Selections of St. Agobard’s writings on the Jews

On the Insolence of the Jews

To his most Christian, truly pious, and always august emperor Louis, the most fortunate triumphal victor in Christ, Agobard, the most downcast of all your servants.

When omnipotent God – Who knew before time itself and foreordained that you would be a pious rector in these truly demanding times – raised your prudence and zealous religion over the other mortals of your time, there is no doubt but that you were prepared as a remedy for the dangerous times about which the Apostle speaks: In the last days the dangerous times shall begin, and there shall be men who love themselves, greedy, puffed up, etc.[II Timothy 3:1-2] and who, although they have the appearance of piety, nullify its strength.[II Timothy 3:5] From times such as these nothing more should be expected than what is already seen, except for the release of Satan and the public trampling of the holy City for the forty-two months, which shall occur through the head of all the iniquitous, Antichrist.[cf. Apocalypse 11:2]

Therefore since this is the way things are, I beseech your most tranquil long-sufferingness that you lend your most patient ear to the words with which I, the least of your servants, consider it most necessary to admonish your most holy solicitude concerning such a vital matter, a matter which is either uniquely or especially one to which your governance more than all others should bring aid.

If I could pursue my account of the matter while passing over in silence the names of the responsible parties, I would gladly do so. But because it cannot be done, I commit myself to your goodness and patience as I surrender myself to the dangers and inform you of what is ruinous to pass over in silence. There came Gerric and Frederick who were preceded by Evrard,[1] your agents (missi) in fact yet not doing your will completely but rather acting on behalf of another. They showed themselves to be terrible to the Christians and mild to the Jews, especially in Lyon, where they set up a persecuting faction (pars persecutionis) against the Church and they goaded the church to many groans, sighs, and tears.

[1] Evrard held the office of magister Iudeorum under Louis the Pious. It is not known whether he himself was a Jew. On this office, see B. Bachrach, Early Medieval Jewish Policy in Western Europe, Minneapolis, MN 1977, 99-101.

Because this persecution was directly principally against me, I should not recount the whole, unless perchance your most clement concern should wish to know. But if your kindness allows, I shall begin to intimate it briefly, insofar as it was injurious to the Church of Christ.

When the Jews first arrived, they gave me a message in your name and another one to the man who rules the district of Lyon in place of the count; [this message] ordered him to offer aid to the Jews against me. We absolutely did not believe that such messages as these issued from your judgment, although they were read out in your sacred name and sealed with your ring. The Jews began to rage with a certain odious insolence, threatening that we would be afflicted with every sort of injury by the agents whom they had obtained to take vengeance upon Christians. After them, Evrard arrived and repeated the same thing and said that your majesty was truly angry with me because of the Jews. Then the aforementioned agents arrived, holding in their hands a tax code(?) (stipendialis tractoria) and a capitulary of sanctions which we do not believe exists by your command.

For these reasons, the Jews were made joyful beyond measure and the Christians saddened – and not only those who fled or hid or were detained, but the rest as well who saw or heard. In particular, it was because the Jews‘ opinion received such confirmation that they irreverently began to preach to the Christians what they ought to believe and hold, openly blaspheming the Lord God and our Savior Jesus Christ. This perversity was strengthened by the words of your agents who whispered in the ears of certain people that the Jews are not abominable, as many think, but are held dear in your eyes and because some of their people were saying that they are considered better than Christians.

I, your unworthy servant, was not in fact in Lyon [at the time] but was far away on the case of the monks of Nantuadensium, who were fighting among themselves because of a certain rivalry. Nonetheless I sent our agents with a short letter to those men [saying] that they should command whatever they wanted and we would obey what they had enjoined. But we received no indulgence from them. Consequently, certain of our priests whom they threatened by name, did not dare to show their faces.

We suffered these things from the Jews‘ supporters and for no other reason but that we preached to Christians that they should not sell Christian slaves to them; that they should not allow these Jews to sell Christians to Spain nor to possess them as paid domestics lest Christian women celebrate the Sabbath with them, work on Sundays, eat with them during Lent, and their paid servants eat meat on these days; and that no Christian should buy meats sacrificed and butchered by Jews and sell them to other Christians; and that they should not drink their wine or other things like this.

For it is the practice of the Jews that when they slaughter an animal to eat and kill it using three cuts so that it is not strangled, if the liver appears to be damaged when the entrails are opened, or if a lung clings to the side or breath inflates it, or bile is not found, and other things like this, the meat is considered to be unclean by the Jews and sold to the Christians and these meats are called by the insulting expression “Christian beasts” (christiana pecora). With regard to the blood which the Jews both consider to be unclean and do not use except to sell it to Christians, if it should happen to flow into the earth anywhere, even into a filthy place, they swiftly draw it out of the ground and put it in a vessel to preserve. And as for how they do other things worthy of reproach concerning the blood, there are not only many Christian witnesses but also many Jews.

That the Jews daily curse Jesus Christ and the Christians in all their prayers under the name “Nazarenes” not only the blessed Jerome attests, who writes that he knew them intimately and was inside their skin,[2] but many of the Jews also bear witness to this. On this matter, for the sake of example, I spoke to the Christians in this way: If there is a man who is faithful and a lover of his elder and lord and he senses that someone is his lord’s enemy, detractor, reviler, and a threat to him, he does not wish to be this man’s friend, table companion, or sharer in his food. But if he should be [this man’s friend, etc.] and his elder and lord learns this, [the lord] would judge that the man was not faithful to him. And therefore, since we know that the Jews are blasphemers and men who curse, so to speak, the Lord God Christ and his Christians, we should not be joined to them through the sharing of food or drink in accordance with the rule (modus) that was given long ago and commanded by the holy fathers in their words and examples. For the rest, because they live among us and we should not be wicked to them nor act contrary to their life, health, or wealth, let us observe the rule (modus) that has been ordained by the Church. The way in which we should be cautious or human towards them, is not at all obscure but has been clearly expounded.

[2] Jerome, In Amos I.1.12; Jerome, Epistula 129. 4.

Most pious lord, I have mentioned only a few out of the many things concerning the faithlessness of the Jews, our admonition, and the wounding of Christianity that is occurring through the supporters of the Jews, since I do not know whether [this news] can even come to your attention. Nonetheless, it is absolutely necessary that your pious solicitude know how the Christian faith is being harmed by the Jews in certain ways. For when they lie to simple Christians and boast that they are dear to you because of the patriarchs; that they enter and leave your sight with honor; that most excellent people desire their prayers and blessings and confess that they wished they had the same author of the law as the Jews; when they say that your counselors are aroused against us for their sake, because we forbid Christians from drinking their wine; when, in trying to claim this, they boast that they have received from Christians many, many pounds of silver from the sale of wine and cannot find out, after running through the canons, why Christians should abstain from their food and drink; when they produce commands signed with golden seals in your name and containing words which, in our opinion, are not true; when they show people women’s clothes as if they were sent to their wives by your kinsmen or matrons of the palaces; when they expound upon the glory of their forefathers; when they are permitted, contrary to the law, to build new synagogues – [when all this occurs] it even reaches the point when naive Christians say that the Jews preach to them better than our priests. And this was particularly true when the aforementioned agents ordered that the markets that usually occur on Saturdays should be moved lest [the Jews’] Sabbatism be impeded, and they let [the Jews] choose on which days they had to go to market from then on, claiming that this suited the utility of the Christians because of the Sunday vacation. In the end, it proved to be more useless to the Jews since those who are near, because they buy the necessary food on Saturday, spend Sunday more freely at the celebration of the Mass and at preaching, and those who come from a distance on the occasion of the market, attend the evening and morning offices after the celebration of the Mass has been performed and return home with edification.

Now then, if it should please your most benign kindness to listen, let us say what the Churches of the Gauls and their rectors, kings as well as bishops, should hold to regarding the separation of the two religions, namely that of the Church and that of the Jews, and what they should pass down in writing and leave to posterity to be maintained, and how it is consonant with authority, that is the Acts of the Apostles and takes its origin from the Old Testament. From these it is shown how detestable enemies of the truth should be considered and how they are worse than all unbelievers, as divine Scripture teaches, and what unworthy things they think about God and heavenly matters. We have discussed all of these things with our brethren and have sent [these writings] to be presented to your most expansive excellence.

After the preceding note had been dictated, a certain man from Cordoba arrived, fleeing from Spain. He said that he had been stolen as a little boy by a certain Jew of Lyon 24 years before and sold, and that he had fled this year with another boy from Arles who had been likewise stolen by a Jew six years earlier. When we sought out those known to the man who was from Lyon and found them, some said that others had been stolen by this same Jew, others bought and sold, and that this year another boy was stolen and sold by a Jew. At that moment it was discovered that many Christians are sold by Christians and bought by Jews and that many unspeakable things are perpetrated by them which are too foul to write.

Source. Medieval Sourcebook – Translated by W.L. North from Agobardi Lugdunensis Opera Omnia, Opusculum XI, ed. L. Van Acker, Corpus Christianorum. Continuatio Mediaevalis 52, Turnholt: Brepols 1981, pp. 191-95.

On the Baptism of Slaves Belonging to Jews

To <my> most reverend and blessed lords, both lords and holy fathers, Adalard,[1] Wala,[2] and Helisachar.[3]

[1] Abbot of Corbie; [2] Count; [3] Abbot of Saint-Riquier

Recently, just after we had been granted the opportunity to return <home> from the palace, your sweetest loves sat and listened to me grumbling rather than speaking against those who bolster the complaints of the Jews. And after you heard these things and we moderated what we said to each other, you all arose and I followed. You entered into the sight of the prince [4] and I stood before the door; after a little while, you had me come in, but I heard nothing except <his granting us> permission to leave. But what you said to the most clement prince about the aforesaid matter, how he took it, what he said in response, I did not hear. I did not come to you afterwards because my cowardly embarassment got the better of me and a troublesome <thought>, which came to me not so much from the course of events as the ignobility of my own mind, wore me out.

[4] Louis the Pious

I therefore went away troubled, I began my journey uncertain, I arrived home confused, and I settled back down afflicted. I would describe the causes of this affliction, but I fear to belabor your kindness. Nevertheless, the bearer of this letter can tell you all about it, if your patience allows.

