Baptism in the early church · Sophia Scriptura

The rite, meaning, and preparation for baptism, including sponsors and the renunciations. Part of Worship.

Didache 7.1Anonymous · ca. 50–150 (often ca. 100) · Baptize in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, in running water.
Didache 7.2Anonymous · ca. 50–150 (often ca. 100) · Other water may be used if running water is not available.
Didache 7.3Anonymous · ca. 50–150 (often ca. 100) · If there is not enough water, pour water on the head three times.
Didache 7.4Anonymous · ca. 50–150 (often ca. 100) · Fast before baptism.
Didache 9.5Anonymous · ca. 50–150 (often ca. 100) · Only the baptized may share in the Eucharist.
Epistle of Barnabas 6.11Anonymous · ca. 70–135 (often ca. 130) · Forgiveness renewed us like newly formed children.
Epistle of Barnabas 11.1Anonymous · ca. 70–135 (often ca. 130) · Scripture foretold baptism and the cross.
Epistle of Barnabas 11.2Anonymous · ca. 70–135 (often ca. 130) · Jeremiah: Israel forsook the fountain of life.
Epistle of Barnabas 11.5Anonymous · ca. 70–135 (often ca. 130) · Isaiah: the sure water and the king in glory.
Epistle of Barnabas 11.6Anonymous · ca. 70–135 (often ca. 130) · Psalm 1: the tree planted by streams of water.
Epistle of Barnabas 11.8Anonymous · ca. 70–135 (often ca. 130) · The tree and the water in Psalm 1 are the cross and baptism.
Epistle of Barnabas 11.10Anonymous · ca. 70–135 (often ca. 130) · The river with trees of life.
Epistle of Barnabas 11.11Anonymous · ca. 70–135 (often ca. 130) · We go down into baptism full of sin and come up bearing fruit.
Epistle of Barnabas 16.8Anonymous · ca. 70–135 (often ca. 130) · Forgiven and made new, we become God's dwelling.
Shepherd of Hermas, Mandate 4.3.1 (31.1)Hermas · ca. 100–150 · Some teachers say there is no repentance after baptism.
Shepherd of Hermas, Mandate 4.3.2 (31.2)Hermas · ca. 100–150 · The baptized ought not to sin again.
Shepherd of Hermas, Mandate 4.3.3 (31.3)Hermas · ca. 100–150 · New believers receive forgiveness at baptism, not a later repentance.
Shepherd of Hermas, Mandate 4.3.6 (31.6)Hermas · ca. 100–150 · After baptism there is one repentance; repeated sin and repentance is of no use.
Shepherd of Hermas, Similitude 8.2.2 (68.2)Hermas · ca. 100–150 · Those with budding sticks are sealed and sent into the tower.
Shepherd of Hermas, Similitude 8.6.3 (72.3)Hermas · ca. 100–150 · Hermas asks for the meaning, so that those who broke their baptismal seal may repent.
Shepherd of Hermas, Similitude 9.12.4 (89.4)Hermas · ca. 100–150 · No one enters God's kingdom without receiving the name of the Son.
Shepherd of Hermas, Similitude 9.13.2 (90.2)Hermas · ca. 100–150 · The virgins are holy spirits, powers of the Son of God; the name without their garment is useless.
Shepherd of Hermas, Similitude 9.16.2 (93.2)Hermas · ca. 100–150 · They had to come up through water to be made alive.
Shepherd of Hermas, Similitude 9.16.3 (93.3)Hermas · ca. 100–150 · Before receiving the seal a person is dead; with it he receives life.
Shepherd of Hermas, Similitude 9.16.4 (93.4)Hermas · ca. 100–150 · The seal is the water of baptism: they go down dead and come up alive.
Shepherd of Hermas, Similitude 9.16.5 (93.5)Hermas · ca. 100–150 · The apostles, after death, preached to those who had died before and gave them the seal.
Shepherd of Hermas, Similitude 9.16.6 (93.6)Hermas · ca. 100–150 · The apostles went down alive; the earlier dead went down dead and came up alive.
Shepherd of Hermas, Similitude 9.17.4 (94.4)Hermas · ca. 100–150 · Sealed by baptism, all nations became one in mind, faith, and love.
Shepherd of Hermas, Similitude 9.31.1 (108.1)Hermas · ca. 100–150 · Those still round have not yet received the seal of baptism.
Shepherd of Hermas, Similitude 9.31.4 (108.4)Hermas · ca. 100–150 · The baptized must keep simplicity, forgive offenses, and heal divisions.
Shepherd of Hermas, Vision 2.2.5 (6.5)Hermas · ca. 100–150 · For believers there is a limited time for repentance; for the Gentiles, until the last day.
Shepherd of Hermas, Vision 3.3.5 (11.5)Hermas · ca. 100–150 · The tower stands on water because life is saved through the water of baptism.
Shepherd of Hermas, Vision 3.7.3 (15.3)Hermas · ca. 100–150 · Stones that cannot reach the water are those who draw back from baptism.
2 Clement 6.9Anonymous · ca. 100–150 · If even the righteous cannot save others, we must keep our baptism pure.
2 Clement 7.6Anonymous · ca. 100–150 · Those who break the seal of baptism face unending punishment.
2 Clement 8.6Anonymous · ca. 100–150 · Keep the flesh pure and the seal of baptism unstained.
To the Ephesians 18.2Ignatius of Antioch · ca. 110 (range ca. 105–135) · Christ was conceived by Mary, born, and baptized to sanctify the water of baptism.
To Polycarp 6.2Ignatius of Antioch · ca. 110 (range ca. 105–135) · Christians are soldiers of God, armed with baptism, faith, love, and endurance, and rewarded for their works.
To the Smyrnaeans 8.2Ignatius of Antioch · ca. 110 (range ca. 105–135) · Where the bishop is, there the people should be, as the catholic church is where Christ is.
Epistle of the Apostles 27Anonymous · ca. 140-170 · Christ tells how he went down to the patriarchs and prophets and gave them the baptism of life, and warns that faith without keeping his commandment is of no use.
Epistle of the Apostles 42Anonymous · ca. 140-170 · Christ explains that the apostles will be fathers because they bring people to baptism and forgiveness, and teachers because they hand on his word and correct without partiality.
First Apology 61Justin Martyr · ca. 150–155 · Justin describes baptism: instruction, prayer and fasting, then washing in water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, called “illumination.”
First Apology 62Justin Martyr · ca. 150–155 · Pagan purifications and the custom of removing shoes in temples imitate baptism and Moses at the burning bush, where Christ spoke with him.
First Apology 65Justin Martyr · ca. 150–155 · After baptism the new Christian joins the prayers; bread and wine mixed with water are brought, thanks are given, and deacons distribute them, also to those absent.
First Apology 66Justin Martyr · ca. 150–155 · The Eucharist is for the baptized only; it is not common bread and drink, but the flesh and blood of the incarnate Jesus, as the Gospels record.
Acts of John 46Anonymous · ca. 150–200 · A kinsman of the priest killed in the temple's fall turns to the Lord, and at John's word he raises the priest himself.
Acts of John 84Anonymous · ca. 150–200 · John denounces Fortunatus's unrepentant soul and the devil behind it.
Martyrdom of Paul 7Anonymous · ca. 150–200 · At Paul's tomb Longus and Cestus see Paul praying with Titus and Luke, who then give them the seal of baptism.
Acts of Paul and Thecla 25Anonymous · ca. 150–200 · Thecla offers to cut her hair and follow Paul, and asks for baptism, which Paul tells her to wait for.
Acts of Paul and Thecla 34Anonymous · ca. 150–200 · Thecla baptizes herself in a pool of seals in the name of Jesus Christ, and the seals are killed by lightning.
Acts of Paul and Thecla 40Anonymous · ca. 150–200 · Thecla, dressed as a man, finds Paul at Myra and tells him she has been baptized.
Sibylline Oracles 6.1ff.Anonymous · 2nd-3rd cent. · The Sibyl proclaims the immortal Son, enthroned by the Father before his birth, baptized in the Jordan, where the Spirit came upon him as a dove.
Sibylline Oracles 7.61ff.Anonymous · 2nd-3rd cent. · The Sibyl laments Syria for not knowing its God, the Word who was baptized in the Jordan, author of creation with the Father and the Spirit, who took flesh and returned to the Father.
Sibylline Oracles 7.81ff.Anonymous · 2nd-3rd cent. · The Sibyl prescribes a prayer with water poured on fire in memory of Christ's baptism, and hospitality to the poor stranger with a threefold prayer.
Dialogue with Trypho 13.1Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · The washing Isaiah speaks of is not a ritual bath but the saving washing of faith through Christ's blood.
Dialogue with Trypho 14.1Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Christian baptism, the washing of repentance, is the water of life; Jewish washings cleanse only the body.
Dialogue with Trypho 14.2Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · True washing is of the soul from anger, greed, and envy; the unleavened bread signifies leaving old sins.
Dialogue with Trypho 18.2Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Circumcision and the Sabbath were imposed on Israel because of its hardness of heart.
Dialogue with Trypho 19.2Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Circumcision was not for all; Jewish washings are broken cisterns compared with the baptism of life.
Dialogue with Trypho 29.1Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Gentile believers, baptized with the Holy Spirit, need neither circumcision nor ritual washing.
Dialogue with Trypho 39.2Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · God delays judgment because people are still becoming disciples, receiving spiritual gifts.
Dialogue with Trypho 43.2Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Christians receive spiritual circumcision through baptism.
Dialogue with Trypho 44.4Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · The only way to forgiveness is to know Christ and be baptized.
Dialogue with Trypho 49.3Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · The spirit of Elijah came first in John the Baptist, the forerunner of Christ's first coming.
Dialogue with Trypho 86.6Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Elisha's floating axe-head prefigures baptism and the cross; Judah's staff marked Tamar's children.
Dialogue with Trypho 88.3Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · At Jesus' baptism fire was kindled in the Jordan and the Spirit came like a dove.
Dialogue with Trypho 88.4Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Christ did not need baptism; he acted for fallen humanity.
Dialogue with Trypho 88.8Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Jesus the carpenter made plows and yokes; at his baptism the voice said “Today I have begotten you” (Ps 2:7).
Dialogue with Trypho 122.1Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · The prophecies of light for the nations refer to Christians, not proselytes.
Dialogue with Trypho 138.1Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · The eight saved in the flood symbolize the eighth day of Christ's resurrection.
Dialogue with Trypho 138.2Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Christ is the beginning of a new race regenerated through water, faith, and the wood of the cross, as Noah was saved on wood.
Dialogue with Trypho 138.3Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Through water, faith, and wood, the repentant escape the coming judgment.
Lines 9–12Anonymous · ca. 160–220 · Abercius tells of seeing a people with a shining seal at Rome and of travelling through Syria beyond the Euphrates, finding fellow believers everywhere, led by Faith.
Melito, Fr. 3Melito of Sardis · ca. 160-180 · The ram caught in the Sabek tree prefigures the Lord on the cross at Jerusalem; as Sabek means remission, so Ezekiel's water of remission prefigures baptism, and martyrdom and baptism both bring remission of sins.
Diatessaron, section 4Tatian · ca. 160-180
Diatessaron, section 32Tatian · ca. 160-180
To Autolycus 2.16Theophilus of Antioch · ca. 180–185 · The blessing of the creatures of the waters foreshadows forgiveness of sins through the water of baptism; peaceable and predatory creatures picture the righteous and the wicked.
Fragment 32Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 170–200
Acts of Peter (Vercelli) 4Anonymous · ca. 180–200 · Simon Magus wins over the Roman church in Paul's absence; Peter sails for Italy, baptizes the captain Theon at sea, and gives him the eucharist.
Fragment 9Clement of Alexandria · late 2nd–early 3rd century · A composite of fragments of Clement's Hypotyposes: brief notes on 1 Cor 11:10, 2 Cor 5:16, 2 Cor 6:12, and Gal 5:24; Christ's baptism of Peter; the choice of James the Just as bishop of Jerusalem; the origin of Mark's Gospel; secret knowledge passed from James, John, and Peter to the apostles and the seventy; the martyrdom of James with his accuser; why Paul did not name himself in Hebrews; and John's “spiritual” Gospel.
Fragment 16Clement of Alexandria · late 2nd–early 3rd century · Fragments ascribed to Clement from various sources: on the date of the Last Supper and the Passion (from On the Passover), on the dove at Jesus' baptism and the iota of the law, and on man as God's image.
Fragment 6 (Hypotyposes 5; baptism of the apostles)Clement of Alexandria · late 2nd-early 3rd century
The Instructor 1.6.25Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–200 · Christians are not called children because their knowledge is childish: at baptism, as at Christ's baptism, they receive perfection by enlightenment and the Spirit.
The Instructor 1.6.26Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–200 · Baptism enlightens, makes us sons, perfects, and makes immortal; it is called grace, enlightenment, perfection, and washing, and God's gift in it is complete.
The Instructor 1.6.27Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–200 · Believing and being born again already bring perfection in life; God's call is his salvation, and the one enlightened at once passes from darkness into light.
The Instructor 1.6.28Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–200 · Baptism removes sin like a cataract, freeing the spirit's eye to see God; the believer is already in the light, while the fulfillment of the promise awaits the resurrection.
The Instructor 1.6.29Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–200 · Faith already holds eternal life; what it grasps now as promise it receives after the resurrection as rest, while enlightenment dispels the darkness of ignorance.
The Instructor 1.6.30Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–200 · Baptism, the healing medicine of the Word, washes away all sins and changes our character; faith is the one salvation for all, as Paul teaches.
The Instructor 1.6.31Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–200 · All the baptized are sons of God and equal in Christ; there is no division into “gnostics” and lower “psychics.”
The Instructor 1.6.32Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–200 · Using his opponents' own language of “straining,” Clement says baptism strains away sin; God reveals himself to infants, those born again and clothed with Christ.
The Instructor 1.6.45Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–200 · The milk of the Lord nourishes the reborn and leads to the heavenly Jerusalem; the Word is both food and drink, one substance serving both.
The Instructor 1.6.49Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–200 · As a mother nourishes her child with milk from her blood, Christ, who gave us new birth, nourishes us with the Word; we are united to him by his blood, his Word, and his training.
The Instructor 1.6.50Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–200 · Blood and milk together symbolize Christ's passion and teaching; as milk mixes well with water, the Word is joined with baptism.
The Instructor 1.6.51Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–200 · Milk mixes with water, honey, and wine, as the Word is joined with baptism, heals and cleanses, and raises the suffering human being to incorruption.
The Instructor 1.6.52Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–200 · Butter fuels the lamp as the Word enlightens; those who call themselves perfect “gnostics” should learn from Paul, who did not claim to have attained perfection.
The Instructor 1.12.98Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–200 · Jesus, who formed, regenerated, and instructs the human being, shows us the true life; imitating him, we are transformed toward God's image and likeness and learn a simple, self-sufficient life.
The Instructor 2.12.118Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–200 · Precious stones and pearls fascinate the foolish like fire fascinates children; the true pearl is Christ, the pure Word, through whom the flesh, reborn in water, becomes precious.
The Instructor 3.9.48Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–200 · The best washing is spiritual, cleansing the inside first, as the Lord taught and Isaiah prophesied; the body can be washed with plain water.
The Instructor 3.10.52Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–200 · Humble self-help and service to others, like Abraham serving his guests, are good exercise; fishing is allowed, but the better fishing is catching people through baptism.
The Instructor 3.11.59Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–200 · Christians should live freely as God's adopted children; a man's signet ring should be worn on the little finger and engraved with a dove, fish, ship, lyre, or anchor, not idols or weapons.
Exhortation to the Greeks 9.82Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–200 · God admonishes as a gentle father; those who become like children and are born again enter the kingdom as his firstborn church.
Exhortation to the Greeks 9.88Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–200 · Taste and see that God is good: the Word shines on all, and those saved become one chorus crying “Abba, Father.”
Exhortation to the Greeks 10.94Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–200 · The loving Father calls all to the washing of baptism and offers the whole creation freely to his true children.
Exhortation to the Greeks 10.99Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–200 · Ignorance breeds idolatry; wash in the water of the Word, recognize your Father, and like the Ninevites repent and be saved.
Exhortation to the Greeks 12.120Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–200 · The true mysteries: the Lord initiates, illumines, and seals the believer; Jesus, the eternal High Priest, calls all humankind to incorruption and to his easy yoke.
Against Heresies 1.9.4Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · Like a cento stitched from Homer, the heretics' system reuses scriptural words for a foreign theme, which anyone who holds the rule of truth received in baptism will recognize.
Against Heresies 1.21.1Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · The heretics' 'redemption' takes as many forms as they have teachers and is a Satanic denial of baptism.
Against Heresies 1.21.2Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · They teach that 'redemption' is a second, spiritual rite for perfection, beyond the baptism for remission of sins.
Against Heresies 1.21.3Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · Irenaeus describes Gnostic rites of 'redemption': a bridal chamber, baptism with invented formulas, Hebrew-sounding words, and anointing with balsam.
Against Heresies 1.21.4Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · Some pour oil and water on the initiate's head, while others reject all material rites and say knowledge alone is redemption.
Against Heresies 1.23.5Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · Menander, Simon's successor, claimed to be the Saviour and promised his baptized disciples deathless life.
Against Heresies 3.9.3Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · At the baptism the Spirit anointed the Word made flesh; Christ and Jesus are not two but one, as Isaiah foretold.
Against Heresies 3.12.2Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · Peter's Pentecost sermon proclaims one God and one Christ who suffered, rose, and was exalted, calling hearers to repentance and baptism.
Against Heresies 3.12.7Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · Peter's preaching to Cornelius proclaimed the Son of God, anointed with the Spirit and Judge of all, without any other God; the church keeps this one faith worldwide.
Against Heresies 3.12.8Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · Philip preached to the Ethiopian eunuch that Isaiah's suffering servant is Jesus, the Son of the God of the prophets.
Against Heresies 3.12.15Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · The apostles' careful observance of the law, and Peter's hesitation with Cornelius, show that they knew the law came from the same God.
Against Heresies 3.16.9Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · Paul in Romans knows one Christ Jesus who was born, died for us, and rose, not a Christ separate from Jesus.
Against Heresies 3.17.1Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · The apostles taught that the Holy Spirit, not a higher Christ, descended on Jesus, the same Spirit promised by the prophets and given to the church.
Against Heresies 3.17.2Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · The Spirit given at Pentecost unites the nations, as water makes one loaf from many grains; baptism gives the body unity and the Spirit gives it to the soul.
Against Heresies 4.23.2Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · The Ethiopian eunuch, already taught by the prophets, needed only to learn of the Son’s coming; likewise the apostles easily persuaded Jews who feared God.
Against Heresies 5.11.2Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · Bearing the earthly image means doing the works of the flesh; bearing the heavenly means being washed in Christ’s name and receiving his Spirit, which changes conduct, not the body.
Against Heresies 5.15.3Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · The Word who forms us in the womb formed the blind man’s sight and sent him to wash in Siloam, restoring both his formation and the regeneration of the washing.
Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching 3Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–200
Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching 7Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–200
Prophetic Extracts 5.2Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · Baptism, the sign of regeneration, is an escape from the rushing stream of matter through Christ's teaching.
Prophetic Extracts 5.3Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · The Lord leads us out of disorder into shadowless light.
Prophetic Extracts 6.1Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · Two prophets divided the sea and the river of matter by God's power.
Prophetic Extracts 6.2Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · They were pure leaders through whose signs the righteous passed through matter and out of it.
Prophetic Extracts 7.1Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · Rebirth is by water and spirit, as was the first creation.
Prophetic Extracts 7.2Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · The Savior was baptized, though he needed no cleansing, to sanctify all water for those reborn, so that body and soul are cleansed.
Prophetic Extracts 7.3Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · Baptism sanctifies the invisible soul too, as the driving out of unclean spirits shows.
Prophetic Extracts 8.1Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · Since baptism by water and Spirit protects against a twofold fire, there must be both intelligible and sensible water.
Prophetic Extracts 8.2Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · Earthly water washes the body; heavenly water, the Holy Spirit, cleanses the invisible soul.
Prophetic Extracts 12.9Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · with seven others; so the soul emptied of evil must be filled with God, and then the seal of baptism guards it for God.
Prophetic Extracts 24.3Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · Now the Lord stamps us with faith and other virtues, so that we bear the heavenly image.
Prophetic Extracts 25.1Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · John's baptism “with Spirit and fire” was not literal fire, though Heracleon reports that some branded the ears of the baptized; the winnowing image explains it.
Prophetic Extracts 25.2Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · As wind separates wheat from chaff, the Spirit separates the soul from what is material.
Prophetic Extracts 25.3Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · The seeds of life are gathered like wheat; the material perishes when separated; the Spirit separates and the fire consumes.
Prophetic Extracts 25.4Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · The Spirit corresponds to the bodiless soul, fire to what is material; this fire is not evil but a good power that cleanses, which is why the prophets call it wise.
Excerpts from Theodotus 16.1Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · The dove at Christ's baptism was seen as a body; the church says it was the Holy Spirit, while the Basilideans and Valentinians gave other interpretations.
Excerpts from Theodotus 22.1Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · The Valentinians read “baptized for the dead” as the angels' baptism on our behalf.
Excerpts from Theodotus 22.4Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · They say the angels were baptized for us so that we, bearing the Name, may pass the Limit into the Pleroma.
Excerpts from Theodotus 22.5Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · The Valentinian rite of laying on hands ends with the words “for angelic redemption,” so that the baptized share the redemption of their angels.
Excerpts from Theodotus 22.6Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · They say the angels were baptized in the Name that descended on Jesus as a dove.
Excerpts from Theodotus 36.2Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · Jesus was baptized, the undivided being divided, to unite divided humanity with the angels in the Pleroma.
Excerpts from Theodotus 76.1Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · Christ's birth frees us from Fate, his baptism from fire, his passion from passion, so that we may follow him in everything.
Excerpts from Theodotus 76.2Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · The baptized have gone into God and received authority over the evil powers.
Excerpts from Theodotus 76.3Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · Christ commands the apostles to preach and to baptize believers in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
Excerpts from Theodotus 76.4Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · into whom we are reborn, raised above all the powers.
Excerpts from Theodotus 77.1Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · Baptism is death to the old life, in which we renounce the evil powers, and life in Christ.
Excerpts from Theodotus 77.2Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · Baptism changes the soul, not the body.
Excerpts from Theodotus 77.3Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · The newly baptized is God's servant and master of the unclean spirits, who now tremble before him.
Excerpts from Theodotus 78.1Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · They say Fate holds until baptism; after it astrology is no longer true.
Excerpts from Theodotus 78.2Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · Not only the washing frees, but the knowledge of who we were and have become, where we came from and where we go, what birth and rebirth are.
Excerpts from Theodotus 80.1Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · The one born of the mother goes to death; the one reborn by Christ passes to life.
Excerpts from Theodotus 80.2Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · The reborn die to the world and live to God; death is undone by death and corruption by resurrection.
Excerpts from Theodotus 80.3Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · Sealed in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the baptized is beyond all hostile powers and bears the heavenly image.
Excerpts from Theodotus 81.1Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · Fire is of two kinds: bodily fire for bodies, and a pure, bodiless fire that touches demons and the devil.
Excerpts from Theodotus 81.2Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · Baptism is double: water quenches the visible fire, the Spirit protects against the spiritual fire.
Excerpts from Theodotus 81.3Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · Air feeds or quenches fire, but the Spirit from above rules even the evil powers.
Excerpts from Theodotus 82.2Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · Likewise the exorcised baptismal water both drives away evil and receives holiness.
Excerpts from Theodotus 83.1Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · One should come to baptism with joy, but also fear, since unclean spirits may go down with the candidate and receive the seal with him.
Excerpts from Theodotus 84.1Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · Hence the fasts, prayers, raised hands, and kneeling before baptism: a soul is rescued from the lions' mouth, and temptations follow from the angry powers.
Excerpts from Theodotus 85.1Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · After his baptism Christ was tempted among the wild beasts, as a pattern for us; having overcome, he was served by angels.
Excerpts from Theodotus 85.3Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · We must put on the Lord's armor, which quenches the devil's darts.
Excerpts from Theodotus 86.1Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · Christ asked whose image was on the coin, so that each should be given to its owner.
Excerpts from Theodotus 86.2Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · The believer bears God's name as inscription and the Spirit as image; sealed like marked livestock, the faithful soul bears the marks of Christ.
Excerpts from Theodotus 86.3Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · The sealed are the children already in bed and the wise virgins who enter the prepared good things, while the others are shut out.
Who Is the Rich Man That Is Saved? 23.2Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–210 · Christ answers: he has given new birth, freedom, and redemption, and will give eternal life and the vision of the Father.
Who Is the Rich Man That Is Saved? 39.1Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–210 · who has no place in heaven; and one who has sinned after baptism, through ignorance or weakness, should not think God has condemned him forever.
Who Is the Rich Man That Is Saved? 42.4Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–210 · The presbyter raised and baptized the young man, then relaxed his care, trusting in the seal of baptism.
Who Is the Rich Man That Is Saved? 42.14Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–210 · The young man stopped, threw down his weapons, wept, and embraced John, baptized a second time by his tears, hiding his blood-stained right hand.
Miscellanies 1.18.89Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · Better to read Paul as denying that God made worldly wisdom foolish: unbelief is chosen, not caused by God; the wise are outshone by the gospel as a lamp by the sun; all are called, and those who obey are the called.
Miscellanies 1.19.96Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · Proverbs' stolen bread and water are the heretics' Eucharists, some using only water, contrary to the church's rule; their baptism is “strange water” that sweeps people back into the sea of paganism.
Miscellanies 1.21.146Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · The Basilidians celebrate Christ's baptism on 15 or 11 Tybi and date his passion variously; Clement applies Daniel's 2,300 days to the years from Nero's desecration to the fall of Jerusalem.
Miscellanies 2.3.11Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · If faith were a natural gift, there would be no praise or blame, no repentance, no baptism, no need of the Son or the Father: salvation rests on voluntary faith.
Miscellanies 2.8.38Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · Clement presses dilemmas against Basilides and Valentinus: if ignorance is good, baptism is needless; if evil, evil causes the best things; and the angels' plot against Adam fails on every account of what they knew.
Miscellanies 2.9.44Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · Hermas says the apostles, after death, preached to the righteous dead and gave them the seal of baptism, so that they too were built into the tower; Gentiles who keep the law by nature are a law to themselves.
Miscellanies 2.13.56Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · Those forgiven must sin no more; the first repentance cleanses the life of ignorance; but the Lord foresaw human weakness and the devil's jealous schemes against the forgiven.
Miscellanies 2.13.57Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · God in mercy allows one second repentance after baptism for those overcome by temptation; but repeated repentance followed by the same sins is no better than unbelief, since such a person sins knowingly.
Miscellanies 2.13.58Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · Converts receive forgiveness once in baptism; one who sins afterward and repents may be pardoned but should feel shame, since there is no second washing; the reborn must abandon their old works, not repent of the same sin again and again.
Miscellanies 3.5.43Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · Those led by passion cannot know God, and conduct reveals ignorance of him; Paul tells believers, circumcised in Christ and raised with him, to seek things above and put to death sexual immorality and evil desire.
Miscellanies 3.8.62Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · All must appear before Christ's judgment for deeds done in the body; in Christ one is a new creation, washed from the old life; righteousness has no fellowship with lawlessness, so we must cleanse ourselves in holiness.
Miscellanies 3.11.75Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · Peter urges Christians as exiles to abstain from fleshly desires and not use freedom as a cover for evil; Paul teaches that those who died to sin cannot live in it.
Miscellanies 3.12.82Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · Paul's “come together again” prevents temptation; Christ, the same Lord of law and gospel, replaced polygamy with monogamy; second marriage after a spouse's death is permitted but falls short of the gospel's perfection; baptism replaces the law's washings after intercourse.
Miscellanies 3.12.83Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · The law's washing after emission of seed foreshadowed baptismal rebirth without condemning birth; marriage is not merely of the old law, for the same God gave law and gospel, and what God joined man may not separate.
Miscellanies 3.12.88Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · We become children again, reborn through water; the married too may care for the Lord's things, and both wife and virgin are holy in the Lord; Paul speaks sternly to restrain those inclined to a second marriage.
Miscellanies 3.18.109Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · To the pure all things are pure; Paul lists those excluded from the kingdom, from which believers were washed; the libertines “baptize” into immorality under the name of false knowledge; Christians should think on what is true and pure.
Miscellanies 4.16.101Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · Paul's contentment in plenty and want is the knower's rule; Hebrews recalls believers who, after enlightenment, joyfully endured suffering and loss of goods, and urges endurance and faith.
Miscellanies 4.20.126Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · Marriage conducted according to reason, in faith, with hearts cleansed and bodies washed in baptism, is sanctified; a good marriage is judged by virtue, not wealth or beauty; the wife is God's gift to the husband as a helper.
Miscellanies 4.22.142Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · Outward washing before prayer symbolizes inner purity, holy thought; the image of baptism passed from Moses to the poets, as in Homer's Penelope and Telemachus; true purity is of mind, deeds, words, and even dreams.
Miscellanies 4.24.153Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · What rests with us is choosing between opposites, such as believing or not; God forgives sins before faith, all of them, not only involuntary ones as Basilides held; punishment aims at preventing future sin, not undoing the past.
Miscellanies 4.24.154Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · God disciplines to improve the sinner, warn others, and protect the wronged; correction is by teaching or by punishment; sins before baptism are forgiven, those after are cleansed by discipline; unbelievers are like chaff.
Miscellanies 4.25.160Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · Job's “naked I shall depart” means leaving free of sin, as Christ calls us to become like children, pure as when born of the womb of water in baptism; the lamp of the ungodly will be quenched.
Miscellanies 5.2.15Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · Plato speaks of the love that begets like, and of teachers begetting pupils, as Christians call instruction rebirth and Paul begot the Corinthians in Christ; Empedocles speaks of Love, and Parmenides of seeing absent things with the mind.
Miscellanies 5.6.39Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · The oracle signifies prophecy and judgment by the Word; the robe the incarnation; the high priest changing garments on the Day of Atonement signifies the knower rising beyond the baptized faithful, cleansed no longer by water but by the Word of knowledge.
Miscellanies 5.8.55Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · The law and prophets were types until John, who, pointing to Christ, confessed himself unworthy to loose his sandal, that is, to baptize with his power, and so loosed the meaning of the prophecies; Roman will ceremonies are also symbolic.
Miscellanies 6.14.109Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · The believer must put off the passions; knowing is more than believing, and the one who sinned after baptism bears the pain of seeing others receive what he lacks, a grief that remains even when purifying punishments end.
On Idolatry 6Tertullian · ca. 196–211 · Even apart from the law, the baptismal renunciation of the devil forbids making idols; one who makes them for others to worship offers them his own soul.
On the Dress of Women 1.2Tertullian · ca. 197–206 · The fallen angels of Genesis 6 taught women jewelry, dyes, and cosmetics; Christians, who will judge those angels, should not covet their gifts.
Against the Jews 13Tertullian · ca. 197–207 · The author argues that the destruction of Jerusalem, the loss of anointing and temple, the prophecies of the cross (the tree, Isaac, Elisha's axe-head), the resurrection on the third day, and the dispersion of the Jews show that the Christ foretold has already come.
On the Shows 4Tertullian · ca. 197–202 · At baptism Christians renounce the devil, his pomp, and his angels, and since the shows are bound up with idolatry, that vow covers them too.
On the Shows 24Tertullian · ca. 197–202 · The shows belong to the devil's pomp renounced at baptism, and even pagans recognize a Christian by his refusal to attend them; to go back is to desert to the enemy.
On Baptism 1Tertullian · ca. 198–206 · Tertullian writes on baptism to instruct believers because a woman of the Cainite heresy has been leading many astray by denying baptism, whereas Christians, like fish, are born and live in water.
On Baptism 2Tertullian · ca. 198–206 · Unbelievers stumble at the simplicity of baptism, but God chose foolish and humble things to shame human wisdom, and his power works through what seems impossible.
On Baptism 3Tertullian · ca. 198–206 · Water has great authority from the creation: it was the seat of the Spirit, the instrument by which God ordered the world, the first bearer of life, and a partner in forming man.
On Baptism 4Tertullian · ca. 198–206 · The Spirit who hovered over the waters at creation sanctified the element, so that any water, when God is invoked, becomes a means of sanctification that cleanses both spirit and flesh.
On Baptism 5Tertullian · ca. 198–206 · Pagan washings and demonic haunting of waters are imitations of God's work; the angel stirring the pool of Bethesda foreshadowed the angel of baptism, which restores man to God's likeness and Spirit.
On Baptism 6Tertullian · ca. 198–206 · Baptism in water prepares for the Holy Spirit, as John prepared Christ's way; faith is sealed in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and the church, the body of the three, is confessed with them.
On Baptism 7Tertullian · ca. 198–206 · After baptism the newly baptized are anointed, as priests were in the Old Testament and as Christ, the Anointed, was anointed with the Spirit.
On Baptism 8Tertullian · ca. 198–206 · After baptism comes the laying on of hands, by which the Holy Spirit descends like the dove on Christ and the dove after the flood, bringing God's peace to the newly baptized.
On Baptism 9Tertullian · ca. 198–206 · The crossing of the Red Sea, the sweetened water of Marah, and the water from the rock prefigure baptism, and water accompanies Christ throughout his life, even to the cross.
On Baptism 10Tertullian · ca. 198–206 · John's baptism was divine in commission but human in nature: a baptism of repentance preparing for the forgiveness and gift of the Spirit that come only through Christ.
On Baptism 11Tertullian · ca. 198–206 · Christ did not baptize with his own hands; his disciples baptized with John's baptism, since Christian baptism depended on his passion and resurrection.
On Baptism 12Tertullian · ca. 198–206 · Tertullian answers those who question the apostles' salvation because they were not baptized with Christian baptism: they probably received John's baptism, and in any case their faith and close following of Christ could stand in its place.
On Baptism 13Tertullian · ca. 198–206 · Though Abraham was saved by faith alone, after Christ's resurrection faith is bound to baptism, which Christ commanded, as Paul's own baptism shows.
On Baptism 14Tertullian · ca. 198–206 · Paul's statement that Christ did not send him to baptize was aimed at factions in Corinth, not against baptism, for Paul himself baptized.
On Baptism 15Tertullian · ca. 198–206 · There is only one baptism, given once; heretics, who do not share the same God and Christ, do not have true baptism.
On Baptism 16Tertullian · ca. 198–206 · Martyrdom is a second baptism, of blood, which takes the place of baptism in water for those who have not received it and restores it for those who have lost it.
On Baptism 17Tertullian · ca. 198–206 · Bishops, and under them presbyters and deacons, administer baptism; laymen may do so in necessity, but women may not, and the Acts of Paul and Thecla, which suggests otherwise, is a forgery by a presbyter who was deposed.
On Baptism 18Tertullian · ca. 198–206 · Baptism should not be given rashly; Tertullian advises delaying it according to each person's condition, especially for little children and for the unmarried, until they can ask for it knowingly or are settled in life.
On Baptism 19Tertullian · ca. 198–206 · Easter and the fifty days to Pentecost are the most fitting times for baptism, though any day is suitable.
On Baptism 20Tertullian · ca. 198–206 · Candidates should prepare for baptism with prayer, fasting, vigils, and confession of sins; after baptism they should pray for spiritual gifts and remember Tertullian in their prayers.
On Prayer 13Tertullian · ca. 198–206 · What matters in prayer is a clean spirit and hands clean of sin, not ritual handwashing, which some practice in imitation of Pilate.
On Repentance 2Tertullian · ca. 198–206 · God himself instituted repentance after Adam's fall, calling Israel to it through the prophets and John the Baptist, so that the heart might be cleansed for salvation; it belongs to sins only, never to good deeds.
On Repentance 6Tertullian · ca. 198–206 · Catechumens must not put off repentance, presuming on baptism to wash away sins committed meanwhile; true repentance must come before baptism, which seals a faith already changed.
On Repentance 7Tertullian · ca. 198–206 · After baptism, God has left open one further repentance for grave sin, but only once; the sinner should not abuse it, nor despair, but gratefully accept the remedy.
On Repentance 12Tertullian · ca. 198–206 · The fires of volcanoes foreshadow Gehenna; since exomologesis is the second remedy after baptism, the sinner should use it, like Nebuchadnezzar, and not reject it, like Pharaoh.
Acts of Thomas 24Anonymous · ca. 200–250 · The king frees Thomas and asks to serve his God; Gad asks the same, and Thomas prays that Christ receive them into his flock through washing and oil.
Acts of Thomas 26Anonymous · ca. 200–250 · The king and his brother ask for the seal; Thomas has oil brought so that they may receive it by anointing.
Acts of Thomas 27Anonymous · ca. 200–250 · Thomas anoints the king and his brother with an invocation of the name of Christ and the Spirit, a radiant young man appears, and at dawn he gives them the Eucharist.
Acts of Thomas 41Anonymous · ca. 200–250 · The colt dies at the city gate; Thomas frees a woman from a demon that has abused her for five years, seals her and gives the Eucharist; then a youth who killed his lover for refusing continence is convicted by the Eucharist and healed, and the woman, raised, describes the punishments she saw in the place of the dead.
Acts of Thomas 87Anonymous · ca. 200–250 · Mygdonia throws herself at Thomas's feet and begs him to pray that she may receive the seal and become God's temple.
Acts of Thomas 120Anonymous · ca. 200–250 · Mygdonia asks Thomas for the seal and has her nurse Marcia bring bread, water, and oil.
Acts of Thomas 121Anonymous · ca. 200–250 · Thomas anoints Mygdonia with oil, baptizes her in a spring in the name of the Trinity, and gives her the Eucharist of bread and a cup of water; Marcia too receives the seal.
Acts of Thomas 132Anonymous · ca. 200–250 · Thomas speaks of baptism as forgiveness of sins and new birth, anoints and baptizes Siphor's household in the name of the Trinity, and gives them the Eucharist with a prayer over the bread of life.
Acts of Thomas 149Anonymous · ca. 200–250 · Thomas ends his prayer for safe passage to the judge; in the Thirteenth Act the king's son Vazan, married against his will and living in chastity with his wife, asks Thomas to come to his house and give him the seal.
Acts of Thomas 152Anonymous · ca. 200–250 · Tertia tells how the king shut her up with Mygdonia for refusing to give up Thomas's teaching, and asks for the seal.
Acts of Thomas 157Anonymous · ca. 200–250 · Thomas blesses the oil, invoking the power of the olive tree akin to the tree of the cross, anoints Vazan and the women, and baptizes them in the name of the Trinity.
Bruce Codex, untitled work 20Anonymous · ca. 200–300 · The offspring of matter pray for authority to create aeons and for bodiless spirits to dwell in them; the separating powers build the realms upward from the air-earth through places of repentance and sojourning to the aeons of Sophia, where Pistis Sophia and the living Jesus are.
Didascalia 2.7 (Latin)Anonymous · first half of the third century · Christians are presumed to have abandoned heathen sins, for sin after baptism leads to Gehenna, but they are slandered by the heathen for keeping apart.
Didascalia 3.9–11Anonymous · first half of the third century
Didascalia 6.21Anonymous · first half of the third century · Christians must not keep the Levitical purity rules about menstruation, seminal flow, and intercourse, as though the Holy Spirit received in baptism left them, and so abstain from prayer, the eucharist, and the Scriptures.
Epitaph of Pectorius (lines 1–11)Anonymous · 3rd–4th century (disputed) · A Christian epitaph from Autun: the faithful, born anew from divine waters, are urged to receive the Saviour's food, holding the Fish in their hands, and Pectorius asks his dead father to remember him.
On Christ and Antichrist 11Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 200–215 · The washing in wine is the baptism at the Jordan; the blood of the grape is Christ's flesh on the cross, from whose side flowed blood and water.
On Christ and Antichrist 45Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 200–215 · John the Baptist leaped in the womb, preached repentance, pointed out the Lamb of God, and went before Christ even into Hades.
On Christ and Antichrist 59Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 200–215 · The Church is a ship tossed on the sea of the world but not sunk, with Christ as pilot and the cross as its mast.
Against Noetus 14Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 200–230 · God is one, but there are two persons, Father and Son, and a third economy, the grace of the Holy Spirit; through this Trinity the Father is glorified.
On Proverbs, fragment 20Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 200–235 · On Prov 30:15–16: sin is never satisfied; like Hades, Tartarus, parched earth and fire, the slave of sin never comes to confession and the washing of regeneration.
On Proverbs, fragment 40Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 200–235 · On Prov 30:19: ‘the way of a man in youth’ is that of one living in the regeneration, or of one reborn in baptism.
On the Holy Theophany 1Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 200–235 · The homily on the Theophany opens by praising the goodness of creation and the necessity of water, then marvels that Christ was baptized in the Jordan, and gives John the Baptist's confession of his own lowliness before Christ.
On the Holy Theophany 4Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 200–235 · Christ comes to John in humility; John protests that he needs Christ's baptism, but Christ insists on fulfilling all righteousness, and at his baptism the heavens open and the Father bears witness.
On the Holy Theophany 6Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 200–235 · Christ's baptism opened heaven and reconciled earth with heaven; the Father's voice and the dove reveal the Son, and through water and Spirit man is regenerated to immortality as co-heir with Christ.
On the Holy Theophany 10Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 200–235 · The homily ends by calling the hearer to regeneration in baptism, foretold by Isaiah, in which one renounces the devil, confesses Christ as God, and rises a son of God.
Arabic Pentateuch fragment VHippolytus of Rome · unknown (transmitted in a medieval Arabic catena) · Hippolytus is cited for the legend that Melchizedek circumcised Abraham, a type of John's baptism of Christ and of the Jews.
Arabic Pentateuch fragment XII (on Gen 38:19)Hippolytus of Rome · unknown (transmitted in a medieval Arabic catena) · The catena defends Judah and Tamar as acting by providence, and makes Judah's three pledges a type of Christ's body, blood, and baptism given to the church.
Apostolic Tradition 20Hippolytus of Rome · early third century
Apostolic Tradition 21 (English)Hippolytus of Rome · early third century
Apostolic Tradition 21 (Latin)Hippolytus of Rome · early third century · The candidate is baptized three times after three questions of faith, anointed, receives the bishop's hand, prayer and seal, and joins the people for the peace and a first communion of bread, cup, milk and honey, and water.
Book of Jeu 2 43Anonymous · ca. 200–300 · Jesus forbids giving the mysteries to the unworthy, especially to a sect whose rites he describes as obscene and whose god he names Taricheas, and promises the disciples the mysteries, the three baptisms and the spiritual anointing, with moral commandments for those who receive them.
Book of Jeu 2 44Anonymous · ca. 200–300 · Jesus promises the grieving disciples the higher mysteries and the once-only mystery of the forgiveness of sins, which carries the soul after death through every order to rest; then he performs the baptism of water with an offering of wine, bread and herbs, and the wine is changed into the water of life.
Book of Jeu 2 46Anonymous · ca. 200–300 · Jesus performs the baptism of fire with incense, herbs, wine and bread, praying the Father and the virgin of the light to forgive the disciples' sins; a sign appears in the fire, and he baptizes and seals them.
Book of Jeu 2 47Anonymous · ca. 200–300 · Jesus performs the baptism of the Holy Spirit with incense, wine and bread, prays for the forgiveness of the disciples' sins, and after a sign baptizes them and seals their foreheads.
Pistis Sophia 115Anonymous · 3rd century
Pistis Sophia 116Anonymous · 3rd century
Pistis Sophia 122Anonymous · 3rd century
Pistis Sophia 138Anonymous · 3rd century
Pistis Sophia 143Anonymous · 3rd century
Against the Jews 10Anonymous · 3rd cent. (disputed) · The unlearned Gentile believers now teach the Scriptures to Israel's learned, who come to baptism and the Eucharist and take their place under a young minister.
Prescription against Heretics 20Tertullian · ca. 203 · Christ sent the apostles, who founded churches in every city; all later churches derive from these and so are apostolic, united in peace, brotherhood, and hospitality by the one tradition.
Prescription against Heretics 29Tertullian · ca. 203 · If the church had erred until the heretics came, all its baptisms, gifts, ministries, and martyrdoms would have been in vain; but truth comes before its copies, and the true doctrine foretold the heresies.
Prescription against Heretics 36Tertullian · ca. 203 · Anyone may visit the apostolic churches, such as Corinth, Philippi, Ephesus, and Rome, where the apostles taught and died; Rome's faith, shared with Africa, is the one from which the heresies broke away.
Prescription against Heretics 40Tertullian · ca. 203 · The devil imitates Christian sacraments in pagan mysteries, as in Mithraism, and likewise twists Scripture into heresy, which is a kind of idolatry.
Prescription against Heretics 41Tertullian · ca. 203 · Heretics live without discipline: no distinction between catechumens and believers, women who teach and baptize, and careless, shifting ordinations.
Commentary on the Song of Songs, fragment 4 (Song 1:7b)Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 202-235 · The bride is beautiful not of herself but through Christ, fairer than the sons of men, by the washing of regeneration.
Commentary on the Song of Songs, fragment 10 (Song 2:140)Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 202-235 · The bride is to show herself boldly with the seal of Christ on her forehead, and to confess him with a sweet voice.
Commentary on the Song of Songs, Armenian fragment (Song 1:5-5:1)Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 202-235 · A long running commentary on Song 1:5–4:16 preserved in Armenian: the black and beautiful bride is humanity renewed by Christ, the watchmen are angels, the breasts are knowledge and sight, and the spices are the manifold good deeds of the righteous.
Commentary on Daniel 1.4-10Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 202-204 · Fragments on Daniel 1 and on Susanna: the order of the book, Hezekiah's sign, the youths' fidelity, Susanna's family, and Susanna and the elders as types of the church and its persecutors.
Commentary on Daniel 4.59Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 202-204 · On Daniel 12:8–13: the things after the resurrection are sealed until the end; the chosen, the whitened and the tried by fire are those found worthy, cleansed by baptism and the Spirit, and proved through trials.
The Passion of Perpetua and Felicity 2Anonymous · 203 · Perpetua, arrested as a catechumen, resists her father, is baptized and imprisoned, and in a vision climbs a ladder to heaven past a dragon.
Antidote for the Scorpion's Sting 6Tertullian · ca. 211–213 · Martyrdom is a contest like the athletic games, in which God tests and crowns his people, and a second baptism, in blood, that restores those who have fallen after baptism.
Antidote for the Scorpion's Sting 12Tertullian · ca. 211–213 · The apostles, who knew Christ's meaning best, taught martyrdom: Peter bids Christians rejoice in suffering, John says perfect love casts out fear, and the Apocalypse promises its rewards to victors who shed their blood, while the fearful go to the lake of fire.
Against Marcion 1.14Tertullian · 207/208 (third edition, completed later) · Even tiny creatures show the Creator's skill; Marcion's own Christ loved the Creator's man and uses the Creator's water, oil, milk, honey, and bread in his sacraments, and the Marcionites themselves live on the Creator's world.
Against Marcion 1.28Tertullian · 207/208 (third edition, completed later) · Marcion's god hands sinners over to the Creator's fire, and his baptism makes no sense: he forgives sins he never charged, frees from a death he never imposed, and washes flesh he will not save.
Against Marcion 1.29Tertullian · 207/208 (third edition, completed later) · Marcion baptized only the celibate and those who divorced, condemning marriage; Tertullian answers that marriage is good, blessed by the Creator, and that celibacy is better only as a free choice, while abolishing marriage would destroy both holiness and the human race.
Against Marcion 3.12Tertullian · 207/208 (third edition, completed later) · Christ fulfills the name Emmanuel in its meaning, “God with us,” which is what Christians, even Marcionites, confess him to be.
Against Marcion 4.9Tertullian · 207/208 (third edition, completed later) · The call of fishermen fulfills Jeremiah; Christ's cleansing of the leper and his command to show himself to the priest confirm the law, as Elisha's cure of Naaman prefigured.
Against Marcion 4.11Tertullian · 207/208 (third edition, completed later) · The call of Levi, the question of fasting, Christ as bridegroom, and the sayings on new wine and patches all show Christ fulfilling the Creator's law and prophets, not separating from a foreign god.
Against Marcion 5.10Tertullian · 207/208 (third edition, completed later) · Paul's arguments against those who denied the resurrection, his analogies of seed and body, the first and last Adam, and the change of the flesh at the end all assume the resurrection of the body, which Marcion denies.
On the Soul 35Tertullian · ca. 210 · Carpocrates used transmigration to excuse every sin, twisting Christ's parable of the adversary; nor does John the Baptist's being “Elijah” mean reincarnation, since he came only in Elijah's spirit and power.
On the Soul 39Tertullian · ca. 210 · Pagan birth rites hand children over to demons from birth; the children of believers are called holy, but only baptism by water and the Spirit makes one truly holy.
On the Soul 41Tertullian · ca. 210 · The soul's inherited corruption overshadows but cannot extinguish the good God gave it; in the new birth of baptism it recovers its light and is wedded to the Holy Spirit.
On the Soul 50Tertullian · ca. 210 · Death is the debt of nature for all; Menander's claim that his baptism exempts from death is refuted, for even Enoch and Elijah will die, and the apostle John died.
On Fasting 8Tertullian · ca. 210–220 · In the New Testament Anna, Christ's forty-day fast, his teaching on fasting and on casting out demons, Cornelius, and Paul all commend fasting.
On Modesty 6Tertullian · ca. 210–220 · Old Testament examples of pardon do not apply, since Christ has fulfilled and sharpened the law; flesh renewed in baptism is the body and temple of Christ, and only a precedent from the new era would count.
On Modesty 9Tertullian · ca. 210–220 · Parables must not be forced; the prodigal son is the heathen converted in baptism, not a Christian restored after grave sin, for that reading would make every apostasy pardonable.
On Modesty 10Tertullian · ca. 210–220 · Repentance belongs above all to the heathen; Tertullian rejects the idea of a second repentance for adulterers and the Shepherd of Hermas, which teaches it, in favor of John's call to amended life.
On Modesty 16Tertullian · ca. 210–220 · Paul's teaching on the body as Christ's temple, on marriage as a concession against sexual immorality, and on divorce and continence shows he could never pardon adultery or incest after baptism.
On Modesty 17Tertullian · ca. 210–220 · Paul's letters to the Thessalonians, Galatians, Romans, Ephesians, and Colossians all forbid sexual immorality after baptism, so one doubtful passage cannot outweigh them.
On Modesty 18Tertullian · ca. 210–220 · Old Testament and apostolic texts forbid communion with the sexually immoral without any time limit; God's mercy to the repentant applies to those before baptism, while after baptism only lighter sins can be pardoned by the bishop and graver ones by God alone.
On Modesty 19Tertullian · ca. 210–220 · Neither Revelation's call to Jezebel nor 1 John's promises of cleansing grant pardon for adultery after baptism; John distinguishes daily sins, forgiven through Christ, from deadly sins such as murder, idolatry, apostasy, adultery, and sexual immorality.
On Modesty 20Tertullian · ca. 210–220 · Hebrews, which Tertullian ascribes to Barnabas, denies a second repentance, and the laws of the leper, the leprous house, and the betrothed slave woman prefigure that relapse after baptism cannot be cleansed.
On Modesty 21Tertullian · ca. 210–220 · Forgiving grave sins belongs to God's power, not to church discipline; Christ's word to Peter was personal to him, and the church that forgives is the church of the Spirit acting through spiritual men, not the bishops.
On Modesty 22Tertullian · ca. 210–220 · Tertullian denies that confessors or martyrs can forgive adultery for others, since martyrdom washes only one's own sins, and protests that adulterers are readmitted more easily than those who denied Christ under torture.
On the Resurrection of the Flesh 8Tertullian · ca. 208–212 · In the Christian life the flesh is washed, anointed, signed, receives the laying on of hands and the body and blood of Christ, fasts, keeps chastity, and suffers martyrdom, so it shares in salvation.
On the Resurrection of the Flesh 23Tertullian · ca. 208–212 · Paul speaks of a spiritual rising with Christ in baptism, but he and John and Peter place the real resurrection in the future, at Christ's appearing.
On the Resurrection of the Flesh 47Tertullian · ca. 208–212 · The old man crucified with Christ is sinful conduct, not the body; Paul promises the members of the body sanctification and eternal life, and baptism in the flesh points to its resurrection.
On the Resurrection of the Flesh 48Tertullian · ca. 208–212 · Before turning to “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom,” Tertullian shows that 1 Corinthians 15 models our resurrection on Christ's bodily resurrection and assumes that bodies will rise.
Against Praxeas 26Tertullian · ca. 213 or later · The other Gospels confirm that Christ is the Son: the angel announces the Spirit and power of the Most High coming upon Mary, and Jesus throughout speaks of the Father as another, ending with baptism into three names, by triple immersion.
On the Crown 3Tertullian · 211 · Many church practices rest on tradition and custom rather than written Scripture: the baptismal renunciation, triple immersion, milk and honey, the dawn Eucharist, offerings for the dead, not kneeling on Sundays and at Eastertide, and the sign of the cross.
On the Crown 13Tertullian · 211 · Every occasion for crowns, civic offices, public festivals, pagan weddings, manumission, and the games, belongs to the world and to idolatry, which Christians renounced at baptism; their citizenship, freedom, and honours are in Christ.
On First Principles 1.3.2Origen · ca. 220–230 (Rufinus's translation 398) · Scripture teaches the Spirit's existence and dignity: he is named with the Father and the Son in baptism, and blasphemy against him is unforgivable.
On First Principles 1.3.7Origen · ca. 220–230 (Rufinus's translation 398) · The Holy Spirit is given to the saints alone, yet this does not make him greater than the Father and the Son; the one power of the Trinity works in the different gifts.
Eclogae on Exodus-Judges, column 809Origen · ca. 220-254 · Notes on Deuteronomy 20–24: the fearful man; the rebellious son; mixed sowing and yoking read of the soul; sowing by every water as baptism; Moab's exclusion; the two millstones as the two covenants.
Fragments on Genesis, column 99Origen · ca. 220-254 · Short catena notes: the trees of paradise are not perceptible; Eden means “delight”; Gihon and Cush; paradise is the church, and death follows sin naturally, not as God's contrivance.
Fragments on Luke, column 327Origen · ca. 220-254 · John's call to prepare the way levels the proud and fills the humble, and his answer to the crowds leads them from the law's shadow to love, its fulfilment.
Fragments on Luke, column 333Origen · ca. 220-254 · The sick were brought to Jesus at sunset because of the Sabbath, and the leper's cleansing in the law pictures putting off dead works and receiving baptism.
Fragments on Proverbs, column 221Origen · ca. 220-254 · Be ready to give an account of your hope; the boundaries of the faith, above all of the Trinity, must not be moved; Scripture must be read spiritually, for the sense of the letter flies away from those who cling to it.
PG 12:1301 (Ps 30–31 LXX)Origen · ca. 220-254 · End of Ps 30 LXX (31):10–24 (lots, deceitful lips, the soul as a walled city breached in David’s sin) and beginning of Ps 31 LXX (32): sins forgiven in baptism and covered by repentance.
PG 12:1451 (Ps 50 LXX)Origen · ca. 220-254 · Notes on Ps 50 LXX (51):1–12: God’s mercy on a weak nature, baptism surpassing the cleansings of the law, “against you only,” and the pure heart that God alone creates.
PG 12:1541 (Ps 81–86 LXX)Origen · ca. 220-254 · Notes on Psalms 82–87 (LXX 81–86): the demons plotting against the soul, baptism and repentance, and the meeting of mercy and truth.
PG 12:1571 (Ps 114–115 LXX)Origen · ca. 220-254 · Notes on Psalm 116:5–12 (LXX 114–115): mercy joined with righteousness, baptism and repentance as the soul's rest, faith as rational assent, and the liar paradox of "Every man is a liar."
PG 12:1573 (Ps 115 LXX)Origen · ca. 220-254 · Notes on Psalm 116:12–19 (LXX 115): what to render to the Lord, the cup of salvation, and the martyr's death as God's breaking of the bonds of sin and of the body.
PG 12:1645 (Ps 132–133 LXX)Origen · ca. 220-254 · Notes on Psalm 133 (LXX 132) and Psalm 134 (LXX 133): the ointment as the Holy Spirit, Hermon and the tradition of the rebel angels, baptism as dew, and hands lifted in prayer.
Refutation of All Heresies 5.7.19Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · They claim Paul's words hide their mystery, and that their baptism brings unfading pleasure.
Refutation of All Heresies 5.7.40Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · They distinguish mortal fleshly birth from immortal spiritual birth of water and spirit.
Refutation of All Heresies 5.27.2Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · The initiate swears secrecy, enters to the Good one, and drinks living water as a ritual washing.
Refutation of All Heresies 6.41.2Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · Marcus's followers promise a second rite after baptism, called redemption,
Refutation of All Heresies 6.41.3Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · They use the promise of a second forgiveness, and further promises, to keep their followers bound to them.
Refutation of All Heresies 6.42.1Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · Irenaeus exposed these rites, which some deny; Hippolytus has inquired carefully into their two washings.
Refutation of All Heresies 6.47.2Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · The dove at Jesus' baptism is “omega and alpha,” since the letters of “dove” add up to 801.
Refutation of All Heresies 7.33.2Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · For Cerinthus the Christ descended on Jesus at his baptism and left him before the passion.
Refutation of All Heresies 7.35.2Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · Theodotus held that Jesus, a man born of a virgin, received the Christ-Spirit at his baptism; his followers differed on whether he ever became God.
Refutation of All Heresies 8.10.7Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · At his baptism Jesus received a copy of his body in the water, so that at the cross his soul, stripping off the flesh, would not be found naked.
Refutation of All Heresies 8.10.8Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · The Docetae read John 3:5–6 as the water-body of baptism, and Jesus' thirty years as the thirty Aeons.
Refutation of All Heresies 9.12.26Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · Under Callistus a second baptism was introduced, and his community, which admitted all to communion, took the name Callistians.
Refutation of All Heresies 9.13.4Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · The book proclaimed a new forgiveness of sins through a further baptism, dated to Trajan's third year (about AD 100), which Hippolytus links to Callistus's laxity.
Refutation of All Heresies 9.15.1Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · The book of Elchasai offers a second baptism for forgiveness to anyone guilty of sexual sins, once they hear the book.
Refutation of All Heresies 9.15.2Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · The baptized must call seven witnesses, heaven, water, holy spirits, angels of prayer, oil, salt, and earth; Hippolytus mocks these “mysteries.”
Refutation of All Heresies 9.15.3Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · The book calls adulterers and false prophets to a second baptism in their clothes.
Refutation of All Heresies 9.15.4Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · For a rabid dog's bite the book prescribes immediate immersion in a river or spring, fully clothed.
Refutation of All Heresies 9.15.5Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · The bitten person prays and invokes the seven witnesses.
Refutation of All Heresies 9.15.6Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · He vows before the seven witnesses to avoid sin and is baptized in his clothes.
Refutation of All Heresies 9.16.1Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · The book prescribes repeated cold baths for the sick and possessed, and teaches that some stars are evil.
Refutation of All Heresies 9.16.2Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · The book warns against beginning work or baptizing on days ruled by evil stars.
Refutation of All Heresies 10.21.3Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · The Christ descended on Jesus at baptism and left him at the passion.
Refutation of All Heresies 10.23.2Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · Theodotus held that the Christ descended at baptism and that Christ is not God.
Refutation of All Heresies 10.29.3Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · The Elchasaites use incantations, baptisms invoking the elements, astrology, and magic.
Refutation of All Heresies 10.34.5Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · Hippolytus closes: Christ, the God over all, washes away sin and renews humanity; whoever obeys and imitates him will be made like him, a god by grace for his glory.
Fragment 33 on John 3:3Origen · ca. 226-254 · On John 3:3–4: ‘from above’ also means ‘again’; the birth from above comes through virtue and the commandments; Nicodemus's words held an unwitting truth, that one must put off the old man and become like a child by disposition.
Fragment 34 on John 3:5Origen · ca. 226-254 · On John 3:5: to be born of water and Spirit is to be born from above; the water may be the Spirit itself, or cleansing teaching, but the body too is sanctified by the washing of regeneration, water made holy by invocation and joined to teaching and the Trinity; and ‘kingdom of God’ and ‘kingdom of heaven’ name the same reality.
Fragment 74 on John 10:39Origen · ca. 226-254 · On John 10:39–40: anagogically, the word of Christianity escapes those who try to seize and refute it; Jesus withdraws to the Jordan, ‘descent,’ where the better baptism, in Spirit and fire, is given.
Commentary on John 1.182Origen · ca. 230–248 · Christ is the resurrection for the baptized now, and more fully for those who wholly put off death.
Commentary on John 1.239Origen · ca. 230–248 · John perhaps did not know that Jesus would baptize with the Spirit until he saw the Spirit descend on him.
Commentary on John 2.84Origen · ca. 230–248 · At Jesus' baptism the Spirit descended like a dove and remained on him, as it had not remained on others.
Commentary on John 2.195Origen · ca. 230–248 · John, the voice, came first, pointed out Christ, and baptized him, as a voice presents a word.
Commentary on John 6.52Origen · ca. 230–248 · The Pharisees' messengers questioned John rudely, to stop him baptizing.
Commentary on John 6.119Origen · ca. 230–248 · The Jerusalem authorities accepted John's answer in silence.
Commentary on John 6.120Origen · ca. 230–248 · The Pharisees, “separated ones,” questioned John hostilely, and later came to his baptism and were rebuked.
Commentary on John 6.121Origen · ca. 230–248 · John rebuked the Pharisees' pride in Abraham and taught that God can make stony hearts into Abraham's children.
Commentary on John 6.122Origen · ca. 230–248 · Those who come to baptism without repentance are fruitless trees that the living Word will cut down.
Commentary on John 6.123Origen · ca. 230–248 · The Pharisees' self-praise, as in Luke's parable, showed they came to baptism as hypocrites full of venom.
Commentary on John 6.124Origen · ca. 230–248 · The Pharisees' bitter question shows their venom; in fact Christ himself did not baptize, but his disciples did.
Commentary on John 6.125Origen · ca. 230–248 · Elijah did not himself pour the water on the altar, nor does Christ baptize with water; he baptizes with the Spirit and fire.
Commentary on John 6.126Origen · ca. 230–248 · Heracleon wrongly accepts the Pharisees' view that every prophet baptizes, though he rightly sees their malice.
Commentary on John 6.132Origen · ca. 230–248 · The Pharisees' question in John came before their coming to baptism in Matthew.
Commentary on John 6.133Origen · ca. 230–248 · In Matthew only the Pharisees and Sadducees were rebuked; Mark mentions no rebuke at all.
Commentary on John 6.134Origen · ca. 230–248 · The Pharisees and Sadducees were rebuked because, unlike the crowds, they did not confess their sins.
Commentary on John 6.136Origen · ca. 230–248 · Luke, like Mark, quotes Isaiah in his own narrative voice.
Commentary on John 6.146Origen · ca. 230–248 · The Pharisees questioned John and then came for baptism, where they were rebuked for hypocrisy.
Commentary on John 6.148Origen · ca. 230–248 · The Jerusalem Jews, who accepted John's answer, probably came for baptism before the Pharisees.
Commentary on John 6.149Origen · ca. 230–248 · The multitudes confessed their sins at baptism, but those rebuked are not said to have confessed.
Commentary on John 6.150Origen · ca. 230–248 · If all Jerusalem was baptized, why did Jesus say they called John possessed and did not believe him?
Commentary on John 6.151Origen · ca. 230–248 · The Pharisees came to baptism out of fear of the crowd, not faith.
Commentary on John 6.152Origen · ca. 230–248 · The Pharisees hid their unbelief for fear of the crowd; the next lemma is John 1:26–27.
Commentary on John 6.154Origen · ca. 230–248 · John answered precisely: his baptism is bodily, while Christ is invisibly present everywhere.
Commentary on John 6.158Origen · ca. 230–248 · Origen will compare the Gospels' accounts of “I baptize with water.”
Commentary on John 6.159Origen · ca. 230–248 · Matthew's version agrees with John's account of the baptism in water.
Commentary on John 6.160Origen · ca. 230–248 · Mark presents John's words as proclaimed to all.
Commentary on John 6.161Origen · ca. 230–248 · Luke gives John's words as an answer to the people's wondering whether he was the Christ.
Commentary on John 6.162Origen · ca. 230–248 · In Matthew, John's water baptism prepares for Christ's spiritual baptism with the Holy Spirit and purifying fire.
Commentary on John 6.165Origen · ca. 230–248 · Only Matthew adds “for repentance,” showing that baptism benefits only those who truly repent.
Commentary on John 6.166Origen · ca. 230–248 · Baptism, like Christ's healings, is both a symbol of cleansing and, through the invocation of the Trinity, a real source of divine gifts.
Commentary on John 6.167Origen · ca. 230–248 · Acts shows the Spirit visibly coming on the baptized, so that Simon the magician tried to buy this grace with money.
Commentary on John 6.168Origen · ca. 230–248 · John's baptism was inferior to Jesus' baptism, since those baptized by John were baptized again by Paul in Acts.
Commentary on John 6.169Origen · ca. 230–248 · The washing of new birth belongs to Jesus' baptism, with renewal by the Spirit, though not all who receive the water receive the Spirit.
Commentary on John 6.206Origen · ca. 230–248 · Bethabara means “house of preparation,” a fitting name for where John prepared the Lord's way.
Commentary on John 6.220Origen · ca. 230–248 · The Jordan is the incarnate Word; the humanity he assumed was washed and received the Spirit permanently, so that he can baptize others with the Spirit.
Commentary on John 6.221Origen · ca. 230–248 · John baptized beyond the Jordan as forerunner of the one who came to call sinners, since baptism is for forgiveness of sins.
Commentary on John 6.222Origen · ca. 230–248 · Someone may object that John distinguishes his water baptism from Christ's baptism with the Spirit.
Commentary on John 6.223Origen · ca. 230–248 · As the Word is water, wine, or blood as drink, so he is baptism of water, Spirit, fire, and for some of blood.
Commentary on John 6.224Origen · ca. 230–248 · Christ's last baptism is his death; John writes that Spirit, water, and blood agree; Christ is the way for some and the door for others.
Commentary on John 6.225Origen · ca. 230–248 · Beginners in the faith are baptized by John's preparatory baptism so that they may later receive the spiritual Word.
Commentary on John 6.227Origen · ca. 230–248 · Paul interprets the Red Sea crossing spiritually, as a baptism into Moses.
Commentary on John 6.228Origen · ca. 230–248 · So also the Jordan crossing under Joshua should be read as a baptism into Jesus.
Commentary on John 6.229Origen · ca. 230–248 · Joshua prefigures Jesus; the Red Sea baptism into Moses was bitter, marked by fear and complaint.
Commentary on John 6.230Origen · ca. 230–248 · Baptism into Jesus in the sweet Jordan is superior, led by the ark and priests, with purification beforehand.
Commentary on John 6.232Origen · ca. 230–248 · God exalted Joshua at the Jordan; so in baptism into Jesus we know the living God is among us.
Commentary on John 6.233Origen · ca. 230–248 · After crossing the Jordan, Israel camped at Gilgal, prepared the Passover lamb, and was circumcised; so baptism into Jesus removes the reproach of Egypt.
Commentary on John 6.238Origen · ca. 230–248 · Elijah crossed the Jordan before being taken up, as if baptized, since Paul calls a miraculous crossing of water a baptism.
Commentary on John 6.239Origen · ca. 230–248 · Elisha received a double portion of Elijah's spirit, perhaps because he crossed the Jordan twice.
Commentary on John 6.242Origen · ca. 230–248 · Naaman's cleansing and the rivers of Israel's enemies help interpret the Jordan.
Commentary on John 6.243Origen · ca. 230–248 · Naaman was sent to wash in the Jordan and was angry, not seeing that the Jordan, not the prophet, heals.
Commentary on John 6.245Origen · ca. 230–248 · Naaman preferred the rivers of Damascus, but as only God is good, only the Jordan cleanses those who wash in faith into Jesus.
Commentary on John 6.250Origen · ca. 230–248 · Washing in this river removes Egypt's reproach, cleanses, doubles grace, and prepares for the Spirit.
Commentary on John 6.251Origen · ca. 230–248 · Understood spiritually, the Jordan gives the benefit we need; the next verse says John sees Jesus coming.
Commentary on John 6.260Origen · ca. 230–248 · Matthew says Jesus came from Galilee to be baptized.
Commentary on John 6.261Origen · ca. 230–248 · Mark names Nazareth; Luke omits the place.
Commentary on John 6.262Origen · ca. 230–248 · Luke alone adds that Jesus was praying when heaven opened and the Spirit came down.
Commentary on John 6.263Origen · ca. 230–248 · Only Matthew records John's protest and Jesus' reply; the next verse is “Behold the Lamb of God.”
Commentary on John 6.290Origen · ca. 230–248 · After bearing the world's sin, Christ needed to wash his robe, perhaps a baptism greater than any known to us.
Commentary on John 6.291Origen · ca. 230–248 · If his death were his greatest baptism, why would he forbid Mary to touch him afterward?
Commentary on John 10.12Origen · ca. 230–248 · John's Gospel then tells of Nicodemus, Jesus baptizing in Judea while John still baptized at Aenon, and John's disciples' question.
Commentary on John 10.34Origen · ca. 230–248 · In John, Jesus baptizes through his disciples; in the other Gospels he does not baptize.
Commentary on John 10.231Origen · ca. 230–248 · Believers are also buried with Christ.
Commentary on John 10.298Origen · ca. 230–248 · Literally, after the resurrection the disciples understood Jesus' saying about the temple and truly believed.
Commentary on John 13.254Origen · ca. 230–248 · After speaking with Nicodemus, Jesus baptized in Judea for an unstated time after Passover.
Commentary on John 13.438Origen · ca. 230–248 · At his first coming Christ gladdens the baptized; through him Scripture, once water, has become wine.
Commentary on John 20.140Origen · ca. 230–248 · God becomes one's Father when one keeps the commandments and is reborn.
Commentary on John 20.226Origen · ca. 230–248 · The murderer rules this earthly world of the dead; but by grace we were buried and raised with Christ.
Commentary on John 20.340Origen · ca. 230–248 · We too, reborn in baptism as God's sons, can say “I honor my Father.”
Commentary on John 32.12Origen · ca. 230–248 · Already bathed, they needed only their feet washed.
Commentary on John 32.14Origen · ca. 230–248 · True disciples need only their feet washed.
Commentary on John 32.75Origen · ca. 230–248 · Those washed by Jesus and baptized can receive the Holy Spirit and power from on high.
Commentary on John 32.79Origen · ca. 230–248 · How much more beauty comes to those whom Jesus baptizes wholly in the Spirit and fire.
Homily on Luke 14Origen · ca. 233–250 · Christ’s circumcision and presentation were for our sake; “their purification” leads Origen to distinguish the “defilement” of bodily birth from sin, to explain the baptism of infants by it, and to speak of Mary’s womb as opened only at Christ’s birth.
Homily on Luke 21Origen · ca. 233–250 · Luke dates John’s call by Roman and Jewish rulers because the Gospel was for the nations and for Israel; the desert is the soul without peace, and the way to be prepared for the Lord is the spacious human heart.
Homily on Luke 22Origen · ca. 233–250 · The filling of valleys and levelling of mountains is fulfilled when Christ comes into the soul; John’s warning to the “brood of vipers” is addressed to catechumens; and the stones from which God raises children to Abraham are the Gentiles, once hardened by idolatry.
Homily on Luke 23Origen · ca. 233–250 · The axe at the root signifies the cutting off of unbelieving Israel; the two tunics are the old and new man; and the tax collectors point to the powers who will examine souls after death, while angels too are present in the church and are taught by its preaching.
Homily on Luke 24Origen · ca. 233–250 · Christ’s baptism with the Spirit is invisible, and his baptism with fire is a purifying river after death, given only to those who have kept their baptism of water and the Spirit.
Homily on Luke 26Origen · ca. 233–250 · Christ is spirit to those who turn to him and fire to sinners; his winnowing wind is temptation, which does not make but reveals chaff and wheat, so the foundations must be laid before persecution comes.
Homily on Luke 27Origen · ca. 233–250 · John preached more than is written and showed prophetic freedom in rebuking Herod; at Christ’s baptism heaven was opened for the remission of the world’s sins, and the Spirit in the form of a dove is the gentle, soaring Spirit given to believers.
Homily on Luke 28Origen · ca. 233–250 · Matthew’s descending genealogy, with its sinful ancestors and women, shows Christ taking on sinners’ condition, while Luke’s ascending genealogy follows his baptism; Christ at thirty, like Joseph, gathers the wheat of the Scriptures for the hungry.
Homily on Luke 33Origen · ca. 233–250 · Nazareth, which rejected Jesus, stands for the Jews and Capernaum for the Gentiles; the widow of Zarephath and Naaman the Syrian prefigure the Gentile church and its cleansing in baptism.
Exhortation to Martyrdom 17Origen · 235 · At their instruction and baptism believers chose to serve the Lord and renounced Satan; to deny now is to break a covenant with God himself.
Exhortation to Martyrdom 30Origen · 235 · Since baptism cannot be repeated, martyrdom is a second baptism; the souls of martyrs at the heavenly altar minister forgiveness to those who pray, as priests offering themselves.
Exhortation to Martyrdom 39Origen · 235 · Christians hated by the world should endure to the end, not love the passing world, and see that they may have been spared for a martyr's baptism in their own blood.
Homily on Isaiah 5Origen · ca. 235–250 · Origen calls Christ the living righteousness of Isa 41:2, then returns to Isaiah's vision, urging his hearers to let the “Uzziah” of sin die within them, as the reign of Pharaoh had to end before Israel could cry to God.
Homilies on Exodus 2.4Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · Moses, hidden by his Levite parents and rescued by Pharaoh's daughter, figures the law received by the Church of the Gentiles, which understands it spiritually while the Synagogue keeps only the letter.
Homilies on Exodus 5.1Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · Paul's reading of the crossing of the sea, the cloud, the manna, and the rock as baptism, the Spirit, spiritual food, and Christ gives the Church a rule for understanding the law spiritually.
Homilies on Exodus 5.2Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · The stages of the exodus, Ramesses, Succoth, and Etham, mark the soul's leaving worldly treasure, living as a pilgrim in tents, and receiving in baptism the mystery of the third day.
Homilies on Exodus 5.5Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · The parting of the sea, divided, by an old tradition, into a path for each tribe, figures baptism, in which the believer escapes the pursuing powers, and also the victory of one who disputes with the rod of the law.
Homilies on Exodus 6.7Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · The Lord leads in righteousness the people he freed through the washing of regeneration, and comforts it with the hope of rest.
Homilies on Exodus 8.4Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · Serving and worshipping differ and both are forbidden; at baptism we renounce all other gods, and a soul that returns to Christ, its lawful husband, must keep wholly faithful lest the unclean spirit return.
Homilies on Ezekiel 1.6Origen · ca. 238–250 (Jerome's translation in the 380s) · The heavens, closed until Christ, were opened at his baptism so that the Spirit might descend first on him and then come to us.
Homilies on Ezekiel 6.5Origen · ca. 238–250 (Jerome's translation in the 380s) · Not all who are baptized are washed for salvation, as Simon Magus shows; catechumens must prepare so that their baptism brings salvation.
Homilies on Ezekiel 6.7Origen · ca. 238–250 (Jerome's translation in the 380s) · Those who sin after baptism are like Jerusalem cast out on the field on the day of her birth, yet God in mercy comes to them again.
Homilies on Ezekiel 6.9Origen · ca. 238–250 (Jerome's translation in the 380s) · God washes the soul’s blood away, anoints it, and clothes it in the many-colored tunic of knowledge and virtue, with the shoes of the gospel of peace.
Homilies on Ezekiel 7.4Origen · ca. 238–250 (Jerome's translation in the 380s) · The oil, incense, and bread set before idols are prayer, baptismal teaching, and the Scriptures, misused by heretics such as Marcion, Valentinus, and Basilides.
Homilies on Joshua 4.1Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · Creation serves the righteous, and the exodus and the crossing of the Jordan are fulfilled in the convert, who crosses the Red Sea as a catechumen and the Jordan in baptism.
Homilies on Joshua 4.2Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · Jesus is exalted first at the Jordan, as he is for each believer at baptism; the waters that turned salt and those that stayed sweet signify the baptized who fall and those who persevere, and the priests must give light to the people.
Homilies on Joshua 5.1Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · The people’s haste to cross the Jordan teaches the baptized to hasten through all the Beatitudes and then to guard carefully the virtues they have gained.
Homilies on Joshua 5.3Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · Christ, always exalted with the Father, is exalted in the believer’s sight when his divinity is revealed at baptism.
Homilies on Joshua 5.6Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · Baptism, the second circumcision, removes the reproach of Egypt, but sin after baptism, especially sexual immorality and the superstitions of astrology and omens, brings back a heavier reproach.
Homilies on Joshua 9.4Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · Joshua could not literally have written all Deuteronomy on the altar stones; Christ writes the law of the Gospel in a believer’s heart at baptism, before the angels, the true “Israel” who see God.
Homilies on Joshua 9.9Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · Jesus reads the law to those with inner ears; the “men, women, infants, and proselytes” of the assembly are the perfect, the weaker, the newly baptized, and the catechumens, and Scripture distinguishes “man” and “woman” by the soul, not by sex.
Homilies on Joshua 15.5Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · Jesus took all the enemy kings because Christ, the Wisdom of God, overcomes every kind of sin, which baptism washes away; God lets the hostile powers come out so that they may be destroyed, and there are countless spirits of each vice under their princes and one chief prince over all.
Homilies on Joshua 15.7Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · Only Christ truly took the whole land, drawing believers from all nations, and only in him does the land rest from war, when the baptized soul is at peace and rests under the vine and fig tree.
Homilies on Joshua 26.2Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · The stone knives are the word of God, which circumcises vices after baptism and is laid up in souls given wisdom and knowledge; its stone, not iron, shows it comes from Christ, not from rhetoric; the dismissal of the two and a half tribes figures the fathers’ final reward when the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.
Homilies on Judges 7.2Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · Seeds sown in the spirit cannot be spoiled, but sin and denial in persecution destroy what was gathered; the baptism of blood in martyrdom surpasses that of water.
Homilies on Judges 9.2Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · Gideon's test at the water figures baptism, after which Christ's soldiers must stand firm; the three hundred bear the number of the Trinity and fight with the torches of good works and the trumpet of preaching.
Homilies on Leviticus 1.4Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · Flaying and dividing the calf signify removing the veil of the letter and distributing teaching suited to beginners, the progressing, and the perfect; the washing of entrails and feet signifies baptism.
Homilies on Leviticus 2.4Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · Against the fear that Christians have only one forgiveness (baptism), Origen lists seven remissions of sins in the Gospel (baptism, martyrdom, almsgiving, forgiving others, converting a sinner, love, and penance) and matches them to the Levitical sacrifices.
Homilies on Leviticus 6.2Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · Moses, that is, the law, first washes and then clothes the priest; so those seeking baptism must first be purified by the law, and the priestly garments of incorruption replace Adam's tunics of skin.
Homilies on Leviticus 6.5Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · The mitre and golden plate bearing God's name signify that the knowledge of God crowns all knowledge; whoever is washed, anointed, kept in baptismal grace, chaste, and adorned with works and wisdom is a high priest before God.
Homilies on Leviticus 7.4Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · Paul's calling the law's food and drink 'spiritual' and 'a shadow', and Peter's vision at Joppa, interpreted by him as meaning that no human being is common or unclean, show that the clean and unclean animals signify people.
Homilies on Leviticus 8.3Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · Origen sees a hidden mystery in the impurity of childbirth: the saints never celebrated birthdays, Jeremiah and Job cursed theirs, David was conceived in iniquity, and the church baptizes infants for the remission of sins; the circumcision that matters is of the spirit.
Homilies on Leviticus 8.10Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · The leper's unsewn garments and bare head signify open confession of sin, his covered mouth the loss of authority to teach; the rite of the two birds, cedar, scarlet, hyssop, water, and blood signifies purification through Christ's cross and the water and blood from his side, also in penance.
Homilies on Numbers 3.1Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · Like the manna, the word of God nourishes some and condemns others, and neither baptism nor the catechumenate guarantees possession of the Holy Spirit.
Homilies on Numbers 5.1Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · As the priests covered the holy things before the Kohathites carried them, the church's teachers hand on mysteries whose meaning most believers practice without understanding, such as kneeling, praying toward the east, the Eucharist, and the rites of baptism.
Homilies on Numbers 12.4Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · Israel's request to pass through Sihon's land figures the baptismal renunciation of the devil, and victory over him comes by keeping Christ's commandments.
Homilies on Numbers 22.4Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · Moses, not daring to choose his own successor, teaches church leaders never to hand on office by kinship or popular favour but to leave the choice to God; spiritually, Moses’ death is the end of the letter of the law, and Jesus leads the second people into the inheritance and gives the soul rest from inner warfare.
Homilies on Numbers 26.4Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · The exodus figures both conversion leading to baptism and the soul’s passage after death; the firstborn tribes who settled east of the Jordan because of their cattle signify the former people, which received its inheritance through Moses and not, through Jesus, in the land of promise of faith in Christ.
Homilies on Psalms 36-38 9.5Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · The devil, the “foolish” accuser, will reproach those whose sins are still written in them with his pen, reminding them that they renounced him in baptism; so we must turn from all iniquity, since Christ has blotted out the record against us.
Homilies on Jeremiah 1.16Origen · ca. 240 · God's word first uproots and demolishes sin and then builds and plants, just as “I will kill and make alive” describes conversion, not cruelty, as the heretics claim.
Homilies on Jeremiah 2.3Origen · ca. 240 · Christ baptizes the holy with the Spirit, but sinners after baptism need the purifying fire; so we should live by Scripture and become pure before we die.
Homilies on Jeremiah 16.5Origen · ca. 240 · The reading “I will repay first their sins double” (lost in the Septuagint but found in the other versions) shows that believers who sin after baptism must first receive the purifying consequences of their sins before the reward of their good works.
Homilies on Jeremiah 19.14Origen · ca. 240 · Pashhur (“Blackness of mouth”) is the false interpreter who throws Scripture's prophetic words into a dungeon; sinners, even in the church, are handed over to the “king of Babylon,” the devil, who takes away all the labors and honor of those who fall after long struggle.
Instructions 2.5Commodian · 3rd century (disputed) · Catechumens must leave their old life and avoid sin, since baptism forgives only past sins.
Instructions 2.6Commodian · 3rd century (disputed) · The baptized must not hate their brothers or go to law with them, for even martyrdom does not expiate hatred and baptism cannot be repeated.
On the Shows 4Novatian · mid-3rd cent. (disputed) · All the shows descend from idolatry and are the devil's inventions, so a baptized Christian who attends them goes back on his renunciation of the devil.
On the Trinity 10Novatian · ca. 240–250 · The heretics' Christ, who rejects the Old Testament and comes only in appearance, is a fiction; the true Christ took real flesh from Mary, died, and rose in that body as the pattern of our resurrection.
On the Trinity 29Novatian · ca. 240–250 · The rule of faith next requires belief in the Holy Spirit, promised by the prophets and given by Christ, who adorns the church with gifts, gives the new birth in baptism, sanctifies believers, and guards the church's truth.
Commentary on the Song of Songs 2.120Origen · ca. 240–245 (Rufinus's translation ca. 410) · Solomon's house, food, servants' seats, ministers, clothing, cupbearers and offerings figure the incarnation, Christ's will, bishops and presbyters, deacons, baptism, teachers and prayers.
Commentary on the Song of Songs 2.162Origen · ca. 240–245 (Rufinus's translation ca. 410) · The likenesses last 'until the king lies down', that is, until Christ's death and resurrection; then believers receive true gold, the spiritual meaning of the figures (rock, sea, cloud, manna, lamb, veil).
Commentary on the Song of Songs 2.170Origen · ca. 240–245 (Rufinus's translation ca. 410) · Myrrh, drop and cassia signify Christ's death, self-emptying and baptism; the Word bound in the heart gives his fragrance; verse 14's 'cluster of henna of Engedi' completes the bride's threefold praise to rouse the maidens.
Commentary on the Song of Songs 3.226Origen · ca. 240–245 (Rufinus's translation ca. 410) · Applied to Christ and the Church: winter is the age of plagues, wars and Israel's unbelief; spring is the Gentile Church, the pruning of sins in baptism, and the spiritual sense springing from the law.
On the Singleness of Clerics 14Anonymous · 3rd cent. (disputed) · In the church's assembly, where the Spirit rules and all are equal in Christ, men and women may rightly worship together, unlike the private cares of a shared household.
On the Singleness of Clerics 34Anonymous · 3rd cent. (disputed) · That some cohabiting clerics died as martyrs proves nothing, since martyrdom, a baptism in blood, pardons even grave sins; their conduct still dishonored the church, Christ's spotless bride.
On the Computation of Easter 22Anonymous · 243 · The author derives Christ's baptism at thirty, in the fifteenth year of Tiberius, from his numbers, and dates his own work to the fifth year of Gordian (AD 243), 215 years after the passion.
Against Celsus 1.41Origen · ca. 248 · Origen will answer Celsus point by point in Celsus's order; the Jew mocks the dove at Jesus' baptism and asks who witnessed it.
Against Celsus 1.44Origen · ca. 248 · The same Spirit that taught Moses about events before his time taught the evangelists about Jesus' baptism; the deeper meaning of the dove is left for another occasion.
Against Celsus 1.46Origen · ca. 248 · The Spirit who came on Jesus at his baptism still works among Christians in exorcisms, healings, prophecies, and sudden conversions; Isaiah foretold that the Father would send both Christ and the Spirit.
Against Celsus 1.47Origen · ca. 248 · Josephus confirms that John was a baptizer and links the fall of Jerusalem to the killing of James, the Lord's brother—more reasonably it was because of Jesus himself.
Against Celsus 1.48Origen · ca. 248 · The prophets' visions and Jesus' opened heavens are perceived by a spiritual "divine sense," not the bodily senses; and Jesus did not boast of his own baptismal vision, which John witnessed.
Against Celsus 2.69Origen · ca. 248 · Origen explains that Jesus' death and burial carry symbolic meaning for believers, who die and are buried with him in baptism, that his new rock-hewn tomb signifies his purity, and that vanishing from the cross would only have drawn other objections.
Against Celsus 3.51Origen · ca. 248 · Unlike philosophers who preach to anyone, Christians examine and instruct inquirers before admitting them, expel the immoral, readmit the penitent only after a long probation, and bar the lapsed from church office.
Against Celsus 3.59Origen · ca. 248 · Celsus mocks Christians for inviting sinners, unlike the pagan mysteries; Origen answers that the sick are first called to healing, and only those purified are then initiated into the deeper mysteries.
Against Celsus 3.60Origen · ca. 248 · Origen adapts the formulas of the mysteries: those with clean hands, wise speech, and a long-purified soul are admitted to Christianity's deeper mysteries, while the wicked are first called to healing.
Against Celsus 6.27Origen · ca. 248 · Celsus invents a rite of the Christian “seal” and says Christians call the Creator accursed; Origen rejects this as slander like the old tales of child-eating and orgies spread about Christians.
Commentary on Matthew, Latin Series 1.142Origen · ca. 244–249 (Latin translation, 4th–5th century) · The clean linen and the new rock-hewn tomb were made cleaner by Christ's body; spiritually, believers buried with Christ in baptism are his new tomb, from which they rise with him; the one great stone could not be moved by his enemies but was rolled away by the angel.
Commentary on Matthew 12.20Origen · ca. 246–248 · Jesus had to suffer in the earthly Jerusalem so as to make the firstfruits of the resurrection in the heavenly one, ending the earthly worship; his rising on the third day frees believers from a triad of evil powers, so that they may be baptized into the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the three eternal days.
Commentary on Matthew 13.27Origen · ca. 246–248 · Origen asks whether the guardian angels of the little ones take charge of them from their baptism or from their birth, and cites texts that favour birth.
