The Extant Works of S. Pacian, Library of Fathers of the Holy Catholic Church 17 (1842) pp. 336-362. Letter 3: Against the treatise of the Novatians.
EPISTLE III.
AGAINST THE TREATISE OF THE NOVATIANS.
[Translated by the Rev. C. H. Collyns, M.A., Student of Christ Church.]
Pacian the Bishop to Sympronian his brother, greeting.
1. The whole treatise of the Novatians, which you have addressed to me thronged with propositions on all sides, amounts to this, brother Sympronian: That there is no room for repentance after Baptism; that the Church cannot remit mortal sin; that by the receiving of sinners she herself perishes. Illustrious honour! Singular authority! Great constancy! To reject the guilty; to flee the touch of sinners; to have so little confidence in her own innocence!
2. Who is the assertor of this doctrine, brother, Moses, or Paul, or Christ? But Moses wishes to be wiped out of the book for the sake of blasphemers; and Paul to be accursed for his brethren; and the Lord Himself willeth to suffer for the unrighteous. None of these, you will say. Who then, I ask? It was the ordinance of Novatian. Some spotless and pure man, I suppose, who was no follower of Novatus, who never deserted the Church, who was made Bishop by Bishops, who was consecrated according to the received rites, who obtained the Episcopal Chair in the Church when duly vacant? What is that to thee? thou wilt say. I answer, Novatian taught this doctrine. But, at least, when did he teach it, brother, or at what period? Immediately after the Passion of the Lord? After the reign of Decius, that is, nearly three hundred years after the Passion of the Lord. And what then did he? Did he follow Prophets, as the Cataphrygians? some Philumene , as Apelles? or received he himself so great authority? Spake he with tongues? Did he prophesy? Could he raise the dead? For some one of these powers he ought to have had who was to bring in a Gospel with new laws . Although the Apostle crieth even against this, Though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other Gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed. |337
3. Novatian, you will say, discerned this; but Christ taught it. Was there no one of discernment from the Advent of Christ even to the reign of Decius? Again, since Decius, has every Bishop been weary of his office ? all others relaxed men, choosing rather to join themselves with the lost, to perish with the miserable, to be wounded through the wounds of others? Novatian vindicateth, righteousness is set free; Novatian guideth, every error is corrected.
4. "But come," you will say, "let our conflict be carried on with examples, and let us contend with reasoning." But I so far am safe. Contented with the line of the Church itself, with the peace of the ancient congregation, I have learnt no desire of discord, I have sought no arguments for contest. Thou, having been separated from the rest of the body, and divided from thy mother, that thou mayest give account of thy deed, art an assiduous searcher into the inmost recesses of books; every thing which is hidden, you molest; and whatever is at rest, you disturb. Our Fathers, unrequired, entered into no dispute; our very unanxiousness sought no arms; every advance of your party is guarded. I then know not what Novatian did, of what Novatian was guilty, what the swelling pride of Evaristus, what the report of Nicostratus. Despising your weapons, I know them not; yet, beware, how thou engage with unarmed truth. Let us await, however, what thou mayest object, what thou hast to say. Will truth be able to hold its ground though unarmed, or innocence unskilled?
5. You set forth, and rightly indeed, that "the Church is a people born again of water and the Holy Spirit, free from denying the Name of Christ, the temple and house of God, the pillar and ground of the truth; a Holy Virgin of chastest feelings, the spouse of Christ, of His Bones and His Flesh, not having spot, or wrinkle, holding the laws of the Gospels entire." Who of us denies this? But we add moreover that: the Church is the queen in a vesture of gold, wrought about: with divers colours; the fruitful vine on the walls of the House of the Lord; the mother of virgins without number; |338 the one beautiful and perfect Dove, the chosen ' of her mother, the very mother of all; built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner stone. A great house enriched with a diversity of every kind of vessel. But this of ours hereafter. Meanwhile, consider we those of yours.
