Treatises & Letters 12

Letter I. Cyprian to the presbyters and deacons and people abiding at Furni, greeting. We have been gravely disturbed, I and my colleagues who were present and our fellow presbyters who sat beside us, dearly beloved brethren, when we learned that our brother Geminius Victor, on departing from this world, had named the presbyter Geminius Faustinus as guardian in his testament; whereas it has long since been decreed in a council of bishops that none of the clergy and ministers of God should appoint by his testament any guardian or curator, since each one, honoured with the divine priesthood and set in the clerical ministry, ought to serve only the altar and the sacrifices and to give himself to prayers and supplications. For it is written:

'No man that wars for God entangles himself with worldly troubles, that he may please Him to whom he has approved himself.' Since this is said of all, how much more ought those not to be entangled with worldly troubles and snares who, being occupied with divine and spiritual things, cannot withdraw from the church and give themselves to earthly and secular affairs.

The form of this ordinance and religion the Levites of old observed under the law: when the eleven tribes divided the land and apportioned possessions, the tribe of Levi, which was given to the temple and the altar and the divine ministries, received nothing of that portion of the division, but, while the others tilled the soil, that tribe worshipped God alone and received tithes from the eleven tribes of the fruits that grew, for its sustenance and nourishment. All this was done by divine authority and arrangement, so that those who were intent upon the divine works might be called away to no other thing, nor be compelled to think of or do worldly matters.

This same principle and form is now maintained in the clergy: that those who are advanced in the Lord's church by clerical ordination should in no way be called away from the divine administration, nor be bound by the troubles and businesses of the world, but, receiving as it were tithes from the fruits in the honour of the brethren who give offerings, should not depart from the altar and the sacrifices, and should serve day and night in heavenly and spiritual things. This our predecessor bishops, considering religiously and providing wholesomely, decreed that no departing brother should name a clergyman to guardianship or wardship; and if anyone should do so, no offering should be made for him, nor any sacrifice celebrated for his repose.

For he does not deserve to be named at the altar of God in the prayer of the priests, who wished to call away the priests and ministers from the altar. And therefore, since Victor dared, contrary to the form lately given by the priests in council, to appoint the presbyter Geminius Faustinus as guardian, there is no reason that an offering should be made among you for his repose, or any supplication made in his name in the church; so that the decree of the priests, religiously and necessarily made, may be observed by us, and at the same time an example be given to the rest of the brethren, that none should call away the priests and ministers of God, who serve His altar and church, to secular trouble.

For it can hereafter be guarded against, that nothing of this kind be done henceforth concerning the person of the clergy, if what has now been done be punished. I wish you, dearly beloved brethren, ever to fare well. Letter II. Cyprian to his brother Eucratius, greeting.

Out of your affection and our mutual respect, dearly beloved brother, you have thought fit to consult me as to what seems to me concerning a certain actor, who, established among you, still persists in the disgrace of his same art, and as a master and teacher not of instructing but of ruining boys, instils into others also that which he himself learned to ill purpose—whether such a one ought to communicate with us. This I think befits neither the divine majesty nor the discipline of the Gospel, that the modesty and honour of the church should be defiled by so foul and infamous a contagion.

For since in the law men are forbidden to put on a woman's garment, and such are judged accursed, how much greater is the crime not only to take on women's garments, but also by the teaching of a shameless art to express disgraceful and effeminate and womanly gestures? Nor let anyone excuse himself if he himself has retired from the theatre, while yet he teaches this to others. For he cannot be seen to have ceased who substitutes deputies, and who, in place of himself alone, supplies many successors, teaching and instructing, against the institution of God, how a male may be broken into a female, and the sex changed by art, and how the devil, who defiles the divine handiwork, may be gratified by the sins of a corrupted and enervated body.

But if such a one alleges poverty and the necessity of want, his necessity also can be relieved among the others who are sustained by the church's maintenance—provided he be content with frugal and innocent food, and not think that he must be ransomed by a salary to cease from his sins, since this he does not for our benefit but for his own. For the rest, let him seek thence as much as he will: what sort of gain is that which from the banquet of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob snatches away men, and leads those wickedly and ruinously fattened in the world to the punishments of eternal hunger and thirst? And therefore, as far as you can, recall him from this depravity and disgrace to the way of innocence and to the hope of his life, that he may be content with the church's allowance, scantier indeed but wholesome.

But if the church there does not suffice to furnish maintenance to those who labour, he can transfer himself to us, and here receive what shall be necessary to him for food and clothing; and let him not teach others outside the church things that are deadly, but himself learn within the church things that are wholesome. I wish you, most beloved son, ever to fare well. Letter III. Cyprian to his brother Rogatianus, greeting. We have been gravely and grievously disturbed, I and the colleagues who were present, dearly beloved brother, on reading your letter, in which you complained of your deacon, that, unmindful of your priestly place and forgetful of his own office and ministry, he exasperated you with his contumelies and injuries.

And you indeed have acted honourably toward us and according to your accustomed humility, in that you preferred to complain of him to us, although, by the vigour of the episcopate and the authority of your chair, you had the power by which you might at once have been avenged of him—certain that all your colleagues would have approved whatever you might have done by your priestly power concerning your contumelious deacon, since you have, concerning men of this kind, the divine precepts, when the Lord God says in Deuteronomy: 'And the man, whosoever shall do in pride, so as not to hearken to the priest or the judge, whosoever he shall be in those days, that man shall die; and all the people, when they hear, shall fear, and shall do impiously no more.'

