Letter 221: Quodvultdeus asks Augustine for a brief, practical catalogue of heresies.

To Augustine the bishop, deservedly venerable lord and truly Most Blessed father: Quodvultdeus the deacon. For a long time I was anxious, and more than once I postponed this bold request. What chiefly encouraged me, as people say, was the kindness of Your Blessedness, proven to everyone. When I considered it, I feared that if I did not ask, seek, and knock, the Lord would judge me proud for not asking, sluggish for not seeking, and lazy for not knocking. I would have thought this desire alone enough for me if I could not obtain its fruit. But since I know for certain that the holy mind Christ possesses in you is ready to open to all who wish it the door of the divine word, which heavenly grace has opened to Your Reverence, and even to persuade the unwilling not to find entrance burdensome, I will not delay Your Reverence's busy life with unnecessary talk. I will briefly explain the desire behind my plea. I know from myself that some members of the clergy, even in this very great city, are uninstructed. I leave it to Your Holiness to consider how useful to that whole order what I am asking would be. I presume, though unworthy, that I will receive the same privilege as all who deserve such help from your spiritual labors, deservedly venerable lord and truly Most Blessed father. I therefore ask Your Piety to be willing to explain what heresies have existed and still exist from the time the Christian religion received the name of the promised inheritance; what errors they brought in and bring in; what they have thought and now think against the catholic church concerning faith, the Trinity, baptism, repentance, Christ as man, Christ as God, the resurrection, the New and Old Testaments, and absolutely everything in which they disagree with the truth. Explain also which of them have baptism and which do not; after which groups the church baptizes but does not rebaptize; how it receives those who come over; and what it answers to each by law, authority, and reason. May Your Blessedness not think me so foolish that I fail to see what great and massive volumes would be needed to dissolve all these questions. That is not what I ask to be done. I do not doubt that it has already been done in many ways. Instead, I ask that the opinions of each heresy be set out briefly, tightly, and in summary form, and that what the catholic church holds against them be added as far as instruction requires. It would be like a reminder gathered from all of them. If anyone wanted to know an objection or a refutation more richly, fully, and plainly, he could be directed to the abundant and splendid volumes in which different writers, and especially Your Reverence, are known to have labored on this very matter. Such a reminder, I think, will be enough for the learned and the unlearned, the leisured and the busy, and for those promoted from anywhere to any rank of service in the church. The person who has read much will remember the same things briefly; the ignorant person will be instructed in summary, so that he knows what to hold, what to avoid, what to turn away from so as not to do it, and what to pursue so as to do it. Perhaps also, if what I think is true, this small work, among your other magnificent ones, will not lack the testimony of your crown against the malignant minds and deceitful lips of slanderers. Since they have a wider field for slander, they may be hemmed in by strong boundaries of faith, closed on every side, surrounded by every kind of weapon of truth, and suddenly struck down by one many-shaped spear, so that they no longer dare breathe out their deathly spirit. I see how burdensome I am to a holy old man thinking better thoughts, arranging greater works, and enduring bodily complaints. But through Christ the Lord I ask you, since he has granted you a generous share in his wisdom, to give this grace to the unlearned in the church. You know yourself to be debtor to the wise and the foolish alike, and you will rightly say, "See that I have not labored for myself alone, but for all who seek the truth." I could still offer many humble and repeated prayers, and draw up ranks of the unlearned with me. But I would rather already hear you dictating than still occupy you reading.

