the same power and baptizing the faith of believers. And therefore heretics, who have outside neither the power nor the church of Christ, can baptize no one with his baptism.

Secundianus of Thambeae said: We ought not to deceive heretics by our presumption, lest, not having been baptized in the church of our Lord Jesus Christ and so not having obtained remission of sins, they should blame us when the day of judgment comes, because through us they were not baptized and did not obtain the indulgence of divine grace. For this reason, since there is one church and one baptism, when they are converted to us, let them obtain together with the church the church's baptism as well.

Likewise another Aurelius, of Chullabi, said: The apostle John wrote in his letter: “If anyone comes to you and does not have the teaching of Christ, do not admit him into your house and do not say “Greetings” to him. For he who says “Greetings” to him shares in his evil deeds.” How can such people be rashly admitted into the house of God who are forbidden to be admitted into your private house? Or how can we hold communion with them without the church's baptism, when if we merely say “Greetings” to them we share in their evil deeds?

Litteus of Gemellae said: “If a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into the pit.” Since, then, it is agreed that heretics, being blind, cannot enlighten anyone, their baptism is not valid.

Natalis of Oea said: I, who am present, and Pompeius of Sabratha, and also Dioga of Leptis Magna, who commissioned me, being absent in body but present in spirit, judge as our colleagues also do, that heretics cannot have communion with us unless they have been baptized with the church's baptism.

Junius of Neapolis said: I do not depart from what we once judged, that we baptize heretics who come to the church.

Cyprian of Carthage said: My opinion is most fully set out in the letter written to Jubaianus our colleague: that heretics, who by the testimony of the Gospel and the apostles are called adversaries of Christ and antichrists, are to be baptized with the one baptism of the church when they come to the church, so that from adversaries they may become friends, and from antichrists Christians.