20 passages, 7 quoted here · Marked debate. Read the differences
How the churches dealt with serious sin, and whether and how those who fell away could be received back.
Where they stood
Each row is one claim. Each name is a writer, placed at the date of the passage. Select a name to read what they said.
4 of the 4 writers here teach: “A further repentance after baptism is granted, narrowly.” They answer a rival view: “Peace and communion may be given before confession.” How far a second repentance goes.
teaches itpartlyrejects itlater writer, summary only
Apostolic FathersApostolicBefore NicaeaBefore NicaeaNicaea to ChalcedonNicaea to 451After ChalcedonAfter 451
A further repentance after baptism is granted, narrowly4 teach
Ignatius of AntiochTeaches: A further repentance after baptism is granted, narrowly
d. c. 110 AD · Epistle to the Philadelphians 5.8
For my part, I was doing what belonged to me as a person fitted for unity. But where there is division and anger, God does not dwell. The Lord forgives all who repent, if they repent into the unity of God and the council of elders under the bishop.
HermasTeaches: A further repentance after baptism is granted, narrowly
fl. c. 140 AD · Shepherd, Mandate 4
The angel commands me to keep chastity and warns me not to let my heart wander toward another woman, toward any sexual immorality, or toward any such evil thoughts. Doing this commits a great sin. If I always keep my own wife in mind, I will never sin.
TertullianTeaches: A further repentance after baptism is granted, narrowly
c. 155–c. 220 AD · On Repentance 7
Up to this point, Christ our Lord, may your servants be permitted to learn and hear about the discipline of repentance. May they learn it only up to the point where catechumens must no longer sin, so that they know nothing of repentance and seek nothing from it.
TertullianTeaches: Repentance must be carried out in a public act
c. 155–c. 220 AD · On Repentance 9
Public confession, therefore, is a discipline of prostrating and humbling a person, imposing a manner of life that entices mercy. It commands the sinner to lie in sackcloth and ashes, to darken the body with filth, to cast down the spirit with grief, to exchange for harsh treatment whatever one has sinned with.
Cyprian of CarthageRejects: Peace and communion may be given before confession
c. 200–258 AD · On the Lapsed 15
A new kind of disaster has arisen, my most beloved brothers, and as if the storm of persecution had not raged fiercely enough, a deceitful evil and a flattering ruin have been heaped upon us under the guise of mercy.
Cyprian of CarthageRejects: Peace and communion may be given before confession
c. 200–258 AD · On the Lapsed 16
People despise and scorn every requirement: they receive the Lord's body and blood before their sins have been atoned for, before they have confessed their crime, before the priest's sacrifice and hand have cleansed their conscience, before they have appeased the offense of the indignant and threatening Lord.
Cyprian of CarthageTeaches: A further repentance after baptism is granted, narrowly
c. 200–258 AD · On the Lapsed 35
But you, my most beloved brothers, whose fear is inclined toward God — even though your minds are established in ruin, you still remember your own evil — now, repenting and grieving, perceive your sins. Acknowledge the very serious crime of conscience. Open the eyes of your hearts to understand your offense.