The Seventh Council of Carthage under Cyprian, on the Baptism of Those Outside the Church

When many bishops from the province of Africa, Numidia, and Mauritania had assembled together at Carthage on the Kalends of September, with presbyters and deacons, and with the greater part of the people also present, and when the letter of Jubaianus addressed to Cyprian had been read, and likewise the reply of Cyprian to Jubaianus, concerning the baptism of heretics, and also what Jubaianus himself had subsequently written back to Cyprian, Cyprian said: You have heard, most beloved colleagues, what Jubaianus our fellow-bishop has written to me, consulting my humble self concerning the unlawful and profane baptism of heretics, and what I wrote back to him, judging, namely, as I have judged once and again and often, that heretics coming to the Church ought to be baptized and sanctified with the Baptism of the Church. Likewise there have been read to you also the other letters of Jubaianus, in which, replying to our letter with his sincere and devout piety, he not only gave his assent, but also confessed that he had been instructed and gave thanks.

It remains that we each set forth what we think concerning this same matter, judging no one, nor removing anyone from the right of communion if he has thought differently. For none of us sets himself up as a bishop of bishops, nor by tyrannical terror compels his colleagues to the necessity of obedience, since every bishop has his own free judgment by the liberty and power belonging to him, and can no more be judged by another than he himself can judge another. But let us all await the judgment of our Lord Jesus Christ, who alone and solely has the power both of setting us over the governance of His Church and of judging our conduct.

Cæcilius of Bilta said: I know one Baptism alone in the Church, and none outside the Church. Here there will be the one place where true hope and certain faith exist. For so it is written: One faith, one hope, one Baptism, not among heretics, where there is no hope and faith is false, where all things are done through falsehood, where one who is possessed by a demon performs exorcism, where one whose mouth and words emit cancer administers the sacramental interrogation, where an unbeliever gives the faith, a criminal grants pardon of sins, and antichrist baptizes in the name of Christ, one cursed by God pronounces blessing, a dead man promises life, one without peace gives peace, a blasphemer invokes God, a profane man administers the priesthood, a sacrilegious man sets up an altar. To all these evils there is added also this wickedness, that the ministers of the devil dare to celebrate the Eucharist; or let those who assist them say that all these things said of heretics are false.

Behold to what things the Church is compelled to consent, and is forced to communicate without Baptism and pardon of sins. This thing, brethren, we ought to flee and avoid, and to separate ourselves from so great a crime, and to hold to the one Baptism which has been granted by the Lord to the Church alone.

Primus of Misgirpa said: I judge that every person coming from heresy must be baptized. For in vain does he think that he has been baptized there, since there is but one true Baptism in the Church: because God is one, and faith is one, and the Church is one, in which stands the one Baptism and holiness, and the rest. For those things which are performed outside have no saving effect.

Polycarpus of Hadrumetum said: Those who approve the baptism of heretics make void our own. Novatus of Thamugadi said: Although we know that all the Scriptures bear witness to saving Baptism, we ought nevertheless to express our faith, that heretics and schismatics coming to the Church, who appear to have been falsely baptized, ought to be baptized in the perennial font, and therefore according to the testimony of the Scriptures and according to the decree of our colleagues, men of most holy memory, all schismatics and heretics who have been converted to the Church are to be baptized, and also those who appeared to have been ordained are to be received among the laity. Nemesianus of Thubunae said: That the baptism which heretics and schismatics give is not true is declared everywhere in the holy Scriptures: since their own leaders are false christs and false prophets, as the Lord says through Solomon: He who trusts in falsehoods, this man feeds on winds, and the same man pursues flying birds.

For he forsakes the ways of his own vineyard, and has strayed from the paths of his own field. He enters through trackless and dry places and a land appointed for thirst, and gathers with his hands things without fruit. And again: Abstain from strange water, and drink not from a foreign spring, that you may live a long time, and years of life may be added to you. And in the Gospel our Lord Jesus Christ spoke with His divine voice, saying: Unless one is born again of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. This is the Spirit who from the beginning was borne over the waters.

