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An Address to Demetrianus

Cyprian of Carthage

An Address to Demetrianus.

About this work

Author: Cyprian of Carthage

Treatise V.

An Address to Demetrianus.

Argument.—Cyprian, in Reply to

Section 1 ›

Demetrianus

the

Proconsul

of

Africa

,

Who

Contended

that

the

Wars

,

and

Famine

,

and

Pestilence

with

Which

the

World

Was

Then

Plagued

Must

Be

Imputed

to

the

Christians

Because

They

Did

Not

Worship

the

Gods

;

Fairly

Urges

(

Having

Argued

that

All

Things

are

Gradually

Deteriorating

with

the

Old

Age

of

the

World

)

that

It

Was

Rather

the

Heathens

Themselves

Who

Were

the

Cause

of

Such

Mischiefs

,

Because

They

Did

Not

Worship

God

,

And

,

Moreover

,

Were

Distressing

the

Christians

with

Unjust

Persecutions

.

Notes

1
[Written a.d. 252.]
2
Next, having reproached him with the unaccustomed kinds of tortures with which he tormented the Christians more severely than any other criminals, not for the purpose of making them confess, but of making them deny their faith, he shows the impotence of the gods,—as well because they themselves cannot defend themselves, and so Demetrianus, who pretended to avenge them, should rather be worshipped by them, than himself worship them;—as because, when expelled by Christians from possessed bodies, they themselves confess what they are. Nor indeed must the fall of kings, the destruction of property, and such like evils which accompanied the persecutions of Christians as a punishment from Heaven, be judged not to be punishments, because they were shared by the Christians themselves; inasmuch as all these things are a joy to them rather than a punishment. Accordingly, while there is time, he urges him to return to a better mind, or at least to dread the judgment and an ever burning fiery Gehenna. In this tract Cyprian partly imitates Tertullian’s Apology and his treatise to Scapula, partly the Octavius of Minucius Felix.