I make known to your prudence certain matters which I think clearly should not be kept secret and which prompt me to address myself to your most faithful paternity. First, it is absolutely necessary for me and, in my opinion, for all, to know that you deign to give advice that accords with divine work on what should be done about pagan servants of the Jews whom they have purchased. For although raised among <the Jews>, these persons learn language among us, they hear about the faith, they see the celebrations of the solemn festivals, and they are pricked by these things towards the love of Christ and they desire to become members in the body of the Church, members of Christ. They flee to the Church, asking for baptism, that is to say, whether we must deny this to them or offer it when we can.

On this matter, I in fact hold the following opinion. Clearly, every human being is a creation of God, and in any person, even though he be a slave, a greater share is held by the Lord God – Who created him in the womb, led him forth into the light of this life, has maintained the life He granted, and has preserved his health – than by the man who enjoys the service of his body after paying twenty or thirty solidi. And no one doubts that each servant, although he owes the work of his body’s members to his carnal lord, owes the religion of his mind to the Creator alone. Consequently when holy preachers – the allies of the apostles – taught and baptized all the nations, they did not wait for the carnal lords’ permission to baptize servants as if it was not fitting that they be baptized unless their lords allowed it. Instead, knowing and preaching that servants and lords have one Lord God in heaven, they baptized all, brought all together within one body, and taught that all were brethren and sons of God, yet in such a way that each would remain in his calling not by zeal but by necessity, and indeed so that those who were able to become free might profit more [cf. I Cor. 7:20-4].

One should also readily and reasonably gather that, if a pagan flees to Christ and we do not receive him but rather reject him because of his carnal lords, it is impious and cruel, since no one can be lord of the human soul except the creator. Indeed, we also think that one should consider the fact that when a religious emperor leads an army against the nations who are alien to the name of Christ and, having emerged the victor, subjects them to Christ and joins them to religion, it is a work of piety and worthy of praise. How then can we turn a blind eye when among such subjects there are those who desire baptism? Nor are we saying that the Jews should lose what they paid in such cases. But when we offer prices according to the established [prices] of earlier times, the Jews do not accept it, because they suppose that the masters of the palace will favor them and they desire something more for them than for others who claim what was said above.

These are the things concerning which we beseech your counsel or the command of the lord emperor through you. This would, of course, not be necessary if the fellow who is master of the Jews attended [to the matter] as you said that he should. For if he considered our ministry in good faith in accord with your command, just as we want to show honor to him in his ministry, then there would be no need to do injury in the asking, unless it was for the sake of an increase of doctrine. Indeed, if he had just wanted to act reasonably, there would not have been any discord or contention regarding the cases of the Jews.

Deal with us according to the love that the Holy Spirit diffuses in your hearts and apply consolation to your servant, because I am tortured by different worries in great fear. For if we deny baptism to Jews or those seeking it, I fear divine damnation. If we give it, I fear human offense and the grievous wounding of our house.[5] Because I thought it unworthy to write about these lesions and discords in this note, I have sent along a small summary (breviculum) to your piety, by which you may know what they are.

[5] I.e. the church of Lyon.

It would be unworthy of your happy kindness to become angry with me because I am importunate in making such complaints to you; instead consider that it is the Church’s cause, the reason of the faith, and a divine work. I have the greatest faith in your sanctity; therefore, take up this holy labor for the sake of divine repayment and help out our Church by bringing it aid and instructing it. For you are indebted to us for the vast amount of confidence that we have in you.

Source. Medieval Sourcebook – Translated by W. L. North from Agobardi Lugdunensis Opera Omnia, Opusculum VI, ed. L. Van Acker, Corpus Christianorum. Continuatio Mediaevalis 52, Turnholt: Brepols, 1981, pp. 115-117.

On Jewish Superstitions

I. To our most Christian and most glorious Lord Louis the Emperor Perpetual Augustus, Agobard, Bernard, and Eaor, unworthy bishops, your humble servants. As was briefly indicated in the foregoing schedule, the tranquility of faith, driven away by the insolence and importunity of the Jews in the hearts of certain simple Christians, compelled us to write to your most gentle and prudent solicitude about the caution of Christians, such as they should be towards Jewish perfidy, and superstitions, and (0078A) innumerable errors, insofar as our extremity could find from the use and institution of the former rulers of the Gallic Churches. And indeed, if, as great necessity now demands, we had dared or were able to instill in your ears the harms of souls, which are inflicted on the faithful through the vessels of the devil, namely the minds of the Jews, your piety would absolutely order that a remedy be applied. But now (because it is most dangerous for us to say and make known that just as at the time of His Passion our Lord Jesus Christ, who was to make peace with all things through the blood of His cross, was sold by a false disciple, and brought by true persecutors to be mocked and crucified, so now He is brought by the impious Jews in a certain way to be more freely reviled and blasphemed) we write only a few things about the examples and statutes of the Fathers, and then about the Acts of the Apostles, or the Gospels and the Scriptures of the Old Testament, to confirm the pious vigilance of the good shepherds in their governance.

II. Blessed Hilary the Confessor (of whom Saint Jerome speaks thus in his letter to Laeta concerning instruction, saying: “Let him always keep the little works of Cyprian in his hand. Let him run with his foot unoffended through the letters of Athanasius and the books of Hilary. Let him delight in their treatises, in their wits, in whose books piety of faith does not waver. Let him read the rest in such a way that he judges rather than follows.”) By what precaution he always avoided the profane company of Jews and heretics, his written Life confesses; that he so execrated such enemies of the Church that he not only did not have a common feast with them, but did not even greet them when passing by. The sacred history of his Life also tells of Saint Ambrose, which it is worthy to insert here and which is religious for Christian minds to know: “In parts of the East,” he says, “the synagogue of the Jews and the grove of the Valentinians were burned down by fire by Christian men in a certain town, because the Jews or the Valentinians insulted the Christian monks.” For the heresies of Valentinian worship thirty gods (0079C). But the count of the East sent a report to the emperor about this act, because the emperor had ordered that a synagogue be built by the bishop. But when the content of this order had reached the ears of the venerable bishop Ambrose, he sent a letter to the emperor (because he himself could not run away in time) in which he reminded him that what had been established by him should be revoked, and that he was owed an audience by him: for if he were not worthy to be heard by him, neither would he be worthy to be heard for him, or to whom he should commit his prayers or his vows. He was also ready to suffer death for such a business (0080A), lest by his dissimulation he should make the emperor a transgressor, who had ordered such unjust things against the Church. Later, when he returned to Milan, having placed the Emperor in the Church, he discussed the same cause with the people: in which treatise he introduced the person of the Lord speaking (Sozom. Hist. Tripart. l. VII, c. 8; l, IX, c. 30). I made you Emperor from the last, I delivered to you the army of your enemy, I gave the forces which he had prepared for his army against you, I brought your enemy under your power, I placed one of your descendants on the throne of the kingdom, I made you triumph without labor; and do you grant triumphs over me to my enemies? To whom the Emperor, descending from the exedra, said: You have proposed against us today, bishop. But he answering, said that he had not spoken against him, but for him. Then the Emperor said: Truly, I had given harsh orders against the bishop concerning the repair of the synagogue. But it was said by the counts who were present at the time that vengeance should be taken against the monks. To whom the bishop said: I am indeed dealing with the Emperor now. But I must deal differently with you. And so he obtained that those things which had been decreed should be revoked. Nor would he approach the altar before, unless the Emperor should testify that he should do so on his faith. To whom the bishop said: Then I do on your faith. The Emperor answered: I do on my faith. With which promise repeated,Now the priest has performed the divine mysteries in safety. » Behold the two greatest pillars of the Churches of God, namely Hilary and Ambrose. One of these teaches us by his example that we should abstain more diligently not only from food, but also from the (0080C)greeting of the Jews, which is commonly offered by all to one another. The other, however, because the synagogue of the Jews, burned down by the Christians, had been ordered by the Emperor to be rebuilt through the efforts of the bishop, did not hesitate to offer himself up to death, and (which would perhaps be thought a trifle if it happened today) the holy man was so horrified and abhorred that he did not doubt that death undertaken for such a business would yield him instead of martyrdom. He also declared him a pervert who imposed such unjust laws against the Church; and he testified that if he had not reserved a place for himself for an audience, he would have ceased his usual intercession for him. What then is this man of God to be believed to have done, if he had seen in his time the canonical statutes being overthrown for the cause of the unbelieving Jews?

III. Nor do the most holy Cyprian and the man of God Athanasius abhor them with less hatred. Nay, rather, as their letters testify, they execrate the most obstinate impiety of their infidelity above all the error of the Gentiles. All the most reverent governors of the Gallican churches, having followed their most religious faith and devotion to Christ, have decreed that the entire most polluted society of the Jews is to be shunned by all Christians. We have decided to state their opinions on this matter, and from these to demonstrate how execrable their association is. (0082A)

IV. Alchimus Avitus, bishop of the Church of Vienna, was an outstanding orthodox and eloquent teacher, and almost the entire Church of Christ knows him. Saint Apollinaris, bishop of the Church of Valentinus, not only the deeds written about him, but also his frequent miracles, testify sublimely to this day. Saint Gregory, bishop of the Church of Lingon, to the great holiness and truthfulness of his life, the written life of his life, and the honor bestowed upon him by the Church, testify to this day. Viventiolus, bishop of the Church of Lyons, whose teachings he was, not only himself, but also the writings of others about him testify. These, therefore, with twenty other most reverent bishops, gathered in the name of the Lord for the defense and state of the Church, decreed on the matter mentioned above, among others (0083A): “If a cleric of a higher rank attends any banquet of a heretic, he shall not have peace for a year: which if the younger clerics presume to do, they shall be beaten. But our constitution has also forbidden laymen from attending Jewish banquets; nor shall he eat bread with any of our clerics. whoever has been defiled by the feast of the Jews. » And in the conclusion of their statutes, confident of the presence of the Lord, as he himself says: « Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them, they thus ordained: Wherefore these things which by divine inspiration were approved by common consent, if any one of the holy prelates, who confirmed the statutes by their own signatures, and also whom God willed to be their successors, having read and read the integrity of their observance, let him know that he will be guilty both in the judgment of the divinity and of the brotherhood. »

V. Saint Caesarius, bishop of the Church of Areola, whose merits and teachings he was, is indicated by many of his excellent monuments. Here, with thirty-five bishops and vicars of bishops gathered together in the name of the Lord, for the defense and confirmation of the Catholic truth, he decreed among other things as follows: “All clerics and laymen are henceforth to avoid the feasts of the Jews, and no one is to receive them to a feast: because since they do not use the common foods among Christians, it is unworthy and sacrilegious for Christians to eat their foods, since what we eat with the permission of the Apostle is judged by them to be unclean, and thus Catholics begin to be inferior to Jews, (0083C)if we use what is set before them, but they despise what is offered by us.”

