Epistle XXXIX.274    Oxford ed.: Ep. xliii. a.d. 251.

To the People, Concerning Five Schismatic Presbyters of the Faction of Felicissimus.

Argument.—In Like Manner, as in the Epistle But One Before This, Cyprian Told the Clergy, So Now He Tells the People, that Felicissimus is to Be Avoided, Together with Five Presbyters of His Faction, Who Not Only Granted Peace to the Lapsed Without Any Discrimination, But Stirred Up Sedition and Schism Against Himself.

1. Cyprian to the whole people, greeting. Although, dearest brethren, Virtius,275    Some read “Britius” or “Briccius.” a most faithful and upright presbyter, and also Rogatianus and Numidicus, presbyters, confessors, and illustrious by the glory of the divine condescension, and also the deacons, good men and devoted to the ecclesiastical administration in all its duties, with the other ministers, afford you the full attention of their presence, and do not cease to confirm individuals by their assiduous exhortations, and, moreover, to govern and reform the minds of the lapsed by their wholesome counsels, yet, as much as I can, I admonish, and as I can, I visit you with my letters. By my letters I say, dearest brethren; for the malignity and treachery of certain of the presbyters has accomplished this, that I should not be allowed to come to you before Easter-day; since mindful of their conspiracy, and retaining that ancient venom against my episcopate, that is, against your suffrage and God’s judgment, they renew their old attack upon me, and once more begin their sacrilegious machinations with their accustomed craft. And, indeed, of God’s providence, neither by our wish nor desire, nay, although we were forgiving and silent, they have suffered the punishment which they had deserved; so that, not cast out by us, they of their own accord have cast themselves out. They themselves, before their own conscience, have passed sentence on themselves in accordance with your suffrages and the divine. These conspirators and evil men of their own accord have driven themselves from the Church.

2. Now it has appeared whence came the faction of Felicissimus; on what root and by what strength it stood. These men supplied in former times encouragements and exhortations to certain confessors, not to agree with their bishop, not to maintain the ecclesiastical discipline with faith and quietness according to the Lord’s precepts, not to keep the glory of their confession with an uncorrupt and unspotted conversation. And lest it should be too little to have corrupted the minds of certain confessors, and to have wished to arm a portion of our broken fraternity against God’s priesthood, they have now turned their attention with their envenomed deceitfulness to the ruin of the lapsed, to turn away from the healing of their wound the sick and the wounded, and those who, by the misfortune of their fall, are less fit and less sturdy to take stronger counsel; and invite them, by the falsehood of a fallacious peace, to a fatal rashness, leaving off prayers and supplications, whereby, with long and continual satisfaction, the Lord is to be appeased.

3. But I pray you, brethren, watch against the snares of the devil, and, taking care for your own salvation, be diligently on your guard against this death-bearing fallacy. This is another persecution and another temptation. Those five presbyters are none other than the five leaders who were lately associated with the magistrates in an edict, that they might overthrow our faith, that they might turn away the feeble hearts of the brethren to their deadly nets by the prevarication of the truth. Now the same scheme, the same overturning, is again brought about by the five presbyters, linked with Felicissimus, to the destruction of salvation, that God should not be besought, and that he who has denied Christ should not appeal for mercy to the same Christ whom he had denied; that after the fault of the crime, repentance also should be taken away; and that the Lord should not be appeased through bishops and priests, but that the Lord’s priests being forsaken, a new tradition of a sacrilegious appointment should arise, contrary to the evangelical discipline. And although it was once arranged as well by us as by the confessors and the city276    “Clericis urbicis,” scil. the “Roman city clergy.” [A very important example of the concurrent action of the clergy of the metropolis with those of sister churches.] clergy, and moreover by all the bishops appointed either in our province or beyond the sea,277    “Romæ” scil. “across the sea, at Rome.” [The African canons forbade appeals to any bishop beyond seas.] that no novelty should be introduced in respect of the case of the lapsed unless we all assembled into one place, and our counsels being compared, should decide upon a moderate sentence, tempered alike with discipline and with mercy;—against this our counsel they have rebelled, and all priestly authority and power is destroyed by factious conspiracies.

