Bellarmine · De Controversiis · On the Sacraments in General · Book II: On the Effect, Number, and Ceremonies of the Sacraments
Chapter 6: The same proved from the Greek Fathers
Our translation, from the Latin of the Opera Omnia (Paris: Vivès, 1870–74), vol. III, De Sacramentis in Genere, Book II: On the Effect, Number, and Ceremonies of the Sacraments. The Latin source text is public domain; this English rendering is released with the site. Scripture quotations follow Bellarmine's Vulgate citations, rendered in Douay-Rheims wording where he quotes exactly. Click “Show the Latin” for the original (raw OCR of the scan; scanning errors remain — the scan itself is the authority).
The fourth class, from the Greek Fathers. Now from the Greek Fathers: Justin in the Apology to Antoninus: “We obtain the remission of sins formerly committed in the water,” etc. And before he had said that no one is brought to Baptism unless he has first believed. Like things he has in the Dialogue with Trypho. Clement of Alexandria book 1 of the Paedagogue chapter 6: “In many ways,” he says, “is this work called: grace, illumination, the perfect, and the laver: the laver, indeed, by which we wash away sins; grace, by which the penalties due to sins are remitted; illumination, through which we behold that holy and salutary light; and we call it perfect, to which nothing is lacking. For what is lacking to him who knows God?” etc. Origen homily 14 on chapter 2 of Luke: “Little ones,” he says, “are baptized unto the remission of sins.” And below: “And because through the Sacrament of Baptism the filth of nativity is laid aside, therefore little ones too are baptized.” Cyril catechesis 3: “Dead in sins thou didst descend,” he says, “and thou ascendest quickened in justice,” etc. See the whole catechesis. And in the preface of the catecheses: “A great thing indeed is this Baptism set before you: the liberation of captivity, the remission of sins, the regeneration of the soul, a chariot to heaven,” etc.
Basil in the book On the Holy Spirit chapter 15 sets down an objection of the heretics: If the Holy Spirit is equal to the Father and the Son because we are baptized in him, water too will be equal to the Father and the Son, because we are baptized in it. He answers: “If there is any grace in the water, it is not from the nature of the water, but from the presence of the Spirit,” etc. According to the adversaries he ought to have said that the water does nothing, and so he would at once have solved the objection. But Basil confesses that there is a virtue in the water, but says that it is not in the water from the nature of the water, but from the force of the Holy Spirit. See also homily 13, which is an exhortation to Baptism, where the same is most clearly had. See also Gregory Nazianzen, the oration On the holy lights, and the oration On holy Baptism.
Gregory of Nyssa in the book On Baptism: “Baptism,” he says, “is the expiation of sins, the remission of offenses, the cause of renovation and regeneration.” And below, explaining how this is done, he brings forward many examples of the things through which God worked miracles, as the rod of Aaron and others; and adds: “And all these, although they were inanimate matter and void of sense, after they had received the power of God, mediated in great miracles. And by a like consequence of reasons, water too, though it be nothing but water, the supernal grace blessing it, renews a man unto the regeneration which is perceived by the mind. But if anyone should again trouble me by doubting and questioning, asking by what reason water regenerates, I shall say to him with the best right: Show me the manner of the nativity which is according to the flesh; thou wilt say perhaps: The seed is the effecting cause of the man. Hear then from us in turn, that the water which is blessed purges and enlightens the man.” Where it is to be noted that Gregory's opinion cannot be drawn to that which the heretics say, that the Sacraments work because objectively they move to faith. For, first, he compares the water of Baptism to the rod of Aaron, which worked miracles efficiently. Second, he compares it to the seed, which is the efficient cause of a man, as he himself says. Third, he denies that the water effects anything unless it receive a certain supernatural power; but to move objectively by way of a sign, no supernatural virtue is required. Finally, the question which he proposes, How can water regenerate, would be no question, if it worked only objectively.