6. "The Church is a people born again of water and the Holy Spirit" Well! say, who hath closed the fountain of God against me? Who hath taken the Holy Spirit from me? Yea, rather with us is the living water, the very water which springeth from Christ; but thou, separated from the everlasting Fountain, whence receivest thou thy birth? Nor hath the Holy Spirit departed from the chief mother; whence then came He to thee? Unless perchance He hath followed one that is in strife, and abandoning so many priests, nor pleased to abide in His consecrated dwelling-place, hath preferred the broken cisterns of an adulterated fountain? Whence have your people the Spirit, not having, been sealed by an anointed priest? Whence the water, being separated from its mother's womb? Whence renewal, who have lost the cradle of Bridal Peace?
7. 'The Church is a people free from denying the Name of Christ' Are there then no Confessors amongst us, no Martyrs, no untainted and spotless Priests, who have been proved by prisons, by chains, by fire, by the sword? " There were," thou wilt say, " but by receiving those who had denied, they perished." I do not mention, I do not infer even this, that your own Novatian, whilst he was still living in the Church, both wrote, and recommended, and read a book, on receiving those who had denied, or the lapsed. In the mean time, whom will you be able to persuade that by receiving the lapsed the whole Church hath perished? That by the admission of penitents, the people of those who admit them has been made a denier of the Faith? But even if the people here or there have been too lax, have the other peoples also who approved not of their deed, but followed custom and peace, lost the Christian name? Hear the voice of Jeremiah, In those days shall they not say, The fathers have eaten a sour grape, and the children's teeth are |339 set on edge. But every one shall die for his own iniquity. Nor is the Lord silent by the mouth of Ezekiel, As the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is Mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die; and afterwards, The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son; the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him. You yourself bring forward this example; Though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they shall deliver neither son nor daughter; they only shall be delivered. See, they who are placed in the midst of sinners, who cannot deliver others, are themselves saved. Whereas thou bindest the whole world with the chains of a few; thou condemnest the whole Church for the infirmity of a small portion. What are all with you saints, whom Novatus trained, whom Evaristus chose, whom Nicostratus taught, whom Novatian instructed? Hast thou escaped the thorns and briars? Hast thou no tares in thy corn? Is thy wheat already purged? Will He that purgeth come to thee without His fail? Shalt thou alone of all have no chaff? But come, proceed with the rest.
8. "The Church is the body of Christ." Truly, the body, not a member; the body composed of many parts and members knit in one, as saith the Apostle, For the body is not one member, but many. Therefore the Church is the full body, compacted and diffused now throughout the whole world; like a city, I mean, all whose parts are united, not as ye are, O Novatians, some small and insolent portion, and a mere swelling that has gathered, and separated from the rest of the body.
9. "The Church is the temple of God." Truly, an ample temple, a great house, having vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and earth, some unto honour; and many indeed of glorious fashion destined for the manifold uses of various works.
10. "The Church is a holy Virgin, of chastest feelings, the Spouse of Christ." "A Virgin," it is true, but a mother also. A " Spouse," it is clear, but also a wife and an helpmeet taken from her Husband, and therefore bone of His bones, and flesh of His flesh. For of her David saith, Thy |340 wife shall be as the fruitful vine upon the walls of thine house; thy children like the olive-branches round about thy table. Great, therefore, is the progeny of this Virgin, and without number her offspring, wherewith the whole world is filled, wherewith the populous swarm ever throngs the circumfluous hive. Great is the care of that mother for her children, and tender her affection. The good are honoured, the haughty are chastised, the sick are cared for, no one perishes, no one is despised, the young are kept safe under the indulgent protection of a mother.
