Against Felix the Manichaean

In the sixth consulship of Honorius Augustus, on the seventh day before the Ides of December, Augustine, bishop of the catholic church of the region of Hippo Regius, said: “You know that yesterday you said that you could defend the scriptures of Mani and maintain that they contain the truth. If you are willing to do so today as well, or are confident that you can, say so.” Felix the Manichee said: “I do not deny that I said I would defend my law, if the authors of my law are brought forward into our midst.” And when Bishop Augustine had brought forward the letter of Mani which they call the Letter of the Foundation, he said: “If I read from this book, which you see me holding, the letter of Mani which you call the Letter of the Foundation, can you recognize whether it is that letter?” Felix said: “I recognize it.” Augustine said: “Take it yourself and read.” And when Felix had taken the book, he read: “Mani, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the providence of God the Father. These are the words of salvation from the everlasting and living spring. Whoever hears them and first believes them, and then keeps what they impart, will never be subject to death, but will enjoy eternal and glorious life. For truly he must be judged blessed who has been instructed in this divine knowledge, by which he is set free and will abide in everlasting life.” Bishop Augustine said: “You have certainly recognized the letter of your Mani?” Felix said: “I have recognized it.” Augustine said: “Then prove to us how this Mani is an apostle of Jesus Christ. For we have never read of him in the gospel among the apostles; and we know who was ordained in the place of Judas the betrayer, namely holy Matthias; and all acknowledge who was afterward called by the voice of the Lord from heaven, namely the apostle Paul. So prove to us that this Mani is an apostle of Christ, as he dared to put at the head of his letter.”

Felix said: “And let your holiness prove to me what is written in the gospel, where Christ says: ‘I go to the Father, and I send you the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, who will lead you into all truth.’ Prove to me that a scripture other than this one is the scripture of the Holy Spirit whom Christ promised, in which all truth is found. If I find the truth in other books that do not belong to Mani, and Christ handed those down — for so Christ said, that the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete himself, will lead into all truth — then, according to Christ's word, I reject the scripture of Mani.” Augustine said: “Since, then, you have not been able to prove how Mani is an apostle of Christ, and you demand that I prove how he sent the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, whom he promised, so that you will reject the scriptures of Mani if you find Christ's promise fulfilled apart from the scriptures of Mani — although you ought first to have answered my questions, see, I answer first nonetheless and show you when the Holy Spirit whom Christ promised was sent.” And he went to the gospel and the Acts of the Apostles.

And when he had taken the book of the gospel, he read aloud: “While they were saying these things, Jesus stood in their midst and said to them: ‘Peace be with you; it is I, do not be afraid.’” And as he read, he said: “This was after the resurrection.” And having said this, he read: “But they were troubled and terrified and thought that they saw a spirit. And he said to them: ‘Why are you troubled, and why do thoughts arise in your hearts? See my hands and feet, that it is I myself; handle me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones, as you see that I have.’ And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet. And while they still did not believe and were marveling for joy, he said: ‘Have you anything here to eat?’ And they offered him a piece of broiled fish and a honeycomb. And when he had eaten in their presence, he took what remained and gave it to them and said to them: ‘These are the words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the psalms must be fulfilled.’ Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and said to them: ‘For thus it is written, and thus it was necessary that the Christ should suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and the forgiveness of sins should be preached in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And I will send the promise of my Father upon you; but stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.’” And when he had handed back the book of the gospel, he took the Acts of the Apostles and said: “We have heard in the gospel that the holy evangelist recalled Christ's promise, which is in the gospel according to John, which Felix here present mentioned. For where the Lord said, ‘I send you the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete,’ John the evangelist wrote it. But what I have just read, Luke the evangelist attested, and he agreed with the truth of the apostle John. Let us see also how what the Lord promised was accomplished and how it was fulfilled, so that, when the fulfillment of the Lord's promise has been set out from the canonical books of the holy church, we may not look for another Paraclete, the Holy Spirit, and so fall into the snares of seducers.”

And he read aloud from the Acts of the Apostles: “In the first book, O Theophilus, I dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach until the day when he chose the apostles through the Holy Spirit and commanded them to preach the gospel. To them he showed himself alive after his passion by many proofs, appearing to them for forty days and teaching about the kingdom of God, and how he lived with them. And he commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem but to wait for the promise of the Father, ‘which you heard,’ he said, ‘from my mouth: for John baptized with water, but you will begin to be baptized with the Holy Spirit, whom you are also to receive not many days from now, by Pentecost.’ So when they had come together, they asked him, saying: ‘Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom of Israel?’ He said: ‘No one can know the time which the Father has set by his own authority; but you will receive the power of the Holy Spirit coming upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the whole earth.’ When he had said this, a cloud took him up and he was lifted away from them. And as they were gazing while he went into heaven, behold, two men stood by them in white clothing, who said to them: ‘Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him going into heaven.’ Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a sabbath day's journey away. And when they had entered, they went up to the upper room, where Peter and John, James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot and Judas the son of James were staying. And all these with one mind were persevering in prayer with the women and Mary, who had been the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers. And in those days Peter rose up in the midst of the hearers and said — there was a crowd of about a hundred and twenty persons together — ‘Brothers, this scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit foretold by the mouth of holy David concerning Judas, who became guide to those who arrested Jesus, for he was numbered among us and had his share in this ministry. This man therefore acquired a field with the reward of his wickedness, and he tied a noose about his neck and, falling headlong, burst open in the middle, and all his bowels gushed out. And this became known to all who lived in Jerusalem, so that the field was called in their own language Akeldama, that is, field of blood. For it is written in the book of Psalms: Let his homestead become desolate, and let there be no one to dwell in it; and let another take his office of oversight. So one of these men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus Christ went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us, must become with us a witness of his resurrection.’ And they put forward two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also called Justus, and Matthias. And he prayed and said: ‘You, Lord, who understand the hearts of all, show which of these two you have chosen to take the place of this ministry and proclamation, from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.’ And they cast their lots, and the lot fell upon Matthias, and he was counted as the twelfth with the eleven apostles.” And when he had read, he said: “We have heard who was ordained in the place of Judas the betrayer, which I mentioned a little earlier, so that no one may creep into the number of the apostles by fraud and deceive the ignorant with the name of apostleship.”

“Now let us see, as we promised, how Christ's promise concerning the Holy Spirit was fulfilled.” And having said this, he read at the place: “At the time when the day of Pentecost was fulfilled, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound as of a violent wind rushing, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them divided tongues as of fire, which rested upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in various tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, people from every nation under heaven. And when the sound came, the crowd gathered and was confounded, because each one heard them speaking in his own speech and his own tongue. And they were amazed and marveled, saying to one another: ‘Are not all these who are speaking Galileans by nation? And how do we recognize in them the speech in which we were born? Parthians, Medes and Elamites, and those who live in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya toward Cyrene, and Romans and Jews and proselytes who were present, Cretans and Arabs were hearing them speak in their own tongues the mighty works of God.’” And when he had read aloud, he said: “Have you heard now about the Holy Spirit and how he was sent? I have proved what you demanded of me. It remains for you to do what you promised: since we have found when he sent the Holy Spirit whom he promised, reject that scripture which, under the name of the Holy Spirit, has sought to deceive either reader or hearer.”

Felix said: “I do not deny what I said: that when it has been proved to me that the Holy Spirit taught the truth which I seek, I reject that scripture. Your holiness has read me this, where the apostles received the Holy Spirit. And among those very apostles I seek one who may teach me about the beginning, the middle, and the end.” Augustine said: “If you read that the Lord said, ‘I send you the Holy Spirit, who will teach you the beginning, the middle, the end,’ you rightly bind me to show whom the Holy Spirit taught.” Felix said: “Since your holiness says that the apostles themselves received the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, I say again: let any one of the apostles you wish teach me what Mani taught me, or empty his teaching of force — any one of the twelve you wish.” Augustine said: “Far be it from the faith of the apostles that they should teach the doctrine of the sacrilegious Mani. But since you say that one of them ought to refute the doctrine of Mani, and the holy apostles are now no longer in the body, I, the least not only of all the apostles but of all the bishops — for when would I aspire to the merits of the apostles? — will refute the doctrine of Mani, as far as the Lord has deigned to bestow on me of that same Spirit of his, when the rest of that letter, which you yourself do not deny is Mani's, begins to be read.” Felix said: “You said that the apostles have departed from the body; their scriptures are in force to this day. And since your holiness has said, and since you have given leave to say whatever we wish without any fear: you said, ‘I refute the law of Mani,’ and I say: ‘Every man is a liar, God alone is true.’ The scriptures of God speak.”

