Epistle LIII.403    Oxford ed.: Ep. lvii.

To Cornelius, Concerning Granting Peace to the Lapsed.

Argument.—Cyprian Announces This Decree of the Bishops in the Name of the Whole Synod to Father Cornelius; And Therefore This Letter is Not So Much the Letter of Cyprian Himself, as that of the Entire African Synod.404    As the African bishops had previously decided in a certain council, that the lapsed, except after long penitence, should not be received to peace, unless perchance peril of sickness was urgent; now on the appearance of a new persecution they decided that peace was to be granted to all those who had repented, so that they might be the more courageous for the contest of suffering.

Cyprian, Liberalis, Caldonius, Nicomedes, Cæcilius, Junius, Marrutius, Felix, Successus, Faustinus, Fortunatus, Victor, Saturninus, another Saturninus, Rogatianus, Tertullus, Lucianus, Eutyches, Amplus, Sattius, Secundinus, another Saturninus, Aurelius, Priscus, Herculanus, Victoricus, Quintus, Honoratus, Montanus, Hortensianus, Verianus, Iambus, Donatus, Pompeius, Polycarpus, Demetrius, another Donatus, Privatianus, another Fortunatus, Rogatus and Monulus, to Cornelius their brother,405    [“To Cornelius their brother.” Now compare this with the abject conduct of Latin bishops at the late council of the Vatican. See Döllinger (On Unity, etc.), Janus, and Quirinus. greeting.406    The superscription in other texts is as follows: “Cyprian, Liberalis, Caldonius, Nicomedes, Cæcilius, Junius, Marrutius, Felix, Successus, Faustinus, Fortunatus, Victor, Saturninus, another Saturninus, Rogatian, Tertullus, Lucianus, Sattius, Secundinus, another Saturninus, Eutyches, Amplus, another Saturninus, Aurelius, Priscus, Herculaneus, Victoricus, Quintus, Honoratus, Manthaneus, Hortensianus, Verianus, Iambus, Donatus, Pomponius, Polycarp, Demetrius, another Donatus, Privatianus, another Fortunatus, Rogatus and Munnulus, to Cornelius their brother, greeting.”

1. We had indeed decided some time ago, dearest brother, having mutually taken counsel one with another, that they who, in the fierceness of persecution, had been overthrown by the adversary, and had lapsed, and had polluted themselves with unlawful sacrifices, should undergo a long and full repentance; and if the risk of sickness should be urgent, should receive peace on the very point of death. For it was not right, neither did the love of the Father nor divine mercy allow, that the Church should be closed to those that knock, or the help of the hope of salvation be denied to those who mourn and entreat, so that when they pass from this world, they should be dismissed to their Lord without communion and peace; since He Himself who gave the law, that things which were bound on earth should also be bound in heaven, allowed, moreover, that things might be loosed there which were here first loosed in the Church. But now, when we see that the day of another trouble is again beginning to draw near, and are admonished by frequent and repeated intimations that we should be prepared and armed for the struggle which the enemy announces to us, that we should also prepare the people committed to us by divine condescension, by our exhortations, and gather together from all parts all the soldiers of Christ who desire arms, and are anxious for the battle within the Lord’s camp: under the compulsion of this necessity, we have decided that peace is to be given to those who have not withdrawn from the Church of the Lord, but have not ceased from the first day of their lapse to repent, and to lament, and to beseech the Lord; and we have decided that they ought to be armed and equipped for the battle which is at hand.

