Letters 8.1–12.2

We have learned from Crementius the subdeacon, who came to us from you for a particular reason, that the blessed pope Cyprian has withdrawn; which he has certainly done rightly, because he is a prominent person, and because of the impending contest which God has permitted in the world, for the sake of struggling with the adversary together with his servants, wishing also to make this contest manifest to angels and men, that he who conquers may be crowned, while he who is conquered will bring upon himself the sentence that has been made known to us. And since it is incumbent on us, who seem to be leaders and to guard the flock in the place of shepherds, if we are found negligent it will be said to us what was also said to our predecessors, who were such negligent leaders: that we have not sought the lost, nor corrected the wandering, nor bound up the lame, and we used to eat their milk and clothe ourselves with their wool. Finally, the Lord himself also, fulfilling what was written in the Law and the prophets, teaches, saying: “I am the good shepherd, who lay down my life for my sheep. But the hireling, whose own the sheep are not, when he sees the wolf coming, leaves them and flees, and the wolf scatters them.” And to Simon too he says thus: “Do you love me?” He answered, “I love you.” He said to him: “Feed my sheep.” We know that this word was fulfilled by the very act by which he departed, and the other disciples did likewise.

We do not wish, therefore, most beloved brothers, to be found hirelings, but good shepherds, since you know that no small danger lies upon you if you do not exhort our brothers to stand immovable in the faith, lest the brotherhood be utterly uprooted as they rush headlong into idolatry. Nor do we exhort you to this in words only; you will be able to learn from many who come from us to you that, with God's help, we have done and are doing all these things with all care and at worldly risk, having before our eyes the fear of God and eternal punishments rather than the fear of men and a brief injury, not deserting the brotherhood, and exhorting them to stand in the faith and to be ready to go with the Lord. We have even called back those who were going up to do what they were being compelled to do. The church stands strong in the faith, although some, compelled by terror itself, whether because they were prominent persons or because they were seized with the fear of men, have fallen. These indeed, though separated from us, we have not abandoned, but we have exhorted them and do exhort them to do penance, if in any way they may be able to receive pardon from him who can grant it, lest, if they are abandoned by us, they become worse.

You see, therefore, brothers, that you too ought to do this, so that even those who have fallen, as you correct their minds by your exhortation, may confess if they are arrested again, so that they may correct their former error; and there are other things incumbent on you, which we have also added: that if those who have fallen into this temptation begin to be seized with sickness, and do penance for their deed and desire communion, help should certainly be given them. Whether widows, or the afflicted who cannot support themselves, or those who are in prison, or those shut out of their homes, they certainly ought to have people to minister to them. And catechumens too, if seized with sickness, ought not to be disappointed, but should be helped. And, what is most important, if the bodies of the martyrs or of others are not buried, a great danger hangs over those on whom this work falls. Whoever of you, then, on whatever occasion, has accomplished this work, we are sure he will be counted a good servant, so that he who has been faithful in the least may be set over ten cities. May God, who grants all things to those who hope in him, grant that we may all be found in these works. The brothers who are in chains greet you, and the presbyters and the whole church, which itself also keeps watch with the greatest care for all who call on the name of the Lord. And we ask you in turn to remember us. Know also that Bassianus has reached us. And we ask you, who have zeal for God, to send a copy of this letter to whomever you can by suitable opportunities, or make your own, or send a messenger, so that they may stand strong and immovable in the faith. We wish you, dearest brothers, good health always.

Cyprian to the presbyters and deacons living at Rome, his brothers, greeting. When the report among us of the departure of the good man, my colleague, was uncertain, dearest brothers, and opinion wavered in doubt, I received a letter from you, sent to me by the subdeacon Crementius, by which I was most fully informed of his glorious end; and I rejoiced greatly that, in keeping with the integrity of his administration, its completion also proved honourable. In this I congratulate you too very much, that you honour his memory with so solemn and illustrious a testimony, so that through you we might learn what is glorious for you regarding the memory of your leader, and what also gives us an example of faith and courage. For as much as the fall of a leader is a ruinous thing, leading to the fall of those who follow, so much, on the other hand, is it useful and salutary when a bishop offers himself to the brothers to be imitated through the firmness of his faith. I have also read a letter in which neither the writers nor those to whom it was written are clearly stated. And since in that letter the handwriting, the content, and even the paper itself disturbed me, lest anything of the truth should have been removed or altered, I have sent the original letter back to you, so that you may check whether it is the one you gave to the subdeacon Crementius to deliver. For it is very serious if the truth of a clerical letter has been corrupted by any falsehood or fraud. So that we may know this, therefore, check whether the handwriting and the signature are yours, and write back to us what the truth is. I wish you, dearest brothers, good health always.