VI. Priscus, bishop of the Church of Lyons, Artemius of Senonica, Remedius of Bituria, and Saint Syagrius, bishop of the Aedui, with many others, renewing the ecclesiastical statutes, defined thus: “Jews shall not be appointed judges of Christian peoples, or permitted to be tax collectors, whereby (God forbid) Christians may seem to be subject to them. That from the Lord’s Supper until the first Easter, according to the edict of the goodly king Childebert, the Jews shall be denied permission to walk through the streets or the forum as if it were an insult, and that they shall pay reverence to all priests of the Lord or clerics, and shall not presume to sit before priests unless ordained. Which if they should presume to do; they shall be disqualified by the judges of the places, according to the person. And that no Christian shall presume to participate in the feasts of the Jews. But if anyone, whether cleric or secular, presumes to do what is unlawful, he shall know that he must be restrained from the company of all Christians, whoever is defiled by their impiety. And although what should be observed about Christians who, either by the incursion of captivity, or by any fraud whatsoever, are involved in the service of the Jews, has long been established not only by canonical but also by legal benefits; nevertheless, because now a complaint has arisen from some that certain Jews, who are living in cities or municipalities, have broken out into such insolence and insolence that even Christians who protest are not permitted to be released from their servitude for a price; therefore, by the authority of God, we decree in this present council that no Christian should henceforth serve a Jew; but that, having given twelve solidi for any good slave, any Christian shall have the right to redeem the slave himself, either for his own good or for his service. For it is wrong that those whom Christ the Lord redeemed by the shedding of his blood should remain ensnared in the bonds of persecutors. But if any Jew refuses to acquiesce to what we have decreed; as long as you delay coming to the money agreed upon, let the slave be permitted to dwell with the Christians wherever he wishes. We also specifically sanction that if any Jew is convicted of having persuaded a Christian slave to Jewish error, he shall both lose his slavehood and be punished by legal condemnation. »

VII. Saint Wolf, with twenty-four other bishops, or vicars of bishops, likewise gathered in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ for the causes of his body, which is the Church, among many other things, also decreed this: “Because by the mercy of God we stand under the dominion of Catholic kings, from the day of the Lord’s Supper until the second Saturday of Easter, that is, during the four days themselves, they are to proceed among Christians, and not to presume to mix with Catholic peoples in any place or on any occasion.”

VIII. In the Council of Laodicea (Chapter 37, 58) it was decreed “that it is not right to receive from Jews or heretics the festive gifts that are sent, nor to celebrate festivals with them, and that it is not right to accept unleavened bread from Jews and to share in their impiety.” And in another council (Conc. Aurel. I, chapter 19; Arvern. I, chapter 6): “That if anyone is joined in a sexual society with Jewish depravity (0085B), that is, whether a Jewish woman is mixed with a Christian, or a Christian woman with a Jew, in carnal intercourse; whoever is known to have committed such a crime, let them be immediately separated from the Christian assembly or from the communion of the Church.”

IX. And since ecclesiastical statutes are to be confirmed by apostolic acts, and new by old ones, let us see what Irenaeus, the most ancient and apostolic teacher and martyr of Christ and the Church, Bishop of Lyons, says about blessed John, whom Jesus loved greatly, the apostle and evangelist, the most ancient and apostolic teacher and martyr of Christ and the Church (Ap. Euseb., Hist. eccl., l. IV, c. 14. See Baron. ad an. 74). He says therefore: “And Polycarp, indeed, not only learned in the fellowship of the apostles, and conversed with many who had seen the Lord, but also appointed by the apostles bishop of Asia in the Church of Smyrna, whom we also saw in our early days (for he remained a long time, and died, having lived a very long life, exceeding the rest, gloriously and eloquently bearing witness to his life), always taught these things which he learned from the apostles, which he also handed down to the Church, and which alone are true; And there are those who have heard that John, the disciple of the Lord, while he was going to Ephesus after washing, when he saw Cerinthus inside, he jumped out of the bath without washing, saying that he was afraid that the bath would collapse, since Cerinthus, the enemy of the truth, was placed inside. And Polycarp himself, when Marcion once came to his face and said, “Know us,” answered him, “I know, I know the original of Satan.” The apostles and their disciples had such reverence that they would not even communicate a word to anyone who (0085D) was injuring the truth. ” To this, if anyone (0086A) says that Cerinthus was a heretic, not a Jew, let him know that in the times of the apostles there were no heretics except from among the Jews and Samaritans. Such were Simon and Menander, Hebion and Nicolaus. But let him learn from the errors of the aforementioned Cerinthus that everything he was building was Jewish. (See Epiphanius, l. I, haer. XXVIII, and Irenius, l. I, c. 25.) He preached that our Lord Jesus Christ was a mere man, and that he had not risen, and that he should be circumcised. After the resurrection, he said that the kingdom of Christ would be earthly in Jerusalem, and that men in the flesh would again have a life subject to lusts and vices, in order to celebrate the legal festivals again, and to slaughter carnal sacrifices again. But from the above-written statutes he notes (0086B) that the company of Jews is much more detestable and to be avoided than that of other heretics. For if all are to be detested on that account, because they exist as enemies of the truth; much more so are those who exercise greater enmity. For indeed (Aug. in Matth. l. I, c. 11) it is true that it is proper for heretics to agree with the Church in some things, and to disagree with her in others, that is, to blaspheme in part, and to agree with the truth in part; But the Jews lie entirely, blaspheme the Lord and our God Jesus Christ and His Church, and believe nothing true about Him except death: although they do not believe in Him truly either, because they say His death is like the deaths of other men, that is, from the necessity of nature, not from the will of mercy. For this reason they curse the Lord and His body in all their prayers, as was prophesied before by the voice of the Lord saying to the Father: Let them curse,and you will bless. If, therefore, the enemies of the Catholic faith are to be execrated and avoided because they are enemies of the truth; above all infidels, unbelievers, or heretics, the Jews are to be detested, because no race of men is found who so delights in cursing the Lord. Which is not the least known to us, who, speaking with them almost daily, hear the mysteries of their error.

