The Apostasy of the Unbaptized

Even until today, Christians are turned away from all things, not even using their own cup or plate, but saying that their vessels are defiled by men. And so that each of us may know to what extent they have fallen away, the Samaritan woman first said to Christ regarding Jerusalem, who was contending: 'Our fathers worshiped on this mountain; and how do you say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship?' (John 4:20). And concerning the water, as he said to her: 'Give me to drink from the spring,' she says to him: 'And how do you ask to drink from me, being a Samaritan woman?' (John 4:9). You see that he did not wish to give to her, so that he might not defile her spring, as she had suggested; and the things are manifest.

Who does not recognize the Samaritans among us? Those departing from Jerusalem, that is, from the Church of Christ, those having legislated no longer to offer prayer or firstfruits to God in Jerusalem, nor to obey the Scriptures or the teachings being given in the churches by the shepherds through the Holy Spirit, but to be separated and entirely strangers from the people of God, having falsely named themselves venerable names. For just as he, after all impiety, called himself a guardian of the law, so these, having denied the faith which they received in the church, called themselves Encratic and Apostatic. It is necessary to call them transgressors, because they have broken the covenants toward God.

Where then shall we place each? They were baptized in the church by the priests of God; after baptism they were nourished by the holy body and the precious blood of Christ. Do they then guard these traditions? If anyone denies one of these, he has denied all. Do they therefore guard the three, the baptism, the body, the blood? One priest handed down to you the triad of the mysteries; you are not able to hold one and let go of the other; if another had been the one baptizing you and another giving the body and another the blood, you would say: 'The two truly handed them to me, but the third played with me.' But now, from one priest, I have received all the mysteries; if you call him a priest of Christ, guard the mysteries, so that you may not become a transgressor; but if you do not call him a priest, you say that he is being catechized...

The name of Christ is foreign to you, for elsewhere you were baptized nowhere. And just as those blaspheming the Son of God impiously blaspheme the Father and the Holy Spirit, so also those being unfaithful to the Holy Spirit are unfaithful to the all-holy Father and to His all-holy Son Jesus Christ; thus it is found even regarding the Trinity of mysteries. If anyone rejects one of them, he has rejected the Trinity; having therefore rejected the mysteries of Christ and having apostatized from the Church, you justly ought to be named a transgressor.

And in order that I may persuade you that you are also among the impious transgressors who, not bearing many trials, often endured wounds through weakness of body, yet often refused to deny, being merciful and worthy of many lamentations; but nevertheless, having recognized all their life, they often repented, so that God, having been reconciled to them, might at last once again qualify them for the entrance of the saints. But you, the devil has darkened to such an extent that you do not seek the fellowship of the saints but speak the opposite, so that the blasphemous, the terrible, and the holy blood of Christ might no longer enter into your mouth.

Behold, therefore, from every side you have been shown not only to have innovated like a Samaritan, but also to have committed a transgression. And just as the Samaritan made his apostasy through outward form and is convicted by circumcision that he was once an Israelite, so also you, even if you have withdrawn from the Church or innovated a transgression, are nevertheless convicted by the seal, because you received the baptism in the Church of Christ. For where does such similarity to the Samaritan come to you? Let it be that you withdrew, let it be that you made lawless those who were cast down by you, so that they no longer suffer the house of God, no longer hear the priests who were baptizing and making you a Christian; but where does such observation of vessels come to you? From what tradition? Did the apostles, preaching the word of God and going through the inhabited world, carry pots and platters while all were Greeks and all were mad for idolatry? Or, having Christ with them, did they know that there is no idol in the world, but all things are pure to the pure (Rom 14:20), and that things are sanctified through the word of God and through prayer, and entering many times into a house...