Basil of Caesarea, De Spiritu Sancto

26. Whence is it that we are Christians? Through our faith, would be the universal answer. And in what way are we saved? Plainly because we were regenerate through the grace given in our baptism. How else could we be? And after recognising that this salvation is established through the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost, shall we fling away “that form of doctrine” 10 Rom. vi. 17. which we received? Would it not rather be ground for great groaning if we are found now further off from our salvation “than when we first believed,” 11 Rom. xiii. 11, R.V. and deny now what we then received? Whether a man have departed this life without baptism, or have received a baptism lacking in some of the requirements of the tradition, his loss is equal. 12 The question is whether the baptism has been solemnized, according to the divine command, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. St. Cyprian in his controversy with Stephen, Bp. of Rome, represented the sterner view that heretical baptism was invalid. But, with some exceptions in the East, the position ultimately prevailed that baptism with water, and in the prescribed words, by whomsoever administered, was valid. So St. Augustine, “Si evangelicus verbis in nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti Marcion baptismum consecrabat, integrum erat Sacramentum, quamvis ejus fides sub eisdem verbis aliud opinantis quam catholica veritas docet non esset integra.” (Cont. Petil. de unico bapt. § 3.) So the VIII. Canon of Arles (314), “De Afris, quod propria lege sua utuntur ut rebaptizent, placuit, ut, si ad ecclesiam aliquis de hæresi venerit, interrogent eum symbolum; et si perviderint eum in Patre, et Filio et Spiritu Sancto, esse baptizatum, manus ei tantum imponantur, ut accipiat spiritum sanctum. Quod si interrogatus non responderit hanc Trinitatem, baptizetur.” So the VII. Canon of Constantinople (381) by which the Eunomians who only baptized with one immersion, and the Montanists, here called Phrygians, and the Sabellians, who taught the doctrine of the Fatherhood of the Son, were counted as heathen. Vide Bright’s notes on the Canons of the Councils, p. 106. Socrates, v. 24, describes how the Eunomi-Eutychians baptized not in the name of the Trinity, but into the death of Christ. And whoever does not always and everywhere keep to and hold fast as a sure protection the confession which we recorded at our first admission, when, being delivered “from the idols,” we came “to the living God,” 13 1 Thess. i. 9. constitutes himself a “stranger” from the “promises” 14 Eph. ii. 12. of God, fighting against his own handwriting, 15 The word χειρόγραφον, more common in Latin than in Greek, is used generally for a bond. cf. Juv. Sat. xvi. 41, “Debitor aut sumptos pergit non reddere nummos, vana supervacui dicens chirographa ligni.” On the use of the word, vide Bp. Lightfoot on Col. ii. 14. The names of the catechumens were registered, and the Renunciation and Profession of Faith (Interrogationes et Responsa; ἐπερωτήσεις καἰ ἀποκρίσεις) may have been signed. which he put on record when he professed the faith. For if to me my baptism was the beginning of life, and that day of regeneration the first of days, it is plain that the utterance uttered in the grace of adoption was the most honourable of all. Can I then, perverted by these men’s seductive words, abandon the tradition which guided me to the light, which bestowed on me the boon of the knowledge of God, whereby I, so long a foe by reason of sin, was made a child of God? But, for myself, I pray that with this confession I may depart hence to the Lord, and them I charge to preserve the faith secure until the day of Christ, and to keep the Spirit undivided from the Father and the Son, preserving, both in the confession of faith and in the doxology, the doctrine taught them at their baptism.

10 Rom. vi. 17.

11 Rom. xiii. 11, R.V.

12 The question is whether the baptism has been solemnized, according to the divine command, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. St. Cyprian in his controversy with Stephen, Bp. of Rome, represented the sterner view that heretical baptism was invalid. But, with some exceptions in the East, the position ultimately prevailed that baptism with water, and in the prescribed words, by whomsoever administered, was valid. So St. Augustine, “Si evangelicus verbis in nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti Marcion baptismum consecrabat, integrum erat Sacramentum, quamvis ejus fides sub eisdem verbis aliud opinantis quam catholica veritas docet non esset integra.” (Cont. Petil. de unico bapt. § 3.) So the VIII. Canon of Arles (314), “De Afris, quod propria lege sua utuntur ut rebaptizent, placuit, ut, si ad ecclesiam aliquis de hæresi venerit, interrogent eum symbolum; et si perviderint eum in Patre, et Filio et Spiritu Sancto, esse baptizatum, manus ei tantum imponantur, ut accipiat spiritum sanctum. Quod si interrogatus non responderit hanc Trinitatem, baptizetur.” So the VII. Canon of Constantinople (381) by which the Eunomians who only baptized with one immersion, and the Montanists, here called Phrygians, and the Sabellians, who taught the doctrine of the Fatherhood of the Son, were counted as heathen. Vide Bright’s notes on the Canons of the Councils, p. 106. Socrates, v. 24, describes how the Eunomi-Eutychians baptized not in the name of the Trinity, but into the death of Christ.

