Letters 20.1–29.1

Cyprian to the presbyters and deacons living at Rome, his brothers, greeting. Since I have learned, dearest brothers, that what has been done and is being done here by us has been reported to you less than straightforwardly and faithfully, I have thought it necessary to write you this letter, in which an account of our conduct, discipline, and diligence might be given you. For, as the Lord's commands instruct, as soon as the first onset of the disturbance arose, when the people had repeatedly demanded me with violent clamour, thinking not so much of my own safety as of the public quiet of the brothers, I withdrew for the time, lest by our unseemly presence the riot that had begun should be provoked further. Yet though absent in body, I was not lacking in spirit, or in action, or in my counsels, in providing for our brothers, according to the Lord's precepts, in whatever I could in my small way.

And what I have done is told you by the letters sent out as the times required, thirteen in number, which I have forwarded to you, in which neither counsel to the clergy nor exhortation to the confessors nor, when it was needed, rebuke to the exiles was lacking, nor our address and persuasion to the whole brotherhood to entreat the mercy of God, as far as our small ability could strive, according to the law of faith and the fear of God, the Lord prompting. After the tortures also came, our word reached our brothers, whether already tortured or still shut up to be tortured, to strengthen and comfort them. Likewise, when I learned that those who had stained their hands and mouths with sacrilegious contacts, or had no less polluted their conscience with impious certificates, were canvassing the martyrs everywhere and corrupting the confessors too with importunate and ingratiating entreaty, so that thousands of certificates were being given daily, without any discrimination or examination of individuals, contrary to the law of the gospel, I wrote a letter in which by my counsel I might recall the martyrs and confessors, as far as I could, to the Lord's precepts. Likewise, priestly vigour was not lacking toward the presbyters and deacons, so that certain men, less mindful of discipline and headlong in rash haste, who had already begun to hold communion with the lapsed, were restrained by our intervention. The people themselves too we calmed as far as we could, and instructed them that church discipline should be kept.

Afterwards, when certain of the lapsed, whether of their own accord or at the instigation of someone else, rushed forward with bold demand, so as to try to extort by violent assault the peace promised them by the martyrs and confessors, I wrote twice to the clergy about this too and ordered it read to them: that, to soften their violence meanwhile in some way, if any who had received a certificate from the martyrs were departing this life, then, confession having been made and hands laid on them for penance, they should be sent on to the Lord with the peace promised them by the martyrs. In this I did not lay down a law or rashly set myself up as its author. But since it seemed both that honour should be paid to the martyrs and that the violence of those who wished to throw everything into confusion should be checked, and since, besides, I had read your letter which you had lately written to our clergy by the subdeacon Crementius, that help should be given to those who after their fall were seized with illness and, repenting, desired communion, I thought I should stand by your judgement too, lest our action, which ought to be united and in agreement in all things, should differ in any respect. The cases of the others, of course, even though they had received a certificate from the martyrs, I ordered to be deferred and reserved until our presence, so that when, peace having been given us by the Lord, many leaders begin to meet together, we may arrange or reform each matter, having shared counsel with you also.

Celerinus to Lucian. As I write this to you, my lord brother, I have been both glad and sad: glad because I have heard that you were held for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour, and confessed his name before the magistrates of this world; sad because, from the time I escorted you, I have never been able to receive a letter from you. And now just lately a double sadness has come upon me, because you knew that our common brother Montanus was to come to me from you out of the prison, and you sent me no word about your welfare or about what is happening with you. But this commonly happens to the servants of God, especially those who are placed in the confession of Christ. For I know that each one no longer attends to the things of the world, since he hopes for the heavenly crown. For I said that perhaps you had forgotten to write to me. For, though I, the lowest of your brothers, may be called your brother, if I, Celerinus, am worthy to hear it, yet when I too was in so flourishing a confession, I remembered my oldest brothers, and reminded them by my letters that their old love was still with me and mine. Yet I ask the Lord, dearest one, that you may be washed in that holy blood for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ before my letter reaches you in this world; or, if it reaches you now, that you write me back about these things. So may he whose name you have confessed crown you. For I believe that, even if we do not see each other in this world, yet in the world to come we shall embrace in the presence of Christ. Ask that I too may be worthy to be crowned with your number.