For the Spirit cannot work without water, nor water without the Spirit. Wrongly therefore do some interpret this to say that they receive the Holy Spirit through the laying on of hands and are thus received, when it is manifest that they ought to be reborn in both Sacraments in the catholic Church. For then indeed they will be able to be sons of God, as the Apostle says: Being careful to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, one body and one Spirit, as you are called in one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one Baptism, one God. All these things the catholic Church speaks. And again in the Gospel the Lord says: What is born of flesh is flesh, and what is born of Spirit is spirit: because God is Spirit, and is born of God.

Therefore all heretics and schismatics, whatever things they do, are carnal, as the Apostle says: For the works of the flesh are manifest, which are fornications, uncleannesses, incest, idolatry, sorceries, enmities, contentions, jealousy, wraths, divisions, heresies, and things like these; of which I have told you beforehand as I tell you now, that those who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. The Apostle therefore condemns together with all evils also those who cause division, that is, schismatics and heretics. Unless therefore they shall have received saving Baptism in the catholic Church, which is one, they cannot be saved, but shall be condemned with the carnal at the judgment of the Lord Christ. Januarius of Lambaesis said: According to the authority of the holy Scriptures I decree that all heretics are to be baptized, and thus admitted into the holy Church. Lucius of Castra Galbae said: Since the Lord said in His Gospel: You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has lost its savour, wherewith shall it be salted?

It is thenceforth good for nothing but to be cast out and trodden under foot by men; and again after His resurrection, sending forth His Apostles, He commanded them saying: All power is given to me in heaven and on earth. Go and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Since therefore it is manifest that heretics, that is, enemies of Christ, do not have the complete confession of the Sacrament, and likewise that schismatics cannot season with spiritual wisdom, since they themselves, by withdrawing from the Church which is one, have become insipid and contrary, let it be done as it is written, The house of those contrary to the law owes cleansing, and it follows that those who have been defiled by baptism from contrary persons must first be purged and then at last baptized.

Crescens of Cirta said: In so great an assembly of most holy fellow-priests, after the letters of our most beloved Cyprian to Jubaianus, and likewise to Stephen, have been read, letters which contain in themselves so many holy testimonies drawn from the divine Scriptures that we ought deservedly, all united through the grace of God, to give our assent, I judge that all heretics and schismatics who shall wish to come to the catholic Church are not to enter before they have first been exorcized and baptized, except of course those who had previously been baptized in the catholic Church, yet so that they be reconciled to the Church in penance through the laying on of hands.

Nicomedes from Segermis said: My opinion is this, that heretics coming to the Church should be baptized, because they obtain no remission of sins outside among sinners. Munnulus from Girba said: The truth of the Catholic Church, our mother, has always both remained and remains among us, brethren, and most especially in the Trinity of Baptism, our Lord saying: Go and baptize the nations in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Since therefore we manifestly know that heretics have neither the Father nor the Son nor the Holy Spirit, those who come to the Church our mother ought truly to be reborn and baptized, so that the cancer which they had and the wrath of damnation and the effect of error may be sanctified through the holy and heavenly Washing.

Secundinus from Cedias said: Since our Lord Christ says: He who is not with me is against me, and the apostle John calls those who go out from the Church antichrists, those who have been named without doubt enemies of Christ and also antichrists cannot minister the grace of saving Baptism. And therefore I judge that those who flee from the snares of heretics to the Church must be baptized by us, who have been called friends of God by his condescension. Felix from Bagai said: Just as a blind man led by a blind man both fall together into a pit, so a heretic baptizing a heretic both fall together into death. And therefore the heretic must be baptized and given life, lest we who are living have communion with the dead. Polianus from Mileo said: It is just that a heretic be baptized in the holy Church. Theogenes from Hippo Regius said: According to the Sacrament of heavenly divine grace which we have received, we believe in one baptism which is in the holy Church.

