Treatises & Letters 12 part 3/21

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.

Yet we exhort you, by our common faith, by the true and simple charity of our heart toward you, that you who have conquered the adversary in this first encounter may hold your glory with strong and persevering virtue. We are still in the world, still set in the battle-line; daily we contend for our life. Effort must be made, that after these beginnings increase too may be attained, and that there may be consummated in you what you have already begun to be by happy first essays. It is a small thing to have been able to attain something; it is more that, having attained, you can preserve it — just as faith itself and the saving birth give life not by being received but by being kept. Nor is it the attaining at once, but the consummation, that keeps a man for God. The Lord taught this by his own teaching, saying:

'Behold, you have been made whole; sin no more, lest something worse befall you.' Consider that he says this also to his confessor: Behold, you have been made a confessor; sin no more, lest something worse befall you. Solomon, in short, and Saul, and many others, so long as they did not walk in the ways of the Lord, could not keep the grace given to them: when the Lord's discipline departed from them, the grace too departed.

We must persevere in the strait and narrow path of praise and glory; and since rest and humility and the tranquillity of good morals befit all Christians, according to the voice of God which regards no other than him who is humble and quiet and trembles at his words, then much more ought confessors to observe and fulfil this, who have become an example to the rest of the brethren, to whose conduct the life and acts of all ought to be summoned. For just as the Jews were alienated from God, on account of whom the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles, so on the contrary they are dear to God through whose discipline the name of the Lord is proclaimed with praiseworthy testimony, as it is written, the Lord forewarning and saying:

'Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven.' And the Apostle Paul says: 'Shine as luminaries in the world.' And Peter likewise exhorts: 'As guests and pilgrims,' he says, 'abstain from carnal desires, which war against the soul, having good conduct among the Gentiles, that, while they speak against you as evildoers, beholding your good works they may magnify the Lord.' And this indeed the greater part of you, to my joy, takes care to do, and, made better by the very honour of confession, guards and preserves its glory by calm and good morals.

But I hear that certain ones are infecting your number and, by their depraved conduct, destroying the praise of your distinguished name — whom you yourselves also, as lovers and guardians of your praise, ought to rebuke and restrain and amend. For with how great a disgrace of your name is sin committed, when one tarries drunken and wanton, another returns to that fatherland from which he was made an exile, so that, being caught, he may perish no longer as a Christian but as a criminal? I hear that some are puffed up and swollen, though it is written: 'Be not high-minded, but fear. For if the Lord spared not the natural branches, take heed lest perhaps he spare not you either.'

Our Lord was led as a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before its shearer is dumb, so he opened not his mouth. 'I am not contumacious,' he says, 'nor do I gainsay. I have set my back to the scourges and my cheeks to the blows; but my face I have not turned away from the foulness of spittings.' And does anyone, now living through him and in him, dare to exalt himself and be proud, unmindful both of the deeds which he wrought and of the commandments which he handed down to us, whether by himself or by his apostles? But if the servant is not greater than his lord, let those who follow the Lord, humble and quiet and silent, imitate his footsteps; since whoever shall be lesser, let him become loftier, the Lord saying: 'He who shall be least among you, he shall be great.'

Then again, how execrable ought that to seem to you which, with the deepest groaning and grief of our soul, we have learned: that there are not lacking those who defile the temples of God — and his members, sanctified and illustrated after confession — with their base and infamous concubinage, joining themselves promiscuously in beds with women. For even if the violation of their conscience be absent, this very thing is a great crime, that from their example, with scandal, examples arise for the ruin of others. Contentions also and rivalries ought to be none among us, since the Lord has bequeathed to us his peace, and it is written: 'You shall love your neighbour as yourself.' 'But if you bite and accuse one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another.' From revilings also and curses, I beseech you, abstain:

because neither shall the railers possess the kingdom of God, and the tongue which has confessed Christ must be kept whole and pure with its honour. For he who speaks things peaceable and good and just, according to the precept of Christ, daily confesses Christ. We had renounced the world when we were baptized; but now in truth we renounce the world when, tried and proved by God, leaving all our things, we have followed the Lord, and stand and live in faith and in fear of him.

Let us strengthen ourselves with mutual exhortations, and advance more and more in the Lord, so that, when in his mercy he shall have made the peace which he promises to make, we may return to the Church new and almost transformed, and that both our brethren and the Gentiles may receive us, corrected in all things and reformed for the better; and that those who had admired us before in our virtues may now admire the discipline in our morals. I desire that you, most beloved brother, may ever fare well. Letter XIV. Cyprian to the presbyters and deacons, his brethren, greeting. I had indeed wished, most beloved brethren, to salute our whole clergy, sound and unharmed, with my letters.