Know, however, that I am placed in great tribulation, and, as if you were present with me, so I remember our old love day and night: God alone knows. And therefore I ask that you consent to my desire and grieve with me at the death of my sister, who fell away from Christ in this devastation. For she sacrificed and provoked our Lord, as seems plain to us. For her deed I, on the day of the joy of Easter, weeping day and night, have spent my days in sackcloth and ashes, tearful, and spend them until today, until the help and compassion of our Lord Jesus Christ comes to the aid of so terrible a shipwreck, through you or through those lords of mine who have been crowned, of whom you are going to ask it. For I remembered your old love, that you grieve with everyone for our sister … whom you too know well, that is, Numeria and Candida; for whose sin we ought to keep watch, since they have us as brothers. For I believe that Christ, in view of their penance and the works they did toward our colleagues, the exiles who came from you, of whose works you will hear from those very men, will now pardon them at the request of you, his martyrs.

For I have heard that you have received the ministry of the more flourishing ones. O happy you! Receive your wishes, which you always desired, even when sleeping on the ground. You wished to be sent to prison for his name, which has now befallen you, as it is written: “May the Lord give you according to your heart.” And now, made a bishop of God over them, the same minister has recognized … I ask, therefore, my lord, and beg through our Lord Jesus Christ, that you report to the rest of your colleagues, your brothers and my lords, and ask them that whoever of you is crowned first may remit so great a sin to these our sisters Numeria and Candida. For this very one I have always called Etecusa, God is our witness, because she paid money for herself so as not to sacrifice; she seems only to have gone up as far as the Three Fates and to have come down from there. So I know that she did not sacrifice. Their case having already been heard, the leaders ordered that they remain as they are for the time being, until a bishop is appointed. But so far as by your holy prayers and petitions, in which we trust, since you are friends but also witnesses of Christ, may you pardon everything.

I ask, therefore, my dearest lord Lucian, that you remember me and consent to my petition. So may Christ grant you that holy crown, which he has given you not only in confession but also in holiness, in which you have always run, and of which you have always been an example and witness to the saints: that you report this matter to all my lords, your brothers the confessors, so that they may receive help from us. For you must know this, my lord brother, that I ask this for them not only myself, but also Statius and Severianus and all the confessors who came here from there, from us, whom these women went down to the harbour to meet and brought up to the city, and who ministered to sixty-five of them and have cared for them in everything until today. For they are all with them. But I ought not to burden that holy heart of yours any further, since I know that you work with ready will. Macarius greets you, with his sisters Cornelia and Emerita, who rejoice in your flourishing confession, and in that of all the brothers; and Saturninus, who too wrestled with the devil, who also bravely confessed the name of Christ, who also there under the torture of the hooks bravely confessed, and who here too asks and begs you earnestly. Your brothers Calpurnius and Maria and all the holy brothers greet you. For you must know this too, that I have written also to my lords your brothers, and I ask you to deign to read the letter to them.

Lucian to Celerinus, his lord, whom I would call my colleague in Christ if I am worthy, greeting. I have received your letter, my most beloved lord brother, in which you so weighed me down that because of your burdening such great joy almost fell away; so that I rejoiced to read, through the kindness of your great humility, the letter which I too longed to read after so long a time, in which you deigned to remember me, you who, writing to me, said, “If I am worthy to be called your brother”, to a man who confessed the name of God with fear before lesser officials. For you, God willing, not only confessed but frightened off the great serpent himself, the forerunner of Antichrist, with those words and divine sayings by which I know … as lovers of faith and zealous for the discipline of Christ, in which I know you live with vigour, and I rejoice: you have conquered. Now just lately, dearest one, already to be counted among the martyrs, you wished to burden us with your letter, in which you told us about our sisters; for whom would that it were possible for us to make remembrance without so great a crime having been committed! Surely we would not be given over to so many tears as now.

You ought to know what has been done concerning us. While the blessed martyr Paulus was still in the body, he called me and said to me: “Lucian, before Christ I say to you that if anyone after my summons asks peace of you, give it in my name.” And also all of us whom the Lord has deigned to summon in so great a tribulation, all together, by a letter by agreement, have granted peace to all. See, then, brother, partly what Paulus commanded me, partly what we all resolved, from those of us who already, before this tribulation, when we were ordered, according to the emperor's command, to be killed by hunger and thirst, and were shut up in two cells, so that … did not accomplish it by hunger and thirst. And the fire too from the work of our affliction was so unbearable that no one could bear it. But now we are placed in the very brightness itself. And therefore, dearest brother, greet Numeria and Candida, whom … according to the command of Paulus and of the other martyrs, whose names I add below: Bassus in the stone quarry, Mappalicus under interrogation, Fortunio in prison; Paulus after interrogation, Fortunata, Victorinus, Victor, Herennius, Credula, Hereda, Donatus, Firmus, Venustus, Fructus, Julia, Martialis, and Ariston, who, God willing, were killed by hunger in prison; whose companions you will hear that we too shall be within days. For it is now eight days, on the day I wrote you this letter, since we were shut up again. For before those eight days, for five days in between, we received a little bread and water by measure. And therefore, brother, I ask that, as here, when the Lord begins to give peace to the church itself, according to the command of Paulus and our decision, their case having been set before the bishop and confession having been made, they may have peace; not only these, but also those whom you know to be dear to our heart.