And that we may know that this voice of God proceeded with His true and supreme majesty to honour and vindicate His priests: when against Aaron the priest three of the ministers, Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, dared to be proud and to lift up their necks and to make themselves equal to the priest set over them, they were swallowed up and devoured by the gaping of the earth, and at once paid the penalty for their sacrilegious audacity. Nor they alone, but the other two hundred and fifty also, who were companions with them in their audacity, were consumed by fire bursting forth from the Lord; so that it might be proved that the priests of God are vindicated by Him who makes priests. In the book of Kings also, when Samuel the priest was despised by the people of the Jews on account of his old age, as you now are, the Lord cried out in anger and said:

'They have not despised you, but they have despised me.' And to avenge this, He raised up Saul as king over them, who afflicted them with grievous injuries and trampled and oppressed the proud people through all manner of contumelies and punishments, that the despised priest might be vindicated by divine vengeance against the proud people. But Solomon also, established in the Holy Spirit, testifies and teaches what is the priestly authority and power, saying: 'With thy whole soul fear God, and sanctify His priests.' And again: 'Honour God with thy whole soul, and honour His priests.' Mindful of which precepts, the blessed Apostle, as we read in the Acts of the Apostles, when it was said to him: 'Do you thus revile the priest of God?' answered and said:

'I knew not, brethren, that he is the high priest. For it is written: Thou shalt not revile the ruler of thy people.' Our Lord Himself also, Jesus Christ, our king and judge and God, even unto the day of His passion preserved honour to the high priests and the priests, although they had preserved neither the fear of God nor the acknowledgment of Christ. For when He had cleansed the leper, He said to him: 'Go and show thyself to the priest, and offer the gift.' With that same humility by which He taught us also to be humble, He still called him a priest whom He knew to be sacrilegious. Likewise, under the blow of His passion, when He had received a buffet, and it was said to Him: 'Answerest thou the high priest so?', He spoke nothing contumelious against the person of the high priest, but rather defended His own innocence, saying:

'If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil; but if well, why do you strike me?' All these things were done by Him thus humbly and patiently, that we might have an example of humility and of patience. He taught that true priests are to be honoured lawfully and fully, while He Himself shows Himself such toward false priests. But the deacons ought to remember that the Lord chose apostles, that is, bishops and prelates, while the apostles, after the Lord's ascension into heaven, appointed for themselves deacons as ministers of their episcopate and of the church. But if we can dare anything against God who makes bishops, deacons too can dare against us, by whom they are made.

And therefore it behoves the deacon of whom you write to do penance for his audacity, and to acknowledge the honour of the priest, and to make satisfaction to the bishop set over him with full humility. For these are the beginnings of heretics and the origins and endeavours of evil-minded schismatics: that they please themselves, that they despise the prelate with proud swelling. Thus one departs from the church; thus a profane altar is set up outside; thus rebellion is raised against the peace of Christ and the ordinance and unity of God. But if he should further exasperate and provoke you with his contumelies, you shall exercise against him the power of your office, so as either to depose him or to suspend him. For if the Apostle Paul, writing to Timothy, said:

'Let no one despise your youth,' how much more ought it to be said to you by your colleagues: 'Let no one despise your old age.' And since you have written that a certain one has associated himself with this same deacon of yours, and is a partaker of his pride and audacity, this one too—and if any others such shall have appeared and acted against the priest of God—you may either coerce or suspend. Save that we exhort and admonish that they should rather understand that they have sinned, and make satisfaction, and suffer us to keep our purpose. For we rather desire and wish to overcome the contumelies and injuries of individuals by clement patience than to avenge them by priestly license. I wish you, dearly beloved brother, ever to fare well. Letter IV.

Cyprian, Caecilius, Victor, Sedatus, Tertullus, with the presbyters who were present, to their brother Pomponius, greeting. We have read your letter, dearly beloved brother, which you sent by our brother Paconius, asking and desiring that we should write back to you what seems to us concerning those virgins who, when they had once resolved to hold their state continently and firmly, were afterwards detected to have remained together in the same bed with men—of whom you say that one is a deacon—plainly those same women who have confessed to have slept with men asserting that they are intact.

Concerning which matter, since you have desired our counsel, know that we do not depart from the evangelical and apostolic traditions, but rather that our brethren and sisters should be counselled constantly and firmly, and that ecclesiastical discipline should be preserved by all the ways of usefulness and salvation; since the Lord speaks and says: 'And I will give you pastors according to my own heart, and they shall feed you, feeding you with discipline.' And again it is written: 'He that casts away discipline is unhappy.' And in the Psalms also the Holy Spirit instructs, saying: 'Keep discipline, lest perhaps the Lord be angry, and you perish from the right way, when His wrath shall quickly be kindled against you.'

First, therefore, dearly beloved brother, both for the prelates and for the people, nothing else is to be laboured at than that we who fear God should hold the divine precepts with all observance of discipline, and not suffer our brethren to err and to live according to their own caprice and impulse, but faithfully counsel each one unto life; nor suffer virgins to dwell with men—I do not say to sleep together, but not even to live together—since both the weak sex and the still slippery age ought in all things to be bridled and ruled by us, lest occasion be given to the devil, who lies in wait and desires to rage, to do harm; since the Apostle also says: 'Give no place to the devil.' The ship is to be delivered watchfully from dangerous places, lest it be broken among the reefs and rocks.

The baggage must be swiftly cast out of the fire before it is consumed by the oncoming flames. No one is long safe who is near to danger. Nor can the servant of God escape the devil who has entangled himself in the devil's snares. Such persons must be intervened with quickly, that they may be separated while the innocent can still be separated, since they cannot afterwards be parted by our intervention, after they have cleaved together by a most grievous consciousness. In short, what grievous ruins of many we see arise from hence, and through such unlawful and dangerous conjunctions we behold very many virgins corrupted, with the deepest grief of our soul.

But if they have dedicated themselves to Christ in faith, let them persevere modestly and chastely without any scandal, and so, strong and stable, let them await the reward of virginity. But if they are unwilling or unable to persevere, it is better that they should marry than that they should fall into the fire by their sins. Certainly let them give no offence to brethren or sisters, since it is written: 'If meat offend my brother, I will eat no flesh in the world, lest I offend my brother.'