11. "The Church is without spot or wrinkle," that is, without heresies, without Valentinus, without Cataphrygians, without Novatians. For in these are certain spotted and wrinkled folds, envious of the ornaments of the precious vesture. But the sinner and the penitent are not a spot on the Church, because, as long as he sinneth and repenteth not, he is put without the Church . When he ceases to sin, he is already whole. But the heretic rends, divides, spots, wrinkles, the garment of the Lord, the Church of Christ. For whereas there are schisms and contentions among you, saith the Apostle, are ye not carnal, and walk as men? and moreover, Their word will eat as doth a canker. This is the spot that defileth unity, this the wrinkle. Lastly, when the Apostle is speaking of these things, he is setting forth the love and affection of Christ. As Christ, he saith, loved the Church, and gave Himself for it; that He might remove , that is, the heretics, because they know not how to love. But why is this, you will say, for the wretched penitent? Because he wisheth both to love and be loved.
12. "The Church is that which keepeth the laws of the Gospels entire." Truly "entire," because all, because fully |341 Where reward is given to the faithful, where tears are not denied to the wretched, where the weeping of them that ask is heard, where the wounded are bound up, where the sick are healed, where insolent health claimeth nothing for itself nor a proud righteousness, where charity endureth long solicitous for all, believing all things, hoping all things, enduring all things; (whence is that of the Apostle, Who is weak, and I am not weak? who is offended, and I burn not?) where the whole brotherhood mourning together, beareth its own burdens, secure in mutual affection, all in turn bearing with one another in love, endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. This will be the Church, brother Sympronian; this will be the " people born again in Christ of water and the Holy Spirit."
13. "I know not," you say, "whether sin can be remitted by Bishops, since our Lord hath said, Whosoever shall deny Me before men, him will I also deny before My Father Which is in heaven. Why then did your Novatian teach this, when a Priest, before he had falsely assumed the Episcopate, long before Cornelius was made Bishop of Rome, before he was envious of his priesthood? You have the evidence of Cyprian to this; Cyprian, whom not even ye have ever been able to defame. For in a certain place he writes to Antonianus after this manner ; 'It was added, moreover, (Novatian being then the writer, and with his own voice reciting what he had written, and Moyses, then a Confessor, now a Martyr, subscribing,) that peace should be given to the lapsed when sick, and in extremities; which Epistle was sent throughout the world, and brought to the knowledge of all the Churches.' What sayest thou, brother Sympronian? Novatian wrote this, and, that he might add the assent of his entire will, recited it also when written. His right hand is witness; witness the hand which wrote; witness the tongue which read. As yet Cornelius, on account of whom all this envy of yours burst forth, was not Bishop. Long subsequent to this, with very many brother Bishops, with very many Confessors, and forthwith Martyrs, as the same Cyprian writes, he agreed in the decision of the elders, that peace might be given. If the approach to penance is to |342 be refused, Novatian is involved in the guilt, who wrote, recommended, and recited this. Where then was this impatient rigour? Where then this unrelenting censorship? Had no one preferred Cornelius to you, that authority of Novatian so writing had remained.
14. Now this whole judgment displeaseth, now are arrows shot at us, and these very men furnish them, by whose authority the cause whereat they direct them, gained its strength. But when began the Novatians to fall into this very heresy? Listen, I pray, and consider the whole course of your error. Cornelius, now made Bishop of Rome by sixteen Bishops, had succeeded to the place of the vacant Chair, and in that virginal chastity wherewith he was endued, suffered frequent persecutions from the angered Prince. At that time by chance a certain Presbyter named Novatus , having defrauded the widows in the Church of Carthage, robbed orphans, denied and withheld the money of the Church, cast his father out of his house, suffered him to die of hunger and left him without burial, stricken with his heel the womb of his pregnant wife, and destroyed her child, came from Africa to Rome. And there, when at the urgent request of his brethren in the Church, the day on which he must render account at Carthage was close upon him, he lay concealed.