All my colleagues greet you. Greet the confessors of the Lord who are there with you, whose names you mentioned, among whom also Saturninus with his companions, and also my colleague, and Maris, Collecta and Emerita, Calpurnius and Maria, Sabina, Spesina, and the sisters Januaria, Dativa, and Donata. We greet Saturus with his household, Bassianus and the whole clergy, Uranius, Alexius, Quintianus, Colonica, and all, I ask, whose names I have not written because I was so tired; therefore they must forgive me. I wish you, Alexius and Getulicus and the silversmiths and the sisters, good health. My sisters Januaria and Sophia greet you, whom I commend to you.

All the confessors to Pope Cyprian, greeting. Know that we have all given peace to those of whom an account has been given you of what they have done since their sin, and we want this rule to be made known through you to the other bishops too. We desire you to have peace with the holy martyrs. Lucian wrote this, with one of the clergy present, both an exorcist and a reader.

Caldonius to Cyprian and his fellow presbyters living at Carthage, greeting. The necessity of the time makes us not give peace rashly. But it was necessary to write to you because those who, after they had sacrificed, were tested again and have been made exiles: they seem to me, then, to have washed away their former sin, since they give up possessions and houses and, doing penance, follow Christ. So Felix, who served as presbyter under Decimus, next to me in chains (I came to know this same Felix more fully), and Victoria his wife, and Lucius, having been made faithful exiles, have left their possessions, which the treasury now holds. And also in the persecution a woman named Bona, who was dragged by her husband to sacrifice; she did not stain her conscience, but those holding her hands made the sacrifice themselves; and so she began to cry out against it, “I did not do it; you did it”; and so she too was made an exile. Since, then, all of them asked me for peace, saying, “We have recovered the faith that we had lost; doing penance, we have publicly confessed Christ,” although it seems to me that they ought to receive peace, I have referred them to your counsel, lest I seem rashly to presume anything. If, then, anything is decided by common counsel, write to me. Greet our friends; ours greet you. I wish you, most happy ones, good health.

Cyprian to his brother Caldonius, greeting. We have received your letter, dearest brother, very sober and full of integrity and faith. Nor are we surprised if, trained and skilled in the Lord's Scriptures, you do everything cautiously and with counsel. You have judged rightly about granting peace to our brothers, which they have restored to themselves by true penance and the glory of confessing the Lord, justified by their words, by which they had condemned themselves before. Since, then, they have washed away all their sin and, with the Lord's help, blotted out the first stain by their later courage, they ought no longer to lie under the devil as if laid low, they who, having been made exiles and stripped of all their goods, have raised themselves up and begun to stand with Christ. And would that the rest too, repenting after their fall, might so be restored to their former state! That you may know how we have dealt with those who now press on and extort peace rashly and importunely, I have sent you a book with five letters which I wrote to the clergy and to the people and to the martyrs and confessors too; these letters, sent also to very many of our colleagues, have met with their approval, and they have written back that they too stand with us in the same counsel, according to the catholic faith. This you too will send on to those of our colleagues you can, so that among all one course of action and one agreement may be kept according to the Lord's precepts. I wish you, dearest brother, good health always.

