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On the Heretics Who Deal in Sins

 

2. We, therefore, to whom eternal life is promised, should always possess and seek after eternal goods - that is to say, faith, righteousness, and charity. For these good things arouse opposition and, although these gifts cannot be bestowed by human beings, they are still frequently taken away by evil people. Therefore we must be careful and provident with respect to the good of faith, and in order to protect it we must always be armed with inner devotion and not quickly give credence to flattering falsehoods. For the enemy is accustomed to creep in under the guise of peace; that is to say, a heretic insinuates himself under the title of Christian, carrying Christ in his mouth in order to deceive simple people but bearing the devil in his heart; and indeed he confesses Him with his tongue but blasphemes Him in his mind. From this person, then, one must turn away immediately, and one should not be linked with him in any way whatsoever. For how can someone who is the Lord's enemy be the friend of His servants? Nor should we be astonished that heretics of this sort have begun to wander about in our own region, for the treacherous wolf always follows after the flock of sheep; the deceitful devil always attack the Christian assembly. Indeed, this occurs for a beneficial end, so that, by being more careful, the sheep might not leave the flock nor the Christian abandon the Church. Hence the Apostle also says: "Heresies must exist so that those who are approved among you might be made manifest." It is as if he had said: There must be a struggle of faith among Christians so that victory might be certain for the approved.

3. But let us set aside their balsphemies for the time being and refute their precepts of living. Those who are set over them, whom they call priests, are said to have this kind of command - that if any layperson confesses to having committed a crime he should not tell him: "Do penance, mourn what you have done, weep over your sins," but he should say: "For this crime give a certain amount to me and you will be forgiven." It is indeed a vain and foolish priest who, when he takes plunder, thinks that Christ forgives the sin. He does not know that the Saviour is used to forgiving sins and that for a misdeed He looks for precious tears and not for a great sum of money. Hence He Himself says: "You have freely received; give freely." And Peter, when he had sinned by denying the Lord three times, did not merit pardon because of his gifts but obtained it by his tears, for the Evangelist says of him: "He wept most bitterly." You see, I say, that with Christ value is measured not in gifts but in tears. Pardon is quickly obtained in proportion to how mournfully guilt is wept over. The priest takes the gifts, then, and by a kind of bargain he promises the Saviour's forgiveness. What a foolish smoothing-over, in which it is said that the one who has given more to the priest has sinned less against the Lord! With teachers of this sort the rich are always innocent and the poor are always criminal. How can a poor person, who has nothing to offer for his sin, make satisfaction for his misdeed?

 

(trans. B. Ramsey 1989: 258-259)