2. For we must comply with fitting intimations and admonitions, that the sheep may not be deserted in danger by the shepherds, but that the whole flock may be gathered together into one place, and the Lord’s army may be arrived for the contest of the heavenly warfare. For the repentance of the mourners was reasonably prolonged for a more protracted time, help only being afforded to the sick in their departure, so long as peace and tranquillity prevailed, which permitted the long postponement of the tears of the mourners, and late assistance in sickness to the dying. But now indeed peace is necessary, not for the sick, but for the strong; nor is communion to be granted by us to the dying, but to the living, that we may not leave those whom we stir up and exhort to the battle unarmed and naked, but may fortify them with the protection of Christ’s body and blood. And, as the Eucharist is appointed for this very purpose that it may be a safeguard to the receivers, it is needful that we may arm those whom we wish to be safe against the adversary with the protection of the Lord’s abundance. For how do we teach or provoke them to shed their blood in confession of His name, if we deny to those who are about to enter on the warfare the blood of Christ? Or how do we make them fit for the cup of martyrdom, if we do not first admit them to drink, in the Church, the cup of the Lord407    [Compare Luke xxii. 15, 42 and Ps. cxvi. 13.] by the right of communion?

3. We should make a difference, dearest brother, between those who either have apostatized, and, having returned to the world which they have renounced, are living heathenish lives, or, having become deserters to the heretics, are daily taking up parricidal arms against the Church; and those who do not depart from the Church’s threshold, and, constantly and sorrowfully imploring divine and paternal consolation, profess that they are now prepared for the battle, and ready to stand and fight bravely for the name of their Lord and for their own salvation. In these times we grant peace, not to those who sleep, but to those who watch. We grant peace, not amid indulgences, but amid arms. We grant peace, not for rest, but for the field of battle. If, according to what we hear, and desire, and believe of them, they shall stand bravely, and shall overthrow the adversary with us in the encounter, we shall not repent of having granted peace to men so brave. Yea, it is the great honour and glory of our episcopate to have granted peace to martyrs, so that we, as priests, who daily celebrate the sacrifices of God, may prepare offerings and victims for God. But if—which may the Lord avert from our brethren—any one of the lapsed should deceive, seeking peace by guile, and at the time of the impending struggle receiving peace without any purpose of doing battle, he betrays and deceives himself, hiding one thing in his heart and pronouncing another with his voice. We, so far as it is allowed to us to see and to judge, look upon the face of each one; we are not able to scrutinize the heart and to inspect the mind. Concerning these the Discerner and Searcher of hidden things judges, and He will quickly come and judge of the secrets and hidden things of the heart. But the evil ought not to stand in the way of the good, but rather the evil ought to be assisted by the good. Neither is peace, therefore, to be denied to those who are about to endure martyrdom, because there are some who will refuse it, since for this purpose peace should be granted to all who are about to enter upon the warfare, that through our ignorance he may not be the first one to be passed over, who in the struggle is to be crowned.

4. Nor let any one say, “that he who accepts martyrdom is baptized in his own blood, and peace is not necessary to him from the bishop, since he is about to have the peace of his own glory, and about to receive a greater reward from the condescension of the Lord.” First of all, he cannot be fitted for martyrdom who is not armed for the contest by the Church; and his spirit is deficient which the Eucharist received does not raise and stimulate. For the Lord says in His Gospel: “But when they deliver you up, 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 which speaketh in you.”408    Matt. x. 19, 20. Now, since He says that the Spirit of the Father speaks in those who are delivered up and set in the confession of His name, how can he be found prepared or fit for that confession who has not first, in the reception of peace, received the Spirit of the Father, who, giving strength to His servants, Himself speaks and confesses in us? Then, besides—if, having forsaken everything that he has, a man shall flee, and dwelling in hiding-places and in solitude, shall fall by chance among thieves, or shall die in fever and in weakness, will it not be charged upon us that so good a soldier, who has forsaken all that he hath, and contemning his house, and his parents, and his children, has preferred to follow his Lord, dies without peace and without communion? Will not either inactive negligence or cruel hardness be ascribed to us in the day of judgment, that, pastors though we are, we have neither been willing to take care of the sheep trusted and committed to us in peace, nor to arm them in battle? Would not the charge be brought against us by the Lord, which by His prophet He utters and says?  “Behold, ye consume the milk, and ye clothe you with the wool, and ye kill them that are fed; but ye feed not my flock. The weak have ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed that which was sick, neither have ye comforted that which was broken, neither have ye brought again that which strayed, neither have ye sought that which was lost, and that which was strong ye wore out with labour. And my sheep were scattered, because there were no shepherds: and they became meat to all the beasts of the field; and there was none who sought after them, nor brought them back. Therefore thus saith the Lord, Behold, I am against the shepherds; and I will require my sheep of their hand, and cause them to cease from feeding my sheep; neither shall they feed them any more: and I will deliver my sheep from their mouth, and I will feed them with judgment.”409    Ezek. xxxiv. 3–6, 10–16.

