Letters

Contents

Reading pages: 1.1–7.1 · 8.1–12.2 · 13.1–19.2 · 20.1–29.1 · 30.1–34.4 · 35.1–42.1 · 43.1–50.1 · 51.1–55.15 · 55.16–56.3 · 57.1–59.2 · 59.3–59.17 · 59.18–62.4 · 63.1–64.6 · 65.1–66.9 · 67.1–68.5 · 69.1–69.17 · 70.1–73.11 · 73.12–73.26 · 74.1–75.9 · 75.10–75.25 · 76.1–81.1

1. 1.1Cyprian tells the church at Furni that a council forbade naming clergy as guardians in wills, since clergy, like the Levites who lived on tithes, must be free to serve the altar.
2. 1.2Because Victor broke this rule, no offering or prayer is to be made for him in the church at Furni, as a warning to others.
3. 2.1Cyprian answers Eucratius that an actor who still trains boys in the theatre's effeminate art may not be in communion with the church.
4. 2.2An actor who has retired but still trains others is not excused; if he is poor, the church (at Carthage if need be) will support him so he can give up the trade.
5. 3.1Cyprian tells Bishop Rogatianus that he could have punished his insolent deacon himself, and recalls how God avenged Aaron against Korah and Samuel against the people.
6. 3.2Scripture teaches honour for priests: Solomon commands it, Paul apologized to the high priest, and Christ himself respected the high priests even when they were wicked.
7. 3.3Deacons, appointed by the apostles, must respect bishops, whom the Lord chose; the insolent deacon must do penance or be deposed or excluded, though patience is preferred.
8. 4.1Cyprian and four other bishops answer Pomponius about consecrated virgins found sleeping with men, including a deacon, and insist on church discipline.
9. 4.2Virgins must not live with men at all; those who cannot keep their vow should marry rather than fall into sin and scandal.
10. 4.3A midwife's examination proves nothing; the very sharing of beds is shameful, and Christ, the virgins' Bridegroom, is angered; clergy above all must set an example.
11. 4.4The offending clergy are rightly excluded; virgins found intact may return, those found corrupted must do full penance, and the obstinate are cast out, since there is no salvation outside the church.
12. 4.5Pomponius should guide his flock wisely; those vowed to celibacy must please God, and if some will not listen, the bishops must still please Christ.
13. 5.1From hiding, Cyprian asks his clergy to act in his place and to see that imprisoned confessors and the faithful poor lack nothing.
14. 5.2Visits to the confessors in prison should be discreet, and the presbyters who celebrate the Eucharist there should take turns with one deacon each, to avoid provoking the authorities.
15. 6.1Cyprian greets the imprisoned confessors, longs to embrace them, and hails their prison as blessed because it sends people of God to heaven.
16. 6.2Cyprian urges the confessors to think only of immortality, quoting Scripture that the righteous suffer but will judge and reign with Christ, whose sufferings they share.
17. 6.3The women and boys among the confessors recall the three youths in the furnace, who confessed God whether or not he would deliver them.
18. 6.4Cyprian urges them to follow the aged presbyter Rogatianus, who first went to prison, and prays that the confessors may be crowned as martyrs.
19. 7.1Cyprian explains that he stays away to avoid provoking the heathen, and asks his clergy to care for widows, the sick, the poor, and needy strangers from his own funds.
20. 8.1The Roman clergy, writing to the clergy of Carthage, note Cyprian's withdrawal and remind them that shepherds must not act like hirelings who abandon the flock.
21. 8.2The Roman clergy report that they are exhorting their people to stand firm, and that they urge those who fell into idolatry to do penance rather than abandoning them.
22. 8.3The lapsed who fall sick and repent should receive communion; widows, prisoners, the homeless, and sick catechumens must be cared for, and the dead buried.
23. 9.1Cyprian thanks the Roman clergy for news of Bishop Fabian's glorious martyrdom and returns to them an unsigned letter (Letter 8) whose authenticity he doubts.
24. 10.1Cyprian rejoices over the confessors of Carthage, some already crowned as martyrs, whose courage under torture has overcome their persecutors.
25. 10.2Cyprian praises the martyrs' endurance under torture as a heavenly spectacle, and their death as precious in God's sight.
26. 10.3Christ himself fought and conquered in his martyrs, as he promised that the Spirit would speak in them.
27. 10.4The martyr Mappalicus foretold his own contest and won it; Cyprian urges the other confessors to follow him, while assuring those spared by peace that their faithful will is crowned too.
28. 11.1Cyprian tells his clergy that the persecution came because of the church's sins, even the pride of some confessors, and calls for prayer, fasting, and tears.
29. 11.2The persecution is God's rod for sin, but he has promised mercy; the church must ask and knock with united, persistent prayer.
30. 11.3In a vision God rebuked the discordant prayers of the people; if the brothers prayed with one mind, the persecution would have ended.
31. 11.4Another vision, seen before the persecution, showed Christ grieving over neglected commands and the devil receiving power to catch the careless in his net.
32. 11.5Rebuked in a vision for drowsiness in prayer, the church must pray watchfully as Christ did, trusting in him as advocate, since nothing can separate believers from his love.
33. 11.6Cyprian himself, the least of God's servants, received a promise that peace would come after a short delay, and warnings to live soberly.
34. 11.7Cyprian wants this letter read to all: believers should repent, not look back like Lot's wife, and pray for one another, trusting that pardon will follow discipline.
35. 11.8Cyprian asks for united, tearful prayer for peace, the restoration of the church, the repentance of the lapsed, and the glory of those who stand firm.
36. 12.1Confessors who die in prison without being tortured are true martyrs and their bodies must be cared for, since they were faithful unto death.
37. 12.2The dates of martyrs' deaths must be recorded so that the Eucharist can be offered in their memory; the faithful poor deserve special care.
38. 13.1Cyprian writes again to Rogatianus and the confessors, rejoicing that the devil could not overcome them.
39. 13.2The confessors must persevere: what saves is not a good beginning but finishing well, as Solomon and Saul lost grace when they left God's ways.
40. 13.3Confessors above all must live humbly and quietly, so that their good works lead others to glorify God.
41. 13.4Some confessors disgrace their name by drunkenness, pride, or rashly returning from exile; they must imitate the humble, silent Christ.
42. 13.5Some confessors share beds with women, quarrel, and revile others; the tongue that confessed Christ must stay pure, and confession is a true renunciation of the world.
43. 13.6When peace comes, the confessors should return to the church changed for the better, admired for their conduct as well as their courage.
44. 14.1Cyprian grieves that some clergy have fallen, and explains that on Tertullus's advice he remains in hiding for the safety of all.
45. 14.2Cyprian charges his clergy to care for the faithful poor and needy confessors, and to teach the confessors humility after the example of Christ and Paul.
46. 14.3The devil attacks the victorious most fiercely; some confessors live disorderly and immoral lives, but a true confessor is one the church can be proud of.
47. 14.4Cyprian will not answer the letter of four presbyters by himself, since from the start of his episcopate he resolved to act only with the counsel of his clergy and the consent of the people.
48. 15.1Cyprian warns the martyrs that certain presbyters are admitting the lapsed to the Eucharist on the martyrs' recommendation without penance, confession, or the laying on of hands.
