Letter 222: Augustine explains the difficulty of a heresy catalogue and commends a bearer.
Augustine of Hippo→Quodvultdeus, deacon of Carthage|c. 428 AD|Augustine of Hippo|From Hippo Regius|To Carthage|AI-assisted
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Source-visible Augustine letter absent from the New Advent/NPNF English index; modern English is a first-time Roman Letters translation from Latin.
To my dearly loved son and fellow deacon Quodvultdeus: Bishop Augustine.
I received the letter of Your Charity in which, with burning zeal, you asked me to write something brief about all the heresies that have sprung up against the teaching of the Lord Savior after his coming. I immediately wrote back, when an opportunity was found, through my son Philocalus, a leading man of the people of Hippo, to say how difficult this is. Now another opportunity has quickly presented itself, through which I write back again, and briefly show the difficulty of the work.
A certain Philastrius, bishop of Brescia, whom I myself saw at Milan with Saint Ambrose, wrote a book on this subject. He did not omit those heresies that existed among the Jewish people before the Lord's coming, and he counted twenty-eight of them. After the Lord's coming he listed one hundred twenty-eight. Epiphanius, bishop of Cyprus, also wrote on this subject in Greek, and he was laudably renowned in the teaching of the catholic faith. But gathering heresies from both periods, he included eighty.
Since both men wanted to do what you ask of me, you see for the moment how much they differ from one another on the number of sects. This would certainly not have happened unless one of them thought one thing was a heresy and the other thought something else was. Nor should we suppose that Epiphanius was ignorant of some that Philastrius knew, since we find Epiphanius far more learned than Philastrius. We would rather have to say that many escaped Philastrius, if Epiphanius had included so many more and Philastrius fewer. But without doubt, in the question where one debates what a heresy is, the two men did not see the same thing. In truth, defining it at all is difficult. So when we try to bring them all into a number, we must beware lest we omit some though they are heresies, or count some though they are not.
Consider, then, whether perhaps I should send you Saint Epiphanius's book. I think he spoke more learnedly about this than Philastrius did. It could be translated into Latin at Carthage more easily and conveniently, so that you may supply for us the very thing you seek from us.
I strongly commend the bearer. He is a subdeacon from our diocese, from the estate of the spectabilis Orontius, a man dear to us. I have also written to Orontius himself on behalf of the subdeacon and his father, by whom he was adopted. When Your Christian Kindness reads those letters, I ask you to deign to assist them with your intercession before that man. I also sent with him a man of the church, so that access to Your Holiness would not be difficult for him. I am not a little anxious about him, and I hope the Lord will free me from that anxiety through the diligence of your charity.
Please do not find it burdensome to write back to me as well: how Theodosius stands in the catholic faith, the man through whom some Manichaeans were exposed, and whether those whom we think were exposed by him have been corrected. If you have heard anything about the departure of the holy bishops, make sure I know it. Live to God.
EPISTOLA 222
Scripta paulo post superiorem.
A. Quodvultdeo excusans catalogi difficultatem, a Philastrio et Epiphanio episcopis, alio alia ratione, tentati (nn. 1-2), epistolae latorem commendans (n. 3).
DILECTISSIMO FILIO ET CONDIACONO QUODVULTDEO, AUGUSTINUS EPISCOPUS.
Quam difficile sit conscribere petitum compendium.
1. Acceptis litteris Caritatis tuae, ubi a me ardentissimo studio postulasti ut de omnibus haeresibus quae post Domini Salvatoris adventum adversus eius doctrinam pullulaverunt, aliquid breviter scriberem; quam sit hoc difficile, continuo reperta occasione rescripsi per filium meum Hipponensium primarium Philocalum: mox autem etiam ista oblata est, qua nunc rescribo, et breviter difficultatem operis eius ostendo.
Philastri Epiphanique catalogi.
