Archelaus of Carrhae
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Archelaus was a bishop of Carrhae (modern day Ḥarrān in upper Mesopotamia) who, in 278 A.D., held a public dispute with the heretic Manes. Manes was a follower of Mani, who was the prophet and founder of Manichaeism, a religion of late antiquity in the Sassanian Empire that was widespread at the time and strongly influenced by Gnosticism, Christianity, Zoroastrianism, and Buddhism. Mani was believed to be the final prophet after Zoroaster, Gautama Buddha, and Jesus. Manichaeism taught a dualistic cosmology between an evil, material world of darkness and a good, spiritual world of light that through an ongoing process that takes place in human history, light is gradually removed from the world of matter and returned to the world of light, whence it came. Archelaus wrote an account of the dispute in Syriac and it was soon translated both into Greek and into Latin.
Quotes & Excerpts
Sacred Tradition:
“For the things which we have received from the apostles, we teach, that they may be handed down to others in succession.” –The Acts of the Disputation with Manes, Chapter 9.
Church Hierarchy:
“But the bishop is the one to whom the care of the Church is entrusted.” –The Acts of the Disputation with Manes, Chapter 18.
Baptismal Regeneration:
“We believe that baptism is the regeneration of the soul, and through it, one is made a partaker of the divine nature.” –The Acts of the Disputation with Manes, Chapter 22.
“Manes: ‘Is baptism given for the remission of sins?’ Archelaus: ‘Certainly.'” -The Acts of the Disputation with Manes, Chapter 22.
Referring to Priests and Bishops as “Father”:
“For it is written in the gospel that the disciples are to call no man father, except their father in heaven, but we, in our time, have been taught by those who have authority over us, to call bishops and priests our fathers.” –The Acts of the Disputation with Manes, Chapter 19
“One is called father as being the parent of children that he begot in a natural way, but in the case of the bishops, they are called fathers because they have begotten their children in the Spirit, through baptism and the word of God.” –The Acts of the Disputation with Manes, Chapter 19.