But since the hostile storm which has cast down our people in the greatest part has hence also added a heap to our griefs, in that it has struck even a portion of the clergy with its overthrow, we pray the Lord that you, whom we have known to stand both in faith and in virtue, we may also salute as safe henceforth through the divine mercy. And although the cause might compel that I myself ought to hasten and come to you — first by my eager longing and desire for you, which thing is supreme in my wishes, and then that those matters which the common good demands concerning the governance of the Church we might handle together, and, examined by the counsel of very many, polish:

yet it seemed better still for the meantime to keep to concealment and quiet, out of regard for other advantages which pertain to the peace and salvation of us all, the account of which will be rendered to you by Tertullus, our most beloved brother — who, out of his other care which he bestows lavishly upon divine works, was also the author of this counsel, that I should remain cautious and moderate, and not rashly commit myself to public view, and especially to that place where I had so often been demanded and sought. Relying therefore both on your love and on your religious devotion, which I know well enough, by these letters I both exhort and charge you, that you, whose presence there is least invidious and not so very dangerous, may discharge my office in carrying out those things which religious administration demands.

Let care of the poor be maintained meanwhile, as much as it can be and in whatever way it can — yet of those who, standing with unshaken faith, have not forsaken the flock of Christ — that to these the means for enduring want may be supplied through your diligence, lest that which the storm did not do toward the faithful, necessity may do toward those who are in distress. To the glorious confessors also let a more abundant care be imparted.

And although I know that very many of these have been received by the affection and love of the brethren, yet if there are any who lack either clothing or maintenance, as I had also written to you before when they were still set in prison, let whatever necessary things be supplied to them — only that they may learn from you and be instructed and taught what ecclesiastical discipline demands according to the teaching of the Scriptures: that they ought to be humble and modest and quiet, that they may preserve the honour of their name, that those who have been glorious in voice may be glorious also in morals, that they may make themselves worthy; so that, deserving the Lord in all things, they may attain to the heavenly crown by the consummation of their praise. For more remains than what seems to have been transacted, since it is written:

'Before death praise no man,' and again: 'Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life,' and the Lord also says: 'He who shall endure unto the end, he shall be saved.' Let them imitate the Lord, who at the very time of his passion was not prouder but humbler. For then he washed the feet of his disciples, saying: 'If I have washed your feet, who am Master and Lord, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that as I have done, you also should do to others.' Likewise let them follow the lessons of the apostle Paul, who, after prison often repeated, after scourgings, after wild beasts, persevered in all things meek and humble, nor after the third heaven and paradise did he insolently assume anything to himself, saying:

'Neither did we eat any man's bread for nought, but in labour and toil working night and day, that we might not be burdensome to any of you.' These several things, I beg you, instil into our brethren. And because he who shall have humbled himself shall be exalted, now is the time that they should the more fear the lurking adversary, who the more attacks each stronger one, and, made fiercer by this very thing whereby he was conquered, strives to overcome the one who overcomes him. The Lord will bring it about that I too may be able to see them, and by a salutary exhortation to compose their minds to the preserving of their glory.

For I grieve when I hear that certain ones run about wickedly and insolently, give themselves to follies or to discords, defile the members of Christ — and members that have already confessed Christ — by unlawful concubinage, and cannot be governed by deacons or presbyters, but act so that, through the depraved and evil morals of a few, the honourable glory of many and good confessors is stained: whom they ought to fear, lest, condemned by their testimony and judgment, they be deprived of their fellowship. For he is at last an illustrious and true confessor of whom afterward the Church does not blush but glories.

But to that which our fellow-presbyters Donatus and Fortunatus and Novatus and Gordius wrote to me, I could write back nothing by myself alone, since from the very beginning of my episcopate I determined to do nothing by my own private opinion without your counsel and without the consent of the people. But when by God's grace I shall have come to you, then concerning those matters which have either been done or are to be done, as mutual honour demands, we shall consult in common. I desire that you, most beloved and most longed-for brethren, may ever fare well and be mindful of me. Greet much in my name the brotherhood, if any is with you, and admonish them to be mindful of us. Farewell. Letter XV. Cyprian to the martyrs and confessors, his most beloved brethren, greeting.