EPISTOLA 221 Scripta sub idem tempus. Quodvultdeus ab A. flagitat ut catalogum omnium haeresum scribat, quae adversus christianam fidem pullularunt, earum errores ritusque paucis complectens (nn. 1-2), opiniones contrarias perstricte declarans ut indoctis opituletur (nn. 3-4). DOMINO MERITO VENERABILI, ET VERE BEATISSIMO PATRI AUGUSTINO EPISCOPO, QUODVULTDEUS DIACONUS. Benevolentia ipsius fretus adit A. 1. Diu trepidus fui, et ausus hos meos aliquoties distuli: sed me principaliter, ut dici assolet, animavit Beatitudinis tuae benevolentia omnibus comprobata: quam dum considero, magis timui ne non petendo superbus, non quaerendo desidiosus, non pulsando piger a Domino iudicarer. Sufficere autem mihi crederem huiusmodi tantummodo voluntatem, si fructum adipisci non possem: cum autem pro certo noverim, ostium divini sermonis 1, quod Venerationi tuae coelestis gratia patefecit, paratam esse mentem tuam sanctam, quam possidet Christus, non solum cunctis volentibus pandere, verum etiam nolentibus, ut introire non pigeat, persuadere; occupationi Reverentiae tuae multiloquio superfluo moram non faciam, sed desiderium obsecrationis meae breviter indicabo. Perstrictus haeresum catalogus flagitatur. 2. Nonnullos in clero huiusce etiam amplissimae civitatis esse imperitos, ex meipso conicio, et quantum universo illi ordini profuturum sit quod expeto, considerationi Sanctitatis tuae discutiendum offero. Privilegium namque cunctorum qui hoc de spiritalibus tuis laboribus promerentur, etiam me indignum consecuturum esse praesumo, domine merito venerabilis, et vere beatissime pater. Precor igitur Pietatem tuam, ut ex quo Christiana religio haereditatis promissae nomen accepit, quae haereses fuerint, sint; quos errores intulerint, inferant; quid adversus catholicam Ecclesiam senserint, sentiant, de fide, de Trinitate, de Baptismo, de Poenitentia, de homine Christo, de Deo Christo, de resurrectione, de Novo et Vetere Testamento; et omnia omnino, quibus a veritate dissentiunt: quae etiam Baptismum habeant, quaeve non habeant; et post quas baptizet, nec tamen rebaptizet Ecclesia; qualiter suscipiat venientes, et quid singulis lege, auctoritate, atque ratione respondeat, digneris exponere. Compendiarie A. exponat cuiuslibet haeresis sententias. 3. Nec me tantae Beatitudo tua credat ineptiae, ut non inspiciam quantis et quam ingentibus voluminibus opus sit, ut possint ista dissolvi. Verum hoc ego fieri non expeto; id enim multipliciter factum esse non dubito: sed breviter, perstricte atque summatim, et opiniones rogo cuiuslibet haeresis exponi, et quid contra teneat Ecclesia catholica, quantum instructioni satis est, subdi: ut velut quodam ex omnibus concepto commonitorio, si quis aliquam obiectionem aut convictionem uberius, plenius ac planius nosse voluerit, ad opulenta et magnifica volumina transmittatur, quibus a diversis, et praecipue a Veneratione tua in hoc ipsum constat elaboratum. Sufficiet autem admonitio talis, ut puto, doctis et imperitis, otiosis et occupatis, et ad cuiuslibet gradus ministerium Ecclesiae undecumque promotis; dum et ille qui multa legit, eadem breviter recordatur, et compendio ignarus instruitur, ut noverit quid teneat, quid evitet quid aversetur ne faciat, quid ut faciat assequatur. Fortassis autem, si tamen quod arbitror verum est, etiam adversus calumniantium malignas mentes et dolosa labia 2 opus hoc parvum inter caetera magnifica testimonio coronae tuae non deerit: ut quibus patet campus calumniandi profusior, validis et ex omni parte conclusis fidei limitibus coarctati, omnibusque veritatis telorum generibus circumacti, etiam uno multiformi iaculo repente prostrati, morticinos spiritus non audeant anhelare. Quantopere utile omnibus futurum opus A. 4. Video quam onerosus exsistam, meliora cogitanti, et disponenti maiora sancto seni, et querelas corporis sustinenti. Sed per Christum Dominum rogo, qui te participem sapientiae suae sine invidia esse concessit, ut hanc gratiam dones indoctis Ecclesiae, qui te agnoscis sapientibus atque insipientibus debitorem 3, merito ac iure dicturus: Videte quoniam non mihi soli laboravi, sed omnibus exquirentibus veritatem 4. Potui adhuc offerre supplices et multiplices preces, et mecum imperitorum classes adsciscere; sed malui iam audire dictantem, quam adhuc occupare legentem.