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A NEW TRANSLATION
VOLUME 36
A NEW TRANSLATION
EDITORIAL BOARD
ROY JOSEPH DEFERRARI
The Catholic University of America
Editorial Director
RUDOLPH ARBESMANN, O.SA.
Fordham University
STEPHAN K.UTTNER
The Catholic University of America
MARTIN R. P. McGuiRE
The Catholic University of America
WILFRID PARSONS, S J.
The Catholic University of America
BERNARD M. PEEBLES
The Catholic University of America
ROBERT P. RUSSELL, O.SA.
Villanova University
ANSELM STRITTMATTER, O.S.B.
St. Anselm's Priory
JAMES EDWARD TOBIN
Queens College
SAINT CYPRIAN
Translated and Edited by
ROY J. DEFERRARI
With. The Dress of Virgins, trans., Sister Angela Elizabeth
Keenan; S. N. D.; Mortality, trans. Mary Hannan Mahoney;
and The Good of Patience, trans. Sister George Edward
Conway, S. S. J.
New York
FATHERS OF THE CHURCH., ING.
1958
NIHIL OBSTAT:
JOHN A. GOODWINE
Censor Librorum
IMPRIMATUR:
gg FRANCIS CARDINAL SPELLMAN
Archbishop of New York
June 27, 1958
Copyright 1958 by
FATHERS OF THE CHURCH, INC,
475 Fifth Avenue, New York 17, N. Y.
All rights reserved
Lithography by Bishop Litho, Inc.
V. S. A.
INTRODUCTION
I OR THE PERIOD of Cyprian's life following his con-
version we have several important sources. Most
reliable and informative are his own writings, namely,
his treatises and many letters. For the details leading to his
martyrdom and for the martyrdom itself the proconsular acts
of St. Cyprian inform us rather fully. These are based on
official reports put together with connecting phrases by
an editor, and consist of three separate documents covering
the following events: the- first trial that sent Cyprian to
Curubis in exile, the arrest and second trial, and the execution.
Finally, there is a short memoir of his life written by his
deacon, Pontius. The latter is the first Christian biography
that attained popularity. It is by no means a finished literary
product, and it is important chiefly because of its originality
in the field. Pontius was deeply convinced of the greatness
of his master and was anxious to make the world equally
conscious of his admirable character. Its chief purpose was
to edify. It is historically unreliable. As to the events of
Cyprian's life previous to his conversion very little is known.
This too has to be gathered usually with difficulty and
uncertainty from these same sources, and from St. Jerome's
famous Illustrious Men.
St. Cyprian (Thascius Caecilius Cyprianus) was a bishop
and martyr. He was born, very probably at Carthage, be-
tween 200 and 210, of a very wealthy and highly cultivated
v
RG04336
VI SAINT CYPRIAN
pagan family. His gift of eloquence, very evident in his writ-
ings, won him great fame in Carthage. Unless his treatise
Patience is a sermon reworked into the form of a treatise,
as some believe, we have no example of his preaching
and oratory.
In his first writing as a Christian, Ad Donatum, ,he tells
how, until the grace of God enlightened and strengthened
him, it had seemed impossible to conquer sin. According to
St. Jerome, 1 he had gone to live with a priest Caecilius,
whose name he adopted, and under his influence determined
to become a Christian. He had become, moreover, very
much disgusted with the immorality of both the private and
public life of the time, and with the corruption in govern-
ment. Accordingly he sold his property, including his gardens
at Carthage, and gave all his proceeds to the poor. Pontius
tells us that Cyprian's friends restored this property to him
by buying it back, and that Cyprian would have sold them
a second time had not the outbreak of persecution made
this seem imprudent. Probably in the year 246, on Easter
eve, April 18, Cyprian was baptized.
Shortly after his baptism, Cyprian was raised to the priest-
hood, and toward the end of 248 or at the beginning of 249
he was elected Bishop of Carthage 'by the voice of the
people.' Some of the elderly presbyters, including one
Novatus, opposed to no avail.
Hardly a year had passed when Decius became emperor
(October, 249), and published (January, 250) his cruel
edict against Christians. Bishops were to be put to death,
and all others were to be punished and tortured until they
renounced Christianity. On January 20 of this year Pope
Fabian was martyred, but Cyprian withdrew to a safe place
of hiding. For the rest of his life Cyprian had to defend
himself against the charge of running away in cowardice
1 De vtr. ill. 67.
INTRODUCTION vil
from his responsibilities. But if he had remained in Carthage
he would certainly have been put to death, and, just as at
Rome, it would have been impossible to elect a new bishop.
This would have left the Church at Carthage without
a government and have caused great dangers to others.
At this time the majority of the Christians at Carthage
apostatized. Some, to be sure, refused to sacrifice but instead
purchased libelli or certificates testifying that they had done
so, and thus were called libellaticL There were several
thousand of these at Carthage. Of the fallen or lapsi some
did not repent and others openly became heretics. The
majority, however, begged for forgiveness and reinstatement
as Catholics. The policy to be followed in such cases caused
much bitterness and dissension, which finally resulted in
a schism. The confessors, considering themselves authorities
on all religious problems, demanded the immediate recon-
ciliation of the lapsi. Cyprian, the leader of the rigorists,
refused to conform. He proposed that they be restored, when
in danger of death, by a priest or even by a deacon; the
rest, however, should await the end of the persecution, at
which time councils could be held at Rome and at Carthage
and a common policy agreed upon.
Thereupon, the deacon Felicissimus brought together
a group of Cyprian's opponents from among the confessors
and the fallen. This group was soon joined by the five priests
who had opposed Cyprian's election as bishop. One of these
last, Novatus, went to Rome and supported Novatian against
the new Pope Cornelius.
When Cyprian returned to Carthage from exile in the
spring of 251, he excomunicated Felicissimus and his follow-
ers, and published two documents dealing with the two
great problems of the moment. One, De lapsis, dealt with
the fallen, and declared that all the fallen without distinction
should be admitted to penance, and at least at the hour
V1H SAINT CYPRIAN
of death be reconciled with the Church. Moreover, the
decision in each case should be determined after considering
the individual circumstances involved. The other, De
ecclesiae unitate, dealt with the schism and is based on
Cyprian's theory on the unity of the Church. This in its first
form was a letter, but this was elaborated later into a pam-
phlet. This has been used extensively in support of those
who will not accept the chair of Peter as the head of the
Church. 'What St. Cyprian really says is simply this, that
Christ, using the metaphor of an edifice, founds His Church
on a single foundation which shall manifest and ensure its
unity. And as Peter is the foundation, binding the whole
Church together, so in each diocese is the bishop. With
this one argument, Cyprian claims to cut at the root of all
heresies and schisms.' 2
In the problem of the rebaptism of heretics, Cyprian also
was in the camp of the rigorists. Pope Stephen definitely
pronounced against it, and his successor, Sixtus II, did not
contradict him, although he certainly communicated with
Cyprian, who was the chief exponent of rebaptism. The
question seems to have been tacitly dropped, especially since
the East was largely committed to the erroneous practice
of rebaptism, and since in any case it was regarded chiefly
as a matter of discipline rather than one of doctrine. All
seemed to be unaware of the principle so strongly set forth
later by St. Augustine, that Christ is always the principal
agent (Ipse est qui baptizat], and thus the validity of the
sacrament is not affected by the unworthiness of him who
administers it.
In the very midst of this controversy over the rebaptism
of heretics, a terrible plague caused fresh sufferings and per-
secutions for the Christians who were considered responsible
for the troubles by reason of their denial of the pagan gods.
2 See "Cyprian," Catholic Encyclopedia.
INTRODUCTION IX
The empire was surrounded by barbarian hordes. All this
was a signal for a renewal of persecution by the Emperor
Valerian. On August 30, 251, Cyprian was summoned before
the proconsul Paternus. The Acta proconmlaria of his mar-
tyrdom are extant and contain the interrogatory. After
Cyprian professed to be a Christian and a bishop, and
declared that he served one God to whom he prayed day
and night for all men and for the welfare of the emperors,
Paternus asked: 'Do you persevere in this? 3 'A good will
which knows God cannot be altered. 9 'Can you, then, go
into exile at Curubis? 3 'I go. 3 He refused to give the names
of the priests, also, on the ground that 'informing' or delation
was forbidden by the law. He added, however, that they
could easily be found in their respective cities. In the follow-
ing September he went to Curubis, accompanied by Pontius.
Pontius in his biography gives us a detailed description of
Cyprian's life there at this time. About a year later, in 258,
Cyprian learned that on August 6 of that year Pope Sixtus,
together with four of his deacons, had been put to death
in the catacombs. This was the immediate result of a new
edict which declared that bishops, priests, and deacons should
be put to death at once; senators, knights, and others of
rank should lose their wealth, and, if still persistent, should
die; matrons should be exiled; and officers of the fiscus
should become slaves. Cyprian was brought back to Carthage
on the 14th of September and was beheaded not far from
Carthage. He was the first African bishop to become a martyr.
St. Cyprian's works fall naturally into two groups: treatises
(sermones, libelli, tractatus) and letters.
All of the treatises of St. Cyprian, with the exception of
the Ad Quirinum, known also as Testimoniorum libri adver-
sus Judaeos, are included in this volume. The books of testi-
monies against the Jews was long disputed as to its author-
ship, but there is general agreement among scholars today
that it certainly belongs to St. Cyprian. By its very nature
it is essentially a compilation, and for the polemists of the
third and fourth centuries it became a veritable arsenal from
which to equip themselves in their literary battles. In the
dedication of the work to Quirinus, Cyprian himself describes
this treatise: The plan of this treatise conforms to your
desire: it is a compendium, an epitome. I did not wish to
present any developments, but to group and bind together
extracts so far as my poor memory can supply them. See in
this not a formal treatise, but material for the use of those
who might wish to write one. This brevity has great advan-
tages for the reader. Without confusing his mind over too
long an explanation, it supplies useful summaries to his
memory which it can faithfully preserve.' The work consists
of three books, the last of which was probably added later,
since in the introduction only two are announced. In the
first book, the failure of the Jews and the call of the Gentiles
are demonstrated in 24 theses; in the second book, the
divinity and the mission of Christ in 30 theses; and in the
third the duties of a Christ in the moral and disciplinary
order in 120 theses. While the work is of very great value
especially for the study of the versions of the Bible read
in Carthage toward the middle of the third century, it has
little of interest for the general reader of cultivated taste
today. It has accordingly been omitted from this volume.
The remaining treatises will receive a brief discussion pre-
ceding the English translation of each as they are presented
here. These treatises in order of their appearance are: To
Donatus (Ad Donatum], The Dress of Virgins (De habitu
virginum], The Fallen (De lapsis} y The Unity of the Cath-
olic Church (De catholicae ecdesiae unitate), The Lord's
Prayer (De Dominica oratione), To Demetrian (Ad Deme-
trianum), Mortality (De mortalitate) , Work and Alms (De
INTRODUCTION xi
opere et eleemosynis) , The Blessing of Patience (De bono
patientiae), Jealousy and Envy (De zelo et livore], To
Fortunatus (Ad Fortunatum], and That Idols Are Not Gods
(Quod idola dii non sint).
The letters of St. Cyprian as we have received them num-
ber 81, of which 65 are from his own hand, and the
remainder from others addressed to him. Since it has been
planned to include these in a separate volume, only brief
remarks regarding them are in order here. All of the extant
letters of St. Cyprian were composed during his episcopacy,
and may be arranged in the following groups: (1) those
which cannot be dated (1-4 and 63) but all of which were
probably composed before the persecution of Decius; Letter
63 is an especially precious document, since it confirms
the traditional Catholic doctrine of the sacrificial character
of the Eucharist; (2) letters sent to Carthage (5-7 and 10-19)
while in exile during the first period of the Decian per-
secution; (3) letters of Cyprian as the representative of the
clergy of Carthage (8, 9, 20-22, 27, 28, 30, 31, 35-37) to
the clergy in Rome upon whom fell the responsibility of the
government of the Church between the death of Fabian
and the succession of Cornelius (January 250 to March 251) ;
(4) letters sent to Carthage (23-26, 29, 32-34, 38-43)
during the last period of the Decian persecution, in 250 and
251; (5) letters (44-55) of the years 251 and 252, dealing
with the troubles caused by the schism of Novatian.
Everything that Cyprian wrote was directly connected
with his work as Bishop of Carthage. His works were of
a practical nature intended to facilitate and make more effec-
tive the administrative functions of his office. All in all, he
was very well balanced in his dealing with problems, and
very gentle though firm in making his decisions, quite unlike
Tertullian upon whom he drew extensively for ideas although
Xll SAINT CYPRIAN
never taking over any of the bitterness and excesses of which
this source was filled. Moreover, the calm and kindliness of
Cyprian's character shine forth from the clear, simple, and
nicely balanced style of his works.
St. Cyprian's prestige and influence was great in Christian
antiquity. Unfortunately he is not as well known or as widely
read in modern times as he deserves. This is probably due
to Cyprian's lack of complete orthodoxy in the modern
sense of the word regarding the recognition of the see of
Peter and the rebaptism of heretics. The modern reader
must always bear in mind that the period of the Fathers
was the time of the laying of the foundation of so much
which today we accept and see so clearly. In any case, both
Lactantius (Dio. Inst. 5, 1, 24) and St. Augustine (De bapt.
contra Donatistas), while acknowledging the weaknesses of
St. Cyprian's stand on the questions mentioned, do not in the
slightest detract from their respect and admiration for their
fellow countryman. Prudentius pays St. Cyprian the following
tribute in his Peristephanon (13, 5, 6ff) :
'As long as Christ will allow the race of men to exist and
the world to flourish,
As long as any book will be, as long as there will be holy
collections of literary works,
Everyone who loves Christ will read you, O Cyprian, will
learn your teachings.'
INTRODUCTION Xlil
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
Text:
W. Von Hartel, Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum 3.1-3
(Vienna 1868-1871) .
Translations:
C. Thornton, in Library of the Fathers 3 (Oxford 1839) .
E. Wallis, in Ante-Nicene Fathers 5 (New York 1896) .
Secondary Works:
E. W. Benson, Cyprian: His Life, His Times, His Work (London
1897)
J. H. Fichter, Saint Cecil Cyprian, Defender of the Faith (St. Louis
1942) .
E. Hummel, The Concept of Martyrdom according to St. Cyprian
of Carthage (Washington 1946) .
W. Muir, Cypria'n: His Life and Teachings (London 1898) ,
P. Monceaux, Saint Cyprien, eveque de Carthage (Paris 1914) ,
A. D. Nock, 'The Conversion, Confession, and Martyrdom of St.
Cyprian,' Journal of Theological Studies 28 (1927) 41 Iff.
D. D. Sullivan, The Life of the North Africans as Revealed in the
Works of St. Cyprian (Washington D. C. 1933) .
G ONTENTS
TO DONATUS 5
THE DRESS OF VIRGINS 25
THE LAPSED 55
THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH .... 91
THE LORD'S PRAYER 125
TO DEMETRIAN 163
MORTALITY 195
WORKS AND ALMSGIVING 225
THE GOOD OF PATIENCE 257
JEALOUSY AND ENVY 291
EXHORTATION TO MARTYRDOM,
TO FORTUNATUS 311
THAT IDOLS ARE NOT GODS .... 347
xv
SAINT CYPRIAN
+^r *&. JSL Ji. JL. It *JL X-X JH >M- J&* IS- J&. 4. ui<i A> W
JJ^.E^ TISES
Translated and Edited by
ROY J. BEFERRARI, Ph.D., LL.D., L.H.D., Litt.D.
Catholic University of America
TO DONATUS
Translated by
ROY J. DEFERRARI, Ph.D.
The Catholic University of America
TO DONATUS
jo DONATUS is undoubtedly the earliest of Cyprian's
treatises. It must be placed very soon after his con-
version to Christianity. His baptism probably took
place on Easter eve in 246. The new convert, enjoying the
marvelous effect of divine grace in his own conversion, writes
to his friend Donatus, a Christian but apparently a little
less ardent, to share the great spiritual blessings which are
now his. In 'confessing' his own fall and at the same time
proclaiming the glory of God, Cyprian in this treatise reminds
us very much of St. Augustine in the Confessions.
Some have tried, by adding some very common place lines
at the beginning, to change this enthusiastic monologue into
a dialogue. Manuscript tradition, however, does not permit
this. Moreover, these lines create obvious inconsistencies with
little touches through the rest of the work, which stamp it
definitely as a monologue.
While the tone of To Donatus is very strongly sincere,
yet its style unlike that of all the other works of St. Cyprian,
is wordy and affected, and quite wanting in simplicity. It
differs much from 'the more dignified and reticent eloquence*
of his later works, as St. Augustine himself has observed. 1
'In the case of a "strong people," such as God has spoken
1 De doctrina Christiana 4.14.31.
O SAINT CYPRIAN
about: "I will praise Thee in a strong people," 2 there is no
pleasure in that attractiveness of style, which certainly does
not teach falsehoods, but ornaments trifling and perishable
truths with a frothy showiness of style such as would not be
a fitting or dignified adornment for noble and enduring
truths. There is something like this in a letter of the blessed
Cyprian, which I believe either happened accidentally or
was done designedly, that succeeding ages might perceive
how the soundness of Christian teaching has restrained his
style from that redundancy, and restricted it to a more
dignified and more moderate eloquence, such as in his later
writings is safely admired and anxiously sought after, but
imitated only with very great difficulty. He says, for example,
in a certain place: 3 'Let us seek this abode. The neigh-
boring solitudes offers a place of retirement where, while the
wandering tendrils of the vines creep through the trellis sup-
ports with overhanging interlacing, the leafy covering has
formed a colonnade of vines. 3 This is expressed with a won-
derful fluency and luxuriance of style, but, because of its
immoderate profuseness, it is displeasing to the serious reader.
Those who like this style think that those who do not use it,
but express themselves with greater restraint, cannot speak
in that style, not realizing that they avoid it deliberately.
This holy man shows both that he can speak in that way,
because he has done so here, and that he does not prefer
to do so, since he never does so afterward.
It is noteworthy that this treatise and That Idols Are Not
Gods contain no quotations from Scripture, which abound
in all of Cyprian's other works. The fact that these are
Cyprian's earliest efforts, composed soon after his conversion,
may at least to some extent account for this.
2 Ps. 34.18
3 Ad Donatum 1.
TO DONATUS
Chapter 1
JELL DO YOU REMIND ME, dearest Donatus, for
I made the promise, and certainly this season is
opportune for fulfilling it, when the mind relieved
by the favorable harvest for repose receives the annually
recurring respite of the wearying year. The place too benefits
the time, and the delightful appearance of the gardens har-
monizes, with the gentle breezes of a soothing autumn in
delighting and animating the senses. Here it is delightful to
pass the day in conversation and by diligent discussions to
train the understanding of the heart in the divine precepts.
And that no profane critic may impede our talk and no
unrestrained clamor of a noisy household annoy us, let us
seek out this spot. The neighboring thickets furnish seclusion,
where the wandering slips of vines, with their pendent inter-
lacing creep over the burden-carrying reeds, and the leafy
covering has made a vine-covered portico. Well do we bring
our ears to attention here, and as we look upon the trees and
the vines, we delight our eyes by the pleasing view, and
likewise instruct the soul by what we hear and nourish it by
what we see. And yet now your only pleasure and your only
concern is with conversation, and, overlooking the enticements
of the pleasures of sight, you have fixed your eyes upon me
8 SAINT CYPRIAN
with that countenance and with that attention by which
you are altogether a listener and with this affection with which
you love me.
Chapter 2
But of whatever nature or however much that is which
comes into your heart from us, (the poor mediocrity of my
meagre talent produces a very sparing harvest, and does not
grow heavy with stalks for a copious rich deposit), never-
theless I shall approach my task as well as I can; for the sub-
ject-matter of my talk is quite to my liking. In courts of justice,
in public assembly before the rostrum let an opulent elo-
quence be displayed with unrestrained ambition, but when
speech is concerned with the Lord God, the pure sincerity
of speech depends not on the force of eloquence for the
arguments in support of faith but on facts. Therefore, receive
not eloquent words, but forceful ones, not decked out with
cultivated rhetoric to entice a popular audience, but simple
words of unvarnished truth for the proclaiming of God's
mercy. Receive what is felt before it is learned, and what
is gathered not after a long study with much delay, but what
is drawn in by a quickening act of divine grace.
Chapter 3
While I was lying in darkness and in the obscure night,
and while, ignorant of my real life, I was tossing about on
the sea of a restless world wavering and doubtful in my
wandering steps, a stranger to the truth and the light,
I thought it indeed difficult and hard (to believe) according
to the character of mine at the time that divine mercy was
promised for my salvation, so that anyone might be born
TO DONATUS
again and quickened unto a new life by the laver of the
saving water, he might put off what he had been before,
and, although the structure of the body remained, he might
change himself in soul and mind. 'How,' I said, 'is such
a conversion possible, that the innate which has grown hard
in the corruption of natural material or when acquired has
become inveterate by the affliction of old age should suddenly
and swiftly be put aside? These things, deep and pro-
found, have been thoroughly rooted within us. When does
he learn thrift, who has become accustomed to lavish banquets
and extravagant feasts? And when does he who, conspicuous
in costly raiment, has shone in gold and purple, dispose
himself to ordinary and simple clothing? He who has been
delighted by the fasces and public honors cannot become
a private and inglorious citizen. He who has been attended
by crowds of clients or has been honored by a crowded
assemblage of an officious throng thinks it a punishment
to be alone. Of necessity, as in the past, wine-bibbing ever
entices with its tenacious allurements, pride puffs up, anger
inflames, covetousness disturbs, cruelty stimulates, ambition
delights, lust plunges into ruin. 5
Chapter 4
This I often said to myself. For as I myself was held
enlivened by the very many errors of my previous life, of
which I believe that I could not divest myself, so I was
disposed to give in to my clinging vices, and in my despair
of better things I indulged my sins as if now proper and
belonging to me. But afterwards, when the stain of my past
life had been washed away by the aid of the water of regen-
eration, a light from above poured itself upon my chastened
and pure heart; afterwards when I had drunk of the Spirit
10 SAINT CYPRIAN
from heaven a second birth restored me into a new man;
immediately in a marvelous manner doubtful matters clarified
themselves, the closed opened, the shadowy shone with light,
what seemed impossible was able to be accomplished, so that
it was possible to acknowledge that what formerly was born
of the flesh and lived submissive to sins was earthly, and
what the Holy Spirit already was animating began to be of
God. Surely you know and recognize alike with myself what
was taken from us and what was contributed by the death
of sins and by that life of virtues. You yourself know; I do
not proclaim it. Boasting to one's own praise is odious,
although that cannot be a matter of boasting but an expression
of gratitude, which is not ascribed to the virtue of man but
is proclaimed as of God's munificence, so that now not to sin
begins to be of faith, and what was done in sin before
to be of human error. Our power is of God, I say, all of it
is of God. From Him we have life; from Him we have
prosperity; by the vigor received and conceived of Him,
while still in this world, we have foreknowledge of what
is to be. But let fear be the guardian of innocence., so that
the Lord, who of His mercy has flowed into our hearts
with the silent approach of celestial tenderness, may be
kept in the guest-chamber of a heart that gives delight by its
righteous action, lest the security we have received beget
carelessness, and the old enemy creep upon us anew.
Chapter 5
But if you hold to the way of innocence, to the way of
justice, with the firmness of your step unbroken, if depending
upon God with all your strength and your whole heart you
only be what you began to be, so much power is given you
in the way of freedom to act as there is an increase in
TO DON AT US H
spiritual grace. For there is no measure or moderation
in receiving of God's munificence, as is the custom with
earthly benefits. For the Spirit flowing forth bountifully
is shut in by no boundaries, and is checked within the
spaces of definite limits by no restraining barriers. It spreads
out continually; it overflows abundantly, provided only our
hearts are athirst and open for it. According as we bring
to it a capacious faith, to this extent do we draw from
it overflowing grace. From this source is the power given
with modest chastity, with a sound mind, with a pure voice
to extinguish the virus of poisons within the marrow of the
grieving, to cleanse the stain of foolish souls by restoring
health, to bind peace to the hostile, rest to the violent, gentle-
ness to the unruly, by dire threats to force those unclean
and vagrant spirits to confess, who have forced their way
within men to destroy them, to force them with heavy blows
to withdraw, to stretch them out struggling, wailing, groaning
with an increase of expanding punishment, to beat them
with scourges, and to roast them with fire. There the matter
is carried on but is not seen; the blows are hidden but the
punishment is manifest. Thus since we have already begun
to be, the spirit which we have received possesses its own
freedom of action; since we have not yet changed our body
and members, our still carnal view is obscured by the cloud
of this world. How great is this domination of the mind,
how great is its force, not only that it itself is withdrawn
from pernicious contacts of the world, so that as one cleansed
and pure it is seized by no stain of an attacking enemy, but
that it becomes greater and stronger in its might, so that
it rules with imperial right over every army of an attacking
adversary.
12 SAINT CYPRIAN
Chapter 6
But In order that the characteristics of the divine munifi-
cence may shine forth when the truth has been revealed,
I shall give you light to recognize it, by wiping away the
cloud of evil I shall reveal the darkness of a hidden world.
For a little consider that you are being transported to the
loftiest peak of a high mountain, that from this you are
viewing the appearance of things that lie below you and
with your eyes directed in different directions you yourself
free from earthly contacts gaze upon the turmoils of the
world. Presently you also will have pity on the world, and
taking account of yourself and with more gratitude to God
you will rejoice with greater joy that you have escaped from
it. Observe the roads blocked by robbers, the seas beset by
pirates, wars spread everywhere with the bloody horrors of
camps. The world is soaked with mutual blood, and when
individuals commit homicide, it is a crime ; it is called a virtue
when it is done in the name of the state. Impunity is acquired
for crimes not by reason of innocence but by the magnitude
of the cruelty.
Chapter 7
Now if you turn your eyes and face toward the cities
themselves, you will find a multitude sadder than any solitude.
A gladitorial combat is being prepared that blood may delight
the lust of cruel eyes. The body is filled up with stronger
foods, and the robust mass of flesh grows fat with bulging
muscles, so that fattened for punishment it may perish more
dearly. Man is killed for the pleasure of man, and to be able
to kill is a skill, is an employment, is an art. Crime is not
only committed but is taught. What can be called more
inhuman, what more repulsive? It is a training that one
TODONATUS 13
may be able to kill, and that he kills is a glory. What is this,
I ask you, of what nature is it, where those offer themselves
to wild beasts, whom no one has condemned, in the prime
of life, of a rather beautiful appearance, in costly garments?
While still alive they adorn themselves for a voluntary death,
wretched they even glory in their wicked deeds. They fight
with beasts not because they are convincts but because they
are mad. Fathers look upon their own sons; a brother is in
the arena and his sister near by, and, although the more
elaborate preparation of the exhibition increases the price
of the spectacle, oh shame! the mother also pays this price
that she may be present at her own sorrows. And at such
impious and terrible spectacles they do not realize that with
their eyes they are parricides.