X. Finally, they say that their God is corporeal, and distinguished by bodily features through members, and that in one part he hears as we do, in another he sees, in another he speaks, or does something else; and through this the human body is made in the image of God, except that he has inflexible and rigid fingers, as one can do without hands. But he sits in the manner of some earthly king on a throne, which is surrounded by four beasts, and is contained in a large palace. He also thinks many superfluous and vain things; which, because they cannot all come to fruition, are turned into demons. But they also preach innumerable abominations about their God, as we have said, and they worship such an image, which they themselves have invented and set up for themselves in the images of their hearts, not the true, unconvertible and immutable God, whom they are completely ignorant of. They also believe that the letters of their alphabet exist eternally, and that before the beginning of the world they obtained diverse ministries, over which they should preside in the world. The Mosaic Law was indeed written many years before the world. Nor do they (0087B) affirm that there are many earths, many hells, and many heavens: one of which, which they call Racha [Rakiah, firmament], that is, firmament, they assert to support the millstones of God, with which the manna to be taken is ground for the angels to eat. But the other they call Araboth, in which they establish the Lord to reside, and this is in the Psalm according to them: Make way for him who rides upon Araboth (Ps. 67:5). That God therefore has seven trumpets, one of which measures a thousand cubits. And what more? There is not a page of the Old Testament, no sentence, about which they do not either have fabricated and written lies from their ancestors, or they themselves to this day always invent new superstitions, and when questioned they presume to answer. For they read in the teachings of their ancestors that Jesus was a certain young man, respected among them, and instructed by the teaching of John the Baptist, and had several disciples, to one of whom, because of his hardness and stubbornness of mind, he gave the name Cephas, that is, Peter. And when he was expected by the people for the feast day, some boys from his school met him, who, out of honor and reverence for his teacher, sang to him, Hosanna to the Son of David. Finally, accused of many lies, he was thrown into prison by the judgment of Tiberius, because his daughter (to whom he had promised to give birth to a male child without a husband) had conceived of a stone. From there, too, as a detestable magician, he was hanged on a gallows; where he was struck on the head with a stone and killed in this way, buried near a certain aqueduct, and entrusted to a certain Jew for guard; (0087D)But at night the aqueduct was suddenly swept away by a flood, and by order of Pilate it was searched for twelve months, but was not found. Then Pilate promulgated the following law to them: “It is evident,” he said, “that he has risen as he had promised, who was also destroyed by you through envy, and is not found in the tomb, nor in any other place. And for this reason I command you to worship him. Which whoever will not do,”But all these things their elders have invented, and they themselves with foolish obstinacy recite, that by such fabrications the whole truth of the power and passion of Christ may be made void, and that adoration should not be truly offered to Him as God, but only by the law of Pilate. And Peter was not led out of prison by an angel, according to our faith, but by the mercy of Herod, with whom his wisdom was greatly praised. Finally, they assert that Christians worship idols, and do not hesitate to say that the virtues which are obtained among us by the intercession of the saints are produced by the devil. For all which, who doubts that they are most deserving of the highest hatred? Just as Scripture also shows that they are to be hated, which says, according to the Hebrew truth, that they who contradict You are wickedly exalted in vain by Your adversaries (Ps. 82:3). Have I not hated even those who hate You, O Lord? And have I been dismayed at Your adversaries? I hated them with perfect hatred, they have become my enemies (Ps. 138:21, 22). Blessed Jerome, burning with this zeal for God, says of them in a certain place: “If it is expedient to hate men and to detest a nation, I abhor cutting them with a strange hatred. For to this day they persecute our Lord Jesus Christ in the synagogues of Satan.” And likewise elsewhere (Epist. 151, q. 10): “How many,” he says, “the traditions of the Pharisees, which they today call deuteronomy, and how old their fables are, I cannot recall. (0088C) And many of them are so base that I blush to speak of them. But I will say one thing to the shame of the enemy nation. They have very wise overseers of the synagogues, whom they delegate to a foul task, to taste the blood of a virgin or a menstruating woman, whether it is clean or unclean, if they cannot distinguish with their eyes. Furthermore, to those who are commanded that on the Sabbath days each one should sit in his house, and not go out, nor walk from the place where he lives; if we ever begin to restrict them according to the letter so that they do not walk, do not lie down, do not stand, but only sit, if they wish to keep the precepts; they are wont to answer and say, Rabbi Achibas and Simeon and Hillel, our teachers, have taught us that we should walk two thousand feet on the Sabbath, and other things of this kind, preferring the doctrines of men to the doctrines of God.Those who contradict you, your adversaries are wickedly proud in vain (Ps. 82:3). Have I not hated even those who hate you, O Lord? And have I been displeased with your adversaries? I hated them with perfect hatred, they have become my enemies (Ps. 138:21, 22). Blessed Jerome, burning with this zeal for God, says of them in a certain place: “If it is expedient to hate men and to detest a nation, I abhor cutting them with a strange hatred. For to this day they persecute our Lord Jesus Christ in the synagogues of Satan.” And likewise elsewhere (Epist. 151:10): “How many,” he says, “the traditions of the Pharisees, which they call deuteronomy today, and how old their fables are, I cannot recall. (0088C) And many of them are so base that I blush to speak of them. But I will say one thing to the shame of the enemy nation. They have the wisest prefects of the synagogues, and they are entrusted with a foul task, so that they may taste the blood of a virgin or a woman who is menstruating, whether it is clean or unclean, if they cannot distinguish with their eyes. Furthermore, to whom it has been commanded that on the Sabbath days each man should sit in his house, and not go out, nor walk from the place where he lives; if at any time we begin to restrict them according to the letter so that they do not walk, lie down, or stand, but only sit, if they wish to keep the precepts; they are wont to answer and say, Rab Achibas and Simeon and Hillel, our teachers, have handed down to us that we should walk two thousand steps on the Sabbath, and other such things, preferring the doctrines of men to the doctrines of God. »Those who contradict you, your adversaries are wickedly proud in vain (Ps. 82:3). Have I not hated even those who hate you, O Lord? And have I been displeased with your adversaries? I hated them with perfect hatred, they have become my enemies (Ps. 138:21, 22). Blessed Jerome, burning with this zeal for God, says of them in a certain place: “If it is expedient to hate men and to detest a nation, I abhor cutting them with a strange hatred. For to this day they persecute our Lord Jesus Christ in the synagogues of Satan.” And likewise elsewhere (Epist. 151:10): “How many,” he says, “the traditions of the Pharisees, which they call deuteronomy today, and how old their fables are, I cannot recall. (0088C) And many of them are so base that I blush to speak of them. But I will say one thing to the shame of the enemy nation. They have the wisest prefects of the synagogues, and they are entrusted with a foul task, so that they may taste the blood of a virgin or a woman who is menstruating, whether it is clean or unclean, if they cannot distinguish with their eyes. Furthermore, to whom it has been commanded that on the Sabbath days each man should sit in his house, and not go out, nor walk from the place where he lives; if at any time we begin to restrict them according to the letter so that they do not walk, lie down, or stand, but only sit, if they wish to keep the precepts; they are wont to answer and say, Rab Achibas and Simeon and Hillel, our teachers, have handed down to us that we should walk two thousand steps on the Sabbath, and other such things, preferring the doctrines of men to the doctrines of God. »

XI. Therefore, when they are polluted by so many and great impurities both of the senses and of works, the words of the prophet Haggai are completely fulfilled in them, by which the Lord instructs him thus to ask the priests: If a man who is defiled in soul touches any of these, namely bread, or stew, or wine, or oil, or any food, will he be defiled? And the priests answered and said: He will be defiled. And Haggai answered and said: So is this people, and so is this nation before me, saith the Lord, and so is every work of their hands (Haggai 2:4). But that because of all these things a division must necessarily be made between the carnal Israelites and the spiritual Jews, the Lord mystically indicates through the prophet Zechariah, saying: And I cut off my second staff, which is called the cord, that I might break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel (Zech. 11:14). For, according to the Apostle, what portion has a believer with an unbeliever? what fellowship has light with darkness? what agreement has Christ with Belial? In which it is to be noted that just as unbelievers voluntarily separate themselves from the communion of the Church, so that they do not wish to participate in any of the mysteries of the faithful, so also the faithful must devoutly separate themselves from the company and association of unbelievers; and if they are not yet able in places, until the time comes for them to be separated in places, just as the same faithful, which is the Church, cry out to God, saying: Judge me, O God, discern my cause from the unholy nation; which will then be perfectly fulfilled, when that which John the Baptist foretold that the Lord would do will come to pass, speaking thus: Whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his threshing floor, and gather the wheat into the garner, but he will burn the chaff with unquenchable fire. For before his passion the Lord, not yet willing to take the children’s bread from the table, and to cast it to the dogs, said to his disciples: I was not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And he said to the Canaanite woman: Let the children first be filled. As if he were to say: Let the bread which comes down from heaven be offered first, to the children who are to be nourished for life; and when they are taken, the rest who remain stubborn, when they say: This is a hard saying: Who can hear him? How can he here give us his flesh to eat? Let the ministers of the Lord’s table go to the hungry dogs, that is, the apostles to the Gentiles, as blessed Mary, the mother of God, filled with the Holy Spirit, had foretold: He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty (Luke 1:53). And long before that, Anna, the mother of Samuel: The filled first, they hired themselves out for bread, and the hungry were satisfied. And in the midst of these the prophet Isaiah says: Behold, the Lord, the Lord of hosts, will take away from Jerusalem and from Judah all the strength of bread (Isa. 3:1).

XII. Which began to be fulfilled in this order. The Lord first said to his preachers: Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into the cities of the Samaritans enter not. But when he was about to ascend to heaven, he said: Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. That, namely, that the preaching of the apostles, which was first rejected by Judea, might then be of help to us, when she had proudly rejected it as a testimony to her own damnation. And when this had begun to be fulfilled, and the time had now come for the prophecies concerning the taking up of the Gentiles and the repulsion of the Jews to be fulfilled, Paul and Barnabas preached, and came together to hear the word of the Lord, as it is written in the Acts of the Apostles: When the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with jealousy, and contradicted those things which were spoken by Paul, blaspheming. Then Paul and Barnabas said steadfastly: It was necessary for the word of God to be spoken to you first. But since you reject it, and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold we turn to the Gentiles. For thus the Lord commanded us: I have set thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth. And the Gentiles, when they heard, rejoiced, and glorified the word of the Lord; and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed. And the word of the Lord spread throughout all the region. But the Jews stirred up the devout and honorable women, and the chief men of the city, and stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and cast them out of their coasts. But they shook off the dust of their feet against them, and came to Iconium. And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Ghost. Likewise in the same book: Paul continued, he saith, with the word, testifying to the Jews that Jesus is the Christ. But when they contradicted and blasphemed, he shook out his garments, and said unto them: Your blood be upon your own heads; I am clean; from henceforth I will go unto the Gentiles. And departing from thence, he entered into the house of one Titus Justus. Again there: Paul entered the synagogue and spoke boldly for three months, disputing and persuading about the kingdom of God. But when some were hardened and did not believe, cursing the way of the Lord before the multitude, he departed from them and separated the disciples. In which words it is to be considered very subtly that as the number of believers from the Gentiles gradually increased, and the Jews became more hardened against the word of the Lord and ceased to believe, so gradually the separation of the preachers from them was also shown. For they shook off their clothes and the dust from their feet against them; fulfilling the commandment of the Lord, who, sending the disciples to preach, said: And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words; when ye go out of that house or city, shake off the dust from your feet. Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment, than for that city. But they are commanded to shake off the dust from their feet as a testimony of their labor, that they have entered the city, and that the apostolic preaching has reached them. Whether the dust is shaken off so that they may receive nothing from them, not even the necessities of life,(0091A)who have despised the Gospel. For thus is the shaking of the dust explained by the doctors, not only in the Gospel, where it is commanded, but also in the Acts of the Apostles, where it is perfected.

XIII. And hence it is that at first indeed, when Paul and Barnabas were set apart for the work, it is read in every city that they entered the synagogues of the Jews, and on the Sabbaths they argued about the kingdom of God, that is, when the Jews were gathered together. But in the second circumcision [F., circumition] it is read again in every place that Paul and Silas were received by the brethren, and that they remained with the brethren. Hence, when Paul and his companions went up to Jerusalem, some of the disciples from Caesarea went with them, bringing with them a certain Mnason of Cyprus, an old disciple, to be their guest. And when they had come to Jerusalem, the brethren received them.

XIV. And the strictness of this rule is everywhere observed by Paul, the vessel of election, and the teacher of the nations: which every diligent reader or hearer can easily recognize from his own deeds. Finally, when he was preaching in Philippi, we read that he neither entered the house of Lydia, the purple-dressed woman, although a worshiper of God, nor stayed there, until he had believed in Christ with all his household and been baptized: nor did he enter the house of that one who was the keeper of the prison, or avail himself of his kindness, until he himself, believing in the Lord, was baptized with all his household, and became worthy to have only the apostle as a guest. But when he came to Tyre, it is written that he stayed only with the disciples for seven days. Similarly, at Caesarea he is remembered to have entertained in the house of Philip the evangelist, who had four virgin daughters who prophesied, where for some time, while he was kept in custody, he is read to have ministered to them alone. At Sidon, too, he was treated humanely by the centurion Julius, and it is reported that he went only to his friends, who were certainly faithful, and that he took care of himself. Likewise, when he came to Puteoli, he is said to have stayed with the brothers for seven days. But in Rome itself he lived for two years under his own management. But he also confesses that he always provided with his own hands whatever was necessary, both for himself and for those who were with him. And while he was laying the first foundations of the word of God among others, he is found to have received stipends from the churches of the faithful. (0091D)But the necessary things which are related to have been imposed on him and his family by the father of Publius and the other inhabitants of the island of Mitylene, who does not see that they were not undertaken by unbelievers, but by believers? For he also saved the father of Publius, and on the same island he practiced so many cures of infirmities, that there can be no doubt that many of the inhabitants of that place were subdued to the faith of Christ, and pursued the message of his salvation with innumerable honors. And these things are indeed established to have been observed in this way by the apostle Paul.