4. What sufferings do I now endure, dearest brethren, that I myself am not able to come to you at the present juncture, that I myself cannot approach you each one, that I myself cannot exhort you according to the teaching of the Lord and of His Gospel! An exile of, now, two years278    [Concerning this exile, see p. 270, supra.] was not sufficient, and a mournful separation from you, from your countenance, and from your sight,—continual grief and lamentation, which, in my loneliness without you, breaks me to pieces with my constant mourning, nor my tears flowing day and night, that there is not even an opportunity for the priest, whom you made with so much love and eagerness, to greet you, nor to be enfolded in your embraces. This greater grief is added to my worn spirit, that in the midst of so much solicitude and necessity I am not able myself to hasten to you, since, by the threats and by the snares of perfidious men, we are anxious that on our coming a greater tumult may not arise there; and so, although the bishop ought to be careful for peace and tranquillity in all things, he himself should seem to have afforded material for sedition, and to have embittered persecution anew. Hence, however, beloved brethren, I not only admonish but counsel you, not rashly to trust to mischievous words, nor to yield an easy consent to deceitful sayings, nor to take darkness for light, night for day, hunger for food, thirst for drink, poison for medicine, death for safety. Let not the age nor the authority deceive you of those who, answering to the ancient wickedness of the two elders;279    [“The elders,” i.e., presbyters. Our author plays upon the word, and compares the corrupt presbyters to their like in the Hebrew Church, from which this name is borrowed. Exod. iii. 16 and passim.] as they attempted to corrupt and violate the chaste Susannah,280    Hist. of Susannah. are thus also attempting, with their adulterous doctrines, to corrupt the chastity of the Church and violate the truth of the Gospel.

5. The Lord cries aloud, saying, “Hearken not unto the words of the false prophets, for the visions of their own hearts deceive them. They speak, but not out of the mouth of the Lord. They say to them that despise the word of the Lord, Ye shall have peace.”281    Jer. xxiii. 16, 17. They are now offering peace who have not peace themselves. They are promising to bring back and recall the lapsed into the Church, who themselves have departed from the Church. There is one God, and Christ is one, and there is one Church, and one chair founded upon the rock by the word of the Lord.282    [See Treatise on Unity. Cyprian considers the universal episcopate as one cathredra, like “Moses’ seat” in the Church of the Hebrews. This one chair he calls “Peter’s chair.”] Another altar cannot be constituted nor a new priesthood be made, except the one altar and the one priesthood. Whosoever gathereth elsewhere, scattereth. Whatsoever is appointed by human madness, so that the divine disposition is violated, is adulterous, is impious, is sacrilegious. Depart far from the contagion of men of this kind, and flee from their words, avoiding them as a cancer and a plague, as the Lord warns you and says, “They are blind leaders of the blind. But if the blind lead the blind, they shall both fall into the ditch.”283    Matt. xv. 14. They intercept your prayers, which you pour forth with us to God day and night, to appease Him with a righteous satisfaction. They intercept your tears with which you wash away the guilt of the sin you have committed; they intercept the peace which you truly and faithfully ask from the mercy of the Lord; and they do not know that it is written, “And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, that hath spoken to turn you away from the Lord your God, shall be put to death.”284    Deut. xiii. 5. Let no one, beloved brethren, make you to err from the ways of the Lord; let no one snatch you, Christians, from the Gospel of Christ; let no one take sons of the Church away from the Church; let them perish alone for themselves who have wished to perish; let them remain outside the Church alone who have departed from the Church; let them alone be without bishops who have rebelled against bishops; let them alone undergo the penalties of their conspiracies who formerly, according to your votes, and now according to God’s judgment, have deserved to undergo the sentence of their own conspiracy and malignity.

6. The Lord warns us in His Gospel, saying, “Ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may establish your own tradition.”285    Mark vii. 9. Let them who reject the commandment of God and endeavour to keep their own tradition be bravely and firmly rejected by you; let one downfall be sufficient for the lapsed; let no one by his fraud hurl down those who wish to rise; let no one cast down more deeply and depress those who are down, on whose behalf we pray that they may be raised up by God’s hand and arm; let no one turn away from all hope of safety those who are half alive and entreating that they may receive their former health; let no one extinguish every light of the way of salvation to those that are wavering in the darkness of their lapse. The apostle instructs us, saying, “If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to the wholesome words of our Lord Jesus Christ and His doctrine, he is lifted up with foolishness: from such withdraw thyself.”286    1 Tim. vi. 3–5. And again he says, “Let no man deceive you with vain words; for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. Be not ye therefore partakers with them.”287    Eph. v. 6, 7. There is no reason that you should be deceived with vain words, and begin to be partakers of their depravity. Depart from such, I entreat you, and acquiesce in our counsels, who daily pour out for you continual prayers to the Lord, who desire that you should be recalled to the Church by the clemency of the Lord, who pray for the fullest peace from God, first for the mother, and then for her children. Join also your petitions and prayers with our prayers and petitions; mingle your tears with our wailings. Avoid the wolves who separate the sheep from the shepherd; avoid the envenomed tongue of the devil, who from the beginning of the world, always deceitful and lying, lies that he may deceive, cajoles that he may injure, promises good that he may give evil, promises life that he may put to death. Now also his words are evident, and his poisons are plain. He promises peace, in order that peace may not possibly be attained; he promises salvation, that he who has sinned may not come to salvation; he promises a Church, when he so contrives that he who believes him may utterly perish apart from the Church.

