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Cyprian correspondence, Epistle XXV
Unidentified Cyprian correspondent
Letter 25 About this work
Author Unidentified Cyprian correspondent Epistle XXV .
Moyses, Maximus, Nicostratus, and the Other Confessors Answer the Foregoing Letter. a.d. 250. Argument.—They Gratefully Acknowledge the Consolation Which the Roman Confessors Had Received from Cyprian’s Letter. Martyrdom is Not a Punishment, But a Happiness. The Words of the Gospel are Brands to Inflame Faith. In the Case of the Lapsed, the Judgment of Cyprian is Acquiesced in. Section 1 1 . To Cæcilius Cyprian ,
bishop
of
the
church
of
the
Carthaginians
,
Moyses
and
Maximus
,
presbyters
,
and
Nicostratus
and
Rufinus
,
deacons
,
and
the
other
confessors
persevering
in
the
faith
of
the
truth
,
in
God
the
Father
,
and
in
His
Son
Jesus
Christ
our
Lord
,
and
in
the
Holy
Spirit
,
greeting
.
Placed
,
brother
,
as
we
are
among
various
and
manifold
sorrows
,
on
account
of
the
present
desolations
of
many
brethren
throughout
almost
the
whole
world
,
this
chief
consolation
has
reached
us
,
that
we
have
been
lifted
up
by
the
receipt
of
your
letter
,
and
have
gathered
some
alleviation
for
the
griefs
of
our
saddened
spirit
.
From
which
we
can
already
perceive
that
the
grace
of
divine
providence
wished
to
keep
us
so
long
shut
up
in
the
prison
chains
,
perhaps
for
no
other
reason
than
that
,
instructed
and
more
vigorously
animated
by
your
letter
,
we
might
with
a
more
earnest
will
attain
to
the
destined
crown
.
For
your
letter
has
shone
upon
us
as
a
calm
in
the
midst
of
a
tempest
,
and
as
the
longed
-
for
tranquillity
in
the
midst
of
a
troubled
sea
,
and
as
repose
in
labours
,
as
health
in
dangers
and
pains
,
as
in
the
densest
darkness
,
the
bright
and
glowing
light
.
Thus
we
drank
it
up
with
a
thirsty
spirit
,
and
received
it
with
a
hungry
desire
;
so
that
we
rejoice
to
find
ourselves
by
it
sufficiently
fed
and
strengthened
for
encounter
with
the
foe
.
The
Lord
will
reward
you
for
that
love
of
yours
,
and
will
restore
you
the
fruit
due
to
this
so
good
work
;
for
he
who
exhorts
is
not
less
worthy
of
the
reward
of
the
crown
than
he
who
suffers
;
not
less
worthy
of
praise
is
he
who
has
taught
,
than
he
who
has
acted
also
;
he
is
not
less
to
be
honoured
who
has
warned
,
than
he
who
has
fought
;
except
that
sometimes
the
weight
of
glory
more
redounds
to
him
who
trains
,
than
to
him
who
has
shown
himself
a
teachable
learner
;
for
the
latter
,
perchance
,
would
not
have
had
what
he
has
practised
,
unless
the
former
had
taught
him
.
Section 2 2 . Therefore , again , we say , brother Cyprian , we have received great joy , great comfort , great refreshment , especially in that you have described , with glorious and deserved praises , the glorious , I will not say , deaths , but immortalities of martyrs . For such departures should have been proclaimed with such words , that the things which were related might be told in such manner as they were done . Thus , from your letter , we saw those glorious triumphs of the martyrs ; and with our eyes in some sort have followed them as they went to heaven , and have contemplated them seated among angels , and the powers and dominions of heaven . Moreover , we have in some manner perceived with our ears the Lord giving them the promised testimony in the presence of the Father . It is this , then , which also raises our spirit day by day , and inflames us to the following of the track of such dignity .
