Canon XCV.
Those
who from the heretics come
over to orthodoxy, and to the number of those who should be saved, we
receive according to the following order and custom. Arians,
Macedonians, Novatians, who call themselves Cathari, Aristeri, and
Testareskaidecatitæ, or Tetraditæ, and Apollinarians, we
receive on their presentation of certificates and on their
anathematizing every heresy which does not hold as does the holy
Apostolic Church of God: then first of all we anoint them with
the holy chrism on their foreheads, eyes, nostrils, mouth and ears; and
as we seal them we say—“The seal of the gift of the Holy
Ghost.”
But concerning the Paulianists it has been determined by
the Catholic Church that they shall by all means be rebaptized.
The Eunomeans also, who baptize with one immersion; and the Montanists,
who here are called Phrygians; and the Sabellians, who consider the Son
to be the same as the Father, and are guilty in certain other grave
matters, and all the other heresies—for there are many heretics
here, especially those who come from the region of the
Galatians—all of their number who are desirous of coming to the
Orthodox faith, we receive as Gentiles. And on the first day we
make them Christians, on the second Catechumens, then on the third day
we exorcise them, at the same time also breathing thrice upon their
faces and ears; and thus we initiate them, and we make them spend time
in church and hear the Scriptures; and then we baptize them.
And the Manichæans, and Valentinians and
Marcionites and all of similar heresies must give certificates and
anathematize each his own heresy, and also Nestorius, Eutyches,
Dioscorus, Severus, and the other chiefs of such heresies, and those
who think with them, and all the aforesaid heresies; and so they become
partakers of the holy Communion.
Notes.
Ancient Epitome of Canon
XCV.
Thus we admit those converted from the heretics.
We anoint with the holy chrism, upon the brow, eyes, nostrils, mouth,
and ears, Arians, Macedonians, Novatians (who are called Cathari),
Aristerians (who are called Quartadecimans or Tetraditæ), and
Apollinarians when they anathematize every heresy; and sign them with
the cross as we say, “The Seal of the gift of the Holy
Ghost. Amen.”
Compare with this Canon vij. of Laodicea, and the
so-called vij
th
. canon of the First Council of
Constantinople.
The text I have translated is that ordinarily given, I
now present to the reader Hefele’s argument for its
worthlessness.
Hefele.
This text is undoubtedly false, for (a) the baptism of
the Gnostics was, according to the recognized ecclesiastical principle,
invalid, and a Gnostic coming into the Church was required to be
baptized anew; (b) besides, it would have us first to require of a
Gnostic an anathema on Nestorius, Eutyches, etc. More accurate,
therefore, is the text, as it is given by Beveridge, and as Balsamon
had it, to the effect that: “In the same way (as the
preceding) are the Manichæans, Valentinians, Marcionites, and
similar heretics to be treated (i.e., to be baptized anew); but the
Nestorians must (merely) present certificates, and anathematize their
heresy, Nestorius, Eutyches, etc.” Here we have only this
mis
take, that the Nestorians must
anathematize, among others, also Eutyches, which they would certainly
have done very willingly. At the best, we must suppose that there
is a gap in the text, and that after, “all of similar
heresies,” we must add “the later heretics must present
certificates and anathematize Nestorius, Eutyches, etc.”
There seems but little doubt that whatever may be the
truth in the matter, the early theologians and fathers held that even
though the external rite of Holy Baptism might be validly performed by
schismatics and heretics, yet that by it the person so baptized did not
receive the Holy Ghost, and this opinion was not confined to the East,
but was also prevalent in the West.
Vide
Rupertus,
De Divinis
Officiis
, Lib. X., Cap. xxv.