Presbyters Uniwersytet Warszawski
ID
ER 878
Augustine, bishop of Hippo Regius (North Africa) argues for the validity of the baptism administered by presbyters-sinners. Augustine, Sermon 293A (Dolbeau 3 = Mainz 7), AD 407.
Sermon 293A (Dolbeau 3 = Mainz 7)
 
14. Iniuriam putas fieri Iohanni baptistae, quia post illum baptizatum est, si post haereticos non baptizatur. Et ego doleo iniuriam ipsam, sed sic tibi replico: si post Iohannem baptizatum est, post Optatum non debuit baptizari? Quid hic mihi loqueris? Quis erat Iohannes?  In natis mulierum  nemo exsurget  maior Iohanne baptista. Est apud te aliquis presbyter uel ebriosus - nolo dicere fenerator, nolo dicere adulter -, interim quod abundat et quod publice fit, uel ebriosus presbyter est apud te. Age. Quare non post illum rebaptizas? Si baptizas post Iohannem qui uinum non bibit, post ebriosum non debes baptizare? Hic certe turbatur et non habet quid dicat. Quid ergo? A me audi.
 
15. Et Paulus iubet baptizari eos qui habebant baptismum Iohannis et non habebant Christi. Post ebriosum autem quare non baptizas? Quia baptismum non dedit, nisi Christi. Christi enim baptismus est: det illum sobrius, det illum ebriosus, Christi est, nec sobrii nec ebriosi est. Baptismum istum dedit Petrus: Christi est; dedit Iudas: Christi est.
 
(ed. Dolbeau 1993: 393)
 
 
 
Sermon 293A (Dolbeau 3 = Mainz 7)
 
14. I answer: You think John is being insulted, seeing that people were baptized after his baptism, if they aren't baptized after the baptism of heretics. I too grieve over the serious insult; but this is how I throw the ball back to you: „If they were baptized after John's baptism, shouldn't they also be baptized after the baptism of Optatus?” What do you say to me about that? Who was John?
"Among those born of women, none will arise greater than John the Baptist.”
With you there is some presbyter who is at any rate a drunkard – I won't say a usurer, I won't say an adulterer – for the time being we stick to what is common enough and what is public knowledge; there is at least some priest or other with you who is a drunkard.
"Granted.”
Why don't you rebaptize after him? If you baptize after John, who didn't drink wine, shouldn't you baptize after a drunkard? At this point, certainly, he's confused and has nothing to say. So what next? Listen to the answer from me.
 
15. Yes, Paul gives orders for those to be baptized who had John's baptism and didn't have Christ's. After a drunkard, though why don't you baptize? Because the baptism he gave is none other than Christ's. Let a sober man give it, let a drunkard give it, it's Christ's; it doesn't belong either to the sober man or to the drunkard. Peter gave this baptism, it's Christ's; Judas gave it, it's Christ's. […]
 
(trans. E. Hill, slighlty altered)

Discussion:

According to F. Dolbeau, this sermon was delivered in Carthage on 24 June 407. It has the form of an imaginary dialogue with a Donatist; Augustine explains why rebaptising is wrong. Similar argumentation is used by  Augustine in the "Contra litteras Petiliani" 2,37,88, "Contra Cresconium" 4,25,32, "Contra epistola Parmeniani" 2,15,34, "In Iohannis Evangelium tractatus" 5,17, and "De unico baptismo" 7,9.
 Optatus, to whom Augustine refers, was the Donatist bishop of Thamugadi, accused of using violence against his enemies.
 Augustine refers to drunkeness as the lightest of the offences of which a presbyter can be accused, but he does not rule out that other offences mentioned here are possible.  

Place of event:

Region
  • Latin North Africa

About the source:

Author: Augustine of Hippo
Title: Sermons, Sermones, Homilies
Origin: Carthage (Latin North Africa)
Denomination: Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian
Copies of between 400 and 500 of Augustine`s sermons have survived to our times. Most of these 400-500 sermons were taken down by scribes as he preached without the use of a prepared script. They are a faithful stenographic record of what Augustine actually said, with probably no subsequent editing of them by himself.
They cover a wide range of topics. They are usually based on the Scripture passage read during the liturgy. The homilies on the Psalms and the Gospels have been preserved in separate collections.
Edition:
F. Dolbeau ed., Nouveux sermons d’Augustin pour la conversions des païens et des donatistes, Revue des Études Augustiniennes 39 (1993) 371-423.
 
Translation:
 
Saint Augustine, Newly Discovered Sermons, trans. E. Hill, New York 1997.

Categories:

Sexual life - Extramarital
    Food/Clothes/Housing - Food and drink
      Religious grouping (other than Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian) - Donatist
        Ritual activity - Baptism and instructing catechumens
          Economic status and activity - Loans
            Theoretical considerations - On priesthood
              Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: S. Adamiak, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER878, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=878