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Cassiodorus and Senarius

the church of Theoderic’s Goths is unknowable because of the extreme
paucity of extant Gothic Arian writings. 154 Some evidence, however,
is offered by iconography and theological tracts. The mosaic medallion
on the dome of the Arian baptistry in Ravenna portrays the baptism of
Christ by John the Baptist, beneath the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove.
This iconography is shared with contemporary Catholic representations
of the baptism of Christ, suggesting that a Trinitarian baptismal formula
was employed in the Gothic church. 155 One anti-Arian tract, written in
Naples perhaps during the Ostrogothic period, also seems to presume
that baptism in the name of the Holy Spirit as well as the Father and
Son is common to Catholics and Arians. 156 Itwould seem thatJohn’s
statement countered unconventional suggestions that Gothic proselytes
required rebaptism to join the Catholic congregation.
This attention to rebaptism suggests a context for Senarius’ letter to
John. There is no doubt that Senarius himself was an orthodox and active
member of the Catholic church. 157 His interest seems to have been to
justify the practices and organisation of the Catholic church in Rome
to someone outside the church, presumably an Arian; for this reason he
wrote to one of the deacons of Rome. As his enquiries are liturgical
not theological, his interest might have been to proselytise rather than to
engage in Christological apologetic. Reassuring prospective converts that
rebaptism would not be required would be a major step towards easing a

154 On the Gothic liturgy: Klaus Gamber, Die Liturgie der Goten und der Armenier: Versuch einer
Darstellung und Hinf¨ uhrung (Studia Patristica et Liturgica 21; Regensburg, 1988), 9–44, 89–96.
The limited evidence for the Gothic Arian liturgy suggests that it conserved the structure and
details of the fourth-century eastern church, adopted at the time of conversion, and consequently
differed little from the Catholic liturgy; ibid., 32; Jacques Zeiller, ‘Etude sur l’Arianisme en Italie
` al’´ epoque ostrogothique et ` al’´ epoque lombarde’, Ecole franc¸aise de Rome: M´ elanges d’arch´ eologie
et d’histoire 25 (1905), 131–2.
155 Friedrich Wilhelm Deichmann, Ravenna: Geschichte und Monumente, 3 vols. (Wiesbaden,
1969–76), i, 210 (Holy Spirit), 211–12 (date); ii.1, 255–8; iii, plate 252; Spiro K. Kostof, The
Orthodox Baptistery of Ravenna (New Haven and London 1965), 87–9.
156
Contra Varimadum arianum diaconum (PL 62, 351–434), ii, 17 410d: ‘For if the Holy Spirit is not
equal in the substance of divinity with the Father and the Son, why is nothing accomplished
withoutitin the sacramentof holy baptism?’ (Si enim Spiritus Sanctus in dietatis substantia Patri
et Filio non coaequatur,cur in sacramento sacri baptismatis nihil absque illo completur?). On the Contra
Varimadum: G. Morin, ‘Pour un prochain volume d’anecdota’, Revue B´ en´ edictine 24 (1907),
269–70; W. Ensslin, ‘Varimadus’, RE viii a.1, 382; W. Teuffel, W. Kroll, and F. Skutsch (eds.),
Geschichte der r¨ omischer Literatur iii, 6th edn (Leipzig, 1916), § 418.15.
157
John the Deacon, Ep. 1: quantus pectori vestro [ms. nostro] divini cultus ardor insidat,catholica sollici-
tudine non celastis. Avitus of Vienne, Ep. xxxix, presumes Senarius’ familiarity with the affairs
and procedures of the church of Rome, and his interest in the resolution of the Acacian schism;
cf. esp. lines 14–15: vestram [sc. fidelium laicorum] in catholica religione rem gerimus [sacerdotes ecclesiae].
Cf. Ennodius, Epp. vi, 8.2: inploro ut per omnes sanctorum basilicas pro adflictione mea deum rogare non
desinas; vii, 5.1: Christianae mentis [tuae] integritas.

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