2. Philastrius quidam Brixiensis episcopus, quem cum sancto Ambrosio Mediolani etiam ipse vidi, scripsit hinc librum; nec illas haereses praetermittens, quae in populo Iudaeo fuerunt ante adventum Domini, easque viginti octo commemoravit; et post Domini adventum centum viginti octo. Scripsit hinc etiam graece episcopus Cyprius Epiphanius, in doctrina catholicae fidei laudabiliter diffamatus: sed ipse utriusque temporis haereses colligens, octoginta complexus est. Cum ergo ambo id vellent facere quod a me petis, quantum tamen inter se differant de numero interim sectarum, vides: quod utique non evenisset, nisi aliud uni eorum videretur esse haeresis, et aliud alteri. Neque enim putandum est aliquas ignorasse Epiphanium, quas noverat Philastrius, cum Epiphanium longe Philastrio doctiorem invenerimus; ita ut Philastrium potius dicere deberemus latuisse plurimas, si tam plures esset ille complexus, et iste pauciores. Sed procul dubio in ea quaestione ubi disceptatur quid sit haeresis, non idem videbatur ambobus; et revera hoc omnino definire difficile est: et ideo cavendum, cum omnes in numerum redigere conamur, ne praetermittamus aliquas, quamvis haereses sint; aut annumeremus aliquas, cum haereses non sint. Vide ergo ne forte librum sancti Epiphanii tibi mittere debeam: ipsum enim arbitror Philastrio doctius hinc locutum; qui possit apud Carthaginem in latinam linguam verti facilius atque commodius, ut tu potius praestes nobis quod quaeris a nobis.
Epistolae lator commendatur.
3. Perlatorem multum commendo. Subdiaconus est de nostra dioecesi; de fundo autem viri spectabilis, nobisque carissimi Orontii. Pro illo autem, et pro eius patre, a quo adoptatus est, etiam ad ipsum scripsi: quas litteras cum legerit christiana Benignitas tua, peto ut eas apud memoratum virum tua intercessione adiuvare digneris. Misi autem cum illo etiam hominem Ecclesiae, ne ad tuam Sanctitatem difficilis ei esset accessus: non enim parum de illo sollicitus sum; a qua me sollicitudine Dominus, ut spero, per tuae caritatis instantiam liberabit. Peto etiam mihi rescribere non graveris, quemadmodum sit in fide catholica ille Theodosius per quem Manichaei nonnulli sunt proditi; et ipsi quos ab eo proditos, putamus esse correctos. Si quid etiam de profectione sanctorum episcoporum forte audivisti, fac ut noverim. Deo vivas.
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To my dearly loved son and fellow deacon Quodvultdeus: Bishop Augustine.
I received the letter of Your Charity in which, with burning zeal, you asked me to write something brief about all the heresies that have sprung up against the teaching of the Lord Savior after his coming. I immediately wrote back, when an opportunity was found, through my son Philocalus, a leading man of the people of Hippo, to say how difficult this is. Now another opportunity has quickly presented itself, through which I write back again, and briefly show the difficulty of the work.
A certain Philastrius, bishop of Brescia, whom I myself saw at Milan with Saint Ambrose, wrote a book on this subject. He did not omit those heresies that existed among the Jewish people before the Lord's coming, and he counted twenty-eight of them. After the Lord's coming he listed one hundred twenty-eight. Epiphanius, bishop of Cyprus, also wrote on this subject in Greek, and he was laudably renowned in the teaching of the catholic faith. But gathering heresies from both periods, he included eighty.
Since both men wanted to do what you ask of me, you see for the moment how much they differ from one another on the number of sects. This would certainly not have happened unless one of them thought one thing was a heresy and the other thought something else was. Nor should we suppose that Epiphanius was ignorant of some that Philastrius knew, since we find Epiphanius far more learned than Philastrius. We would rather have to say that many escaped Philastrius, if Epiphanius had included so many more and Philastrius fewer. But without doubt, in the question where one debates what a heresy is, the two men did not see the same thing. In truth, defining it at all is difficult. So when we try to bring them all into a number, we must beware lest we omit some though they are heresies, or count some though they are not.
Consider, then, whether perhaps I should send you Saint Epiphanius's book. I think he spoke more learnedly about this than Philastrius did. It could be translated into Latin at Carthage more easily and conveniently, so that you may supply for us the very thing you seek from us.