Augustine said: “You are indeed a man, and, as the matter itself will soon show, a liar. And since you have said what you wished, not from the scripture of God, I too must say what I wish. For if your Mani holds the truth, it cannot be destroyed by me; if it is falsehood, what does it matter by whom it is destroyed? Yet since you spoke of the scripture of the apostles, saying that though they are not in the body their scriptures are here — the apostles were taken up before the error of Mani had been born into the world — for that reason no writings of the apostles are found plainly arguing against Mani. Nevertheless, I read aloud, so that you may recognize it, how the apostle Paul, in this Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, whom he had received, foresaw what was to come concerning such as Mani was and such as you are.” And having taken the letter of the apostle Paul to Timothy, he read: “Now the Spirit says plainly that in the last times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, teachings of demons, in the hypocrisy of speakers of lies, having their conscience seared, forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by the faithful and by those who have known the truth; for every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be rejected that is received with thanksgiving; for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer. If you instruct the brothers in these things, you will be a good minister of Jesus Christ.” And when he had read, he said: “I say that this was marked out and expressed by the spirit of prophecy concerning you and such people, who say that some creature of God is unclean, and who say that all sexual intercourse, even that which takes place with a wife, is sexual immorality — for this is what he means by ‘forbidding marriage.’ But if you deny that all intercourse is sexual immorality, or if you say that all human food allowed to men for eating is clean, you are not one of those whom the apostle foretold and prophesied. But if you are found among those things I have said, see, you have the apostle Paul destroying and emptying of force the doctrine of Mani who was to come. So answer what I ask: is all sexual intercourse sexual immorality, or is intercourse with a wife not a sin?”

Felix said: “Let what the apostle said be read to me again.” And it was read aloud: “Now the Spirit says plainly that in the last times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, teachings of demons, in the hypocrisy of speakers of lies, having their conscience seared, forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by the faithful and by those who have known the truth; for every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be rejected that is received with thanksgiving; for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer. If you instruct the brothers in these things, you will be a good minister of Jesus Christ.” Felix said: “Mani did not depart from the faith, as Paul says, in the way others departed from the faith as if into a sect of their own; but Mani departed from no sect, so that it could be said that he departed from the faith.” Augustine said: “Since I see that you do not wish to answer what you are asked, lest you be found either not to hold the Holy Spirit, whom we have already proved was sent to the apostles, or not to be among those whom Paul marked out as to come, where he prophesied of you yourselves, I answer briefly. To take what you said according to your understanding — ‘they will depart from the faith, because none depart from the faith except those who were in some faith; but Mani was in no faith from which he might depart, but remained in the one he was in’ — I ask you this: has Mani, or rather the teaching of lying demons that was in Mani, seduced no catholic Christians into departing from the faith? For if many are seduced from you and through you and through that teaching, so that they depart from the faith and give heed to seducing spirits, such as was in Mani, and begin to say that all intercourse is sexual immorality — whence the apostle says, ‘forbidding marriage’ — and begin to say that the meats which people eat are not the creation of God but the making of demons, and are uncleanness, then it is plain that the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, who was in the apostle Paul, foretold of them that they would depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits such as was in Mani. Now then, since I have answered, it is just that you answer what I asked: whether you do not say that all intercourse is sexual immorality; or, if you will not answer this either, answer what I asked first, and prove that Mani is an apostle of Christ; or, if you will not do this either, allow me to refute his doctrine, as I promised, when the letter of his which you call the Letter of the Foundation is read.”

Felix said: “And I answer what your holiness says, that the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, came in Paul.” Augustine said: “Not in him alone.” Felix said: “I am dealing with him, because if in him, then in all. And if in him — for Paul says in another letter, ‘We know in part and we prophesy in part; but when that which is perfect has come, the things spoken in part will be abolished’ — we, hearing Paul say this, then Mani came with his preaching, and we received him according to what Christ said: ‘I send you the Holy Spirit.’ And Paul came and he too said that he is to come; and afterward no one came; therefore we received Mani. And because Mani came and by his preaching taught us the beginning, the middle, and the end; taught us about the making of the world, why it was made and from what it was made, and who made it; taught us why there is day and why night; taught us about the course of the sun and the moon — because we have not heard this in Paul nor in the writings of the other apostles, we believe this, that he is the Paraclete. So I say again what I said above: if I hear in another scripture, where the Paraclete, that is, the Holy Spirit, speaks, about whatever I wish to ask, and you teach me, I believe and renounce.”

Augustine said: “You say that you do not believe that the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, was in the apostle Paul because the apostle Paul said, ‘For we know in part and we prophesy in part,’ and from this you think that by these words the apostle foretold as it were another who would come after him and proclaim everything that he could not, because he spoke in part; and you believe this is Mani. First, then, I shall show from the very reading of the apostle why the apostle said this. Next, since you said that Mani taught you the beginning, the middle, and the end, and how and why the world was made, about the course of the sun and moon and the other things you mentioned: we do not read in the gospel that the Lord said, ‘I send you the Paraclete, who will teach you about the course of the sun and moon.’ For he wished to make Christians, not astronomers. It is enough that people know as much about these things as they learned in school, for human uses. But Christ said that the Paraclete would come, who would lead into all truth; he did not say there, ‘the beginning, the middle, and the end’; he did not say, ‘the courses of the sun and moon.’ Or if you think this teaching belongs to that truth which Christ promised through the Holy Spirit, I ask you how many stars there are. If you have received that spirit you speak of, to whom it belongs to teach these things which I say do not belong to Christian discipline and doctrine, you must either renounce or answer me. For you have made yourself a debtor: if I ask anything of this kind and you do not answer, that Spirit of whom it was said, ‘He will lead into all truth,’ does not appear in you — if that truth is the one to which these things belong. So choose which you wish, and be ready to answer me on these matters as a man who has received the Spirit that leads into all truth, since you say that knowing these worldly things belongs to that truth. I can tell you the things that belong to Christian doctrine; but you, who think that how the world was made and what happens in the world belong to it, must answer me on everything. But plainly, when you answer, you will have to prove it. But before you begin to speak, in case you have something that the man you followed invented, let me first teach what I promised: why the apostle said, ‘We know in part and we prophesy in part.’”

“For he was saying, as the reading itself will soon show, that while a man is in this life he cannot attain everything, but attains in part in this life; but the Holy Spirit himself, who teaches in part in this life, will after this life lead into all truth. That this may be taught most plainly, hear the apostle.” And as he spoke, he read from the apostle: “Whether there are prophecies, they will be done away; whether tongues, they will cease; whether knowledge, it will be done away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part; but when that which is perfect has come, what is in part will be done away. When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I did away with the things of a child. For now we see through a mirror in an enigma, but then face to face.” And when he had read, he said: “Now tell me, if the apostle was foretelling the times of Mani to come, whether you now see God face to face.”

Felix said: “I cannot do so much against your power, for the episcopal rank has wonderful power; and then against the laws of the emperor. And above I asked briefly that you teach me what truth is; and if you teach me what truth is, it will be evident that what I hold is a lie.” Augustine said: “It has become evident that you could not prove that Mani is an apostle of Christ; and why you could not, I shall briefly explain. You said that you proved Mani an apostle of Christ from this, that Christ promised the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit, would come; and because you did not find when the one whom Christ promised came, you therefore believed it was Mani. But when I proved through the holy, ecclesiastical, canonical scriptures when the Holy Spirit, whom the Lord Christ promised would come, came most plainly, you turned round and said that you must be shown what he taught and whether he refuted the doctrine of Mani. When I answered that Mani lived in the flesh after the apostles, and that their teaching had been preached by them before Mani was born, I said nevertheless that one of those apostles, Paul, through the Holy Spirit who had come upon all the apostles, had prophesied about this doctrine of yours, that it was to come, and had called it a teaching of lying demons. Where I showed that what Paul said would be in that doctrine belongs to your profession — that is, the prohibition of marriage, since you say that all intercourse, even with a wife, is sexual immorality, and abstinence from foods which God created, since I know that you call some foods unclean, while he goes on to say, ‘Every creature of God is good’ — when I demanded at this point that you answer, you said that Mani taught you the beginning, the middle, and the end, and the course of the sun and moon, and other such things. When I showed that these do not belong to Christian doctrine, you answered that the apostle Paul himself said that he knows in part and prophesies in part. I said that we cannot know divine things while we are in this life, and that here we see through a mirror and in an enigma, but then face to face; and I asked you, if you think the apostle Paul said this because Mani was to come and teach what Paul could not, whether it belongs to you, who say you have received that Spirit, to see God face to face now. Since you cannot, it is plain that the apostle Paul spoke of that life of which John also says: ‘Beloved, we are children of God, and it has not yet appeared what we shall be; for we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.’ When you heard this, you said you were no match for my power. That power is not mine; but if there is any, it was given me by him who is the power of all his faithful who trust him with their whole heart, for refuting errors. You said also that episcopal authority frightens you, though you see in what peace we are dealing with each other, with what calm we are debating, how the people present do you no violence and strike no terror into you but listen most quietly, as befits Christians. You said also that you fear the laws of the emperor. One whom the Holy Spirit filled would not fear this for the true faith. For the apostle Peter too was afraid at the Lord's passion and denied him three times; but when the Paraclete whom Christ had promised, the Holy Spirit, filled him, he was crucified for the faith of the Lord; and he who at first made a denial out of fear afterward fulfilled a most glorious passion of confession. So from this very fact, that you said you fear the laws of the emperor — although it is clear enough from other things as well — it is evident that you have not found the Spirit, the Paraclete of truth; for even if you did not fear, you would be refuted on other grounds.” Felix said: “The apostles too were afraid.” Augustine said: “They were afraid so as to be careful, not so as to hesitate to declare their faith when arrested. You ought to have been afraid before, so that we would not find you here; now you are in the midst. Why are you afraid, unless because you have nothing to say? For if you had feared the emperors, you would have kept silent before. But now, since yesterday you gave a petition to the curator and cried out publicly that you were ready to be burned with your books if anything evil were found in them, why, after demanding the laws yesterday like a brave man, do you flee the truth today like a timid one?”

