Epistle XX.151    Oxford ed.: Ep. xxi. a.d. 250.

Celerinus to Lucian.

Argument.—Celerinus, on Behalf of His Lapsed Sisters at Rome, Beseeches Peace from the Carthaginian Confessors.

1. Celerinus to Lucian, greeting. In writing this letter to you, my lord and brother, I have been rejoicing and sorrowful,—rejoicing in that I had heard that you had been tried on behalf of the name of our Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour, and had confessed His name in the presence of the magistrates of the world; but sorrowful, in that from the time when I was in your company I have never been able to receive your letters. And now lately a twofold sorrow has fallen upon me; that although you knew that Montanus, our common brother, was coming to me from you out of the dungeon, you did not intimate anything to me concerning your wellbeing, nor about anything that is done in connection with you. This, however, continually happens to the servants of God, especially to those who are appointed for the confession of Christ. For I know that every one looks not now to the things that are of the world, but that he is hoping for a heavenly crown. Moreover, I said that perhaps you had forgotten to write to me. For if from the lowest place I may be called by you yours, or brother, if I should be worthy to hear myself named Celerinus; yet, when I also was in such a purple152    “Florida,” scil. “purpurea,” purpled, that is, with blood. See concluding section of Ep. viii. The Oxford translator has “empurpled.” confession, I remembered my oldest brethren, and I took notice of them in my letters, that their former love was still around me and mine. Yet I beseech, beloved of the Lord, that if, first of all, you are washed in that sacred blood, and have suffered for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ before my letters find you in this world, or should they now reach you, that you would answer them to me. So may He crown you whose name you have confessed. For I believe, that although in this world we do not see each other, yet in the future we shall embrace one another in the presence of Christ. Entreat that I may be worthy, even I, to be crowned along with your company.

2. Know, nevertheless, that I am placed in the midst of a great tribulation; and, as if you were present with me, I remember your former love day and night, God only knows. And therefore I ask that you will grant my desire, and that you will grieve with me at the (spiritual) death of my sister, who in this time of devastation has fallen from Christ; for she has sacrificed and provoked our Lord, as seems manifest to us. And for her deeds I in this day of paschal rejoicing,153    [Written at Easter, like the first Epistle to the Corinthians, as implied in cap. v. 7. See Conybeare and Howson.] weeping day and night, have spent the days in tears, in sackcloth, and ashes, and I am still spending them so to this day, until154    The Oxford edition has a variation here, as follows: “Until our Lord Jesus Christ afford help, and pity be manifested through you, or through those my lords who may have been crowned, from whom you will entreat that these dreadful shipwrecks may be pardoned.” the aid of our Lord Jesus Christ, and affection manifested through you, or through those my lords who have been crowned, from whom you are about to ask it, shall come to the help of so terrible a shipwreck. For I remember your former love, that you will grieve with all the rest for our sisters whom you also knew well—that is, Numeria and Candida,—for whose sin, because they have us as brethren, we ought to keep watch. For I believe that Christ, according to their repentance and the works which they have done towards our banished colleagues who came from you—by whom themselves you will hear of their good works,—that Christ, I say, will have mercy upon them, when you, His martyrs, beseech Him.

