Sophia Scriptura

On the Lapsed 29

Cyprian of Carthage · On the Lapsed · 251 · Carthage · Read in context

Summary: Cyprian urges the lapsed to confess their sin while still alive and to return to God with fasting, weeping, and mourning.

Textual problem in this passage: the printed text is uncertain or disputed here. See the notes.

Latin text · CSEL 3.1:258–259

Confiteantur singuli quaeso uos, fratres, delictum suum, dum adhuc qui deliquit in saeculo est, dum admitti confessio eius potest, dum satisfactio et remissio [facta] per sacerdotes aput Dominum grata est. conuertamur ad Dominum mente tota et paenitentiam criminis ueris doloribus exprimentes Dei misericordiam deprecemur. illi se anima prosternat, illi maestitia satisfaciat, illi spes omnis incumbat. rogare qualiter debeamus dicit ipse. reuertimini, inquit, ad me ex toto corde uestro simulque et ieiunio et fletu et planctu et discindite corda uestra et non uestimenta uestra. ad Dominum toto corde redeamus, iram et offensam eius ieiuniis, fletibus, planctibus sicut monet ipse placemus.

English · Claude translation

Let each one confess his sin, I beg you, brothers, while he who has sinned is still in this world, while his confession can be admitted, while satisfaction and remission through the priests are pleasing to the Lord. Let us turn to the Lord with our whole mind and, expressing penance for our crime with true sorrow, entreat God's mercy. Let the soul prostrate itself before him; let grief make satisfaction to him; let all hope rest on him. He himself tells us how we ought to ask. “Return to me,” he says, “with your whole heart, and with fasting and weeping and mourning, and tear your hearts and not your garments.” Let us return to the Lord with our whole heart; let us appease his anger and offense with fastings, weeping, and mournings, as he himself advises.

About this passage

Source
CSEL 3.1:258–259 · Wilhelm von Hartel, ed., S. Thasci Caecili Cypriani Opera omnia, Pars 1, CSEL 3.1 (Vienna: Gerold, 1868), 235–264 · Latin text: W. von Hartel (CSEL 3.1, 1868), digitized by Open Greek and Latin, University of Leipzig (csel-dev), CC BY-SA 4.0
Text
As printed in CSEL 3.1. Manuscript variants and the editor's apparatus are not reproduced; the problem in this passage is discussed in the notes.
Translation
Claude translation (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 · Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 3.1; made independently of existing English translations.
Compare
Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 5 (1886) (an older public-domain English translation, whole volume at CCEL; checked against ours only after ours was made)
Scripture
Topics
Fasting, Church office

Notes

Translation notes

  • The quotation is Joel 2:12–13. The editor deletes “facta” (“made”) after “remissio” (in square brackets).

Cite this passage

Cyprian, Laps. 29 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/cyprian-lapsis/29/).

Plain text
Cyprian, Laps. 29 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/cyprian-lapsis/29/).

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