The solicitude of our place and the fear of God compels us, most valiant and most blessed martyrs, to admonish you by our letters that, by those by whom the faith of the Lord is so devotedly and bravely kept, the law and discipline of the Lord may also be preserved. For while all the soldiers of Christ ought to keep the precepts of their Emperor, then it the more befits you to obey his precepts, who have become an example to the rest both of virtue and of the fear of God.

And I had indeed believed that the presbyters and deacons who are present there were admonishing and instructing you most fully concerning the law of the Gospel, as has always been done in times past under our predecessors, so that the deacons, going to and fro to the prison, might govern the desires of the martyrs by their counsels and by the precepts of the Scriptures.

But now, with the greatest grief of soul, I learn that not only are the divine precepts not suggested there, but rather are still hindered; so that those things which by you yourselves are done both cautiously toward God and honourably toward God's priest, are undone by certain presbyters, who, considering neither the fear of God nor the honour of the bishop, when you have directed letters to me in which you asked that your desires be examined and that peace be given to certain of the lapsed when, the persecution ended, we should begin to assemble together with the clergy and to be regathered — there, contrary to the law of the Gospel, contrary also to your honourable petition, before penance has been performed, before confession of the most grievous and extreme offence has been made, before the hand has been laid on them in penance by the bishop and clergy, dare to offer on their behalf and to give the Eucharist — that is, to profane the holy body of the Lord — though it is written:

'Whoever shall eat the bread or drink the cup of the Lord unworthily shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.' And to the lapsed indeed pardon can be granted in this matter. Who that is dead would not hasten to be made alive? Who would not make haste to come to his own salvation? But it is the part of those set over them to keep the precept, and to instruct those who hasten or are ignorant, lest those who ought to be shepherds of the sheep become butchers. For to grant those things which turn to ruin is to deceive: nor is the lapsed one so raised up, but rather, by offence against God, is driven the more to his fall. Let them therefore learn even from you, when they ought to have taught. Let them reserve your petitions and desires for the bishop; let them await a ripe and peaceful time for granting peace to you who ask.

It is fitting first that the mother should receive peace from the Lord, then, according to your desires, that the peace of the children be considered.

And since I hear, most valiant and most beloved brethren, that you are pressed by the impudence of certain ones and that your modesty suffers violence, I beg you with what prayers I can, that, mindful of the Gospel and considering what and how great things your predecessors the martyrs granted in time past, how careful they were in all things, you also carefully and cautiously weigh the desires of petitioners; that, as friends of the Lord and as those who shall afterward judge with him, you may inspect both the act and the works and the merits of each, and consider also the very kinds and qualities of their offences, lest, if anything be promised by you or done by us abruptly and unworthily, our Church should begin to blush even among the Gentiles themselves.

For we are visited and chastised frequently, and admonished that the Lord's commandments may remain uncorrupted and inviolate. And this indeed I know does not cease there among you either, in that the divine censure instructs very many of you also unto the discipline of the Church. But all this can come to pass, if you moderate with religious consideration those things which are asked of you, discerning and restraining those who, accepting persons in your benefits, either show favour or hunt for the markets of unlawful trafficking. Concerning this I have made letters both to the clergy and to the people, both of which I have charged to be read to you. But this also you ought to bring to your diligence and to amend: that you designate by name those to whom you desire peace to be given.

For I hear that certificates are so made for some that it is said: 'Let so-and-so be admitted to communion together with his own' — which was never at all done by the martyrs — so that an uncertain and blind petition may afterward heap up odium for us. For it extends widely when it is said 'so-and-so with his own,' and there can be offered to us even twenty and thirty and more who would be asserted to be the relatives and connections and freedmen and household of the one who received the certificate. And therefore I ask that you designate by name in the certificate those whom you yourselves see, whom you know, whose penance you behold to be next to satisfaction, and so direct to us letters conformable to faith and to discipline. I desire that we, most valiant and most beloved brethren, may ever fare well in the Lord and be mindful of us. Farewell.

Letter XVI. Cyprian to the presbyters and deacons, his brethren, greeting. Long have I held my patience, most beloved brethren, as if our modest silence might avail toward peace. But since the immoderate and reckless presumption of certain ones, by its rashness, strives to disturb both the honour of the martyrs and the modesty of the confessors and the tranquillity of the whole people, it is no longer fitting to keep silence, lest by too much taciturnity we proceed to the peril both of the people and of ourselves alike.

