Letter Inter cetera Ecclesia Romane to Silvanus and the Other Fathers of the Synod of Milevum, January 27, 417
(Chap. 5)
. . . It is quite foolish (to imagine) that little children can be given the
rewards of eternal life even without the grace of baptism. For unless they have
eaten the flesh of the Son of Man and drunk his blood, they shall not have life
in them [cf. John 6:53f.]. Moreover, those who claim this (i.e., eternal
life) for them without their being born again seem to me to wish to make baptism
itself null and void, since they proclaim that these (children) have that
which, it is believed, cannot be conferred upon them except b baptism. If, therefore,
they wish (to maintain) that not being born again is not of any consequence, it
is necessary that they also profess that the sacred cleansing of rebirth does
no good. But, so that the perverse teaching of frivolous men may be able to be
thwarted by a swift account of the truth, the Lord proclaims that in the
Gospel, saying: “Permit the children to come to me, and do not prevent them; for
such is the kingdom of heaven” [cf. Mt 19:14; Mk 10:14; Lk 18:16]
Heinrich Denzinger,
Compendium of Creeds, Definitions, and Declarations on Matters of Faith and
Morals, ed. Peter Hünermann, Robert Fastiggi, and Anne Englund Nash (43rd
ed; San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2012), 81
Zosimus
I, Epistula tractoria to the Eastern Churches, between June and August
418
. . .
Through his death is broken that the bond of death [cf. Col 2:14]
contracted by propagation, that death introduced for us all by Adam and
transmitted to every soul; to which everyone born without exception is subject
before being liberated through baptism.
Heinrich Denzinger,
Compendium of Creeds, Definitions, and Declarations on Matters of Faith and
Morals, ed. Peter Hünermann, Robert Fastiggi, and Anne Englund Nash (43rd
ed; San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2012), 85