49. 15.2The lapsed are understandably eager, but pastors must not harm them by granting premature peace; the church must first have peace before their cases are decided.
50. 15.3The martyrs should weigh carefully each request for their recommendation, since they will judge with Christ, and should resist those who abuse their favour for gain.
51. 15.4Cyprian asks the martyrs to name each person in their certificates of peace, instead of writing vague notes covering someone “with his household”.
52. 16.1Cyprian breaks his silence to rebuke presbyters who, in contempt of their bishop, are acting on their own authority.
53. 16.2Denying Christ is the gravest sin; presbyters who give the lapsed communion before penance, confession, and the laying on of hands deceive them and profane the Eucharist.
54. 16.3Those presbyters, not the lapsed, bear the guilt; they set the martyrs against the bishop and ignore the martyrs' own request to wait until the persecution ends.
55. 16.4God warns the church through visions and through boys who prophesy in ecstasy; if the presbyters persist, Cyprian will suspend them from offering the Eucharist.
56. 17.1Cyprian tells the laity that he shares their grief for the lapsed, but their cases will be examined only when peace returns, in the presence of the people.
57. 17.2Some presbyters are giving the lapsed communion without the due order of penance, confession, and the bishop's laying on of hands, which applies even to lesser sins.
58. 17.3The people should restrain the lapsed from rushing back and wait for Cyprian's return, when a council of bishops will examine the martyrs' requests.
59. 18.1Because summer brings illness, the dying who hold martyrs' certificates may confess before a presbyter, or even a deacon, receive the laying on of hands, and die in peace with the church.
60. 18.2The other lapsed must be encouraged, and dying catechumens must not be refused God's grace.
61. 19.1Cyprian approves of his clergy's counsel of patience to the lapsed; true penance is humble obedience and good works.
62. 19.2The dying with martyrs' certificates may be reconciled; the rest must wait for a general council after peace returns, or, if impatient, may confess Christ now and win the martyr's crown.
63. 20.1Cyprian writes to the Roman clergy to correct false reports: he withdrew at the start of the persecution for the people's peace, as the Lord commanded, but never stopped caring for them.
64. 20.2Cyprian lists his thirteen letters: counsel to the clergy, encouragement to confessors, rebukes, restraint of the martyrs' flood of certificates, and the curbing of presbyters who readmitted the lapsed.
65. 20.3Cyprian explains that he allowed the dying who held martyrs' certificates to be reconciled, in agreement with the Roman clergy's letter, and deferred all other cases to a council.
66. 21.1Celerinus, a Roman confessor, writes to Lucian, a confessor imprisoned at Carthage, glad of his confession and hoping to embrace him in the world to come.
67. 21.2Celerinus mourns his sister, who sacrificed under persecution, and asks Lucian and the martyrs to obtain pardon for the lapsed sisters Numeria and Candida.
68. 21.3Celerinus asks that whichever martyr is crowned first should forgive Numeria and Candida, noting that one of them only bribed her way out and did not actually sacrifice.
69. 21.4Celerinus adds that the confessors from Carthage, whom Numeria and Candida cared for at Rome, join his request, and sends greetings.
70. 22.1Lucian replies to Celerinus, praising his confession before the emperor himself and grieving over the fallen sisters.
71. 22.2Lucian explains that the martyr Paulus charged him to give peace in his name, and that the martyrs, many starved to death in prison, have granted peace to all; the sisters should receive it after confession before the bishop.
72. 22.3Lucian closes with greetings to the confessors and friends at Rome.
73. 23.1The confessors tell Cyprian that they have granted peace to the lapsed whose conduct since their fall he has examined, and ask him to make this known to other bishops.
74. 24.1Bishop Caldonius asks Cyprian whether those who once sacrificed but later confessed Christ and went into exile, losing their property, may be given peace.
75. 25.1Cyprian agrees that the lapsed who later confessed and went into exile have washed away their sin and should be given peace, and sends his other letters on the lapsed to be circulated.
76. 26.1Cyprian will not decide alone on the confessors' general grant of peace; his earlier instructions stand until a council meets, and the lapsed must be patient.
77. 27.1Cyprian tells the Roman clergy that the confessor Lucian, zealous but untaught, has been issuing certificates of peace in bulk in the names of the martyr Paulus and the illiterate Aurelius.
78. 27.2Lucian then wrote in the name of all the confessors granting peace to all the lapsed, which makes Cyprian's case-by-case examination look like a refusal.
79. 27.3The confessors' letter has already sparked riots against bishops; Lucian presumes to forgive sins in Paulus's name, though sins are remitted in the name of the Trinity and martyrs are made by the gospel, not the gospel by martyrs.
80. 27.4Letters from the Roman clergy and the Roman confessors, supporting Cyprian's discipline, arrived just in time to help him.
81. 28.1Cyprian praises the Roman confessors Moses and Maximus, who led the way in the persecution and whose example has inspired the martyrs of Carthage.
82. 28.2Cyprian praises the Roman confessors for insisting on the gospel's discipline: a true confessor keeps Christ's commands and does not use the honour Christ gave him against Christ's own law.
83. 29.1Cyprian informs his clergy that, needing messengers to Rome, he has ordained Saturus a reader and Optatus a subdeacon, both already approved by common counsel.
84. 30.1The Roman clergy reply to Cyprian, commending him for seeking their agreement though his conscience answers to God alone.
85. 30.2Strict discipline, the helm of the church, is an ancient Roman tradition going back to the faith Paul praised, and falling away from such praise would be a great crime.
86. 30.3Those who obtained certificates or had themselves registered as having sacrificed have denied Christ just as those who sacrificed; hasty readmission without penance is not healing but killing.
87. 30.4The Roman confessors also uphold strict discipline, as befits those who suffered for the gospel and would lose their honour by betraying it.
88. 30.5The Roman clergy thank Cyprian for encouraging their imprisoned confessors, and agree that, with Rome still lacking a bishop, the lapsed should be dealt with only after peace, by a broad council.
89. 30.6All should pray for peace; the lapsed should knock humbly at the church's door, not break it down, and plead with tears rather than agitation.
90. 30.7God is both merciful and just; until Rome has a bishop, the lapsed must wait, except the truly penitent who are dying, who may be helped with caution.
91. 31.1The Roman confessors thank Cyprian for his letter, which strengthened them in prison, and say that he who exhorts deserves the crown as much as he who suffers.
92. 31.2Cyprian's account of the Carthaginian martyrs let the Roman confessors see them, as it were, entering heaven and hear Christ confessing them before the Father.
93. 31.3Nothing is more glorious than confessing Christ under torture, conquering death by dying, and passing from the world to God's presence.
94. 31.4The Roman confessors gather the gospel's calls to martyrdom: loving Christ above all, the blessing on the persecuted, the promise to those who endure and conquer.
95. 31.5The confessors count their delay in prison not as mercy but as a hindrance, and ask Cyprian to pray that God will arm them for the final contest.
96. 31.6The confessors praise Cyprian for caring for his flock from hiding and for rebuking premature readmissions: penance, humility, and patience, not numbers, heal the sin of the lapsed.
97. 31.7The lapsed must cleanse their defiled hands and mouths with good works, tears, and true penance; a wound healed too quickly reopens.