3. For I have heard that you have received the ministry of the purpled ones. Oh, happy are you, even sleeping on the ground, to obtain your wishes which you have always desired! You have desired to be sent into prison for His name’s sake, which now has come to pass; as it is written, “The Lord grant thee according to thine own heart;”155    Ps. xx. 4. and now made a priest of God over them, and the same their minister has acknowledged it.156    This seems altogether unintelligible: the original is probably corrupt. [It seems to relate to the sort of priesthood which was conceded to all martyrs, in view of (Rev. i. 6 and v. 10) the message sent by the angel “to His servants,” and by their servant or minister, John.] I ask, therefore my lord, and I entreat by our Lord Jesus Christ, that you will refer the case to the rest of your colleagues, your brethren, my lords, and ask from them, that whichever of you is first crowned, should remit such a great sin to those our sisters, Numeria and Candida. For this latter I have always called Etecusa157    Dodwell conjectures this name to be from ἀτυχοῦσα (unhappy) or ἀεκοῦσα (unwilling), and applies it to Candida.—God is my witness,—because she gave gifts for herself that she might not sacrifice; but she appears only to have ascended to the Tria Fata,158    A spot in the Roman Forum which must of necessity be passed by in the ascent to the Capitol. It would appear that Candida therefore repented of her purpose of sacrificing, when she was actually on her way to effect it. and thence to have descended. I know, therefore, that she has not sacrificed. Their cause having been lately heard, the chief rulers159    [i.e., the clergy administering jurisdiction.] commanded them in the meantime to remain as they are, until a bishop should be appointed.160    i.e., in the room of Fabian. But, as far as possible, by your holy prayers and petitions, in which we trust, since you are friends as well as witnesses of Christ, (we pray) that you would be indulgent in all these matters.

4. I entreat, therefore, beloved lord Lucian, be mindful of me, and acquiesce in my petition; so may Christ grant you that sacred crown which he has given you not only in confession but also in holiness, in which you have always walked and have always been an example to the saints as well as a witness, that you will relate to all my lords, your brethren the confessors, all about this matter, that they may receive help from you. For this, my lord and brother, you ought to know, that it is not I alone who ask this on their behalf, but also Statius and Severianus, and all the confessors who have come thence hither from you; to whom these very sisters went down to the harbour161    [i e., to Ostia or Portus]. and took them up into the city, and they have ministered to sixty-five, and even to this day have tended them in all things. For all are with them. But I ought not to burden that sacred heart of yours any more, since I know that you will labour with a ready will. Macharius, with his sisters Cornelia and Emerita, salute you, rejoicing in your sanguinary confession, as well as in that of all the brethren, and Saturninus, who himself also wrestled with the devil, who also bravely confessed the name of Christ, who moreover, under the torture of the grappling claws, bravely confessed, and who also strongly begs and entreats this.  Your brethren Calphurnius and Maria, and all the holy brethren, salute you. For you ought to know this too, that I have written also to my lords your brethren letters, which I request that you will deign to read to them.

EPISTOLA XX. (Pamel., XXI. Rigalt, Baluz., Paris., XX. Oxon., Lips., XXI.)CELERINI AD LUCIANUM.

ARGUMENTUM.---Celerinus pro sororibus suis Romae lapsis, pacem a confessoribus Carthaginiensibus petit.

I. Celerinus Luciano salutem. Haec cum tibi scriberem, domine frater, gaudens et tristis eram: gaudens eo quod audierim te pro nomine Domini nostri Jesu Christi salvatoris nostri tantum et illius nomen penes magistratus hujus mundi confessum, tristis autem in eo quod ab eo ex quo te deduxi, numquam 0274C litteras tuas accipere potui. Et nunc modo duplex mihi tristitia incubuit, quod, cum Montanum fratrem nostrum communem abs te de carcere ad me esse 0275A venturum sciebas, de salute tua vel quid penes te agatur mihi non significaveris. Sed hoc solet contingere servis Dei, maxime eis qui in confessione Christi sunt constituti. Scio enim quoniam unusquisque jam quae sunt saeculi non attendit, quoniam coronam coelestem sperat. Ego enim dixi fortasse oblitum te esse mihi scribere. Nam, ut tibi quoque de infimo tuus vel frater dicar, si fuero dignus Celerinus audire, tamen cum essem et ego in tam florida confessione, fratres meos vetustissimos memorabam, et eos litteris meis memoravi charitatem pristinam eorum penes me meosque nunc esse. Peto tamen, charissime, a Domino ut, si ante cruore illo sancto laveris, si prius passus fueris pro nomine Domini nostri Jesu Christi quam litterae meae te in 0275B hoc mundo apprehendant, vel nunc si apprehenderint, mihi ad haec rescribas. Sic coronet te cujus nomen confessus es. Credo enim quoniam, etsi in hoc mundo nos non viderimus, in futuro tamen nos coram Christo complectemur. Pete ut sim dignus et ego coronari cum numero vestro.