I strongly commend the bearer. He is a subdeacon from our diocese, from the estate of the spectabilis Orontius, a man dear to us. I have also written to Orontius himself on behalf of the subdeacon and his father, by whom he was adopted. When Your Christian Kindness reads those letters, I ask you to deign to assist them with your intercession before that man. I also sent with him a man of the church, so that access to Your Holiness would not be difficult for him. I am not a little anxious about him, and I hope the Lord will free me from that anxiety through the diligence of your charity.
Please do not find it burdensome to write back to me as well: how Theodosius stands in the catholic faith, the man through whom some Manichaeans were exposed, and whether those whom we think were exposed by him have been corrected. If you have heard anything about the departure of the holy bishops, make sure I know it. Live to God.
AI-assisted translation - This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek below for scholarly use.
Latin / Greek Original
EPISTOLA 222
Scripta paulo post superiorem.
A. Quodvultdeo excusans catalogi difficultatem, a Philastrio et Epiphanio episcopis, alio alia ratione, tentati (nn. 1-2), epistolae latorem commendans (n. 3).
DILECTISSIMO FILIO ET CONDIACONO QUODVULTDEO, AUGUSTINUS EPISCOPUS.
Quam difficile sit conscribere petitum compendium.
1. Acceptis litteris Caritatis tuae, ubi a me ardentissimo studio postulasti ut de omnibus haeresibus quae post Domini Salvatoris adventum adversus eius doctrinam pullulaverunt, aliquid breviter scriberem; quam sit hoc difficile, continuo reperta occasione rescripsi per filium meum Hipponensium primarium Philocalum: mox autem etiam ista oblata est, qua nunc rescribo, et breviter difficultatem operis eius ostendo.
Philastri Epiphanique catalogi.
2. Philastrius quidam Brixiensis episcopus, quem cum sancto Ambrosio Mediolani etiam ipse vidi, scripsit hinc librum; nec illas haereses praetermittens, quae in populo Iudaeo fuerunt ante adventum Domini, easque viginti octo commemoravit; et post Domini adventum centum viginti octo. Scripsit hinc etiam graece episcopus Cyprius Epiphanius, in doctrina catholicae fidei laudabiliter diffamatus: sed ipse utriusque temporis haereses colligens, octoginta complexus est. Cum ergo ambo id vellent facere quod a me petis, quantum tamen inter se differant de numero interim sectarum, vides: quod utique non evenisset, nisi aliud uni eorum videretur esse haeresis, et aliud alteri. Neque enim putandum est aliquas ignorasse Epiphanium, quas noverat Philastrius, cum Epiphanium longe Philastrio doctiorem invenerimus; ita ut Philastrium potius dicere deberemus latuisse plurimas, si tam plures esset ille complexus, et iste pauciores. Sed procul dubio in ea quaestione ubi disceptatur quid sit haeresis, non idem videbatur ambobus; et revera hoc omnino definire difficile est: et ideo cavendum, cum omnes in numerum redigere conamur, ne praetermittamus aliquas, quamvis haereses sint; aut annumeremus aliquas, cum haereses non sint. Vide ergo ne forte librum sancti Epiphanii tibi mittere debeam: ipsum enim arbitror Philastrio doctius hinc locutum; qui possit apud Carthaginem in latinam linguam verti facilius atque commodius, ut tu potius praestes nobis quod quaeris a nobis.
Epistolae lator commendatur.
3. Perlatorem multum commendo. Subdiaconus est de nostra dioecesi; de fundo autem viri spectabilis, nobisque carissimi Orontii. Pro illo autem, et pro eius patre, a quo adoptatus est, etiam ad ipsum scripsi: quas litteras cum legerit christiana Benignitas tua, peto ut eas apud memoratum virum tua intercessione adiuvare digneris. Misi autem cum illo etiam hominem Ecclesiae, ne ad tuam Sanctitatem difficilis ei esset accessus: non enim parum de illo sollicitus sum; a qua me sollicitudine Dominus, ut spero, per tuae caritatis instantiam liberabit. Peto etiam mihi rescribere non graveris, quemadmodum sit in fide catholica ille Theodosius per quem Manichaei nonnulli sunt proditi; et ipsi quos ab eo proditos, putamus esse correctos. Si quid etiam de profectione sanctorum episcoporum forte audivisti, fac ut noverim. Deo vivas.