Nor let any one think that she can defend herself by this excuse, that she can be examined and proved whether she is a virgin, since both the hands and the eye of the midwives are often deceived; so that, even if a virgin be found uncorrupted in that part by which a woman can be such, she may nevertheless have sinned in another part of the body, which can be corrupted and yet cannot be inspected. Certainly the very lying together, the very embrace, the very converse and kissing, and the disgraceful and foul sleeping together of two reclining persons—how much shame and crime does it confess! If a husband should come and see his betrothed lying with another, does he not grow indignant and rage, and through the grief of jealousy perhaps take even a sword into his hands?

What of Christ the Lord and our judge, when He beholds His virgin, dedicated to Himself and destined for His holiness, lying with another—how indignant and angry is He, and what punishments does He threaten for such incestuous conjunctions! That each one of the brethren may be able to escape His spiritual sword and the coming day of judgment, we ought by every counsel to provide and labour. And since it behoves all without exception to keep discipline, much more is it right that the prelates and deacons should take care of this, who give to the rest an example and pattern by their conversation and morals. For how can they preside over integrity and continence, if from themselves the beginnings of corruption and the schools of vices proceed?

And therefore you have acted advisedly and with vigour, dearly beloved brother, in suspending the deacon who often remained with a virgin, and also the others who had been accustomed to sleep with virgins. But if they have done penance for this unlawful cohabitation of theirs, and have withdrawn from one another, let the virgins meanwhile be carefully examined by midwives; and if they be found virgins, having received communion, let them be admitted to the church—with this threat, however, that if they return afterward to the same men, or if they dwell together with the same in one house and under the same roof, they shall be cast out with severer censure, nor shall such be afterward easily received into the church.

But if any one of them be found to have been corrupted, let her do full penance, since she who has committed this crime is an adulteress, not against a husband, but against Christ; and therefore, after a just time has been estimated, having afterward made confession, let her return to the church. But if they obstinately persevere and do not separate from one another, let them know that with this their shameless obstinacy they can never be admitted by us into the church, lest they begin to make an example of ruin to others by their sins. Nor let them think that the account of life or of salvation holds good for them, if they have been unwilling to obey the bishops and priests, since in Deuteronomy the Lord God says:

'And the man, whosoever shall do in pride, so as not to hearken to the priest or the judge, whosoever he shall be in those days, that man shall die; and all the people, when they hear, shall fear, and shall do impiously no more.' God commanded those not obeying His priests to be slain; He appointed the time of His judgment against the disobedient. And then indeed they were slain with the sword, while as yet the carnal circumcision remained; but now, because the spiritual circumcision has begun to be among the faithful servants of God, the proud and contumacious are slain with the spiritual sword, in that they are cast out of the church. For neither can they live outside, since the house of God is one, and there can be salvation to no one except in the church.

But that the undisciplined perish, while they neither hear nor obey wholesome precepts, the divine Scripture testifies, which says: 'The undisciplined man loves not him that chastens him; but they who hate reproofs shall be consumed disgracefully.' Therefore, lest the undisciplined be consumed and perish, give heed, dearly beloved brother, that as far as you can you may govern the brotherhood with wholesome counsels and counsel each one unto his own salvation. Narrow and strait is the way by which we enter unto life, but highest and greatest is the fruit when we arrive at glory. Let those who have once made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven please God in all things, and not offer themselves as a stumbling-block, either to the priests of God or through the church, to themselves and to the brethren.

And for the present, if they seem to be saddened by us, let us nevertheless admonish them with wholesome persuasion, knowing that the Apostle also said: 'Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?' But if they obey, it is most gratifying to us; standing, we have confirmed them unto salvation by the regard of our discourse. But if certain of the perverse are unwilling to obey, according to the same Apostle who says: 'If I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ'—if we cannot persuade some so as to make them please Christ, let us at least please Christ our Lord and God, keeping His precepts, in that which is our own. I wish you, dearly beloved and most longed-for brother, ever to fare well in the Lord. Letter V.

Cyprian to the presbyters and deacons, his dearly beloved brethren, greeting. I salute you, being myself unharmed through the grace of God, dearly beloved brethren, glad that I have learned that all things are sound also as regards your safety. And since the condition of my situation does not now permit me to be present, I beg you, for your faith and religion, to discharge there both your own parts and mine, that nothing may be wanting either to discipline or to diligence.

As to furnishing expenses, whether to those who, having confessed the Lord with a glorious voice, are placed in prison, or to those who labour in poverty and need and yet persevere in the Lord, I beg that nothing be wanting; since the whole small sum that has been gathered together is there distributed among the clergy for cases of this kind, that many might have wherewith to work for the necessities and afflictions of individuals. I beg also that your skill and solicitude be not wanting to procure quiet.

For although the brethren, out of their love, are eager to assemble and to visit the good confessors whom the divine condescension has already illustrated with glorious beginnings, yet I think this ought to be done cautiously, and not in crowds, nor by a multitude joined together at once, lest from this very thing ill-will be stirred up and the means of entrance be denied, and while, insatiable, we wish for much, we lose all. Take counsel therefore, and provide, that this may be done more safely with moderation, so that the presbyters also who there make the offering with the confessors may alternate by turns, each one with single deacons; since both the change of persons and the alternation of those assembling lessens ill-will.

For in all things we ought to be meek and humble, as befits the servants of God, to serve the times and to look to quiet and to provide for the people. I wish you, dearly beloved and most longed-for brethren, ever to fare well and to remember us. Salute the whole brotherhood. The deacon and those who are with me salute you. Farewell. Letter VI. Cyprian to Sergius and Rogatianus and the other confessors in God for everlasting, greeting. I salute you, dearly beloved brethren, desiring myself also to enjoy the sight of you, if the condition of my situation would permit me to come to you.

