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| To Marcella.
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Letter XLI.
To Marcella.
An effort having been made to convert Marcella to
Montanism,873
| 873 Montanus lived at
Ardaban, in Phrygia, in the second half of the second century, and
founded a sect of prophetic enthusiasts and ascetics, which was
afterward joined by Tertullian. | Jerome here summarizes for her
its leading doctrines, which he contrasts with those of the Church.
Written at Rome in 385 a.d.
1. As regards the passages brought together from the
gospel of John with which a certain votary of Montanus has assailed
you, passages in which our Saviour promises that He will go to the
Father, and that He will send the Paraclete874
—as regards these, the Acts of the
Apostles inform us both for what time the promises were made, and at
what time they were actually fulfilled. Ten days had elapsed, we are
told, from the Lord’s ascension and fifty from His resurrection,
when the Holy Spirit came down, and the tongues of the believers were
cloven, so that each spoke every language. Then it was that, when
certain persons of those who as yet believed not declared that the
disciples were drunk with new wine, Peter standing in the midst of the
apostles, and of all the concourse said: “Ye men of Judæa
and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you and hearken
to my words: for these are not drunken as ye suppose, seeing it is but
the third hour of the day. But this is that which was spoken of by the
prophet Joel. And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I
will pour out of my spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and daughters
shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men
shall dream dreams: and on my servants, and on my handmaidens I will
pour out…of my spirit.”875
2. If, then, the apostle Peter, upon whom the Lord has
founded the Church,876
has expressly
said that the prophecy and promise of the Lord were then and there
fulfilled, how can we claim another fulfilment for ourselves? if the
Montanists reply that Philip’s four daughters prophesied877
at a later date, and that a prophet is
mentioned named Agabus,878
and that in
the partition of the spirit, prophets are spoken of as well as
apostles, teachers and others,879
and that Paul
himself prophesied many things concerning heresies still future, and
the end of the world; we tell them that we do not so much reject
prophecy—for this is attested by the passion of the Lord—as
refuse to receive prophets whose utterances fail to accord with the
Scriptures old and new.
3. In the first place we differ from the Montanists
regarding the rule of faith. We distinguish the Father, the Son, and
the Holy Spirit as three persons, but unite them as one substance.
They, on the other hand, following the doctrine of Sabellius,880
| 880 A presbyter of the
Libyan Pentapolis who taught at Rome in the early years of the third
century. He “confounded the persons” of the Trinity and was
subsequently accounted a heretic. Cf. Letter XV. | force the Trinity into the narrow limits
of a single personality. We, while we do not encourage them, yet allow
second marriages, since Paul bids the younger widows to marry.881
They suppose a repetition of marriage a
sin so awful that he who has committed it is to be regarded as an
adulterer. We, according to the
apostolic tradition (in which the whole world is at one with us), fast
through one Lent yearly; whereas they keep three in the year as though
three saviours had suffered. I do not mean, of course, that it is
unlawful to fast at other times through the year—always excepting
Pentecost882
| 882 Viz. the period
between Easter Day and Whitsunday. | —only that while in Lent it
is a duty of obligation, at other seasons it is a matter of choice.
With us, again, the bishops occupy the place of the apostles, but with
them a bishop ranks not first but third. For while they put first the
patriarchs of Pepusa883
| 883 Called by the
Montanists the New Jerusalem. | in Phrygia,
and place next to these the ministers called stewards,884
| 884
Oeconomos—according to a probable emendation. The text has
cenonas. | the bishops are relegated to the third
or almost the lowest rank. No doubt their object is to make their
religion more pretentious by putting that last which we put first.
Again they close the doors of the Church to almost every fault, whilst
we read daily, “I desire the repentance of a sinner rather than
his death,”885
and
“Shall they fall and not arise, saith the Lord,”886
and once more “Return ye
backsliding children and I will heal your backslidings.”887
Their strictness does not prevent
them from themselves committing grave sins, far from it; but there is
this difference between us and them, that, whereas they in their
self-righteousness blush to confess their faults, we do penance for
ours, and so more readily gain pardon for them.
4. I pass over their sacraments888
of sin, made up as they are said to
be, of sucking children subjected to a triumphant martyrdom.889
| 889 Victuro martyre
confarrata. The precise meaning of the words is obscure. | I prefer, I say, not to credit these;
accusations of blood-shedding may well be false. But I must confute the
open blasphemy of men who say that God first determined in the Old
Testament to save the world by Moses and the prophets, but that finding
Himself unable to fulfil His purpose He took to Himself a body of the
Virgin, and preaching under the form of the Son in Christ, underwent
death for our salvation. Moreover that, when by these two steps He was
unable to save the world, He last of all descended by the Holy Spirit
upon Montanus and those demented women Prisca and Maximilia; and that
thus the mutilated and emasculate890
| 890 Some suppose him to
have been a priest of Cybele, but it would be a mistake to lay too much
stress on Jerome’s words. | Montanus
possessed a fulness of knowledge such as was never claimed by Paul; for
he was content to say, “We know in part, and we prophesy in
part,” and again, “Now we see through a glass
darkly.”891
These are statements which require no refutation. To
expose the infidelity of the Montanists is to triumph over it. Nor is
it necessary that in so short a letter as this I should overthrow the
several absurdities which they bring forward. You are well acquainted
with the Scriptures; and, as I take it, you have written, not because
you have been disturbed by their cavils, but only to learn my opinion
about them.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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