Chrysostom homily 39 on Genesis, at the end: “For that which Circumcision there works in the laying off of the flesh, this Baptism does here in the laying off of sins.” Likewise homily 21 on John he teaches at length that credence must be given to the words of Christ asserting that water has the power of regenerating, though the manner exceed reason. And homily 25: “What the womb is to the embryo, this is water to the faithful. For in the water he is fashioned and formed. For first it was said: Let the waters bring forth the creeping creature having life; but from the time that Christ entered the channel of the Jordan, the water brings forth no longer the creeping things of living creatures, but rational and spiritual souls.” See the same, homily 33 on John, homily 1 on the Acts, the homily to the Neophytes, where he enumerates ten effects of Baptism, which it works even in little ones; and among so many effects it did not come into his mind to set down “to excite faith,” which alone the adversaries acknowledge. Cyril of Alexandria book 2 on John chapter 42: “As,” he says, “water heated intensely by the force of fire burns no otherwise than fire itself, so by the operation of the Holy Spirit the water with which the body of the baptized is sprinkled is reformed unto divine virtue and power.” So he. Where you see that the water in Baptism is an instrument of God as the heat in heated water is an instrument of fire for heating. Theodoret on chapter 10 to the Hebrews, on that, Having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience: “In the law,” he says, “they used sprinklings and frequently washed the body; but those who order their life from the New Testament, through most holy Baptism purge the soul and render the conscience free from former stains.” See the same Theodoret in the Epitome of the divine decrees, chapter On Baptism; Damascene book 4 On the faith chapter 10; Theophylact on chapters 3 and 5 of John; and Oecumenius on chapter 10 to the Hebrews.
Show the Latin (Vives edition, OCR)
CAPUT VI. 435 CAPUT VI. Quarta classis, ex Patribus Graecis. Jam ex Patribus Gra?cis; Justinus in Apo- logia ad Antoninum : « Remissionem ante commissorum peccatorum consequimur in aqua etc. » Et antea dixerat, neminem ad¬ duci ad Baptismum, nisi antea crediderit. Similia habet in Dialogo cum Triphone. Clemens Alexandrinus lib. I. Paedagogia? cap. 6 : « Multis, inquit, modis vocatur hoc opus, gratia, illuminatio, perfectum, et lava¬ crum : lavacrum quidem, per quod peccata abstergimus ; gratia autem, qua remittuntur poenae, qua? peccatis debentur; illuminatio autem, per quam sanctam illam, et saluta¬ rem lucem intuemur ; perfectum autem dici¬ mus, qui nihil deest. Quid enim ei desit, qui Deum novit etc. » Origenes hom. 14. in cap. II. Lucae : « Parvuli, inquit, baptizantur in remissio¬ nem peccatorum. » Et infra : « Et quia per Baptismi Sacramentum nativitatis sordes deponuntur, propterea baptizantur et par¬ vuli. » Cyrillus catechesi 3 : « Mortuus, inquit, in peccatis descendisti, et ascendis vivifica¬ tus injustitia etc. » Vide totam catechesim. Et in prajfat. calecheseon : « Magnum est sane propositura hoc Baptisma ; captivitatis liberatio, peccatorum remissio, animae rege¬ neratio, currus ad coelum etc. » Basilius lib. de Spiritu sancto cap. 13. ' ponit objectionem haereticorum; Si ideo Spi¬ ritus sanctus aequalis est Patri et Filio, quia in ipso baptizamur, etiam aqua erit aequalis Patri et Filio, quia in ipsa baptizamur. Res¬ pondet : « Si quae est in aqua gratia, non ex aquae natura est, sed ex praesentia Spiri¬ tus etc. » Secundum adversarios dicere debuisset, aquam nihil facere, et sic