Commentary on Matthew 13.28Origen · ca. 246–248 · Origen sets out views on when guardian angels take charge (from baptism, or even an angel converted along with its human charge), and answers an objection from Acts 12 about Peter's angel.
Commentary on Matthew 15.23Origen · ca. 246–248 · Baptism, the washing of regeneration, is the prelude to the final regeneration, the baptism of Spirit and fire, when the Son of Man sits on his throne, death is abolished, and the saints share his glory.
Commentary on Matthew 16.6Origen · ca. 246–248 · The cup and the baptism both signify martyrdom: a cup in the enduring of pain, a baptism in the forgiveness of sins it brings; James and John drank it, James killed by Herod and John exiled to Patmos.
Commentary on Romans 2.1Origen · ca. 244–246 (Rufinus's translation ca. 405–406) · Only God judges according to truth, because he alone sees whether mind and deed agree; and he judges truly even in forgiving the baptized, the penitent, and martyrs, because a reformed soul is no longer the soul that sinned.
Commentary on Romans 2.12Origen · ca. 244–246 (Rufinus's translation ca. 405–406) · True circumcision is the heart's cutting off of vices, but it profits only if joined to doing good, since perfection lies in good works, not merely in avoiding evil; so a baptized Christian who transgresses Christ's law has his baptism counted as uncircumcision.
Commentary on Romans 2.13Origen · ca. 244–246 (Rufinus's translation ca. 405–406) · Origen applies Rom 2:26-29 to Jewish and Gentile believers and to catechumens, argues at length from the law that circumcision bound only Abraham's descendants and slaves, gives its spiritual meaning, answers pagan and Marcionite objections, and begins Rom 3:1-4 on the Jews' advantage, the oracles of God, and 'every man a liar.'
Commentary on Romans 5.8Origen · ca. 244–246 (Rufinus's translation ca. 405–406) · Origen teaches that only one who has first died to sin is truly buried with Christ in baptism, explains baptism “from above,” why Paul names Christ alone, and the daily renewal of the new life.
Commentary on Romans 5.9Origen · ca. 244–246 (Rufinus's translation ca. 405–406) · Origen explains being “planted together” in the likeness of Christ’s death and resurrection, answers Docetists, and discusses two meanings of “the body of sin,” including infant baptism as an apostolic tradition.
Commentary on Romans 7.10Origen · ca. 244–246 (Rufinus's translation ca. 405–406) · Origen explains that the devil accuses all but cannot prevail against the elect whom God justifies and Christ defends, while warning that Christ, being the truth, will not plead for unrepented sins after baptism.
Commentary on Romans 9.39Origen · ca. 244–246 (Rufinus's translation ca. 405–406) · We take the pattern of dying to sin and of new life from Christ's death and resurrection; Christ rules all by power as Creator, but by his death he rules by persuasion those who freely die to sin and live the new life.
To Donatus 3Cyprian of Carthage · ca. 246 · Before his baptism Cyprian could not believe that a person could be reborn and leave behind ingrained habits.
To Donatus 4Cyprian of Carthage · ca. 246 · At baptism Cyprian was cleansed and reborn by the Spirit, and what had seemed impossible became possible, all by God's gift.
To Donatus 14Cyprian of Carthage · ca. 246 · True security is found only in God's free gift, which lifts a person above the world.
To Donatus 15Cyprian of Carthage · ca. 246 · Donatus should pray and read Scripture, adorning his soul, the temple of the Holy Spirit, which will last into the resurrection.
To Quirinus 1.8Cyprian of Carthage · ca. 248–250 (book 3 perhaps later) · Scripture foretold a spiritual circumcision of the heart, and the righteous before Abraham were uncircumcised, while the sign of the Lord seals women and men alike.
To Quirinus 1.12Cyprian of Carthage · ca. 248–250 (book 3 perhaps later) · The prophets foretold new waters in the desert, and John the Baptist and Jesus announced a new baptism of water and the Spirit.
To Quirinus 1.24Cyprian of Carthage · ca. 248–250 (book 3 perhaps later) · Isaiah's call to wash and be clean is read as an invitation to the Jews to receive forgiveness through Christ's baptism in the church.
To Quirinus 2.22Cyprian of Carthage · ca. 248–250 (book 3 perhaps later) · The mark on the foreheads in Ezekiel, the Passover blood, and the name on the foreheads in the Apocalypse are read as the saving sign of the cross.
To Quirinus 3.25Cyprian of Carthage · ca. 248–250 (book 3 perhaps later) · Baptism and new birth, and eating Christ's flesh and drinking his blood, are necessary for entering God's kingdom.
To Quirinus 3.26Cyprian of Carthage · ca. 248–250 (book 3 perhaps later) · Baptism and the Eucharist profit little unless they bear fruit in good works.
To Quirinus 3.27Cyprian of Carthage · ca. 248–250 (book 3 perhaps later) · Baptismal grace can be lost by one who does not keep his innocence afterwards.
To Quirinus 3.43Cyprian of Carthage · ca. 248–250 (book 3 perhaps later) · One who truly believes may be baptized at once, as the Ethiopian was.
To Quirinus 3.65Cyprian of Carthage · ca. 248–250 (book 3 perhaps later) · Baptism washes away all former sins.
To Quirinus 3.98Cyprian of Carthage · ca. 248–250 (book 3 perhaps later) · Those preparing for baptism must already stop sinning, not presume on the grace to come.
To Quirinus 3.116Cyprian of Carthage · ca. 248–250 (book 3 perhaps later) · The more sins forgiven in baptism, the greater one's love for God.
Letter 13.2Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · The confessors must persevere: what saves is not a good beginning but finishing well, as Solomon and Saul lost grace when they left God's ways.
Letter 13.5Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · Some confessors share beds with women, quarrel, and revile others; the tongue that confessed Christ must stay pure, and confession is a true renunciation of the world.
Letter 18.2Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · The other lapsed must be encouraged, and dying catechumens must not be refused God's grace.
Letter 27.3Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · The confessors' letter has already sparked riots against bishops; Lucian presumes to forgive sins in Paulus's name, though sins are remitted in the name of the Trinity and martyrs are made by the gospel, not the gospel by martyrs.
Letter 55.22Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · Scripture everywhere calls sinners to penance and promises pardon: Revelation, Tobit, the Gospel, Wisdom, Joel, and the Psalms.
Letter 57.4Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · Martyrdom is a baptism in blood, but only one armed by the church's peace and the Eucharist is fit for it; and pastors who fail their sheep will answer to God, as Ezekiel warns.
Letter 62.2Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · The captives are temples of God and wear Christ; in them Christ himself must be ransomed, and the danger to consecrated virgins adds to the urgency.
Letter 63.8Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · Where Scripture names water alone it signifies baptism, received once; the cup of the Lord, drunk continually in the church, is another thing.
Letter 63.9Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · At the Last Supper Christ gave a mixed cup and called the wine his blood; without wine the blood of Christ is not offered and the sacrifice does not correspond to his passion.
Letter 64.2Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · Against Fidus, who would wait until the eighth day as with circumcision, the council rules that newborn infants may be baptized at once, for God's grace is to be denied to no one born.
Letter 64.3Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · Elisha stretching himself over the child shows that before God infants and adults are equal; the grace of baptism and the Spirit are given equally regardless of age.
Letter 64.4Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · An infant's supposed uncleanness is no obstacle, since to the clean all things are clean; the eighth-day circumcision was a figure of the Lord's day and of spiritual circumcision, now fulfilled.
Letter 64.5Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · If even grave sinners are baptized when they believe, much more should an infant, who has no sins of his own but has contracted from Adam the contagion of the ancient death.
Letter 64.6Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · The council's sentence: no one, and least of all a newborn infant, is to be kept from baptism.
Letter 66.5Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · Cyprian ironically asks Puppianus to confirm his episcopate, since otherwise six years of baptisms, reconciliations, and deaths in the church would have been without a true bishop.
Letter 69.1Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · Answering Magnus, Cyprian holds that Novatian, like all heretics and schismatics, is outside the church and among the antichrists, so his baptism is no baptism.
Letter 69.2Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · The church is one, a sealed fountain and the one ark of Noah; no one outside it can drink of its water or be saved by its baptism.
Letter 69.3Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · Only the church can baptize; since Cornelius was the lawful bishop of Rome, Novatian, who succeeded no one, is outside the church and no bishop.
Letter 69.6Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · The schism of the ten tribes under Jeroboam, punished by God, and Christ's command to avoid Samaria show that schismatics are no better than gentiles.
Letter 69.7Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · Even if Novatian uses the same creed, his baptismal question about forgiveness “through the holy church” is a lie, since he does not have the church.
Letter 69.8Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · Korah, Dathan, and Abiram worshiped the same God yet were destroyed for usurping the priesthood; schismatics who seize the right to baptize and offer are worse.
Letter 69.10Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · Cyprian's opponents inside the church admit that heretics lack the Holy Spirit; he argues that without the Spirit they cannot baptize at all.
Letter 69.11Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · Only those who have the Holy Spirit can forgive sins; since heretics lack the Spirit, converts from them must be baptized by the church.
Letter 69.12Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · Cyprian holds that the sick who are baptized by pouring or sprinkling receive the full grace of baptism, citing Ezekiel and the purifications in Numbers.
Letter 69.13Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · Those baptized on sickbeds should not be scorned as “clinics”; like the healed paralytic they are full Christians, and to rebaptize them would be wrong.
Letter 69.14Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · The Spirit is given whole and equally to all the baptized, like the manna and the one denarius; afterwards grace grows or shrinks by one's conduct.
Letter 69.15Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · As Pharaoh was defeated at the sea, the devil, however stubborn before, is overthrown in the water of baptism.
Letter 69.16Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · Experience shows the sick-bed baptized are freed from evil spirits; it would be absurd to honor heretical baptism while doubting the church's own.
Letter 70.1Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · A council of thirty-one African bishops tells eighteen Numidian bishops that no one can be baptized outside the church, since an unclean minister cannot sanctify the water.
Letter 70.2Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · The baptismal creed and the anointing with oil consecrated at the altar both presuppose the church; heretics have neither, so their baptism is void.
Letter 70.3Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · One cannot accept heretical baptism in part: there is one baptism, one Spirit, one church founded on Peter, and whatever Christ's adversaries do is void.
Letter 71.1Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · Writing to Quintus in Mauretania, Cyprian insists that converts from heresy are not rebaptized but baptized for the first time, since outside the church there is no baptism.
Letter 71.2Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · Returning lapsed members baptized in the church are received by the laying on of hands in penance; those first baptized by heretics must be baptized.
Letter 71.3Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · Custom must yield to reason: Peter, though first, accepted Paul's correction, and bishops too should embrace better counsel.
Letter 71.4Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · Cyprian cites the earlier council under Agrippinus of Carthage, which decided the same, and sends a copy of the council's letter.
Letter 72.1Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · The council informs Stephen of Rome that converts from heresy must be baptized, not merely receive the laying on of hands, as Peter baptized Cornelius's household after the Spirit fell.
Letter 73.1Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · Cyprian tells Jubaianus that a council of seventy-one bishops has again decided that converts from heresy are to be baptized, not rebaptized.
Letter 73.2Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · That Novatian's followers rebaptize Catholics is no reason for the church to give up baptizing converts; he merely apes the church.
Letter 73.3Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · Rebaptism of converts has been the African practice since the council under Agrippinus, and thousands of converts have gladly accepted it.
Letter 73.4Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · Answering a letter that accepted even Marcionite baptism, Cyprian argues that one baptism requires one faith, which the heretics do not share.
Letter 73.5Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · Marcion does not confess the Trinity, the Creator, or Christ's true incarnation and bodily resurrection, so his baptism, given in a false faith, conveys nothing true.
Letter 73.6Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · Jeremiah's “lying water” describes heretical baptism; if it forgave sins it would also give the Spirit, which even opponents deny.
Letter 73.7Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · The power to forgive sins was given to Peter and the apostles, so only the church's bishops can baptize and forgive; outside there is no one to bind or loose.
Letter 73.8Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · Korah's rebellion and the strange fire of Aaron's sons show God punishing those who usurp sacred functions, as heretics usurp baptism.
Letter 73.9Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · The Samaritans in Acts received only the laying on of hands because Philip had already baptized them within the church; the same is done for the church's own baptized.
Letter 73.10Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · Like a loyal soldier and like zealous Phinehas, the church must guard its baptism; it is a walled paradise watered by the four gospels, and those outside cannot give its water.
Letter 73.11Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · Christ's living water flows only in the church founded on Peter, which alone holds the keys; heretics outside it cannot give her baptism.
Letter 73.12Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · If heretical baptism sanctified, the baptized would be a temple of God; but a heretic who denies the Creator or Christ's divinity cannot be the temple of the one God, Father, Son, and Spirit.
Letter 73.13Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · Custom cannot outweigh revealed truth; ignorance may be pardoned but persistence after correction may not, and the apostles never accepted heretical baptism.
Letter 73.14Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · Paul's “whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed” concerns quarreling brothers within the church, not heretics baptizing outside it.
Letter 73.15Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · The apostles everywhere condemn heretics as a spreading cancer, as darkness and the spirit of antichrist; such people cannot confer grace.
Letter 73.16Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · Using the name of Christ is not enough, for Christ warned that many would come in his name to deceive.
Letter 73.17Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · Baptism “in the name of Jesus Christ” in Acts was for Jews who already knew the Father; saving knowledge requires both Father and Son, which heretics who blaspheme the Creator lack.
Letter 73.18Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · Christ commanded baptism in the name of the whole Trinity; one who blasphemes the Father cannot receive from the Son a forgiveness the Father has not given.
Letter 73.19Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · Even earthly sons avenge insults to their fathers; Christ, who commands honor to parents, cannot forgive in baptism those who go on blaspheming his Father.
Letter 73.20Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · It is perverse to tell converts from heresy, who themselves confess their sin, that they already have forgiveness.
Letter 73.21Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · Not even martyrdom avails a heretic outside the church, for there is no salvation outside it; much less does heretical baptism, so converts must be born of water and Spirit in the church.
Letter 73.22Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · A catechumen martyred before baptism is not lost: he holds the true faith and is baptized in his own blood, like the penitent thief.
Letter 73.23Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · Those formerly admitted without baptism may be left to God's mercy, but past error is no reason to continue it.
Letter 73.24Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · Requiring baptism does not deter heretics but draws them, since they learn that grace is only in the church; Paul himself baptized those who had John's baptism.
Letter 73.25Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · If John's disciples were baptized again, much more heretics'; to accept heretical baptism because it came first is to surrender the church's right, as Esau lost his birthright.
Letter 74.1Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · Cyprian sends Pompeius a copy of Stephen of Rome's reply, which forbade rebaptism and required only the laying on of hands in penance.
Letter 74.2Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · Stephen's appeal to “tradition” has no basis in the gospel or the apostles, who condemned heretics; true tradition is what Scripture commands.
Letter 74.3Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · Putting human tradition before God's commands provokes God's anger, as Isaiah, Christ, and Paul warn.
Letter 74.4Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · Cyprian mocks Stephen's appeal to heretics' own practice; since church, Spirit, and baptism are one and inseparable, baptism cannot exist among heretics.
Letter 74.5Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · If the name of Christ made heretical baptism valid, it would also give the Spirit; since the Spirit is not there, neither is baptism.
Letter 74.6Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · Only the church, Christ's bride, can bear children to God in the washing of regeneration; heresy, not being his bride, cannot.
Letter 74.7Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · New birth happens in baptism, then the Spirit is received, as Adam was formed before being given breath; no one can have God as Father who does not have the church as mother.
Letter 74.8Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · Cyprian asks whether a bishop who honors blasphemers' baptism and excludes faithful bishops gives honor to God, and warns that such advocacy makes heresies flourish.
Letter 74.11Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · Tradition teaches one God, one faith, one church, one baptism; the sealed garden and Noah's one ark show there is no saving baptism outside the church.
Letter 74.12Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · Converts from heresy are baptized; those baptized in the church who lapsed into heresy are received back after penance by the laying on of hands.
Letter 75.5Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · The apostles could not have handed down acceptance of heretical baptism, since Marcion, Apelles, Valentinus, and Basilides arose long after them.
Letter 75.6Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · Rome itself differs from Jerusalem on Easter and other rites without breaking communion; Stephen alone has broken the peace, and his “tradition” is merely human.
Letter 75.7Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · Heretics agree among themselves because all blaspheme the Creator; even the Montanists, who claim new prophecy, lack the Spirit, and a council at Iconium rejected heretical baptism.
Letter 75.8Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · Since Paul baptized John's disciples again before laying hands on them, converts from heresy must surely be baptized.
Letter 75.9Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · The bare invocation of the Trinity does not make baptism valid when the minister lacks the Spirit; a heretic deceives with baptism as a false prophet does with Christ's name.
Letter 75.10Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · Firmilian tells of a woman in Cappadocia about twenty-two years earlier who, possessed by a demon, posed as a prophetess, deceived clergy, celebrated the Eucharist, and baptized with the correct words.
Letter 75.11Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · If correct words sufficed, the demon-possessed woman's baptisms would be valid, which is absurd; heretics' baptisms are equally the work of deceit.
Letter 75.12Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · If heretical baptism clothed one with Christ, it would also give the Spirit, making the laying on of hands pointless.
Letter 75.13Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · Heretical baptism is either merely a fleshly bath or spiritual; since heretics lack the Spirit, it is only a bath.
Letter 75.14Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · Christ has one bride, the church, who alone bears sons to God; heresy is an adulteress whose exposed children the church cannot simply adopt.
Letter 75.15Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · The church is the sealed garden and Noah's ark; those outside cannot give its water and will perish unless they come to its one baptism.
Letter 75.16Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · The power to forgive sins was given to Peter and the apostles and passed to the bishops who succeed them; rival bishops are like Korah's band and share its fate.
Letter 75.17Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · Firmilian charges that Stephen, who claims Peter's succession, in effect founds many churches on other rocks by recognizing heretical baptism, and so might as well share their altar.
Letter 75.18Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · If Christ's name validated heretical baptism, it would validate their laying on of hands and everything else; it avails only in the church.
Letter 75.19Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · Custom cannot outweigh truth; the Cappadocian churches have always rejected baptism outside the church, as the council of Iconium confirmed even for the Montanists.
Letter 75.20Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · Paul's words about Christ preached “in pretense or in truth” concern brothers, not heretics.
Letter 75.21Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · Those already admitted without baptism who have died are like catechumens who died before baptism; the living should be baptized, lest they receive the Eucharist unworthily.
Letter 75.22Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · Even baptism by lapsed former bishops who set up their own ordinations is rejected; Stephen absurdly holds that the sinful can give forgiveness.
Letter 75.23Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · Addressing Stephen directly, Firmilian says that by accepting heretical baptism he withholds forgiveness from converts and will answer for their souls.
Letter 75.25Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · Firmilian mocks Stephen's “gentleness” in refusing even hospitality to the African envoys, argues that one baptism requires one God, faith, and church, and reports that Stephen called Cyprian a false apostle.
On the Dress of Virgins 2Cyprian of Carthage · ca. 249 · Our bodies, cleansed in baptism, are God's temples; having been healed, we must sin no more, and this applies to everyone of every age and sex.
On the Dress of Virgins 7Cyprian of Carthage · ca. 249 · True riches are spiritual; Christians renounced the world's pomps in baptism and must imitate Christ, doing God's will rather than loving the world.
On the Dress of Virgins 23Cyprian of Carthage · ca. 249 · God first commanded increase, then counseled continence; virgins, freely choosing it, live out the new birth of baptism more fully and bear the image of the heavenly man.
On the Lord's Prayer 9Cyprian of Carthage · ca. 252 · The reborn believer calls God 'Father' because by faith he has become God's son, and he has only one Father in heaven.
On the Lord's Prayer 12Cyprian of Carthage · ca. 252 · 'Hallowed be your name' asks that we, sanctified in baptism, may stay holy.
On the Lord's Prayer 17Cyprian of Carthage · ca. 252 · 'On earth as in heaven' can also mean praying that unbelievers too may be reborn and become heavenly.
Letter 2Anonymous · uncertain · A spurious letter rebukes Cyprian for teaching that those baptized by heretics must be rebaptized, and urges him to withdraw his writings.
On Rebaptism 1Anonymous · ca. 250–258 (disputed) · The anonymous writer states the question whether converts baptized by heretics in Christ's name need only the bishop's laying on of hands or must be baptized again, and defends the ancient custom against the innovators.
On Rebaptism 2Anonymous · ca. 250–258 (disputed) · Starting from John the Baptist's promise that Christ would baptize in the Holy Spirit, the writer distinguishes baptism in the Spirit alone, in Spirit and water, and in the Spirit through one's own blood.
On Rebaptism 3Anonymous · ca. 250–258 (disputed) · The writer grants that water and Spirit belong together in the church's normal practice, but points out that in the New Testament they are sometimes given separately, as with the Samaritans and the apostles.
On Rebaptism 4Anonymous · ca. 250–258 (disputed) · Many are baptized and die without the bishop's laying on of hands, like the Ethiopian eunuch, yet are counted complete believers; so the laying on of hands can likewise complete a baptism given in Christ's name outside the church.
On Rebaptism 5Anonymous · ca. 250–258 (disputed) · If only the full rite saved, bishops could never reach every dying believer; and Cornelius's household received the Spirit and forgiveness before water baptism, which then added the invocation of Jesus' name.
On Rebaptism 6Anonymous · ca. 250–258 (disputed) · The apostles, baptized yet later failing, received forgiveness through the Spirit at Pentecost; so a baptism in Jesus' name received in error is completed, not repeated, when the convert receives the Spirit through the bishop's hand.
On Rebaptism 7Anonymous · ca. 250–258 (disputed) · The command to baptize in the name of the Trinity stands, but the invocation of Jesus' name has power even among outsiders and is a beginning that can later be completed.
On Rebaptism 9Anonymous · ca. 250–258 (disputed) · The disciples expected a Messiah who would not die, and Peter, Cleopas, and the rest wavered and disbelieved, yet they had been baptized and were even baptizing others.
On Rebaptism 10Anonymous · ca. 250–258 (disputed) · Baptisms given by unworthy or unskilled bishops are not repeated; baptism given outside the church is completed by the bishop's laying on of hands for the Spirit, since there is one baptism and the invocation of Jesus' name cannot be undone.
On Rebaptism 11Anonymous · ca. 250–258 (disputed) · A catechumen martyred before baptism is saved by confessing Christ, but a heretic who dies confessing only the name of Christ while believing in another Christ is not.
On Rebaptism 12Anonymous · ca. 250–258 (disputed) · The invocation of Jesus' name calls those who bear it to seek the Lord; heretics baptized in that name need only the Spirit, but those who follow another Christ are lost, while anyone who confesses the true Christ under persecution is saved whatever his former state.
On Rebaptism 14Anonymous · ca. 250–258 (disputed) · Baptism in water and baptism in one's own blood are two kinds of the one baptism, both flowing from Christ's pierced side, and either can suffice; but two baptisms of water would break the rule of one baptism.
On Rebaptism 15Anonymous · ca. 250–258 (disputed) · From 1 John's three witnesses, the outpouring of the Spirit, and the Spirit's free action in the Old Testament, the writer concludes that the Spirit may precede, accompany, or follow water baptism, so a baptism in Jesus' name is to be completed, not repeated.
On Rebaptism 16Anonymous · ca. 250–258 (disputed) · Heretics descended from Simon Magus claim a perfect baptism in which fire appears on the water, a trick or magic; believers who accept it lose what they had.
On Rebaptism 17Anonymous · ca. 250–258 (disputed) · The heretics' forged Preaching of Paul has Christ confess sin, go reluctantly to John's baptism, and see fire on the water; but the fire of which John spoke is the Holy Spirit, as at Pentecost.
On Rebaptism 18Anonymous · ca. 250–258 (disputed) · The Spirit, now invisible, was seen at Christ's baptism and at Pentecost; the Gospels show that faith cleanses the heart, the Spirit washes the soul, water the body, and martyrdom reaches salvation soonest.
On Rebaptism 19Anonymous · ca. 250–258 (disputed) · The writer sums up his argument from John the Baptist, 1 John, and the Lord's words, and commends the ancient custom to God-fearing and humble people.
On the Lapsed 8Cyprian of Carthage · 251 · Many rushed to sacrifice voluntarily, without waiting to be arrested or questioned, and so destroyed their own salvation at the idols' altars.
On the Lapsed 9Cyprian of Carthage · 251 · Some lapsed Christians drew others into sacrificing, even their baptized infants, who will accuse their parents at the judgment.
On the Lapsed 24Cyprian of Carthage · 251 · Cyprian tells of a man struck dumb after denying Christ and a woman who, possessed after sacrificing, bit her own tongue and died.
On the Unity of the Catholic Church 11Cyprian of Carthage · 251 · Like the false prophets and broken cisterns in Jeremiah, schismatics offer a baptism that does not cleanse but defiles.
Against Novatian 3Anonymous · after 251 (disputed) · The dove sent out three times from the ark first figures the Spirit and the church's baptism in the name of the Trinity.
To Demetrian 22Cyprian of Carthage · 252–253 · The day of judgment is coming, when only those reborn and marked with Christ's sign will escape, as Ezekiel's sign on the forehead and the Passover blood foreshadowed.
To Demetrian 26Cyprian of Carthage · 252–253 · Christ grants this grace by his cross and blood, reconciling us to God; all should follow him and share his joy and immortality.
On Mortality 14Cyprian of Carthage · 252–253 · Cyprian describes the plague's symptoms, which test faith; only those not reborn in baptism and facing the second death have reason to fear dying.
On Works and Almsgiving 2Cyprian of Carthage · ca. 253 · Sins committed after baptism can be cleansed by almsgiving, as Scripture teaches and as Christ said: “Give alms, and all things are clean for you.”
On Jealousy and Envy 11Cyprian of Carthage · ca. 256 · Envy returns a Christian to the devil and makes him like Cain, a murderer walking in darkness, whereas following Christ means imitating what he taught and did.
On Jealousy and Envy 14Cyprian of Carthage · ca. 256 · Those who died and rose with Christ in baptism must put to death the works of the flesh and bear the heavenly likeness of Christ.
To Fortunatus 0.4Cyprian of Carthage · 253 or 257 · Cyprian will let God's own words speak, and he teaches that martyrdom is a second baptism, of blood, greater than the baptism of water.
On the Good of Patience 12Cyprian of Carthage · 256 · Life begins with tears and is full of labor; Christians, facing temptations and persecutions, need patience even more than others.
Opinions of the Bishops 0Cyprian of Carthage · 1 September 256 · At the council of Carthage in 256 Cyprian asks each bishop to give his opinion on baptizing heretics, insisting that no bishop may judge or coerce another.
Opinions of the Bishops 1Cyprian of Carthage · 1 September 256 · Caecilius of Biltha holds that there is one baptism, in the church alone, and that heretics, who have neither true faith nor hope, cannot give it.
Opinions of the Bishops 2Cyprian of Carthage · 1 September 256 · Primus of Misgirpa holds that since God, faith, and church are one, the one baptism exists only in the church.
Opinions of the Bishops 3Cyprian of Carthage · 1 September 256 · Polycarp of Hadrumetum says that to approve heretical baptism empties the church's own.
Opinions of the Bishops 4Cyprian of Carthage · 1 September 256 · Novatus of Thamugadi has baptized converts from heresy and schism, and received their clergy as laymen, following the Scriptures and an earlier council.
Opinions of the Bishops 5Cyprian of Carthage · 1 September 256 · Nemesianus of Thubunae argues from many Scriptures that heretics must be born again of water and the Spirit in the one catholic church, since both sacraments, and not the laying on of hands alone, are needed.
Opinions of the Bishops 6Cyprian of Carthage · 1 September 256 · Januarius of Lambaesis decrees on the authority of Scripture that all heretics be baptized.
Opinions of the Bishops 7Cyprian of Carthage · 1 September 256 · Lucius of Castra Galbae argues that heretics, as salt that has lost its savor, lack the full baptismal confession and must be cleansed and baptized.
Opinions of the Bishops 8Cyprian of Carthage · 1 September 256 · Crescens of Cirta judges that heretics must be exorcized and baptized, while lapsed members who had been baptized in the church are reconciled by the laying on of hands.
Opinions of the Bishops 9Cyprian of Carthage · 1 September 256 · Nicomedes of Segermes holds that heretics must be baptized because no remission of sins is found outside the church.
Opinions of the Bishops 10Cyprian of Carthage · 1 September 256 · Monnulus of Girba argues that since baptism is in the name of the Trinity and heretics have neither Father, Son, nor Spirit, they must be baptized in the church.
Opinions of the Bishops 11Cyprian of Carthage · 1 September 256 · Secundinus of Cedias argues that heretics, being antichrists and Christ's enemies, cannot give saving baptism.
Opinions of the Bishops 12Cyprian of Carthage · 1 September 256 · Felix of Bagai says that a heretic baptizing a heretic is the blind leading the blind into death.
Opinions of the Bishops 13Cyprian of Carthage · 1 September 256 · Pollianus of Milevis votes to baptize heretics in the church.
Opinions of the Bishops 14Cyprian of Carthage · 1 September 256 · Theogenes of Hippo Regius affirms the one baptism of the church.
Opinions of the Bishops 15Cyprian of Carthage · 1 September 256 · Dativus of Vada will not hold communion with a heretic until he is baptized in the church.
Opinions of the Bishops 16Cyprian of Carthage · 1 September 256 · Successus argues that heretics, who cannot give the Spirit because they lack it, cannot baptize either.
Opinions of the Bishops 17Cyprian of Carthage · 1 September 256 · Fortunatus of Thuccabori holds that Christ built the church on Peter and gave the power to baptize to bishops, not heretics.
Opinions of the Bishops 18Cyprian of Carthage · 1 September 256 · Sedatus of Thuburbo teaches that water sanctified in the church washes away sins, while heretical water heaps them up.
Opinions of the Bishops 19Cyprian of Carthage · 1 September 256 · Privatianus of Sufetula asks how heresy, which is not from God, could have or give God's grace.
Opinions of the Bishops 20Cyprian of Carthage · 1 September 256 · Privatus of Sufes says approving heretical baptism means communion with heretics.
Opinions of the Bishops 21Cyprian of Carthage · 1 September 256 · Hortensianus of Lares claims the one baptism for the church alone, since Christ's adversaries cannot baptize in his name.
Opinions of the Bishops 22Cyprian of Carthage · 1 September 256 · Cassius of Macomades holds that heretics must be baptized, while former church members who lapsed into heresy are restored by the laying on of hands.
Opinions of the Bishops 23Cyprian of Carthage · 1 September 256 · Januarius of Vicus Caesaris says that truth cannot consent to error, and so the church baptizes all it has not already baptized.
Opinions of the Bishops 24Cyprian of Carthage · 1 September 256 · Secundinus of Carpi argues that heretics, not being Christians, must become Christians by baptism and not merely by the laying on of hands.
Opinions of the Bishops 25Cyprian of Carthage · 1 September 256 · Victoricus of Thabraca asks why heretics should be called heretics if they can give remission of sins.
Opinions of the Bishops 26Cyprian of Carthage · 1 September 256 · Felix of Uthina asks all the bishops to confirm that heretics coming to the church must be baptized.
Opinions of the Bishops 27Cyprian of Carthage · 1 September 256 · Quietus of Buruc applies the saying about washing after touching the dead to baptism by heretics.
Opinions of the Bishops 28Cyprian of Carthage · 1 September 256 · Castus of Sicca says that preferring custom to truth is envy toward the brothers or ingratitude toward God.
Opinions of the Bishops 29Cyprian of Carthage · 1 September 256 · Eucratius of Thenae holds that heretical baptism, which blasphemes the Trinity, must be rejected and heretics baptized in the church.
Opinions of the Bishops 30Cyprian of Carthage · 1 September 256 · Libosus of Vaga says that Christ called himself the truth, not custom, so custom must yield to truth.
Opinions of the Bishops 31Cyprian of Carthage · 1 September 256 · Leucius of Theveste judges that heretics who twist the Scriptures must be exorcized and baptized.
Opinions of the Bishops 32Cyprian of Carthage · 1 September 256 · Eugenius of Ammaedara votes to baptize heretics.
Opinions of the Bishops 33Cyprian of Carthage · 1 September 256 · Felix of Bamaccora holds that the church's fountain belongs to it alone, so that neither heretics nor schismatics can give or receive baptism.
Opinions of the Bishops 34Cyprian of Carthage · 1 September 256 · Januarius of Muzula argues that one baptism cannot belong both to the church and to heresy.
Opinions of the Bishops 35Cyprian of Carthage · 1 September 256 · Adelphius of Thasvalte denies that the church rebaptizes heretics: it baptizes them for the first time.
Opinions of the Bishops 36Cyprian of Carthage · 1 September 256 · Demetrius of Leptis Minor says that those who accept heretical baptism make as many baptisms as there are heresies.
Opinions of the Bishops 37Cyprian of Carthage · 1 September 256 · Vincentius of Thibaris holds that converts from heresy must first be exorcized with the laying on of hands and then baptized.
Opinions of the Bishops 38Cyprian of Carthage · 1 September 256 · Marcus of Mactaris is surprised that some Catholics side with heretics against Christians.
Opinions of the Bishops 39Cyprian of Carthage · 1 September 256 · Sattius of Sicilibba argues that if heretical baptism forgave sins, heretics would have no need of the church.
Opinions of the Bishops 40Cyprian of Carthage · 1 September 256 · Victor of Gorduba says that admitting heretics without baptism fails to cleanse them and defiles Christians.
Opinions of the Bishops 41Cyprian of Carthage · 1 September 256 · Aurelius of Utica argues from Paul that communion with unbaptized heretics shares in their sins.
Opinions of the Bishops 42Cyprian of Carthage · 1 September 256 · Iambus of Germaniciana says that approving heretical baptism means disapproving the church's own.
Opinions of the Bishops 43Cyprian of Carthage · 1 September 256 · Lucianus of Rucuma argues that as God divided light from darkness, the church can have nothing in common with heretics.
Opinions of the Bishops 44Cyprian of Carthage · 1 September 256 · Pelagianus of Luperciana argues from Elijah's challenge that heresy is not the church and cannot have its baptism.
Opinions of the Bishops 45Cyprian of Carthage · 1 September 256 · Iader of Midili votes to admit no heretic without the church's baptism.
Opinions of the Bishops 46Cyprian of Carthage · 1 September 256 · Felix of Marazana says the one baptism belongs to the catholic church alone.
Opinions of the Bishops 47Cyprian of Carthage · 1 September 256 · Paul of Obba argues from Romans that where God is not, as among heretics, true baptism cannot be.
Opinions of the Bishops 48Cyprian of Carthage · 1 September 256 · Pomponius of Dionysiana says that heretics lack the power to bind and loose, and so cannot forgive sins in baptism.
Opinions of the Bishops 49Cyprian of Carthage · 1 September 256 · Venantius of Thinisa compares the bishops to a friend entrusted with a traveling husband's wife: sharing baptism with heretics betrays Christ's bride.
Opinions of the Bishops 50Cyprian of Carthage · 1 September 256 · Ahymmus of Ausuaga says that allowing heretics to baptize makes two baptisms.
Opinions of the Bishops 51Cyprian of Carthage · 1 September 256 · Saturninus of Victoriana asks why Christ and John would call heretics adversaries and antichrists if they could baptize.
Opinions of the Bishops 52Cyprian of Carthage · 1 September 256 · Saturninus of Thucca says that even pagans confess the Creator whom Marcion blasphemes, yet some approve Marcion's baptism.
Opinions of the Bishops 53Cyprian of Carthage · 1 September 256 · Marcellus of Zama says that not baptizing a heretic means communion with a sinner.
Opinions of the Bishops 54Cyprian of Carthage · 1 September 256 · Irenaeus of Ululi says that accepting heretical baptism makes heresy greater than the church.
Opinions of the Bishops 55Cyprian of Carthage · 1 September 256 · Donatus of Cibaliana says that whoever claims baptism among heretics must first prove the church is there.
Opinions of the Bishops 56Cyprian of Carthage · 1 September 256 · Zosimus of Tharassa urges that error yield to truth, as Peter yielded to Paul.
Opinions of the Bishops 57Cyprian of Carthage · 1 September 256 · Julian of Telepte says heresy can give baptism only if it comes from heaven.
Opinions of the Bishops 58Cyprian of Carthage · 1 September 256 · Faustus of Timida Regia says that defending heretical baptism makes heretics Christians and the church heretical.
Opinions of the Bishops 59Cyprian of Carthage · 1 September 256 · Geminius of Furni holds to the earlier decree to baptize heretics.
Opinions of the Bishops 60Cyprian of Carthage · 1 September 256 · Rogatianus of Nova asks how the synagogue of Satan could have Christ's baptism.
Opinions of the Bishops 61Cyprian of Carthage · 1 September 256 · Therapius of Bulla calls anyone who concedes baptism to heretics a Judas to Christ's bride.
Opinions of the Bishops 62Cyprian of Carthage · 1 September 256 · Lucius of Membressa argues that God does not hear a sinner, and so not a heretic who baptizes.
Opinions of the Bishops 63Cyprian of Carthage · 1 September 256 · Felix of Buslacenae says reason and truth must prevail over custom.
Opinions of the Bishops 64Cyprian of Carthage · 1 September 256 · Saturninus of Avitinae says heretics, being antichrists, cannot give Christ's grace.
Opinions of the Bishops 65Cyprian of Carthage · 1 September 256 · Quintus of Aggya says heretics, having nothing, can give nothing.
Opinions of the Bishops 66Cyprian of Carthage · 1 September 256 · Julian of Marcelliana compares baptism to the servant who cannot serve two masters.
Opinions of the Bishops 67Cyprian of Carthage · 1 September 256 · Tenax of Horrea Caeliae asks how baptism can exist where God, Christ, and the church are absent.
Opinions of the Bishops 68Cyprian of Carthage · 1 September 256 · Victor of Assuras says that where there is no church there can be no baptism.
Opinions of the Bishops 69Cyprian of Carthage · 1 September 256 · Donatulus of Capsa has always held that converted heretics must be baptized.
Opinions of the Bishops 70Cyprian of Carthage · 1 September 256 · Verulus of Rusicade says heretics cannot give what they lack, and schismatics have lost what they had.
Opinions of the Bishops 71Cyprian of Carthage · 1 September 256 · Pudentianus of Cuicul, a new bishop, follows his elders in judging that heretics must be baptized.
Opinions of the Bishops 72Cyprian of Carthage · 1 September 256 · Peter of Hippo Diarrhytus judges that those baptized in heresy or schism must be baptized in the church.
Opinions of the Bishops 73Cyprian of Carthage · 1 September 256 · Lucius of Ausafa holds that whatever heretics have done must be annulled and their converts baptized.
Opinions of the Bishops 74Cyprian of Carthage · 1 September 256 · Felix of Gurgites judges that those unlawfully baptized by heretics must receive baptism where it is lawfully given.
Opinions of the Bishops 75Cyprian of Carthage · 1 September 256 · Pusillus of Lamasba says saving baptism exists only in the catholic church.
Opinions of the Bishops 76Cyprian of Carthage · 1 September 256 · Salvianus of Gazaufala says heretics come to the church to receive what they lack.
Opinions of the Bishops 77Cyprian of Carthage · 1 September 256 · Honoratus of Thucca says that because Christ is the truth, truth must be followed rather than custom.
Opinions of the Bishops 78Cyprian of Carthage · 1 September 256 · Victor of Octavu, a new bishop, votes with his seniors to baptize heretics.
Opinions of the Bishops 79Cyprian of Carthage · 1 September 256 · Clarus of Mascula argues that the bishops succeed to the apostles' power to baptize, which heretics do not have.
Opinions of the Bishops 80Cyprian of Carthage · 1 September 256 · Secundianus of Thambeae warns that heretics admitted without baptism would blame the bishops at the judgment.
Opinions of the Bishops 81Cyprian of Carthage · 1 September 256 · Aurelius of Chullabi argues from 2 John that heretics, who may not even be greeted, cannot be admitted to communion without baptism.
Opinions of the Bishops 82Cyprian of Carthage · 1 September 256 · Litteus of Gemellae says that heretics, as blind guides, cannot give the enlightenment of baptism.
Opinions of the Bishops 83Cyprian of Carthage · 1 September 256 · Natalis of Oea votes for himself and for the absent bishops of Sabratha and Leptis Magna that heretics must be baptized.
Opinions of the Bishops 86Cyprian of Carthage · 1 September 256 · Junius of Neapolis holds to the earlier decision to baptize heretics.
Opinions of the Bishops 87Cyprian of Carthage · 1 September 256 · Cyprian, voting last, refers to his letter to Jubaianus: heretics must receive the church's one baptism, becoming friends and Christians instead of adversaries and antichrists.
Acts of Fructuosus, Augurius and Eulogius 2Anonymous · 259 (21 January) · After a baptism in prison, the governor Aemilianus interrogates the bishop and his deacons, who confess one God, and sentences them to be burned alive.
Passion of Marian and James 11Anonymous · 259 · James foresees the martyrs' banquet; Marian, James, and the clergy are beheaded by the river.
Passion of Montanus and Lucius 2Anonymous · 259 · The arrest of the martyrs at Carthage; two catechumens die baptized.
Symposium 3.8Methodius of Olympus · late 3rd century · Christ is the new Adam: from his side, in the trance of his passion, God forms the church, his bride, who through baptism and teaching bears new children to virtue.
Symposium 3.9Methodius of Olympus · late 3rd century · Paul, born again through Ananias's baptism, became in turn a mother in labour with believers; so Adam and Eve figure Christ and the church.
Symposium 8.6Methodius of Olympus · late 3rd century · The moon under the church's feet is the faith of the baptized; like a mother she gives new birth in baptism, and the newly baptized shine with new light each Pascha.
Symposium 8.7Methodius of Olympus · late 3rd century · The male child of Revelation is not Christ, already born long before, but the redeemed whom the church bears in baptism, as Isaiah's Zion bears a male.
Symposium 8.8Methodius of Olympus · late 3rd century · The church bears a “male” in that Christ is formed in each baptized believer, who thus becomes a “christ,” an anointed one, by the Spirit.
Symposium 8.9Methodius of Olympus · late 3rd century · “Today I have begotten you” means that the eternal Son is born in the world, and in each believer, when he becomes known; so the church always bears Christ in the baptized.
Commentary on the Apocalypse 1.7Victorinus of Pettau · late 3rd century · The seven churches addressed stand for the one catholic church, as do Paul's letters to seven churches and the seven women of Isaiah.
Commentary on the Apocalypse 4.2Victorinus of Pettau · late 3rd century · The jasper and sardius around God's throne signify the judgments by water and by fire; the sea of glass is baptism offered before the judgment.
Book 2, chapter 18Macarius Magnes · ca. 400 (disputed) · Macarius answers that John's unique report of the piercing is to be valued, since blood and water from Christ's side undo the evil that came from a side and bring cleansing.
Book 3, chapter 24Macarius Magnes · ca. 400 (disputed) · Macarius answers that the deadly drug that does not harm believers is the death to sin in baptism, and the laying of hands on the sick is the saints' prayer over sick seasons and souls, as Polycarp's prayers ended drought and flood.
Book 4, chapter 19Macarius Magnes · ca. 400 (disputed) · The pagan philosopher argues that Paul's teaching that baptism washes away every sin encourages people to sin freely in the expectation of easy pardon.
Book 4, chapter 25Macarius Magnes · ca. 400 (disputed) · Macarius answers that God, as master of the law, may forgive sinners freely as a king pardons, that baptism in the name of the Trinity truly cleanses, and that those who abuse the gift by delaying baptism harm only themselves.
Cib. 11Methodius of Olympus · late 3rd cent. (disputed) · The red heifer is Christ's flesh; its burning with cedar, hyssop, and scarlet images the Trinity, and its ashes signify his real death and burial, into which believers are baptized.
Lepr. 15Methodius of Olympus · late 3rd cent. (disputed) · The Lord's garment is the church: the warp is bishops and teachers, the woof the people, the skin the catechumens; purified souls become virgins united to Christ.
Res. 1.38Methodius of Olympus · late 3rd cent. (disputed) · The narrator argues that death was given as a remedy, the 'garments of skins' being mortality rather than bodies, so that sin might be destroyed root and all in the body's dissolution and the body raised pure, like a temple freed of a fig tree.
Apostolic Church Order 12Anonymous · ca. 300 · Honour and support the one who teaches you the word of God and gave you the seal, as the Lord himself.
Canon 4Anonymous · ca. 306 (disputed, ca. 295–314) · Flamens who are catechumens and abstain from sacrifice may be baptized after three years.
Canon 10Anonymous · ca. 306 (disputed, ca. 295–314) · A woman deserted by a catechumen husband who remarries may be baptized; a baptized woman who knowingly marries a man who left a blameless wife receives communion only at death.
Canon 11Anonymous · ca. 306 (disputed, ca. 295–314) · A woman catechumen under penance who falls gravely ill within the five years is to be baptized.
Canon 37Anonymous · ca. 306 (disputed, ca. 295–314) · The possessed are baptized or given communion at death, but must not light lamps publicly.
Canon 38Anonymous · ca. 306 (disputed, ca. 295–314) · In emergencies a layman of good standing may baptize a sick catechumen, who must later be brought to the bishop for the laying on of hands.
Canon 42Anonymous · ca. 306 (disputed, ca. 295–314) · Catechumens of good life are baptized after two years, sooner in danger of death.
Canon 45Anonymous · ca. 306 (disputed, ca. 295–314) · A long-absent catechumen known to be living as a Christian is not to be refused baptism.
Canon 48Anonymous · ca. 306 (disputed, ca. 295–314) · Candidates for baptism are no longer to give money in the basin, and their feet are not to be washed by the clergy.
Canon 68Anonymous · ca. 306 (disputed, ca. 295–314) · A catechumen who conceives in adultery and kills the child may be baptized only at death.
Canon 77Anonymous · ca. 306 (disputed, ca. 295–314) · Those baptized by a deacon in charge of a congregation are to be completed by the bishop's blessing, but if they die first they may be saved by their faith.
Canons of Hippolytus, canon 10Anonymous · 4th century · Inquirers are examined about their motives and occupation and taught to renounce the devil; a slave of a pagan master is not baptized against the master's will but, if he dies unbaptized, is counted with the faithful.
Canons of Hippolytus, canon 12Anonymous · 4th century · Actors, gladiators, diviners, beast-fighters, and idol-sacrificers must abandon these works before instruction and baptism; a schoolmaster may continue if he confesses the pagan gods to be demons and teaches the faith.
Canons of Hippolytus, canon 15Anonymous · 4th century · Those living by sexual immorality, lying, magic, usury, sedition, and similar works are not admitted to the catechumenate or baptism until three witnesses attest that they have left them; relapsed believers are expelled until they do penance.
Canons of Hippolytus, canon 19Anonymous · 4th century · The order of baptism: martyrdom as baptism in blood, examination of candidates, fasting, exorcism, vigil, renunciation of Satan, threefold confession and immersion, anointing, the bishop's prayer and kiss, and first communion with milk and honey.
Canons of Hippolytus, canon 29Anonymous · 4th century · The consecrated elements are to be guarded from falling or contamination, silence kept within the veil, psalms sung after communion, the altar dust thrown into the baptistery, and the forehead signed with the cross like the Passover blood.
Canons of Hippolytus, canon 38Anonymous · 4th century · The Easter night is kept in vigil until dawn; baptized Christians must stay watchful and fervent rather than rest on their baptism; the collection closes with a blessing and a colophon.
Church History 1.10.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · In Tiberius's fifteenth year Jesus, about thirty, was baptized by John and began to preach.
Church History 1.11.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Josephus confirms John's righteousness and says Herod lost his kingdom because of Herodias and was exiled to Vienne.
Church History 1.11.5Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Josephus (quoted): John was a good man who called the Jews to virtue and to a baptism that purified the body after the soul was cleansed by righteousness.
Church History 2.1.11Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Simon, revered as “the great power of God,” was amazed at Philip's miracles and was baptized in pretended faith.
Church History 2.1.13Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · The Ethiopian officer baptized by Philip, the first Gentile convert, is said to have taken the gospel home, fulfilling the psalm.
Church History 3.23.8Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Clement (quoted): the presbyter raised and baptized the youth, then relaxed his care, trusting the seal of baptism.
Church History 3.23.18Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Clement (quoted): the youth threw down his weapons, wept, and embraced John, “baptized again” in tears, hiding his right hand.
Church History 3.26.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Menander taught that his magic and baptism gave immortality even in this life.
Church History 4.11.5Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Irenaeus (quoted): the Marcosians perform a “bridal chamber” rite and a baptism in the name of the unknown Father, Truth, and the one who descended on Jesus.
Church History 6.4.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Heraclides, Hero, another Serenus, and the catechumen Herais, “baptized by fire,” were also martyred.
Church History 6.5.6Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Potamiaena appeared to Basilides and crowned him; he was baptized and beheaded the next day.
Church History 6.13.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Eusebius lists Clement's other works, including the Exhortation, the Instructor, and Who Is the Rich Man.
Church History 6.43.14Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Cornelius: Novatian came to faith through exorcism and was baptized by pouring on his sickbed, a doubtful baptism.
Church History 6.43.15Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Novatian never received the bishop's sealing, and so, Cornelius argues, not the Spirit.
Church History 6.43.17Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Novatian was ordained presbyter only by the bishop's special favour, over objections to his clinical baptism.
Church History 7.2.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Stephen became bishop of Rome; Dionysius wrote to him on whether converts from heresy should be rebaptized, against the old custom of laying on hands.
Church History 7.3.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Cyprian required rebaptism of converts from heresy; Stephen angrily defended the older tradition.
Church History 7.5.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Xystus II succeeded Stephen; Dionysius wrote him a second letter on baptism.
Church History 7.5.4Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Dionysius: Stephen had threatened to break communion with the eastern bishops who rebaptized heretics.
Church History 7.5.5Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Dionysius: great synods had decreed that converts from heresy be instructed and baptized; he pleaded with Stephen.
Church History 7.5.6Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Dionysius also wrote to the Roman presbyters Dionysius and Philemon about the question.
Church History 7.7.4Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Heraclas readmitted converts from heresy after public confession, without rebaptism, since they had already been baptized in the church.
Church History 7.7.5Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Dionysius: rebaptism was long decided in Asia Minor as well, and he will not overturn their ancestral decisions.
Church History 7.7.6Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · The fourth letter on baptism went to Dionysius of Rome, later its bishop.
Church History 7.8.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Dionysius condemns Novatian for schism, for making Christ unmerciful, and for rejecting the church's baptism.
Church History 7.9.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · In his fifth letter Dionysius asks Xystus's advice about a difficult case.
Church History 7.9.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · An old church member, hearing the baptismal questions, realized his heretical baptism had been nothing like the church's.
Church History 7.9.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Stricken in conscience, he asked to be baptized properly.
Church History 7.9.4Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Dionysius would not rebaptize a man who had long shared in the eucharist, and told him to take courage.
Church History 7.9.6Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Dionysius wrote further letters on baptism and one about Lucian.
Church History 10.4.34Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · The church blossoms again: the water in the desert is the saving washing of baptism, and the weak have been strengthened to walk in the knowledge of God.
Church History 10.4.45Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Paulinus paved the floor with marble and built side halls for those still preparing for baptism, fulfilling the prophecy in deed.
Church History 10.4.63Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Paulinus arranged his people like parts of the church building: the simple faithful as the wall, door-keepers at the entrances, beginners learning the Gospels, and catechumens near the inner hall.
Church History 10.4.64Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · The baptized he strengthens with the deeper teachings of Scripture and enlightens.
Acta Archelai (Latin) 59Hegemonius · early to mid 4th century (Greek original) · Manes argues that the Son needed no mother or baptism, and that if Jesus was a real man the dove must be a real dove; Archelaus answers that a spirit dwells in a true man, as Manes himself claimed of the Paraclete.
Acta Archelai (Latin) 60Hegemonius · early to mid 4th century (Greek original) · Archelaus argues that a Christ who was man only in appearance could not have been seized, have suffered, or been baptized, and that he was baptized not for his own sin but to bear the Spirit in the body born of Mary.
Homilies 1.22Anonymous · 4th century (reworking earlier material) · Peter invites Clement to the next day's debate with Simon and eats apart from him, praying that Clement will be baptized and share his table.
Homilies 3.29Anonymous · 4th century (reworking earlier material) · Zacchaeus announces that the crowd and Simon are waiting; Peter dismisses the unbaptized Clement, prays with the baptized, and goes out.
Homilies 3.73Anonymous · 4th century (reworking earlier material) · Peter prepares candidates for baptism by fasting and daily laying on of hands, and sends Clement, Aquila, and Nicetes ahead to Tyre.
Homilies 7.5Anonymous · 4th century (reworking earlier material) · The people of Tyre are baptized and repent; Peter founds a church there with a bishop and leaves for Sidon, while Simon flees to Berytus.
Homilies 7.8Anonymous · 4th century (reworking earlier material) · Peter lists the religion God requires: worship of God alone, faith in the Prophet, baptism, food and purity laws, and good works; he founds a church in Sidon.
Homilies 7.12Anonymous · 4th century (reworking earlier material) · Peter heals the people of Berytus, founds a church there, visits Byblus, and follows Simon to Tripolis.
Homilies 8.22Anonymous · 4th century (reworking earlier material) · Peter applies the parable of the wedding feast: those invited from Israel refused, and the Gentiles are called and clothed with the wedding garment of baptism.
Homilies 8.23Anonymous · 4th century (reworking earlier material) · Peter urges the crowd to be baptized, to abandon idols and sin, and warns of eternal fire, then invites the sick to stay for healing.
Homilies 9.19Anonymous · 4th century (reworking earlier material) · God is patient so that people may repent, and those washed in running water with the thrice-blessed invocation can drive out demons from themselves and others.
Homilies 9.23Anonymous · 4th century (reworking earlier material) · Peter calls his hearers to worship one God, avoid the demons' table, and be baptized for the forgiveness of sins, then heals the sick and dismisses the crowd.
Homilies 11.24Anonymous · 4th century (reworking earlier material) · Reasoning from water to Spirit to God, the hearer should recognize his origin and be born again through the first-born water of baptism.
Homilies 11.25Anonymous · 4th century (reworking earlier material) · Peter urges his hearers to come to baptism without delay, since even the most godly person has no hope if unbaptized.
Homilies 11.26Anonymous · 4th century (reworking earlier material) · Baptism in living water in the name of Father, Son and Holy Spirit replaces birth from desire with new birth to God and alone quenches the coming fire.
Homilies 11.27Anonymous · 4th century (reworking earlier material) · Both righteous and unrighteous must hasten to baptism, for forgiveness and a new life of good deeds that honors God as Father.
Homilies 11.35Anonymous · 4th century (reworking earlier material) · Clement is baptized, and Peter warns the presbyters to receive no apostle or teacher whose preaching has not been checked with James of Jerusalem.
Homilies 11.36Anonymous · 4th century (reworking earlier material) · Before leaving Tripolis for Antioch, Peter baptizes many, celebrates the eucharist, and appoints Maroones bishop with twelve presbyters, deacons, and widows.
Homilies 13.4Anonymous · 4th century (reworking earlier material) · Peter explains to Mattidia the Christian way of life, including the rule not to eat with the unbaptized, even with close family.
Homilies 13.5Anonymous · 4th century (reworking earlier material) · Mattidia asks for baptism, saying she has already left the gods and has kept her chastity in wealth and poverty, and mourns her lost sons and husband.
Homilies 13.9Anonymous · 4th century (reworking earlier material) · Mattidia asks to be baptized at once with her hostess; Peter requires at least one day's fast, shortened because of a word that showed her faith.
Homilies 13.10Anonymous · 4th century (reworking earlier material) · Peter explains that Mattidia's wish to have her benefactress baptized shows faith, and rebukes the baptized who do not urge their families to baptism.
Homilies 13.11Anonymous · 4th century (reworking earlier material) · Mattidia has already fasted two days for joy; Peter says that is not a baptismal fast, and Faustinus argues that God arranged it in advance.
Homilies 13.12Anonymous · 4th century (reworking earlier material) · Peter refuses to count the accidental fast, fasts with the brothers that day, and sets the baptism for the next day.
Homilies 13.13Anonymous · 4th century (reworking earlier material) · Peter teaches that chastity brings good outcomes and adultery destruction, and that God rewards chastity even among the unbaptized in this life, though salvation is for the baptized.
Homilies 13.20Anonymous · 4th century (reworking earlier material) · Peter consoles Mattidia that she suffered for chastity, not for adultery, and that everything she lost has turned to her salvation.
Homilies 13.21Anonymous · 4th century (reworking earlier material) · Peter teaches that chastity greatly pleases God, but that by God's decree no one, even a chaste Gentile, enters the kingdom unbaptized.
Homilies 14.1Anonymous · 4th century (reworking earlier material) · Peter baptizes Mattidia in the sea at a secluded place and afterwards breaks bread with thanksgiving and salt, sharing it first with her.
Homilies 14.8Anonymous · 4th century (reworking earlier material) · Peter reveals that he recognized the old man as the brothers' father, having confirmed the family names, and waited to tell them until after the baptismal meal.
Recognitions 1.19Anonymous · Greek original 3rd–4th century; Rufinus's Latin translation before 407 · Peter welcomes Clement into his company but has him eat apart until he is baptized.
Recognitions 1.39Anonymous · Greek original 3rd–4th century; Rufinus's Latin translation before 407 · Peter teaches that the Prophet instituted baptism in place of sacrifice, and that believers baptized in his name would be spared in the coming war.
Recognitions 1.48Anonymous · Greek original 3rd–4th century; Rufinus's Latin translation before 407 · Peter postpones Clement's question and teaches that Jesus, called Son at his baptism, ended the sacrificial fire and the old anointing by the grace of baptism.
Recognitions 1.55Anonymous · Greek original 3rd–4th century; Rufinus's Latin translation before 407 · In the temple debate the high priest praises sacrifice and attacks baptism, and Matthew replies that without the baptism of Jesus no one enters the kingdom.
Recognitions 1.63Anonymous · Greek original 3rd–4th century; Rufinus's Latin translation before 407 · Peter summarizes the apostles' testimony and urges the people to be reconciled to God through baptism with the threefold invocation and the Eucharist.
Recognitions 1.69Anonymous · Greek original 3rd–4th century; Rufinus's Latin translation before 407 · James proves from the law that Jesus is the Christ, teaches the necessity of baptism in the threefold name, and persuades the people and the high priest to seek baptism.
Recognitions 2.19Anonymous · Greek original 3rd–4th century; Rufinus's Latin translation before 407 · Peter prays with the baptized (Clement, not yet baptized, withdraws) and goes out to debate Simon before a great crowd.
Recognitions 2.71Anonymous · Greek original 3rd–4th century; Rufinus's Latin translation before 407 · Peter explains that he does not eat with the unbaptized because former idolaters harbor unclean spirits that baptism drives out.
Recognitions 2.72Anonymous · Greek original 3rd–4th century; Rufinus's Latin translation before 407 · Peter explains that Simon is wilfully possessed, and that the unbaptized can end their separation from the common table by seeking baptism.
Recognitions 3.67Anonymous · Greek original 3rd–4th century; Rufinus's Latin translation before 407 · Peter invites the people to enroll for baptism after three months of instruction and fasting, describing baptism in running water with anointing.
Recognitions 3.72Anonymous · Greek original 3rd–4th century; Rufinus's Latin translation before 407 · Peter permits those without binding duties to follow him, teaches for three months, and more than ten thousand are baptized at the festival.
Recognitions 4.17Anonymous · Greek original 3rd–4th century; Rufinus's Latin translation before 407 · Faith and purity drive demons out, and Gentiles must turn to God and pray, since demons flee in proportion to growing faith.
Recognitions 4.32Anonymous · Greek original 3rd–4th century; Rufinus's Latin translation before 407 · Peter calls the people to repentance and baptism in spring, river, or sea under the threefold name, which drives out demons and empowers believers to free others.
Recognitions 4.35Anonymous · Greek original 3rd–4th century; Rufinus's Latin translation before 407 · Peter warns the people to accept no teacher without the testimony of James in Jerusalem, and calls baptism the wedding garment to be kept unstained.
Recognitions 4.36Anonymous · Greek original 3rd–4th century; Rufinus's Latin translation before 407 · Peter lists what stains the baptismal garment—false teaching about God, sins of deed, and eating food offered to demons—and speaks of three steps of thirty, sixty, and a hundred commandments.
Recognitions 6.8Anonymous · Greek original 3rd–4th century; Rufinus's Latin translation before 407 · As all things come from the waters made through the Only-begotten, so the Father wills that people be reborn through water, and baptism is necessary even for the just.
Recognitions 6.9Anonymous · Greek original 3rd–4th century; Rufinus's Latin translation before 407 · Baptism fulfills God's command and cuts off the frailty of natural birth; its waters, over which mercy has hovered from the beginning, quench the fire to come.
Recognitions 6.10Anonymous · Greek original 3rd–4th century; Rufinus's Latin translation before 407 · The baptized must show God's likeness by avoiding sin, and keep the purity rules of the law, beginning with abstaining from intercourse during menstruation.
Recognitions 6.15Anonymous · Greek original 3rd–4th century; Rufinus's Latin translation before 407 · After three months at Tripolis Peter baptizes Clement and many others, celebrates the Eucharist, ordains Maro bishop with presbyters, deacons, and widows, and leaves for Antioch.
Recognitions 7.29Anonymous · Greek original 3rd–4th century; Rufinus's Latin translation before 407 · Peter explains to Mattidia that believers worship one God, keep his law, and do not share a table with the unbaptized, even family.
Recognitions 7.30Anonymous · Greek original 3rd–4th century; Rufinus's Latin translation before 407 · Mattidia asks to be baptized at once, saying she had already abandoned the gods and has always kept her chastity.
Recognitions 7.34Anonymous · Greek original 3rd–4th century; Rufinus's Latin translation before 407 · Mattidia begs to be baptized at once with her hostess, and Peter agrees to baptize her after a single day's fast because she has shown her faith.
Recognitions 7.35Anonymous · Greek original 3rd–4th century; Rufinus's Latin translation before 407 · Peter explains that Mattidia's wish to have her hostess baptized shows her faith, and rebukes believers who do not urge baptism on those they love.
Recognitions 7.36Anonymous · Greek original 3rd–4th century; Rufinus's Latin translation before 407 · Mattidia has already fasted for joy, but Peter says it was not a baptismal fast, while Niceta suggests God arranged it.
Recognitions 7.38Anonymous · Greek original 3rd–4th century; Rufinus's Latin translation before 407 · Mattidia is baptized in the sea and dines with her sons, and Peter teaches that chastity is rewarded and must be guarded by flight from temptation.
Recognitions 9.7Anonymous · Greek original 3rd–4th century; Rufinus's Latin translation before 407 · Providence turns social inequality into an occasion for justice and mercy under God's law, and baptism's water quenches the fire of desire through which we were first born.
Recognitions 9.10Anonymous · Greek original 3rd–4th century; Rufinus's Latin translation before 407 · Demons can only incite, not compel; sin makes a person like pitch-smeared tow that catches fire, while the water of baptism makes one fireproof.
Recognitions 9.11Anonymous · Greek original 3rd–4th century; Rufinus's Latin translation before 407 · Sinners must be baptized and then curb desire by fear of judgment; just as fear of execution kills lust, full faith in eternal fire produces fear that keeps one from sin.
Recognitions 9.12Anonymous · Greek original 3rd–4th century; Rufinus's Latin translation before 407 · Astrologers attribute to the stars what demons do, inventing “climacterics” to cover their failures, but repentance and baptism cancel the death they predict.
Recognitions 10.49Anonymous · Greek original 3rd–4th century; Rufinus's Latin translation before 407 · God did not make evil; creatures fell by disbelieving judgment, and God's patience delays punishment for the sake of conversion, offering baptism to wash away sins of ignorance.
Recognitions 10.68Anonymous · Greek original 3rd–4th century; Rufinus's Latin translation before 407 · Simon is driven out of Antioch; Peter ordains a bishop and presbyters at Laodicea, baptizes and heals many, and sets out for Antioch, where the leading citizens meet him in penance.
Recognitions 10.71Anonymous · Greek original 3rd–4th century; Rufinus's Latin translation before 407 · Within seven days more than ten thousand are baptized at Antioch, and Theophilus dedicates the great hall of his house as a church, where a chair is set up for Peter.
Recognitions 10.72Anonymous · Greek original 3rd–4th century; Rufinus's Latin translation before 407 · Faustinianus declares his faith and asks for baptism; after a public fast Peter baptizes him on the Lord's day, and the city honors him.
Poem 5 (On Easter), lines 26–52Anonymous · 4th-5th cent. (disputed) · Beneath the tree is a spring where people of every kind must wash before they may eat its fruit; those who taste it are changed, though some reject the taste.
Poem 5 (On Easter), lines 53–69Anonymous · 4th-5th cent. (disputed) · Some relapse after touching the springs, but those who receive the truth are bathed fasting on the appointed day, cleansed of their former life, and given the way to heaven through the tree of life.
Testament of Our Lord 2.6Anonymous · ca. 350–500
Testament of Our Lord 2.7Anonymous · ca. 350–500
Testament of Our Lord 2.8Anonymous · ca. 350–500
Divine Institutes 3.26.9Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · One washing, baptism, abolishes all wickedness.
Divine Institutes 4.15.2Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Christ was baptized by John, not for his own sins, but to save the gentiles by baptism.
Divine Institutes 4.15.3Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · At his baptism the heavenly voice and the dove came upon him.
Divine Institutes 7.5.22Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Baptism begins the immortal life.
Martyrdom of Dasius 3Anonymous · 303–304 · The author condemns Christians who keep the pagan New Year masquerades.
Appendix of Ten Documents on the Donatist Controversy 4Anonymous · documents of 303–330 · The bishops of the council of Arles (314) report to Silvester of Rome the condemnation of Caecilian's accusers and summarize their canons: one date for Easter, clergy to stay where ordained, the excommunication of soldiers who desert in peacetime, of charioteers and actors, rules for Christian officials, and the reception of those baptized by heretics in the Trinity by laying on of hands alone.
Acts of Crispina 1Anonymous · 304 (5 December) · Crispina of Thagara, brought before the proconsul Anulinus at Theveste, refuses again and again to sacrifice to the gods, confessing the one God and Christ, and is threatened with shaving and death.
2Anonymous · 304 (1 April) · The women are arrested; their names (snow, peace, love) are explained from Scripture.
Apology for Origen 4.1Pamphilus of Caesarea · ca. 308–310 (Rufinus's Latin about 397) · Pamphilus quotes Origen on the Holy Spirit as unchangeable, never a creature, and always known within the Trinity; on the limits of every creature's knowledge of God; and on the spread of the faith as proof of Christ's divinity.
Canon 12Anonymous · 314 · Those who sacrificed before their baptism may be ordained, since baptism washed them clean.
Canon 8Anonymous · 1 August 314 · Converts from heresy who were baptized in the name of the Trinity receive only the laying on of hands; otherwise they are baptized.
Canon 5Anonymous · ca. 315 (approximate) · A catechumen who sins is moved down to the hearers, and expelled if he goes on sinning.
Canon 6Anonymous · ca. 315 (approximate) · A pregnant woman may be baptized when she wishes, since her baptism does not extend to the unborn child.
Canon 12Anonymous · ca. 315 (approximate) · Someone baptized on a sickbed is not normally to be ordained presbyter, unless his later zeal and a lack of candidates justify it.
Demonstration of the Gospel 1.10.29Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The psalm signifies the mystical anointing and the Eucharist, through which Christians offer bloodless sacrifices through Christ the high priest.
Demonstration of the Gospel 1.10.32Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The anointing explains the name “Christians,” and the wine points to the mystery of the new covenant celebrated everywhere.
Demonstration of the Gospel 2.3.57Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Isaiah goes on to reject the Mosaic worship and to foretell the new covenant of the washing of regeneration.
Demonstration of the Gospel 2.3.58Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Isaiah rejects the sacrifices and calls for a washing, which Eusebius reads as baptism.
Demonstration of the Gospel 2.3.91Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The two sheep are catechumens and the baptized; the heifer is the church’s presiding clergy.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.16.36Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · In the Septuagint the “christs” are believers anointed in Christ; the next heading introduces Lamentations 4:20.
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.1.75Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The heifer and two sheep may mean poverty, or figuratively the church's three orders: leaders, the faithful, and catechumens.
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.3.25Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Christ's rule spreads worldwide, beginning “from the river”: baptism or the Jordan.
Demonstration of the Gospel 8.1.77Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The wine, symbol of Christ’s blood, cleanses the baptized so that they put off the old self and put on the new.
Demonstration of the Gospel 9.5.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Luke records John’s preaching in the wilderness as the fulfilment of Isaiah 40.
Demonstration of the Gospel 9.5.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · John’s voice called the crowds a brood of vipers and straightened crooked souls by calling for fruits of repentance.
Demonstration of the Gospel 9.5.4Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · John prepared the people to see God’s salvation, Christ, who would baptize with the Spirit and fire.
Demonstration of the Gospel 9.5.8Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The wilderness signifies the end of Jerusalem’s sacrificial worship and the forgiveness given by baptism in the church of the nations.
Demonstration of the Gospel 9.5.14Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Unbelievers slandered John, while those who saw his virtue took him for an angel and came to his cleansing.
Demonstration of the Gospel 9.5.15Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Josephus records that Herod killed John the Baptist, a good man who called the Jews to virtue and baptism.
Demonstration of the Gospel 9.6.4Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · John lived and baptized in the Jordan wilderness, as Mark records.
Demonstration of the Gospel 9.6.5Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The wilderness is the church of the nations, and the river a figure of spiritual cleansing that gladdens God’s city.
Demonstration of the Gospel 9.6.8Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The honour of the law passed to the wilderness, where forgiveness of sins was preached.
Demonstration of the Gospel 9.6.9Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Christ’s baptism revealed his glory, and every true candidate for baptism who receives the teaching of his divinity will see it; next comes Psalm 90.
Demonstration of the Gospel 9.14.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The children are the apostles, marked with Christ’s seal and no longer learning the law of Moses.
Oration to the Assembly of the Saints 11.10Constantine the Great · ca. 325 (dated variously 317–325) · Christ's virginal conception was followed by his wisdom from infancy and his baptism in the Jordan.
Oration to the Assembly of the Saints 20.4Constantine the Great · ca. 325 (dated variously 317–325) · Before Christ the serpent crushed human hope; through his passion and resurrection the resurrection was revealed, sins were washed away in baptism, and believers given hope.
On the Incarnation 14.2Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · The Son, the Father's image, came to renew and find lost humanity, and spoke of rebirth of the soul.
Letter 3.6Antony the Great · before 356 · Antony ends his third letter by contrasting John's baptism with the Spirit's sanctification in Christ, urging purity for the baptism of Jesus and worship in spirit and truth.
Homilies on the Psalms 12.6Asterius the Sophist · ca. 320-341 · text not on this site
Homilies on the Psalms 12.7Asterius the Sophist · ca. 320-341 · text not on this site
Homilies on the Psalms 15.5Asterius the Sophist · ca. 320-341 · text not on this site
Homilies on the Psalms 18.14Asterius the Sophist · ca. 320-341 · text not on this site
Homilies on the Psalms 20.13Asterius the Sophist · ca. 320-341 · text not on this site
Homilies on the Psalms 21.4Asterius the Sophist · ca. 320-341 · text not on this site
Homilies on the Psalms 30.3Asterius the Sophist · ca. 320-341 · text not on this site
Homilies on the Psalms 30.9Asterius the Sophist · ca. 320-341 · text not on this site
Homilies on the Psalms 31.5Asterius the Sophist · ca. 320-341 · text not on this site
Canon 2Anonymous · 325 · Newly baptized converts are not to be ordained at once, as Paul's rule against recent converts requires.
Canon 14Anonymous · 325 · Catechumens who lapsed are hearers for three years before rejoining the catechumens.
Canon 19Anonymous · 325 · Followers of Paul of Samosata who join the church must be rebaptized, and their clergy reordained if worthy.
On the Paschal Feast 4Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 325–337 · Eusebius describes the forty-day fast before Easter, after the example of Moses and Elijah, as preparation for the spiritual crossing to heaven, and Pentecost as the image of the kingdom, its first-fruit loaves foreshadowing the nations offered to God.
Theophany 4.8Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 325–337
Book 1, lines 296–322Juvencus · ca. 330 · Jesus answers his mother and returns home obedient; John the Baptist preaches, fulfilling Isaiah.
Book 1, lines 323–347Juvencus · ca. 330 · John's dress, food and preaching of repentance; he foretells the stronger one who will baptize with Spirit and fire.
Book 1, lines 348–372Juvencus · ca. 330 · Jesus is baptized; the Spirit descends and the Father speaks; Jesus fasts forty days in the wilderness.
Book 2, lines 177–201Juvencus · ca. 330 · Nicodemus comes by night; Jesus speaks of new birth from water and Spirit.
Book 4, lines 784–812Juvencus · ca. 330 · The risen Christ sends the disciples to baptize all nations in the name of the Father, the Son and the Spirit; Juvencus's closing thanks for the peace under Constantine.
Bordeaux Pilgrim 594Anonymous · 333 · The tomb of Christ and Constantine's basilica with its baptistery; the valley of Jehoshaphat.
Bordeaux Pilgrim 599Anonymous · 333 · Philip's spring at Bethsura, Abraham's terebinth at Mamre, and the patriarchs' tomb at Hebron.
Letter to Marcellinus 18Athanasius of Alexandria · uncertain, after 335 · Psalms for the persecuted, the newly baptized, common worship, rescue from enemies, rejecting the heretics' claim that evil is natural, warning against envy of the wicked, mercy to the poor, and remembering God's past benefits.
Against Marcellus 1.1.9Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · The gospel that may not be changed is the baptismal faith in Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Against Marcellus 1.1.10Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Only the Son revealed the Trinity, through baptism; Moses gave the law.
Against Marcellus 1.1.12Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · The church guards the Trinitarian faith received at baptism, and Paul warned against any bishop who perverts it.
Against Marcellus 1.1.36Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Having set out the faith from Galatians, baptism and tradition, Eusebius turns to Marcellus's own words.
Demonstration 4.6Aphrahat · 337-345 · Jacob's vision, his crossing of the Jordan with a staff, the stone on the well, and his two companies are read as mysteries of Christ, baptism, and the church of Jews and Gentiles.
Demonstration 4.18Aphrahat · 337-345 · Prayer is the true sacrifice and must be without blemish; Isaiah shows that blood-stained hands make sacrifices and prayers unacceptable.
Demonstration 6.14Aphrahat · 337-345
Demonstration 7.19Aphrahat · 337-345 · Gideon's testing of his army at the water prefigured baptism and the choosing of the few solitaries for the spiritual battle.
Demonstration 7.20Aphrahat · 337-345 · Before baptism, those intending to vow virginity and holiness must be warned: whoever wants marriage should marry before baptism, and whoever loves possessions should withdraw.
Demonstration 7.21Aphrahat · 337-345 · After baptism the brave are separated from the fearful, as Gideon's men who lapped like dogs, a figure of the faithful who guard their Lord, meditate on the law, and receive his Body.
Demonstration 11.11Aphrahat · 337-345 · God gave a succession of covenants; the new covenant replaces fleshly circumcision with circumcision of the heart in baptism, and Joshua's deeds prefigure those of Jesus.
Demonstration 12.9Aphrahat · 337-345 · Each Passover rule is a mystery fulfilled in the church: one house is the church, outsiders are heretics, the unbroken bone is Christ's, and the circumcised slave is the baptized penitent who receives the Eucharist.
Demonstration 12.10Aphrahat · 337-345 · On Passover night Christ washed his disciples' feet, revealing the baptism of his passion, which, unlike John's baptism, forgives sins; then he gave them his Body and Blood.
Demonstration 12.13Aphrahat · 337-345 · The yearly feast requires fasting, prayer, praise, psalms, baptism, and blessings, but more important is a clean heart and right living every day.
Demonstration 14.38Aphrahat · 337-345 · In contrast, the faithful sons of peace are praised in a series of Gospel images as builders, farmers, stewards, apostles, and children of the Church.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.8.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · At baptism the church confesses one God, the Father Almighty, against Greeks, Jews and heretics.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.6.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The baptismal creed confesses Father and Son; “expansion” applies to bodies, not to God.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.19.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Marcellus reads John 14:10 and Eph 4:5–6 as showing Father and Son are one.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.5.14Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The breath gave a partial gift for forgiving sins; the full power came at Pentecost.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.5.22Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Baptism in the triple name: the Father gives grace, the Son ministers it, the Spirit is the gift.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.6.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The Father presides over all, including the Son and the Spirit, and alone is called God over all.
Life of Constantine 4.61.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Near death, Constantine sought baptism for the forgiveness of his sins.
Life of Constantine 4.61.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · He made confession, received the laying on of hands, and summoned the bishops near Nicomedia.
Life of Constantine 4.62.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Constantine tells the bishops that the time for his baptism has come.
Life of Constantine 4.62.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · He had hoped to be baptized in the Jordan, but God willed it here.
Life of Constantine 4.62.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Whether he lives or dies, he will from now on live as a member of God's people.
Life of Constantine 4.62.4Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Constantine was baptized and rejoiced in the new life.
Life of Constantine 4.62.5Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · After baptism he wore white and would not wear purple again.
Life of Constantine 4.63.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Constantine gave thanks for the blessings of baptism.
Oration I Against the Arians 34Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Athanasius argues that “Father,” given by Christ in the Lord's Prayer and the baptismal formula, is a truer name of God than the unscriptural “unoriginate.”
Oration I Against the Arians 47Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Athanasius explains that Christ's anointing with the Spirit at the Jordan was for us, so that in him we too are washed, anointed, and sealed; the Word himself gives the Spirit.
Oration I Against the Arians 48Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Athanasius concludes that Christ gives as the Word and receives as man, so that what he receives, including his anointing and baptism, is for us.
Oration II Against the Arians 41Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · The Son is named with the Father in baptism not because the Father is insufficient but because grace given by the Father is always given in his Son, as light shines by its radiance.
Oration II Against the Arians 42Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Grace comes from the Father in the Son; those who deny the true Son, like the Jews who rejected him, endanger even baptism, which requires right faith together with the names.
Oration II Against the Arians 43Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Heretical baptism with the right names but wrong faith is profitless; the Arians, backed by human patronage, are worse than heresies that err about Christ's body, since they blaspheme the Father's own Godhead in the Son.
Oration IV Against the Arians 21Athanasius of Alexandria · 4th century (disputed) · The author argues from the command to believe in the Son and from baptism into Father, Son, and Spirit that the Word is the Son, and refutes the view that Word and man together are the Son.
Oration IV Against the Arians 25Athanasius of Alexandria · 4th century (disputed) · The author rejects both Arius and Sabellius, and shows that the Sabellian image of one Father “broadened” into Son and Spirit makes the incarnation, baptism, and creation merely temporary.
Canon 3Anonymous · ca. 343–381 · The newly baptized are not to be ordained.
Canon 7Anonymous · ca. 343–381 · Converts from the Novatians, Photinians and Quartodecimans are received after anathematizing heresy, learning the creed and being anointed with chrism.
Canon 8Anonymous · ca. 343–381 · Converts from the Montanists, even their clergy, are to be catechized and baptized.
Canon 45Anonymous · ca. 343–381 · No one is to be enrolled for baptism after the second week of Lent.
Canon 46Anonymous · ca. 343–381 · Baptismal candidates must learn the creed and recite it to the bishop or presbyters on Thursday.
Canon 47Anonymous · ca. 343–381 · Those baptized in sickness who recover must learn the creed.
Canon 48Anonymous · ca. 343–381 · The newly baptized are to be anointed with chrism.
Historical Fragments 1.5.1.2Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 343–367 · The bishops recall that Ursacius and Valens had once recanted Arianism, defend the Nicene creed drawn up under Constantine, and report that they rejected the new formula offered by Ursacius, Valens, Germinius and Gaius.
Canon 1Anonymous · ca. 345–348 · The council forbids the rebaptism of anyone baptized in the triune faith.
Canon 14Anonymous · ca. 345–348 · Gratus confirms all the decrees, with excommunication or deposition for those who violate them, and the bishops subscribe.
Catechetical Lecture 0.1Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Cyril welcomes the candidates for baptism, who are at the threshold of the kingdom, and urges that their purpose be sincere.
Catechetical Lecture 0.2Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Simon Magus was baptized but not enlightened, and the guest without a wedding garment was thrown out; the candidates must come with sincere purpose.
Catechetical Lecture 0.4Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · The church has opened its doors to all; the candidates have forty days to put off their sins, become “faithful,” and prepare their souls for the heavenly bridegroom.
Catechetical Lecture 0.7Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Baptism cannot be repeated, so the candidates must come with good will, guard tongue, eye, and mind, and welcome the exorcisms that purify the soul like fire refining gold.
Catechetical Lecture 0.8Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · The exorcisms work like a goldsmith’s bellows, driving out the demon and purifying the soul; the candidates should remain in hope.
Catechetical Lecture 0.9Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · The catechetical lectures are a building that must be laid in order, so the candidates must learn and remember every part.
Catechetical Lecture 0.10Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · The candidates must not repeat to catechumens what they are taught, for the mysteries heard out of season harm the hearer as wine harms the sick.
Catechetical Lecture 0.15Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Cyril urges the candidates to be refined like iron and looks forward to the night of their baptism, when angels will rejoice over their salvation.
Catechetical Lecture 0.16Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Cyril praises the gifts of baptism and warns of the dragon who lies in wait, urging prayer, vigilance, and resistance to mockery of the rite.
Catechetical Lecture 0.17Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Cyril closes the Procatechesis with an exhortation and a prayer that God will forgive, enlist, and seal the candidates with the Holy Spirit.
Catechetical Lecture 1.1Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Opening his first lecture, Cyril calls the candidates to a new heart, to wash away their sins as Isaiah says, and to keep the torches of faith burning.
Catechetical Lecture 1.2Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Cyril urges the candidates to put off the old self by confession and come to the baptismal seal with a sincere heart, since God, like a recruiting officer, examines every purpose.
Catechetical Lecture 1.4Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Through baptism the candidates will be grafted into the true olive and the holy vine, and must bear fruit and guard the grace freely given.
Catechetical Lecture 1.5Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Lent is the time for confession, attention to the instructions, and prayer; the Spirit is given in proportion to each one’s faith.
Catechetical Lecture 1.7Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · The candidates must forgive others, attend the assemblies faithfully now and after baptism, and feed on the Scriptures, so that Christ may present them to the Father.
Catechetical Lecture 3.2Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Cyril urges the candidates, as guests called to a wedding, to prepare their souls by repentance and faith to receive the Holy Spirit.
Catechetical Lecture 3.3Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Baptism is a solemn enlistment before God and the angels; its water carries spiritual grace.
Catechetical Lecture 3.4Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Water with the invocation of Father, Son, and Spirit acquires sanctifying power.
Catechetical Lecture 3.5Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Water cleanses the body and the Spirit seals the soul; both are needed, as Christ’s words and Cornelius’s baptism show.
Catechetical Lecture 3.6Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Why water: Scripture shows water at creation, the exodus, the covenants, Elijah’s ascent, and the priests’ washing.
Catechetical Lecture 3.7Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · John the Baptist, greatest of those born of women, stands at the turn of the covenants; his baptism with confession points to repentance and the putting off of the old life.
Catechetical Lecture 3.8Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · The fruits of repentance are generosity to the poor; even the worst sinners may hope, for sins of ignorance are pardoned.
Catechetical Lecture 3.9Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Christ, who baptizes with the Spirit and fire, is the glory of baptism; without baptism there is no salvation, except for martyrs baptized in their own blood.
Catechetical Lecture 3.10Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Christ calls martyrdom a baptism; the candidates will soon make their own confession.
Catechetical Lecture 3.11Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Christ, though sinless, was baptized to give grace to the baptized; going down into the waters he bound the dragon and broke death’s sting.
Catechetical Lecture 3.12Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · In baptism the believer goes down dead in sin and rises alive in righteousness, buried and raised with Christ.
Catechetical Lecture 3.13Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · After baptism the believer may wrestle with evil powers; as Christ began preaching only after his baptism, so the baptized become sons by adoption, while Christ is Son by nature.
Catechetical Lecture 3.15Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Baptism forgives every sin, even the crucifixion of Christ, as Peter’s Pentecost sermon shows; whoever has sinned by word, denial, or deed may repent and hope.
Catechetical Lecture 3.17Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Close of the lecture: God will cleanse Jerusalem’s children; the soul, made the Bridegroom’s own, receives the twofold grace of water and Spirit.
Catechetical Lecture 4.15Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Christ will come again from heaven, not as the antichrists from the earth, and his kingdom has no end; the Holy Spirit, one and indivisible, is honored with the Father and the Son.
Catechetical Lecture 4.31Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · All will rise in eternal bodies, the righteous to glory and sinners to torment; baptism’s repentance removes the burden of sin.
Catechetical Lecture 4.37Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Closing warnings: flee the devil’s works, divination, magic, licentiousness, greed, pagan shows, amulets, Samaritan and Jewish observances, and heretics; guard the soul by fasting, prayer, almsgiving, and Scripture.
Catechetical Lecture 5.6Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Abraham is father of all believers through the likeness of faith; baptism is the spiritual circumcision of the heart.
Catechetical Lecture 11.9Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Christ is Son by nature, not as disciples are begotten by teachers or as the baptized become sons by adoption; the Father's voice at the baptism declares an existing sonship.
Catechetical Lecture 12.10Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Christ gives the nations the sign of the cross as a royal seal on the forehead; his descent from heaven was hidden from men.
Catechetical Lecture 12.15Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Christ became man to sanctify baptism, to bring life through a virgin as death came through Eve, to overthrow idolatry, and to defeat the devil with his own weapon: the flesh became the bait that made death give up its prey.
Catechetical Lecture 13.21Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · The blood and water from Christ's side answer to Moses' first sign, signify judgment and salvation, and point to the two baptisms, of water and of martyrdom.
Catechetical Lecture 14.30Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Christ has always held the throne at the Father's right hand; Cyril prays that the candidates may hold fast, be written in the book of life, and be presented by the present Christ to the Father.
Catechetical Lecture 15.23Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · The Judge shows no partiality to rich or poor; every good deed, including faithful marriage and chastity, and every sin committed after baptism is recorded.
Catechetical Lecture 15.25Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · As a shepherd knows sheep from goats by their coats, Christ will judge by the deeds that clothe each person; the baptized must keep their robe unstained.
Catechetical Lecture 16.3Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · There is one Holy Spirit, the same in the Old and New Covenants, honoured with the Father and the Son and named with them in baptism.
Catechetical Lecture 16.6Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Cyril lists heretics who blasphemed the Spirit (Simon, the Gnostics, the Valentinians, Mani, and those who divide the Spirit of the two covenants) and warns the candidates to avoid them.
Catechetical Lecture 16.20Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · The Spirit inspires virginity, poverty and victory over demons, and as Paraclete strengthens martyrs with the vision of paradise.
Catechetical Lecture 16.24Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · The Spirit who spoke in the prophets seals souls in baptism; the Father gives all to the Son, who shares it with the Spirit.
Catechetical Lecture 16.26Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Moses' wish that all the Lord's people were prophets pointed to Pentecost; the Spirit given by the laying on of hands in Moses' day and by Peter will come on the candidates too.
Catechetical Lecture 16.30Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Isaiah and Ezekiel speak often of the Spirit; the Spirit gave the young Daniel wisdom to rescue Susanna and to interpret Nebuchadnezzar's dream.
Catechetical Lecture 17.8Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · John baptized the Lord, on whom the Spirit descended as a dove, a figure of the pure church.
Catechetical Lecture 17.9Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Noah's dove, returning at evening with an olive leaf, prefigures the Spirit descending on Christ, the true Noah.
Catechetical Lecture 17.14Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · The apostles were wholly baptized by the Spirit, who penetrates the soul as fire penetrates iron.
Catechetical Lecture 17.15Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · The sound of wind and the tongues of fire at Pentecost signified the Spirit's saving fire, which the candidates are about to receive.
