Didascalia Apostolorum

Historical source scan page 139

DIDASCALIA. 1 1 1 and repent not, we cut off and appoint that they go out of the Church, and be separated from the believers, because they have heresies, (S. + in order to command the believers, to keep entirely away from them), and they should have no communion with them either by word or by prayer ; for these people are the enemies (S. + and spoilers) of the Church ; for about these our Lord hath commanded us and said unto us, "Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees Matt- xvl> 6 and of the Sadducees" ; and " Into the cities of the Samaritans enter not," Matt. x. 5 (S. + but the cities of the Samaritans are of heresies), which walk in a crooked way (S. + of which He spake in the Proverbs, "there is a way that men think *fov. straight"), "and its end leadeth lower than Sheol." These are they against Xvi. 25 whom our Lord decreed severely and bitterly, and said, "They shall not be Matt. xii. forgiven, neither in this world, nor in that which is to come," (S. + for because of the Nation which did not believe in the Christ, and laid hands upon Him, on the Son of man, that laid hands on Him blaspheming ; and our Lord said, " It shall be forgiven unto them " ; and again our Lord said about them, "My Father, they know not what they do, nor what they Lukexxiii. speak ; if it be possible, forgive them " ; but again also the Gentiles blaspheme against the Son of man, because of the Cross, and to them he hath also given forgiveness), to those who believed (S. + of the Nation or) of the Gentiles by means of baptism, and blasphemed, He hath not given the pardon of their wicked deeds, as the Lord the Christ hath said, " Wherefore Matt- xii- 31 sic I say unto you, that all sins and blasphemies shall be forgiven unto men ; but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven, neither in this world nor in that which is to come ; and every one who speaketh a 32 word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him ; for every one that blasphemeth against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven, (S. + neither in this world, nor in the world to come). Those who blaspheme against the Holy Ghost, those who against God Almighty hastily and hypocritically blaspheme, (S. 4- those heretics who receive His holy Scriptures, or who receive them wickedly in hypocrisy with blasphemy, or who blaspheme by wicked words against the Catholic Church, which is the receptacle of the Holy Ghost, are those who before the future judgment and before the Spirit, have from of old been condemned to give answer before the Christ ; for this which He said, that " it shall not be forgiven unto them," is a sentence of severe punishment of the condemnation which expels them), and say that the Holy Ghost does not dwell in baptism, nor in the flesh and blood of the Christ. Having decreed and established and confirmed with one mind, each one of us went out and departed to his first portion, confirming the Churches, because the things that had