5. Lest, then, the sheep committed to us by the Lord be demanded back from our mouth, wherewith we deny peace, wherewith we oppose to them rather the severity of human cruelty than the benignity of divine and paternal love; we have determined410    [“We have determined.” No reference to any revising power in the Bishop of Rome, who is counselled from first to last as a brother, and told what he should do.] by the suggestion of the Holy Spirit and the admonition of the Lord, conveyed by many and manifest visions, because the enemy is foretold and shown to be at hand, to gather within the camp the soldiers of Christ, to examine the cases of each one, and to grant peace to the lapsed, yea, rather to furnish arms to those who are about to fight. And this, we trust, will please you in contemplation of the paternal mercy. But if there be any (one) of our colleagues who, now that the contest is urgent, thinks that peace should not be granted to our brethren and sisters, he shall give an account to the Lord in the day of judgment, either of his grievous rigour or of his inhuman hardness. We, as befitted our faith and charity and solicitude, have laid before you what was in our own mind, namely, that the day of contest has approached, that a violent enemy will soon rise up against us, that a struggle is coming on, not such as it has been, but much more serious and fierce. This is frequently shown to us from above; concerning this we are often admonished by the providence and mercy of the Lord, of whose help and love we who trust in Him may be secure, because He who in peace foretells to His soldiers that the battle will come, will give to them when they are warring victory in the encounter. We bid you, dearest brother, ever heartily farewell.

EPISTOLA LIV. EPISTOLA SYNODICA S. CYPRIANI, CARTHAGINENSIS EPISCOPI, ET COLLEGARUM AD S. CORNELIUM PAPAM DE LAPSIS.

0851B

ARGUMENTUM.---Persecutionem imminentem crebris ostensionibus a Deo praemonstrari: ideoque se iis, qui poenitentiam agere non destiterunt, pacem non differendam 0851C censuisse Cornelio episcopi Afri exponunt.

Cyprianus, Liberalis, Caldonius, Nicomedes, Caecilius, Junius , Marrutius , Felix, Successus, Faustinus, 0852B Fortunatus, Victor, Saturninus, alius Saturninus, Rogatianus, Tertullus, Lucianus, Eutyches, Amplus, Sattius, Secundinus, alius Saturninus, Aurelius, Priscus, Herculanus, Victoricus, Quintus, Honoratus, Montanus, Hortensianus, Verianus, Iambus, Donatus, Pompeius , Polycarpus, 0852C Demetrius, alius Donatus, Privatianus, alius Fortunatus, Rogatus et Monulus Cornelio fratri salutem.