Cyprian to the martyrs and confessors of Jesus Christ our Lord, everlasting greeting in God the Father. I exult with joy and give thanks, bravest and most blessed brothers, on learning of your faith and courage, in which mother church glories. She gloried lately too, when, the confession being maintained, the penalty was undergone that made the confessors of Christ exiles. Yet the present confession is as much more illustrious and greater in honour as it is braver in suffering. The fight has grown, and the glory of the fighters has grown too. You were not held back from the battle by fear of torments, but by the torments themselves you were rather provoked to the battle; brave and steadfast, you went forth with ready devotion to the fight of the greatest contest. Of you I have learned that some have already been crowned, some are close to the crown of victory, and all whom the prison has shut in, a glorious column, are animated with equal and like warmth of courage to wage the contest, as the soldiers of Christ ought to be in the divine camp: so that flattery does not deceive the uncorrupted firmness of faith, threats do not terrify it, torture and torments do not overcome it; because greater is he who is in us than he who is in this world, and earthly punishment has no more power to cast down than divine protection has to raise up. The thing has been proved by the glorious contest of the brothers, who, becoming leaders to the rest in overcoming torments, gave an example of courage and faith, engaging in the battle until the battle line gave way, conquered.

With what praises, then, shall I proclaim you, bravest brothers? With what heraldry of speech shall I adorn the strength of your heart and the perseverance of your faith? You endured the harshest interrogation until glory was complete; you did not give way to the tortures, but rather the tortures gave way to you. The end of your pains, which the torments did not give, the crowns gave. The heavier butchery persisted long, not to cast down a faith that stood, but to send the men of God more quickly to the Lord. The multitude of those present saw with wonder the heavenly contest of God, the spiritual battle of Christ: his servants standing with free voice, uncorrupted mind, divine courage, naked indeed of worldly weapons, but armed, as believers, with the arms of faith. The tortured stood stronger than the torturers, and the beaten and torn limbs overcame the beating and tearing hooks. The blow, raging long and repeated, could not overcome the invincible faith, although, with the framework of the flesh broken, it was no longer limbs but wounds that were tortured in the servants of God. Blood flowed that would quench the fire of persecution, that would still the flames and fires of Gehenna with glorious gore. O what a spectacle that was for the Lord, how sublime, how great, how acceptable in the eyes of God, by the oath and devotion of his soldier! As it is written in the psalms, the Holy Spirit speaking to us and at the same time admonishing us: “Precious in the sight of God is the death of his righteous ones.” Precious is this death, which has bought immortality at the price of its own blood, which has received the crown of God by the completion of its courage.

How glad Christ was there! How willingly he both fought and conquered in such servants of his, the protector of faith, giving to believers as much as he who receives believes that he receives! He was present at his own contest; he raised up, strengthened, and animated the fighters and champions of his name. And he who once for all conquered death for us always conquers in us. “When they deliver you up,” he says, “do not think what you will say; for it will be given you in that hour what to say. For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you.”