Chapter 8
Turn your gaze away from this to the no less objectionable
contaminations of a different kind of spectacle. In the theatres
also you will behold what will cause you both grief and
shame. It is the tragic buskin to relate in verse the crimes
of former times. The ancient horror of parricide and incest
is unfolded in acting expressed in the model of the truth,
lest, as time goes by, what was once committed disappear.
Every age is reminded by what it hears that what has been
done can be done again. Transgressions never die from the
passage of the ages; crime is never erased by time; vice
is never buried in oblivion. Then in the mimes by the teach-
ing of infamies one delights either to recall what he has done
at home or to hear what he can do. Adultery is learned
as it is seen, and, while evil with public authority panders
to vices, the matron who perchance had gone forth to the
spectacle chaste returned from the spectacle unchaste. Then
14 SAINT CYPRIAN
further how great a collapse of morals, what a stimulus
to base deeds, what a nourishing of vices, to be polluted
by the gestures of actors, to behold the elaborate endurance
of incestuous abominations contrary to the convenant and
law of our birth. Men emasculate themselves; all the honor
and vigor of their sex are enfeebled by the disgrace of an
enervated body, and he gives more pleasure there who best
breaks down the man into woman. He grows into praise
from crime, and he is judged the more skilful, the more
degraded he is. Oh shame! Such a one is looked upon, and
freely so. What cannot one in such a state suggest? He
rouses the senses; he flatters the affections; he drives out
the stronger conscience of a good heart; nor is there lacking
the authority of a seductive vice, that ruin may creep upon
men with less notice. They depict Venus as unchaste, Mars
as an adulterer, and that famous Jupiter of theirs no more
a chieftain in dominion than in vice, burning with earthly
love in the midst of his own thunderbolts, now shining
white in the plumage of a swan, now pouring down in
a golden shower, now plunging forth with ministering birds
for the raping of young boys. Ask now whether he who
looks upon this can be healthy minded or chaste. Oae
imitates the gods whom he venerates. For these poor wretches
sins become even religious acts.
Chapter 9
Or, if you should be able, standing on that lofty watch-
tower, to direct your eyes into secret places, to unfasten the
locked doors of sleeping chambers and to open these hidden
recesses to the perception of sight, you would behold that
being carried on by the unchaste which a chaste countenance
could not behold; you would see what it is a crime even
TO DONATUS 15
to see; you would see what those demented with the fury
of vices deny that they have done and hasten to do. Men
with frenzied lusts rush against men. Things are done which
cannot even give pleasure to those who do them. I lie if he
who is such does not accuse others of the same; the depraved
defames the depraved, and believes that he while conscious
of his guilt has escaped, as if consciousness were not sufficient
condemnation. The same persons are accusers in public and
the defendants in secret, both their own critics and the guilty.
They condemn abroad what they commit at home, which,
after they have committed it, they accuse; a daring acting
directly with vice and an impudence in harmony with the
shameless. Do not marvel at such things as they speak.
Whatever sin is committed with the voice is less than that
by the mouth. 1
Chapter 10
But viewing the treacherous highways, the manifold bat-
tles scattered over the whole earth, the exhibition either
bloody or vile, the infamies of lust offered for sale in brothels
or enclosed within domestic walls, whose daring is greater
in proportion to the secrecy of the sin, the forum perhaps
may seem to you to be devoid of all this, that it is free of
harassing outrages and is unpolluted by contacts with eviL
Turn your sight in that direction. There you will find more
things to abhor; from these you will the more turn aside
your eyes. Although the laws are engraved on twelve tables,
and the statutes are published on bronze set up in public,
there is sin in the midst of the laws themselves, there is wick-
edness in the midst of the statutes, and innocence is not
preserved where it is defended. The madness of those who
1 See Rom. 1.26,27. The awful extent of this form of lust is implied
by the constant rebukes of the Fathers.
16 SAINT CYPRIAN
oppose each other rages, and among the togas 1 peace Is dis-
rupted and the forum roars madly with law suits. There
the spear and the sword and the executioner are close at
hand, the claw that tears, the rack that stretches, the fire
that burns, for the one body of man more tortures than
it has limbs. Who in such cases gives assistance? One's patron?
But he is in collusion and deceives. The judge? But he sells
his sentence. He who sits to punish crimes commits them,
and in order that the defendant may perish in innocence, the
judge becomes guilty. Everywhere transgressions flourish,
and in every direction by the multiform nature of sinning
the pernicious poison acts through wicked minds. One coun-
terfeits a will, another by a capital fraud gives false testi-
mony; on the one hand children are cheated of their inher-
itance, on the other strangers are endowed with property;
an enemy makes a charge, a calumniator attacks, a witness
defames. On both sides the venal impudence of the hired
voice proceeds to the falsification of charges, while in the
meantime the guilty perish not with the innocent. There
is no fear of the laws, of the inquisitor, no dread of the judge;
what can be bought is not feared. Now it is a crime for an
innocent man to be among the guilty; whoever does not
imitate the evil gives offence. The laws have corne to terms
with sins, and what is public begins to be allowed. What
shame of events can there be here, what integrity, when
those to condemn the wicked are absent, and only those
to be condemned meet with you.
Chapter 11
But perchance we may seem to select the worst examples,
and to lead your eyes through them with a view to dis-
1 The toga was the dress of peace.
TO DONATUS 17
paragement, whose sad and revolting sight offends the face
and gaze of the better conscience. Presently I shall show
you those examples which worldly opinion considers good.
Among those also you will see things to be shunned. As for
what you think to be honors, what you consider the fasces,
what affluence in riches, what power in camp, the sight
of people among the magistrates, power in the license of
rulers, all this is the hidden virus of enticing evils, and the
happy appearance of smiling wickedness, but the treacherous
disception of hidden calamity. It is like a certain kind of
poison, when after sweetness has been spread in its lethal
juices and its flavor medicated with cunning to deceive
what is consumed seems an ordinary draught, but when
the stuff has been swallowed, the destruction which has
been drained creeps over you. Surely you see that man who,
conspicuous by his rather brilliant cloak seems to himself
to be brilliant in purple. With what baseness he has brought
this, that he may be brilliant. What acts of contempt did
he first endure on the part of the haughty; what proud
gates as a courtier did he besiege early in the morning; how
many insulting steps of arrogant men, pressed into the
throng of clients, first precede, so that afterwards attendants
in solemn array might precede him also with salutations,
submissive not to the man but to his power. For he has not
merited to be cherished for his character but for his fasces.
Finally you may see the wretched exits of these men, when
the time-serving sycophant has departed, when the deserting
follower has defiled the bare side of him now a private citizen. 1
Then the injuries of a mutilated home strike the conscience;
then the losses of a bankrupted family-estate are known,
by which the favor of the mob was bought, and the people's
breath was sought \vith fleeting and empty entreaties. Surely
a foolish and empty expense, to have wished to make ready
1 Mentioned by all the Roman satirists; cf. Horace, Sat. 6.1.
18 SAINT CYPRIAN
by the pleasure of a disappointing spectacle that which the
people did not accept and the magistrate lost.
Chapter 12
But those also whom you consider rich, as they add forest
to forest, and extend the infinite boundless country-side ever
wider, excluding the poor from its limits, and who possess
the greatest heap of silver and gold, and mighty sum of
money either in sturdy ramparts or buried stores, these too
fearful in the midst of riches are distraught by the anxiety
of vague thought, lest the robber lay them waste, lest the
murderer attack, lest the hostile envy of some wealthier
neighbor disturb him with malicious law-suits. Neither food
nor sleep is had in peace; he sighs at the banquet, although
he drinks from a jewelled cup, and when the excessively
soft couch hides his body enervated by feasting within its
deep folds, he lies awake in the midst of the down, and the
wretch does not understand that these gilded things are
his torments, that he is held bound by gold, and is possessed
by riches rather than possesses them, and oh detestable
blindness of minds, and profound darkness of insane cupid-
ity when he can unburden himself and relieve himself of
his load, he continues to brood still more over his troublesome
fortunes; he continues to cling stubbornly to his punishing
hoards. From these there is no largess for his dependents,
there is no sharing with the needy, and they call it their
money, which they guard with solicitous care locked up at
home as if it were another's, out of which they impart nothing
to friends, nothing to their children, and in short nothing
to themselves; they possess it only for this purpose, that
another may not possess it, and how great is the diversity
of names! they call those things good of which they make
no use except for evil ends.
TO DONATUS 19
Chapter 13
Or do you think that even those are safe, that those at
least are secure with firm stability midst chaplets of honor
and great wealth, whom as they are resplendent with the
splendor of a royal court a guard of vigilant arms surrounds?
They have greater fear than others. He is forced to fear just
as he is feared. Sublimity exacts punishments in like measure
of the more powerful, although hedged in by a band of
satellites he guards his side surrounded and protected by
a numerous retinue. Just as he does not allow his subjects
to be secure, so it is necessary that he also not be secure.
Their own power terrifies the very ones whom it advises
to be the source of terror. It smiles that it may rage; it cajoles
that it may deceive; it raises up, that it may cast down.
With a certain usury of mischief the fuller the sum total
of dignity and honor, the greater is the interest in punish-
ments which is exacted.
Chapter 14
Therefore, there is one peaceful and trustworthy tranquil-
lity, one solid and firm security, if one withdraws from the
whirlpools of a disturbing world and takes anchor in the
harbor of tne port of salvation. He raises his eyes from earth
to heaven, and now admitted to the gift of. God and being
next to God in mind, whatever to others seems sublime and
great in human affairs, he boasts to lie beneath his con-
sciousness. Nothing can he now seek from the world, desire
from the world, who is greater than the world. How stable,
how unshaken is that protection, how heavenly is that safe-
guard with its perennial blessings to be released from the
snares of the entangling world, to be purged of the dregs
20 SAINT CYPRIAN
of earth for the light of Immortality. He would see what
a crafty destruction on the part of an attacking enemy for-
merly proceeded against us. We are compelled to cherish
more what we are to be, when it is permitted us to know
and to condemn what we were. Nor for this is there need
of a price either in the way of bribery or labor, that man's
highest dignity or power may be achieved with elaborate
effort. It is both a free and easy gift from God. As the sun
radiates of its own accord, the ray gives light, the spring
waters, the shower moistens, so the heavenly Spirit infuses
itself. When the soul gazing upon heaven recognizes its
Author, higher than the sun and more sublime than all this
earthly power, it begins to be that which it believes itself to be. 1
Chapter 15
Do you, whom already the heavenly warfare has designated
for the spiritual camp, only keep uncorrupted and chastened
in religious virtues. See that you observe either constant
prayer or reading. Speak now with God; let God now speak
with you. Let Him instruct in His precepts; let Him dispose
you in them. Whom He shall make rich, no one will make
poor. There can be no want, when once the celestial food
has filled the breast. Now ceilings enriched with gold and
houses decorated with slabs of precious marble will seem
of no account when you realize that you are to be cherished
more, that you rather are to be adorned, that this house
is of more importance for you, where God dwells in a temple,
in which the Holy Spirit begins to live. Let us embellish
this house with the colors of innocence; let us illuminate
it with the light of justice. This house will never fall into
ruin by the decay of age, nor will it be disfigured by the
I A most eloquent testimony to regeneration.
TO DONATUS 21
tarnishing of the color and gold of its walls. Whatever has
been falsely beautified is destined to perish, and what possesses
no reality of possession offers no stable confidence to those
who possess it. This abides in a beauty perpetually vivid,
in complete honor, in everlasting splendor. It can neither
be destroyed nor blotted out. It can only be fashioned for
the better, when the body returns.
Chapter 16
These things, dearest Donatus, in the meantime are in
brief. For although what is profitably heard delights the
patience easy by reason of its goodness, the mind strong in
the Lord, a sound faith, and nothing is so pleasing to your
ears as what is pleasing to the Lord, yet we ought to temper
our speech, being at once close and likely to speak to each
other frequently, and since now is the quiet of a holiday
and a time of leisure, whatever is left of the day as the sun
slopes toward evening, let us spend this time in gladness,
and let not even the hour of repast be void of heavenly grace.
Let a temperate repast resound with psalms, and as you have
a retentive memory and a musical voice, approach this task
as is your custom. You sustain your dearest friends the more,
if we listen to something spiritual, if the sweetness of religion
delights our ears. 1
1 While this section savors strongly of Horace, Cyprian ereatly sur-
passes him by adding the Christian flavor.
THE DRESS OF VIRGINS
translated by
SISTER ANGELA ELIZABETH KEENAN, S. N. D.
Emmanuel College
THE DRESS OF VIRGINS
|YPRIAN J S TREATISE, De habitu virginum, is something
more than a homily on the dress of virgins, as St.
Augustine noted in his reference to the work in the
De doctrina Christiana^ It is an encomium of the virtue
of chastity, directed to a group of women who have con-
secrated their lives in a special way to Christ. The work
is particularly significant because it is one of the first treatises
of this nature found in Christian literature and hence is
invaluable for the contribution it makes to the history of the
religious life for women in the early Church. The paucity
of material available in early writings on the subject of the
ascetical life gives added importance to Cyprian's treatise.
Before Cyprian's time we know simply of the existence
of groups of Christians who aimed to lead a more perfect
life ; beyond this our knowledge is extremely limited. Clement
of Alexandria 2 notes that in addition to the faithful there
are the 'elect of the elect who draw themselves, like ships
to the strand, out of the surge of the world to a place of
safety' those whom the 'Word calls the "light of the world"
and the "salt of the earth." 5 Origen, 3 in his enumeration
of dignitaries, mentions first the bishop, the priest, the deacon,
1 See "De doctrina Christiana 4.21.48.
2 Quis dives salvetur 36.
3 In numer. II Homil. n. 1.
25
26
SAINT CYPRIAN
and the sacerdotal orders, and from these passes to the
virgins and the continent. Hippolytus 4 introduces the ascetics
in an enumeration of the seven divine orders which sustain
the society of the faithful, thus ranking them as a distinct body
among the prophets, martyrs, priests, saints, and the just.
It is not until the third century that the details of the
picture begin to take more definite shape. Most of the
information on the subject is contained in the several extant
discourses which were directed in particular to this class
of Christians De habitu virginum of Cyprian, Convivium
decem virginum of Methodius of Olympus, and the Pseudo-
Clementine letters Ad virgines. Of these the treatise of
Cyprian is probably the earliest, 5 and assuredly the most
important, coming as it does from the pen of the greatest
known bishop of the third century. Herein are crystallized
all the facts known through incidental references in earlier
Church literature of the degree of development of the ascetical
life for women in the first three centuries. It is plain that
the position of consecrated virgins in the Church is a lofty
one. They are the 'flower of the Church, the beauty and
adornment of spiritual grace, the pure and untarnished work
of praise and honor, the image of God reflecting the holiness
of God, the more distinguished part of Christ's flock.' 6 They
have made to God a definite vow, for they are Virgins of
Christ' 7 who have renounced the concupiscences of the flesh,
consecrated their lives to Christ, and dedicated themselves
to God in body as well as in spirit. 8
4 Fragmenta in pr overbid, PL 10.627.
5 The exact dates of these treatises are unknown. The general opinion
seems to be that Cyprian wrote his work before 250 and that the
remaining two belong to the latter part of the third century Cf
Bardenhewer, Gesch. d. altkirchl. Lit. I 130, and Puech II 44
6 De habitu virginum 3
7 Ibid. 9.
8 Ibid. 4.
THE DRESS OF VIRGINS 27
Careful investigation of the nature of the vow signified
in this discourse has led to the conclusion that it was dis-
tinctly a private resolution, and that it concerned chastity
alone. There is no evidence to substantiate the belief that
it was received publicly by a bishop in the name of the
Church. 9 That this private vow involved definitely the
renunciation of marriage is clear from Cyprian's recom-
mendation to virgins not to attend wedding festivities. It is
equally certain that it did not include the surrender of pro-
perty the vow of poverty as it is practiced among religious
today. The ground was prepared even for this, however,
in the exhortation to the wealthy to live simply, and to give
alms generously to the poor. 10 There is no question of com-
munity life, nor of a vow of obedience as we understand it.
Consecrated virgins sought to attain their ideal, a life of close
union with God, without resigning either home or liberty;
but the rudiments, at least, of organization are apparent
in the suggestion made to the older women to teach the
younger, and to the younger to stimulate one another by
mutual acts of virtue. 11 Furthermore, in recommending a life
of great seclusion and in restricting the freedom of women
to seek worldly pleasures that were incompatible with a pro-
fession of virginity, Cyprian is doubtless paving the way for
the total surrender of the will, which is the essence of the
vow of obedience in the religious life today. In a similar way
there is a forecast of the adoption in the fourth century of
a uniform habit and veil, in the appeal of the Bishop for
greater simplicity of attire and the renouncement of elaborate
apparel and adornment.
The reproofs that Cyprian finds it necessary to administer
9 See Koch, Virtues Christi 76-86; Cabrol-Leclercq, article 'Cenobitisme '
Vol. 22, cols. 3081-3085.
10 De habitu virginum 11.
11 Ibid. 24.
28 SAINT CYPRIAN
in regard to worldly extravagance in dress and immodest
deportment at wedding festivities and at the public baths
indicate that the virginal life at Carthage in the third century
had its shadows as well as its consolations. Not all lived true
to the chosen ideal. It was too difficult for some to abide
by the promises first made. Consequent withdrawals from
this manner of life and even actual profanations of the vow
were problems for the attention of the Bishop. The attitude
of the Church toward such failures is expressed by Cyprian
with deep feeling. She mourns over the 'secret disgrace/ con-
sidering the maidens who have been unfaithful to their
original promises 'widows before they are brides, adulteresses
not to a husband, but to Christ. 512
There is little originality of thought nxthis work of Cyprian.
For the most part it is a composite of extracts from the Bible
and paraphrases of portions of the treatises of Tertullian
which are concerned with a similar theme De pudicitia, De
virginibus velandis, De exhortations castitatis, and more par-
ticularly, De cultu feminarum.
It is in the matter of expression, in diction and style, that
Cyprian shows greatest independence in the use of his sources.
This is to be expected in consideration of his superior literary
and rhetorical training. Tertullian is undoubtedly the more
forceful, the more realistic and colorful, perhaps, and certainly
the more imaginative of the two. Cyprian, on the other hand,
is the cultured, discreet, and tactful artist. He rejects the
overbold, grandiloquent thoughts, the brusque, clumsy, often
ambiguous expressions, the colloquialisms, the newly-coined
words, and the bitter, satirical tone so characteristic of Ter-
tullian. He gives far more attention than his predecessor to
the adornment of his expression, to the perfection of rhetorical
figures, of clausulae and other artifices of style cultivated
12 Ibid. 20.
THE DRESS OF VIRGINS 29
in the literary schools of his day. The result is a clearer pres-
entation of his subject, and that smoothness of style which
caused Jerome 13 to make the comparison: 'beatus Cyprianus
instar fontis purissimi dulds incedit et pladdusf and Cassiodo-
rus: 14 f uelut oleum decurrentem in omnem mansuetudinemS
The influence of Cyprian's brief treatise on virginity on
Christian treatises of a later day is evidenced in references
made to the work by St. Jerome and St. Augustine. In the
case of St. Jerome, the interest centers particularly about
the content of the discourse. He found the work sufficiently
important to be recommended as a manual of instruction
for the virgins who were under his direction. 15 St. Augustine,
while not disregarding the subject matter, deems the style
especially worthy of comment. It is no mean tribute to the
eloquence of St. Cyprian and to his skill in the use of the
Latin language that the learned Bishop of Hippo has selected
from this work passages to illustrate the various modes of
appeal which may be used effectively in oratory. 16
One of the most interesting examples of the influence of
Cyprian's treatise on later writera is to be found in De laude
virginitatis, a work of St. Aldhelm, Bishop of Malmesbury,
which was written in the seventh century. In counseling
virgins to make beautiful their souls rather than their bodies,
Aldhelm quotes generously from De habitu virginum, as if
to strengthen his exhortation by appealing to St. Cyprian
as one of the recognized authorities on the subject of vir-
ginity. 17 By the seventh century, then the treatise had gained
some historical importance and had already taken its place
in the great tradition of treatises on the virginal life, of which
it has the distinction of being among the first.
13 Eplst. 58.10.
14 Instit. Div. Litt. 19.
15 Epist. 22.22; 107.12; 107.4.
16 De doctrina Christiana 4.21.47,49.
17 Cf. De laude virginitatis 5; 12; 9; 14.
32 SAINT CYPRIAN
priests particularly, do not hate but love those whom they
chastise that they may correct, since God also prophesied
before through Jeremias and pointed to our own time saying :
'I will give you pastors according to my own heart, and
they shall nourish you, feeding you with discipline.' 5
Chapter 2
But if repeatedly throughout the holy Scripture discipline
is enjoined, and the whole foundation of religion and of faith
proceeds from obedience and fear, what should we seek with
greater earnestness, what should we desire and hold to more,
than that we should stand unshaken by the winds and storms
of the world, our roots firmly fixed and our homes set upon
a rock, on a strong foundation, and that we should attain
to the rewards of God by observing His divine commands,
reflecting as well as knowing that our members are the temples
of God, cleansed from all impurity of the old corruption by
the sanctifying waters of life, and that we are under obliga-
tion not to dishonor nor to defile them, since he who dis-
honors the body is himself dishonored? Of these temples
we are the keepers and the high priests. Let us serve Him
whose possession we have already begun to be. Paul says
in his Epistles, by which he has formed us for life's course
through divine teachings: 'You are not your own; for you
have been bought at a great price. Glorify and bear God
in your body. 51 Let us glorify God and bear Him in a pure
and spotless body and with more perfect observance, and
let us who have been redeemed by the blood of Christ sub-
mit to the rule of our Redeemer with the absolute obedience
5 Jer. 3.15.
1 1 Cor. 6.19,20.
THE DRESS OF VIRGINS 33
of servants, and let us take care not to bring anything unclean
or defiled into the temple of God, lest He be offended and
leave the abode where He dwells. We have the words of God,
our Protector and our Teacher, alike our Physician and our
Counsellor: 'Behold, He says, thou art made whole; sin
no more lest some worse thing happen to thee.' 2 He instils
the fear of living. He gives the law of innocence after He
has restored health; and He does not permit us presently
to wander about with free and loosened rein, but rather
He threatens with greater severity the man who has delivered
himself up to those very ills of which he has been cured,
because without doubt it is less blameworthy to have trans-
gressed before you have yet a knowledge of the discipline
of God, but there is no excuse for further sin after you have
begun to know God. And, indeed, men as well as women,
boys as well as girls, every sex and every age should give
heed to this and be concerned about it, in keeping with the
religious obligation and the faith which are due to God, lest
what is received pure and holy through the benevolence
of God be not guarded with anxious fear.
Chapter 3
Now our discourse is directed to virgins, for whom our
solicitude is even the greater inasmuch as their glory is the
more exalted. They are the flower of the tree that is the
Church, the beauty and adornment of spiritual grace, the
image of God reflecting the holiness of the Lord, the more
illustrious part of Christ's flock. The glorious fruitfulness
of Mother Church rejoices through them, and them she
flowers abundantly; and the more a bountiful virginity adds
to its numbers, the greater is the joy of the Mother. To these
2 John 5.14.
34 SAINT CYPRIAN
do we speak, these do we exhort, rather through affection
than authority, and not because we, who are the last and
least, and fully conscious of our lowliness, arrogate to our-
selves any liberty to censure, but because the more provident
we are in our solicitude, the more we fear from the attack
of the devil.
Chapter 4
Nor is this an empty precaution and a vain fear which
takes thought of the way of salvation, which guards the life-
giving precepts of the Lord, so that those who have con-
secrated their lives to Christ, and, renouncing the concupis-
cences of the flesh, have dedicated themselves to God in body
as well as in spirit, may perfect their work, destined as it is
for a great reward, and may not be solicitous to adorn them-
selves nor to please anyone except their Lord, from whom
in truth they await the reward of virginity, since He Himself
says: 'All men take not this word but those to whom it is
given; for there are eunuchs who were born so from their
mother's womb, and there are eunuchs who were made
so by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves
eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven. 51 Again, too, by these
words of the angel the gift of continence is made clear, vir-
ginity is extolled: 'These are they who were not defiled
with women, for they have remained virgins. These are they
who follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth.' 2 And indeed
not to men only does the Lord promise the grace of con-
tinence, disregarding women; but since woman is a part
of man and was taken and formed from him, almost uni-
versally in the Scriptures God addresses the first formed
because they are two in one flesh, and in the man is signified
likewise the woman.
1 Matt. 19.11,12.
2 Apoc. 14.4.
THE DRESS OF VIRGINS 35
Chapter 5
But if continence follows Christ, and virginity is destined
for the kingdom of God, what have such maidens to do
with worldly dress and adornments, whereby in striving
to please men they offend God, not reflecting that it has
been said: Those who please men have been confounded,
because God has brought them to nought;' 1 and that Paul
has declared in his glorious and sublime way: 'If I should
please men, I would not be the servant of Christ.' 2 But con-
tinence and chastity consist not alone in the purity of the
body, but also in dignity as well as in modesty of dress and
adornment, so that, as the Apostle says, she who is unmarried
may be holy both in body and in spirit. Paul instructs us
saying: The unmarried man thinketh on the things that
belong to the Lord, how he may please God. But he that
hath contracted a marriage thinketh on the things that
are of the world, how he may please his wife. So the
unmarried woman and the virgin thinketh of the things
of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in
spirit.' 3 A virgin should not only be a virgin, but she
ought to be known and considered as such. No one on
seeing a virgin should doubt whether she is one. Let her
innocence manifest itself equally in all things, and her
dress not dishonor the sanctity of her body. Why does
she go forth in public adorned, why with her hair dressed,
as if she either had a husband or were seeking one? Let her
rather fear to be attractive, if she is a virgin, and not desire
her own ruin who is keeping herself for higher and divine
things. She who has not a husband whom she may pretend
to please should persevere in innocence and purity of mind
1 Ps. 52.6.
2 Gal. 1.10.
3 1 Cor. 7.32-34,
36 SAINT CYPRIAN
as well as of body. And in truth it Is not right for a virgin
to adorn herself to set off her charms, nor to glory in her
body and Its beauty, since there is no struggle greater for
such maidens than that against the flesh, and no battle more
obstinate than that of conquering and subduing the body.
Chapter 6
Paul cries out in a strong and lofty voice: 'But far be it
from me to glory save In the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ,
whom the world is crucified to rne and I to the world.' 1 But
a virgin in the Church glories in the appearance of her flesh
and In the beauty of her body! Paul says, moreover: 'And
they that are Christ's have crucified their flesh with the vices
and concupiscences. 32 But she who professes to have renounced
the concupiscences and vices of the flesh is found in those
very things which she has renounced! You are discovered,
O virgin, you are exposed; you boast of being one thing
and you are striving to be another. You defile yourself with
the stains of carnal concupiscence, although you are a can-
didate for innocence and modesty. Cry, says God to Isaias,
'All flesh is grass, and all the glory thereof as the flower
of the field. The grass is withered and the flower is fallen,
but the word of the Lord endureth forever. 53 It is not
becoming for any Christian, and especially is it not becoming
for a virgin to take any account of the glory and honor of
the flesh, but rather it becomes her to seek only the word
of God, to embrace blessings that will endure forever. Or if
she must glory in the flesh, then truly let her glory when she
suffers in the confession of the Name, when a woman is found
1 Gal. 6.14.
2 Gal. 5.24.
3 Isa. 40.6,7.
THE DRESS OF VIRGINS 37
stronger than the men who are inflicting the torture, when
she endures fire, or the cross, or the sword, or beasts, that
she may be crowned. These are the precious jewels of the
flesh; these are the better ornaments of the body.