98. 31.8If those who denied Christ were readmitted at once, the sufferings of the confessors would be meaningless; the lapsed could have kept communion by confessing.
99. 32.1Cyprian sends his clergy copies of his correspondence with the Roman clergy and confessors, to be read and copied for other churches so that all may agree.
100. 33.1The church is built on the bishops, as on Peter; the lapsed who wrote to Cyprian in the name of “the church” presume too much, since the church is the bishop, clergy, and those who stood firm.
101. 33.2Other lapsed have written humbly, waiting for Cyprian's return; the anonymous writers must sign their names before he will answer them.
102. 34.1Cyprian approves the excommunication of the presbyter Gaius of Dida and his deacon, who kept giving the lapsed communion despite warnings.
103. 34.2Presbyters who flatter the lapsed hinder their repentance, like sick people who refuse bitter medicine for sweet but harmful food.
104. 34.3Any cleric who admits the lapsed to communion before the council's decision is to be excluded from communion until the council hears his case.
105. 34.4Cyprian will not judge alone the case of three minor clergy who fled and returned; meanwhile they should forgo their monthly allowance until a council decides.
106. 35.1Cyprian tells the Roman clergy that some lapsed are claiming peace as already granted by the martyr Paulus, and sends copies of his replies.
107. 36.1The Roman clergy share Cyprian's grief at the lapsed who claim peace as already theirs; no privilege can grant communion if it contradicts the gospel.
108. 36.2Setting the martyrs against the gospel would undo both; in fact the martyrs, by referring the lapsed to the bishop rather than admitting them themselves, kept both modesty and truth.
109. 36.3The Roman clergy urge Cyprian to keep healing the lapsed with patience; their demands were probably stirred up by others, and they should instead show penance and humility.
110. 36.4The Roman clergy had already detected the fraud of Privatus of Lambaesis, a condemned bishop whose agent Futurus had tried to obtain a letter of communion from Rome.
111. 37.1Celerinus has brought Cyprian news of the Roman confessors; Cyprian prays for them at the Eucharist and says that each day they choose prison over release, they confess and are crowned anew.
112. 37.2Through a full year in prison the confessors have outshone consuls: each season, winter, spring, harvest, and vintage, has become for them an image of spiritual glory.
113. 37.3Those already martyred are blessed, but the long endurance of the surviving confessors earns an even loftier crown, as they live already for the world to come.
114. 37.4Cyprian asks the confessors to pray for him, since their prayers are heard, and praises them for joining strict discipline to courage.
115. 38.1Cyprian announces that he has ordained Aurelius, a young man who twice confessed Christ, as a reader without the usual consultation, since God had already approved him.
116. 39.1Cyprian announces that the confessor Celerinus, after a vision overcame his reluctance, has been added to the clergy.
117. 39.2Celerinus confessed Christ before the emperor himself at the start of the persecution and endured nineteen days in irons; his scars testify to his victory.
118. 39.3Celerinus comes from a family of martyrs: his grandmother Celerina and his soldier uncles Laurentinus and Egnatius, whose anniversaries the church celebrates with the Eucharist.
119. 39.4Like Aurelius, Celerinus has been made a reader, so that the voice that confessed Christ may read the gospel to the church.
120. 39.5Celerinus and Aurelius are readers for now, like a lamp on a lampstand, but are designated for the presbyterate and already receive a presbyter's allowance.
121. 40.1By divine instruction Cyprian enrols among the presbyters of Carthage the confessor Numidicus, who survived stoning and burning in which his wife and others were martyred.
122. 41.1Cyprian learns that the deacon Felicissimus, already guilty of fraud, is splitting the church by obstructing the relief Cyprian's deputies were distributing and threatening those who accepted it.
123. 41.2Felicissimus has formed a faction; he is excluded from communion, also on a charge of adultery, and anyone who joins him, including Augendus, cuts himself off from the church.
124. 42.1Bishop Caldonius and his colleagues report that they have excluded Felicissimus and several of his supporters from communion.
125. 43.1Cyprian tells the whole people that the old opposition to his election among certain presbyters has kept him from returning before Easter, but they have now cut themselves off from the church.
126. 43.2These presbyters stirred up some confessors against their bishop and now lure the lapsed away from penance with a false peace.
127. 43.3The five presbyters behind Felicissimus are like the five commissioners who enforced the edict of sacrifice: a second persecution that abolishes penance and defies the agreed plan to settle the lapsed in council.
128. 43.4Cyprian grieves that he cannot yet return without provoking a riot, and warns the people not to be deceived by these presbyters, who, like the elders who assailed Susanna, try to corrupt the church.
129. 43.5There is one God, one Christ, one church, and one chair founded on Peter; a rival altar is sacrilege, and those who offer the lapsed a false peace are blind guides.
130. 43.6The lapsed must not be pushed further from salvation by false teachers; they should shun these wolves, whose promises of peace are the devil's lies, and pray with their bishop.
131. 43.7Those who stood must persevere and the lapsed must not desert their bishops; Cyprian will return after Easter to settle matters in council, and those who join Felicissimus cannot return.
132. 44.1Cyprian tells Cornelius, the new bishop of Rome, that he refused communion to envoys of Novatian, who had been made a rival bishop, once reliable witnesses confirmed Cornelius's lawful ordination.
133. 44.2Cyprian refused to let Novatian's envoys attack Cornelius in public; they are now spreading schism in Africa, but once a bishop is lawfully made, no other can be appointed.
134. 45.1Since Novatian's party has set up a rival bishop, Cyprian, after confirming the facts, has written to recognize Cornelius and asked the other African bishops to do the same.
135. 45.2Cyprian refused to have Novatian's party's slanders against Cornelius read aloud in church, as Scripture forbids evil speech, and read only letters of sober character.
136. 45.3Cyprian asked for the letters of the bishops who ordained Cornelius only to silence his slanderers; bishops, as the apostles' successors, must keep the church's unity and gather the straying sheep.
137. 45.4Cyprian sends Cornelius the African bishops' verdict on Felicissimus and the rebel presbyters, and asks him to have Cyprian's letters on the matter read at Rome.
138. 46.1Cyprian grieves that the Roman confessors have backed the making of a second bishop and so a second church, and begs them to return to their mother the church.
139. 46.2Separation from Christ's flock is no defense of the gospel; good soldiers stay in the camp, so the confessors should come back to the church.
140. 47.1Cyprian sends Cornelius his short letter to the schismatic Roman confessors, to be delivered only if Cornelius approves.
141. 48.1Cyprian answers Cornelius's complaint that Hadrumetum stopped addressing its letters to him after Cyprian's visit.
142. 48.2The African bishops had agreed to suspend recognition until their envoys reported from Rome; Hadrumetum's clergy, not knowing this, had written to Cornelius and then fell in line.
143. 48.3Because the African province is large, the bishops waited until Cornelius's ordination was verified before all wrote to him, so that everyone would firmly hold to his communion.
144. 48.4Cornelius's election is now confirmed by the testimony of many bishops; may God guard the priests he chooses, giving firmness against the wicked and gentleness to penitent lapsed.
145. 49.1Cornelius reports with joy that the confessors misled by Novatian have come back, admitting that they signed his slanderous letters and consented to his ordination.
146. 49.2Before presbyters, five bishops, and the people, the returning confessors acknowledge Cornelius as the one bishop and are received back; Maximus resumes his rank as presbyter.
