State super vias et videte et interrogate de semitis antiquis quae sit via bona et ambulate in ea et invenietis refrigerium animabus vestris

1 Apr 2016

A Liberal Sect in the Early Church


Adamites ex Adam dicti cuius imitantur in paradiso nuditatem, quae fuit ante peccatum. Unde et nuptias aversantur, quia nec priusquam peccasset Adam nec priusquam dimissus esset de paradiso, cognovit uxorem. Credunt ergo quod nuptiae futurae non fuissent si nemo peccasset. Nudi itaque mares feminaeque conveniunt, nudi lectiones audiunt, nudi orant, nudi celebrant sacramenta, et ex hoc paradisum suam arbitrantur ecclesiam.  

Sanctus Augustinus Hipponensis, De Haeresibus ad Quodvultdeum

The Adamites, who are named from Adam, imitate the nudity of paradise before there was sin. They are averse to marriage since there was no marriage before there was sin, nor did Adam know his wife prior to being expelled from paradise. Thus they believe there will be no future nuptials if no one sins. Male and female they come together in the nude, they listen to the readings in the nude, they pray in the nude, they celebrate the sacraments in the nude, and because of this they adjudge their church to be paradise.

Saint Augustine of Hippo, On Heresies, To Quodvultdeus.

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