Dativus from Badis said: We, as far as in us lies, do not have communion with heretics unless they have been baptized in the Church and have received remission of sins. Successus from Abbir Germaniciana said: Either heretics are permitted nothing or they are permitted everything. If they can baptize, they can also give the Holy Spirit. But if they cannot give the Holy Spirit, because they do not have the Holy Spirit, neither can they baptize spiritually. Therefore we judge that heretics must be baptized. Fortunatus from Tuchabori said: Jesus Christ our Lord and God, Son of God the Father and Creator, built his Church upon a rock, not upon heresy, and gave the power of baptizing to bishops, not to heretics. Wherefore those who are outside the Church and, standing against Christ, scatter his sheep and flock, cannot baptize outside.

Sedatus from Tuburbo said: To the extent that water sanctified by the prayer of a priest in the Church washes away sins, to that same extent water infected as if by a cancer with the speech of a heretic heaps up sins. Wherefore all peaceable efforts must be made so that no one infected and dipped in heretical error should refuse to receive the singular and true Baptism of the Church; whoever shall not have been baptized by it will be made a stranger to the kingdom of heaven. Privatianus from Sufetela said: Let him who says that heretics have the power of baptizing first say who founded the heresy. For if heresy is from God, it can also have divine pardon. But if it is not from God, how can it either have or confer upon anyone the grace of God? Privatus from Sufibus said: He who approves the Baptism of heretics, what else does he do but have communion with heretics?

Hortensianus from Lares said: Let either the presumers or the abettors of heretics see how many baptisms there are. We claim for the Church the one Baptism which we know exists nowhere but in the Church. Or how can those whom Christ himself says are his adversaries baptize anyone in the name of Christ? Cassius from Macomades said: Since there cannot be two baptisms, he who grants Baptism to heretics takes it away from himself.

I therefore judge that the wretched and wasting heretics must be baptized when they have begun to come to the Church, and, cleansed by the sacred and divine washing and enlightened by the light of life, received into the Church not as enemies but as peaceable, not as strangers but as members of the household of the Lord's faith, not as adulterers but as sons of God, not as products of error but of salvation—excepting those who, being faithful, had been led astray from the Church and had passed over to the darkness of heresy, but these are to be restored through the laying on of hands. Another Januarius from Vicus Caesaris said: If error does not yield to truth, much less does truth consent to error. And therefore we stand by the Church over which we preside, so that, claiming her baptism for herself alone, we baptize those whom the Church has not baptized. Another Secundinus from Carpi said: Are heretics Christians or not? If they are Christians, why are they not in the Church of God?

If they are not Christians, how do they make Christians? Or what will become of the word of the Lord saying: He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters. Whence it is established that the Holy Spirit cannot descend upon alien children and the offspring of antichrist through the laying on of hands alone, since it is manifest that heretics do not have Baptism. Victoritus from Thabraca said: If it is lawful for heretics to baptize and to give remission of sins, why do we defame them and call them heretics? Another Felix from Uthina said: No one doubts, most holy fellow-priests, that human presumption cannot avail as much as the adorable and venerable majesty of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Mindful therefore of the danger, we ought not only to observe this but it must also be confirmed by all of us, that all heretics who run to the bosom of mother Church be baptized, so that the heretical mind, which has been polluted by long-standing corruption, may be purified by the sanctification of the Washing and reformed for the better. Quietus from Baruch said: We who live by faith ought to obey with faithful observance the things which were proclaimed beforehand for our instruction. For it is written in Solomon: He who is baptized by a dead man, what does his washing profit him? Which certainly speaks of those who are dipped by heretics and of those who dip them. For if those who are baptized among them obtain eternal life through remission of sins, why do they come to the Church?

But if nothing of salvation is received from a dead man, and therefore, having recognized their former error, they return with penitence to the truth, they will need to be sanctified by the one life-giving Baptism which is in the Catholic Church. Castus from Sicca said: He who, despising truth, presumes to follow custom, is either envious and malicious toward the brethren to whom truth is revealed, or ungrateful toward God, by whose inspiration his Church is instructed. Euchratius of Thenis said: Our Lord and God Jesus Christ, teaching the apostles with his own mouth, fulfilled our faith and the grace of Baptism and the rule of ecclesiastical law when he commanded them to teach and baptize all nations in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. The false and wicked Baptism of heretics must therefore be driven away by us and refused with all detestation, from whose mouth is expressed not life but poison, not heavenly grace but blasphemy of the Trinity.