Chapter 7
But there are some women who are wealthy and rich
in the abundance of their possessions, who display their
riches and who argue that they ought to use the blessings
that are theirs. Let them know, first of all, that she is rich
who is rich in God; that she is wealthy who is wealthy in
Christ; that those things are blessings which are spiritual,
divine, heavenly, which lead us to God, which remain with
us in everlasting possession with God. But the things that
are earthly, that have been acquired in the world and will
remain here with the world, should be despised just as the
world itself is despised, whose pomps and pleasures we already
renounced at the time that we came to God by passing to
a better way. John stimulates and encourages us, and
afBrming in a spiritual and heavenly voice says: c Love not
the world nor the things which are in the world. If any man
hath loved the world, the charity of the Father is not in him.
For all that is in the world is the concupiscence of the flesh,
and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the vanity of the
world, which is not of the Father, but is of the concupiscence
of the world. And the world shall pass away and the con-
cupiscence thereof; but he that hath done the will of God
shall abide forever, even as God also abideth forever. 31
Eternal and divine things therefore must be sought, and all
things must be done in accordance with the will of God, that
we may follow the footsteps and instructions of our Lord,
1 1 John 2.15-17.
38 SAINT CYPRIAN
who has warned us and said: 'I have not come down from
heaven to do my own will, but the will of Him who sent me. 32
But if the servant is not greater than his master, and the
freedman owes allegiance to his deliverer, we who desire
to be Christians ought to imitate what Christ has said. It has
been written, it is read, and it is heard, and it is proclaimed
for our instruction by the mouth of the Church: 'He that
sayeth he abideth in Christ ought himself also to walk even
as He has walked.' 3 We must keep step with Him; we must
strive to emulate His pace. Then shall our striving for truth
correspond to our faith in His name, and a reward is given
to the believer, if he practices also what he believes.
Chapter 8
You say that you are wealthy and rich. But Paul objects
to your wealth, and with his own voice gives directions for
keeping your apparel and adornments within right limits:
'Let women, he says, array themselves with modesty and
sobriety, not with plaited hair, nor gold, nor pearls, nor
costly attire, but as it becometh women professing chastity
in good conversation.' 1 Peter also agrees with these same
precepts and says : 'Let there be in woman not the outward
wearing of ornament or gold or the putting on of apparel,
but the ornamentation of the heart.' 2 But if Paul advises
that married women also, who are accustomed to make
their husbands the excuse for their costly attire, should be
restrained and kept within bounds by a scrupulous observance
2 John 6.38.
3 1 John 2.6.
1 1 Tim. 2.9,10,
2 1 Peter 3.3,4.
THE DRESS OF VIRGINS 39
of church discipline, how much greater is the obligation of
a virgin to render such obedience, who may claim no for-
bearance for her adornment, and who cannot attribute to
another the deception in her fault, but remains herself alone
accountable.
Chapter 9
You say that you are wealthy and rich* But not every-
thing that can be done ought also to be done, nor should
desires that are immoderate and that are born of worldly
vanity overstep the bounds of virginal honor and modesty,
since it is written: C A11 things are lawful, but all things are
not expedient. All things are lawful, but all things do not
edify. 51 But if you adorn yourself too elaborately and appear
conspicuous in public, if you attract to yourself the eyes of
the youth, draw after you the sighs of young men, foster the
desire of concupiscence, enkindle the fire of hope, so that,
without perhaps losing your own soul, you neverthless ruin
others and offer yourself a sword and poison, as it were, to
those who behold you, you cannot be excused on the ground
that your mind is chaste and pure. Your shameless apparel
and your immodest attire belie you, and you can no longer
be numbered among maidens and virgins of Christ, you who
so live as to become the object of sensual love.
Chapter 10
You say that you are wealthy and rich. But it does not
become a virgin to boast of her riches, since holy Scripture
says: 'What hath pride profited us? Or what advantage hath
the boasting of riches brought us? All those things are passed
1 1 Cor. 10.23.
40 SAINT CYPRIAN
away like a shadow.' 1 And the Apostle again warns us, and
says: 'And they that buy, let them be as though they pos-
sessed not; and they that use this world, as if they used it not;
for the fashion of. this world passeth away. 32 Peter also, to
whom the Lord commends his sheep to be fed and guarded,
upon whom He established and founded His Church, says
that gold, in truth, and silver he has not, but that he is rich
in the grace of Christ, that he is wealthy in His faith and
power, wherewith he wrought miraculously many great
works, wherewith he possessed in abundance spiritual blessing
unto the reward of glory. These possessions, this wealth she
cannot have who prefers to be rich in the world rather
than in Christ.
Chapter 11
You say that you are wealthy and rich and you think that
you must use the things that God has wished you to possess.
Use them, but for your salvation and for good works; use
them for what God has ordained, for what the Lord has
pointed out. Let the poor feel that you are rich; let the
needy feel that you are wealthy; through your patrimony
make God your debtor; feed Christ. That you may preserve
to the end the glory of virginity, that you may succeed in
attaining the rewards of God, pray with the prayers of many;
lay up your treasures there where no thief digs them up,
where no treacherous robber breaks in; acquire possessions
for yourself, but rather possessions in heaven, where rust
does not wear away, nor the hail strike down, nor the sun
burn, nor the rain corrupt your fruits, which are eternal
and never failing and free from every touch of the blight
of the world. For you are offending God even in this very
1 Wisd. 5.8,9.
2 I Cor, 7.30,31-
3 THE DRESS OF VIRGINS 41
point, if you believe that wealth has been given to you by
Him for the express purpose of enjoying it without thought
of salvation. For God has indeed given man a voice, and
yet he should not sing love songs and songs that are coarse;
and God ordained that iron should be used for cultivating
the land, but murders should not be committed on that
account; or because God has made incense and wine and
fire, should they be used in offering sacrifice to idols? Or
because the flocks of sheep are numerous in your fields, should
you ^slay them as victims and sacrifices? Nay truly, a large
patrimony is a temptation unless the income is devoted to
good purposes, so that through his fortune every wealthy
man should atone for his faults rather than increase them.
Chapter 12
Showy adornments and clothing and the allurements of
beauty are not becoming in any except prostitutes and
shameless women, and of none, almost, is the dress more
costly than those whose modesty is cheap. Thus In holy
Scripture, by which the Lord has wished us to be instructed
and admonished, a harlot city is described, beautifully attired
and adorned, and with her adornments, and rather because
of those very adornments, destined to perish. c And there
came/ it says, one of the seven angels having vials, and
addressed me, saying: Come, I will show thee the condem-
nation of the great harlot, who sitteth upon many waters,
with whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication.
And he led me away in spirit, and I saw a woman sitting
upon a beast; and the woman was clothed in a cloak of
purple and scarlet, and was adorned with gold, and precious
stones, and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full
42 SAINT CYPRIAN
of malediction, filthiness, and fornication of the whole earth.' 1
Let chaste and modest virgins shun the attire of the unchaste,
the clothing of the immodest, the insignia of brothels, the
adornments of harlots.
Chapter 13
Isaias also, filled with the Holy Spirit, cries out and chides
the daughters of Sion who have been defiled by gold and
raiment, and reproves those who have an abundance of
harmful riches, and who withdraw from God for the sake
of the pleasures of time. 'The daughters of Sion,' he says,
'are haughty, and have walked with high necks, and wanton
glances of the eyes, and sweeping their tunics in the tread
of their feet, and mincing their steps. And God will humble
the royal daughters of Sion, and the Lord will uncover their
vesture; and God will take away the glory of their attire,
and their adornments, and hair, and curls, and little moons,
and their head dreSs, and bracelets, and the clusters of grapes,
and armlets, and rings, and earrings, and silks woven with
gold and sapphire, And instead of the odor of sweetness there
shall be dust, and in place of a girdle you shall be bound
with a rope, and instead of golden ornaments for the head,
you shall have baldness.' 1 This, God blames; this, He brands
with reproach. By this He declares that they have been
defiled; by this they have departed from the true adornment
that merited disgrace and shame. Having put on silk and
purple, they cannot put on Christ; adorned with gold and
pearls and necklaces, they have lost the adornments of the
heart and soul. Who would not detest and shun what has
1 Apoc. 17.1-5.
1 Isa. 3.16-24.
THE DRESS OF VIRGINS 43
caused another's ruin? Who would seek and take what has
served as a sword and weapon for the death of another?
If, on draining the cup, he who had taken the potion should
die, you would know that what he drank was poison; if, after
taking food, he who had taken it should perish, you would
know that what could kill, when taken, was deadly, and
you would not eat nor would you drink whence you saw
beforehand that others had perished. Now what ignorance
of the truth it is, what madness of mind to wish for what
has always been and still is harmful, and to think that you
yourself will not perish from the same causes from which
you know that others have perished !
Chapter 14
For God has not made sheep scarlet or purple, nor has
He taught how to tint and color with the juices of herbs
and with shell fish, nor has He made necklaces of precious
stones set in gold, or of pearls arranged in chains with
numerous joinings, wherewith to hide the neck which He
has made so that what God has created in man may be
covered, and what the devil has invented may be exposed
to view. Has God wished that wounds be inflicted on the
ears, by which childhood still innocent and without knowl-
edge of the evil of the world may be tortured, so that later
from the incisions and holes in the ears precious stones may
hang heavy, although not by their own weight but by their
high prices? All these things the sinful and apostate angels
brought into being by their own arts, when, haven fallen
into earthly contagion, they lost their heavenly power. They
also taught how to paint the eyes by spreading a black sub-
stance around them, and to tinge the cheeks with a counter-
44 SAINT CYPRIAN
felt blush, and to change the hair by false colors, and to drive
out all truth from the countenance and head by the assault
of their corruption.
Chapter 15
And indeed at this point in my address, because of the
fear of God which faith excites in me, and the affection
which brotherhood demands, I think that not only virgins
and widows but married women also, and all women in
general should be warned that the work of. God and His
creature and image should in no way be falsified by employ-
ing yellow coloring or black powder or rouge, or, finally,
any cosmetic at all that spoils the natural features. God
says: 'Let us make man to our own image and likeness. 31
And someone dares to change and transform what God has
made! They are laying hands on God when they strive to
remake what He has made, and to transform it ? not know-
ing that everything that comes into existence is the work
of God; that whatever is changed, is the work of the deviL
If some painter had depicted in color rivaling nature's the
countenance and form and outward appearance of anyone,
and after the portrait had been painted and finished, another
should lay hands on it, as if, thinking himself more skilful,
to improve what was already represented and finished,
grievous would seem to be the insult to the first artist, and
righteous his indignation. And you do you think that you
will perpetrate such wicked and rash insolence, an offence
against the Artist, God, without being punished? Although
you may not be immodest toward men and unchaste through
your alluring cosmetics, in corrupting and dishonoring the
things that are God's, you are counted a worse adulteress!
1 Gen. 1.26.
THE DRESS OF VIRGINS 45
As for your thinking that you are adorned, that you are
beautifully dressed, this is an assault upon the divine work,
a violation of the truth.
Chapter 16
The voice of the Apostle gives the warning: 'Purge out
the old leaven that you may be a new paste, as you are
unleavened; for Christ, our Pasch, is sacrificed. Therefore,
let us celebrate a festival not with the old leaven, nor with
the leaven of malice or wickedness, but with the unleavened
bread of sincerity and truth.' 1 Do sincerity and truth abide
when the things that are genuine are corrupted by mere-
tricious colors, when truth is changed to falsehood by lying
dyes? Your Lord says: 'You cannot make one hair white
or black. 32 But you, in order to triumph over the word of
your Lord, wish to be more powerful than He; in your
wanton attempt and sacrilegious insolence you dye your hair;
with an evil foreboding of the future you begin now to have
flame colored hair, and you sin oh the wickedness of
it ! with your head, that is, in the nobler part of the body.
And although it is written of the Lord: But His head and
hair were white as wool or snow, 3 you abominate grey hair;
you loathe whiteness, which is like unto the head of the Lord.
Chapter 17
Do you not fear, I ask, being such as you are, that when
the day of resurrection comes, your Maker may not recognize
1 1 Cor. 5.7.
2 Matt. 5.36.
3 Apoc. 1.14.
46 SAINT CYPRIAN
you, that He may set you aside when you come for His
rewards and promises, and may exclude you and, reproving
you with the severity of a censor and judge, may say: 'This
work is not mine nor is this our image.' You have defiled
your skin with lying cosmetics; you have changed your hair
with an adulterous color; your face is overcome by false-
hoods; your appearance is corrupted; your countenance
is that of another. You cannot see God since your eyes are
not those which God has made, but which the devil has
infected. Him you have followed; the red and painted eyes
of the serpent have you imitated; adorned like your enemy,
with him you shall likewise burn. Should not the servants
of God reflect on these matters, I ask? Should they not
meditate on them always, d,ay and night, with fear? Married
women should consider to what extent they are deceiving
themselves with regard to the comfort that they give to their
husbands through their efforts to please them; for in putting
them forward as their excuse, they are making them cooperate
in a guilty agreement. Assuredly, virgins, to whom this does
not pertain, who have adorned themselves by devices of this
sort, should not be numbered among virgins, in my opinion,
but 3 like tainted sheep and diseased cattle, they should be
keept apart from the pure and holy flock of virgins, lest
while they are together they corrupt others by their contact,
lest they who have themselves perished ruin others.
Chapter 18
And since we are seeking the blessing of continence, let
us avoid whatever is dangerous and hostile to it. I shall not
pass over certain things which, in coming into use through
carelessness, have acquired liberty for themselves by usur-
pation, to the detriment of modest and sober manners. Some
THE DRESS OF VIRGINS 47
are not ashamed to attend weddings and, in the freedom
of the wanton discourse there, to take part in the unchaste
conversation, to hear what is unbecoming, to say what is not
allowed, to look on and to be present in the midst of dis-
graceful talk and drunken feasts, by which the flame of pas-
sion is enkindled, and the bride is incited to tolerate and
the bridegroom to become emboldened in lust. What place
is there at weddings for one who has no thought of marriage,
or what can be pleasant and enjoyable in those occasions
wherein desires and interests are so different? What is learned
there? What is seen? To what a degree does a virgin abandon
her own purpose! How much more immodest does she go
away who had gone there modest? She may remain a virgin
in body and mind, but by her eyes, ears, and tongue she has
diminished the purity that she possessed.
Chapter 19
But what is to be said of those who go to the common
baths and who prostitute to eyes that are devoted to lust
bodies consecrated to chastity and modesty? Do not those
who, in the presence of men, and naked, with no sense of
shame behold men and are seen by them, offer of them-
selves an inducement to vice? Do they not excite and arouse
the desire of those present to their own dishonor and harm?
"Let another, 9 you say, look to his motive in coming here;
as for me, my only concerrf is to refresh and bathe poor
little body.' Such a defence does not justify you, nor does it
excuse the sin of lust and wantonness. Such a bath sullies;
it does not purify and it does not cleanse the limbs, but stains
them. You gaze upon no one immodestly, but you yourself
are gazed upon * immodestly. You do not corrupt your eyes
with foul delight, but in delighting others you yourself are
48 SAINT CYPRIAN
corrupted. You transform the bath Into a public show; the
places where you go are more shameful than the theatre.
There., all reserve is cast off; the honor and modesty of the
body are laid aside together with the clothing; virginity
is unveiled to be marked out and contaminated. Now then,
consider whether, when she is clothed, such a one is modest
among men who has grown in immodesty by the boldness
of her nakedness.
Chapter 20
Hence, then, the Church frequently bewails her virgins;
hence, she groans over the notorious and detestable gossip
about them; hence the flower of virginity is destroyed, the
honor and modesty of continence are killed, all glory and
dignity are profaned. Hence the conquering enemy insinuates
himself by his wiles; hence by snares that deceive through
secret ways the devil creeps in; hence virgins in desiring
to be adorned more elegantly, to go about more freely, cease
to be virgins, being corrupted by a hidden shame, widows
before they are brides, adulteresses not to a husband but to
Christ. Just as they had been destined as virgins for wonder-
ful rewards, so now will they suffer great punishments for
their lost virginity.
Chapter 21
Listen, therefore, virgins, as to a father; listen, I pray you,
to one who fears for you and at the same time warns you;
listen to one who is faithfully watching over your advantages
and interests. Be such as God, the Creator, has made you;
be such as the hand of the Father has fashioned you. Let
THE DRESS OF VIRGINS 49
your countenance remain uncorrupted, your neck pure, your
beauty genuine; let no wounds be inflicted on your ears,
nor let a costly chain of bracelets and necklaces confine your
arms or your neck; let your feet be free from golden fetters,
your hair colored with no dye, your eyes worthy to behold
God. Let the baths be attended with women whose bathing
among you is modest. Let indecent weddings and their
wanton banquets be avoided, contact with which is dangerous.
Conquer your dress, you who are a virgin; conquer gold,
you who conquer the flesh and the world. It is not natural
for one to be invincible before greater things and to be found
unequal to lesser. Straight and narrow is the way which leads
to life; hard and steep is the path which ascends to glory.
By this pathway the martyrs proceed, the virgins go, ail the
just advance. Avoid wide and broad roads. In them are
deadly allurements and death-bringing pleasures; in them
the devil flatters that he may deceive, smiles that he may
harm, entices that he may kill. The first fruit, that of a
hundred-fold, belongs to martyrs; the second, sixty-fold, is
yours. Just as with the martyrs there is no thought of the
flesh and of the world, and no slight and trivial and dainty
struggle, so also in you, whose reward is second in the order
of grace, let the power of endurance be next to theirs. The
ascent to great things is not easy. What toil we must endure,
what fatigue, while we are attempting to climb hills and
the summits of mountains! What, that we may ascend to
heaven! If you consider the promised reward, what you
endure is less. Immortality is given to the one who perseveres;
everlasting life is offered; the Lord promises His Kingdom.
50 SAINT CYPRIAN
Chapter 22
Persevere, virgins, persevere in what you have begun to
be. Persevere in what you will be. A great recompense is
reserved for you, a glorious prize for virtue, a most excellent
reward for purity. Do you wish to know from what misery
the virtue of continence is free, what advantage it possesses?
*I will multiply/ said God to the woman, c thy sorrows and
thy groans, and in sorrow shalt thou bring forth thy children,
and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall have
dominion over thee.' 1 You are free from this sentence; you
do not fear the sorrows of women and their groans; you
have no fear about the birth of children, nor is your husband
your master, but your Master and Head is Christ, in the
likeness of and in place of the man; your lot and condition
are in common. This is the voice of the Lord that says: The
children of this world beget and are begotten; but they
who shall be accounted worthy of that world, and of the
resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in
marriage; neither will they die any more, for they are equal
to the angels of God since they are the children of the resur-
rection.' 2 What we shall be, already you have begun to be.
The glory of the resurrection you already have in this world ;
you pass through the world without the pollution of the
world; while you remain chaste and virgins, you are equal
to the angels of God, Only let your virginity remain and
endure entire and unwounded; and as it began courageously
let it persevere unceasingly, and not seek necklaces and
clothing as adornments, but right conduct. Let it look upon
God and heaven and not lower to the concupiscence of the
flesh and of the world eyes that have been raised aloft; let
it not turn them to earthly things.
1 Gen. 3.16.
2 Luke 20.34-36.
THE DRESS OF VIRGINS 5 1
Chapter 23
The first pronouncement gave the command to increase
and multiply; the second counselled continence. While yet
the world was uncultivated and empty, we, begetting large
numbers in our fecundity, propagated ourselves and increased
for the extension of the human race. Now, when the earth
Is filled and the world is peopled, those who can take con-
tinence, living in the manner of eunuchs, make themselves
eunuchs for the kingdom. And God does not order this, but
encourages it; nor does He impose the yoke of necessity,
since ^ the choice of the will remains free. But when He says
that in His Father's house there are many mansions, He
points to the homes of a better habitation. Those better
dwellings you are seeking; by cutting away the desires of
the flesh you are obtaining the reward of greater grace in
heaven. All indeed who attain to the divine and paternal
gift by the sanctification of baptism put off therein the old
man by the grace of the saving waters, and, renewed by the
Holy Spirit, they are cleansed from the impurities of the
old contagion by a second birth. But the greater sanctity and
truth of the second birth belong to you who no longer have
desires of the flesh and of the body. Those things alone in
you which pertain to virtue and the spirit have remained
unto glory. This is the voice of the Apostle whom God called
the vessel of His election, whom God sent to announce the
mandates of heaven: The first man, 3 he said, c was made
of the slime of the earth; the second, of heaven. Such as is
the earthly, such also are the earthly, and such as is the
heavenly, such also are the heavenly. As we have carried
the image of him who is of the earth, so let us bear also the
image of Him Who is of heaven. 51 Virginity bears this image,
purity bears it, sanctity and truth bear it, those who are mind-
1 1 Cor. 15.47-49.
52 SAINT CYPRIAN
ful of the discipline of God bear it, who observe justice
scrupulously, who are steadfast in faith, humble in fear, brave
in enduring all suffering, mild in sustaining injuries, ready
in showing mercy, of one mind and heart in fraternal peace.
Chapter 24
Each one of these things, O good virgins, you ought to
observe, to love, to fulfill, you who, devoting yourselves to
God and to Christ, are advancing toward the Lord, to whom
you have consecrated yourselves as the greater and better
part. You who are advanced in years, give instruction to the
younger; you who are younger, give an incentive to those
of your own age. Stimulate one another by mutual words
of encouragement; summon to glory by rival proofs of virtue.
Persevere bravely, proceed spiritually, attain the goal happily.
Only remember us when virginity shall begin to be honored
in you.
THE LAPSED
Translated by
ROY J. DEFERRARI, PhD.
The Catholic University of America
THE LAPSED
IHE TREATISE ON THE LAPSED was composed soon
after Cyprian's return to Carthage, after the per-
secution of Decius, in the spring of 251. During the
persecution, when the problem of the reconciliation of the
many who had apostasized became acute, Cyprian had
promised to treat the subject in writing as soon as a cessation
of hostilities permitted. This promise he fulfills in this work.
The problem of the lapsed was a most serious one. The
chief sources of information which are available to us today
on the subject are, in addition to the present treatise, Letters
15-19, 25, 27, 30, 33, 35, 36, 39, 55, and 56.
There were two categories of the lapsed: those who had
actually performed pagan sacrifice, the sacrificati, and those
who had been certified as having sacrificed but actually had
not, having avoided it by bribery or other such means.
Obviously, all were obliged to do penance. Some of the
questions raised were: what should be the nature of this
penance; should it be a mere formality or a serious process
of some difficulty; should it be the same for all, or varied
according to the degree of wilfulness and viciousness involved.
Some actually had sacrificed to the gods before they were
forced to do so; others had even brought their children to
take part in these rites; still others, out of blind love of their
property, openly denied the faith.
The so-called 'confessors' played an important role in this
controversy. From early Christian times, even before Ter-
tullian, it was felt that those who had suffered for the faith
55
56
SAINT CYPRIAN
had a certain right of intercession in behalf of sinners. Sev-
eral of these confessors at this time had perished under
torture or in prison. 1 Most of them were subjected to pro-
longed imprisonment under very severe conditions. The
great majority of the lapsed soon conceived the idea of taking
advantage of the privilege of intercession conceded to the
confessors. Moreover, not all of the confessors were of high
moral character. Some of them took great joy and pride in
playing the part of intercessor and liberator for their weaker
brethren. Without requiring any guarantee of repentance
or of doing penance they granted reconciliations at random.
People obtained pardon en bloc. This abuse which involved
the complete ignoring of the bishop naturally pained Cyprian
greatly, and represented a serious difficulty in the settlement
of the general problem.
Cyprian faced the problem with his usual firmness and
efficiency. His action, as set forth in the present treatise, may
be summarized as follows. He warned the confessors against
interceding for the lapsed, noting that such leniency would
only interfere with their making due atonement. Those who
had become weak only under great tortures were deserving
of greater mercy. But all, without exception, had to submit
to penance, even the libellatici, since, although they had not
actually participated in pagan sacrifice, they had defiled
their conscience.
This treatise on the lapsed was read at the council which
met in Carthage in the spring of 251. It has been described
as a work of surprising unction, profundity of sentiment, and
tact. All that Cyprian had to say was said but with the utmost
regard for Christian charity. It became the basis for uniform
action with regard to the lapsed for the entire Church in
North Africa.
1 See Ep. 22.2.
THE LAPSED
Chapter 1
JEHOLD,, BELOVED BRETHREN,, peace has been restored
to the Church, and, what recently seemed difficult
to the incredulous and impossible to the perfidious,
our security has by divine aid and retribution been re-estab-
lished. Our minds are returning to gladness, and with the
passing of the cloud and storm of oppression tranquility and
serenity have shone forth again. Praises must be given to
God, and His blessings and gifts must be celebrated by the
giving of thanks, although not even in the persecution did
our voice cease to give thanks. For it is not possible even
for an enemy to prevent us, who love God with our whole
heart and soul and power, from proclaiming His blessings
and praises always and everywhere with glory. The day
longed for by the prayers of all of us has come, and after
the horrible and loathsome darkness of a long night the
world has shone forth illuminated by the light of the Lord.
Chapter 2
With happy countenances we look upon the confessors
illustrious by the proclaiming of a good name and glorious
57
58 SAINT CYPRIAN
in the praise of virtue and the faith; clinging to them with
holy kisses we embrace them whom we have desired with
a divine and insatiable eagerness. The white-robed cohort
of Christ's soldiers is at hand, who by a steadfast formation
have broken the turbulent ferocity of an attacking persecution,
prepared to suffer imprisonment, armed to endure death.
Bravely have you opposed the world, a glorious spectacle
have you furnished God, you have been an example to your
brethren who will follow you. Your religious voice uttered
the name of Christ, in whom it has once confessed that it
believed; your illustrious hands, which had been accustomed
only to divine works, have resisted the sacrilegious sacrifices;
your mouths sanctified by heavenly food after (receiving)
the body and blood of the Lord have rejected the profane
contagion of. the leavings of the idols; your head has remained
free from the impious and wretched veil 1 with which the cap-
tive heads of those performing the sacrifices were there veiled;
your brow pure with the sign of God could not endure the
crown of the devil, it reserved itself for the crown of the
Lord. With what a joyful bosom does the Mother Church
receive you as you return from heaven! How happily, with
what rejoicing does she open her gates that with united
forces, you may enter bringing back trophies from a prostrate
enemy! With the man in triumph women too come, who
in their struggle with the world have also overcome their
sex. Virgins come with the double glory of their warfare and
boys surpassing their years in virtue. Furthermore, the rest
of the multitude of those who stand follow your glory, accom-
pany your footsteps with marks of praise very close and almost
joined with your own. The same sincerity of heart is in these,
the same integrity of a tenacious faith. Relying on the
unshaken foundation of heavenly precepts, and strengthened
by the evangelical traditions, no prescribed exiles, no destined
1 The veiled head xvas the sign of Roman worship.
THE LAPSED 59
torments, no penalties as to property or body terrified them.