The present battle has given proof of this. A voice full of the Holy Spirit broke forth from the martyr's mouth, when the most blessed Mappalicus, amid his tortures, said to the proconsul: “Tomorrow you will see a contest.” And what he said with the testimony of courage and faith the Lord fulfilled. The heavenly contest was presented, and the servant of God was crowned in the struggle of the promised contest. This is the contest which the prophet Isaiah foretold, saying: “It is no small struggle for you with men, since God provides the contest.” And to show what this contest would be, he added, saying: “Behold, a virgin will conceive in the womb and bear a son, and you will call his name Emmanuel.” This is the contest of our faith, in which we engage, in which we conquer, in which we are crowned. This is the contest which the blessed apostle Paul also showed us, in which we must run and come to the glory of the crown. “Do you not know,” he says, “that those who run in the stadium all run, but one receives the prize? So run that you may win. And they do it to receive a perishable crown, but we an imperishable.” Likewise, showing his own struggle and promising that he would soon be a sacrifice to the Lord, he says: “I am already being poured out, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought the good contest, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith. There remains for me now the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.” This contest, then, foretold by the prophets, begun by the Lord, carried on by the apostles, Mappalicus promised again to the proconsul in his own name and that of his colleagues. Nor did the faithful voice fail in its promise. The fight he pledged he presented, and the prize he merited he received. This most blessed martyr now, and the others who shared the same engagement, companions steadfast in faith, patient in pain, victors under interrogation, I both wish and exhort that the rest of you also follow; so that those whom the bond of confession and the lodging of the prison have joined together, the completion of courage and the heavenly crown may also join; so that by your joy you may wipe away the tears of mother church, who mourns the falls and deaths of very many, and by the challenge of your example may strengthen the firmness of the others who stand. If the battle calls you, if the day of your contest comes, fight bravely, struggle steadfastly, knowing that you struggle under the eyes of the Lord who is present, that by the confession of his name you come to his glory; who is not such that he only watches his servants, but he himself wrestles in us, himself engages, himself in the struggle of our contest both crowns and is crowned. But if, by the Lord's mercy, peace comes before the day of your contest, the will remains whole in you and the conscience glorious. Nor let any of you be saddened as though he were less than those who, having endured torments before you, have come to the Lord by a glorious road, having conquered and trampled on the world. The Lord is the searcher of the reins and the heart; he sees into secrets and beholds hidden things. To merit the crown from him, the testimony of him alone who is to judge suffices. Both things therefore, dearest brothers, are equally sublime and illustrious: the one, more secure, to hasten to the Lord with the completion of victory; the other, more joyful, to receive leave after glory and flourish in the praise of the church. O blessed church of ours, which the honour of the divine favour so illuminates, which in our times the glorious blood of martyrs makes illustrious! Before, she was white in the works of the brothers; now she has become purple in the blood of martyrs. Among her flowers neither lilies nor roses are lacking. Let each now strive for the most ample dignity of both honours. Let them receive crowns, either white from works or purple from suffering. In the heavenly camp both peace and battle have their flowers, with which the soldier of Christ may be crowned for glory. I wish you, bravest and most blessed brothers, good health in the Lord always, and that you remember us. Farewell.

Cyprian to the presbyters and deacons, his brothers, greeting. Although I know, dearest brothers, that out of the fear which each of us owes to God you too are urgently applying yourselves there to continual prayers and earnest supplications, I myself nonetheless also remind your devout care that, to appease and entreat God, we should groan not with voice alone but also with fastings and tears and every kind of supplication. For we must understand and confess that the turbulent devastation of this affliction, which has laid waste our flock for the most part and is laying it waste still, has come because of our sins, since we do not keep the way of the Lord nor observe the heavenly commands given us for salvation. Our Lord did the will of the Father, and we do not do the will of God, being eager for property and gain, pursuing pride, given over to rivalry and dissension, careless of simplicity and faith, renouncing the world in words only and not in deeds, each pleasing himself and displeasing everyone. So we are beaten as we deserve, since it is written: “But that servant who knows his master's will and has not obeyed his will shall be beaten with many stripes.” But what blows, what scourges do we not deserve, when not even the confessors, who ought to have been an example to the rest for good conduct, keep discipline? And so, while the swollen and shameless boasting of their confession insolently exalts some, the torments have come: torments without end for the torturer, without outcome in condemnation, without the comfort of death; torments that do not easily release to the crown, but torture as long as it takes to cast down; unless someone, withdrawn by the divine favour, has passed on in the very midst of the tortures, having obtained glory not by the end of the punishment but by the swiftness of dying.

We suffer these things through our own sin and desert, as the divine judgement warned beforehand, saying: “If they forsake my law and do not walk in my judgements, if they profane my statutes and do not observe my precepts, I will visit their crimes with the rod and their sins with scourges.” We feel the rods and scourges, then, who neither please God by good deeds nor make satisfaction for our sins. Let us ask God's mercy from our inmost heart and with our whole mind, for he himself also added, saying: “But my mercy I will not scatter from them.” Let us ask, and we receive; and if there is delay and slowness in receiving, since we have gravely offended, let us knock, because to the one who knocks it is opened, if only our prayers and groans and tears knock at the door, in which we must persist and linger, and if the prayer is of one mind.