For what more wished-for and more joyful thing could befall me than now to cleave to you, that you might embrace me with those hands which, pure and innocent and keeping the faith of the Lord, have rejected sacrilegious compliances? What more delightful and more sublime than now to kiss your mouths, which with glorious voice have confessed the Lord; to be beheld also, present, by your eyes, which, despising the world, have shown themselves worthy of beholding God?

But since the opportunity of sharing in this joy is not granted, I send these letters to your ears and eyes in my stead, by which I both congratulate and exhort you that you persevere strong and stable in the confession of the heavenly glory, and, having entered the way of the Lord's condescension, may go forward by spiritual virtue to receive the crown, having the Lord as your protector and guide, who said: 'And behold, I am with you all the days, even to the consummation of the world.' O blessed prison, which your presence has illustrated! O blessed prison, which sends the men of God to heaven! O darkness more luminous than the sun itself and brighter than this light of the world, where now are established the temples of God, and your members are sanctified by divine confessions!

Let nothing now dwell in your hearts and minds but the divine precepts and the commandments of heaven, by which the Holy Spirit has ever stirred us up to the endurance of suffering. Let no one think upon death but upon immortality, nor upon temporal punishment but upon everlasting glory, since it is written: 'Precious in the sight of God is the death of His saints.' And again: 'A sacrifice to God is a troubled spirit; a contrite and humbled heart God will not despise.' And again, where the divine Scripture speaks of the torments which consecrate the martyrs of God and sanctify them by the very proof of their suffering: 'And though in the sight of men they suffered torments, their hope is full of immortality.'

'And having been chastened a little, they shall be well rewarded in many things, for God tried them and found them worthy of Himself. As gold in the furnace He proved them, and as a whole burnt offering He accepted them. And in the time of their visitation they shall shine. They shall judge the nations and have dominion over the peoples, and their Lord shall reign for ever.'

When therefore you consider that you are to judge and to reign with Christ the Lord, you must needs rejoice, and trample upon present sufferings in the joy of things to come, knowing that from the beginning of the world it was so ordained that righteousness should toil here in the world's conflict; for at the very origin righteous Abel is forthwith slain, and thereafter all the just, and the prophets, and the apostles who were sent—for all of whom the Lord also established an example in His own self, teaching that none come to His kingdom save those who have followed Him along His own way, saying: 'He that loveth his life in this world shall lose it, and he that hateth his life in this world shall preserve it unto life eternal.' And again:

'Fear not them that kill the body, but cannot kill the soul; rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in Gehenna.' Paul also exhorts us that we who desire to come to the Lord's promises ought to imitate the Lord in all things. 'We are,' he says, 'the sons of God; and if sons, then heirs also of God, and joint-heirs with Christ, if so be that we suffer together that we may also be glorified together.' He added too a comparison of the present time and the glory to come, saying: 'The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.'

Pondering the glory of that brightness, it befits us to endure all afflictions and persecutions, for though many are the afflictions of the righteous, yet out of them all are they delivered who trust in God. Blessed too are the women who are with you, set in the same glory of confession, who, holding the faith of the Lord and stronger than their sex, are not only themselves near to the crown, but have also furnished to other women an example by their steadfastness.

And lest anything should be lacking to the glory of your number, that every sex and every age might be in honour with you, the divine condescension has joined to you boys also in glorious confession, presenting to us something such as the illustrious boys Ananias, Azarias, and Misael once did, who, shut up in the furnace, found the fires give way and the flame yield refreshment, the Lord being present with them and approving—proving that against His confessors and martyrs the burning of Gehenna could avail nothing, but that those who believed in God should always abide unharmed and safe in all things. And I beg you, by your devotion, to consider more diligently what faith there was in those boys, which could so fully win the favour of God.

For being ready for all things, as we all ought to be, they say to the king: 'O King Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer thee concerning this matter. For there is a God whom we serve, who is able to deliver us from the furnace of burning fire, and out of thy hands, O King, He will deliver us. But if not, be it known unto thee that we serve not thy gods, and the golden image which thou hast set up we do not worship.' Although they both believed, and knew that for their faith they could even be delivered from the present punishment, yet they would not boast of this nor claim it for themselves, saying 'But if not,' lest the virtue of their confession should be the less without the witness of suffering.

They added that God could do all things, yet that they did not trust in this—namely, that they might be willing to be delivered in the present—but rather pondered that glory of liberty and eternal security. Holding fast this same faith, and meditating upon it day and night, let us too with all our heart, ready toward God in contempt of present things, think only upon things to come: the fruit of the eternal kingdom, the embrace and kiss of the Lord, the sight of God.

So that in all things you may follow the presbyter Rogatianus, that glorious old man, who by his devout virtue and divine condescension is making for you a way to the glory of our age; who, together with our brother Felicissimus—ever quiet and sober—receiving the first assault of the raging mob, prepared a lodging for you in prison, and as it were your forerunner now also goes before us. That this may be brought to completion in you we beseech the Lord with unceasing prayers, that to those who press on from beginnings to the highest, He who has made them to confess may also make them to be crowned. I wish you, dearest and most blessed brothers, ever to fare well in the Lord, and to attain to the glory of the heavenly crown. Letter VII. CYPRIAN TO THE PRESBYTERS AND DEACONS, HIS DEAREST BROTHERS, GREETING.

I greet you, dearest brothers, being safe by the grace of God, and longing to come to you soon, that both my desire and yours and that of all the brethren may be satisfied. Yet we ought to take counsel for the common peace, and at times, though with grief of soul, to be absent from you, lest our presence provoke the envy and violence of the heathen, and we become the authors of breaking the peace—we who ought rather to take counsel for the quiet of all. When therefore you shall have written that, things being settled, I ought to come, or if the Lord shall first vouchsafe to show it, then I will come to you. For where could it be either better or more joyful for me than there, where God both willed me to believe and to grow? I beg that you diligently have care of the widows and the sick and all the poor.