XV. But if anyone considers the deeds of Peter, the chief of the apostles, he will also see that he himself once entered Cornelius’ house, and that those who were present with him did not stay with them or receive food until, filled with the Holy Spirit and baptized in the name of Christ, they became worthy of the faithful’s lodging and fellowship. But also at Joppa, being entertained in the house of a certain Simon, a tanner, he desired to taste something when he was hungry, where he saw a linen vessel full of various animals falling from heaven, and a voice was spoken to him: What God has cleansed, do not call common. Now this is related to have happened three times, so that through faith in the Holy Trinity, the future cleansing of all nations might be foreshadowed, just as the apostles had long ago been commanded by the Lord to go and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Such, then, were those Gentiles also, believing, baptized, and cleansed; With whom, lest those who had believed by circumcision should be scandalized, he ate in their absence, and pretended to eat in their presence. Where also it must be faithfully considered that if such and such an apostle, lest he should scandalize the Jewish believers, who still practiced the carnal observances of the law, withdrew himself from the feast of the Gentile believers, lest he should seem to act contrary to custom, namely, that of the Jews, by feasting with the Gentiles; with what zeal (0092C) should Christians now withdraw themselves from the feast of the unbelieving Jews, lest by the example of this illicit communion they should scandalize their companions and sharers in the Christian religion, and by such an act they should either seem to favor Jewish superstitions, or be convicted of dissolving ecclesiastical statutes?

XVI. But also in the books of Clement, Pontiff of the Roman Church, there are found some sayings of the aforementioned Apostle concerning the observance of this matter, which we have not thought it incongruous to insert in these. For although the same books are judged apocryphal, yet most of the testimonies from them are found usurped by the doctors. Therefore Clement introduces, since he was not yet purified by the grace of baptism, and for this reason was sequestered from the table of Peter with the rest of his kind, the same Apostle speaking (0092D) to himself in these words: “Not out of pride, O Clement, do I not eat with those who are not yet purified. But I fear lest perhaps I should do myself harm, and I should do them no good.” And a little later: “Therefore let none of you be grieved,” he says, “by being separated from our feast. For he who wishes to be baptized quickly (0093A) is sequestered in a short time, but he who is slow to do so is much more. And therefore it is in you when you wish to come together at our table, and not in us, to whom it is not permitted to eat with anyone unless he has first been baptized. » These things have necessarily been brought out by us from the writings of Clement, wishing to clearly show the very ancient observation of this matter handed down by the apostles. For these things too must be considered true, and especially so in that they seem to differ in no way from the apostolic acts.

XVII. Are the chosen apostles of Christ to be thought to have wished to have a common table with the unbelieving Jews, or to have been able to hold a gracious banquet with them, of whom the teacher of the nations, Paul, speaks thus to the Thessalonians: For you have become imitators, brethren, of the churches of God which are in Judea in Christ Jesus; for you also have suffered the same things from your own countrymen, as they also have from the Jews, who both killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and persecuted us, and do not please God, and are contrary to all men, forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles, that they may be saved, that they may fill up their sins always; but the wrath of God is come upon them unto the end. With such, then (whom the murderers of Jesus and the prophets, the persecutors of the apostles, do not please God, do not oppose all men, do not fill up their sins always, and groan under the wrath of God unto the end of the world, he calls the Vessel of Election) either are the apostles to be believed to have had a common table, or ought every faithful man to retain that fellowship?

XVIII. But since the Apostle made mention of the churches which were in Judaea in Christ, that is, of those who had believed from among the Jews, (0093C)it is necessary to see also concerning them whether they themselves, being placed among their own countrymen, observed these things. And we can easily recognize this from the words of Saint Luke; in which he says: And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and soul, and no man said that any of them was his own, but they had all things common. And a little later he says: As many as were possessors of houses or fields, sold them, and brought the prices of the things that they sold, and laid them at the apostles’ feet. And it was distributed to each as every man had need. And after a while he says again: And they were all with one accord in Solomon’s porch. But none of the rest durst join themselves to them, but the people magnified them. Nor therefore did they have common food with them, with whom they had not even (0093D)a common dwelling. But all that was common to them, was not obtained from anywhere, but was received solely from the contribution and offering of the faithful. But even in the greatest need of famine which is said to have occurred under Claudius, they are reported to have neither asked for nor received anything from the unbelieving Jews among whom they were staying, but from those who had come from the Gentiles to the faith of Christ, lest they should be ministers, they brought the offerings of the faithful. For the time was now approaching when it was said to all the faithful, concerning all the enemies of the Christian faith: If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house, and do not say Hail to him. For he who says Hail to him, shares in his evil works. According to which opinion, if he who says Hail to him who is alien to the apostolic doctrine shares in his evil works, how much more does he share in Jewish evil who also celebrates a common feast with them?

XIX. And further, that Christians might be more cautious against the defilements of heretics (0094B) or Jews, it was said, indeed, and is always said to them: Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God; because many false prophets are gone out into the world. In this the Spirit of God is known. Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God; and every spirit that denyeth Jesus is not of God; and this is Antichrist. And likewise there: For who is a liar, but he that denyeth that Jesus is not Christ? This is Antichrist, who denyeth the Father and the Son. Whosoever denyeth the Son hath not the Father; he that confesseth the Son hath the Father also. From which words it is most evidently declared that the Jews are not only liars, but also Antichrists, who when they deny the Son, confess the Father in vain; but they that confess the Son, deserve not to have the Father; But above all, denying that Jesus, who was born of the Virgin Mary, was the Christ, the Antichrists have claimed both the name and the word for themselves. For what else will the Antichrist say, except that Jesus was not the Christ, but that he was, as it were, falsely believed? In this alone, then, does the Antichrist surpass the blasphemy of the Jews, that he presumes to call himself the Christ. But in this the Jews equate wickedness with the Antichrist, that they dare to deny that Jesus was the Christ. In so far, therefore, are the Antichrists, insofar as their blasphemies agree with the blasphemies of the Antichrist. But who would have a common table with the Antichrist, and assert that he keeps the faith in Christ? Or who would not willingly flee the necessity of those whom he sees blaspheming their Savior? and to whom he hears him fearfully denouncing: Woe to you, Chorazin, woe to you, Bethsaida; for if the mighty works had been done in Tyre and Sidon, which have been done in you, they would have repented long ago in ashes and sackcloth. But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment, than for you. And Capernaum, wilt thou be exalted unto heaven? thou shalt descend even to hell. For if the mighty works had been done in Sodom, which were done in thee, it would have remained until this day. But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee (Matt. XI, 21, 22).

XX. For Corinth, Bethsaida, and Capernaum, cities of Galilee, are lamented by the Savior because, after so many signs and miracles, they did not repent. But Tyre and Sidon are preferred to them because they only trampled on the natural law, while these cities, after transgressing the natural law, were given over to idolatry and vices. And they are preferred because Tyre and Sidon, and the writings, and even the signs that were done among them, were considered small. And because, indeed, although it is pernicious not to hear the truth and to despise what is heard, yet it is much and incomparably worse to despise what is heard and known, and to persecute and blaspheme what is despised. Which blessed Peter shows most clearly, saying of such people: It had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than after knowing it to turn back. This is much more clearly demonstrated by the words of the Lord in the parable, which says thus: When an unclean spirit has gone out of a man, he walks through dry places, seeking rest, and finds none. Then he says: I will return into my house from whence I came. And when he comes, he finds it empty, swept and garnished. Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and entering in, they dwell there, and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first. So it will be with this most wicked generation. From which it is clear that the unclean spirit of idolatry departed from the heart of the ancient Jewish people, when the law was given to it, and walked for a long time through dry places, namely the unfruitful hearts of the Gentiles, and in them he wished to make a secure dwelling. But also at the coming of Christ, when all nations believed in him, he was driven out, and returned to his former house, which he found indeed empty of God, but adorned with the carnal observances of the law, as it were cleansed from the traditions of the Pharisees. And because he saw that it was most worthy of his dwelling, he took upon himself seven other more wicked spirits; and with these, penetrating into his inmost being, he made his last state worse than the first. For that house of the Jewish people is now possessed by a greater number of demons, blaspheming Christ in its synagogues, than it had been possessed in Egypt before the knowledge of the law.

XXI. In vain, therefore, do the supporters of the Jews, who grieve us and make them glad, think that they are to be honored on account of the patriarchs, and dare to call them better than Christians; when we read that even the Hagarites, who are now called Saracens by the corrupted term, also the Amalekites, and the Midianites, and the Africans, trace their lineage to Abraham, and therefore no one should consider them either to be honored or better than Christians. But not only can the Jews be better than us, but they are found to be worse than the nations which we have enumerated above: because the latter indeed did not even receive the law, but these, after the law was given to them, after the prophets were sent to them, even killed the Son of God. If, however, according to the Apostle, it is not those who are the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but those who are the children of the promise who are counted in the seed; therefore the Jews, insofar as they exist as strangers from the promised seed of Abraham, that is, Christ, are also proved unworthy of the glory of the children of God; Nor did they inherit Jerusalem, the heavenly mother, but they remained children of the earthly Jerusalem and of Hagar, the handmaid who gives birth to slavery.