0853A I. Statueramus quidem pridem , frater charissime, participato invicem nobiscum consilio, ut qui in persecutionis infestatione supplantati ab adversario et lapsi fuissent, et sacrificiis se illicitis maculassent, agerent diu poenitentiam plenam, et si periculum infirmitatis 0854A urgeret, pacem sub ictu mortis acciperent. Nec enim fas erat aut permittebat paterna pietas et divina clementia, Ecclesiam pulsantibus cludi , et dolentibus ac deprecantibus spei salutaris subsidium denegari, ut de saeculo recedentes sine communicatione et pace ad Dominum dimitterentur; 0855A quando permiserit ipse et legem dederit , ut ligata in terris, et iu coelis ligata essent (Matt. XVI, 19), solvi autem possent illic, quae prius in Ecclesia solverentur. Sed enim cum videamus diem rursus alterius infestationis appropinquare coepisse, et crebris atque assiduis ostentionibus admoneamur, ut ad certamen quod nobis hostis indicit , armati et parati simus; plebem etiam nobis de divina dignatione commissam exhortationibus nostris paremus , et omnes omnino milites Christi, qui arma desiderant, et praelium flagitant, intra castra dominica colligamus: necessitate cogente censuimus, eis qui de Ecclesia Domini non recesserunt, et poenitentiam agere et lamentari ac Dominum deprecari a primo lapsus sui die non destiterunt, pacem dandam esse; et eos ad 0855B praelium, quod imminet, armari et instrui oportere.

II. Obtemperandum est namque ostensionibus atque admonitionibus justis, ut a pastoribus oves in periculo non deserantur; sed grex omnis in unum congregetur, et exercitus Domini ad certamen militiae coelestis armetur. Merito enim trahebatur dolentium poenitentia tempore longiore, ut infirmis in exitu 0856A subveniretur, quamdiu quies et tranquillitas aderat, quae differre diu plangentium lacrymas, et subvenire sero morientibus in infirmitate pateretur. At vero nunc non infirmis, sed fortibus pax necessaria est: nec morientibus, sed viventibus communicatio a nobis danda est: ut quos excitamus et hortamur ad praelium, non inermes et nudos relinquamus, sed protectione sanguinis et corporis Christi muniamus : et cum ad hoc fiat Eucharistia, ut possit accipientibus esse tutela; quos tutos esse contra adversarium volumus , munimento dominicae saturitatis armemus. Nam quomodo docemus aut provocamus eos in confessione nominis sanguinem suum fundere, si eis militaturis Christi sanguinem denegamus? aut quomodo ad martyrii poculum idoneos facimus, si non 0856B eos prius ad bibendum in Ecclesia poculum Domini jure communicationis admittimus?

III. Interesse debet, frater charissime, inter eos qui vel apostataverunt, et ad saeculum cui renuntiaverant reversi, gentiliter vivunt; vel ad haereticos transfugae facti, contra Ecclesiam parricidalia quotidie arma suscipiunt: et inter eos qui ab Ecclesiae 0857A limine non recedentes, et implorantes jugiter ac dolenter divina et paterna solatia, nunc se ad pugnam paratos esse, et pro Domini sui nomine, ac pro sua salute stare fortiter et pugnare profitentur. Hoc in tempore pacem nos non dormientibus, sed vigilantibus damus; pacem non deliciis, sed armis damus; pacem non ad quietem, sed ad aciem damus. Si, secundum quod eos audimus et optamus et credimus, fortiter steterint, et adversarium nobiscum in congressione prostraverint, non poenitet pacem concessisse tam fortibus, immo episcopatus nostri honor grandis et gloria est, pacem dedisse martyribus, ut sacerdotes, qui sacrificia Dei quotidie celebramus, hostias Deo et victimas praeparemus. Si autem, quod Dominus avertat a fratribus nostris, aliquis lapsorum 0857B fefellerit, ut pacem subdole petat, et impendentis praelii tempore communicationem non praeliaturus accipiat; se ipsum fallit et decipit, qui aliud corde occultat, et aliud voce pronuntiat. Nos, in quantum nobis et videre et judicare conceditur, faciem singulorum videmus; cor scrutari, et mentem perspicere 0858A non possumus. De his judicat occultorum scrutator et cognitor cito venturus, et de arcanis cordis atque abditis judicaturus. Obesse autem mali bonis non debent, sed magis mali a bonis adjuvari. Nec ideo martyrium facturis pax neganda est, quia sunt quidam negaturi; cum propter hoc pax danda sit omnibus militaturis, ne per ignorantiam nostram ille incipiat praeteriri, qui habet in praelio coronari.