But also, if any strangers be in want, supply their expenses out of my own portion which I left with our fellow-presbyter Rogatianus. And lest perchance that whole sum be already disbursed, I have sent to the same man, by the acolyte Naricus, another portion, that the work toward the labouring may be done more liberally and readily. I wish you, dearest brothers, ever to fare well [and to remember us. Salute the brotherhood in my name, and admonish them to be mindful of us]. Letter VIII.

We have learned that the blessed Pope Cyprian has withdrawn from Crementius the subdeacon, who came from you to us for a certain reason; which thing he assuredly did rightly, since he is a person of distinction, and with the contest impending which God has permitted in the world for the sake of wrestling with the adversary together with His servants—willing also to make this struggle manifest to angels and men, that he who conquers may be crowned, while the conquered carries within himself the sentence which has been made plain to us.

And since it lies upon us who are seen to be set as overseers and to keep the flock in the stead of shepherds, that if we be found negligent it shall be said to us what was said also to our predecessors who were so negligent as overseers: 'because we sought not the lost, and corrected not the wandering, and bound not the lame, and ate their milk and were clothed with their wool.' Finally, the Lord Himself too, fulfilling what was written in the Law and the Prophets, teaches saying: 'I am the good shepherd, who lay down my life for my sheep. But the hireling, and he whose own the sheep are not, when he seeth the wolf coming, leaveth them and fleeth, and the wolf scattereth them.' But also to Simon He thus says: 'Lovest thou me?' He answered, 'I love.' He saith to him, 'Feed my sheep.'

This word we recognize made into deed by the very act by which he withdrew, and the rest of the disciples likewise did so. We do not wish therefore, beloved brothers, to be found hirelings, but good shepherds, since you know that no small peril lies upon you, if you have not exhorted our brethren to stand immovable in the faith, lest, going headlong into idolatry, the brotherhood be utterly rooted out.

For we do not exhort you with words alone, but you will be able to learn from the many who come from us to you that all these things we, with God's help, both have done and do, with all carefulness and worldly peril, having before our eyes the fear of God and everlasting punishments rather than the fear of men and a brief injury, not deserting the brotherhood, but exhorting them to stand in the faith and to be ready to go with the Lord. But also those who were ascending to that to which they were being compelled, we have recalled. The Church stands firm in the faith, although some, driven by the very terror—whether because they were persons of distinction, or seized by the fear of men—have fallen:

these indeed, though separated from us, we have not abandoned, but have exhorted and do exhort them to do penance, if by any means they may be able to receive indulgence from Him who is able to grant it, lest, if they be left by us, they become worse. You see therefore, brothers, that you also ought to do this: that even those who have fallen, by your exhortation amending their minds, if they be seized again may confess afresh, so that they may be able to correct their former error; and the other matters which lie upon you, which we ourselves have also subjoined—namely, that if those who have fallen into this temptation begin to be seized by sickness and do penance for their deed and long for communion, by all means they ought to be succoured:

whether widows, or the afflicted who cannot show themselves, or those who are in the prisons, or those shut out from their dwellings—by all means they ought to have those who minister to them. But also catechumens seized by sickness ought not to be deceived, but to be succoured. And what is of the greatest moment: if the bodies of the martyrs or of others be not buried, a grave peril threatens those upon whom this work lies. By whatever occasion therefore this work shall have been performed by any one of you, we are sure that he is reckoned a good servant, so that he who was faithful in the least is set over ten cities. And may God, who grants all things to those who hope in Him, bring it to pass that we all be found in these works.

The brethren who are in chains, and the presbyters, and the whole Church greet you—the Church which also herself watches with the utmost solicitude on behalf of all who call upon the name of the Lord. But we also ask that in mutual turn you be mindful of us. Know moreover that Bassianus has reached us. And we ask you who have the zeal of God to transmit a copy of these letters, by suitable occasions, to whomsoever you can; or make copies of your own, or send a messenger, that they may stand strong and immovable in the faith. We wish you, dearest brothers, ever to fare well. Letter IX. CYPRIAN TO THE PRESBYTERS AND DEACONS ABIDING AT ROME, HIS BROTHERS, GREETING.

When the report among us concerning the departure of the good man, my colleague, was uncertain, dearest brothers, and a doubtful rumour wavered, I received letters sent to me by Crementius the subdeacon, by which I might be most fully instructed concerning his glorious end; and I rejoiced greatly that, in keeping with the integrity of his administration, an honourable consummation also came to pass. Wherein I also congratulate you very much, that you attend his memory with so renowned and illustrious a testimony, so that through you there might become known to us what was for us both glorious concerning the memory of our bishop, and also furnished to us an example of faith and virtue.

For as much as the ruin of an overseer is a pernicious thing toward the falling of those who follow, so much on the contrary is it useful and salutary when a bishop, by the firmness of his faith, presents himself to the brethren as one to be imitated. I have also read letters in which neither who wrote them nor to whom they were written was distinctly expressed. And since in those same letters both the writing and the sense and the very paper moved me, lest anything had been either taken away from the truth or altered, I have sent back to you that same letter as authentic, that you may recognize whether it be the very one which you gave to Crementius the subdeacon to deliver. For it is exceedingly grievous if the truth of a clerical letter has been corrupted by any falsehood and fraud.

Therefore, that we may be able to know this, recognize whether both the writing and the subscription be yours, and write back to us what is the truth. I wish you, dearest brothers, ever to fare well. Letter X. CYPRIAN TO THE MARTYRS AND CONFESSORS OF JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD, IN GOD THE FATHER, EVERLASTING GREETING. I exult joyful and congratulate you, most valiant and most blessed brothers, having learned of your faith and virtue, in which Mother Church glories—she who gloried indeed but lately when, the confession standing firm, that punishment was undergone which made the confessors of Christ exiles. Yet the present confession, the stronger it is in suffering, so much the brighter and greater is it in honour. The contest has grown, and so has the glory of the contenders.