Felix said: “I am not fleeing the truth.” Augustine said: “Then say whether you see God face to face according to your promise; for you said that the apostle Paul spoke of you, that you would receive so full a truth that we should understand or believe that the apostle had it in part and you entire.” Felix said: “I am not fleeing the truth, but seeking the truth. What you say I do not hold, let it be proved to me through the divine scriptures. This is what I now seek.” Augustine said: “First confess that you could not prove Mani an apostle of Jesus Christ; and, as far as I can, when everything contrary has been rooted out of your heart through my ministry by the Lord's gift, I will plant in you what the knowledge of the truth is which leads to God, beginning from faith.” Felix said: “Since you say this, that I should deny my law and accept another — a better one, of course, which is what I am seeking — I do not answer this, that I should deny my law before I accept another.” Augustine said: “But first what is opposed is poured out of a vessel, and so what is good is poured in. Or if you still hesitate to pour out, defend what you are full of. For I will show you, as far as the Lord helps me, how full of uncleanness and blasphemies the doctrine of Mani is, if you allow that letter to be read whose beginning we have already discussed, where you could not prove Mani to be an apostle of Christ. But you are weaving delays so that the rest may not be read, where your sacrileges are openly exposed. Or, if you allow it, let it be read.” Felix said: “I allow it, since you said that all unclean things are poured out and so the good are poured in; for this was your holiness's saying. To which I too say: no one pours out water unless another has filled it up.” Augustine said: “See how thoughtlessly you have said this, to speak mildly and not to say madly. Surely I put to you the comparison of a vessel: no one can put anything into a full vessel unless what it was full of is poured out.” Felix said: “You spoke of one, and I spoke of two.” Augustine said: “If you spoke of two vessels, do you wish us to pour out that companion of yours and fill him, so that you can pour out what you have?” Felix said: “We both have one water.” Augustine said: “Since, then, you are both full of your water, what shall we fill so as to teach you, unless one of you pours out what he has? Or, if it is good and must therefore be held, let that letter be defended and read; let us see whether at least the rest can be defended, if you failed at its very beginning; or, if you say you did not fail there, prove to us how Mani is an apostle of Christ.”

Felix said: “Christ said that he would send the Holy Spirit, who would lead into all truth.” Augustine said: “If you have him, attend to what I asked you long ago. For you said that it belongs to his teaching to know even these worldly things. Tell me: how many stars are there, if you have been led into all this truth?” Felix said: “And I say that if the Paraclete spoke through the apostles, he spoke also through Paul; and I ask your holiness to show me the things I have already mentioned.” Augustine said: “Confess that you could not show what I asked, and I will show, according to the scriptures, what belongs to the Christian faith.” Felix said: “And if you bring me the scriptures of Mani, the five authors I told you of, whatever you ask me, I will prove to you.” Augustine said: “This letter is one of those five authors; we opened its beginning and found written there: ‘Mani, an apostle of Christ Jesus.’ And I see that you do not explain to me that very beginning, because you do not prove how Mani is an apostle of Jesus Christ.” Felix said: “If I do not prove it in this one, I will prove it in the second.” Augustine said: “In which second?” Felix said: “In the Treasure.” Augustine said: “This Treasure, which you call by such a name so as to seduce the wretched — who wrote it? Mani. I do not want you to prove it to me from him, because Mani himself lies in saying that he is what he is not.” Felix said: “You prove it to me through another.” Augustine said: “What do you want me to prove to you?” Felix said: “That Mani lies.” Augustine said: “Because you cannot prove that Mani speaks the truth, must I prove that Mani lied?” Felix said: “Why could I not prove it? Were the scriptures I asked for brought forward, and I did not prove it?” Augustine said: “But you ask for the scriptures of Mani, which we do not believe; prove it from elsewhere. But I will prove to you from the very scripture of Mani that Mani lied and that Mani blasphemed.” Felix said: “Let the books be brought.” Augustine said: “The letter of Mani which you call ‘of the Foundation’ is here. In a building there is no beginning except the foundation. If I show that he made a ruin in the very foundation, why do we look for the rest of his construction?”

Felix said: “You say this, showing that there is a ruin in it. And I say: give me as many judges as you have, and I will prove to you that he does not lie.” Augustine said: “Far be it from us and from the human race that you should see as many Manichees as you see people here.” Felix said: “Give, I said, what I asked of you.” Augustine said: “Whom, then, do you want me to give you?” Felix said: “Whom you wish.” Augustine said: “I give these; if you have better, ask for them.” Felix said: “How do you give these?” Augustine said: “Those present, who are listening to us.” Felix said: “These are not favorable to me.” Augustine said: “So you look for such as favor you, not the truth?” Felix said: “Such as would listen to me — and not only to me, but to the scripture itself — so that it may be proved whether it speaks the truth or lies.” Augustine said: “You see, then, that they are listening. Let us read the rest, since you have confessed that this letter is Mani's.” Felix said: “I do not deny it.” Augustine said: “Then let it be read.”

Felix said: “I have no judges.” And he added: “Let its opening be read.” And when it was read and they had come to the place where the same letter has written: “May the peace of the invisible one and the knowledge of the truth be with his brothers and dearest ones, who both believe and serve the heavenly commandments; and may the right hand of the light protect you and snatch you from every evil assault and from the snare of the world; and may the kindness of the Holy Spirit open the inmost parts of your breast, so that you may see your souls with your own eyes,” Felix said: “Give a scripture that refutes these things.” Augustine said: “So far we have heard nothing evil, except that Mani dared to call himself an apostle of Christ. For what he has said so far belongs to the plaster covering of deceit and to the sheep's skin, in which he first speaks good words to them so that he can bring in evil ones. But let us see what he wants to bring in through these words. For if he brings in something evil, these words too will be evil and seductive; but if he says something good and true in what follows, we will be compelled to accept it. So allow what follows to be read.” Felix said: “If, then, you assert that good things are set down first and evil things brought in afterward, how can I believe you, since you first spoke good things to me?” Augustine said: “I have so far called these things neither good nor evil. ‘We have heard nothing evil yet,’ I said; I did not say, ‘We have already heard something good.’ For I called only that evil, that he dared to say he is an apostle of Christ. But the words he spoke in what follows will be evil if they bring in something evil, and good if they bring in something good. So allow what follows to be read. Why are you afraid?” Felix said: “I am not afraid.” Augustine said: “Then allow them to be read.” Felix said: “Let them be read.”

And when it was read and they had come to the place where it has written: “And his most splendid kingdoms are so founded upon a bright and blessed land that they can never be moved or shaken by anyone,” Augustine said: “This land he speaks of — where did he get it from? Did he make it, or beget it, or was it equal and coeternal with him? I mean this land which he calls bright and blessed.” Felix said: “As it is written: ‘In the beginning God made heaven and earth, and the earth was invisible and corruptible and unformed’ — I understand it thus: ‘In the beginning God made heaven and earth, and the earth was’: there seem to me to be, as it were, two earths, according to what Mani says, two kingdoms.” Augustine said: “Since you have mentioned our scripture, which you are accustomed to blaspheme, it is my part to explain it and to show you that it is written without blasphemy and with truth and not according to Mani, so that you may then answer me, at least in second place, what I asked.” Felix said: “I will answer.” Augustine said: “In what is written, ‘In the beginning God made heaven and earth,’ scripture briefly summed up what God made. Then, since this earth which he had made did not yet appear before he set it in order and adorned it, scripture went on to explain what kind of earth God had made, what kind of earth it was of which it had said, ‘In the beginning God made heaven and earth.’ It is as if, when we had heard, ‘In the beginning God made heaven and earth,’ we were asking what kind of earth, and it added, ‘But the earth’ — that is, the one God had made — ‘was invisible and unformed.’ So it did not speak of two earths, but explained what that earth was like. So now answer me what I briefly asked: this bright and blessed land of which Mani speaks, upon which the kingdoms of God were founded, was it made by God himself, or begotten of him, or coeternal with him? Answer one of the three without evasion, if it is no trouble.” Felix said: “Scripture interprets itself.” Augustine said: “If, then, you know some place here where scripture says that God either begot that land or made it or that it was coeternal with him, open it at the place you know and read it to me.” Felix said: “It is not in this scripture, but in another.” Augustine said: “Then I believe that, if there is such a scripture, you remember what it said there. So answer me, you who know that scripture; and if I say that it does not read so, you will convict me. But if I learn that it is so, I will argue according to what you yourself answer. Say, then, whether God made this land, or begot it, or whether it was coeternal with him — you who have read it in some book or other where you say this is written.” Felix said: “Since your holiness just now interpreted your scripture as you wished, and I accepted it, you too accept from me whatever I say.” Augustine said: “For the moment I accept what I asked, if nothing moves me against it; but if something moves me, I will tell you my objection, so that you may answer it.” Felix said: “I did not answer your statements.” Augustine said: “Although it comes first that you answer what I asked, I nevertheless arranged to answer you first. Perhaps it did not move you; therefore you did not answer. Perhaps it will not move me either, when you answer. So answer what I asked.”