For what most persuaded and compelled me to write this letter to you, you must know, as the Lord deigns to show and reveal: it was said in a vision, “Ask, and you will obtain.” Then the people standing by were commanded to ask for certain persons pointed out to them; but in asking their voices were discordant and their wills at variance, and this greatly displeased him who had said, “Ask, and you will obtain,” that the people were uneven and out of tune, and there was not one simple agreement of the brothers and united concord. For it is written: “God, who makes those of one mind to dwell in a house”; and we read in the Acts of the Apostles: “And the multitude of those who had believed acted with one soul and mind”; and the Lord commanded with his own voice, saying: “This is my commandment, that you love one another”; and again: “But I tell you that if two of you agree on earth about anything whatever that you ask, it will be done for you by my Father who is in heaven.” If two of one mind can do so much, what if there were unanimity among all? If there were agreement among all the brothers according to the peace which the Lord has given us, we would long ago have obtained from the divine mercy what we ask, and we would not have been tossed so long in this danger to our salvation and faith; indeed, these evils would not have come upon the brothers at all, if the brotherhood had been animated as one.

For this too was shown: that the father of the household was sitting, and on his right a young man was sitting; the young man sat anxious and somewhat sad with a kind of indignation, holding his chin in his hand with a sorrowful face. Another, standing on the left side, was carrying a net, which he threatened to cast to catch the people standing around. And when the one who saw it wondered what this was, he was told that the young man sitting thus on the right was saddened and grieved that his precepts were not being observed, while the one on the left exulted that an opportunity was being given him to receive from the father of the household power to rage. This was shown long before the storm of this devastation arose. And we see fulfilled what had been shown: that while we despise the Lord's precepts, while we do not keep the salutary commands of the law given us, the enemy received the power to do harm, and with the cast of his net covered those less armed and less wary to resist.

Let us pray urgently and groan with continual supplications. For know, dearest brothers, that this too was not long ago made a reproach to us through a vision: that we are drowsy in our prayers and do not pray watchfully. And certainly God, who loves whom he rebukes, when he rebukes, rebukes in order to amend, and amends in order to save. Let us therefore shake off and break the bonds of sleep and pray urgently and watchfully, as the apostle Paul commands, saying: “Persevere in prayer, watching in it.” For the apostles too did not cease to pray day and night, and the Lord himself also, the teacher of discipline and the way of our example, prayed often and watchfully, as we read in the gospel: “He went out to the mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God.” And certainly what he prayed he prayed for us, since he himself was not a sinner but bore our sins. So much indeed did he intercede for us that we read in another place: “And the Lord said to Peter: Behold, Satan has asked to sift you like wheat; but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail.” If he labours and watches and prays for us and for our sins, how much more ought we to persist in supplications and pray, and first ask the Lord himself, and then through him make satisfaction to God the Father! We have as advocate and intercessor for our sins Jesus Christ our Lord and God, if only we repent of having sinned in the past, and, confessing and understanding the sins by which we now offend the Lord, promise at least to walk in his ways henceforth and to fear his precepts. The Father both corrects and protects us, provided we stand in faith and, amid afflictions and distresses, cling firmly to his Christ, as it is written: “Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Affliction, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or the sword?” None of these can separate believers; nothing can tear away those who cleave to his body and blood. This persecution is a testing and a searching out of our sin; God has willed us to be sifted and proved, as he has always proved his own; and yet in his provings help has never been lacking to believers.

Finally, to the least of his servants, who is placed in very many sins and unworthy of his favour, he nevertheless, out of his goodness toward us, deigned to send this word: “Tell him,” he said, “to be of good heart, because peace is coming; but that there is a little delay meanwhile, because there still remain some to be proved.” We are also admonished by divine favours about sparing food and sober drink, namely, lest the enticement of the world enervate a heart already lifted high by heavenly vigour, or lest the mind, weighed down by more lavish feasts, be less watchful for the supplications of prayer.