147. 50.1Cornelius warns that Novatian has sent Nicostratus, Novatus, Evaristus and others to Africa, and describes their crimes.
148. 51.1Cyprian thanks God that Maximus and the other confessors have returned from schism to the catholic church, keeping their glory unstained.
149. 51.2The confessors' return brings joy on earth and in heaven, shows the one church cannot be divided, and removes the excuse of those who followed them.
150. 52.1Evaristus has lost his see and Nicostratus his diaconate after robbing the church; one who has denied Christ's bride, the church, cannot call himself a confessor of Christ.
151. 52.2Cyprian describes Novatus as a lifelong troublemaker who stirred schism at Carthage and then at Rome, robbed widows and orphans, neglected his dying father, and caused his wife's miscarriage by a kick.
152. 52.3Novatus, facing trial and excommunication, used the persecution to leave the church before he could be judged.
153. 52.4Cyprian works to win back those Novatus misled, trusting that only those God has not planted will leave the church.
154. 53.1The Roman confessors tell Cyprian that they have made peace with Bishop Cornelius and the whole clergy.
155. 54.1Cyprian rejoices at the confessors' return as a second confession: that the church is one.
156. 54.2Cyprian confesses his grief when the confessors joined the schism: it was as if their glory had stayed behind in prison.
157. 54.3Tares in the church are no reason to leave it; only the Lord may separate wheat from tares, so the bishops have judged the lapsed with measured mercy.
158. 54.4Cyprian refers the confessors to his treatises on the lapsed and on the unity of the church, which they now fulfill in deed.
159. 55.1Antonianus had first written that he held communion with Cornelius, not Novatian, and asked Cyprian to tell Cornelius so.
160. 55.2Antonianus, shaken by Novatian's letter, asked what heresy Novatian had introduced and why Cornelius received Trophimus and those who had offered incense.
161. 55.3Cyprian will explain why his early strictness toward the lapsed and his later readiness to reconcile them are consistent and carefully weighed.
162. 55.4During the persecution Cyprian urged the lapsed to atone by confessing Christ, and deferred any general decision on them to a council of bishops once peace came.
163. 55.5Rome's clergy and confessors, in a letter written by Novatian himself, agreed with Cyprian to defer the lapsed until a council and to reconcile the dying.
164. 55.6The African council after the persecution neither denied the lapsed all hope nor readmitted them lightly, but required prolonged penance and case-by-case examination; Cornelius's Roman council agreed.
165. 55.7Cyprian did nothing lightly: he gave no one communion early, then yielded to necessity with the council, and stands by its decision despite slanders.
166. 55.8Cornelius rose through every church office, was made bishop against his will by God's judgment, the clergy's testimony, the people's vote, and the bishops, to the vacant chair of Peter; anyone made bishop after him is outside the church.
167. 55.9Cornelius took the Roman see fearlessly under the persecuting emperor Decius and deserves to be counted among the confessors.
168. 55.10Inquiry has shown the rumors false: Cornelius took no certificate and received into communion only bishops found innocent.
169. 55.11Trophimus, whose defection had taken many with him, was received back only as a layman, because his return brought many others back to the church.
170. 55.12The charge that Cornelius freely admits those who sacrificed is an apostates' rumor and should not be believed.
171. 55.13Those reconciled when near death are not to be denied peace if they recover; and those who took certificates are not to be ranked with those who sacrificed, whose cases also differ widely.
172. 55.14One who bought a certificate to avoid sacrificing, now taught that this too was sin, weeps and repents, and should not be treated like one who sacrificed.
173. 55.15Rejecting the penitent would drive whole families into schism and betray the Good Shepherd and Paul's example of becoming all things to all.
174. 55.16The Stoic view that all sins are equal is not Christian; Scripture calls for gentleness and mercy, and the lapsed are wounded, not dead.
175. 55.17The council therefore admitted those with certificates after examination and reconciled those who sacrificed at death, since penance without hope of its fruit would drive them away.
176. 55.18The Lord will ratify or correct the church's judgment; meanwhile Scripture calls us to bear one another's burdens, not to judge another's servant, and to trust Christ our advocate.
177. 55.19Like the Good Samaritan, not the priest and Levite, bishops should rescue the wounded brother from the devil and leave the final judgment to God.
178. 55.20Pardon for the lapsed no more weakens martyrdom than pardon for adulterers weakens virginity; there is a great difference between waiting for pardon and receiving the martyr's crown.
179. 55.21Some earlier African bishops refused reconciliation to adulterers, yet did not break unity with those who granted it; each bishop answers to the Lord for his own practice.
180. 55.22Scripture everywhere calls sinners to penance and promises pardon: Revelation, Tobit, the Gospel, Wisdom, Joel, and the Psalms.
181. 55.23If an earthly father welcomes a reformed son, how much more God; but those who did no penance until death threatened are not to be reconciled on their deathbed.
182. 55.24Whatever Novatian teaches, he is outside the church and not a bishop: the episcopate is one, spread through many bishops in concord, and he who breaks from it has neither the power nor the honor of a bishop.
183. 55.25Novatian arrogantly claims what the Lord did not grant even the apostles: to separate wheat from tares now, before the day of the Lord.
184. 55.26If Novatian judges hearts, let him also expel adulterers, whose sin, willful and against the body, is worse than that of those who took certificates; yet Paul allows even them penance.
185. 55.27Novatian's followers cannot claim to shun idolaters, for Paul calls adulterers and defrauders idolaters; and in truth each bears only his own sin, so no one should be denied the hope of peace.
186. 55.28To demand penance while denying its fruit is as absurd as telling a farmer to toil for no harvest or a shipowner to build a ship that will never bring profit.
187. 55.29Penitents should be received into the church and left to the Lord's judgment; but schismatics who die outside the church, even for the Name, cannot be admitted to its peace.
188. 55.30Cyprian closes, hoping Antonianus may visit so that they can discuss these things more fully.
189. 56.1Bishops ask Cyprian whether three confessors who gave way under prolonged torture, and have done penance for three years, may now be admitted to communion.
190. 56.2Cyprian thinks these confessors, who fell only after long torture and have done three years of penance, should be reconciled even before the dying are.
191. 56.3Cyprian will consult his fellow bishops after Easter before giving a firm answer.
192. 57.1The African council tells Cornelius that, with a new persecution approaching, it has decided to reconcile at once all lapsed who have persevered in penance, so that they can be armed for the struggle.
193. 57.2Now communion must be given to the strong who will fight, not only to the dying; the Eucharist, the body and blood of Christ, arms them, and those denied the Lord's cup cannot be fit for the cup of martyrdom.
194. 57.3Peace is given not to apostates or schismatics but to penitents ready to fight; if some deceive, God judges the heart, and it is better that none who will be martyrs be passed over.
195. 57.4Martyrdom is a baptism in blood, but only one armed by the church's peace and the Eucharist is fit for it; and pastors who fail their sheep will answer to God, as Ezekiel warns.
196. 57.5Warned by visions of a coming, harsher persecution, the council has decided to reconcile the lapsed after examination, and hopes Cornelius will agree.
197. 58.1Unable to visit Thibaris, Cyprian writes to prepare the people for a fiercer persecution at the approaching end of the age: those who drink Christ's cup daily must be ready to shed their blood for him.