0276A II. In magna tamen tribulatione me constitutum scias , et, ac si sis mecum praesens, sic charitatis pristinae reminiscor die ac nocte. Deus solus scit. Et ideo peto ut annuas desiderio meo et mecum doleas in morte sororis meae, quae cecidit in hac vastatione a Christo. Sacrificavit enim et exacerbavit Dominum nostrum. Quod nobis manifestum videtur. Pro cujus factis ego in hac die laetitiae Paschae flens die ac nocte, in cilicio et cinere lacrymabundus dies exegi et exigo usque in hodiernum, donec auxilium Domini nostri Jesu Christi [subveniat] et pietas per te vel per eos dominos meos qui coronati fuerint, a quibus postulaturus es ut veniam habeant nefanda naufragia . Memoratus sum enim charitatis tuae pristinae, quod cum omnibus doleas 0276B pro sororibus nostris, quas et tu bene nosti, id est Numeria et Candida; pro quarum peccato, quia nos fratres habent, debemus excubare. Credo enim Christum secundum earum poenitentiam et opera, quae penes collegas nostros fecerunt extorres, qui a vobis venerunt, a quibus ipsis de operibus eorum 0277A audies, jam Christum eis, vobis martyribus suis petentibus, indulturum.

III. Audivi enim te floridiorum ministerium percepisse. O te felicem, suscipere vota tua quae semper desiderasti vel in terra dormiens! Optasti pro nomine illius in carcerem mitti; quod nunc tibi contigit, sicut scriptum est: Det tibi Dominus secundum cor tuum (Psal. XIX, 5). Et nunc super ipsos factus antistes Dei recognovit idem minister . Rogo itaque, domine, et peto per Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum ut caeteris collegis tuis, fratribus tuis, meis dominis referas, et ab eis petas ut quicumque prior vestrum coronatus fuerit, istis sororibus nostris Numeriae et Candidae tale peccatum remittant. Nam hanc ipsam Etecusam semper appellavi, testis 0277B est nobis Deus, quia pro se dona numeravit ne 0278A sacrificaret; sed tantum ascendisse videtur usque ad Tria Fata , et inde descendisse. Hanc ergo non sacrificasse ego scio. Quarum jam causa audita, praeceperunt eas praepositi tantisper sic esse donec episcopus constituatur. Sed quatenus per vestras sanctas orationes et petitiones, in quas nos fidimus, quoniam estis amici sed et testes Christi, quod omnia indulgeatis.

IV. Peto ergo, domine charissime Luciane, memor sis mei, et petitioni meae annuas. Sic Christus coronam illam sanctam, quam tibi non tantum in confessione sed et in sanctimonio tradidit in qua semper cucurristi, exemplum sanctorum semper et testis fuisti, ut omnibus dominis meis, fratribus tuis confessoribus, referas de hoc facto, ut a vobis auxilium 0278B recipiant. Nam hoc, domine frater, scire debes, me 0279A non solum hoc pro eis petere, sed et Statium et Severianum et omnes confessores qui inde huc a vobis venerunt, ad quos ipsae in portum descenderunt, et in urbem levaverunt, quod sexaginta quinque ministraverunt et usque in hodiernum in omnibus foverunt. Sunt enim penes illas omnes. Plus autem gravare cor illud sanctum tuum non debui, cum sciam te prona voluntate operari. Salutant te Macharius cum sororibus suis Cornelia et Emerita, quae laetantur de confessione tua florida, sed et omnium fratrum, et Saturninus, qui et ipse luctatus est cum diabolo, qui et Christi nomen est fortiter confessus , qui et ibi in poena ungularum fortiter est confessus, qui et hoc nimis rogat et petit. Salutant te fratres tui Calphurnius et Maria et omnes sancti fratres. Nam et hoc scire 0279B debes, me et dominis meis fratribus tuis [litteras] scripsisse, quas peto illis eas legere digneris.