I ought not to pass over these several things or hide them alone in my own conscience, by which each one of us may be instructed and guided; nor, then, should you keep this letter hidden among yourselves, but bring it to the brothers to be read. For to intercept the things by which the Lord deigns to admonish and instruct us belongs to one who does not want his brother admonished and instructed. Let them know that we are being proved by our Lord, and let them not fall away, in the struggle of the present affliction, from the faith with which we once believed in him; each recognizing his own sins, let them at least now put off the way of life of the old man. For no one who looks back and puts his hand to the plough is fit for the kingdom of God. Lot's wife, when she had been delivered, looked back against the command and lost what she had escaped. Let us attend not to the things behind, to which the devil calls us back, but to the things before, to which Christ calls us. Let us lift our eyes to heaven, lest the earth deceive us with its delights and enticements. Let each one pray to God not for himself only but for all the brothers, as the Lord taught us to pray, where he does not command a private prayer for individuals, but bade those who pray with common prayer and harmonious supplication to pray for all. If the Lord sees us humble and quiet, joined to one another, fearful of his anger, corrected and amended by the present tribulation, he will keep us safe from the attacks of the enemy. Discipline has gone before; pardon will follow.

Only let us, unceasing in asking and faithful in receiving, simple and of one mind, entreat the Lord, entreating with groaning and weeping alike, as those ought to entreat who are placed between the falls of those who lament and the remnants of those who fear, between the numerous slaughter of the weak and the scant firmness of those who stand. Let us ask that peace be restored more quickly, that help come soon to our hiding places and dangers, that what the Lord deigns to show his servants be fulfilled: the restoration of his church, the security of our salvation, after rains fair weather, after darkness light, after storms and whirlwinds a peaceful calm, the loving help of fatherly love, the accustomed mighty works of the divine majesty, by which the blasphemy of the persecutors may be beaten back, the penance of the lapsed reformed, and the strong and steadfast faith of those who persevere may glory. I wish you, dearest brothers, good health always, and that you remember us. Greet the brotherhood in my name and remind them to remember us. Farewell.

Cyprian to the presbyters and deacons, his brothers, greeting. Although I know, dearest brothers, that you have been often admonished in my letters that every diligence be shown to those who have confessed the Lord with glorious voice and are held in prison, yet I press upon you again and again that nothing be lacking to the care of those to whom nothing is lacking in glory. And would that the circumstances of my place and rank permitted me to be present myself now: promptly and gladly I would fulfil, with the customary ministry, all the services of love toward our bravest brothers. But let your diligence represent my office and do all that ought to be done for those whom the divine favour has made illustrious by such merits of their faith and courage. To the bodies also of all those who, even if they have not been tortured, nevertheless depart in prison by the glorious end of death, let more attentive watchfulness and care be given. For neither their courage nor their honour is any less, so as to keep them from being joined, they too, to the blessed martyrs. As far as in them lay, they endured whatever they were ready and prompt to endure. He who offered himself to torments and death under the eyes of God has suffered whatever he was willing to suffer. For it was not he who failed the torments, but the torments that failed him. “Whoever confesses me before men, I too will confess him before my Father,” says the Lord. They have confessed. “He who endures to the end, he will be saved,” says the Lord. They have endured, and have carried the merits of their virtues uncorrupted and unstained right to the end. And again it is written: “Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.” They have remained faithful, steadfast, and invincible unto death. When to our will and confession in prison and chains the end of dying is also added, the glory of martyrdom is complete.

Finally, note also the days on which they depart, so that we may celebrate their commemorations among the memorials of the martyrs; although Tertullus, our most faithful and devoted brother, among the other care and concern which he bestows on the brothers in every service of work, and who is not lacking there either in the care of the bodies, has written and writes and informs me of the days on which our blessed brothers in prison pass to immortality by the end of a glorious death, so that offerings and sacrifices for their commemorations may be celebrated here by us, which with the Lord's protection we shall soon celebrate with you. Let your care and diligence not be lacking to the poor either, as I have often written, but to those who, standing in the faith and fighting bravely with us, have not left the camp of Christ; to whom indeed greater love and care must now be shown by us, because, neither driven by poverty nor laid low by the storm of persecution, while they serve the Lord faithfully, they have given an example of faith to the other poor as well. I wish you, dearest and most longed-for brothers, good health always, and that you remember us. Greet the brotherhood in my name.