XXII. But what does the Scripture say? Cast out the bondwoman and her son. For the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman. Therefore the Jewish people were expelled from their father’s house, and separated from the inheritance of the children of the Church, which was made free through Christ. For as the Lord says, the bondwoman abideth not in the house for ever, the son abideth for ever. Now every one that committeth sin is the bondwoman of sin; and he cannot be freed from the yoke of this bondage, unless he has merited to be freed by the Son of God. Therefore the Jews (who, when the Lord said: If the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed, do not believe, but glory in themselves that they are the seed of Abraham, and have never served any man) are not only made strangers to the freedom of the spirit, but are also found subject to the bondage of the flesh. And not only this; but they also continue to be the children of the devil; as the Lord also showed, saying to them: Ye are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father ye will do. Do they not daily satisfy the desire of their father, despising the law, despising the prophets, persecuting the Church, and blaspheming the Son of God himself? Since these things are thus, by what reason should the servants of God be preferred to the servants of sin, the sons of the free woman, the sons of the bondwoman, the heirs of the disinherited, the sons of God, the sons of the devil? Whom the Lord, through the prophet Isaiah, separates from his servants by such a division that he shows them to have lost their former name, and to be already counted among the dead, in these words: Behold, my servants shall eat, and ye shall be hungry. Behold, my servants shall drink, and ye shall be thirsty. Behold, my servants shall rejoice, and ye shall be ashamed. Behold, my servants shall cry for joy of heart, and ye shall howl for sorrow of heart, and ye shall howl for contrition of spirit, and ye shall leave your name for an oath to my chosen ones; and the Lord your God will slay you, and will call his servants by another name; in which he who is blessed on earth shall be blessed in God, amen; and he who swears on earth, swears by the Lord, Amen. Therefore the Jewish people, stripped of their ancient name, and slain by the sword of their unbelief, cannot be equaled to the elect, called by another name of God, and blessed with the Christian name, and sworn to the sacraments of Christ, nor should they be associated, at least in bodily food, with whom they did not even deserve to be joined by the very title of servitude.

23. But if we also consider to what virtues the dwelling of the tabernacle of God, and the ascent of his holy mountain, may be compared, not the least among them is that virtue by which the just man is so worthy of praise: The wicked is brought to nothing in his sight, but he glorifies those who fear him. Therefore the faithful and those who fear God are to be glorified in all things and honored. But that people who are entirely placed in wickedness, and who have not known the power of God and the wisdom of God, and have thereby remained in the old age of wickedness and error, are to be considered as nothing in the sight of all believers; nor are they to be honored by anyone for the sake of their money or riches; but rather for their greed for them, Naaman, sprinkled with leprosy, and expiated by all the faithful people through the true Elisha with the waters of baptism, is to be excommunicated as truly the most filthy and unclean; moreover, anathema is to be pronounced upon him always and everywhere by the voice of the Apostle, who says: If anyone does not love our Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema to Maranatha. For if he who does not love the Son of God is anathema; therefore he who hates, persecutes, and blasphemes, is to be anathematized much more detestably. If anyone further willingly indulges in his friendships, nor is ashamed to give him the aid of an impious society, he too will rightly hear what King Jehoshaphat heard when rebuked by the prophet of the Lord: You give aid to the wicked, and you join friendship with those who hate the Lord, and therefore you deserve the wrath of the Lord. And indeed that king received a testimony of righteousness in all other things; but in this alone he offended, and deserved the wrath of God, because he did not shrink from giving aid to the wicked and those who hate God, and from forming friendships with them: whom Scripture clearly designates as none other than those who had themselves (0097D) fallen away from the house of David; Just as these wicked and ever enemies of the son of God, the Jews, separate themselves from the true house of David, which is the Church, and cut off from the kingdom of Christ, they await and desire the kingdom of Antichrist, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the spirit of his mouth, and destroy with the brightness of his coming. And not only him, but also those who wanted to reign over themselves, according to the parable of the Gospel, having received the kingdom of heaven, he will return and command to be killed in his presence.

24. Therefore, Christians, having been delivered from the power of darkness, and translated into the kingdom of the children of God’s love, we ought in no way to be polluted by the company and association of those from whose errors we are proved to be (0098A)absolved in every way. For we must remember how that prophet who had been sent from Judah to Bethel, where the golden calf was worshipped by Jeroboam, king of Samaria, and forbidden by God not to eat or drink there, answered even the king who invited him: If you give me half of your house, I will not eat bread nor drink water in this place. Moreover, he refused to accept the gifts offered to him by the same king. But because he was later seduced by a certain false prophet, he ate and drank in the same place against the command of the Lord, he was delivered to the lion by the judgment of God, and was killed by him and died. For that in the Old Testament the religious Jews diligently abstained from the food and drink of unbelievers, where they were commanded by the Lord, is not easily noticed; There are, however, examples of saints, as it is written of Daniel: But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the king’s table, nor with the wine which he drank; and he requested of the chief of the eunuchs that he might not be defiled. And it was granted to Daniel, Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael, while the rest of the children of Israel ate of the king’s food. This observance spread so much among the Jews that at the time of the Lord’s coming it was general to all; so that the impious Jews said to the disciples of the Lord: Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners? And not only these, but also the unbelievers disputed against Peter, who were of the circumcision, saying: Why did you go in to men who are uncircumcised, and eat with them? To which, after giving the reason, he added that a voice from heaven answered him a second time: What God has cleansed, you do not call common. From that time it began to be made clear what blessed Paul wrote: “All things are clean to the clean, but to those defiled and unbelievers nothing is clean” (Tit. 1:15). Although many use this testimony to the contrary, that is, to think that it is lawful for them to partake of the foods of unbelievers for this reason, it nevertheless confirms our observance completely, so that we know that the tables of the unclean are unclean, because both their minds and consciences are defiled. But how can tables not be unclean, whose barns and storehouses are cursed?

25. But since we have come to the curses imposed by God on the unbelieving Jews by writing, we will repeat them a little more carefully from the previous ones. So Moses said (0098D) to all the people of Israel across the Jordan in the wilderness of the plain: Behold, I set before you today a blessing and a curse; a blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord; a curse, if you do not listen to the commandments of your God. When the Lord your God brings you into the land where you go to live, you shall put the blessing on Mount Gerizim, and the curse on Mount Ebal, which are across the Jordan. These words, full of magnificent meanings, could not have been fulfilled before, except after the crossing of the Jordan, that is, the sacrament of baptism dedicated to the body of Christ by touching the waters of the Jordan. For Gerizim, which is interpreted as a division, signifies the apostolic people separated from the synagogue of unbelievers, (0099A) as Paul says of himself: But when it pleased him who separated me from my mother’s womb to reveal his Son in me, I did not agree with flesh and blood. But Hebal, which is interpreted as an old whirlpool, signifies the carnal and unfaithful synagogue, which did not consent to pass over to the newness of the life-giving spirit, but preferred to remain in the oldness of the western letter. And while they persisted there, an immense river of curses came upon them, according to what is written: The princes of Judah have become as if they were taking a boundary. I will pour out my wrath on them like water. And just as all the promises and blessings rested entirely on the apostolic people, so all the threats and curses were confirmed on the synagogue of Satan, in the very order of things which (0099B)Moses had predicted in words, saying: Cursed shalt thou be in the city, that is, Jerusalem; cursed shalt thou be scattered in the field of the world; cursed shalt thou be thy granary. Which another translation thus renders: Cursed shall be thy granaries, and all thy remains; cursed shall be the fruit of thy womb, and the fruit of thy ground. Cursed shall be he that cometh into this life; and cursed going forth (Deut. XXVIII, 17, 18, 19), namely, dying, from this life. And after many things: A stranger, he says, who dwells with you in the land, that is, a people of the nations, shall ascend above you and be more exalted, namely, made the son of the patriarchs, and made a partner of the root of the olive and of the fatness. But you shall come down, and be lower, cut off from the olive tree, and dry lying on the ground, destined for the fire. He shall be the head, and you shall be the tail. And now some come (0099C) trying by themselves to raise them to the head from whence they fell, as if they should not be the tail: which of course they will always be, until the fulness of the nations shall come in, and thus all Israel shall be saved, namely, all to be saved. For the Lord will increase the plagues of those who are now unbelievers, great and persistent plagues, very bad and perpetual infirmities: which another translation says, most true plagues, and true infirmities. Likewise there: And he will turn upon you all the afflictions of Egypt, which you were afraid of, and they will cling to you. Moreover, and all the diseases and plagues,The Lord will bring upon you things which are not written in the book of this law, until He destroys you. This is certainly what we have stated above about the Gospel: The last state of that man, that is, into whom the unclean spirit has entered with seven others more wicked than himself, will be worse than the first. 26. And these things indeed we have said briefly, and have offered a few of many; namely, wishing to show strictly with how many gifts of blessings God has prepared the apostolic people worthy of it, and how many, on the contrary, He has rejected the unbelieving synagogue, filled with their own merits, with how many curses; so that what had been predicted might be fulfilled in the elect also; for He who gave the law will give blessings, blessing them, namely, according to the Apostle, with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. And to those who believed neither the letters of Moses nor the words of Christ, and were thereby rejected by the just judgment of God, that curse would come upon them, which had been foretold by Moses himself thus: Cursed is everyone who does not continue in the words of this law to do them, not wanting to hear what is written in it: The word is very near you in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it. Which the apostle explains thus: This is the word of faith which we preach. That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, but with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 27. Let us therefore briefly review these things. For we must yield to those who are greater, more subtle, and more eloquent, to whom it is very easy to explain the deeper and more hidden things (0100C) of this matter: which must now and then be done, with the love of many growing cold, iniquity abounding everywhere, the wickedness of the unbelievers growing strong, and the fallacy of Antichrist approaching. And would that the diligence of the most religious Emperor would order one of his men to collect all that is to be understood, or explained, or indicated by the teachers of the Churches in the holy Scriptures concerning Antichrist. It would certainly be of use for the caution of faith, for the erection of hope, for the strengthening and commendation of the sweetness of the love of Christ. Amen.which had been foretold by Moses himself thus: Cursed is everyone who does not continue in the words of this law to do them, not wanting to hear what is written in it: The word is very near you in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it. Which the apostle explains thus: This is the word of faith which we preach. For if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, but with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 27. Let us therefore briefly examine these things. For we must yield to the greater, the more subtle, and the more eloquent, to whom it is very easy to expound the deeper and more hidden things of this matter: which must now and always be done, the love of many waxing cold, iniquity abounding everywhere, the wickedness of the unbelieving growing stronger, the fallacy of Antichrist drawing near. And would that the most religious Emperor’s diligence would command one of his men to collect all that is to be understood, or explained, or indicated by the teachers of the Churches in the holy Scriptures concerning Antichrist. It would certainly be of use for the safeguard of faith, for the erection of hope, for the strengthening and commendation of the sweetness of the love of Christ. Amen.which had been foretold by Moses himself thus: Cursed is everyone who does not continue in the words of this law to do them, not wanting to hear what is written in it: The word is very near you in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it. Which the apostle explains thus: This is the word of faith which we preach. For if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, but with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 27. Let us therefore briefly examine these things. For we must yield to the greater, the more subtle, and the more eloquent, to whom it is very easy to expound the deeper and more hidden things of this matter: which must now and always be done, the love of many waxing cold, iniquity abounding everywhere, the wickedness of the unbelieving growing stronger, the fallacy of Antichrist drawing near. And would that the most religious Emperor’s diligence would command one of his men to collect all that is to be understood, or explained, or indicated by the teachers of the Churches in the holy Scriptures concerning Antichrist. It would certainly be of use for the safeguard of faith, for the erection of hope, for the strengthening and commendation of the sweetness of the love of Christ. Amen.