Felix said: “I will answer.” And he added: “You asked, then, about that land in which God dwells, whether it was made by him, or he begot it, or it is coeternal with him. And I say that, as God is eternal and there is nothing made with him, all is eternal.” Augustine said: “So he neither begot it nor made it?” Felix said: “No, but it is coeternal with him.” Augustine said: “But if he had begotten it, it would not be coeternal with him?” Felix said: “What is born has an end; what is unborn has no end.” Augustine said: “Of whom, then, was he father, or whose father was he whom he just called Father? For if he had begotten nothing, he could not be a father.” Felix said: “But there are other things which he begot.” Augustine said: “Then are the things he begot not coeternal with him, or are they also coeternal?” Felix said: “Whatever God begot is coeternal with him.” Augustine said: “Then you erred in what you said above: ‘Everything that is born has an end.’” Felix said: “For the moment, since I spoke according to the generation of the flesh, I erred.” Augustine said: “Having confessed your error most modestly, may you deserve to understand the truth.” Felix said: “May God grant it.” Augustine said: “Pay attention now, then, that you may begin to recognize the error of this scripture. If the things God begot are not coeternal with him, that land which God did not beget, where all the things God begot dwell, is better — that land which you say was not begotten by him.” Felix said: “All are equal to one another, both those he begot and those he did not beget, that is, that land where he dwelt.” Augustine said: “What? Is he who begot equal to all of them, or greater than them?” Felix said: “He who begot, and those whom he begot, and where they are placed — all are equal.” Augustine said: “Then they are of one substance?” Felix said: “Of one.” Augustine said: “What God the Father is, that his sons are, and that that land is too?” Felix said: “All of them are this one thing.” Augustine said: “So he is not the father of this land, but its inhabitant?” Felix said: “Yes.” Augustine said: “If he neither begot it nor made it, I do not see how it belongs to him except by neighborhood alone, as when someone has a good neighbor; and there will now be two things, both unbegotten: the land and the Father.” Felix said: “No, there are three: the unbegotten Father, the unbegotten land, and the unbegotten air.” Augustine said: “Is all this one substance?” Felix said: “One.” Augustine said: “And so founded that it could never be moved or shaken by anyone?” Felix said: “Moving and shaking are different.” Augustine said: “Let them be; but were these things nevertheless such that they could never be moved or shaken by anyone?” Felix said: “There is a difference between being moved and being shaken.” Augustine said: “That is not what I am asking you about.” Felix said: “But you want to hold me by it.” Augustine said: “Take ‘moved’ as you like: could it not be moved?” Felix said: “I do not say that it could not be moved, but moving is a different thing.” Augustine said: “But I said this: neither moved nor shaken. I did not say: it can be moved but cannot be shaken, or: it can be shaken but cannot be moved. I spoke of both things: that it can be neither moved nor shaken.” Felix said: “Regarding both things, there is a difference between being moved and being shaken.”

Augustine said: “Let us read what follows, then, and see whether this God, who had his kingdoms founded upon a bright and blessed land which can never be moved and shaken by anyone, feared no one, as it was fitting that he whose kingdoms were so founded that they could not be moved or shaken by anyone should fear no one.” And he read what follows: “But near one part and side of that illustrious and holy land.” And as he read, he asked: “Which side? Right or left?” Felix said: “I cannot interpret this scripture for you and set out what is not there; it is its own interpreter. I cannot say, lest perhaps I fall into sin.” Augustine said: “Then let what follows be read.” And when he read and they had come to the place where it has: “But the Father of the most blessed light, knowing that a great ruin and devastation, which would arise from the darkness, threatened his holy ages unless he set against it a deity excellent and glorious and mighty in power, by which he might at once overcome and destroy the stock of darkness, so that when it was extinguished perpetual rest might be prepared for the inhabitants of light,” Augustine said: “Now, since open blasphemies have begun, if you think they should be defended, say what harm this race of darkness could do to God — the race God seems to have feared, lest a great ruin and devastation from the darkness should break into his kingdoms — and above all to him whose kingdoms he said above were so founded that they could never be moved or shaken by anyone. What, then, was this race going to do to him? Could it harm him, or could it not? Answer one of the two.” Felix said: “And I answer: if there is nothing against God, according to what the scripture of Mani said, that there is another kingdom, for what reason was Christ sent to free us from the snare of this death? Whose is this snare and death? If there is no adversary against God, why were we baptized? Why the Eucharist, why Christianity, if there is nothing against God?” Augustine said: “I see that you do not wish to answer what I ask you, and that you ask so that I may answer you. I do not refuse this, provided you remember that I answer you when you ask, but you would not answer me when I asked. But since you asked me, hear what you asked. We indeed say that Christ came as deliverer, and we say that we are delivered from our sins because we were not begotten of the substance of God, but made by God through his Word. There is a great difference between what is born of the substance of God and what is made by God, which is not of the substance of God. Whatever God made, then, can be changeable; but God himself is not changeable, because works cannot be made equal to their craftsman and founder. But you, who a little earlier said in answer to my question that the Father, who there begot the sons of light, and the air and the land itself and the sons themselves are one substance and all are equal, must tell me how the race of darkness could harm this substance, which is certainly incorruptible. For if it could harm it, it was not an incorruptible nature; but if it could not, there was no reason why he should wage a battle and send here that deity of which he speaks.” Felix said: “I ask for a delay so that I can answer.” Augustine said: “Until when? Is an interval until tomorrow enough?”

Felix said: “Give me an interval of three days, that is, today and tomorrow and the day after, or until the day after the Lord's day, that is, the day before the Ides of December.” Augustine said: “I see that you have asked for a delay in order to answer; it is humane that it be granted you. But if you cannot answer by the appointed day, what will happen?” Felix said: “I will be beaten.” Augustine said: “What if you flee?” Felix said: “I will be guilty before this city and everywhere and before my law.” Augustine said: “Rather say this: if I flee, let me be regarded as if I had anathematized Mani.” Felix said: “I cannot say this.” Augustine said: “Then tell us openly that you are thinking of fleeing and no one is holding you.” Felix said: “I am not fleeing.” Augustine said: “As I see, you do not want to go away as one defeated; but at least say this: if I flee, I am defeated.” Felix said: “I have said it.” Augustine said: “And how will it be evident from the record that you have fled?” Felix said: “Order that I may be with whomever I choose.” Augustine said: “Choose for yourself one of these brothers here present who are standing at the rail.” Felix said: “But with the one who is in the middle.” Augustine said: “As you have chosen, you will be with him until the day.” Felix said: “Yes; and I agree to this.” Boniface said: “Christ will grant that, if I come with him, he is a Christian.” I, Augustine, bishop of the catholic church of Hippo Regius, have signed these proceedings held in the church before the people. I, Felix, a Christian, a worshiper of the law of Mani, have signed these proceedings held in the church before the people.