198. 58.2Christ and Peter foretold the persecutions of the last times; they test believers, and Christ promises a great reward to those who suffer for him.
199. 58.3Christians enlisted as soldiers of a Lord who suffered first; since death is certain anyway, they should embrace a death that brings immortality.
200. 58.4Those who flee and die alone in hiding, by robbers, beasts, hunger, or shipwreck, still receive the martyr's reward, for Christ is with them and sees them.
201. 58.5Believers should imitate Abel, Abraham, the three youths who refused Nebuchadnezzar's statue, and Daniel before Bel, trusting the Spirit to speak through them.
202. 58.6The Maccabean martyrs, prophets, apostles, and the Holy Innocents show the way; since Christ, sinless, suffered and was hated by the world first, his servants should not refuse to suffer.
203. 58.7Antichrist is coming, but Christ follows to avenge his people; fear God, not persecutors, for the worshipers of the beast face eternal punishment.
204. 58.8In a greater contest than the games, God, his angels, and Christ watch; both the steadfast and the lapsed must put on the whole armor of God.
205. 58.9Cyprian applies each piece of the armor of God to the Christian under persecution: ears closed to edicts, eyes to idols, the forehead keeping God's sign, the hand that receives the Lord's body refusing sacrifice.
206. 58.10On the day of judgment the faithful will see God and share the joy of the saints, while persecutors and deserters are condemned to unquenchable fire.
207. 58.11Meditating constantly on punishment and reward, the soldier of Christ will meet persecution ready for the crown.
208. 59.1Cyprian commends Cornelius for driving from the Roman church Felicissimus, long since condemned in Africa for schism, embezzlement, and sexual crimes.
209. 59.2A bishop must not be cowed by threats; from Abel to Christ betrayed by Judas, God's servants have suffered from their own brothers, and such enemies harm only themselves.
210. 59.3Threats are no reason to relax discipline; Scripture shows that the proud, who speak from the spirit of Antichrist, are brought low, and the tongue is punished for what it has spoken.
211. 59.4Scripture shows that God guards the honor of his priests: disobedience to the priest was punished by death, Christ and Paul respected even an unworthy high priest.
212. 59.5Heresies and schisms come from disobedience to the one bishop who judges in Christ's place; a bishop lawfully made is made by God's will, while those made outside the church are not.
213. 59.6Cyprian, lawfully elected and proven for four years, proscribed by name and repeatedly demanded for the lions, is attacked by schismatics; the real attacker is the devil, who wants to remove the church's helmsman.
214. 59.7Defections were foretold; when disciples left Jesus, Peter, on whom the church was built, answered for the church that it would never leave Christ; those who leave were never truly of the church.
215. 59.8The bishop must try to lose no one, but those who refuse penance perish by their own fault; seeking God's favor means ignoring human abuse.
216. 59.9Cyprian explains why he had not hastened to report the schismatic bishop Fortunatus, one of five excommunicated presbyters: the African bishops had already sent Rome the list of lawful bishops, and his letter was overtaken by Felicissimus.
217. 59.10Fortunatus was made false bishop by five condemned men led by the old heretic Privatus of Lambaesis, together with a few lapsed.
218. 59.11The schismatics' claim that twenty-five bishops consecrated Fortunatus is a lie: there were only five, all excommunicated.
219. 59.12Passing over their other crimes, Cyprian names the chief one: from the start of the persecution they gave communion to the lapsed and so blocked the penance that God's anger demands.
220. 59.13The schismatic presbyters, by offering the lapsed a false peace without penance, block their true healing, turn them against the clergy, and despise God's anger, for which priests must answer.
221. 59.14The schismatics dare to carry their case to the chair of Peter and the principal church at Rome, though it was agreed that each case be heard where the offense occurred, and the African bishops have already judged them.
222. 59.15Fortunatus's following is dwindling as many return; Cyprian weighs each case carefully and must struggle to persuade his people to accept even the unworthy, some of whom have proved false.
223. 59.16Felicissimus's companions avoid Carthage because of the charges against them; yet the church there is open to any who return with penance, and Cyprian is almost too lenient in receiving them.
224. 59.17The church will not yield to threats; like Zechariah stoned in the temple, a priest of God can be killed but not conquered.
225. 59.18It would be absurd for those outside the church, the lapsed and guilty, to judge its bishop and force their way in by threats; bishops will not yield, but pray for their enemies' conversion.
226. 59.19Cyprian asks Cornelius to read this letter to the Roman clergy and people to undo the schismatics' slanders.
227. 59.20The faithful should shun the schismatics' company, as Scripture commands; if they come with penance they will be heard, if with threats rejected.
228. 60.1Cyprian rejoices that Cornelius led the whole Roman church in confessing the faith when persecution struck.
229. 60.2Rome's united confession fulfilled Paul's praise of the Romans' faith; the enemy, hoping to pick off individuals, met a whole army ready to die, and many lapsed redeemed themselves by confessing.
230. 60.3The persecution showed which is the true church: the devil ignored Novatian's followers, already his, and attacked those in whom Christ dwells.
231. 60.4Novatianists who die for the Name outside the church win not a martyr's crown but the punishment of faithlessness.
232. 60.5Cyprian urges fasting, vigils, and prayer for the coming struggle, and asks that whichever of them dies first continue to pray for the other before the Lord.
233. 61.1Cyprian and his colleagues congratulate Lucius, bishop of Rome, on returning from exile, now both bishop and confessor.
234. 61.2Like the three youths and Daniel, Lucius is no less a martyr for being spared; he now stands at God's altar as an example of the courage he preaches.
235. 61.3The persecution at Rome showed who was the true church, bishop, and people: the devil attacks only Christ's soldiers and leaves the heretics alone.
236. 61.4The Roman people's joy at Lucius's return foreshadows the joy of Christ's coming; the African church prays that he may complete his confession by martyrdom before his own people.
237. 62.1Cyprian grieves with the Numidian bishops over Christians taken captive by raiders, whose captivity is the whole body's.
238. 62.2The captives are temples of God and wear Christ; in them Christ himself must be ransomed, and the danger to consecrated virgins adds to the urgency.
239. 62.3The church of Carthage has gladly collected 100,000 sesterces to ransom the captives, for Christ will reward those who free him from captivity.
240. 62.4Carthage stands ready to help again, and Cyprian sends the donors' names so that they may be remembered in the Numidian churches' sacrifices and prayers.
241. 63.1Cyprian writes to correct those who, in ignorance, do not offer the Lord's cup as Christ did, acting not on his own authority but on the Lord's command.
242. 63.2The Lord's tradition requires that the cup be offered mixed with wine; since Christ is the true vine, his blood is represented by wine, not water.
243. 63.3Noah's drinking of wine and his nakedness prefigure the Lord's passion.
244. 63.4Melchizedek's offering of bread and wine prefigured Christ, priest after his order, who offered bread and the cup mixed with wine, his body and blood; the blessing of Abraham passes to all who believe.
245. 63.5Wisdom's banquet in Proverbs, with its mixed wine, foretells the Lord's cup of wine mixed with water.
246. 63.6Jacob's blessing of Judah, washing his robe in the blood of the grape, and Isaiah's red garments from the winepress, both point to the Lord's blood in the wine of the cup.