7. It is now the occasion, dearly beloved brethren, both for you who stand fast to persevere bravely, and to maintain your glorious stability, which you kept in persecution with a continual firmness; and if any of you by the circumvention of the adversary have fallen, that in this second temptation you should faithfully take counsel for your hope and your peace; and in order that the Lord may pardon you, that you should not depart from the priests of the Lord, since it is written, “And the man that will do presumptuously, and will not hearken unto the priest or unto the judge that shall be in those days, even that man shall die.”288    Deut. xvii. 12. Of this persecution this is the latest and final temptation, which itself also, by the Lord’s protection, shall quickly pass away; so that I shall be again presented to you after Easter-day with my colleagues, who, being present, we shall be able as well to arrange as to complete the matters which require to be done according to your judgment and to the general advice of all of us as it has been decided before.289    [The high official tone with which Cyprian upholds his own authority is always balanced by equal zeal for the presbyters and the laity. On which compare Hooker, Polity, book viii. cap. vi. 8.] But if anybody, refusing to repent and to make satisfaction to God, shall yield to the party of Felicissimus and his satellites, and shall join himself to the heretical faction, let him know that he cannot afterwards return to the Church and communicate with the bishops and the people of Christ. I bid you, dearest brethren, ever heartily farewell, and that you plead with me in continual prayer that the mercy of God may be entreated.

EPISTOLA XL. (Erasm., I, 8. Pamel., Rigalt., Baluz., XL. Paris., XXXIX. Oxon., Lips., XLIII.)AD PLEBEM, DE QUINQUE PRESBYTERIS SCHISMATICIS FACTIONIS FELICISSIMI.

ARGUMENTUM.---Quemadmodum epistola ante hanc secunda clero, sic nunc plebi nuntiat Cyprianus vitandum Felicissimum, cum suae factionis quinque 0332B presbyteris, qui tum lapsis sine discrimine pacem dabant, tum seditionem et schisma adversum se concitarent.

I. Cyprianus plebi universae salutem. Quamquam, fratres charissimi, Virtius , fidelissimus atque integerrimus presbyter, item Rogatianus et Numidicus, 0333A presbyteri confessores et gloria divinae dignationis illustres, sed et diaconi, boni viri et ecclesiasticae administrationi per omnia obsequia devoti, cum caeteris ministris plenam vobis praesentiae suae diligentiam praebeant, et exhortationibus assiduis singulos corroborare, sed et lapsorum mentes consiliis salubribus regere et reformare non desinant, tamen ego quantum possum admoneo et quomodo possum visito vos litteris meis. Litteris, inquam, fratres charissimi: hoc enim quorumdam presbyterorum malignitas et perfidia perfecit , ne ad vos ante diem Paschae venire licuisset, dum, conjurationis suae memores, et antiqua illa contra episcopatum meum, immo contra suffragium vestrum et Dei judicium, venena retinentes, instaurant veterem contra nos impugnationem 0333B suam, et sacrilegas machinationes insidiis solitis denuo renovant. Et quidem de Dei providentia, nobis hoc nec volentibus nec optantibus, immo et ignoscentibus et tacentibus, poenas quas meruerant pependerunt, ut a nobis non ejecti ultro se ejicerent, ipsi in se pro conscientia sua sententiam darent, secundum vestra et divina suffragia conjurati et scelerati de Ecclesia sponte se pellerent.

II. Nunc apparuit Felicissimi factio unde venisset, quibus radicibus et quibus viribus staret. Hi fomenta olim quibusdam confessoribus et hortamenta tribuebant ne concordarent cum episcopo suo, ne ecclesiasticam disciplinam cum fide, et quiete juxta praecepta Dominica, continerent, ne confessionis suae 0334A gloriam incorrupta et immaculata conversatione servarent. Ac, ne parum fuisset corrupisse quorumdam confessorum mentes et contra sacerdotium Dei portionem ruptae fraternitatis armare voluisse, nunc se ad lapsorum perniciem venenata sua deceptione verterunt, ut aegros, et saucios et ad capienda fortiora consilia per calamitatem ruinae suae minus idoneos et minus solidos, a medela vulneris sui avocent, et intermissis precibus et orationibus, quibus Dominus longa et continua satisfactione placandus est, ad exitiosam temeritatem mendacio captiosae pacis invitent.