The day for examining their faith was set, but he who is
mindful that he has renounced the world knows no day in
the world, nor does he now compute the earthly seasons who
hopes for eternity from God.
Chapter 3
Let no one, brethren, let no one cut short this glory, let
no one by malicious detraction weaken the uncorrupted
firmness of those who stand. When the time appointed for
the recanters had passed, whoever had not professed in that
time to be a Christian confessed that he was. The first title
to victory is for him who has fallen in the hands of the Gen-
tiles to confess the Lord; the second step to glory is to make
a cautious withdrawal and then to keep himself for God.
The one is a public confession; the other private. The for-
mer conquers the judge of the world; the latter satisfied with
God as his judge guards a conscience pure by integrity of
heart. In the former case fortitude is quicker; in the latter
solicitude is more secure. The one, as his hour approached,
was then found ready; the other perhaps was delayed because
he had left his estate and had withdrawn, for he would not
deny; surely he would have confessed, had he also been seized.
Chapter 4
One grief saddens these heavenly crowns of the martyrs,
these spiritual glories of the confessors, these very great and
illustrious virtues of the brethren who stand the violent
enemy has torn away a part of our vitals and has thrown
60 SAINT CYPRIAN
it away in the ruin of his destruction. What shall I do in
this situation, dearest brethren? As I waver in the varying
tide of emotion, what or how shall I speak? There is need
of tears rather than words to express the grief with which
the blow to our body is to be mourned, with which the mani-
fold loss of our once numerous people is to be lamented. For
who is so hard and without feeling, who so forgetful of
brotherly love that as he stands in the midst of the manifold
destruction of his people and their sad remains deformed
by great squalor he can keep his eyes dry and with a sudden
burst of weeping not express his lamentations with tears
rather than with words? I grieve, brethren, I grieve with
you nor does my own integrity and sanity beguile me to
soothe my own grief, since the shepherd is wounded more
by the wound of his flock. I join my heart with each one;
I share in the grievous burden of sorrow and death. I wail
with those who wail; I weep with those who weep; I believe
myself to be cast down with those who are cast down. At the
same time my limbs were pierced by the darts of the raging
enemy; their cruel swords have passed through my vitals.
My mind was not able to remain immune and free from
the attacks of persecution; among my prostrate brethren, my
compassion has also prostrated me.
Chapter 5
Nevertheless, most beloved brethren, the cause of truth
must be kept, and the gloomy darkness of the cruel per-
secution ought not have so blinded our senses that nothing
of light and clarity has remained whereby the divine precepts
can be perceived. If the cause of the disaster is known, the
remedy for the wound also is found. The Lord wished his
family to be proved, and, because a long peace had corrupted
THE LAPSED 61
the discipline divinely handed down to us, a heavenly rebuke
has aroused a prostrate and, I might say, sleeping faith, and,
although we deserved more on account of our sins, the most
merciful Lord has so moderated all things, that all that has
happened seemed an examination rather than a persecution.
Chapter 6
Everyone was eager to increase his estate, and, forgetful
of what the believers in apostolic times either had done
before or always should have done, with the insatiable ardor
of covetousness they applied themseves to increasing their
possessions. Among the priests there was no devout religion;
in their ministries 1 no sound faith, in their works no mercy,
in their morals no discipline. Among men the beard was
defaced; faces were painted among women, 2 eyes were falsi-
fied after God's hands had completed them, hair was colored
in deception. There were crafty frauds to deceive the hearts
of the simple, subtle schemes for circumventing the brethren.
They joined with infidels in the bond of matrimony; they
prostituted the members of Christ to the Gentiles. They not
only swore rashly, but committed perjury also; they looked
down with haughty arrogance upon those placed over them;
they maligned one another with an envenomed tongue; they
quarreled with one another with stubborn hatred. Many
bishops, 3 who ought to be a source of encouragement and
an example to the rest, contemning their divine charge came
under the charge of secular kings; after abandoning their
1 The manuscripts strongly support this translation, and not 'ministers'
as this passage has been regularly rendered in the past.
2 This section savors strongly of Tertullian.
3 A delicate reference to conditions in Rome under Pope Callistus and
his predecessors.
62 SAINT CYPRIAN
thrones and deserting the people, they wandered through
foreign provinces and sought the market places for gainful
business; while their brethren in the Church were starving,
they wished to possess money in abundance ; they seized estates
by crafty deceits; they increased their capital by multiplying
usuries. What do not such as we deserve to suffer for such
sins, when already long ago divine censure warned us and
said: 'If they forsake my law and walk not in my precepts,
if they violate my statutes, and keep not my commandments,
I will punish their crimes with a rod, and their sins with
stripes. 34
Chapter 7
These things were foreshadowed to us and predicted before.
But we, unmindful of the law handed down and of its obser-
vation, have brought it about by our sins that while we
contemn the mandates of the Lord we have come by severer
remedies to the correction of our sins and a probation of our
faith, and not indeed have we at last turned to the fear of
the Lord so as to undergo this reproof and divine probation
of ours patiently and bravely. Immediately at the first words
of the threatening enemy a very large number of the brethren
betrayed their faith, and were laid low not by the attack of
persecution, rather they laid themselves low by their own
voluntary lapse. What so unheard of, I ask, what so new
had come, that, as if with the rise of unkown and unexpected
circumstances, the pledge 1 to Christ should be dissolved with
headlong rashness? Did not both the prophets first and the
apostles afterwards announce these events? Have not they,
4 Ps. 88.31.33.
1 Christi sacramentum, a reference to the sacramentum or pledge taken
by soldiers in the army.
THE LAPSED 63
filled with Holy Spirit, predicted the oppressions of the just,
and the injuries of the Gentiles always? Does not holy Scrip-
ture ever arming our faith and strengthening the servants of
God with its heavenly voice say; The Lord thy God shalt
thou worship and him only shalt thou serve? 2 Does it not
say again, pointing out the wrath of the divine indignation
and forewarning of the fear of punishment: They have
adored those whom their fingers have made, and man hath
bowed himself down, and man hath been debased, and I
shall not forgive them.' 3 And again God speaks, saying: 'He
that sacrificeth to gods shall be put to death, save only to the
Lord.' 4 Later in the gospel also did not the Lord, a teacher
in words and a consummator in deeds, teaching what would
be done and doing whatever He had taught, forewarn us
first of what is now taking place and will take place? Did
He not before establish eternal punishments for those who
deny Him and salutary rewards for those who confess Him?
Chapter 8
For some, ah misery! all these things have fallen away
and have receded from memory. They did not wait at least
to ascend when apprehended, to deny when questioned.
Many were conquered before the battle, were prostrated
without a conflict, and they did not leave this for themselves
to seem to sacrifice to idok unwillingly. Moreover they ran
to the market place, of their own accord they hastened to
death, as if they formerly desired it, as if they were embracing
an occasion granted to them, which they had cheerfully
desired. How many on that occasion were put off by the
2 Deut. 6.13,
3 Isa. 2.8,9.
4 Exod. 22.20.
64 SAINT CYPRIAN
magistrates as evening came on, how many also begged that
their destruction be not put off! What violence can such a
one plead as an excuse, with which to purge his crime, when
he himself rather performed the violence that brought about
his ruin? When of their own accord they came to the capitol,
when they freely approached yielding to the dire crime, did
not their footsteps falter, their sight darken, their vitals
tremble, their limbs fail, their senses become dull, their tongues
cleave, their speech fail? Could the servant of God, who had
already renounced the devil and the world, stand there
and speak and renounce Christ? Was that altar, which he
had approached to die, not a funeral pyre for him? And as
for the altar of the devil, which he had seen smoke and smell
with a foul fetor, ought he not to have shuddered at it as if
the funeral and sepulchre of his own life and to have fled
from it? Why, oh wretch, do you bring a sacrificial offering
with you, why a victim for supplication? You yourself have
come to the altars as a sacrificial offering, you yourself as a
victim; you have immolated your salvation there, your hope;
there you have cremated your faith in those fires. 1
Chapter 9
But for many their own destruction was not enough. By
mutual exhortations people were driven to their destruction.
Death was proposed for one and another in the lethal cup.
And that nothing might be lacking to cap the crime, infants
also, placed in the arms of parents or led by them, lost as
little ones what they had gained at the very first beginning
of^their nativity, 1 When the day of judgment comes, will
1 Cf. Mark 8.36.
1 The baptism as well as the communion of infants seems to be general
at this time.
THE LAPSED 65
they not say: 'We have done nothing; we have not aban-
doned the Lord's bread and cup and of our own accord
hastened to profane contaminations. The perfidy of others
has ruined us; we have found our parents parricides. They
have denied us the Church as Mother, God as Father, so
that, while we still small and improvident and unaware of
so great a crime were joined through others into a sharing
in the crimes, we were caught in the deceit of others'?
Chapter 10
There is not, alas, any just and serious reason which ex-
cuses so great a crime. The fatherland should have been
abandoned, the loss of personal property suffered. For what
man, who is born and dies, does not at some time have to
abandon his fatherland and suffer the loss of personal prop-
erty? Let not Christ be abandoned; let not the loss of one's
salvation and one's eternal home be the object of fear. Be-
hold, the Holy Spirit through the prophet cries out: 'Depart,
depart, go ye out from thence, touch no unclean thing, go
out of the midst of her, be ye apart, you that carry the
vessels of the Lord. 51 And do not those who are the vessels
of the Lord and the temple of God, lest they be forced to
touch the unclean thing and be polluted and corrupted by
deadly foods, go out from the midst and withdraw? In
another place also a voice from heaven is heard admonishing
what the servants of God should do and saying: Go out
from her, my people, that you may not share in her sins,
and that you may not receive of her plagues.' 2 He who goes
out and withdraws does not become a sharer in the sin but
he indeed who is discovered as a companion in the crime
1 Cf. Isa. 52.11.
2 Apoc. 18.4.
66 SAINT CYPRIAN
is himself also seized by the plagues. And so the Lord com-
manded to withdraw and flee in time of persecution, and
He both taught that it should be done and did it. For since
the crown descends upon us according to the good pleasure
of God, and cannot be received unless the hour for assuming
it has come, whoever abiding in Christ withdraws for a time
does not deny the faith, but awaits the time; but he who,
when he did not withdraw, fell, remained to deny it.
Chapter 11
The truth, brethren, must not be concealed, nor must the
matter and cause of our wound be kept silent. Blind love
of one's personal property has deceived many; nor could
they have been prepared or ready for departing, when their
possessions bound them like fetters. Those fetters were for
those who remained, those chains by which virtue was re-
tarded, and faith hard pressed, and mind bound, and the
soul imprisoned, so that they who clung to earthly things
became as booty and food for the serpent who, according
to the words of God, devours the earth. Therefore, the Lord,
the teacher of good things, warning for the future, says:
*If thou wilt be perfect, sell all thy possessions and give to
the poor and thou shalt have treasure in heaven; and come,
follow me/ 1 If the rich did this, they would not perish by
their riches; laying up a treasure in heaven they would not
now have an enemy and a domestic conqueror; their heart
and mind and feeling would be in heaven, if their treasure
were in heaven; nor could he be conquered by the world,
who had nothing in the world with which to be conquered,
He would follow the Lord, loosed and free, as the Apostles
and many in apostolic times, and some others often did, who,
1 Cf. Matt. 19.21.
THE LAPSED 67
abandoning their possessions and their parents, clung to
the undivided ties of Christ.
Chapter 12
But how can they follow Christ who are held back by the
chain of their personal property? Or, how can they seek
heaven, and ascend to the sublime and lofty, who are weighed
down by earthly desires? They think that they possess, who
rather are possessed, slaves of their own property, not lords
as regards their money but rather the bond-slaves of their
money. The Apostle refers to this time, to these men, when
he says: 'But those who seek to become rich fall into temp-
tation and a snare and into many harmful desires which
plunge men into destruction and damnation. For covetous-
ness is the root of all evils, and some seeking riches have
strayed from the faith and have involved themselves in
many troubles.' 1 But with what rewards does the Lord invite
us to contempt of personal wealth? With what wages does
He compensate for these small and trifling losses of this
present time? 'There is no one,' He says, 'who has left house,
or land, or parents, or brothers, or wife, or sons for the king-
dom of God's sake who does not receive a seven-fold 2 in this
present time, and in the world to come life everlasting.' 3
Since these things are known and have been ascertained
from the truth of God who makes the promise, not only is a
loss of this kind not to be feared but even to be desired, for
the Lord Himself again proclaims and gives warning : 'Blessed
shall you be when men persecute you, and separate you and
1 Cf. 1 Tim. 6.9,10.
2 The Cyprianic manuscriut tradition definitely has 'seven-fold' here
and not a 'hundred-fold.'
3 Cf. Mark 10.29-31.
68 SAINT CYPRIAN
shut you out and reject your name as evil because of the
Son of man. Rejoice on that day and exult, for behold your
reward is great in heaven.' 4
Chapter 13
But later torments had come, and severe sufferings threat-
ened those who resisted. He can complain about torments
who was overcome by torments; he can offer the excuse
of pain who has been overcome by pain. Such a one can ask
and say: 'Surely I wished to contend bravely, and mindful
of my oath I took up the arms of devotion and faith; but as
I found in the contest the various tortures and extended
punishments overcome me. My mind stood firm and faith
strong, and my soul struggled long and unshaken with the
excruciating pains. But when, as the cruelty of a most severe
judge broke forth afresh, fatigued as I was, the scourges
now for the first time slashed me, the cudgels now bruised
me, the rack now stretched me, the claw now dug into me,
the flame now scorched me, my flesh deserted me in the
struggle, the weakness of my vitals gave way, not my soul
but my body yielded in the suffering. 5 Such a plea can quick-
ly advance to forgiveness; an excuse of this kind can be
worthy of pity. Thus in these circumstances the Lord once
forgave Cestus and Aemilius; thus, although conquered in
the first encounter, he made them victorious in the second
battle, so that they became stronger than the fires who pre-
viously had yielded to the fires, and in what they had been
overcome, in this they overcame. They made their entreaties
by pity not of tears but of wounds, not with a wailing voice
alone, but with laceration and pain of body. Blood instead
4 Luke 6.22.23.
THE LAPSED 69
of lamentations came forth, and instead of tears gore poured
out from their half burnt vitals.
Chapter 14
But now, what wounds can the conquered show, what
injuries to gaping vitals, what tortures of the limbs, when
faith did not fail in combat, but perfidy arrived before the
combat? Nor does the necessity of the crime excuse him who
was caught, where the crime is of the will. I do not say
this to burden the cases of the brethren, but rather to stim-
ulate the brethren to prayers of satisfaction. For since it is
written: 'They that call you blessed, send you into error,
and destroy the way of your steps/ 1 he who consoles the
sinner with flattering blandishments furnishes the means for
sinning, and does not check transgressions but nourishes them.
But he who rebukes at the same time that he instructs with
firmer counsels urges a brother on to salvation. 'Whom I
love,' says the Lord, 'I rebuke and chastise.' 2 Thus also ought
the priest of the Lord not to deceive by deceptive submissions
but to provide with salutary remedies. A physician is unskilled
who handles the swelling folds of wounds with a sparing
hand, and increases the poison inclosed within the deep
recesses of the vital organs as he cares for it. The wound
must be opened and cut and treated by a sterner remedy,
by cutting out the corrupting parts. Although the sick man,
impatient by reason of his pain, cries out, shrieks, and com-
plains, he will give thanks afterwards, when he has expe-
rienced good health.
1 Cf. Isa. 3.12.
2 Apoc. 3,19.
70 SAINT CYPRIAN
Chapter 15
For, very beloved brethren, a new kind of devastation has
emerged and, as if the storm of persecution had raged too
little, there has been added to the heap, under the title of
mercy, a deceiving evil and an alluring destruction. Contrary
to the rigor of the Gospel, contrary to the law of the Lord
and God because of the temerity of certain persons com-
munion with the rash is related, an empty and false peace,
dangerous to those who grant it and of no benefit to those
who receive it. They do not seek the patience important for
health, nor the true medicine derived from satisfaction. Pen-
ance is excluded from their hearts; the memory of a most
serious and extreme sin is removed. The wounds of the
dying are concealed, and the deadly blow fixed in the deep
and secret vitals is concealed by dissimulated pain. Return-
ing from the altars of the devil they approach the holy place
of the Lord with hands befouled and reeking with smell;
still almost belching forth the death-bearing food of idols,
even now with jaws breathing forth their crime and redolent
with the fatal contagion they invade the body of the Lord,
when the divine Scripture stands in their way, and cries out,
saying: 'Everyone that is clean shall eat of the flesh, and
whatever soul shall eat of the flesh of the saving sacrifice
which is the Lord, and his uncleanness is upon him, that
soul shall perish from his people.' 1 Let the Apostle likewise
bear witness, saying: 'You cannot drink of the cup of the
Lord and the cup of devils; you cannot be partakers of the
table of the Lord and of the table of devils. 32 He likewise
threatens the stubborn and the perverse, and denounces them,
saying: 'Whoever eats the bread and drinks the cup of the
1 Cf. Lev. 7.20.
1 1 Cor.
THE LAPSED 71
Lord unworthily will be guilty of the body and blood of
the Lord.' 3
Chapter 16
Spurning and despising all these warnings, before their
sins have been expiated, before confession of their crime
has been made, before their conscience has been purged
by the sacrifice and hand of the priest, before the offence
of an angry and threatening Lord has been appeased, violence
is done to His body and blood, and they sin more against
the Lord with their hands and mouth than when they denied
the Lord. They think that to be peace which some truck
with deceiving words. That is not peace but war, nor is he
joined with the Church who is separated from the Gospel.
Why do they call an injury a kindness? Why do they refer
to impiety by the term 'piety'? Why do they interrupt the
lamentation of penance and pretend to communicate with
those who ought to weep continually and to entreat their
Lord? This is of the same nature to the lapsed as hail to
the harvests, a violent storm to the trees, a destructive pesti-
lence to cattle, a raging tempest to ships. They destroy the
solace of hope, they pull up the roots, with their unwhole-
some words they creep on to deadly contagion, they dash
the ship upon rocks lest it arrive within the harbor. That
kind of facility does not grant peace but takes it away, nor
does it bestow communion but stands in the way of salvation.
This is another persecution and another temptation, by which
a subtle enemy attacking the lapsed still further approaches
with a concealed devastation, so that lamentation is hushed,
grief is made silent, the memory of sin vanishes, the groaning
of the heart is repressed, the weeping of the eyes is halted,
nor is the Lord implored with a long and full penitence,
3 1 Cor. 1137.
72 SAINT CYPRIAN
although it is written: 'Remember whence thou hast fallen
and do penance.' 1
Chapter 17
Let no man betray himself; let no man deceive himself.
The Lord alone can have mercy. He alone can grant pardon
for sins which were committed against Him, who bore our
sins, who grieved for us, whom God delivered up for our
sins, Man cannot be greater than God, nor can the servant
by his own indulgence remit or forego what has been com-
mitted against the Lord by a more serious sin, lest to him
still lapsed this too be added to his crime, if he does not
know that it has been proclaimed: 'Cursed be the man that
hath hope in man. 31 The Lord must be implored; the Lord
must be placated by our own satisfaction, who said that He
denied him who denied [Him], who alone received every
judgment from the Father. We believe indeed that the merits
of the martyrs and the works of the righteous have very great
power with the Judge, but [this will be] when the day of
judgment shall come, when after the end of this age and
of the world His people shall stand before the tribunal of
Christ.
Chapter 18
But if anyone with precipitate haste rashly thinks that he
can grant remission of sins to all or dares to rescind the
precepts of the Lord, not only is this of no advantage to the
lapsed but it is even a hindrance. Not to have observed the
judgment of the Lord, and to think that His mercy is not
1 Apoc. 2.5.
I Jer. 17.5,
THE LAPSED 73
first to be Implored, but after contemning the Lord to pre-
sume on one's own power, is to have provoked His wrath.
Under the altar of God the souls of the slain martyrs cry out
with a loud voice saying: c How long, O Lord holy and true,
does Thou refrain from judging and from avenging our
blood on those who dwell on earth.' 1 And they are ordered
to be quiet and to continue to have patience. Does someone
think that anyone can wish to become good by remitting
and pardoning sins at random or that he can defend others
before he himself is vindicated? The martyrs order something
to be done; 2 if just, if lawful, if not contrary to the Lord
Himself, they are to be done by the priest of God; let the
agreement be ready and easy on the part of the one obeying,
if there has been religious moderation on the part of him
asking. The martyrs order something to be done. If what
they order is not written in the law of the Lord, we must
first know, that they have obtained from the Lord what they
ask, then do what they order. For what has been assured by
man's promise cannot be seen at once to have been granted
by the divine majesty.
Chapter 19
For Moses also sought pardon for the sins of the people
and yet did not receive it when he sought it for those sinning,
*I beseech Thee, O Lord/ he said, 'this people hath sinned
a heinous sin, and now, if you forgive their sin, forgive; but
if not, strike me out of the book that thou hast written. And
the Lord said to Moses : If anyone hath sinned against me,
him will I strike out of my book.' 1 That friend of God, that
1 Apoc. 6.10.
2 The martyrs or witnesses or confessors awaiting martyrdom.
1 Cf. Exod. 32.31-33.
74 SAINT CYPRIAN
one who had often spoken face to face with the Lord was
unable to obtain what he sought, nor did he placate the
displeasure of an indignant God by his intercession. God
praises Jeremias, and proclaims, saying: 'Before I formed
thee in the womb, I knew thee; and before thou comest
forth out of the womb, I sanctified thee, and made thee a
prophet unto the nations,' 2 and He said to him as he
frequently interceded and prayed for the sins of the people:
'Do not pray for this people and do not take up praise and
prayer for them, for I will not hear them in the time of their
cry to me, in the time of their affliction.' 3 Who was more
righteous than Noe, who, when the earth was replete with
sins was alone found righteous upon the earth? Who more
glorious than Daniel? Who stronger in firmness of faith for
enduring martyrdom, happier in God's favors, who when
he fought so often conquered and when he conquered sur-
vived? Who was more diligent in good works than Job,
stronger in tempations, more patient in suffering, more sub-
missive in fear, more true in faith? And yet God said that,
if they should ask, He would not grant. When the prophet
Ezechiel interceded for the sins of the people, God said:
'Whatever land shall sin against me, so as to transgress
grievously, I will stretch forth my hand upon it, and will break
the staff of bread thereof, and will send famine upon it,
and will destroy man and beast out of it. And if these three
men, Noe, Daniel, and Job, shall be in it, they shall deliver
neither sons nor daughters, but they only shall be delivered.' 4
Therefore, not all that is sought is in the prejudgment of
the seeker, but in the decision of the giver, and human
opinion takes or assumes nothing to itself unless the divine
pleasure also assents.
2 Jer. 1.5.
3 Jer. 11.14; Cf. 7.16.
4 Ezech. 14.13,14,16.
Chapter 20
In the Gospel the Lord speaks saying: 'Everyone who
acknowledges me before men, him will 1 also acknowledge
before my Father who is in heaven; but whoever denies me,
even I shall deny him. 31 If he does not deny him who denies,
neither does he acknowledge him who acknowledges. The
Gospel cannot be firm in part and waver in part. Either both
must be strong or both must lose the force of truth. If those
who deny will not be guilty of a crime, neither do those
who acknowledge receive the reward of virtue. Furthermore,
if the faith which has conquered is crowned, the perfidy
also which has been conquered must be punished. Thus the
martyrs either can be of no avail, if the Gospel can be broken,
or if the Gospel cannot be broken, they who become martyrs
according to the Gospel cannot act contrary to the Gospel.
Let no one, most beloved brethren, no one defame the dignity
of the martyrs; let no one destroy their glories and crowns.
The strength of an uncorrupted faith remains sound, and no
one can say or do anything against Christ whose hope and
faith and virtue and glory is entirely in Christ, so that they
who have performed the mandates of God Himself cannot
be the authors of anything being done by the bishops con-
trary to the mandate of God. Is anyone greater than God
or more merciful than divine goodness, who either wishes
that undone which God suffered to be done, or, as if He
had too little power to protect His Church, thinks that we
can be saved by his own help?
1 Cf. Luke 12.8,9.
76 SAINT CYPRIAN
Chapter 21
But if these things have been accomplished with God's
knowledge or all these have come to pass without His per-
mission, let divine Scripture teach the unteachable and ad-
monish the forgetful as it speaks in these words: 'Who hath
given Jacob for a spoil and Israel to those who plundered
him? Hath not God against whom they have sinned and
were unwilling to walk in His ways and to hear His law?
And He hath poured out upon them the indignation of fury.' 1
And elsewhere it testifies saying: 'Indeed does not the hand
of God prevail to save, or, has He burdened His ear that
He does not hear? But your sins make a division between
you and your God, and because of your sins he hath turned
away His face from you lest He have pity.' 2 Let us consider
our sins, and reviewing the secrets of our action and mind
let us weigh the merits of our conscience. Let it return to
our hearts that we have not walked in the ways of the Lord,
have rejected the law of God, have never been willing to
keep His precepts and saving counsels.
Chapter 22
What good do you feel with respect to him, what fear,
what faith do you believe there was in him whom fear was
unable to correct, whom persecution itself has not reformed.
His high and erect neck has not been bent because he has
fallen; his puffed up and proud mind has not been broken
because he has been conquered. On his back and wounded
he threatens those who stand and are sound, and because
he does not immediately receive the Lord's body in his sullied
1 Cf. Isa. 42.24.25.
2 Isa. 59.1,2.
THE LAPSED 77
hands or drink of the Lord's blood with a polluted mouth,
he rages sacrilegiously against the priests. And., oh that exces-
sive madness of yours, frenzied one, you rage at him who
struggles to avert God's anger from you; you threaten him
who beseeches the Lord's mercy for you, who feels your
wound which you yourself do not feel, who pours forth tears
for you which you yourself perhaps do not pour forth. You
pile up and increase your crime still more, and, when you
yourself are implacable towards the bishops and priests of
God, do you think that the Lord can be placated about you?
Chapter 23
Accept and admit what we say. Why do your deaf ears
not hear the salutary precepts which we advise? Why do
your blind eyes not see the way of penitence which we place
before you? Why does your closed and insane mind not per-
ceive the vital remedies which we both learn and teach from
the heavenly Scriptures? If certain incredulous ones have less
faith in the future events, let them at least have fear for the
present. Behold, what punishments we perceive of those who
have denied, what sad deaths of those do we mourn! Not
even here can they be without punishment, although the day
of punishment has not yet come. Meanwhile certain ones are
punished, that the rest may be guided aright. The torments
of a few are examples for all.
