Letter of Firmilian, Bishop of Caesarea, to Cyprian,
Bishop of Carthage, 200- 258 AD.
"Suddenly, a certain woman started up in our midst: she presented
herself as a prophetess, being in a state of ecstasy and acting as if she were
filled with the Holy Spirit. But she was so deeply under the sway of the
principal demons that she managed to disturb and deceive the brethren for a
long time by performing astonishing and preternatural feats...And the woman,
through the ilusions and trickeries of the devil, had devised a number of ways
for deceiving the faithful. Among other practices by which she deceived many,
she frequently dared even to use this one: employing a by no means despicable
form of invocation, she would pretend to sanctify the bread and celebrate the
Eucharist, and she would offer the sacrifice to the Lord not without the sacred
recitation of the wonted formula. And she would baptize many also, adopting the
customary and legitimate wording of the baptismal interrogation. And all this
she did in such a way that she appeared to deviate in no particular from
ecclesiastical discipline. What, then, are we to say about such a baptism,
where an evil demon baptized through the agency of a woman? Can it be that
Stephen and his adherents extend their approval even to this baptism,
especially as it came complete with Trinitarian credal formula and the
legitimate invocation of the Church? Is it credible that forgiveness of sins
was granted or that the rebirth of the saving waters was duly accomplished in a
case where everything may have been done in semblance of the truth but was in
fact done though (sic) the agency of the demon?"
Firmilian of
Caesarea, in Saint Cyprian, Epist., 75: CSEL 3, pp.
817-818.
Note. John H.Wright makes this comment: "It should be noted
that the heart of Firmilian's objection is that the person baptizing is the
instrument of a demon, not that she is a woman. Even a man baptizing under
similar circumstances would be baptizing invalidly in Firmilian's view. The
same thing should be said about the performance of the eucharistic rite: the
person presuming to do this acts "through the illusions and trickeries of the
devil." That she is a woman may aggravate the matter in Firmilian's view, but
it is not the point of his objection. It cannot in context be taken as an
argument against the possibility of ordaining women. (p. 519). From: John H.
Wright. "Patristic Testimony of Women's Ordination in INTER INSIGNIORES."
Theological Studies 58 (1997), pp. 516-526.