III. Sed oro vos, fratres, vigilate contra insidias diaboli, et, pro vestra salute solliciti, contra mortiferam fallaciam diligentius excubate. Persecutio est haec alia, et alia tentatio. Quinque isti presbyteri nihil aliud 0334B sunt quam quinque primores illi qui edicto nuper magistratibus fuerant copulati ut fidem nostram subruerent, ut gracilia fratrum corda ad lethales laqueos praevaricatione veritatis averterent. Eadem nunc ratio, eadem rursus eversio per quinque presbyteros Felicissimo copulatos ad ruinam salutis inducitur, ut non rogetur Deus, nec qui negavit Christum, eumdem Christum quem negaverat deprecetur, post culpam criminis tollatur et poenitentia, nec per episcopos et sacerdotes Domino satisfiat, sed, relictis Domini sacerdotibus; contra evangelicam disciplinam nova traditio sacrilegae institutionis exsurgat; cumque semel placuerit tam nobis quam confessoribus et clericis urbicis, item universis episcopis 0335A vel in nostra provincia vel trans mare constitutis ut nihil innovetur circa lapsorum causam, nisi omnes in unum convenerimus, et, collatis consiliis, cum disciplina pariter et misericordia temperatam sententiam fixerimus, contra hoc consilium nostrum rebelletur, et omnis sacerdotalis auctoritas et potestas factiosis conspirationibus destruatur.

IV. Quas nunc poenas patior, fratres charissimi, quod ipse ad vos in praesentiarum venire non possum, ipse singulos aggredi, ipse vos, secundum Domini et Evangelii ejus magisterium , cohortari! Non suffecerat exsilium jam biennii et a vultibus atque ab oculis vestris lugubris separatio, dolor jugis et gemitus, qui me solum sine vobis continua lamentatione discruciat, lacrymae diebus ac noctibus profluentes, 0335B quod sacerdoti quem tanto amore et ardore fecistis, necdum vos salutare, necdum complexibus vestris inhaerere contingat. Accessit hic tabescenti animo nostro dolor major, quod in tanta sollicitudine ac necessitate excurrere ad vos ipse non possum, dum, per minas et per insidias perfidorum, cavemus ne advenientibus nobis tumultus illic major oriatur, et, cum paci et tranquillitati episcopus providere in omnibus debeat, ipse materiam seditioni dedisse et persecutionem denuo exacerbasse videatur. Hinc tamen, fratres dilectissimi, hinc admoneo pariter et consulo ne perniciosis vocibus temere credatis, ne fallacibus verbis consensum facile commodetis, ne pro luce tenebras, pro die noctem, pro cibo famem, pro potu 0336A sitim, venenum pro remedio, mortem pro salute sumatis. Ne aetas vos eorum nec auctoritas fallat, qui ad duorum presbyterorum veterem nequitiam (Dan. XIII) respondentes, sicut illi Susannam pudicam corrumpere et violare conati sunt, sic et hi adulterinis doctrinis Ecclesiae pudicitiam corrumpere et veritatem evangelicam violare conantur.

V. Clamat et dicit Dominus: Nolite audire sermones pseudoprophetarum, quoniam visiones cordis eorum frustrantur eos. Loquuntur, sed non ab ore Domini. Dicunt eis qui abjiciunt verbum Domini: Pax erit vobis (Hier. XXIII, 16, 17). Pacem nunc offerunt qui ipsi non habent pacem. In Ecclesiam lapsos reducere et revocare promittunt qui de Ecclesia recesserunt. Deus unus est et Christus unus (Ephes. IV, 5), et 0336B una Ecclesia, et Cathedra una super petram Domini voce fundata. Aliud altare constitui aut sacerdotium novum fieri praeter unum altare et unum sacerdotium non potest. Quisquis alibi collegerit, spargit. Adulterum est, impium est, sacrilegum est quodcumque humano furore instituitur ut dispositio divina violetur. Procul ab hujusmodi hominum contagione discedite, et sermones eorum velut cancer et pestem fugiendo vitate, praemonente Domino et dicente: Caeci sunt duces caecorum. Caecus autem caecum ducens simul in foveam cadent (Matth. XV, 14). Intercedunt precibus vestris, quas nobiscum diebus ac noctibus Deo funditis ut eum justa satisfactione placetis. Intercedunt lacrymis vestris, quibus commissi delicti 0337A crimen abluitis. Intercedunt paci quam vere et fideliter de Domini misericordia postulatis, nec sciunt scriptum esse: Et propheta ille aut somnium somnians ille qui locutus est ut errare te faceret a Domino Deo tuo, interficietur (Deut. XIII, 6). Nemo vos, fratres charissimi, errare a Domini viis faciat: nemo vos Christianos ab Evangelio Christi rapiat: nemo filios Ecclesiae de Ecclesia tollat. Pereant sibi soli qui perire voluerunt: extra Ecclesiam soli remaneant qui de Ecclesia recesserunt. Soli cum episcopis non sint qui contra episcopos rebellarunt. Conjurationis suae poenas soli subeant qui olim, secundum vestra suffragia, nunc secundum Dei judicia, sententiam conjurationis et malignitatis suae subire meruerunt.