When the appointed day had come, that is, the day before the Ides of December, the proceedings began as follows in the Church of Peace. Augustine, bishop of the catholic church of the region of Hippo Regius, said: “You remember that when we were holding our discussion some days ago you asked for a delay, since you could not answer at the time the questions I had put. If, then, in so long a space of time — after the fifth day, that is — you have thought of something, answer. For this is what I asked then: if nothing could harm God, why did he wage war with the race you call the race of darkness, a war in which he mingled his own substance, which is what he himself is, as you said when already asked, with the nature of demons? But if it could harm him, you do not worship an incorruptible God, such as the truth and the apostolic teaching bear witness to.” Felix said: “Since I left your holiness, so as to return on the appointed day and answer your question, whatever you wished to ask, the day has come. And since I have had no scripture in my hands — for they have not been returned to me — from which I could prepare myself (for no one goes out to a contest unless he has first trained, and no litigant can go to law without his papers), so I too cannot answer without my scripture.” Augustine said: “You have thought up this evasion over so long a space of days, and it can do nothing to help you, since in a lost cause and a sacrilegious error you have nothing to answer. For it is known to all who were present, whom I see present now too, that you asked only for a delay of days; but when you asked for the delay you should also have asked for the books, if you thought you could prepare yourself from them to answer, and you did not do so. I know that you asked for the books — not, indeed, to inspect them for preparation, but long before you asked for the delay; but when you asked for the delay, you made no mention of having your books returned and inspected so that you might be better prepared.” Felix said: “Now I ask that the books be returned to me, and I will come to the contest in two days' time; and if I am defeated, I will submit to whatever you decide.” Augustine said: “I think you are not unskilled in that wicked sect, as you also admit. But that you have nothing to answer, even if you do not admit it, everyone now sees. Since you ask again for your books, which are kept under public seal, and say that after inspecting them you could come prepared in two days, remember what is already established: that you could not answer the questions put to you. But take your books, and say what you want brought out of them for you to inspect now and answer.” Felix said: “All the scriptures that were taken from me. For this is the Letter of the Foundation, as your holiness well knows and as I too said, because it contains the beginning, the middle, and the end. Let it be read, and let whatever evil is charged against my law be proved. And I deny it, if the crimes charged against my law are proved.” Augustine said: “Since you admit that this is the letter in which the beginning, middle, and end of your doctrine are contained, how sacrilegious this beginning is — where you say that God fought against the race of darkness and mingled a part of himself, which is what he himself is, with the nature of demons, to be polluted and bound — is so sacrilegious that hearers can scarcely bear it. This is the first charge against your sect — whether you call it the beginning or the middle or the end, I do not much care; yet you do not deny that this was read from this letter, which you admit is Mani's. This is the charge against you; defend it if you can, so that we may come to other matters. So I ask again: if you worship an incorruptible God, what could some hostile race or other that you invent do to harm him? If nothing could harm him, there was no reason why he should mix a part of himself with the nature of demons; but if it could harm him, you do not worship an incorruptible God.”

Felix said: “Mani says that there are two natures, and he is now blamed for saying that there are two, a good and an evil. Christ in the gospel says that there are two trees: a good tree never bears bad fruit, and a bad tree never bears good fruit. See: two natures. Then it is written in the gospel: ‘Did you not sow good seed in the field? Where did the weeds come from? An enemy has done this.’ If this enemy is not foreign to God, let it be proved to me; if this enemy belongs to God, what kind of seed did he sow? Again, it is written in the gospel, where Christ says that in the last times he will set his throne in the midst of the world and send his angels to the east and the west, the north and the south, and gather all nations before him, and separate them as a shepherd separates the lambs from the goats. And to put it briefly, he will say to the lambs: ‘Go into the kingdom prepared for you from the origin of the world.’ To the goats, who are on the left side, he will say: ‘Depart from me, you who have worked iniquity; for you had my name, but you did not do the works; go into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.’ Who are these who have the name of Christ and are sent into the eternal fire with the devil and his angels, and to which side do they belong, these with whom Christ is not mingled and who bear his name? For this is what Mani says: that those whom Christ condemns are not his. For the apostle Paul says: ‘The wisdom of the flesh is hostile to God; for it is not subject to God's law, nor can it be.’ This is what Mani says: that what is hostile to God does not belong to God; but if it belongs to God, he made an enemy for himself — this Mani does not say. Again Paul says: ‘The god of this world has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they do not behold the brightness of the gospel of Christ, who is the image of God.’ The same Paul says again: ‘There was given me a goad of my flesh, an angel of Satan, who buffets me day and night; for this reason I asked the Lord that he depart from me. And he said to me: My grace is sufficient for you; for power is proved in weakness.’ See what the apostle said, see what the evangelist said. Since Mani asserts this, that the one who made war against God is foreign to God — whether because Christ was crucified, or because all the apostles were, for God's commandment — let your holiness tell me whether this one who crucified them, whom God's commandment does not please, belongs to God.”

Augustine said: “You have chosen to cite the holy scriptures, from which, by not understanding them, you stray far from the truth, as though calling on them to support your empty talk. Yet among all the things you cited — partly as they are truly written, partly otherwise than they are written — you could nowhere show that God, wishing to drive back a hostile nature threatening his kingdoms so as to have peace, mingled a part of himself, which is what he himself is, with the contrary nature of demons and caused it to be bound and contaminated by them. Yet this is what is charged against you. So, finding nothing to answer, you cited passages of the divine scriptures where it is said of sinners that they do not belong to the blessed life which God gives to the good and faithful, and you wished these to be taken as two natures, according to the ravings of Mani. But the truth says that all these things we see and do not see, which subsist by nature, were made by God; and that among them the rational creature, itself also made, whether in angels or in men, received free choice. By this free choice, if it wished to serve God, it would have eternal happiness with him according to God's will and law; but if it refused to be subject to his law, and used its power to act against his command, it would be subject to the punishment due, according to his justice. This is God's omnipotence in creating all things, this his justice in requiting sinners. And see: free choice, and that therefore each one sins if he wills and does not sin if he does not will, I prove not only from the divine scriptures, which you do not understand, but also from the words of your Mani himself. For hemmed in, he sees the power of the truth, against which he had tried to bring in against God another nature, which God did not make, not with solid truth but with an empty phantasm; yet in confessing the truth about free choice, human nature, in which God made him, prevailed more in him than the sacrilegious fable which he invented for himself.”

“Hear first about free choice from the Lord himself, where he mentions the two trees which you yourself referred to; hear him saying: ‘Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad.’ When, then, he says, ‘Either do this or do that,’ he indicates power, not nature. For no one but God can make a tree; but each one has it in his will either to choose what is good and be a good tree, or to choose what is evil and be a bad tree — not because the evil things that are chosen have any substance in themselves, but because God established all things that he founded in their ranks and distinguished them by kinds, heavenly and earthly, immortal and mortal, and founded all things good, each in its own kind; and he placed the soul, which has free choice, beneath himself and above the rest, so that if it served the higher it would rule the lower, but if it offended the higher it would feel punishment from the lower. So the Lord, saying this, ‘Either do this or do that,’ showed that what they would do was in their power, he himself being secure and certain in himself as God, and that if they chose good they would receive its reward, and if they chose evil they would feel its punishment; but he is always just, either as rewarder or as condemner.”

“Hear now, then, how Mani himself — so perverse, so proud that, bringing in another nature and making it equal to God, he brought God down to his own level — nevertheless confessed that there is free choice. In your Treasure, to which you gave such a name to deceive people, he certainly speaks thus, as you yourself know: ‘But those who through their negligence have not at all allowed themselves to be cleansed from the stain of the aforesaid spirits, and have not wholly obeyed the divine commandments, and have been unwilling to keep more fully the law given them by their deliverer, and have not governed themselves as was fitting,’ and so on. You see that in these words free choice is confirmed even by one who did not know what he was saying. For whoever is unwilling to keep the law has it in his power, if he wills. For he did not say ‘could not’ but ‘were unwilling.’ This at least — that they are unwilling to keep the law — they are not forced to by the race of darkness; for if they are forced, they are not unwilling but unable; but if they are unwilling, they are certainly not forced not to do it, but are unwilling by their own will. This, then, which lies in their will, that they are unwilling, is certainly sin without any compulsion from the race of darkness; recognize that this is sin without compulsion from the race of darkness. And from this you see where all faults come from, where the deserts of faults, where the allotments of punishments.”

“You also have this in the apocryphal scriptures, which the catholic canon does not admit, but which are all the more welcome to you the more they are excluded from the catholic canon. Let me cite something from there too, by whose authority I am not bound, but by which you are convicted. In the Acts written by Leucius, which he writes as acts of the apostles, you have it set down thus: ‘For the fair-seeming fictions, and the feigned display, and the compulsion of visible things do not proceed from one's own nature, but from that man who by himself became worse through seduction.’ See how he said here both ‘by himself’ and ‘through seduction.’ For the devil was man's seducer, not a sinner by nature, but first a sinner by will. But since it was in man's power not to consent to the seducer, therefore it is set down both ‘by himself’ and ‘through seduction,’ so that in what is set down as ‘by himself’ you may understand free choice, and in what is set down as ‘through seduction’ the devil — not the oppressor of one unwilling, but the tempter of one willing.”