Section 3 3 . For what more glorious , or what more blessed , can happen to any man from the divine condescension , than to confess the Lord God , in death itself , before his very executioners ? Than among the raging and varied and exquisite tortures of worldly power , even when the body is racked and torn and cut to pieces , to confess Christ the Son of God with a spirit still free , although departing ? Than to have mounted to heaven with the world left behind ? Than , having forsaken men , to stand among the angels ? Than , all worldly impediments being broken through , already to stand free in the sight of God ? Than to enjoy the heavenly kingdom without any delay ? Than to have become an associate of Christ’s passion in Christ’s name ? Than to have become by the divine condescension the judge of one’s own judge ? Than to have brought off an unstained conscience from the confession of His name ? Than to have refused to obey human and sacrilegious laws against the faith ? Than to have borne witness to the truth with a public testimony ? Than , by dying , to have subdued death itself , which is dreaded by all ? Than , by death itself , to have attained immortality ? Than when torn to pieces , and tortured by all the instruments of cruelty , to have overcome the torture by the tortures themselves ? Than by strength of mind to have wrestled with all the agonies of a mangled body ? Than not to have shuddered at the flow of one’s own blood ? Than to have begun to love one’s punishments , after having faith to bear them ? Than to think it an injury to one’s life not to have left it ?
Section 4 4 . For to this battle our Lord , as with the trumpet of His Gospel , stimulates us when He says , “ He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me : and he that loveth his own soul more than me is not worthy of me . And he that taketh not his cross , and followeth after me , is not worthy of me . ” And again , “ Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness ’ sake : for theirs is the kingdom of heaven . Blessed shall ye be , when men shall persecute you , and hate you . Rejoice , and be exceeding glad : for so did their fathers persecute the prophets which were before you . ” And again , “ Because ye shall stand before kings and powers , and the brother shall deliver up the brother to death , and the father the son , and he that endureth to the end shall be saved ; ” and “ To him that overcometh will I give to sit on my throne , even as I also overcame and am set down on the throne of my Father . ” Moreover the apostle : “ Who shall separate us from the love of Christ ? shall tribulation , or distress , or persecution , or famine , or nakedness , or peril , or sword ? ( As it is written , For thy sake are we killed all the day long ; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter . ) Nay , in all these things we are more than conquerors for Him who hath loved us . ”
Section 5 5 . When we read these things , and things of the like kind , brought together in the Gospel , and feel , as it were , torches placed under us , with the Lord’s words to inflame our faith , we not only do not dread , but we even provoke the enemies of the truth ; and we have already conquered the opponents of God , by the very fact of our not yielding to them , and have subdued their nefarious laws against the truth . And although we have not yet shed our blood , we are prepared to shed it . Let no one think that this delay of our departure is any clemency ; for it obstructs us , it makes a hindrance to our glory , it puts off heaven , it withholds the glorious sight of God . For in a contest of this kind , and in the kind of contest when faith is struggling in the encounter , it is not true clemency to put off martyrs by delay . Entreat therefore , beloved Cyprian , that of His mercy the Lord will every day more and more arm and adorn every one of us with greater abundance and readiness , and will confirm and strengthen us by the strength of His power ; and , as a good captain , will at length bring forth His soldiers , whom He has hitherto trained and proved in the camp of our prison , to the field of the battle set before them . May He hold forth to us the divine arms , those weapons that know not how to be conquered , — the breastplate of righteousness , which is never accustomed to be broken , — the shield of faith , which cannot be pierced through , — the helmet of salvation , which cannot be shattered , — and the sword of the Spirit , which has never been wont to be injured . For to whom should we rather commit these things for him to ask for us , than to our so reverend bishop , as destined victims asking help of the priest ?