Catechetical Lecture 17.25Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · In the Spirit's power Philip worked in Samaria, where Peter and John imparted the Spirit, and baptized the Ethiopian eunuch.
Catechetical Lecture 17.30Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Cyril cannot recount all the Spirit's works through Paul, from Cyprus to Ephesus, where even his handkerchiefs healed and magicians burned their books.
Catechetical Lecture 17.35Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Candidates must come to baptism sincerely, looking not to the minister but to the Holy Spirit, who gives a seal the demons fear.
Catechetical Lecture 18.20Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Since we will give account for what is done in the body, we must keep it pure; baptism heals past wounds, but we must guard against future sins.
Catechetical Lecture 18.22Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Cyril recalls the creed's last articles and turns to "one holy catholic church".
Catechetical Lecture 18.30Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Eternal life comes from the Father through the Son in the Spirit; Cyril closes the Lenten lectures and announces the lectures on the mysteries to be given in Easter week.
Catechetical Lecture 18.31Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Cyril bids the candidates rejoice, for their redemption is near.
Catechetical Lecture 18.32Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Isaiah's prophecies of the new Jerusalem and of Zion's children are applied to the candidates about to be baptized.
Catechetical Lecture 18.33Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Cyril closes the Lenten lectures with Isaiah's promises and Paul's blessings on those saved through the washing of regeneration, and a prayer for the candidates.
Catechetical Lecture 19.1Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Now that the newly baptized have experienced the mysteries, the lecturer will explain the meaning of what was done at their baptism.
Catechetical Lecture 19.2Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · The renunciation of Satan in the vestibule of the baptistery is foreshadowed by Israel's deliverance from Pharaoh.
Catechetical Lecture 19.3Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Moses and the lamb's blood are types of Christ and his blood; as Pharaoh drowned in the sea, the devil vanishes in the waters of baptism.
Catechetical Lecture 19.4Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Facing west, the region of darkness, the candidate renounced Satan, whose power Christ destroyed by sharing our flesh and blood.
Catechetical Lecture 19.5Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · The candidate renounced all Satan's works, that is, every sin, and his "pomp": the theater, horse races, and wild-beast shows.
Catechetical Lecture 19.8Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · The devil's "worship" is idolatry, divination, and magic; those who return to them after baptism are like Lot's wife, while the faithful flee to Christ.
Catechetical Lecture 19.9Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Renouncing Satan reopens paradise; turning to the east, the candidates professed faith in Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and in one baptism of repentance.
Catechetical Lecture 19.10Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · The devil prowls, but in baptism God has wiped away every tear; the baptized have put off the old man and put on Christ.
Catechetical Lecture 19.11Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · The rites so far took place in the outer hall; the following lectures will explain those performed within.
Catechetical Lecture 20.1Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · The removal of the tunic before baptism signified putting off the old man and imitated Christ stripped naked on the cross and Adam's innocent nakedness.
Catechetical Lecture 20.2Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Adam was naked in paradise and not ashamed.
Catechetical Lecture 20.3Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · The anointing with exorcised oil before baptism signified grafting into Christ, the good olive tree, and drove away the powers of evil.
Catechetical Lecture 20.4Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · The triple immersion after the profession of faith imitated Christ's three days in the tomb; the font was both grave and mother.
Catechetical Lecture 20.5Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · The baptized die and rise with Christ in image, but receive salvation in reality, because Christ really suffered, died, and rose.
Catechetical Lecture 20.6Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Baptism not only forgives sins and gives adoption but is the antitype of Christ's sufferings: we share his death in likeness, while his death and burial were real.
Catechetical Lecture 20.8Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · The lecturer asks the newly baptized to remember what they have been taught and to walk in newness of life.
Catechetical Lecture 21.1Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · The baptized are called "christs" (anointed ones) because the chrism they received after baptism is the antitype of the Holy Spirit with whom Christ was anointed at the Jordan.
Catechetical Lecture 21.2Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Christ was anointed by the Father with the Holy Spirit, the oil of gladness; the baptized are anointed with ointment as his fellows.
Catechetical Lecture 21.3Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · After the invocation the chrism, like the eucharistic bread, is no longer ordinary: the body is anointed with the visible ointment, the soul sanctified by the Spirit.
Catechetical Lecture 21.4Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · The chrism is applied to forehead, ears, nostrils, and breast, each with its meaning, arming the baptized against the devil as Christ was armed after his baptism.
Catechetical Lecture 21.5Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · The anointed are rightly called Christians; the chrism was prefigured in the anointing of Aaron and Solomon, but is now given in truth by the Holy Spirit.
Catechetical Lecture 21.7Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · The chrism, foretold by Isaiah, must be kept unspotted by good works.
Catechetical Lecture 22.7Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Psalm 23's table, anointing, and cup are read as the Eucharist and the chrism, opposed to the demons' table.
Catechetical Lecture 22.8Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Ecclesiastes' bread, wine, oil, and white garments are read as the Eucharist, the chrism, and the spiritual purity of the baptized.
On the Decrees of Nicaea 30Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 350–356 · Calling God “Father,” as Christ taught in prayer and baptism, is truer than calling him “unoriginate,” because it names the Son as well.
Long recension, Trallians 2Anonymous · later 4th century (probable) · Ignatius urges subjection to the bishop, the presbytery and the deacons, ministers of the mysteries of Christ.
Long recension, Philadelphians 9Anonymous · later 4th century (probable) · Christ the high priest and Word is the door through which patriarchs, prophets, apostles and church enter; the Gospel fulfils the prophets.
Long recension, Smyrnaeans 8Anonymous · later 4th century (probable) · Ignatius commands that nothing in the church, Eucharist, baptism or love-feast, be done without the bishop.
Long recension, Polycarp 4Anonymous · later 4th century (probable) · Ignatius gives Polycarp instructions on widows, slaves, wives and husbands, celibacy and marriage, and urges the church to serve as God's soldiers under the bishop.
Long recension, Philippians 1Anonymous · later 4th century (probable) · Ignatius writes to remind the Philippians of their course and sets out the one God, one Lord, one Spirit, one baptism and one church.
Long recension, Philippians 3Anonymous · later 4th century (probable) · Ignatius sets out the one God, one Son and one Paraclete, the true incarnation and passion of the Son alone, and addresses the devil, who fears the cross, works through heresies, and could not recognize the Son of God in his lowly birth and life.
Cento, lines 372–396Proba · ca. 360 · The mother hides the child in a manger; when the danger is past the child grows up admired by all, and the prophet John recognizes him at the river and baptizes him.
Cento, lines 397–421Proba · ca. 360 · At the baptism the dove descends and the Father proclaims the Son and commissions him to rule and save the peoples; Proba gives thanks for her own cleansing in baptism.
Commentary on Matthew 2Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 353–355 · Hilary reads Joseph’s return as a figure of the apostles turning to the Gentiles, interprets John the Baptist’s desert, clothing, food, and preaching, and explains Christ’s baptism as the pattern of ours.
Commentary on Matthew 10Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 353–355 · Hilary expounds the mission discourse: the harvest of the Spirit, the apostles’ equipment, the worthy house as the catholic church, peace given or withheld, the serpent’s prudence, persecution, the sparrows, the sword dividing the five in one house (body, soul, will, sin, unbelief), taking up the cross, and receiving Christ’s messengers.
Commentary on Matthew 15Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 353–355 · After rebuking the Pharisees’ traditions, Jesus heals the Canaanite woman’s daughter, a figure of the proselytes and the nations; the feeding of the four thousand with seven loaves signifies the nations nourished by the sevenfold Spirit.
Commentary on Matthew 18Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 353–355 · Hilary treats becoming like children, the millstone and stumbling blocks (applied to the Jews’ rejection of Christ), the angels of the little ones, the lost sheep as humanity and the ninety-nine as the angels, correction of a brother, binding and loosing, and unlimited forgiveness.
Commentary on Matthew 20Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 353–355 · Hilary expounds the disciples’ fear and the apostles’ thrones in the regeneration, the laborers in the vineyard (hours as covenants with Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, and the incarnation), the request of the sons of Zebedee (with Moses and Elijah as the two witnesses), humility in leadership, and the two blind men of Jericho as the nations.
Commentary on Matthew 21Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 353–355 · Hilary expounds the triumphal entry (the donkey and colt as Samaritans and nations), the cleansing of the temple (sellers of doves as those who sell the Spirit’s gift), the children’s praise, the cursed fig tree as the synagogue, the question about John’s baptism, and the two sons.
Commentary on Matthew 27Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 353–355 · Hilary applies the faithful and unfaithful servant to bishops, interprets the ten virgins (bridegroom and bride as the divine Spirit and the flesh in Christ, lamps as souls shining from baptism, oil as good works), and, after a gap in the text, the servant who hid his talent as the people of the law.
Commentary on Matthew 29Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 353–355 · The woman anointing Jesus at Bethany prefigures the nations glorifying God in Christ’s passion and buried with him in baptism, while Israel, in Judas, is roused to hatred.
Hymns 1.3Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · A hymn on Christ, the heavenly Adam, battling Satan: the devil, gloating over a world lost to idolatry, hears the angels' song at the nativity and the Father's voice at the baptism, and, seeing only a mortal body, prepares the temptation; the rest is lost.
On the Trinity 1.13Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Colossians 2 warns against philosophy and teaches that in Christ, fully God, believers are buried and raised in baptism and freed from the curse.
On the Trinity 1.21Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Book 2 will explain the names Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in the baptismal formula.
On the Trinity 2.1Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · The baptismal command names the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and contains everything needed for salvation.
On the Trinity 6.23Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · At the baptism the Father's voice, “This is my beloved Son,” marks Christ as his own Son, unlike those called sons by adoption.
On the Trinity 8.7Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · The believers of Acts 4:32 were one through one faith and one regeneration, a unity of nature, not mere agreement.
On the Trinity 8.8Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Galatians 3:27–28 shows that believers are one through one baptism into Christ, not merely by agreement.
On the Trinity 9.9Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Col 2:11–12 describes the circumcision of Christ as dying and rising with him in baptism.
On the Trinity 11.1Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Eph 4:4–6 joins one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father: each is one by his own property, not by a single undistinguished person.
On the Trinity 11.2Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Faith is not one if Christ is preached as weak, created, or God and Son only in name; such preaching proclaims another Christ.
On the Trinity 11.18Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · The anointing of Ps 45:7 concerns Christ's assumed humanity, anointed at his baptism with the Spirit (Acts 4:27; 10:37–38).
On the Trinity 12.56Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · As the Spirit's working in rebirth is beyond knowing (John 3:7–8), Hilary will say of the Spirit only what Scripture says: that he is God's Spirit, not created.
On the Trinity 12.57Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Hilary closes with a prayer to keep to death the baptismal faith in Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
On Saint Athanasius 1.41Lucifer of Cagliari · ca. 356–361 · Comparing Athanasius to Job and his accusers to Job's friends, Lucifer urges the emperor to seek prayer and baptism through Athanasius, and argues that Job, Abraham, Daniel and the three young men were justified by the same faith in Father, Son and Spirit that the church holds.
Letters to Serapion 1.4Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 357–360 · Scripture never calls the Holy Spirit simply “spirit” without an addition such as “of God,” “Holy,” or the article, unless the context has already made the reference clear.
Letters to Serapion 1.6Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 357–360 · In the New Testament too the Holy Spirit is always marked as the Spirit of God, of Christ, the Holy Spirit, or the Paraclete.
Letters to Serapion 1.11Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 357–360 · Scripture never calls the Spirit an angel; Zechariah’s speaking angel is distinct from God’s Spirit, and baptism joins us to Father and Son in the Spirit, not in a creature.
Letters to Serapion 1.28Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 357–360 · The church’s faith from the beginning is in one holy Triad, Father, Son, and Spirit, one in nature and activity, as Christ commanded in the baptismal formula.
Letters to Serapion 1.29Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 357–360 · If the Spirit were a creature, baptism into the Triad would mix a creature into the Godhead, and the Tropici, like the Arians, would be worshiping the creature.
Letters to Serapion 1.30Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 357–360 · Baptism and faith are one because the Triad is one; calling the Spirit a creature would make two baptisms, while Paul shows that every gift comes from the Father through the Son in the Spirit.
Letters to Serapion 2.6Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 357–360 · A father begets, not makes, a son of the same essence; so God’s Son is of the same essence, and texts such as “he created” refer to his becoming man.
Letters to Serapion 3.3Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 357–360 · The Spirit is the anointing and seal that impresses Christ’s form, makes us God’s temple, and is one, not many; so he is not a creature.
Letters to Serapion 3.6Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 357–360 · The grace given in the Triad is one, as the annunciation and the baptismal command show; the Lord would not have ranked a creature with the Father.
Letters to Serapion 4.3Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 357–360 · Athanasius turns the opponents’ question (“Is the Spirit a son, and the Father a grandfather?”) back on them: Scripture names the Son and the Spirit as it does, and the Godhead of the Triad is one.
Letters to Serapion 4.5Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 357–360 · What is handed down by faith is not to be pried into; the disciples simply believed the baptismal formula, and only heretics like Eunomius and Eudoxius ask whether the Spirit is a son.
Letters to Serapion 4.6Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 357–360 · Among men a son becomes a father, but in God the Father is always Father, the Son always Son, and the Spirit always Holy Spirit; the names cannot be exchanged.
Letters to Serapion 4.9Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 357–360 · Origen and Theognostus held that blasphemy against the Spirit is sin after baptism, citing Heb 6:4–6.
Letters to Serapion 4.10Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 357–360 · Origen held that the Spirit dwells only in the baptized, so their sin is against him; Theognostus that rejecting the third “boundary,” the teaching on the Spirit given to the perfected, leaves no pardon.
Letters to Serapion 4.12Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 357–360 · Since the Pharisees addressed by Christ were not baptized, the unforgivable blasphemy cannot simply be sin after baptism; it was their blasphemy against the Godhead itself.
Letters to Serapion 4.13Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 357–360 · Heb 6:4–6 forbids a second baptism, not repentance, as Paul’s readmission of the Corinthian penitent shows against the Novatianists.
Letter 125Basil of Caesarea · ca. 357–378 · A statement of faith drawn up by Basil and signed by Eustathius of Sebasteia: the Nicene creed, read as distinguishing essence from hypostasis, with anathemas against those who call the Holy Spirit a creature.
Letters 156, 157, 158, 159Basil of Caesarea · ca. 357–378 · Basil tells Evagrius why he cannot settle the schism at Antioch himself; greets Antiochus twice; and answers Eupaterius and his daughter with the Nicene faith and a defence of the Holy Spirit's divinity.
Letter 175Basil of Caesarea · ca. 357–378 · Basil declines to write a new creed for Count Magnenianus, urging him to keep the ancient faith: believe as baptized, give glory as believing.
Letters 188, 189Basil of Caesarea · ca. 357–378 · Basil's first canonical letter to Amphilochius rules on the baptism of heretics and schismatics, abortion, lapsed deacons, repeated marriages, homicide, divorce, oaths, and other cases; the ref ends with most of his letter to Eustathius the physician defending the one godhead of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Letters 198, 199Basil of Caesarea · ca. 357–378 · Basil explains to Eusebius why his letters are few and that he is near death; then (Letter 199, the Second Canonical Letter) he answers Amphilochius on oaths, fallen virgins, monks' vows, sexual immorality and adultery, abduction, unlawful and repeated marriages, deserted spouses, rebaptism of Encratites, and related cases.
Letter 226Basil of Caesarea · ca. 357–378 · Basil writes to his own ascetics, breaking three years of silence about the slanders of Eustathius's party, exposing their shifts of allegiance, defending the Nicene homoousios and his teaching on the Holy Spirit, and urging them not to believe one-sided accusations.
Letter 236Basil of Caesarea · ca. 357–378 · Basil answers several questions of Amphilochius: how Christ's not knowing the day and hour (Mark 13:32) is to be understood without making the Son unlike the Father, the prophecy against Jeconiah, Encratite food rules, triple immersion in baptism, the difference between essence and hypostasis, and providence over health, wealth, and sickness.
Letter 251Basil of Caesarea · ca. 357–378 · Basil thanks the church of Evaesae for rejecting slanders against him, exposes the inconsistency of Eustathius and his party, who now court the very bishops whose deposition they once rejected, and states that his own faith, baptism, and doxology in Father, Son, and Holy Spirit have never changed.
Letters 268, 269Basil of Caesarea · ca. 357–378 · Basil rejoices that the exiled Eusebius of Samosata has been kept safe and asks for news; a second letter consoles the widow of the general Arinthaeus, who was baptized at the end of his life.
Letters 292, 293Basil of Caesarea · ca. 357–378 · Basil congratulates Palladius on his baptism and urges him to keep the garment of incorruption unstained; a second letter to Julianus asks after his health and teaches that a firm mind keeps life calm amid hardships.
Against Arius 3.16Marius Victorinus · ca. 357–362 · Victorinus explains the Spirit's work as giving knowledge and testimony, distinguishes baptismal sanctification from the gift of the Spirit for knowledge in Acts, and traces the apostles' witness to Christ's resurrection and ascension.
Against Arius 3.18Marius Victorinus · ca. 357–362 · Victorinus ends Book 3 by explaining how Father and Son are two as one, Christ and Spirit two in one motion, and the Trinity one God, recalling the Spirit's role in Christ's conception and baptism.
Against Arius 4.18Marius Victorinus · ca. 357–362 · Victorinus argues from John 16, Matthew 28 and Sirach 1 that the Spirit, the wisdom and knowledge of God, completes the faith Christ sowed, and that Father, Son and Spirit are homoousia; he then raises the question of how inner life and understanding appear outwardly.
On the Councils of Ariminum and Seleucia 31Athanasius of Alexandria · 359 (additions 361) · At Antioch they went back to saying the Son is wholly unlike the Father, earning the names Anomoeans and Exukontians; Constantius was baptized on his deathbed by the Arian Euzoius.
On the Councils of Ariminum and Seleucia 36Athanasius of Alexandria · 359 (additions 361) · The council wrote “from the essence” to distinguish the Son from creatures; the Arians, who object to unscriptural terms, themselves invented many and used “essence” at Antioch.
On the Councils of Ariminum and Seleucia 54Athanasius of Alexandria · 359 (additions 361) · Nicaea rightly called the Son of the same essence; Athanasius closes with a prayer that strife cease and all confess one Lord, one faith, one baptism.
Versus paschales, lines 1-23Decimus Magnus Ausonius · ca. 360-395 · Ausonius’s Easter verses: the Father who gives eternal life, sent the prophets, and gave his Son, equal to him, who joined the Spirit’s work in baptism; the threefold faith.
Homilies on the Psalms 28.2Basil of Caesarea · ca. 360-378 · Basil explains Ps 29:1–6: the rams are the Church's leaders and their sons the faithful; glory and honor are brought by good works and right doctrine; worship belongs within the Church's one court; the Lord's voice is an inward impression, heard in baptism and the Gospel's thunder; and he breaks the proud cedars of Lebanon.
Homilies on the Psalms 28.5Basil of Caesarea · ca. 360-378 · Basil explains Ps 29:6–11: Christ is the “unicorn” as having the one power of the Father; God's voice divides the fire of judgment into light and burning, makes the desert fruitful, prepares the “deer” (the saints) and uncovers the thickets of sin; he rebukes chatter in church, and reads the flood as baptism.
Homilies on the Psalms 33.8Basil of Caesarea · ca. 360-378 · On Ps 34:11 Basil distinguishes the enemy fear, born of unbelief, from the saving fear of God, and teaches it through a vivid picture of Christ's judgment seat, the dark fire, the worms and eternal shame.
Homilies on the Psalms 59.4Basil of Caesarea · ca. 360-378 · On Ps 60:8–12 Basil reads Moab, “the pot of washing,” as baptism, which admits even the excluded Moabite to the Church; the shoe cast over Edom is Christ's flesh, the fortified city the Church; and help from affliction is the Christian's true help, as with Paul, since affliction produces endurance and hope, and the sick, the poor and the dishonored are to rejoice and pray rather than trust human help.
Moral Rules (Moralia) 19Basil of Caesarea · ca. 360-370 · Basil's nineteenth rule, that no one may hinder those doing God's will, with Rule 20 on baptism into the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and on its meaning, whose heading the scan lost.
Moral Rules (Moralia) 80Basil of Caesarea · ca. 360-370 · Basil's eightieth and last rule: what the word wants Christians, and those entrusted with preaching, to be, ending with his summary of the marks of a Christian.
On the Holy Spirit 23Didymus the Blind · Greek ca. 360-390; Latin 387-391 · Scripture shows the Spirit acting and speaking as a person, not a mere activity; his sending of the apostles and baptism in the threefold name show the Trinity's equality.
On the Holy Spirit 24Didymus the Blind · Greek ca. 360-390; Latin 387-391 · Baptism without any one of the three names is incomplete; the Spirit appoints the church's leaders as Christ and the Father do, and like them he dwells in the heart, which no creature can.
Tractate 2, section 4Gregory of Elvira · ca. 360-392 · The three measures of flour are Noah's three sons, whose believing descendants become one bread of Christ's body through repentance and baptism; Sarah figures the Church.
Tractate 3, section 4Gregory of Elvira · ca. 360-392 · Ishmael's cry and the well shown to Hagar figure the Jews who will repent and be baptized; only a remnant, to be gathered under Elijah, will believe, while the rest receive Antichrist.
Tractate 4, section 4Gregory of Elvira · ca. 360-392 · The third reason is a mark of race, to distinguish Israelites in captivity and in death; all reasons ceased with Christ, whose new circumcision is baptism and faith.
Tractate 6, section 4Gregory of Elvira · ca. 360-392 · Isaiah's call to wash points to baptism, which forgives even Christ's killers; Jacob's curse on Simeon and Levi's fury foretells the demand for Christ's death; 'divide in Jacob' separates unbelievers from believers.
Tractate 6, section 7Gregory of Elvira · ca. 360-392 · The colt tied to the vine is the Gentile Church joined to Christ; the donkey's colt tied to sackcloth is the Synagogue under repentance; the robe washed in wine is Christ's flesh, the cloak the believers.
Tractate 7, section 3Gregory of Elvira · ca. 360-392 · The basket figures the holy people; the river is baptism; Moses' sister is the Israel that will believe under Elijah; Pharaoh's daughter is the Gentile Church that receives Christ.
Tractate 7, section 4Gregory of Elvira · ca. 360-392 · Moses returned to his mother to be nursed figures Christ ministering first under the law to Israel, then given to the Gentile Church after the resurrection; Pharaoh's daughter figures nations reborn in baptism.
Tractate 9, section 3Gregory of Elvira · ca. 360-392 · The bitter herbs foretell the bitterness of the Jews' deeds in the passion; the blood on the doorposts, the Red Sea and the details of eating the lamb are read of Christ, baptism and the Trinity.
Tractate 10, section 2Gregory of Elvira · ca. 360-392 · A living sacrifice is a life without sin; false virgins and fraudulent almsgivers offer appearances of death; blind, torn and crushed victims figure blind minds and believers dragged back to the world.
Tractate 11, section 4Gregory of Elvira · ca. 360-392 · The pomegranates figure the Church: one rind holding many white and red seeds, the multitude of the baptized and martyrs, united yet distinct in ranks and gifts; the land flowing with milk and honey is Christ's flesh.
Tractate 12, section 1Gregory of Elvira · ca. 360-392 · Rahab the harlot who sheltered Joshua's spies, like Hosea's wife and the Samaritan woman, figures the Church gathered from the Gentiles' idolatry, alone saved when Jericho, the world, falls.
Tractate 12, section 3Gregory of Elvira · ca. 360-392 · Rahab hiding the spies from Jericho's king figures the Church guarding the two testaments from the devil; the threefold hiding figures the stages of catechumen, candidate and baptized believer.
Tractate 12, section 5Gregory of Elvira · ca. 360-392 · White wool signifies baptism and purple martyrdom, but Christ's blood, the scarlet, is brighter than all; as only Rahab's house survived Jericho, only those within the Church will be saved at the end.
Tractate 14, section 3Gregory of Elvira · ca. 360-392 · Gideon's trumpets, empty jars and torches figure the soul: the jars are bodies broken by mortification or martyrdom and remade in baptism; the torches are the light of faith and martyrdom; Abraham's 318 show the cross and Jesus' name.
Tractate 15, section 1Gregory of Elvira · ca. 360-392 · Elisha's healing of Jericho's waters with salt in an earthen vessel figures the Word made flesh, whose baptism made the waters fruitful to beget children of God.
Tractate 15, section 2Gregory of Elvira · ca. 360-392 · Christ was baptized not for forgiveness but to sanctify the water; the sweetened waters of Marah, the struck rock, the water and blood from his side, and the twelve springs of Elim all figure baptism and the apostles.
Tractate 15, section 3Gregory of Elvira · ca. 360-392 · The grace of baptism is equal for all, forgiving every sin, like the one denarius and the equal manna; afterwards believers are distinguished by their deeds, as in the parable of the sower.
Tractate 17, section 3Gregory of Elvira · ca. 360-392 · Paul excludes from the kingdom not the substance of the flesh but its works; Christ rose in the flesh, the flesh shares the sacraments and will share the reward, and nature itself foreshadows resurrection.
Tractate 18, section 3Gregory of Elvira · ca. 360-392 · The three youths refused to worship Antichrist's image before Christ suffered; much more should Christians, soldiers sworn in baptism, endure every torment and even death for Christ; Gregory ends asking the martyrs to remember the faithful.
Tractate 20, section 2Gregory of Elvira · ca. 360-392 · The Spirit came at the incarnation and again on Christ at his baptism so that, resting in Christ's flesh, he might flow from him to the baptized; Gregory lists the Spirit's works in regeneration, sanctification, orthodoxy and the gifts sent at Pentecost.
Letter 147Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 360–390 · Gregory urges a newly baptized man whose wife and daughter were wronged not to seek the offender's blood under Roman law but to forgive, leaving him to God.
To Constantius 4.1Hilary of Poitiers · 360 · The bishops offer the emperor their own creeds instead of the faith confessed in baptism.
To Constantius 4.2Hilary of Poitiers · 360 · Some confess the baptismal names while emptying them of their real meaning.
To Constantius 4.3Hilary of Poitiers · 360 · The habit of writing new creeds has produced as many faiths as wills, and so no faith at all.
To Constantius 6.1Hilary of Poitiers · 360 · Writing new creeds implies that the faith of baptism was no faith at all.
To Constantius 7.1Hilary of Poitiers · 360 · As sailors return to port in a storm, the church should return to the one gospel faith of baptism.
To Constantius 11.2Hilary of Poitiers · 360 · Hilary will hold no faith beyond this baptismal confession, which agrees with the fathers' faith.
Treatise on the Mysteries 1.3.6Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–366 · Hilary reads 1 Tim 2:15 of the church saved through her faithful children, rejecting salvation by childbearing.
Treatise on the Mysteries 1.28.3Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–366 · Pharaoh's daughter finds Moses, his sister brings his mother to nurse him, and he is adopted.
Treatise on the Mysteries 1.31.4Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–366 · The hand's restoration shows the glory is still future; water turned to blood signifies baptism leading to the Eucharist.
Tractates on the Psalms 1.17Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The one tree of life on both sides of the river in Revelation signifies the single mystery of baptism; its leaves are the healing words of preaching.
Tractates on the Psalms 2.29Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Christ, born of the virgin and again at baptism (where the words of Psalm 2:7 were heard), remained the same Son of God.
Tractates on the Psalms 2.30Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Acts 13 refers Psalm 2:7 to the resurrection, and Matthew 28 shows that the risen Christ received all power.
Tractates on the Psalms 2.41Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Breaking the potter's vessel also signifies death and the resurrection of the same body transformed, and our dying with Christ in baptism.
Tractates on the Psalms 14.6Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The first requirements are a life kept spotless after baptism and the actual doing of righteousness.
Tractates on the Psalms 14.14Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The baptismal renunciation is an oath that must be kept to the end, since former righteousness is lost by later failure.
Tractates on the Psalms 52.21Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Jacob, the supplanter, signifies the Gentile believer who takes the place of the elder people; Israel, "one who sees God," the baptized believer who sees God by faith.
Tractates on the Psalms 63.7Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The danger is from tongues: false teachers aim their arrows at the "spotless," the newly baptized, not yet firm or instructed in the faith.
Tractates on the Psalms 63.11Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · When the searchers fail, the man of deep heart exalts God; the simple teaching of the newly reborn, the "arrows of little ones," defeats false doctrines.
Tractates on the Psalms 64.15Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The prophet prays that the streams of grace in the baptized be made to overflow; the first drops of the Spirit's gifts grow into streams and rivers.
Tractates on the Psalms 65.11Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The crossing of the Jordan benefits all because there John baptized and the Lord consecrated the waters of baptism.
Tractates on the Psalms 67.33Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Egypt’s envoys are those present at Pentecost, and Ethiopia is the eunuch who hastened to baptism; all kingdoms will come to God.
Tractates on the Psalms 91.9Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Those in Christ enter God’s rest; through his assumed flesh we are joined to him, if we put off the old man in baptism and crucify the flesh.
Tractates on the Psalms 118.3.5Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Even after baptism a further cleansing remains: by the Spirit, by the fire of judgment, by death, and by martyrdom.
Tractates on the Psalms 118.3.9Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The bright commandment to love God enlightens us now, in baptism and obedience, so that we may later see the hidden commandments, passing from light to light and glory to glory.
Tractates on the Psalms 118.15.13Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The psalmist asks that his flesh be nailed with Christ through fear of God, dying and being buried with him so as to become a new man.
Tractates on the Psalms 118.18.8Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The Exodus wonders, the conquest, and the law's rites find their truth in the church: circumcision of the heart, baptism in the Jordan, the true Passover, and the bread of sincerity.
Tractates on the Psalms 129.8Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Hilary distinguishes iniquity (sinning outside God's law, as the Gentiles do) from sin within the law; iniquities are washed away in baptism.
Tractates on the Psalms 134.19Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Egypt is the world, struck by God's judgment; the signs 'in its midst' are the wonders at Christ's cross, and Pharaoh drowned is the devil overthrown in baptism.
Tractates on the Psalms 136.7Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The willows, which revive by water, signify the saints reborn in baptism; the instruments hung on them are our bodies, raised from earthly desires by the example of the saints.
Tractates on the Psalms 138.6Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Christ was proved by humbling himself in baptism, temptation, and the passion, and each time acknowledged: by the Father's voice, by the angels, and at the transfiguration.
Tractates on the Psalms 150.1Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The 150 psalms, divided by the translators into three fifties, trace the stages of salvation: baptism and forgiveness, resurrection to judgment, and spiritual glory and praise, which the last psalm completes.
Sermon on Baptism 1Pacian of Barcelona · ca. 360-390 · Pacian opens his baptismal sermon by describing the death and bondage in which humanity, descended from Adam, lay before baptism.
Sermon on Baptism 2Pacian of Barcelona · ca. 360-390 · Pacian explains how Adam’s sin brought death on all, hidden before the law and exposed but not cured by it, until grace came through Christ.
Sermon on Baptism 5Pacian of Barcelona · ca. 360-390 · Pacian argues that as Adam’s sin passed to his whole race, so Christ’s righteousness passes to his.
Sermon on Baptism 6Pacian of Barcelona · ca. 360-390 · Pacian explains that Christians are born of Christ’s union with the church through the Spirit in baptism, chrism, and the bishop’s ministry, and so are renewed for eternal life.
Sermon on Baptism 7Pacian of Barcelona · ca. 360-390 · Pacian urges the newly baptized to keep the life they have received, renouncing the devil once for all, and warns that returning to sin brings a worse bondage.
Three Letters to Sympronianus 1.6Pacian of Barcelona · ca. 360-390 · Pacian argues that the power to bind and loose given to the apostles has passed to the bishops along with baptism and chrism.
Three Letters to Sympronianus 3.1Pacian of Barcelona · ca. 360-390 · Pacian sums up the Novatian treatise (no repentance after baptism; the church cannot forgive mortal sin) and asks by what authority Novatian, so late, could teach a new gospel.
Three Letters to Sympronianus 3.3Pacian of Barcelona · ca. 360-390 · Pacian argues that the Novatians, separated from the church, have neither its baptism nor its Spirit, and that receiving the lapsed did not make the whole church apostate, since each dies for his own sin.
Three Letters to Sympronianus 3.7Pacian of Barcelona · ca. 360-390 · Pacian answers that bishops who discipline penitents do not acknowledge deniers but correct them, and that it is God, through them, who forgives.
Three Letters to Sympronianus 3.8Pacian of Barcelona · ca. 360-390 · Pacian distinguishes baptism, a free gift, from penance, a labour of the few who fall, and argues that Scripture calls the baptized to repentance.
Three Letters to Sympronianus 3.9Pacian of Barcelona · ca. 360-390 · Pacian answers that offering penance does not encourage sin, since penance is hard, and that Christ who died for sinners remains their advocate after baptism.
Three Letters to Sympronianus 3.11Pacian of Barcelona · ca. 360-390 · Pacian refutes the Novatian claim that the power to bind and loose applied only to catechumens, appealing to Matt 16 and 18.
Three Letters to Sympronianus 3.22Pacian of Barcelona · ca. 360-390 · Pacian calls the heretical congregation the adulterous woman and shows that Cyprian’s On the Lapsed, cited by Sympronian, concerns those who refuse to repent.
Against the Manichees, Greek continuation of book 3, Lagarde p. 102Titus of Bostra · ca. 360s · Christ’s baptism, hunger, weariness, crucifixion and burial prove his real body; he came in a body to free our bodies, which God made.
Commentary on Ephesians 3.1Marius Victorinus · ca. 360–363 · Paul presents his authority as prisoner of Christ for the Gentiles, entrusted with the gospel by revelation, and Victorinus reflects that God may still make a Christian by revelation, though the lawful way is rebirth by water and the Spirit.
Commentary on Ephesians 4.5Marius Victorinus · ca. 360–363 · There is one Lord, one faith, and one baptism, given in the name of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and baptism given otherwise is no baptism; and there is one God, since God is in the Son and the Son in God.
Commentary on Ephesians 5.7Marius Victorinus · ca. 360–363 · The Ephesians, once darkness but now light in the Lord through baptism, must separate from the sons of unbelief and live as sons of light in goodness, righteousness, and truth.
Commentary on Ephesians 5.25Marius Victorinus · ca. 360–363 · Husbands must love their wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself to cleanse her in baptism, which Victorinus applies to a husband’s patient endurance for his wife’s sanctification.
Commentary on Ephesians 5.27Marius Victorinus · ca. 360–363 · Christ gave himself so that the church might be glorious, holy through the washing of water and the word, and without spot or wrinkle.
Commentary on Galatians 3.27Marius Victorinus · ca. 360–363 · Those baptized into Christ have put on Christ and are therefore sons of God in him.
Commentary on Galatians 4.19Marius Victorinus · ca. 360–363 · Paul, father of the Galatians through baptism and renewal, labors again until Christ, the spirit, is formed in their souls, which brings them to salvation.
Oration 4.52Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · On taking power Julian openly renounced Christianity and is said to have tried to wash off his baptism with sacrificial blood.
Oration 5.3Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · The temple rebuilding was stopped by earthquake and fire; a cross appeared in the sky and on people's clothing, and many sought baptism.
Oration 6.17Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · Israel prospered while united and fell through faction; Gregory distinguishes good from bad peace, urges reconciliation with the father, and ends with a confession of the Trinity.
Oration 7.15Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · Saved from the earthquake at Nicaea, Caesarius resolved to leave the world, but died of illness; he was buried with Christian honours after his baptism.
Oration 8.14Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · Gregory apostrophizes Gorgonia's asceticism, her purity after baptism, and her victory over the legacy of Eve, and turns to the rewards God gave her in this life.
Oration 8.20Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · Gorgonia was baptized late, though her life was already pure, and obtained the baptism of her husband.
Oration 18.10Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · Gregory describes his mother’s reverence and her prayers for her husband’s conversion, his dream of a psalm, and his admission as a catechumen by bishops travelling to Nicaea in a rite resembling ordination.
Oration 18.13Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · Gregory tells how his father prepared for baptism with great purity and how a light shone round him as he came up from the water, so that the bishop proclaimed him his successor.
Oration 18.31Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · Gregory recalls a storm at sea, while he was still unbaptized, in which his parents’ prayers and a vision of his mother brought the ship safely to Rhodes, and he vowed himself to God.
Oration 23.1Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · Gregory rejects both tritheism and an Arian view that makes the Son and Spirit creatures, sets out the Trinity as one Godhead from one timeless principle, and rejoices in the reconciliation of the orthodox before their opponents.
Oration 33.17Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · Gregory refuses a baptism that makes the Son or Spirit a creature and appeals to the baptismal confession into the one name of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Oration 34.11Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · Gregory says that he fears the threat against blasphemy of the Spirit, which consists in denying his Godhead, and refuses a baptism that falsifies any of the three.
Oration 34.12Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · Gregory argues that if the Spirit were not God he could not deify the baptized, and that a baptism denying his Godhead would deceive and blacken those who receive it.
Oration 37.17Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · Gregory urges the eunuchs to be chaste towards the Godhead: to call the Son or the Spirit a creature dishonours the whole Trinity, which, like one pearl, is damaged as a whole if any part is.
Oration 39.1Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · The feast of the Lights, which celebrates Christ's baptism, is a lofty mystery, unlike pagan rites, that purifies us and restores the light darkened by sin.
Oration 39.2Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · Christ the light of the world calls us to be enlightened and born again, to recover the first Adam, and to become light from his light.
Oration 39.3Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · Christian baptism is neither the shadowy purification of the law nor like the pagan mysteries, which are demonic inventions disguised as myth.
Oration 39.13Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · God made man to worship him on earth and, when man fell, became man without ceasing to be God, deceiving the deceiver; Christ's baptism teaches reverence for purification, humility before the church's ministers, and patience before teaching.
Oration 39.15Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · Christ comes to John's baptism to bury the old Adam and sanctify the Jordan; Gregory explains John's reluctance and the images of fan, fire, axe, sword and sandal-thong.
Oration 39.16Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · Christ rises from the water, the heavens open, and the Spirit comes as a dove; after a gap, Gregory names the baptisms of martyrdom and of tears.
Oration 39.19Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · Gregory rejects the Novatianist refusal to readmit the repentant, warns of the final baptism of fire, and ends with the hope that the baptized will become perfect lights before the Trinity.
Oration 40.1Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · After the feast of the Lights, Gregory turns on the following day to speak of baptism and its benefits.
Oration 40.2Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · There are three births, from the body, from baptism and from the resurrection, and Christ honoured all three in himself.
Oration 40.3Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · Baptism, called illumination, is praised by a long list of titles as the most beautiful of God's gifts.
Oration 40.4Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · Baptism is called gift, grace, baptism, anointing, illumination, garment, bath and seal, and each name is explained.
Oration 40.7Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · Baptism cleanses body and soul by water and Spirit, and is a covenant with God for a new life; since there is no second regeneration, the baptized must guard its grace, though repentance with tears can heal, if with scars.
Oration 40.9Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · It is better to keep baptismal grace than to rely on the uncertain remedy of later penance; the baptized, armed with the seal, can repel the devil's temptations as Christ did.
Oration 40.10Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · Gregory urges his hearers to be baptized now, while they are healthy and in control of their minds, rather than putting it off until their deathbed.
Oration 40.12Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · Baptism should not wait for a fever; there should be time to work with its grace and earn a reward; the saved are slaves, hirelings or sons, and every moment is the time for baptism.
Oration 40.13Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · There is a time for everything else, but the time for salvation is always; the devil robs us by small delays, and sudden death can come in countless ways.
Oration 40.15Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · Baptism, the seal, protects in life and is the best shroud in death; the devil persuades people to delay it out of fear of spoiling it, but catechumens should enter fully and take up the shield of faith.
Oration 40.17Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · Young and old alike should seek baptism now, and parents should have their infants baptized rather than trusting in amulets.
Oration 40.18Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · Baptism benefits virgins, the married, those in authority and slaves, rich and poor; those engaged in public affairs should not fear it; and the parable of the labourers does not justify delaying baptism.
Oration 40.19Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · Against the claim that the desire for baptism suffices, Gregory distinguishes those who receive baptism: the wholly wicked, the half-wicked, and the already virtuous, of whom those who prepare and then cultivate the gift are best.
Oration 40.20Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · Of those who die unbaptized, those who despise baptism will be punished, those who delay will be punished less, and those who could not receive it, such as infants, will be neither glorified nor punished; desire alone does not equal baptism.
Oration 40.21Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · Gregory urges his hearers not to wait for Epiphany, Easter or Pentecost to be baptized, since death may come unexpectedly, and to hasten lest sinners seize the kingdom first.
Oration 40.23Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · Only the last words of section 25 survive in the scan: in baptism the more eager is the richer.
Oration 40.26Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · Gregory urges immediate baptism and warns against choosing a baptizer by rank or holiness: as gold and iron rings make the same impression, so every approved minister confers the same baptism.
Oration 40.27Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · Gregory urges the rich, the noble and masters not to disdain being baptized with the poor and slaves, to confess their sins and accept exorcism, and to receive God's free gift; infants in danger should be baptized.
Oration 40.28Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · Circumcision and the blood on the doorposts show that those without understanding can be sealed; otherwise Gregory advises baptizing children at about three years of age, when they can hear and answer.
Oration 40.29Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · To the objection that Christ was baptized at thirty, Gregory answers that Christ, being God, needed no cleansing and ran no risk in waiting.
Oration 40.30Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · Christ ran no risk in delaying baptism, since he controlled his own suffering and birth.
Oration 40.31Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · Christ was baptized at thirty for reasons proper to him: to avoid display, at the age for teaching, and so that all the events leading to the passion might follow in one sequence; his example does not justify our delay.
Oration 40.32Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · Our observances of fasting, the Passover and baptism follow Christ's but at different times; the baptized should show gratitude by prayer, tears and generosity to the poor, strangers, the sick, the naked and debtors.
Oration 40.33Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · Baptism must reform character as well as wash away sins; it does not forgive the continued keeping of ill-gotten goods; those raised from the tomb of sin should not bind themselves again.
Oration 40.34Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · Gregory applies Christ's healings to the baptized: the cleansed leper should be grateful, the withered hand stretched out in giving, the deaf and blind open to the Word and the light of the Trinity, and the gift guarded with care.
Oration 40.35Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · Using the parable of the returning unclean spirit, Gregory warns that the baptized must fill their souls with Christ, lest the evil spirit return with greater force.
Oration 40.36Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · Scripture speaks of the light of the righteous and of a cleansing fire that Christ brings, but also of a punishing fire for the wicked, the unquenchable fire with the sleepless worm.
Oration 40.37Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · Gregory distinguishes the true light from the deceptive one, and calls the baptized to be cleansed and illumined in every sense and member: eyes, ears, tongue, smell, touch, taste, hands, feet, belly and heart.
Oration 40.40Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · The cleansing should reach even the loins and kidneys, the seat of desire, so that the whole person, not only parts, is offered to God as a perfect sacrifice.
Oration 40.41Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · Gregory entrusts to the baptized the confession of Father, Son and Holy Spirit: one Godhead and power in three, each God by himself, the three one God together.
Oration 40.43Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · To subordinate the Son to the Father and the Spirit to the Son insults God; the Father is “greater” only as cause, not in nature; Gregory offers to bear the controversy himself while the baptized keep the unity of the three.
Oration 40.44Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · Gregory declares that he baptizes only in the faith of the undivided Trinity; those who will not accept the full Godhead of the three must seek another baptizer.
Oration 40.45Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · Gregory writes on the hearts of the candidates a “new decalogue” of faith: creation from nothing, evil not created by God, the incarnation, death, resurrection, ascension and return of the Son, judgment, and good works; the rest is taught after baptism.
Oration 40.46Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · The rites after baptism (standing before the sanctuary, psalmody, lamps) foreshadow heaven; Gregory warns, with the parable of the virgins and the wedding feast, against carelessness that would shut the baptized out.
Oration 41.14Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · The Spirit, promised to abide for ever, creates with the Son both creation and the new birth, and transforms shepherds, goatherds, youths, fishermen, tax collectors and persecutors into prophets, apostles and evangelists.
Oration 42.15Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · Gregory argues that those who speak of three hypostases and those who speak of three persons mean the same thing, three distinguished by properties, not natures, in one essence.
Tractates 1.12.4Zeno of Verona · ca. 362-380 · Zeno explains that man is made of body and soul, with a bodily life and an eternal life gained by faith in baptism, and that the two are at war.
Tractates 1.13.10Zeno of Verona · ca. 362-380 · Zeno describes the spiritual circumcision that began with Mary's conceiving through the ear and was completed on the cross, from whose pierced side the church was formed.
Tractates 1.13.11Zeno of Verona · ca. 362-380 · Zeno contrasts the carnal circumcision of the Jews with the spiritual circumcision of baptism, given to both sexes at every age.
Tractates 1.14.3Zeno of Verona · ca. 362-380 · Zeno describes the spiritual church built on Christ, the one cornerstone, with seven columns, the living sea of the font, three members of one fullness, and twelve gates guarded by the cross.
Tractates 1.14.4Zeno of Verona · ca. 362-380 · Zeno lists the 'wages' given to all the builders of the spiritual church, sacramental gifts, and promises riches to those who persevere.
Tractates 1.16.12Zeno of Verona · ca. 362-380 · Zeno reconciles 'flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom' with the creed's resurrection of the flesh: the flesh is renewed in baptism by the seed of the Spirit and will rise glorious.
Tractates 2.13.2Zeno of Verona · ca. 362-380 · Zeno compares the two Testaments to the split pen and the two coins in the fish's mouth, which is Christ risen from the dead.
Tractates 2.14.4Zeno of Verona · ca. 362-380 · Zeno allegorises the story of Tamar: Shelah is the Gentile people, Tamar the church, and Judah's pledges the law, the cross and the seal of faith, by which the church is justified.
Tractates 2.19.1Zeno of Verona · ca. 362-380 · Zeno teaches that the image of God in man is not the changeable body but the invisible spiritual image of the heavenly man, given in rebirth.
Tractates 2.27.3Zeno of Verona · ca. 362-380 · Zeno allegorises the vine's cultivation as baptism, the Christian life and martyrdom, the persecutors sometimes coming to believe.
Tractates 2.28.1Zeno of Verona · ca. 362-380 · In a short Easter address Zeno warns Christians by Israel's example and rejoices over the newly baptized, new vines of the church.
Tractates 2.30.1Zeno of Verona · ca. 362-380 · Zeno invites the candidates to the font, where Mother Church gives them a new and joyful birth.
Tractates 2.31.1Zeno of Verona · ca. 362-380 · Zeno invites the candidates to enter the font and put off the old man, to come forth clothed in white with the gift of the Spirit.
Tractates 2.32.1Zeno of Verona · ca. 362-380 · Zeno urges the candidates to hasten to the font, the mother who gives birth to a countless crowd without labour.
Tractates 2.33.1Zeno of Verona · ca. 362-380 · Zeno calls the candidates of every race, age and sex to the font, the virgin mother who makes them one body.
Tractates 2.34.1Zeno of Verona · ca. 362-380 · Zeno urges the candidates to plunge into the font, where the old man dies so that they may live.
Tractates 2.35.1Zeno of Verona · ca. 362-380 · Zeno invites the candidates to the font like a bath, where they will be anointed, given the threefold coin of the Trinity, and clothed in white.
Tractates 2.36.1Zeno of Verona · ca. 362-380 · Zeno invites the thirsty candidates to drink at the font, warning that baptism can neither be lost nor repeated.
Tractates 2.37.1Zeno of Verona · ca. 362-380 · In a shorter form of the same invitation Zeno calls the candidates to run like the deer to the font.
Tractates 2.38.1Zeno of Verona · ca. 362-380 · Zeno invites the newly baptized after the Easter fast and vigil to a spiritual banquet in which the figures of Scripture serve the dishes.
Tractates 2.39.1Zeno of Verona · ca. 362-380 · Zeno, on Psalm 32:1, describes baptism as a judgment in which confession brings acquittal and the old man dies so that a new one may live.
Tractates 2.40.1Zeno of Verona · ca. 362-380 · Zeno contrasts imperial pardons, which free the body but leave guilt, with baptism, which removes sin, kills the old man and gives life.
Tractates 2.41.2Zeno of Verona · ca. 362-380 · In a combined form of the two preceding addresses Zeno tells the newly baptized that their debt is cancelled and the old man has died without wound.
Tractates 2.42.1Zeno of Verona · ca. 362-380 · Zeno greets the newly baptized, freed from the chains of sin, and praises the church as a mother who gives one birth to all.
Tractates 2.43.1Zeno of Verona · ca. 362-380 · Zeno greets the newly baptized, now all infants of equal age, and promises to explain their 'horoscope'.
Tractates 2.43.2Zeno of Verona · ca. 362-380 · Zeno reinterprets the twelve signs of the zodiac as Christ, the Testaments, the church's warfare against the devil, and baptism, which makes Jews and Gentiles one people.
Tractates 2.44.1Zeno of Verona · ca. 362-380 · Zeno compares the newly baptized to loaves made from purified wheat and baked not in an oven but in the font.
Tractates 2.44.2Zeno of Verona · ca. 362-380 · Zeno playfully assures his hearers that every newly baptized 'loaf', large or small, has the same weight, stamped with the Trinity.
Tractates 2.45.1Zeno of Verona · ca. 362-380 · Zeno interprets the Easter day and the four seasons: winter is idolatry, spring the font, summer the faithful people, autumn martyrdom, and the day Christ's resurrection.
Tractates 2.46.1Zeno of Verona · ca. 362-380 · Zeno compares the returning Easter day, which sets and rises again, to Christ's passion and resurrection and to the baptism of the candidates.
Tractates 2.47.1Zeno of Verona · ca. 362-380 · A second form of the Easter address comparing the returning day to the baptism of the candidates.
Tractates 2.50.1Zeno of Verona · ca. 362-380 · A fifth form of the Easter address, listing the Easter gifts to priests, ministers, faithful, penitents, catechumens and candidates.
Tractates 2.51.1Zeno of Verona · ca. 362-380 · A sixth form of the Easter address: the day that sets and rises is an example of resurrection, but the baptized never fall into darkness.
Tractates 2.53.1Zeno of Verona · ca. 362-380 · Zeno tells the candidates that on Easter day they will pass through the four seasons: the end of sin, anointing, baptism, the Eucharist and the Spirit.
Tractates 2.54.1Zeno of Verona · ca. 362-380 · Zeno, on the Easter reading of the Exodus, interprets the crossing of the Red Sea as baptism and Miriam as the church.
Tractates 2.63.1Zeno of Verona · ca. 362-380 · Zeno compares the Exodus with Christian salvation point by point: baptism is the true sea, Christ the true leader, bread and drink.
Tractates 2.69.1Zeno of Verona · ca. 362-380 · Zeno interprets the three young men in the furnace as a figure of baptism with the Spirit and fire, in the presence of the Trinity.
Tractates 2.71.1Zeno of Verona · ca. 362-380 · Zeno sees in the sevenfold-heated furnace the spiritual number and the grace of baptism for the three young men.
Against Eunomius 2.22Basil of Caesarea · ca. 364 · Basil answers Eunomius's warning against a 'human' begetting: faith in Father and Son, into whom Christians are baptized, is the heart of the Gospel, and the names indicate a relation, not bodily passion.
Against Eunomius 3.4Basil of Caesarea · ca. 364 · Basil turns from the Spirit's names to his activities: the Spirit makes the heavenly powers firm, perfects human beings, sends the Lord, and fills all things.
Homilies 12.13Basil of Caesarea · ca. 363-378 · The “young child” of Prov 1:4 is the soul newly born in baptism, to whom Proverbs gives perception of present things and understanding of things to come.
Homilies 13.1Basil of Caesarea · ca. 363-378 · Basil reverses Solomon's “time to be born and time to die” for baptism, which brings death to sin and new birth, and urges the delaying catechumens to be baptized at Pascha.
Homilies 13.2Basil of Caesarea · ca. 363-378 · Opening of section 2: the goodness of the Lord must be tasted to be known.
Homilies 13.4Basil of Caesarea · ca. 363-378 · Basil urges self-examination: the baptismal seal marks Christ's own; delaying baptism to enjoy sin is folly, since self-control in old age is mere incapacity and death may come with a fever.
Homilies 13.6Basil of Caesarea · ca. 363-378 · Like the Ethiopian eunuch, the hearer should be baptized without delay; the devil's trick is to say “today for me, tomorrow for God,” but the Christian life, though demanding, is easier than the toils of sin.
Homilies 19.6Basil of Caesarea · ca. 363-378 · Stripping joyfully, the forty encourage one another through the night: they put off the old man and offer themselves as a whole burnt offering of cold.
Homilies 24.4Basil of Caesarea · ca. 363-378 · One essence without two gods: the Son is the Father's perfect image and radiance; the Spirit is a distinct person, inseparable from Father and Son, ranked with them in baptism, and not a creature, as the Pneumatomachians' sophisms claim.
Against Auxentius 6Hilary of Poitiers · 364–365 · The Arians give Christ titles that also fit angels and men while denying that he is true God; the people, hearing the words, believe rightly.
Against Parmenian the Donatist 1.2Optatus of Milevis · ca. 366–385 · Had Christ's peace not been broken by schism, the Donatists would not be acting like the false prophets of Ezekiel, rebaptizing the faithful and destroying souls.
Against Parmenian the Donatist 1.5Optatus of Milevis · ca. 366–385 · Optatus sorts Parmenian's treatise into what favors the Catholics, what favors both sides, and what is mistaken, and argues that Parmenian's own praise of the single flood and single circumcision tells against Donatist rebaptism.
Against Parmenian the Donatist 1.6Optatus of Milevis · ca. 366–385 · Optatus lists the five main points of Parmenian's treatise.
Against Parmenian the Donatist 1.8Optatus of Milevis · ca. 366–385 · Optatus rejects Parmenian's claim that Christ's sinful flesh was cleansed in the Jordan: Christ's flesh was sinless, and his baptism cleansed the water, not himself.
Against Parmenian the Donatist 1.10Optatus of Milevis · ca. 366–385 · Optatus agrees that heretics lack the church's endowments, being outside the one bride of the Song of Songs, but argues that Parmenian, by joining schismatics to heretics, condemned his own party, since the Donatists are the ones who broke away from Caecilian.
Against Parmenian the Donatist 1.12Optatus of Milevis · ca. 366–385 · Heretics, who have abandoned the true creed, alone have false baptisms; schismatics like the Donatists still hold the true sacraments they took with them from the church.
Against Parmenian the Donatist 1.24Optatus of Milevis · ca. 366–385 · The Roman council condemned Donatus for rebaptizing and for laying hands on lapsed bishops, and Miltiades pronounced Caecilian innocent.
Against Parmenian the Donatist 2.6Optatus of Milevis · ca. 366–385 · The second endowment, the angel, belongs with the seven churches of Asia addressed in Revelation, which are in communion with the Catholics, not with the Donatists.
Against Parmenian the Donatist 2.8Optatus of Milevis · ca. 366–385 · The fountain and the seal (the Catholic creed) are endowments that heretics lack; but Parmenian's sixth endowment, the navel of Song 7:2 taken as the altar, is not an endowment at all.
Against Parmenian the Donatist 2.9Optatus of Milevis · ca. 366–385 · The five endowments belong to the Catholic Church throughout the world, and so also to the Catholics in Africa; the Donatists are branches cut off from the tree.
Against Parmenian the Donatist 2.10Optatus of Milevis · ca. 366–385 · Parmenian spoke only of the church's endowments and passed over the sacraments, the Trinity and the faith of the believer, in which baptism truly consists and in which the minister contributes nothing of his own.
Against Parmenian the Donatist 2.12Optatus of Milevis · ca. 366–385 · The Donatists, who pray in the Eucharist for the one church spread throughout the world, contradict their own prayer by rebaptizing even Christians who come from Antioch and Arabia.
Against Parmenian the Donatist 2.21Optatus of Milevis · ca. 366–385 · The Donatists exorcized Catholics, washed the walls of churches, and degraded Catholic clergy to penitents, which Optatus calls a living murder foretold in the Psalms.
Against Parmenian the Donatist 3.2Optatus of Milevis · ca. 366–385 · Optatus reads Isaiah 22 as a prophecy of the Donatist schism: by rebaptizing they diverted the water of the old pool, the one baptism symbolized by the fish ΙΧΘΥΣ (Christ), and God's grief in the valley of Zion (Africa) foretold the events of 347.
Against Parmenian the Donatist 3.9Optatus of Milevis · ca. 366–385 · Only Africa needed the union, because only there had the garment of the church been torn; the mender who pricks some threads is less to blame than the one who tore it, and Catholics and Donatists still share the same sacraments.
Against Parmenian the Donatist 3.11Optatus of Milevis · ca. 366–385 · The Donatist slogans "Look behind you", "Redeem your souls" and "Be Christians" contradict the gospel: Christ alone redeems, and one baptized in the name of the Trinity cannot be called a pagan.
Against Parmenian the Donatist 4.4Optatus of Milevis · ca. 366–385 · Optatus lists the commands of Scripture on peace, unity, single washing, the anointed and mutual love, all of which the Donatists despise.
Against Parmenian the Donatist 4.6Optatus of Milevis · ca. 366–385 · The thief of Psalm 50 is the devil, whom the Donatists help when, by exorcizing and rebaptizing Catholics, they drive out God who dwells in them and leave them empty for the unclean spirit.
Against Parmenian the Donatist 4.7Optatus of Milevis · ca. 366–385 · Ps 141:5 is Christ's prayer not to be anointed by any man, all men being sinners; the Father answered it at the Jordan, anointing him with the Spirit descending as a dove.
Against Parmenian the Donatist 5.1Optatus of Milevis · ca. 366–385 · Optatus begins Book 5 on baptism: Parmenian's own figures of the single flood and single circumcision show that baptism, made holy by the Trinity and not by the minister, cannot be repeated.
Against Parmenian the Donatist 5.2Optatus of Milevis · ca. 366–385 · Parmenian praised the waters that brought forth life at creation, but the Trinity worked that without any human minister, as it does in baptism.
Against Parmenian the Donatist 5.3Optatus of Milevis · ca. 366–385 · Since neither side can judge itself, Optatus appeals to Christ's testament in the gospel: "He who has been washed once has no need to be washed again" and "one faith, one baptism" forbid rebaptism, and Catholics receive Donatist converts without it.
Against Parmenian the Donatist 5.4Optatus of Milevis · ca. 366–385 · Baptism has three elements, the Trinity, the believer's faith and the minister; the first two are unchangeable and decisive, while the minister is a changeable worker, since Scripture says that God, not man, washes.
Against Parmenian the Donatist 5.5Optatus of Milevis · ca. 366–385 · Christ did not rebaptize those baptized by John; Paul's rebaptism of John's disciples at Ephesus concerned a different baptism, not a different minister, so it gives no warrant for repeating baptism in the Trinity.
Against Parmenian the Donatist 5.6Optatus of Milevis · ca. 366–385 · The Donatist maxim "How can one who does not have give?" is not in Scripture; God, not the minister, gives in baptism, as Paul and John the Baptist show.
Against Parmenian the Donatist 5.7Optatus of Milevis · ca. 366–385 · Baptism's gift belongs to God, not the minister: the minister is a workman, like a dyer who cannot give color without the dye, or a vinedresser who cannot make the vine grow, as Paul says of himself and Apollos.
Against Parmenian the Donatist 5.8Optatus of Milevis · ca. 366–385 · The gospel healings show that faith, not the holiness of the one who acts, brings the gift: the mother whose daughter was raised, the centurion, and the woman with the flow of blood.
Against Parmenian the Donatist 5.9Optatus of Milevis · ca. 366–385 · Parmenian's use of Naaman the Syrian proves nothing for rebaptism, since Naaman was washed only once and the credit belongs to the Jordan, not to Elisha.
Against Parmenian the Donatist 5.10Optatus of Milevis · ca. 366–385 · Against Parmenian's reading of the wedding parable, Optatus says the wedding garment is Christ, put on once in baptism; the rebaptized will rise, but stripped of it.
Against Parmenian the Donatist 5.11Optatus of Milevis · ca. 366–385 · If Catholic baptism were void, those baptized by Catholics who have died would be lost; since the Donatists cannot rebaptize the dead, they should not rebaptize the living.
Against Parmenian the Donatist 6.6Optatus of Milevis · ca. 366–385 · The Donatists washed the walls of churches taken from the Catholics with salt water, an act Optatus mocks as inconsistent and designed to frighten simple people into rebaptism.
Against Parmenian the Donatist 7.4Optatus of Milevis · ca. 366–385 · The Donatists call the Catholics the "dying flies" that spoil the ointment (Eccl 10:1), but it is they who destroy the sweetness of the chrism by rebaptizing and reanointing.
Commentary on 1 Corinthians 1:13Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Factions named after men divide Christ, as the heretical sects of Ambrosiaster's day do by claiming parts of the one God-man.
Commentary on 1 Corinthians 1:14–16Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Paul's thanks that he baptized few show that baptism's grace belongs to Christ, not the baptizer, against the Novatians and Donatists.
Commentary on 1 Corinthians 1:17Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Preaching ranks above baptizing, and preaching Christ in worldly eloquence empties the cross, as the false apostles did by denying the incarnation and resurrection.
Commentary on 1 Corinthians 3:1Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Baptized Corinthians who returned to the old life are called carnal; the Spirit departs from the unrepentant and returns on repentance, and Paul taught each according to capacity.
Commentary on 1 Corinthians 3:6Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Preachers and baptizers only plant and water; forgiveness and the Spirit are God's gift, which he can give even without the outward rite.
Commentary on 1 Corinthians 6:11Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · In baptism the Corinthians were washed of all sins, justified and adopted, benefits they lost by following bad teachers.
Commentary on 1 Corinthians 10:1–2Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Israel's passage through the sea under the cloud prefigured baptism, which rescues from death and purifies.
Commentary on 1 Corinthians 12:10Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · One baptism and one Spirit make all believers one body, so none is to be exalted or despised.
Commentary on 1 Corinthians 14:14Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Praying in an unknown tongue, like Latins singing Greek, leaves the mind without fruit, though the Spirit given in baptism knows the prayer.
Commentary on 1 Corinthians 15:29Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Paul cites those who were baptized on behalf of the unbaptized dead, not approving the practice but showing their firm belief in the resurrection.
Commentary on 1 Corinthians 15:30–31Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Those baptized for the dead were not catholics, and their act, like Jephthah's vow, is cited only for its faith; the apostles face daily danger in hope of the resurrection.
Commentary on 1 Timothy 6:12Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Timothy must pursue the virtues opposed to greed and fight the good fight of faith, recalling the confession he made at his baptism.
Commentary on 2 Corinthians 5:2–3Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Believers pray to be clothed with heavenly glory at the resurrection; those who keep their baptism, having put on Christ, will not be found naked.
Commentary on 2 Timothy 2:11–12Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Those who remain in the death to sin given at baptism and endure suffering will live and reign with Christ; those who deny him will be denied.
Commentary on Colossians 2:11–12Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Baptism is the true circumcision of the heart, in which believers die and rise with Christ and renounce the devil, who seeks worship under the guise of the elements.
Commentary on Colossians 2:20Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Baptism means dying to the world and its elements; a baptized person who still reveres them remains bound within the world, estranged from God.
Commentary on Colossians 3:1Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Those risen with Christ in baptism set their minds on heaven, where Christ reigns as judge; resurrection comes first for the soul, then for the body.
Commentary on Ephesians 1:11–12Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · The apostles were chosen from Jews who first hoped in Christ; gentiles who believed were sealed with the Spirit as pledge of the inheritance, if they persevere.
Commentary on Ephesians 4:5–6Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · One Lord, faith, baptism, and God and Father require one mind in the church; the Father dwells in believers by confession and the Spirit.
Commentary on Ephesians 4:11–12Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Ambrosiaster identifies the offices of Eph 4:11 with the church's orders and explains that the freer practice of the earliest church (all baptizing and preaching, presbyters called bishops) later gave way to ordered offices.
Commentary on Ephesians 4:25Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Reborn in baptism as members of one body, believers must put away lying and speak truth to one another.
Commentary on Galatians 3:2Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · The Galatians received the Spirit, then visibly manifest in believers, by faith and not by the law, so submitting to circumcision was folly.
Commentary on Galatians 3:25–26Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · With faith in Christ, believers are freed from the law as tutor and made sons of God through cleansing from sin.
Commentary on Galatians 3:27Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · In baptism believers put on Christ and take his name.
Commentary on Galatians 4:19Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Born in baptism but deformed by error, the Galatians need Paul's labour again until Christ is formed in them.
Commentary on Galatians 6:15–16Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · What counts is the new creation of regeneration; God's peace rests on the Israel of God, believing Jews and gentiles alike.
Commentary on Philemon 1:10–14Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Paul, who baptized the runaway Onesimus in his Roman custody, humbly asks rather than commands Philemon to receive him back, now useful to both.
Commentary on Philemon 1:15–16Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Onesimus’s flight led to his conversion, so that he returns as Philemon’s brother, since all descend from Adam and faith removes pride.
Commentary on Romans 4:6Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Ambrosiaster takes David’s blessedness to refer to the forgiveness given without works in baptism, where the apostle adds justification and adoption as sons.
Commentary on Romans 4:23–25Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Abraham’s faith is a pattern for those who believe in the God who raised Jesus; through Christ’s death and resurrection believers are forgiven, justified and adopted as sons of God.
Commentary on Romans 6:2Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Through the spiritual washing of baptism believers died to sin and live to God, and must not return to their former evils.
Commentary on Romans 6:3Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · In baptism we die with Christ, our sins die, and we are reborn in mind with the hope of resurrection.
Commentary on Romans 6:4Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Buried with Christ in baptism, the pledge and image of resurrection, believers are spiritually washed and walk in the new life of Christ’s precepts.
Commentary on Romans 6:5Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Those who die to their vices in baptism and sin no more will share in Christ’s resurrection.
Commentary on Romans 7:24–25Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Born under sin, man is freed from the “body of death”, the whole of his sins, by grace through baptism; the freed mind serves God’s law, while the flesh, still under Adam’s sentence, remains open to the devil’s suggestions until the resurrection.
Commentary on Romans 8:10Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · The body of one whom the Holy Spirit leaves through sin is dead, but the Spirit, given to the baptized for justification, is life and cannot die.
Commentary on Romans 8:12Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Freed from Adam’s inheritance of death and washed in the Spirit, we owe obedience not to the flesh but to Christ, an obedience that profits us, not him.
Commentary on Romans 11:28Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Israel’s unbelief opened the way for the gentiles, but the Jews remain beloved for the fathers’ sake, and if they believe, baptism will forgive them freely without the penance required for grave sins.
Commentary on Romans 13:12Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · The night, the old self, has passed through baptism; believers must cast off carnal works and put on good deeds as the arms of light.
Commentary on Romans 14:20Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Man, God’s work by creation and rebirth, must not be ruined for the sake of food; all food is clean, but becomes evil for one who eats against his conscience.
Commentary on Titus 3:4–7Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · God saved us by mercy, not works, through the washing of rebirth and the Spirit poured out through Christ, who helps us do good works and so inherit the kingdom.
Letter to the Africans 11Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 369 · The bishops close by noting that the Nicene creed also confesses the Holy Spirit, so that the faith is in the holy Trinity, into which Christians are baptized.
Question 30, section 1Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · The righteous man accuses himself first because confessing the truth about one’s sin is righteousness; the saying also fits the catechumen who seeks to be changed.
Question 40, section 1Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · The barren woman told to rejoice is the heavenly Jerusalem, our mother, who is Life, deserted by Adam; Father, Son, and Spirit are one life, in faith in which we are reborn.
Question 44, section 10Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · Circumcision, though older than Moses, belonged to its time; the new covenant has its own sign and name, so that believers are called Christians after Christ as Hebrews were named after Abraham.
Question 47, section 3Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · The seven women, already fed by the law and clothed with God’s name, still ask Christ to take away their reproach, the sins the law could not remove.
Question 47, section 4Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · Even the faithful under the law needed cleansing from personal and ancestral sin; through faith in Christ they are freed from the underworld and enter paradise, and the heavenly powers too need Christ’s name.
Question 47, section 5Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · Isaiah’s cleansing of the sons and daughters is the forgiveness revealed in Christ, which all need: sinners for their own sins, the righteous for Adam’s.
Question 49, section 1Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · Christ, anointed and purified by the Spirit in the womb, needed no baptism, but was baptized to fulfill righteousness and show believers the gift of the Spirit they receive in baptism.
Question 49, section 2Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · Christ was baptized to confirm by example that people become God’s children through rebirth, by which they receive power.
Question 54, section 1Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · Christ is Son of God eternally and by birth in the flesh; the voice at his baptism was for believers, and his reception of the Spirit there confirmed in him the sacrament by which the baptized become God’s children.
Question 58, section 1Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · John knew Jesus from the womb, but learned only at the baptism that he was the one to fulfil the promise to the fathers and baptize in the Spirit.
Question 59, section 1Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · In baptism the visible water cleanses the body, but the unseen Spirit cleanses the soul through faith.
Question 59, section 2Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · Jesus used the wind, heard but not seen, as an earthly example to show Nicodemus that the Spirit’s work in baptism is heard and believed but not seen.
Question 59, section 3Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · Jesus’ “earthly things” were the wind example; as human sonship helps us believe in God’s true Son, so the wind makes credible the incomprehensible work of the Spirit.
Question 69, section 2Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · The law’s ritual burdens ended for ever, while its condemning sentence ends only for those who keep the forgiveness received in baptism; those who relapse fall under it again.
Question 81, section 1Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · Answering why Jews are born Jews but Christians are not born Christians, Ambrosiaster says Jewishness passes by birth under devotion to the Creator, while one becomes a Christian only by faith, which adds a real dignity to nature.
Question 102, section 9Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · In baptism God forgives all sins freely without penance; sins committed afterward can still be forgiven, but through the groans and tears of penance.
Question 102, section 12Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · Christ said all sins except blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will be forgiven, so Novatian cannot exclude sexual sin and idolatry, which are forgiven through penance or baptism.
Question 102, section 16Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · Novatian holds that serious sins after baptism cannot be forgiven, but that would make the New Testament less merciful than the Old and contradict Christ, who came to save and commands us to forgive seventy times seven.
Question 102, section 27Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · Novatian denies that Catholics are Christians, yet they share his baptismal faith and confession, which alone makes a Christian.
Question 102, section 29Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · The benefit of the faith handed on in the sacraments does not depend on the merit of the minister, for God gives the growth.
Question 102, section 30Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · A believer who comes in faith to God’s minister receives what God gives, whatever the minister’s life, as the believer could rightly plead before God.
Question 102, section 31Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · Like an advocate whose private life does not affect his client’s case, a bishop only performs his office, while God judges the faith of those who come for baptism.
Question 115, section 5Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · Fatalism, Satan’s device, removes both guilt and merit, contradicting the baptismal renunciation of Satan and making praise and blame meaningless.
Question 123, section 11Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · Christ not only restored human beings by washing away sin but improved them, giving the Spirit as the sign of adoption as God’s sons when the Trinity was revealed.
Question 123, section 12Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · The Spirit promised by Joel was poured out only after Christ’s glorification, in the washing of regeneration, and is the pledge of eternal life.
Question 125, section 21Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · Since salvation is given in the name of Father, Son, and Spirit, the Spirit must share their divinity; a creature could not be counted with the Creator.
Question 126, section 1Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · Scripture teaches that turning back to God undoes past sin and that believers do not come under condemnation.
Question 126, section 2Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · Faith in Christ brings forgiveness of all sins, but true knowledge of God must show itself in a changed life.
Question 126, section 6Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · Baptismal forgiveness must be followed by a life of struggle in the fear of God to win the reward.
Question 126, section 7Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · Those who put off baptism to the deathbed so as to sin freely in life are mocking God, who abhors sin and is not mocked.
Question 126, section 8Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · Some ask to be baptized only when unconscious and dying, lest they recover as Christians, and so fall under Christ’s warning against those ashamed of him.
Question 126, section 9Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · Baptism benefits only those who consciously believe and confess, since God sees the heart; one who receives it unconscious does not truly receive the faith.
Question 126, section 10Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · Some delay baptism out of reverent fear of sinning after it, but others to keep sinning and then secure forgiveness at death.
Question 126, section 11Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · To sin deliberately while planning a deathbed baptism is to “do evil that good may come,” and such people can hardly expect pardon.
Question 126, section 12Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · Sins are forgiven by the gift of baptism or, for sins after baptism, by penance with tears.
Question 126, section 13Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · A pagan who believes sincerely on his deathbed is forgiven and spared the underworld, but without the reward of those who served Christ through life.
Question 126, section 15Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · A deathbed believer who hedges his bets has not amended his life, which should have been done in this life where the sins were committed.
Question 127, section 23Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · Rebirth in baptism does not condemn birth but renews it, washing the body stained by the soul’s sin so that it may rise again.
Question 127, section 36Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · Bishops and deacons, who daily act in Christ’s place at prayer, the offering, and baptism, must keep a purity beyond that of lay people, as courtiers do in the emperor’s presence.
Letter 14.2Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome rebukes Heliodorus as a soldier of Christ who has left the battle for home comforts and urges him to let nothing hold him back.
Letter 14.10Jerome · ca. 370–419 · In a famous closing hymn to the desert, Jerome answers every fear of the ascetic life with the promises of Christ.
Letter 53.5Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome shows from the sealed book of the Apocalypse and the Ethiopian eunuch that Scripture needs a teacher.
Letter 60.8Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome declines to praise Nepotian's ancestry, since a Christian's life is reckoned from his rebirth in baptism.
Letter 64.5Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome applies the rule that the high priest must not leave the sanctuary to the bishop's duty to live blamelessly and keep his baptismal garment.
Letter 64.19Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome begins the spiritual interpretation: the washing of the priests signifies baptism, and the linen garment the purity of the reborn.
Letter 64.20Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome interprets the blue robe, ephod, and breastplate as the higher knowledge, good works, and true teaching required of a priest, works coming before teaching.
Letter 65.14Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome interprets the myrrh, stacte, and cassia of the king's garments as the virgin's mortification and praise, and explains the 'ivory houses'.
Letter 69.2Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome defends a Spanish bishop who married once before and once after baptism, arguing that baptism makes a wholly new man and recalling a debate at Rome.
Letter 69.3Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome quotes Paul's qualifications for bishops and argues that a marriage before baptism cannot count against a man when every sin before baptism is forgiven.
Letter 69.4Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome contrasts the honourable first marriage of the accused bishop with the sexual sins of his accusers, which baptism has forgiven.
Letter 69.6Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome praises water and baptism by tracing water through the Scriptures, from creation to the apostles.
Letter 69.7Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome cites Scripture on the complete cleansing and newness given in baptism, which leaves no room for a first marriage to count against a man.
Letter 74.5Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome continues the allegory: Solomon as Christ tests the two women with the sword, and the true mother, the church, will not see her child divided between law and grace.
Letter 78.1Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome opens his treatise for Fabiola on Israel's stations in the wilderness by showing from Scripture that the exodus is to be read spiritually as well as historically.
Letter 78.7Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome interprets the Red Sea crossing and Marah ('bitterness'), whose waters were sweetened, as the bitter letter made sweet by the cross.
Letter 85.2Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome states Paulinus's two questions: on the hardening of Pharaoh's heart and free will, and on the holiness of children of believers.
Letter 85.5Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome explains that the children of believers are called 'holy' in the sense of being clean and set apart, as vessels in the tabernacle are called holy.
Letter 96.20Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Theophilus closes by urging repentance, prayer, almsgiving, and care for the sick and imprisoned, confesses the Trinity, and announces the dates of Lent and Easter for 401.
Letter 98.10Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Theophilus rejects Origen's teaching that the material world and bodies came into being because of the fall of rational beings.
Letter 98.13Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Theophilus rejects Origen's teaching that the Spirit and the Word act only in rational beings, citing the consecration of baptismal water and the eucharistic elements and Christ's miracles.
Letter 106.17Jerome · ca. 370–419 · On Ps 29 (LXX 28) Jerome defends 'everyone' against a literal 'every whoever' and explains his rendering 'makes the flood to be inhabited', which he refers to baptism.
Letter 107.2Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome urges Laeta not to despair of her father's conversion, citing the penitent thief, Nebuchadnezzar, the prefect Gracchus who destroyed a Mithraeum, and the spread of Christianity among the nations.
Letter 107.6Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome argues that parents answer for the upbringing of children not yet able to judge, including their baptism, and that a child vowed to God must be guarded with special care.
Letter 108.11Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Paula travelled the Gaza road recalling the Ethiopian eunuch, visited Eshcol, Mamre, and Hebron, and looked out over the land of Sodom, drawing spiritual lessons from each place.
Letter 108.12Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Returning by Jerusalem, Paula visited the Mount of Olives, Bethany, and Bethphage, went down the Jericho road recalling the Good Samaritan and Zacchaeus, and reached Gilgal and the Jordan, whose events Jerome interprets as figures of Christ and baptism.
Letter 112.7Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome cites Acts 10–11 and 15 to show that Peter was the first to hold that Gentiles are free from the law.
Letter 120.9Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome reconciles John 20:22 and the promise of Pentecost: the apostles first received the grace to forgive sins, then at Pentecost the fuller gifts of power and tongues; he rejects the Montanist claim and argues for the Spirit's divinity.
Letter 130.7Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome praises Proba's generosity amid the sack of Rome and the extortions of the count of Africa, and begins his counsel to Demetrias: love Scripture and keep her baptismal renunciation.
Letter 131.5Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Augustine states that the soul sinned by its own will and can be saved only by Christ's grace and sacrament, without which it faces condemnation.
Letter 131.6Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Augustine asks Jerome where an infant's soul contracts the guilt from which baptism frees it, noting that Jerome affirms original sin.
Letter 131.10Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Augustine sets out the difficulty: if each soul is newly created, how can infants dying unbaptized justly be condemned for Adam's sin?
Letter 131.16Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Augustine confesses that he cannot explain, on this view, why infants suffer sickness and afflictions in this life and condemnation without baptism.
Letter 131.20Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Augustine explains that his earlier argument about compensation for suffering infants does not cover infants who die unbaptized.
Letter 131.21Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Augustine argues from 1 Cor 15:22 that no one is made alive except in Christ, so unbaptized infants remain under Adam's condemnation.
Letter 131.22Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Augustine considers the suggestion that an unbaptized infant's soul is saved while only its flesh fails to rise.
Letter 131.23Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Augustine rejects that suggestion from the resurrection of all to life or judgment, and cites Cyprian's ruling that infants may be baptized at once to save their souls.
Letter 131.24Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Augustine insists that the apostolic faith and the church's practice of infant baptism show that baptism is for the soul.
Letter 131.25Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Augustine asks Jerome to reconcile the creation of new souls with the condemnation of unbaptized infants, or else abandon it.
Letter 131.28Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Augustine closes by hoping Jerome can resolve the question, but resolving to accept ignorance rather than any view that denies infants need Christ's grace.
Letter 132.15Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Augustine defines virtue as charity, which is never perfect in this life, so that all must pray for forgiveness; the commandments show us our need of grace.
Letter 144.17Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Augustine lists what he knows about the soul, including that all are born in sin and need rebirth, but confesses that he does not know how souls originate.
Letter 144.20Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Augustine explains that only one of the two books he sent Jerome concerned the soul, and warns Optatus against the Pelagian denial of original sin.
Letter 149.5Jerome · ca. 370–419 · The writer interprets the autumn feasts of trumpets, atonement and tabernacles as pointing to gospel preaching, Christ's blood and the reward of the persecuted.
Synodal Letter 96Amphilochius of Iconium · ca. 376 · The synod upholds Nicaea, whose creed suffices on the Spirit for careful readers; the baptismal command of Matt 28:19 shows three hypostases and one nature against Sabellius, the Anomoeans, Arians and Pneumatomachi.
Synodal Letter 98Amphilochius of Iconium · ca. 376 · The Spirit is not a creature but is named in baptism; the synod confesses one principle and three hypostases, urges peace and unity, and requires the Spirit to be glorified with the Father and the Son.
On the Holy Spirit 10.24Basil of Caesarea · ca. 374–375 · The Lord himself joined the Spirit with the Father and the Son in the baptismal command, so the church may rightly do the same.
On the Holy Spirit 10.26Basil of Caesarea · ca. 374–375 · We were saved and baptised into Father, Son, and Spirit, and must never abandon that baptismal confession.
On the Holy Spirit 11.27Basil of Caesarea · ca. 374–375 · Those who deny the Spirit break the confession they made at baptism, and without the Spirit there is no true faith in the Son or the Father.
On the Holy Spirit 12.28Basil of Caesarea · ca. 374–375 · Baptism must always be given in the names of Father, Son, and Spirit, since faith and baptism are joined and both rest on the same three names.
On the Holy Spirit 14.31Basil of Caesarea · ca. 374–375 · Baptism "into Moses" in the cloud and sea was only a type of Christian baptism, which it foreshadowed.
On the Holy Spirit 14.32Basil of Caesarea · ca. 374–375 · A type does not make its fulfilment small; the baptism into Moses had none of the gifts of Christian baptism.
On the Holy Spirit 15.34Basil of Caesarea · ca. 374–375 · The opponents object that baptism in water would, by Basil's logic, give honour to water.
On the Holy Spirit 15.35Basil of Caesarea · ca. 374–375 · Baptism imitates Christ's death and burial: the water gives the image of death, and the Spirit gives new life.
On the Holy Spirit 15.36Basil of Caesarea · ca. 374–375 · Through the Spirit come adoption and every blessing; martyrs baptised in their own blood show that the grace is the Spirit's, not the water's.
On the Holy Spirit 17.43Basil of Caesarea · ca. 374–375 · Counting does not change the nature of what is counted, and the baptismal formula ranks the Spirit with the Son as the Son is ranked with the Father.
On the Holy Spirit 24.55Basil of Caesarea · ca. 374–375 · Scripture gives glory to men, Israel, the heavenly bodies, and even the ministry of the law; the Spirit, joined with the Godhead in faith, baptism, and every gift, cannot be denied glory with the Father and the Son.
On the Holy Spirit 27.66Basil of Caesarea · ca. 374–375 · Much that the church holds comes from unwritten apostolic tradition—the sign of the cross, facing east, the words of the epiclesis, the blessings and threefold immersion of baptism, standing to pray on Sunday and at Pentecost—kept in silence to guard the mysteries.
On the Holy Spirit 27.67Basil of Caesarea · ca. 374–375 · Even the confession of faith in Father, Son, and Spirit is not written as such; if it follows from baptism, the doxology may follow from the faith, and one word handed down from the fathers should be allowed.
On the Holy Spirit 27.68Basil of Caesarea · ca. 374–375 · "In" expresses the Spirit's grace toward us and "with" his fellowship with God; as we are baptized, so we believe, and as we believe, so we glorify.
On the Holy Spirit 28.70Basil of Caesarea · ca. 374–375 · Men expect to be glorified with Christ yet deny the Spirit that glory; the present confusion foreshadows a failure of faith, and blasphemy against the Spirit is unforgivable.
On the Holy Spirit 29.73Basil of Caesarea · ca. 374–375 · Origen, Julius Africanus, the ancient lamp-lighting hymn, and the martyr Athenogenes also glorify the Spirit with the Father and the Son.
On the Holy Spirit 29.75Basil of Caesarea · ca. 374–375 · Basil is no innovator, since his usage has the support of nations, custom, and great teachers; he will endure persecution rather than fear the Lord's threats against blasphemy of the Spirit.
CreedAnonymous · ascribed to 381; first attested 451 · The creed associated with the Council of Constantinople (381), expanding the Nicene creed above all on the Holy Spirit.
Canon 3Anonymous · 374 · Baptized Christians who sacrifice to idols or accept rebaptism may do penance until death, with hope of God's forgiveness.
Ancoratus 7.1Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · The Spirit is third in the baptismal name and seals the one faith and baptism.
Ancoratus 8.7Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Baptism in the one divine name shows the Spirit is not foreign to the Godhead.
Ancoratus 8.8Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · If Son and Spirit were creatures, baptism in their name would make no sense.
Ancoratus 22.6Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · The Father gave the Son and the Spirit to the church, which is sealed in their name.
Ancoratus 56.5Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Baptism cannot be the image; the righteous before it bore the image.
Ancoratus 65.10Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · How Christ is righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.
Ancoratus 68.11Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Circumcision in the Spirit is circumcision of Christ.
Ancoratus 72.8Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · The Spirit leads, blows where he wills, and gives new birth.
Ancoratus 74.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · The subsistent Word, through whom the ages were made.
Ancoratus 81.1Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · The exalted Christ commanded baptism in the threefold name.
Ancoratus 81.7Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · At the Jordan the three are seen distinctly.
Ancoratus 102.2Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Pastors must loosen converts' sandals, which differ.
Ancoratus 115.1Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Loosening sandals prefigures baptism.
Ancoratus 115.2Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Baptism was revealed only to the church.
Ancoratus 115.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Stages of stripping prefigure baptism's new garment.
Ancoratus 116.5Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · The true sabbath and the heavenly circumcision.
Ancoratus 116.6Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Baptism circumcises the whole person.
Ancoratus 117.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · The Spirit descends to purify the waters of baptism.
Ancoratus 118.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · One Trinity, one church, one baptism, one faith.
Ancoratus 118.8Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Catechumens are to be taught the creed word for word.
Ancoratus 118.9Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · The creed: first article, on the Father.
Ancoratus 118.12Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · The creed: baptism, resurrection, and the life to come.
Ancoratus 119.2Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · An expanded creed is given for the baptized.
Ancoratus 119.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · The second creed: on the Father.
Ancoratus 119.11Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · The second creed: church, baptism, resurrection, judgment, and life.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 8.6.7Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Circumcision foreshadowed baptism.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 9.4.8Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Those who crucified Christ needed the cleansing of baptism.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 9.4.9Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Peter's call to repentance and baptism at Pentecost.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 17.2.1Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Daily washing shows lack of faith in the previous washing.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 17.2.2Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Their repeated washing implies each baptism dies.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 17.2.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Water cannot cleanse those who keep sinning.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 17.2.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Only repentance and the one baptism cleanse sins.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 21.1.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Simon was baptized by Philip; the apostles' hands gave the Spirit to the others.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 28.3.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The Spirit falls on Cornelius and Peter permits baptism.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 28.4.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Circumcision served until the washing of regeneration replaced it.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 28.6.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The Cerinthians practised baptism on behalf of the dead.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 28.6.5Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Two explanations of baptism on behalf of the dead.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 30.4.5Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The dying patriarch secretly received baptism.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 30.4.6Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The patriarch asked for “the seal in Christ.”
