Iberian Fathers, Volume 3

Letter 3

1. Ex 32.32. 2. Rom 9.3. 3. Decius was emperor from 249 until 251. 4. I have followed the manuscripts’ (and earlier editors’) reading of trecentos LETTER 3 acian the bishop to sympronian, his brother, greeting. 1. The entire treatise of the Novatianists, which you have directed to me, crammed with propositions on all sides, simply amounts to this, brother Sympronian: that repentance should not be permitted after baptism; that the Church cannot forgive mortal sin; and that, beyond this, by receiving those who sin, the Church itself perishes. (2) What an illustrious honor, what a singular power, what a great consistency it is to reject the guilty, to flee the touch of sinners , to have so little confidence in the Church’s own innocence ! Who lays claim to this, my brother? Is it Moses, or Paul, or Christ? But Moses wishes to be “expunged from the book”1 for the sake of blasphemers, and Paul “to be accursed and separated for the sake of [his] brethren”;2 and the Lord himself prefers to suffer for the unrighteous! None of these, you will say. Who then? It was Novatian who taught these things. Can this be some spotless and pure man who did not follow Novatus; who never abandoned the Church; who was made bishop by other bishops; who was consecrated according to proper procedures; who succeeded to an episcopal see in the Church when it was [duly] vacant ? “What does this matter to you?” you will say. And I answer, “Novatian taught these things.” But, when did he teach them, my brother, or in what era? Immediately after the Passion of our Lord? No, it was after the reign of Decius,3 that is, nearly three hundred years4 after the Passion of our Lord. And what did he 38 (or CCC). Rubio Fernández, perhaps in the interests of chronological accuracy, has supplied CCL. 5. Apelles was a disciple of Marcion. In his Syllogismoi he wrote extensively on the Old Testament, attempting to demonstrate that it was not trustworthy (cf. Ambrose, De paradiso, for surviving passages). His Revelations, which recorded the visions of his female disciple and prophetess, Philumene (or Philomena), unfortunately is lost. 6. Gal 1.8. 7. I have followed Peyrot and other editors in rendering this sentence and the next as interrogative. 8. Cf. Ep. 1.1. 9. Cf. Ep. 2.7. do at that time? Did he follow such prophets as the Cataphrygians , or someone named Philumene, as Apelles did?5 Or did he himself become the recipient of such great authority? Did he speak in tongues? Did he prophesy? Was he able to resurrect the dead? For he ought to have had at least one of these powers, since he introduced a gospel of a new Law! This, even though the Apostle declares against such, “Even if we or an angel from heaven proclaim a gospel other than that which we have proclaimed to you, let that one be accursed!”6 “Novatian,” you will say, “has understood this,” but it was Christ who taught it. Has there been, accordingly , no discerning person from the time of Christ up to the reign of Decius?7 Furthermore, after Decius, has every bishop been unable to bear his office, and all others [except Novatian] lax men, choosing rather to join themselves with the lost, to perish with the wretched, to be wounded through the wound of another one? Novatian claims the truth, and righteousness is set free; Novatian serves as the guide, and every error is put right! 2. “But come now,” you will say, “let us dispute with specific examples and let us contend with reasoning.” So far, I am confident . Content as I am with the very chain of tradition in the Church and with our communion with the ancient congregation [of Christians], I have learned no eagerness for discord; I have sought out no arguments for disputes. But you, having been excluded from the rest of the body [i.e., the Church]8 and separated from your mother [the Church]9 so that you may render account for your actions, as an unrelenting searcher into the innermost recesses of books you examine, you disturb everything LETTER 3 39 10. Evaristus was an Italian bishop, perhaps among those who consecrated Novatian. In the view of Pope Cornelius he was one of the leading instigators of the Novatianist...