And therefore it is manifest that heretics coming to the Church ought to be baptized with complete and Catholic Baptism, so that, purified from the blasphemy of their presumption, they may be able to be reformed by the grace of the Holy Spirit. Libosus from Vaga said: In the Gospel the Lord says: I am the truth. He did not say: I am custom. And so, truth having been made manifest, let custom yield to truth, so that even if in the past someone in the Church did not baptize heretics, let him now begin to baptize them. Lucius from Theveste said: I judge that heretics, who tear apart with various words the holy and adorable words of the Scriptures, are blasphemous and wicked and to be execrated, and therefore that they must be exorcized and baptized. Eugenius from Ammaedara said: I also judge the same, that heretics must be baptized.

Likewise another Felix from Amaccora said: I myself also, following the authority of the divine Scriptures, judge that heretics must be baptized, and also those who contend that they have been baptized among schismatics. For if according to the precept of Christ our fountain is private, let all adversaries of our Church understand that he who is the shepherd of one flock cannot be a stranger's nor can he give saving water to two peoples. And therefore it is manifest that neither heretics nor schismatics can receive anything heavenly, who dare to receive from sinful men and from those who are strangers to the Church. When there is no place for the giver, certainly it profits the receiver nothing either. Likewise another Januarius of Muzula said: I marvel that, while all confess there is one baptism, not all understand the unity of that same baptism. For the Church and heresy are two different things. If heretics have baptism, we do not have it. But if we have it, heretics cannot have it.

Now there is no doubt that the Church alone possesses the baptism of Christ, which alone possesses both the grace of Christ and the truth. Adelphius from Thasvalte said: Certain persons without cause attack the truth with a false and invidious word by saying that we rebaptize, since the Church does not rebaptize heretics but baptizes them. Demetrius from Leptiminus said: We maintain one baptism, because we claim the Church's own property for the Catholic Church alone. But those who say that heretics truly and lawfully baptize are themselves the ones who make not one but many baptisms. For since there are many heresies, the baptisms also will be counted according to their number. Vicentius from Thibari said: We know that heretics are worse than pagans. If therefore, having been converted, they shall wish to come to the Lord, we have indeed the rule of truth which the Lord enjoined upon the Apostles by divine command, saying: Go, lay hands in my name, cast out demons.

And in another place: Go and teach the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Therefore first through the laying on of hands in exorcism, second through the regeneration of baptism, then they can come to the promise of Christ. But otherwise I judge it ought not to be done. Marcus from Mactari said: It is not to be wondered at if heretics, enemies and assailants of truth, claim for themselves a power and dignity that belongs to another. But what is to be wondered at is that certain of our own who are transgressors of truth give their support to heretics and oppose Christians. Therefore we decree that heretics must be baptized. Sattius from Sicilibba said: If their sins are forgiven heretics in baptism, they come to the Church without cause. For since it is sins that are punished on the day of judgment, heretics have nothing to fear from the judgment of Christ, if they have obtained remission of sins.

Victor from Cor said: Since sins are remitted only in the baptism of the Church, he who admits a heretic to communion without baptism acts contrary to reason in both respects: he neither cleanses the heretics nor purifies the Christians. Aurelius from Utica said: Since the Apostle says that one must not share in the sins of others, what else does he do but share in the sins of others who has communion with heretics without the baptism of the Church? And therefore I judge that heretics must be baptized so that they may receive remission of sins, and so communion be granted to them. Jambus from Germaniciana said: Those who approve the baptism of heretics disapprove of ours, so as to deny that those who have been, I will not say washed, but made filthy outside the Church, ought to be baptized in the Church. Lucianus from Rucuma said: It is written: And God saw the light, that it was good, and divided between the light and the darkness.