statim objectio¬ nem solvisset. At Basilius fatetur, in aqua esse virtutem, sed ait, eam non inesse aquae ex aquae natura, sed ex vi Spiritus sancti. Vide etiam hom. 13. quae est hortatio ad Baptismum, ubi clarissime idem habetur. Vide etiam Gregorium Nazianzenum orat, in sancta lumina, et orat, in sanctum lava¬ crum. Gregorius Nyssenus in lib. de Baptismo : « Baptisma inquit, peccatorum expiatio est, remissio delictorum, renovationis, et rege¬ nerationis causa. » Et infra explicans, quo¬ modo id fiat, multa exempla adducit earum rerum, per quas Deus miracula fecit, ut virgam Aaron, et alia; et subdit : « Atque hacc omnia cum materia? sint inanimatae, atque sensus expertes, posteaquam vim Dei accepissent magnis miraculis, media inter¬ cesserunt. Ac simili consequentia rationum etiam aqua cum nihil aliud sit, nisi aqua, superna gratia benedicente ei, in eam, qua; mente percipitur, hominem renovat regene¬ rationem. Quod si quis mihi rursus dubi¬ tando, et ambigendo negotium exhibeat in¬ terrogans qua ratione aqua regeneret: dicam optimo jure ad eum ; Ostende mihi modum nativitatis, qua? sit secundum carnem; dices fortasse : Semen causa hominis effectrix est. Audi igitur contra a nobis, quod aqua, quse benedicitur, purgat et illuminat hominem. » Ubi notandum est, non posse Gregorii sententiam trahi ad id, quod haeretici di¬ cunt, Sacramenta operari, quia objective movent ad fidem. Nam Primo, comparat aquam Baptismi virgae Aaronis, quee mira¬ cula faciebat efficienter. Secundo, comparat femini, quod est causa hominis efficiens, ut ipse dicit. Tertio, negat aquam aliquid effi¬ cere, nisi recipiat vim quamdam supernatu- ralem : At ut moveat objective per modum signi, non requiritur ulla virtus supernatu- ralis. Denique quaestio , quam proponit : Quomodo’ possit aqua regenerare, nulla es¬ set, si tantum objective operaretur. Chrysostomus hom. 39. in Genes, extre¬ ma : « Nam id, inquit, quod illic operatur Circumcisio in depositione carnis : id agit hic Baptismus in depositione peccatorum. » Item hom. 21. in Joan. prolixe docet, esse credendum verbis Christi asserentis, aquam vim habere regenerandi, licet modus supe¬ ret rationem. Et homil. 25 :« Quod, inquit, est matrix embrioni, hoc est fideli aqua. Si¬ quidem in aqua fingitur, et formatur. Nam primum dictum est : Producant aqua? reptile animae viventis : ex quo autem Jor¬ danis alveum ingressus est Christus, non amplius reptilia animarum viventium, sed animas rationales, et spirituales aqua produ¬ cit >> Vide eumdem hom. 33. in Joan. hom. I. in Acta hom. ad Neophytos, ubi enumerat decem effectus Baptismi, quos etiam in par¬ vulis operatur, et inter tot effectus non venit 436 LIBEII II. illi in mentem, ut poneret, Excitare fidem; quem solum agnoscunt adversarii. Cyrillus Alexandrinus lib. II. in Joannem cap. 42: « Quemadmodum, inquit, viribus ignis intensius aqua calefacta, non aliter urit, quam ipse ignis : sic Spiritus sancti operatione aqua, quabaptizati corpus asper¬ gitur, reformatur ad divinam virtutem et potentiam. » Haec ille. Ubi vides sic esse in¬ strumentum Dei aquam in Baptismo, ut est calor in aqua calefacta instrumentum ignis ad calefaciendum. Theodorelus in cap. X. ad Hebraeos, in illud : « Aspersi corda a conscientia mala : In lege, inquit, utebantur aspersionibus, et corpus frequenter lavabant; qui autem ex novo Testamento vitam instituunt, per sanc¬ tissimum Baptismum animam expurgant, et a prioribus maculis liberam reddunt Tcons- cientiam.» Vide eumdem Theodoretum in Epitome divinorum decret. cap. de Baptis¬ mo ; Damascenum lib. IV. de lide cap. 10. Theophylactum in III. et V. cap. Joannis, et QEcumenium in cap. X. ad Hebraeos.