Source. Vicifons – Agobard, On Jewish Superstitions, Migne, PL 104. 1864.

On Avoiding Association and Fellowship with Jews

To the most blessed Father Nibridius Agobardus, eternal greetings in God the Father and the Lord Jesus.

If the proximity of the places and the tranquility of things would permit, I would indeed like to speak more frequently with your fatherhood face to face, and whether in private or public necessities, I would always consult your holiness. But since the distant spaces of the intervening lands prevent me from doing what I cannot do in words, I endeavor to accomplish by letter (0108A); bringing to your notice my not the least need, and in which I myself find myself not strong enough, I desire to be united with the protection of your virtue, as if it were a most powerful shield and an impregnable wall. Let the venerable gray hair of your fatherhood know, therefore, that during the present year, while I was going around the people of our parishes with due solicitude, and if any of them seemed to be depraved (0109A), I would correct them by reason of truth, according to the strength which the grace of God bestowed, I have denounced to all and commanded them, according to the law of God and the institutions of the holy canons, that they, as true worshippers of the Christian faith, should with all observance separate themselves from the company of infidels; not of the Gentiles, who do not dwell among us at all, but of the Jews, who seem to be scattered in this city of ours and in some other neighboring cities. For it seemed both unworthy and unbecoming of our faith that the children of light should be darkened by the company of darkness, and that the Church of Christ, which is fitting to be prepared without spot or wrinkle by the embraces of the heavenly Bridegroom, should be discolored by the company of a stained, wrinkled, and repudiated synagogue. And it is truly absurd that a chaste virgin, espoused to one husband, Christ, should seek the feasts of a harlot, and through the communion of food and drink should not only fall into diverse crimes, but also sustain the danger of her faith; while from excessive familiarity and constant cohabitation, some of the Christian flock indeed observe the Sabbath with the Jews, but violate the Lord’s Day by unlawful work; nor [do they] break the established fasts; Most of the women are kept by them as maids, others as mercenaries; some are also corrupted; but all of these are prostituted to their domination, lust, or deception in common; the children of the devil strive in this very thing, with hatred, deceit, and deceitful flattery; while they proudly proclaim themselves the offspring of the patriarchs, the race of the righteous, the offspring of the prophets; ignorant of the miserable ones who hear these things, that their own prophets are accustomed to call them a sinful nation, a people heavy with iniquity, a wicked seed, wicked children, their father an Amorite, their mother a Cetahite, the princes of Sodom, and the people of Gomorrah. But equally ignorant of this, that the forerunner of the Lord John called them the offspring of vipers, and the Lord himself frequently called them now serpents, now an evil, perverse, perverse, and adulterous generation. Hence, some of the common and rustic people are led into such a sea of ​​error that they, with a misguided mind, suspect that this is the only people of God, and that among them the observance of pious religion and a faith much more certain than ours is, and confess with impious lips among their equals and peers.(0111C) When we saw that evil committed to us was growing among the people, and was now being spread day by day by custom itself, we endeavored to stretch out our hand in our fallen strength, and to recall erring minds to the line of truth: believing it right that just as the law of God once commanded them not to intermarry with the Gentiles, nor to celebrate a common feast with them, namely, lest by their marriages and communion of food they should fall away from divine worship, and should bend their freedom of mind to the yoke of idolatry; so now our people should be restrained from presuming to have a part in eating, a fellowship in drinking, or a companionship in dwelling with the unbelieving Jews: lest under the pretext of this society they should indeed deviate from the simplicity of the Christian faith, and by attending to Jewish fables they should be entangled in the inextricable snares of error; And since we cannot bring any of them to the spiritual virtue of our faith by such great humanity and kindness, which we use towards them, some of our own, while willingly sharing in their carnal food, are taken with spiritual feasts. For this providence of the divine law our Fathers seem to have followed by canonical institutions; whose precepts we have obeyed, as far as we could, with devout souls; namely, fearing the danger of the souls entrusted to us, and dreading their blood at our hands in the divine judgment to be sought. Furthermore, certain envoys, and especially Evrard, who is now the teacher of the Jews, attempted to destroy this religious work of ours, and to undermine it under the pretext of imperial edicts. To whom we did not yield for an hour, so that the truth of the divine law, and the venerable constitution of the holy Fathers, may continue with us in unshaken and unshaken observance. Nor did we dare to acquiesce in such fatal orders, nor could we believe that a most religious and God-worthy prince had commanded anything contrary to divine law, contrary to the sacred canons, or dangerous to the salvation of the Church; whose faithful industry and admirable piety always watch over this, that the law of God be observed everywhere, that canonical institutions may flourish with perpetual firmness, that the salvation and virtue of the Church may grow more glorious day by day throughout the whole world.They are entangled in the inextricable snares of error; and since we are unable to bring any of them to the spiritual virtue of our faith by so much humanity and kindness, which we use towards them, some part of us, while willingly sharing in their carnal sufferings, is taken with spiritual feasts. For this providence of the divine law our Fathers seem to have followed by canonical institutions; whose precepts we have obeyed, as far as we could, with devout souls; namely, fearing the danger of the souls that have been entrusted to us, and dreading their blood at our hands in the divine judgment to be sought. Furthermore, certain envoys, and especially Evrard, who is now the teacher of the Jews, attempted to destroy this religious work of ours, and to undermine it under the pretext of imperial edicts. To whom we did not yield for an hour, so that the truth of the divine law, and the venerable constitution of the holy Fathers, may continue with us, immovable and unshaken by their observance. Nor did we dare to acquiesce in such fatal orders, nor could we believe that a most religious and God-worthy prince had commanded anything contrary to divine law, contrary to the sacred canons, or dangerous to the salvation of the Church; whose faithful industry and admirable piety always watch over this, that the law of God be observed everywhere, that canonical institutions may flourish with perpetual firmness, that the salvation and virtue of the Church may grow more glorious day by day throughout the whole world.They are entangled in the inextricable snares of error; and since we are unable to bring any of them to the spiritual virtue of our faith by so much humanity and kindness, which we use towards them, some part of us, while willingly sharing in their carnal sufferings, is taken with spiritual feasts. For this providence of the divine law our Fathers seem to have followed by canonical institutions; whose precepts we have obeyed, as far as we could, with devout souls; namely, fearing the danger of the souls that have been entrusted to us, and dreading their blood at our hands in the divine judgment to be sought. Furthermore, certain envoys, and especially Evrard, who is now the teacher of the Jews, attempted to destroy this religious work of ours, and to undermine it under the pretext of imperial edicts. To whom we did not yield for an hour, so that the truth of the divine law, and the venerable constitution of the holy Fathers, may continue with us, immovable and unshaken by their observance. Nor did we dare to acquiesce in such fatal orders, nor could we believe that a most religious and God-worthy prince had commanded anything contrary to divine law, contrary to the sacred canons, or dangerous to the salvation of the Church; whose faithful industry and admirable piety always watch over this, that the law of God be observed everywhere, that canonical institutions may flourish with perpetual firmness, that the salvation and virtue of the Church may grow more glorious day by day throughout the whole world.

Wherefore, most blessed Father, who are now believed to be a pillar in all things and the firmament of the house of God, stand upon the rock of ecclesiastical observance, immovable, fearless, unshaken, enduring the winds, rains, and rivers of the adverse storm; which indeed can shake the foundation of the house of God, but cannot overthrow it: for not even the gates of hell can prevail against it. Knowing, therefore, venerable Father, that all who are under the law are under a curse, and clothed with a curse, as with a garment, which has entered like water into their inward parts, and like oil into their bones, cursed also in the city, and cursed in the field, cursed in going in, and cursed in going out, cursed the fruit of their womb and the ground and their cattle, cursed their storehouses, granaries, stores, food, and the remains of their food, and that none of them can be delivered from this so monstrous and so horrible curse of the law, except by him who became a curse for us. Knowing also that against those who do not wish to receive the apostolic preaching, not only should none of them be used, but even the dust of their city should be shaken off from their feet, and that it will be more reprehensible on the day of judgment for Sodom and Gomorrah than for them, you too remain in the observance of the divine law, (0113B) persist in the canonical institutions, hold those whom you can, do not say, “land those whom you can,” and do not allow any of the faithful to share in such great curses and such horrible condemnations through the profane company of those who curse and condemn. Nay rather (0114A) also send the fortifications of your exhortations to your fellow bishops and brothers, so that by the equal consent of all and common labor this evil may be removed from the Churches of Christ. Let us fill the joy of Mother Church, all speaking one thing, knowing one thing, feeling one thing, that is, having a struggle, because we know that this too is the desire of our most gracious Redeemer; according as He Himself prays to the Father for us, saying: “Neither pray I for these only, but also for all who shall believe in Me through their word, that they all may be one, as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in Us.” But such is our confidence in you that we believe that this work will either stand by your endeavor, or, God forbid, by your forbearance, will fall. But may the God of patience and consolation grant us to be of the same mind toward one another, according to Jesus Christ, that with one mind we may with one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Source. Vicifons – Agobard, On Avoiding Association and Fellowship with Jews, Migne, PL 104. 1864.