247. 63.7As grapes must be trodden to make wine, Christ had to suffer before believers could drink his blood.
248. 63.8Where Scripture names water alone it signifies baptism, received once; the cup of the Lord, drunk continually in the church, is another thing.
249. 63.9At the Last Supper Christ gave a mixed cup and called the wine his blood; without wine the blood of Christ is not offered and the sacrifice does not correspond to his passion.
250. 63.10Paul hands down the Lord's command to do what he did with the bread and cup, and warns that no one may alter the gospel.
251. 63.11Water alone cannot express Christ's blood; the psalm's “inebriating cup” implies wine, and the Lord's cup gives a sober inebriation that frees the heart from sin and sorrow.
252. 63.12Christ turned water into wine at Cana, signifying the nations joining Christ; to turn the cup's wine into water reverses his sign. Waters signify peoples, as Revelation says.
253. 63.13Water in the cup signifies the people and wine Christ's blood; their inseparable mixture shows the church's union with Christ, as many grains make one bread and one body.
254. 63.14Custom cannot override Christ's example: only Christ is to be heard, and the priest truly acts in Christ's place when he offers as Christ offered.
255. 63.15Some avoided wine at the morning Eucharist lest the smell betray them in persecution; but those ashamed to drink Christ's blood will not shed their own for him.
256. 63.16Offering a mixed cup at an evening meal does not excuse a water-only morning Eucharist; Christ offered in the evening to signify the world's evening, but the church celebrates the resurrection in the morning.
257. 63.17Since the Lord's passion is the sacrifice offered, the church must do what he did; past ignorance may be pardoned, but not continued error after warning.
258. 63.18Persisting in the error after warning is spiritual theft and adultery against the Lord's words; priests must follow Christ, the light of the world, who pardons past error and commands obedience to all he taught.
259. 63.19Priests must keep the Lord's tradition in mixing and offering the cup, so that at his coming he may find them doing what he did.
260. 64.1The council rebukes Bishop Therapius for reconciling the lapsed presbyter Victor too early, but lets the peace once given stand.
261. 64.2Against Fidus, who would wait until the eighth day as with circumcision, the council rules that newborn infants may be baptized at once, for God's grace is to be denied to no one born.
262. 64.3Elisha stretching himself over the child shows that before God infants and adults are equal; the grace of baptism and the Spirit are given equally regardless of age.
263. 64.4An infant's supposed uncleanness is no obstacle, since to the clean all things are clean; the eighth-day circumcision was a figure of the Lord's day and of spiritual circumcision, now fulfilled.
264. 64.5If even grave sinners are baptized when they believe, much more should an infant, who has no sins of his own but has contracted from Adam the contagion of the ancient death.
265. 64.6The council's sentence: no one, and least of all a newborn infant, is to be kept from baptism.
266. 65.1Cyprian is grieved that Fortunatianus, bishop of Assuras, who sacrificed in the persecution, now claims his episcopate again instead of doing penance.
267. 65.2A bishop who sacrificed to idols cannot return to offer God's sacrifice; the law barred even blemished priests from the altar, and God does not hear sinners.
268. 65.3Such fallen clergy seek only the church's income and feasts; the persecution was God's judgment removing them, and they must be kept from the altar.
269. 65.4If Fortunatianus persists, the faithful must be separated from him, since an offering cannot be sanctified where the Holy Spirit is absent.
270. 65.5The lapsed should stay in the one catholic church and seek its mercy by penance, not follow fallen leaders who will lead them to judgment.
271. 66.1Cyprian rebukes Puppianus, a confessor who still doubts Cyprian's worthiness to be bishop, for setting himself as judge over God's choice of priests.
272. 66.2Cyprian will not testify for himself, as Christ would not; God's judgment has approved him, and Puppianus believes lapsed slanderers instead.
273. 66.3It is Puppianus, not Cyprian, who lacks humility in judging his bishop; Scripture shows God, Christ, and Paul upholding priestly honor.
274. 66.4The persecution's edict proscribing “Cyprian, bishop of the Christians” confirmed him as bishop; Christ's words to the apostles apply to all bishops who succeed them.
275. 66.5Cyprian ironically asks Puppianus to confirm his episcopate, since otherwise six years of baptisms, reconciliations, and deaths in the church would have been without a true bishop.
276. 66.6Even bees, cattle, and robbers obey their leaders; Puppianus is worse than they in refusing a bishop appointed by God.
277. 66.7Martyrs, exiled bishops, confessors, virgins, widows, and all the churches are in communion with Cyprian; is Puppianus alone pure enough for heaven?
278. 66.8Only chaff has left the church; as Peter answered for the church, the church never leaves Christ: the bishop is in the church and the church in the bishop, and the one catholic church is bound together by its bishops.
279. 66.9If Puppianus repents, Cyprian will consult the Lord about receiving him; he cites a vision warning that those who disbelieve Christ in making a priest will believe him in avenging one, and leaves both letters to Christ's judgment.
280. 67.1An African council answers Spanish churches that bishops Basilides and Martialis, who took certificates of idolatry, cannot hold office; God's law requires priests at the altar to be holy.
281. 67.2Human indulgence cannot override God's law: only spotless men, whose prayers God hears, may be ordained bishops.
282. 67.3A people that communicates with a sinful bishop shares his sin, as Korah's followers did; the people have the power to choose worthy bishops and refuse unworthy ones.
283. 67.4From Moses to the apostles, bishops, priests, and deacons were chosen before the whole people, so that the unworthy might be exposed and ordinations be lawful.
284. 67.5By the custom of neighboring bishops ordaining before the people, Sabinus was lawfully made bishop in Basilides' place; Basilides' deceiving of Stephen of Rome to win reinstatement cannot undo that ordination.
285. 67.6Basilides and Martialis, who took certificates, blasphemed, joined pagan guild banquets and burials, and publicly denied Christ, may do penance but, as Cornelius and all bishops decreed, can never again hold priestly office.
286. 67.7Failures of faith and concord among some were foretold for the last times and should not disturb the faithful.
287. 67.8Even in the last times faithful priests remain, like Mattathias, Elijah, Daniel, and the three youths; others' faithlessness only strengthens true faith.
288. 67.9Even if some bishops hold communion with Basilides and Martialis, the Spanish faithful should not: those who consent to sinners share their guilt and punishment.
289. 68.1Cyprian tells Stephen of Rome that Marcianus, bishop of Arles, has joined Novatian and refuses reconciliation to penitent lapsed.
290. 68.2Cyprian urges Stephen to write to the bishops of Gaul so that Marcianus, who follows the long-excommunicated Novatian, is no longer treated as in communion.
291. 68.3Stephen should write to Arles so that Marcianus is replaced; the many bishops form one body so that, when one fails, the others may shelter his flock, like a safe harbor or the inn of the Good Samaritan.
292. 68.4Shepherds who neglect wounded sheep stand under Ezekiel's threat; though bishops are many, they feed one flock, and Marcianus, who spurns the penitent, must be judged, not judge.
293. 68.5Stephen, as successor of the martyrs Cornelius and Lucius, should uphold their ruling that penitent lapsed be reconciled, and tell Cyprian who replaces Marcianus.
