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187.1 Twice-served cabbage is death, says the malicious proverb. But I many times

having asked will die once, and in any case also without having asked. But if it is to be in any case, do not hesitate to eat a sweet dish, vainly reviled by the proverb.

188.t TO AMPHILOCHIUS CONCERNING THE CANONS

To a fool who asks a question, he says, wisdom will be imputed. But a wise man's, as it seems,

question makes even the fool wise; which by the grace of God happens to us, whenever we receive the letters of your industrious soul. For we become more attentive and more prudent concerning ourselves from the question itself, being taught many things we do not know, and our care for precision becomes our teacher. So now, although we have never before taken your questions into consideration, we have been constrained both to examine them accurately and to recall if we have heard anything from the elders, and to consider for ourselves things cognate to what we have been taught. 188.1 The question, then, concerning the Cathari has both been spoken of before, and you have well remembered that it is necessary to follow the custom of each country, because those who at that time deliberated on these things held different views about their baptism. But the case of the Pepuzenes seems to me to have no argument, and I have wondered how it escaped Dionysius, who was versed in the canons. For the ancients judged that baptism to be accepted which in no way deviates from the faith; whence they called some heresies, others schisms, and others parasynagogues. Heresies are those who are completely broken off and alienated in the faith itself; schisms are those who have separated for some ecclesiastical causes and remediable questions; and parasynagogues are the gatherings held by insubordinate presbyters or bishops and by uninstructed laity. For example, if someone, examined for a fault, was suspended from the ministry and did not submit to the canons, but claimed for himself the presidency and the ministry, and some others went away with him, having abandoned the catholic Church, such a thing is a parasynagogue. Schism is to hold different views concerning repentance from those of the Church. Heresies are, for instance, that of the Manichaeans, and Valentinians, and Marcionites, and these very Pepuzenes; for there is at once a difference concerning the very faith in God. It seemed good, therefore, to those from the beginning to completely reject that of the heretics; but to accept that of the schismatics, as being still of the Church; and those in parasynagogues, having been improved by suitable repentance and conversion, to be joined again to the Church, so that often even those in orders who went away with the insubordinate are, when they repent, received back into the same rank. The Pepuzenes, therefore, are manifestly heretics; for they have blasphemed against the Holy Spirit, unlawfully and shamelessly ascribing the title of the Paraclete to Montanus and Priscilla. Therefore, whether as deifying human beings, they are condemned; or as insulting the Holy Spirit by comparing it to human beings, they are thus liable to eternal condemnation, because blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is unforgivable. What reason is there, then, for the baptism of these to be approved, who baptize into the Father and the Son and Montanus or Priscilla? For they were not baptized who were baptized into things not handed down to us. So that, even if this escaped the great Dionysius, we must not follow the imitation of the error. For the absurdity is immediately obvious and clear to all who have even a little share of reasoning. The Cathari are also among the schismatics. But yet it seemed good to the ancients, I mean to those around Cyprian and Firmilian the

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187.1 ∆ὶς κράμβη θάνατος, ἡ βάσκανός φησι παροιμία. Ἐγὼ δὲ πολλάκις

αἰτήσας ἅπαξ ἀποθανοῦμαι, πάντως δὲ καὶ μὴ αἰτήσας. Εἰ δὲ πάντως, μὴ κατόκνει ἐσθίειν ὄψον ἡδύ, μάτην ὑπὸ τῆς παροιμίας λοιδορηθέν.

