To Demetrian

Contents

Reading pages: 1–22 · 23–26

1. 1Cyprian explains that he had long ignored Demetrian's attacks on God, following Scripture's advice not to answer a fool.
2. 2Since Demetrian and others blame the Christians for wars, plague, famine, and drought, Cyprian will now answer, lest silence seem an admission of guilt.
3. 3The world's troubles come not from Christians but from its old age: nature, resources, and virtues are all declining, as everything that rises must set.
4. 4Just as the old cannot blame Christians for their weakness, so the decline of all things reflects the world's own old age; human life itself has shortened.
5. 5Wars, famines, and plagues were foretold for the last times and come not because Christians neglect the gods but because pagans neglect God.
6. 6God commands that he alone be worshiped, and the prophets warn that he withholds rain and harvest from those who neglect him.
7. 7Drought, hail, and disease come because of sin, to discipline the stubborn or punish the wicked, yet people do not fear God even under his blows.
8. 8Pagans demand that nature serve them and harshly demand obedience from their slaves, yet they refuse to serve God, the Lord of all.
9. 9Since the plagues do not turn people to God, eternal punishment awaits; Hosea shows that God is angry because there is no knowledge of him on earth.
10. 10Pagans should judge themselves: civil injustice, hoarding, and greed during the plague cause more suffering than war, drought, or disease.
11. 11Even the plague does not stop plunder and injustice; as Isaiah says, God could help, but sins separate people from him.
12. 12Pagans tolerate the worship of animals and idols, yet persecute Christians alone with ever more cruel tortures.
13. 13Christianity is either a crime or not; torture is used to extract confessions from those who deny, so why torture Christians who openly confess? Refute them by reason instead.
14. 14Gods that need their worshipers to avenge and guard them are weaker than those worshipers and cannot protect anyone.
15. 15Cyprian invites Demetrian to watch Christians exorcize demons, who then confess what they are and tremble before the servants of God.
16. 16God made humans upright to look to heaven; Demetrian should stop bowing to idols, turn to God, believe in Christ, and cease persecuting Christians.
17. 17Christians do not resist arrest, trusting in God's vengeance, which has recently fallen on the persecutors; the disasters come not because of Christians but on their behalf.
18. 18Christians share in public disasters but do not suffer from them as pagans do, for their hope is in the future and their troubles only strengthen them.
19. 19Christians share bodily hardships with pagans in this world, but bear them patiently, so what punishes pagans is not a punishment to them.
20. 20Like Habakkuk, Christians rejoice in God even when crops fail, awaiting heaven; yet they pray day and night for rain, peace, and the safety of their persecutors.
21. 21Though Christians share earthly hardships, God foretold that his anger would fall on the unrighteous and that he would avenge his persecuted people.
22. 22The day of judgment is coming, when only those reborn and marked with Christ's sign will escape, as Ezekiel's sign on the forehead and the Passover blood foreshadowed.
23. 23Since the end is near, pagans should recognize God's anger in their troubles, seek and know God even late, and believe Christ.
24. 24At the judgment unbelievers will suffer eternal punishment, and their persecutors, seeing the righteous saved, will lament too late, as Isaiah and Wisdom describe.
25. 25Returning goodwill for hatred, Cyprian urges Demetrian to repent while there is time, for no repentance is too late in this life, but none is possible after death.
26. 26Christ grants this grace by his cross and blood, reconciling us to God; all should follow him and share his joy and immortality.