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 30.4.7Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · He was baptized and received communion in secret.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 30.6.2Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Josephus watched the baptism through the door.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 30.11.7Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Josephus was baptized and told his story to Constantine.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 30.13.6Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The opening of the Ebionite gospel.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 30.13.7Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The Ebionite account of Jesus' baptism.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 30.13.8Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · John asks Jesus to baptize him.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 30.16.1Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · They celebrate a yearly eucharist with unleavened bread and water.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 30.21.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · One who has bathed once needs no further washing.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 30.34.2Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Christ's seal, given to men and women alike, is the perfect circumcision.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 31.22.1Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Some say the Demiurge's psychic Christ passed through Mary, and the Saviour descended on him at baptism.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 31.29.11Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · One who holds the rule of truth received at baptism recognizes Scripture but not the heresy.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 34.7.2Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The dove at the baptism has the number 801, omega and alpha.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 34.10.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · At the baptism a higher power descended on Jesus like a dove.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 34.19.2Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Irenaeus calls the rite a satanic denial of baptism.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 34.19.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · They rank their redemption above baptism.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 34.19.5Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Gospel sayings about another baptism are applied to their rite.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 34.20.2Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Others baptize with a Gnostic formula.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 34.20.8Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Some replace water baptism with pouring oil and water.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 40.2.6Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · They reject baptism and the sacraments as belonging to Sabaoth.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 40.2.8Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The knowing soul ascends past the archons.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 40.2.9Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Rejecting baptism, they are flies that spoil the ointment.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 40.3.6Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The Archontics, like beetles, cannot bear the fragrance of baptism.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 42.3.6Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Marcionites allow repeated baptisms, up to three or more.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 42.3.7Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Epiphanius explains repeated baptism as Marcion's answer to ridicule over his own sin.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 42.3.8Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Marcion invented a second and third baptism for those who sin after baptism.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 42.3.10Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Marcion bases repeated baptism on Jesus' sayings about a baptism and a cup still to come.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 42.4.5Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Marcionites let women baptize and celebrate the mysteries before catechumens.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 51.20.6Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The Spirit's descent identified the Son and foreshadowed Christian baptism.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 51.21.12Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The Baptist speaks of the baptism as already past.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 51.21.13Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The dove was the Father's sign to John.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 51.21.24Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · John notes that the Baptist was not yet in prison.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 51.21.25Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Jesus left Judea for Galilee after the Baptist's testimony.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 51.24.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Jesus was baptized on 8 November in his thirtieth year.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 53.1.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · They worship one God with repeated washings.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 55.2.5Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The church’s priesthood has baptism, the greater circumcision.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 55.9.9Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Baptism in the triune name and Paul show the Spirit’s place.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 59.1.2Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Novatus denied restoration to those who fell after baptism.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 59.1.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The church too confesses one baptismal repentance but keeps God’s mercy.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 59.1.5Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The church offers a way back after a fall.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 59.2.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Hebrews means baptism cannot be repeated.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 59.2.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Hebrews at once adds hope of salvation.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 59.2.5Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · No second baptism, but penitents are not cut off from salvation.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 59.2.7Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Like lost virginity, baptismal innocence cannot be regained.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 59.2.8Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Repentance after baptism is a second, lesser, but saving remedy.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 59.5.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Baptismal repentance is not repeated.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 59.5.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · One baptism, one cross; so guard against falling.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 59.5.6Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · God accepts repentance after baptism.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 59.6.1Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The church neither promises impunity nor denies hope.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 61.4.10Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Sinlessness comes through baptism.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 61.4.11Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Baptism is for virgins and non-virgins alike.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 62.4.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The baptismal formula distinguishes the three.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 64.33.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Sin’s roots remain while the body lives.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 64.33.5Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Even the baptized still sin.
On Cain and Abel 1.19Ambrose · ca. 375-378 · Instead of pleasure's feast, come to the banquet of wisdom and of the church, where Christ serves the food of his word and sacraments in a house vast and well founded.
On Cain and Abel 2.10Ambrose · ca. 375-378 · Israel freed from brick-making in Egypt exchanged labour for fruit, as Christ calls the labouring Gentiles to his rest; we are both cleansed by baptism and redeem our sins by good works, faith and mercy.
On Cain and Abel 2.19Ambrose · ca. 375-378 · Of four qualities that commend a sacrifice, the first, "new of the new", signifies those renewed by baptism who offer themselves, nourished by both Testaments and by the truth of Christ's body.
On Paradise 45Ambrose · ca. 375-378 · Ambrose distinguishes further kinds of life and death: dying to sin and living to God, the life of animals, the life of the dead before God, and the death of baptism that is life.
Apostolic Canon 46Anonymous · ca. 380 · Clergy who accept heretical baptism or sacrifice are deposed.
Apostolic Canon 47Anonymous · ca. 380 · True baptism is not repeated; baptism by the ungodly is no baptism.
Apostolic Canon 49Anonymous · ca. 380 · Baptism must be into the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Apostolic Canon 50Anonymous · ca. 380 · Baptism is by threefold immersion, according to the threefold name.
Apostolic Canon 68Anonymous · ca. 380 · Ordination is not repeated, except for those ordained by heretics.
Apostolic Constitutions 2.7.1Anonymous · ca. 380 · Those baptized into Christ’s death must no longer sin.
Apostolic Constitutions 2.7.2Anonymous · ca. 380 · One who sins after baptism and does not repent will be condemned.
Apostolic Constitutions 2.26.4Anonymous · ca. 380 · The bishop is the high priest, father and ruler of the church, to be honoured next after God.
Apostolic Constitutions 2.26.7Anonymous · ca. 380 · Presbyters represent the apostles, widows and orphans the altar, and virgins the altar of incense.
Apostolic Constitutions 2.32.3Anonymous · ca. 380 · Speaking against the bishop is grave, since through him believers received the Spirit, the seal and adoption at baptism.
Apostolic Constitutions 2.33.1Anonymous · ca. 380 · Bishops are spiritual parents, who give baptism, the Spirit, the Eucharist and forgiveness, and must be honoured above natural parents.
Apostolic Constitutions 2.39.3Anonymous · ca. 380 · John the Baptist accepted repentant soldiers and tax collectors.
Apostolic Constitutions 2.39.6Anonymous · ca. 380 · Penitents, like catechumens, may hear the readings but must leave before the prayers until they show the fruit of repentance.
Apostolic Constitutions 2.41.2Anonymous · ca. 380 · The penitent is reconciled by the laying on of hands, which takes the place of baptism for him.
Apostolic Constitutions 3.9.1Anonymous · ca. 380 · Women must not baptize.
Apostolic Constitutions 3.9.4Anonymous · ca. 380 · Christ was baptized by John, not his mother, and sent no women to baptize.
Apostolic Constitutions 3.10.1Anonymous · ca. 380 · Laymen may not perform priestly acts.
Apostolic Constitutions 3.11.1Anonymous · ca. 380 · Only bishops and presbyters baptize, assisted by deacons.
Apostolic Constitutions 3.16.2Anonymous · ca. 380 · At women’s baptism the deacon anoints the forehead and the deaconess the rest.
Apostolic Constitutions 3.16.3Anonymous · ca. 380 · The bishop anoints the head at baptism, as priests and kings once were anointed, for Christians are a royal priesthood.
Apostolic Constitutions 3.16.4Anonymous · ca. 380 · The order of baptism: anointing with oil, immersion in the triune name by bishop or presbyter, reception by deacon or deaconess, then chrism.
Apostolic Constitutions 3.17.1Anonymous · ca. 380 · The meaning of the rites of baptism: death, burial, the Spirit, the cross, confirmation.
Apostolic Constitutions 3.17.2Anonymous · ca. 380 · The Father is named as cause and sender, the Spirit as witness.
Apostolic Constitutions 3.17.3Anonymous · ca. 380 · Immersion signifies dying and rising with Christ.
Apostolic Constitutions 3.18.1Anonymous · ca. 380 · The newly baptized must renounce Satan and live as a son of God, praying the Lord’s Prayer.
Apostolic Constitutions 3.20.2Anonymous · ca. 380 · Presbyters teach, offer, baptize and bless but do not ordain; deacons only serve.
Apostolic Constitutions 5.6.8Anonymous · ca. 380 · A martyr rejoices in his crown, and a catechumen martyr receives in his suffering a truer baptism.
Apostolic Constitutions 5.16.7Anonymous · ca. 380 · The baptized, having died and risen with Christ, must be free of sin, for they belong to him.
Apostolic Constitutions 5.19.4Anonymous · ca. 380 · The Easter vigil is kept with readings, baptism, and prayer for the conversion of Israel.
Apostolic Constitutions 6.7.2Anonymous · ca. 380 · Simon, baptized by Philip, tried to buy from the apostles the power to give the Spirit.
Apostolic Constitutions 6.15.1Anonymous · ca. 380 · There is one baptism, given by blameless priests in the name of the Trinity, not by heretics.
Apostolic Constitutions 6.15.2Anonymous · ca. 380 · Heretical baptism is not to be accepted, nor true baptism repeated.
Apostolic Constitutions 6.15.3Anonymous · ca. 380 · Heretical clergy are not priests, and their baptism defiles.
Apostolic Constitutions 6.15.4Anonymous · ca. 380 · Rebaptizing the baptized insults the Father, the Son and the Spirit.
Apostolic Constitutions 6.15.5Anonymous · ca. 380 · Whoever refuses baptism out of contempt will be condemned.
Apostolic Constitutions 6.15.6Anonymous · ca. 380 · Delaying baptism until death shows ignorance of God.
Apostolic Constitutions 6.15.7Anonymous · ca. 380 · Infants are to be baptized and brought up in God's discipline.
Apostolic Constitutions 6.18.1Anonymous · ca. 380 · Penitents are received, catechumens baptized, and unrepentant heretics expelled and shunned.
Apostolic Constitutions 6.23.5Anonymous · ca. 380 · Christ replaced daily washings with one baptism, the tribe of Levi with the best of every nation, blood sacrifice with the bloodless Eucharist, and worship in one place with worship everywhere.
Apostolic Constitutions 6.27.5Anonymous · ca. 380 · The truly baptized are freed from the devil's spirit and guarded by the Holy Spirit while they do good.
Apostolic Constitutions 7.22.1Anonymous · ca. 380 · Baptism is given in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, as Christ commanded.
Apostolic Constitutions 7.22.2Anonymous · ca. 380 · Baptism is given with oil, water and chrism, each with its meaning.
Apostolic Constitutions 7.22.3Anonymous · ca. 380 · If oil and chrism are lacking, water suffices.
Apostolic Constitutions 7.22.4Anonymous · ca. 380 · The candidate fasts before baptism, as Christ fasted after his.
Apostolic Constitutions 7.22.5Anonymous · ca. 380 · Christ, being pure, was baptized and fasted as an example for us.
Apostolic Constitutions 7.22.6Anonymous · ca. 380 · Christ fasted after baptism by his own authority, but believers must fast before it.
Apostolic Constitutions 7.25.5Anonymous · ca. 380 · Thanks are given for Christ's blood and body; only the baptized may partake.
Apostolic Constitutions 7.25.7Anonymous · ca. 380 · One who partakes in ignorance is to be instructed and baptized at once.
Apostolic Constitutions 7.27.1Anonymous · ca. 380 · The thanksgiving over the chrism is introduced.
Apostolic Constitutions 7.27.2Anonymous · ca. 380 · Thanks are given for the chrism and for immortality.
Apostolic Constitutions 7.39.1Anonymous · ca. 380 · The instruction of catechumens is introduced.
Apostolic Constitutions 7.39.2Anonymous · ca. 380 · Catechumens are taught about the Father, the Son, the Spirit, creation, providence and human nature.
Apostolic Constitutions 7.39.3Anonymous · ca. 380 · Catechumens learn the history of God's judgments and of the saints.
Apostolic Constitutions 7.39.4Anonymous · ca. 380 · The catechist gives thanks for Christ's saving work and teaches the incarnation, passion, resurrection and ascension.
Apostolic Constitutions 7.40.1Anonymous · ca. 380 · Before baptism the candidate learns to renounce the devil and join Christ.
Apostolic Constitutions 7.40.2Anonymous · ca. 380 · Impiety must be cleared before piety is sown and baptism given.
Apostolic Constitutions 7.40.3Anonymous · ca. 380 · Christ commanded teaching before baptism.
Apostolic Constitutions 7.41.1Anonymous · ca. 380 · The renunciation is introduced.
Apostolic Constitutions 7.41.2Anonymous · ca. 380 · The candidate renounces Satan and all his works.
Apostolic Constitutions 7.41.3Anonymous · ca. 380 · The candidate enrolls with Christ.
Apostolic Constitutions 7.41.4Anonymous · ca. 380 · The baptismal creed confesses the one unbegotten God, the Father.
Apostolic Constitutions 7.41.5Anonymous · ca. 380 · The creed confesses the Son, begotten before the ages, not created, through whom all things were made.
Apostolic Constitutions 7.41.6Anonymous · ca. 380 · The creed confesses Christ's incarnation, death, resurrection, ascension and coming.
Apostolic Constitutions 7.41.7Anonymous · ca. 380 · The creed confesses the Holy Spirit, the church, the resurrection, forgiveness and eternal life.
Apostolic Constitutions 7.42.1Anonymous · ca. 380 · After the profession comes the anointing with oil.
Apostolic Constitutions 7.42.2Anonymous · ca. 380 · The priest blesses the oil.
Apostolic Constitutions 7.42.3Anonymous · ca. 380 · The priest asks the Father to sanctify the oil in Jesus' name.
Apostolic Constitutions 7.43.1Anonymous · ca. 380 · The blessing of the water is introduced.
Apostolic Constitutions 7.43.2Anonymous · ca. 380 · The priest thanks the Father for sending his Son to become man.
Apostolic Constitutions 7.43.3Anonymous · ca. 380 · The priest worships the Son, who died for all on the cross.
Apostolic Constitutions 7.43.4Anonymous · ca. 380 · God's providence cared for Adam and his descendants and at last sent his Son.
Apostolic Constitutions 7.43.5Anonymous · ca. 380 · The priest prays over the water that the baptized may die and rise with Christ.
Apostolic Constitutions 7.44.1Anonymous · ca. 380 · After baptism the newly baptized is anointed with chrism.
Apostolic Constitutions 7.44.2Anonymous · ca. 380 · The prayer over the chrism asks that the fragrance of Christ remain in the baptized.
Apostolic Constitutions 7.44.3Anonymous · ca. 380 · Without the priest's invocation, baptism is a mere bodily washing.
Apostolic Constitutions 7.45.1Anonymous · ca. 380 · The newly baptized stands to pray the Lord's Prayer as one risen with Christ.
Apostolic Constitutions 7.45.3Anonymous · ca. 380 · The newly baptized asks for purity and the Spirit's visitation.
Apostolic Constitutions 7.45.4Anonymous · ca. 380 · The rules for catechumens end.
Apostolic Constitutions 8.6.3Anonymous · ca. 380 · The catechumens are bidden to pray.
Apostolic Constitutions 8.6.5Anonymous · ca. 380 · The deacon leads the prayer for the catechumens.
Apostolic Constitutions 8.6.6Anonymous · ca. 380 · The prayer asks that the catechumens be cleansed and brought to baptism.
Apostolic Constitutions 8.6.7Anonymous · ca. 380 · Prayer that the catechumens may be forgiven and admitted to the mysteries.
Apostolic Constitutions 8.6.8Anonymous · ca. 380 · The catechumens rise, pray for peace, and bow for the blessing.
Apostolic Constitutions 8.6.9Anonymous · ca. 380 · The people answer “Lord, have mercy”; the bishop blesses the catechumens, and they are dismissed.
Apostolic Constitutions 8.8.2Anonymous · ca. 380 · The faithful pray for the candidates for baptism.
Apostolic Constitutions 8.8.3Anonymous · ca. 380 · Prayer for the candidates continues.
Apostolic Constitutions 8.8.4Anonymous · ca. 380 · The candidates bow for the bishop's blessing.
Apostolic Constitutions 8.8.5Anonymous · ca. 380 · The bishop asks God to sanctify and prepare those about to be baptized.
Apostolic Constitutions 8.10.12Anonymous · ca. 380 · Prayer for those who give alms and offerings, and for the newly baptized.
Apostolic Constitutions 8.13.8Anonymous · ca. 380 · Prayer for the newly baptized and for one another.
Apostolic Constitutions 8.28.4Anonymous · ca. 380 · The deacon neither blesses, baptizes nor offers, but distributes communion.
Apostolic Constitutions 8.28.6Anonymous · ca. 380 · The deaconess keeps the doors and assists at the baptism of women.
Apostolic Constitutions 8.32.1Anonymous · ca. 380 · Paul gives the rules for admitting converts.
Apostolic Constitutions 8.32.2Anonymous · ca. 380 · New inquirers are examined on their motives, conduct and status.
Apostolic Constitutions 8.32.3Anonymous · ca. 380 · A slave's admission depends on his master's testimony, if the master is a believer.
Apostolic Constitutions 8.32.4Anonymous · ca. 380 · Married converts must be faithful; the unmarried must avoid immorality and marry lawfully.
Apostolic Constitutions 8.32.6Anonymous · ca. 380 · The possessed are taught but not admitted to communion until cleansed.
Apostolic Constitutions 8.32.7Anonymous · ca. 380 · Brothel-keepers and prostitutes must give up their trade.
Apostolic Constitutions 8.32.8Anonymous · ca. 380 · Idol-makers must give up their trade.
Apostolic Constitutions 8.32.9Anonymous · ca. 380 · Actors, gladiators, soldiers, magicians, concubines and others are admitted only on giving up their practices; catechumens are instructed for three years.
Apostolic Constitutions 8.46.9Anonymous · ca. 380 · The apostles ordained bishops, presbyters and deacons for distinct functions; no one may usurp a higher office, and even Stephen kept to his diaconate.
Letter 63 (to the church of Vercelli), section 63Ambrose · ca. 377 · Ambrose rejects the view that a marriage before baptism does not count: baptism forgives sins, but marriage is a law, not a fault, so a twice-married man cannot be ordained though he is not guilty.
On Virgins 3.7Ambrose · ca. 377 · Asked about virgins who took their own lives to escape persecutors, Ambrose answers with the example of Pelagia of Antioch, who threw herself from a height, and of her mother and sisters, who drowned themselves together; he ends with Marcellina’s ancestor, the martyr Soteris.
On the Christian Faith 5.9Ambrose · ca. 378–380 · Ambrose answers the Arian argument from the order of names in the baptismal formula by showing that Scripture often names the Son before the Father.
On Noah 25Ambrose · ca. 378-384 · In the church, a sinner who comes to baptism and is forgiven gains greater honor, as Paul the former persecutor became the greatest of laborers.
Anathema 24Anonymous · ca. 378–382 (traditionally 382) · Anathema on whoever calls the three "gods" rather than one God, or calls the Father alone God; Christians are baptized into the one divinity of Father, Son, and Spirit.
On Tobit 61Ambrose · ca. 380-390 · The just lend the silver of God’s word, as the apostles did when they preached to the nations.
7.3Asterius of Amasea · ca. 380-410 · Asterius praises the eye as the witness of creation, explains Christ's use of clay and spittle as a sign of his creative power, reads the washing in Siloam as a figure of baptism, and rebukes those who disbelieved the miracle.
13.2Asterius of Amasea · ca. 380-410 · Asterius shows that God receives sinners again after baptism, through tears and repentance, with the examples of Peter, the Jews who believed after the cross, Paul, Matthew, Zacchaeus, David and Nineveh, and suggests even Judas could have been forgiven.
19.1Asterius of Amasea · ca. 380-410 · In a homily for Easter week Asterius celebrates Christ's resurrection as the bridegroom's triumph over death and the devil, praises the Easter night, and begins to show Joseph as a type of Christ.
19.2Asterius of Amasea · ca. 380-410 · Asterius sets out Joseph as a type of Christ in his beauty, betrayal, sale, imprisonment and release, and urges the newly baptized to imitate Joseph's chastity, warning free men against concubinage with their slave women.
19.3Asterius of Amasea · ca. 380-410 · Asterius has Joseph rebuke the baptized man who keeps a slave concubine, and urges the newly baptized to enter by the door of lawful marriage so as to inherit the kingdom.
20.1Asterius of Amasea · ca. 380-410 · Asterius presents David's prayer in Psalm 6 as the plea of a repentant sinner, explains the title “for the eighth” as circumcision and resurrection, and urges parents to baptize infants at once, as circumcision was given on the eighth day.
20.2Asterius of Amasea · ca. 380-410 · Asterius sets the necessity of baptism beside that of circumcision, explains the title “for the end” from the psalm's ending, and reads “the eighth” as the day of Christ's resurrection, prefigured by the eight saved in the ark.
On the Trinity 7Faustinus · ca. 380–384 · Faustinus briefly confesses the Holy Spirit as truly holy, of the same substance with the Father and the Son, not a creature, and explains his refusal of communion with heretics and those who compromised the faith.
Theological Oration 5 (Or. 31), On the Holy Spirit 28Gregory of Nazianzus · 380 · Gregory confesses one Godhead in Father, Son, and Spirit: since the Spirit deifies us in baptism, he must be worshipped as God.
Homily 22.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · Epiphany commemorates the star, the wine at Cana, and Christ's baptism, by which he sanctified all waters for our regeneration; the three gifts of the Magi confess the one God in Trinity.
Homily 23.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · Epiphany unites the Magi, Cana, and Christ's baptism; the preacher dwells on the wine miracle, which shows Christ the author of marriage and the Creator, and on Mary's request and Jesus' reply.
Homily 29.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · Epiphany commemorates three works of the Trinity: the Magi's worship, Christ's baptism, in which Father, Son, and Spirit were revealed, and the wine at Cana, which the Creator of water could easily make.
Homily 30.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · Christ's baptism, kept at the same season as his birth as a second birthday, sanctified the waters for Christian baptism, as the pillar of fire once went before Israel through the Red Sea.
Homily 31.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · Christ, sinless, was baptized for our sake; if he and John longed for baptism, the catechumens should not delay receiving it, since without it they cannot reach paradise.
Homily 33.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · The preacher holds that the Magi's worship, Christ's baptism, and the wine at Cana all fell on Epiphany: the Church of the nations was born, baptism was instituted, and the baptized are changed like water into wine.
Homily 34.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · Whatever event Epiphany marks, Christ's baptism shows his humility and sanctifies the waters; John points to the Lamb of God, the heavens open, and the Trinity is revealed.
Homily 34.2Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · A second version of the preceding homily: the three Epiphany mysteries, John's testimony to the Lamb of God, and the revelation of the Trinity at Christ's baptism, which consecrated all waters.
Homily 35.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · Christ fulfilled every ordinance of the law, circumcision, purification, and baptism; John's protest and Christ's reply show his humility, and the Spirit and the Father's voice confirm the sacrament of baptism.
Homily 39.2Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · Lent's forty-two days match the stations of Israel's journey to the promised land; baptism is the Jordan turned back and the Red Sea crossed, and the cross sweetens the bitter law as the wood sweetened the waters of Marah.
Homily 48.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · The potter's field bought with Judas's silver for burying strangers figures the world redeemed by Christ's blood, God as the potter who forms and re-forms us, and baptism as the Christian's burial with Christ.
Homily 58.2Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · At Easter Christians pass with Christ from death to life and are renewed in a spiritual infancy of innocence; the child the apostles must become like is Christ himself, who did not return evil for evil.
Homily 59.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · The newly baptized are renewed like the eagle that grows young by moulting, and the one eagle whose youth is renewed is Christ, whose flesh flowered again in the resurrection.
Homily 61.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · The fifty days from Easter to Pentecost are kept as one long Sunday without fasting or kneeling, because Christ was present; after the ascension, when the cloud of the Father's embrace received him, Christians fast with longing.
Homily 67.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · John the Baptist is “more than a prophet” because he saw and pointed out the present Christ, baptized him, and witnessed the Trinity at the Jordan; the Church everywhere celebrates his birth.
Homily 83.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · The creed, like the password of Judges 12, distinguishes the faithful from heretics; the preacher explains each article in turn: God the Father, the only Son, the virgin birth, the cross, burial, resurrection, ascension, session, judgment, the Spirit, the Church, forgiveness, and the resurrection of the flesh.
Homily 98.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · The cleansed Samaritan woman is the Church of the Gentiles washed in baptism; baptism quenches the fire of Gehenna, and almsgiving is a second, repeatable washing for sins committed after baptism.
Homily 111.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · The leaven hidden in flour is Christ, broken in his passion to bind the scattered Gentiles into his body; the woman is the Church who grinds catechumens and hands on the creed, while the synagogue grinds in vain.
Sermon 3.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · Using the lengthening days after Christmas and the shortening days after John's birthday, Maximus expounds “He must increase, but I must decrease” of the Gospel surpassing the law, as sunlight surpasses a lamp.
Sermon 8.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · Christ's baptism in the Jordan, celebrated on the Epiphany as a second birthday, sanctified the waters for Christian baptism, as the pillar of fire went before Israel through the Red Sea.
Sermon 10.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · At the Epiphany Maximus expounds Christ's baptism, when the Father's voice and the Spirit's dove revealed him, through Psalm 29 (Vulgate 28), read line by line as a prophecy of the baptism and of the Church's spread.
Sermon 11.2Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · The Epiphany recalls both Cana and Christ's baptism, at which the whole Trinity was present; Christ, sinless, was baptized to purify the waters for us, and the dove and the turning back of the Jordan show the forgiveness of sins.
Sermon 12.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · Christ, who has the fullness of the Godhead, was baptized not for his own need but to fill up righteousness and to give the waters a blessing that flows back through all springs, which is how Maximus reads “the Jordan turned back.”
Sermon 13.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · Addressing catechumens, Maximus urges them to hurry to baptism, arguing that Christian baptism, given by Christ with the whole Trinity, is a fuller grace than John's baptism of Christ, and that every font is the Jordan.
Sermon 17.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · Because God's sentence of death on Adam could not be revoked, God provided a second birth in baptism, by which the old man dies and a new one is born; catechumens should hasten to it, and all should keep the Lenten fast unbroken.
Sermon 20.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · The forty days of Lent recall the forty days of the flood, which was a merciful baptism of the world; the Church, like the threefold ark, saves those within it, and its preachers, like Noah, warn of coming judgment.
Sermon 26.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · Maximus rejects a self-invented fifty-day fast and the practice of fasting alternate weeks, insists that the full forty days of Lent be kept, and finds the number forty in the flood, a figure of baptism, and in the manna of the wilderness.
Sermon 27.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · Near the end of Lent Maximus likens the fasting Church to Elijah opening heaven for rain, and asks prayers that heaven be opened for the candidates for baptism by the key of Peter, which is faith, set out in the Creed of the twelve apostles.
Sermon 28.2Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · Lent is the time of healing by Christ the physician, who kills sins in baptism to make the new man alive, as he struck Paul to heal him; fasting, prayer and vigils prepare candidates for the rain of baptism, as Elijah's and Moses' fasts brought rain and closeness to God.
Sermon 33.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · On Easter day the newly baptized, in their white garments, are an image of the future resurrection; baptism is a resurrection now from sin, as the final resurrection will be from death.
Sermon 51.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · Pentecost shows that the Son and the Spirit, though their works are distinct, have one will and majesty; the Spirit formed Christ's humanity, honoured his baptism, spread the Gospel in every tongue, and has the power to regenerate and forgive sins, and so is God.
Sermon 53.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · Baptism's second birth surpasses the first; the Spirit who formed Christ in the Virgin, who remained a virgin after giving birth, is shown to be God, one in will with the Father and the Son, and at Pentecost he gave the apostles all languages for the one faith.
Sermon 60.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · A narrative sermon on John the Baptist: his foretold birth to aged Zechariah of the division of Abijah and Elizabeth, the dating of his and Christ's conceptions to the equinoxes, his ascetic life, his baptism of repentance as forerunner of Christ's baptism, his witness to the Lamb of God, and his death for rebuking Herod's unlawful marriage.
Sermon 61.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · A long sermon on John the Baptist: forerunner of Christ in every respect, filled with the Spirit in the womb without circumcision, he is the greatest born of women in merit though he worked no miracles, and the question of how he compares with Elijah and Elisha is resolved.
Sermon 88.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · The martyrs' sufferings benefit all and confirm the faith, which must not be reopened to dispute; martyrdom is a baptism of blood that washes away sin even for catechumens; martyrs hear prayers everywhere, not only where their relics lie, and their bodies deserve honour.
Tractate 1.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · The first of three instructions to the newly baptized, given after the catechumens leave: the anointing of the ears signifies hearing and doing God's word, and the anointing of the nostrils signifies keeping the faith to one's last breath and perceiving the fragrance of Christ.
Tractate 2.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · The second instruction explains the font: the renunciation, the water made effective by the Holy Spirit, the threefold questioning on the creed and the Trinity, the meaning of the Church and the resurrection of the flesh, and the threefold immersion as burial with Christ.
Tractate 3.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · The third instruction explains the chrism after baptism, which confers royal and priestly dignity (1 Pet 2:9), and the washing of the feet of the newly baptized, which teaches humble hospitality; the hearers are urged to keep their baptismal promises.
Chapter 1Nicetas, bishop of Remesiana · ca. 380–414 · Nicetas lists the scriptural titles of Christ (Word, Wisdom, Light, Lamb, Priest, Vine, Bread, Stone, Door and others) and explains what each means.
Chapter 2Nicetas, bishop of Remesiana · ca. 380–414 · Nicetas applies each title of Christ to the believer’s need, from ignorance and fear to sin, death and despair, ending with the promise of the kingdom.
Chapter 1Nicetas, bishop of Remesiana · ca. 380–414 · Nicetas describes the baptismal renunciation of the devil, his angels and his works, which precedes the profession of the creed.
Chapter 2Nicetas, bishop of Remesiana · ca. 380–414 · Nicetas explains the first article: God the Father almighty is unbegotten, invisible, unchangeable and Creator, and is truly Father of his eternally begotten Son, through whom all was made.
Chapter 3Nicetas, bishop of Remesiana · ca. 380–414 · Nicetas explains the article on Jesus Christ: “Jesus” means Saviour and “Christ” king; he came down and was born of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, becoming man while remaining God.
Chapter 5Nicetas, bishop of Remesiana · ca. 380–414 · Nicetas explains the passion: Christ suffered in the flesh, not in his divinity, for our sins, under Pontius Pilate, whose name fixes the time against heretics who speak of other christs.
Chapter 6Nicetas, bishop of Remesiana · ca. 380–414 · Nicetas explains the resurrection, ascension, session at the Father’s right hand and Christ’s coming to judge the living and the dead.
Chapter 7Nicetas, bishop of Remesiana · ca. 380–414 · Nicetas explains the article on the Holy Spirit, who proceeds from the Father, sanctifies all, distributes gifts, inspired prophets and apostles, sanctifies at baptism, and whose blasphemy is unforgivable.
Chapter 8Nicetas, bishop of Remesiana · ca. 380–414 · Nicetas urges the candidates to keep firmly the faith in the Trinity, the rule received by the apostles with the command to baptize.
Chapter 9Nicetas, bishop of Remesiana · ca. 380–414 · Nicetas tells candidates how to answer pagans, Jews and heretics who deny the one Father, the Son’s divinity or the Spirit’s glory: hold to the baptismal profession of the Trinity.
Chapter 10Nicetas, bishop of Remesiana · ca. 380–414 · Nicetas explains the church as the one communion of all the saints and angels, distinct from heretical churches, then the forgiveness of sins in baptism, the resurrection of the flesh and eternal life.
Chapter 13Nicetas, bishop of Remesiana · ca. 380–414 · Nicetas calls the creed a covenant with the Lord, a brief summary gathered from all Scripture like gems in a crown, for those who cannot read the Scriptures.
Chapter 14Nicetas, bishop of Remesiana · ca. 380–414 · Nicetas ends by urging the candidates to keep the creed always in their hearts and to answer the devil’s temptations by renewing their baptismal renunciation.
Fragment 1Nicetas, bishop of Remesiana · ca. 380–414 · Nicetas says that those preparing for baptism need simple instructions drawn from Scripture on what they renounce, desire, receive and must keep.
Fragment 2Nicetas, bishop of Remesiana · ca. 380–414 · Nicetas describes the catechumen as a guest who hears the mysteries from outside until baptism makes him one of the faithful.
Fragment 3Nicetas, bishop of Remesiana · ca. 380–414 · Nicetas teaches that before confessing the faith the candidate must sincerely renounce the devil and his works, including pagan cults, shows and vices, and condemns vain male and female adornment.
Fragment 4Nicetas, bishop of Remesiana · ca. 380–414 · After renouncing the devil, the candidate recites the creed, which he must learn by heart and say daily, together with the Lord’s Prayer and the sign of the cross.
Fragment 5Nicetas, bishop of Remesiana · ca. 380–414 · Nicetas defines the creed as a reminder of the faith and a common holy confession.
Fragment 6Nicetas, bishop of Remesiana · ca. 380–414 · Nicetas explains that the exorcisms before baptism purge the candidates like fire, being made of the Lord’s fiery words.
Chapter 1Nicetas, bishop of Remesiana · ca. 380–414 · Nicetas turns to the Holy Spirit, whom many, misled by their teachers, think a creature, and promises an account from the Scriptures alone.
Chapter 5Nicetas, bishop of Remesiana · ca. 380–414 · Nicetas holds that the Spirit proceeds from the Father in a way no one can know, is a true person who sanctifies and is not sanctified, formed Christ’s body in Mary, rested on him at baptism, and forgives sins through the apostles.
Chapter 6Nicetas, bishop of Remesiana · ca. 380–414 · Nicetas proposes to show from the Spirit’s works, as the Father and Son are known by theirs, that he works with them in everything, not in baptism only.
Chapter 7Nicetas, bishop of Remesiana · ca. 380–414 · Nicetas argues that if the Spirit renews man in baptism he also created him, citing Psalm 33:6, where the Lord, his Word and his Spirit appear together.
Chapter 16Nicetas, bishop of Remesiana · ca. 380–414 · Nicetas explains that “Paraclete” (advocate, comforter) is a title of kindness shared by the Son and the Father, so it does not lessen the Spirit.
Chapter 18Nicetas, bishop of Remesiana · ca. 380–414 · Nicetas sums up the Spirit’s works and concludes that he who is confessed in baptism with the Father and the Son must be worshipped with them.
Chapter 22Nicetas, bishop of Remesiana · ca. 380–414 · Nicetas concludes that Christians, named from the Father, the Son and the Spirit, must honour the whole Trinity in one faith, as they sing “Holy, holy, holy” in the liturgy.
Book of Heresies 20.2Philastrius of Brescia · ca. 380s · Christ's living water, the grace of baptism, fulfils the prophecy.
Book of Heresies 49.4Philastrius of Brescia · ca. 380s · They baptize the dead and call Pepuza Jerusalem.
Book of Heresies 55.4Philastrius of Brescia · ca. 380s · They reject water baptism, citing John's saying about Spirit and fire.
Book of Heresies 67.2Philastrius of Brescia · ca. 380s · Christ joined the Spirit to the Father and Son in baptism.
Book of Heresies 82.3Philastrius of Brescia · ca. 380s · The Novatians deny repentance after baptism.
Book of Heresies 82.4Philastrius of Brescia · ca. 380s · The prophet and Christ speak of a second baptism of repentance.
Book of Heresies 82.5Philastrius of Brescia · ca. 380s · Christ's baptism of the passion shows that repentance is granted after baptism.
Book of Heresies 83.1Philastrius of Brescia · ca. 380s · The Donatists rebaptize.
Book of Heresies 89.7Philastrius of Brescia · ca. 380s · Hebrews excludes rebaptism, not repentance.
Book of Heresies 112.5Philastrius of Brescia · ca. 380s · Christ's baptismal command confirms the ancient faith.
Book of Heresies 120.7Philastrius of Brescia · ca. 380s · Marriage is blessed, and rebirth in baptism brings joy.
Book of Heresies 120.8Philastrius of Brescia · ca. 380s · The same psalm foretells baptism.
Book of Heresies 148.5Philastrius of Brescia · ca. 380s · Faith comes by God's revelation and rebirth.
Book of Heresies 152.2Philastrius of Brescia · ca. 380s · The breath is common; the Spirit is given in baptism.
Book of Heresies 153.4Philastrius of Brescia · ca. 380s · The threefold cord is the Trinity confessed in baptism.
Canons on the Letters of Paul 78Priscillian · ca. 380–400 · Paul was sent to preach rather than to baptize; in baptism we are buried with Christ to walk in new life.
Canons on the Letters of Paul 84Priscillian · ca. 380–400 · Those baptized have already risen with Christ and seek the things above.
Eleven Tractates 1.2Priscillian · ca. 380–385 · Having left their former life for the faith, they were baptized and received the catholic creed, which they hold.
Eleven Tractates 1.5Priscillian · ca. 380–385 · Against the Patripassians they cite the Father–Son texts; against the Novatians, who rebaptize, they confess one baptism.
Eleven Tractates 1.14Priscillian · ca. 380–385 · They hold to the creed and renunciation of the devil made at baptism, and read Scripture's beasts as figures of the devil.
Eleven Tractates 1.31Priscillian · ca. 380–385 · The name of God written in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin is Christ; Scripture's lion, stag, and stars are figures of him, and baptism frees from the 'wheel of birth.'
Eleven Tractates 1.38Priscillian · ca. 380–385 · They reject any 'fifth gospel' and hold the four gospels and the creed of the church.
Eleven Tractates 2.44Priscillian · ca. 380–385 · Priscillian sets out the creed article by article, each with a Scripture proof.
Eleven Tractates 2.45Priscillian · ca. 380–385 · The creed continues with forgiveness and the resurrection of the flesh; baptism in the one name of Father, Son, and Spirit shows the one God in threefold power.
Eleven Tractates 2.47Priscillian · ca. 380–385 · They condemn the Ophites, the Novatians, and above all the Manichaeans, whom they know only by report.
Eleven Tractates 4.77Priscillian · ca. 380–385 · At Easter the faithful, penitents, and catechumens all have hope; the Lenten fast must be accompanied by justice and love, not quarrels and greed.
Eleven Tractates 4.79Priscillian · ca. 380–385 · Christ endured every human indignity and the cross; the baptized and catechumens alike should keep the Lord's forty-day fast before Easter.
Eleven Tractates 4.80Priscillian · ca. 380–385 · The forty days recall Moses' fast before receiving the law, Joshua's crossing of the Jordan, and Christ's fast and temptation after his baptism.
Eleven Tractates 5.85Priscillian · ca. 380–385 · The creation was ordered to serve man; Christians should reject worldly philosophy and believe that God made all things, as Genesis 1:1 says.
Eleven Tractates 6.98Priscillian · ca. 380–385 · The baptized, dead with Christ to sin, become the Lord's Passover; Christ took both the form of God and the form of man.
Eleven Tractates 6.105Priscillian · ca. 380–385 · The true 'first month' is the day of rebirth in baptism; the moon's phases show that the heavenly bodies have no power of their own.
Eleven Tractates 6.108Priscillian · ca. 380–385 · The blood on the doorposts signifies the senses of the body signed with the cross, so that the body becomes God's house.
Eleven Tractates 7.114Priscillian · ca. 380–385 · Believers renounced the devil at baptism and must remain the image of God, avoiding the 'counsel of the ungodly,' which is the cunning of corrupt flesh.
Eleven Tractates 10.132Priscillian · ca. 380–385 · Psalm 60:1, 'you rejected us and had mercy,' shows that God's rebuke is love; the saved can mock death's sting.
Eleven Tractates 10.137Priscillian · ca. 380–385 · The 'wine of compunction' and the bow of Psalm 60 signify repentance and the devil's attacks; the psalm leads converts gently from knowledge of sin upward.
Canon 7Anonymous · 381–382 · Converts from some heresies are received by written renunciation and anointing with chrism; others, including Eunomians, Montanists and Sabellians, are received as pagans and baptized.
Pilgrimage (Itinerarium) 15.1Egeria · ca. 381-395 · The presbyter offers to show them Aenon near Salim.
Pilgrimage (Itinerarium) 15.2Egeria · ca. 381-395 · They see the spring and pool where John baptized.
Pilgrimage (Itinerarium) 15.5Egeria · ca. 381-395 · At Pascha the candidates are baptized in the spring and led in procession to the church.
Pilgrimage (Itinerarium) 38.1Egeria · ca. 381-395 · At the Paschal vigil the newly baptized are first led to the Anastasis.
Pilgrimage (Itinerarium) 38.2Egeria · ca. 381-395 · The Paschal Eucharist is celebrated at the Martyrium and again at the Anastasis.
Pilgrimage (Itinerarium) 39.3Egeria · ca. 381-395 · Each afternoon the newly baptized go up to the Eleona and Imbomon.
Pilgrimage (Itinerarium) 45.1Egeria · ca. 381-395 · Candidates for baptism give their names before Lent.
Pilgrimage (Itinerarium) 45.2Egeria · ca. 381-395 · The candidates are presented one by one to the bishop.
Pilgrimage (Itinerarium) 45.3Egeria · ca. 381-395 · The bishop questions the candidates' neighbours about their life.
Pilgrimage (Itinerarium) 45.4Egeria · ca. 381-395 · The unworthy are sent away to amend; strangers need witnesses.
Pilgrimage (Itinerarium) 46.1Egeria · ca. 381-395 · The candidates are exorcized daily and then taught by the bishop.
Pilgrimage (Itinerarium) 46.2Egeria · ca. 381-395 · The bishop expounds all Scripture, literally and spiritually, during Lent.
Pilgrimage (Itinerarium) 46.3Egeria · ca. 381-395 · After five weeks the candidates receive the creed and its explanation.
Pilgrimage (Itinerarium) 46.4Egeria · ca. 381-395 · Catechesis lasts seven weeks; in Holy Week there is no time for it.
Pilgrimage (Itinerarium) 46.5Egeria · ca. 381-395 · In Holy Week each candidate recites the creed to the bishop.
Pilgrimage (Itinerarium) 46.6Egeria · ca. 381-395 · The bishop promises to explain the mysteries of baptism after Pascha.
Pilgrimage (Itinerarium) 47.1Egeria · ca. 381-395 · In Easter week the bishop explains the rites of baptism.
Pilgrimage (Itinerarium) 47.2Egeria · ca. 381-395 · Only the baptized hear the explanation of the mysteries.
On the Complaints of Job and David 4.5Ambrose · ca. 383-390 · Christ the stag made his apostles stags who take up serpents, as Paul did; the stag also comes to baptism, as Christ came to John.
On the Complaints of Job and David 4.14Ambrose · ca. 383-390 · The Jordan (“descent”) recalls Naaman’s cleansing and Christ’s baptism, and Hermon (“way of the lamp”) the Gospel’s light; one must first come out of Egypt.
On the Complaints of Job and David 4.34Ambrose · ca. 383-390 · Fallen humanity is like islands beaten by waves of sin; Christ’s coming renewed them and made harbors of peace among brothers.
On the Complaints of Job and David 4.35Ambrose · ca. 383-390 · David, renewed, goes to God’s altar: we are renewed by baptism, by the Spirit, and at the resurrection, made whiter than snow.
On the Complaints of Job and David 4.36Ambrose · ca. 383-390 · Our flesh, dead to sin and given the sevenfold Spirit in baptism, becomes a lyre sounding the music of good works to God.
Second Apology of David 42Ambrose · ca. 384-397 · The bathing woman is the church washing in John’s baptism; dark from sin but beautiful, she seeks Christ, who sees and loves her.
Second Apology of David 46Ambrose · ca. 384-397 · The tunic the bride puts off is the old self; washed, she forgets the defilement of nature.
Apology of the Prophet David 14Ambrose · ca. 384-390 · Bathsheba may figure the church of the nations, united to Christ beyond the law, while Uriah (“my light”) figures the devil disguised as an angel of light.
Apology of the Prophet David 23Ambrose · ca. 384-390 · When David understood the mystery of Christ and the church, he confessed his sin, confident of pardon through baptism and the Spirit.
Apology of the Prophet David 43Ambrose · ca. 384-390 · In Psalm 51 David repeatedly confesses his sin and asks for great mercy, as God’s great power at the Red Sea prefigured baptism.
Apology of the Prophet David 44Ambrose · ca. 384-390 · David asks for a thorough washing, which the law could not give but baptism, fulfilling all righteousness, does.
Apology of the Prophet David 45Ambrose · ca. 384-390 · Alternatively, many cleansings (word, confession, good thoughts and deeds) prepare the soul, as repeated dyeing produces true purple, for the full grace of baptism.
Apology of the Prophet David 49Ambrose · ca. 384-390 · Iniquity, the root, is forgiven in baptism; sin, its fruit, is covered by good works and love.
Apology of the Prophet David 50Ambrose · ca. 384-390 · Some refer the two verses to baptism and penance: Peter, already baptized, covered his denial by threefold love and was charged to feed the sheep.
Apology of the Prophet David 55Ambrose · ca. 384-390 · Confession of sin justifies God and the penitent is justified by him, as with the tax collectors baptized by John.
Apology of the Prophet David 58Ambrose · ca. 384-390 · Confessing his sin, David was suddenly granted a prophetic vision of the truth in Christ and of the sacrament of baptism.
Apology of the Prophet David 59Ambrose · ca. 384-390 · David asks to be sprinkled with the law’s hyssop and washed whiter than snow by the Gospel’s baptism, which he foresaw in other psalms too.
Altercatio, chapter 4, speech 1Evagrius of Gaul · ca. 400 · Simon declares himself convinced and asks to be made a catechumen.
Altercatio, chapter 4, speech 2Evagrius of Gaul · ca. 400 · Theophilus blesses and anoints Simon, who gives thanks to Jesus in a closing prayer.
Catechetical Oration 33Gregory of Nyssa · ca. 385–390 · Baptism is a second birth into immortal life, accomplished by prayer, invocation of grace, water, and faith; as divine power makes a man from seed, so it can make the baptized incorruptible.
Catechetical Oration 34Gregory of Nyssa · ca. 385–390 · Christ, shown to be God by his miracles, keeps his promise to be present when invoked, so the divine is surely present in baptism, and the prayer that precedes it confirms this.
Catechetical Oration 35Gregory of Nyssa · ca. 385–390 · Triple immersion imitates Christ's three days in the tomb and begins the destruction of evil; the baptized pass to blessedness in the resurrection, while the unpurified must be purified by fire over long ages until their nature is restored pure to God.
Catechetical Oration 36Gregory of Nyssa · ca. 385–390 · Baptism, requiring only faith and water, is a small and easy beginning that brings the baptized into participation in God's purity.
Catechetical Oration 38Gregory of Nyssa · ca. 385–390 · Gregory turns briefly to faith, referring to his fuller works: the one reborn in baptism must know from whom he is born and what he becomes.
Catechetical Oration 39Gregory of Nyssa · ca. 385–390 · In baptism one chooses one's own parentage: whoever confesses the Trinity uncreated is born into unchangeable life, but whoever thinks the Son or Spirit a creature is born only into changeable creation.
Catechetical Oration 40Gregory of Nyssa · ca. 385–390 · Baptism without a changed life is only water: the baptized must show the character of God who begot them, restoring what they have taken, since the goods and punishments to come, the unquenchable fire and undying worm, are beyond description.
On the Life of Moses 363Gregory of Nyssa · ca. 385–395 · Crossing the sea figures baptism: every passion must be drowned in the water, as no leaven was to be mixed with the Passover; those who after baptism keep the fruits of robbery, perjury, or adultery still bring the Egyptian army with them.
On the Life of Moses 385Gregory of Nyssa · ca. 385–395 · The red skins and hair curtains signify Christ’s saving passion; in the tabernacle below, the Church, the pillars and lamps are its apostles and teachers, the lavers those who baptize, the curtains the concord of believers, the red skins the mortification of the flesh.
Letter 1 to Himerius of Tarragona, chapter 1Siricius, bishop of Rome · 385 · Converts baptized by Arians are not to be rebaptized but received by the bishop's laying on of hands.
Letter 1 to Himerius of Tarragona, chapter 2Siricius, bishop of Rome · 385 · Solemn baptism is to be given only at Easter and Pentecost to prepared candidates, but infants and those in danger are to be baptized at once.
Letter 5 to the bishops of Africa, chapter 2Siricius, bishop of Rome · 385 · Eight rules for all catholic bishops: no ordination without the primate's knowledge; no bishop ordained by a single bishop; no former soldiers after baptism, no clerics marrying widows, no laymen married to widows in the clergy; no poaching or receiving of other churches' clerics; Novatianist and Montensian converts received by laying on of hands.
Letter 10, canons of the Roman synod to the bishops of Gaul, chapter 8Siricius, bishop of Rome · 385 · Only those who have kept chaste since baptism, or who are 'the husband of one wife', may be ordained; a man who sinned sexually after baptism owes penance and cannot become a priest, even if he later married.
Letter 10, canons of the Roman synod to the bishops of Gaul, chapter 10Siricius, bishop of Rome · 385 · At Easter presbyters and deacons baptize under the bishop; at other times, for the sick, only a presbyter may baptize, not a deacon, except once in necessity.
Letter 10, canons of the Roman synod to the bishops of Gaul, chapter 11Siricius, bishop of Rome · 385 · Anointing with exorcized oil before baptism need be done only once, at the third scrutiny; God's power works through it.
On Jacob and the Happy Life 1.17Ambrose · ca. 386-390 · The mind, though good, cannot master the flesh by the law alone; it needs Christ, who nailed our passions to the cross and justified us by his death.
On Jacob and the Happy Life 1.18Ambrose · ca. 386-390 · Since believers have died and risen with Christ, they should no longer live for sin but walk in the Spirit.
On Jacob and the Happy Life 2.34Ambrose · ca. 386-390 · Rachel's burial at Bethlehem signifies baptism, burial with Christ, and the pillar over her tomb signifies the church.
On the Duties of the Clergy 3.18Ambrose · ca. 386–390 · The hidden fire that became water is read as a type of the Holy Spirit, who burns away and washes away sins in baptism and penance.
Exposition of Psalm 118 0.2.2Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · The eighth day is the day of resurrection, on which the believer, washed, offers a spiritual sacrifice.
Exposition of Psalm 118 0.2.3Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Though baptism purifies at once, the newly baptized offer their gift only on the eighth day, after instruction in the sacraments.
Exposition of Psalm 118 1.17.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · The righteous acts the bride learns are the sacraments of baptism, by which Christ fulfilled all righteousness.
Exposition of Psalm 118 1.17.2Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Those baptized by John justified God, while the Pharisees rejected God’s counsel.
Exposition of Psalm 118 1.17.3Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · We follow God’s counsel in baptism and, fearing him, shall not be put to shame.
Exposition of Psalm 118 2.8.2Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · John’s soul and flesh say “I am dark and beautiful”: dark by sin, beautiful by grace and baptism.
Exposition of Psalm 118 3.14.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Besides the church’s baptism by water and the Spirit, there is another baptism, of which Christ spoke.
Exposition of Psalm 118 3.14.2Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · There is also the baptism of martyrdom and a baptism of fire at the gate of paradise, the fiery sword set after the fall.
Exposition of Psalm 118 3.15.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Christ alone baptizes with this fire, as John the Baptist foretold.
Exposition of Psalm 118 3.15.2Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · The baptism of fire comes at the end of the age, and even saints like Peter and John pass through it.
Exposition of Psalm 118 3.47.2Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Doing God’s commandments justifies God; human counsels should follow his certain counsel.
Exposition of Psalm 118 4.9.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · The soul is given life when it walks in Christ’s ways, dead to sin and alive to God.
Exposition of Psalm 118 5.41.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · On verse 39: like Paul, the psalmist suspects hidden sin; only Jesus is wholly without sin.
Exposition of Psalm 118 5.43.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · In baptism Christ washed away every sin and its reproach.
Exposition of Psalm 118 5.43.2Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Sins after baptism require penance; only the penitent can rightly ask God to remove his reproach.
Exposition of Psalm 118 8.17.2Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · The law showed Christ only in figures; the gospel shows him face to face, and in baptism we die to the law to belong to the risen Christ.
Exposition of Psalm 118 8.54.3Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Christ shares with us baptism, righteousness, truth, resurrection, and a spotless life.
Exposition of Psalm 118 8.54.4Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · We share Christ’s tribulations and, through baptism, his burial.
Exposition of Psalm 118 9.16.3Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · The gospel teaches God’s statutes more gently than the law; the Pharisees refused the repentance of John’s baptism.
Exposition of Psalm 118 10.17.2Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Having put on Christ, we receive the Spirit, who forgives sins and makes priests to forgive others; the Spirit is God’s hand.
Exposition of Psalm 118 15.30.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Meditating on God’s statutes means always confessing our sins; the Pharisees refused this.
Exposition of Psalm 118 16.2.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Aenon, where John baptized, means “eye of punishments”: the baptism of those who foresee punishment.
Exposition of Psalm 118 16.19.2Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · John’s baptism is for those who fear punishment; Christ’s for those who see grace.
Exposition of Psalm 118 16.19.3Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Each soul has the left eye of punishments and the right eye of grace, advancing from one to the other.
Exposition of Psalm 118 16.19.4Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · After repentance the soul receives Christ’s baptism; the bride’s one eye is the eye of grace.
Exposition of Psalm 118 16.21.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Christ’s dove-like eyes washed in milk signify baptism in sincerity.
Exposition of Psalm 118 16.21.2Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · The bride, baptized in milk, ascends white to Christ, where the soul’s thirst is quenched.
Exposition of Psalm 118 16.21.3Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Christ sits on the fullness; John’s baptism near Salim also belongs to the church.
Exposition of Psalm 118 16.22.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · The twelve springs are the patriarchs and apostles, flowing through the world.
Exposition of Psalm 118 16.22.2Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Salim means “ascending”; the shorn flock coming up from the washing is the church after baptism.
Exposition of Psalm 118 16.25.2Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · As goats rise clean from the river, the righteous rise from the spiritual washing of baptism.
Exposition of Psalm 118 16.29.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · The fathers in the desert were cleansed by the sea, Marah, the twelve springs and the rock that was Christ.
Exposition of Psalm 118 16.29.2Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Manna, the bread of angels, prefigures the spiritual food that cleanses the baptized.
Exposition of Psalm 118 18.25.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · David prefigured Christ, who alone freed the world by the cross.
Exposition of Psalm 118 18.26.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · The gentile people, once despised and now renewed by baptism, is preferred.
Exposition of Psalm 118 18.30.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · The baptized justify God by confessing their sins, as David did.
Exposition of Psalm 118 18.30.2Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · One must not only justify God in baptism but preserve its grace.
Exposition of Psalm 118 18.42.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Christ died once; the baptized must not sin again; the Father made him sin for us.
Exposition of Psalm 118 18.42.2Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Buried and raised with Christ in baptism, the believer must not die again by sin.
Exposition of Psalm 118 22.2.2Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Through the washing of regeneration error is abolished; renouncing it is progress.
Exposition of Psalm 118 22.4.2Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Iniquity ends only by God’s visitation; the church, having put off the old man in baptism, cannot put it on again.
Letter 23.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine tells Maximinus that he heard he did not rebaptize Catholics, but now hears that he has rebaptized a Catholic deacon of Mutugenna, which he hopes is untrue.
Letter 23.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine asks Maximinus to reply openly, to be read in church, and urges him, if he does not rebaptize, to say so freely without fear of his colleagues.
Letter 23.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine argues that the one baptism in the name of the Trinity must be recognized wherever it is found, comparing it with circumcision, which was never repeated even for a Samaritan becoming a Jew.
Letter 24.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Paulinus asks Alypius to tell him his life story and whether he too was brought to the faith by Ambrose, and tells of his own baptism at Bordeaux and forced ordination at Barcelona.
Letter 34.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine reports a young man who beat his mother, threatened to kill her, and was received and rebaptized by the Donatists.
Letter 34.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine imagines the young man's reasoning in going over to the Donatists and warns that he may now carry out his threat against his mother.
Letter 35.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine contrasts the Catholic practice of receiving degraded Donatist clergy only as penitents with the Donatist rebaptism of disciplined Catholics, who must declare themselves pagans.
Letter 43.21Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine charges the Donatists with schism and rebaptism and argues that tolerating the wicked in the church for the sake of unity does not defile the good.
Letter 43.24Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine points to the Donatists' own toleration of Circumcellion violence and of Optatus, and argues that schism is punished more severely than idolatry.
Letter 44.10Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine argues from Christ's toleration of Judas at the Last Supper and rebuts the claim that the apostles then had only John's baptism.
Letter 44.12Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine reports that Fortunius regretted the Donatist rule of rebaptism and his people's violence, and that they agreed to a further conference of ten bishops on each side.
Letter 51.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine argues that by accepting without rebaptism those baptized by Maximianist bishops, the Donatists have conceded the validity of baptism outside their communion.
Letter 51.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine concludes that the Donatists accept the baptism of condemned Maximianists while rejecting that of the worldwide church, and calls on Crispinus to answer.
Letter 52.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine argues that either the Donatists' charges were false or they failed to prove them, and in either case their schism is without excuse.
Letter 53.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine argues from Scripture and from the Maximianist affair that the Donatists' charge of contagion through communion condemns themselves.
Letter 54.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine tells Januarius that Christ gave few and simple sacraments, and that customs observed by the whole church come from the apostles or plenary councils.
Letter 54.10Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine suggests that bathing on Maundy Thursday began with the candidates for Easter baptism, and promises to answer Januarius's other questions later.
Letter 55.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine explains that our passage from death to life begins now in faith and baptism and will be completed in the resurrection of the body.
Letter 55.25Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine interprets the breadth, height, length, and depth of the cross as cheerfulness in good works, hope of reward, patience, and the hidden sacrament, and the burial and resurrection as held in faith.
Letter 55.26Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine warns against expecting full blessedness in this life: the new life is begun in faith and hope and will be completed at the resurrection.
Letter 55.30Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine counts the fifty days from Passover to the giving of the law and interprets the law in the ark as sanctification in Christ's body.
Letter 55.32Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine distinguishes what rests on Scripture (Easter, Pentecost) from what rests on church agreement (Lent, the octave of the newly baptized) and from local variation (Alleluia, standing at prayer).
Letter 55.33Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine explains the varying practice of foot-washing in the Easter season and the wish to keep it distinct from baptism.
Letter 61.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine sets out for Theodorus the terms on which Donatist clergy are received: their error is rejected, their baptism and the name of God they bear are honoured.
Letter 61.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine explains that Donatists coming to the Catholic Church keep their baptism, orders, and vows, and receive the love and unity that make these profitable.
Letter 66.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine rebukes the Donatist bishop Crispinus for rebaptizing, by pressure, the tenants of an estate he had bought at Mappalia.
Letter 70.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine presses the dilemma that the Donatists accepted without rebaptism those Felicianus baptized in schism, yet reject the baptism of the whole world.
Letter 76.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine contrasts the Donatists’ charge of handing over the Scriptures with their own acceptance of the Maximianist schismatics and their baptism, and urges Donatist laity to question their bishops.
Letter 87.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine argues that if Emeritus could plead ignorance about Optatus, the churches of the East far more can plead ignorance of the African ‘traitors’, yet the Donatists condemn and rebaptize them.
Letter 87.9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine explains that Catholics seek to reunite the Donatists to the root of the Church, without rebaptizing them, since the sacraments they hold remain Christ’s even in schism.
Letter 88.9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · The Hippo clergy state that captured Donatists are treated gently, instructed, and either reconciled without rebaptism or released unharmed, though some Catholic laity act more harshly.
Letter 88.11Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · The Hippo clergy point out that the Donatists accepted without rebaptism those baptized by the condemned Maximianists, and themselves used judges to expel schismatics from basilicas.
Letter 89.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine argues that the worldwide Church cannot be condemned for crimes it could not know, and that the same Scriptures that foretell Christ foretell the universal Church.
Letter 89.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine argues against the Donatist view that baptism depends on the minister’s righteousness: it is Christ who baptizes, whoever the minister.
Letter 89.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine explains that converted Donatists keep their sacraments but abandon their error, and that some who came over from fear proved better than old Catholics.
Letter 93.36Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · If Vincentius values Cyprian, he should follow him in loving unity, refusing to separate the tares early, and not breaking communion over disagreement.
Letter 93.37Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · If sharing sacraments with sinners destroyed the church, it perished before Cyprian and Donatus were born; so the Donatist separation has no excuse.
Letter 93.38Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Cyprian's view on rebaptism is found only in his own writings, not Scripture; he may have corrected it, and some even think it forged.
Letter 93.39Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine accepts that Cyprian held rebaptism, since even so the church survived admitting the unbaptized, which refutes the Donatists.
Letter 93.43Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · The Donatist Tyconius reports that a Donatist council of 270 bishops admitted traditors without rebaptism, and Donatus communicated with such bishops for forty years.
Letter 93.46Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Catholics do not rebaptize Donatists because baptism is Christ's; converts keep their sacraments, which begin to profit them only within the unity of the church.
Letter 93.47Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Paul rebaptized John's disciples because John's baptism was not Christ's; Christ's baptism is equally valid whoever administers it.
Letter 93.48Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · If baptism by a drunkard is not repeated though John's was, neither is baptism by a heretic; Christ's baptism is the same whoever gives it.
Letter 98.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine answers Boniface that parents who offer baptized infants to demons cannot bind them with their sin, since inherited guilt comes only from Adam, in whom all were one.
Letter 98.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · The one Holy Spirit makes others' faith profit the infant at baptism, but sin cannot be shared that way, so baptismal grace is lost only by the child's own later sins.
Letter 98.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Such parents are spiritual murderers in intent, but, as Cyprian's On the Lapsed implies, the infants themselves lose nothing before God.
Letter 98.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · The infant in Cyprian's story who spat out the Eucharist was a divine sign to the adults, like Balaam's ass, not an act of the child's knowledge.
Letter 98.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Infants are truly regenerated even if presented for bodily healing, because the whole church, through the Holy Spirit, offers them; even heretics' baptism is valid.
Letter 98.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Infants need not be presented by their own parents; masters, rescuers of exposed children and consecrated virgins also present them, like the Good Samaritan.
Letter 98.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Boniface asks how sponsors can answer that an infant believes and turns to God when they cannot say whether he will be chaste or honest.
Letter 98.9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Sacraments take the names of what they signify, as Easter is called the day of the passion and the sacrament of Christ's body is called his body; so the sacrament of faith is called faith.
Letter 98.10Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · The infant is made faithful by the sacrament of faith, which protects him and, if he dies before reason, frees him from Adam's condemnation.
Letter 105.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine, writing to the Donatists, answers their threats: they have stolen Christ's sheep and marked them with his baptism, which the Lord does not erase when he brings them back.
Letter 105.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Kings who hold the truth rightly legislate for it, as Nebuchadnezzar did after the furnace; the Donatists themselves say Amen to his edict in the liturgy.
Letter 105.12Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · The imperial law rightly states that baptism does not depend on the minister's merit; the Donatist view would make an unknown bad minister preferable to a known good one.
Letter 106.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine warns the Donatist bishop Macrobius not to rebaptize a Catholic subdeacon, since the Donatists do not rebaptize those baptized by the Maximianist Felicianus, now reconciled with them.
Letter 108.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine asks the Donatist bishop Macrobius why he rebaptizes Catholics when his own party accepted the baptism given by the Maximianist Felicianus.
Letter 108.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine appeals to Isaiah's command to call one's haters brothers and protests that the Donatists divide Christ by men's names and exorcise his baptism.
Letter 108.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine praises the Donatists' own acceptance of Felicianus's baptism and argues that Macrobius cannot refuse to judge Primian while judging the whole world for Caecilian.
Letter 108.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine answers the Donatists' proof texts on baptism one by one, showing that their own reception of the Maximianists refutes each.
Letter 108.9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine argues that Cyprian, whom the Donatists cite for rebaptism, loved unity above all and was purified by martyrdom within it.
Letter 108.16Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine argues that any honest Donatist defense of the Maximianist affair must adopt the Catholic principles on baptism, tolerance of the wicked, and moderate coercion.
Letter 108.19Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine explains that the occasion of the letter is the rebaptism of Rusticianus, an excommunicated and indebted subdeacon, and recalls a similar case that ended in violence.
Letter 128.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · The bishops ask that the Donatists be reconciled, noting their own lenient reception of the Maximianists, and the letter is signed by Aurelius of Carthage and Silvanus of Summa.
Letter 129.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · The bishops argue that the Donatists' own treatment of the Maximianists, including appeals to the state and acceptance of their baptism, condemns their case against the Catholics.
Letter 139.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine explains his delay in revising his books on infant baptism by listing his urgent writings: the summary of the conference with the Donatists, letters to the Donatist laity, to Marcellinus and Volusian, and a book for Honoratus.
Letter 140.48Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · God foretells sins, threatens punishments, and promises benefits; the children of promise are children of grace, freely given; the thanksgiving in the New Testament sacrifice will be explained after baptism.
Letter 140.72Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · God's righteousness, like his salvation, is that which he gives to those he justifies and saves by grace through baptism; pride, trusting in one's own works, is its opposite.
Letter 141.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · When the Maximianist schism was raised, the Donatists themselves declared that 'neither case prejudices case nor person person,' which concedes the Catholic argument about Caecilian.
Letter 141.13Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · The council urges the Donatists to read the proceedings and return to unity, where their sacraments will become profitable to them; dated 14 June 412.
Letter 143.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Whatever the origin of souls, the soul now rules its body imperfectly 'after sin,' whether its own or Adam's; even infants are born in the flesh of sin and need baptism.
Letter 149.22Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Those who fall away were not among the predestined, as shown by baptized infants who later apostatize; why some are predestined and others not is hidden but never unjust.
Letter 149.26Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Colossians 2:11–15 warns against the 'shadows' of Judaism: in baptism believers share Christ's circumcision and resurrection, and Christ triumphed over the evil powers.
Letter 151.14Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine rebukes Caecilianus for remaining a catechumen instead of being baptized; the letter breaks off.
Letter 153.13Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · The Lord's Prayer, prayed by the baptized, shows that God's adopted sons are good by grace yet still sinners needing daily forgiveness.
Letter 153.15Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Sins after baptism are expiated by works of mercy; Christ, sinless, did not condemn the adulteress yet bade her sin no more, so intercession is not complicity.
Letter 156.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Hilary, a layman of Syracuse, asks Augustine about Pelagian teachings circulating there: sinlessness, unbaptized infants, riches, oaths, and the spotless church.
Letter 157.11Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Against the claim that unbaptized infants cannot perish, Augustine cites Romans 5 on sin entering through Adam, and defends infant baptism as freeing them from inherited condemnation.
Letter 157.13Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Paul's "all" in Romans 5 means that all who are condemned are so through Adam and all who are justified are so through Christ, not that all are saved.
Letter 157.18Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Infants share Adam's sin and need baptism; before the law sin existed but was not imputed, since there was no law to expose it.
Letter 157.22Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine warns Hilary about Caelestius, condemned at Carthage, who admitted infants need redemption, and hopes the Pelagians may be healed within the church.
Letter 157.34Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Every Christian renounces his possessions either by giving them away or by being ready to lose them for Christ; those who renounce the world only in words fail when tested.
Letter 164.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine asks why, if Christ preached in the underworld, Peter mentions only those who disbelieved in Noah's time and not the countless others who died in ignorance of God.
Letter 164.10Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Peter's letter goes on to speak of baptism, Christ's exaltation, and the gospel being preached "to the dead," which deepens the difficulty.
Letter 164.15Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine proposes that Peter's words refer not to the underworld but to Noah's time as a type of the present, with the ark as the church and the flood as baptism.
Letter 164.16Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · The "spirits in prison" may be souls in the darkness of ignorance in Noah's day, like unbelievers today; the flood signifies both baptism and judgment.
Letter 166.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine holds that the soul fell by its own will and can be freed only by God's grace through Christ the mediator, without whom it will be punished.
Letter 166.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine asks Jerome where an infant's soul contracts the guilt that makes baptism necessary, noting that Jerome himself affirmed original sin against Jovinian and in his Commentary on Jonah.
Letter 166.10Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · If each soul is newly created, Augustine cannot see how unbaptized infants can justly be condemned, and he asks Jerome how this view can be defended.
Letter 166.16Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine is at a loss to explain the sufferings of infants in this life, and their condemnation if unbaptized, if their souls are newly created and sinless.
Letter 166.20Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Compensation may apply to infants who suffer for Christ or are baptized, but not to unbaptized infants who die after suffering and are condemned.
Letter 166.21Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Since all die in Adam and are made alive only in Christ, unbaptized infants are condemned, as the church's practice and Jerome himself affirm; but Augustine cannot see why, if their souls are sinless.
Letter 166.22Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine considers a hypothesis that only the infant's flesh is sinful, so that an unbaptized infant's soul would be saved but its body would not rise in Christ.
Letter 166.23Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine rejects the hypothesis, since Scripture knows only the resurrection of life and of judgment, and the church baptizes infants for their souls, as Cyprian taught.
Letter 166.24Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Whatever one thinks of Cyprian on other points, no one may oppose the apostolic faith in original sin or the church's custom of infant baptism, which is not for the body.
Letter 166.25Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine will adopt the creation of new souls only if it can be reconciled with the condemnation of unbaptized infants.
Letter 166.27Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · The same difficulty faces the view that pre-existing souls are sent into bodies; Augustine rejects the Origenist view of souls imprisoned for earlier sins and of endless cycles.
Letter 166.28Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine hopes Jerome can resolve the question but will accept ignorance with patience, holding only that the true view cannot contradict the faith that infants are saved only through Christ's grace in the sacraments.
Letter 167.15Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Virtue is love of what ought to be loved; it is never full in this life, so all must pray “forgive us our debts,” and the commandments show us our need of grace.
Letter 173.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · The Donatists' own treatment of the Maximianists under Primian shows that the case of Caecilian cannot condemn the Catholic Church.
Letter 175.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · The council anathematizes those who deny the necessity of grace and of infant baptism for salvation.
Letter 176.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · The council describes the Pelagian denial that prayer and grace are needed against sin and that unbaptized infants are lost.
Letter 176.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · The two chief errors are that God's help need not be asked and that the sacrament does not benefit infants.
Letter 178.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine warns Bishop Hilary of a new heresy (Pelagianism) that limits grace to creation, law, and forgiveness of past sins, and denies infants need baptism.
Letter 179.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Pelagius should be asked plainly whether we must pray not to sin and whether infants are freed from original sin by Christ's grace.
Letter 179.9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Pelagius must either admit original sin in Abel or retract his claim, since his defense implies everyone's early life is sinful.
Letter 180.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · The real difficulty with the creation of each new soul is not adulterous conception but the condemnation of unbaptized infants.
Letter 181.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Adam fell by misusing freedom; Christ restores through baptism and continues to supply daily grace.
Letter 182.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Innocent rejects the claim that unbaptized infants can have eternal life, citing John 6:53 and Matt 19:14.
Letter 184.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Unbaptized infants are condemned, though with the lightest punishment; there is no middle place between kingdom and punishment.
Letter 184.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Fleshly concupiscence, a result of the fall, accompanies all procreation except Christ's, so all who are born must be reborn.
Letter 185.17Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · The Donatists' readmission of the Maximianist schismatics, with their baptism, exposed their inconsistency and led many to return.
Letter 185.23Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · The church rightly compels her lost sons to return, as shepherds recover straying sheep; their baptism, like a royal mark, is recognized, not repeated.
Letter 185.37Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · The question is who belongs to the righteous, not who holds property; the Donatist claim to justify those they baptize usurps God's role.
Letter 185.39Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · The whole church prays “forgive us our debts” and is cleansed through baptism toward the perfection Christ will give it on the last day.
Letter 185.43Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Donatists coming over are not rebaptized, but must do penance; they receive the unity of the Spirit and love, without which baptism does not profit.
Letter 185.47Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Receiving converted clergy in their offices follows the precedent of the Roman council of 313 and the Donatists' own treatment of the Maximianists.
Letter 185.48Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · The Donatists' objection that rebaptism was an unforgivable sin against the Spirit would, if valid, exclude everyone who ever spoke against the Spirit.
Letter 186.11Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · The grace given to infants in baptism is plainly free, since it precedes any will of theirs and is even given to those who resist.
Letter 186.12Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Infants are born under the punishment owed to Adam's sin; God's distinguishing among them by grace is inscrutable but never unjust.
Letter 186.27Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Those who deny original sin must say what becomes of infants who die unbaptized; Pelagius himself anathematized the view that such infants have eternal life.
Letter 186.28Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · To say unbaptized infants have life contradicts Christ's words in John 6, the apostolic see, and Pelagius's own anathema.
Letter 186.29Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Some in Paulinus's city cling to the view that unbaptized infants have life, but Christ's words in John 6 force the admission that they cannot.
Letter 186.30Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Since unbaptized infants lack life and a just God would not condemn the innocent, their condemnation must come from original sin in Adam.
Letter 186.33Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Whoever accepts Pelagius's anathemas must positively confess the Catholic counterparts: original sin, the need of baptism, grace for every act, and grace not given according to merit.
Letter 187.21Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Philosophers who knew God without thanking him are not his temple, while baptized infants who cannot yet know him are.
Letter 187.22Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Dardanus asked how John the Baptist could leap in the womb if infants do not know God.
Letter 187.25Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Infants plainly know nothing of divine things; their resistance at baptism is not imputed to them precisely because they do not know what they do.
Letter 187.26Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · The Holy Spirit dwells in baptized infants without their knowing it, as Paul said he dwelt in the immature Corinthians.
Letter 187.27Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · The Spirit builds his temple in the baptized secretly and completes it only in the life to come; salvation is now in hope.
Letter 187.28Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Even after baptism the whole Church prays 'Forgive us our debts'; she will be without spot or wrinkle only in the life to come.
Letter 187.30Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Birth belongs to Adam and rebirth to Christ; Christ, who had no sin, needed only to be born, but by his baptism commended our regeneration.
Letter 187.31Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Every child of a lawful marriage is born through concupiscence and must be reborn; Christ alone, conceived of the Virgin without concupiscence, needed no rebirth.
Letter 187.32Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Whatever sanctification may be possible in the womb, the sanctification that makes one God's temple belongs only to the reborn, who must first be born.
Letter 187.33Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Rebirth presupposes birth from the mother, so no one can be reborn in the womb; only the reborn are built into God's temple, the Church.
Letter 187.34Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · The righteous of old were saved by the same faith in Christ, then hidden and now revealed, even those who lived before circumcision.
Letter 190.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Whatever the soul's origin, one must hold firmly that all are born guilty in Adam and freed only by rebirth in Christ.
Letter 190.10Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · God's wrath is just retribution on humanity born of disobedience; his power uses even the wicked to teach the elect that grace alone distinguishes them, as is clearest with infants.
Letter 190.12Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · God allows the condemned to outnumber the elect, showing both the justice owed to the whole lump and the mercy by which he makes some vessels for honour.
Letter 190.13Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · If Optatus holds that new souls are created for each person, he must explain how they incur original condemnation without making God the author of sin or of injustice.
Letter 190.15Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Even a spiritual traducianism, which preserves original sin, faces insoluble questions about how a soul could be transmitted from parent to child.
Letter 190.16Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · God is certainly the creator of every soul, but whether he makes souls from Adam's or from nothing is not clearly revealed and should not be defined by conjecture.
Letter 190.21Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine keeps his book to Jerome private until he receives an answer showing how new souls could incur original sin without God being its author.
Letter 190.22Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine warns Optatus against the Pelagian heresy condemned by Innocent and Zosimus, which uses the creation of new souls to deny original sin, quoting Pelagius's argument.
Letter 190.23Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · If Optatus cannot reconcile the creation of new souls with original sin, he must drop the theory, since infant baptism truly remits sins, as Zosimus's letter affirms.
Letter 190.24Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Better to leave the soul's origin unknown than to make God the author of sin, posit an evil nature, or empty infant baptism.
Letter 193.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · The Pelagians concede that infants believe through their sponsors; then, by John 3:36, unbaptized infants are unbelievers on whom God's wrath remains, which can only be from original sin.
Letter 193.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Having admitted that infants believe, the Pelagians must accept that unbaptized infants, as unbelievers, are condemned, which implies original sin.
Letter 193.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · The real difficulty is why the baptized still die, which Augustine treated in his books on infant baptism; that the justified Elijah did not die is no difficulty.
Letter 194.31Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · The Pelagian objection fails with infants: why does one die baptized and another unbaptized, when no merit distinguishes them and fate or fortune cannot be invoked?
Letter 194.32Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · God's providence brings some infants of the ungodly to baptism while infants of believers die unbaptized, which no human merit can explain.
Letter 194.33Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Since infants have no merits, the Pelagians should acknowledge with Paul the unsearchable depth of God's judgments and allow Christ to save at any age.
Letter 194.41Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Foreseen works cannot explain why some dying infants are baptized and others not, since they will never have works.
Letter 194.42Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · The theory that God punishes sins infants would have committed is absurd and contradicts the Pelagians' own promise of salvation for unbaptized infants.
Letter 194.43Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine reports these views because he has heard them; the Pelagians, cornered by Scripture and the rite of infant baptism with its exorcism and renunciation, resort to folly.
Letter 194.44Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Children of baptized parents still inherit sin through concupiscence, as the seed of a cultivated olive yields a wild olive; the Church must baptize all infants, as farmers graft all shoots.
Letter 194.45Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · The Pelagian claim that infants profess belief in the remission of sins only for others is a laughable evasion.
Letter 194.46Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · The exorcism of infants shows the devil rules them through sin; and since the Pelagians admit infants believe through sponsors, unbaptized infants as unbelievers are condemned, which presupposes original sin.
Letter 204.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine recalls his earlier arguments that the cause, not the punishment, makes a martyr, that rulers may punish sacrilege, and that receiving Donatists without rebaptism does not mean receiving them unchanged.
Letter 205.18Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine refers Consentius to his book on whether baptized persons dying unrepentant in grave sin will eventually be pardoned.
Letter 215.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine tells the monks of Hadrumetum that grace is not given for merit, yet all who can use free will are judged by their works, while unbaptized infants are condemned for original sin alone.
Letter 217.9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine explains that the power of darkness is the devil, to whom humanity fell subject in Adam, and from which baptized infants are rescued, the freedom of their will appearing when they reach the age of reason.
Letter 217.16Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine sets out twelve propositions of Catholic faith on original sin, grace, judgment, infant baptism, free will, and prayer for unbelievers.
Letter 217.18Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine argues that grace given to infants and condemned Pelagian formulas show that grace is neither given for the will's merit nor identical with nature or law.
Letter 217.19Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine interprets "God wills all to be saved" as meaning that all who are saved are saved by his will, citing infants who die unbaptized despite their parents' efforts.
Letter 221.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Quodvultdeus asks Augustine for a handbook of all heresies since Christ, with their errors, their baptism, and the Church's answers.
Letter 225.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Prosper reports how the Marseilles monks explain the different fates of infants and unevangelized nations by God's foreknowledge of their future merits.
Letter 227.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine tells Alypius of the baptism of Gabinianus and of the physician Dioscorus, converted after his daughter's healing and successive blindness and paralysis.
Letter 228.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine describes the crowds seeking baptism, reconciliation and communion in a crisis, and the eternal loss if the clergy have fled.
Letter 237.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine shows that the hymn's “I wish to save and be saved,” as the Priscillianists explain it of baptism, is clearly taught in canonical Scripture.
Letter 250.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine asks the young bishop Auxilius by what right he excommunicated Count Classicianus together with his whole household, since spiritual punishment binds souls and each soul answers for its own sin.
Letter 250.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine says he has never dared to excommunicate a whole household, since innocents would be punished and some might die unbaptized, and asks Auxilius for his reasons.
Letter 258.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine urges Marcianus to enroll for baptism, citing Terence and Virgil's Fourth Eclogue, which he says may echo a Sibylline prophecy of Christ.
Letter 265.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine replies to Seleuciana about a Novatianist who claimed Peter was not baptized though the other apostles were.
Letter 265.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine explains that Peter's repentance for his denial was not the formal penance of the Church's penitents.
Letter 265.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine explains that the apostles had not yet received the baptism of the Spirit when Peter denied Christ, but that they had been baptized with water, as baptism is not to be despised.
Letter 265.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine argues that since Christ made baptism necessary, the apostles must have been baptized even though Scripture does not record it, as martyrdom alone substitutes for baptism.
Letter 265.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine argues from John 3:22, 4:1–3 and 13:10 that Christ baptized through his disciples, who must themselves have been baptized, Peter included.
Letter 265.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine says the claim that the apostles gave penance instead of baptism, with no penance after baptism, is foreign to Catholic faith, whether or not Novatianists hold it.
Letter 265.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine distinguishes penance before baptism, as in Acts 2:38, from the public penance of baptized sinners, as in 2 Cor 12:21 and the case of Simon Magus.
Homilies on Matthew 2.2John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · The earthly birth of the Son of God from a virgin and from David and Abraham is a pledge that humans may become children of God; the double birth and the baptism join old and new; the name Jesus means Savior.
Homilies on Matthew 4.7John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · The name Jesus, given from heaven, promises salvation from sins, which only God can give; moral section: the baptized must be recognizable by their life, but many live like the unbaptized, at races and theaters.
Homilies on Matthew 10.1John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Homily 10 opens with Matt 3:1–2: 'in those days' is an indefinite phrase; Christ was baptized at thirty after fulfilling the whole law; John's baptism did not remit sins but led the self-righteous Jews to acknowledge their sins and seek Christ's remission, and gathered crowds to witness his manifestation.
Homilies on Matthew 10.3John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · John came from the wilderness as Isaiah foretold, preparing the way rather than giving remission; Luke's fuller quotation of Isa 40 figures the humbling of the proud, the ease of grace, and salvation for all flesh; Matthew adds the detail of John's dress.
Homilies on Matthew 10.5John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · If John, the greatest of the prophets, lived so austerely, our luxury is inexcusable; his preaching of heaven, not of earthly wars, drew all Judea to confession; now is the time of confession for catechumens and baptized alike, for the judgment is near.
Homilies on Matthew 11.1John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Homily 11 opens with Matt 3:7: the Pharisees came to John with hostile intent and did not truly believe; John, knowing their hearts, rebuked their pride in ancestry, mixing praise with rebuke, and first spoke to them of the wrath to come.
Homilies on Matthew 11.4John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · 'Brood of vipers' fits their parricidal history; John demands fruits of repentance and forbids trust in Abraham, since God can raise children from stones as from Sarah's womb; the axe at the root threatens without despair; bearing fruit needs only the will, and Christ's baptism with the Spirit and fire gives every grace.
Homilies on Matthew 11.5John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · John speaks of fire to recall Israel's theophanies; he first names the gift of the Spirit, then the Lamb who takes away sin; to keep the hearers from slackness he adds the winnowing fork and unquenchable fire, and the fulfilled promise of the Spirit guarantees the threatened judgment.
Homilies on Matthew 11.6John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · The Spirit's visible gift makes the coming judgment credible; baptism is not enough without virtue, for after baptism the winnowing fork divides believers; John spoke of the Spirit rather than miracles because that gift includes all the blessings and points to what could not yet be seen.
Homilies on Matthew 12.1John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Homily 12 opens with Matt 3:13–16: the Master comes to be baptized by the servant; John, who called him the sinless Lamb, protests; Christ's 'it is fitting now to fulfill all righteousness' means completing the whole law so as to lift its curse.
Homilies on Matthew 12.2John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · The opened heavens, the descending Spirit, and the voice showed that Christ, not John, was the beloved Son; unbelief despite such signs is no charge against God, as Isaiah's vineyard song shows; the visible signs at the beginning teach that at every baptism heaven opens and the Spirit comes.
Homilies on Matthew 12.3John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · The Spirit appeared as a dove for gentleness and to recall the dove of the flood, bringing adoption instead of an olive leaf; it took a form, not a nature, so is not inferior to Christ; Christian baptism, unlike John's, gives the Spirit and makes us sons of God, so we must live as citizens of heaven and store our treasure there.
Homilies on Matthew 13.1John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ is led by the Spirit into the wilderness after his baptism to teach the baptized that temptation follows grace, that it should not be sought, and that fasting is the weapon against the devil.
Homilies on Matthew 19.3John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Prayer in church must also be free of display and noise, joining the angels’ worship; then the Lord’s Prayer is expounded: God as common Father, the hallowing of his name by our lives, the longing for his kingdom, his will done on earth as in heaven, bread for the day, and the forgiveness of sins after baptism.
Homilies on Matthew 39.4John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · The priests are guiltless by law, and Christ, Lord of the temple and of the sabbath, is greater; the sabbath trained Israel for a time, but Christians keep a spiritual feast continually and should strive beyond what is commanded.
Homilies on Matthew 43.3John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · The queen of the south will also condemn this generation; the parable of the returning unclean spirit foretells worse calamities for the Jews after AD 70, and warns baptized Christians who relapse; Chrysostom describes the fire of Gehenna and rejects the comfort of being punished with many.
Homilies on Matthew 67.2John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ meets the question about his authority with the question about John’s baptism, and by the parable of the two sons makes the Jewish leaders condemn themselves; Chrysostom then tells of a famous actress of his own day who became a model of repentance and asceticism.
Homilies on Matthew 90.2John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · The grave cloths left in the myrrh, the bribe and the admission that the body was gone all confirm the resurrection; in Galilee the risen Christ sends the disciples to baptize all nations with the promise of his presence to the end. His commands are easy; it is the love of money, not poverty, that enslaves, and poverty is a safe harbor and a school of self-command.
On Fleeing the World 55Ambrose · ca. 387-391 · Like Lot, we should flee the sins of the world into the heavenly city, where Christ’s death in baptism sets us free.
On Fleeing the World 57Ambrose · ca. 387-391 · Christ the High Priest died for us, nailing our debts to the cross; renouncing the world, we bear his likeness and need not fear death.
On Elijah and Fasting 34Ambrose · ca. 387-390 · Lent ends in Easter baptism and the eucharist; but true fasting, as Isaiah says, means justice, release of debts, and care for the poor, not mere hunger.
On Elijah and Fasting 36Ambrose · ca. 387-390 · Anointing the head in fasting means the oil of gladness and the anointing of the sacraments, not feigned sadness or luxurious perfume.
On Elijah and Fasting 83Ambrose · ca. 387-390 · The unbaptized should come to baptism, which, like the fire on Elijah's water-drenched altar, consumes sin and enlightens.
On Elijah and Fasting 84Ambrose · ca. 387-390 · No one should postpone baptism, which, prefigured by Elijah's opening of heaven, opens the kingdom through water and the Spirit.
On Elijah and Fasting 85Ambrose · ca. 387-390 · Delaying baptism is folly; like Cain's offering of what came after, giving God the remainder of life is rejected, while Abel's first-fruits were accepted.
Hexameron (Exameron) 1.14Ambrose · ca. 387-390 · Spring is also the season of the Exodus and of Easter baptism, the passage to rebirth in which the devil is renounced.
Hexameron (Exameron) 3.23Ambrose · ca. 387-390 · The sea's islands shelter ascetics, and the church at worship, singing psalms antiphonally, is like the sea.
Hexameron (Exameron) 5.6Ambrose · ca. 387-390 · Creatures fearsome on land are harmless or delightful in the sea, as in the church the waters of baptism reconcile wolves and lambs.
Hexameron (Exameron) 5.35Ambrose · ca. 387-390 · Jonah, preserved by the sea monster, prefigures Christ; Peter was upheld on the sea; Ambrose ends the morning sermon.
Hexameron (Exameron) 5.92Ambrose · ca. 387-390 · Ambrose turns from the birds to the mysteries of the Lord's body, as evening ends the fifth day.
Hexameron (Exameron) 6.38Ambrose · ca. 387-390 · Poisonous creatures are like tutors' rods, correcting the weak; believers like Paul are unharmed, so unbelief is the real danger.
On Joseph 59Ambrose · ca. 387-390 · Joseph's weeping figures Christ's, and his washing his face figures Paul's baptism; Benjamin's fivefold portion signifies Paul's preeminence.
On Joseph 71Ambrose · ca. 387-390 · 'God sent me before you for life' corresponds to Christ's sending the apostles to baptize all nations.
On the Mysteries 1Ambrose · ca. 387–391 · Ambrose explains why he teaches the newly baptized about the sacraments only after their initiation, beginning with the rite of “Ephphatha.”
On the Mysteries 2Ambrose · ca. 387–391 · In the baptistery the candidates renounced the devil and the world before the clergy, whose office, not their persons, matters, and turned to the east toward Christ.
On the Mysteries 3Ambrose · ca. 387–391 · The font is no mere water: the Spirit’s presence there is prefigured in creation, the flood, the Red Sea, Marah, and Naaman’s cleansing.
On the Mysteries 4Ambrose · ca. 387–391 · Water cleanses only with the Spirit and the cross; baptism in the Trinity, foreshadowed by the pool of Bethesda and the dove, truly heals and regenerates.
On the Mysteries 5Ambrose · ca. 387–391 · The whole Trinity testifies at Christ’s baptism, and Christ is present at the font through the priests’ prayer; the baptismal confession binds the candidate to equal faith in Father, Son, and Spirit.
On the Mysteries 6Ambrose · ca. 387–391 · After the font come the anointing of the head, signifying a priestly people, and the washing of the feet, which Ambrose links to the removal of hereditary sin and to humility.