Chapter 24
One of these who of his own accord went up to the capital
to deny became mute after he had denied Christ. The pun-
ishment began there where the crime also began, so that he
78 SAINT CYPRIAN
could no longer ask who did not have words for prayers of
mercy. Another was stationed in the baths for this was
lacking to her crime and evils, so that she proceeded at once
even to the baths, who had lost the grace of the lifegiving
laver but there she who was unclean being seized by an
unclean spirit lacerated with her teeth the tongue which had
either fed or spoken impiously. After the polluted food had
been consumed, the madness of the mouth worked its own
destruction. She herself was her own executioner and was not
able to survive long thereafter; being tortured by the pain
of her belly and vitals she died.
Chapter 25
Hear what took place in my very presence and with me
as a witness. Some parents in hasty flight, with little con-
sideration because of their fear, left their little daughter in
the care of a nurse. The nurse handed the abandoned girl
over to the magistrates. There before the idol where the
people were gathering, because she was unable as yet to
eat meat because of her age, they gave her bread mixed with
wine, which itself had been left over from the immolation
of those who were being destroyed. Afterwards the mother
recovered her daughter. But the girl was unable to mention
and point out the crime that had been committed as she
was unable previously to understand and prevent it. Through
ignorance, therefore, it came about that the mother brought
the child with her to us as we were offering the Sacrifice.
Moreover, the girl having mingled with the holy people,
being impatient of our supplication and prayer, was now
shaken with weeping and was now tossed about by the vacil-
lating motion of her mind; as if under the compulsion of a
torturer the soul of the girl still of tender years was trying
THE LAPSED 79
to confess with such signs as she was able a consciousness
of the deed. But when the solemnities were completed and
the deacon began to offer the cup to those present, and when,
as the rest were receiving, her turn came, the little girl with
an instinct of divine majesty turned her face away, com-
pressed her mouth with tightening lips, and refused the cup. 1
The deacon, however, persisted and poured into the mouth
of the child, although resisting, of the sacrament of the cup.
Then there followed sobbing and vomiting. In the body and
mouth which had been violated the Eucharist could not
remain; the draught consecrated in the blood of the Lord
burst forth from the polluted vitals. So great is the power
of the Lord, so great His majesty. The secrets of the shades
are detected under His light, nor did hidden crimes deceive
the priest of God.
Chapter 26
So much about the infant who as yet did not have the
years of speaking of a crime committed by others against
herself. But that lady of advanced age and settled in more
advanced years, who crept stealthily upon us as we sacri-
ficed, taking food and a sword for herself, and admitting,
as it were, a kind of deadly poison, within her jaws and body,
began presently to be tormented by frenzy of soul, and suf-
fering the misery no longer of presecution but of her sin,
fell quivering and trembling. The crime of her hidden con-
science was not long unpunished and concealed. She who
had deceived man felt God as an avenger. And when a
certain women tried with unclean hands to open her box,
in which was the holy [body] of the Lord, thereupon she
was deterred by rising fire from daring to touch it. And
another man who, himself defiled, after the celebration of
I Infant communion.
80 SAINT CYPRIAN
the sacrifice dared secretely to take a part with the rest, was
unable to eat or handle the holy of the Lord, and found
when he opened his hands that he was carrying a cinder.
By the evidence of one it was shone that the Lord withdraws
when He is denied, and that what is received is of no benefit
to the undeserving, when the grace of salvation is changed
as the holy escapes into a cinder. How many are daily filled
with unclean spirits; how many are shaken out of their minds
by the fury of madness even to insanity! It is not necessary
to go over the death of each one, when over the varied
ruins of the world the punishment of sins is as varied as
the multitude of sinners is numerous. Let everyone consider
not what another has suffered but what he himself deserves
to suffer, and let him not believe that he has escaped, if in
the meantime punishment has put him off, since he should
fear the more whom the wrath of God the Judge has re-
served for Himself.
Chapter 27
Let them not persuade themselves that they should not
do penance, who, although they have not contaminated their
hands by impious sacrifices, yet have defiled their consciences
with certificates. That profession is of one who denies; the
testimony is of a Christian who rejects what he had been.
He said that he had done what another actually did, and,
although it is written: 'You cannot serve two masters,' 1 he
served a secular master, he submitted to his edict, he obeyed
human authority rather than God. He should have seen
whether he published what he committed with less scandal
or less guilt among men; however, he will not be able to
escape and avoid God as his judge, for the Holy Spirit says
in the Psalms: Thine eyes have seen my imperfection and
1 Matt. 6.24.
THE LAPSED 81
all will be written in thy book, 52 and again: 'Man looks
upon the face, but God upon the heart.' 3 Let the Lord
Himself also forewarn and instruct you with these words:
'And all the churches shall know that I am He who searches
the desires and hearts.' 4 He perceives the concealed and the
secret, and considers the hidden, nor can anyone evade the
eyes of God who says: 'Am I a God at hand, and not a God
afar off? Shall a man be hid in secret places and I not see
him? 5 He sees the hearts and breasts of each one, and, when
about to pass judgment not only on our deeds but also on
our words and thoughts, He looks into the minds and the
wills conceived in the very recess of a still closed heart.
Chapter 28
Finally, of how much greater faith and better fear are they
who, although bound by no crime of sacrifice or of certificate,
since however they have even thought of this, confessing
this very thing with grief and simply before the priests of
God, make a conscientious avowal, remove the weight of
their souls, seek the saving remedy for their wounds however
small and slight knowing that it is written: 'God is not
mocked.' 1 God cannot be mocked and deceived, nor can
He be deluded by any treacherous cunning. Rather does he
sin more who, thinking of God as if human, believes that
he is escaping the punishment of his crime, if he has not
admitted the crime openly. Christ in His precepts says:
'Whoever is ashamed of me, of him shall the Son of man
2 Cf. Ps. 138.16.
3 Cf. 1 Kings 16.7.
4 Cf. Apoc. 2.23.
5 Jer. 23.23,24.
1 Gal. 6.7.
82
SAINT CYPRIAN
be ashamed.' 2 Does he think himself a Christian who is either
ashamed or fears to be a Christian? How can he be with
Christ, who either blushes or fears to belong to Christ?
Clearly he might have sinned less by not looking upon idols,
and by not profaning the sanctity of the faith under the
eyes of a populace that stood about and cast insults, by not
polluting his hands with the deadly sacrifices, and by not
defiling his mouth with the wretched food. This is of benefit
to this extent, that the fault is less, not that the conscience
is without guilt. He can more easily arrive at a forgiveness
of his crime, but he is not free from crime. Let him not
cease doing penance and beseeching the mercy of the Lord,
lest what seems less in the quality of his sin be increased
by his failure to give satisfaction to it.
Chapter 29
Let each one confess his sin, I beseech you, brethren, while
he who has sinned is still in this world, while his confession
can be admitted, while the satisfaction and remission effected
through the priest is pleasing with the Lord. Let us turn to
the Lord with our whole mind, and, expressing repentance
for our sin with true grief, let us implore God's mercy. Let
the soul prostrate itself before Him; let sorrow give satisfac-
tion to Him; let our every hope rest upon Him. He Himself
tells how we ought to ask. He says: c Be converted to me
with all your hearts, in fasting and in weeping, and in mourn-
ing, and rend your hearts and not your garments.' 1 Let us
return to the Lord with a whole heart; let us placate His
wrath and displeasure by fastings, weepings, and mournings,
as He Himself admonishes.
2 Mark 8.38.
1 Joel 2.12,13.
THE LAPSED 83
Chapter 30
Do we think that he laments with a whole heart, implores
the Lord with fastings, weepings, and mournings, who from
the first day of his crime daily frequents the baths, who,
feeding on rich banquets and distended by fuller dainties,
belches forth the undigested food on the next day, and does
not share his food and drink with the needy poor? How does
he, who goes forth joyous and happy, weep over his death,
and, although it is written: 'You shall not change the form
of your beard, 51 plucks his beard and adorns his face? And
is he eager to please anyone who displeases his God? Or
does she groan and moan who has time to put on the elegance
of pricely garments but not to think of the robe of Christ
which she has lost; to receive precious ornaments and costly
necklaces, but not to weep over the loss of the divine and
heavenly ornament? Although you put on foreign robes and
silken dresses, you are naked. Although you decorate your-
self with gold and pearls and gems, without the adornment
of Christ you are unsightly. And you who dye your hair,,
now at least cease in the midst of your sorrows, and you
who paint the edges of your eyes by lines of black powder,
now at least wash your eyes with tears. If you had lost any
dear one of yours by his passing away in death, you would
grieve and mourn sorrowfully; with a disordered counte-
nance, changed dress, unkempt hair, gloomy countenance,
dejected face you would show the signs of sorrow. Wretched
woman, you have lost your soul; spiritually dead you have
begun to live on here, and although yourself walking about
you have begun to carry your own death. And do you not
groan bitterly; do you not mourn continually; do you not
go in hiding either because of the shame of your crime or
for the continuing of your lamentation? Behold still worse
1 Lev. 19.27.
84 SAINT CYPRIAN
are the wounds of sinning, behold, greater the transgressions
to have sinned and not to give satisfaction, to have trans-
gressed and not to bemoan transgressions.
Chapter 31
Ananias, Azarias, and Misahel, illustrious and noble youths,
did not refrain from making confession to God not even midst
the flames and fires of a raging furnace. Although possessed
of a good conscience and often well deserving of the Lord
by obedience of faith and fear, they did not cease to retain
their humility and to give satisfaction to God not even midst
the glorious martyrdoms themselves of their virtues. Divine
Scripture speaks in these words: 'Azarias standing prayed
and opened his mouth and made confession to God together
with his companions in the midst of fire. 31 Daniel also after
the manifold grace of his faith and innocence, after the
esteem of the Lord often repeated with regard to his virtues
and praises, strives still further by fastings to merit God;
wraps himself in sackcloth and ashes as he sorrowfully makes
confession, saying: 'Lord God, great and strong and terrible
who keepest the covenant and mercy to them that love thee
and keep thy commandments, we have sinned, we have com-
mitted iniquity, we have been ungodly, we have transgressed
and gone aside from thy precepts and thy judgments, we
have not hearkened to thy servants in what they have spoken
in thy name to our kings and to all the nations and to the
whole world. To thee, O Lord, to thee is justice, but to us
confusion.' 2
1 Dan. 3.25.
2 Cf. Dan. 9.4-7.
THE LAPSED 85
Chapter 32
These things the meek, these the simple, this the innocent
have done in meriting well of the majesty of God; and
those who have denied the Lord refuse to satisfy the Lord
and to entreat Him! I beseech you, brethren, acquiesce in
the remedies of salvation, obey the better counsels, join your
tears with our tears, write your groans with ours. We im-
plore you that we may be able to implore the Lord for you;
we turn our very prayers to you first, with which we pray
to God for you, that He may be merciful. Do full penance,
prove the sorrow of a soul that sorrows and laments.
Chapter 33
Let neither the imprudent error nor the vain stupidity of
some move you, who, although they were involved in so grave
a crime were struck by such blindness of soul that they
neither realized their sins nor lamented them. This is the
greater plague of an angry God, as it is written: 'And God
gave them a spirit of rebellion, 31 and again: Tor they have
not received the love of truth that they might be saved.
Therefore, God sends them a misleading influence that they
may believe falsehood, that all may be judged who have not
believed truth, but have taken pleasure in injustice.' 2 Taking
pleasure unjustly and mad by the alienation of a damaged
mind, they contemn the precepts of the Lord, neglect the
medicine of their wound, are unwilling to do penance. Im-
provident before their sin was committed, obstinate after their
sin, neither steadfast before nor suppliant afterwards, when
they ought to have stood fast, they fell, when they ought
1 Cf. Isa. 29.10.
2 Cf. 2 Thess. 2.10-12.
86 SAINT CYPRIAN
to fall down and prostrate themselves before God, they
think that they stand. Of their own accord they assumed
peace for themselves, although no one granted it, seduced
by false promises and linked with apostates and infidels
they accept error for truth; they regard communion with
those who are not communicants as valid; they believe men
against God, who have not believed God against men.
Chapter 34
Flee from such men with all your power; and with whole-
some caution those who cling to pernicious contacts. Their
speech spreads like a cancer; 1 their speech leaps over barriers
like a pestilence; their harmful and poisoned persuasion
kills worse than persecution itself. Repentance remains there
for giving satisfaction. Those who do away with repentance
for crime, close the way to satisfaction. So it happens that,
when by the rashness of some a false salvation is either
promised or believed, the hope of true salvation is taken away.
Chapter 35
But do you, brethren, who are inclined toward fear of
the Lord and whose minds, although set in destruction, are
mindful of their evils, repenting and grieving view your sins,
recognize the very serious crime of your conscience, open the
eyes of your hearts to an understanding of your shortcomings,
neither despairing of the mercy of the Lord nor yet already
laying claim to pardon. As God by reason of His affection as
father is always indulgent and good, so by reason of His ma-
jesty as judge He is to be feared. Let us weep as greatly as the
1 Cf. 2 Tim. 2.17.
THE LAPSED 87
extent of our sinning. For a deep wound let there not be
lacking a careful and long cure; let the repentance be no
less than the crime. Do you think that God can be easily
placated, whom you denied with perfidious words, above
whom you set your property, whose temple you violated with
sacrilegious contamination? Do you think that He easily has
mercy on you, whom you have said was not yours? You
ought to pray and beseech more intently, to pass the day
grieving, to spend your nights in wakefulness and weeping,
to spend all your time in mournful lamentation, to cling to
ashes prone on the ground, to wallow in sackcloth and
squalor, to wish for no garment now after losing the cloak
of Christ, to prefer fasting after the food of the devil, to
devote yourself to just works by which sins are purged, to
enter frequently upon alms giving, by which souls 'are
liberated from death. What the adversary tried to take away,
let Christ receive; your property ought not to be retained
now or to be cherished, by which one has been both deceived
and conquered. Wealth is to be avoided as an enemy, as a
thief to be fled, as a sword to be feared by those who possess
it, and as a poison. To this extent only might that which has
remained be of benefit, that by means of it crime and sin
may be redeemed. Let your works be done without delay
and in abundance; let every means be evoked for the healing
of the wound; let the Lord, who is to be our judge, be put
in our debt by our resources and faculties. Thus did faith
flourish under the Apostles; thus did the first people of the
believers keep the mandates of Christ they were ready; they
were generous. They gave all to be distributed by the Apostles
and they were not redeeming such sins.
88 SAINT CYPRIAN
Chapter 36
If anyone performs prayer with his whole heart, if he
groans with genuine lamentations and tears of repentance,,
if by continuous just works he turns the Lord to the forgive-
ness of his sin, such can receive His mercy, who has offered
His mercy with these words: 'When you turn and lamen^
then you shall be saved and shall know where you have
been 3 j 1 and again : I desire not the death of the dying, says
the Lord in the Lord's own words: 'Turn, 5 he says, 'to the
Lord your God, for He is gracious and merciful, patient and
rich in mercy and who turns his thought toward the evil
that has been done,' 3 He can grant mercy; He can turn
aside His judgment. He can with indulgence pardon him,
who is repentant, who performs good works, who beseeches;
He can regard as acceptable whatever the martyrs have
sought and the priests have done for such. Or, if anyone
has moved Him more by his own atonements, has placated
His wrath, His rightful indignation by just supplication. He
gives arms again with which the vanquished may be armed.
He repairs and invigorates his strength so that his restored
faith may flourish. The soldier will seek his contest again; he
will repeat its fight; he will provoke the enemy; he has
become indeed stronger for the battle through suffering. He
who has thus satisfied God, who by repentance for his deed,
who by shame for his sin has conceived more of both virtue
and faith from the very sorrow for his lapsing, after being
heard and aided by the Lord, will cause the Church to re-
joice, which he recently had saddened, and will merit not
alone the pardon of God but a crown.
1 Cf. Isa. 30.15.
2 CL Ezech. 33.11.
3 Cf. Joel 2.13.
THE UNITY
OF THE CHURCH
Translated by
ROY J. DEFERRARI, Ph.D.
The Catholic University of America
THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH
j HE CHIEF SOURCES for Cyprian's views on the subject
of the unity of the Church are his Letter 43 and
his treatise on the subject which is being presented
here. As a matter of fact, the present treatise represents merely
a feebler treatment of the subject than that contained in
Letter 43. Thus the most accurate understanding of Cyprian's
convictions on the unity of the Church is to be obtained by
a careful reading of his own discussion of the matter, which
follows.
A brief summary of Cyprian's views., however, may well
be of profit here. His attitude on the baptism of heretics
was closely bound up with his convictions about the unity
of Church. He says (Letter 70.3): 'Baptism is one, just as
the Holy Spirit is one, just as the Church is one'" 1
This famous pamphlet was read by Cyprian to the council
which met in April, with a view to obtaining the support of
the bishops against the schism which was started by Felicissi-
mus and Novatus, 2 and which had a large following. The
unity conceived by Cyprian is not so much the unity of the
whole Church, the necessity of which he assumes, as the
unity to be preserved in each diocese by the union with
the bishop. The great problem of the day was unity with
and loyalty to the individual bishops within their dioceses,
1 Letter 70.3.
2 Letter 53.
91
92 SAINT CYPRIAN
especially since so many responsibilities of doctrine as well of
administration rested on them by reason of the lack of close
and speedy contact with the bishop of Rome, caused by the
existing modes of communication. The unity of the whole
Church is maintained by the close union of the bishops who
are 'glued to one another. 3 Thus whoever is not united
with his bishop is cut off from the unity of the Church, and
cannot be united with Christ. The type of the bishop, accord-
ing to Cyprian, is St. Peter, the first bishop. St. Cyprian
nowhere specifically declares the primacy of the see of Rome
and complete obedience to it except in the fourth section
of the present treatise, accepting the longer version of that
section as alone authentic and written by Cyprian himself.
In general, Cyprian seems to feel that there is no serious
need of focusing attention on this phase of the unity of the
Church. Where the great danger to Church lay at this time
was in rebellion against individual bishops and in the frag-
mentation of the diocese. What Cyprian wishes to stress is
simply this, that Christ, using the metaphor of an edifice,
founded His Church on a single foundation which shall mani-
fest and insure its unity. And as Peter is the foundation, bind-
ing the whole Church together, so in each diocese is the
bishop. With this one argument Cyprian claims to cut at the
root of all heresies and schisms.
The fourth chapter of The Unity of the Church has come
down to us in a twofold version, one of which contains 'ad-
ditions' which stress the primacy of Peter. Long controversy
has been waged on the question of their origin. Hartel, the
editor of the works of St. Cyprian in the Corpus Scriptorum
Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum vigorously denounced them as
spurious, and his opinion was generally accepted until the
turn of the century, Dom Chapman 3 was the first to suggest
3 'Les interpolations dans le trait de S. Cyprien sur Tunit^ de TEelise *
Revue Benedictine, 19 (1902) , 246-254, 357-373; 20 (1903) , 20-51.
THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH 93
another theory. He attempted to prove that the variations
were not due to a corruption of the text but to a revision
of the text made by Cyprian himself. This belief seems to
have been firmly established by later investigators, such as
D. van den Eynde, O. Perler, and M. Benevot. The latter,
however, differ from Dom Chapman in one important respect.
They insist that the version with the additions is the earlier,
and the other the final form, revising the opinion of Dom
Chapman in this matter. Dom Jean Le Moyne* not only
substantiates van den Eynde, Perler, and Benevot but goes
even further. On the basis of strong and convincing evidence
he concludes that the version without the so-called interpola-
tions is not by Cyprian; only the longer form including the
'additions' is the authentic version by Cyprian himself.
In our translation we have followed the text in Chapter
4 as established by Dom Le Moyne.
4 'Saint Cyprien est- il bien Fauteur de la redaction brve du "De
imitate" chapitre 4?' Revue Benedictine, 63 (1953) , 70-115.
THE UNITY OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
Chapter 1
| INGE THE LORD warns us in these words: c Ye are
the salt of the earth, 51 and since He bids us to be
simple unto harmlessness, and yet to be prudent
with our simplicity, what else, most beloved brethren, befits
us than to have foresight and watching with an anxious
heart alike to perceive the snares of the crafty enemy 2 and to
beware lest we, who have put on Christ the wisdom of God
the Father, seem to be less wise in guarding our salvation.
For persecution alone is not to be feared, nor the advances
which are made in open attack to overwhelm and cast down
the servants of God. To be cautious is easier when the object
of fear is manifest, and the soul is prepared for the contest
beforehand, when the adversary declares himself. The enemy
is more to be feared and guarded against when he creeps
up secretly, when deceiving us under the appearance of peace
he steals forward by hidden approaches, from which too he
receives the name of serpent (creeper, crawler, stealer). This
is always his cunning; this is his blind and dark deceit for
circumventing men. Thus from the very beginning of the
1 Matt. 5.13.
2 St. Cyprian refers to the devil as adversarius, diabolus, even serpens*
but never as Satan or daemon.
95
96 SAINT CYPRIAN
world did he deceive and, flattering with lying words, mis-
lead the inexperienced soul with its reckless incredulity. Thus
trying to tempt the Lord himself, as if he would creep up
again and deceive, he approaches secretly. Yet he was under-
stood and driven back and so cast down, because he was
discovered and unmasked.
Chapter 2
In this an example has been given us to flee the way of
the old man; to walk in the footsteps of the conquering
Christ, that we may not heedlessly be turned back again
unto the snare of death, but that, on guard against the
danger, we may receive and possess immortality. But how
can we possess immortality, unless we keep those command-
ments of Christ by which death is overcome and conquered,
He Himself warning us in these words: If thou wilt enter
into life, keep the commandments/ 1 and again: 'If you do
what I command you, I no longer call you servant but
friends. 92 These, finally, He calls strong and steadfast, these
grounded upon a rock of firm foundation, these firmly
established against aU the tempests and storms of the world
with an unmoveable and unshaken firmness. 'He who hears
my words,' He says, 'and does them, I shall liken him to
a wise man who built his house upon a rock. The rain
descended and the floods came, the winds blew and beat
upon that house, but it did not fall, for it was founded upon
a rock. 53 Therefore, we ought to stand firm upon His words,
and to learn and do whatever He taught and did. But how
doesjtie say that he believes in Christ who does not do what
1 Matt. 19.17.
2 John 15,14,15.
3 Matt. 7.24,25.
THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH 97
Christ ordered Mm to do? Or, whence shall he attain the
reward of faith, who does not keep the faith of the com-
mandment? He will necessarily waver and wander, and
caught up by the breath of error will be blown as the dust
which the wind stirs up, nor will he make any advance in
his walk toward salvation, who does not hold to the truth
of the saving way.
Chapter 3
But not only must we guard against things which are
open and manifest but also against those which deceive with
the subtlety of clever fraud. Now what is more clever, or
what more subtle than that the enemy, detected and cast
down by the coming of Christ, after light had come to the
Gentiles, and the saving splendor had shone forth for the
preservation of man, that the deaf might receive the
hearing of spiritual grace, the blind open their eyes to
the Lord, the weak grow strong with eternal health, the
lame run to the church, the dumb supplicate with clear
voices and prayers, seeing the idols abandoned and his
shrines and temples deserted because of the great populace
of believers, devise a new fraud, under the very title of
Christian name to deceive 1 the incautious? He invented her-
esies and schisms with which to overthrow the faith, to cor-
rupt the truth, to divide unity. Those whom he cannot hold
in the blindness of the old way, he circumvents and deceives
by the error of a new way. He snatches men from the Church
itself, and, while they seem to themselves to have already
approached the light and to have escaped the night of the
1 Cyprian distinguishes between heresy and schism. Heresy is a volun-
tary choice of a false doctrine. Schism implies rather a split in the
unity of the Church. Synonyms for the Latin schisma are scissura,
discidium, discordia, and dissensio.
98 SAINT CYPRIAN
world, he again pours forth other shadows upon the unsus-
specting, so that, although they do not stand with the Gospel
of Christ and with the observation of Him and with the
law, they call themselves Christians, and, although they
walk in darkness, they think that they have light, while the
adversary cajoles and deceives, who, as the Apostle says,
transforms himself into an angel of light, and adorns his
ministers as those of justice who offer night for day, death
for salvation, despair under the offer of hope, perfidy 2 under
the pretext of faith, antichrist under the name of Christ, so
that while they tell plausible lies, they frustrate the truth
by their subtlety. This happens, most beloved brethren,
because there is no return to the source of truth, and the
Head is not sought, and the doctrine of the heavenly Master
is not kept.
Chapter 4
If anyone considers and examines these things, there is no
need of a lengthy discussion and arguments. Proof for faith
is easy in a brief statement of the truth. The Lord speaks
to Peter: 'I say to thee,' He says, 'thou art Peter, and upon
this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall
not prevail against it. And I will give thee the keys of the
kingdom of heaven; and whatever thou shalt bind on earth
shall be bound also in heaven, and whatever thou shalt loose
on earth shall be loosed also in heaven,' 1 Upon him, being
one, He builds His Church, and although after His resur-
rection He bestows equal power upon all the Apostles, and
says: c As the Father has sent me, I also send you. Receive
2 Latin perfidia, here translated 'perfidy/ is in Cyprian always the
opposite of fides, 'faith'; hence, lack of faith.
1 Matt. 16.18,19.
THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH 99
ye the Holy Spirit: if you forgive the sins of anyone, they
will be forgiven him; if you retain the sins of anyone, they
will be retained/ 2 yet that He might display unity, He
established by His authority the origin of the same unity
as beginning from one. Surely the rest of the Apostles also
were that which Peter was, endowed with an equal partner-
ship of office and of power, but the beginning proceeds
from unity, that the Church of Christ may be shown to be
one. This one Church, also, the Holy Spirit in the Canticle
of Canticles 3 designates in the person of the Lord and says:
'One is my dove, my perfect one is but one, she is the only
one of her mother, the chosen one of her that bore her.*
Does he who does not hold this unity think that he holds
the faith? Does he who strives against the Church and resists
her think that he is in the Church, when too the blessed
Apostle Paul teaches this same thing and sets forth the
sacrament of unity saying: c One body and one Spirit, one
hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism,
one God'? 4
Chapter 5
This unity we ought to hold firmly and defend, especially
we bishops who watch over the Church, that we may prove
that also the episcopate itself is one and undivided. Let
no one deceive the brotherhood by lying; let no one cor-
rupt the faith by a perfidious prevarication of the truth.
The episcopate is one, the parts of which are held together
by the individual bishops. The Church is one which with
increasing fecundity extend far and wide into the multitude,
just as the rays of the sun are many but the light is one,
2 John 20.21,23.
3 Cant. 6.8.
4 Cf. Eph. 4.4-6.
100 SAINT CYPRIAN
and the branches of the tree are many but the strength is
one founded in its tenacious root, and, when many streams
flow from one source, although a multiplicity of waters
seems to have been diffused from the abundance of the
overflowing supply nevertheless unity is preserved in their
origin. Take away a ray of light from the body of the sun,
its unity does not take on any division of its light; break
a branch from a tree, the branch thus broken will not be
able to bud; cut off a stream from its source, the stream
thus cut off dries up. Thus too the Church bathed in the
light of the Lord projects its rays over the whole world, yet
there is one light which is diffused everywhere, and the
unity of the body is not separated. She extends her branches
over the whole earth in fruitful abundance; she extends her
richly flowing streams far and wide; yet her head is one,
and her source is one, and she is the one mother copious
in the results of her fruitfulness. By her womb we are born;
by her milk we are nourished; by her spirit we are animated.
