On the Lapsed 5 · Sophia Scriptura

Latin text · CSEL 3.1:240

Habenda tamen est, fratres dilectissimi, ratio ueritatis nec sic mentem debet et sensum persecutionis infestae tenebrosa caligo caecasse, ut nihil remanserit luminis et lucis, unde diuina praecepta perspici possint. si cladis causa cognoscitur, et medella uulneris inuenitur. Dominus probari familiam suam uoluit et quia traditam nobis diuinitus disciplinam pax longa corruperat, iacentem fidem et paene dixerim dormientem censura caelestis erexit, cumque nos peccatis nostris amplius mereremur, clementissimus Dominus sic cuncta moderatus est, ut hoc omne quod gestum est exploratio potius quam persecutio uideretur.

English · Claude translation

Yet account must be taken of the truth, dearest brothers, and the dark gloom of hostile persecution ought not so to have blinded mind and sense that no light or illumination remains by which the divine precepts can be seen. If the cause of the disaster is recognized, the remedy for the wound is also found. The Lord wished his household to be tested; and because long peace had corrupted the discipline handed down to us by God, the heavenly correction roused a faith that was lying prostrate and, I might almost say, asleep. And although we deserved more for our sins, the most merciful Lord so moderated everything that all that has happened seemed a testing rather than a persecution.

About this passage

Source

CSEL 3.1:240 · 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; no textual problem is noted in this passage.

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)

Topics

Persecution

Notes

Translation notes

The digital text's “ratio nentatas” is read as “ratio ueritatis”.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (garbled word in the digital text): ratio nentatas → ratio ueritatis.

Cite this passage

Cyprian, Laps. 5 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/cyprian-lapsis/5/).

Plain text

Cyprian, Laps. 5 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/cyprian-lapsis/5/).