You were not held back from the battle-line by fear of torments, but rather by the very torments were the more provoked to the line of battle; strong and steadfast, with ready devotion you went forth to the conflict of the greatest contest. Of whom I have already learned that some are crowned, and some indeed are near to the crown of victory; but all whom the prison has shut in with its glorious band are animated with an equal and like ardour of virtue to wage the contest, as it behoves the soldiers of Christ to be in the divine camp: that no flatteries deceive, no threats terrify, no tortures and torments overcome their incorrupt firmness of faith—for greater is He who is in us than he who is in this world; nor can earthly punishment do more to cast down than divine protection to raise up.

The thing has been proved by the glorious contest of the brethren, who, made leaders to the rest for the conquering of torments, furnished an example of virtue and faith, having joined battle in the line until the line, conquered, gave way. With what praises then shall I proclaim you, most valiant brothers? With what heralding of voice shall I adorn the strength of your breast and the perseverance of your faith? You endured even to the consummation of glory the most cruel questioning, nor did you yield to the tortures, but rather the tortures yielded to you. The end which the torments did not give to your sufferings, the crowns gave. The grievous mangling persisted long unto this end—not that it might cast down the standing faith, but that it might send the men of God the more swiftly to the Lord.

The wondering multitude of bystanders beheld the heavenly contest of God and the spiritual battle, the conflict of Christ: that His servants stood with free voice, with uncorrupted mind, with divine virtue—naked indeed of worldly weapons, but believing, armed with the arms of faith. The tortured stood stronger than their torturers, and the beaten and mangled limbs overcame the beating and mangling claws. The long-repeated raging stroke could not overcome the unconquerable faith, although, the framework of their bowels being burst, there were tortured in the servants of God now not limbs but wounds. The blood flowed which should quench the burning of persecution, which should lull with glorious gore the flames and fires of Gehenna.

Oh, what a spectacle of the Lord was that—how sublime, how great, how acceptable to the eyes of God by the sacrament and devotion of His soldier! As it is written in the Psalms, the Holy Spirit speaking to us and at once admonishing: 'Precious in the sight of God is the death of His saints.' Precious is this death, which buys immortality at the price of its own blood, which receives the crown of God by the consummation of virtue. How glad was Christ there, how willingly in such servants of His did He both fight and conquer—the protector of faith, and giving to those who believe as much as he who receives believes himself able to take! He was present at His own contest; He raised up, strengthened, animated the warriors and assertors of His name. And He who once for us conquered death, ever conquers in us.

'When they shall deliver you up,' He says, 'take no thought what ye shall speak; for it shall be given you in that hour what ye shall speak. For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father that speaketh in you.' The present battle has furnished a proof of the matter. A voice full of the Holy Spirit burst forth from the mouth of the martyr, when the most blessed Mappalicus said to the proconsul amid his torments: 'Thou shalt see a contest tomorrow.' And what he said with the testimony of virtue and faith, the Lord fulfilled. The heavenly contest was displayed, and the servant of God was crowned in the struggle of the promised contest. This is the contest which the prophet Isaiah foretold of old, saying: 'It is no small contest for you with men, since God supplies the contest.'

And to show what this contest should be, he added, saying: 'Behold, a virgin shall conceive in the womb and bear a son, and ye shall call his name Emmanuel.' This is the contest of our faith, in which we engage, by which we conquer, by which we are crowned. This is the contest which the blessed apostle Paul also shows us, in which we must run and attain to the glory of the crown. 'Know ye not,' he says, 'that they who run in the stadium all run indeed, yet one receives the prize? So run that ye may obtain.' And they indeed that they may receive a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible one. Likewise, showing his own contest and promising that he would soon be a victim to the Lord, he says: 'I am now being poured out, and the time of my assumption is at hand.

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, that righteous judge, shall render to me in that day; and not to me only, but to all those also who have loved His coming.' This contest, then, foretold of old through the prophets, joined through the Lord, waged through the apostles, Mappalicus promised to the proconsul in his own name and in the name of his colleagues. Nor did the faithful voice fail in its promise. He displayed the battle which he had pledged, and received the palm which he had merited.

This most blessed martyr now, and others partakers of the same encounter and companions—steadfast in faith, patient in pain, victorious in the questioning—that you also may follow the rest, I both wish equally and exhort; that those whom the bond of confession and the lodging of the prison have joined together, the consummation of virtue and the heavenly crown may also join; that you may wipe away by your gladness the tears of Mother Church, who bewails the ruins and funerals of very many, and that you may strengthen the firmness of the others also who stand, by the provocation of your example.

If the battle-line shall call you, if the day of your contest shall come, fight bravely, contend steadfastly, knowing that you contend under the eyes of the present Lord, that by the confession of His name you attain to His glory—who is not such as merely to behold His servants, but Himself wrestles in us, Himself joins battle, Himself in the struggle of our contest both crowns and is crowned alike. But if before the day of your contest peace shall come upon you by the Lord's indulgence, yet there remains for you an unbroken will and a glorious conscience. Nor let any of you be saddened as though less than those who before you, having suffered torments, came to the Lord by a glorious journey, the world conquered and trodden under foot.

The Lord is the searcher of the reins and the heart; He discerns hidden things and beholds secret things. To merit the crown from Him, the testimony alone of Him who is to judge suffices. Both things therefore, dearest brothers, are alike sublime and illustrious: the one more secure, to hasten to the Lord by the consummation of victory; the other more joyful, to flourish in the praise of the Church, a furlough being received after glory. O blessed Church of ours, which the honour of divine condescension thus illuminates, which in our times the glorious blood of the martyrs makes illustrious! She was white before in the works of the brethren; now she is made purple in the gore of the martyrs. Among her flowers neither lilies nor roses are lacking. Let each now contend for the most ample dignity of either honour.

