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Cyprian of Carthage, The Epistles of Cyprian
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From the Roman Clergy to the Carthaginian Clergy, About the Retirement of the Blessed Cyprian.
To the Presbyters and Deacons.
To the Clergy, Concerning Prayer to God.
To the Martyrs and Confessors.
To the Martyrs and Confessors Who Sought that Peace Should Be Granted to the Lapsed.
To the Clergy, Concerning Those Who are in Haste to Receive Peace. a.d. 250.
To Moyses and Maximus, and the Rest of the Confessors.
To the Presbyters and Deacons About the Foregoing and the Following Letters.
To Moyses and Maximus and the Rest of the Confessors.
Moyses, Maximus, Nicostratus, and the Other Confessors Answer the Foregoing Letter. a.d. 250.
To the Presbyters and Deacons.
To the Presbyters and Deacons Abiding at Rome.
The Presbyters and Deacons Abiding at Rome, to Cyprian.
To the Carthaginian Clergy, About the Letters Sent to Rome, and Received Thence.
To the Clergy and People, About the Ordination of Aurelius as a Reader.
To the Clergy and People, About the Ordination of Celerinus as Reader.
To the Same, About the Ordination of Numidicus as Presbyter.
To the Clergy, Concerning the Care of the Poor and Strangers.
To the Clergy, Bidding Them Show Every Kindness to the Confessors in Prison.
To Caldonius, Herculanus, and Others, About the Excommunication of Felicissimus.
To the People, Concerning Five Schismatic Presbyters of the Faction of Felicissimus.
To Cornelius, About Cyprian’s Approval of His Ordination, and Concerning Felicissimus.
To the Same, on His Having Sent Letters to the Confessors Whom Novatian Had Seduced.
To the Roman Confessors, that They Should Return to Unity.
To Cornelius, Concerning Polycarp the Adrumetine.
Cornelius to Cyprian, on the Return of the Confessors to Unity.
Cyprian’s Answer to Cornelius, Congratulating Him on the Return of the Confessors from Schism.
Cornelius to Cyprian, Concerning the Faction of Novatian with His Party.
Cyprian’s Answer to Cornelius, Concerning the Crimes of Novatus.
Maximus and the Other Confessors to Cyprian, About Their Return from Schism.
From Cyprian to the Confessors, Congratulating Them on Their Return from Schism.
To Antonianus About Cornelius and Novatian.
To Fortunatus and His Other Colleagues, Concerning Those Who Had Been Overcome by Tortures.
To Cornelius, Concerning Granting Peace to the Lapsed.
To Cornelius, Concerning Fortunatus and Felicissimus, or Against the Heretics.
To the People of Thibaris, Exhorting to Martyrdom.
To Cornelius in Exile, Concerning His Confession.
To Fidus, on the Baptism of Infants.
To the Numidian Bishops, on the Redemption of Their Brethren from Captivity Among the Barbarians.
To Euchratius, About an Actor.
To Pomponius, Concerning Some Virgins.
Cæcilius, on the Sacrament of the Cup of the Lord.
To Epictetus and to the Congregation of Assuræ, Concerning Fortunatianus, Formerly Their Bishop.
To Rogatianus, Concerning the Deacon Who Contended Against the Bishop.
To Father Stephanus, Concerning Marcianus of Arles, Who Had Joined Himself to Novatian.
To the Clergy and People Abiding in Spain, Concerning Basilides and Martial.
To Florentius Pupianus, on Calumniators.
To Januarius and Other Numidian Bishops, on Baptizing Heretics.
To Quintus, Concerning the Baptism of Heretics.
To Stephen, Concerning a Council.
To Jubaianus, Concerning the Baptism of Heretics.
To Pompey, Against the Epistle of Stephen About the Baptism of Heretics.
Firmilian, Bishop of Cæsarea in Cappadocia, to Cyprian, Against the Letter of Stephen. a.d. 256.
To Magnus, on Baptizing the Novatians, and Those Who Obtain Grace on a Sick-Bed.
The Reply of Nemesianus, Dativus, Felix, and Victor, to Cyprian.
The Reply to the Same of Lucius and the Rest of the Martyrs.
The Answer of Felix, Jader, Polianus, and the Rest of the Martyrs, to Cyprian.
Cyprian to Sergius, Rogatianus, and the Other Confessors in Prison.
To Successus on the Tidings Brought from Rome, Telling of the Persecution.
To the Clergy and People Concerning His Retirement, a Little Before His Martyrdom.
Epistle LXXXII.939 Oxford ed.: Ep. lxxxi. [Cyprian’s contest with Stephen is practically valueless as to the point at issue between them (see supra, p. 396), but it throws a flood of light on the questions raised by papal pretensions. It also illuminates the anti-Nicene doctrine of unity.]
To the Clergy and People Concerning His Retirement, a Little Before His Martyrdom.