Chapter 6
The spouse of Christ cannot be denied; she is uncorrupted
and chaste. She knows one home, with chaste modesty she
guards the sanctity of one couch. She keeps us for God; she
assigns the children whom she has created to the kingdom.
Whoever is separated from the Church and is joined with
an adulteress is separated from the promises of the Church,
nor will he who has abandoned the Church arrive at the
rewards of Christ. He is a stranger; he is profane; he
is an enemy. He cannot have God as a father who does
not have the Church as a mother. If whoever was out-
side the ark of Noe was able to escape, he too who is outside
the Church escapes. The Lord warns, saying: 'He who is
THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH 101
not with me is against me, and who does not gather with
me, ^ scatters.' 1 He who breaks the peace and concord of
Christ acts against Christ; he who gathers somewhere out-
side the Church scatters the Church of Christ. The Lord
says: <I and the Father are one. 32 And again of the Father
and Son and the Holy Spirit it is written: 'And these three
are one.' 3 Does anyone believe that this unity which comes
from divine strength, which is closely connected with the
divine sacraments, can be broken asunder in the Church
and be separated by the divisions of colliding wills? He who
does not hold this unity, does rot hold the law of God,
does not hold the faith of the Father and the Son, does not
hold life and salvation.
Chapter 7
This sacrament of unity, this bond of concord inseparably
connected is shown, when in the Gospel the tunic of the
Lord Jesus Christ is not at all divided and is not torn, but
by those who cast lots for the garment of Christ, who rather
might have put on Christ, a sound garment is received,
and an undamaged and undivided tunic is possessed. Divine
Scripture speaks and says: 'Now of the tunic, since it was
woven throughout from the upper part without seam, they
said to one another: "Let us not tear it, but let us cast lots
for it, whose it shall be." n He bore the unity that came
down from the upper part, that is, that came down from
heaven and the Father, which could not all be torn by him
1 Matt. 12.30.
2 John 10.30.
3 1 John 5.7.
1 John 19.23,24.
102
SAINT CYPRIAN
who received and possessed it, but he obtained it whole once
for all and a firmness inseparably solid. He cannot possess
the garment of Christ who tears and divides the Church
of Christ. Then on the other hand when at the death of
Solomon his kingdom and people were torn asunder, Ahias
the prophet met King Jeroboam in the field and tore his
garment into twelve pieces, saying: 'Take to thee ten pieces,
for thus saith the Lord: "Behold I rend the kingdom out
of the hand of Solomon, and will give thee ten sceptres,
but two sceptres shall remain to him for the sake of my
servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem the city which
I have chosen, that I may place my name there." >2 When
the twelve tribes of Israel were torn asunder, the prophet
Ahias rent his garment. But because the people of Christ
cannot be torn asunder, His tunic woven and united through-
out was not divided by those who possessed it. Undivided,
joined, connected it shows the coherent concord of us who
have put on Christ, By the sacrament and sign of His gar-
ment. He has declared the unity of the Church.
Chapter 8
Who then is so profane and lacking in faith, who so
insane by the fury of discord as either to believe that the
unity of God, the garment of the Lord, the Church of
Christ, can be torn asunder or to dare to do so? He Him-
self warns us in His Gospel, and teaches saying: 'And there
shall be one flock and one shepherd.' 1 And does anyone
think that there can be either many shepherds or many
flocks in one place? Likewise the Apostle Paul insinuating
2 Cf. 3 Kings 11.31,32,36.
1 John 10.16.
THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH 103
this same unity upon us beseeches and urges us in these
words: I beseech you, brethren/ he says, 'by the name
of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all say the same thing,
and that there be no dissensions among you: but that you
be perfectly united in the same mind and in the same judg-
ment. 32 And again he says: 'Bearing with one another in
love, careful to preserve the unity of the Spirit, in the bond
of peace.' 3 Do you think that you can stand and live, with-
drawing from the Church, and building for yourself other
abodes and different dwellings, when it was said to Rhaab,
in whom the Church was prefigured: 'You shall gather your
father and your mother and your brethren and the entire
house of your father to your own self in your house, and
it will be that everyone who goes out of the door of your
house shall be his own accuser 3 ; 4 likewise, when the sacra-
ment of the Passover contains nothing else in the law of the
Exodus than that the lamb which is slain in the figure of
Christ be eaten in one house? God speaks, saying: c ln one
house it shall be eaten, you shall not carry the ftesh outside
of the house. 55 The flesh of Christ and the holy of the Lord
cannot be carried outside, and there is no other house for
believers except the one Church. This house, this hospice of
unanimity the Holy Spirit designates and proclaims, when He
says: 'God who makes those of one mind to dwell in his
house.' 6 In the house of God, in the Church of Christ, those of
one mind dwell; they persevere in concord and simplicity.
2 1 Cor. 1.10.
3 Eph. 42.
4 Cf. Josue 2.18,19.
5 Exod. 12.46.
6 Cf. Ps. 67.7.
104 SAINT CYPRIAN
Chapter 9
So the Holy Spirit came in a dove. It is a simple and
happy animal, not bitter with gall, not cruel with its bites,
not violent with lacerating claws; it loves the hospitalities of
men; when they give birth they bring forth their offspring
together; when they go and come they cling together; they
spend their lives in mutual intercourse; they recognize the
concord of peace by the kiss of the beak; they fulfill the law
of unanimity in all things. This is the simplicity which ought
to be known in the Church; this the charity to be attained,
that the love of the brethren imitate the doves, that their
gentleness and tenderness equal that of the lambs and the
sheep. What is the savagery of wolves doing in the breast of
a Christian, and the madness of dogs and the lethal poison
of snakes and the bloody cruelties of beasts? Congratulations
are due, when such as these are separated from the Church,
lest they prey upon the doves and sheep with their cruel
and venemous contagion. Bitterness cannot cling and join with
sweetness, darkness with light, rains with clear weather, fight-
ing with peace, sterility with fecundity, drought with running
waters, storm with calm. Let no one think that the good can
depart from the Church; the wind does not ravage the
wheat, nor does the storm overturn the tree strongly and
solidly rooted; the light straws are tossed about by the
tempest; the feeble trees are thrown down by the onrush
of the whirlwind. The Apostle Paul execrates and strikes at
these, when he says: They have gone forth from us, but they
were not of us. For if they had been of us, they would have
continued with us/ 1
1 1 John 2.19.
THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH 105
Chapter 10
Hence heresies have both frequently arisen and are arising,
while the perverse mind has no peace, while discordant
perfidy does not maintain unity. Indeed the Lord permits and
suffers these things to happen, while the choice of one's own
liberty remains, so that, while the norm of truth examines
our hearts and minds, the sound faith of those who are
approved may become manifest in a clear light. Through
the Apostle the Holy Spirit forewarns and says: Tor there
must be factions, so that those who are approved among you
may be made manifest.' 1 Thus the faithful are approved;
thus the perfidious are disclosed; thus also before the day of
judgment, already here too the souls of the just and the
-unjust are divided and the chaff is separated from the wheat.
Prom these are those who of their own accord set themselves
over daring strangers without divine appointment, who estab-
lish themselves as prelates without any law of ordination,
who assume the name of bishop for themselves, although no
one gives them the episcopacy; whom the Holy Spirit in the
psalms designates as sitting in the chair of pestilence, the
plague and disease of the faith, deceiving with a serpent's
tongue and masters in corrupting truth, vomiting lethal poi-
sons from their pestilential tongues, whose speech creeps
about like cancer, whose discussions inject a deadly virus
within the breast and heart of everyone.
1 1 Cor. 11.19.
106 SAINT CYPRIAN
Chapter 11
Against such people the Lord cries out; from these He
restrains and recalls His wandering people saying: 'Hearken
not to the words of false prophets, since the visions of their
hearts frustrate them. They speak, but not from the mouth
of the Lord. They Say to them who reject the word of God:
Peace shall be to you and to all who walk in their own
desires. To everyone who walks in the errors of his own
heart [they say]: 'Evil shall not come upon you.' I have
not spoken to them, yet they have prophesied. If they had
stood in my counsel and had heard my words, and if they
had taught my people, I would have turned them from
their evil thoughts. 91 These same people does the Lord again
designate and point out, when He says: They have aban-
doned me to the fountain of living water, and have dug for
themselves broken cisterns which cannot hold water. 32 Al-
though there cannot be another baptism than the one, they
think that they baptize; although the fountain of life has
been deserted, they promise the grace of the life-giving and
saving water. There men are not washed but rather are made
foul, nor are their sins purged but on the contrary piled
high. That nativity generates sons not for God but for the
devil. Being born through a lie they do not obtain the prom-
ises of truth; begotten of perfidy they lose the grace of faith.
They cannot arrive at the reward of peace who have broken
the peace of the Lord by the madness of discord.
1 Cf. Jer. 23.16-17, 21-22.
2 Jer. 2.13.
THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH 107
Chapter 12
Let not certain ones deceive themselves by an empty inter-
pretation of what the Lord has said: 'Whenever two or
three have gathered together in my name, I am with them. 31
Gorrupters and false interpreters of the Gospel quote the last
words and pass over earlier ones, being mindful of part and
craftily suppressing part. As they themselves have been cut
off from the Church, so they cut off a sentence of one
chapter. For when the Lord urged unanimity and peace
upon His disciples, He said: 'I say to you that if. two of you
agree upon earth concerning anything whatsoever that you
shall ask, it shall be granted you by my Father who is in
heaven. For wherever two or three have gathered together
in my name, I am with them,' 2 showing that the most is
granted not to the multitude but to the unanimity of those
that pray. 'If two of you,' He says, c agree upon earth' ; He
placed unanimity first; He set the concord of peace first;
He taught that we should agree faithfully and firmly. But
how can he agree with anyone, who does not agree with the
body of the Church herself and with the universal brother-
hood? How can two or three be gathered in the name of
Christ, who it is clear are separated from Christ and His
gospel? For we did not withdraw from them, but they from
us, and when thereafter heresies and schisms arose, while
they were establishing diverse meeting places for themselves,
they abandoned the source and origin of truth. The Lord,
moreover, is speaking of His Church, and He is speaking to
those who are in the Church, that if they are in agreement,
if, according to what He has commanded and admonished,
although two or three are gathered together, they pray with
unanimity, although they are two or three, they can obtain
1 Cf. Matt.
2 Cf. Matt. 1819,20.
108
SAINT CYPRIAN
from the majesty of God, what they demand. 'Wherever two
or three have gathered, I, 9 He said, 'am with them/ namely,
with the simple and the peaceful, with those who fear God
and keep the commandments of God. He said that He was
with these although two or three, just as also He was with
the three children in the fiery furnace, and, because they
remained simple toward God and in unanimity among them-
selves, He animated them in the midst of flames with the
breath of dew; just as he was present with the two apostles
shut up in prison, because they were simple, because they
were of one mind, He opened the doors of the prison and
returned them again to the market-place that they might
pass on the word to the multitude which they were faithfully
preaching. When then He lays it down in His commandments
and says: 'Where there are two or three, I am with them,'
He who established and made the Church did not separate
men from the Church, but rebuking the faithless for their
discord and commanding peace to the faithful by His word,
He shows that He is with two or three who pray with one
mind rather than with a great many who are in disagreement,
and that more can be obtained by the harmonious prayer
of a few than by the discordant supplication of many.
Chapter 13
So too when He gave the law of prayer, He added, say-
ing : *And when you stand up to pray, forgive whatever you
have against anyone, that your Father also who is in heaven
may forgive you your offenses. 91 And He calls back from the
altar one who comes to the sacrifice with dissension, and
He orders Him first to be reconciled with his brother and
then return with peace and offer his gift to God, because
1 Mark 11.25.
THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH 109
God did not look with favor upon the gifts of Cain; for
he could not have God at peace with him, who through
envious discord did not have peace with his brother. What
peace then do the enemies of the brethren promise them-
selves? What sacrifices do the imitators of priests believe that
they celebrate? Do they who are gathered together outside
the Church of Christ think that Christ is with them when
they have been gathered together?
Chapter 14
Even if such men are slain in confession of the Name
that stain is not washed away by blood; the inexpiable and
serious fault of discord is purged not even by martyrdom.
He cannot be a martyr who is not in the Church. He will
not be able to arrive in the kingdom who deserted her who
is to rule. Christ gave us peace; He ordered us to be in
agreement and of one mind; He commanded us to keep
the bonds of love and charity uncorrupted and inviolate. He
cannot display himself a martyr who has not maintained
fraternal charity. The Apostle Paul teaches and bears witness
to this^when he says: If I have faith so that I remove
mountains, but not so that I have charity, I arn nothing;
and if I distribute all my goods for food, and if I hand over
my body so that I am burned, but not so that I have charity,
I accomplish nothing. Charity is noble, charity is kind,
charity envieth not, is not puffed up, is not provoked; does
not act perversely, thinks no evil, loves all things, believes
all things, hopes all things, bears all things. Charity never
will fall away. 3 'Never/ he says, 'will charity fall away.' 1
For she will always be in the kingdom and will endure forever
in the unity of the brotherhood clinging to it. Discord cannot
1 Cf. I Cor. 13.2-5,7,8.
110 SAINT CYPRIAN
come to the kingdom of heaven; to the rewards of Christ
who said: 'This is my commandment that you love one
another, even as I have loved you. 52 He will not be able to
attain it who has violated the love of Christ by perfidious dis-
sension. He who does not have charity does not have God.
The words of the blessed Apostle John are: 'God/ he says,
'is love, and he who abides in love, abides in God and God
abides in him. 53 They cannot abide with God who have
been unwilling to be of one mind in God's Church. Although
they burn when given over to flames and fire, or lay down
their lives when thrown to the beasts, that crown of faith
will not be theirs, but the punishment of perfidy, and no
glorious ending of religious valor but the destruction of
desperation. Such a man can be slain; he cannot be crowned.
Thus he professes himself to be a Christian, just as the devil
often falsely declares himself to be even Christ, although
the Lord forewarned of this saying: 'Many will come in
my name saying: "I am the Christ," and will deceive many.' 4
Just as He is not Christ, although he deceives in His name,
so he cannot seem a Christian who does not abide in His
Gospel and in the true faith.
Chapter 15
For both to prophesy and to drive out demons, and to
perform great miracles on earth is certainly a sublime and
admirable thing, yet whoever is found in all this does not
attain the kingdom of heaven unless he walk in the observ-
ance of the right and just way. The Lord gives warning and
says: 'Many will say to me in that day: "Lord, Lord, have
2 John 15.12.
3 1 John 4.16.
4 Mark 13.6.
THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH 111
we not prophesied in Thy name and cast out devils in thy
name and worked great miracles in thy name?" And then
\ will say to them: "I never knew you. Depart from me ye
workers of iniquity. 5 ' 51 There is need of righteousness that
one may deserve well of God as judge; His precepts and
admonitions must be obeyed that our merits may receive their
reward. The Lord in the Gospel, when he was directing
the way of our hope and faith, in a brief summary said:
The Lord thy God is one Lord/ and Thou shalt love the
Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole
soul and with thy whole strength. This is the first, and the
second is like unto it: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.
On these two commandments depend the whole law and the
prophets. 32 He taught at the same time unity and love by
the authority of His teaching; He included all the prophets
and the law in two commandments. But what unity does
he preserve, what love does he guard or consider, who mad
with the fury of discord splits the Church, destroys the
faith, disturbs the peace, dissipates charity, profanes the
sacrament?
Chapter 16
This evil, most faithful brethren, began long ago, but now
the dangerous destruction of the same evil has increased, and
the venemous plague of heretical perversity and schisms has
begun to rise and to spread more, because even so it was
to be at the decline of the world, for the Holy Spirit pro-
claimed it to us and forewarned us through the Apostle : Tn
the last days,' he says, 'dangerous times will come, men will
be lovers of self, haughty, proud, covetous, blasphemous, dis-
obedient to parents, ungrateful, impious, without affection,
1 Matt. 7.22,23.
2 Mark 12.29-31; Matt. 22.37-40.
112 SAINT CYPRIAN
without law, slanderers, incontinent, merciless, not loving the
good, treacherous, stubborn, puffed up with pride, loving
pleasure more than God, having a semblance of piety, but
denying its power. Of such are they who make their way
into houses and captivate silly women who are sin-laden and
led away by various lusts; ever learning, yet never attaining
knowledge of the truth. Just as Jannes and Mambres resisted
Moses, so these resist the truth. But they will make no further
progress, for their folly will be obvious to all, as was that of
those others.' 1 Whatever things were foretold are being ful-
filled and, as the end of the world now approaches, have
come with the testing of men and the times alike. More and
more, as the adversary raves, error deceives, stupidity raises its
head, envy inflames, covetousness blinds, impiety depraves,
pride puffs up, discord exasperates, anger rushes headlong.
Chapter 17
Yet let not the extreme and precipitous perfidy of many
move or disturb us, but rather let it strengthen our faith by
the truth of things foretold. As certain ones begin to be
such, because these things were predicted beforehand, thus
let other brethren beware of matters of a similar sort, because
these also were predicted, as the Lord instructed us saying:
'Be on your guard therefore; behold I have told you all things
beforehand. 51 I beseech you, avoid men of this sort, and ward
off from your side and from your hearing their pernicious
conversation as the contagion of death, as it is written:
'Hedge in thy ears with thorns, and hear not a wicked
tongue.' 2 And again: 'Evil communications corrupt good
1 Cf. 2 Tim. 3.1-9.
1 Mark
2, Eccli.
THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH 113
manners. 33 The Lord teaches and admonishes that we must
withdraw from such. They are blind guides/ He says, 'of
the blind. But^if a blind man guide a blind man, both shall
fall into a pit/ 4 Such a one is to be turned away from, and
whoever has separated himself from the Church is to be
shunned. Such a man is perverted and sins and is con-
demned by his very self. Does he seem to himself to be
with Christ, who acts contrary to the priests of Christ, who
separates himself from association with His clergy and His
people? That man bears arms against the Church; he fights
against God's plan. An enemy of the altar, a rebel against
the sacrifice of Christ, for the faith faithless, for religion
sacrilegious, a disobedient servant, an impious son, a hostile
brother, despising the bishops and abandoning the priests
of God, he dares to set up another altar, to compose another
prayer with unauthorized words, to profane the truth of the
Lord's offering by false sacrifices, and not to know that he
who struggles against God's plan on account of his rash
daring is punished by divine censure.
Chapter 18
Thus Core, Dathan, and Abiron, who tried to assume
for themselves in opposition to Moses and Aaron the free-
dom to sacrifice, immediately paid the penalty for their
efforts. The earth, breaking its bonds, opened up into a
deep chasm, and the opening of the receding ground swal-
lowed up the standing and the living, and not only did the
anger of the indignant God strike those who had been the
authors [of the revolt], but fire that went out from the
Lord in speedy revenge also consumed two hundred and fifty
3 1 Cor. 15.33.
4 Matt. 15.14.
1 14 SAINT CYPRIAN
others, participants and sharers in the same madness, who
had been joined together with them in the daring, clearly
warning and showing that whatever the wicked attempt by
human will to destroy God's plan is done against God. 1
Thus Ozias the king also, when, carrying the censer and
violently assuming to himself the right to sacrifice contrary
to the law of God 3 although Azarias, the priest, resisted him s
he was unwilling to give way and obey, was confounded by
the divine indignation and was polluted on his forehead by
the spot of leprosy, being marked for his offense against
the Lord where they are signed who merited well of the
Lord. 2 And the sons of Aaron, who place a strange fire on
the altar, which the Lord had not ordered, were immediately
extinguished in the sight of the avenging Lord.
Chapter 19
These, certainly, they imitate and follow, who despise God's
tradition and seek after strange doctrines and introduce
teachings of human disposition. These the Lord rebukes and
and reproves in His Gospel when He says: 'You reject the
commandment of God that you may establish your own
tradition/ 1 This crime is worse than that which the lapsed
seem to have committed, who while established in penance
for their crime beseech God with full satisfactions. Here the
Church is sought and entreated, there the Church is resisted;
here there can have been necessity, there the will is held in
wickedness; here he who lapsed harmed only himself, there
he who tried to cause a heresy or schism deceived many by
1 Cf. Num. 16.25-35.
2 Cf. 2 Par. 26.16-19.
1 Cf. Mark 7.9.
THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH 115
dragging them with him; here there is the loss of one soul,
there danger to a great many. Certainly this one knows that
he has sinned and bewails and laments; that one swelling
in his sin and taking pleasure in his very crimes separates
children from their Mother, entices sheep from their shepherd,
and disturbs the sacraments of God. And whereas the lapsed
has sinned once, the former sins daily. Finally, the lapsed
later, after achieving martyrdom, can receive the promises
of the kingdom; the former, if he is killed outside the Church,
cannot arrive at the rewards of the Church.
Chapter 20
Let no one marvel, most beloved brethren, that even
certain of the confessors proceed to these lengths, that some
also sin so wickedly and so grievously. For neither does con-
fession [of Christ] make one immune from the snares of
the devil, nor does it defend him who is still placed in the
world, with a perpetual security against worldly temptations
and dangers and onsets and attacks; otherwise never might
we have seen afterwards among the confessors the deceptions
and debaucheries and adulteries which now with groaning
and sorrow we see among some. Whoever that confessor is,
he is not greater or better or dearer to God than Solomon,
who, however, as long as he walked in the ways of the Lord,
so long retained the grace which he had received from the
Lord; after he had abandoned the way of the Lord, he lost
also the grace of the Lord. And so it is written : 'Hold what
you have, lest another receive thy crown. 51 Surely the Lord
would not make this threat, that the crown of righteousness
can be taken away, unless, when righteousness departs, the
crown also must depart.
1 Apoc. 3.11.
116 SAINT CYPRIAN
Chapter 21
Confession is the beginning of glory, not already the merit
of the crown; nor does it achieve praise, but it initiates
dignity, and, since it is written; 'He that shall persevere to
end, he shall be saved,' 1 whatever has taken place before
the end is a step by which the ascent is made to the summit
of salvation, not the end by which the topmost point is held
secure. He is a confessor, but after the confession the danger
is greater, because the adversary is the more provoked. He
is a confessor; for this reason he ought to stand with the
Gospel of the Lord, for by the Gospel he has obtained glory
from the Lord. 'To whom much is given, of him much is
required'; 2 and to whom the more dignity is allotted, from
him the more service is demanded. Let no one perish through
the example of a confessor, let no one learn injustice, no one
insolence, no one perfidy from the habits of a confessor.
He is a confessor; let him be humble and quiet, in his actions
let him be modest with discipline, so that he who is called
a confessor of Christ may imitate the Christ whom he con-
fesses. For since he says: 'Everyone that exalts himself shall
be humbled, and everyone that humbles himself shall be
exalted/ 3 and since he himself has been exalted by the
Father, because He, the Word and the Power and the
Wisdom of God the Father humbled Himself on earth, how
can He love pride who even by His law enjoined humility
upon us and Himself received from the Father the highest
name as the reward ol humility? He is a confessor of Christ,
but only if afterwards the majesty and dignity of Christ be
not blasphemed by him. Let not the tongue which has con-
fessed Christ be abusive nor boisterous; let it not be heard
1 Matt. 10.22.
2 Cf. Luke 12.48.
3 Luke 18.14.
THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH 117
resounding with insults and contentions; let it not after
words of praise shoot forth a serpent's poisons against the
brethren and priests of God. But if he later become blame-
worthy and abominable, if he dissipates his confession by
evil conversation, if he pollutes his life with unseemly foulness,
if, finally, abandoning the Church where he became a con-
fessor and breaking the concord of its unity, he change his
first faith for a later faithlessness, he cannot flatter himself
by reason of his confession as if elected to the reward of
glory, when by this very fact the merits of punishment have
grown the more.
Chapter 22
For the Lord chose even Judas among the Apostles, and
yet later Judas betrayed the Lord. Nevertheless, the firmness
and faith of the Apostles did not on this account fall, because
the traitor Judas defected from their fellowship. So also in
this case the sanctity and dignity of the confessors was not
immediately diminished, because the faith of some of them
was broken. The blessed Apostle speaks in his letter saying:
Tor what if some of them have fallen away from the faith?
Has their infidelity made of no effect the faith of God?
God forbid. For God is true, but every man a liar. 31 The
greater and better part of the confessors stand firm in the
strength of their faith and in the truth of the Lord's law
and teaching, neither do they depart from the peace of the
Church, who remember that they have obtained grace in
the Church from God's esteem, and by this very fact do they
obtain greater praise for their faith, that they separated
themselves from the perfidy of those who had been joined
with them in the fellowship of confession, and withdrew
from the contagion of their crime. Moreover 3 illumined by
1 Cf. Rom. 3.3,4.
118 SAINT CYPRIAN
the light of the Gospel, shining with the pure white light of
the Lord, they are as praiseworthy in preserving the peace
of Christ as they were victorious in their encounter with the
devil.
Chapter 23
Indeed, I desire, most beloved brethren, and I likewise
advise and entreat, that, if it can be done, no one of the
brethren perish, and that our rejoicing Mother enclose in
her bosom one body of people in agreement. If, however,
saving counsel cannot recall certain leaders of schisms and
authors of dissensions who persist in their blind and obstinate
madness to the way of salvation, yet the rest of you either
taken by your simplicity, or induced by error, or deceived
by some craftiness of misleading cunning, free yourselves
from the snare of deceit, liberate your wandering steps from
errors, recognize the right way of the heavenly road. The
words of the Apostle giving testimony are: 'We charge you
in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ that you withdraw
from aE brethren who walk disorderly and not according
to the tradition which they received from us.' 1 And again
he says: 'Let no one deceive you with vain words; for be-
cause of these things conies the wrath of God upon the
children of disobedience. Be ye not, therefore, partakers with
them. 32 We must withdraw, rather flee from those who fall
away, lest, while one is joined with them as they walk
wickedly, and passes over the paths of error and crime,
wandering apart from the way of the true road, he himself
also be caught in a like crime. God is one and Christ one
and His Church one and the faith one and the people one
joined together by the tie of concord into a solid unity of
1 2 Thess. 3.6.
2 Eph. 5.6,7.
THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH 119
body. The unity cannot be torn asunder, nor can the one
body be separated by a division of its structure, nor torn
into bits by the wrenching asunder of its entrails by lacera-
tion. Whatever departs from the parent-stem will not be
able to breathe and live apart; it loses the substance of health.
Chapter 24
The Holy Spirit warns us, saying: 'Who is the man that
desireth life; who loveth to see the best days? Keep thy
tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile. Turn away
from evil and do good; seek after peace, and pursue it/ 1
The son of peace ought to seek and follow peace; he who
knows and loves the bond of charity ought to restrain his
tongue from the evil of dissension. Among his divine com-
mands and salutary instructions the Lord now very near
His passion added the following: 'Peace I leave you, my
peace I give you/ 2 This inheritance He gave us, all the gifts
and rewards of His promise He assured us in the conser-
vation of peace. If we are heirs of Christ, let us remain
in the peace of Christ; if we are sons of God, we ought to
be peace-makers. 'Blessed,' He said, 'are the peace-makers,
for they shall be called the sons of God/ 3 The sons of God
should be peace-makers, gentle in heart, simple in speech,
harmonious in affection, clinging to one another faithfully in
the bonds of unanimity.