IV. Nec quisquam dicat, qui martyrium tollit, sanguine suo baptizatur: nex pax illi ab episcopo necessaria est, habituro gloriae suae pacem, et accepturo majorem de Domini dignatione mercedem. Primo idoneus esse non potest ad martyrium, qui ab Ecclesia non armatur ad praelium: et mens deficit, quam non recepta Eucharistia erigit et accendit . 0858B Dominus enim in Evangelio suo dicit: Cum autem vos tradiderint, nolite cogitare quid loquamini; dabitur enim vobis in illa hora quid loquamini: non enim vos estis qui loquimini, sed Spiritus patris vestri qui loquitur in vobis (Matth. X, 19). Quando autem dicat in 0859A traditis atque in confessione nominis constitutis Spiritum Patris loqui: quomodo potest ad confessionem paratus aut idoneus inveniri, qui non prius pace accepta receperit Spiritum Patris, qui corroborans servos suos ipse loquitur et confitetur in nobis? Tunc deinde si relictis omnibus rebus suis fugerit, et in latebris atque in solitudine constitutus in latrones forte incurrerit, aut in febribus et in languore decesserit; nonne nobis imputabitur, quod tam bonus miles, qui omnia sua dereliquit, et contempta domo, et parentibus, aut liberis, sequi Dominum suum maluit, sine pace et sine communicatione decedit ? Nonne nobis vel negligentia segnis vel duritia crudelis adscribetur in die judicii; quod pastores creditas et commissas nobis oves nec curare in pace, nec in acie 0859B voluerimus armare? Nonne ingeretur nobis a Domino quod per Prophetam suum clamat et dicit: Ecce lac consumitis, et lanis vos tegitis, et quod crassum est interficitis, et oves meas non pascitis; quod infirmatum est non confortastis, et quod male habuit non corroborastis, et quod contribulatum est non consolati estis (Ezech. XXXIV, 3, etc.), et quod errabat non revocastis, et quod periit non inquisistis, et quod forte fuit, confecistis labore: et dispersae sunt 0860A oves meae, eo quod non sint pastores, et factae sunt in comesturam omnibus bestiis agri: et non fuit qui inquireret, neque qui revocaret. Propterea haec dicit Dominus: Ecce ego super pastores, et inquiram oves meas de manibus eorum, et avertam eos ut non pascant oves meas et jam non pascent eas, et extraham oves meas, de ore eorum, et pascam eas cum judicio (Ibid. 10, etc.).

V. Ne igitur ore nostro, quo pacem negamus, quo duritiam magis humanae crudelitatis , quam divinae et paternae pietatis opponimus, oves nobis commissae a Domino reposcantur: placuit nobis, sancto Spiritu suggerente, et Domino per visiones multas et manifestas admonente, quia hostis nobis imminere praenuntiatur et ostenditur, colligere intra castra 0860B milites Christi, et examinatis singulorum causis, pacem lapsis dare, immo pugnaturis arma suggerere: quod credimus vobis quoque paternae misericordiae contemplatione placiturum. Quod si de collegis aliquis exstiterit, qui urgente certamine, pacem fratribus et sororibus non putat dandam, reddet ille rationem in die judicii Domino vel importunae censurae, vel inhumanae duritiae suae. Nos, quod fidei et charitati et sollicitudini congruebat, quae erant in conscientia 0861A nostra protulimus, diem certaminis appropinquasse, hostem violentum cito contra nos exsurgere, et pugnam non talem qualis fuit, sed graviorem multo et acriorem venire; hoc nobis divinitus frequenter ostendi; de hoc nos providentia et misericordia 0862A Domini saepius admoneri : de cujus ope et pietate, qui in eum confidimus, possumus esse securi, quia qui in pace militibus suis futuram praenuntiat pugnam, dabit militantibus in congressione victoriam. Optamus te, frater charissime, semper bene valere.