Let them receive crowns either white from work or purple from suffering. In the heavenly camps both peace and the battle-line have their own flowers, with which the soldier of Christ may be crowned for glory. I wish you, most valiant and most blessed brothers, ever to fare well in the Lord and to be mindful of us. Farewell. Letter XI. CYPRIAN TO THE PRESBYTERS AND DEACONS, HIS BROTHERS, GREETING. Although I know, dearest brothers, that by the fear which each of us owes to God you too are there instantly applying yourselves to assiduous prayers and earnest supplications, yet I myself also admonish your devout solicitude that, to appease and entreat God, we groan not with voice alone, but with fastings and tears and every kind of supplication.

For it must be understood and confessed that the so turbulent devastation of this affliction, which has laid waste our flock for the most part and still even now lays it waste, has come according to our sins, in that we hold not the way of the Lord nor keep the heavenly commandments given to us for salvation. Our Lord did the will of the Father, and we do not the will of God—being eager for patrimony and gain, following pride, given over to rivalry and dissension, careless of simplicity and faith, renouncing the world in words only and not in deeds, each one pleasing himself and displeasing to all. We are scourged therefore as we deserve, since it is written:

'But that servant who knows the will of his lord and obeys not his will shall be beaten with many stripes.' But what stripes, what scourgings do we not deserve, when not even the confessors, who ought to have been by their example a pattern of good morals to the rest, keep discipline? And so, while the swollen and immodest boasting of his confession insolently exalts some, torments have come—and torments without end of the torturer, without issue of condemnation, without solace of death; torments which do not easily release to the crown, but torture so long as they may cast down—unless perchance someone, withdrawn by divine condescension, has prevailed amid the very tortures, attaining glory not by the term of his punishment but by the swiftness of his dying.

These things we suffer for our offence and by our desert, as the divine censure forewarned, saying: 'If they shall have forsaken my law and walked not in my judgments, if they shall have profaned my justifications and observed not my precepts, I will visit their misdeeds with a rod and their offences with stripes.' Rods therefore and stripes we feel, who please not God with good deeds nor make satisfaction for our sins. Let us beg the mercy of God from our inmost heart and with all our mind, since He also added, saying: 'But my mercy I will not scatter away from them.' Let us ask, and we receive:

and if there be delay and slowness in receiving, since we have grievously offended, let us knock, because to him that knocks it is opened—if only our prayers and groanings and tears knock at the door, on which it behoves us to persist and to linger, and if the prayer be of one accord. For as to what the more persuaded and compelled me to write these letters to you, you ought to know that—as the Lord vouchsafes to show and reveal—it was said in a vision: 'Ask, and ye obtain'; then afterward the people standing by were commanded to ask for certain persons pointed out to them, but in the asking there were discordant voices and disparate wills, and this displeased Him exceedingly who had said:

'Ask, and ye obtain'—because the people's inequality was discordant, nor was there one and simple consent of the brethren and joined concord, whereas it is written: 'God maketh those of one mind to dwell in a house,' and in the Acts of the Apostles we read: 'But the multitude of those who had believed acted with one soul and mind,' and the Lord has commanded with His own voice, saying: 'This is my commandment, that ye love one another,' and again: 'I say unto you that if two of you shall agree on earth concerning anything whatsoever ye shall ask, it shall be done for you by my Father who is in heaven.' But if two of one mind can do so much, what if there were unanimity among all?

For if, according to the peace which the Lord has given us, it agreed among all the brethren, we should long since have obtained from the divine mercy what we ask, nor should we be tossed so long in this peril of our salvation and faith; nay rather, these evils would not have come upon the brethren, had the brotherhood been animated into one. For that also was shown: that the master of the household was sitting, with a young man sitting at his right hand, who, anxious and with a certain indignation somewhat sad, sat holding his cheek with his hand, with a mournful countenance. But another, standing on the left side, was carrying a net, which he threatened to cast so as to catch the surrounding people.

And when he who saw it wondered what this was, it was said to him that the young man who thus sat at the right hand was grieved and pained that his precepts were not observed, but that the one on the left exulted that an occasion was given him to receive from the master of the household power to rage. This was shown long before the storm of this devastation arose. And we see fulfilled what had been shown: that, while we despise the Lord's precepts, while we keep not the saving commandments of the law given us, the enemy received the faculty of harming, and covered with the cast of his net those less armed and less wary for resistance. Let us pray instantly and groan with assiduous prayers.

For know that this also was lately reproached to us by a vision, dearest brothers: that we slumber in our prayers and pray not vigilantly. And surely God, who loves the one whom He rebukes, when He rebukes, rebukes to this end that He may amend, and amends to this end that He may save. Let us therefore shake off and break the bonds of sleep, and pray instantly and vigilantly, as Paul the apostle enjoins, saying: 'Continue in prayer, watching therein.' For the apostles too ceased not to pray day and night, and the Lord Himself also, the master of discipline and the way of our example, prayed frequently and vigilantly, as we read in the Gospel: 'He went out into the mountain to pray, and continued all night in the prayer of God.'

And indeed what he prayed, he prayed on our behalf, since he himself was no sinner but bore our sins. So fully did he intercede for us that we read in another place: 'And the Lord said to Peter: Behold, Satan has demanded to sift you as wheat; but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail.' But if for our sake and for our offences he both labours and watches and prays, how much more ought we to press on in prayer, and to pray, and first to entreat the Lord himself, and then through him to make satisfaction to God the Father?

We have an advocate and intercessor for our sins, Jesus Christ our Lord and God, if only we repent of having sinned in time past, and, confessing and acknowledging our offences by which we now offend the Lord, promise henceforth to walk in his ways and to fear his precepts. The Father both corrects us and protects us, provided we stand firm in the faith and, amid pressures and straits, cleave steadfastly to his Christ, as it is written: 'Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?' None of these things can separate those who believe; nothing can tear away those who cleave to his body and blood.

