Against the Epistle of Manichæus, Called Fundamental 6
6 Why Manichæus Called Himself an Apostle of Christ PL 42, 175
7. For I am at a loss to see why this epistle begins, "Manichæus, an apostle of Jesus Christ," and not Paraclete, an apostle of Jesus Christ. Or if the Paraclete sent by Christ sent Manichæus, why do we read, "Manichæus, an apostle of Jesus Christ," instead of Manichæus, an apostle of the Paraclete? If you say that it is Christ Himself who is the Holy Spirit, you contradict the very Scripture, where the Lord says, "And I will send you another Paraclete." Again, if you justify your putting of Christ’s name, not because it is Christ Himself who is also the Paraclete, but because they are both of the same substance,—that is, not because they are one person, but one existence [non quia unus est, sed quia unum sunt],—Paul too might have used the words, Paul, an apostle of God the Father; for the Lord said, "I and the Father are one." Paul nowhere uses these words; nor does any of the apostles write himself an apostle of the Father. Why then this new fashion? Does it not savor of trickery of some kind or other? For if he thought it made no difference, why did he not for the sake of variety in some epistles call himself an apostle of Christ, and in others of the Paraclete? But in every one that I know of, he writes, of Christ; and not once, of the Paraclete. What do we suppose to be the reason of this, but that pride, the mother of all heretics, impelled the man to desire to seem to have been sent by the Paraclete, but to have been taken into so close a relation as to get the name of Paraclete himself? As the man Jesus Christ was not sent by the Son of God, that is, the power and wisdom of God—by which all things were made, but, according to the Catholic faith, was taken into such a relation as to be Himself the Son of God—that is, that in Himself the wisdom of God was displayed in the healing of sinners,—so Manichæus wished it to be thought that he was so taken up by the Holy Spirit, whom Christ promised, that we are henceforth to understand that the names Manichæus and Holy Spirit alike signify the apostle of Jesus Christ,—that is, one sent by Jesus Christ, who promised to send him. Singular audacity this! and unutterable sacrilege!
Contra titulum Epistolae Manichaei. Videamus igitur quid me doceat Manichaeus, et potissimum illum consideremus librum, quem Fundamenti Epistolam dicitis, ubi totum pene quod creditis continetur. Ipsa enim nobis illo tempore miseris quando lecta est, illuminati dicebamur a vobis. Certe sic incipit: Manichaeus apostolus Jesu Christi providentia Dei Patris. Haec sunt salubria verba, de perenni ac vivo fonte. Jam cum bona patientia, si placet, attendite quid quaeram. Non credo istum esse apostolum Christi. Quaeso ne succenseatis, et maledicere incipiatis. Nostis enim me statuisse, nihil a vobis prolatum temere credere. Quaero ergo quis sit iste Manichaeus? Respondebitis: Apostolus Christi. Non credo: quid jam dicas aut facias, non habebis; promittebas enim scientiam veritatis, et nunc quod nescio cogis ut credam. Evangelium mihi fortasse lecturus es, et inde Manichaei personam tentabis asserere. Si ergo invenires aliquem, qui Evangelio nondum credit, quid faceres dicenti tibi, Non credo? Ego vero Evangelio non crederem, nisi me catholicae Ecclesiae commoveret auctoritas. Quibus ergo obtemperavi dicentibus, Crede Evangelio; cur eis non obtemperem dicentibus mihi, Noli credere Manichaeis? Elige quid velis. Si dixeris, Crede Catholicis; ipsi me monent ut nullam fidem accommodem vobis: quapropter non possum illis credens, nisi tibi non credere. Si dixeris, Noli Catholicis credere; non recte facies per Evangelium me cogere ad Manichaei fidem, quia ipsi Evangelio Catholicis praedicantibus credidi. Si autem dixeris, Recte credidisti Catholicis laudantibus Evangelium; sed non recte illis credidisti vituperantibus Manichaeum: usque adeo me stultum putas, ut nulla reddita ratione quod vis credam, quod non vis non credam? Multo enim justius atque cautius facio, si Catholicis quoniam semel credidi, ad te non transeo, nisi me non credere jusseris, sed manifestissime ac apertissime scire aliquid feceris. Quocirca si mihi rationem redditurus es, dimitte Evangelium. Si ad Evangelium te tenes, ego me ad eos teneam, quibus praecipientibus Evangelio credidi; et his jubentibus tibi omnino non credam. Quod si forte in Evangelio aliquid apertissimum de Manichaei apostolatu invenire potueris, infirmabis mihi Catholicorum auctoritatem, qui jubent ut tibi non credam: qua infirmata, jam nec Evangelio credere potero, quia per eos illi credideram; ita nihil apud me valebit, quidquid inde protuleris. Quapropter si nihil manifestum de Manichaei apostolatu in Evangelio reperitur, Catholicis potius credam quam tibi. Si autem aliquid inde manifestum pro Manichaeo legeris, nec illis, nec tibi: illis, quia de te mihi mentiti sunt; tibi autem, quia eam scripturam mihi profers, cui per illos credideram, qui mihi mentiti sunt. Sed absit ut ego Evangelio non credam. Illi enim credens, non invenio quomodo possim etiam tibi credere. Apostolorum enim nomina, quae ibi leguntur , non inter se continent nomen Manichaei. In locum autem traditoris Christi quis successerit, in Apostolorum Actibus legimus : cui libro necesse est me credere, si credo Evangelio, quoniam utramque Scripturam similiter mihi catholica commendat auctoritas. In eodem etiam libro de vocatione atque apostolatu Pauli vulgatissimam tenemus historiam . Lege mihi jam, si potes, in Evangelio, ubi Manichaeus apostolus dictus est; vel in aliquo alio libro, cui me jam credidisse confiteor. An illud lecturus es, ubi Spiritum sanctum paracletum Dominus promisit Apostolis? De quo loco vide quot et quanta sint, quae me revocent et deterreant ne Manichaeo credam.