Found on Letter of Marque:
When was the last time you read a transcript from a bona fide heresy trial? Chances are you’ve never had an occasion to read anything like that. Therefore, let me introduce you to an ancient document that contains the transcript of a real heresy trial held in 381 A.D. at the Council of Aquileia against the heretics Palladius and Secundianus.
As you will read, the defendants were charged with and found guilty of teaching the Arian Heresy.
It is important to note that a trial like this, if held today, would be mocked and ridiculed and condemned not only by the world but by many people who call themselves Christian. Yet, the document reproduced below demonstrates just how deadly serious the ancient church was about heresy and their zeal in obeying God’s Word regarding false teachers. Their obedience stands in stark contrast to the modern church’s disobedience and I reproduce it here, in part, as an indictment against the church today.
Another thing worth noting were the postmodern word games and subterfuge the defendants employed during the council and how quickly they were overthrown by the bishops in attendance.
Also, the punishments handed down to Palladius and Secundianus were defrocking and excommunication. The guilty were NOT boiled in oil, nor burned at the stake nor drawn and quartered. They suffered no harm in their physical bodies. But, they lost the right, as all heretics should, to teach in and have fellowship within the church.
This document is intense!! I hope you find it educational and convicting.
χάρις ἔλεος εἰρήνη σοι,