Argument.—When, Near the End of His Life, Cyprian, on Returning to His Gardens, Was Told that Messengers Were Sent to Take Him for Punishment to Utica, He Withdrew. And Lest It Should Be Thought that He Had Done So from Fear of Death, He Gives the Reason in This Letter, Viz., that He Might Undergo His Martyrdom Nowhere Else Than at Carthage, in the Sight of His Own People. a.d. 258.
1. Cyprian to the presbyters and deacons, and all the people, greeting. When it had been told to us, dearest brethren, that the gaolers940 Or, “commissaries.” had been sent to bring me to Utica, and I had been persuaded by the counsel of those dearest to me to withdraw for a time from my gardens, as a just reason was afforded I consented. For the reason that it is fit for a bishop, in that city in which he presides over the Church of the Lord, there to confess the Lord, and that the whole people should be glorified by the confession of their prelate in their presence. For whatever, in that moment of confession, the confessor-bishop speaks, he speaks in the mouth of all, by inspiration of God.941 [Matt. x. 19. There is something sublime in the martyr’s reliance upon this word of Jesus. See sec. 2, infra, and Elucidation XXII.] But the honour of our Church, glorious as it is, will be mutilated if I, a bishop placed over another church, receiving my sentence or my confession at Utica, should go thence as a martyr to the Lord, when indeed, both for my own sake and yours, I pray with continual supplications, and with all my desires entreat, that I may confess among you, and there suffer, and thence depart to the Lord even as I ought. Therefore here in a hidden retreat I await the arrival of the proconsul returning to Carthage, that I may hear from him what the emperors have commanded upon the subject of Christian laymen and bishops, and may say what the Lord will wish to be said at that hour.
2. But do you, dearest brethren, according to the discipline which you have ever received from me out of the Lord’s commands, and according to what you have so very often learnt from my discourse, keep peace and tranquillity; nor let any of you stir up any tumult for the brethren, or voluntarily offer himself to the Gentiles. For when apprehended and delivered up, he ought to speak, inasmuch as the Lord abiding in us speaks in that hour, who willed that we should rather confess than profess. But for the rest, what it is fitting that we should observe before the proconsul passes sentence on me for the confession of the name of God, we will with the instruction of the Lord arrange in common.942 [Recur to the passion of this holy martyr as related by Pontius, his deacon, p. 390. Stephen had broken communion with him (see p. 390 note) and the African provinces, which had no effect upon his Catholic status. (See letter of Firmillian, p. 391 note.) But, on the Roman theory, this glorious martyr died in schism. He is, nevertheless, a canonized saint in the Roman Calendar. Elucidation XXII.] May our Lord make you, dearest brethren, to remain safe in His Church, and condescend to keep you. So be it through His mercy.
ARGUMENTUM.---Cum jam, sub finem vitae, ad hortos suos reverso Cypriano nuntiaretur missos esse qui se Uticam ad supplicium pertraherent, secessit. Ne vero metu mortis id fecisse crederetur, hac epistola causam reddit, ut nempe non alibi quam Carthagine, in conspectu suorum, martyrium subiret.
I. Cyprianus presbyteris et diaconibus et plebi 0431B universae salutem. Cum perlatum ad nos fuisset, fratres charissimi, commentarios esse missos qui me Uticam perducerent, et consilio charissimorum persuasum esset ut de hortis nostris interim secederemus, justa interveniente causa, consensi, eo quod congruat episcopum in ea civitate in qua Ecclesiae Dominicae praeest, illic Dominum confiteri et plebem universam praepositi praesentis confessione clarificari. Quodcumque enim sub illo confessionis momento confessor episcopus loquitur, aspirante Deo, ore omnium loquitur. Caeterum mutilabitur honor ecclesiae nostrae tam gloriosae, si ego episcopus alterius ecclesiae praepositus, accepta apud Uticam super confessione sententia, exinde martyr ad Dominum proficiscar, quandoquidem ego et pro me et pro vobis apud vos 0431C confiteri et ibi pati, et exinde ad Dominum proficisci, orationibus continuis deprecer et votis omnibus exoptem 0432A et debeam. Expectamus ergo hic, in secessu abdito constituti, adventum proconsulis Carthaginem redeuntis, audituri ab eo quid imperatores super Christianorum laicorum et episcoporum nomine mandaverint, et dicturi quod ad horam Dominus dici voluerit.
II. Vos autem, fratres charissimi, pro disciplina quam de mandatis Dominicis a me semper accepistis, et secundum quod me tractante saepissime didicistis, quietem et tranquillitatem tenete, nec quisquam vestrum aliquem tumultum fratribus moveat, aut ultro se gentilibus offerat. Apprehensus enim et traditus loqui debet; siquidem in nobis Dominus positus illa hora loquatur, qui nos confiteri magis voluit quam profiteri . Quid autem de caetero nos observare conveniat 0432B antequam in me super confessione nominis Dei proconsul sententiam ferat, instruente Domino in commune disponemus. Incolumes vos, fratres charissimi, Dominus noster in Ecclesia sua permanere faciat et conservare dignetur. Ita fiat per suam misericordiam .
Tres epistolae quae sequuntur inter epistolas Cypriani reperiuntur in quibusdam libris antiquis .