“Accordingly, since I have answered and proved as far as I could that what is written in the holy books about sinners and the righteous concerns not a difference of natures but a distinction of deserts — and in these deserts it is not nature that creates necessity but the will that creates guilt — answer what I have already asked: if nothing could harm God, why did he mingle a part of himself, his own substance, what he himself is, with demons to be polluted and bound — something you could find in no canonical divine scripture? But if it could harm him, you do not worship an incorruptible God, of whom the apostle says: ‘Now to the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, incorruptible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever.’ Again he says: ‘God dwells in unapproachable light.’ Do the saints not approach that light, of whom it is written: ‘Approach him and be enlightened’? Do the saints not approach that light, of whom it is said: ‘Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God’? But because no one can approach it except one to whom God himself grants that he approach, it is therefore unapproachable in itself. For no one can approach it whom God does not wish to approach; but the one to whom he grants it will approach. How, then, could that race of darkness approach the dwelling of God, where the light is unapproachable, which no one approaches except one to whom God grants it? Or, if it had received from God the gift of approaching, he would not grant it for storming the kingdom of God, and would not fear. But if he had not given such a gift, so that it could approach, he was secure in his kingdom, dwelling in unapproachable light; what could he fear from the race of darkness, that he should mix with it a part of himself, his own substance, what he himself is, to be bound, oppressed, contaminated — where it would not only be held miserably but also be cleansed shamefully? For you say — it is wicked to hear, but to confound you and perhaps to save you we cannot keep silent — you say that the part of God is cleansed from there in the ship of light which you call the sun, doing injury to the creator of the sun and to the sun itself, which you say was made such that so great a shamefulness is enacted there. For you say that God, placed there, turns his powers into males to excite the lusts of female demons, and turns the same again into females to excite the lusts of male demons, so that, when they inflame lust in the demons, who are kindled toward the forms devised by God, their members are loosened, and so the part of God that was bound there escapes. Such a disgrace, such a sacrilege you have dared to believe and do not hesitate to preach. These are the middle of your doctrine. And what is the end? What, but that God could not cleanse the whole? And because he could not, you say he will make it as a covering for the race of darkness, so that what could not be cleansed, and committed nothing of its own accord, is condemned there for ever. So it comes about that your God — not true but invented, not established anywhere but imagined in your heart — mixes his part unhappily, cleanses it shamefully, condemns it cruelly. Answer these things, then, and begin with what I said: why did God mix this part of himself, which nothing could harm? Or, if something could, how is he incorruptible?”

Felix said: “You claim that Mani is cruel for saying these things; what do we say about Christ, who said, ‘Go into the eternal fire’?” Augustine said: “He said this to sinners.” Felix said: “Why were these sinners not cleansed?” Augustine said: “Because they were unwilling.” Felix said: “Because they were unwilling — did you say this?” Augustine said: “I said this: because they were unwilling.” Felix said: “Why were they unwilling? Is there anyone who does not want to be healed? Anyone who does not want to be cleansed? Anyone who does not want to be enlightened? Is there a sick man who does not want to come to health? If what Mani says is cruel, that some part of God which could not cleanse itself is bound in the globe, is this not cruel, that Christ, who said, ‘I came for sinners,’ now sends to eternal fire those who bore his name? But, I suppose, they could not fulfill the commandments. If this is cruel, that is crueler; if that is crueler, that God could not cleanse them and bound them in the globe, this too seems crueler, that Christ sends to eternal fire those he could not cleanse. Let your holiness explain this to me about this cruelty.” Augustine said: “If you had either understood what I have already said, or admitted that you understood it — for perhaps, having nothing to say, you pretended not to understand what is plain — you would not say these things. For we have already said and proved through the divine scriptures that there is free choice, and that God is the just judge of free choice, the rewarder of the faithful who submit to him and wish to be healed, but the condemner of the proud and ungodly. Since, then, he came to heal sinners, he certainly heals those who confess their sins, he heals the repentant. But no one repents when another has sinned, if the repentance is just and true; whence the Lord himself says: ‘I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.’ Repentance itself shows that if we do sin, it is not from a foreign nature but from our own will. For if one repents when another sins, that is not a prudent but an insane repentance. But according to you there are no sins at all. For the race of darkness does not sin, because it acts according to its nature; the nature of light does not sin, because what it does it is forced to do. So you find no sin for God to condemn, you find no sin that repentance can heal. But if there is repentance, there is also guilt; if there is guilt, there is also will; if there is will in sinning, there is no nature that compels. But if those who cannot fulfill what they will suffer some weakness — whence the apostle says: ‘I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin which is in my members’ — it is plain that this has come from the transmission of Adam's first sin and from bad habit. For even today people form a habit by free will, and once they have formed it they cannot easily overcome it; so they themselves, from themselves, have brought it about that a law dwells in their members against them. But those who conceive the fear of God and through free choice submit themselves to be healed by the best physician — and as by a good healer so by a merciful creator — are healed through the humility of confession and repentance. But the proud, who say that they are righteous, or who say that it is not they who sin but something else in them that sins, and another nature that sins from them, through that very pride both become incurable and experience the just judgment of God, who resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. It is not unworthy, then, that God should say, ‘Go into the eternal fire,’ to those who by free choice rejected his mercy, and should say, ‘Come, blessed of my Father, receive the kingdom,’ to those who by free choice received his faith, confessed their sins, repented, were displeasing to themselves as they had been, and as they had been made by him were pleasing to him. So now answer what I asked — but let me obtain this from you, that we make no needless delays: if nothing could harm God, why did he send us here? If something could harm him, God is not incorruptible.”

Felix said: “If nothing could harm God, why did he send his Son here?” Augustine said: “See how you always ask and will not answer what you are asked. Hear what you asked; but remember that you do not answer what I say, while I do answer. Nothing can harm God; but he sent his Son to be clothed with flesh and to appear to men, to heal sinners, and in that very flesh, which he took from us, to suffer for us. For in his own nature he could suffer nothing, because ‘in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.’ In this nature, since the Word was God, he could suffer nothing. But so that he could suffer for us, ‘the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.’ The Word became flesh by taking flesh, not by being changed into flesh; for he took humanity, he did not lose divinity. So the same is God and the same is man: in the nature of God equal to the Father, in the nature of man made mortal, among us, for us, from us; remaining what he was, taking up what he was not, to set free what he had made, not what he was. So the passion of Christ is not from need but from mercy. For he gave us an example of patience from what is ours, that is, to man from man, to flesh from flesh; yet he himself did not become worse in that flesh, but flesh became better in him. But a part of your God, without taking any flesh — for there was nothing in the race of darkness for which it should suffer — came down to be held, bound, polluted, and cleansed more shamefully than it was bound; for I have already spoken of its cleansing. The more unworthy all these things are, the easier they are to understand, since they do not befall the nature of God. And far be it from a pious and faithful mind to believe such things about God — the good God, the true God — as you believe about one whom you did not find but invented. Answer now: if nothing could harm God, why, according to your empty talk, was that pure substance of his sent here, taking no flesh, to suffer in itself, if it was to suffer at all, and not in a flesh it had not taken up?”

Felix said: “If God could not be harmed at all by the opposing side, and Christ could not be harmed at all by the opposing nature, to whom did Christ come, to set it free? For, as you say, he came for our liberation. So we were in captivity. If we were held in captivity and Christ came to free us from captivity, the one who held us was either foreign to God or a power of God. If the one who held us was a power of God, why did he send Christ, he who held us? If it was in his choice when he wished to let us go, why is Christ crucified? It escapes no one that Christ was crucified. Why did they crucify him? If it is a power of God, it was doing us no harm. If it was a power of God, we were not captives with him, but as it were we were with our own prince, as a son with his parents, not as Romans among barbarians. It was not necessary, then, since we were placed with a power of God, for God to send his Son, so that it could be said that our deliverer came. If, then, it appears that we were placed with a power of God, the apostle said: ‘Christ freed us from the curse of the law, for it is written: Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree.’ For the apostle says this. If he who curses all who hang on a tree is a power of God — for Christ hung on a tree, and all his apostles who were condemned for his commandment — who, then, is this one who curses everyone who hangs on a tree?”

Augustine said: “Those whom Christ redeemed from the devil were held by the devil through their own consent, and were placed under his terms by the just judgment of God, having consented through free choice to his seduction. And as it was in man's power to consent to the devil so as to be taken captive, so it was in the power of the devil himself, when he was an angel, to sin so as to be changed for the worse. So the sinning angel, through free choice, persuaded to sin a man who had free choice, so that the devil, had he not willed, would not have sinned, and man, had he not willed, would not have consented. But when he was now held by the one to whom he had consented — not because the devil could do anything, but because it was God's just judgment to give into the devil's power the man who despised God's power over him and refused to obey his law — since, then, Christ found sinners thus under sin, sin being in free choice, finding sinners under sin he redeemed those who confess from the one who is proud. As for what is set down in the law, ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree,’ whence the apostle says, ‘Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us; for it is written: Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree’ — he does not censure the law but commends the mercy of the Lord. For since Adam had sinned, and that whole mass and offspring of sin was accursed, but the Lord willed to take flesh from that very mass, so that by taking up mortality, which had come from punishment, he might undo death — which came from grace — therefore the law says, ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree.’ For death itself hung on the tree, the death that came from the curse. So as by taking up death he slew death, so by taking up the curse he undid the curse. Whence the apostle too says: ‘Knowing that our old man was crucified together with him’; for from our old man, that is, from the lot of death which came by the desert of sin, he deigned to take mortal flesh from the virgin Mary, in which he might give us an example both of passion and of resurrection — of passion to strengthen patience, of resurrection to stir up hope — so as to show us two lives in the flesh which he took from our mortal life, one laborious, the other blessed: the laborious, which we must endure; the blessed, which we must hope for. We endure the laborious one by the desert of our sin; but he showed it in his flesh, not by the desert of his iniquity but by the office of his mercy. And that you may know that the law is good, which you wished to censure, the apostle Paul himself said in one place: ‘The law came in so that the offense might abound.’ He still seems to censure it; but hear what follows: ‘But where the offense abounded,’ he says, ‘grace superabounded.’ For the law was given to proud men who attributed everything to their own strength, so that when they could not fulfill the law given them, they might be found transgressors, and having become guilty under the law might seek mercy from the law's founder. Accordingly, a little later the same apostle says: ‘So the law indeed is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good.’ But lest you say that he speaks of another commandment, to show that he speaks of the one of which he had said a little before, ‘The law came in so that the offense might abound,’ he at once posed the question to himself: ‘Did what is good, then, become death to me? By no means; but sin, that it might appear as sin, worked death for me through what is good.’ For sin was there, but sin did not appear; the law was given to the proud man, he acted against the law, and sin appeared, which was there but did not appear. And sin, appearing, humbled the proud man; the proud man, humbled, became repentant; from repentance mercy was obtained. You have heard, then, what you asked; answer what I ask: could the race of darkness do no harm to God? Why did he send a part of himself here to be mingled with and polluted by the nature of demons?”