For what peril ought we not to fear from the offence of the Lord, when some of the presbyters, mindful neither of the Gospel nor of their own place, but considering neither the future judgment of the Lord nor the bishop now set over them — a thing which was never at all done under our predecessors — claim everything to themselves with contumely and contempt of the one set over them? And would that they claimed everything to themselves without the salvation of our brethren being prostrated! I could disguise and bear the affronts to our episcopate, as I have always disguised and endured them. But there is now no room for disguising, when our brotherhood is being deceived by some of you, who, while without reason they desire to be applauded in restoring salvation, rather do harm to the lapsed.

For that the gravest of sins is the one which persecution compelled to be committed is known even by those very men who committed it, since our Lord and Judge has said: 'Whoever shall confess me before men, I also will confess him before my Father who is in heaven; but whoever shall deny me, I also will deny him'; and again He said: 'All sins shall be remitted to the sons of men, and blasphemies; but whoever shall blaspheme against the Holy Spirit hath not remission, but is guilty of an eternal sin.' Likewise the blessed Apostle has said: 'You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of devils; you cannot partake of the table of the Lord and of the table of devils.' Whoever withholds these things from our brethren deceives the wretched:

so that those who are able—by doing true penance to God as to a Father and a merciful one—to make satisfaction now by their prayers and works, are led astray, that they may perish the more, and that those who could raise themselves up may fall the deeper. For whereas in lesser sins sinners do penance for a fitting time and, according to the order of discipline, come to confession (exomologesis), and through the laying-on of hands of the bishop and clergy receive the right of communion, now in this raw season, while persecution still continues, the peace of the Church herself not yet restored, they are admitted to communion, and the offering is made in their name; and though penance has not yet been performed, nor confession made, nor hands laid upon them by the bishop and clergy, the Eucharist is given to them, although it is written:

'Whoever shall eat the bread or drink the cup of the Lord unworthily shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.' But now those who held the law of Scripture too little are not the guilty ones; the guilty rather will be those who preside and do not bring these matters to the brethren's notice, so that, instructed by their overseers, they may do all things with the fear of God and with the observance given and prescribed by Him.

Next, they expose the blessed martyrs to odium and set the glorious servants of God at variance with the priest of God: so that, whereas those martyrs, mindful of our office, have directed letters to me and have asked that their requests be then examined and peace be granted when our Mother herself shall first have received peace from the mercy of the Lord, and when the divine protection shall have brought us back to His Church—these men, setting aside the honor which the blessed martyrs together with the confessors preserve for us, despising the Lord's law and the observance which those same martyrs and confessors charge to be kept, before the dread of persecution is extinguished, before our return, before the very passing-away of the martyrs is well nigh complete, would have them communicate with the lapsed and make the offering and deliver the Eucharist—whereas, even if the martyrs, through the heat of glory, contemplating Scripture too little, desired anything beyond the Lord's law, they ought to be admonished by the presbyters and deacons who counsel them, as has always been done in time past.

And so the divine censure does not cease to chasten us, neither by night nor by day. For besides the visions of the night, by day also the innocent age of children is filled among us with the Holy Spirit, who in ecstasy see with their eyes and hear and speak those things by which the Lord deigns to warn and instruct us. And you shall hear all things when the Lord, who bade me withdraw, shall have brought me back to you.

Meanwhile certain rash and incautious and swollen men among you, who do not consider man nor fear God, knowing that if they persist further in the same course I shall use that admonition which the Lord bids me use—namely, that meanwhile they be forbidden to make the offering, being about to plead their cause both before us and before the confessors themselves and before the whole people, when, the Lord permitting, we shall have begun to be gathered again into the bosom of Mother Church. Concerning this I have written letters both to the martyrs and confessors and to the people, which I have charged to be read to you, both of them. I wish you, dearest and most longed-for brethren, ever to fare well in the Lord and to remember me. Farewell. CYPRIAN TO THE BRETHREN ESTABLISHED AMONG THE LAITY, GREETING.

That I groan and grieve over the ruin of our brethren, you know from me, dearest brethren—I who myself together with you groan alike for each one and grieve, and suffer and feel what the blessed Apostle says: 'Who is weak,' he says, 'and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I am not set on fire?' And again he laid it down in his Epistle, saying: 'If one member suffers, the other members suffer with it; and if one member rejoices, the other members rejoice with it.' I suffer together with, I grieve together with our brethren who, having lapsed and been laid low by the assault of persecution, dragging away with them a part of our own bowels, have inflicted on us an equal pain by their wounds—to whom the divine mercy is mighty to give healing.