On the Mysteries 7Ambrose · ca. 387–391 · The white garments of the newly baptized signify cleansing, and Ambrose reads the Song of Songs of the Church and the soul washed in baptism, ending with the spiritual seal of the Spirit’s sevenfold gifts.
On the Mysteries 9Ambrose · ca. 387–391 · Ambrose argues from the miracles of Scripture and from the virgin birth that the word of Christ changes the bread and wine into his body and blood, which feed the Church, and that the Spirit truly regenerates in baptism.
On the Blessings of the Patriarchs 24Ambrose · ca. 387-392 · Washing his robe in wine and the blood of the grape signifies Christ's baptism and his passion, in which water and blood from his side washed and redeemed us.
On the Blessings of the Patriarchs 44Ambrose · ca. 387-392 · One freed from fear and nourished by the sacraments of regeneration bears the beauty of the word and is taken into Christ's grace.
On the Blessings of the Patriarchs 45Ambrose · ca. 387-392 · Christ, beautiful above all, gives his beauty to the church, made radiant in baptism, as the Song of Songs says.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 1.21.2Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Christians and catechumens should keep from the counsels of the ungodly.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 36.36.3Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Christ's death is life, as baptism and the grain of wheat show.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 36.37.3Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · The inner man is made, crucified, buried and raised in Christ.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 36.63.4Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Baptism makes us heirs of grace, not of family.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 37.3.1Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · John baptized at Aenon ("eye of punishments") near Salim ("he who ascends").
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 37.3.2Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · John's baptism looks to punishment, Christ's to grace.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 37.3.3Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Christ, who ascended, raises the baptized to newness of life as co-heirs.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 37.10.1Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · The Jordan, the font of baptism, is descent into Christ's death and ascent into his resurrection.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 37.10.2Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · After baptism, sin is washed by the water of tears.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 37.11.1Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · First the water of baptism, then the water of tears.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 38.22.2Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Grace strips sin off; penance covers it with labor; both are blessed.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 38.25.1Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Shadow in the law, image in the gospel, truth in heaven; the church's mysteries were foreshadowed.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 40.5.2Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Unlike pagan blood-rites and the old sacrifices, baptism and the heavenly table bring the riches of Christ’s poverty.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 40.28.3Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · The stone that falls on us cleanses and heals; anyone once received in baptism must not stray from Christ’s body, the church.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 40.36.4Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · The doubled “amen” in John marks the deepest mysteries.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 40.37.2Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · The second book of psalms foretells baptism, the rest of the saints, Pentecost, the altar, the ascension and virginity.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 43.1.1Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Psalm 43 (Protestant 44) follows the mysteries of passion, baptism and altar by teaching how Christ trains his athlete for the contests that follow forgiveness.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 47.5.2Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Through baptism the devil’s former followers became Mount Sion; the “sides” are his companions and helpers.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 48.8.2Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Christ washed the disciples’ feet to wash away the serpent’s poison from the heel.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 48.15.4Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Redeemed once by Christ’s blood, the believer must still labour to keep God’s commands to the end.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 48.16.1Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Those who keep God’s commands will not see destruction; the scribes, trusting the didrachma and refusing baptism, labour in vain.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 61.13.2Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · The chiefs condemned themselves; the field bought for strangers figures the gentiles, buried with Christ and made citizens of God.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 61.31.2Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · The false balance is the hypocrisy of the greedy; avarice, the root of all vices, must be fled by the baptized.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 61.32.1Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Do not set your heart on riches that flow past; only the Jordan of baptism turned back to its source.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 61.32.2Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Baptism returns us to the nakedness of nature; shame at nakedness came from sin, not from nature.
On Free Choice of the Will 3.23Augustine of Hippo · ca. 387–395 · Augustine answers objections about infants who die or suffer (no one is created in vain; baptized infants are helped by the faith of those who present them; the Holy Innocents are honored as martyrs) and about animal pain, which shows the soul's desire for unity and points to the Creator's unity.
On the Catholic Way of Life and the Manichaean Way of Life 1.35Augustine of Hippo · ca. 387–389 · Augustine answers the Manichaean charge that baptized Christians should not marry, beget children, or own property, citing Paul's words on the body, marriage, and continence in 1 Corinthians 6–7, and closes the first book.
Sermon 10.4Chromatius of Aquileia · ca. 388-407 · text not on this site
Sermon 14.1Chromatius of Aquileia · ca. 388-407 · text not on this site
Sermon 14.2Chromatius of Aquileia · ca. 388-407 · text not on this site
Sermon 14.3Chromatius of Aquileia · ca. 388-407 · text not on this site
Sermon 14.4Chromatius of Aquileia · ca. 388-407 · text not on this site
Sermon 15.5Chromatius of Aquileia · ca. 388-407 · text not on this site
Sermon 15.6Chromatius of Aquileia · ca. 388-407 · text not on this site
Sermon 17.3Chromatius of Aquileia · ca. 388-407 · text not on this site
Sermon 18.3Chromatius of Aquileia · ca. 388-407 · text not on this site
Sermon 26.3Chromatius of Aquileia · ca. 388-407 · text not on this site
Sermon 33.3Chromatius of Aquileia · ca. 388-407 · text not on this site
Sermon 34.2Chromatius of Aquileia · ca. 388-407 · text not on this site
Sermon 34.3Chromatius of Aquileia · ca. 388-407 · text not on this site
Tractates on Matthew 1.1Chromatius of Aquileia · ca. 388–407 · Chromatius explains why Christ, who had no sin, was baptized by John: to fulfil all righteousness, give an example, and sanctify the waters of baptism.
Tractates on Matthew 1.2Chromatius of Aquileia · ca. 388–407 · Chromatius explains, from Galatians and Romans, that baptism washes away sins and gives new life in Christ.
Tractates on Matthew 1.3Chromatius of Aquileia · ca. 388–407 · Chromatius explains that John was really baptized by Christ, and that Israel's crossing of the Jordan under Joshua foreshadowed baptism.
Tractates on Matthew 2.1Chromatius of Aquileia · ca. 388–407 · Chromatius describes the opening of the heavens, the descent of the Spirit and the Father's voice at Christ's baptism, foretold in Psalm 29.
Tractates on Matthew 2.2Chromatius of Aquileia · ca. 388–407 · Chromatius argues against the heretics that Christ's baptism reveals the Trinity, with the Son a true Son by nature, not by adoption: three persons, one divinity and substance.
Tractates on Matthew 2.3Chromatius of Aquileia · ca. 388–407 · Chromatius explains that the events of Christ's baptism signify the opening of heaven to the baptized, who become sons of God and receive the Spirit.
Tractates on Matthew 4.1Chromatius of Aquileia · ca. 388–407 · Chromatius explains that the apostles are the salt of the earth, formed like salt by water, sun and wind, that is, baptism, Christ and the Spirit, and seasoning the earth of our bodies with wisdom.
Tractates on Matthew 4.2Chromatius of Aquileia · ca. 388–407 · Chromatius compares the power of salt, which prevents corruption and worms, with heavenly grace, which preserves the whole person from sin, citing the salted sacrifices.
Tractates on Matthew 14.1Chromatius of Aquileia · ca. 388–407 · Chromatius begins his exposition of the Lord's Prayer: by calling God 'Father', believers reborn in baptism are made sons of God and must live accordingly.
Tractate 11.2Chromatius of Aquileia · ca. 388-407 · text not on this site
Tractate 11.3Chromatius of Aquileia · ca. 388-407 · text not on this site
Tractate 11.5Chromatius of Aquileia · ca. 388-407 · text not on this site
Tractate 16.2Chromatius of Aquileia · ca. 388-407 · text not on this site
Tractate 33.7Chromatius of Aquileia · ca. 388-407 · text not on this site
Tractate 41.8Chromatius of Aquileia · ca. 388-407 · text not on this site
Homily 1.4 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Chrysostom urges his hearers to prepare their souls as good ground and to keep away from the theater, recalling that at baptism they renounced Satan, his angels and his pomp.
Homily 10.2 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Paul proclaims his past persecution to show Christ’s patience; those who rejected Christ lost the power to become children of God, which faith and baptism give to all ranks of people alike, though it must be guarded by our own effort and choice.
Homily 10.3 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Grace is God’s part and faith man’s; baptism gives the new birth “of God,” but keeping it pure depends on our effort, lest we be cast out like the foolish virgins or the guest without a wedding garment.
Homily 11.2 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · “Became flesh” refutes those who called the incarnation an appearance, yet implies no change in the unchangeable Word, for “dwelt” shows that God the Word and the flesh are one by an ineffable union without confusion, and he keeps our nature forever.
Homily 14.2 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · The old covenant had adoption and holiness in name and by abstaining from idolatry, the new in reality through baptism and a higher life; both were grace, but Christ’s is greater, and “came” versus “was given” shows him as King and the law as types he fulfilled.
Homily 16.1 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Chrysostom traces the envy behind the delegation from Jerusalem and explains how John answered their hidden intention, refused every title, and pointed to Christ as incomparably greater.
Homily 17.1 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Chrysostom explains the place named in John 1:28, why Jesus came to John again after his baptism, what “the Lamb of God” and “ranks before me” mean, and why John says “I did not know him.”
Homily 18.1 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · John repeats his testimony because his hearers were asleep; his disciples follow Jesus when they hear that he takes away the world’s sin, and Chrysostom compares John to the friend who gives the bride to the bridegroom.
Homily 24.2 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Nicodemus thinks of Jesus as a prophet empowered by God; Jesus, who speaks moderately but acts with full authority, gently tells him that without birth from above, through the washing of regeneration, no one can see the kingdom or rightly know him.
Homily 25.1 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Chrysostom explains that rebirth of water and the Spirit is not only possible but necessary for salvation, a new creation as beyond human reasoning as Adam’s formation from earth, and solemnly warns the unbaptized.
Homily 25.2 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Rebirth from water and the Spirit is a new creation surpassing the first; Chrysostom explains why water is necessary and how the triple immersion signifies burial and resurrection with Christ by the power of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Homily 25.3 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · The baptized must live worthily, and catechumens must hasten to baptism, for they are strangers to the faithful and in danger of Gehenna if death finds them uninitiated; Chrysostom urges lending to Christ in the poor while the season for sowing lasts.
Homily 26.1 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Rebirth from water and the Spirit is a new creation in which the font is a womb; Chrysostom distinguishes Christ’s birth of the virgin’s flesh and his begetting from the Father’s essence from our birth by grace, and explains the image of the wind.
Homily 26.2 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · The wind’s unseen working shows that the Spirit’s birth cannot be bound by nature; Chrysostom rebukes Nicodemus’s simplicity and lists the Old Testament types of baptism and of the virgin birth.
Homily 27.1 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ speaks humbly because of his hearers’ weakness, calling baptism “earthly” by comparison with his own eternal begetting; he corrects Nicodemus by declaring that he comes from heaven and is there, and joins baptism to the cross.
Homily 28.1 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Against those who deny future punishment, Chrysostom shows that God’s love appears in forgiving sins at baptism and giving time for repentance, while the baptized who sin incur heavier judgment; Christ’s first coming was to save, his second will be to judge.
Homily 29.1 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Truth hides nothing, as Christ showed by teaching openly in Judea; Chrysostom explains why John kept baptizing while Jesus’ disciples did, and how John’s jealous disciples started a dispute about purification; the ref also contains, displaced in the scan, the end of Homily 28 on empty glory.
Homily 34.3 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Like the Samaritan woman we should not hide our sins from men but repent before God, applying remedies opposite to our sins, because the judgment and the end are near.
Homily 36.1 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · The pool of Bethesda prefigures baptism, in which the Spirit, not the water alone, looses sins; the paralytic's patience shames our sloth, and toil was joined to virtue because ease corrupted us.
Homily 53.1 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · No one could seize Christ because his hour had not come; he warns that unbelievers will die in their sins and points to his being lifted up on the cross as the moment they will know who he is.
Homily 73.2 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ is the way, the truth, and the life, and knowing him is knowing the Father; sins are washed away by baptism and afterward above all by almsgiving, but not almsgiving from injustice.
Homily 78.2 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · The Spirit will convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment; he speaks what is Christ's and the Father's, not as inferior or as needing to learn, for the Father, Son, and Spirit share one knowledge, one will, and one dignity, as baptism shows.
Homily 85.2 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · From the cross Christ commits his mother to John, dies by his own authority, and from his pierced side flow water and blood, the sources of baptism and the Eucharist; Joseph and Nicodemus bury him.
Homily 11Gregory of Nyssa · ca. 390–394 · On Song 5:2–4 Gregory urges wakefulness against the dreams of worldly life, describes the soul's ascent from light through cloud into the divine darkness, reads the keys "sister, close one, dove, perfect one" and the putting off of the tunic of skin as the opening of the soul to the Word, and interprets the hand through the opening either as God known only by his works or as the incarnation.
Sermon 2.9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Abraham's faith and work both pleased God; Paul's "justified by faith without works" is shown by the dying believer and the thief, while true faith works through love in the heart.
Sermon 3.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Hagar and Ishmael are figures of heretics and schismatics: Ishmael's "play" was persecution, and those who have baptism outside the Church will not inherit unless they return.
Sermon 4.9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The exodus is a figure of baptism: sins are drowned like the Egyptians, and the baptized walk through this world's desert in hope, resisting temptations, toward the homeland.
Sermon 4.14Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The Church bears two kinds of children: those who cling to their sins after baptism, like hairy Esau, and the clean, like Jacob, who must bear others' sins patiently.
Sermon 5.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Those about to be baptized are warned to forgive, like the forgiven servant in the parable; forgiveness lies in the heart, and loving correction, as God practises it, is not hatred.
Sermon 19.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Augustine urges a good life without earthly reward, citing recent earthquakes in the East and at Sitifis, after which thousands were baptized; the world is an olive press, and all should be oil, not dregs, before death comes suddenly.
Sermon 26.12Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The grace that saves sinners who deserved punishment is greater than the grace of creation; from the one lump of perdition God makes vessels of honor, and when one infant is baptized and another dies unbaptized we can only cry, “O the depth!”
Sermon 27.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · We walk by faith in the crucified, “unsightly” Christ, whose sign we bear on our foreheads; only at the vision of his beauty will we see God’s equity in why one is baptized and another is not.
Sermon 32.16Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Those who bear the sign of the cross on their foreheads must imitate Christ’s humility; desire and fear give place to the devil when they are for temporal things, but to God’s word when they are for eternal things.
Sermon 37.16Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · All in the Church are clothed with Christ in baptism, but only the good have put him on in their lives as well; the rest will give account for the garment they received.
Sermon 37.29Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The “many daughters” are the heresies, born of the Church and sharing her sacraments, Scriptures, and even baptism, and able to do mighty works; but they are thorns with flowers and no fruit, while the Church bears fruit.
Sermon 51.30Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The generations run through Joseph, chastely husband and father, whom the Spirit gave a son; Matthew descends from Abraham to show Christ coming down to bear our sins, Luke ascends from his baptism to God to show sins cleansed.
Sermon 51.33Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Luke’s seventy-seven generations, counted from Christ’s baptism up to God, signify the forgiveness of all sins in baptism, consecrated by the appearing of the Trinity at the Jordan.
Sermon 51.34Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Seventy-seven is eleven, the number of transgression beyond the ten of justice, multiplied by seven, the number of the creature, soul and body; so it signifies all sins.
Sermon 51.35Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Luke’s seventy-seven generations show reconciliation with God through the forgiveness of all sins, as Christ told Peter to forgive seventy-seven times; Scripture not yet understood should be honored, and what is understood held with love.
Sermon 52.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · At Christ’s baptism the Trinity is shown distinctly: the Father in the voice, the Son in the man, the Holy Spirit in the dove.
Sermon 55.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · God is our refuge in birth and rebirth, gently encouraging and firmly correcting us on the way.
Sermon 56.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Augustine explains to the candidates for baptism why they received the Creed before the Lord’s Prayer: one must believe before one can call on God.
Sermon 56.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The candidates, already conceived in the Church’s womb, will be born of God the Father in baptism; asking that God’s name be hallowed means asking that it be held holy in us.
Sermon 56.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · God’s almighty will is done in everyone, in reward or condemnation; we pray that it may also be done by us, which he himself works in us.
Sermon 56.11Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Even the baptized, bishops included, incur daily sins; the Lord’s Prayer and almsgiving are like pumping the bilge, so that small sins do not sink the ship.
Sermon 56.13Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The petition is a pact with God; the candidates must forgive everyone from the heart before baptism, in which all their sins, original and personal, will be forgiven.
Sermon 57.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The candidates first learned the Creed, what to believe; now they learn the Prayer, how to call on him in whom they believe.
Sermon 57.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Baptism blots out all sins, yet the Prayer teaches that sins follow in life; the candidates must forgive all their enemies, as God, who owes nothing, forgives them.
Sermon 57.9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · God tempts no one to evil, though he tests; but by hidden judgment he abandons some to the tempter; after baptism concupiscence remains, and we must fight it within, asking God not to abandon us.
Sermon 58.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Having recited the Creed, the candidates receive the Lord’s Prayer, dictated by Christ, their advocate and judge; they will recite it in eight days and the Creed again on the Saturday of their baptism.
Sermon 58.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · No one lives without sin; even the apostles, the rams of the flock, were taught to ask forgiveness; sins are forgiven once in baptism and daily through the Lord’s Prayer.
Sermon 58.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The petition is a binding pact; candidates and faithful alike must forgive from the heart in these holy days, lest Christ, the Sun of justice, set on their anger.
Sermon 58.13Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · At the Easter Vigil the candidates will recite the Creed; they should say it daily as a mirror of their faith and a garment for the soul, until faith gives way to the vision of God.
Sermon 59.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · After the Creed, short in words and great in meaning, the candidates receive the Lord’s Prayer, given by Christ to the apostles and handed on to us.
Sermon 59.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Asking that God’s ever-holy name be hallowed means asking to be made holy by it, as in baptism, and to remain so.
Sermon 59.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Daily bread is bodily food, the eucharist, and the word preached, all needed only in this life; daily sins are washed away by the Lord’s Prayer, provided we forgive those who ask our pardon.
Sermon 71.16Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · As “whoever believes and is baptized” does not include those with dead faith like Simon Magus, so the saying on blasphemy means a certain kind.
Sermon 71.19Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The first gift of the Holy Spirit is the forgiveness of sins, given in baptism and in the Church, which is why John and Jesus began by preaching repentance.
Sermon 71.32Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Those baptized in schism are not rebaptized when they enter the Catholic Church, but only within it do they receive the Spirit’s unity; outside, the sacraments have the form without the power.
Sermon 71.33Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The forgiveness of sins is given only in the Church that has the Spirit; it is the proper work of the Spirit, who is the fellowship of the Father and the Son.
Sermon 83.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Luke’s genealogy of Christ, begun at his baptism, counts seventy-seven generations back to Adam, signifying that all sins are forgiven.
Sermon 90.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The wedding garment cannot be baptism, the eucharist, fasting, churchgoing, or miracles, since the bad share all of these.
Sermon 95.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The wedding garment is not any gift shared by good and bad, such as baptism, the eucharist, prophecy, or faith, but love, which is put on by clothing Christ in the naked.
Sermon 99.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ foresaw the Donatists, who claim that they themselves forgive and sanctify and who, like the Pharisee, refused at the Conference of Carthage even to sit with Catholics, saying “do not touch me, for I am clean.”
Sermon 99.10Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · God forgives and gives the Spirit both through men and without them; at Samaria he gave the Spirit through the apostles’ hands, and Simon Magus wrongly thought the gift belonged to men and could be bought.
Sermon 99.11Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · God showed that the Spirit is his gift, not men’s, by sending him without human hands on the eunuch and on Cornelius; so any penitent soul, whoever baptizes her, is cleansed by the Lord’s grace and her faith.
Sermon 106.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ, who heard the Pharisee’s thoughts, rebuked outward washing; even baptism cleanses through faith, which is within, as Acts and 1 Peter show.
Sermon 119.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The Word became flesh as gold might become grass, and, though the grass was burned, it raised it to the Father’s right hand; those who believe receive power to become children of God, born of God in the womb of baptism, as the newly baptized infants show.
Sermon 120.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · A human word reaches every hearer whole without leaving the speaker, a small likeness of the Word of God; Augustine prays for the newly baptized in white, that they may not fall back into darkness after the Easter days.
Sermon 121.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Some of Christ’s own did receive him; the stones that cry out when the children are silent are the Gentiles, formerly worshippers of stones, from whom God has raised up children of Abraham, as the newly baptized show.
Sermon 121.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The children of God are born not of blood, as in the first, wretched birth from man and woman, but of God; the second birth is from God and the church.
Sermon 129.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The Donatist who says “I justify” imitates Antichrist, who honors his own name; a believer baptized anywhere in the Catholic Church is clean, because Christ, who is everywhere, is the one who baptizes.
Sermon 131.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Against those who exalt human nature, Augustine says that free choice was lost by sin; baptism forgives all sins, like the Samaritan’s oil and wine, but weakness is healed only gradually in the inn, the Church.
Sermon 131.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Psalm 103 lists God’s benefits in order: forgiveness in baptism, the healing of weakness now, redemption from corruption at the resurrection, and finally the crown, which is given in mercy, since even our merits are God’s gifts.
Sermon 132.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The faithful know what Christ meant by eating his flesh; Augustine urges the catechumens to give in their names for baptism at Easter so that they too may understand and share the Lord’s table.
Sermon 135.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The healing of the man born blind signifies the enlightening of a human race blinded by the devil: the clay is the Word made flesh, and washing in Siloam, “Sent,” is baptism in Christ.
Sermon 136.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ left the man’s eyes unformed so as to heal them as a miracle; the man, like everyone, had original sin, though that was not the cause of his blindness; all are born blind in heart.
Sermon 138.10Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Even granting that “noon” means Africa, the words are the bride’s, not the bridegroom’s: the Church overseas asks where in divided Africa Christ’s true flock is, so as not to fall among the Donatists and their rebaptism.
Sermon 146.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The newly baptized must not imitate bad Christians; the sheep are Christ’s, not the pastors’; schismatics who baptize outside the Church put Christ’s mark on stolen sheep, and the Song of Songs bids them go out with their own kids.
Sermon 149.10Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The threefold descent signifies baptism in the name of the Trinity of the nations from the four quarters, and four times three makes the twelve apostles.
Sermon 151.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The righteous man’s life is still a war, as Rom 7 shows, and its triumph will come with the resurrection; meanwhile Gal 5 tells the baptized not to “fulfil” the desires of the flesh but to follow the Spirit.
Sermon 151.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · A baptized drunkard has his past sins forgiven but must still fight the habit; refusing consent weakens it daily, and so long as it is not obeyed the desire of the flesh is not “fulfilled.”
Sermon 151.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Concupiscence, with which we are born and because of which infants are baptized, arose when Adam and Eve broke the first law and felt the shameful motion of their bodies; Christ, conceived without it, frees us from it.
Sermon 152.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Baptism removes the guilt of original sin and of all past sins, so there is no condemnation for those in Christ even though desire remains; they must fight it as free men.
Sermon 155.9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The Law's righteousness is fulfilled now in those who, helped by grace, refuse the flesh's desires; Baptism blotted out past sins, and daily slips are forgiven through the Lord's Prayer.
Sermon 158.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · We are already predestined and called; justification we have in part, through baptism and faith, yet the struggle with sin remains, so no one may say he is without sin.
Sermon 158.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · We who believe without seeing are called blessed and so already have some righteousness, received in baptism and the Spirit; it is to grow until it is made perfect.
Sermon 165.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Against the claim that God creates everyone immortal and each dies for his own sins, Augustine points to dying infants, who have no personal sin and so must die from Adam's sin and need Christ's grace.
Sermon 169.16Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Paul, conformed to Christ's death by baptism, confessed that he was not yet perfect: the one thing he lacked was to dwell in the Lord's house and contemplate his delight.
Sermon 174.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · To deny that infants have anything for Jesus to save is to deny that he is Jesus, Savior, to baptized infants, who become his members, receive his sacraments, and share his table.
Sermon 174.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ came only to save sinners, and his name Jesus means he saves his people from their sins; infants belong to that people, so those who answer for them at baptism must bring them with this faith.
Sermon 174.9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Augustine pleads for infants, who cannot speak for themselves: all inherit Adam's sin and pass to Christ only by baptism; baptized parents beget by the flesh, so their children too must be reborn, as the ancient rule of faith holds.
Sermon 175.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Pierced by Peter's preaching, Christ's killers asked what to do and were told to repent and be baptized in the name of the one they had killed; they were healed, the answer to Christ's prayer for them.
Sermon 176.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · No one descended from Adam is healthy without Christ's grace, including infants, whom the Church brings to baptism on others' feet, hearts, and tongues; to deny their need is to keep them from the Physician.
Sermon 181.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · John's “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves” means that no one in this life is without sin, not even a day-old infant, nor the baptized believer, who lies if he says he is righteous.
Sermon 181.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The Pelagians admit they themselves are sinners, though baptized members of the Church; so the Church on earth is not without spot, and by their own claim they have put themselves outside it.
Sermon 183.12Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The Pelagian, by making every infant's flesh equal to Christ's sinless flesh, denies that only Christ came in the likeness of sinful flesh; mothers who bring infants to baptism to be saved testify against him, so he too denies Christ come in the flesh.
Sermon 210.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ fasted after his baptism, while the Church fasts with candidates before Easter baptism; but baptism may be given on any day, and Easter is only its most festive occasion.
Sermon 210.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ's baptism by John is inferior to Christian baptism, as circumcision and the old Passover are to their fulfilments; his fast after baptism teaches us to fast in times of temptation.
Sermon 212.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The Creed, all of it drawn from Scripture, is to be learned by heart and never written down, as a sign of the new covenant written on the heart.
Sermon 213.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The Holy Spirit is equal to the Father and the Son; the Catholic Church throughout the world, once unfaithful through idolatry, has been made a virgin in faith and, like Mary, gives birth to Christ's members in baptism.
Sermon 213.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The forgiveness of sins in the Church is given in baptism, pictured by the Red Sea in which the pursuing Egyptians drowned, and daily through the Lord's Prayer.
Sermon 214.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · At the handing over of the Creed, Augustine explains that it gathers briefly what Scripture teaches, to be believed in the heart and confessed with the mouth.
Sermon 215.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Those who have given back the Creed must keep it always in mind, renounce the devil and their former life, and believe what they do not yet see.
Sermon 216.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The candidates for baptism, called competentes because they “seek together,” seek the one thing of Psalm 27: to dwell in the house of the Lord.
Sermon 216.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Those who renounce the world will see God; they must put off the old man and offer their members to God as weapons of righteousness.
Sermon 216.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The kingdom of heaven is offered freely; the candidates are to be good soil for the word, bearing a hundredfold, sixtyfold, or thirtyfold.
Sermon 216.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The candidates are called out of darkness and Babylonian captivity by the heavenly Jerusalem to the good days of eternal life.
Sermon 216.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ paid our debt; the candidates, longing for the land of the living, must put to death sexual immorality and greed and, with the exorcisms of the Church, fight and renounce the devil.
Sermon 216.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The devil's hold is being broken; the candidates, being born from the womb of mother Church, must not be impatient but grow into maturity in Christ.
Sermon 216.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · In baptism God the Father and mother Church give a new birth free of punishment and guilt; its spiritual ages do not succeed one another but endure together and lead to the seventh age of rest.
Sermon 216.9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · God's grace makes the candidates chosen and called; in him they will find life, light, salvation, and even the true intoxication of his delights.
Sermon 216.10Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The candidates must guard against pride, persist in repentance, and humble themselves in fasting, as was signified when they stood on sackcloth during their examination.
Sermon 216.11Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Like the prodigal son, the candidates will be met by the merciful Father and fed with Christ's flesh and blood; found free of possession, they must keep that health in their hearts.
Sermon 218.9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The seamless tunic given by lot signifies the love and faith of unity, which only God's hidden grace gives, while the visible sacraments can be had by good and bad alike.
Sermon 223.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The newly baptized, once darkness, are now light and day; they must cling to the good among the faithful and not imitate bad Christians.
Sermon 224.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The newly baptized are members of Christ by grace; they must imitate the few good Catholics, not the bad, and keep from sexual immorality, adultery, and other sins.
Sermon 224.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Sinners must not put off amendment with the crow's “cras, cras”; the newly baptized are adjured not to imitate them.
Sermon 225.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The newly baptized, made light and day, must avoid drunkenness and be filled instead with the Holy Spirit, the fountain of life and light.
Sermon 226.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The newly baptized are the day the Lord has made: as at creation, the Spirit moved over the waters of their baptism and God said, “Let there be light.”
Sermon 227.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Augustine explains the Eucharist to the newly baptized: the bread and cup are Christ's body and blood, and they themselves, ground, moistened, and baked like bread, are Christ's body; he then explains the parts of the rite.
Sermon 228.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · During Easter week the newly baptized watch the older faithful; Augustine warns that bad examples among the baptized will be answerable for those they lead astray.
Sermon 228.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The newly baptized should be grain, not chaff, and imitate those who truly fear God; if they find none, they should become such themselves.
Sermon 228.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Augustine announces the instruction on the sacrament of the altar, following those on the Creed, the Lord's Prayer, and baptism.
Sermon 229.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The newly baptized, threshed, ground, moistened, and baked like bread, have become the Lord's bread; the one bread and cup call them to unity, which heretics deny.
Sermon 233.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Faith in the resurrection distinguishes Christians; the gospel has reached the ends of the earth, promising salvation to whoever believes and is baptized.
Sermon 236.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ was handed over for our offenses and rose for our justification: in his death our sin dies, and in his resurrection our righteousness rises.
Sermon 245.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Mary, figure of the Church, was to touch Christ once she knew him as the Word equal to the Father; the Church touches him when it confesses, as the baptized do, that he sits at the Father’s right hand.
Sermon 246.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ says “my Father and your Father” because he is Son by nature and we by grace, and “my God and your God” because he was born of a virgin without sin, while we are born with the sin drawn from Adam, which is why infants are brought to baptism.
Sermon 249.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The Decalogue is fulfilled only when the sevenfold Spirit is added, for the letter kills and the Spirit gives life; ten plus seven gives seventeen, whose sum from one is 153.
Sermon 258.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · As the Spirit moved over the waters and God made light, so the newly baptized, once darkness, were made light in the Lord by the forgiveness of sins: “the day which the Lord has made.”
Sermon 259.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The seventh day signifies the saints’ future sabbath rest with the Lord on a cleansed earth after the judgment, at the end of six world ages; the eighth signifies the eternal life that returns to the beginning, and 153 is again explained from fifty.
Sermon 260.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · To the newly baptized at the Easter octave: keep chastity, married or vowed; the unmarried may marry only partners whose former spouses are no longer living; those vowed to continence must keep their vow.
Sermon 261.10Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · After baptism God gives daily remedies, the Lord’s Prayer and almsgiving, by which the judge will separate right from left; minor sins overwhelm by their number, as raindrops fill rivers.
Sermon 264.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The forty days signify this age, in which faith in the Incarnation is necessary while the Church, like the ark in the flood, holds clean and unclean; in the end believers will enjoy Christ’s divinity.
Sermon 266.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Some read “the oil of the sinner” as any human minister’s, but the oil is Christ’s, and a sinful minister does not intercept the gift of the giver.
Sermon 266.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The apostles received the Spirit while praying, with no hands laid on them; and though in Samaria the Spirit came through the apostles’ hands, he came on the Ethiopian eunuch after Philip baptized him without any laying on of hands, showing that the gift is God’s.
Sermon 266.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Whether the Philip who baptized the eunuch was deacon or apostle, no laying on of hands is mentioned; and against the claim that after the first Pentecost the Spirit came only through hands, Augustine turns to Cornelius and Peter’s vision of the sheet, which he expounds as the Gentile nations cleansed for the Church.
Sermon 266.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The Spirit came on Cornelius before baptism, showing that he breathes where he wills and is not given by human power; the sacrament is God’s oil, good even in a bad minister and even when received badly, as Judas received the morsel to his judgment.
Sermon 268.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Only those within the Church’s unity have the Holy Spirit, as only members in the body have the soul’s life; a man separated from the Church may keep the form of sacrament, baptism, and creed, but not the life.
Sermon 269.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Heretics and schismatics may have true baptism, yet not the Holy Spirit unless they hold to unity in charity; Acts shows the Spirit given in varied ways, before, at, and after baptism, so that baptism and the Spirit are distinct and all is ascribed to grace.
Sermon 269.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Separatists are “animal men, not having the Spirit”; Donatists who ask what they will gain by joining the Church are told that they have Christ’s baptism but must come to receive his Spirit, shown in the charity of unity and in deeds.
Sermon 272.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Augustine explains to the newly baptized that the bread and cup are Christ’s body and blood, and that the faithful, many grains made one bread, are themselves the body of Christ: “Be what you see, and receive what you are.”
Sermon 278.11Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Whoever refuses to forgive others has no promise of salvation; Augustine will not promise pardon God has not promised, as the serpent did, but only what Scripture promises: forgiveness of past sins to the converted and baptized.
Sermon 285.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Against Peter’s charge to feed Christ’s sheep, the Song’s ‘go out’ describes the Donatists, who left the Church because they did not know themselves, claimed their sacraments as their own, and feed their own kids.
Sermon 288.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · John, so great he could have been taken for Christ, humbly bore witness as the bridegroom’s friend; foretold by Isaiah, he called himself the voice, while Christ is the Word.
Sermon 292.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · John had his own disciples and even baptized Christ, yet humbly confessed he was not the Christ; this shames those (the Donatists) who boast ‘I baptize’, and shows the greatest of men recognizing the God-man.
Sermon 292.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ was baptized out of humility, as he became man out of humility: equal to the Father by nature, he took the form of a servant without losing the form of God.
Sermon 292.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The voice baptized the Word, the creature the Creator, the lamp the sun of justice; John confessed his own need of Christ the Savior of all, and Christ was baptized to fulfill all justice by humility.
Sermon 292.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Against the Donatist claim that a baptizer makes the baptized like himself, as a good tree bears good fruit, Augustine points out that John baptized Christ and Ananias baptized Paul, the greater by the lesser.
Sermon 292.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Those who claim ‘I justify you’ in baptism in effect say ‘I am the Christ’; but only the one in whom we believe, who justifies the ungodly, justifies, and no minister dares say ‘believe in me’.
Sermon 292.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The parable of the good and bad tree concerns a person’s deeds, not baptism; if a hidden adulterer baptizes, the Donatist must say the baptized is born of God, which would make him more fortunate than one baptized by a chaste minister.
Sermon 292.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Augustine urges the Donatist to hear John, who called himself only a minister of water and a disciple of Christ, the one who baptizes in the Spirit; a minister must serve Christ as food, not set himself in Christ’s place.
Sermon 293.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The voice carries the word to the hearer and then passes, as John’s baptism passed and Christ’s remains; John, taken for the Christ, humbly called himself the voice preparing the Lord’s way.
Sermon 293.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · God prepared John as a lamp for Christ, the day, to confound his enemies: when the Jewish leaders challenged Christ’s authority, his question about John’s baptism exposed their unwillingness to believe.
Sermon 293.10Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Infants need a liberator, as the mother’s haste to baptism, the Church’s receiving them, and their own weeping testify; all should speak for them, since Christ became a child for them and infants were the first to die for him.
Sermon 293.11Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Jesus means Savior, and he saves his people from their sins; if infants had nothing to be saved from, they should not be brought to baptism, but they are, because in Adam they died and only through Christ can they live.
Sermon 293.12Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Even John the Baptist was born with original sin, since he was born of a man and a woman; his own words ‘I ought to be baptized by you’ show he needed the Savior who freed him.
Sermon 294.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Returning to the question of infant baptism, which he could not treat fully on John’s birthday, Augustine addresses the growing arguments of certain people, aiming to heal rather than merely refute them.
Sermon 294.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The Pelagians agree that infants are to be baptized, but say it is for entry to the kingdom of heaven, not for salvation and eternal life, which they claim sinless infants have anyway; Augustine asks whether eternal life exists outside the kingdom.
Sermon 294.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · There is no middle place between the kingdom on the right and eternal fire on the left at the judgment; since the kingdom is eternal life, an infant excluded from the kingdom cannot have eternal life.
Sermon 294.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Paul warns sinners only that they will not possess the kingdom, which implies eternal fire; salvation comes only in the name of Jesus Christ, and to promise infants salvation without Christ endangers the promiser’s own.
Sermon 294.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Augustine asks the Pelagians how, on their own reasoning, they could answer someone who granted unbaptized innocent infants the kingdom of heaven as well as eternal life, and argues that side for the sake of the argument.
Sermon 294.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · If infants have no original sin, the Pelagians cannot justly exclude them from the kingdom, since even exile from it would be a punishment inflicted on the innocent; denying original sin leaves them no answer.
Sermon 294.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Augustine confesses he cannot fully fathom why the unbaptized infant goes into condemnation and takes refuge in God’s unsearchable judgments; the Pelagian too, unable to answer by reason, must flee to the Lord’s authority.
Sermon 294.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Both agree, on Christ’s word in John 3:5, that the unbaptized do not enter the kingdom; Augustine presses the Pelagian further, since the judgment leaves no middle place for eternal life outside the kingdom.
Sermon 294.10Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Only Christ ascends to heaven, yet all the reborn ascend because they become his members: head and body are one Christ.
Sermon 294.12Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · If infants are told to look in faith to Christ, their inherited guilt must be confessed; they are healed by the words of those who answer for them in baptism, since they were wounded by another’s deed.
Sermon 294.13Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The bronze serpent prefigures Christ sent in the likeness of sinful flesh, who took the punishment of sin without its guilt and so healed both; if infants are brought to him, they are confessed to be poisoned and in need of healing.
Sermon 294.14Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · ‘Whoever does not believe is already condemned’ and ‘the wrath of God remains upon him’ leave no eternal life outside faith; baptized infants are counted among believers, while original fault, become nature in Adam’s descendants, is healed only by Christ.
Sermon 294.16Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · To the objection that baptized parents should bear sinless children, Augustine answers that parents beget by carnal generation, not by their regeneration, as cleaned grain still produces chaff and the circumcised beget uncircumcised children.
Sermon 294.17Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · To the claim that if Adam harms non-sinners Christ should profit non-believers, Augustine replies that Christ does profit baptized infants, who are counted as believers by their parents’ faith; so they were also defiled by their first parents’ sin.
Sermon 294.18Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The ‘holiness’ of believers’ children in 1 Cor 7:14 is a kind of sanctification that, like that of food or of an unbelieving spouse, does not suffice for salvation; such children still need baptism.
Sermon 294.19Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Augustine reads Cyprian’s ruling that infants may be baptized before the eighth day: they have contracted the contagion of Adam’s death and receive forgiveness of another’s sins, which shows the Church’s ancient belief in original sin.
Sermon 294.20Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Augustine asks that those who deny original sin be borne with patience and corrected as brothers, since error may be tolerated on unsettled questions but not when it shakes the Church’s foundation.
Sermon 295.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Peter fed Christ’s sheep, not his own; the heretics, who claim their own baptism makes clean, feed their own kids, while the Church spread through all nations knows herself; baptized by Peter or by Judas, the sheep are Christ’s.
Sermon 296.12Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Augustine rebukes members of his church who drove away a returning Donatist who confessed rebaptism, and insists that such converts, even lapsed Catholics, be admitted to penance and later reconciled by their own will.
Sermon 311.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christians who honor Cyprian for despising riches, honor and even health should despise them too and follow him through Christ, the door opened by the lance, from whose side flowed water for cleansing and blood for redemption.
Sermon 324.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Augustine finishes the story of the catechumen infant at Uzalis, restored to life at Stephen's shrine so that he could be baptized before he died.
Sermon 341.13Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The Church, the bride, must be without spot by the washing of baptism and without wrinkle by stretching towards the world to come.
Sermon 351.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The first of three kinds of repentance precedes baptism, by which adults leave their old life; infants are exempt, being cleansed of original sin through the faith of those who present them.
Sermon 351.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The second repentance lasts through the whole of life, for the baptized still long to be freed from this mortal, tempted existence, which Job calls a temptation and a shadow.
Sermon 351.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Everyone, bishops included, beats his breast and prays “Forgive us our debts” for daily sins; the Christian life is a struggle in which the old and new man coexist, and humility and confession defeat the enemy.
Sermon 351.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Those who persist in grave sin cannot hope for salvation outside the kingdom, for at the judgment all not judging with Christ will be divided into sheep and goats, though the baptized were washed from such sins.
Sermon 351.9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · A baptized person bound by grave sins should judge himself, go to the bishops who hold the keys, accept the satisfaction they impose, and if need be do public penance without shame.
Sermon 351.12Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · No sinner, even after baptism, should despair; David, Peter, Simon Magus, and the Ninevites show that sincere repentance with satisfaction and almsgiving obtains pardon through the keys of the Church.
Sermon 352.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The first kind of penance precedes baptism, as at Pentecost those pricked to the heart repented and were baptized; Augustine urges the candidates for baptism not to doubt that every sin can be forgiven.
Sermon 352.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The crossing of the Red Sea, the manna, and the water from the rock were figures: believers among the Israelites who understood Christ in them ate and drank the same spiritual food as Christians, for Christ to come and Christ come are the same.
Sermon 352.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Augustine urges candidates for baptism to cross the Red Sea of baptism without fear of past sins, trusting the God who freed them to help them through the desert against bitterness and Amalek, by prayer and the cross.
Sermon 352.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The second, daily repentance is shown in the Lord's Prayer, “Forgive us as we forgive”; we cannot skip that clause or escape God the creditor, so we must forgive, which costs nothing and enlarges love.
Sermon 353.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Augustine urges the newly baptized, as newborn infants, to keep the innocence of spiritual infancy by putting away malice, guile, flattery, envy and slander, and above all pride.
Sermon 353.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The newly baptized, temples of God, must not ruin themselves by sins against God; having crossed the Red Sea of baptism, they should journey through the desert of life by the cross, not returning to their former ways.
Sermon 358.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Psalm 72 promises Christ rule over all nations; the Donatists forfeit this inheritance by attaching themselves to men such as Donatus, whereas Paul refused to let Christ be divided by human names.
Sermon 359.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The Catholics offered the Donatist bishops a share of the episcopate, rejecting only their error and recognizing their baptism; at the Conference the Donatists could answer nothing to the testimonies of a worldwide Church that does not stand or fall with Caecilian.
Sermon 359.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · With the Church's cause secured independently of any individual, the Conference examined Caecilian's case and found him innocent, acquitted three times; the sentence went against the Donatists, though they claim victory.
Sermon 360.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · A converted Donatist, speaking like Paul after his conversion, gives thanks for being received back into the Church: he had followed his parents' charges against the Catholics until he recognized in Scripture the Church spread through the world.
Sermon 363.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Obscure passages of Scripture are to be explained by its plain ones; Paul himself teaches that the exodus events were figures written for Christians.
Sermon 363.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The crossing of the Red Sea and the Song of Moses (Exod 15:1–13) are read verse by verse as figures of baptism, in which Christ drowns the devil's power and our sins.
Sermon 363.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The rest of the Song of Moses (Exod 15:13–19) figures the Christian journey after baptism through the desert of this life, as the nations' wrath turns to fear and God's people are brought into the eternal kingdom.
Sermon 363.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Miriam's tambourine, skin stretched on wood, signifies the flesh crucified with Christ; the baptized, made humble, sing the song of Moses.
Sermon 366.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Augustine hands over Psalm 23 to candidates for baptism, saying it contains the restoration of fallen humanity and the Church's discipline and sacraments.
Sermon 366.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · "The Lord rules me" is the confession of the man fallen among robbers, whom Christ the good Samaritan lifted up and carried; it leaves no room for trust in one's own merits.
Sermon 366.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The pastures of Psalm 23 are God's words and commandments, found in the catholic Church, where Christ is shepherd, gate, and pasture; they are watered by the water of baptism.
Sermon 366.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · God converts the soul not for its merits but for his name's sake; the "paths of righteousness" are the narrow way of mercy and truth, summed up in the two commandments of love.
Sermon 366.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The house of the Lord is paradise and its length of days eternal life, free of toil and grief; the candidates are urged to lay hold of what they believe by good conduct.
Sermon 370.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Every state of life, boys, old men, the married, has its witness to Christ; as the days lengthen from Christmas, faith should grow, and those born of him should be reborn in him.
Sermon 371.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Since men could not see God and ought not to follow a mere man, God became man; his birth makes possible our second birth, and explains why he is both less than and one with the Father.
Sermon 373.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Herod's slaughter of the innocents made martyrs of the infants, who suffered for Christ before they could believe; the preacher links their crown with the benefit of baptism for infants.
Sermon 376.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · On the octave of Easter the newly baptized, of every age called "infants," uncover their heads as a sign of the freedom of their second birth in Christ, the new man, over against the old birth from Adam.
Sermon 376.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · As the newly baptized leave the nest, Augustine warns them that the Church holds both wheat and chaff, and urges them to bear the fruit of the Spirit so that God may find them his joy and crown.
Sermon 376.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Augustine warns the newly baptized against drunken or superstitious fellow Christians who recommend enchanters, healers, and astrologers, and urges forgiveness and almsgiving.
Sermon 391.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Addressed to young men: no age is free of temptation; even infants are endangered through their parents' superstition or neglect of baptism, since they bear original sin, which is why newborns are baptized.
Sermon 393.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Penitents must truly change their lives and be reconciled while in health; the baptized who sin grievously and are reconciled only on their deathbed are not refused penance, but the preacher can give them no assurance of salvation.
Commentary on Galatians 1.2John Chrysostom · ca. 392-397 · Paul's apostleship came directly from Christ; Chrysostom refutes Arian arguments from 'through' and 'raised him,' and Manichaean claims that the present life is evil.
Commentary on Galatians 2.7John Chrysostom · ca. 392-397 · To rebuild the law is to become a transgressor; through the law Paul died to the law, was crucified with Christ in baptism, and now Christ lives in him.
Commentary on Galatians 3.5John Chrysostom · ca. 392-397 · Christ the mediator gave the law; the law is not against the promises but shut all under sin and served as a tutor until faith came; through baptism believers put on Christ and become sons of God and Abraham's seed.
Commentary on Galatians 4.4John Chrysostom · ca. 392-397 · Hagar and Sarah figure the two covenants: the children of the barren church, born like Isaac by God's promise in baptism, are free and need not fear persecution; Christ has set them free.
Commentary on Galatians 6.2John Chrysostom · ca. 392-397 · Disciples should support their teachers; what one sows one reaps, so let us do good to all while there is time; Paul writes in his own hand, boasts only in the cross by which the world is crucified to him, and bears Christ's marks as his defense.
Homily 9.1 on 1 ThessaloniansJohn Chrysostom · ca. 392-397 · Paul refuses to write about the times of the end: each person’s death is his own consummation, and God hides both days so that we may live in virtue, not delay baptism, and merit reward; the day will come suddenly like labour pains.
Homily 10.1 on 1 ThessaloniansJohn Chrysostom · ca. 392-397 · The faithful must esteem their priests very highly in love, since the priest bears the hatred that correction brings, prays for them, ministers baptism and the mysteries, and opens heaven to them.
Homily 4.1 on 1 TimothyJohn Chrysostom · ca. 392-397 · Chrysostom explains why Paul calls the salvation of sinners by faith alone a “trustworthy saying,” answers pagan objections to forgiveness, and explains how the blameless Paul can call himself the foremost of sinners.
Homily 2.5 on 2 CorinthiansJohn Chrysostom · ca. 392-397 · Christians should give thanks for common blessings and for others’ virtue, and the church’s prayer for the catechumens, led by the deacon, teaches every believer to pray that God will open their inner ears and teach them himself.
Homily 2.6 on 2 CorinthiansJohn Chrysostom · ca. 392-397 · The litany asks God to open the catechumens’ hearts and reveal the gospel of righteousness, and to give them a godly mind, sober reasoning, and a virtuous life grounded in constant attention to God’s law.
Homily 2.7 on 2 CorinthiansJohn Chrysostom · ca. 392-397 · The petitions for the catechumens form a chain of godly mind, meditation, and obedience; they ask deliverance from the devil, the slanderer, worthiness for baptism, the washing of regeneration, and blessings on their households.
Homily 3.4 on 2 CorinthiansJohn Chrysostom · ca. 392-397 · God’s promises are always ‘Yes’ in Christ, and the anointing, sealing, and pledge of the Spirit make believers kings, priests, and prophets; Abraham’s offering of Isaac shows all three, as a king mastering his thoughts, a priest at the altar, and a prophet who saw Christ’s day.
Homily 6.1 on 2 CorinthiansJohn Chrysostom · ca. 392-397 · Paul needs no letters of recommendation, since the Corinthians, written on his heart and on their own hearts by the Spirit, are his letter and Christ’s; he ascribes his sufficiency to God, who made him a minister of a new covenant of the Spirit, which gives life, not of the letter, which kills.
Homily 6.3 on 2 CorinthiansJohn Chrysostom · ca. 392-397 · The Law punished sinners with death, but grace through baptism makes sinners righteous and alive, a greater work than raising the dead, which the Spirit also empowers others to do.
Homily 7.1 on 2 CorinthiansJohn Chrysostom · ca. 392-397 · The ministry of the Law, carved on stone and glorious in Moses’ face, ministered death by punishing sin without causing it; the ministry of the Spirit, who gives life, must be far more glorious.
Homily 7.2 on 2 CorinthiansJohn Chrysostom · ca. 392-397 · The ministry of righteousness far surpasses the fading glory of the Law; the veil on Moses’ face, which still lies on the hearts of the Jews when the Law is read, shows not a fault in the Law but their hardness, since the Law itself foretold its end in Christ.
Homily 7.4 on 2 CorinthiansJohn Chrysostom · ca. 392-397 · The veil is removed when one turns to the Lord, who is the Spirit; believers, beholding the Lord’s glory with unveiled face, are transformed by the Spirit, whose lordship Chrysostom proves against those who refer the verse to the Son; worldly cares quench this glory and make men slaves of money and lust.
Homily 10.2 on 2 CorinthiansJohn Chrysostom · ca. 392-397 · Paul groans not to be rid of the body but for its corruption to be swallowed up by life, as God intended from creation and pledged by the Spirit; Christians can therefore face death with courage, desiring to be at home with the Lord, though what matters most is to please him whether here or there.
Homily 11.1 on 2 CorinthiansJohn Chrysostom · ca. 392-397 · Mindful of the judgment, Paul acts so as to give no ground even for suspicion, and speaks of himself only to arm the Corinthians against the false apostles; the love of Christ, who died for all when all were dead, binds believers to live for him, and in him they know no one according to the flesh.
Homily 22.2 on 2 CorinthiansJohn Chrysostom · ca. 392-397 · Chrysostom explains Paul's refusal to boast beyond the measure God assigned him or in others' labors (2 Cor 10:12–18), defends Paul's later boasting as necessary, and urges his hearers to remember their sins committed after baptism and not to put off repentance, since death is uncertain.
Homily 4.4 on 2 ThessaloniansJohn Chrysostom · ca. 392-397 · The Antichrist’s false signs will convict unbelievers who rejected Christ; Elijah will come to strengthen the faithful; God chose the Thessalonians for salvation through sanctification and faith; unwritten tradition is as trustworthy as letters; Paul asks prayer, and Chrysostom begs his people to pray for their bishop, with whom they share the same table, baptism and Spirit.
Homily 5.2 on 2 ThessaloniansJohn Chrysostom · ca. 392-397 · Paul now commands sternly that the idle work and eat their own bread, yet tells the church not to let them starve but to admonish them as brothers; Chrysostom rebukes those who insult beggars, laments that church discipline has lapsed through cold love, and teaches that each Christian should teach his household by his life.
Homily 2.3 on 2 TimothyJohn Chrysostom · ca. 392-397 · Chrysostom argues that God works through unworthy priests as he worked through Balaam's donkey and Judas, forbids the people to judge their priests or boast over them like the Pharisee, and teaches that the sacraments depend on God's grace and the recipient's faith, not the minister's virtue.
Homily 2.4 on 2 TimothyJohn Chrysostom · ca. 392-397 · Closing Homily 2, Chrysostom compares a bad priest to a wounded doctor whose state does not excuse the patient, and teaches that the eucharistic offering and baptism are the same whoever performs them, because God sanctifies them and everything depends on faith.
Homily 5.1 on 2 TimothyJohn Chrysostom · ca. 392-397 · On 2 Tim 2:11–13, Chrysostom explains that those who share Christ's death, in baptism and in suffering, will share his life, that endurance to the end is needed, and that denying Christ brings his denial in return.
Homily 2.5 on ColossiansJohn Chrysostom · ca. 392-397 · Chrysostom rebukes Christians who deny the judgment to excuse their sins, argues that denying judgment denies God's justice and existence, and urges sinners to repent and warn others rather than corrupt them.
Homily 4.2 on ColossiansJohn Chrysostom · ca. 392-397 · Chrysostom explains Col 1:24–25: Paul's sufferings are Christ's own, borne for the church as by a lieutenant taking his general's wounds, and Paul's ministry to the Gentiles is God's stewardship, given at the fitting time.
Homily 5.5 on ColossiansJohn Chrysostom · ca. 392-397 · Homily 6 opens on Col 2:6–8 (walking rooted in Christ, who alone leads to the Father); a displaced passage then gives the end of Homily 5, listing Old Testament types of the resurrection, providence, baptism, and the giving up of the Son.
Homily 6.2 on ColossiansJohn Chrysostom · ca. 392-397 · Continuing Homily 6, Chrysostom expounds Col 2:9–15: the fullness dwelling in Christ, the circumcision made without hands which is baptism, the handwriting against us torn up on the cross, and the public death by which Christ disgraced the devil.
Homily 6.4 on ColossiansJohn Chrysostom · ca. 392-397 · Chrysostom ends Homily 6 by comparing baptism with the creation and fall of Adam: the baptismal renunciation of Satan is a covenant, not a debt; the candidate is stripped, anointed, formed anew by the Spirit, set in heaven, and joined to Christ's body, beyond the devil's reach.
Homily 7.2 on ColossiansJohn Chrysostom · ca. 392-397 · Chrysostom expounds Col 2:20–3:4: human ordinances only seem wise and dishonour the body God honoured; believers, dead and risen with Christ, should seek the things above, and their old man was buried in baptism as the Egyptians in the Red Sea.
Homily 7.3 on ColossiansJohn Chrysostom · ca. 392-397 · Chrysostom compares baptism to fire that melts wax and refines gold, then shows that office, luxury, and the honour that wealth brings are dust, and that to be honoured for one's money is a disgrace.
Homily 8.5 on ColossiansJohn Chrysostom · ca. 392-397 · This section ends Homily 8 (thanksgiving in suffering, against amulets and charms for sick children, and consolation for bereaved parents from Abraham, Jacob, David, and others) and contains all of Homily 9 (Col 3:16–17: lay people should read the Scriptures, teach their children psalms rather than worldly songs, and do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus).
Homily 10.5 on ColossiansJohn Chrysostom · ca. 392-397 · Chrysostom ends Homily 10 by urging women to put on Christ instead of gold, to adorn themselves with almsgiving and chastity rather than finery, and to set their daughters an example of modesty.
Homily 20.2 on EphesiansJohn Chrysostom · ca. 392-397 · Chrysostom tells husbands that the measure of their love is Christ's love for the church, who gave himself for an unlovely bride, and warns them not to rule by fear or to value outward beauty.
Homily 20.3 on EphesiansJohn Chrysostom · ca. 392-397 · Chrysostom urges husbands to seek virtue rather than beauty or wealth in a wife, and explains that a wife is the husband's own flesh as believers are members of Christ's body.
Argument 0 to the PhilemonJohn Chrysostom · ca. 392-397 · In the argument to the homilies on Philemon, Chrysostom tells the story of Onesimus, defends the inclusion of so short a letter in Scripture, and draws lessons from it: care for every soul, not despairing of slaves, and not drawing slaves away from their masters.
Homily 3.2 on PhilemonJohn Chrysostom · ca. 392-397 · Ending Homily 3, Chrysostom warns that the priest's blessing helps only those who show mercy, and argues against those who think God will save all (and against a Marcionite) that God's demanding an account of sins and preparing Gehenna are themselves marks of his goodness.
Homily 3.4 on PhilippiansJohn Chrysostom · ca. 392-397 · We should weep, with restraint, not for the dead as such but for those who die in sin or unbaptized, and help the faithful departed by prayer, alms, and remembrance at the Eucharist, as Job provided for his children by sacrifice.
Homily 11.2 on PhilippiansJohn Chrysostom · ca. 392-397 · The righteousness that counts is God's gift received by faith, not one's own from the law; faith, which alone grasps Christ's resurrection and still more his divine birth, is proved by sharing his sufferings, through which believers are conformed to his death.
Homily 11.4 on PhilippiansJohn Chrysostom · ca. 392-397 · Christians who sin flee God as the prodigal fled his father, squandering the gifts of forgiveness and the Spirit given in baptism, by which Christ, the physician, healed humanity's diseases; Chrysostom urges them to return to a Father who does not even reproach the penitent.
Homily 13.1 on PhilippiansJohn Chrysostom · ca. 392-397 · Christians who live in ease and luxury are enemies of the cross; Chrysostom praises the power of the cross, by which baptism and ordination are accomplished, and laments those whose god is their belly, fearing that the charge fits his own hearers.
Homily 4.5 on TitusJohn Chrysostom · ca. 392-397 · Chrysostom ends Homily 4 with Joseph's kindness to his fellow prisoners and an appeal to slaves and free to win even the wicked by virtue; Homily 5 (Titus 2:11–3:7) explains the grace that trains us to deny worldly desires, argues that greed is worse than sexual sin, affirms that Christ is “our great God,” and describes pagan corruption before Christ, from which God saved us by the washing of regeneration.
On Illustrious Men 69Jerome · 392–393 · Dionysius of Alexandria, Origen's pupil, wrote many letters, including one urging Novatian to end his schism, and books against Nepos's millenarianism.
Commentary on 1 Timothy 3:2 (1)Theodore of Mopsuestia · 392–428 · Theodore rejects the common practice of barring a chaste man who has married twice from the clergy while admitting a licentious man with one wife, or a man married twice before baptism.
Commentary on 1 Timothy 3:2 (3)Theodore of Mopsuestia · 392–428 · Theodore concludes that office depends on a man's will and life, not on accidents such as widowhood or the time of baptism, and that baptism benefits according to the faith and intention of those who receive it.
Letter 1.66Isidore of Pelusium · ca. 393-ca. 435 · Christ told John to baptize him because the time of the incarnation was a time of humility, and he received baptism for humanity's cleansing.
Letter 1.67Isidore of Pelusium · ca. 393-ca. 435 · At Christ's baptism the Father's voice showed him the true Son and revealed the three hypostases of the Trinity, refuting Montanus and Sabellius.
Letter 1.68Isidore of Pelusium · ca. 393-ca. 435 · John, perfect under the law, is less than the least of the baptized, who share Christ's death and resurrection, because the law perfected nothing.
Letter 1.109Isidore of Pelusium · ca. 393-ca. 435 · The Spirit, named with Father and Son in baptism and making the bread Christ's body, cannot be a creature; a second letter says an ascetic must embrace every hardship and humbly remember his body's origin and end.
Letter 1.125Isidore of Pelusium · ca. 393-ca. 435 · The angel sought to kill Moses for leaving his son uncircumcised, and Zipporah's circumcision of the boy averted it, as parents in danger now hasten to baptize their children; two further letters explain the wisdom of the serpent and rebuke a man who owns books but does not read them.
Letter 1.171Isidore of Pelusium · ca. 393-ca. 435 · Three letters: quarreling brothers are urged to make peace for nature's and baptism's sake; Abraham's chasm reflects the opposite lives of the hospitable and the pitiless; a wandering monk is likened to the dust of Ps 1.
Letter 1.221Isidore of Pelusium · ca. 393-ca. 435 · "Baptized for the dead" means baptized for our mortal bodies, in faith that they will be raised incorruptible.
Letter 1.408Isidore of Pelusium · ca. 393-ca. 435 · Tears of repentance are a second baptism that gladdens the angels.
Letter 1.417Isidore of Pelusium · ca. 393-ca. 435 · The adulteress who washes and claims innocence figures the church cleansed by baptism; a second letter explains Joel's "let the gentle be a fighter" as zeal against those who attack God.
Letter 1.450Isidore of Pelusium · ca. 393-ca. 435 · Philip baptized but did not give the Spirit, which Peter and John supplied; so he was not an apostle.
Letter 2.35Isidore of Pelusium · ca. 393-ca. 435 · A slanderer should be restrained; swords into ploughs means the gospel taming warlike nations; baptism by an unworthy priest does not harm the baptized, as Balaam, Caiaphas and Elijah's raven show.
Letter 2.52Isidore of Pelusium · ca. 393-ca. 435 · The priesthood, through which come rebirth and the mysteries, must not be blamed for the sins of unworthy priests like Eusebius and Zosimus.
Letter 2.60Isidore of Pelusium · ca. 393-ca. 435 · Two clerics ordained as accomplices of their bishop's greed are told to stop; saved through baptism, we must still do our part.
Letter 3.194Isidore of Pelusium · ca. 393-ca. 435 · True kingship serves its subjects; (another letter) infants are baptized not only to wash away the inherited stain of Adam but to receive adoption, union with Christ and every gift of grace; (another letter) God's patience must not breed carelessness.
Letter 4.24Isidore of Pelusium · ca. 393-ca. 435 · Each petition of the Lord's Prayer can be prayed honestly only by the baptized who live accordingly; on the lips of the dissolute it is mockery.
Letter 4.167Isidore of Pelusium · ca. 393-ca. 435 · Two letters: God showed captive Hebrew boys to be supremely wise before the proud Babylonians; grace gives new life in baptism, so the baptized who sin and do not repent face worse punishment than law-breakers under Moses.
Letter 4.181Isidore of Pelusium · ca. 393-ca. 435 · Two letters: the saying about dogs and swine forbids casting the divine word, the priesthood, the mysteries, or baptism before the unworthy; the different Psalm titles distinguish composer, singer, and subject.
Letter 4.204Isidore of Pelusium · ca. 393-ca. 435 · Since Adam's fall weighed down the body and Christ lightened it through baptism and the Spirit, the gospel sets higher and obligatory standards than the law, with heaven as reward instead of long life in the land.
Letter 5.569Isidore of Pelusium · ca. 393-ca. 435 · In a long final appeal Isidore tells Zosimus that he has defended the validity of his sacraments, arguing that a priest's sins do not harm the layman, as Balaam, Caiaphas and Elijah's raven show, but that people still shun the mysteries and pagans are kept from the church because of him; he must reform or withdraw from the altar.
Against Jovinianus 1.11Jerome · 393 · Jerome interprets Paul's sayings about circumcision and slavery in 1 Cor 7:17–24 as figures for the married and the unmarried.
Against Jovinianus 1.15Jerome · 393 · Jerome reports a view that Paul's permission to remarry applied to those widowed before baptism, and argues that if second marriage is allowed, so are third and later ones.
Against Jovinianus 1.16Jerome · 393 · Jerome begins his answer from the Old Testament: Adam and Eve were virgins in paradise, Christ and the Church are the true sense of Gen 2:24, and the number two is not called good.
Against Jovinianus 1.33Jerome · 393 · Jerome answers Jovinian's claim that baptized virgins and widows are equal, citing Jeremiah's virginity and Ezekiel's freedom after his wife's death.
Against Jovinianus 1.38Jerome · 393 · Jerome continues with texts from Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and the Pastoral Letters urging a life of the spirit and of continence.
Against Jovinianus 2.1Jerome · 393 · Jerome states Jovinian's second proposition: the baptized cannot be tempted by the devil.
Against Jovinianus 2.2Jerome · 393 · Jerome answers from 1 John itself that the baptized can sin and need Christ as their advocate.
Against Jovinianus 2.3Jerome · 393 · Jerome gathers New Testament texts showing that the baptized can be tempted, fall, and repent, against Jovinian, Montanus, and Novatian.
Against Jovinianus 2.4Jerome · 393 · Jerome gives Old Testament examples of holy men who sinned after God's favor, and describes the devil's power from Job, to show that the baptized must still guard against temptation.
Against Jovinianus 2.32Jerome · 393 · Jerome interprets the denarius paid to all the laborers as the one deliverance through baptism, after which rewards differ by works.
Against Jovinianus 2.35Jerome · 393 · Jerome summarizes his answers to Jovinian's four propositions.
Against Jovinianus 2.37Jerome · 393 · Jerome traces Jovinian's teaching to old heresies, laments that it took root at Rome, and satirizes its message and followers.
Poem 6, lines 66–95Paulinus of Nola · ca. 393–431 · The angel foretells John's abstinence, his baptizing, and his likeness to Elijah, and warns Zechariah not to doubt; Zechariah, thinking himself unworthy, does not believe.
Poem 6, lines 255–285Paulinus of Nola · ca. 393–431 · A heavenly voice sends John to the Jordan to baptize the penitent; Paulinus praises God's mercy, which offers reason, then the law, and finally the washing that renews life.
Poem 6, lines 286–318Paulinus of Nola · ca. 393–431 · Paulinus praises God's further pardon for those who sin after baptism and repent, then recalls Isaiah's prophecy of the forerunner who prepares the Lord's way.
Poem 21, lines 298–329Paulinus of Nola · ca. 393–431 · Pinianus is like the evergreen pine; the boy Asterius, dedicated to Christ from infancy like Samuel, was baptized together with his father, making them brothers.
Poem 25, lines 161–192Paulinus of Nola · ca. 393–431 · Mary, a virgin mother, prefigures the church, bride and sister of Christ, who gives birth to believers in baptism; in Christ there is neither male nor female, and in the resurrection marriage passes away.
Poem 27, lines 34–68Paulinus of Nola · ca. 393–431 · God has given the year its feasts as he gave Israel its memorials: Christmas, Epiphany (the Magi, Christ's baptism, or Cana), Easter, and Pentecost, when the Spirit gave the apostles other tongues.
Poem 27, lines 257–287Paulinus of Nola · ca. 393–431 · The three rods signify baptism in the threefold name, by which the church conceives children; allegorically the plane is the Spirit overshadowing Mary, the storax the virgin of David's line, the nut Christ, bitter in the cross and food within.
Poem 28, lines 156–186Paulinus of Nola · ca. 393–431 · The tenant pulled down the other hut himself; the way to the basilica is now open, where Old and New Testament scenes are painted, and a chapel with a baptismal font is being dedicated.
Poem 28, lines 187–217Paulinus of Nola · ca. 393–431 · The bishop dedicates the chapel for both the eucharist and baptism, whose font always renews the old; the old basilica, restored with columns and paintings, matches the new one.
Poem 31, lines 1–30 (XXXI)Paulinus of Nola · ca. 393–431 · A poem of consolation to Pneumatius and Fidelis on the death of their son Celsus, aged seven, recently baptized: Paulinus is torn between grief and joy, since the boy was taken innocent to God.
Poem 33, lines 1–32 (XXXIII)Paulinus of Nola · ca. 393–431 · The Death of Baebianus: a wealthy noble, near death, repents, is baptized and receives the sacrament and chrism, and, feeling a wondrous fragrance, refuses to pray for longer life.
Poem 33, lines 33–62Paulinus of Nola · ca. 393–431 · Baptized at the last like the penitent thief or the eleventh-hour labourer, Baebianus refuses his wife's plea to pray for recovery, lest he lose his baptismal innocence, and falls into a deathlike trance after a vision of light.
Letter 156Synesius of Cyrene · ca. 393-413 · Synesius declines a friend's request for a bishopric, all sees being filled; there follow two short Easter homilies, on the 'cup in the hand of the Lord' (Ps 75:8) as the one Word of both Testaments, and to the newly baptized, and the opening of a speech against the people of Leontopolis.
Letters 3.4Paulinus of Nola · ca. 394–413 · Paulinus asks Alypius for his life story and tells his own: baptized by Delphinus at Bordeaux, ordained by Lampius at Barcelona, and claimed by Ambrose as a presbyter of Milan.
Letters 5.11Paulinus of Nola · ca. 394–413 · The return of Sulpicius's servants was delayed because Vigilantius fell ill as well; a catechumen with them stayed healthy, being not yet a member of the body.
Letters 13.13Paulinus of Nola · ca. 394–413 · Paulinus describes St Peter’s basilica, its nave, aisles and the fountain in its atrium, interpreting the four columns of the fountain as the four Gospels.
Letters 18.3Paulinus of Nola · ca. 394–413 · Paulinus tells how Ursus, Paschasius’s companion, fell gravely ill, was baptized on his sickbed by Paschasius, and recovered through the intercession of St Felix.
Letters 19.2Paulinus of Nola · ca. 394–413 · Paulinus thanks God for Delphinus’s letter, laments the unreliable letter-carriers, and confesses that he has not lived up to Delphinus, who baptized him.
Letters 20.6Paulinus of Nola · ca. 394–413 · Playing on Delphinus’s name (dolphin), Paulinus calls himself the fish Delphinus caught for Christ, like Peter, and prays to bear the coin of true faith in his mouth.
Letters 23.9Paulinus of Nola · ca. 394–413 · Paulinus tells how Victor’s cooking nourished an old peasant newly baptized at Nola, whom he imagines singing a psalm of thanksgiving.
Letters 23.18Paulinus of Nola · ca. 394–413 · Paulinus recalls the baptismal covenant to die with Christ, and learns from Samson’s blindness to value the eyes of the mind, enlightened by Christ.
Letters 23.32Paulinus of Nola · ca. 394–413 · Paulinus reads the sinful woman as the church of the Gentiles, anointed, washed in tears, and receiving Christ’s body and blood in figure, justified in the Pharisee’s place.
Letters 32.2Paulinus of Nola · ca. 394–413 · Paulinus protests that Sulpicius has had his portrait painted opposite Martin’s in the baptistery, though the contrast only magnifies Martin.
Letters 32.3Paulinus of Nola · ca. 394–413 · Paulinus sends verses for the baptistery explaining the paired portraits: Martin as the model of the perfect, Paulinus as the model of the penitent.
Letters 32.5Paulinus of Nola · ca. 394–413 · Paulinus sends verses for Sulpicius’s baptistery, set between two basilicas as the font of grace between the two Testaments, from which the newly baptized go to the altar.
Letters 49.2Paulinus of Nola · ca. 394–413 · Alone for six days without food, the old sailor was visited by Christ, who strengthened him, had him cut the mast, and named him Victor; he was later baptized under that name.
Letters 49.11Paulinus of Nola · ca. 394–413 · Paul’s shipwreck and the new ship that carried the saved to Rome figure baptism and the church; the old sailor’s rescue shows God’s care for the humble.
Letters 49.13Paulinus of Nola · ca. 394–413 · The old man’s favor came by grace, not works; simple and innocent, he has now been baptized.
Historia monachorum, chapter 19Rufinus of Aquileia · Greek original ca. 394-395; Rufinus's Latin ca. 404-406 · The deacon Apollonius, martyred with the converted pipe player Philemon, the judge, and their guards, who were drowned at Alexandria; miracles occur at their tomb.
On Continence 18Augustine of Hippo · ca. 395 · Against the Manichaeans, spirit and flesh are both good; their conflict is a sickness caused by sin, forgiven in baptism and healed by continence.
On the Christian Struggle 32Augustine of Hippo · ca. 396–397 · Augustine praises the Luciferians for not rebaptizing but condemns their schism, which arose from their refusal of the church's forgiveness to bishops who had yielded to the Arians.
On Christian Doctrine 3.9Augustine of Hippo · Books 1–3 ca. 396–397; completed 426–427 · Whoever understands the signs God instituted is free; since Christ's resurrection the Church has a few easy and meaningful signs, baptism and the Eucharist.
Life of Saint Martin 3Sulpicius Severus · ca. 396–397 · At Amiens Martin cuts his cloak in two for a naked beggar; that night Christ appears wearing it, and Martin is baptized.
Life of Saint Martin 7Sulpicius Severus · ca. 396–397 · Near Poitiers Martin prays over a catechumen who had died unbaptized; the man revives, is baptized, and describes his judgment.
Confessions 1.17Augustine of Hippo · ca. 397–401 · Augustine recalls how, as a catechumen boy near death, he begged for baptism, but it was postponed when he recovered, and how his mother Monica raised him in the faith though his father did not yet believe.
Confessions 1.18Augustine of Hippo · ca. 397–401 · Augustine questions the custom of postponing baptism so that a young person may sin with less guilt, while explaining his mother's reasons for it.
Confessions 4.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 397–401 · Augustine's friend, baptized while unconscious, rebukes Augustine for mocking his baptism and dies a few days later.
Confessions 5.16Augustine of Hippo · ca. 397–401 · At Rome Augustine fell dangerously ill, unbaptized and still believing that Christ's death was only apparent, and recovered in answer to his absent mother's prayers.
Confessions 6.23Augustine of Hippo · ca. 397–401 · Monica arranged a marriage for Augustine, hoping he would then be baptized; the chosen girl was almost two years too young, so they waited.
Confessions 8.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 397–401 · Victorinus, after long hesitating for fear of his pagan friends, went to the church and was baptized.
Confessions 8.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 397–401 · Victorinus chose to recite the creed publicly before the congregation at Rome, to their great joy.
Confessions 9.14Augustine of Hippo · ca. 397–401 · Augustine, Alypius, and Augustine's son Adeodatus are baptized at Milan; Augustine weeps at the church's hymns.
Confessions 13.13Augustine of Hippo · ca. 397–401 · Augustine reads Genesis 1 of the church: the call to repentance is the "let there be light" of the new creation in baptism.
Confessions 13.26Augustine of Hippo · ca. 397–401 · The creatures of the sea are the sacraments, miracles, and preachers that spread the gospel among the nations.
Confessions 13.29Augustine of Hippo · ca. 397–401 · The faithful, the dry land, no longer need baptism or signs; they bring forth the "living soul" of a life restrained from the world.
Confessions 13.34Augustine of Hippo · ca. 397–401 · The spiritual judge the church's sacraments, preaching, and the conduct of the faithful, over which they have power to correct.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 12.14Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Augustine reads Enoch and Noah’s ark, its timbers, dimensions, and pitch, as figures of Christ, baptism, and the church.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 12.16Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Augustine reads the ark’s single cubit at the top, its side door, and its lower stories as figures of the church’s unity, of baptism from Christ’s side, and of the nations.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 12.17Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Augustine reads the seven days before the flood, the destruction outside the ark, and the forty days of rain as figures of baptism within the church.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 12.19Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Augustine reads the dates and numbers of the flood (27, 7, 15, 150) as figures of the Trinity in the soul, of the saints’ rest and resurrection, and of baptism.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 12.20Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Augustine reads the raven and the dove as figures of those lost through rebaptism outside the church and of those brought back to unity, and of the final rest of the saints.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 12.29Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Following Paul, Augustine reads the exodus, the cloud, the sea, the manna, and the rock as figures of Christ and baptism.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 19.9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Augustine explains that Christians do not practise circumcision or sabbath rest because Christ fulfilled what they prefigured: circumcision in his resurrection and baptism, the sabbath in the rest he gives.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 19.10Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Augustine shows how Christ fulfilled the food laws, sacrifices, unleavened bread, Passover, new moons, ritual washings, and the feast of tabernacles.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 19.12Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Augustine notes that the wicked can have the sacraments without their power, citing Simon Magus and Peter’s words on baptism.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 19.14Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Augustine argues that if the faithful of old suffered for sacraments that only promised Christ, Christians should be readier still to suffer for baptism, the eucharist, and the sign of Christ, which show him come.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 19.16Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Augustine compares sacraments to visible words: as verbs change tense when what was future has happened, so the sacraments changed when what they promised was fulfilled in Christ.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 22.93Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Augustine interprets Moses' burning, grinding, and making the people drink the golden calf as Christ dissolving pagan idolatry by the fire of his power, the word, and baptism, incorporating Gentiles into his body.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 24.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Faustus argues that God makes only the new, inner man born again in faith, not the old man born of bodily generation and lust.
Canon 5Anonymous · 397 · Even at Easter catechumens receive only the customary blessed salt.
Canon 6Anonymous · 397 · The eucharist is not to be given to corpses, since the dead cannot take and eat, and the practice might suggest that the dead can be baptized.
Canon 34Anonymous · 397 · Sick people unable to answer may be baptized on their family's testimony of their wish.
Canon 38Anonymous · 397 · The synod repeats the rule of the synod of Capua against rebaptism, reordination and transfers of bishops.
Canon 48Anonymous · 397 · The council will consult Siricius and Simplicianus on whether those baptized as infants among the Donatists may later be ordained; the Mauretanian legates then present their instructions.
Canon 21.18Anonymous · ca. 397–400 · Anathema on followers of Priscillian, including those who practice baptism contrary to the see of Peter.
Tractates 1Gaudentius of Brescia · ca. 397-410 · Easter vigil sermon: Christ rose in spring, the season of creation, and Easter may fall in April by the lunar reckoning; the Exodus month as the 'beginning of months' signifies baptism, the return of penitents, and the final light of the resurrection.
Tractates 2Gaudentius of Brescia · ca. 397-410 · To the newly baptized: the Passover lamb was a figure of Christ, whose body and blood are given in the bread and wine; the rules for eating the lamb teach how to read Scripture and how to receive the Eucharist in faith.
Tractates 3Gaudentius of Brescia · ca. 397-410 · On Easter Sunday Gaudentius reads the renewal of heaven and earth in the newly baptized and expounds the Passover lamb: taken on the tenth day and killed on the fourteenth, foretold but not caused by God's foreknowledge, perfect, male, and a year old as Christ was.
Tractates 4Gaudentius of Brescia · ca. 397-410 · The Passover lamb 'from the lambs and the kids' signifies Christ's flesh taken from just and sinners alike; Gaudentius warns the newly baptized against idolatrous foods, magic, and drunken feasts for the dead.
Tractates 8Gaudentius of Brescia · ca. 397-410 · On the wedding at Cana: Christ's presence blesses marriage against the Manichees while virginity is the better part; Gaudentius warns the newly baptized against debauched banquets and reads the 'third day' as the age of grace, when Christ takes the Gentile church as bride after Israel's 'divorce'.
Tractates 9Gaudentius of Brescia · ca. 397-410 · Continuing on Cana: Mary, called 'woman' by sex, remained a virgin in giving birth as Christ entered through closed doors; the six stone jars are the dead senses of the Gentiles filled by baptism, the steward of the feast is Moses, and the Spirit's gifts show the equal power of the Trinity.
Homily 7.2 on HebrewsJohn Chrysostom · ca. 398-404 · On Heb 4:14–16, Chrysostom explains that our high priest, who passed through the heavens, sympathizes with us because he was tested in every way without sin, and urges us to approach the throne of grace now, before the judgment.
Homily 9.2 on HebrewsJohn Chrysostom · ca. 398-404 · On Heb 6:1–6, Chrysostom teaches that faith is the foundation on which a good life must be built, and explains “impossible to renew again” as excluding a second baptism, not repentance, since baptism is a crucifixion with Christ that cannot be repeated.
Homily 9.4 on HebrewsJohn Chrysostom · ca. 398-404 · Chrysostom teaches that though there is no second baptism, repentance remains powerful, and describes its remedy: self-condemnation and confession, humility, prayer and tears, almsgiving, and forgiveness; he ends by showing the emptiness of worldly honors compared with the glory of the saints.
Homily 13.4 on HebrewsJohn Chrysostom · ca. 398-404 · Chrysostom warns the baptized against falling away and catechumens against delaying baptism in order to sin, showing that even if saved by grace alone they would stand ashamed and lowest in the kingdom, and that God’s commands are not burdensome.
Homily 16.2 on HebrewsJohn Chrysostom · ca. 398-404 · On Heb 9:19–23, Chrysostom explains the sprinkling of the book and the people as a type of Christ’s blood, which cleanses not the body but the soul, so that believers themselves become the books, vessels and tabernacle of the new covenant.
Homily 19.1 on HebrewsJohn Chrysostom · ca. 398-404 · Expounding Heb 10:19–25, Chrysostom explains the boldness, the new and living way, and the full assurance of faith that Christ's sacrifice gives, and urges believers not to abandon their common assembly, which kindles love and good works.
Homily 20.1 on HebrewsJohn Chrysostom · ca. 398-404 · Expounding Heb 10:26–29, Chrysostom argues that the warning of “no further sacrifice” rules out a second baptism, not repentance or forgiveness after baptism, and describes the fierce fire that awaits those who scorn Christ's sacrifice.
Homily 25.2 on HebrewsJohn Chrysostom · ca. 398-404 · Chrysostom teaches that God gives earthly goods only to those who despise them, that by not avenging or insulting we rise above injury, and that greed is a filth worse than dung; with Paul (1 Cor 5:11) he forbids believers to dine with greedy or drunken fellow Christians.
Homily 4.1 on the CreationSeverian of Gabala · ca. 400 · Opening the fourth homily, Severian follows the order of creation to the fifth day, reads the creatures brought forth from the waters as a figure of baptism, explains why only living things that reproduce were blessed, and argues that if soulless earth brings forth souls, God can beget from his own substance.
Homily 5.2 on the CreationSeverian of Gabala · ca. 400 · The Holy Spirit shares with the Father and the Son in the counsel “Let us make,” as one will and substance; the Spirit's part in baptism and resurrection proves its part in creation.
On Catechizing the Uninstructed 20Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–405 · The narration continues with the exodus as a figure of baptism, the Passover lamb as a figure of Christ's passion, the law written by the finger of God, and the earthly Jerusalem and King David as figures of the heavenly city and Christ.
On Catechizing the Uninstructed 26Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–405 · After the address the candidate is asked whether he believes, is signed with the cross and given the sacrament of salt, and is taught to read Scripture by the rule of love; Augustine then begins a shorter model address.
On the Nature of the Good 48Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399 · Augustine closes with a prayer to the patient and merciful God that more Manichaeans may be freed through baptism or repentance, since the keys of the kingdom in the church leave no one beyond hope.
On the Trinity 12.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–419 · Interpreting 1 Cor 11:7 with Gen 1:27, Augustine holds that woman as well as man is the image of God in the rational mind, where there is no sex, and reads the veil as a figure of reason directed to temporal things.
On the Trinity 14.17Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–419 · Baptism forgives all sins at once, but the renewal of God's image proceeds gradually, by God's help, until it is perfected in the sight of God.
On the Trinity 15.28Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–419 · Augustine ends the work with a prayer to the triune God, confessing the faith he has sought to understand and asking pardon for his many words.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 1.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Augustine announces that he will treat the question of baptism, answering the Donatists and showing that Cyprian’s authority tells against them.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 1.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Baptism and the power to give it are kept by those who leave the church, as the Donatists’ own reception of Felicianus and those he baptized in Maximian’s schism shows; so baptism given in schism is real though not profitable.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 1.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The Catholic does not forbid schismatics to give or receive baptism as such, only to do so in schism; someone baptized by a schismatic in extreme necessity while keeping Catholic peace in heart is a Catholic, but one who chooses schism knowingly sins gravely.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 1.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Augustine argues that anyone who already prefers the Catholic Church should be baptized in it, since only there is baptism both acknowledged and rightly received, and it is a grave sin to prefer the uncertain to the certain.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 1.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Baptism outside the church is like a soldier’s mark held by a deserter, real but wrongly held; those who knowingly receive baptism in schism, meaning to come over later, commit a grave evil even for one day.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 1.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Augustine answers the claim that one may receive baptism among the Donatists because both sides admit it exists there; even those baptized there in ignorance are wounded by schism, though less gravely.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 1.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The Donatists’ condemnation of the Maximianists and later reception of them with those they had baptized in schism settles the question: baptism can be given outside the church and becomes profitable on reconciliation.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 1.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · With the main Donatist body under Primian the question is settled; Augustine continues the argument for the smaller Donatist splinter groups, each claiming that true baptism exists only with it.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 1.9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · From the gospel Augustine shows that both sayings, “he who is not with me is against me” and “he who is not against you is for you,” are true: the outsider acting in Christ’s name is to be confirmed in what is sound and corrected in his separation.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 1.10Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Like Cornelius, whose real goods needed incorporation into the church, those baptized by schismatics are healed where they were torn and acknowledged where they were sound; schism is a heavier wound than idolatry.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 1.11Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Like a man with one mortal wound, the schismatic must have the wound of schism treated though his other parts, faith or sacrament, are sound; the sound parts are not to be treated again.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 1.12Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Tongues, prophecy, sacraments, faith, almsgiving, and even martyrdom profit nothing without love, which schismatics lack by breaking unity.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 1.13Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Augustine states the Donatist dilemma: does baptism in the party of Donatus beget sons or not?
On Baptism, against the Donatists 1.14Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The one Catholic Church begets wherever its sacraments are kept, even among the separated, as Sarah’s line through handmaids shows; but not all it begets belong to its unity or are saved.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 1.15Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The Donatists’ second dilemma: if sins are forgiven in their baptism, the Holy Spirit and so the church are with them; if not, Catholics should rebaptize those coming from them.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 1.16Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Augustine turns the question back: if sins are not forgiven where there is no love, how is one baptized in schism reborn, and if they are forgiven, how does the schismatic who hates his brother remain in darkness?