Against the Impious Precept Concerning the Baptism of Jewish Slaves

To the lords and most holy, most blessed, illustrious men, Hilduinus, prelate of the sacred palace [Al., archchapel], (0175A)and to the abbot of Wala, Agobardus the servant.

Your most prudent gentleness will know that I have therefore presumptuously written the following to both, since I know without a doubt that you are the chief and almost sole helpers in the way of God of the most Christian emperor, and therefore that one is always in the palace, and the other frequently, so that in the works of piety which must be sought, found, and maintained without any error, you may be his exhorters and, as I said, helpers by your most prudent suggestions. I have written to your sincerity each brief indicia, indicating to you that a certain woman, converted from Judaism to Christianity by the grace of Christ, is enduring severe persecutions for the faith which she has received in Christ, which you can (0175B)know from the brief of the woman herself: in which matter so excellent alms remains for you, that it can be greater than any other. Now, however, deign to know the cause of this persecution, which may also be the foments of impious error, by my indicating it to you. The Jews carry around a certain precept, which they boast was given to them by the emperor, which contains that no one should baptize a Jewish slave without the consent of his master. We do not believe at all that a sentence so contrary to the ecclesiastical rule should have come from the face of a most Christian and pious emperor. For your prudence, dear to God, knows very well how from the beginning the holy apostles were commanded by the Truth itself on this matter, to whom, without any distinction of persons, without any exception of conditions, it was generally said (0175C): Go and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. And again: Go into the whole world, preach the Gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved. And they and all subsequent ecclesiastical rulers, observing with all faith and constancy, did not hesitate to convert to the faith not only the slaves of any men, but also the spouses and offspring of emperors and consuls, and to baptize the converted without waiting for permission from anyone. Which, although it is easy to recognize in the deeds of others, is especially demonstrated more clearly in the apostolic letters. For we read at the end of the Epistle to the Philippians (IV, 22) thus: All the saints greet you, especially those of Caesar’s household. That Nero was a most wicked man, no one doubts that his household and ministers of the royal court were converted by the apostolic preaching, could never have been sanctified by the grace of baptism, if his will or permission were expected in this matter; who, with the greatest terror of persecution, not only deterred the unbelievers from coming to the faith, but also insisted on turning believers away from the faith. Hence he also murdered the leaders and teachers of the Christian faith, whose doctrine he saw almost the whole world subjugated to the faith of Christ against his own knowledge, in the last atrocity of his fury. In the Epistle to Timothy, after the Apostle had commanded that prayers and supplications be made for all men, he added at the end:For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all. And to Titus, after he had shown that old men and old women, young women, young men, and slaves, were to be instructed with suitable precepts, he concluded in this way: For the grace of God our Savior has appeared to all men, instructing us and others. If then, as is most clearly proved by these examples, the will of God our Savior is that all men should be saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth, and be reconciled through the one mediator between God and men, who gave himself a ransom for all; If this grace of reconciliation and salvation has shone forth indifferently to all, who would presume to do an injury to the great goodness of God by laying down a law for his mercy, and by placing it at the discretion of the wicked to be imparted to those who implore it, whose most obstinate perfidy not only does not allow any of their own to approach the faith of Christ, but also does not cease to blaspheme and detest those who believe, both publicly and secretly? Finally, and to those who consider piously, it is clear that one (0177A) almighty God, the creator and most just ruler of all things, who formed the first man from the clay of the earth, and from his rib made a helper like unto himself, and who from them propagated the whole human race as from one source and one root, has made all of one condition. And although, by His most just and most secret judgment, some have been exalted to various honors, others have been depressed by the yoke of servitude, yet He has so ordained that bodily service should be rendered by slaves to their masters, that He willed that the inner man, created in His own image, should be subject to no man, no angel, no creature at all, but to Himself alone. Hence also in His law, concerning this mental servitude, which is due to Him alone, He commanded: Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve. And the Apostle, showing that the same inner man is free from all diversity of sex, from all distance from the Creator and race, thus teaches: Stripping you of the old man with his deeds, and putting on the new, which is renewed in knowledge, after the image of Him who created him; where there is neither Gentile nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian nor Scythian, bond nor free; but Christ is all and in all.and to be reconciled through one mediator of God and men, who gave himself a redemption for all; if the grace of this reconciliation and salvation has shone upon all without distinction, who would presume to do an injury to so great a goodness of God, by laying down a law for his mercy, and by appointing it to be administered to those who implore it at the discretion of the wicked, whose most obstinate perfidy not only permits none of their own to approach the faith of Christ, but also does not cease to blaspheme and detest those who believe, both publicly and secretly? Finally, and to those who consider piously, it is clear that one almighty God, the creator and most just ruler of all things, who formed the first man from the clay of the earth, and from his rib made a helper like unto himself, and who from them propagated the whole human race as from one source and one root, has made all of one condition. And although, by His most just and most secret judgment, some have been exalted to various honors, others have been depressed by the yoke of servitude, yet He has so ordained that bodily service should be rendered by slaves to their masters, that He willed that the inner man, created in His own image, should be subject to no man, no angel, no creature at all, but to Himself alone. Hence also in His law, concerning this mental servitude, which is due to Him alone, He commanded: Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve. And the Apostle, showing that the same inner man is free from all diversity of sex, from all distance from the Creator and race, thus teaches: Stripping you of the old man with his deeds, and putting on the new, which is renewed in knowledge, after the image of Him who created him; where there is neither Gentile nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian nor Scythian, bond nor free; but Christ is all and in all.and to be reconciled through one mediator of God and men, who gave himself a redemption for all; if the grace of this reconciliation and salvation has shone upon all without distinction, who would presume to do an injury to so great a goodness of God, by laying down a law for his mercy, and by appointing it to be administered to those who implore it at the discretion of the wicked, whose most obstinate perfidy not only permits none of their own to approach the faith of Christ, but also does not cease to blaspheme and detest those who believe, both publicly and secretly? Finally, and to those who consider piously, it is clear that one almighty God, the creator and most just ruler of all things, who formed the first man from the clay of the earth, and from his rib made a helper like unto himself, and who from them propagated the whole human race as from one source and one root, has made all of one condition. And although, by His most just and most secret judgment, some have been exalted to various honors, others have been depressed by the yoke of servitude, yet He has so ordained that bodily service should be rendered by slaves to their masters, that He willed that the inner man, created in His own image, should be subject to no man, no angel, no creature at all, but to Himself alone. Hence also in His law, concerning this mental servitude, which is due to Him alone, He commanded: Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve. And the Apostle, showing that the same inner man is free from all diversity of sex, from all distance from the Creator and race, thus teaches: Stripping you of the old man with his deeds, and putting on the new, which is renewed in knowledge, after the image of Him who created him; where there is neither Gentile nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian nor Scythian, bond nor free; but Christ is all and in all.You shall fear the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve. And the Apostle, showing that the same inner man is free from all diversity of sex, from all distance from the Creator and race, thus teaches: Stripping you of the old man with his deeds, and putting on the new man, who is renewed in knowledge, according to the image of Him who created him; where there is neither Gentile nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian nor Scythian, slave nor free; but Christ is all and in all.You shall fear the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve. And the Apostle, showing that the same inner man is free from all diversity of sex, from all distance from the Creator and race, thus teaches: Stripping you of the old man with his deeds, and putting on the new man, who is renewed in knowledge, according to the image of Him who created him; where there is neither Gentile nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian nor Scythian, slave nor free; but Christ is all and in all.

Since, then, those who come to baptism are renewed through the acknowledgment of the Creator in the inner man who is free from every condition of servitude; what reason can there be that slaves are forbidden to attain this without the permission of their masters, nor are they permitted to serve God unless they have obtained permission from men? (0177C)Certainly the same apostle in his epistle to Timothy thus commanded: All who are under the yoke of servants are to regard their masters as worthy of all honor, so that the name of the Lord and his doctrine may not be blasphemed. And those who have believing masters are not to despise them because they are brothers; but rather to serve them because they are faithful, and so on (1 Tim. 6:1). In which words he speaks clearly of all Christian servants, but some of whom served believing masters, others unbelieving masters. And yet he sets forth precepts for the servants of unbelieving masters: who would then certainly still be bound by the bond of unbelief if in this matter they followed the will of those whom they served. Philemon was injured by the slave Onesimus, whom the apostle Paul, while in chains, converted to the faith of Christ, and washed in the font of holy baptism; nor does Philemon complain about these things, but he is also admonished to receive the believer and baptized as if he were the bowels of the Apostle. Desiring to follow these authorities, and fearing to transgress the precept, which is pronounced as if by imperial authority, we are caught between two dangers. For if we observe that precept, neglecting ecclesiastical rules, we offend God; if we follow these, we fear the indignation of the emperor; especially since the leader of the unbelieving Jews incessantly threatens us that he will bring messengers from the palace to judge and punish us for such things. Which thing not only brings perturbation (0178B) to us; but also to those who could easily be converted to the faith, it is for your prudence to estimate how much of an obstacle it presents. Wherefore, most holy Fathers and most loving to God, weighing these our dangers as if they were your own with pious minds, intercede with the most Christian and most clement Emperor, that this kind of impediment may be removed from the Holy Church, and among the many and greatest which he most piously and most justly disposes of in the empire handed down and preserved by Christ, he may also assist in this matter for the love of Christ himself with his most merciful and usual goodness; lest the souls from whom the flock of the faithful could be increased, and for whose salvation in the days of the Lord’s Passion the universal Church publicly supplicates to God, should remain entangled in the snares of the devil, when the hardness of the infidels and those who oppose God opposes them, (0178C) also on the occasion of the said precept. Certainly it is established in the sacred canons that if any of them come to baptism, the bishop, or any of the faithful, if he wishes, has the power to redeem them (See the book of Jud. superstit., chap. 6). Which we most willingly desire to do; asking only that they be granted the free opportunity of coming to the faith. Nor do we say this because we think that their children or slaves should be taken away from them by force, but so that permission may not be denied to those who come to the faith by infidels.

Source. Vicifons – Agobard, Against the Impious Precept Concerning the Baptism of Jewish Slaves, Migne, PL 104. 1864.