On the Lapsed 18
Summary: Rash forgiveness harms the lapsed; even the martyrs beneath the altar must wait for God's judgment, so their requests for the lapsed can be honored only if they agree with the Lord's law.
Latin text · CSEL 3.1:250
Ceterum si quis praepropera festinatione temerarius remissionem peccatorum dare se cunctis putat posse aut audet Domini praecepta rescindere, non tantum nihil prodest sed et obest lapsis. prouocasse est iram non seruasse sententiam nec misericordiam prius Domini deprecandam putare, sed contempto Domino de sua facilitate praesumere. sub ara Dei animae occisorum martyrum clamant magna uoce dicentes: quousque, Domine sanctus et uerus, non iudicas et uindicas sanguinem nostrum de his qui in terris inhabitant? et requiescere ac patientiam tenere adhuc iubentur. et quemquam posse aliquis existimat remittendis passim donandisque peccatis bonum fieri contra iudicem uelle aut prius quam uindicetur ipse alios posse defendere? mandant aliquid martyres fieri: si iusta, si licita, si non contra ipsum Dominum a Dei sacerdote facienda: sit obtemperantis facilis et prona consensio, si petentis fuerit religiosa moderatio. mandant aliquid martyres fieri: si scripta non sunt in Domini lege quae mandant, ante est ut sciamus illos de Domino inpetrasse quod postulant, tunc facere quod mandant. neque enim statim uideri potest diuina maiestate concessum quod fuerit humana pollicitatione promissum.
English · Claude translation
But if anyone, rash in his headlong haste, thinks that he can give remission of sins to all, or dares to rescind the Lord's precepts, he not only does no good to the lapsed but even harms them. It is to have provoked his anger not to have kept his sentence, and not to think that the Lord's mercy must first be entreated, but, despising the Lord, to presume on one's own easiness. Beneath the altar of God the souls of the slain martyrs cry with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, do you not judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” And they are told to rest and still be patient. And does anyone suppose that someone can become good by remitting and forgiving sins at random against the Judge's will, or can defend others before he himself is avenged? The martyrs order something to be done: if it is just, if lawful, if not to be done by the priest of God against the Lord himself, let the obeying one's consent be easy and ready, provided the petitioner's request has been reverent and moderate. The martyrs order something to be done: if what they order is not written in the Lord's law, we must first know that they have obtained from the Lord what they ask, and then do what they order. For what has been promised by a human pledge cannot at once be seen to have been granted by the divine majesty.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The martyrs and confessors had issued “letters of peace” (libelli pacis) requesting readmission of the lapsed; Cyprian insists that these be subject to the Lord's law and the bishop's judgment. The quotation is Rev 6:10–11.
Cite this passage
Cyprian, Laps. 18 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/cyprian-lapsis/18/).
Plain text
Cyprian, Laps. 18 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/cyprian-lapsis/18/).
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