On Baptism, against the Donatists 1.17Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Augustine sets out the case of Simon Magus, truly baptized yet told he had no part with the saints, which the Donatists explain by his later sin.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 1.18Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · As one who received baptism in pretence is not rebaptized but cleansed by confession, so one baptized in schism is not rebaptized; his baptism begins to profit for forgiveness when he is reconciled to unity.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 1.19Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · If sins forgiven in baptism return at once through pretence, like darkness after passing through light, the same may be said of those baptized outside the church with the church’s baptism.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 1.20Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The parable of the unforgiving servant shows that sins forgiven in baptism return where brotherly hatred persists; baptism forgives all, but the guilt returns at once.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 1.21Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · A man baptized in haste while hating his enemy is not rebaptized when he amends; likewise what schismatics share with the church is approved, though it profits them only when they come to unity.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 1.22Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Catholics do not accept “Donatist” baptism, for baptism belongs to God and the church; what is the Donatists’ own is their separation, and what they lack is love.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 1.23Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The church gives birth through baptism both within and outside herself; like Esau and Ishmael, those born who persist in discord are separated, while those who agree with their brothers, like Asher, inherit.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 1.24Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The church has always had natural and spiritual members; the natural belong to the old covenant and the spiritual to the new, and those who advance toward spiritual understanding belong to the new even before they attain it.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 1.25Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The same mother church bore the righteous and the wicked from Abel and Cain onward; Augustine maps the ways she gives birth, by spiritual or carnal ministers, onto Sarah, Hagar, Rebecca, Leah, Rachel, and their handmaids.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 1.27Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · On baptism one should believe what the universal church holds; differences held in peace until a universal council decided were covered by love.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 1.28Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Cyprian, who with about eighty African bishops held that those baptized outside the church must be baptized again, never broke communion with those who disagreed; his error was covered by his love and purged by his martyrdom, unlike the Donatists, who imitate his error in schism.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 2.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Augustine introduces Book 2, on Cyprian’s authority, and excuses any repetition of what he has said elsewhere.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 2.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Against the Donatist appeal to Cyprian’s council, Augustine cites Cyprian’s own praise of Peter, who accepted correction from Paul; if Peter could err about circumcision, Cyprian could err about rebaptism, and the universal church outweighs one province.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 2.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Augustine quotes Cyprian’s opening speech at the Council of Carthage (256), in which he judges no one and removes no one from communion for thinking differently.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 2.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Cyprian, who praised Peter’s acceptance of correction, would readily have yielded to a plenary council had one settled the question in his time, and may perhaps have changed his mind; the bond of unity keeps disputes curable.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 2.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Cyprian kept unity with those who disagreed, and his martyrdom shows he would accept the truth; to err is human, to separate diabolical, and God reveals the truth to those who walk in the way of peace.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 2.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Whichever opinion on baptism is true, Cyprian and his colleagues stayed in communion with those who thought otherwise, so the Donatists’ separation to avoid communion with the wicked is condemned either way.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 2.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · If communion with the wicked destroyed the church, it was destroyed in Cyprian’s time and Donatus had no church to come from; if not, the Donatists had no reason to separate.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 2.11Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · If schismatics received without rebaptism did not defile Cyprian, nothing can defile the innocent in unity; and the baptism such converts carried began to profit them when they were received by the laying on of hands.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 2.12Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The church’s ancient custom, probably from apostolic tradition, was not to repeat baptism given by heretics; Agrippinus began to corrupt it, and plausible reasons blocked the search for truth.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 2.13Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Cyprian spoke against the custom so as to invite correction while keeping unity; finding no adequate defence of the custom, he rested on the authority of Agrippinus’s earlier council.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 2.14Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Cyprian rested on Agrippinus’s African council, and his own letter to Jubaianus shows that the church’s custom was otherwise; the later universal council outweighs his provincial one.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 2.15Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Since Cyprian was in communion with those who received the baptized without rebaptism, the Donatists must either reject his authority on rebaptism or follow his example of unity; Augustine urges them to repent while God is patient.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 2.16Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The Donatists hate Catholics for telling the truth; to repair the disgrace of their divisions they persecuted the Maximianists through Optatus of Thamugadi and received some back without rebaptism, contradicting their own practice.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 2.17Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Every Donatist answer about the reception of the Maximianists Felicianus and Praetextatus is refuted by their own council and by the proconsular records of their lawsuits.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 2.18Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Augustine urges the Donatists to bring those they rebaptized back to the church, citing Cyprian’s own belief that those admitted without baptism could be pardoned through the bond of unity.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 2.19Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Scripture suggests that lacking baptism is worse than being rebaptized, and the church admits the rebaptized to the altar after penance; as Cyprian hoped for those received without baptism, Catholics hope for pardon for the rebaptized through unity.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 2.20Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · In Cyprian’s day the church held either the rebaptized or the unbaptized in unity, and unity saved them; now that the question is settled, the Donatists should return to the church Cyprian never left.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 3.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Cyprian’s example of keeping communion with those who received heretics without rebaptism tells for the Catholics, not the Donatists.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 3.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Augustine undertakes to answer the arguments of Cyprian and his allies, but even if he could not, he would remain safely in the church in which Cyprian remained with those who disagreed.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 3.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Whether or not the church existed while heretics were received without rebaptism, the Donatists are refuted: either they have no origin or no defence for their schism, and they follow neither Cyprian’s example nor his council.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 3.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Augustine turns to Cyprian’s council and proposes to examine the letter to Jubaianus, while Cyprian himself guarantees communion to those not yet persuaded.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 3.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Cyprian’s speech grants freedom of judgment and inquiry on unsettled questions, and he meant it sincerely; so Catholics may freely examine the question.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 3.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Augustine admits he would once have agreed with Cyprian’s letter to Jubaianus but for the authority of the wider church, and asks readers to read the letter, which he will show supports the view that baptism depends on Christ, not on the minister.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 3.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Cyprian’s own letter shows that the church’s custom had been to admit converts from heresy without baptism.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 3.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Castus of Sicca’s opinion admits that the church’s custom was different.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 3.9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Libosus of Vaga’s opinion likewise shows that the custom was different.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 3.10Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Zosimus of Tharassa’s appeal to Peter yielding to Paul both shows a different earlier practice and shows that Cyprian too could err.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 3.11Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Felix of Buslacenae’s opinion also shows a different custom.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 3.12Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Honoratus of Thucca’s opinion likewise implies a contrary custom; if truth upholds that custom, its observance in the Catholic Church is vindicated.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 3.13Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Augustine grants that baptism among heretics does not profit and is given wrongly, but distinguishes not having a sacrament from having it unlawfully: the men are to be corrected, the sacraments revered.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 3.14Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Cyprian’s African councils, one of seventy-one bishops, yield to the authority of the universal church of which he was a member.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 3.15Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Against Cyprian’s phrase “profane and adulterous water,” Augustine argues that water over which God’s name is invoked is holy whoever invokes it, as light is not soiled by mud.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 3.16Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · That the Novatianists rebaptize is no argument; Catholics do not rebaptize because baptism is Christ’s, not the heretics’, and Cyprian himself received lapsed church members back by penance, not baptism.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 3.17Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Cyprian’s claim that rebaptism went back to Agrippinus shows it was an innovation; if it had been continuous custom, his councils and his colleagues’ appeals to truth over custom would have been unnecessary.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 3.18Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Whether sins are forgiven in heretical baptism and then return, or are not forgiven until reconciliation, the same baptism that works death outside works salvation within, like the fragrance of Christ.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 3.19Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The integrity of the sacrament does not depend on the faith of the recipient: Catholics baptized with defective beliefs, like the carnal Corinthians or a catechumen misled by a heretical book, are corrected, not rebaptized.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 3.20Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · If Marcion baptized in the name of the Trinity, the sacrament was entire though his faith was not; the same holds for all with defective beliefs. Jeremiah’s “lying water” means a faithless people, not heretical baptism.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 3.21Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The Holy Spirit is received only in the Catholic Church in the sense of the love poured out by the Spirit, which schismatics lack; the sacrament can exist outside, but love only in unity. The laying on of hands, being prayer, can be repeated.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 3.22Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · If only the pure “dove,” the unity of the good, baptizes, how could the greedy bishops Cyprian deplored baptize? Their baptism availed through the prayers of the saints for those in unity; outside unity the sacrament is entire but does not bring forgiveness.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 3.23Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The power to forgive and retain sins given in John 20 belongs to the church’s unity, the dove; greedy bishops baptized but did not forgive sins, which are forgiven to those at peace with the dove, whether baptized inside or outside.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 3.24Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Augustine agrees that usurpers like Dathan and Abiram and the sons of Aaron were punished, and that such crimes are punished unless corrected.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 3.25Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Augustine rejects the weak argument from Philip’s converts but holds that what heretics have from the church is God’s, as God in Hosea recognizes his own gifts in the hands of the unfaithful wife.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 3.27Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Like the unfaithful wife of Hosea and Ezekiel, who adorned her harlotry with her husband’s gifts, heretics hold the sacraments and Scriptures, which remain God’s; the fornication is to be corrected, the gifts recognized.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 3.28Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The church’s custom has been to approve what is divine and entire among heretics and correct what is their own; the rest of the letter to Jubaianus is left for the next book.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 4.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · As the rivers of paradise flow outside it while its happiness stays within, so the church’s baptism can exist outside the church, but the blessed life is found only within.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 4.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · What heretics have from the church is not theirs and does not save them outside unity; baptism, like the church, cannot be corrupted, though the greedy within the church also baptize and are baptized.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 4.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Cyprian’s own letter on prayer complains of church members who renounce the world in words, not deeds; such men are baptized without a good conscience, yet are within the church.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 4.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Wicked members within the church, like those Cyprian describes, are not members of the spotless dove, yet their baptism is not repeated when they convert; so too with those openly outside, some of whom may yet become members.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 4.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · If heretics cannot forgive sins, neither can wicked ministers within the church; baptism is Christ’s in both and profits neither until they are corrected.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 4.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Neither the heretic nor the greedy Catholic becomes a temple of God, since greed is idolatry; yet neither is unbaptized, for the sacrament consecrated by the gospel words remains holy.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 4.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Augustine agrees that truth outranks custom and knowing sin outranks ignorant sin, but asks why the baptism of an ignorant heretic is rejected while that of a knowingly greedy Catholic, an idolater by Paul’s and Cyprian’s own reckoning, is accepted.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 4.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Cyprian’s denial that the apostles handed down the custom shows that others in his day claimed they had; the custom was strong and Agrippinus’s council a recent innovation, and seeing what Cyprian did not see does not make anyone his superior.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 4.9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Scripture records neither the admission nor the rebaptism of converts from heretics; the custom, of untraceable origin, is rightly held apostolic, and now has the backing of a plenary council and of truth.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 4.10Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Cyprian rightly says Phil 1:18 concerns envious preachers within the church, not heretics; but if those within can have the devil’s envy, those outside can have Christ’s baptism, and the envious, lacking peace, were not truly in unity.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 4.11Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Cyprian’s treatise on jealousy and envy shows how great an evil envy is; free of it himself, he kept communion with those who differed on baptism, as his council speech and the end of his letter to Jubaianus show.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 4.13Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The devil has his tares within the church, so Christ may have his sacraments outside; like rain falling on wheat and tares alike, the sacrament is heavenly whoever receives it.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 4.14Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Whether the wicked within convert more easily has no bearing on rebaptism; converts from outside sometimes surpass the wicked within, and there is wheat outside and tares within.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 4.16Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Since the wicked within, on the devil’s side, still give and receive holy baptism, what matters is not who gives or receives but what is given; some act against the church within, while some outside act in Christ’s name.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 4.17Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Some teach error with love, like Peter and Cyprian, and some teach truth without love, like the Pharisees; men’s perversity is to be corrected, but the sacraments, which are Christ’s, are recognized wherever found.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 4.18Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Cyprian argues that the apostles curse heretics, whose word creeps like a cancer; but Cyprian’s own letter to Antonianus places such men, the vessels for dishonour of 2 Tim 2, within the great house of the church, and their cancer did not violate baptism.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 4.19Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Unrighteousness and darkness exist inside the church too, as Cyprian admits of Paul’s envious rivals; that such men baptize within shows that the sacrament’s holiness cannot be polluted.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 4.20Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Enemies of God and antichrists exist within the church too and still perform sacred acts; Cyprian’s statement about adversaries applies to both, and the Lord will separate the chaff at the end.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 4.21Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · No one is to be despaired of while God’s patience calls to repentance; the grace of salvation is not obtained by many even within, and Cyprian’s own warning about what is done “in Christ’s name” applies to the greedy bishops within.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 4.22Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Against Cyprian’s argument that blasphemers of the Father cannot baptize in Christ, Augustine notes that many baptized within, including those baptized as infants, held false ideas of God; error is corrected, but the true sacrament is not repeated.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 4.23Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Of two men holding the same error, the one baptized outside is worse because of division, unless the other stays inside for worldly gain; in neither is the sacrament repeated, for it is God’s gift.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 4.24Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Augustine agrees with Cyprian that martyrdom outside the church does not profit, because love is lacking, but the same is true of the loveless within, who still give true baptism; baptism, like the gospel, can be common to Catholics and heretics.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 4.27Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Augustine will not judge whether a wicked Catholic is worse than a morally upright heretic; vices cluster, but the sacrament is God’s and is the same, and good, in both, as light is the same in good and bad eyes.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 4.28Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · A good catechumen may be better than a wicked baptized man, as Cornelius was better than Simon, without slighting baptism; baptism and true conversion are both needed for the kingdom, and baptism received outside is not to be disapproved.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 4.29Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Like suffering, faith and conversion of heart can supply the lack of baptism when necessity, not contempt, prevents it, as with the thief on the cross; but Cornelius was baptized after receiving the Spirit, and Christ received John’s baptism to show that no one may despise the sacrament.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 4.30Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The sacrament is entire in itself even in the wicked; as the thief was saved without the sacrament, so infants are saved by the sacrament without the faith they cannot yet have, as the whole church holds.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 4.31Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Infant baptism, held by the whole church from apostolic tradition, is illuminated by circumcision: as Abraham’s faith preceded his sign and Isaac’s sign preceded his faith, so baptized infants receive the sacrament first, and grace supplies their inability to confess; sponsors answer for them.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 4.32Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Sacrament and conversion of heart are distinct but both needed; either may be lacking without guilt through necessity, but not through contempt. Heretics are corrected without violating the sacrament they have.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 4.33Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The remaining points of the letter to Jubaianus, on past custom and John’s baptism, are deferred to the next book.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 5.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Cyprian’s own testimony that converts from heresy had formerly been admitted without baptism proves that communion with the wicked does not destroy the church, so the Donatists had no cause for schism.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 5.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Cyprian trusted that the love of unity could cover the error of admitting people without baptism; equally it covered the error of those who rebaptized while staying in unity, but the Donatists, outside unity, have no such remedy.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 5.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Catholics are not resisting plain truth but contending for it or still seeking it; either way, as Cyprian trusted for those admitted without baptism, unity covers error, while the Donatists, having separated without cause, have lost all room for pardon.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 5.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Whichever view of baptism is true, those who held either while keeping unity could be saved, but the Donatists, who left unity without cause, cannot be saved while in schism.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 5.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Even converts who think they lack baptism should not be rebaptized but taught that their baptism, unharmed by their error, now begins to profit them.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 5.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Rebaptism is so widely detested, by a hidden divine inspiration, that even Donatist laity dislike it and the Donatists accepted the Maximianists’ baptism rather than rebaptize their people.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 5.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The Donatists accepted the Maximianists’ baptism because mass rebaptism would have provoked horror; against Cyprian’s claim that rebaptism draws heretics, Augustine notes the general, God-given horror at it.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 5.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Cyprian warned against counting heretics’ baptism “just and lawful”; Augustine distinguishes having a lawful baptism from having it lawfully, which heretics and wicked Catholics alike do not.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 5.9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Like the law, baptism is good if used lawfully; misuse does not make it evil or void, as the eucharist received unworthily by Judas or the Corinthians remained the Lord’s body; heretics should seek in the church the love they lack.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 5.10Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Paul baptized those who had John’s baptism because John’s was not Christ’s baptism but a temporary gift to prepare the way; Christ received it to teach humility.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 5.11Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · John alone was given a baptism of repentance to prepare for Christ; Christ received it to teach humility, but others received it too, and it ceased, lest Christ’s baptism seem inferior or insufficient.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 5.12Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · If John’s baptism did not forgive sins while that of greedy bishops in Cyprian’s day did, the difference cannot be unity, since John was in unity; Augustine holds that John’s baptism forgave sins in hope, but will not dispute the point.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 5.13Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Since baptism was repeated after holy John but not after greedy bishops in unity, the reason can only be that John’s baptism was not Christ’s, which cannot be repeated whoever gives it.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 5.14Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Using Cyprian’s praise of John, Augustine shows that it is no dishonour to John that his baptism was followed by Christ’s, since Christ’s baptism belongs to Christ whoever administers it, and John’s was not repeated but completed.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 5.15Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Christ kept the power of his baptism to himself, so that it is his whoever ministers it; this is what John learned from the dove, not knowing before whether Christ would hand over his baptism as he had given John his.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 5.16Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Apostles speak of “my gospel” but never “my baptism,” since no one is more or less baptized; if baptism after John but not after heretics is a marvel, so is baptism after John but not after the envious, who were within the church.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 5.17Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Since John’s baptism was not Christ’s, baptism after John proves nothing about baptism after heretics, who can have Christ’s baptism with the devil’s perversity.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 5.18Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The argument “all the more after a heretic” would equally require rebaptism after a drunkard; the only answer is that John’s converts lacked Christ’s baptism, while those who have it keep it whatever their perversity.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 5.19Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · A heretic does not gain the right to baptism by baptizing first; he gives Christ’s baptism without right, as those within who renounce the world only in words receive it without right but truly.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 5.20Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Against Cyprian’s claim that baptism and the church cannot be separated, Augustine notes that baptism remains in the baptized even in apostasy, and the baptized can leave the church, so baptism can be outside it.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 5.21Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The heretic does not “seize” baptism first, for he took it from the church; the true first place, the birthright, lies in holy living, which the wicked within the church lack though they give and have baptism.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 5.22Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Augustine quotes with delight the peaceable close of Cyprian’s letter to Jubaianus, which leaves each bishop free and keeps concord with those who differ.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 5.23Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Augustine praises Cyprian’s love of unity, which let him differ without schism; Cyprian now sees the truth in heaven, and Augustine sets against his opinion not his own but that of the Catholic Church, admitting that his own writings, unlike the apostles’, are not free from error.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 5.24Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Cyprian shows that many dead in sin within the church baptize and are baptized, yet Christ’s living baptism is in them; so too the dead outside have a living baptism that will profit them if they turn to peace.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 5.25Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Against Cyprian’s claim that the old custom applied only to those first baptized in the church, Augustine notes that every heresy could baptize from its first day, so the old custom must have covered those baptized outside.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 5.26Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Against Cyprian’s distinction between the straying sheep and the stranger who must be baptized to become a sheep, Augustine notes that insincere Catholics are not sheep either, yet are not rebaptized when they convert; and the wicked within baptize though “nothing is common to falsehood and truth.”
On Baptism, against the Donatists 5.27Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Since envious murderers in John’s sense baptized within the church, Cyprian’s question how the unclean can sanctify water or bless oil is answered: God is present to his sacraments whoever ministers them.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 5.28Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The baptismal question about the church does not void heretical baptism any more than an insincere Catholic’s false answer voids his; and since murderers within the church validly baptize, consecrate oil, and celebrate the eucharist, God, not the minister, gives the Spirit.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 5.29Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The arguments of Cyprian’s council against heretical baptism apply equally to murderers, that is, haters of their brothers, within the church, who still baptize validly; God gives the sacrament through the wicked but grace only through himself and his saints.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 5.30Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Heretics, like the envious within, can give baptism but not forgiveness; Cyprian’s letters to Quintus and the synodal letter to Saturninus and others cannot be set against the whole Catholic Church, from which their authors never separated.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 5.31Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Cyprian’s letter to Pompeius shows that Stephen of Rome opposed him; the custom Stephen upheld, though not written, is rightly believed to come from apostolic tradition.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 5.33Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Answering Cyprian’s letter to Pompeius, Augustine denies any Scripture forbids receiving those baptized by heretics, and that baptism is inseparable from church and Spirit: it remains even where the Spirit withdraws; hands are laid on converts for the bond of love.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 5.34Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Putting on Christ may mean receiving the sacrament, common to good and bad, or holiness of life, proper to the good; either heretics have the Spirit to their ruin, like Saul, or baptism can exist without the Spirit, as in the greedy.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 5.35Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · If heresy cannot beget God’s sons because it is not Christ’s spotless bride, neither can the wicked within; the question of spiritual birth arises for insincere Catholics too, who are nevertheless baptized.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 5.36Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Augustine passes over Cyprian’s heated words against Stephen; Stephen would have excommunicated innovators, but Cyprian kept unity, and the peace of Christ prevented schism; the rebaptizers, not Catholics, have split into fragments.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 5.37Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Cyprian’s ideal of the teachable bishop permits learning from the later church; going back to apostolic tradition, as he urges, shows that some in Corinth had one baptism without one hope, so heretics can have one baptism without one church.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 5.38Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The “garden enclosed” of the Song is the fixed number of the predestined righteous, some of whom are now outside the church or even pagans, while many inside are thorns; their own gifts are love and eternal life, but the sacraments are shared with the wicked.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 5.39Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The ark of Noah, Cyprian’s figure of the one church, shows that those admitted with heretical baptism were saved through water in it, while wicked Catholics drown in the same water; within and outside are matters of the heart, and the same baptism saves or destroys.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 6.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Cyprian and others failed to distinguish the sacrament from its effect; the wicked within the church, who have and give baptism without forgiveness, made it clear that the Lord’s mark on a stray sheep is to be recognized, not repeated.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 6.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · As the spiritual can err and the carnal can hold good things from elsewhere, so the Donatists imitate Cyprian’s error without his love, and do not even equal his “prunings.”
On Baptism, against the Donatists 6.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Even good Catholics who hold the right view on baptism are not Cyprian’s equals, as no one today is Peter’s equal though no one now judaizes; Augustine honours Cyprian while saying, with the universal church, that he erred.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 6.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Augustine states his thesis: baptism is had, given, and received by good and bad alike, equally entire and holy in all, profiting the good and harming the bad.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 6.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The wicked who have baptism, though they appear within, do not belong to the holy church, the spotless dove and enclosed garden, which consists of the good who have the Spirit and love.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 6.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · A wicked man can hand on baptism; when it is given to one truly converted, the giver’s wickedness is overcome, and the Holy Spirit in the communion of saints forgives his sins.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 6.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Baptism given by a separated man can profit a recipient who is not separated in heart, as in emergencies; received in separation it harms, but on reconciliation the same baptism brings forgiveness.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 6.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The many bishops who agreed with Cyprian only show his love of unity the more, since he kept communion not for lack of supporters; Augustine will nevertheless go through each bishop’s opinion for the slower readers.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 6.9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Augustine quotes again Cyprian’s opening speech to the Council of Carthage of 256.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 6.10Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Having answered Cyprian’s letters, Augustine turns to the individual opinions of the council, using the freedom Cyprian granted, as his letters to Jubaianus and Magnus show, and keeping unity with those bishops.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 6.11Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The opinion of Caecilius of Biltha: there is one baptism, in the church alone, and heretics, who are liars, demoniacs, and antichrists, cannot give it.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 6.12Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Every charge Caecilius brings against heretics applies to wicked members within the church, who still baptize; his complaint shows that other bishops held the older custom, and he may not separate from them, by Cyprian’s own rule.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 6.14Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Against the bishop of Misgirpa, Augustine notes that baptism is not given again to returning schismatics, so it exists outside; he agrees that it has no saving effect there until they come to Catholic peace.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 6.15Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Against Polycarp of Hadrumetum: if heretical baptism is the heretics’, the baptism of greedy and murderous ministers within is theirs; since it is not, baptism anywhere is Christ’s.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 6.17Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Novatus of Thamugadi stated his practice but gave no argument from Scripture or decree.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 6.19Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Nemesianus’s texts on trusting falsehoods and drinking from a foreign spring apply to all who live wickedly, not only heretics; John 3:5 does not mean all baptized enter the kingdom (Simon Magus did not); and Paul condemns the works of the flesh within the church too, yet those who do them baptize.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 6.20Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The opinion of Januarius of Lambaesis: all heretics are to be baptized on the authority of Scripture.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 6.21Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Against Januarius: a council of the whole world decreed on Scripture’s authority that Christ’s baptism among heretics is not to be rejected.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 6.23Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Against Lucius of Castra Galbae: those thrown out like tasteless salt are useless, but their baptism is not nothing; robbers and murderers within the church are also “opponents of the law” needing cleansing, yet are not rebaptized when corrected.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 6.24Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The opinion of Crescens of Cirta: heretics and schismatics must be exorcized and baptized, except those first baptized in the Catholic Church, who are reconciled by the laying on of hands.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 6.25Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Crescens’s exception for those first baptized in the church implies that baptism is kept outside and so can be given outside; the letter to Stephen he mentions has nothing on heretical baptism.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 6.26Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The opinion of Nicomedes of Segermes: heretics must be baptized because there is no remission of sins among sinners outside.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 6.27Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Against Nicomedes: sinners within the church do not forgive sins either, yet those they baptize are not rebaptized.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 6.28Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The opinion of Monnulus of Girba: heretics have neither Father, Son, nor Spirit, and so must be born again in the church’s baptism.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 6.29Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Against Monnulus: all baptized with the gospel words have the Trinity in the sacrament, but not in heart and life, which even the wicked within lack.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 6.30Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The opinion of Secundinus of Cedias: enemies of Christ and antichrists cannot give saving baptism, so those fleeing heretics must be baptized by the friends of God.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 6.31Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Against Secundinus: all the wicked, inside or outside, are adversaries of Christ; if baptism must be given by friends of God, those baptized by the wicked within would need rebaptism.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 6.32Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The opinion of Felix of Bagai: a heretic baptizing a heretic, like the blind leading the blind, falls with him into death.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 6.33Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Against Felix of Bagai: the Corinthians who denied the resurrection were spiritually dead yet baptized, and the greedy around Cyprian were “dead,” yet their baptism was not violated nor did they harm him in unity.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 6.34Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The opinion of Pollianus of Milevis: a heretic should be baptized in the church.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 6.35Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Augustine answers Pollianus just as briefly: Christ’s baptism should not be rejected in Christ’s church.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 6.36Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The opinion of Theogenes of Hippo Regius: we believe in the one baptism which is in the holy church.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 6.37Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Theogenes’ opinion is acceptable as worded, since it does not say baptism is in the church “alone”; like the Euphrates, which is in paradise but also flows outside it, baptism is in the church without being only there.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 6.38Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The opinion of Dativus of Vada: as far as possible, no communion with a heretic not baptized in the church.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 6.39Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Against Dativus: a man baptized while hating his brother lacks forgiveness yet is not rebaptized; and Dativus’s “as far as it lies with us” shows that he stayed in communion with those who received heretics, for the sake of unity.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 6.40Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The opinion of Successus of Abbir Germaniciana: if heretics cannot give the Spirit, they cannot baptize.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 6.41Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Augustine turns Successus’s argument on murderers, that is, haters of their brothers within the church, who baptized in Cyprian’s day without their baptism being repeated.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 6.42Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The opinion of Fortunatus of Thuccabori: Christ gave the power of baptizing to bishops of the church built on Peter, not to heretics.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 6.43Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Fortunatus’s argument could equally exclude the wicked within, who build on sand, yet they baptize; being outside does not change what is given, and if baptism could not be given outside it could not be kept outside either.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 6.44Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The church is on the rock; those who hear Christ’s words without doing them build on sand and are outside the church, though they seem within, yet they baptize and are baptized.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 6.45Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · No one fulfils every word of the Sermon on the Mount, but the sermon itself provides the remedy of forgiving others; those without love, like the envious within, build on sand and are outside the church.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 6.46Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The opinion of Sedatus of Thuburbo: water infected by heretical speech heaps up sins, and those dipped in it must receive the church’s baptism.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 6.47Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Faulty prayers over the water, common even among Catholics, do not void baptism, because the gospel words consecrate it and God sanctifies his own sacrament; Christ’s baptism with the gospel words is the same everywhere.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 6.48Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Sedatus’s “peaceable strength” echoes Cyprian’s refusal to excommunicate; both sides bore with each other rather than break unity, like the true mother before Solomon.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 6.49Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The opinion of Privatianus of Sufetula: heresy is not from God and cannot have or give God’s grace.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 6.50Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Privatianus’s argument would equally deny baptism to the malicious and envious within, who do baptize; baptism is Christ’s, heresy and envy the devil’s.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 6.51Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The opinion of Privatus of Sufes: to approve heretics’ baptism is to hold communion with heretics.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 6.52Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Approving Christ’s baptism in heretics is not approving the heretics’ baptism, any more than approving it in the wicked within is communion with their wickedness.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 6.53Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The opinion of Hortensianus of Lares: the one baptism is the church’s, and Christ’s adversaries cannot baptize in his name.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 6.54Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The baptism that belongs to the church is to be called back wherever found; Christ calls all the wicked his adversaries, yet when they baptize, Christ baptizes.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 6.55Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The opinion of Cassius of Macomades: there cannot be two baptisms, so heretics are to be baptized, except former church members, who are restored by the laying on of hands.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 6.56Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Cassius’s words, adapted, apply to the wicked within, who are already baptized and need only correction; his exception for former members undercuts his case, for if they kept baptism, what they gave must be recognized.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 6.57Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The opinion of Januarius of Vicus Caesaris: claiming baptism for the church alone, we baptize those the church has not baptized.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 6.58Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · If only the church, the rock, baptizes, those baptized by the wicked within, who are off the rock, would need rebaptism; since they do not, heretics’ baptism must be recognized too.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 6.59Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The opinion of Secundinus of Carpi: heretics, not being in the church, must become Christians; the Spirit cannot come on them by laying on of hands alone.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 6.60Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Secundinus’s argument applies to the wicked within, “strange sons” in the sense of Ps 144, whom Cyprian describes in his own church; they have and give baptism, so it can exist in strange sons.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 6.61Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The opinion of Victoricus of Thabraca: if heretics can baptize and forgive, why call them heretics?
On Baptism, against the Donatists 6.62Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Victoricus’s question would apply to the wicked within too; the baptism is not theirs, and having the sacrament does not guarantee forgiveness without true conversion.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 6.63Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The opinion of Felix of Uthina: heretics coming to the church must be baptized, so that minds long corrupted may be cleansed.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 6.64Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Felix’s reason, long corruption, would not apply to short-term heretics and would equally require rebaptizing the wicked within, which is not done.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 6.65Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The opinion of Quietus of Buruc: Sirach’s “baptized by a dead man” refers to heretics, whose converts must receive the church’s life-giving baptism.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 6.66Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · If baptism by a “dead man” means by sinners, it applies to all sinners within, yet Christ, the living one, baptizes; heretics come to the church for the eternal life given only through the love of unity, and the one life-giving baptism is in the Catholic Church but not only there.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 6.67Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The opinion of Castus of Sicca: to follow custom against revealed truth is envy toward the brothers or ingratitude toward God.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 6.68Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Castus’s words confirm that receiving heretics without rebaptism was the custom; either it was right, or the wicked do not stain the good in unity, and either way the Donatists are condemned.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 6.69Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The opinion of Eucratius of Thenae: heretics’ baptism, blaspheming the Trinity, must be refuted, and they must be baptized in the church.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 6.70Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Baptism without the Trinitarian name is to be rejected; where the name is present, the gospel words are to be distinguished from heretical error and approved.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 6.71Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The opinion of Libosus of Vaga: Christ is truth, not custom, so the custom of not baptizing heretics must yield.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 6.72Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Libosus admits that the custom was not to rebaptize; whether that custom was right or wrong, the Donatists’ separation is unjustified, and they should come to be healed of schism, not rebaptized.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 6.73Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The opinion of Leucius of Theveste: heretics who tear apart Scripture are to be abhorred, exorcized, and baptized.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 6.74Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Augustine agrees heretics are to be abhorred, but not rebaptized: their invention is abhorred, Christ’s sacrament revered.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 6.75Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The opinion of Eugenius of Ammaedara: heretics are to be baptized.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 6.76Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The church, through a plenary council, has since judged otherwise, and those who then differed remained in unity through love.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 6.77Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The opinion of Felix of Bamaccora: the church’s fountain is private, and neither heretics nor schismatics can receive anything heavenly from those outside.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 6.78Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Like the water of paradise and of the flood, the church’s baptism is the same everywhere, saving within the ark and deadly outside; heretics receive it but to their ruin, and come to the church for it to profit them.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 6.79Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The opinion of Januarius of Muzula: since church and heresy are different, both cannot have the one baptism.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 6.80Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Januarius’s argument, applied to righteous and wicked, is plainly false, for the envious within had baptism; so it is false of church and heresy too.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 6.81Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The opinion of Adelphius of Thasvalte: the church does not rebaptize heretics but baptizes them.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 6.82Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · It is the present church that truly does not rebaptize, since it baptizes only the unbaptized, as the later council confirmed.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 6.83Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The opinion of Demetrius of Leptis Minor: accepting heretical baptism multiplies baptisms by the number of heresies.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 6.84Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · If baptisms multiplied by heresies, they would multiply by every work of the flesh tolerated within the church; yet baptism is one.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 6.85Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The opinion of Vincentius of Thibaris: heretics, worse than heathens, must be exorcized and then baptized.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 6.86Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Even if heretics are worse than heathens, their sacrament is not corrupted, as the sacraments of the Jews, whom Scripture calls worse than Sodom, remained divine and were used by Christ and Zechariah.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 6.87Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The saints, including Paul at Athens and Cyprian citing Ostanes, Plato, and Hermes, approved what was true even among pagans; so what is Christ’s among heretics should be recognized while their errors are corrected.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 7.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Augustine resumes the review of the council’s opinions, asking Cyprian’s prayers and comparing the Donatists, who use his authority against unity, with the Nazarenes, who perpetuate the error from which Paul recalled Peter.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 7.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The opinion of Marcus of Mactaris: it is surprising that some of the bishops’ own colleagues betray the truth by supporting heretics.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 7.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Marcus did not break communion with those he called betrayers of the truth; since both Catholics and Donatists descend from that church, if the Donatists are not tainted by those “betrayers,” Catholics are not tainted by alleged traitors, and the Donatists’ schism is inexcusable.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 7.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The opinion of Sattius of Sicilibba: if heretics’ baptism forgave sins, they would have no reason to come to the church.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 7.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Sattius’s words can be accepted: heretics have baptism but not remission of sins; the same is true of the falsely converted within, who are not rebaptized when they truly convert.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 7.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The opinion of Victor of Gorduba: admitting a heretic without baptism fails to cleanse him and defiles Christians.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 7.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Heretics have the church’s baptism, like the water of paradise in Egypt; Cyprian himself rejected the idea that communion with those received without rebaptism defiles, or else the whole church of the old custom would have been defiled.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 7.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The opinion of Aurelius of Utica: communion with heretics not baptized in the church is sharing in others’ sins.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 7.9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · If communion with those received without rebaptism shares in their sins, Cyprian himself shared in them and the church perished; sharing in sins means consent, and heretics need rebaptism no more than the envious within.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 7.10Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The opinion of Iambus of Germaniciana: approving heretics’ baptism disapproves the church’s.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 7.11Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Catholics approve not heretics’ baptism but Christ’s in them; if those outside the church are soiled, so are those within who are off the rock, yet both are truly washed.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 7.12Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The opinion of Lucianus of Rucuma: as light and darkness are divided, Catholics and heretics have nothing in common.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 7.13Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · If light and darkness cannot share anything, neither can the righteous and the unrighteous within the church, yet they share baptism.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 7.14Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The opinion of Pelagianus of Luperciana: if heresy is not the church, the church’s baptism cannot be among heretics.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 7.15Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · As the water of paradise flows into Egypt, which is not paradise, and baptism exists among those who build on sand, so the church’s baptism can exist among heretics.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 7.16Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The opinion of Iader of Midili: one baptism exists only in the Catholic Church, so heretics must be baptized.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 7.17Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Iader’s claim would be false of the wicked within, who are off the rock yet baptized; so it is false of heretics.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 7.18Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The opinion of Felix of Marazana: one baptism, belonging only to the Catholic Church.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 7.19Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Felix’s claim would be like saying only the righteous may baptize, which is false; the unrighteous within are not members of the spotless church, yet they baptize.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 7.20Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The opinion of Paul of Obba: God is true, so the truth of baptism cannot be among heretics, among whom God is not.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 7.21Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · God is not among the greedy, who are idolaters, yet baptism is; so baptism can be among heretics too.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 7.22Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The opinion of Pomponius of Dionysiana: heretics, lacking the power to bind and loose, cannot baptize or forgive.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 7.23Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Haters of their brothers within the church lack the power to forgive, yet they baptize, as Paul and Cyprian acknowledged.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 7.24Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The opinion of Venantius of Thinisa: sharing the church’s baptism with heretics betrays Christ’s bride to adulterers.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 7.25Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Insincere converts within the church have adulterous minds, yet Cyprian shared baptism with them; recognizing the bridegroom’s gift on an adulteress does not betray the bride.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 7.26Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The opinion of Ahymmus of Ausuaga: allowing heretics to baptize makes two baptisms.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 7.27Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Righteous and unrighteous ministers give one and the same baptism, Christ’s, so recognizing heretics’ baptism does not make two baptisms.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 7.28Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The opinion of Saturninus of Victoriana: if heretics may baptize, they are excused, and Christ and the apostle would not call them adversaries and antichrists.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 7.29Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Heretics, like defrauders within, baptize unlawfully but truly; recognizing Christ’s baptism in them does not excuse them, and both are adversaries of Christ.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 7.30Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The opinion of Saturninus of Thucca: Marcion blasphemes the Creator whom even pagans confess, yet some approve his baptism.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 7.31Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Saturninus himself admits that pagans rightly confess the Creator, which would be approved in a convert; so in a Marcionite the integrity of baptism should be recognized and his errors corrected.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 7.32Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The opinion of Marcellus of Zama: not baptizing a heretic is communion with a sinner.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 7.33Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · If Marcellus were right, the bishops who kept communion with those who did not rebaptize also communed with sinners and the church perished; the Donatists quote Cyprian without his patience.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 7.34Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The opinion of Irenaeus of Ululi: not baptizing heretics makes heresy greater than the church.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 7.35Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Irenaeus’s argument applied to a greedy man shows its falsity.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 7.36Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The opinion of Donatus of Cibaliana: one must prove the church is among heretics before claiming baptism is there.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 7.37Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Baptism, the sacrament of grace, is among heretics, but its grace, the forgiveness of sins, is not; as good and bad share baptism without sharing hope, heretics can share baptism without the church.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 7.38Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The opinion of Zosimus of Tharassa: once truth is revealed, error must yield, as Peter yielded to Paul.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 7.39Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Augustine accepts Zosimus’s principle: error yielded to truth when the plenary council confirmed the old custom; Cyprian, like Peter, could err.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 7.40Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The opinion of Julian of Telepte: only if heresy were from heaven could it give baptism.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 7.41Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Julian’s argument would deny baptism to the greedy, who in fact give it.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 7.42Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The opinion of Faustus of Timida Regia: defending heretics’ baptism makes them Christians and Catholics heretics.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 7.43Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Not rebaptizing a man baptized while hating his brother does not make murderers righteous; likewise with heretics.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 7.44Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The opinion of Geminius of Furni: some colleagues may put heretics above themselves, but the council keeps its decree to baptize them.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 7.45Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Geminius admits that colleagues disagreed, yet unity held; they did not prefer heretics but recognized Christ’s baptism in them, as in the wicked within.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 7.46Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The opinion of Rogatianus of Nova: heresy, founded by the devil, cannot have Christ’s baptism.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 7.47Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The envious within belong to the devil’s part yet have Christ’s baptism.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 7.48Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The opinion of Therapius of Bulla: conceding baptism to heretics is acting as a Judas to Christ’s bride.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 7.49Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · By the council’s own words, those who did not rebaptize were Judases, yet Cyprian held communion with them; so by Donatist logic all, including the Donatists, are traitors, whereas Catholics hold that the wicked do not harm the good in unity.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 7.50Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The opinion of Lucius of Membressa: God does not hear a sinner, so a sinner cannot be heard in baptism.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 7.51Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Sinners within the church, whom Cyprian tolerated, baptize; so God’s not hearing sinners does not void baptism.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 7.52Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The opinion of Felix of Buslacenae: reason and truth must prevail over custom.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 7.53Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Felix admits the custom but does not show the truth; the custom, confirmed by a plenary council, is rightly held.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 7.54Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The opinion of Saturninus of Avitinae: antichrists cannot give Christ’s grace.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 7.55Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The same reasoning would deny baptism to haters of their brothers, called murderers, who nevertheless baptize.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 7.56Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The opinion of Quintus of Aggya: heretics have nothing to give.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 7.57Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Heretics who leave the church keep its baptism, as their not receiving it again on return shows, so they have something to give.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 7.58Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The opinion of Julian of Marcelliana: baptism can no more serve Christian and heretic than a man can serve God and mammon.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 7.59Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Baptism is ministered to and by the good and the wicked alike, to salvation or judgment; so too to Christians and heretics.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 7.60Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The opinion attributed to Tenax of Horrea Caeliae: baptism is the church’s, and cannot be where the church is not.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 7.61Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Baptism exists among those who build on sand, off the rock that is the church; so it can exist where the church is not.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 7.62Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The opinion attributed to Victor of Assuras: baptism cannot be where God, Christ, and the church are not.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 7.63Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Baptism exists even on the sand, among the wicked within, where neither church nor God dwells.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 7.64Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The opinion of Donatulus of Capsa: heretics have obtained nothing outside and should be baptized.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 7.65Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Heretics obtain nothing for salvation outside, but they do receive the sacrament, which is common to good and bad.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 7.66Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The opinion of Verulus of Rusicade: heretics cannot give what they do not have, and schismatics have lost what they had.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 7.67Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Those who leave keep baptism, so they can give it.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 7.68Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The opinion of Pudentianus of Cuicul: as a new bishop he waited for his elders, and agrees that converts from heresy be baptized.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 7.69Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Pudentianus is answered by the replies to the bishops whose judgment he followed.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 7.70Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The opinion of Peter of Hippo Diarrhytus: since baptism is one, in the church, those dipped outside must be baptized.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 7.71Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The one baptism remains one in those who leave; what is recognized in returning members should be recognized in those they baptized outside.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 7.72Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The opinion of Lucius of Ausafa: since all is one, whatever heretics have done must be annulled and their converts baptized.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 7.73Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · If baptism by the wicked within is not annulled when they convert, neither is heretics’; those on sand and on rock share one baptism though not one hope.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 7.74Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The opinion of Felix of Gurgites: those baptized unlawfully outside should receive baptism lawfully in the church.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 7.75Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Those baptized unlawfully begin to have the same baptism lawfully, as an insincere Catholic is justified under the same baptism when he truly converts.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 7.76Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The opinion of Pusillus of Lamasba: saving baptism exists only in the Catholic Church; all outside is pretence.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 7.77Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Baptism is saving only in the Catholic Church, but can exist outside; as there is pretence within the church, so something catholic can be outside it.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 7.78Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The opinion of Salvianus of Gazaufala: heretics have nothing and come to receive it.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 7.79Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The founders of heresies left the church with the baptism they had received; so heretics can have something, to their ruin.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 7.80Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The opinion of Honoratus of Thucca: truth, not custom, requires that heretics be baptized.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 7.81Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Honoratus too witnesses to the custom; heretics come not because they received nothing outside but so that what they received may profit them.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 7.82Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The opinion of Victor of Octavu: as a new bishop he follows his elders, that converts from heresy be baptized.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 7.83Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Victor is answered by the replies to those he followed.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 7.84Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The opinion of Clarus of Mascula: only the apostles’ successors have the power to baptize; heretics have neither the power nor the church.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 7.85Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Wicked bishops within, who are outside the rock, have not truly succeeded the apostles, yet they baptize.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 7.86Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The opinion of Secundianus of Thambeae: heretics not baptized in the church would blame the bishops at the judgment.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 7.87Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Converts receive in the church the remission of sins they could not have outside the dove, as lost Catholics too lack it; yet such men have and give the one baptism.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 7.88Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The opinion of Aurelius of Chullabi: if John forbids even greeting heretics, they cannot be admitted to the church without its baptism.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 7.89Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · John’s prohibition concerns those who keep a false teaching, not converts who leave it; Paul’s stricter rule about greedy brothers did not stop Cyprian sharing God’s altar with greedy colleagues.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 7.90Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The opinion of Litteus of Gemellae: blind heretics cannot enlighten, so their baptism is not valid.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 7.91Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Heretics’ baptism does not save while they are heretics, any more than that of haters within, who are in darkness yet have and give baptism.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 7.92Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The opinion of Natalis of Oea, also for Pompeius of Sabratha and Dioga of Leptis Magna: no communion with heretics not baptized by the church.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 7.93Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Natalis’s words can stand, since the baptism heretics have, consecrated by the gospel words, is the church’s baptism.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 7.94Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The opinion of Junius of Neapolis: he holds to the decision to baptize heretics.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 7.95Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Junius gave no reason or Scripture and needs no long reply.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 7.96Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Cyprian’s own closing opinion: his view is in the letter to Jubaianus, that heretics, adversaries and antichrists, must be baptized with the church’s one baptism.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 7.97Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Cyprian’s letter to Magnus says only those of one heart and mind dwell in the church; then Paul’s envious rivals, who were within but not of one heart, were not in the church, yet they baptized validly.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 7.98Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Cyprian’s passage on the one-hearted house of God, signified by the eucharistic bread and wine, excludes the envious, yet they, known to Paul, baptized; so the sacrament can be held and given by those not in the church.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 7.99Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Some are in God’s house as the house itself, the holy and faithful united in love; others are in it like chaff, vessels for dishonour; and heretics and schismatics have gone out from it, separated even in body.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 7.100Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Augustine sorts the ways baptism is had and given profitably or unprofitably: by the true house of God, by the deceitful, by vessels for dishonour within, and by heretics outside; for all, it profits only when they cleave to the holy house.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 7.101Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Augustine raises unsettled questions: baptism given by an unbaptized person, received in pretence, or given in jest on the stage to someone suddenly moved to faith; in the church, a deceitful baptism is not repeated if discovered.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 7.102Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · On unsettled questions Augustine will not judge rashly; his own view would be that baptism received anywhere with the gospel words, without pretence and with some faith, is real though unprofitable without love; a baptism given wholly in jest he would leave to divine revelation sought in council.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 7.103Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Augustine concludes: Cyprian and his colleagues showed how unity is to be loved, tolerating disagreement rather than making schism; heretics, like the wicked within, have and give baptism, which profits them only on correction; Catholics, with Cyprian, are built on the rock.
The Harmony of the Gospels 2.26Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–400 · Matthew, Luke, and Mark report John's preaching with variations in wording but the same sense, and John's Gospel shows the Baptist repeating what he had said.
The Harmony of the Gospels 2.30Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–400 · Only Matthew records the exchange between John and Jesus before the baptism; the others mention only the baptism.
The Harmony of the Gospels 2.31Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–400 · The variations in the words of the heavenly voice at the baptism convey one sense; the reading 'today I have begotten you' in some copies of Luke, if genuine, means both were spoken.
The Harmony of the Gospels 2.32Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–400 · John already knew Jesus before the baptism, but learned from the dove that Christ alone, by his own divine power, baptizes in the Holy Spirit.
The Harmony of the Gospels 3.31Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–400 · The name Jeremiah also points the reader to Jeremiah's purchase of a field, to be read with Zechariah's thirty pieces of silver as a figure of Christ's price and the burial of pilgrims in baptism.
The Harmony of the Gospels 3.76Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–400 · Mark's 'eleven' may mean the apostolic company even with Thomas absent, or the last appearance on the fortieth day, when Christ rebuked their unbelief before sending them to preach.
The Harmony of the Gospels 3.79Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–400 · The angel's words in Matthew and Mark suggest the disciples would see Christ first in Galilee, yet Mark records appearances in Jerusalem and Matthew only the one in Galilee.
The Harmony of the Gospels 4.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–400 · Mark gathers here sayings given elsewhere because they fit the occasion: those who favor Christians will come to salvation, while members who cause stumbling must be cut off or tolerated like chaff.
Against the Letter of Parmenian 2.23Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400 · Spiritual sons are begotten through the gospel and the Spirit, not by the minister’s own holiness, as Judas’s preaching shows; otherwise hidden sinners among the Donatists could not baptize, so it is Christ who baptizes through any minister.
Against the Letter of Parmenian 2.29Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400 · Baptism given by a layman in necessity, or even unlawfully, remains given; like the emperor’s stamp on coins or the military brand, the sacrament’s mark is recognized and approved on correction, not repeated.
Against the Letter of Parmenian 2.36Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400 · Christ’s baptism by John shows humility and that the baptizer does not matter, not that one must seek a holy minister; Christ was circumcised by Jews, presented in a temple full of the bad, and lived with Judas, untouched by their evil.
Against the Letters of Petilian 1.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Augustine takes up Petilian's claim that the giver's conscience cleanses the receiver's, and asks how a hidden, stained conscience can cleanse anyone.
Against the Letters of Petilian 1.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Augustine shows that Petilian's maxim that faith received from the faithless is guilt either fails for hidden sinners or obliges the Donatists to rebaptize those baptized by their own hidden sinners.
Against the Letters of Petilian 1.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Making salvation depend on the baptizer's conscience puts hope in a man, which Scripture curses.
Against the Letters of Petilian 1.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · If the baptizer is the origin, root, and head of the baptized, an unknown bad baptizer leaves the baptized with a bad head or none.
Against the Letters of Petilian 1.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Christ, not the minister, is always the origin, root, and head of the Christian, as Paul himself teaches.
Against the Letters of Petilian 1.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · On Petilian's view it would be better to be baptized by a hidden sinner, since only then would Christ be one's head.
Against the Letters of Petilian 1.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Augustine answers each of Petilian's maxims: Christ, not the minister, is the origin, root, head, and seed of the Christian.
Against the Letters of Petilian 1.9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · The 'good tree' cannot be the baptizer; otherwise those baptized by hidden sinners would either be bad or be better off than those baptized by good men.
Against the Letters of Petilian 1.10Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · The saying about being baptized by the dead refers to idol worship, not sinful ministers; otherwise the Donatists would have to judge the baptisms of their own notorious Optatus.
Against the Letters of Petilian 1.12Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · The Donatists received the Maximianist baptizers and those they baptized without rebaptism, while cursing the baptism of the apostolic churches overseas.
Against the Letters of Petilian 1.13Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · If the Donatists are not stained by reuniting with the Maximianists, overseas Catholics cannot be stained by mere reports about Africans.
Against the Letters of Petilian 1.14Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · If the Donatists can receive condemned schismatics for their own unity, they should return to the worldwide unity of Christ foretold in Scripture.
Against the Letters of Petilian 1.16Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · The living witnesses of the Maximianist affair at Musti and Assuras settle the question.
Against the Letters of Petilian 1.17Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Petilian's definition of who is 'dead' is turned against the Donatists' reception of the Maximianists.
Against the Letters of Petilian 1.18Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · If the Maximianists kept the form of baptism though they lost its power, the Donatists should not reject the same form in Catholics.
Against the Letters of Petilian 1.21Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Petilian's claim to be the persecuted prophets is undercut by Donatist refusal to debate and by their reception of the Maximianists they had called vipers.
Against the Letters of Petilian 1.22Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · The Donatists, not the Catholics, are the false prophets in sheep's clothing.
Against the Letters of Petilian 1.25Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · The Testament promises blessing to all nations; those who refuse communion with the nations are the real heirs of the traitors who burned it.
Against the Letters of Petilian 1.29Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · The Maximianist affair answers all three Donatist charges: handing over the books, persecution, and false baptism.
Against the Letters of Petilian 2.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Petilian accuses the Catholics of polluting souls with a false baptism.
Against the Letters of Petilian 2.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Baptism in the name of the Trinity belongs to Christ, not to either party.
Against the Letters of Petilian 2.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Petilian's maxim on the giver's conscience.
Against the Letters of Petilian 2.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Only Christ's conscience gives certainty.
Against the Letters of Petilian 2.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Petilian's maxim on faith from the faithless.
Against the Letters of Petilian 2.9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Faith comes from Christ, who is never faithless.
Against the Letters of Petilian 2.10Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Petilian's maxim on origin, root, head, and seed.
Against the Letters of Petilian 2.11Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Christ is the origin and head; the seed is the gospel, which bears fruit even when preached by unworthy ministers.
Against the Letters of Petilian 2.12Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Petilian argues that a guilty minister cannot make another innocent.
Against the Letters of Petilian 2.13Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · No minister makes another innocent; the 'tree and fruit' are men and their works, and a minister administers God's sacrament, not his own.
Against the Letters of Petilian 2.14Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Petilian explains 'baptized by a dead man' as baptized by one without God's Spirit, including those who have mixed with traitors.
Against the Letters of Petilian 2.15Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Christ, whose baptism it is, lives; the sacrament stays alive even in a dead minister, as in Simon Magus.
Against the Letters of Petilian 2.16Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Baptism is not lost by sin, since penitent apostates are not rebaptized; 'baptized by the dead' fits pagan rites, not the Catholic Church.
Against the Letters of Petilian 2.44Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Petilian says Catholics persecute Christ in his priests as Saul did.
Against the Letters of Petilian 2.47Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Petilian argues that as Paul the persecutor was healed by baptism, Catholic persecutors should accept Donatist baptism.
Against the Letters of Petilian 2.48Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Paul was baptized because he had never received Christ's baptism; those already baptized are not to be baptized again.
Against the Letters of Petilian 2.49Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Petilian argues from John 13 and 15 that a traitor loses baptism and peace.
Against the Letters of Petilian 2.50Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Penitent traitors are not rebaptized, so baptism is not lost; and Christ called the disciples clean even with Judas present.
Against the Letters of Petilian 2.51Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Petilian claims that Catholic persecution gives Donatist martyrs a second baptism of blood, like Christ's.
Against the Letters of Petilian 2.52Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Only those who die for righteousness are baptized in blood; the cause, not the suffering, makes the martyr.
Against the Letters of Petilian 2.56Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Petilian replies to the Catholic use of John 13:10.
Against the Letters of Petilian 2.57Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Christ is the author of baptism and the truth.
Against the Letters of Petilian 2.58Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Petilian says Catholic baptism is no baptism, so his is not a second one.
Against the Letters of Petilian 2.59Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · If guilt voided baptism, secretly guilty Donatist ministers would void their own baptisms.
Against the Letters of Petilian 2.60Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Petilian compares Catholic baptism to a painting or mirror image: a likeness, not the reality.
Against the Letters of Petilian 2.61Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Even deceitful ministers, later convicted, gave true baptism, because the Spirit flees the man's deceit, not the sacrament's truth.
Against the Letters of Petilian 2.62Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Petilian cites Eph 4:5.
Against the Letters of Petilian 2.63Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Baptism is one because it is Christ's, though the good have it for salvation and the wicked for destruction.
Against the Letters of Petilian 2.64Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Petilian compares Catholic baptism to a false second sun.
Against the Letters of Petilian 2.65Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · If the wicked have only an image of baptism, the Donatists must sort out and rebaptize those baptized by Optatus.
Against the Letters of Petilian 2.66Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Petilian compares a Catholic minister to a private man who presumes to declare law.
Against the Letters of Petilian 2.67Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · A genuine law handed on by a forger is still genuine; so too a sacrament.
Against the Letters of Petilian 2.69Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · A true sacrament can be held by a false minister, just as Paul acknowledged true sayings of a Cretan prophet and an Athenian altar without approving their authors.
Against the Letters of Petilian 2.70Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Petilian asks when the Catholics received power to administer the sacraments.
Against the Letters of Petilian 2.71Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · The worldwide church never lost the power to baptize; no one's crime can overturn God's promise to bless all nations.
Against the Letters of Petilian 2.72Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Petilian divides baptism into three stages, John's water, Christ's Spirit, and the Paraclete's fire, and denies the Catholics all three.
Against the Letters of Petilian 2.75Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · John assigns water to himself and both Spirit and fire to Christ; and Paul's rebaptism of John's disciples shows John's water was not part of Christ's baptism.
Against the Letters of Petilian 2.76Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · The Spirit breathed by Christ and the Spirit given at Pentecost are one Spirit, given by the same Christ; Acts 1:5 refutes Petilian's three stages.
Against the Letters of Petilian 2.77Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Petilian argues that Catholics cannot baptize in the name of the Trinity because they lack peace, imitation of the Son, and the Spirit.
Against the Letters of Petilian 2.78Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · By Petilian's rule, Optatus could not baptize in the Trinity's name; but baptism is God's and stays holy even in wicked men.
Against the Letters of Petilian 2.79Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Petilian appeals to the apostles' baptizing of John's disciples.
Against the Letters of Petilian 2.80Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Petilian's appeal to Acts 19 contradicts his own theory of three stages.
Against the Letters of Petilian 2.81Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Petilian makes the gift of the Spirit depend on the water of a pure conscience.
Against the Letters of Petilian 2.82Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · The Spirit came without hands or before baptism; and if baptism required pure consciences, those baptized by Optatus would need rebaptism.
Against the Letters of Petilian 2.83Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Petilian denies that the Spirit could come on those baptized by 'traitors'.
Against the Letters of Petilian 2.84Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · If a traitor's water differs from Christ's, so does a robber's; but since each carries his own load, Catholics keep unity while Donatists break it.
Against the Letters of Petilian 2.85Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Petilian cites Paul's baptism of John's disciples at Ephesus as precedent for rebaptizing Catholics.
Against the Letters of Petilian 2.86Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · John's baptism was not part of Christ's, so Paul's action was a first baptism, not a repetition.
Against the Letters of Petilian 2.87Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · John's baptism, like circumcision and the Passover, foretold Christ; Christ received them as an example, but Christian baptism is a different sacrament.
Against the Letters of Petilian 2.88Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Baptism after John was right because his was a different baptism; but no one is rebaptized after Optatus, since Christ's baptism is the same whoever gives it.
Against the Letters of Petilian 2.93Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Donatist communion is itself mixed; what all Donatists share is not vice but heresy.
Against the Letters of Petilian 2.94Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · The world has never heard of Macarius, but the Donatists all know Optatus; and if makarios means 'blessed,' the church is indeed the party of the Blessed One, Christ.
Against the Letters of Petilian 2.97Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Petilian cites 1 Cor 1:12–13.
Against the Letters of Petilian 2.103Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Petilian contrasts putting on Christ with putting on Judas.
Against the Letters of Petilian 2.104Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Baptism in Christ's name is never baptism into the minister; only a baptism in another's name would need repeating.
Against the Letters of Petilian 2.109Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Petilian reads Psalm 23 as a hymn to Donatist baptism.
Against the Letters of Petilian 2.110Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Psalm 23 speaks of those who use baptism well, but the one holy baptism is also held by the wicked, as Simon, Judas, Saul, and apostates show.
Against the Letters of Petilian 2.112Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Saul lacked innocence but had the holiness of the anointing, which David revered; so the sacrament is holy even in the wicked.
Against the Letters of Petilian 2.124Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Petilian concedes that Christ's name is effective even when invoked by sinners, which is Augustine's point about baptism.
Against the Letters of Petilian 2.140Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Augustine separates the two texts Petilian merged and notes that the Donatists promise forgiveness by their baptism for a sin they call unforgivable.
Against the Letters of Petilian 2.162Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · A proselyte of the Pharisees who reformed would not be recircumcised; so no one baptized by the wicked should be rebaptized.
Against the Letters of Petilian 2.172Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · 1 Cor 13 tells against the Donatists: they have sacraments and faith but lack love, which is kept only in the unity of the church.
Against the Letters of Petilian 2.178Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Augustine corrects Petilian's misquotation and turns the true text to his point: Christ's name avails outside the communion of the disciples, as the sacrament does outside the church, though without love it does not bring eternal life.
Against the Letters of Petilian 2.180Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Paul rejoiced that Christ was preached even by envious men; whether they were inside or outside the church, this shows either that the wicked do not pollute the good or that Christ's name is holy even among heretics.
Against the Letters of Petilian 2.184Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · No one is forced to faith, but laws rightly restrain evil; the Donatists coerce wherever they can, as the violence under Julian, against Rogatus, under Optatus, at Hippo, and at Calama shows.
Against the Letters of Petilian 2.191Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Like Cain, the Donatists are left to live by God's severity; they envy the worldwide 'sacrifice' of the church as Cain envied Abel, and their hatred makes them murderers.
Against the Letters of Petilian 2.228Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Petilian misquotes Christ's promise; his boast of poverty sits ill with his colleague Crispinus of Calama, who bought an estate and rebaptized its tenants by force.
Against the Letters of Petilian 2.231Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Petilian claims that those baptized by Catholics take on their baptizers' crimes.
Against the Letters of Petilian 2.232Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · No one comes innocent to baptism but Christ, even infants being baptized for forgiveness; and if baptism transferred the baptizer's crimes, all Optatus baptized would share his guilt.
Against the Letters of Petilian 2.233Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Petilian's view makes the baptized depend on the baptizer, which is to hope in man, contrary to the texts he himself quoted.
Against the Letters of Petilian 2.234Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Petilian cites Jer 15:18 on 'deceitful water'.
Against the Letters of Petilian 2.235Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Jeremiah's 'deceitful water' refers to the wicked people who wounded him, not to baptism; water signifies peoples, and Christ's baptism is true even in liars.
Against the Letters of Petilian 2.236Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Petilian cites Ps 141:5.
Against the Letters of Petilian 2.237Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Every minister is a sinner, as the Lord's Prayer shows; Ps 141:5 contrasts merciful rebuke with flattery, not valid and invalid anointings.
Against the Letters of Petilian 2.239Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · The ointment of Psalm 133 is the Spirit's love flowing from Christ the head through strong teachers to the perfect, beginning at Jerusalem; the visible chrism, like baptism, can be held by the wicked, but love only by the good.
Against the Letters of Petilian 2.246Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Petilian argues that Catholic acceptance of Donatist baptism proves its holiness.
Against the Letters of Petilian 2.247Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Catholics accept in converts the baptism of Christ, not of the Donatists, as they accept it in all sinners; the church on the rock is worldwide, and they destroy the deserter's faithlessness, not the commander's mark.
Against the Letters of Petilian 3.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Augustine warns Catholics against following any man against unity and urges mutual forbearance in love.
Against the Letters of Petilian 3.9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Those baptized by Augustine are secure whatever he is, because they were baptized into Christ; the sacrament, like the vine's grape in a thorn hedge, is taken from Christ, not from the minister.
Against the Letters of Petilian 3.10Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · The faithful are secure in God and the church whatever their ministers are.
Against the Letters of Petilian 3.16Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Augustine recalls the question he put in Book 1 about the hidden conscience of the giver.
Against the Letters of Petilian 3.17Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Augustine challenges readers to find any answer in Petilian's letter to his central question.
Against the Letters of Petilian 3.18Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Petilian's added word ('in holiness') leaves Augustine's question unanswered.
Against the Letters of Petilian 3.21Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Despite all his noise, Petilian never answers the question.
Against the Letters of Petilian 3.22Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Augustine quotes the passage of Book 1 that Petilian set out to answer.
Against the Letters of Petilian 3.23Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Even with Petilian's two words restored ('in holiness', 'knowingly'), the question stands: from what source is one cleansed when the baptizer is secretly faithless?
Against the Letters of Petilian 3.25Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Augustine's 'what if' and 'perhaps' describe real cases, unlike 'what if the sky falls'; Petilian's parade of philosophers merely fills space.
Against the Letters of Petilian 3.26Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Even without 'what if' and 'perhaps,' the question stands; the two words Petilian says were omitted were simply missing from Augustine's copy.
Against the Letters of Petilian 3.27Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · The word 'knowingly' only sharpens the question of the source of cleansing and faith for one unknowingly baptized by a faithless minister.
Against the Letters of Petilian 3.28Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · The question is not about Augustine; and Petilian's word 'knowingly' would actually help anyone baptized unknowingly by a sinner.
Against the Letters of Petilian 3.31Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Petilian's insistence that Augustine could not be ignorant concedes that ignorance excuses; yet the question of the source of cleansing remains, and the Donatists rebaptize even those who could not have known anything.
Against the Letters of Petilian 3.32Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Petilian's only answer, that the candidate should examine the baptizer, removes the excuse of ignorance and makes hope depend on the man who baptizes.
Against the Letters of Petilian 3.33Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Making salvation depend on examining the baptizer puts hope in man; the faithful soul is subject to God, from whom alone is salvation.
Against the Letters of Petilian 3.34Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · John's case does not show that baptizers must be examined; his holiness was attested by God, and a hypocrite's self-description would deceive any such examination.
Against the Letters of Petilian 3.35Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Testing ministers is right, but cannot prevent hidden sinners; Petilian's 'examine the baptizer' leaves those baptized by later-exposed ministers without remedy unless they are rebaptized.
Against the Letters of Petilian 3.36Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Many ministers everywhere have been exposed after baptizing; Petilian cannot say from what source those they baptized were cleansed.
Against the Letters of Petilian 3.37Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · On Petilian's terms, those baptized by undetected Donatist sinners would receive neither faith nor guilt; yet Donatists count them faithful, so from what source did they receive faith?
Against the Letters of Petilian 3.38Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Petilian's scriptural proofs (the eunuch, 'deceitful water', 'the oil of the sinner') are misapplied and do not answer the question.
Against the Letters of Petilian 3.39Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Testing spirits guards against deception, not against the truth even when spoken by the wicked; Christ's baptism is his whoever ministers it.
Against the Letters of Petilian 3.40Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · The Donatist Cyprian of Thubursicubure, caught in a brothel, had baptized before exposure; those he baptized are not rebaptized, so their cleansing came from Christ, not him.
Against the Letters of Petilian 3.41Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Baptism is never 'a sinner's' baptism; and the same prophecies that foretold Judas foretold the worldwide church.
Against the Letters of Petilian 3.42Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Petilian evades the Maximianist question; Catholics, who glory in God not man, are secure whatever is proved against some of their members.
Against the Letters of Petilian 3.44Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Catholic discipline condemned Honorius of Milevis and Splendonius, whom Petilian rebaptized and ordained; the faithful are justified by God whoever baptizes them.
Against the Letters of Petilian 3.45Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · The Donatists' reception of the Maximianists, condemned by a council of 310 bishops, refutes their own principle that the guilt of some infects others.
Against the Letters of Petilian 3.46Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Baptism given in schism is Christ's and is not repeated; what reconciliation gives is that it begins to profit, as Catholic unity offers the Donatists.
Against the Letters of Petilian 3.47Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Petilian has never answered the central question.
Against the Letters of Petilian 3.48Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Augustine summarizes the rest of Petilian's letter: attacks on monasticism, on Augustine's statement that Christ baptizes, magicians' names, and the case of Optatus.
Against the Letters of Petilian 3.49Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Petilian's letter ends without answering the central question.
Against the Letters of Petilian 3.50Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Petilian could not answer 'God cleanses' without conceding that one baptized by a hidden sinner is better off than one baptized by a good man, which reduces his view to absurdity.
Against the Letters of Petilian 3.51Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Augustine quotes his earlier argument (1.6–1.7) that Christ, not the minister, is always the origin, root, and head of the baptized.
Against the Letters of Petilian 3.52Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Augustine quotes his earlier reductio (1.7–1.8): on Petilian's view a secretly faithless baptizer would be preferable.
Against the Letters of Petilian 3.53Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Augustine recalls his answer on the 'good tree' (1.9), to which Petilian made no reply.
Against the Letters of Petilian 3.54Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Petilian presented as Augustine's own view the absurd consequence Augustine had drawn from Petilian's premise.
Against the Letters of Petilian 3.55Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Like those who would accuse Paul of denying Christ's resurrection by quoting his reductio in 1 Cor 15, Petilian distorts Augustine's argument.
Against the Letters of Petilian 3.56Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · A conditional argument from an opponent's premise is the opponent's responsibility, as with Paul's argument in 1 Cor 15; restored to its premises, Augustine's argument condemns the Donatist view.
Against the Letters of Petilian 3.57Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · To escape the absurd consequence, the Donatists must stop placing the hope of the baptized in the baptizer.
Against the Letters of Petilian 3.58Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · If God or an angel cleanses when the minister is secretly bad, those so baptized are better off; the only escape is to deny that the minister cleanses at all.
Against the Letters of Petilian 3.59Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Hope belongs in God who justifies; Christ baptizes not by bodily ministry but by invisible grace, cleansing the whole church through the washing of water in the word.
Against the Letters of Petilian 3.61Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Augustine recalls how he answered the texts Petilian had cited in the first part of his letter.
Against the Letters of Petilian 3.62Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Augustine lists the scriptural testimonies he gave for the church, which Petilian never addressed.
Against the Letters of Petilian 3.63Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · The Corinthians too were baptized in Christ's name yet made schism over Paul's name; so Paul's rebuke fits the Donatists exactly.
Against the Letters of Petilian 3.64Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Petilian's opening made the baptizer the origin, root, and head, yet later he concedes that Christ is origin, head, and root; so the truth has won.
Against the Letters of Petilian 3.65Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · By Petilian's own exposition of 1 Cor 3:6–7, neither catechist nor baptizer is anything, but God; yet he will not say this of Donatist bishops.
Against the Letters of Petilian 3.66Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · A minister is something for dispensing word and sacrament, but nothing for cleansing and justifying, which God alone does.
Against the Letters of Petilian 3.67Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · A bad minister is still a steward, like Judas among the apostles; Paul begot the Corinthians through the gospel, not by baptizing them, and the Lord's money is not spoiled by a bad steward.
Against the Letters of Petilian 3.68Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Baptism and righteousness are both needed for the kingdom; Paul called the gospel 'mine' but never baptism, which is Christ's alone, so it can be received from a bad minister without harm.
Opusculum 2.22Mark the Hermit · early to mid fifth century · The baptized do good works to keep their purity, not for reward.
Opusculum 2.55Mark the Hermit · early to mid fifth century · Grace given in baptism works secretly through conscience, teaching, and reading, in proportion to obedience.
Opusculum 2.85Mark the Hermit · early to mid fifth century · Baptism gives all grace mystically; obedience makes it known.
Opusculum 2.110Mark the Hermit · early to mid fifth century · The Spirit is unchanging and given fully in baptism; we are enlightened as we remove the passions.
Opusculum 3.0Mark the Hermit · early to mid fifth century · The end of the title of the treatise On Repentance, speaking of the power received in baptism.
Opusculum 3.7Mark the Hermit · early to mid fifth century · Repentance, woven of three commandments, befits all to the end; Hebrews 6 forbids rebaptism, not repentance, against the Novatianists.
Opusculum 3.8Mark the Hermit · early to mid fifth century · Hebrews warns the deniers of post-baptismal repentance; even the spiritual can fall through small unrepented sins.
Opusculum 3.12Mark the Hermit · early to mid fifth century · Repentance is owed like breathing; refusing it is conceit, while Abraham, Job, and the three youths repented though righteous.
Opusculum 4.0Mark the Hermit · early to mid fifth century · Baptism is perfect and frees from Adam's sin; sin after baptism comes from neglect of the commandments, which reveal the grace hidden in the baptized.
Opusculum 4.1Mark the Hermit · early to mid fifth century · The heavenly Jerusalem's firstfruits are in the heart; the Spirit is given wholly in baptism but works in proportion to obedience; sin is from the will, not Adam.
Opusculum 4.2Mark the Hermit · early to mid fifth century · Mark distinguishes Satan, Adam's sin, provocation, and our thoughts; provocation is compulsory, but consent is chosen, and death, not guilt, was inherited from Adam.
Opusculum 4.3Mark the Hermit · early to mid fifth century · The promise of vengeance is for those warred on by prepossessions, not for the self-indulgent who blame others.
Opusculum 4.4Mark the Hermit · early to mid fifth century · God's delay exposes love of evil thoughts; only Adam's death was inherited, and Christ's perfect grace in baptism is revealed by keeping the commandments.
Opusculum 8.1Mark the Hermit · early to mid fifth century · The mind tells the soul that we blame others for sins that come from our own will.
Opusculum 8.3Mark the Hermit · early to mid fifth century · Love of pleasure can grow without wealth; judging others repeats Adam's eating of the tree of knowing good and evil.
Opusculum 8.4Mark the Hermit · early to mid fifth century · The spiritual law judges hidden things; forgiving those who wrong us is the greatest virtue and reveals baptismal grace.
Opusculum 8.5Mark the Hermit · early to mid fifth century · The war against vainglory and pleasure is within, with Christ hidden in baptism as our ally.
Commentary on Daniel 9, scholion 25Polychronius of Apamea · ca. 400-430 · Polychronius applies the wiping away of iniquities to baptism.
Commentary on Daniel 12, scholion 18Polychronius of Apamea · ca. 400-430 · Polychronius applies Dan 12:10 to the apostles, the baptized, and the faithful at Christ's coming.
Poem, lines 481–510Prudentius · ca. 400-405 · A baptized guardsman, signed with the cross, confesses Christ; the emperor flees and his soldiers call on Jesus; Judea is told to see in Christ the God who has conquered Rome, and that the destruction of Solomon’s handmade temple was deserved.
Poem, lines 691–720Prudentius · ca. 400-405 · The blind man, healed by clay and the washing (a figure of baptism), proclaims Christ, the author of light; Christ fed thousands in the desert with five loaves and two fishes, which only the creator who made the world from nothing could do.
Poem, lines 871–900Prudentius · ca. 400-405 · The soul is limited and located, can fall into sin and be punished, and needs grace and baptism to be justified; therefore it is not God or part of God; even angels, being made and not begotten, can sin; only God, Father and Son, is sinless and impassible.
Poem, lines 901–930Prudentius · ca. 400-405 · The soul was created pure but, joined to flesh, fell in Adam, and Adam’s sin stains all his descendants from birth; yet souls are not passed on from parents like blood; each new soul still carries the ancient guilt until baptism washes it and gives new birth; soul and body share guilt and punishment.
Hymn 2, lines 33–64Prudentius · ca. 400-405 · While others begin the day’s trades, Christians begin it in prayer to Christ, asking him to keep them as pure as at their baptism.
Hymn 6, lines 97–128Prudentius · ca. 400-405 · Christ, given the Father’s judgment seat and the name above every name, will destroy the Antichrist, the beast John saw; ordinary sinners should be content with peaceful sleep and remember their baptism and anointing.
Hymn 7, lines 65–96Prudentius · ca. 400-405 · John the Baptist lived on locusts and wild honey, preached the new salvation and baptized, the Spirit descending on the baptized; the poet then turns to Nineveh, which God was about to destroy for its pride and luxury.
Hymn 9, lines 65–111Prudentius · ca. 400-405 · Christ heals all sickness, descends to Tartarus and breaks its gates, darkens the sun at his death; from his side flow blood and water, the serpent is crushed, the saints rise with him, and he ascends to the Father’s right hand as judge, praised by all people and all creation.
Quatrain 30: Christus baptizaturPrudentius · ca. 400–410 · John the Baptist, clothed in camel’s hair and fed on locusts, baptizes Christ, and the Spirit declares him the one who forgives sins.
Quatrain 42: Passio SalvatorisPrudentius · ca. 400–410 · From Christ’s pierced side flow blood, his victory, and water, baptism; of the two thieves one denies him, the other is crowned.
Hymn 2, lines 353–384Prudentius · ca. 400-405 · As Lawrence is stripped and bound, his face shines like Moses’ coming down from Sinai and Stephen’s at his stoning; the newly baptized see the light, but the blind impious do not, as in the plague of darkness on Egypt.
Hymn 6, lines 1–32Prudentius · ca. 400-405 · Bishop Fructuosus of Tarragona and his deacons Augurius and Eulogius are arrested; he encourages them on the way to prison, where they baptize, and after six days they are brought before the governor.
Hymn 8, lines 1–18Prudentius · ca. 400-405 · Inscription for a baptistery built on the site of a double martyrdom: where martyrs once went to heaven by blood, the baptized now go by water, both through the wounds of Christ from which blood and water flowed.
Hymn 10, lines 385–416Prudentius · ca. 400-405 · Asclepiades defends the ancient religion of Rome against the new Christian doctrine and demands that Romanus pray to the gods for the emperor or die; Romanus will pray only that the emperor’s soldiers be baptized and receive the Spirit.
Hymn 12, lines 33–70Prudentius · ca. 400-405 · The friend describes the baptistery at St Peter’s and the splendid basilica of St Paul on the Ostian Way built by the emperor; on the feast the people and the bishop go to both shrines in one day.
Hymn 13, lines 33–64Prudentius · ca. 400-405 · Under Valerian and Gallienus, Cyprian encourages his people to martyrdom; imprisoned in a dark cave, he prays to God, who washed away his former sins, to let him die for Christ.
Poem, lines 91–120Prudentius · ca. 400-405 · Chastity washes her sword in the Jordan and consecrates it at the altar of the baptismal font; Anger attacks Patience, who stands calm and untouched amid the battle.
Poem, lines 331–360Prudentius · ca. 400-405 · The Virtues begin to desert to Luxury, until Sobriety plants the standard of the Cross and rebukes them for exchanging the anointing and the tunic of baptism for garlands, perfumes and silks.
Exposition of the Right Faith 5Anonymous · early 5th century (probably Theodoret) · From the baptismal command and Paul's letters the author shows that the Son and the Spirit are ranked with the Father in the divine nature and dwell together in the faithful.
Questions and Answers to the Orthodox 1–3Anonymous · 5th century (disputed) · Three questions: why the orthodox are few if God abolished the old worship (the answer cites the few chosen and the narrow way); how prophets differ from pagan oracles (God foretold through both, but only the prophets' words about the true God came true); and what advantage the baptized Christian has if those who know God's will are punished more.
Questions and Answers to the Orthodox 14Anonymous · 5th century (disputed) · Heretics who join the orthodox are not rebaptized or reordained: their error is corrected by change of belief, their baptism completed by anointing with chrism, and their ordination by the laying on of hands.
Questions and Answers to the Orthodox 37Anonymous · 5th century (disputed) · John's baptism, a prelude to the Gospel, was above the law, since the law could not give pardon through repentance and faith in Christ.
Questions and Answers to the Orthodox 56Anonymous · 5th century (disputed) · Infants who die baptized receive the goods of baptism through the faith of those who brought them; unbaptized infants do not.
Questions and Answers to the Orthodox 97Anonymous · 5th century (disputed) · The law's repeated washings and sacrifices only cleansed ritual faults and punished real crimes without mercy, while grace offers sinners repentance as a physician for every sin, so grace is the more loving.
Questions and Answers to the Orthodox 102Anonymous · 5th century (disputed) · Circumcision was given to Abraham as a seal of his faith that his aged body would beget a son, and passed to his descendants as a memorial; Christians receive instead the circumcision of Christ in baptism, putting off Adam and putting on Christ.
Questions and Answers to the Orthodox 136–138Anonymous · 5th century (disputed) · Three questions: Christ did not slight his mother, whom he honored and obeyed, but blessed her for hearing and keeping God's word; the baptismal anointings follow the right order, since Mary's anointing of Jesus anticipated his burial; and God justly struck the people for Saul's and David's faults, since a kingdom is one body and the people's suffering punishes the king.
Literal Commentary on Genesis 4.13Augustine of Hippo · ca. 401–415 · The Sabbath, kept carnally by the Jews, is removed in the time of grace; the believer keeps a perpetual Sabbath, resting from former works through baptism.
Literal Commentary on Genesis 10.11Augustine of Hippo · ca. 401–415 · Traducianists argue from Rom 5:12–19 and from the church's practice of baptizing infants that the soul too must come from Adam, otherwise an infant's soul would be innocent and need no grace.
Literal Commentary on Genesis 10.13Augustine of Hippo · ca. 401–415 · This view avoids both absurdity and Manichaeism; the question concerns infants, not older children, who sin in many ways, nor the sins of parents, which do not harm children.
Literal Commentary on Genesis 10.14Augustine of Hippo · ca. 401–415 · Those who hold that God gives new souls answer that souls joined to the flesh of sin are weighed down and need grace; infants need the sacrament of baptism, by which the penalty of original sin is loosed.
Literal Commentary on Genesis 10.15Augustine of Hippo · ca. 401–415 · If an infant dies unbaptized, those who hold that new souls are given seem unable to explain its loss; Augustine suggests they might appeal to God's foreknowledge, but finds the cause hidden and decisive for neither side.
Literal Commentary on Genesis 10.16Augustine of Hippo · ca. 401–415 · The creationist answer that God provides baptism for infants whose future piety he foresees would make salvation depend on unlived lives; the traducianists' appeal to Rom 5 and infant baptism stands unless refuted by clear reason or Scripture.
Literal Commentary on Genesis 10.22Augustine of Hippo · ca. 401–415 · John 3:6 is claimed by those who hold souls come from above, but traducianists read it their way, and in any case it concerns spiritual rebirth.
Literal Commentary on Genesis 10.23Augustine of Hippo · ca. 401–415 · The arguments are nearly balanced except that infant baptism weighs in favor of the transmission of souls; the church's custom of baptizing infants is an apostolic tradition not to be despised.
On Holy Virginity 48Augustine of Hippo · 401 · Since all the baptized, virgins included, must pray 'Forgive us our debts', no one should boast of being free from sin.
Canon 57 (Bruns)Anonymous · 401–424 (collection of 419) · Those baptized as children among the Donatists who later join the catholic church by the laying on of hands may be ordained clergy.
Canon 69 (Bruns)Anonymous · 401–424 (collection of 419) · Envoys are to show the Donatists from public records that they themselves readmitted Maximianists, and so cannot condemn the catholic church for communion with those they accused.
Canon 72 (Bruns)Anonymous · 401–424 (collection of 419) · On baptizing infants when it is doubtful whether they were baptized; the edition prints only a cross-reference to the Breviary of Hippo.
Canon 110 (Bruns)Anonymous · 401–424 (collection of 419) · Anathema on whoever denies infant baptism or denies that infants are baptized for the remission of an original sin inherited from Adam.
Letter 2, chapter 2Innocent I, bishop of Rome · 401–417 · A man who served as a soldier after baptism may not become a cleric.
Letter 2 to Victricius of Rouen, chapter 5Innocent I, bishop of Rome · 401–417 · A man who married a widow or divorced woman, even as a layman and before baptism, cannot be ordained, because baptism forgives sins but does not dissolve a marriage.
Letter 2 to Victricius of Rouen, chapter 6Innocent I, bishop of Rome · 401–417 · A man married twice, even if the first marriage was before baptism, cannot be ordained, because marriage is not a sin that baptism washes away.
Letter 2, chapter 8Innocent I, bishop of Rome · 401–417 · Converts baptized by Novatianists or Montenses are received by laying on of hands, but catholics who were rebaptized by them must do long penance.
Letter 2, chapter 10Innocent I, bishop of Rome · 401–417 · Monks who become clerics keep their former commitment, and a monk who lost his virginity before baptism may not marry after ordination.
Letter 3 to the bishops of Spain, chapter 6Innocent I, bishop of Rome · 401–417 · Innocent sets out who may not be ordained (soldiers, advocates, officials, curials after baptism) and who may, excluding men married to a non-virgin or twice married, since a marriage before baptism still counts.
Letter 17 to the bishops of Macedonia, chapter 2Innocent I, bishop of Rome · 401–417 · Innocent refutes the view that a marriage contracted before baptism does not count toward digamy, since marriage is not a sin that baptism forgives, and the sons of such a marriage are legitimate.
Letter 17 to the bishops of Macedonia, chapter 4Innocent I, bishop of Rome · 401–417 · Innocent rejects the claim that a lawful ordination cleanses an invalid one: converts baptized among heretics receive only lay communion, and lapsed Catholics only penance.
Letter 17, chapter 5Innocent I, bishop of Rome · 401–417 · Innocent argues that receiving Bonosus’s clergy in their orders was a temporary concession, that the Nicene canon on the Novatianists applies to them alone, and that those who went over to Bonosus after his condemnation cannot be clerics.
Letter 24, chapter 2Innocent I, bishop of Rome · 401–417 · Church provinces are not to follow imperial divisions; Cyprus must keep the Nicene canons on ordination; Arian clergy are received only as laymen, since heretics cannot give the Spirit in ordination.
Letter 25, chapter 3Innocent I, bishop of Rome · 401–417 · Only bishops may sign the forehead of the baptized with chrism to give the Holy Spirit; presbyters may anoint with chrism the bishop has consecrated.
Letter 25, chapter 6Innocent I, bishop of Rome · 401–417 · Presbyters and other clerics may lay hands on baptized demoniacs only with the bishop’s authorization.
Letter 29, chapter 6Innocent I, bishop of Rome · 401–417 · Adam, using free will heedlessly, fell beyond self-recovery; Christ restores through baptism and gives daily grace, without which we are again overcome.
Letter 30, chapter 3Innocent I, bishop of Rome · 401–417 · Denying God’s help abolishes prayer; Adam fell by trusting his liberty, and David prays for God’s help in the Psalms.
Letter 30, chapter 5Innocent I, bishop of Rome · 401–417 · Innocent rejects the Pelagian claim that unbaptized infants can have eternal life, citing John 6 and Christ’s call to the children.
Letter 43Innocent I, bishop of Rome · 401–417 · A confession of faith ascribed to Innocent: the divine Word formed his own body in Mary’s womb and his divinity was never separated from his humanity, from conception to the cross and the ascension.
Apology against Rufinus 1.29Jerome · ca. 401–402 · Jerome explains that his words about wives becoming men meant beginning now the chastity of the angelic life, not abolishing the sexes or bodies in the resurrection.
Apology against Rufinus 1.31Jerome · ca. 401–402 · Jerome replies that a dream cannot bind like a waking oath, retorts with the vows of baptism and monastic life, and warns Rufinus with the Psalms.
Apology against Rufinus 1.32Jerome · ca. 401–402 · Jerome defends his teaching that baptism washes away all sins, so that a man married twice before baptism may become a cleric, and denies seeking office or wealth.
Apology against Jerome 1.4Rufinus of Aquileia · ca. 401 · Rufinus recalls his baptism at Aquileia about thirty years earlier and sets out his faith in the Trinity, the incarnation, and the resurrection of this same flesh.
Apology against Jerome 1.5Rufinus of Aquileia · ca. 401 · Rufinus appeals to the Creed of Aquileia, which confesses "the resurrection of this flesh," and complains that his accuser still demands every limb be named.
Book 1, lines 541–570Prudentius · ca. 402-403 · The senators lay aside their pagan priesthoods and come to baptism; the great families, the Anicii, Olybrii, Paulini, Bassi and Gracchi, have turned to Christ, so that the Senate and people of Rome are now Christian.
Book 1, lines 571–600Prudentius · ca. 402-403 · Only a few senators cling to paganism; the common people throng to Peter’s tomb on the Vatican and to the Lateran for baptism, so Rome is Christ’s; the pagan minority, however distinguished, does not speak for the city or the senate.
Commentary on the Apostles' Creed 3Rufinus of Aquileia · ca. 404 · Rufinus notes the Roman and Aquileian forms of the Creed and explains why it begins with 'I believe'.
Commentary on the Apostles' Creed 23Rufinus of Aquileia · ca. 404 · The water and blood from Christ's side signify cleansing and condemnation, the two baptisms of water and martyrdom, and the new Eve from the second Adam's side.
Dialogues 2.4Sulpicius Severus · ca. 404–406 · As bishop Martin raised a dead boy in a pagan village near Chartres, and the whole crowd became catechumens on the spot.
Letter to the Catholics on the Sect of the Donatists (On the Unity of the Church) 9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405 · Figurative readings, like a Donatist bishop's claim that the ark's pitch inside and out shows baptism cannot leave or enter the church, can be countered by other readings and so cannot settle the question.
Letter to the Catholics on the Sect of the Donatists (On the Unity of the Church) 29Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405 · Acts narrates the ascension, the gathering in Jerusalem, Pentecost with its speaking in all tongues, and the baptism of three thousand: the church's beginning from Jerusalem toward all nations.
Letter to the Catholics on the Sect of the Donatists (On the Unity of the Church) 40Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405 · The Donatists' only proof text, the bride's question where the bridegroom lies 'at noon' (the south, Africa), is a question, not an answer; it fits overseas Catholics in Africa asking where they may avoid rebaptizers.
Letter to the Catholics on the Sect of the Donatists (On the Unity of the Church) 44Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405 · If the Donatists claim the apostolic churches perished and must be rebaptized from Africa, let them show it from Scripture and send new apostles to do it.
Letter to the Catholics on the Sect of the Donatists (On the Unity of the Church) 46Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405 · Records prove that the first Donatists were traditors, bought Caecilian's condemnation, and lost every appeal; and the Donatists themselves condemned and then reinstated Maximianist bishops, accepting their baptism while rebaptizing the apostolic churches.
Letter to the Catholics on the Sect of the Donatists (On the Unity of the Church) 55Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405 · If the Donatists are the true church, they suffer as martyrs; if not, the emperors' mild penalties are loving correction; Catholics invoke the laws only to protect themselves from violence, and both sides should disown violent members and unite.
Letter to the Catholics on the Sect of the Donatists (On the Unity of the Church) 57Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405 · Converts from Donatism are received as Scripture's church receives them: the sacraments are the same in good and bad, saving the one and condemning the other.
Letter to the Catholics on the Sect of the Donatists (On the Unity of the Church) 58Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405 · Baptism belongs to Christ, not to its minister: Judas and Peter gave the same baptism, while John's differed from Paul's; and good and bad recipients receive the same sacrament.
Letter to the Catholics on the Sect of the Donatists (On the Unity of the Church) 59Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405 · If the minister's holiness determined baptism's worth, those baptized by Christ's disciples would have been wronged; Christ is the one who baptizes, as John the Baptist and Paul show.
Letter to the Catholics on the Sect of the Donatists (On the Unity of the Church) 60Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405 · Good and wicked share baptism, but only the good who hear and do Christ's words are the church built on the rock; baptism does not profit the wicked, yet it is not to be injured in them.
Letter to the Catholics on the Sect of the Donatists (On the Unity of the Church) 61Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405 · Paul lists heresies among the works of the flesh alongside drunkenness and envy; the Donatists do not rebaptize those baptized by drunkards or the envious, so they should not rebaptize those baptized by heretics.
Letter to the Catholics on the Sect of the Donatists (On the Unity of the Church) 62Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405 · A heretic entering the church keeps the baptism he has but receives the bond of peace and charity he lacked; both baptism and righteousness are needed for the kingdom.
Letter to the Catholics on the Sect of the Donatists (On the Unity of the Church) 63Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405 · Scripture has no direct case of receiving converts from heresy, so the practice of the church to which Christ bears witness, spread from Jerusalem through all nations, must decide.
Letter to the Catholics on the Sect of the Donatists (On the Unity of the Church) 64Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405 · Jeremiah's 'lying water' refers figuratively to the men who grieved him, not to the baptism given by heretics.
