(Erasmus I, 12; Pamelius, Rigaltius, Baluzius, LXX; Oxford and Leipzig, LXX; Paris, LXIX; Routh, Reliquiae Sacrae, pp. 84 and 135.) After the practice of rebaptizing those who had been baptized by heretics had—at the instance of Agrippinus, or even of Tertullian as its author—already long before been frequently used in the African Church, and after Novatian had imitated it (so that at least in this way he might receive into the Church the lapsed, whom he taught to be unclean, washed through Baptism from all their uncleanness), Magnus, a layman, on the occasion of the Novatianists, who at that time observed the same form and rite of baptizing as the Catholics, was the first to doubt whether those returning to the Church ought to be rebaptized whom they knew to have been baptized by the Novatianists.
Among the bishops, the first found to have done so were the Numidians, who wrote letters concerning the rebaptizing of heretics to Cyprian and the other bishops gathered for this synod at Carthage. This first synodical consultation on the matter, then, held in the year 258—the fourth year of the emperors Valerian and Gallienus—is the one which Cyprian's Epistle 73, to Jubaianus, shows; in which, since some of the Africans held, according to apostolic tradition, that those legitimately baptized by heretics were not to be rebaptized, but others on the contrary judged that there is but one Baptism of the one Church, and that therefore among heretics, who are outside the Church, there could not be a true and catholic Baptism;
this inquiry having gone before, it was at length defined that, since there is one Baptism in the holy Church, no one can be baptized outside the Church; misinterpreting the tradition of the apostles, and also speaking ill in binding it universally, they added—as is clear from Cyprian's Epistle 71 to Quintus—that those who, rightly baptized by Catholics, had defected to heretics, were to be received not through Baptism, but through the imposition of hands alone, if they should strive to return to the Church. Baronius, in the year of Christ 258, numbers 17 through 26 inclusive.
When all these matters had thus been settled, they made known to Januarius and the other bishops of Numidia the judgment and decision of this synod—just as those bishops had themselves requested by letters written to the synod—through this synodal epistle, which below we have here appended from Cyprian.
When we were gathered together in council, dearly beloved brethren, we read your letter which you sent to us concerning those who appear to have been baptized among heretics and schismatics, asking whether, when they come to the Catholic Church, which is one and true, they ought to be baptized. On this matter, although you yourselves there hold fast the truth and firmness of the Catholic rule, nevertheless, since out of our common love you have thought fit to consult us, we set forth our judgment—not as a new one, but as one long ago established by our predecessors and observed by us—joining it with you in equal agreement.
We hold, namely, and regard it as certain, that no one can be baptized outside, beyond the Church—since there is one Baptism appointed in the holy Church—and since it is written, the Lord saying (Jer. II, 13): 'They have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and have dug for themselves broken cisterns that cannot hold water.' And again, divine Scripture warns and says (Prov. IX, 18, according to the Septuagint): 'Keep yourself from another's water, and drink not of a strange fountain.' It is needful, therefore, that the water be first cleansed and sanctified by the priest, that by its baptism it may be able to wash away the sins of the man who is baptized; for through the prophet Ezekiel the Lord says (Ezek. XXXVI, 25, 26):
'And I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be cleansed from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you; and I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you.' But how can he cleanse and sanctify the water who is himself unclean and in whom the Holy Spirit is not, since the Lord says in Numbers (Num. XIX, 22): 'And whatsoever the unclean shall touch shall be unclean'? Or how can one who baptizes give to another the remission of sins, when he himself cannot lay aside his own sins outside the Church? II. But the very interrogation itself which is made at baptism is a witness of the truth. For when we say:
'Do you believe in eternal life and the remission of sins through the holy Church?'—we understand that the remission of sins is given only in the Church, but among heretics, where there is no Church, sins cannot be remitted. Therefore those who assert that heretics can baptize must either change the interrogation or vindicate the truth—unless indeed they grant the Church also to those whom they contend possess Baptism. It is necessary too that he who has been baptized be anointed, so that, having received the Chrism—that is, the Anointing—he may be the anointed of God and may be able to have within himself the grace of Christ.
Now furthermore the Eucharist is the source whence the baptized are anointed with the oil sanctified on the altar. But he who had neither altar nor Church could not sanctify the creature of oil. Whence neither can spiritual anointing exist among heretics, since it is plain that among them the oil cannot at all be sanctified nor the Eucharist celebrated. And we ought to know and remember that it is written (Ps. CXL, 6): 'Let not the oil of the sinner anoint my head'—which the Holy Spirit foretold beforehand in the Psalms, lest anyone straying and wandering from the way of truth should be anointed among heretics and the adversaries of Christ.
Moreover, what prayer can a sacrilegious and sinful priest make on behalf of the baptized, since it is written (John IX, 31): 'God does not hear a sinner; but if anyone worships him and does his will, him he hears'? And who can give what he himself does not possess, or how can he perform spiritual things who has himself lost the Holy Spirit? And therefore he who comes raw to the Church must be baptized and renewed, that within he may be sanctified through the holy ones; for it is written (Lev. XIX, 2, and XX, 26): 'Be holy, for I also am holy, says the Lord.'
So that he who has been seduced into error and dipped outside, may in true and ecclesiastical Baptism also lay aside this very thing—that a man, coming to God while he sought a priest, fell by the fraud of error upon a sacrilegious one. III. Moreover, to approve the baptism of heretics and schismatics is to consent to that which they have baptized. For neither can one part there be void and another part prevail. If it could baptize, it could also give the Holy Spirit.
But if it cannot give the Holy Spirit—since, being established outside, it is not with the Holy Spirit—neither can it baptize the one who comes; for there is both one Baptism and one Holy Spirit and one Church, founded by Christ the Lord upon Peter as the source of unity and the principle of order. Thus it comes to pass that, since all things among them are empty and false, none of the things which they have done ought to be approved by us. For what can be ratified and firm before God which those men do whom the Lord calls his enemies and adversaries, declaring in his Gospel (Luke XI, 23): 'He who is not with me is against me; and he who gathers not with me, scatters.'
And the blessed apostle John also, keeping the commandments and precepts of the Lord, has set down in his epistle, saying (1 John II, 18, 19): 'You have heard that antichrist comes. But now there have arisen many antichrists; whence we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would surely have remained with us.' Whence we also ought to gather and consider whether those who are adversaries of the Lord and are called antichrists can give the grace of Christ.
Wherefore we who are with the Lord, and hold the unity of the Lord, and administer his priesthood in the Church according to his appointment, ought to repudiate and reject and hold as profane whatever his adversaries and the antichrists do; and to those who, coming from error and depravity, acknowledge the true faith of the one Church, we ought to give in all things the sacraments of divine grace and the truth of unity and of faith. We desire, dearly beloved brethren, that you ever fare well.