Cyprian to the presbyters and deacons, his brothers, greeting. The Lord speaks and says: “On whom shall I look, except on the humble and quiet and the one who trembles at my words?” While we ought all to be so, those ought to be so the more who must labour, after a grave fall, to win the Lord's favour by true penance and complete humility. Now I have read the letter of all the confessors, which they wanted made known through me to all my colleagues, and that the peace given by them should reach those of whom an account has been given to us of what they have done since their sin. Since this matter concerns the counsel and judgement of all of us, I do not dare to prejudge it and claim a common matter for myself alone. And therefore let the letters which I wrote to you most recently be adhered to meanwhile, a copy of which I have already sent to many colleagues too; and they have written back that they approve what we have decided, and that there must be no departure from it, until, peace having been restored to us by the Lord, we can meet together and examine the cases of individuals. And that you may know what my colleague Caldonius wrote to me and what I wrote back to him, I have joined a copy of both letters to mine. I ask that you read all this to our brothers, so that they may be more and more settled into patience and not add yet another sin to their former sin, by not allowing us to serve the gospel, nor their cases to be examined according to the letter of all the confessors. I wish you, dearest brothers, good health, and that you remember us. Greet the whole brotherhood.

Cyprian to the presbyters and deacons living at Rome, his brothers, greeting. After I had written to you, dearest brothers, a letter in which our conduct was set out and an account given of our discipline and diligence, such as it is, something else has come up of which you also ought not to be unaware. For our brother Lucian, himself too one of the confessors, ardent indeed in faith and strong in courage, but not well grounded in the reading of the Lord's word, has attempted certain things unskilfully, for some time now setting himself up as an authority, so that certificates written in his hand were given in crowds to many in the name of Paulus; whereas Mappalicus the martyr, cautious and modest, mindful of the law and discipline, wrote no letters contrary to the gospel, but, moved only by family affection, directed that peace be given to his mother and sister, who had lapsed; and Saturninus too, after his tortures, while still in prison, sent out no letters of this kind. But Lucian not only gave out everywhere certificates written in his own hand in the name of Paulus while Paulus was still in prison, but even after his departure continued to do the same under his name, saying that this had been commanded him by him, and not knowing that one must obey the Lord rather than a fellow servant. In the name of Aurelius too, a young man who had endured tortures, many certificates were given, written by the same Lucian's hand, because Aurelius did not know how to write.

To oppose this to some extent, I wrote a letter to them, which I forwarded to you with my former letter, in which I did not cease to ask and persuade them that the principle of the Lord's law and of the gospel should be kept. After that letter, as though something more moderate and restrained were being done, Lucian wrote a letter in the name of all the confessors, by which almost every bond of faith and fear of God and the Lord's command and the holiness and firmness of the gospel would be loosed. For he wrote in the name of all that they had all given peace, and wished this rule to be made known through me to the other bishops; a copy of this letter I have forwarded to you. There was added, indeed, “those of whom an account has been given of what they have done since their sin.” This heaps greater ill will upon us, so that when we begin to hear and examine the cases of individuals, we seem to be denying many what they all now boast they have received from the martyrs and confessors.

Indeed the beginning of this sedition has already come. For in our province, in several cities, the crowd has made an attack on their leaders, and has forced them to grant at once the peace which they kept shouting had been given once for all to everyone by the martyrs and confessors, their leaders being terrified and subdued, since they were not strong enough in courage of mind and firmness of faith to resist. Among us too certain turbulent men, who even in the past were hardly ruled by us and were being deferred until our presence, inflamed by this letter as if by torches, have begun to burn more fiercely and to extort the peace given them. I have sent you a copy of the letter I wrote to the clergy about them. And what my colleague Caldonius wrote to me, out of his integrity and faith, and what I wrote back to him, I have forwarded both to you to read. I have also sent you copies of the letter of Celerinus, the good and strong confessor, which he wrote to the same confessor Lucian, and likewise of what Lucian wrote back to him, so that you might know that our diligence works carefully in all things, and learn from the truth itself how moderate and cautious Celerinus the confessor is, and how modest in the humility and fear of our religion; whereas Lucian, as I have said, is less skilled in understanding the Lord's word, and by his easygoing ways immoderate in leaving ill will to fall on our restraint. For while the Lord said that the nations are to be baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and that past sins are remitted in baptism, this man, ignorant of the precept and the law, orders peace to be given and sins to be remitted in the name of Paulus, and says that this was commanded him by Paulus, as you will notice in the letter of the same Lucian to Celerinus; in which he did not consider that it is not martyrs who make the gospel, but through the gospel martyrs are made; since Paul the apostle too, whom the Lord called his chosen vessel, put it in his letter, saying: “I marvel that you are so quickly changing from him who called you into grace to another gospel, which is not another; except that there are some who trouble you and wish to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should announce otherwise than we have announced to you, let him be anathema. As we said before, so now I say again: if anyone announces to you anything other than what you received, let him be anathema.”