Felix said: “If we are in our own choice, let no one force anyone; when I wish, I will be a Christian. The will lies with us, either to be a Christian or not to be.” Augustine said: “That the will lies with us is plain, and I have taught this from the divine scriptures; even the one who led you into this error was compelled to say it, though unwilling. As for your saying, ‘Let no one be forced; when I wish, I will be a Christian’ — plainly no one forces you; be one when you wish, since you came here of your own will and have argued these things of your own will. And woe to the will if it is evil; peace to the good will if it is good. For whether it is evil or good, it is will. A crown follows the good will, punishment follows the evil will. God is the judge of wills, but the creator of natures. If, then, you think you are being forced to be a Christian, hear from us that you are not forced at all. Rather consider what you hear, weigh it; you are in your own will. Examine as a prudent man — if there is in you any prudence, even human — whether what has been said is supported by truth, and whether you yourself have failed in the defense of your Mani, as appears; and when you wish, be what you are not yet, and cease to be what you are.”

Felix said: “See, now briefly, as your holiness said, so that we do not pile up papers: if it pleases you, come to what I asked some days ago; show me the truth, so that it may appear that what I hold is not the truth, and you have me ready to believe.” Augustine said: “It is already quite plain that what you hold is not the truth. For far be it from the hearts of those who seek or hold the truth to believe that God, forced by necessity, plunged his substance into the nature of demons to be bound and polluted; far be it from the faithful to believe that God, to free his substance, turns himself into males against females and into females against males to excite their lust; far be it from the faithful to believe that God afterward condemns for ever his own substance, which he himself plunged into the demons. That this is not the truth, then, is plain. But since you wish the truth to be laid open to you, now that this falsehood has been driven out and refuted, if anything still moves you toward learning the catholic faith, you can be instructed from the beginning of faith. For devout faith makes one fit to receive the unchangeable truth; whoever refuses to begin from this faith will remain outside in his pride and cannot be led to what he strives for or wishes to reach. But since that falsehood is now manifest, anathematize the falsehood, so that you can begin to be fit to know the truth.”

Felix said: “When it has appeared to me. Since it does not appear to me, since another has not been shown to me, I cannot anathematize.” Augustine said: “Is the error that says God is corruptible to be anathematized, or not?” Felix said: “Say it again.” Augustine said: “Is the error that says God is corruptible to be anathematized, or not?” Felix said: “Let it be inquired whether he says so.” Augustine said: “I asked this: is one who says God is corruptible to be anathematized, or not?” Felix said: “One who says God is corruptible is to be anathematized. Is this what you charge against me?” Augustine said: “This is what I ask.” Felix said: “You speak of a corruptible God, and not of what you said at first, that he gave a part of himself to his adversaries?” Augustine said: “Meanwhile answer what I ask: is one who says that God is corruptible to be anathematized, or not?” Felix said: “Very much so.” Augustine said: “Is one who says that the nature and substance of God is corruptible to be anathematized, or not?” Felix said: “I did not understand what you said.” Augustine said: “I say what every person understands who does not pretend not to understand: is one who says that the nature and substance of God — that is, whatever God himself is — is corruptible to be anathematized, or not?” Felix said: “Yes, he is to be anathematized, if it is proved to be true.” Augustine said: “I have not yet said to you that Mani says the nature of God is corruptible; but I said to you that whoever says this is to be anathematized.” Felix said: “And I answered: yes.”

Augustine said: “Is that part which was mixed with the race of darkness of the nature of God, or of some other nature?” Felix said: “Of God's.” Augustine said: “Is what is of the nature of God what God is, or something else, which is not God?” Felix said: “It is so: what is of God is God, as it is also written: ‘The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it’; for God is light, and in him there is no darkness.” Augustine said: “You answered well, that whatever is of the nature of God is God, and God is light and in him there is no darkness, and such a light shone in the darkness and the darkness did not comprehend it. Let us see, then, whether Mani does not say that a part of God was comprehended by the darkness — and not only that, but held bound, and not only that, but stained and polluted, so that it needs the mercy of a deliverer and cleanser. But if he says these things, then by your account too, and by your true confessions, he is to be anathematized, because he says that a part of God and the nature of God, which is God himself, was comprehended by the darkness and bound and polluted — which you yourself, speaking according to the gospel, could not say; but you said truly, ‘The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.’ Mani, then, is to be anathematized, who said that the light was darkened in the darkness and the darkness comprehended it.” Felix said: “But what is polluted and what is held is set free; and we, if we are polluted, are cleansed.” Augustine said: “But this is not rightly said of the nature of God. Of a nature that can be polluted it is rightly said that it is polluted and cleansed; but of the nature that cannot be polluted, you see with how great a sacrilege it is said that it is polluted and cleansed — especially since you say that a certain part of God is so polluted that for this reason it is bound for ever in the globe of darkness, because it could not be cleansed. One who does not anathematize this answered falsely a little earlier that everyone who says God is corruptible is to be anathematized.”

Felix said: “As to what your holiness said about the part that did not cleanse itself from the defilement of the race of darkness — Mani says this too, that they were not sent into the kingdom of God. You assert that they are condemned; but Mani says that they are not condemned, but placed as a guard over that race of darkness.” Augustine said: “I am dealing with you about the part which you say is cleansed after being polluted; afterward, if need be, about the part that is fixed in its globe. Meanwhile, what is cleansed was polluted.” Felix said: “What is polluted is also cleansed.” Augustine said: “Is not one who says that the nature of God and the substance of God and what God is can be polluted, bound, and defiled by the race of darkness to be anathematized, then?” Felix said: “From what did Christ cleanse us? From what did he free us?” Augustine said: “Christ did not free a part of God, nor the nature of God, but in his mercy freed the creature he had made, which had fallen into sin through free choice. He cleansed a thing that could be polluted, he freed a thing that could be taken captive, he healed a thing that could become sick. But now we are speaking of God, of the nature of God, of the substance of God, of what God is. Could it be polluted, or could it not?”

Felix said: “Our soul is from God. Is it not polluted? If it is not from God, why was Christ crucified for it? If, then, it appears that Christ was crucified for our soul, it appears that it is from God and was polluted and he cleansed it.” Augustine said: “I say that not only the soul, but also our body and every creature, both spiritual and bodily, is from God, because the catholic faith holds this. But what God begot of himself, which is what he himself is, is one thing; what God made is another. What God begot is equal to the Father; what God made is not equal, the thing founded to its founder. We say that one thing is from God which is better said to be of God, because it is what he himself is, as the only-begotten Son, as his Word, through whom all things were made; but other things we call from God in this sense, that he spoke and they were made, he commanded and they were established. The soul belongs here, among the things God made, not that which God begot of himself. Therefore the Word, whom he begot of himself, could not, cannot, and will not be able to be polluted. But the soul, which he made to govern the body, so that it should serve the higher and rule the lower — that is, serve God and rule the body — was polluted through sin when it despised God's law; but God, showing mercy to the things he made, sent the Son through whom he made them, and through him remade them. When what was not had to be founded, it was founded through the Word; when what had been made and then depraved had to be remade, a creature was taken up from it, from the virgin Mary, so that through what was man it might be shown to man both what must be endured and what must be hoped for. And so the nature of the Word, the substance of the only-begotten Son of God, suffered nothing, either from the Jewish persecutors or from the devil, the evil angel, persecuting him. But because he clothed himself with flesh, he clothed himself with a mortal thing, a passible thing, a changeable thing; in what he put on he suffered whatever he willed, as an example of patience, and restored it, as an example of righteousness. Now tell me about the part of God, which is God, whether it can be polluted or not. If it can, God is not unchangeable, and whoever says this is to be anathematized. But if it cannot, you see that Mani is to be anathematized, who says that a part of God, the nature of God, what God is, came here pure to the race of darkness and was bound and polluted, so that it needs to be loosed and cleansed.”