If light and darkness can agree, then we and heretics can have something in common. Therefore I judge that heretics must be baptized. Pelagianus from Luperciana said: It is written: Either the Lord is God, or Baal is God. So also now, either the Church is the Church, or Heresy is the Church. But if Heresy is not the Church, how can the baptism of the Church exist among heretics? Jader from Midila said: We know there is no baptism except the one in the Catholic Church. And therefore we ought not to admit a heretic unless he has been baptized among us, lest he think himself to have been baptized outside the Catholic Church. Likewise another Felix from Marazana said: One faith, one baptism, but of the Catholic Church, to which alone it is lawful to baptize.

Paulus from Obba said: It does not move me if someone does not vindicate the faith and truth of the Church, since the Apostle says: For what if some of them have fallen away from the faith? Shall their unbelief make the faith of God of none effect? God forbid! For God is true, but every man a liar. But if God is true, how can the truth of baptism exist among heretics, among whom God is not? Pomponius from Dionysiana said: It is manifest that heretics cannot baptize and give remission of sins, who have no power either to loose or to bind anything on earth. Venantius from Timisa said: If a husband setting out on a journey had commended his wife to a friend to be kept, that friend would preserve her commended to him with all possible diligence, lest her chastity and holiness be violated by anyone. Christ our Lord and God, setting out to the Father, commended His bride to us.

Shall we keep her uncorrupted and inviolate, or shall we betray her integrity and chastity to adulterers and corrupters? For whoever makes the baptism of the Church common with heretics betrays the bride of Christ to adulterers. Ahymnus from Ausvaga said: We have received one baptism, and we hold and practice that same one. But he who says that heretics also are permitted to baptize himself makes two baptisms. Saturninus from Victoriana said: If heretics are permitted to baptize, those who do unlawful things are excused and defended. Nor do I see why Christ called them His adversaries or the Apostle called them antichrists. Saturninus from Thucca said: The Gentiles, although they worship idols, yet acknowledge and confess the most high God the Father and Creator. Against Him Marcion blasphemes, and some are not ashamed to approve the baptism of Marcion. How do such men either preserve or vindicate the priesthood of God, who do not baptize the enemies of God, and thus communicate with them?

Marcellus from Zama said: Since sins are remitted only by the baptism of the Church, he who does not baptize a heretic communicates with a sinner. Irenæus from Ulufis said: If the Church does not baptize a heretic on the ground that he is said to have already been baptized, the Heresy is the greater. Donatus from Cibaliana said: I know one Church and one baptism of it. If there is one who says that the grace of baptism exists among heretics, let him first show and prove that the Church exists there. Zozimus from Tharassa said: Now that the truth has been revealed, let error yield to truth; for even Peter, who had previously practiced circumcision, yielded to Paul who was preaching the truth. Julianus from Telepte said: It is written: No man can receive anything, unless it be given him from heaven. If Heresy is from heaven, it can also give baptism. Faustus from Timida regia said: Let those who patronize heretics not flatter themselves.

He who intercedes on behalf of heretics against the ecclesiastical baptism makes them Christians and us heretics. Geminus from Furnis said: Some of our colleagues can prefer heretics to themselves; we cannot. And therefore we hold what we once decreed, that those coming from heretics be baptized. Rogatianus from Nova said: Christ instituted the Church, the devil Heresy. How can the synagogue of Satan have the baptism of Christ? Therapius from Bulla said: He who grants and betrays the baptism of the Church to heretics, what else is he but a Judas to the bride of Christ? Likewise another, Lucius from Membresa, said: It is written: God does not hear a sinner. A heretic, who is a sinner, how can he be heard in baptism? Likewise another, Felix from Bussacenis, said: In admitting those who come from heretics without the baptism of the Church, let no one set custom before reason and truth, because reason and truth always exclude custom.

Another Saturninus from Avitinis said: If Antichrist can give to anyone the grace of Christ, then heretics also can baptize, who have been called antichrists. Quintus from Aggya said: He can give something who has had something. But what can heretics give, who are established to have nothing? Another Julianus from Marcelliana said: If a man can serve two masters, God and mammon, baptism also can serve two, the Christian and the heretic. Tenax from Horrea Gæliæ said: There is one baptism, but it is the Church's. Where the Church is not, baptism cannot be there. Another Victor from Assuras said: It is written that God is one, and Christ is one, and the Church is one, and baptism is one: how therefore can anyone be baptized there where God and Christ and the Church are not? Donatulus from Capsa said: I have always been of this opinion, that heretics, who can obtain nothing outside, when they are converted to the Church, should be baptized.