But your letter to the clergy, which I received, arrived opportunely, and likewise the letter which the blessed confessors Moses, Maximus, Nicostratus, and the others sent to Saturninus and Aurelius and the others, in which the full vigour of the gospel and the strong discipline of the Lord's law is contained. Your words greatly helped us, who are labouring here and resisting with all the strength of faith against the onslaught of ill will; so that by divine providence the way was shortened, and before the letter which I sent you most recently reached you, you declared to us that your judgement too stands firmly and unanimously with us according to the law of the gospel. I wish you, dearest and most longed-for brothers, good health always.

Cyprian to Moses and Maximus, presbyters, and the other confessors, his most beloved brothers, greeting. The glory of your faith and courage, bravest and most blessed brothers, I had long known by report, and was very glad and rejoiced greatly that the special favour of our Lord had prepared you for the crown by the confession of his name. For you, made the first and the leaders in the battle of our time, have advanced the standards of the heavenly army. You have begun, by your courage, the spiritual contest that God has now willed to be waged. You have broken the first onsets of the rising war with immovable strength and unshaken steadfastness. From there the happy beginnings of the fight arose; from there the omens of victory began. Here it has happened that martyrdoms have been completed through tortures; but he who, going ahead in the encounter, has been made an example of courage to the brothers shares in honour with the martyrs. Crowns woven by your hand you have handed from there to here, and you have pledged the brothers from the cup of salvation.

To the glorious beginnings of your confession and the omens of a victorious warfare has been added the steady course of discipline, which we have seen in the vigour of your letter, which you lately sent with anxious admonition to your colleagues joined with you in the confession of the Lord, that the holy precepts of the gospel and the life-giving commands once handed down to us should be held with strong and steadfast observance. Behold another lofty step of your glory; behold again a claim to God's favour doubled with confession: to stand with firm step, and in this battle line, which is trying to break in upon the gospel, to drive back by the strength of faith those who lay impious hands to undermine the Lord's precepts; to have given before the beginnings of courage, and now to give lessons in conduct too. The Lord, sending the apostles after the resurrection, commands and says: “All power has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and teach all nations, dipping them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things whatever I have commanded you.” And John the apostle, mindful of the command, afterwards puts in his letter: “By this,” he says, “we understand that we have known him, if we keep his precepts. He who says that he has known him and does not keep his commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him.” You urge that these precepts be kept; you keep the divine and heavenly commands. This is to be a confessor of the Lord; this is to be a martyr of Christ: to keep the firmness of one's voice inviolate and solid in all things, and not to become a martyr through the Lord and then try to destroy the Lord's precepts. To use against him the favour he has given you, to become in a sense a rebel with arms received from him, this is to wish to confess Christ and to deny the gospel of Christ. I rejoice therefore over you, bravest and most faithful brothers; and as much as I congratulate the martyrs honoured there for the glory of their strength, so much do I congratulate you too for the crown also of the Lord's discipline. The Lord has poured out his favour in manifold kinds of generosity; he has distributed the praises and spiritual glories of good soldiers in rich variety. We too are partakers of your honours; we count your glory our glory, since such happiness has made our times illustrious that it has been granted us in our age to see servants of God proved and soldiers of Christ crowned. I wish you, bravest and most blessed brothers, good health always, and that you remember us.

Cyprian to the presbyters and deacons, his brothers, greeting. So that nothing should escape your knowledge, dearest brothers, of what was written to me and what I wrote back, I have sent you a copy of both letters; and I believe that what I wrote back does not displease you. But I ought also to convey to you by my letter that, a pressing reason requiring it, I have sent a letter to the clergy living in the city. And since I had to write by clerics, but I know that very many of ours are absent, while the few who are there are hardly sufficient for the daily ministry of the work, it was necessary to appoint some new ones to be sent. Know, then, that I have made Saturus a reader and the confessor Optatus a subdeacon, whom we had long ago, by common counsel, made next to the clergy: when we gave Saturus the reading on Easter Day once and again, and when lately, while we were carefully testing readers with the presbyter-teachers, we appointed Optatus among the readers of the teachers of the hearers, examining whether everything that ought to be in those who were being prepared for the clergy suited them. Nothing new, then, has been done by me in your absence; but what had long ago been begun by the common counsel of all of us has been advanced under the pressure of necessity. I wish you, dearest brothers, good health always, and that you remember us. Greet the brotherhood. Farewell.