15. And not long after, when this Novatian was troubled at the Episcopate of Cornelius, (for he had hoped it for himself,) he, with some partizans of his side, (as is men's wont in such cases,) urges him on when hesitating, encourages him when doubtful, exhorts him to hope for something great. He finds some out of the number of those who escaped the tempest of that persecution, in whose minds he could infuse against Cornelius this very odium about the receiving of the lapsed. He gives to Novatian their letters to him. He by authority of these letters, there being already a Bishop sitting at Rome, in opposition to the laws of the singleness of the Priesthood, assumes to himself the name of a second Bishop; accuses Cornelius of being in communion with the lapsed ; asserts his own innocence. Over against such a man I am |343 to render account; against such, I am to maintain the cause of modesty; against such is purity of life to be vindicated!
16. "But," thou wilt say, "why do ye too, Bishops, approve such things?" This let another say; do thou defend Novatian. Let the cause seem to others inexcusable; to thee it should be acceptable. Be he innocent in thy sight, whoever is in thy behalf guilty. Accuse not another of a crime, from which you cannot clear yourself. Well, be it that we Bishops every way owe a debt of shame, because we have received the name of Apostles, because we are sealed with the title of Christ. "The Lord," thou sayest, "denies him that denieth, I would not that thou shouldest acknowledge him denying." Who does acknowledge him denying? He, I ask, who constrains him to penance, rebukes him, shews him his crime, lays bare his wounds, tells him of eternal punishments, corrects him by the destruction of the flesh? This is to chasten, not to acknowledge. The Lord saith unto us, Ye are the salt of the earth. Good then is the harmony when we so teach, nor will its authority be slight, whosoever shall hear us. Thou seest that the sentence of the Lord is not trampled on, but enforced by us; severity is not laid aside, but His will laid open.
17. "But," thou wilt say, "you forgive sin to the penitent, whereas it is allowed to you to remit sin only in Baptism." Not to me at all, but to God only, Who both in Baptism forgiveth the guilt incurred, and rejecteth not the tears of the penitent. But what I do, I do not by my own right, but by the Lord's. We are labourers together with God, saith the Apostle; ye are God's building; and again, I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase. Wherefore, whether we baptize, whether we constrain to penance, or grant pardon to the penitent, we do this by the authority of Christ. See thou to it, whether Christ hath this power, whether Christ have done this. |344
18. "If remission of sin," thou sayest, "could be given to the penitent, Baptism was not necessary." Most senseless comparison! For Baptism is the Sacrament of the Lord's Passion: the pardon of penitents is the earning of him that confesseth. The former all can obtain, because it is the gift of the grace of God, that is, a free gift; but penitence is the toil of the few, who after falling arise, who after wounds recover, who are holpen by tearful prayers, who recover life through the destruction of the flesh.
19. Thou maintainest that to no purpose did I adduce that instance that God hath said, I desire not the death of a sinner, but rather that he repent. What had I added that of Isaiah, When thou shall return and mourn, then shall thou be saved, and know where thou hast been? What if that of the Apocalypse, Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works? "These things," (thou wilt say,) "were spoken to the Gentiles before Baptism." Hear the Apostle, Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law. Therefore, those who lived without the law will not be holden by this condition of repentance. And should they have repented, they had done it out of an unconstrained faith, not by any bond of repentance imposed by the law.
20. Therefore (thou wilt say) the Jews at least who repented before Baptism cannot repent after Baptism. Who taught thee this, brother Sympronian? Who convinced thee that he who may have repented before, ought not to repent afterwards? But this we will see hereafter. Meanwhile, even if the Jews were precluded from repentance after Baptism, because they had repented before, allow that the Gentiles at least who, before, knew not the law of repentance, ought to repent afterwards. But I would not that thou shouldest be deceived even as to the Jews. For on this very ground did they before repent, because they had corrupted their old Baptism, and they repented as having, after Faith, betrayed the Faith. Hear the Apostle, Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; and were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; and did all eat the same spiritual meat; and did all drink the same |345 spiritual drink; for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Bock was Christ. This Baptism then they had violated, and therefore did they repent. Let us now see what thou sayest.