Letter to the Catholics on the Sect of the Donatists (On the Unity of the Church) 65Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405 · 'Abstain from foreign water' refers not to heretical baptism, which is Christ's, but to the teaching of evil spirits; 'water' in Scripture does not always mean baptism, as John 7 shows.
Letter to the Catholics on the Sect of the Donatists (On the Unity of the Church) 66Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405 · Proverbs' command to drink from one's own fountain refers not to baptism, which strangers may have, but to the love of God poured out by the Holy Spirit, which belongs only to the saints.
Letter to the Catholics on the Sect of the Donatists (On the Unity of the Church) 67Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405 · The 'foreign spring' and 'your own fountain' figuratively mean testing the spirits and the love poured out by the Spirit; strangers may have baptism and other gifts, but only those in unity have charity.
Letter to the Catholics on the Sect of the Donatists (On the Unity of the Church) 68Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405 · The water from Christ's side, if it means baptism, came out of his body through a persecutor's wound, which rather shows baptism can be found outside the church.
Letter to the Catholics on the Sect of the Donatists (On the Unity of the Church) 69Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405 · No Scripture says those baptized in the Trinity among heretics must be rebaptized, nor names the Donatist party; figurative texts about 'noon' could equally be claimed by a northern or western sect.
Letter to the Catholics on the Sect of the Donatists (On the Unity of the Church) 70Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405 · Converts are received as the church foretold in Scripture receives them, the church that began in Jerusalem and is spreading to all nations until the end, the pillar of truth, with grain and refuse mixed; Scripture nowhere names Africa or Donatus.
Against Cresconius 1.26Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine sets out Cresconius's argument that, since Catholics admit Donatist baptism is real, one should be baptized among the Donatists.
Against Cresconius 1.27Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine answers that baptism exists among the Donatists but does not profit there, just as robbers have gold without its being good to join them.
Against Cresconius 1.28Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine gives examples of good things that help some and harm others, as baptism does.
Against Cresconius 1.29Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine argues from 1 Tim 1:8 that even good things belonging to God's law harm those who misuse them.
Against Cresconius 1.31Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine concludes that baptism, though holy, harms heretics who have it outside the church, as the good law did not make the Jews good.
Against Cresconius 1.32Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine refutes the premise that all who have a good baptism are good, using the Corinthian factions as proof.
Against Cresconius 1.33Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine argues from Eph 4:5 that one baptism can exist outside the one church, just as the one God is worshiped and the one faith confessed outside it.
Against Cresconius 1.34Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine argues from Acts 17, James 2, and 1 Cor 13 that God, faith, and baptism can exist outside the church, but are fruitful only within it.
Against Cresconius 1.35Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine explains the Catholic practice: correct what schismatics corrupted, but recognize what they kept intact, like the king's mark or the owner's brand.
Against Cresconius 1.36Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine argues from circumcision, the figure of baptism, which was not repeated when Samaritans or Nazarenes came over, that baptism should not be repeated either.
Against Cresconius 1.37Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine says neither side can cite Scripture for or against rebaptizing those who come from heretics, and Paul's baptizing John's disciples is a different case.
Against Cresconius 1.38Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine says the whole church settled the baptism question after a time of differing views, and Cyprian's council does not bind, just as Peter's error was corrected by Paul.
Against Cresconius 1.39Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine says that where Scripture gives no example, one should consult the church that Scripture plainly commends, spread through all nations.
Against Cresconius 1.40Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine summarizes Book 1 and says that what is given only in the church is the “sealed fountain,” not visible baptism, which the good and the wicked both receive.
Against Cresconius 2.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine sums up Book 1: the Donatist bishops' refusal to debate is unjustified, and baptism held by them is real but harmful to them.
Against Cresconius 2.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine turns Cresconius's own words (one religion, the same sacraments) against the Donatist practice of rebaptizing.
Against Cresconius 2.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine argues that by Cresconius's own definition the Donatists are heretics, since rebaptizing means following something different.
Against Cresconius 2.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine imagines confronting Donatists in the act of rebaptizing a Catholic with Cresconius's own admission of one religion and the same sacraments.
Against Cresconius 2.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine says the only real difference between the parties is the Donatist repetition of sacraments both admit are the same.
Against Cresconius 2.9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine prefers defining heresy as an inveterate schism, but shows that by Cresconius's own definition the Donatists are heretics.
Against Cresconius 2.10Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine defends calling the Donatists' error heretical and sacrilegious, and denies that converts are received unchanged.
Against Cresconius 2.12Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine answers that Donatist bishops were received as bishops because the sacraments they hold belong to the church, not to the schism.
Against Cresconius 2.14Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine distinguishes church offices, received as useful, from the Donatists' errors, which are corrected, while their sacraments are recognized.
Against Cresconius 2.15Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine denies that heresy is inexpiable and says converts are cleansed not by a second baptism but by the word, repentance, alms, and above all love given by the Spirit.
Against Cresconius 2.16Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine identifies what is given only in the church as the Holy Spirit's gift of love, which makes baptism, received outside, profitable.
Against Cresconius 2.17Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine argues that the “fountain” proper to the church is the Holy Spirit, given at Pentecost with the sign of tongues signifying unity among all nations.
Against Cresconius 2.18Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine shows that the “sealed fountain” cannot mean visible baptism, which Simon Magus and greedy bishops received, but the Spirit's gift of love found only in unity.
Against Cresconius 2.19Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine explains that Donatists coming to unity receive the Spirit and love, and that those who lapsed from the Catholic church are received more strictly than those coming for the first time.
Against Cresconius 2.20Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine concludes that the Donatists are heretics but can be healed by the Holy Spirit when they return to unity, keeping the sacraments they have.
Against Cresconius 2.21Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine examines Petilian's claim that the giver's holy conscience washes the recipient, and Cresconius's reply that the giver's public reputation suffices.
Against Cresconius 2.22Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine shows that Cresconius's appeal to the giver's reputation means that falsehood, a bad man's false good name, washes the recipient.
Against Cresconius 2.23Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine says the Donatist position makes falsehood the mother of truth, attributing to men what belongs to God.
Against Cresconius 2.24Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine answers that Judas, who baptized as an apostle while a thief, shows that God and Christ, not the minister's conscience or reputation, give baptism its effect.
Against Cresconius 2.25Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine argues that the only coherent answer is the Catholic one: Christ cleanses recipients whether the minister is good or bad.
Against Cresconius 2.26Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine answers that those condemned by the church baptize as hidden sinners condemned by Christ do: the visible rite is theirs, the inner cleansing is Christ's.
Against Cresconius 2.28Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine shows that the Donatist proof texts on “the oil of a sinner” and “deceitful water” tell against them, since they too have hidden sinners who baptize.
Against Cresconius 2.29Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine shows that the oil of the sinner in Ps 141:5 refers to flattery, not baptism, and that Cresconius's reading would require rebaptizing those baptized by hidden sinners.
Against Cresconius 2.30Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine explains that by “the dead” in Sir 34:25 he meant the dead gods of pagan rites, whereas Christ, who baptizes through every minister, lives.
Against Cresconius 2.31Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine presses that if every sinner is “dead” and cannot baptize, the Donatists must rebaptize those baptized by hidden sinners, while they rebaptize distant Christians who never heard of the African dispute.
Against Cresconius 2.32Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine argues that, on Cresconius's principle, those baptized by a hidden sinner must be rebaptized once he is exposed, which the Donatists do not do.
Against Cresconius 2.33Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine quotes Cresconius's claim that no sinner may baptize and shows it excludes hidden sinners too, and indeed everyone, since all have sin.
Against Cresconius 2.34Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine adds that even if “the dead” meant heretics, Catholics agree that baptism received among them profits nothing until the recipient joins the church.
Against Cresconius 2.35Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine shows from the Lord's Prayer and 1 John 1:8 that every minister is a sinner, so Cresconius's rule would leave no one able to baptize.
Against Cresconius 2.36Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine grants that a notorious sinner should not baptize but holds that if he does, the baptism is given and harms only the unworthy.
Against Cresconius 2.37Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine argues from Ps 50 and Matt 23 that a wicked preacher harms only himself while his hearers profit, and so with a wicked baptizer.
Against Cresconius 2.38Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine answers that Catholics do not claim baptism is permitted to anyone, but that a holy thing misused is not cancelled, and hope must rest in God, not in the minister.
Against Cresconius 2.39Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine distinguishes Cyprian's writings from canonical Scripture and notes that Cyprian, while differing on rebaptism, never left the unity of the church.
Against Cresconius 2.40Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine declines to be bound by Cyprian's letter to Jubaianus, since only canonical Scripture binds, and challenges the Donatists to produce Cyprian's scriptural proofs.
Against Cresconius 2.41Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine cites Cyprian's admission that those formerly received from heresy without rebaptism were not cut off from the church's gifts, which was the church's older custom.
Against Cresconius 2.42Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine quotes Cyprian's On the Unity of the Church on the one church spread through the world, and applies the image of the cut-off stream to the loss of the Spirit, not of baptism.
Against Cresconius 2.44Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine argues that either way, the church survived Cyprian's era, so the wicked do not defile the good, and the Donatists had no reason to leave.
Against Cresconius 3.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine argues that Cyprian kept communion with bishops who disagreed on rebaptism, so the Donatists' separation contradicts Cyprian himself.
Against Cresconius 3.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine says the few Eastern bishops corrected their view, and either way the Donatists are guilty of leaving the church's peace.
Against Cresconius 3.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine denies erasing the difference between faithful and faithless ministers: they differ in life, though both can administer the same sacrament.
Against Cresconius 3.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine answers the charge that the unclean cannot cleanse: Christ, who is pure, cleanses through every minister, while the Donatist appeal to reputation makes falsehood sanctify.
Against Cresconius 3.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine says a good minister is better as an example, but the baptism he gives is not better, as Paul's baptism was not better than Apollos's.
Against Cresconius 3.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine shows that Petilian made the minister the origin and head of the baptized, which contradicts Cresconius's own claim that Christ is the origin.
Against Cresconius 3.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine answers that growth comes from God whatever the farmer's motives, and Ezekiel shows that God himself feeds his flock even through bad shepherds.
Against Cresconius 3.9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine argues that Christ, the one shepherd, feeds through all ministers, and that relying on a minister's reputation is worse than trusting in man.
Against Cresconius 3.10Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine dismisses Cresconius's appeals to John's baptism and to Moses' “baptism” in the Red Sea as irrelevant.
Against Cresconius 3.11Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine repeats that the Donatist division arose from placing hope in a minister's righteousness, which Paul rebuked at Corinth.
Against Cresconius 3.12Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine says faith and justification come from God, not from the minister, who cannot say “believe in me.”
Against Cresconius 3.13Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine argues that if the minister were the origin and head of the baptized, being baptized by a hidden sinner, through whom Christ alone acts, would be better.
Against Cresconius 3.14Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine shows that Petilian's appeal to the good tree makes the minister the source of the baptized, which fails whenever the minister is secretly evil.
Against Cresconius 3.15Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine turns to Optatus of Thamugadi and the Maximianists, noting that those baptized by Optatus were cleansed neither by his conscience nor his reputation.
Against Cresconius 3.16Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine applies Cresconius's neutrality about Optatus to Caecilian, and points to the Donatists' own reception of the condemned Maximianists Felicianus and Praetextatus.
Against Cresconius 3.18Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine quotes Cresconius's account: the council of Bagai gave Maximian's followers a period of grace, and those who returned within it kept their baptism.
Against Cresconius 3.19Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine shows from Cresconius's own words that the Maximianists were outside the church until they returned, yet their baptisms given meanwhile were accepted.
Against Cresconius 3.21Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine argues that the Donatists' acceptance of baptisms given by the Maximianists outside their communion proves the Catholic teaching, and asks how the returning Maximianists were expiated.
Against Cresconius 3.26Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine asks how the condemned Maximianist bishops could baptize validly and be received in their honors with those they baptized, on Donatist principles.
Against Cresconius 3.27Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine concludes that the Donatists' own reception of the Maximianists, with their baptisms, concedes the Catholic teaching that baptism given outside is valid.
Against Cresconius 3.36Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine argues that Christians who never knew of any traitors cannot be guilty by contact, so rebaptizing them judges hidden things and contradicts Deut 29:29.
Against Cresconius 3.41Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine rejects the claim that a traitor “created” Catholics: Christ, not any minister, is the origin and head of the baptized.
Against Cresconius 3.43Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine replies that sins corrected in life are blotted out, so the Donatists cannot impute long-dead men's sins to those who never knew of them.
Against Cresconius 3.44Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine compares Caecilian, acquitted at Rome after condemnation in absence, with the Donatists' own Primian, and says Catholics may at least doubt the charges.
Against Cresconius 3.63Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine says the Donatists rightly accepted the Maximianists' baptisms given outside their communion, which is exactly the Catholic position.
Against Cresconius 3.64Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine shows that the Donatists themselves received condemned schismatics with their baptisms and used the courts against them, undermining every charge they make against the Catholics.
Against Cresconius 3.66Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine notes that Donatist pressure, including Optatus's threats, brought Felicianus and Praetextatus back, and that they were received with their rank and their baptized without rebaptism.
Against Cresconius 3.69Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine urges the Donatists, who received back their own condemned and corrected them by pressure, to accept the same remedy and return to the Catholic church.
Against Cresconius 3.88Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine turns Cresconius's grammatical rule against him: if baptism by a good minister is “better,” baptism by a bad one is still done “well” and should not be repeated.
Against Cresconius 3.94Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine closes Book 3: the Maximianist case refutes every Donatist charge, and Cresconius should answer it or be silent.
Against Cresconius 4.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine opens Book 4, which will answer all of Cresconius's points from the single case of the Maximianists, God's provision for refuting the Donatists.
Against Cresconius 4.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine says the question where to be baptized is settled for the Donatists by their reception of Felicianus and Praetextatus without rebaptizing those they baptized in schism.
Against Cresconius 4.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine argues that the Donatists' reception of Maximianist baptisms concedes that baptism exists outside the church but profits only when unity and the Spirit's love are received.
Against Cresconius 4.12Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine shows from the council of Bagai that the Donatists called the Maximianist schism sacrilege, yet received its leaders without expiation or rebaptism.
Against Cresconius 4.13Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine concludes that by receiving the Maximianist bishops and their baptized through love alone, the Donatists have themselves settled the dispute in the Catholic favor.
Against Cresconius 4.14Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine repeats that Cresconius's appeal to reputation makes a lying report cleanse and a true one defile.
Against Cresconius 4.15Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine shows that Felicianus, baptizing with neither a good conscience nor a good reputation, had his baptisms accepted by the Donatists because they were given in the Trinity's name.
Against Cresconius 4.16Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine sums up: Felicianus's accepted baptisms refute every Donatist criterion, and show that grace is God's and only the recipient's life needs correction.
Against Cresconius 4.17Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine notes that the Maximianists' condemned consciences could give baptism, and the Donatists, who persecuted them, still baptize.
Against Cresconius 4.18Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine turns the Donatist proof texts about the sinner's oil and the dead baptizer against them, since their council called the Maximianists sinners and unburied corpses.
Against Cresconius 4.19Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine says baptism does not vary with the minister's merit, as the Donatists conceded by accepting the Maximianists' baptisms.
Against Cresconius 4.20Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine says the Donatists, by accepting Maximianist baptisms, abandoned Cyprian's view on rebaptism, just as they blamed the Easterners for doing.
Against Cresconius 4.21Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine answers Cresconius's rhetorical outburst: faithful and faithless ministers differ in merit, not in the sacrament, as the Donatists' reception of Felicianus shows.
Against Cresconius 4.22Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine shows that Petilian made the minister's conscience the source of cleansing, which differs from Cresconius's softened claim that Christ acts through the minister.
Against Cresconius 4.23Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine draws out that Cresconius's “better through a good minister” concedes that Christ acts even through a bad one.
Against Cresconius 4.24Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine agrees a good minister is better, for his own sake and as an example, but the sacrament is holy because it is God's, whoever ministers it.
Against Cresconius 4.25Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine argues that a convert from schism becomes better but his baptism does not, and that what Christ does is always done well.
Against Cresconius 4.26Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine says schism is a great evil, yet baptism given or received in schism is real, though it serves for punishment while the schism lasts.
Against Cresconius 4.27Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine points to the Maximianist baptisms accepted by the Donatists as proof that God, not the minister's righteousness, gives baptism its growth.
Against Cresconius 4.28Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine notes that Felicianus lacked faith and righteousness, yet the Donatists admitted his baptism was real, adding only righteousness on reception.
Against Cresconius 4.29Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine says the questions about John's baptism and Moses' crossing are irrelevant; the Donatists must explain why they did not rebaptize after Felicianus.
Against Cresconius 4.30Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine says each of Petilian's claims (holy conscience, origin and root, good tree, good treasure) fails in the case of Felicianus, whose baptism the Donatists accepted as Christ's.
Against Cresconius 4.32Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine sets the Donatists' indulgence toward Optatus beside their condemnation of distant churches, and asks how they could be ignorant of crimes their own council proclaimed.
Against Cresconius 4.35Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine shows that Cresconius's own account says the Maximianists were sentenced as schismatics yet claims they never left the church.
Against Cresconius 4.36Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine repeats Cresconius's own words to show that the Maximianists were in schism, and baptized there, before their return.
Against Cresconius 4.37Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine presses that “restored to the church” means they had been outside it and baptized there, as Cresconius's own words admit.
Against Cresconius 4.38Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine piles up the phrases of the sentence of Bagai to show that the Maximianists baptized in schism and were received without rebaptism of those they baptized.
Against Cresconius 4.40Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine argues that even if all were given time, they baptized in schism before returning, and the Donatists accepted those baptisms.
Against Cresconius 4.41Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine notes that the council of Bagai itself spoke of the Maximianists “returning” to mother church, so they baptized outside it and kept both rank and baptism on return.
Against Cresconius 4.44Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine ridicules the idea that the Maximianists were unpolluted for eight months and became polluted only when the deadline, Christmas Day, passed.
Against Cresconius 4.45Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine insists that the council's own language of “return” proves the Maximianists were outside Donatist communion and baptized there.
Against Cresconius 4.47Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine quotes the advocate Titianus's petition, which shows that Felicianus and Praetextatus were still with Maximian after the deadline.
Against Cresconius 4.48Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine says the petition proves the two bishops were outside Donatist communion after the deadline, and only madness can still deny it.
Against Cresconius 4.54Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine rejects the claim that a traitor “created” Catholics: Christ is the head, and even the faithful in Elijah's day did not separate from Israel's common sacraments.
Against Cresconius 4.75Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine says the Catholic church is found wherever heresies are, but not vice versa, and that broken branches are regrafted without repeating baptism, as the Donatists did with the Maximianists.
Against Cresconius 4.76Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine argues that the Donatists do not rebaptize returning schismatics, conceding that baptism remains in those who leave, though without profit.
Against Cresconius 4.77Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine answers the “enclosed garden” argument by asking how Felicianus, outside the Donatist “garden,” baptized validly in their eyes.
Against Cresconius 4.82Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine sums up the Maximianist case on communion, persecution, and baptism, and answers the Donatists' proof texts for refusing debate.
Against Cresconius 4.83Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine concludes the work: the Maximianist case refutes every Donatist charge, and he urges Cresconius to return to the Catholic church for the peace of Christ.
1 Corinthians 1:14Pelagius · ca. 405–410 · Lemma of 1 Cor 1:14.
1 Corinthians 1:15Pelagius · ca. 405–410 · Lemma of 1 Cor 1:15.
1 Corinthians 1:16Pelagius · ca. 405–410 · Paul baptized few, and none claim to be baptized in his name.
1 Corinthians 1:17Pelagius · ca. 405–410 · Paul left baptizing to others; rhetorical display empties the cross of its power.
1 Corinthians 6:11Pelagius · ca. 405–410 · Baptism washes past sins; later sins call for repentance.
1 Corinthians 10:1Pelagius · ca. 405–410 · Baptism and the sacraments profit only those who keep the commands.
1 Corinthians 10:2Pelagius · ca. 405–410 · Moses is a type of Christ; the cloud, like the sea, holds water.
1 Corinthians 10:6Pelagius · ca. 405–410 · The exodus is fulfilled in the Christian life, but its gifts do not save one who sins.
1 Corinthians 12:13Pelagius · ca. 405–410 · Baptism makes one body; those who share heavenly things should share earthly goods.
1 Corinthians 15:17Pelagius · ca. 405–410 · Baptismal forgiveness depends on Christ's resurrection.
1 Corinthians 15:29Pelagius · ca. 405–410 · Baptism into Christ's death is pointless without eternal life.
1 Corinthians 15:49Pelagius · ca. 405–410 · After baptism we must bear Christ's image, as before we bore Adam's.
1 Timothy 2:14Pelagius · ca. 405–410 · Woman, first in guilt, is saved through baptism, the generation of God's sons, not through bearing children.
1 Timothy 2:15Pelagius · ca. 405–410 · For those living after baptism, faith alone does not suffice without holiness of mind and body.
1 Timothy 6:12Pelagius · ca. 405–410 · Timothy must contend for the faith to death, holding the life he confessed at baptism.
2 Corinthians 1:21Pelagius · ca. 405–410 · God confirms and anoints believers, with the Spirit or with chrism.
2 Thessalonians 2:14Pelagius · ca. 405–410 · Believers must hold the apostles' traditions, not add others; apostolic tradition is what the whole world keeps.
Colossians 1:14Pelagius · ca. 405–410 · Redemption is the forgiveness of sins in baptism through faith.
Colossians 2:12Pelagius · ca. 405–410 · In baptism believers put off the old man and rise to new life by faith.
Colossians 3:11Pelagius · ca. 405–410 · Before God only conduct counts, not sex, race, or status.
Ephesians 1:1Pelagius · ca. 405–410 · Paul writes as apostle by God's will, not his own merit, to the baptized saints who believe.
Ephesians 2:5Pelagius · ca. 405–410 · Through baptism God made us sinless with Christ, by grace, apart from our merit.
Ephesians 2:9Pelagius · ca. 405–410 · No one should boast that baptism's gift was earned.
Ephesians 4:6Pelagius · ca. 405–410 · One body, faith, and baptism mean one standard of holiness for all believers, whatever their worldly station.
Ephesians 4:30Pelagius · ca. 405–410 · Sin grieves the Spirit received at baptism; in God such "passions" are chosen dispensations, not sufferings.
Ephesians 5:6Pelagius · ca. 405–410 · Faith and baptism do not save those who go on sinning; God's past judgments warn of future wrath.
Ephesians 5:26Pelagius · ca. 405–410 · As Christ cleansed the church by water and teaching, husbands are to purify their wives by continence and instruction.
Galatians 3:27Pelagius · ca. 405–410 · The baptized have put on Christ and do not need the law given to sinners.
Argumentum (prefatory note)Pelagius · ca. 405–410 · Pelagius's argument: Paul humbly asks Philemon to pardon his baptized slave Onesimus.
Romans 5:15Pelagius · ca. 405–410 · Christ's grace outweighs Adam's offense; Pelagius reports the arguments of those who deny the transmission of sin.
Romans 6:2Pelagius · ca. 405–410 · Believers have died to sin and must not sin that grace may abound; the baptized are to be firm and perfect.
Romans 6:3Pelagius · ca. 405–410 · Baptism is of water, of the Spirit, and of blood; in it we die with Christ.
Romans 6:4Pelagius · ca. 405–410 · In baptism we are buried with Christ to live a new life free of the old man's marks.
Romans 6:6Pelagius · ca. 405–410 · In baptism the old man, who imitated Adam, is crucified with Christ, so that every vice is destroyed.
Romans 6:9Pelagius · ca. 405–410 · As Christ dies no more, baptism cannot be repeated, though repentance remains.
Romans 16:1Pelagius · ca. 405–410 · Phoebe served as eastern deaconesses do, ministering to women at baptism, or privately teaching like Priscilla.
Titus 3:5Pelagius · ca. 405–410 · God saved us by mercy, not our works, renewing us by the Spirit in baptism.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 4.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Asked why he baptized if he was neither Christ, Elijah, nor the prophet, John was in fact more than a prophet, as Christ testified, because he pointed out the Christ already present.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 4.9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · John's humility in declaring himself unworthy to untie Christ's sandal rebukes those who claim that the baptism they give is theirs and holy because they are holy.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 4.11Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Against those who claim that the minister's holiness takes away sin, Augustine points to John's words: Christ alone, the eternal Word, is the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 4.12Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · John's baptism served only to make Christ manifest to Israel, especially by Christ's own humble submission to it; once he was known, it ceased.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 4.13Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Christ received a servant's baptism so that no proud catechumen, however ascetic, should disdain to receive the Lord's baptism, without which his sins remain.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 4.14Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · John baptized others besides Christ, and then his baptism ceased, so that it should not seem holier than Christ's baptism, which the whole world receives.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 4.15Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Augustine poses a problem: John recognized Jesus before his baptism, yet says he did not know him until he saw the Spirit descend after it.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 4.16Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Augustine leaves the question unsolved for now, asking his hearers to discuss it peaceably, and promises that its solution will silence the Donatists' arguments about baptism.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 5.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · John must have known Christ in one respect and not in another; the task is to find what he learned about Christ through the dove.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 5.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · John's baptism was not necessary for salvation; Christ received it to complete his humility and so to commend his own baptism to his servants.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 5.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · John alone received a baptism called his own, given him by Christ, who was then baptized by him, just as Christ created Mary and was born of her.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 5.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Christ received John's baptism as an example of humility, and others received it too lest it seem greater than Christ's; but those baptized by John still needed Christ's baptism.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 5.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Christ keeps the power of baptism to himself and baptizes through ministers; baptism is as holy as the one in whose power it is given, not as the minister who gives it.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 5.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Christ chose not to transfer his power of baptizing to any servant, lest hope be placed in men and there be as many baptisms as ministers; so even an evil minister's baptism is Christ's.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 5.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · What John learned through the dove was that Christ would keep the power of baptizing for himself, so that whoever ministers, good or bad, it is Christ who baptizes.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 5.9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · What the dove taught John was not who Jesus was, which he knew, but that Christ would keep for himself the power of baptism, so that no apostle ever speaks of 'my baptism'.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 5.11Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Through the dove John learned that the ministry of baptism passes to good and bad ministers alike, but its power remains with Christ; those who say 'We baptize' lack the dove's simplicity.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 5.12Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Augustine answers Donatist complaints of persecution: they suffered lawful correction, while they themselves persecute the spirit by trying to take from Catholics, through rebaptism, the baptism by which they live.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 5.13Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Rebaptism makes a Christian deny his baptism as the pagan persecutors tried to make martyrs deny Christ; against Donatist charges about the minister, the Catholic answers that the dove taught that Christ is the one who baptizes.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 5.14Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · As the Pharisees were confounded by the question about John's baptism, so the Donatists, their peers, are confounded by the same 'lamp', John.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 5.15Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Ministers of baptism ought to be righteous, but an unworthy minister cannot defile Christ's gift, which passes through him like water through a stone channel or light through unclean places.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 5.16Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · To the Donatist argument that those baptized by John were rebaptized, Augustine answers that heretics, however wicked, give Christ's baptism, which John did not.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 5.17Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · If baptism must be repeated after a worse minister because the apostles baptized after John, the Donatists would have to rebaptize those baptized by their own drunken clergy.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 5.18Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Baptism given even by Judas was Christ's and was not repeated, while John's was his own and was followed by Christ's; so baptism given by any minister, however sinful, is Christ's.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 5.19Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · As Paul rejoiced that Christ was preached even by the envious, so Christ's baptism given by one who hates, a 'murderer', is not repeated, for the sacrament cannot be polluted by its minister.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 5.20Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Augustine sums up that John learned through the dove that Christ alone baptizes, and promises to explain another time why this was taught through a dove.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 6.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · At Christ's baptism the Trinity appeared plainly, the Father in the voice, the Son in the man, the Spirit in the dove; the Donatists, like the raven that did not return, shut their eyes to it.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 6.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · What John learned through the dove was that Christ would keep for himself the power of baptism; on this rests the unity of the Church and of baptism, signified by the one dove.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 6.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · John already knew before the dove that Christ would baptize in the Spirit; what he learned was that the holiness of baptism would always belong to Christ, whoever the minister, Peter, Paul, or Judas.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 6.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · If baptism depended on the minister's merit there would be as many baptisms as merits; but because Christ baptizes, the baptism given by good, better, or bad ministers is one and equal.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 6.9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · The apostles were sent to baptize all nations in the one name of Father, Son, and Spirit; as Paul reads 'seed' in the singular of Christ, so the singular 'name' shows that the Trinity is one God.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 6.10Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Christ sent the apostles to all nations, not to Africa alone; the pride of Babel divided tongues, but Christ's humility and love unite them in the one Church, signified by the dove.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 6.11Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Augustine states the Donatist objection: if the Catholic Church is the one dove outside which there is no baptism, why does it not baptize those who come to it from outside?
Tractates on the Gospel of John 6.12Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · The Donatists, too, have bad members and do not rebaptize those baptized by them; since Christ is the one who baptizes, baptism given by chaff is valid, and the 'raven' should not rebaptize after the 'dove'.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 6.13Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · One can have baptism outside the dove, the one Church, but it cannot profit him there; the Donatist asks why he should become a Catholic if he already has baptism.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 6.14Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Those baptized outside the Church have true baptism but lack love, without which it profits nothing; they are called into unity not to receive baptism again but so that it may begin to profit them.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 6.15Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Holy things received unworthily bring judgment, like the Eucharist to the unworthy or the morsel to Judas; baptism outside the Church is like the emperor's mark on a deserter, and Catholics should call the Donatists back with groaning love.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 6.16Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · One baptized outside the Church is guilty not for receiving baptism but for receiving it outside; the baptism is kept and recognized, as a deserter is corrected but the King's mark is not altered.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 6.17Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Donatists should not boast of having the same baptism, since even bad Catholics, drunkards and secret consulters of astrologers, have it; what they lack is humility, love, and peace.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 6.18Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Simon Magus was baptized yet, full of 'gall', had no part in the faith; so baptism alone, outside the dove's love and unity, does not save.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 6.19Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · In Noah's flood the same water 'baptized' timbers inside and outside the ark; the dove refused to be 'rebaptized' and returned, bringing a fruitful olive branch, while the raven perished; so Catholics should bear fruit and call outsiders back.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 6.21Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Baptism and faith without love profit nothing; even the demons believed and confessed Christ, yet said 'What have we to do with you?'
Tractates on the Gospel of John 6.22Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Catholics seek the Donatists precisely because they are not yet good; baptism without love is nothing.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 7.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Augustine recalls his earlier teaching: John learned through the dove that Christ alone baptizes; the dove signifies peace, and its olive branch the fruit of love, without which baptism outside the Church profits nothing.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 7.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Christ, the only-begotten Son, has the power of baptism; adopted sons are his ministers, and even if a minister is wicked, Christ is the one who baptizes.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 10.10Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Christ spoke of the temple of his body, destroyed and raised in three days, which the Church celebrates at Easter, when catechumens receive grace.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 11.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Augustine urges catechumens to hasten to baptism, since no one burdened with unforgiven sins will see the kingdom of God.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 11.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Nicodemus, like the catechumens, believed in Jesus' name, but Jesus entrusts himself only to those born anew, who know what it is to eat his flesh and drink his blood.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 11.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · As Israel ate manna only after crossing the Red Sea, so catechumens must pass through baptism, red with Christ's blood, before receiving the true bread from heaven.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 11.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · There are two births, of the flesh and of the Spirit, and neither can be repeated; so baptism, like birth from the womb, cannot be given again.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 11.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · The births from free and slave women among the three patriarchs prefigure four kinds of Christians: good or bad born through good or bad ministers of baptism.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 11.9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Augustine illustrates the four kinds from Scripture: Ananias baptizing Paul, insincere preachers, and Philip baptizing Simon Magus.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 11.11Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Jacob's sons by slave women shared the inheritance because of their father's seed, so those baptized by bad ministers are heirs if they are humble, unlike proud Ishmael.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 11.12Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Ishmael's “play” with Isaac, which Paul calls persecution, signifies the heretics' enticement to a second baptism, a worse persecution than bodily affliction.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 11.13Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · The Donatists' complaints of persecution by Catholic rulers are answered by Sarah's affliction of Hagar, which was meant to make her return to her mistress.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 12.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Spiritual birth, like bodily birth, happens only once, so baptism is not repeated; the promise to Abraham fulfilled among all nations exposes those who separate from them.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 12.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Catechumens believe in Jesus, but he entrusts himself to them only when they are born again in baptism and receive his flesh and blood.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 12.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Ishmael was disinherited not for his birth from a slave woman but for his pride, so the worth of the baptizer matters less than the humility of the baptized.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 12.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Birth of water and the Spirit is birth from the Church for an eternal inheritance; the invisible Spirit is heard in Scripture, and those born of him are a mystery to others.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 13.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Christ, baptized by his servant John, baptizes with his own baptism and is himself the way: by Christ the man we come to Christ the God, the bread of angels.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 13.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Christ was baptized by John to rebuke those, such as continent catechumens, who might think themselves too good to need baptism.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 13.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Others besides Christ were baptized by John so that John's baptism would not seem superior to Christ's, and no catechumen, however advanced, is forgiven before baptism.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 13.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · When John's disciples disputed about baptism, John did not claim his baptism was greater for having baptized Christ, but humbly confessed Christ as God, from whose fullness all receive.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 13.10Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · John, the bridegroom's friend, refused honor due to Christ; those who claim that baptism is holy because they give it are adulterers seeking to be loved in place of the bridegroom.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 13.11Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Like a faithless friend guarding an absent man's bride for himself, the heretic who claims his own baptizing makes baptism holy usurps the place of Christ, who alone baptizes.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 13.16Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Heretics have baptism, but as ministers, not owners; they have the form of the sacrament but, cut off from the vine, lack the root of love.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 15.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Jesus both baptized and did not baptize: his disciples performed the outward act, but he cleansed, and he still baptizes through every minister.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 15.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Christ baptizes not only in spirit but with water, for his baptism is the washing of water in the word.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 15.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Eve formed from a rib of the sleeping Adam, with flesh put in its place, prefigures the Church born from the side of Christ asleep on the cross: his weakness is our strength.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 26.12Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Manna and the altar were sacraments differing in sign but alike in what they signified; the fathers ate the same spiritual food, and life comes from eating inwardly, in the heart.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 28.9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · The Feast of Tabernacles foreshadowed the Church, brought out of Egypt through baptism and now sojourning in the world's desert, where Christ lies hidden.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 32.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · The baptized receive the Spirit without speaking in all tongues, because the Church spread through all nations now speaks them; those cut off from its unity lack the Spirit.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 38.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · All are born with sin and add to it; what Christians flee, by hastening to baptism even for infants, is to die in sin, as the unbelievers were told they would.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 41.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Only Christ, sinless, frees from sin's slavery, which even infants inherit from Adam; as mediator he removed the sin that separated us from God by becoming a sacrifice for sin.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 41.10Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Church officers must be without crime, not without sin; freedom from crime begins freedom, but in this life weakness remains, and we are free only in the part in which we delight in God's law.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 44.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · The anointing with clay signifies the catechumen's faith in the incarnate Word, and the washing in Siloam signifies baptism in Christ, the Sent One.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 45.9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · The righteous before Christ believed in him as to come and so belonged to the same faith and fold as believers now; the signs differed, as in the Red Sea and the rock, but the faith was one.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 50.12Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · "Me you will not always have" was said to Judas as the figure of the wicked in the Church, as Peter, receiving the keys, figured the Church of the good.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 56.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Baptism washes the whole person, but the daily sins of life among earthly things are the feet, washed daily through Christ's intercession, confession and the Lord's Prayer.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 56.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · The Church is without spot in the baptized who die at once, and in those whose feet are also washed, but the living still need their feet washed; how one treads earth to reach the risen Christ is deferred.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 57.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Augustine resumes the deferred question of how the Church can fear to defile her washed feet while coming to Christ.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 67.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Augustine rejects the view that some of the many dwelling places lie outside the kingdom of heaven as a place of blessedness for unbaptized infants.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 80.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Baptismal water cleanses only through the word of faith joined to it, which makes the sacrament a visible word and cleanses even infants.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 96.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · The things the disciples could not bear cannot simply be the later apostolic writings, which even catechumens now bear; only unbelievers and heretics cannot bear what refutes their errors.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 120.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · The soldier 'opened' Christ's side, from which flowed blood and water, the sacraments of the Church, as Eve was formed from the side of the sleeping Adam.
Homilies on the First Epistle of John 1.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 407 · Since God is light and sins are darkness, we can have fellowship with him only because Christ's blood cleanses from all sin, as in baptism; later sins must be confessed.
Homilies on the First Epistle of John 2.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 407 · Sins are forgiven through Christ's name alone, not through the name of any minister, as Paul told the Corinthians who were dividing into parties.
Homilies on the First Epistle of John 2.9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 407 · Love of the world excludes the love of the Father; the newly baptized and all believers must have the root of love, not only the outward form of the sacraments.
Homilies on the First Epistle of John 4.11Augustine of Hippo · ca. 407 · All are born sinners from Adam, as infant baptism shows; Christ, the man who is God, came to loose the works of the devil.
Homilies on the First Epistle of John 4.12Augustine of Hippo · ca. 407 · Augustine poses the question how those born of God, who 'do not sin', must still confess that they are sinners, and defers the answer to the next homily.
Homilies on the First Epistle of John 5.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 407 · Baptism is a great sacrament, but the baptized must have love to be truly born of God; without it he bears the mark like a deserter.
Homilies on the First Epistle of John 6.10Augustine of Hippo · ca. 407 · Speaking in tongues was a sign for the first times; now the sign of having received the Spirit is love of the brothers and of the Church spread through the whole world.
Homilies on the First Epistle of John 6.11Augustine of Hippo · ca. 407 · The Holy Spirit is signified by living water, distinct from the visible water of baptism; heretics and those cut off by iniquity do not have him, so we must not drink from strange springs.
Homilies on the First Epistle of John 7.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 407 · Love is 'from God' and 'is God' because the Holy Spirit, God from God, is poured out as love; the wicked may have the sacraments but cannot have love, which is the Spirit's own gift.
Homilies on the First Epistle of John 7.11Augustine of Hippo · ca. 407 · Love is not laxity but corrects and disciplines without bitterness, like the gall-less dove; the Donatist schismatics hate both love and the dove, and their baptism, bearing Christ's mark, is recognised, not repeated, in the Catholic Church.
Dialogue 2Palladius of Helenopolis · ca. 408 · John Chrysostom's letter to Pope Innocent describing Theophilus of Alexandria's arrival in Constantinople, the proceedings against John in his absence, his expulsion, and the violent clearing of the churches on Holy Saturday, and asking Innocent to declare those proceedings void.
Dialogue 9Palladius of Helenopolis · ca. 408 · After a brief recall John is attacked again: his enemies invoke the Arian canon against bishops who return without a synod, the emperor orders him out of his church, and on Holy Saturday soldiers break up the baptisms of his followers.
On the One Baptism, against Petilian 1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 410–411 · Augustine introduces his reply to a Donatist treatise “On the One Baptism,” given him by his friend Constantine.
On the One Baptism, against Petilian 2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 410–411 · The Donatist complains that a secret rite is debated publicly; Augustine answers that what is urged openly and harms in secret must be openly refuted.
On the One Baptism, against Petilian 3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 410–411 · The Donatist claims Catholics accept his baptism as his; Augustine answers that baptism is Christ’s, not the minister’s, and to repeat it would be sacrilege.
On the One Baptism, against Petilian 4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 410–411 · As a Jew converting keeps his true beliefs while his errors are corrected, so a heretic’s true baptism, given by the Gospel rule, is kept while his error is corrected.
On the One Baptism, against Petilian 7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 410–411 · As Paul used the Corinthians’ true baptism to rebuke their schisms, the church keeps the heretic’s true baptism while correcting his division.
On the One Baptism, against Petilian 8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 410–411 · As the Athenians worshiped the true God unknowingly outside the church, heretics give true baptism outside it; it profits them nothing but is to be acknowledged.
On the One Baptism, against Petilian 9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 410–411 · Paul’s baptizing of John’s disciples at Ephesus (Acts 19) does not support rebaptism: John was no heretic, and his baptism was not yet Christ’s.
On the One Baptism, against Petilian 10Augustine of Hippo · ca. 410–411 · The Donatist author answers his own objection with Matt 12:30 and 7:21–23, but these texts support the Catholic case.
On the One Baptism, against Petilian 11Augustine of Hippo · ca. 410–411 · Christ’s rejection of those who work wonders in his name without love does not deny the truth of what they hold; as 1 Cor 13 shows, gifts remain great though their holder is nothing.
On the One Baptism, against Petilian 12Augustine of Hippo · ca. 410–411 · Christ forbade hindering the man who cast out demons in his name though not following with the disciples; so the truth heretics hold is acknowledged while their division is condemned.
On the One Baptism, against Petilian 13Augustine of Hippo · ca. 410–411 · Christ’s sacraments are never sacrilegious even if given by sinners, just as his name remains his name when used by them.
On the One Baptism, against Petilian 14Augustine of Hippo · ca. 410–411 · The Lord will reject the wicked inside the church too, and the Donatists themselves do not rebaptize those baptized by their own sinners.
On the One Baptism, against Petilian 15Augustine of Hippo · ca. 410–411 · By the author’s own reasoning, schismatic baptism is as real as exorcism in Christ’s name; one who comes to the church keeps it and receives the unity that makes it profitable.
On the One Baptism, against Petilian 16Augustine of Hippo · ca. 410–411 · Catholic recognition of Donatist baptism does not prove the Donatists right; their separation is condemned while the baptism is acknowledged.
On the One Baptism, against Petilian 17Augustine of Hippo · ca. 410–411 · As the demons’ true confession of Christ is not denied, so heretics’ true baptism is not destroyed; James compared faith without works to the demons’ belief without denying its truth.
On the One Baptism, against Petilian 18Augustine of Hippo · ca. 410–411 · True baptism can exist without true faith, as at Corinth; Scripture gives no explicit example either way, so the apostolic rule of keeping truth while correcting error decides.
On the One Baptism, against Petilian 19Augustine of Hippo · ca. 410–411 · Converts are received without their schism and error; the Donatists, by contrast, treat even Catholic bishops as unbaptized catechumens.
On the One Baptism, against Petilian 20Augustine of Hippo · ca. 410–411 · Catholics who lapsed to the Donatists do a heavier penance and are barred from the clergy; the Donatists hold true baptism in unrighteousness and face God’s wrath.
On the One Baptism, against Petilian 21Augustine of Hippo · ca. 410–411 · The Donatist boast of rebaptizing like Paul at Ephesus would make John the Baptist a sacrilegious defiler.
On the One Baptism, against Petilian 22Augustine of Hippo · ca. 410–411 · Agrippinus and Cyprian erred on rebaptism but stayed in unity, and Cyprian’s love and martyrdom covered his error; rebaptizing heretics was human error then, rebaptizing Catholics is diabolical now.
On the One Baptism, against Petilian 23Augustine of Hippo · ca. 410–411 · Stephen and Cyprian disagreed on rebaptism yet stayed in one communion; if that church did not perish, communion with the bad does not destroy the church, and Donatist separation is baseless.
On the One Baptism, against Petilian 24Augustine of Hippo · ca. 410–411 · The texts the Donatists cite against communion with sinners would have required Cyprian to leave Stephen; since he did not, the church survived mixed, as it still does.
On the One Baptism, against Petilian 25Augustine of Hippo · ca. 410–411 · A truly just man would remain in the church with sinners, as Paul and Cyprian did; defilement comes by consent, as in Eden, not by sharing sacraments, as Judas did not defile the apostles.
On the One Baptism, against Petilian 26Augustine of Hippo · ca. 410–411 · If Stephen’s church survived receiving sinners without rebaptism, others’ sins defile no one; and if unity’s love cleanses converts, rebaptism is needless.
On the One Baptism, against Petilian 32Augustine of Hippo · ca. 410–411 · Augustine concludes: as truth held by Jews, pagans, exorcists outside the fold, and demons is not denied, so the true baptism held by heretics is not to be denied.
Summary of the Collation with the Donatists 1.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 411–412 · The Catholic bishops’ letter is read, offering to share or resign their sees if the Donatists are shown to be the true church, and citing the case of the Maximianists.
Summary of the Collation with the Donatists 1.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 411–412 · The Catholic reply to the Donatist notice is read: it agrees that all Donatists may attend and sets out the whole Catholic case on the universal church, Caecilian, and the Maximianists.
Summary of the Collation with the Donatists 1.10Augustine of Hippo · ca. 411–412 · The Catholic council’s mandate is read: it distinguishes the case of the worldwide church from the case of Caecilian and argues that bad members do not defile the good.
Summary of the Collation with the Donatists 1.12Augustine of Hippo · ca. 411–412 · The Catholic bishops are identified one by one; the case of Felician of Mustis, a condemned Maximianist received back by the Donatists, is raised.
Summary of the Collation with the Donatists 3.11Augustine of Hippo · ca. 411–412 · The Donatist letter is silent on Cyprian’s tolerance of bad colleagues and on the Maximianists, whose baptism the Donatists accepted.
Summary of the Collation with the Donatists 3.12Augustine of Hippo · ca. 411–412 · The Donatists evade the Catholic argument that truth (baptism) can be held in unrighteousness and should be recognized while the error is corrected.
Summary of the Collation with the Donatists 3.20Augustine of Hippo · ca. 411–412 · The Catholics deny teaching two churches: the one church is mixed and mortal now and will be pure and immortal at the resurrection.
Summary of the Collation with the Donatists 3.23Augustine of Hippo · ca. 411–412 · After charges about the violence at Bagai, the commissioner closes the debate on the church and turns to the case of Caecilian.
Summary of the Collation with the Donatists 3.33Augustine of Hippo · ca. 411–412 · After long dispute over whether bishops could meet during persecution, the commissioner compels the Donatists to answer the judgment of Miltiades.
On the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins 1.9Augustine of Hippo · 411–412 · Augustine reports the view that sin passed from Adam by imitation, not propagation, and argues that Paul would then have named the devil, not Adam, as its source.
On the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins 1.10Augustine of Hippo · 411–412 · Adam is not only an example of sin but its origin, passing it to his descendants through carnal concupiscence, just as Christ gives inward grace even to infants who cannot imitate him.
On the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins 1.15Augustine of Hippo · 411–412 · Paul's contrast between judgment “from one offense” and grace “from many offenses” shows that original sin alone suffices for condemnation, excluding unbaptized infants from the kingdom and from eternal life.
On the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins 1.21Augustine of Hippo · 411–412 · Unbaptized infants will suffer the mildest condemnation of all; Adam's disobedience brought shameful desire and mortality, so all generated in the flesh need spiritual regeneration in baptism.
On the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins 1.22Augustine of Hippo · 411–412 · Augustine dismisses as absurd the claim that infants are baptized for sins committed in their own brief lives.
On the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins 1.23Augustine of Hippo · 411–412 · Against those who say infants are baptized only to enter the kingdom, Augustine argues that without regeneration no one has eternal salvation, since Christ died for the ungodly and came as physician to the sick.
On the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins 1.24Augustine of Hippo · 411–412 · Infants cannot be baptized as neither sinners nor righteous, since Christ came to call sinners; baptism heals in them the sickness of original sin.
On the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins 1.25Augustine of Hippo · 411–412 · Infants are called penitents and faithful through the words of their sponsors; baptism profits them if they die young, but not if they grow up and do not believe.
On the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins 1.26Augustine of Hippo · 411–412 · Against those who grant unbaptized infants eternal life outside the kingdom, Augustine cites John 6:53: without eating Christ's flesh and drinking his blood, which only the baptized receive, there is no life.
On the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins 1.28Augustine of Hippo · 411–412 · Since the church counts baptized infants among believers, unbaptized infants fall among those who do not believe the Son, on whom God's wrath remains, which implies original sin.
On the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins 1.30Augustine of Hippo · 411–412 · Augustine turns the charge of injustice back on his opponents: on their own view, too, God's differing treatment of equal infants can only be met with Paul's cry at the depth of his judgments.
On the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins 1.33Augustine of Hippo · 411–412 · Augustine sums up: Scripture teaches that all are under sin and that only Christ, the Savior and Redeemer of infants too, frees from it, so no salvation is to be promised to infants apart from baptism.
On the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins 1.34Augustine of Hippo · 411–412 · The African custom of calling baptism “salvation” and the Eucharist “life” reflects apostolic tradition that neither can be had without these sacraments, which in infants loose only original guilt.
On the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins 1.35Augustine of Hippo · 411–412 · Whoever does not believe in Christ remains in darkness; so infants not brought into the number of believers by baptism remain in it.
On the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins 1.36Augustine of Hippo · 411–412 · Against the view that newborns are enlightened by the Word at birth, Augustine points out that they are not admitted to the kingdom without baptism and resist baptism with tears.
On the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins 1.38Augustine of Hippo · 411–412 · Augustine offers several readings of “coming into this world” in John 1:9, and concludes that even a created rational soul remains in darkness unless it believes, which infants do through the church's sacrament.
On the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins 1.39Augustine of Hippo · 411–412 · Christ came to give life, salvation, freedom, redemption, and light to sinners; since the church baptizes infants, they too need these benefits, which can only be because of original sin.
On the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins 1.40Augustine of Hippo · 411–412 · Augustine begins a collection of Gospel texts showing that Christ came to save the lost and that without baptism infants do not belong to his sheep and will perish.
On the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins 1.41Augustine of Hippo · 411–412 · Texts from 1 Peter on regeneration, light, Christ's suffering for sinners, and saving baptism show that infants need adoption into God's people.
On the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins 1.42Augustine of Hippo · 411–412 · Texts from 1 John show that without the Son, whom infants have only through baptism, they have no life, and that Christ came to undo the devil's works in them too.
On the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins 1.44Augustine of Hippo · 411–412 · Texts from 1 and 2 Corinthians show that Christ died for all, who were therefore dead; if infants are brought to baptism, they are among those whose offenses need forgiving.
On the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins 1.47Augustine of Hippo · 411–412 · Texts from Colossians: God rescued us from darkness, and in baptism, the circumcision of Christ, forgave all offenses and cancelled the record against us.
On the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins 1.49Augustine of Hippo · 411–412 · Texts from Titus: Christ gave himself to redeem us, and God saved us by the washing of regeneration, not by our works.
On the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins 1.55Augustine of Hippo · 411–412 · There is no middle place: an unbaptized infant is not with Christ and so is against him, which can only be because of original sin; Christ saves all who are saved, as Adam condemns all who are born.
On the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins 1.58Augustine of Hippo · 411–412 · Against the claim that John 3:5 excludes unbaptized infants only from the kingdom but not from eternal life, Augustine argues that rebirth implies renewal from the oldness of sin.
On the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins 1.59Augustine of Hippo · 411–412 · Augustine quotes John 3:1–21, the conversation with Nicodemus, in full.
On the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins 1.61Augustine of Hippo · 411–412 · The bronze serpent signifies Christ's death, which bore punishment without guilt; those conformed to it in baptism are healed of sin and death, which implies that infants too have been poisoned by sin.
On the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins 1.62Augustine of Hippo · 411–412 · John 3:16–21 shows that baptized infants belong among believers who are not judged, while the unbaptized are among those already judged; regeneration comes only through Christ.
On the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins 1.63Augustine of Hippo · 411–412 · The rite of infant baptism, with its exorcism, renunciation of the devil, and profession of belief in the forgiveness of sins, would be a deception if infants had no sin; some opponents now admit infants are forgiven, but only for sins after birth.
On the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins 1.64Augustine of Hippo · 411–412 · Those who say infants have no sin and those who say they sin after birth are each partly right; combining their true claims leaves only original sin to be forgiven in infant baptism.
On the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins 1.70Augustine of Hippo · 411–412 · Baptism removes the guilt of concupiscence, not concupiscence itself, which remains for the baptized to fight; the question whether anyone lives without sin is left for the next book.
On the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins 2.1Augustine of Hippo · 411–412 · Augustine recalls the argument of Book 1 on infant baptism and announces the subject of Book 2: whether anyone lives without sin in this life.
On the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins 2.4Augustine of Hippo · 411–412 · Concupiscence remains after baptism without guilt, harming only those who consent to it; the Lord's Prayer asks forgiveness for past consent, help against present temptation, and final deliverance from concupiscence.
On the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins 2.9Augustine of Hippo · 411–412 · “He who is born of God does not sin” does not prove sinlessness: baptism forgives all sins, but renewal is gradual, so the baptized are children of God in so far as renewed and children of this world in so far as still old.
On the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins 2.11Augustine of Hippo · 411–412 · A righteous parent does not beget a righteous child, since he begets by the flesh, not by the Spirit; every child needs spiritual rebirth.
On the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins 2.38Augustine of Hippo · 411–412 · The Word became flesh so that those born of flesh might be born of God; Christ, born in the likeness of sinful flesh of a virgin without concupiscence, never had sin, yet was baptized as an example, so sinful flesh needs baptism all the more.
On the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins 2.39Augustine of Hippo · 411–412 · A child of baptized parents is not baptized in their loins; Levi's being tithed in Abraham did not exempt his brothers from tithes, but his priesthood made him receive rather than pay them.
On the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins 2.40Augustine of Hippo · 411–412 · Circumcision, though given only once, was given to each child of circumcised parents; likewise the children of the baptized must themselves be baptized.
On the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins 2.41Augustine of Hippo · 411–412 · Those who cite 1 Corinthians 7:14 to argue against baptizing believers' children fall into contradiction: if holiness is inherited, so is sin, and on their own view holy and unclean children fare alike.
On the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins 2.42Augustine of Hippo · 411–412 · There are several kinds of sanctification, like that of catechumens or of food; the holiness Paul ascribes to believers' children, like that of unbelieving spouses, does not replace baptism.
On the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins 2.43Augustine of Hippo · 411–412 · No one can be reborn before being born, so children of the baptized must themselves receive the sacrament of regeneration, which frees infants from the serpent's bite received in Adam.
On the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins 2.44Augustine of Hippo · 411–412 · Converted parents beget from the remnants of their old nature, so their children need rebirth; baptism fully forgives sins but renews the person only gradually.
On the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins 2.45Augustine of Hippo · 411–412 · After baptism concupiscence remains, forgiven and defeated unless revived by consent; believing spouses use it well in marriage, but their children, born from it, still need rebirth.
On the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins 2.46Augustine of Hippo · 411–412 · As the guilt of past sins remains until forgiven, so the guilt of concupiscence, which itself remains, is removed by baptism.
On the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins 3.1Augustine of Hippo · 411–412 · Augustine explains that after finishing two books he read Pelagius's brief expositions of Paul and found an argument against original sin that he answers in this letter.
On the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins 3.2Augustine of Hippo · 411–412 · Augustine turns the argument around: if Christ's righteousness benefits only believers and it benefits baptized infants, they must be counted believers through others, just as they are sinners through others' flesh.
On the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins 3.3Augustine of Hippo · 411–412 · If baptized infants are believers, unbaptized infants are unbelievers, under God's wrath, judged and condemned, which would be unjust if they had no original sin.
On the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins 3.5Augustine of Hippo · 411–412 · Augustine notes that Pelagius presented these arguments as others' views, and quotes the further arguments: children of the baptized, the origin of the soul, and the imputation of another's sin.
On the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins 3.6Augustine of Hippo · 411–412 · Pelagius, perhaps out of shame or caution, put these views in others' mouths; Augustine hopes he does not hold them, since they imply that sinless infants are condemned or have eternal life outside God's kingdom.
On the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins 3.7Augustine of Hippo · 411–412 · Scripture plainly teaches that no one is saved apart from Christ and no one is unjustly condemned; since unbaptized infants are not in Christ's body, they must bear original sin.
On the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins 3.8Augustine of Hippo · 411–412 · Even if Romans 5:12 were ambiguous, other clear texts show that infants need baptism for salvation, so Paul's words should be read in agreement with them.
On the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins 3.9Augustine of Hippo · 411–412 · In Romans 5 only “Adam, a type of the one to come” admits various readings; the rest can only mean what the church has always held, that baptized infants receive forgiveness of original sin.
On the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins 3.10Augustine of Hippo · 411–412 · Augustine cites Cyprian's letter to Fidus, where a council decided infants may be baptized before the eighth day, and Cyprian says that infants, though innocent of personal sin, contract Adam's contagion and receive forgiveness of another's sins.
On the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins 3.11Augustine of Hippo · 411–412 · Cyprian's council treated original sin as certain and debated only the day of baptism, deciding infants could be baptized at any time, since circumcision on the eighth day foreshadowed Christ's resurrection.
On the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins 3.12Augustine of Hippo · 411–412 · Jerome, in his commentary on Jonah, takes original sin as certain, and Augustine knows of no earlier Christian, catholic or not, who denied it; the new view he first heard casually at Carthage is now defended in writing.
On the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins 3.16Augustine of Hippo · 411–412 · The objection that children of the baptized should be born free of sin is answered by analogy: the circumcised beget uncircumcised sons, and winnowed wheat grows grain with chaff.
On the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins 3.17Augustine of Hippo · 411–412 · Since the opponents admit that Christians beget children who must be made Christians, they should admit that the cleansed beget children who must be cleansed; it is rebirth, not birth, that makes Christians and removes sin.
On the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins 3.21Augustine of Hippo · 411–412 · Original sin is inherited as death is; whatever holiness Paul means in 1 Corinthians 7:14, it does not replace baptism for unbelieving spouses or for the children of believers.
On the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins 3.22Augustine of Hippo · 411–412 · The new teaching implicitly makes infant baptism pointless; infants denied Christ's grace are more destitute than orphans, and must be defended.
On the Christian Life 1Fastidius · ca. 411-430 · "Christ" means "anointed"; all the baptized share his anointing, and only those who imitate Christ truly bear the name Christian.
On the Christian Life 13Fastidius · ca. 411-430 · Against those who hold that faith alone saves without works of righteousness, the author argues from both Testaments that God condemns sin, and that Paul's "works of the law" are ceremonial works, not righteousness.
To the Donatists after the Collation (Against the Party of Donatus after the Proceedings) 18Augustine of Hippo · ca. 412 · The Donatists’ own acts of martyrs show that Christians assembled, ordained, and baptized during persecution, so the council of Cirta was possible.
To the Donatists after the Collation (Against the Party of Donatus after the Proceedings) 25Augustine of Hippo · ca. 412 · The Donatists’ later gloss on their admission, that guilt passes down a “rope” of ordinations, is turned against them by their own reception of the Maximianist Felician.
To the Donatists after the Collation (Against the Party of Donatus after the Proceedings) 50Augustine of Hippo · ca. 412 · The Donatists ignored both the Scripture proofs of a worldwide church and Cyprian, who differed on baptism yet stayed in unity with those who disagreed.
To the Donatists after the Collation (Against the Party of Donatus after the Proceedings) 51Augustine of Hippo · ca. 412 · The Donatist letter was silent on the Maximianists, whose baptism they accepted, and on Caecilian’s case.
To the Donatists after the Collation (Against the Party of Donatus after the Proceedings) 58Augustine of Hippo · ca. 412 · Augustine closes by calling the Donatists brothers, answers their last complaints about the night sentence and the closed hall, and urges them to unity now that the truth has appeared.
On the Spirit and the Letter 10Augustine of Hippo · 412 · Baptism into Christ's death and resurrection signifies the end of the old life and the beginning of the new, a benefit that comes through faith in Christ, not the letter of the law.
On the Spirit and the Letter 51Augustine of Hippo · 412 · The law's promise of life is fulfilled only by the justified, and justification comes from faith, which obtains the Spirit's sweetness so that one acts from love rather than fear.
On the Spirit and the Letter 59Augustine of Hippo · 412 · Augustine reads Ps 103:2–5 as the order of grace: forgiveness in baptism, healing in this life, resurrection, merciful judgment, and final satisfaction in the vision of God.
Commentary on Isaiah 1, Discourse 1, part 11Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · On Isa 1:14–16 Cyril says the shadow of the law cannot forgive those who refuse Christ, reads the bloody hands as the killing of the prophets and of Christ, and reads “wash yourselves” as a call to baptism, foreshadowed by the purification of the Levites.
Commentary on Isaiah 1, Discourse 1, part 12Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Cyril reads “wash yourselves” as baptism in the Spirit and fire, foreshadowed by the ark, to which Peter called the Jews, and urges the baptized to keep their souls pure before God and not only before men.
Commentary on Isaiah 1, Discourse 2, part 13Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Cyril reads the “strength of bread and water” as the understanding of Scripture, and mystically as Christ’s life-giving body and the water of baptism, which the Jews have lost; and the giant, warrior and judge as the spiritual strength of believers against evil powers.
Commentary on Isaiah 1, Discourse 3, part 10Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · On Isa 4:4 Cyril says that Christ’s grace offered forgiveness even to those who shed his blood, as Peter preached, and explains the spirit of judgment as God’s verdict against Satan and the spirit of burning as the grace of baptism in the Spirit and fire.
Commentary on Isaiah 1, Discourse 4, part 17Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Cyril reads God's offer of help to the idolater Ahaz (Isa 7:3–4) as divine mercy, the son Jashub as the saved remnant, and the pool of the upper road as a type of baptism.
Commentary on Isaiah 2, Tome 1, part 13Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Cyril reads Zerubbabel and Jeshua as types of Christ the king and high priest who, by the cross, gathers all nations into one, and begins Isa 11:14 as the apostles' sea voyages to the nations.
Commentary on Isaiah 2, Tome 1, part 15Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Cyril says God dried the Nile's mouths so that Augustus could conquer Egypt, opening it to the gospel, and contrasts the plagues of the Exodus with the blessings Egypt received through the apostles and baptism.
Commentary on Isaiah 2, Tome 4, part 2Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Cyril reads the light cloud of Isa 19:1 as a type of baptism, on which Christ rests and reigns, and the shaking of Egypt's idols and the defeat of its heart as the conversion of the most superstitious of nations, once as hard as Pharaoh.
Commentary on Isaiah 2, Tome 5, part 21Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · The troubled sea is the nations, stirred by the apostles' preaching; the islands where God's glory dwells are the churches, kept by Christ amid persecutions, and salvation is by mercy and baptism, not by the law (Isa 24:14–15).
Commentary on Isaiah 3, Tome 1, part 3Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · The scribes and Pharisees took away the key of knowledge; on the mountain of the church God gives all nations gladness in hope, the wine of the eucharist and the ointment of the Spirit given in baptism, for the counsel of salvation is for all nations (Isa 25:5–7).
Commentary on Isaiah 3, Tome 1, part 4Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · God wiping away every tear means the resurrection, confessed at baptism: Christ, firstfruits of the dead, abolished death's reign, so believers do not grieve without hope; Israel's faithful will confess the incarnate Son as their God, and the church is the mountain of rest (Isa 25:8–10).
Commentary on Isaiah 3, Tome 1, part 8Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · The straight way of the godly is the gospel life, justified by faith and cleansed in baptism, which replaces sacrifices with righteousness; believers rise from the night of error to the light of Christ's commands (Isa 26:7–9).
Commentary on Isaiah 3, Tome 1, part 24Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · God's “fencing in” of Judaea is both its distress and the veil over the Jews' minds; the apostles gather the sons of Israel one by one, and the great trumpet is the gospel preaching, calling those lost in Assyria and Egypt to worship (Isa 27:12–13).
Commentary on Isaiah 3, Tome 2, part 2Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Israel, refusing the bread of life, suffered a famine of God's word, though the apostles called it to repentance; the apostles' message brought them affliction upon affliction but also hope upon hope, the crown of incorruption (Isa 28:11–13).
Commentary on Isaiah 3, Tome 2, part 8Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · David's “Let us burst their bonds” urges Israel from the yoke of the law to grace; the “completed and cut short” things are the gospel, which leads briefly through faith to righteousness for all nations; Christ bids Israel attend to his words (Isa 28:22–23).
Commentary on Isaiah 3, Tome 3, part 10Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Those who sow beside every water (Isa 32:20) are believers watered by the word; the ox and the ass are the Jews and the Gentiles, made one in Christ; persecutors make only themselves wretched, for those who suffer with Christ will reign with him (Isa 33:1).
Commentary on Isaiah 3, Tome 3, part 17Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Believers receive Christ the bread of life and the sure water of baptism, and look from afar to the promised land (Isa 33:16–18); in Isa 33:18–19 the prophet reproaches the scribes and priests who failed to recognize the Word made flesh, incited the people against him, and so lost their hope.
Commentary on Isaiah 3, Tome 3, part 25Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · The land's saved children in Isa 34:15–17 are the believing remnant of Israel; the deer are the apostles, snake-killers who drink from spiritual springs, gathered by the Spirit and sent by lot to the nations, Peter to the circumcision, Barnabas and Saul to the Gentiles.
Commentary on Isaiah 3, Tome 3, part 26Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · The thirsty desert of Isa 35:1–2 is the church of the nations, once barren, made fruitful and fragrant by Christ, receiving the Jordan's stream in baptism and the glory once given to Jerusalem and the temple; Isa 35:3–4 bids the teachers strengthen those still weak from error.
Commentary on Isaiah 3, Tome 3, part 28Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · The pure and holy way of Isa 35:8–10 is the gospel life and the cleansing of the Spirit, open only to the baptized; Satan, the lion, has been driven from it, and the redeemed walk on it to the church on earth and in heaven, free of grief.
Commentary on Isaiah 3, Tome 5, part 18Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Idols cannot answer or guide anyone (Isa 41:28–29); the servant of Isa 42:1–4, called Jacob and Israel because of his descent in the flesh, is Christ, King eternally as the Word but receiving rule and the Spirit at his baptism as man, not as God; he brings just judgment to the nations by condemning Satan.
Commentary on Isaiah 1, Discourse 1, part 2Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · The new hymn fits the new realities of salvation in Christ, sung worldwide by those who cross the sea, which Cyril takes historically of the apostles' missions and spiritually of the churches as islands in the sea of life.
Commentary on Isaiah 1, Discourse 2, part 20Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · As ploughing serves sowing, the law prepared hearts for the Son's gospel; the clay that questions the potter (Isa 45:9–10) pictures the Jews who disputed the new birth through water and Spirit offered in Christ.
Commentary on Isaiah 1, Discourse 2, part 21Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Like Nicodemus questioning the new birth, those who question God's ways are clay disputing with the potter; Isa 45:11–12 ironically invites them to command the Creator, whose ways are unsearchable.
Commentary on Isaiah 1, Discourse 2, part 22Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · God's works surpass understanding, as the new birth did for Nicodemus; we must yield to him as clay to the potter, since he who made earth, man and heaven, by his hand the Son, can remake human hearts (Isa 45:11–12).
Commentary on Isaiah 5, Tome 5, part 5Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · The acceptable year is the time of Christ's death, resurrection and baptism into the Spirit; the day of recompense is his coming, which promised eternal rewards where the law promised only earthly ones, and brought Satan's defeat (Isa 61:2).
Commentary on Isaiah 5, Tome 6, part 16Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · The cries from city and temple are those of Jerusalem's fall, ordered by God; yet before that labour Zion “bore a male”, the believing remnant gathered by the apostles' preaching after Pentecost, a whole people born at once (Isa 66:6–9).
Commentary on Isaiah 5, Tome 6, part 17Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · The three thousand reborn in one day were a whole nation born at once; unbelieving Zion would not have been left childless had she believed, so the barren church of the nations rejoices, and those who love and mourn over her are fed with the Spirit's consolation (Isa 66:8–12).
Commentary on Luke 2:10Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · An archangel announced the birth; Christ, the Lawgiver, submitted to circumcision and the purification to redeem those under the law, circumcision prefiguring baptism; the Virgin needed no purification, and Christ is the turtledove, the dove and the coin paid as ransom for two peoples.
Commentary on Luke 3:17Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · Christ will separate wheat from chaff; he was baptized not from need but to sanctify the waters and give us a pattern, the Spirit being his own though proceeding from the Father; heaven was opened and the Father’s voice declared him Son so that sonship might pass to us.
Commentary on Luke 3:22Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · Christ received the Spirit as man, not as God; against Paul of Samosata, he always was as God and began as man at thirty; and delaying baptism to the end of life is harmful, bringing forgiveness but no fruit.
Commentary on Luke 7:22Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · Christ answered John by doing what the prophets foretold and warned those offended at him; praising John as more than a prophet, he set above him the one reborn by the Spirit and baptism, which from John’s time is seized by faith.
Commentary on Luke 9:21Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · Christ forbade the disciples to proclaim him as Christ until the passion and resurrection had shown him to be God; after rising he sent them to preach to all nations and baptize.
Commentary on Luke 11:37Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · Christ dined with a Pharisee, as a physician visits the sick, to teach him; the Pharisee was offended that he did not wash before eating, a custom not in the law, which provided ritual washings only as types of Christian baptism.
Commentary on Luke 15:8Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · The lost drachma shows we were made in the royal image and restored by Christ, the lamp lit by the Father’s Wisdom; the prodigal son can be the gentiles fed on Greek myths and revived in Christ; Cyril rejects reading the elder son as the angels or Israel, and finds the parable’s aim in rebuking those who grudge God’s mercy to repentant sinners, whom he restores with the first robe, which is Christ.
Commentary on Luke 16:16Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · The law and prophets foretold Christ’s death and resurrection and Israel’s disobedience up to John; from John the kingdom is preached—justification by faith, cleansing in baptism, sanctification and adoption by the Spirit—and the eager force their way in.
Commentary on Luke 22:8Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · The Passover means passing over, from the flesh, ignorance and death to self-control, knowledge of God and incorruption; Christ hid the place of the supper from Judas; the man with the water jar signifies baptism; the true Passover is fulfilled in the church, where Christ himself, the living bread, is offered; the sheaf of first fruits prefigures his resurrection on the third day and his ascension, and the seven weeks prefigure Pentecost.
Commentary on Luke 24:45Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · The risen Christ opened the disciples’ minds to the prophecies of his passion, promised them the Spirit foretold by Joel and baptism in the Spirit beyond John’s water, and ascended to sit with the Father in his united flesh; the commentary ends with a doxology to the incarnate Word who suffered, rose, ascended and will come to judge.
Letter 55 (Cyril to Anastasius, Alexander and others (explanation of the Creed))Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · Cyril explains the Nicene Creed clause by clause to a group of monks, insisting that the one only-begotten Word himself became man, suffered in his own flesh, and is the one Lord into whose death Christians are baptized, against the followers of Nestorius and Theodore.
Letter 79 (Cyril to the bishops of Libya and Pentapolis)Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · Cyril tells the bishops of Libya and Pentapolis to examine candidates for ordination (whether newly married, or expelled from monasteries) and to baptize excommunicated catechumens who are dying.
Letter 81 (Cyril to the monks in Phua (fragments))Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · Fragments of Cyril's letter to the monks at Phua against those who deny the resurrection of the body: the denial comes from Origen's teaching that souls pre-existed and were embodied as punishment, which Scripture and the judgment 'for what was done through the body' refute.
Book 2, chapter 6 (second part)Hesychius of Jerusalem · ca. 412-450 · Opening Book 2 with Lev 6:8–30, Hesychius reads the perpetual fire as the Spirit kept alive by meditation on Scripture, the grain offering eaten by Aaron's sons as theology kept within what Christ revealed and practised in the church, the priest's offering as Christ's passion, and the sin offering as repentance, whose 'blood' is baptism.
Book 2, chapter 8Hesychius of Jerusalem · ca. 412-450 · On the consecration of Aaron and his sons (Lev 8), Hesychius reads the assembly as the church, the washing as baptism, the high priest's vestments as Christ's incarnation and divinity, the anointing as the incarnation shared by Christians through the Spirit, the second ram as the mystical Passover of the Last Supper, and the seven days at the tabernacle door as the days until Pentecost.
Book 3, chapter 11Hesychius of Jerusalem · ca. 412-450 · On the clean and unclean animals of Lev 11, Hesychius argues that nature is not unclean, since God made all things good, but that the animals figure kinds of people: those who chew the cud and divide the hoof meditate on the law, practise it and distinguish letter from spirit; fish with fins and scales are converted gentiles; the forbidden birds are false contemplatives; the creeping things are the earthly-minded; and the carcasses are sinful actions, from which one is cleansed by repentance.
Book 4, chapter 13 (printed XII in Migne)Hesychius of Jerusalem · ca. 412-450 · On Leviticus 13 Hesychius reads leprosy as sin and transgression, the man partly leprous as the Jewish people and the man wholly covered as the Gentile freed from the letter of the law, and the leprosy of head, beard, and garments as errors in doctrine and pride or vainglory spoiling the virtues.
Book 4, chapter 14Hesychius of Jerusalem · ca. 412-450 · Hesychius reads the cleansing of the leper in Leviticus 14 as Christ's work: the two sparrows are his humanity and divinity, the rites figure baptism, repentance and the Trinity, the poor man's offering is meditation on the law, and the leprous house is a church infected by false doctrine.
Book 5, chapter 15Hesychius of Jerusalem · ca. 412-450 · On Leviticus 15 Hesychius reads the man with a flow of seed as a teacher who corrupts doctrine, the emission of intercourse as teaching the Jewish letter, and the woman's flow of blood as idolatry and pagan teaching, with repentance and Christ's grace as their cleansing.
Book 5, chapter 16Hesychius of Jerusalem · ca. 412-450 · On Leviticus 16 Hesychius reads the Day of Atonement as the sacrifice of Christ: the veil is his flesh, the calf and the slain goat his humanity offered for Israel and all mankind, the scapegoat his impassible divinity, and the prohibition of entering at all times a warning against prying into God's substance.
Book 6, chapter 20Hesychius of Jerusalem · ca. 412-450 · On Leviticus 20 Hesychius explains the penalties for Molech worship, sorcery, cursing parents, adultery, incest and other sexual sins, and reads them spiritually as warnings against corrupting disciples, spiritual adultery against Christ's bride the church, exposing others' sins, and pagan wisdom.
City of God 1.27Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Augustine reduces to absurdity the argument that suicide is right to avoid sin, since it would require urging the newly baptized to kill themselves.
City of God 13.4Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · The baptized still die so that faith may remain faith and martyrs may conquer the fear of death; by grace the penalty of sin becomes the martyr's weapon of righteousness.
City of God 13.7Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Martyrdom for Christ avails the unbaptized for forgiveness as baptism does, by grace, and exceeds the merit of deathbed baptism, though death itself remains no good.
City of God 13.23Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Adam was created with an animal body, mortal only through sin, not a spiritual one; the spiritual body is Christ's risen body, which believers receive now in sacrament and hope and fully at the resurrection.
City of God 15.26Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · The ark, with its human proportions, its side door, and its three stories, is a figure of Christ and of the Church saved through the wood of the cross.
City of God 16.27Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · An uncircumcised infant 'perishes' not for his own fault but because all broke God's first covenant in Adam; circumcision signified the regeneration that frees from original sin.
City of God 21.16Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Baptized children who die before the age of reason suffer no punishment after death; older believers must fight their vices by grace; purifying punishments occur only before the last judgment, and eternal fire varies with deserts.
City of God 21.20Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Augustine reports the view that those baptized in the catholic church, even if they later fall into heresy or idolatry, will eventually be saved.
City of God 21.25Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Neither heretics nor lapsed catholics nor catholics living wickedly will be saved by the sacraments alone: those who do the works of the flesh will not inherit the kingdom, and only those who abide in Christ truly eat his body.
On Faith and Works 1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 413 · Augustine states the view he will answer: that anyone, even one openly persisting in grave sin, should be baptized first and taught morals afterwards, and will be saved “as through fire.”
On Faith and Works 2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 413 · The occasion of the dispute: some wanted to baptize those remarried after divorce, whose unions Christ calls adultery, and extended this to all unrepentant sinners.
On Faith and Works 8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 413 · A married candidate who refused abstinence during the days of preparation would not be baptized; how then can an adulterer who refuses to amend be admitted?
On Faith and Works 9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 413 · Except at the point of death, the time before baptism is precisely when converts should be taught how to live; the catechumenate exists for this.
On Faith and Works 10Augustine of Hippo · ca. 413 · A woman who unknowingly marries another's husband becomes an adulteress only once she knows; ending such unions corrects sin rather than dissolving marriages, since in the church marriage is a sacrament.
On Faith and Works 11Augustine of Hippo · ca. 413 · The apostles' letters, written to the baptized, contain both faith and morals; putting faith first reflects that good life follows faith, not that morals should be taught only after baptism.
On Faith and Works 12Augustine of Hippo · ca. 413 · Peter's call at Pentecost included “Repent,” which means putting off the old life; repentance is fruitless for one who persists in adultery.
On Faith and Works 13Augustine of Hippo · ca. 413 · Peter's call to repent and to be rescued from a crooked generation required a change of life before baptism, not only faith.
On Faith and Works 14Augustine of Hippo · ca. 413 · The eunuch's short confession did not exclude further teaching: to “preach Jesus” includes both the whole creed and how believers must live.
On Faith and Works 16Augustine of Hippo · ca. 413 · The two great commandments cannot be split between candidates and the baptized, since love of God and love of neighbor imply each other.
On Faith and Works 17Augustine of Hippo · ca. 413 · The Red Sea typology supports repentance before baptism: leaving Egypt signifies renouncing sin, and the law given after the crossing included both the worship of God and moral commands.
On Faith and Works 18Augustine of Hippo · ca. 413 · No one would baptize an idolater who refused to give up idolatry; for the same reason the sexually immoral who refuse to amend must not be baptized, since both are excluded from God's kingdom.
On Faith and Works 19Augustine of Hippo · ca. 413 · John the Baptist taught soldiers and tax collectors how to live before baptizing them, showing that moral instruction belongs to preparation for baptism.
On Faith and Works 25Augustine of Hippo · ca. 413 · If faith alone saved through fire, even persistent adulterers and prostitutes should be baptized, and the many texts excluding the wicked from God's kingdom and the judgment of Matthew 25 would be false.
On Faith and Works 29Augustine of Hippo · ca. 413 · Augustine's interpretation, whether the purifying pain is in this life or after it, avoids promising salvation to the unrepentant wicked.
On Faith and Works 30Augustine of Hippo · ca. 413 · The Canaanite woman was praised because Christ saw her changed; believing in Christ means faith working through love, not the dead faith of demons.
On Faith and Works 31Augustine of Hippo · ca. 413 · Refusing baptism to those who profess to persist in adultery is not uprooting the weeds early but refusing to sow them; such people themselves refuse to come to Christ.
On Faith and Works 32Augustine of Hippo · ca. 413 · Refusing baptism to an adulterer who will not change is not the lazy servant's fault; admitting him would teach that unrepentant adulterers inherit the kingdom, a “bad net” pastors must avoid.
On Faith and Works 33Augustine of Hippo · ca. 413 · Excluding the openly unrepentant from baptism is not new but the church's ancient custom for prostitutes and actors; where adulterers are carelessly admitted, the practice should be corrected, not extended.
On Faith and Works 34Augustine of Hippo · ca. 413 · Even those who treat only unchastity, idolatry, and murder as deadly must count adultery among them.
On Faith and Works 35Augustine of Hippo · ca. 413 · Augustine distinguishes manifest adultery, which bars from baptism, from doubtful cases: marriage to unbelievers, Herod's union, a faithful concubine, and a man who remarries after putting away an adulterous wife, where Scripture is obscure and error may be venial.
On Faith and Works 36Augustine of Hippo · ca. 413 · The right order is faith in the Trinity, repentance from dead works, and forgiveness in baptism, which forgives sin but does not permit it.
On Faith and Works 37Augustine of Hippo · ca. 413 · The absence of an explicit apostolic rule on remarried converts proves nothing; Peter's call to leave a crooked generation covers adultery, and John's demands on tax collectors show a fortiori that adultery cannot be allowed.
On Faith and Works 47Augustine of Hippo · ca. 413 · Those who seek baptism while professing to keep their adulteries are worse than backsliders: they refuse to leave Sodom at all, and sinning knowingly aggravates guilt.
On Faith and Works 48Augustine of Hippo · ca. 413 · Life must accord with baptism; there are grave sins requiring excommunication, lesser ones healed by rebuke, and daily sins forgiven through the Lord's Prayer.
On Faith and Works 49Augustine of Hippo · ca. 413 · Conclusion: the wicked are tolerated without abandoning discipline; candidates must be taught how to live as well as what to believe; eternal life is not promised to dead faith, and those who openly intend to remain in adultery refuse Christ's gift.
Commentary on Jeremiah 1.79Jerome · ca. 414-419 · God calls Jerusalem to wash its heart with the water of baptism and repentance and to be rid of wicked thoughts.
Commentary on Jeremiah 3.73Jerome · ca. 414-419 · The one who trusts in the Lord, unlike those who hope in a mere-man Messiah, is like the tree by the waters of the Spirit and baptism, fruitful even in drought and persecution.
Chapter 10Anonymous · ca. 414-450 · The devil, unable to corrupt the virtuous by vice, tempted them to pride in free will; the Pelagian teaching that followed, condemned by the apostolic see, is summarized, along with a partial form of it that makes grace depend on merit.
Chapter 11Anonymous · ca. 414-450 · Against the Pelagian denial of original sin, the author cites Scripture, infant baptism, and circumcision to show that all are condemned in Adam unless reborn in Christ, distinguishing the visible form of baptism from its invisible power.
On Nature and Grace 4Augustine of Hippo · 415 · Augustine teaches that the grace of Christ is given freely, not for merit, and that those not freed by it, including unbaptized infants, are justly condemned for sin.
On Nature and Grace 9Augustine of Hippo · 415 · Augustine answers Pelagius with the case of an infant who died unbaptized, whom, he argues, Scripture does not absolve though it could not have been otherwise.
On Nature and Grace 48Augustine of Hippo · 415 · Augustine rejects Pelagius' limiting of “all have sinned” to Paul's contemporaries and explains that “all” in Romans 5:18 means that no one is justified except through Christ.
On Nature and Grace 60Augustine of Hippo · 415 · Augustine seizes on Pelagius' admission that the flesh is not contrary to the baptized, implying that it is contrary to the unbaptized, whose nature therefore needs the Savior.
On Nature and Grace 61Augustine of Hippo · 415 · Augustine shows from Galatians that the flesh is contrary even to the baptized, and calls for confession of the need of grace in the words of Romans 7:24–25.
On Nature and Grace 64Augustine of Hippo · 415 · Augustine turns Pelagius' reasoning against him: if the flesh is contrary to the unbaptized, his argument that two goods cannot conflict fails, and human nature needs Christ as physician.
On Nature and Grace 65Augustine of Hippo · 415 · Augustine argues from Romans 7 that the one crying “Who will deliver me?” seeks not only pardon for past sins but strength for the future, and must not be forbidden to beg Christ's mercy.
On Nature and Grace 67Augustine of Hippo · 415 · Augustine explains that the baptized still feel the flesh opposing the spirit, but those led by the Spirit are not under the law of fear but under the law of liberty and love.
On Man's Perfection in Righteousness 16Augustine of Hippo · ca. 415 · Augustine grants that man can be without sin, but asks when and through whom: not in this life, where all must pray “forgive us,” and not by himself, or Christ died in vain.
On Man's Perfection in Righteousness 35Augustine of Hippo · ca. 415 · The church will be without spot or wrinkle only when she is glorious at the resurrection; now Christ cleanses and heals her step by step.
Apologetic Book 13.2Orosius · ca. 415–416 · Only baptismal grace frees from past sin.
Seven Books of History against the Pagans 7.32.6Orosius · ca. 417–418 · Valens becomes an Arian.
Seven Books of History against the Pagans 7.33.7Orosius · ca. 417–418 · Count Theodosius is baptized and executed.
On the Proceedings of Pelagius 4Augustine of Hippo · 417 · Even if Pelagius meant the teaching given before baptism, the baptized infants, who are without personal sin yet know nothing, refute his written statement.
On the Proceedings of Pelagius 23Augustine of Hippo · 417 · The next charges were the propositions of Caelestius condemned at Carthage and the Sicilian propositions Augustine had answered in his letter to Hilary.
On the Proceedings of Pelagius 24Augustine of Hippo · 417 · Pelagius anathematized the propositions of Caelestius and the Sicilian propositions, and the synod declared his answer sufficient; so these errors stand condemned.
On the Proceedings of Pelagius 25Augustine of Hippo · 417 · Augustine recalls his earlier writings and preaching against these errors, especially on infant baptism, and notes that the Eastern bishops acquitted Pelagius only because he condemned them.
On the Proceedings of Pelagius 28Augustine of Hippo · 417 · Pelagius explained that the church is cleansed in baptism and the Lord wishes her to remain so; the bishops approved this, without ruling on the time of prayer between baptism and the kingdom.
On the Proceedings of Pelagius 57Augustine of Hippo · 417 · Pelagius's own summary of his defense, sent to Augustine, omitted his anathema of Caelestius's propositions, leaving room to think they could still be defended.
On the Proceedings of Pelagius 65Augustine of Hippo · 417 · Recapitulation of all the propositions Pelagius anathematized, which the synod thus condemned as contrary to the church's faith.
Memorandum against Caelestius 3Paulinus of Milan · 417/418 · Caelestius's denial of original sin and of infants' need of baptism is opposed by Pelagius's own disavowal at Diospolis, by Cyprian, Ambrose, Gregory, Innocent and Zosimus.
On the Grace of Christ and On Original Sin 1.32Augustine of Hippo · 418 · Augustine turns to the letter and statement of faith Pelagius sent to Pope Innocent, which answer charges about infant baptism and about excluding God's help.
On the Grace of Christ and On Original Sin 1.35Augustine of Hippo · 418 · Pelagius's statement that infants are baptized with the same words, or even for the forgiveness of sins, still leaves him denying they have any sin to be forgiven.
On the Grace of Christ and On Original Sin 1.36Augustine of Hippo · 418 · Caelestius's statement at Rome shows that confessing infant baptism for forgiveness can go with denying original sin; Pelagius's 'we always need God's help' remains ambiguous.
On the Grace of Christ and On Original Sin 1.43Augustine of Hippo · 418 · Pelagius explains Romans 7 as spoken by one under the law, freed by forgiveness in baptism and by imitating Christ's example, which shows he places grace in example rather than inward help.
On the Grace of Christ and On Original Sin 2.1Augustine of Hippo · 418 · Augustine opens book 2, on original sin, by warning that the Pelagians grant infant baptism for forgiveness of sins while denying that infants inherit any sin.
On the Grace of Christ and On Original Sin 2.3Augustine of Hippo · 418 · Augustine quotes the minutes of the Carthaginian hearing of 411, where Caelestius, questioned by Aurelius and the deacon Paulinus, called the transmission of sin an open question while affirming that infants must be baptized.
On the Grace of Christ and On Original Sin 2.4Augustine of Hippo · 418 · Caelestius granted infant baptism but would not confess that Adam's sin passes to infants.
On the Grace of Christ and On Original Sin 2.5Augustine of Hippo · 418 · Caelestius's Roman statement confessed infant baptism for the forgiveness of sins, words that seem to imply original sin.
On the Grace of Christ and On Original Sin 2.6Augustine of Hippo · 418 · Caelestius explained that he confessed infant baptism for forgiveness only to avoid two kinds of baptism, while denying that any sin is inherited.
On the Grace of Christ and On Original Sin 2.12Augustine of Hippo · 418 · Augustine quotes the minutes of the Synod of Diospolis, where Pelagius anathematized the propositions of Caelestius, including that Adam's sin harmed only himself and that newborns are as Adam was before his sin.
On the Grace of Christ and On Original Sin 2.17Augustine of Hippo · 418 · The judges acquitted Pelagius because they took his anathemas in the Catholic sense; what they acquitted was not what he actually held.