294. 69.1Answering Magnus, Cyprian holds that Novatian, like all heretics and schismatics, is outside the church and among the antichrists, so his baptism is no baptism.
295. 69.2The church is one, a sealed fountain and the one ark of Noah; no one outside it can drink of its water or be saved by its baptism.
296. 69.3Only the church can baptize; since Cornelius was the lawful bishop of Rome, Novatian, who succeeded no one, is outside the church and no bishop.
297. 69.4The Passover eaten in one house and Rahab's house show that salvation is only inside the one church; the heretic condemns himself by leaving it.
298. 69.5One flock and one shepherd: a self-made bishop is outside God's house, and even the eucharistic bread and wine, made of many grains and grapes, signify the church's unity.
299. 69.6The schism of the ten tribes under Jeroboam, punished by God, and Christ's command to avoid Samaria show that schismatics are no better than gentiles.
300. 69.7Even if Novatian uses the same creed, his baptismal question about forgiveness “through the holy church” is a lie, since he does not have the church.
301. 69.8Korah, Dathan, and Abiram worshiped the same God yet were destroyed for usurping the priesthood; schismatics who seize the right to baptize and offer are worse.
302. 69.9Those who share in communion with schismatics share their punishment, as with Korah's followers and in Hosea's warning.
303. 69.10Cyprian's opponents inside the church admit that heretics lack the Holy Spirit; he argues that without the Spirit they cannot baptize at all.
304. 69.11Only those who have the Holy Spirit can forgive sins; since heretics lack the Spirit, converts from them must be baptized by the church.
305. 69.12Cyprian holds that the sick who are baptized by pouring or sprinkling receive the full grace of baptism, citing Ezekiel and the purifications in Numbers.
306. 69.13Those baptized on sickbeds should not be scorned as “clinics”; like the healed paralytic they are full Christians, and to rebaptize them would be wrong.
307. 69.14The Spirit is given whole and equally to all the baptized, like the manna and the one denarius; afterwards grace grows or shrinks by one's conduct.
308. 69.15As Pharaoh was defeated at the sea, the devil, however stubborn before, is overthrown in the water of baptism.
309. 69.16Experience shows the sick-bed baptized are freed from evil spirits; it would be absurd to honor heretical baptism while doubting the church's own.
310. 69.17Cyprian closes, leaving each bishop free to decide, since each will answer to the Lord.
311. 70.1A council of thirty-one African bishops tells eighteen Numidian bishops that no one can be baptized outside the church, since an unclean minister cannot sanctify the water.
312. 70.2The baptismal creed and the anointing with oil consecrated at the altar both presuppose the church; heretics have neither, so their baptism is void.
313. 70.3One cannot accept heretical baptism in part: there is one baptism, one Spirit, one church founded on Peter, and whatever Christ's adversaries do is void.
314. 71.1Writing to Quintus in Mauretania, Cyprian insists that converts from heresy are not rebaptized but baptized for the first time, since outside the church there is no baptism.
315. 71.2Returning lapsed members baptized in the church are received by the laying on of hands in penance; those first baptized by heretics must be baptized.
316. 71.3Custom must yield to reason: Peter, though first, accepted Paul's correction, and bishops too should embrace better counsel.
317. 71.4Cyprian cites the earlier council under Agrippinus of Carthage, which decided the same, and sends a copy of the council's letter.
318. 72.1The council informs Stephen of Rome that converts from heresy must be baptized, not merely receive the laying on of hands, as Peter baptized Cornelius's household after the Spirit fell.
319. 72.2Clergy who went into schism or were ordained by heretics may be readmitted only as lay communicants, not keep their office.
320. 72.3Cyprian assures Stephen that the council imposes its view on no one; each bishop answers to the Lord for his practice.
321. 73.1Cyprian tells Jubaianus that a council of seventy-one bishops has again decided that converts from heresy are to be baptized, not rebaptized.
322. 73.2That Novatian's followers rebaptize Catholics is no reason for the church to give up baptizing converts; he merely apes the church.
323. 73.3Rebaptism of converts has been the African practice since the council under Agrippinus, and thousands of converts have gladly accepted it.
324. 73.4Answering a letter that accepted even Marcionite baptism, Cyprian argues that one baptism requires one faith, which the heretics do not share.
325. 73.5Marcion does not confess the Trinity, the Creator, or Christ's true incarnation and bodily resurrection, so his baptism, given in a false faith, conveys nothing true.
326. 73.6Jeremiah's “lying water” describes heretical baptism; if it forgave sins it would also give the Spirit, which even opponents deny.
327. 73.7The power to forgive sins was given to Peter and the apostles, so only the church's bishops can baptize and forgive; outside there is no one to bind or loose.
328. 73.8Korah's rebellion and the strange fire of Aaron's sons show God punishing those who usurp sacred functions, as heretics usurp baptism.
329. 73.9The Samaritans in Acts received only the laying on of hands because Philip had already baptized them within the church; the same is done for the church's own baptized.
330. 73.10Like a loyal soldier and like zealous Phinehas, the church must guard its baptism; it is a walled paradise watered by the four gospels, and those outside cannot give its water.
331. 73.11Christ's living water flows only in the church founded on Peter, which alone holds the keys; heretics outside it cannot give her baptism.
332. 73.12If heretical baptism sanctified, the baptized would be a temple of God; but a heretic who denies the Creator or Christ's divinity cannot be the temple of the one God, Father, Son, and Spirit.
333. 73.13Custom cannot outweigh revealed truth; ignorance may be pardoned but persistence after correction may not, and the apostles never accepted heretical baptism.
334. 73.14Paul's “whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed” concerns quarreling brothers within the church, not heretics baptizing outside it.
335. 73.15The apostles everywhere condemn heretics as a spreading cancer, as darkness and the spirit of antichrist; such people cannot confer grace.
336. 73.16Using the name of Christ is not enough, for Christ warned that many would come in his name to deceive.
337. 73.17Baptism “in the name of Jesus Christ” in Acts was for Jews who already knew the Father; saving knowledge requires both Father and Son, which heretics who blaspheme the Creator lack.
338. 73.18Christ commanded baptism in the name of the whole Trinity; one who blasphemes the Father cannot receive from the Son a forgiveness the Father has not given.
339. 73.19Even earthly sons avenge insults to their fathers; Christ, who commands honor to parents, cannot forgive in baptism those who go on blaspheming his Father.
340. 73.20It is perverse to tell converts from heresy, who themselves confess their sin, that they already have forgiveness.
341. 73.21Not even martyrdom avails a heretic outside the church, for there is no salvation outside it; much less does heretical baptism, so converts must be born of water and Spirit in the church.
342. 73.22A catechumen martyred before baptism is not lost: he holds the true faith and is baptized in his own blood, like the penitent thief.
343. 73.23Those formerly admitted without baptism may be left to God's mercy, but past error is no reason to continue it.
344. 73.24Requiring baptism does not deter heretics but draws them, since they learn that grace is only in the church; Paul himself baptized those who had John's baptism.
345. 73.25If John's disciples were baptized again, much more heretics'; to accept heretical baptism because it came first is to surrender the church's right, as Esau lost his birthright.
346. 73.26Cyprian closes, leaving each bishop free and refusing to quarrel with colleagues, and sends his treatise on patience.