13 1 Thess. i. 9.

14 Eph. ii. 12.

15 The word χειρόγραφον, more common in Latin than in Greek, is used generally for a bond. cf. Juv. Sat. xvi. 41, “Debitor aut sumptos pergit non reddere nummos, vana supervacui dicens chirographa ligni.” On the use of the word, vide Bp. Lightfoot on Col. ii. 14. The names of the catechumens were registered, and the Renunciation and Profession of Faith (Interrogationes et Responsa; ἐπερωτήσεις καἰ ἀποκρίσεις) may have been signed.

[26] Χριστιανοὶ πόθεν ἡμεῖς; Διὰ τῆς πίστεως, πᾶς τις ἂν εἴποι. Σῳζόμεθα δὲ τίνα τρόπον; Ἀναγεννηθέντες δηλονότι διὰ τῆς ἐν τῷ βαπτίσματι χάριτος. Πόθεν γὰρ ἄλλοθεν; Εἶτα τὴν σωτηρίαν ταύτην διὰ Πατρὸς καὶ Υἱοῦ καὶ ἁγίου Πνεύματος βεβαιουμένην γνωρίσαντες, ὃν παρελάβομεν «τύπον διδαχῆς» προησόμεθα; Ἦ μεγάλων ἂν εἴη στεναγμῶν ἄξιον, εἴπερ εὑρισκόμεθα νῦν μακρυνόμενοι μᾶλλον ἀπὸ τῆς σωτηρίας ἡμῶν ἢ ὅτε ἐπιστεύσαμεν: εἴπερ ἃ τότε προσεδεξάμεθα, νῦν ἀπαρνούμεθα. Ἴση ἐστὶν ἡ ζημία, ἢ ἄμοιρόν τινα τοῦ βαπτίσματος ἀπελθεῖν, ἢ ἕν τι τῶν ἐκ τῆς παραδόσεως ἐλλεῖπον δέξασθαι. Τήν τε ὁμολογίαν, ἣν ἐπὶ τῆς πρώτης εἰσαγωγῆς κατεθέμεθα, ὅτε ῥυοθέντες ἀπὸ τῶν εἰδώλων προσήλθομεν Θεῷ ζῶντι, ὁ μὴ ἐπὶ παντὸς φυλάσσων καιροῦ, καὶ διὰ πάσης ἑαυτοῦ τῆς ζωῆς ὡς ἀσφαλοῦς φυλακτηρίου περιεχόμενος, ξένον ἑαυτὸν καθίστησι τῶν ἐπαγγελιῶν τοῦ Θεοῦ, τῷ ἰδίῳ χειρογράφῳ μαχόμενος, ὃ ἐπὶ τῆς κατὰ τὴν πίστιν ὁμολογίας κατέθετο. Εἰ γὰρ ἀρχή μοι ζωῆς τὸ βάπτισμα, καὶ πρώτη ἡμερῶν ἐκείνη ἡ τῆς παλιγγενεσίας ἡμέρα, δῆλον ὅτι καὶ φωνὴ τιμιωτάτη πασῶν ἡ ἐν τῇ χάριτι τῆς υἱοθεσίας ἐκφωνηθεῖσα. Τὴν οὖν εἰσάγουσάν με εἰς τὸ φῶς, τὴν γνῶσιν Θεοῦ μοι χαρισαμένην παράδοσιν, δι' ἧς τέκνον ἀπεδείχθην Θεοῦ, ὁ τέως διὰ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν ἐχθρός, ταύτην προδῶ, ταῖς τούτων πιθανολογίαις παρατραπείς; Ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐμαυτῷ συνεύχομαι μετὰ τῆς ὁμολογίας ταύτης ἀπελθεῖν πρὸς τὸν Κύριον, καὶ αὐτοῖς παραινῶ, ἄσυλον διατηρῆσαι τὴν πίστιν, εἰς ἡμέραν Χριστοῦ, καὶ ἀχώριστον ἀπὸ Πατρὸς καὶ Υἱοῦ φυλάξαι τὸ Πνεῦμα, τὴν ἐπὶ τοῦ βαπτίσματος διδασκαλίαν ἔν τε τῇ ὁμολογίᾳ τῆς πίστεως διατηροῦντας καὶ ἐν τῇ τῆς δόξης ἀποπληρώσει.