On the Grace of Christ and On Original Sin 2.19Augustine of Hippo · 418 · Pelagius misstated the charge against him: the issue is not whether infants are baptized but whether unbaptized infants are under Adam's condemnation and need cleansing from original sin.
On the Grace of Christ and On Original Sin 2.20Augustine of Hippo · 418 · Pelagius protests that no one would deny infants baptism or the kingdom, words that seemed orthodox but prove ambiguous.
On the Grace of Christ and On Original Sin 2.21Augustine of Hippo · 418 · The real question is not whether infants need baptism for the kingdom but whether it cleanses them of original sin; Pelagius's 'common redemption' is ambiguous.
On the Grace of Christ and On Original Sin 2.22Augustine of Hippo · 418 · Pelagius's phrase about infants born to 'an uncertain life' at first seemed to imply that unbaptized infants suffer eternal death and hence have original sin.
On the Grace of Christ and On Original Sin 2.23Augustine of Hippo · 418 · Pelagius was known to say that he knew where unbaptized infants do not go but not where they do go, so his words could still hide his denial of original sin.
On the Grace of Christ and On Original Sin 2.24Augustine of Hippo · 418 · Pelagius's 'same sacramental words' implied only verbal forgiveness for infants; Zosimus's circular letter later condemned passages from his Expositions of Romans denying inherited sin.
On the Grace of Christ and On Original Sin 2.26Augustine of Hippo · 418 · Caelestius claimed that the transmission of sin was an open question outside the faith, so that error on it would not be heresy.
On the Grace of Christ and On Original Sin 2.35Augustine of Hippo · 418 · God's threat that an uncircumcised infant would perish from his people cannot be just unless infants inherit guilt, since they have committed no sin of their own.
On the Grace of Christ and On Original Sin 2.36Augustine of Hippo · 418 · The penalty cannot be for sins in a previous life, as Platonists suggest, since the unborn have done nothing; it is for Adam's debt, and circumcision on the eighth day with a stone knife prefigured Christ.
On the Grace of Christ and On Original Sin 2.37Augustine of Hippo · 418 · Baptism in Christ is the true circumcision, freeing infants from the debt contracted by carnal birth through Christ, who was made 'sin', that is, a sacrifice for sin.
On the Grace of Christ and On Original Sin 2.44Augustine of Hippo · 418 · Concupiscence remains in the baptized but no longer harms them, while it makes their offspring guilty until they too are reborn; its full removal awaits the resurrection, to which baptism leads.
On the Grace of Christ and On Original Sin 2.45Augustine of Hippo · 418 · Baptized parents still beget children guilty of the inherited fault, as olive seeds produce wild olives; the church's exorcism and renunciation in infant baptism show that infants are freed from the devil's power.
Sermon to the People of the Church of Caesarea 2Augustine of Hippo · 418 · Converts are received not as heretics but as changed men; their baptism and ordination bear God’s mark, not Donatus’s, like the emperor’s brand on a deserter, and so are not repeated.
Sermon to the People of the Church of Caesarea 3Augustine of Hippo · 418 · The Donatists have baptism and faith, but without love these profit nothing (1 Cor 13:2); love moves the church to seek them.
Sermon to the People of the Church of Caesarea 4Augustine of Hippo · 418 · Augustine seeks Emeritus as a lost brother bearing the Lord’s mark, so that his baptism, the “inscription of peace,” may profit him once discord is expelled.
Sermon to the People of the Church of Caesarea 5Augustine of Hippo · 418 · Augustine recognizes Emeritus’s baptism but asks him to prove love by unity; like the handmaids’ sons whom Rachel and Leah owned, those born outside belong to the one mother if they are not proud like Ishmael.
Sermon to the People of the Church of Caesarea 6Augustine of Hippo · 418 · Outside the Catholic Church one may have sacraments and faith but not salvation; even death for refusing to sacrifice to idols would not win a schismatic the martyr’s crown.
Sermon to the People of the Church of Caesarea 8Augustine of Hippo · 418 · Augustine defends a “persecution” of those who blaspheme the church, citing the psalms, and recalls how the Donatist bishop Petilian forcibly baptized and ordained a Catholic catechumen.
Letter 5, chapter 3Boniface I, bishop of Rome · 418–422 · Boniface commends the bishops who accepted his letters, among them Adelphius and Perigenes, whose rejection by Patras God turned to his elevation at Corinth.
On Adulterous Marriages 1.33Augustine of Hippo · ca. 419–421 · Augustine advises that dying catechumens who can no longer ask for baptism should be baptized, as infants are, while not condemning more cautious clergy.
On Adulterous Marriages 1.34Augustine of Hippo · ca. 419–421 · Augustine explains “Do not give what is holy to dogs,” and rules that dying catechumens living in adulterous second marriages may be baptized, and dying penitents reconciled.
On Adulterous Marriages 2.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 419–421 · The marriage bond survives separation as baptism survives excommunication; adultery is a death of the soul, not the death that frees a spouse to remarry.
On Adulterous Marriages 2.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 419–421 · Against Pollentius's objection, Augustine argues that a husband may and should be reconciled to a repentant adulterous wife, since Christ forgave the adulteress.
On Adulterous Marriages 2.16Augustine of Hippo · ca. 419–421 · Augustine answers the objection that forbidding remarriage tempts men to murder: the same objection would apply to the undisputed adultery of marrying a wife unjustly divorced.
Against Gaudentius, Bishop of the Donatists 1.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 419–420 · Gaudentius vows to die in his church if force is used; Augustine answers that the Donatists hold true baptism in error, and that rushing to death when urged toward life is madness.
Against Gaudentius, Bishop of the Donatists 1.10Augustine of Hippo · ca. 419–420 · Augustine answers the greeting of Gaudentius’s second letter.
Against Gaudentius, Bishop of the Donatists 1.13Augustine of Hippo · ca. 419–420 · Converts from Donatism are not rebaptized, since their baptism bears the royal mark, but the love of unity cleanses them so that their baptism now profits them.
Against Gaudentius, Bishop of the Donatists 1.46Augustine of Hippo · ca. 419–420 · Wis 5:1–9 promises vindication to the just, not to all who suffer; Donatists who kill themselves, including pregnant nuns, imitate Judas rather than the martyrs.
Against Gaudentius, Bishop of the Donatists 1.54Augustine of Hippo · ca. 419–420 · Augustine challenges Gaudentius to explain the Donatists’ acceptance of the Maximianists Felician and Praetextatus and their baptism, while rejecting the baptism of the apostolic churches.
Against Gaudentius, Bishop of the Donatists 2.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 419–420 · The council of Bagai condemned Felician by name, yet the Donatists later accepted his baptism; Gaudentius cannot place him among those given a grace period.
Against Gaudentius, Bishop of the Donatists 2.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 419–420 · In Cyprian’s time Stephen of Rome received heretics without rebaptism and Cyprian stayed in communion with him; if the church did not perish then, the Donatists had no reason to leave it.
Against Gaudentius, Bishop of the Donatists 2.9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 419–420 · Cyprian erred on rebaptism, but his love, peaceableness, and martyrdom in unity show he was a fruitful branch the Father pruned, as Peter was corrected by Paul.
Against Gaudentius, Bishop of the Donatists 2.11Augustine of Hippo · ca. 419–420 · Baptism given among the Donatists remains holy, like the temple vessels in Babylon and the captured ark; as Paul kept true sayings of pagan poets, the church keeps the truth while rejecting the error.
On the Soul and Its Origin 1.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 419–420 · Appeal to God’s foreknowledge cannot explain why God would plunge innocent souls into sinful flesh.
On the Soul and Its Origin 1.9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 419–420 · If the soul’s desert was good, grace is not grace; if bad, there was evil desert before sin; Victor must retract.
On the Soul and Its Origin 1.10Augustine of Hippo · ca. 419–420 · Victor promises heaven to unbaptized infants and prescribes eucharistic offerings for them; Augustine replies that only baptism or martyrdom makes a member of Christ.
On the Soul and Its Origin 1.11Augustine of Hippo · ca. 419–420 · The penitent thief counts as a martyr baptized in blood (or perhaps by the water from Christ’s side); his case gives no ground for promising heaven or a middle place to unbaptized infants.
On the Soul and Its Origin 1.12Augustine of Hippo · ca. 419–420 · The Dinocrates story is not canonical and does not say the boy was unbaptized; he may have lapsed after baptism.
On the Soul and Its Origin 1.13Augustine of Hippo · ca. 419–420 · Even granting offerings for the unbaptized, Victor cannot account for the countless infants of unbelievers who die unbaptized with no one to offer for them.
On the Soul and Its Origin 1.14Augustine of Hippo · ca. 419–420 · Victor must choose between saying unbaptized infants are freed from original sin or that a just God damns wholly innocent souls.
On the Soul and Its Origin 1.15Augustine of Hippo · ca. 419–420 · Augustine rejects four explanations, including pre-existent sin and condemnation for sins God foresaw but that were never committed.
On the Soul and Its Origin 1.16Augustine of Hippo · ca. 419–420 · Excluding four false answers leaves Victor only Pelagianism; better to share Augustine’s hesitation about the soul’s origin.
On the Soul and Its Origin 1.33Augustine of Hippo · ca. 419–420 · The view of new souls may be defended, but not in Victor’s way, whose errors Augustine lists.
On the Soul and Its Origin 1.34Augustine of Hippo · ca. 419–420 · Defenders of new souls must avoid the four errors and find certain Scripture, or else confess ignorance rather than fall into Pelagianism.
On the Soul and Its Origin 2.11Augustine of Hippo · ca. 419–420 · Victor’s words imply both that the soul had a blessed state before the flesh and that it deserved to be defiled, contradicting his own denial of pre-existence.
On the Soul and Its Origin 2.13Augustine of Hippo · ca. 419–420 · Victor applies Wisdom 4 to infants who die unbaptized, implying absurdly that baptism would have corrupted them and that God’s predestination can be thwarted.
On the Soul and Its Origin 2.14Augustine of Hippo · ca. 419–420 · Victor separates paradise and the Father’s mansions from the kingdom of heaven to give unbaptized infants a blessed place, citing the thief and Dinocrates.
On the Soul and Its Origin 2.15Augustine of Hippo · ca. 419–420 · Victor “decrees” eucharistic sacrifices for unbaptized infants on the example of 2 Maccabees, but those sacrifices were for the circumcised.
On the Soul and Its Origin 2.16Augustine of Hippo · ca. 419–420 · Victor goes further, allowing unbaptized souls the kingdom of heaven after the resurrection while admitting that Christ’s words in John 3:5 oppose it.
On the Soul and Its Origin 2.17Augustine of Hippo · ca. 419–420 · Victor, though admitting original sin, goes beyond the condemned Pelagians by promising unbaptized infants paradise and the kingdom, against John 3:5, Rom 5:18 and Mark 16:16.
On the Soul and Its Origin 2.18Augustine of Hippo · ca. 419–420 · Unable to reconcile God’s justice with infants’ damnation on his view, Victor scorned Augustine’s caution and was “shipwrecked” by promising them paradise and the kingdom.
On the Soul and Its Origin 2.21Augustine of Hippo · ca. 419–420 · The question of the soul’s origin remains open; Victor’s answer defames God’s nature and still cannot explain the infants of unbelievers.
On the Soul and Its Origin 3.10Augustine of Hippo · ca. 419–420 · Victor contradicts himself, and any desert of the soul before the flesh is not catholic.
On the Soul and Its Origin 3.12Augustine of Hippo · ca. 419–420 · Neither the thief nor Dinocrates proves that unbaptized infants are forgiven; either may have been baptized, and the Dinocrates account is not canonical.
On the Soul and Its Origin 3.13Augustine of Hippo · ca. 419–420 · Seventh error: those predestined to baptism cannot be snatched from God’s predestination.
On the Soul and Its Origin 3.14Augustine of Hippo · ca. 419–420 · Eighth error: Wisdom 4:11–14 concerns baptized saints who die young, not unbaptized infants.
On the Soul and Its Origin 3.17Augustine of Hippo · ca. 419–420 · Christ’s words to Nicodemus exclude the unreborn from the kingdom of God itself, so no mansion of God’s house is open to them.
On the Soul and Its Origin 3.19Augustine of Hippo · ca. 419–420 · Eleventh error: promising paradise and later the kingdom to the unbaptized, which even Pelagius did not dare.
On the Soul and Its Origin 3.22Augustine of Hippo · ca. 419–420 · Augustine lists Victor’s eleven errors.
On the Soul and Its Origin 4.16Augustine of Hippo · ca. 419–420 · Augustine prefers to leave the soul’s origin hidden rather than aid heretics, holding only that all born of Adam are condemned unless reborn in Christ, according to God’s predestination.
On the Soul and Its Origin 4.38Augustine of Hippo · ca. 419–420 · Augustine repeats the eleven errors, urges Victor to learn not to know, and restates his own positions.
On Marriage and Concupiscence 1.21Augustine of Hippo · ca. 419–421 · As the olive's seed produces a wild olive, so regenerated parents beget children who contract original sin and need regeneration.
On Marriage and Concupiscence 1.22Augustine of Hippo · ca. 419–421 · The church's exorcism and renunciation at infant baptism show that infants are under the devil's power through original sin until baptized.
On Marriage and Concupiscence 1.25Augustine of Hippo · ca. 419–421 · In the baptized, concupiscence is no longer sin unless it is consented to; it is called sin because it comes from sin and leads to sin.
On Marriage and Concupiscence 1.28Augustine of Hippo · ca. 419–421 · In baptism concupiscence is forgiven as to its guilt but remains, like a languor after illness, until the body is fully healed.
On Marriage and Concupiscence 1.29Augustine of Hippo · ca. 419–421 · As past sins remain in guilt until forgiven, so concupiscence can remain in act after baptism while its guilt is taken away.
On Marriage and Concupiscence 1.37Augustine of Hippo · ca. 419–421 · Like the olive whose seed yields a wild olive, the forgiven parent passes on to the child the guilt he no longer bears, until the child is reborn.
On Marriage and Concupiscence 1.38Augustine of Hippo · ca. 419–421 · Baptism, given once, is the ground for the forgiveness of all later sins and will finally cleanse the church of every spot, including concupiscence itself.
On Marriage and Concupiscence 2.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 419–421 · Augustine notes that his opponent omitted the words that charge the Pelagians with denying that infants need baptism for the forgiveness of sin.
On Marriage and Concupiscence 2.24Augustine of Hippo · ca. 419–421 · The penalty for an uncircumcised infant shows original sin; circumcision, like baptism later, signified cleansing from it through faith in the coming Mediator.
On Marriage and Concupiscence 2.33Augustine of Hippo · ca. 419–421 · In denying that infants are under the devil, Julian accuses the whole church, which exorcises infants at baptism.
On Marriage and Concupiscence 2.50Augustine of Hippo · ca. 419–421 · Infant exorcism and many Scriptures teaching that all are born under sin are older than Manichaeism and belong to the catholic faith.
On Marriage and Concupiscence 2.51Augustine of Hippo · ca. 419–421 · Ambrose and Cyprian, who wrote before Manichaeism reached the Roman world, taught original sin and infant baptism for its forgiveness.
On Marriage and Concupiscence 2.58Augustine of Hippo · ca. 419–421 · Original sin, forgiven in baptized parents, is still passed to their children, as the olive's seed yields a wild olive.
The Institutes 12.18John Cassian · ca. 419–426 · We must thank God not only for creation, free will, baptism, and the law, but for his daily grace that protects, enlightens, draws, and redirects our will.
Lausiac History 37Palladius of Helenopolis · ca. 419-420 · Sarapion the Sindonite sells himself as a slave to convert actors and a Manichaean, tests the Athenians and sailors with his poverty, and humbles a proud recluse in Rome.
Lausiac History 45Palladius of Helenopolis · ca. 419-420 · Philoromus of Galatia, son of a slave woman, defies Julian, conquers his passions by enclosure and abstinence, earns his own bread by copying, and makes pilgrimages to Rome, Alexandria, and Jerusalem.
Against Lying 40Augustine of Hippo · ca. 420 · Not even to bring someone to baptism may one deceive his guards by a lie, just as one may not use sexual immorality for that end; the child of God keeps from lying as from sin, which will be wholly overcome at the resurrection.
Against Lying 41Augustine of Hippo · ca. 420 · Lies must be avoided or repented of, never taught; perjury and blasphemy are never permitted, not even to bring someone to baptism, and Consentius should refute the Libra and never seek heretics by lies.
Against Two Letters of the Pelagians 1.26Augustine of Hippo · ca. 420–421 · Augustine answers Julian's charge that Catholics say baptism only 'shaves' sins, affirming that baptism forgives all sins.
Against Two Letters of the Pelagians 1.27Augustine of Hippo · ca. 420–421 · Augustine explains that concupiscence remaining after baptism is called sin only because it came from sin and inclines to sin, and that its guilt is forgiven in baptism.
Against Two Letters of the Pelagians 1.28Augustine of Hippo · ca. 420–421 · Augustine explains that daily sins after baptism are cleansed by the Lord's Prayer and almsgiving, and that many believers are without crime but none without sin.
Against Two Letters of the Pelagians 1.30Augustine of Hippo · ca. 420–421 · Augustine accepts Julian's statement that marriage is from God but rejects his inference that infants contract no sin.
Against Two Letters of the Pelagians 1.40Augustine of Hippo · ca. 420–421 · Augustine argues that the Pelagian view of infant baptism denies original sin, since Scripture ties salvation and life to baptism and the Eucharist.
Against Two Letters of the Pelagians 1.41Augustine of Hippo · ca. 420–421 · Augustine agrees that baptism removes all sins but insists that the Pelagians deny that it frees infants from inherited guilt.
Against Two Letters of the Pelagians 2.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 420–421 · Augustine shows that Manichees and Pelagians both attack grace, baptism, and Christ's flesh, though in opposite ways.
Against Two Letters of the Pelagians 2.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 420–421 · Augustine quotes Pope Innocent's letter to the Council of Carthage and shows that Caelestius, by professing agreement with it, bound himself to accept original sin.
Against Two Letters of the Pelagians 2.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 420–421 · Augustine quotes Innocent's letter to the Numidian bishops denying eternal life to unbaptized infants and presses Caelestius with the dilemma it raises.
Against Two Letters of the Pelagians 2.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 420–421 · Augustine argues that the Roman church was consistent under Innocent and Zosimus, and that the Pelagians, not the Roman clergy, have abandoned the faith.
Against Two Letters of the Pelagians 2.11Augustine of Hippo · ca. 420–421 · Augustine argues from infant baptism, where no merit can be claimed, that unmerited grace is neither fate nor respect of persons.
Against Two Letters of the Pelagians 2.14Augustine of Hippo · ca. 420–421 · Augustine imagines twins of a prostitute, one baptized and one not, to show that only God's grace or just wrath can explain their different fates.
Against Two Letters of the Pelagians 2.16Augustine of Hippo · ca. 420–421 · Augustine argues that the unbaptized twin, who had no future works to be foreseen, silently refutes the Pelagian denial of original sin.
Against Two Letters of the Pelagians 3.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 420–421 · Augustine answers the charge that baptism leaves people partly sons of the devil, distinguishing 'sons of the world' from 'sons of the devil' and explaining that unbelief is what makes the latter.
Against Two Letters of the Pelagians 3.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 420–421 · Augustine explains that baptism forgives all sins but does not remove the weakness that remains, which will be removed only in the final regeneration at the resurrection.
Against Two Letters of the Pelagians 3.26Augustine of Hippo · ca. 420–421 · Augustine refuses to let the obscure question of the soul's origin undermine the clear doctrine of original sin and infant baptism.
Against Two Letters of the Pelagians 4.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 420–421 · Augustine summarizes the Pelagian bishops' statements under his five heads and shows the three errors they are meant to support.
Against Two Letters of the Pelagians 4.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 420–421 · Augustine argues that the Pelagians' correct statements against the Manichees are made useless by their denial of original sin.
Against Two Letters of the Pelagians 4.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 420–421 · Augustine argues from Romans 5 that universal reconciliation through Christ presupposes universal sin inherited from Adam, including in infants.
Against Two Letters of the Pelagians 4.17Augustine of Hippo · ca. 420–421 · Augustine argues that the church, though cleansed in baptism, still prays daily for forgiveness and will be wholly without spot or wrinkle only in glory.
Against Two Letters of the Pelagians 4.23Augustine of Hippo · ca. 420–421 · Augustine cites Cyprian's synodal letter to Fidus, which approved baptizing infants before the eighth day because they contract Adam's sin, though not sins of their own.
Against Two Letters of the Pelagians 4.24Augustine of Hippo · ca. 420–421 · Augustine argues that Cyprian's words on paradise restored and infant baptism prove that he taught original sin, without condemning creation or marriage.
Against Two Letters of the Pelagians 4.28Augustine of Hippo · ca. 420–421 · Augustine argues that Cyprian, while praising the saints, taught that no one is sinless in this life and that perfect righteousness, peace, and joy belong to the kingdom to come.
Against Two Letters of the Pelagians 4.31Augustine of Hippo · ca. 420–421 · Augustine cites Ambrose to show that no one is perfectly sinless in this life and that full purity and the vision of God belong to the life to come.
Life of Porphyry 31Marcus the Deacon · ca. 420-430 · Aelia gives birth safely, and sixty-four members of her household are instructed and baptized.
Life of Porphyry 46Marcus the Deacon · ca. 420-430 · Eudoxia tells the bishops to present a petition to whoever carries the infant from his baptism; they ask for the destruction of the idols and privileges for the church.
Life of Porphyry 47Marcus the Deacon · ca. 420-430 · The city celebrates the baptism of the infant Theodosius; Porphyry reflects that heavenly glory surpasses this earthly splendor.
Life of Porphyry 72Marcus the Deacon · ca. 420-430 · Many pagans seek baptism, some from fear; some Christians object to receiving them.
Life of Porphyry 74Marcus the Deacon · ca. 420-430 · Porphyry instructs and baptizes about three hundred converts in that year.
Life of Porphyry 100Marcus the Deacon · ca. 420-430 · Salaphtha, her aunt and her grandmother are enrolled as catechumens and supported by the church.
Life of Porphyry 101Marcus the Deacon · ca. 420-430 · After her baptism Salaphtha refuses marriage, calling Christ her true bridegroom.
Carmina 3.60–89Orientius of Auch · 5th-6th century(?) · The cross is Christ's trophy; its four arms signify his rule over the world, its shape the hands of one praying, and its Greek letters, the rho, the iota, alpha and omega, Christ himself; blood and water from his side signify martyrdom and baptism.
Carmina 4.126–146Orientius of Auch · 5th-6th century(?) · The explanation of Christ's names continues, from Head to Eagle, including the corner-stone joining two peoples, the second Adam, the high priest who offers himself, and the fish as author of baptism.
Commonitorium 2.301–330Orientius of Auch · ca. 420-450 · The wicked are punished even before the judgment, and idolaters most of all, with undying worms and smoke; the gentle and charitable will shine like the sun in white robes, above all those who kept their baptism chaste.
On Care for the Dead 15Augustine of Hippo · ca. 421–422 · Augustine tells of Curma of Tullium, who in a deathlike trance saw the dead but also living people, including Augustine, which shows that such visions present likenesses rather than the persons themselves.
Enchiridion (Handbook on Faith, Hope, and Love) 42Augustine of Hippo · ca. 421–423 · Baptism makes believers of every age die to sin and rise to new life, as Christ died and rose.
Enchiridion (Handbook on Faith, Hope, and Love) 43Augustine of Hippo · ca. 421–423 · Baptism is for all ages: infants die in it to original sin, adults also to their own sins.
Enchiridion (Handbook on Faith, Hope, and Love) 44Augustine of Hippo · ca. 421–423 · Scripture and poetry use the singular for the plural and the reverse, so “dying to sin” covers many sins, and “remission of sins” in infant baptism means the one original sin.
Enchiridion (Handbook on Faith, Hope, and Love) 45Augustine of Hippo · ca. 421–423 · Adam's one sin contained many: pride, sacrilege, murder, spiritual fornication, theft, and avarice.
Enchiridion (Handbook on Faith, Hope, and Love) 46Augustine of Hippo · ca. 421–423 · Infants may also be bound by their own parents' sins until regeneration; rebirth exists because birth is faulty, as Ps 51:5 says even of one born in lawful marriage.
Enchiridion (Handbook on Faith, Hope, and Love) 49Augustine of Hippo · ca. 421–423 · John's baptism did not regenerate; Christ, needing no rebirth, accepted baptism out of humility and death without sin, so that the devil might justly lose those he held.
Enchiridion (Handbook on Faith, Hope, and Love) 52Augustine of Hippo · ca. 421–423 · Romans 6 shows that baptism is a likeness of Christ's death and resurrection, so that all the baptized, infants included, die to sin and live to God.
Enchiridion (Handbook on Faith, Hope, and Love) 64Augustine of Hippo · ca. 421–423 · After baptism, which removes original and actual sin, the forgiveness of sins remains necessary throughout life, since even the saints, though free of crime, are not without sin.
Enchiridion (Handbook on Faith, Hope, and Love) 97Augustine of Hippo · ca. 421–423 · How can God will all to be saved when not all are? Not because human wills defeat his, for even when Jerusalem refused, he gathered those of her children whom he willed.
Enchiridion (Handbook on Faith, Hope, and Love) 119Augustine of Hippo · ca. 421–423 · Whenever regeneration comes, it forgives all past sins and original guilt; some receive God's help as soon as they receive the commandment.
Enchiridion (Handbook on Faith, Hope, and Love) 120Augustine of Hippo · ca. 421–423 · One who dies after receiving the sacrament of regeneration, even before being able to receive the commandment, is not held by death, for Christ is Lord of the living and the dead.
Discourse 1.109Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 437 · Following Hebrews 11:6, the church teaches faith first and explains the mysteries to the initiated.
Discourse 5.57Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 437 · Men and women share the same soul, laws, sacraments, and prizes of virtue.
Discourse 7.29Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 437 · Isaiah, like David, replaces sacrifice with something better: baptism.
Discourse 7.30Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 437 · Isaiah's 'wash yourselves' points to baptism.
Discourse 7.32Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 437 · God promises forgiveness, given through baptism by faith, not works.
Discourse 10.93Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 437 · The blessing promised to the patriarchs is fulfilled in the mission to all nations.
Book 2, lines 540–558Claudius Marius Victor · ca. 425-430 · Noah teaches his family how God sustained them in the ark without food or drink, the God who can make the wicked burn in water and the good cool in fire, and who will make water the means of rebirth.
Book 3, lines 761–789Claudius Marius Victor · ca. 425-430 · Fire falls on Sodom and its land until the burnt plain sinks into a lake; the poet asks whether the water that quenched the fire, and the Jordan that flows into it, the river of the first baptism, signify an end to punishment.
Sermon 10Peter Chrysologus · ca. 425-450 · Expounding Psalm 29, Chrysologus interprets ‘the young of rams’ as candidates for baptism and urges masters, parents, spouses, and friends to bring slaves, children, wives, and the unwilling to baptism during Lent.
Sermon 40Peter Chrysologus · ca. 425-450 · After the Lenten work of preparing candidates for baptism, Chrysologus preaches on the good shepherd (John 10:11), explaining that Christ's voluntary death conquered the devil and death, so that his persecuted sheep, the martyrs, will follow him to resurrection and glory.
Sermon 52Peter Chrysologus · ca. 425-450 · Continuing the healing of the possessed boy (Mark 9), Chrysologus explains that the ‘deaf and mute spirit’ is a demon blocking the boy's senses, not a bodily condition, that blaming the moon was the devil's deception, and that the boy figures the Gentiles freed by Christ, as in the baptismal rites of exorcism and the opening of the ears.
Sermon 55Peter Chrysologus · ca. 425-450 · This passage holds two sermons: on Luke 11:11–13, Chrysologus teaches God's fatherly love from the love of parents and animals, and reads the stone, serpent, and scorpion as what Christ became for unbelieving Jews; Sermon 56 begins the handing over of the Creed to candidates for baptism, urging them to learn it by heart, not in writing.
Sermon 57Peter Chrysologus · ca. 425-450 · In a sermon handing over the Creed to candidates for baptism, Chrysologus begins from Isaiah's unclean lips cleansed by the coal and then explains each article: the one God and Father, the eternal Son, Christ's names, the virgin birth, crucifixion, burial, resurrection, ascension, judgment, the Spirit, the Church, forgiveness, resurrection of the flesh, and eternal life, urging that the Creed be kept in memory, not on paper.
Sermon 58Peter Chrysologus · ca. 425-450 · In another sermon handing over the Creed, Chrysologus urges candidates to receive the faith by faith and to write it on their hearts, not on paper, and briefly explains each article, stressing the Son's coeternity, the virgin birth, the reality of Christ's death and resurrection, the Spirit's consubstantiality, and the resurrection of the flesh.
Sermon 59Peter Chrysologus · ca. 425-450 · Handing over the Creed, Chrysologus calls the candidates to purity like Israel before Sinai, explains each article (one God and eternal Son, the anointed Savior, the virgin birth, the cross and the three days, the Son's equality at the Father's right hand, judgment, the Spirit, the Church, forgiveness, bodily resurrection), and bids them keep the Creed in memory.
Sermon 60Peter Chrysologus · ca. 425-450 · Handing over the Creed at the end of Lent, Chrysologus encourages late candidates by the examples of the Canaanite woman, the eunuch, Cornelius, and the thief, contrasts Moses' song with the grace he brings, refutes heretics who make the Son later than the Father, and explains each article of the Creed, ending with the charge to keep it in memory.
Sermon 61Peter Chrysologus · ca. 425-450 · Handing over the Creed to candidates for baptism, Chrysologus explains each article briefly and forbids them to write it down.
Sermon 62Peter Chrysologus · ca. 425-450 · Chrysologus, speaking as a nurse to infants, explains the Creed as a contract of faith with God and comments on each article, warning against inquiring how the Son is begotten.
Sermon 67Peter Chrysologus · ca. 425-450 · Handing the Lord's Prayer to candidates for baptism, Chrysologus explains each petition and distinguishes Christ's sonship by nature from theirs by grace.
Sermon 68Peter Chrysologus · ca. 425-450 · Chrysologus explains the Lord's Prayer to candidates for baptism through Habakkuk's trembling at God's report; the passage also contains Sermon 69, which surveys God's condescension from Noah to the cross and begins explaining the Prayer again.
Sermon 70Peter Chrysologus · ca. 425-450 · Chrysologus explains the Lord's Prayer to candidates for baptism, stressing the boldness of calling God Father and reading the bread as Christ received at the altar.
Sermon 71Peter Chrysologus · ca. 425-450 · Chrysologus tells the candidates that the threefold confession of the Trinity has made them God's sons, explains each petition, and urges patient hope, since they have received the promise and not yet the reality.
Sermon 72Peter Chrysologus · ca. 425-450 · Chrysologus speaks of the awe of calling God Father, addresses the candidates as children still in the womb of the virgin church, and briefly explains each petition of the Lord's Prayer.
Sermon 73Peter Chrysologus · ca. 425-450 · At the paschal feast Chrysologus compares those the church bore in baptism earlier, now taken from milk, to weaned children, recalling the feasts for Isaac and Samuel, and reads Jacob's taking of the blessing as a figure of the church.
Sermon 80Peter Chrysologus · ca. 425-450 · Chrysologus explains why the women, not the apostles, first meet the risen Christ, contrasts the women's holy fear with the bribery of the guards, and reads the Great Commission as Christ's giving to his humanity what his divinity always had.
Sermon 82Peter Chrysologus · ca. 425-450 · On Mark's resurrection account Chrysologus explains the women's spices and fear, the sun rising early, the young man in white as a picture of the risen body, and Christ's appearing “in another form.”
Sermon 83Peter Chrysologus · ca. 425-450 · Chrysologus explains that the eleven “reclining” when Christ appeared were not feasting but prostrate in grief, and expounds the commission to preach, the faith required for baptism, and the signs that follow believers.
Sermon 104Peter Chrysologus · ca. 425-450 · Chrysologus condemns the rich fool who hoarded his harvest and urges the rich to store their goods with the poor; the passage also contains Sermon 105, on the bent woman healed on the sabbath, read as the church freed from the devil's burden by the laying on of hands.
Sermon 112Peter Chrysologus · ca. 425-450 · Expounding Rom 5:17–21, Chrysologus contrasts Adam and Christ and explains that the law, like a surgeon's knife, exposed and enlarged the wound of sin to send the sick to the physician; the passage also contains Sermon 113, on Rom 6:1–14, rejecting the idea of remaining in sin so that grace may abound.
Sermon 117Peter Chrysologus · ca. 425-450 · Expounding 1 Cor 15:45–50, Chrysologus contrasts the first Adam, formed from mud, with Christ, the last Adam born of the Virgin without pain or loss of virginity, and urges the reborn to bear the image of the heavenly man in conduct.
Sermon 137Peter Chrysologus · ca. 425-450 · Expounding Luke 3:2–14, Chrysologus explains why the word came “upon” John, contrasts John's baptism of repentance with Christ's regenerating baptism, applies the viper image to the synagogue, and presses John's commands to share clothing and food and to deal honestly as tax collectors and soldiers.
Sermon 152Peter Chrysologus · ca. 425-450 · On the slaughter of the Innocents (Matt 2:16), Chrysologus denounces Herod's tyranny and explains that Christ did not abandon the infants but sent them ahead as soldiers crowned before they could fight, their mothers sharing the martyrdom by their tears; martyrdom is therefore God's gift, not human merit.
Sermon 157Peter Chrysologus · ca. 425-450 · Explaining the feast of Epiphany as the threefold manifestation of Christ's Godhead, Chrysologus treats the magi, whose star was Christ's servant and whose gifts came from ancient tradition, the changing of water into wine at Cana, and the Father's voice and the Spirit's descent at Christ's baptism.
Sermon 158Peter Chrysologus · ca. 425-450 · Chrysologus explains that Christ came as an infant so as to be loved, not feared, yet Herod, the priests and the scribes were troubled even at a child; expounding Matt 2:3–12, he exposes Herod's secret plot, plays on “report” and the baptismal “renounce,” and interprets the magi's gifts.
Sermon 160Peter Chrysologus · ca. 425-450 · On the Epiphany, Chrysologus describes the magi abandoning astrology to worship the infant God with gifts, Christ's baptism with the Father's voice and the Spirit's descent, and the miracle at Cana as a figure of his blood, three testimonies to his Godhead.
Sermon 164Peter Chrysologus · ca. 425-450 · Expounding Luke 12:49–56, Chrysologus explains Christ's fire as a farmer's burning that clears the ground for the Gospel among the gentiles, his baptism as his passion, and the division of the household as the split between Church and Synagogue; the end of the sermon is lost.
Sermon 166Peter Chrysologus · ca. 425-450 · On the eve of Lent, Chrysologus explains the mystery of the number forty, from the flood, the manna, the spies, Moses, Elijah and Ezekiel to Christ's fast, and urges an even, moderate fast without novel excesses, with almsgiving for those who cannot fast.
Sermon 171Peter Chrysologus · ca. 425-450 · Expounding Mark 7:1–23, Chrysologus explains that the disciples were not careless but the Pharisees sought ritual washings in place of the one baptism, and that true defilement comes from the vices within the heart, which only Christ can drive out.
6.5Philostorgius · ca. 425-433 · Constantius, marching against Julian, falls ill at Mopsucrenae, is baptized by Euzoius and dies.
10.4Philostorgius · ca. 425-433 · The Eunomians rejected other groups' baptism and ordination and baptized with a single immersion into Christ's death.
Book 1, lines 43–67Sedulius · ca. 425-450 · Sedulius calls the Greeks away from the labyrinth of pagan worship to the waters of baptism that bear a hundredfold harvest, and begins a prayer to God the creator.
Book 1, lines 68–92Sedulius · ca. 425-450 · Sedulius praises God who made man, restored him by the food and drink of Christ's blood, and saved the world through the ark as a figure of baptism, and asks him to guide him on the narrow way to the fold of the good Shepherd.
Book 1, lines 141–162Sedulius · ca. 425-450 · The crossing of the sea was a baptism under Christ's leadership; Christ was the manna, the rock that gave water and the waters themselves; and Balaam's ass spoke.
Book 2, lines 150–174Sedulius · ca. 425-450 · Christ takes away sin as light dispels darkness; by his baptism he sanctifies the waters, and the Father's voice, the Son and the Spirit as a dove reveal the one triune God.
Book 2, lines 229–254Sedulius · ca. 425-450 · God chose the lowly; Christ taught the brief Lord's Prayer: calling God Father makes believers brothers and adopted sons; his name is hallowed by pure hearts; and his kingdom is the endless day of Christ's reign.
Book 4, lines 222–247Sedulius · ca. 425-450 · Christ, thirsty at the well, offers the Samaritan woman the living water of baptism; in the temple he sets free a woman caught in adultery, since none of her accusers is without sin, and tells her to sin no more.
Book 4, lines 248–270Sedulius · ca. 425-450 · One who returns to sin, like a dog to its vomit, loses forgiveness; Christ heals a man born blind with clay and the water of Siloam, a figure of humanity's blindness healed by Christ's flesh and baptism.
Book 5, lines 276–300Sedulius · ca. 425-450 · Death has lost its sting, for it did not reach Christ but Christ reached it; from his pierced side flow blood and water, the gifts of baptism and the Eucharist; he is buried, and his enemies fear the disciples will steal the body.
Book 5, lines 379–403Sedulius · ca. 425-450 · Christ lets doubting Thomas touch his wounds, showing he is no deceiver; at the sea he tells the disciples to cast their nets to the right, and the great catch, the fish, bread and fire are read as figures of the church and of baptism, the Eucharist and the Spirit.
Book 5, lines 404–428Sedulius · ca. 425-450 · After the meal Christ asks Peter three times whether he loves him and entrusts him with his sheep, undoing the threefold denial; he gives his disciples his peace and commands them to baptize all nations, then ascends from Bethany and sits at the Father's right hand.
Book 1, section 1Sedulius · ca. 425-450 · Since pagan poets celebrate lies and crimes, Sedulius, a singer of the Psalms, will tell the saving miracles of Christ, who is equal to the Father in power and glory, and he calls the Greeks from pagan philosophy and idolatry to the waters of baptism.
Book 1, section 2Sedulius · ca. 425-450 · Sedulius prays to God the creator, who restored fallen man through the food and drink of Christ's body and blood and prefigured baptism in the ark, asking him to guide him on the narrow way to the heavenly Jerusalem, though God's miracles are too many to tell.
Book 1, section 9Sedulius · ca. 425-450 · Israel crossed the sea on dry ground, a rudimentary baptism with Christ the Word as leader, who by his coming opened the depths of the old law to the safe path of the new teaching.
Book 2, section 12Sedulius · ca. 425-450 · At about thirty Christ, supposed son of Joseph but born of a virgin, comes to be baptized; John hails him as the Lamb who takes away sin, which Christ destroyed without bearing it as his own, and his baptism sanctified the waters.
Book 2, section 13Sedulius · ca. 425-450 · At Christ's baptism the heavens opened, showing that heaven is opened to the baptized; the dove signifies gentleness; and the Father's voice, the Son and the Spirit together reveal the one God in three persons.
Book 4, section 18Sedulius · ca. 425-450 · Thirsty at the well, Christ asks the Samaritan woman for water, reveals her many husbands, and offers the living water of baptism.
Book 4, section 20Sedulius · ca. 425-450 · Christ heals a man born blind with clay and the water of Siloam; spiritually, humanity is born blind from Eve and receives sight through Christ's flesh, born of the virgin, and baptism.
Book 5, section 11Sedulius · ca. 425-450 · Before Pilate Christ is accused of calling himself king; the people choose Barabbas, as they once chose Baal, and call his blood on themselves until baptism washes it away; Pilate, though he washes his hands, is guilty of putting Caesar before God.
Book 5, section 17Sedulius · ca. 425-450 · The title 'King of the Jews' in three languages proclaims one King in threefold speech; Pilate wrote 'of the Jews' to avoid offending Caesar, but spiritually it means Christ is King of all who become sons of Abraham, as Gentiles are grafted into the olive by the anointing of chrism.
Book 5, section 24Sedulius · ca. 425-450 · Christ's side is pierced and blood and water flow; body, blood and water are the three gifts of baptism and the Eucharist, by which believers become the temple of the Holy Spirit.
Book 5, section 35Sedulius · ca. 425-450 · The fish, bread and fire of the meal by the sea signify baptism, the Eucharist and the Holy Spirit, who came as fire at Pentecost.
Book 5, section 37Sedulius · ca. 425-450 · Christ commands the apostles to teach all nations and baptize them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
On Grace and Free Will 22Augustine of Hippo · ca. 426 · Infants receive grace in baptism with no prior merit, even struggling against it, while some children of believers die unbaptized; this rests on God's inscrutable judgments.
On Grace and Free Will 23Augustine of Hippo · ca. 426 · Why one infant is baptized and another not, or one baptized person survives to fall while another is taken, belongs to God's hidden judgments; God and Pharaoh both hardened Pharaoh's heart.
Retractations 1.20Augustine of Hippo · 426-427 · Reviewing his lost Against the Letter of Donatus, Augustine leaves the reader to choose between two interpretations of the rock in Matt 16:18 and corrects several historical statements about Donatus.
Retractations 2.18Augustine of Hippo · 426-427 · Reviewing On Baptism against the Donatists, Augustine clarifies the church “without spot or wrinkle,” doubts the example of the thief, and prefers Tyconius's reading of the vessels in a great house.
Retractations 2.19Augustine of Hippo · 426-427 · Augustine notes his brief reply to testimonies brought by Centurius from the Donatists.
Retractations 2.26Augustine of Hippo · 426-427 · Augustine describes his four books against the Donatist grammarian Cresconius, the fourth built on the case of the Maximianists.
Retractations 2.33Augustine of Hippo · 426-427 · Augustine explains how the Pelagian controversy led him to write On the Merits and Remission of Sins, on infant baptism and original sin, and why he at first spared Pelagius by name.
Retractations 2.34Augustine of Hippo · 426-427 · Reviewing On the One Baptism against Petilian, Augustine corrects the order of events in Constantine's hearings of Felix and Caecilianus.
Retractations 2.38Augustine of Hippo · 426-427 · Augustine describes On Faith and Works, written against the view that faith without good works suffices for eternal life.
Retractations 2.45Augustine of Hippo · 426-427 · Augustine explains why he published, after Jerome's death, his two inquiries to Jerome on the origin of the soul and on Jas 2:10.
Retractations 2.62Augustine of Hippo · 426-427 · Augustine describes his six books Against Julian, which answer Julian's charge of Manichaeism with patristic testimony, and corrects a name he gave from faulty memory.
The Conferences 5.22John Cassian · ca. 426–429 · The ten nations promised to Abraham add idolatry and blasphemy, which the unbaptized are subject to, and gluttony; the renouncing monk fights only the remaining seven.
The Conferences 20.8John Cassian · ca. 426–429 · Pinufius lists the many means of forgiveness after baptism and martyrdom, among them love, almsgiving, tears, confession, affliction, amendment, the prayers of the saints, converting others, forgiving others, and above all God’s mercy, and urges mortification.
The Conferences 23.15John Cassian · ca. 426–429 · Theonas argues that grave sins after baptism are cleansed only by long penance or punished eternally, so the daily “law of sin” in Romans 7, cured by Christ’s daily grace, must be the distraction of the saints from contemplation, which makes them wretched rather than guilty.
Chapter 6Prosper of Aquitaine · ca. 426-428 · Cornelius's piety before baptism was itself the work of grace; conversion to God is from God, not from us.
Chapter 12Prosper of Aquitaine · ca. 426-428 · There is no salvation apart from Christ; the free salvation of some baptized infants, while others die unbaptized, shows grace is not given by merit.
On Rebuke and Grace 6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 427 · Those who fall away after receiving faith cannot plead that perseverance was not given them: they lost grace by their own will; yet perseverance is God's gift, as Scripture and Cyprian's exposition of the Lord's Prayer show, and rebuke remains useful.
On Rebuke and Grace 7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 427 · Those who fall away are justly rebuked and condemned; the predestined, called according to God's purpose and separated from the mass of perdition by grace, persevere to the end and none of them perishes, while those who will not persevere were never among the elect.
On Rebuke and Grace 8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 427 · Why God gives perseverance to some of the regenerate and not to others, like why some infants are baptized and others not, is among his inscrutable but just judgments; Augustine confesses he does not know.
On the Predestination of the Saints 12Augustine of Hippo · ca. 428/429 · Infants and Christ himself refute merit before grace; the suggestion that infants are baptized or not according to merits they would have had if they had lived is absurd, since judgment is according to what one did in the body.
On the Predestination of the Saints 13Augustine of Hippo · ca. 428/429 · The theory that infants are baptized or not according to foreseen future repentance would undo original sin; even the Pelagians did not say it, since future merits that will never exist are no merits.
On the Predestination of the Saints 15Augustine of Hippo · ca. 428/429 · Christ himself is the brightest example of predestination and grace: his human nature was united to the Word with no prior merit; as he was predestined to be our Head, we are predestined to be his members.
Instructions 1.2Eucherius of Lyon · ca. 428-434 · The water, blood and Spirit of 1 John 5:8 are read either as baptism, martyrdom and the soul, or as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Instructions 1.5Eucherius of Lyon · ca. 428-434 · Paul rebaptized John's disciples because they were not baptized in the name of the Trinity; heretics baptized in that name receive only the laying on of hands.
Instructions 1.24Eucherius of Lyon · ca. 428-434 · Fire and water are persecution and martyrdom, or baptism and the Holy Spirit.
Instructions 1.44Eucherius of Lyon · ca. 428-434 · The eagle's renewal (a natural-history tale) figures our renewal by baptism or resurrection.
On the Gift of Perseverance 9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 428/429 · Why one infant, one sinner, or one believer receives grace or perseverance and another not is inscrutable, but certain: the one is predestined, the other not; Tyre and Sidon show that no one is judged by what he would have done, so unbaptized infants are condemned for original sin alone.
On the Gift of Perseverance 11Augustine of Hippo · ca. 428/429 · God helps infants he chose and not some adults who would have believed; mercy and judgment are both unsearchable but just; the case of infants is a valid example for adults; Augustine explains that in On Free Choice he left questions open against the Manichaeans, quoting his Retractations.
On the Gift of Perseverance 12Augustine of Hippo · ca. 428/429 · Grace is given by God's good pleasure, not by merit, as infants show: whether one infant is baptized and another not is neither fate nor chance nor parents' negligence but God's hidden judgment; Augustine answers the use of his early On Free Choice against him.
On the Gift of Perseverance 13Augustine of Hippo · ca. 428/429 · That some die unbaptized and others baptized, some persevere and others are kept until they fall, shows that grace to begin and to persevere is given by God's secret, just will; no one knows in this life that he belongs to the calling; even “Lift up your hearts” in the liturgy acknowledges God's gift.
Commonitorium 3Marius Mercator · 429-431 · Marius Mercator traces the denial of original sin from Theodore of Mopsuestia through Rufinus the Syrian to Pelagius, Caelestius, and Julian of Eclanum, whom Augustine refuted.
Commonitorium 4Marius Mercator · 429-431 · Marius explains that he has gathered his notes on Julian's books at Pientius's request, and answers Julian's 'making new' with Scripture's language of renewal and regeneration, which includes infants.
Commonitorium 10Marius Mercator · 429-431 · Julian's claim that only death passed to all contradicts his defence of Caelestius and makes him a traducian himself; his distinction of two deaths repeats the condemned theses of Pelagius and Caelestius.
Commonitorium 11Marius Mercator · 429-431 · Marius quotes Julian's earlier letter to Pope Zosimus, in which he condemned the Pelagian theses on Adam's death, original sin, and infants, and shows that Julian meant them in a sense of his own.
Commonitorium 14Marius Mercator · 429-431 · Marius argues that Julian's denial of original sin empties infant baptism of meaning, since every title of Christ (Saviour, Redeemer, Reconciler, Regenerator, Life) presupposes sin; he defends the twofold death from Adam with 1 Corinthians 15 and closes with Augustine's authority.
Mercator 36Marius Mercator · Greek original 429; Latin version after 431 · Mercator's memorandum to the church of Constantinople and the emperor recounts the condemnations of Caelestius and Pelagius at Carthage, Rome and in Palestine, quotes Pelagius's commentary on Romans and his letter to Livania, and calls on Julian to condemn them.
Lines 31–60Prosper of Aquitaine · ca. 429-432 · Prosper sets out the Pelagian teaching on nature, law, grace, and baptism, and then tells how the Fathers, led by Rome, condemned it.
Lines 151–180Prosper of Aquitaine · ca. 429-432 · Prosper accuses his opponents of secretly cherishing Pelagian views, and imagines the Pelagian exiles offering to accept original sin and infant baptism provided free choice be left unimpaired.
Lines 421–450Prosper of Aquitaine · ca. 429-432 · If grace rewarded merit it would choose only the just, but Christ came to seek the lost; deathbed converts baptized after wicked lives show that faith itself, and the will to be reborn, is grace's gift.
Lines 451–480Prosper of Aquitaine · ca. 429-432 · Faith, which creates the merit of the will, is born of God alone; Prosper attacks his opponents' view that seeking, asking, and believing before baptism are man's own, which makes grace a wage and no longer grace.
Lines 511–540Prosper of Aquitaine · ca. 429-432 · Prosper ironically lays out the Pelagian conclusions his opponents' premises imply, including that infants need no inner cleansing, and calls on them instead to confess that fallen nature is wounded and can rise only by Christ's grace.
Lines 601–630Prosper of Aquitaine · ca. 429-432 · Restored nature and merit come from God as gift, which we return to him; infants, who have no merits, show this, since grace brings some to baptism and leaves others, apart from any merit of their parents.
Lines 781–810Prosper of Aquitaine · ca. 429-432 · Prosper says his opponents reject Pelagianism in words while keeping its core; Pelagius at least showed his poison openly, while they confess original sin and infant baptism but deny that the soul was wounded.
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 3.16John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · As the sign from heaven Nestorius might demand, Cassian points to Christ’s baptism: the opened heavens, the descending Spirit and the Father’s voice all declare that the one baptized is the Son of God.
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 6.3John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · Cassian now refutes Nestorius from the baptismal creed of Antioch in which he was baptized, quoting it and explaining that the creed (symbolum) gathers the whole of Scripture into a short word.
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 6.5John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · Even heretics appeal to the creed of their upbringing; Nestorius, born, taught and baptized in catholic Antioch, has no such excuse and should hold the faith of his own baptism.
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 6.6John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · The creed of Antioch brought Nestorius to baptism, the Eucharist and the episcopate; it confesses Christ as only-begotten, firstborn of all creation, born of the Father before the ages and not made, which leaves no room for his statue and instrument comparisons.
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 6.10John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · As a former catholic now an apostate, Nestorius condemns his own baptismal confession; Cassian denounces his holding the altar and chair while denying the God whose bishop he is.
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 6.18John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · Cassian calls Nestorius to repentance, to return to the sacraments and full creed of his baptism, confessing one Christ of twofold birth and one majesty.
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 7.21John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · The Spirit’s descent at the baptism pointed out Christ’s dignity without making the Spirit greater; the three persons share equal honor; Nestorius’ view echoes the Pelagian claim that Christ became Christ at his baptism.
Sermon on the Life of Honoratus 5Hilary of Arles · ca. 430 · Honoratus sought baptism as a youth against his father's resistance, and even as a catechumen honoured the clergy and gave to the poor.
Sermon on the Life of Honoratus 6Hilary of Arles · ca. 430 · Honoratus's father tried to hold him back with worldly pleasures.
Sermon on the Life of Honoratus 7Hilary of Arles · ca. 430 · The young Honoratus resolves to flee worldly pleasures and take Christ as his treasure.
Oration 7.1Proclus of Constantinople · ca. 430-446 · At the feast of the Theophany Proclus contrasts Christ's baptism with his birth: then the earth rejoiced, the star and Magi announced him, and he lay in swaddling bands; now the waters are sanctified, the Father bears witness, and he loosens the chains of sin.
Oration 7.2Proclus of Constantinople · ca. 430-446 · Christ, the sun of righteousness, is baptized in the Jordan; the Psalm's “Blessed is he who comes” fits him who always comes through his providence in creation, and his grace in baptism is offered to all.
Oration 7.3Proclus of Constantinople · ca. 430-446 · Christ's baptism is a new flood that gives life, with Christ as the spiritual Noah whose ark is his body from Mary; he is baptized not for cleansing but to sanctify the waters and lead all to baptism.
Oration 7.4Proclus of Constantinople · ca. 430-446 · As Jesus comes to the Jordan, John falls at his feet and protests that he, a sinner, cannot baptize the sinless Lord whom he had proclaimed from his mother's womb.
Oration 7.5Proclus of Constantinople · ca. 430-446 · John protests that creation would rise against him for baptizing the sinless Lord; Proclus proclaims what Christ's appearing has brought, and the Father's voice and the Spirit as a dove identify the one baptized as the beloved Son.
Oration 12.1Proclus of Constantinople · ca. 430-446 · At Easter the newly baptized shine like flowers and stars; Proclus praises the empress, a consecrated virgin who spent her wealth in piety and honours the tomb, the cross, and the font, and proclaims the reversal of Adam's fall.
Oration 13.2Proclus of Constantinople · ca. 430-446 · In Christ all things are new: heaven, earth, sea, life, humanity cleansed by baptism, and worship, which now glorifies the three hypostases in one being.
Oration 14.1Proclus of Constantinople · ca. 430-446 · At Easter heaven and earth celebrate together: angels receive the risen King, the saints proclaim him, the earth and sea are honoured by him, the newly baptized are reborn, and Adam is freed from the curse.
Oration 14.2Proclus of Constantinople · ca. 430-446 · The Jewish Passover in Egypt foreshadowed the Christian Pascha: the lamb, the blood, the death of the firstborn, the Red Sea, the song of Moses, and the manna are fulfilled in Christ's sacrifice, baptism, the liturgy, and the bread from heaven.
Oration 16.2Proclus of Constantinople · ca. 430-446 · The Spirit who appeared at Christ's baptism sat on the apostles as fire, punished Ananias, distributes gifts, overshadowed Mary, and in baptism burns away sins and enlightens the newly baptized.
Objection and reply 2Prosper of Aquitaine · ca. 431-432 · Baptism truly forgives original sin even in those who later apostatize; they are condemned for their later sins, and God, foreseeing this, never predestined them.
Objection and reply 9Prosper of Aquitaine · ca. 431-432 · Christ died for the whole world in that he took the nature of all, yet his death profits only those reborn and joined to him in baptism, the children of the promise from Jews and Gentiles.
Psalm 105, from v. 1Prosper of Aquitaine · after 432, before 455 · Psalm 106:1–24 (105) is read as the confession of a people who sinned in Egypt and the desert and yet received mercy, with the Red Sea as a figure of baptism.
Psalm 113Prosper of Aquitaine · after 432, before 455 · Psalms 114–115 (113) are read of the Christian people's exodus from the world by grace, and of praise owed to God alone rather than to idols or human merit.
Psalm 118, IodProsper of Aquitaine · after 432, before 455 · Psalm 119:73–80 (118) is read of God's creation and re-creation of man, Christ praying in his body the church, and the heart made spotless by baptism, the Spirit, and the Lord's Prayer.
Psalm 135Prosper of Aquitaine · after 432, before 455 · Psalm 136 (135) is read as praise of God's eternal mercy in creation and in redemption, with the exodus figuring baptism, the Eucharist, and victory over the devil.
Commonitory 6Vincent of Lérins · 434 · Pope Stephen's resistance to the rebaptism of heretics shows that the church keeps what was handed down and rejects novelty, even when its advocates were great men like Cyprian.
Tome to the Armenians 10Proclus of Constantinople · ca. 435-437 · The faith confessed in baptism may not be altered even by an angel, as Paul says.
Tome to the Armenians 28Proclus of Constantinople · ca. 435-437 · Christ, who united Jew and Greek in one new man, cannot himself be divided into two.
Epigram 16: De justitia et gratiaProsper of Aquitaine · ca. 435-450 · Justice repays good for good and evil for evil, but grace returns good for evil, forgiving sins in baptism; without it there would be no good people to reward.
Epigram 61: tAlia, LXI]. De superbia diaboli, et Christi humilitateProsper of Aquitaine · ca. 435-450 · The devil's pride brought man to death; Christ's humility, as God born of the Virgin, brings the believer back to life, reborn in baptism.
Epigram 89: De martyribus non bapti zatis (Migne also numbers it LXXXVI)Prosper of Aquitaine · ca. 435-450 · Martyrs who die for Christ before baptism receive in their own blood all that baptism gives.
Book 1, chapter 16Anonymous · ca. 440-450 · Infants, equal in original guilt and without personal merit, are some regenerated and saved and others not; the distinction is God’s hidden but just choice.
Book 1, chapter 17Anonymous · ca. 440-450 · Lifelong sinners baptized at death enter the kingdom without good works, showing that grace is free and not owed to merit; as in the parable of the workers in the vineyard, God may give the last the same as the first, and we must not question his justice.
Book 1, chapter 18Anonymous · ca. 440-450 · God’s will alone is the cause of grace for all kinds of men; true life and justice begin in the sacrament of regeneration, for Jew and Greek alike are under sin and wrath until saved by grace, as Paul repeatedly testifies.
Book 1, chapter 22Anonymous · ca. 440-450 · Those who explain election by the merits of the will cannot account for infants, some of whom are reborn and saved and others not, without falling into pagan fatalism or the Pelagian denial of original sin.
Book 2, chapter 20Anonymous · ca. 440-450 · The fate of unbaptized infants is the hardest case: God wills all to be saved, yet infants equally without personal guilt are some reborn and saved, others lost, and it is not lawful to believe the unbaptized are among the blessed.
Book 2, chapter 21Anonymous · ca. 440-450 · We must trust God’s justice in the deaths of unbaptized infants of every people; their condemnation shows the gravity of Adam’s sin, and early death is no injustice, since mortality makes every moment of life liable to death.
Book 2, chapter 22Anonymous · ca. 440-450 · God measures out the common yoke of mortality with mercy and justice; the unequal lengths and conditions of human lives are inscrutable, and they would be less bitter if those who die unbaptized did not fall into eternal misery.
Book 2, chapter 23Anonymous · ca. 440-450 · Infants share in the general grace given to all through their parents, believing or not believing through others’ faith or neglect; God’s special election is also shown in infants brought to baptism, sometimes by strangers when their own families fail them.
Book 2, chapter 24Anonymous · ca. 440-450 · God does not ensure baptism for every dying infant, lest believers grow careless and the Pelagian view that grace follows merit be strengthened; that unbaptized infants perish shows that the saved are saved by grace and that all share Adam’s grave sin.
Book 2, chapter 33Anonymous · ca. 440-450 · No one perishes who ought not to; the Gospel now reaches the whole world, even through war, as fear drives people to baptism, captives convert their masters and barbarian auxiliaries carry the faith home; God’s timeless knowledge has chosen the full number of the elect before the foundation of the world.
To the Church 2.23Salvian of Marseilles · ca. 435-440 · Christians owe more than the Jews did because they have received the truth, sonship, the Spirit, and Christ himself.
On Eph 5.25Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Theodoret urges husbands to love their wives as Christ loved the church, explaining the washing as baptism in the Trinitarian name and the nourishing as the Eucharist.
Psalm 2:9Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 2:9: the iron rod is the Roman power that punished the Jews; or, of the nations, Christ breaks and remolds them through baptism and the Spirit.
Psalm 18:14Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 19:13–14: the "aliens" are demons; the close of the psalm foretells baptism, forgiveness, and the gift of the Spirit in the new covenant.
Psalm 21:31Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 22:30: Christ's seed are the baptized who serve God; his own assumed nature, united with the divinity, shares its glory rather than serving.
Psalm 22:2Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 23:2–3: the green pasture is the teaching of Scripture, the still water is baptism, and all is God's free gift.
Psalm 22:5Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 23:5: the table, oil, and cup are the sacraments known to the initiated, given before the eyes of the defeated enemies.
Psalm 28:1Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 29:1–2: the psalm fits Hezekiah's victory over the Assyrians as a type, and in truth Christ's sending of the apostles to bring the nations to God.
Psalm 28:3Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 29:3: the voice upon the waters is the Father's voice at Christ's baptism, and the many waters are the baptismal waters of the whole world.
Psalm 31:1Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 32:1–2: David, suffering for his sin, foresees and calls blessed those who receive forgiveness without toil through baptism.
Psalm 33:9Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 34:8: the deeper sense of "be enlightened" and "taste" is baptism and the Eucharist, which show the Savior's goodness.
Psalm 33:10–11Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 34:9–10: the baptized should fear God and look to him alone, for wealth changes, as the unbelieving Jews lost what the believing nations received.
Psalm 39:7–8Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 40:6–7: in place of the law's sacrifices God seeks our bodies; Hebrews rightly applies the words to Christ, who as firstfruits of our nature speaks for us.
Psalm 44:1Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 45, title: the psalm is about the beloved Son and the nations changed through baptism, called flowers and lilies by the other translators.
Psalm 50:1–2Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 51, title: written after Nathan's rebuke for the sin with Bathsheba, the psalm shows David kept the Spirit's grace, and foretells the exile, offering a medicine for all who sin.
Psalm 50:8Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 51:6: David, given prophetic knowledge of Christ and of baptism's forgiveness, asks to share the grace he foretells.
Psalm 50:9Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 51:7: only baptism cleanses as the psalm asks; the hyssop of the Passover was a type of Christ's blood and cross, since the law gave murderers and adulterers no cleansing but punishment.
Psalm 50:20–21Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 51:18–19: the prayer for Zion's walls fits the exiles longing to sacrifice again in Jerusalem, and prophetically the new Zion with its rational sacrifices, whose perfect forgiveness David longed for.
Psalm 56:9Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 57:8–9: David, the Spirit's instrument, will lead the nations' praise when Christ, the true light, dawns.
Psalm 57:5Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 58:4–5: Saul, unmoved by David's appeals, is like the asp that stops its ears to the charmer; an added passage applies the verse to the Arian, Eunomian, and Macedonian heretics and their baptism and doxologies.
Psalm 59:7Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 60:5: God guards his beloved by the sign, and his right hand, which the added note identifies with the Son, raises the fallen.
Psalm 59:9Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 60:7–8: God promises the returned tribes their land and rule under Zerubbabel, with Moab, Edom, and Philistia subject; an added passage reads the cauldron as the baptismal font and the shoe as the apostles.
Psalm 62:7–8Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 63:6-7: David meditates on God through the night watches under the shelter of his wings; an addition makes the wings the two Testaments.
Psalm 64:14Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 65:13: the clothed rams are the rich and powerful who come to baptism; Theodoret rejects readings of the psalm as the post-exilic harvests or a future restoration of Jerusalem.
Psalm 65:6Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 66:6: God parted the sea and the Jordan for Israel; additions apply the crossings to baptism, where the believer is renewed and the devil drowned.
Psalm 67:5Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 68:4-5: the apostles prepare the way for Christ among the nations, the "west" darkened by error; God's coming does not mean he changes place, for the divine nature is uncircumscribed.
Psalm 70:5Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 71:5-6: Israel's youth and birth are the exodus from Egypt, as Ezekiel shows; an addition makes the new people's youth its rebirth in baptism.
Psalm 71:8Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 72:8: Christ rules to the ends of the earth, beginning from the Jordan where he was baptized and began to preach.
Psalm 73:15Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 74:15: the springs from the rock and the dried-up rivers recall the wilderness and Sodom; the exodus is a type of baptism, and the rock is Christ, who waters the nations.
Psalm 88:10–11Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 89:9-10: God, master of the sea, humbled Pharaoh at the Red Sea, a figure of the destruction of the devil's hosts in baptism.
Psalm 88:16Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 89:15-16: blessed is the people that knows the victory shout; it foretells the church in every land, enlightened (an addition says: by baptism).
Psalm 93:14Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 94:14: God will not abandon his people and inheritance (an addition: especially the church of the nations, refashioned in baptism).
Psalm 102:5Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 103:5: God fulfills good desires, and renews us like the eagle through baptism, restoring the royal image that sin had dimmed.
Psalm 102:6Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 103:6: God saved us by mercy through baptism, and judged the devil who had wronged us.
Psalm 102:7Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 103:7: God planned salvation from the start; the sea, the rock, and the manna in Moses' time foreshadowed baptism, the living water, and the heavenly food.
Psalm 105:47Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 106:47: the hoped-for gathering of the Jews is their future conversion to Christ, foretold by Paul and linked by Theodoret with Elijah's coming, not the restoration of Jerusalem and the law.
Psalm 106:8Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 107:8: those who have received God's mercy must praise him; the salvation of the world is a greater wonder than the Jews' release, and it comes by mercy through baptism.
Psalm 106:20Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 107:20: the 'word' sent is God the Word made man, sent as man though present everywhere as God, who heals sinners and renews the baptized.
Psalm 116:2Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 117:2: salvation is by God's mercy alone, as Paul repeatedly teaches, and fulfills his promises through the prophets, so that Jewish and Gentile believers praise him together.
Chapter 1Quodvultdeus of Carthage · ca. 437-450 · After the night vigil the preacher explains to those about to be baptized that renouncing the devil means casting off the works of darkness and believing in God means putting on the armor of light.
Chapter 3Quodvultdeus of Carthage · ca. 437-450 · Pleading the case of the human race, an orphan in debt to the devil, before the apostles, the preacher gives their verdict: renounce the devil, his pomps, and his angels.
Chapter 4Quodvultdeus of Carthage · ca. 437-450 · At the judgment the devil will claim as his own any baptized person who after renouncing him went back to the circus, theater, and amphitheater, so the candidates must keep their profession.
Chapter 14Quodvultdeus of Carthage · ca. 437-450 · Simeon, Zechariah and Elizabeth, and John the Baptist bear witness to Christ, John even in the womb and at the Jordan.
Chapter 18Quodvultdeus of Carthage · ca. 437-450 · The Jews’ malice served salvation, and their dispersion with the prophetic books witnesses to Christ against the pagans; then (chapter 19) the Holy Spirit is confessed equal to Father and Son against the Arians, who rebaptize.
Against Five Heresies 7Quodvultdeus of Carthage · ca. 437-450 · Against Sabellians and Arians the preacher argues from Isaiah 45, Christ’s prayer, and the Transfiguration that the Father and Son are two and equal, and protests against Arian rebaptism and bribery of Catholics.
Sermon on the Barbarian Time 8Quodvultdeus of Carthage · ca. 437-450 · Through the narrow gate of Christ’s opened side the robber, the Jews, and the pagans enter, while the Arian heretic goes out; the faithful must not be rebaptized, and must help the captives and refugees of the invasion.
On the Governance of God 3.8Salvian of Marseilles · ca. 439-451 · God’s goods entrusted to Christians are Scripture, baptism, and the chrism.
On the Governance of God 6.31Salvian of Marseilles · ca. 439-451 · The baptismal renunciation names the spectacles as works of the devil.
On the Governance of God 6.32Salvian of Marseilles · ca. 439-451 · Returning to the spectacles after baptism is returning to the devil.
On the Governance of God 6.33Salvian of Marseilles · ca. 439-451 · Abandoning the renunciation undermines the whole creed.
On the Governance of God 6.34Salvian of Marseilles · ca. 439-451 · Without its foundation, the renunciation, the creed is lost, and the spectacles bring death.
On the Governance of God 6.35Salvian of Marseilles · ca. 439-451 · The barbarians have no such spectacles, and even if they did, they break no baptismal vow.
On the Governance of God 6.36Salvian of Marseilles · ca. 439-451 · Christians prefer theaters to churches; God alone is nothing to them.
Church History 1.10Socrates Scholasticus · ca. 439-443 · At Nicaea the Novatianist bishop Acesius accepts the creed and the Easter date but defends refusing communion to those who sin gravely after baptism; Constantine tells him to climb to heaven alone.
Church History 1.39Socrates Scholasticus · ca. 439-443 · Constantine, falling ill in his sixty-fifth year, is baptized near Nicomedia, makes his will in favour of his three sons, and dies.
Church History 2.44Socrates Scholasticus · ca. 439-443 · Meletius, made bishop of Antioch, preaches the homoousios and is exiled; Euzoius replaces him, and the Nicene party at Antioch splits between Meletians and the older Nicene congregation.
Church History 2.47Socrates Scholasticus · ca. 439-443 · Julian is proclaimed emperor by his soldiers in Gaul; Constantius, baptized by Euzoius, dies at Mopsucrenae (3 November 361).
Church History 4.24Socrates Scholasticus · ca. 439-443 · Lucius and the troops attack the Egyptian monks; the two Macarii are exiled to a pagan island, where they heal the priest's daughter and convert the islanders.
Church History 4.30Socrates Scholasticus · ca. 439-443 · When the Milanese riot over a successor to Auxentius, the governor Ambrose, still a catechumen, is acclaimed, baptized and made bishop with Valentinian's approval.
Church History 5.6Socrates Scholasticus · ca. 439-443 · Gregory of Nazianzus is transferred to Constantinople; Theodosius, falling ill at Thessalonica, is baptized by the Nicene bishop Ascholius and comes to Constantinople.
Church History 5.17Socrates Scholasticus · ca. 439-443 · Cross-shaped hieroglyphs found in the Serapeum, read by pagans as meaning 'life to come', lead many to baptism; Socrates explains it as Providence, not foreknowledge by Egyptian priests.
Church History 5.22Socrates Scholasticus · ca. 439-443 · Socrates digresses on the diversity of church customs: the date of Easter, the Lenten fast, Saturday and Sunday assemblies, clerical continence, baptism, and other local usages, arguing that such things rest on custom, not apostolic law.
Church History 5.24Socrates Scholasticus · ca. 439-443 · The Eunomians split into Theophronians and Eutychians, who baptize into Christ's death rather than the Trinity; Socrates refers readers to Epiphanius's Ancoratus for the list of heresies.
Church History 7.4Socrates Scholasticus · ca. 439-443 · A paralysed Jew is healed on being baptized by Atticus; many pagans are converted, but not the Jews.
Church History 7.17Socrates Scholasticus · ca. 439-443 · The ascetic Novatian bishop Paul tries to baptize a Jewish impostor who had been baptized many times for money, and the water of the font twice vanishes.
Church History 7.21Socrates Scholasticus · ca. 439-443 · Acacius of Amida melts down church plate to ransom and feed seven thousand Persian captives; the empress Eudocia, baptized by Atticus, writes poems on the victory.
Church History 7.30Socrates Scholasticus · ca. 439-443 · The Burgundians, harassed by the Huns, are baptized after a week's fast and defeat a much larger Hunnic force; Barbas, the Arian bishop, dies in 430.
Church History 1.3Sozomen · ca. 439-450 · Constantine, before his war with Maxentius, sees the sign of the cross with the words “Conquer by this,” and Christian priests explain to him Christ, the resurrection, baptism and repentance.
Church History 1.5Sozomen · ca. 439-450 · Sozomen rejects the pagan story that Constantine turned to Christianity because the philosopher Sopater refused him cleansing for killing his son Crispus, arguing from dates and from pagan rites of purification.
Church History 1.22Sozomen · ca. 439-450 · Acesius, the Novatian bishop, accepts Nicaea's faith and Easter date but refuses communion to those guilty of mortal sin after baptism, and Constantine tells him to climb to heaven alone.
Church History 2.6Sozomen · ca. 439-450 · Christianity spreads among the barbarians beyond the frontiers, especially through Christian priests taken captive in the third-century invasions.
Church History 2.17Sozomen · ca. 439-450 · Athanasius succeeds Alexander at Alexandria, according to Apolinarius by a divinely guided choice he tried to flee; Sozomen rejects the Arian account of an irregular ordination and tells how the boy Athanasius played at baptizing other children, whose baptism Alexander accepted.
Church History 2.26Sozomen · ca. 439-450 · The bishops at Tyre are summoned to Jerusalem to dedicate Constantine's church of the Martyrium, whose dedication becomes a yearly eight-day feast.
Church History 2.34Sozomen · ca. 439-450 · Constantine, having divided the empire among his sons, is baptized at Nicomedia, dies aged about sixty-five after thirty-one years' reign, and is buried in the Church of the Apostles at Constantinople.
Church History 4.20Sozomen · ca. 439-450 · Macedonius, with Marathonius and Eleusius, persecutes the supporters of homoousios; the Novatians move their church from Pelargus to Sycae (later rebuilt as Anastasia), and Novatians and catholics nearly unite.
Church History 6.26Sozomen · ca. 439-450 · Eunomius of Cyzicus, heir of Aetius’s Anomoean doctrine, is credited by some with introducing baptism by a single immersion; Sozomen argues that such innovators undercut their own baptism, and outlines the history of the Aetian–Eunomian party.
Church History 7.4Sozomen · ca. 439-450 · Theodosius, baptized by Ascholius at Thessalonica during an illness, issues from there his law requiring all subjects to hold the faith taught by Peter and kept by Damasus and Peter of Alexandria, naming its adherents catholic and others heretics.
Church History 7.8Sozomen · ca. 439-450 · Theodosius picks the unbaptized senator Nectarius, last on the bishops’ list at Diodore of Tarsus’s suggestion, as bishop of Constantinople; he is baptized and consecrated while still in his white baptismal garment.
Church History 7.10Sozomen · ca. 439-450 · Nectarius is taught church order by Cyriacus of Adana; his physician Martyrius refuses ordination, arguing that baptism had cleansed Nectarius but not himself; the relics of Paul of Constantinople and of Meletius are solemnly translated.
Church History 8.21Sozomen · ca. 439-450 · After his second deposition Chrysostom’s followers are driven by soldiers from the Easter baptisms (404) and meet apart as “Johannites”; two attempts on his life follow.
Poem on Genesis 151–180Hilary of Arles · ca. 440-449 · Adam's sin brings shame, weakness, and a progeny ever worse in crime, until the flood washes the earth; Noah's ark prefigures baptism and the Church.
Poem on Genesis 181–192Hilary of Arles · ca. 440-449 · After the flood the dove brings the olive leaf, and a purer race arises, from which come priests, the three youths, Daniel, kings, and prophets; but a trace of the ancient poison remains for Christ to wash away.
Letter 5 to the bishops of Illyricum, chapter 3Leo I, bishop of Rome (Leo the Great) · 440–461 · Clergy must be married once and to a virgin; a man who remarried after baptism, his first wife having died before it, is still twice married.
Letter 6 to Anastasius of Thessalonica, chapter 3Leo I, bishop of Rome (Leo the Great) · 440–461 · Leo tells Anastasius of Thessalonica to ordain only proven men married once to a virgin, counting a marriage before baptism.
Letter 159 to Nicetas of Aquileia, chapter 6Leo I, bishop of Rome (Leo the Great) · 440–461 · Leo rules that those who were rebaptized are to be received back through penance and the bishop's imposition of hands, with communion given in danger of death.
Letter 159 to Nicetas of Aquileia, chapter 7Leo I, bishop of Rome (Leo the Great) · 440–461 · Leo rules that those baptized by heretics are not to be rebaptized but received by imposition of hands with invocation of the Holy Spirit; the letter is dated 21 March 458.
Canon 1Anonymous · 441 · Heretics in danger of death who wish to become catholics may be received by a presbyter with chrism if no bishop is present.
Canon 2Anonymous · 441 · Baptizers must always use the chrism; one not anointed at baptism is to be anointed at confirmation, since the anointing is not repeated.
Canon 12Anonymous · 441 · One who suddenly loses speech may be baptized or receive penance on the testimony of others to his wish or by his own sign.
Canon 15Anonymous · 441 · Catechumens troubled by demons may be baptized as need and opportunity allow.
Canon 19Anonymous · 441 · Catechumens may not enter the baptistery.
Canon 16Anonymous · date disputed (between ca. 442 and 506) · Photinians and followers of Paul of Samosata are to be baptized on joining the church.
Canon 17Anonymous · date disputed (between ca. 442 and 506) · Bonosians, baptized in the Trinity like the Arians, are received with chrism and the laying on of hands.
Canon 38Anonymous · date disputed (between ca. 442 and 506) · One who suddenly loses speech may be baptized; the insane receive what piety allows (Orange, canons 12–13).
Canon 3Anonymous · 442 · Presbyters are to fetch the chrism each year before Easter from their own bishop, in person or through a subdeacon.
Church History 1.11Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 449-450 · To refute the Arians who claimed Eusebius of Caesarea as their own, Theodoret quotes Eusebius's letter to his church explaining how he presented his own creed at Nicaea, why he accepted the council's creed with “from the essence” and “of the same essence” as explained there, and why he accepted its anathemas.
Church History 1.30Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 449-450 · Constantine, falling ill at Nicomedia, is baptized, leaves the empire to his three sons, and orders Athanasius's return to Alexandria despite Eusebius's opposition.
Church History 2.23Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 449-450 · At Constantinople Acacius turns Constantius against the bishops from Seleucia, slandering Cyril of Jerusalem; when Eustathius produces an Anomoean statement, Aetius admits authorship and is banished, Eudoxius is forced to disown it, Silvanus argues that rejecting “out of nothing” implies “of the same essence,” and the protesting bishops are expelled while Eudoxius takes Constantinople and Eunomius Cyzicus.
Church History 3.1Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 449-450 · Julian, raised as a Christian and even a reader, turns to paganism while seeking omens of power; at a pagan initiation the demons flee at his sign of the cross, but he is still initiated; as emperor he hides his apostasy for fear of the Christian soldiers, whose faith Constantine and Constantius had strengthened, Constantius even urging all his soldiers to be baptized before battle.
Church History 4.6Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 449-450 · The bishops leave the choice of Milan's bishop to the people, who are divided until the governor Ambrose, coming to keep order, is acclaimed by both sides; Valentinian has him baptized and ordained at once, thanks God for the choice, and later invites Ambrose's rebukes.
Church History 4.10Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 449-450 · The Messalians (Euchites or Enthusiasts) reject work, treat dreams as prophecy, and hold that baptism and the Eucharist are of no effect and only prayer expels the demon each person inherits; bishops Letoius and Amphilochius suppress them, and Flavian of Antioch draws a confession from their leader Adelphius by feigned sympathy.
Church History 4.11Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 449-450 · Valens, at first orthodox, decides to be baptized before marching against the Goths, but, like Adam, is persuaded by his Arian wife and is baptized by Eudoxius of Constantinople.
Church History 4.15Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 449-450 · At Edessa the prefect Modestus, moved by a woman hurrying with her infant to share the expected martyrdom, persuades Valens not to massacre the orthodox, but eighty clergy led by Eulogius are exiled; at Antinoë Eulogius prays while Protogenes teaches pagan boys, heals the sick on condition of baptism, and brings converts to Eulogius, and both later become bishops of Edessa and Carrhae.
Church History 4.16Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 449-450 · At Caesarea Basil refuses the prefect's offers and threats; after Valens's son falls ill and dies when baptized by Arians against Basil's condition, Valens attends Basil's church, endows his hospital for lepers, and later, trying to sign Basil's exile, breaks three pens and tears up the decree.
Church History 4.18Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 449-450 · The pagan governor of Egypt drives Peter of Alexandria into exile in Rome, and the Arian Lucius, installed by Euzoius, persecutes the orthodox; when he banishes the monks Macarius, the other Macarius, and Isidore to a pagan island, a demon flees from them and the islanders are baptized, and the Alexandrians force Lucius to let the monks return.
Church History 5.11Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 449-450 · Theodoret gives the anathemas of the Roman synod under Damasus (the “Tome of Damasus”) against Sabellians, Arians, Macedonians, Photinians, Apolinarians, and others, affirming the full divinity and equality of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Christ's complete human soul, and baptism into the one God, Father, Son, and Spirit.
Part 1, section 16Prosper of Aquitaine · ca. 445-455 · The Chronicle covers Claudius II, Aurelian, Probus, Carus, and the beginning of Diocletian's tetrarchy, with the rise and teaching of the Manichees and Diocletian's forced divorces of Constantius and Galerius.
Part 1, section 18Prosper of Aquitaine · ca. 445-455 · The Chronicle covers the end of Constantine's reign, the Donatist schism, Constantine's baptism, the sons of Constantine, the Arian persecution of Athanasius and others, the Audaeans and Macedonians, and the exile of Liberius of Rome.
Part 2, entry 2 (Gratiano V et Theodosio coss.)Prosper of Aquitaine · ca. 445-455 · Ambrose writes on the faith, Theodosius is baptized, peace is made with the Goths, and the Council of Constantinople condemns Macedonius.
Part 2, entry 29 (Honorio Ix et Theodosio V coss.)Prosper of Aquitaine · ca. 445-455 · Heros of Arles is unjustly expelled and replaced by Patroclus, and Pelagius, with Caelestius and Julian, spreads his teaching against the grace of Christ.
Part 1, chapter 29Quodvultdeus of Carthage · ca. 445-450 · Joseph’s release on the third year, his rule over Egypt, and his granaries that fed the famine figure Christ’s resurrection, his universal authority, the churches, and the food of his body.
Part 1, chapter 33Quodvultdeus of Carthage · ca. 445-450 · Moses, hidden three months, set in the river, raised by Pharaoh’s daughter, and slayer of the Egyptian, figures Christ: worldly learning humbled in baptism serves the Church, and Christ frees souls from demons.
Part 1, chapter 37Quodvultdeus of Carthage · ca. 445-450 · The Passover lamb, eaten with unleavened bread and bitter herbs, figures Christ eaten in sincerity until the resurrection; the spoiling of Egypt figures worldly learning passing to Christ, and the flight to the Red Sea, the flight to baptism.
Part 1, chapter 38Quodvultdeus of Carthage · ca. 445-450 · The crossing of the Red Sea figures baptism, in which water consecrated by the word and the cross saves believers and drowns sin; Marah sweetened by wood, and the twelve springs and seventy palms of Elim, figure the cross, the apostles, and the martyrs.
Part 1, chapter 39Quodvultdeus of Carthage · ca. 445-450 · The manna and the meat figure Christ, the bread from heaven, and his flesh given in the passion; the hoarded manna that rotted warns against greed, and the rock struck at Horeb is Christ, pouring out blood and water.
Part 2, chapter 5Quodvultdeus of Carthage · ca. 445-450 · The calf, lamb, sheep, ram, and kid of the sacrifices figure Christ; the turtledove and dove the Church and the baptized infants; the offerings for sins of ignorance figure penitence, as in Peter; and the true votive offering is praise and almsgiving.
Part 2, chapter 9Quodvultdeus of Carthage · ca. 445-450 · Moses’ meekness, Miriam’s leprosy, the spies’ cluster of grapes, and the people’s fear and punishment in the desert figure Christ, the Church from the nations, the cross, apostasy after baptism, and the Jews’ loss of the inheritance to the Holy Innocents.
Part 2, chapter 11Quodvultdeus of Carthage · ca. 445-450 · Moses’ failure at the rock, his succession by Joshua (Jesus), and the bronze serpent lifted on a pole figure Christ the giver of the inheritance and Christ crucified, who heals the baptized bitten by sin.
Part 2, chapter 14Quodvultdeus of Carthage · ca. 445-450 · Joshua’s two spies, Rahab with her scarlet cord, the crossing of the Jordan with the twelve stones, and circumcision with stone knives figure John and Zechariah, the Gentile Church saved by Christ’s blood, the apostles, and baptism.
Part 2, chapter 19Quodvultdeus of Carthage · ca. 445-450 · Abimelech, son of a concubine who killed his brothers and was slain by a woman’s millstone, figures the heretics who kill souls by rebaptism and are overthrown by the Church.
Part 2, chapter 31Quodvultdeus of Carthage · ca. 445-450 · Elisha’s raising of the Shunammite’s son and his other signs (the bears, the blinded army, Naaman, Gehazi) figure Christ raising sinners, baptism, free grace, and heresy that sells grace; (chapter 32) Hezekiah’s boastful display warns against pride in good works.
Part 3, chapter 11Quodvultdeus of Carthage · ca. 445-450 · Prophecies of the exalted Jordan and of the anointing with the oil of gladness are fulfilled at Christ’s baptism, where the Spirit came as a dove and the Father spoke.
Part 3, chapter 23Quodvultdeus of Carthage · ca. 445-450 · The Psalm’s divided garments and lots are fulfilled at the cross; the seamless tunic is the one Catholic Church which Christ loved and cleansed.
Part 3, chapter 32Quodvultdeus of Carthage · ca. 445-450 · The barren woman made a joyful mother is fulfilled in the Church born through baptism among all nations; (chapter 33) Jeremiah’s new covenant, Isaiah’s new things and new name, and the new song are fulfilled in the Christian name and the new man.
Part 4, chapter 8Quodvultdeus of Carthage · ca. 445-450 · The seven heads and ten horns of the beast in the Apocalypse and Daniel are kings who persecute the Church, including the Arians who rebaptize; the Antichrist, the eighth, is by some identified with a returning Nero.
Part 4, chapter 14Quodvultdeus of Carthage · ca. 445-450 · The garment to be kept is Christ, put on in baptism; those rebaptized by heretics or lapsed in persecution have lost it and should return in repentance like the prodigal son.
Gregory the Theologian 1Anonymous · compiled ca. 450-500 (sayings 4th-5th century) · Gregory names right faith, truthful speech, and bodily chastity as God’s demands on the baptized.
Life of Syncletica 91Anonymous · 5th–6th century · The righteous pass from this life to a higher one as infants to birth, sinners to deeper darkness; there are three births: bodily, baptismal, and that of repentance.
Genesis Question 19Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 453 · Theodoret rejects the views that “Let us make” was addressed to angels or demons or was a royal plural, and reads it as a hint of the Trinity, connected with baptism and the incarnation.
Exodus Question 27Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 453 · Theodoret explains 1 Cor 10:1–4: the exodus is a type of baptism, and the manna and the water from the rock are types of the Eucharist.
Exodus Question 28Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 453 · The rock and the sea are called Christ and baptism as types.
Leviticus Question 19Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 453 · Theodoret reads the leper's cleansing rite as a type of Christ's passion and of baptism and chrismation, with the unrepentant sinner excluded like the leper.
Numbers Question 18Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 453 · God punished quickly at the law's beginning, yet forgave; giving Moses' spirit to the seventy elders did not diminish his grace, as baptism and ordination do not diminish the minister's.
Numbers Question 35Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 453 · The red heifer prefigures Christ's sinless passion outside the gate, and its water of purification prefigures baptism.
Numbers Question 47Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 453 · Joshua, though already filled with the Spirit, received the laying on of hands so that the people would know his appointment came from God; vows of daughters and wives depend on father's or husband's consent.
Joshua Question 2Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 453 · God's promise of land was conditional and was fulfilled more fully in the apostles' mission; Rahab prefigures the church, and the crossing of the Jordan prefigures Christ's baptism and Christian baptism before the Eucharist.
Joshua Question 3Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 453 · The second circumcision at Gilgal prefigures baptism as spiritual circumcision; circumcision was a sign needed only when Israel lived among other nations.
Joshua Question 4Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 453 · Stone knives were practical in the wilderness and prefigure Christ, the rock and the sword of the Word, who gives the spiritual circumcision of baptism.
1 Kingdoms Question 52Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 453 · David was blameless in eating the holy bread, as Christ said; his act foreshadows the Eucharist open to all the baptized.
2 Chronicles, question 1Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 453 · Theodoret's running commentary on 2 Chronicles 10–36 supplements Kings: God divides the kingdom and spares Judah for David's sake; pious kings (Abijah, Asa, Jehoshaphat, Hezekiah, Josiah) are rewarded and their lapses punished; impious ones (Joram, Joash, Amaziah, Uzziah, Ahaz) are disciplined; Manasseh repents; the book was compiled from prophetic sources after the exile.
Canon 14Anonymous · 451 · Readers and singers who may marry are not to take wives of another faith, nor have their children baptized among heretics or married to non-orthodox persons.