VI. Monet nos Dominus in Evangelio suo dicens: 0337B Rejicitis mandatum Dei ut traditionem vestram statuatis (Marc. VII, 9). Qui mandatum Dei rejiciunt et traditionem suam statuere conantur, fortiter a vobis et firmiter respuantur: sufficiat lapsis ruina una. Nemo volentes surgere sua circumventione praecipitet; nemo jacentes, pro quibus nos rogamus ut Dei manu et brachio subleventur, prosternat gravius et deprimat: nemo semianimes et ut salutem suam pristinam recipiant deprecantes, ab omni spe salutis avertat; nemo nutantibus lapsus sui caligine omne itineris salutaris lumen extinguat. Instruit Apostolus dicens: Si quis aliter docet, et non acquiescit sanis verbis Domini nostri Jesu Christi et doctrinae ejus, stupore elatus, discede ab hujusmodi (I Tim. VI, 3-5). Et iterum dicit ipse: Nemo vos decipiat inanibus verbis. Propterea 0337C enim venit ira Dei super filios contumaciae. Nolite ergo esse participes eorum (Ephes. V, 6, 7). Non est quod, decepti inanibus verbis, pravitatis eorum incipiatis esse participes . Discedite a talibus, quaeso vos, et acquiescite consiliis nostris, qui pro 0338A vobis quotidie continuas Domino preces fundimus, qui vos ad Ecclesiam revocari per Domini clementiam cupimus, qui de Deo pacem plenissimam prius matri, tum et filiis ejus oramus. Cum precibus atque orationibus nostris vestras quoque orationes et preces jungite, cum fletibus nostris vestras lacrymas copulate. Vitate lupos, qui, oves a pastore secernunt. Vitate linguam diaboli venenatam, qui, ab initio mundi fallax semper et mendax, mentitur ut fallat, blanditur ut noceat, bona promittit ut malum tribuat, vitam pollicetur ut perimat. Lucent nunc quoque verba ejus, et venena manifesta sunt: pacem pollicetur, ne perveniri possit ad pacem; salutem promittit, ne qui deliquit veniat ad salutem; Ecclesiam spondet, quando id agat ut qui illi credit in totum ab Ecclesia 0338B pereat.

VII. Nunc est, fratres dilectissimi, ut et qui statis fortiter perseveretis, et stabilitatem vestram gloriosam, quam in persecutione tenuistis, perpetua firmitate servetis, et si qui, circumveniente adversario, lapsi estis, in secunda hac tentatione spei et paci vestrae fideliter consulatis; et ut vobis Dominus ignoscat, a sacerdotibus Domini non recedatis, cum scriptum sit: Et homo quicumque fecerit in superbia, ut non exaudiat sacerdotem aut judicem quicumque fuerit in diebus illis, morietur homo ille (Deut. XVII, 12). Persecutionis istius novissima haec est et extrema tentatio, quae et ipsa cito, Domino protegente, transibit, ut repraesenter vobis post Paschae diem cum collegis meis; quibus praesentibus, secundum arbitrium quoque vestrum et 0338C omnium nostrum commune consilium, sicut semel placuit, ea quae agenda sunt disponere pariter et limare poterimus. Si quis autem, poenitentiam agere et Deo satisfacere detrectans, ad Felicissimi et satellitum ejus partes concesserit, et se haereticae factioni conjunxerit, 0339A sciat se postea ad Ecclesiam redire et cum episcopis et plebe Christi communicare non posse. Opto vos, fratres charissimi, semper bene valere et circa Domini misericordiam exorandam continuis nobiscum precibus insistere.