Verulus from Russiccade said: A heretic, being a man, cannot give what he does not have; much less a schismatic, who has lost what he had. Pudentianus from Cuiculi said: The newness of my episcopate has caused, most beloved brethren, that I should wait to see what my elders would judge. For it is manifest that heresies have nothing and can do nothing. And thus it has been most justly decreed that those who come from them should be baptized.

Petrus from Hippo Diarrhytorum said: Since there is one baptism in the catholic Church, it is manifest that baptism cannot be conferred outside the Church. And therefore I judge that those who come to the Church having been tinged in Heresy or in schism ought to be baptized. Likewise another Lucius from Ausafa said: According to the movement of my mind and of the Holy Spirit, since there is one God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and one Christ, and one hope, and one Spirit, and one Church, there ought to be one baptism also. And therefore I say that whatever has been moved or done by heretics ought to be rescinded, and that those who come from them are to be baptized in the Church. Likewise another Felix from Gurgites said: I judge that one who has been baptized by heretics unlawfully outside the Church, when he shall wish to take refuge in the Church, should obtain the grace of baptism where it is lawfully given.

Pusillus from Lamasba said: I believe that baptism is not saving except in the catholic Church; whatever is outside the catholic Church is a pretense. Salvianus from Gazaufala said: It is established that heretics have nothing: and therefore they come to us so that they may be able to receive what they do not have. Honoratus from Thuca said: Since Christ is truth, we ought to follow truth rather than custom, so that we may sanctify by the baptism of the Church those heretics who come to us because they could obtain nothing outside. Victor from Octavus said: As you yourselves know, I was not long ago appointed bishop, and therefore I was waiting for the counsel of my predecessors. This therefore is my judgment, that whoever comes from Heresy should without doubt be baptized.

Clarus from Mascula said: The sentence of our Lord Jesus Christ sending His Apostles and granting to them alone the power given to Him by the Father is manifest; to whom we have succeeded, governing the Church of the Lord with the same power and baptizing the faith of believers. And therefore heretics, who have neither power outside nor the Church of Christ, can baptize no one with His baptism. Secundianus from Thambeis said: We ought not to deceive heretics by our presumption, so that when the day of judgment comes it be imputed to us that through us they were not baptized in the Church of our Lord Jesus Christ, and thus having not obtained remission of sins, and not having obtained the indulgence of divine grace. Wherefore, since there is one Church and one baptism, when they are converted to us, let them obtain together with the Church the baptism of the Church.

Likewise another Aurelianus from Chullabi said: John the apostle set down in his epistle saying: If anyone comes to us and does not have the doctrine of Christ, do not receive him into your house, and do not say ave to him. For he who says ave to him communicates in his evil deeds. How can such persons be rashly admitted into the house of God who are forbidden to be admitted into our private house? Or how can we communicate with them without the baptism of the Church, when if we say only ave to them, we communicate in their evil deeds? Litteus from Gemellae said: If the blind lead the blind, both fall into the pit. Since therefore heretics are established to be unable to enlighten anyone, being blind, their baptism is of no avail.

Natalis from Oea said: Both I who am present, and Pompeius of Sabratha, and also Dioga of Septimagnum, who gave me their mandate, absent in body but present in spirit, are of the same judgment as our colleagues, that heretics cannot have communion with us unless they have been baptized with ecclesiastical Baptism. Julius from Neapolis said: I do not depart from what we once decreed, that heretics coming to the Church be baptized. Cyprianus from Carthage said: My opinion is expressed most fully by the letter that was written to Jubaianus our colleague: that heretics, called according to the testimony of the Gospel and the apostles adversaries of Christ and antichrists, when they come to the Church, are to be baptized with the one baptism of the Church, so that they may be able to become from adversaries friends and from antichrists Christians.