1 Cf. Ps. 33.13-15.
2 John 14.27.
3 Matt. 5.9.
120 SAINT CYPRIAN
Chapter 25
This unanimity existed of old among the Apostles; thus
the new assembly of believers, guarding the commandments
of the Lord, maintained their charity. Scripture proves this
in the following words: 'But the multitude of those who
believed acted with one soul and one mind.' 1 And again,
"And all were persevering with one mind in prayer with the
women and Mary the mother of Jesus and His brethren. 32
Thus they prayed with efficacious prayers; thus they were
able with confidence to obtain whatever they asked of God's
mercy.
Chapter 26
But with us unanimity has been so diminished that even
the liberality of our good works has been lessened. Then they
sold their homes and estates, and, laying up treasures for
themselves in heaven, they offered to the Apostles the proceeds
to be distributed for use among the poor. But now we do
not even give a tenth of our patrimony, and, although the
Lord orders us to sell, we rather buy and increase. So has
the vigor of faith withered in us; so has the strength of be-
lievers languished. And therefore the Lord, looking upon our
times, says in His Gospel: 'When the Son of man comes,
do you think that He will find faith on the earth?' 1 We see
that what he foretold is coming to pass. There is no faith
in the fear of God, in the law of justice, in love, in works.
No one considers fear of the future; no one thinks of the
day of the Lord and the anger of God and the punishments
1 Acts 4.32.
2 Acts 1.14.
1 Luke 18.8.
THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH 121
to come upon unbelievers and the eternal torments decreed
for the faithless. Whatever our conscience would fear, if it
believed, because it does not believe, it does not fear at all.
But if it did believe, it would also be on guard; if it were
on guard, it would also escape.
Chapter 27
Let us rouse ourselves in so far as we can, most beloved
brethren, and, breaking the sleep of old inertia let us awake
to the observing and keeping of the Lord's precepts. Let us
be such as He Himself ordered us to be when He said:
'Let your loins be girt, and your lamps brightly burning, and
you yourself like to men waiting for their Lord, when He
shall come from the wedding, that when He comes and
knocks, they may open to Him. Blessed are those servants
whom the Lord, when He comes, shall find watching.' 1 We
ought to be girt, lest, when the day of departure come,, it
finds us burdened and entangled. Let our light shine forth
in good works and glow, so that it may lead us from the night
of this world to the light of eternal brightness. Let us always
with solicitude and caution await the sudden coming of the
Lord, so that, when He knocks, our faith may be vigilant,
ready to receive from the Lord the reward of its vigilance.
If these mandates are kept, if these warnings and precepts are
maintained, we cannot be overtaken while sleeping by the
deceit of the devil; we will reign as vigilant servants with
Christ as our Lord.
1 Luke 12.35-37.
THE LORD'S PRAYFR
JL JR.JL JLt JLjt\J> JL\.MJP &Jr JL JLU.JCJL Ji " < -*- -
Translated by
ROY J. DEFERRARI, Ph.D.
The Catholic University of America
THE LORD'S PRAYER
[HE TREATISE on the Lord's Prayer was composed
early in 252. It is similar in its content to Tertul-
lian's work on prayer, which was written for cate-
chumens and was devoted chiefly to an explanation of the
Lord's Prayer, but included also an explanation of the
ceremonies for baptism. Cyprian's work, however, is much
more lengthy, and is concerned entirely with the prayer itself
and is intended solely for the edification of the people. More-
over, Tertullian alone cannot be regarded as the inspiration
of the treatise. It grew out of the needs of the time.
This treatise immediately followed that on the unity
of the Church, and Cyprian is evidently still quite preoc-
cupied with that problem. From the beginning he re-echoes
the thoughts which he has already expressed on the subject.
He exhorts his readers in several places to unity and concord.
The Lord's Prayer is considered as an outstanding monu-
ment to Cyprian's genius, and also the best work on the
subject in the long history of Christianity. Even after Cyprian
himself and his other works were largely forgotten, it had
wide circulation. When Hilary of Poitiers (middle of the
fourth century) was writing his commentary on the Gospel
of St. Matthew, he passed over the portion which contains
the Lord's Prayer, on the ground that Cyprian had said all
that was to be said about it. St. Augustine shows his great
125
126 SAINT CYPRIAN
appreciation of it in his letter to Valerian. He notes that
Cyprian anticipated the arguments of the Pelagians by
200 years.
Cyprian's treatise may be easily divided into three parts,
but there are actually thirty-six separate headings. In the
first part, Cyprian points out that the Lord's Prayer was
given us by Christ Himself, and so is the most excellent of
all prayers, deeply spiritual, and the most effectual of all
prayers for obtaining our petitions. The second portion is
a thorough explanation of the prayer, treating each of its
seven chief clauses. In the third part, Cyprian outlines the
conditions for effective prayer, and what prayer really
ought to be.
THE LORD'S PRAYER
Chapter 1
j HE PRECEPTS of the Gospel, most beloved brethren,
are other than divine teachings, foundations for
building hope, supports for strengthening faith,
nourishments for encouraging the heart, rudders for directing
our course, helps for gaining salvation, which, as they instruct
the docile minds of believers on earth, conduct them to the
heavenly kingdom. God wished many things also to be said
and heard through the prophets, His servants; but how
much greater are the things which the Son speaks, which
the Word of God, who was in the prophets, testifies with
His own voice, no longer commanding that the way be
prepared for His coming, He Himself coming and opening
and showing the way to us, that we who thus far have been
wandering in the shadows of death, improvident and blind,
illumined by the light of grace, may hold to the way of life
with the Lord as our leader and guide.
Chapter 2
He who, among His other salutary admonitions and divine
precepts by which He counsels His people unto salvation,
127
128 SAINT CYPRIAN
Himself also gave the form of praying. Himself advised and
instructed us what to pray for. He who made us to live
taught us also to pray, with the same benignity, namely
by which He has deigned to give and bestow the other
things, so that, while we speak to the Father with that prayer
and supplication which the Son taught, we may more easily
be heard. Already He had foretold that the hour was coming
when 'the true adorers would adore the Father in spirit and
in truth 5 ; 1 and He fulfilled what He promised before, so
that we, who by His sanctification have received the Spirit
and truth, may also by His teaching adore truly and spir-
itually. For what prayer can be more spiritual than that
which was given us by Christ, by whom the Holy Spirit was
sent to us, what prayer to the Father can be more true than
that which was sent forth from the Son, who is truth, out
of His mouth? So to pray otherwise than He taught is not
ignorance alone but even a sin, since He Himself has estab-
lished and said: 'You reject the command of God, that you
may establish your own tradition. 32
Chapter 3
So let us pray, most beloved brethren, as God the Teacher
has taught. It is a friendly and intimate prayer to beseech
God with his own words, for the prayer of Christ to ascend
to His ears. Let the Father acknowledge the words of His
Son, when we make prayer. Let Him who dwells within our
breast Himself be also in our voice, and since we have Him
as the advocate for our sins before the Father, let us put for-
1 Cf. John 4.23.
2 Cf. Matt. 15.6; Mark 7.8.
THE LORD'S PRAYER 1 29
ward the words of our Advocate. For since He says: 'What-
soever we shall ask the Father in His name, He will give
us/ 1 how much more effectively do we obtain what we seek
in the name of Christ, if we ask with His own prayer? 2
Chapter 4
But let those who pray have words and petitions governed
by restraint and possessing a quiet modesty. Let us bear in
mind that we stand in the sight of God. We must be pleasing
in the sight of God both with the habit of body and the
measure of voice. For as it is characteristic of the impudent
to be noisy with clamors, so on the other hand does it benefit
the modest to pray with moderate petitions. Finally, in His
teaching the Lord bade us to pray in secret, in hidden and
remote places, in our very bed-chambers, because it is more
befitting our faith to realize that God is everywhere present,
that He hears and sees all, and by the plenitude of His
majesty penetrates also hidden and secret places, as it is writ-
ten : 'I am a God at hand and not a God afar off. If a man
hide himself in hidden places, shall I not see him? Do not
I fill heaven and earth? 31 And again, c ln every place the
eyes of the Lord behold the good and the evil/ 2 And when
we are gathered together with the brethren in one place and
celebrate divine sacrifices with a priest of God, we ought
to be mindful of modesty and discipline, and not toss our
1 Cf. John 16.23.
2 Cf, John 14.6.
1 Cf Jer. 23.23.
2 Prov. 15.3,
130 SAINT CYPRIAN
prayers about at random with uncouth voices and not cast
forth with turbulent loquaciousness our petition, which
should be commended to God in modesty, because the hearer
is not of the voice but of the heart, and is not to be admon-
ished by shouts, who sees our thoughts, as the Lord proves
when He says: 'Why do you think vainly in your hearts?' 3
And in another place: c And all the churches shall know that
I am a searcher of the desires and the heart.' 4
Chapter 5
This does Anna in the first Book of Kings, portraying
a type of the Church, maintain and observe, who prays to
God not with a noisy petition but silently and modestly within
the very recesses of her heart. She spoke with a hidden prayer
but with manifest faith; she spoke not with the voice but
with the heart, because she knew that so the Lord hears, and
she effectually obtained what she sought, because she asked
with faith. Divine Scripture declares this saying : 'She spoke
in her heart and her lips moved, but her voice was not heard,
and the Lord heard her. 31 Likewise we read in the psalms:
'Speak in your hearts and in your beds be ye sorrowful.' 2
Through Jeremias also the Holy Spirit suggests and teaches
these same things, saying: e ln the heart, moreover, O Lord,
you ought to be adored.' 3
3 Cf. Matt. 9.4.
4 Cf. Apoc. 2,23.
1 1 Kings 1.13.
2 Cf. Ps. 4.5.
3 Bar. 6.5.
THE LORD'S PRAYER 131
Chapter 6
Moreover, most beloved brethren, let him who adores not
Ignore this, how the publican prayed with the Pharisee in the
temple. Not by impudently lifting his eyes to heaven nor
by insolently raising his hands, but striking his breast and
testifying to the sins inclosed within did he implore the help
of divine mercy, and, although the Pharisee was pleased
with himself, this man rather deserved to be sanctified who
thus asked, who placed the hope of salvation not in confi-
dence in his innocence, for no one is innocent, but confessed
his sins and prayed humbly, and He who forgives the humble
heard him as he prayed. This the Lord lays down in his
Gospel saying: Two men went up to the temple to pray,
the one a Pharisee, the other a publican, the Pharisee stood
and began to pray thus within himself: "O God, I thank
thee that I arn not like the rest of men, dishonest, robbers,
adulterers, or even like this publican. I fast twice a week;
I pay tithes of all that I possess." But the publican standing
afar off would not so much as lift up his eyes to heaven, but
kept striking his breast, saying: "O God be merciful to me
a sinner !" I tell you, this man went down to his home justi-
fied rather than the Pharisee; for everyone who exalts himself
shall be humbled and he who humbles himself shall be
exalted, 31
Chapter 7
Learning these things most beloved brethren, from the
sacred reading, after we have learned how we should
1 Luke 18.10-14.
132 SAINT CYPRIAN
approach prayer, let us learn also, with the Lord as our
teacher, what to pray. 'In this manner', He says, Tray ye:
Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy
kingdom come, thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts,
as we also forgive our debtors. And suffer us not to be led
into temptation, but deliver us from evil.' 1
Chapter 8
Before all things, the Teacher of peace and Master of unity
did not wish prayer to be offered individually and privately
as one would pray only for himself when he prays. We do not
say: 'My Father, who art in heaven/ nor 'Give me this day
my bread, 3 nor does each one ask that only his debt be for-
given him and that he be led not into temptation and that
he be delivered from evil for himself alone. Our prayer is pub-
lic and common, and when we pray, we pray not for one
but for the whole people, because we, the whole people, are
one. God, the Teacher of prayer and concord, who taught
unity, thus wished one to pray for all, just as He Himself
bore all in one. This law of prayer the three children inclosed
in the fiery furnace observed, united in prayer and harmo-
nious in the agreement of the spirit. The faith of the divine
Scripture so declares, and, when it tells how such did pray,
gives an example which we should imitate in our prayers,
that we may be able to be such as they. It says: 'Then those
three as from one mouth were singing a hymn and blessing
God. n They were speaking as from one mouth, but not yet
1 Matt. 6,9-13. Instead of et ne nos induces, Cyprian has et ne patiaris
nos induci.
1 Cf. Dan. 3.51.
THE LORD'S PRAYER 133
had Christ taught them to pray. And so their words were
availing and efficacious as they prayed, because a peaceful
and simple and spiritual prayer deserved well of the Lord.
Thus also do we find that the Apostles with the disciples
prayed after the ascension of the Lord. Scripture says : 'They
were all with one mind continuing steadfastly in prayer with
the women and Mary, who was the mother o Jesus, and
with His brethren. 32 They were with one mind continuing
steadfastly in prayer, declaring alike by their constancy and
unity in prayer that God, who makes men of one mind to
dwell in a home, 3 does not admit into the divine and eternal
home any except those who are of one mind in prayer.
Chapter 9
Moreover, of what nature, most beloved brethren, are the
sacraments of the Lord's prayer, how many, how great, col-
lected briefly in words but abounding spiritually in virtue,
so that nothing at all is omitted which is not included in our
petitions and in our prayers in a compendium of heavenly
doctrine! Scripture says: 'Thus pray ye: Our Father who art
in heaven.' A new man, reborn and restored to his God by
his grace says in the first place 'Father, 3 because he has now
begun to be a son. c He came,' He says, c unto his own and
his own received him not. But as many as received Him,
He gave to them the power to become the sons of God, to
those who believe in His name. 31 He, therefore, who has
believed in His name and has become the son of God, there-
2 Cf. Acts 1.14.
3 Cf. Ps. 68.6.
1 John 1.11,12.
134 SAINT CYPRIAN
after should begin to give thanks and to profess himself the
son of God, when he declares that his father is God in
heaven, also to testify in the very first words of his new birth
that he reverences his earthly and carnal father and that
he has begun to know and to have as father Him only who
is in heaven, as it is written : Those who say to their father
and mother: I do not know you, and who do not recognize
their children, these have kept thy words, and observed thy
covenant/ 2 Likewise the Lord in His Gospel has bidden us
to call not our father upon earth, because one is our Father,
who is in heaven. 3 And to the disciple who had made
mention of his dead father, He replied: 'Let the dead bury
their own dead.' 4 For he had said that his father was dead,
when the father of believers is living.
Chapter 10
And, most beloved brethren, we ought not to observe and
understand this alone, that we call Him Father who is in
heaven, but we join in saying 'Our Father, 3 that is, of those
who believe, of those who sanctified through Him and
restored by the birth of spiritual grace have begun to be sons
of God. And this voice also reproaches and condemns the
Jews, because they not only faithlessly spurned Christ who
had been announced to them through the Prophets and had
been first sent to them, but also cruelly slew Him; who now
cannot caU the Lord father, since the Lord confounds and
refutes them, saying: 'You are bom of the devil as father,
2 Cf. Deut. 33.9.
3 Cf. Matt. 23.9.
4 Cf. Matt. 822.
THE LORD^S PRAYER 135
and you wish to do the desires of your Father. He was
a murderer from the beginning and has not stood in the
truth, because the truth is not in him. 51 And through Isaias
the prophet God exclaims with indignation ; 'I have begotten
and brought up sons, but they have despised me. The ox
knows his owner, and the ass the crib of his master, but
Israel has not known me, and my people has not understood.
Woe to the sinful nation, to a people laden with iniquity,
a wicked seed, ungracious children. They have forsaken the
Lord and have blasphemed the Holy One of Israel' 2 And
in condemnation of these we Christians say, when we pray,
'Our Father, 5 because He now has begun to be ours and
has ceased to be of the Jews, who have forsaken Him. Nor
can a sinning people be a son, but to those to whom the
remission of sins is granted is the name of sons ascribed,
to these also is eternity promised when the Lord himself says:
"Everyone who commits sin is the servant of sin. But the
slave does not abide in the house forever; the son abides
there forever.' 3
Chapter 11
Moreover, how great is the indulgence of the Lord, how
great the abundance of His regard for us and His goodness,
that He has thus wished us to celebrate prayer in the sight
of God, so as to call the Lord 'Father' and, as Christ is the
son of God, ourselves also so to be pronounced the sons
of God, which name no one of us would dare to take in
1 Cf. John 8.44.
2 Isa. 1.2-4.
3 John 8.34,35.
136 SAINT CYPRIAN
prayer, had not He Himself permitted us so to pray. So, most
beloved brethren, we ought to remember and to know that,
when we speak of God, we ought to act as sons of God, so
that, just as we are pleased with God as Father, so too He
may be pleased with us. Let us live as if temples of God,
that it may be clear that the Lord dwells in us. Let not our
acts depart from the Spirit, that we who have begun to be
spiritual and heavenly may ponder and do nothing except
the spiritual and the heavenly, since the Lord God Himself
has said: 'Those who glorify me, I shall glorify; but they
that despise me, shall be despised.' 1 The blessed Apostle also
in his Epistle has laid down : 'You are not your own, for you
have been bought at a great price. Glorify God and bear
him in your body.' 2
Chapter 12
After this we say: 'Hallowed be thy name,' not because
we wish for God that He be hallowed by our prayers, but
because we seek from the Lord that His name be hallowed
in us. Moreover, by whom is God hallowed who himself hal-
lows? But because He Himself said: c Be ye holy, for I am
holy, 51 we petition and ask for this, that we who have been
sanctified in baptism may persevere in what we have begun.
And for this daily do we pray. For we have need of daily
sanctification, that we who sin daily may cleanse our sins
by continual sanctification. Moreover, what that sanctifica-
tion is w &ch is conferred upon us out of God's esteem the
1 Cf. 1 Kings 2.30.
2 I COT. 6.19,20.
1 Cf. Lev. 20.7.
THE LORD'S PRAYER 137
Apostle proclaims when he says: 'Neither fornicators nor
idolaters nor adulterers nor the effeminate nor sodomites nor
thieves nor the covetous nor drunkards nor the evil-tongued
nor the greedy will possess the kingdom of God. And such
were some of you, but you have been washed, you have
sanctified, you have been justified in the name of our Lord
Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.' 2 He says that we
have been sanctified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ
and in the Spirit of our God. We pray that this sanctification
abide in us, and because our Lord and Judge warned the
man who had been healed and quickened by Him to sin
no more, lest something worse befall him, we make this
petition with constant prayers, we ask this night and day,
that the sanctification and quickening which is assumed from
the grace of God be preserved by His protection.
Chapter 13
There follows in the prayer: 'Thy kingdom come. 3 We
seek also that God's kingdom be manifested to us, just as we
ask that His name be sanctified in us. For when does God
not reign, or when does that begin in Him which both
always was and does not cease to be? We petition that our
kingdom come which was promised us by God, which was
acquired by Christ's blood and passion, so that we who for-
merly served in the world may afterwards reign with Christ as
Lord, as He Himself promises and says: 'Come, blessed
of my Father, take possession of the kingdom prepared for
you from the foundation of the world.' 1 Indeed, most beloved
2 1 Cor. 6.9-11.
1 Matt. 25.34.
138 SAINT CYPRIAN
brethren, even Christ Himself can be the kingdom of God
whom we daily desire to come, whose coming we wish to be
quickly presented to us. For since He Himself is the resur-
rection, because in Him we rise again, so too the kingdom
of God can be understood as Himself, because in Him we are
to reign. Moreover, well do we seek the kingdom of God,
that is the heavenly kingdom, because there is also an earthly
kingdom. But he who has already renounced the world
is greater than both its honors and kingdom. And so he who
dedicates himself to God and to Christ desires not earthly
but heavenly kingdom. Moreover, there is need of continual
prayer and supplication, lest we fall away from the heavenly
kingdom, just as the Jews to whom this had first been prom-
ised fell away, as the Lord makes clear and proves. He says:
'Many shall come from the East and from the West and
shall feast with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the king-
dom of heaven. But the children of the kingdom will be put
forth into the darkness outside; and there shall be weeping
and gnashing of teeth. 32 He shows that formerly the Jews
were sons of the kingdom, when they persevered in being also
the sons of God; after the name of the Father had ceased
among them, the kingdom also ceased. And so we Christians
who in our prayers have begun to call God 'Father, 3 pray
also that the kingdom of God come to us.
Chapter 14
We also say in addition: Thy will be done in heaven as
it is on earth, 3 not that God may do what He wishes, but
that we may be able to do what God wishes. For who stands
2 Matt. 8.11,12.
THE LORD'S PRAYER 139
in the way of God's doing what He wishes? But since the
devil stands in the way of our mind and action obeying God
in all things, we pray and petition that God's will be done
in us. That it may be done in us, there is need of God's
will, that is, of His help and protection, because no one
is strong in his own strength, but is safe by the indulgence
and mercy of God. Finally also the Lord, showing the
infirmity of man which He was bearing, says: 'Father, if it
be possible, let this cup pass from me,' and giving forth
to His disciples an example not to do their own will but
God's, He added: 'Yet not as I will, but as thou willest.' 1
And in another place He says: Tor I have come down from
heaven not to do my own will, but the will of Him who
sent me/ 2 But if the Son obeyed to do His Father's will,
how much more should the servant obey to do his Lord's
will, just as John also in his epistle urges and instructs
us to do the will of God, saying: 'Do not love the world,
nor the things that are in the world. If anyone loves the
world, the love of the Father is not in Him, because ail that
is in the world is the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the
eyes, and the pride of life which is not from the Father, but
from the lust of the world. And the world with its lust will
pass away, but he who does the will of God abides forever,
as God also abides forever.' 3 We who wish to abide forever
should do the will of God who is eternal.
1 Matt. 26.39.
2 John 6.38.
3 Cf. 1 John 2.15-17.
140 SAINT CYPRIAN
Chapter 15
Moreover, the will of God is what Christ both did and
taught. Humility in conversation, steadfastness in faith, mod-
esty in words, justice in deeds, mercy in works, discipline
in morals, not to know how to do an injury and to be able
to bear one done, to keep peace with the brethren, to love
the Lord with a whole heart, to love Him in that He is
Father, to fear Him in that He is God, to place nothing
at all before Christ, because He placed nothing before us,
to cling inseparably to His love, to stand bravely and faith-
fully at His cross; when there is a struggle over His name
and honor to exhibit the constancy in speech with which
we confess, under investigation the confidence with which
we enter combat, in death the patience for which we are
crowned; this is to wish to be co-heir with Christ; this is to
do the commandment of God; this is to fulfill the will
of the Father.
Chapter 16
Moreover, we ask that the will of God be done on heaven
and on earth, each of which pertains to the consummation
of our safety and salvation. For since we possess a body
from earth and a spirit from heaven, we ourselves are earth
and heaven, and in both, that is in both body and spirit
we pray that God's will be done. For there is a struggle
between flesh and spirit, and as they contend there is daily
conflict with each other, so that we do not do the very
things which we wish, as the spirit seeks the heavenly and
the divine, the flesh desires the earthly and worldly. Accord-
ingly we ask that harmony be effected between these two
THE LORD'S PRAYER 141
by the help and assistance of God, so that, while the will
of God is being done both in the spirit and in the flesh, the
soul which is reborn through Him may be preserved. The
Apostle Paul openly and manifestly declares this in these
words, saying: Tor the flesh lusts against the spirit, and
the spirit against the flesh; for these are opposed to each
other, so that you do not do what you would. Now the
works of the flesh are manifest which are adultery, forni-
cation, uncleanness, licentiousness, idolatry, witchcrafts, mur-
ders, enmities, contentions, jealousies, anger, quarrels, dis-
sensions, sects, heresies, envies, drunkenness, carousings, and
such alike. They who do such things will not inherit the
kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is charity, joy,
peace, magnanimity, goodness, faith, clemency, continence,
chastity.' 1 And so by daily, yes, by unceasing petitions we
pray for this, that both in heaven and on earth the will
of God concerning us be done, because this is the will of
God, that the earthly give way to the heavenly, that the
spiritual and divine prevail.
Chapter 17
And it may thus be understood, most beloved brethren,
that, since the Lord orders and admonishes to love even
our enemies and also to pray for those who persecute us, let
us ask for those who are still on earth and have not yet
begun to be heavenly, so that the will of God, which Christ
accomplished by preserving and renewing humanity, may
be done also with respect to those. For since the disciples
are no longer called by Him 'earth 5 but the 'salt of the
1 Gal. 5.17-22.
142 SAINT CYPRIAN
earth/ and the Apostle declares that the first man is from
the slime of the earth but the second from heaven, we too,
who should be like God the Father, who makes His sun
to rise on the good and the evil and sends rain upon the
just and unjust, worthy pray and seek, as Christ so admon-
ishes, so that we offer prayer for the salvation of all, so that
just as the will of God has been done, that is, in us through
our faith, that we might be of heaven, so too on earth,
that is among those unwilling to believe, the will of God
may be done, that those who are still earthly by their
first birth may begin to be heavenly, born of water and
of the Spirit.
Chapter 18
As the prayer proceeds, we ask and say: 'Give us this
day our daily bread. 5 This can be understood both spiritually
and simply, because either understanding is of profit in
divine usefulness for salvation. For Christ is the bread of
life and the bread here is of all, but is ours. And as we say
'Our Father, 5 because He is the Father of those who under-
stand and believe, so too we say 'our Bread, 5 because Christ
is the bread of those of us who attain to His body. More-
over, we ask that this bread be given daily, lest we, who
are in Christ and receive the Eucharist daily as food of salva-
tion, with the intervention of some more grievous sin, while
we are shut off and as non-communicants are kept from
the heavenly bread, be separated from the body of Christ
as He Himself declares, saying: 1 am the bread of Me
which came down from heaven. If any man eat of my bread
he shall live forever. Moreover, the bread that I shall give
is my flesh for the life of the world.' 1 Since then He says
1 Cf. John 6.51,52,58.
THE LORD'S PRAYER 143
that, if anyone eats of His bread, he lives forever, as it is
manifest that they live who attain to His body and receive
the Eucharist by right of communion, so on the other hand
we must fear and pray lest anyone, while he is cut off and
separated from the body of Christ, remain apart from salva-
tion, as He Himself threatens, saying: 'Unless you eat the
flesh of the Son of man and drink His blood, you shall not
have life in you.' 2 And so we petition that our bread, that
is Christ, be given us daily, so that we, who abide and
live in Christ, may not withdraw from His sanctification
and body.