Section 6 6 . Behold another joy of ours , that , in the duty of your episcopate , although in the meantime you have been , owing to the condition of the times , divided from your brethren , you have frequently confirmed the confessors by your letters ; that you have ever afforded necessary supplies from your own just acquisitions ; that in all things you have always shown yourself in some sense present ; that in no part of your duty have you hung behind as a deserter . But what more strongly stimulated us to a greater joy we cannot be silent upon , but must describe with all the testimony of our voice . For we observe that you have both rebuked with fitting censure , and worthily , those who , unmindful of their sins , had , with hasty and eager desire , extorted peace from the presbyters in your absence , and those who , without respect for the Gospel , had with profane facility granted the holinessof the Lord unto dogs , and pearls to swine ; although a great crime , and one which has extended with incredible destructiveness almost over the whole earth , ought only , as you yourself write , to be treated cautiously and with moderation , with the advice of all the bishops , presbyters , deacons , confessors , and even the laymen who abide fast , as in your letters you yourself also testify ; so that , while wishing unseasonably to bring repairs to the ruins , we may not appear to be bringing about other and greater destruction , for where is the divine word left , if pardon be so easily granted to sinners ? Certainly their spirits are to be cheered and to be nourished up to the season of their maturity , and they are to be instructed from the Holy Scriptures how great and surpassing a sin they have committed . Nor let them be animated by the fact that they are many , but rather let them be checked by the fact that they are not few . An unblushing number has never been accustomed to have weight in extenuation of a crime ; but shame , modesty , patience , discipline , humility , and subjection , waiting for the judgment of others upon itself , and bearing the sentence of others upon its own judgment , — this it is which proves penitence ; this it is which skins over a deep wound ; this it is which raises up the ruins of the fallen spirit and restores them , which quells and restrains the burning vapour of their raging sins . For the physician will not give to the sick the food of healthy bodies , lest the unseasonable nourishment , instead of repressing , should stimulate the power of the raging disease , — that is to say , lest what might have been sooner diminished by abstinence , should , through impatience , be prolonged by growing indigestion .
Section 7 7 . Hands , therefore , polluted with impious sacrifices must be purified with good works , and wretched mouths defiled with accursed food must be purged with words of true penitence , and the spirit must be renewed and consecrated in the recesses of the faithful heart . Let the frequent groanings of the penitents be heard ; let faithful tears be shed from the eyes not once only , but again and again , so that those very eyes which wickedly looked upon idols may wash away , with tears that satisfy God , the unlawful things that they had done . Nothing is necessary for diseases but patience : they who are weary and weak wrestle with their pain ; and so at length hope for health , if , by tolerating it , they can overcome their suffering ; for unfaithful is the scar which the physician has too quickly produced ; and the healing is undone by any little casualty , if the remedies be not used faithfully from their very slowness . The flame is quickly recalled again to a conflagration , unless the material of the whole fire be extinguished even to the extremest spark ; so that men of this kind should justly know that even they themselves are more advantaged by the very delay , and that more trusty remedies are applied by the necessary postponement . Besides , where shall it be said that they who confess Christ are shut up in the keeping of a squalid prison , if they who have denied Him are in no peril of their faith ? Where , that they are bound in the cincture of chains in God’s name , if they who have not kept the confession of God are not deprived of communion ? Where , that the imprisoned martyrs lay down their glorious lives , if those who have forsaken the faith do not feel the magnitude of their dangers and their sins ? But if they betray too much impatience , and demand communion with intolerable eagerness , they vainly utter with petulant and unbridled tongues those querulous and invidious reproaches which avail nothing against the truth , since they might have retained by their own right what now by a necessity , which they of their own free will have sought , they are compelled to sue for . For the faith which could confess Christ , could also have been kept by Christ in communion . We bid you , blessed and most glorious father , ever heartily farewell in the Lord ; and have us in remembrance .
Notes 1 Oxford ed.: Ep. xxxi. [This epistle shows that Cyprian’s gentle reproof of their former implied regret at his retreat (see p. 280, supra) had been effective.]
2 [Note this testimony to the universality of the persecution. Vol. iv. p. 125, this series.]
3 Supplicia sua post fidem amare cœpisse.
4 Matt. x. 37, 38.
5 Matt. v. 10–12.
6 Matt. x. 18; xxi. 22.
7 Rev. iii. 21.
8 Rom. viii. 35.
9 [Note the power of Holy Scripture in creating and supporting the martyr-spirit.]
10 [See valuable note, Oxford translation, p. 71.]
11 Lit. “of our postponement.”
12
[I have amended the translation here from the Oxford trans.]
13 [An important testimony to Cyprian’s judicious retirement, in the spirit of St. Paul, Phil. i. 24.]
14 “Sanctum.” [Note what follows: a rule for our times.]
15 [An important testimony to the Cyprianic theory from members of the Roman presbytery.]
16 [The extent of the lapses which Cyprian strove to check by due austerity must be noted.]
17 [The casting of a grain of incense upon the coals before an image, to escape death.]
18 [Meats offered to idols.]
19 [Note the profound convictions in these very lapsers of the truth of the Gospel and of the value of full communion with Christ.]
