I am very excited that I have found a new way to understand the redemption baptism of the Marcosians (see my last post). After looking at Jerome's Letter to Theodore I think we see a clear intimation that the so-called Priscillianists must have maintained the angelic 'redemption' baptism identified by Irenaeus and other writers. We read Jerome say that:And since even in the flesh, if we are born again in Christ, we are no longer Greek and Barbarian, bond and free, male and female, but are all one in Him, Galatians 3:28 how much more true will this be when this corruptible has put on incorruption and when this mortal has put on immortality. [1 Corinthians 15:53] In the resurrection, the Lord tells us, they neither marry nor are given in marriage but are as the angels in heaven. [Matthew 22:30] Now when it is said that they neither marry nor are given in marriage but are as the angels in heaven, there is no taking away of a natural and real body but only an indication of the greatness of the glory to come. For the words are not they shall be angels but they shall be as the angels: thus while likeness to the angels is promised identity with them is refused. They shall be, Christ tells us, as the angels, that is like the angels; therefore they will not cease to be human. Glorious indeed they shall be, and graced with angelic splendour, but they will still be human; the apostle Paul will still be Paul, Mary will still be Mary. Then shall confusion overtake that heresy which holds out great but vague promises only that it may take away hopes which are at once modest and certain.
And now that I have once mentioned the word heresy, where can I find a trumpet loud enough to proclaim the eloquence of our dear Lucinius, who, when the filthy heresy of Basilides raged in Spain and like a pestilence ravaged the provinces between the Pyrenees and the ocean, upheld in all its purity the faith of the church and altogether refused to embrace Armagil, Barbelon, Abraxas, Balsamum, and the absurd Leusibora. Such are the portentous names which, to excite the minds of unlearned men and weak women, they pretend to draw from Hebrew sources, terrifying the simple by barbarous combinations which they admire the more the less they understand them. The growth of this heresy is described for us by Irenæus, bishop of the church of Lyons, a man of the apostolic times, who was a disciple of Papias the hearer of the evangelist John. He informs us that a certain Mark, of the stock of the gnostic Basilides, came in the first instance to Gaul, that he contaminated with his teaching those parts of the country which are watered by the Rhone and the Garonne, and that in particular he misled by his errors high-born women; to whom he promised certain secret mysteries and whose affection he enlisted by magic arts and hidden indulgence in unlawful intercourse. Irenæus goes on to say that subsequently Mark crossed the Pyrenees and occupied Spain, making it his object to seek out the houses of the wealthy, and in these especially the women, concerning whom we are told that they are led away with various lusts, ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. [2 Timothy 3:6-7] All this he wrote about three hundred years ago in the extremely learned and eloquent books which he composed under the title Against all heresies.
I think I just placed another arrow in our quiver which inches us towards connecting the baptism rituals of the 'Marcosians' with the baptism which Jesus must be inferred to have granted St. Mark in Alexandria.
Feel free to read my other posts to see how I develop that latter argument.
If someone else wants to develop the idea that Marcosian baptismal practices were retained in Spain in the later period. Professor Ferreiro was nice enough to point me to this dissertation which summarizes the situation in Visigothic Spain
