Canon VII.
Those
who from heresy turn to
orthodoxy, and to the portion of those who are being saved, we receive
according to the following method and custom: Arians, and
Macedonians, and Sabbatians, and Novatians, who call themselves Cathari
or Aristori, and Quarto-decimans or Tetradites, and Apollinarians, we
receive, upon their giving a written renunciation [of their errors] and
anathematize every heresy which is not in accordance with the Holy,
Catholic, and Apostolic Church of God. Thereupon, they are first
sealed or anointed with the holy oil upon the forehead, eyes, nostrils,
mouth, and ears; and when we seal them, we say, “The Seal of the
gift of the Holy Ghost.” But Eunomians, who are baptized
with only one immersion, and Montanists, who are here called Phrygians,
and Sabellians, who teach the identity of Father and Son, and do sundry
other mischievous things, and [the partisans of] all other
heresies—for there are many such here, particularly among those
who come from the country of the Galatians:—all these, when they
desire to turn to orthodoxy, we receive as heathen. On the first
day we make them Christians; on the second, catechumens; on the third,
we exorcise them by breathing thrice in their face and ears; and thus
we instruct them and oblige them to spend some time in the Church, and
to hear the Scriptures; and then we baptize them.
Notes.
Ancient Epitome of Canon VII.
233
Quarto-decimans or Tetradites, Arians, Macedonians,
Sabbatians, and Apollinarians ought to be received with their books and
anointed in all their organs of sense.
Ancient Epitome of Canon
VIII.
Eunomians baptized with one immersion, Sabellians, and
Phrygians are to be received as heathen.
Aristemus
(in
Can
.
vij.).
Those giving up their books and execrating every heresy
are received with only anointing with chrism of the eyes, the nostrils,
the ears, the mouth, and the brow; and signing them with the words,
“The Seal of the gift of the Holy Ghost.”
For the “Cathari,” see Notes on Canon viij.
of I. Nice.
Hammond.
Sabbatians. Sabbatius was a presbyter who adopted
the sentiments of Novatius, but as it is clear from the histories of
Socrates and Sozomen, that he did not do so till at least eight years
after the celebration of this council, it is of course equally clear
that this canon could not have been framed by this council.
Aristeri. This
is probably a false reading for Aristi, i.e. the best. In the
letter above mentioned the expression is Cathari and Catheroteri, i.e.
the pure, and the more pure.
The Quarto-decimans, or Tetradites, were those persons
who persisted in observing the Easter festival with the Jews, on the
fourteenth day of the first month, whatever day of the week it happened
to be.
Montanists. One of the older sects, so called from
Montanus, who embraced Christianity in the second century. He
professed to be inspired in a peculiar way by the Holy Ghost, and to
prophesy. He was supported in his errors by two women, Priscilla
and Maximilla, who also pretended to prophesy. His heresy
infected many persons, amongst others Tertullian, but being condemned
by the Church. his followers formed a sect remarkable for extreme
austerity. But although they asserted that the Holy Ghost had
inspired Montanus to introduce a system of greater perfection than the
Church had before known, and condemned those who would not join them as
carnal, they did not at first innovate in any of the articles of the
Creed. This sect lasted a long time, and spread much in Phrygia
and the neighbouring districts, whence they were called Phryges and
Cata-phryges, and latterly adopted the errors of Sabellius respecting
the Trinity.
The other heresies mentioned in this canon have been
treated of in the excursus to Canon j.
233
This canon is
broken into two by the Ancient Epitome.