This persecution is a testing, and indeed a testing of our sin. God has willed to shake us out and to prove us, as he has always proved his own; nor yet in his provings has help ever been wanting to those who believe. Indeed, to his least servant, set even amid sins though they be many, and unworthy of his regard, he yet, out of his goodness toward us, deigned to give a command. 'Tell him,' he said, 'let him be secure, for peace is coming; but that there is meanwhile a little delay, because some still remain who are to be proved.' We are also admonished by divine bestowals concerning sparing food and sober drink, namely lest a breast already lifted up by heavenly vigour be unnerved by worldly allurement, or lest a mind weighed down by more lavish feasting be less wakeful unto the prayers of supplication.

These several matters I ought not to disguise, nor to keep hidden in my conscience alone, for by them each one of us may be both instructed and governed. Do not, then, keep this letter hidden among yourselves, but propose it to be read to the brethren. For to intercept those things by which the Lord deigns to admonish and instruct us belongs to one who would not have his brother admonished and instructed. Let them know that we are being proved by our Lord, and let them not, through the struggle of the present pressure, fall away from the faith with which we once believed in him; let each one recognize his own offences, and even now lay aside the manner of life of the old man. For no one who looks back, and sets his hand upon the plough, is fit for the kingdom of God.

In short, Lot's wife, who had been delivered, looked back contrary to the precept, and lost that which she had escaped. Let us look not to the things behind, to which the devil recalls us, but to the things before, to which Christ calls us. Let us lift up our eyes to heaven, lest the earth deceive us with its delights and allurements. Let each one pray to God, not for himself alone, but for all the brethren, as the Lord taught us to pray, where he enjoins not a private prayer upon individuals, but, praying with a common and concordant supplication, he commanded that prayer be made for all. If the Lord shall behold us humble and quiet, bound to one another, fearful concerning his wrath, corrected and amended by the present tribulation, he will keep us safe from the assaults of the enemy.

Discipline has gone before; pardon also will follow. Let us only, without ceasing, ask and with faith receive, and let us, simple and of one mind, entreat the Lord, entreating alike with groaning and with weeping, as those ought to entreat who are set amid the ruins of those who lament and the remnants of those who fear, amid the numerous slaughter of the languishing and the scanty steadfastness of those who stand.

Let us beg that peace may be more speedily restored, that succour may quickly come to our hiding-places and dangers, that those things may be fulfilled which the Lord deigns to show to his servants: the restoration of his Church, the security of our salvation; after rains, fair weather; after darkness, light; after storms and whirlwinds, a calm tranquillity; the loving aids of a Father's love, the wonted mighty works of the divine majesty, whereby both the blasphemy of the persecutors may be beaten back, and the repentance of the lapsed reformed, and the strong and steadfast confidence of the persevering brethren may glory. I desire that you, most beloved brethren, may ever fare well and be mindful of us. Greet the brotherhood in my name, and admonish them to be mindful of us. Farewell. Letter XII. Cyprian to the presbyters and deacons, his brethren, greeting.

Although I know, most beloved brethren, that you have been frequently admonished by my letters that all diligence be shown to those who have confessed the Lord with a glorious voice and are set in prison, yet I press the matter upon you again and again, that nothing be wanting to the care of those to whom nothing is wanting for glory. And would that the condition of my place and rank permitted me to be myself now present: ready and willing, in the solemn ministry, I would fulfil all the offices of love toward our most valiant brethren. But let your diligence represent my office, and do all the things that ought to be done concerning those whom the divine regard has illustrated in such merits of faith and of their own virtue. To the bodies also of all of them.

Even those who have not been tortured, but yet in prison depart by a glorious exit of death — let an even greater vigilance and care be bestowed upon them. For their virtue or honour is no less, that they too should not be gathered among the blessed martyrs. As far as in them lay, they endured whatever they were prepared and ready to endure. He who offered himself to torments and to death under the eyes of God has suffered whatever he was willing to suffer. For it was not he who failed the torments, but the torments that failed him. 'Whoever shall confess me before men, I also will confess him before my Father,' says the Lord. They have confessed. 'He who shall endure unto the end, he shall be saved,' says the Lord.

They have endured, and even unto the end have carried through the uncorrupted and unstained merits of their virtues. And again it is written: 'Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.' Even unto death they have come, faithful and steadfast and unconquerable. When to our will and confession in prison and in chains there is added also the term of dying, the glory of martyrdom is consummated. Lastly, note also the days on which they depart, that we may be able to celebrate the commemorations of them among the memorials of the martyrs:

although Tertullus, our most faithful and most devoted brother, among his other solicitude and care which he bestows upon the brethren in every service of his labour — for neither there is he wanting in the care of the bodies — has written and writes and signifies to me the days on which our blessed brethren in prison pass over to immortality by the exit of a glorious death; and let oblations and sacrifices be celebrated here by us in commemoration of them, which we shall soon celebrate together with you, the Lord protecting us. To the poor also, as I have often already written, let not your care and diligence be wanting — yet to those who, standing in the faith and bravely warring with us, have not forsaken the camp of Christ:

to whom indeed now both greater love and care must be shown by us, because, neither driven by poverty nor cast down by the storm of persecution, while they faithfully serve the Lord, they have also given to the rest of the poor an example of faith. I desire that you, most beloved and most longed-for brethren, may ever fare well and be mindful of us. Greet the brotherhood in my name. [Farewell.] Letter XIII. Cyprian to Rogatianus the presbyter and the rest of the confessors, his brethren, greeting.

And long ago, most beloved and most valiant brethren, I had sent you a letter in which, with exultant words, I congratulated your faith and virtue; and now too our voice embraces above all this very thing, that with joyful spirit we may frequently and ever proclaim the glory of your name. For what greater or better thing can there be in my desires than when I see the flock of Christ illumined by the honour of your confession? For while all the brethren ought to rejoice in this, then in the common joy the bishop's portion is the greater. For the glory of the church is the glory of the bishop set over it. As much as we grieve over those whom the hostile storm has cast down, so much do we rejoice over you whom the devil could not overcome.