Felix said: “Did you say this of the soul, that it is not from God?” Augustine said: “I did not; but I said that it is from God as made by God, not as born of God.” Felix said: “You said of the soul that it is not from God, but God's making, because without God there is nothing; for you say this and are unwilling to affirm that the soul is from God.” Augustine said: “It is from God, but made by God.” Felix said: “Whether made or sent or given, it is from God. So if it is from God and was polluted and Christ came to free it from pollution, why do you blame Mani?” Augustine said: “Because I say that the soul, not the nature of God but made by God, sinned through free choice and was polluted by sin and freed through God's mercy in repentance; but you say that the very nature of God, what God is, God from God, was captured and polluted in the race of darkness. And there is a great difference between what God begot of himself and what he made not of himself but from nothing — that is, which, when it did not exist at all, received from God that it should be, that is, that it should be established.” Felix said: “So it is a part of God.” Augustine said: “You have already been told: it is not a part of God. And learn how you may understand God as the almighty maker. Everything that is made, and what anyone makes, is either from himself, or from something, or from nothing. Man, because he is not almighty, makes a son from himself, and from something, as a craftsman makes a chest from wood or a vessel from silver. For he could make the vessel, but he could not make the silver; he could make the chest, but he could not make the wood. But to make from nothing, from what does not exist at all, so that it exists — no human being can. But God, because he is almighty, both begot a Son from himself and made the world from nothing and formed man from clay, to show through these three powers that his making is mighty in all things. For what he made from himself he must not be said to have made, but to have begotten. And what he made from something, as man from earth, he did not make man from earth in such a way that another had made for him the earth from which to make man — as God made silver for the silversmith from which to make a vessel; but he himself made both what was not, so that it should be, and what should then be made from what he himself had already created from nothing, so that it should be. So, then, the body, so the soul, so the whole creation is understood to have been made by God, not begotten of God so as to be what God is. Now perhaps you will choose what to hold and what to reject. Choose which is better. Since we see many changeable things that are nevertheless good though changeable, many mortal things that are nevertheless good though mortal, while God himself is the wholly unchangeable good, choose which is better for you to hold: that God is changeable, or that what God made is changeable; for you must say one of the two. If you refuse to admit that what God made is changeable, it remains for you to say that God himself is changeable. But to clear yourself of this sacrilege and this blasphemy, so as not to say that the substance of God is changeable, why do you not grant that God, who truly is and is unchangeable — for he himself said, ‘I am who I am’ — made all things good, but not equal to himself? Accordingly, since he himself is unchangeable, it is no wonder if what he made, since it is not equal to him, is not unchangeable but changeable. Therefore it could both sin through free choice and be polluted, and be freed through his mercy.”

Felix said: “You said that a man makes himself a son; there is no difference between father and son. Since your holiness brought this forward, I too answer that God and the things he makes are equal to each other.” Augustine said: “What you refused to understand is this: that a man, when he produces a son, is not properly said to make but properly said to beget; so too God begot his only Son, I told you, he did not make him. But he made what is not equal to him; what he begot is equal to him. So choose whether you wish to say that God's making is changeable, or that God's nature is changeable.” Felix said: “As God is unchangeable, so likewise the one he begot is unchangeable, and what he made, if it is of his nature, is not changed.” Augustine said: “But you have already been told that what he made is not of his nature, but he made it from nothing, because he is almighty. It was not, and he made it — not from himself, not from some thing which he had not made, but from nothing.” Felix said: “I did not say this, but I said: since God is unchangeable, what he begot is unchangeable, and what he made is unchangeable. I did not say from what he made it; I did not ask this, from what he made it.” Augustine said: “But you heard from me what you did not ask, so that you might stop talking foolishly. Almighty God could both beget from himself and make from nothing and form something from what he had already made: from himself, a Son equal to himself; from nothing, the world and the whole creation; from something, man from earth — because he is almighty. What is from himself, then, can never be polluted, just as he cannot; but what was made by him, not from him, can both be polluted through free choice and be cleansed through his mercy, by condemning what it sinned and acknowledging the one who created it. But you said a little earlier that one who says that a part of God is corruptible and capable of contamination is to be anathematized, and you cannot deny that Mani said that a part of God was seized and polluted in the race of darkness; and it is plain that in these words he blasphemed so that perhaps he could not blaspheme worse. Either anathematize him for saying such things, or you are to be anathematized and cast out with him.”

Felix said: “Mani says that a part of God was polluted; and Christ says that the soul was polluted, and he came to free it from pollution.” Augustine said: “But the soul is not a part of God. For you have already confessed that Mani said a part of God was polluted; but we say that the soul was polluted by the will to sin, and that the soul is not a part of God, not begotten of God but made by God. So the soul is said to be from God in the way that some work of a craftsman is said to be from his skill or made by him, yet not begotten of him as his son is. Since, then, you have already confessed that Mani said a part of God is polluted, and you said long ago that one who says God or his nature is corruptible or capable of contamination is to be anathematized, you have already anathematized what you do not wish to admit. For in what you said, that it is polluted and that it is cleansed, by the very word ‘cleansed’ you expressed that it is polluted, and you have no way of escape. Both Mani and you have said that a part of God is polluted. So anathematize Mani, or you are to be anathematized with Mani.” Felix said: “I did not learn from Mani that a part of God was polluted, but I learned from Christ that he came for the sake of the soul, which had been polluted.” Augustine said: “You did not learn from Christ that the soul is a part of God.” Felix said: “I learned from Christ that the soul is from God.” Augustine said: “We too have learned that the soul is from God, but it is not a part of God. For the soul is from God as a work is from a craftsman, not of God as a son is of a father.” Felix said: “We are dealing with pollution. If the soul, which is from God, was polluted and can be cleansed by Christ, who came for it, then that part of God of which Mani speaks can also be polluted and be cleansed by the command of God himself.” Augustine said: “See, again you say that a part of God, having been polluted, is cleansed, and a little earlier you had said that one who calls it corruptible is to be anathematized; now you say that it could be polluted, and you say that it can be cleansed, so as to confirm that it could be polluted. We do not say this of a part of God, but we say it of the soul, which is from him as his work, not as his offspring. Go back, then, to what you say, and distinguish what we say: the soul is neither God nor a part of God. But you say that Mani said a part of God is polluted, and he says it is cleansed, which confirms that it is polluted. It remains, then, that you anathematize him, or, holding these views, be anathematized.”

Felix said: “Does the soul, which was defiled through sin, belong to God, or not?” Augustine said: “It belongs to him, but it is not a part of him.” Felix said: “I did not ask this.” Augustine said: “And what did you ask?” Felix said: “Does it belong to God, or does it not?” Augustine said: “I have already said both that it belongs and how it belongs.” Felix said: “I ask whether it is from God.” Augustine said: “From God, not of God.” Felix said: “If it is no sin to say that it is from God and was polluted, and that Christ came to free it and freed it from sin, why do we blame Mani, who says that a part of God was polluted and is cleansed again?” Augustine said: “Because you have already confessed that Mani said a part of God was polluted, and you say that it is no sin to pour out such a blasphemy against God. But we say indeed that the soul sinned through free choice and is cleansed by repenting through the mercy of its creator, because it is not from God as a part of him or as his offspring, but is from God, or made by God, as his work. What the difference is between our faith and your faithlessness is plain to all. So, according to your earlier words, since you granted that one who says the nature of God is corruptible is to be anathematized — and it is plain that both Mani and you say this — because you have refused to anathematize him, you will be anathematized with him.”

After this, when they had argued with each other at length, Felix said: “Tell me now, what do you want me to do?” Augustine said: “To anathematize Mani, whose are these great blasphemies; but if you do it from the heart, then do it. For no one forces you against your will.” Felix said: “God sees whether I do it from the heart; for a man cannot see it. But I ask this, that you strengthen me.” Augustine said: “In what do you want me to strengthen you?” Felix said: “You anathematize first, so that I may anathematize afterward.” Augustine said: “See, I am even writing it with my own hand; for I want you too to write it with your own hand.” Felix said: “But anathematize in such a way that you anathematize the very spirit that was in Mani and spoke these things through him.” Augustine took a sheet and wrote these words: “I, Augustine, bishop of the catholic church, have already anathematized Mani and his doctrine and the spirit that spoke such execrable blasphemies through him, because it was a seducing spirit, not of truth but of abominable error; and now I anathematize the aforesaid Mani and the spirit of his error.” And when he had given the same sheet to Felix, he too wrote these words with his own hand: “I, Felix, who had believed in Mani, now anathematize him and his doctrine and the seducing spirit that was in him, who said that God mixed a part of himself with the race of darkness and frees it so shamefully that he transforms his powers into females against the male demons and again into males against the female demons, so that afterward he fixes the remnants of that part of himself for ever in the globe of darkness. All these and the other blasphemies of Mani I anathematize.” I, Bishop Augustine, have signed these proceedings held in the church before the people. I, Felix, have signed these proceedings.