347. 74.1Cyprian sends Pompeius a copy of Stephen of Rome's reply, which forbade rebaptism and required only the laying on of hands in penance.
348. 74.2Stephen's appeal to “tradition” has no basis in the gospel or the apostles, who condemned heretics; true tradition is what Scripture commands.
349. 74.3Putting human tradition before God's commands provokes God's anger, as Isaiah, Christ, and Paul warn.
350. 74.4Cyprian mocks Stephen's appeal to heretics' own practice; since church, Spirit, and baptism are one and inseparable, baptism cannot exist among heretics.
351. 74.5If the name of Christ made heretical baptism valid, it would also give the Spirit; since the Spirit is not there, neither is baptism.
352. 74.6Only the church, Christ's bride, can bear children to God in the washing of regeneration; heresy, not being his bride, cannot.
353. 74.7New birth happens in baptism, then the Spirit is received, as Adam was formed before being given breath; no one can have God as Father who does not have the church as mother.
354. 74.8Cyprian asks whether a bishop who honors blasphemers' baptism and excludes faithful bishops gives honor to God, and warns that such advocacy makes heresies flourish.
355. 74.9Custom without truth is merely old error; truth conquers, as 1 Esdras says, and Christ is the truth.
356. 74.10Bishops must be teachable; when practice goes astray, return to the source, the Lord's own and the apostles' tradition, as one traces a failing aqueduct to its spring.
357. 74.11Tradition teaches one God, one faith, one church, one baptism; the sealed garden and Noah's one ark show there is no saving baptism outside the church.
358. 74.12Converts from heresy are baptized; those baptized in the church who lapsed into heresy are received back after penance by the laying on of hands.
359. 75.1Firmilian of Caesarea in Cappadocia thanks Cyprian for his letter, rejoicing that distant churches are united in one spiritual house of God.
360. 75.2Angels rejoice at unity and grieve at division; Stephen's harshness has at least revealed the Africans' faith, though he deserves no credit, any more than Judas.
361. 75.3God unites his people across distance, as he joined Noah, Job, Daniel, and Ezekiel across ages; those who divide themselves from God's unity perish.
362. 75.4Firmilian adds to Cyprian's arguments; the bishops of his region meet yearly in council, among other things to guide the fallen through penance.
363. 75.5The apostles could not have handed down acceptance of heretical baptism, since Marcion, Apelles, Valentinus, and Basilides arose long after them.
364. 75.6Rome itself differs from Jerusalem on Easter and other rites without breaking communion; Stephen alone has broken the peace, and his “tradition” is merely human.
365. 75.7Heretics agree among themselves because all blaspheme the Creator; even the Montanists, who claim new prophecy, lack the Spirit, and a council at Iconium rejected heretical baptism.
366. 75.8Since Paul baptized John's disciples again before laying hands on them, converts from heresy must surely be baptized.
367. 75.9The bare invocation of the Trinity does not make baptism valid when the minister lacks the Spirit; a heretic deceives with baptism as a false prophet does with Christ's name.
368. 75.10Firmilian tells of a woman in Cappadocia about twenty-two years earlier who, possessed by a demon, posed as a prophetess, deceived clergy, celebrated the Eucharist, and baptized with the correct words.
369. 75.11If correct words sufficed, the demon-possessed woman's baptisms would be valid, which is absurd; heretics' baptisms are equally the work of deceit.
370. 75.12If heretical baptism clothed one with Christ, it would also give the Spirit, making the laying on of hands pointless.
371. 75.13Heretical baptism is either merely a fleshly bath or spiritual; since heretics lack the Spirit, it is only a bath.
372. 75.14Christ has one bride, the church, who alone bears sons to God; heresy is an adulteress whose exposed children the church cannot simply adopt.
373. 75.15The church is the sealed garden and Noah's ark; those outside cannot give its water and will perish unless they come to its one baptism.
374. 75.16The power to forgive sins was given to Peter and the apostles and passed to the bishops who succeed them; rival bishops are like Korah's band and share its fate.
375. 75.17Firmilian charges that Stephen, who claims Peter's succession, in effect founds many churches on other rocks by recognizing heretical baptism, and so might as well share their altar.
376. 75.18If Christ's name validated heretical baptism, it would validate their laying on of hands and everything else; it avails only in the church.
377. 75.19Custom cannot outweigh truth; the Cappadocian churches have always rejected baptism outside the church, as the council of Iconium confirmed even for the Montanists.
378. 75.20Paul's words about Christ preached “in pretense or in truth” concern brothers, not heretics.
379. 75.21Those already admitted without baptism who have died are like catechumens who died before baptism; the living should be baptized, lest they receive the Eucharist unworthily.
380. 75.22Even baptism by lapsed former bishops who set up their own ordinations is rejected; Stephen absurdly holds that the sinful can give forgiveness.
381. 75.23Addressing Stephen directly, Firmilian says that by accepting heretical baptism he withholds forgiveness from converts and will answer for their souls.
382. 75.24Firmilian accuses Stephen of stirring up strife across the world and, by excommunicating so many, of cutting himself off, contrary to Paul's call to unity.
383. 75.25Firmilian mocks Stephen's “gentleness” in refusing even hospitality to the African envoys, argues that one baptism requires one God, faith, and church, and reports that Stephen called Cyprian a false apostle.
384. 76.1From his own exile, Cyprian greets the bishops, clergy, and faithful condemned to the mines, praising their confession and their leadership by example.
385. 76.2Cyprian turns the confessors' beatings, chains, filth, hunger, and shorn heads into marks of glory that Christ will repay.
386. 76.3Though the imprisoned clergy cannot celebrate the Eucharist, their suffering is itself a sacrifice pleasing to God.
387. 76.4Martyrdom is the “cup of salvation” by which believers repay God, who himself gives and then rewards their victory.
388. 76.5Christ promises that the Spirit will speak in those who are handed over, which gives believers confidence and condemns those who deny.
389. 76.6Following their leaders, many laypeople, including virgins and boys, have confessed and suffered with them.
390. 76.7Cyprian describes the confessors' joy in awaiting death and glory, and asks their prayers that he too may complete his confession.
391. 77.1The bishops in the mines thank Cyprian, praising his writings and character and wishing him the crown of confession.
392. 77.2The confessors praise Cyprian for leading the way by his confession before the proconsul and his exile, which inspired many.
393. 77.3The confessors thank Cyprian for his letter and for the relief sent through his clergy, and ask for mutual prayer.
394. 78.1Lucius and his fellow confessors thank Cyprian for his letter, which strengthened them, and hope to share the crown he won first.
395. 78.2They thank Cyprian for his words, which strengthened them in suffering and assured them of the crown, and ask his prayers.
396. 78.3Lucius accepts the gifts sent by Cyprian and Quirinus as a sacrifice pleasing to God, like Noah's.
397. 79.1The confessors at the mine of Sigus thank Cyprian for his gift and letter and ask his prayers.
398. 80.1Cyprian reports Valerian's second edict ordering the execution of clergy and penalties for Christian nobles, and the martyrdom of Bishop Xystus of Rome with four deacons.
399. 80.2Cyprian asks Successus to spread the news so that all may prepare to face death with joy.
400. 81.1Cyprian's last letter explains that he has withdrawn briefly so as to be tried and die in Carthage, his own church, and forbids his people to provoke arrest.