188.τ ΑΜΦΙΛΟΧΙΩ ΠΕΡΙ ΚΑΝΟΝΩΝ

Ἀνοήτῳ, φησίν, ἐπερωτήσαντι σοφία λογισθήσεται. Σοφοῦ δέ, ὡς ἔοικεν,

ἐπερώτημα καὶ τὸν ἀνόητον σοφίζει· ὅπερ τῇ τοῦ Θεοῦ χάριτι συμβαίνει ἡμῖν, ὁσάκις ἂν δεξώ μεθά σου τῆς φιλοπόνου ψυχῆς τὰ γράμματα. Ἐπιστα τικώτεροι γὰρ ἑαυτῶν καὶ ἐμφρονέστεροι γινόμεθα ἀπ' αὐτῆς τῆς ἐρωτήσεως πολλὰ ὧν οὐκ ἐπιστάμεθα διδασκό μενοι, καὶ γίνεται ἡμῶν διδάσκαλος ἡ περὶ τὸ ἀκριβὲς μέριμνα. Ἀμέλει καὶ νῦν, οὐδέποτε λαβόντες ἐν φροντίδι τὰ ἐπερωτήματά σου, ἠναγκάσθημεν καὶ ἐπισκέψασθαι ἀκριβῶς καὶ εἴ τέ τι ἠκούσαμεν παρὰ τῶν πρεσβυτέρων ἀναμνησθῆναι καὶ τὰ συγγενῆ ὧν ἐδιδάχθημεν παρ' ἑαυτῶν ἐπιλογίσασθαι. 188.1 Τὸ μὲν οὖν περὶ τοὺς Καθαροὺς ζήτημα καὶ εἴρηται πρότερον καὶ καλῶς ἀπεμνημόνευσας ὅτι δεῖ τῷ ἔθει τῶν καθ' ἑκάστην χώραν ἕπεσθαι, διὰ τὸ διαφόρως ἐνεχθῆναι περὶ τοῦ βαπτίσματος αὐτῶν τοὺς τότε περὶ τούτων διαλαβόντας. Τὸ δὲ τῶν Πεπουζηνῶν οὐδένα μοι λόγον ἔχειν δοκεῖ, καὶ ἐθαύμασα πῶς κανονικὸν ὄντα τὸν ∆ιονύσιον παρῆλθεν. Ἐκεῖνο γὰρ ἔκριναν οἱ παλαιοὶ δέχεσθαι βάπ τισμα τὸ μηδὲν τῆς πίστεως παρεκβαῖνον· ὅθεν τὰς μὲν αἱρέσεις ὠνόμασαν, τὰ δὲ σχίσματα, τὰς δὲ παρασυνα γωγάς. Αἱρέσεις μὲν τοὺς παντελῶς ἀπερρηγμένους καὶ κατ' αὐτὴν τὴν πίστιν ἀπηλλοτριωμένους, σχίσματα δὲ τοὺς δι' αἰτίας τινὰς ἐκκλησιαστικὰς καὶ ζητήματα ἰάσιμα πρὸς ἀλλήλους διενεχθέντας, παρασυναγωγὰς δὲ τὰς συνάξεις τὰς παρὰ τῶν ἀνυποτάκτων πρεσβυτέρων ἢ ἐπισκόπων καὶ παρὰ τῶν ἀπαιδεύτων λαῶν γινομένας. Οἷον εἴ τις ἐν πταίσματι ἐξετασθεὶς ἐπεσχέθη τῆς λειτουργίας καὶ μὴ ὑπέκυψε τοῖς κανόσιν, ἀλλ' ἑαυτῷ ἐξεδίκησε τὴν προεδρίαν καὶ τὴν λειτουργίαν καὶ συνα πῆλθον τούτῳ τινὲς καταλιπόντες τὴν καθολικὴν Ἐκκλη σίαν, παρασυναγωγὴ τὸ τοιοῦτο. Σχίσμα δὲ τὸ περὶ τῆς μετανοίας διαφόρως ἔχειν πρὸς τοὺς ἀπὸ τῆς Ἐκκλησίας Αἱρέσεις δὲ οἷον ἡ τῶν Μανιχαίων, καὶ Οὐαλεντίνων, καὶ Μαρκιωνιστῶν, καὶ αὐτῶν τούτων τῶν Πεπουζηνῶν· εὐθὺς γὰρ περὶ αὐτῆς τῆς εἰς Θεὸν πίστεως ἡ διαφορά. Ἔδοξε τοίνυν τοῖς ἐξ ἀρχῆς τὸ μὲν τῶν αἱρετικῶν παν τελῶς ἀθετῆσαι· τὸ δὲ τῶν ἀποσχισάντων, ὡς ἔτι ἐκ τῆς Ἐκκλησίας ὄντων, παραδέξασθαι· τοὺς δὲ ἐν ταῖς παρασυ ναγωγαῖς, μετανοίᾳ ἀξιολόγῳ καὶ ἐπιστροφῇ βελτιωθέντας, συνάπτεσθαι πάλιν τῇ Ἐκκλησίᾳ, ὥστε πολλάκις καὶ τοὺς ἐν βαθμῷ συναπελθόντας τοῖς ἀνυποτάκτοις, ἐπειδὰν μεταμεληθῶσιν, εἰς τὴν αὐτὴν παραδέχεσθαι τάξιν. Οἱ τοίνυν Πεπουζηνοὶ προδήλως εἰσὶν αἱρετικοί· εἰς γὰρ τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ Ἅγιον ἐβλασφήμησαν, Μοντανῷ καὶ Πρισκίλλῃ τὴν τοῦ Παρακλήτου προσηγορίαν ἀθεμίτως καὶ ἀναισ χύντως ἐπιφημίσαντες. Εἴτε οὖν ὡς ἀνθρώπους θεοποι οῦντες, κατάκριτοι· εἴτε ὡς τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ Ἅγιον τῇ πρὸς ἀνθρώπους συγκρίσει καθυβρίζοντες, καὶ οὕτω τῇ αἰωνίῳ καταδίκῃ ὑπεύθυνοι, διὰ τὸ ἀσυγχώρητον εἶναι τὴν εἰς τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ Ἅγιον βλασφημίαν. Τίνα οὖν λόγον ἔχει τὸ τούτων βάπτισμα ἐγκριθῆναι τῶν βαπτιζόντων εἰς Πατέρα καὶ Υἱὸν καὶ Μοντανὸν ἢ Πρίσκιλλαν; Οὐ γὰρ ἐβαπ τίσθησαν οἱ εἰς τὰ μὴ παραδεδομένα ἡμῖν βαπτισθέντες. Ὥστε, εἰ καὶ τὸν μέγαν ∆ιονύσιον τοῦτο παρέλαθεν, ἀλλ' ἡμῖν οὐ φυλακτέον τὴν μίμησιν τοῦ σφάλματος. Τὸ γὰρ ἄτοπον αὐτόθεν πρόδηλον καὶ πᾶσιν ἐναργὲς οἷς τι καὶ μικρὸν τοῦ λογίζεσθαι μέτεστιν. Οἱ Καθαροὶ καὶ αὐτοὶ τῶν ἀπεσχισμένων εἰσί. Πλὴν ἀλλ' ἔδοξε τοῖς ἀρχαίοις, τοῖς περὶ Κυπριανὸν λέγω καὶ Φιρμιλιανὸν τὸν