Chapter 19
But it can also be understood that we who have renounced
the world and have cast aside its riches and pomps in the
faith of- spiritual grace seek only food and sustenance for
ourselves, as the Lord instructs us saying: 'He who does
not renounce all things which are his cannot be my disciple/ 1
Moreover, he who has begun to be a disciple of Christ
according to the word of his Master renouncing all things
should ask for daily bread, and not put off for long the
desires of their petition, as the Lord Himself again prescribes
in these words: 'Be not anxious for tomorrow, for tomorrow
will have anxieties of its own. Sufficient for the day is its
own trouble.' 2 Worthily then does the disciple of Christ
ask for his sustenance unto the day, who is forbidden to think
of the tomorrow, because it becomes contrary and repugnant
to Hun that we seek to live long in the world who seek
2 John 6.54.
1 Cf. Luke 14.23.
2 Matt. 6.34.
144r SAINT CYPRIAN
that the kingdom of God come quickly. Thus also the blessed
Apostle advises, establishing and sustaining the firmness of
our hope and faith. He says: Tor we brought nothing into
this world, and certainly we can take nothing out. But
having sustenance and clothing we are content with these.
But those who seek to become rich fall into temptation
and snares and into many harmful desires which plunge
a man into destruction and damnation. For covetousness
is the root of all evils and some in their eagerness to get
rich have strayed from the faith and have involved them-
selves in many troubles. 33
Chapter 20
He teaches that not only are riches to be contemned but
are also dangerous, that in them is the root of enticing evils,
that device the blindness of the human mind with hidden
deception. So God rebukes the foolish rich man who ponders
on his worldly wealth and boasts of the abundance of his
overflowing harvests, saying: Thou fool, this night do they
demand thy soul of thee; arid the things thou hast provided,
whose will they be? 1 The fool was rejoicing in his stores in
the night when he was about to die and he whose life was
now ebbing pondered on the abundance of his sustenance.
However, on the other hand, the Lord teaches that he be-
comes perfect and complete who by selling all his possessions
and distributing them for the use of the poor lays up for
himself a treasure in heaven. He says that that man can fol-
3 1 Tim. 6.7-10.
1 Luke 12.20.
THE LORD'S PRAYER 145
low Him and imitate the glory of the Lord's passion, who un-
encumbered and with his loins girded is not involved in the
entanglements of personal property, but unentangled and
free he himself also accompanies his possessions sent on before
to the Lord. That each one of us may be able to prepare
himself for this, thus he learns to pray and from the principle
of prayer to know what sort of man he ought to be.
Chapter 21
For daily bread cannot be lacking the just man, since it
is written: The Lord will not afflict the just soul with
famine'; 1 and again, 'I have been young, and am old and
I have not seen the just man forsaken, nor his seed begging
bread*; 2 likewise, since the Lord promises, saying: 'What
shall we eat or what shall we drink or what are we to put on?
For after these things the gentiles seek; for your Father
knows that you need all these things. But seek first the king-
dom of God and His justice, and all these things shall be
given you besides.' 3 To those who seek the kingdom and
the justice of God, He promises that all things are added. 4
For since all things are of God, nothing will be lacking to
him who has God, if he himself be not lacking to God. Thus
a meal is divinely prepared for Daniel who was inclosed in
a lions' den by order of the king and the man of God is
fed in the midst of the wild beasts who are angry and spare
1 Prov. 10.3.
2 Ps. 56.25.
3 Matt. 6.31-33.
4 The petition accordingly covers our spiritual food (John 6.27) and
our bodily nourishment (Matt. 6.8) .
146 SAINT CYPRIAN
him. Thus Elias is sustained in his flight and solitude by
ministering ravens, and is nourished in persecution by birds
bringing food to him. And oh detestable cruelty of human
malice, the wild beasts spare, the birds feed, and men lay
plots and go mad!
Chapter 22
After this also we pray for our sins, saying : 'And forgive
us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors.' After the sub-
sistence of food the pardon of sin is also asked so that he
who is fed by God may live in God, and so that not only
the present and temporal life may be provided for but also
the eternal, to which we may come if our sins are forgiven,
which the Lord calls debts, as He says in His Gospel: 'I
forgave thee all the debt because thou didst entreat me/ 1
Moreover, how necessarily, how providently and salutarily,
are we admonished that we are sinners, who are compelled
to plead for our sins, so that, while indulgence is sought
from God, the soul is recalled to a consciousness of its guilt!
Lest anyone be pleased with himself, as if innocent, and by
exalting himself perish the more, he is instructed and taught
that he sins daily, since he is ordered to pray daily for his
sins. Thus finally John also in his epistle admonishes in these
words: c lf we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves,
and the truth is not in us. But if we acknowledge our sins,
the Lord is faithful and just to forgive us our sins.' 2 In his
epistle he has combined both, that we should both entreat
for our sins and that we should obtain indulgence when
we entreat. Therefore, he said that the Lord was faithful to
1 Matt. 18.32.
2 1 John 1.8,9.
THE LORD'S PRAYER 147
forgive sins, preserving the faith of His promise, because He
who taught us to pray for our debts and our sins promised
that mercy and forgiveness would follow.
Chapter 23
He clearly appended and added the law, binding us by
a condition and engagement, that accordingly we ask that
our debts be forgiven us according as we ourselves also forgive
our debtors, knowing that what we seek for our sins cannot
be obtained, unless we ourselves shall have acted likewise
toward those sinning against us. Therefore, in another place
he says: 'With what measure you measure, it shall be
measured to you. 31 The servant who after all his debt was
forgiven him by the Lord was himself unwilling to forgive his
fellow servant is confined to prison. Because he was unwilling
to forgive his fellow servant, he lost the forgiveness which had
been granted him by the Lord. And these things Christ sets
forth still more strongly in His precepts by the greater force of
His censure. He says: 'When you stand to pray, forgive what-
ever you have against anyone, that your Father who is in
heaven, may forgive you your sins. But if you do not forgive,
neither will your Father who is in heaven forgive you your
sins.' 2 There remains no excuse for you on the day of judg-
ment, when you are judged according to your sentence, and
what you have done, this also you yourself suffer. For God
has ordered us to be peace-makers and of one heart and of
one mind in His house, 3 and as He has made us, so reborn
1 Matt. 7.2.
2 Mark 11.25.
3 Cf. Ps. 67.6.
148 SAINT CYPRIAN
by a second birth He wishes to preserve us, that we who
are the sons of God may remain in the peace of God, and
'that we who have one spirit may have one heart and mind.
Thus neither does God receive the sacrifice of the dissident,
and He orders him to turn back from the altar and first be
reconciled with his brother, so that by pacifying prayers God
also can be pacified. The greater sacrifice to God is our
peace and fraternal concord and a people united in the unity
of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Chapter 24
For even in the sacrifices which Abel and Cain first offered
God did not look upon their gifts but upon their hearts, so
that he who pleased Him in his heart pleased Him in his
gift. Abel, peacable and just, while he was sacrificing to God
innocently, taught others also, when they offer a gift at the
altar, to come with fear of God, with simple heart, with the
law of justice, with the peace of concord. Worthily did he,
since he was such in God's sacrifice, himself later become a
sacrifice to God, so that being the first to manifest martyrdom
he initiated the Lord's passion by his blood, who had both
the justice and peace of the Lord. Finally, such are crowned
by the Lord; such on the day of judgment will be vindicated
with the Lord. But the discordant and the dissident and he
who has not peace with his brethren, according as the blessed
Apostle and the Holy Scripture testify, not even if he be
slain for His name, shall be able to escape the crime of
fraternal dissension, because, as it is written : 'Whoever hates
his brother is a murderer,' 1 and a murderer does not arrive
1 1 John 3.15.
THE LORD'S PRAYER 149
at the kingdom of heaven nor does he live with God. He
cannot be with Christ, who preferred to be an imitator of
of Judas rather than of Christ. What a sin that is which
cannot be washed away by the baptism of blood; what a
crime that is which cannot be expiated by martyrdom!
Chapter 25
Necessarily too the Lord gives us this admonition, to say
in our prayer: 'And lead us not into temptation/ In this
part it is shown that the adversary has no power against us,
unless God has previously permitted it, in order that all our
fear and devotion and obedience may be turned to God,
since in temptations nothing is permitted evil, unless the
power is granted by Him. Scripture proves this when it says:
'Nebuchodonosor, king of Babylon, came against Jerusalem
and assaulted it, and the Lord gave it into his hand. 31 More-
over, power is given to evil against us according to our sins;
as it is written: 'Who hath given Jacob for a spoil and Israel
to those who despoiled him? Hath not God, against whom
they have sinned and were unwilling to walk in His ways
and to hear His law, even poured out upon them the indigna-
tion of His fury? 2 And again when Solomon sinned and de-
parted from the precepts and the ways of the Lord, it is
set down: 'And the Lord stirred up Satan against Solomon
himself. 33
1 Cf. 4 Kings 24; Dan. 1.1.
2 Isa. 42.24,25.
3 Cf. 3 Kings 11.14.
150 SAINT CYPRIAN
Chapter 26
Power indeed is granted against us in two ways: either
for punishment when we sin or for glory when we are ap-
proved, as we see was done with respect to Job when God
made this clear with the following words: 'Behold all that
he hath is in thy hand; only put not forth thy hand upon his
person.' 1 And the Lord in His Gospel says at the time of His
passion: Thou wouldst have no power at all over me, were
it not given thee from above.' 2 When, moreover, we ask that
we come not into temptation, we are reminded of our in-
firmity and weakness, lest someone extol himself insolently,
lest someone proudly and arrogantly assume something to
himself, lest someone think the glory of confession or passion
to be his own, although the Lord himself, teaching humility,
has said: 'Watch and pray that you may not enter into temp-
tation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak,' 3
so that when humble and submissive confession precedes and
all is ascribed to God, whatever is sought suppliantly with
fear and honor of God, by reason of His loving kindness
it may be granted.
Chapter 27
After all those things, in summation of the prayer there
comes a little clause concluding all our petitions and prayer
in compact brevity. For at the very last we state : 'But deliver
us from evil, 3 comprehending all adversities which the enemy
undertakes against us in this world, from which there can
1 Job 1.12.
2 John 19.11.
3 Matt.
THE LORD'S PRAYER 1 5 1
be strong and faithful protection, if God delivers us, if, as
we pray and implore, He furnish us His aid. Moreover, when
we say: 'Deliver us from evil,' nothing remains for which
we should ask still further; when once we seek God's protec-
tion against evil, having obtained this, we stand secure and
safe against all the works of the devil and of the world. For
what fear indeed is there with regard to the world for him
who has God as his protector in the world?
Chapter 28
What wonder, most beloved brethren, if such is the prayer
that God has taught, who by His instruction has abbreviated
our every prayer in a saving word? This had already been
foretold by Isaias the prophet, when, filled with the Holy
Spirit, he spoke of the majesty and loving kindness of God.
He said: 'Completing and abbreviating His word in justice.,
since God will make a short word in the whole earth.' 1 For
when the Word of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, came to all,
and gathering together the learned and unlearned alike He
gave forth the precepts of salvation to every sex and age,
He made a great compendium of His precepts, so that the
memory of the learners might not be burdened in heavenly
discipline, but might learn quickly what was necessary to
a simple faith. Thus when He taught what eternal life is, He
embraced the sacrament of life with great and divine brevity.,
saying: c Now this is life eternal, that they may know Thee.,
the only true God, and Him whom Thou sent, Jesus Christ.' 2
Likewise, when He gathered from the law and prophets the
first and greatest commandments, He said: 'Hear, O Israel,
1 Cf. Isa. 10.22,23.
2 John 17.3.
152 SAINT CYPRIAN
the Lord your God is one Lord. 33 And, "Thou shalt love the
Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole
strength. This is the first commandment. And the second
is like it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these
two commandments depend the whole law and the prophets.' 4
And again, 'Whatever good things you wish men to do to
you, even so do you also to them; for this is the law and
the prophets. 35
Chapter 29
Not by words alone, but also by deeds has God taught
us to pray, Himself praying frequently and entreating and
demonstrating what we ought to do by the testimony of His
own example, as it is written: 'But He Himself was in retire-
ment in the desert, and in prayer,' and again, 'He went out
into the mountain to pray and continued all night in prayer
to God.' 1 But if He who was without sin prayed, how much
more ought sinners to pray, and if He prayed continually,
watching through the whole night with uninterrupted peti-
tions, how much more ought we to lie awake at night in con-
tinuing prayer!
3 Mark 12.29.
4 Matt. 22-37-40.
5 Cf. Matt. 7.12.
1 Luke 5.16;6.12.
THE LORD'S PRAYER 153
Chapter 30
Moreover, the Lord prayed and asked not for Himself,
(for what would an innocent person petition for himself?),
but for our sins, just as He Himself declares when He says
to Peter: 6 Behold, Satan was asking to have you, that he
might sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for thee, that
thy faith may not fail.' 1 And later He entreats the Father
for all, saying: 'Yet not for these only do I pray, but for
those also who through their word are to believe in me, that
all may be one, even as thou, Father, in me and I in thee;
that they also may be in us.' 2 Great alike is God's kindness
and compassion for our salvation, so that, not content with
having redeemed us with His blood, He in addition also
prayed for us. Moreover, behold what the desire was of Him
who prayed, that, just as the Father and Son are one, so too
we remain in that very unity; that from this it can be under-
stood how much he sins who shatters unity and peace, since
the Lord also prayed for this, namely, that His people live,
for He knew that discord does not come to the kinedom
of God.
Chapter 31
Moreover, when we stand for prayer, most beloved breth-
ren, we should be alert and intent on our petitions with
a whole heart. Let every carnal and worldly thought depart,
and let the mind dwell on nothing other than that alone
for which it prays. Therefore, the priest also before his
prayer prepares the minds of the brethren by first uttering
1 Luke 22.31.
2 Cf. John 17.20,21.
154 SAINT CYPRIAN
a preface, saying: 'Lift up your hearts/ so that when the
people respond: 'We lift them up to the Lord/ they may
be admonished that they should ponder on nothing other
than the Lord, Let the breast be closed against the adversary
and be open to God alone, and let it not suffer the enemy
of God to approach it at the time of prayer. For he frequently
creeps up and penetrates and with subtle deceit calls our
prayers away from God, so that we have one thing in the
heart, another in the voice, when not the sound of the voice
but the mind and the thought should be praying to the Lord
with sincere intention. But what slothfulness it is to be drawn
away and to be captured by foolish and profane thoughts,
when you are praying to the Lord, as if there were any-
thing that you should ponder more than what you speak
with God. How do you ask that you be heard by God, when
you do not hear your very self? Do you wish the Lord to be
mindful of you when you pray, when you yourself are not
mindful of yourself? This is to be entirely off-guard against
the enemy; this is, when you pray to God, to offend the
majesty of God by the negligence of prayer; this is to be
alert with the eyes and to be asleep with the heart, although
a Christian, even when he is sleeping, should be alert with
the heart, as it is written in the person of the Church speak-
ing in the Canticle of Canticles? I sleep and my heart
watcheth. 91 Therefore, the Apostle solicitously and cautiously
admonishes, saying: 'Be assiduous in prayer, being wakeful
therein, 52 that is, teaching and showing that they can obtain
what they ask of God, who God sees are alert in prayer.
1 Cant. 5.2,
2 Col. 4.2.
THE LORD'S PRAYER 155
Chapter 32
Moreover, let those who pray not come to God with
fruitless and destitute prayers. The petition is ineffective
when a sterile prayer is offered to God. For, since every tree
that does not bear fruit is cut down and cast into the fire/
likewise words without fruits cannot merit God's favor, since
they are fruitful in no deed. And so divine Scripture instructs
us with these words: Trayer is good with fasting and alms. 32
For He who on the day of judgment is to render a reward
for deeds and alms, today also is a kindly listener to prayer
which comes with works. Thus finally did Cornelius, the
centurion, merit to be heard, when he prayed. He was one
who performed many alms-deeds among the people and who
always prayed to God. Before him as he prayed at the ninth
hour an angel stood giving testimony to his work in these
words: 'Cornelius, thy prayers and thy alms have gone up
for a memorial before God. 33
Chapter 33
Quickly do those prayers ascend to God, which the merits
of our works impose upon God. Thus did the angel Raphael
stand before Tobias, as he always prayed and always worked,
saying: It is honorable to reveal and confess the works of
God, For when thou didst pray with Sara, I offered the
memory of your prayer in the sight of the glory of God, and
when thou didst bury the dead directly, and because thou
1 Cf. Matt. 7.19.
2 Tob. 12.8.
3 Cf. Acts 10.4.
156 SAINT CYPRIAN
didst not delay to rise and to leave thy dinner, but didst
go out and hide the dead, I was sent to tempt thee; and
again God sent me to heal thee and Sara thy son's wife. For
I am Raphael, one of the seven just angels who go in and
out before the glory of God.' 1 Through Isaias also the Lord
admonishes and teaches like things, testifying with these
words: 'Loose every bond of wickedness, undo the bundles
of the unbridled traders, release the broken for rest, and
break asunder every unjust burden. Break thy bread to the
hungry and bring the needy and the harborless into thy house.
If thou shalt see one naked, cover him, and despise not the
children of thy own seed. Then shall thy light break forth
as the morning and thy garments shall speedily arise and thy
justice shall go before thee and the glory of God shall sur-
round thee. Then shalt thou call and the Lord shall hear thee,
when thou shalt cry and He will say: 'Here I am. 32 He prom-
ises that He is present and hears, and He says that He protects
those who loosening the knots of injustice from the heart, and
performing alms-deeds around the members of God's house-
hold according to His precepts, as they hear what God orders
to be done, themselves also deserve to be heard by God. The
blessed Apostle Paul, when aided in the necessity of affliction,
by the brethren said that the words which were done were
sacrifices to God. He said: C I am fully supplied now that
I have received from Epaphroditus what you have sent,
a sweet odor, an acceptable sacrifice, well pleasing to God. 33
For when one has pity on the poor, he lends to God; and
he who gives to the least, gives to God; in a spiritual sense
he sacrifices to God the odors of sweetness.
1 Cf. Tob. 12.7.12-15.
2 Cf. Isa. 58.6-9,
3 Phil. 4.18.
THE LORD'S PRAYER 157
Chapter 34
Now in celebrating prayer we find that the three boys with
Daniel strong in the faith and victorious in captivity observed
the third, the sixth, and the ninth hours, namely for a sacra-
ment of the Trinity, which in the latest times had to be mani-
fested. For the first hour going into the third shows the num-
ber of the Trinity consummated, and likewise the fourth
preceding to the sixth proclaims a second Trinity, and when
the ninth is completed from the seventh, the perfect Trinity
is numbered every three hours. Having determined upon
these spaces of hours in a spiritual sense a long time ago, the
worshippers of God were subject to them as the established
and lawful times for prayer. Later the fact was made manifest
that formerly the sacraments existed, because the just of old
so prayed. For upon the disciples at the third hour did the
Holy Spirit descend, which fulfilled the grace of the Lord's
promise. Likewise Peter at the sixth hour going upward upon
the house-top was instructed alike by a sign and the voice
of God admonishing him, to admit all to the grace of salva-
tion, although before He was hesitant about baptizing the
Gentiles. The Lord also, having been crucified from the sixth
to the ninth, washed away our sins by His blood, and, that
he might be able to redeem and quicken us, He then com-
pleted the victory by His passion.
Chapter 35
But for us, most beloved brethren, besides the hours of
praying observed of old, both the times and the sacraments
have increased. For we must also pray in the morning, that
158 SAINT CYPRIAN
the resurrection of the Lord may be celebrated by morning
prayer. The Holy Spirit set this forth of old, when He said
in the psalms: 'O my king and my God, For to thee will
I pray: O Lord, in the morning thou shalt hear my voice,
In the morning I will stand before thee, and will see thee. 31
And again through the prophet the Lord says: 'At dawn
they will be on watch for me, saying: let us go and return to
the Lord our God.' 2 Likewise at the setting of the sun and at
the end of the day necessarily there must again be prayer. For
since Christ is the true Sun and the true Day, as the sun and
the day of the world recede, when we pray and petition that
the light come upon us again, we pray for the coming of
Christ to provide us with the grace of eternal light. More-
over, the Holy Spirit in the psalms declares that Christ is
called the Day. He says: The stone which the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone. This is the Lord's doing; it is
wonderful in our eyes. This is the day which the Lord has
made; let us exalt and rejoice therein.' 3 Likewise Malachias
the prophet testifies that He is called the Sun when he says:
c But unto you that fear my name, the Sun of justice shall
arise, and healing is in His wings.' 4 But if in holy Scripture
Christ is the true Sun and the true Day, no hour is excepted
for Christians, in which God should be adored frequently
and always, so that we who are in Christ, that is, in the true
Sun and in the true Day, should be insistent throughout the
whole day in our petitions and should pray; and when, by the
law of the world, the revolving night, recurring in its alternate
changes, succeeds, there can be no harm from the nocturnal
1 Cf. Ps. 5.3,4.
2 Gf. Osee 6.1.
3 Ps. 117.22-24.
4 Mai. 4.2.
THE LORD'S PRAYER 159
shades for those who pray, because to the sons of light even
in the night there is day. For when is he without light who
has light in his heart? Or when does he not have sun and
day, to whom Christ is Sun and Day?
Chapter 36
^ Moreover, let us who are always in Christ, that is, in the
light not cease praying even in the night. Thus the widow
Anna without intermission always petitioning and watching,
persevered in deserving well of God, as it is written in the
Gospel: 'She did not leave the temple, serving with fastings
and prayers night and day.' 1 Either the Gentiles who have
not yet been enlightened or the Jews who deserted the light
and remained in darkness should have seen; let us, most
beloved brethren, who are always in the light of the Lord,
who remember and retain what we have begun to be after
receiving grace compute the night as day. Let us believe that
we walk always in the light; 2 let us not be hindered by the
darkness which we have escaped; let there be no loss of
prayers in the hours of the night, no slothful or neglectful
waste of opportunities for prayer. Let us who by the indul-
gence of God have been recreated spiritually and reborn
imitate what we are destined to be; let us who in the kingdom
will have day alone without the intervention of night be just
as alert at night as in the day; let us who are destined to pray
always and to give thanks to God, not cease here also to pray
and to give thanks.
1 Luke 2.37.
2 Cf. 1 John 1.7.
TO DEMETRIAN
Translated by
ROY J. DEFERRARI, Ph.D.
The Catholic University of America
TO DEMETRIAN
IEMETRIANV, to whom this treatise is addressed, was
in all probability a magistrate, possibly a rhetorician,
in any case a very bitter enemy of the Christians. The
theory had already been developed, even before Cyprian's
time, that the calamities of the Roman Empire, whatever
they might be at the moment war, pestilence, famine,
drought were to be attributed to the Christian contempt
for the pagan gods. Demetrian had revived this rumor. The
answer which the Christian apologists gave to the charge
was that these misfortunes were really divine punishments
inflicted on the Romans because of their obstinacy and
wickedness, and in particular for their persecution of the
Christians.
Before Cyprian, Tertullian 1 had denounced the same
charges. After Cyprian, Arnobius 2 and Lactantius 3 were
obliged to refute this slander. Later, St. Augustine felt that
he should take up the matter again, which he treats in great
detail in the early books of the City of God.
Cyprian begins by referring to the growing decrepitude
1 Apol, 40; Ad. nat. 1.9; Ad Seep. 3.
2 Adv. nat I.
3 Div. inst. 5.4.3.
163
164 SAINT CYPRIAN
of the universe and by reason of this deterioration and decay
its inability to produce as it used to do in the spring of
creation. In Chapter 8 we find a curious passage on slavery,
slightly reminiscent of Stoicism: 'You yourself exact servitude
from your slave and you, a man, compel a man to submit
and obey you, and, although you both have the same lot
as to being born, one condition as to dying, identical material
of bodies, a common order of souls, although your coming
into this world and later your departure from the world
is with equal right and by the same law, nevertheless, unless
you are served according to your decision, unless you are
obeyed according to the obedience of your will, you, as an
imperious and excessive exactor of servitude, flog, whip,
afflict, and torture with hunger, thirst, nakedness, and fre-
quently with the sword and imprisonment. 34 But Cyprian
soon settles down to give us a pamphlet of a fine, passionate
vigor.
Some have objected to the tone of Ad Demetrianum as
lacking due respect. Lactantius 5 criticizes Cyprian for making
too extensive a use of proofs from Scripture. Such arguments
will make no impression on the pagan Demetrian; arguments
based on reason will alone convince him, he proclaims. But
Cyprian is not thinking of Demetrian alone. He is chiefly
concerned with treating the question to the complete satisfac-
tion of all Christians, especially those who are in danger
of losing their faith because of these accusations. The work
has much in common with the Apology and To Scapula
of Tertullian, but its satire is regarded as even more effective
than that of Tertullian. All in all it is one of the most powerful
and original of Cyprian's works.
4 Seneca, Ep. 47.6.
5 Div. inst. 5.4.
TO DEMETRIAN 165
The date of To Demetrian is uncertain. The reference
to the death of Decius and his children in Chapter 17 would
establish a rather definite date, but this passage is of doubtful
authenticity. Because Cyprian's biographer, Pontius, lists it
after the treatise on the Lord's Prayer, it is usually dated
252. A later date is sometimes suggested.
TO DEMETRIAN
Chapter 1
HAD TREATED YOU with contempt, Demetrian, as
you railed with sacrilegious mouth against God, who
is one and true, and frequently cried out with
impious words, thinking it more fitting and better to ignore
with silence the ignorance of a man in error than to provoke
with speech the fury of a man in madness. And I did not
do this without the authority of the divine teaching, since
it is written: T)o not say anything in the ears of the foolish,
lest when he hears he may mock your wise words,' 1 and
again: 'Do not answer the foolish according to his folly, lest
you become like him,' 2 and let us be admonished to keep
within our own conscience what is holy, and not to expose
it to be trampled upon by swine and dogs, for the Lord
speaks saying: c Do not give that which is holy to the dogs,
and do not cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample
them under their feet.* 3 For when you came to me often
rather with an eagerness to contradict than with a wish.
1 Prov. 23.9.
2 Prov. 26.4.
3 Matt. 7.6.
167
168 SAINT CYPRIAN
to learn, and you preferred impudently to insist on your own
views, shouting with noisy words, rather than to listen
patiently to our own, it seemed foolish to contend with you,
since it would be an easier and lighter task to restrain the
angry waves of a turbulent sea by shouting than to check
your madness by arguments. Surely it is a futile labor and
of no effect to offer light to someone blind, words to a deaf
person, and wisdom to a brute, since a brute cannot under-
stand, and a blind person cannot admit light, and one deaf
cannot hear.
Chapter 2
Bearing this in mind, I often kept silence and overcame
impatience by patience, since I could neither teach the
unteachable nor check the impious with religion, nor repress
him who raves with kindliness. But yet, when you say that
very many are complaining and are blaming us because wars
are arising more frequently, because the plague, famine are
raging, and because long droughts are suspending rains and
showers, I should be silent no longer, lest presently our
silence begin to be a matter not of modesty, but of diffidence,
and if we scorn to refute false charges, we seem to acknowl-
edge the crime. Therefore, I reply to you, Demetrian, as
well as to the others whom you by chance have stirred
up, and whom, by sowing hatreds against us by your malicious
words, you have made companions of yours in great num-
bers by the increase of your root and origin, yet who,
I believe, admit the reasonableness of our speech. For he who
has been moved to evil by deceiving falsehood will be moved
to good much more by truth.
TODEMETRIAN 169
Chapter 3
You have said that all those things by which the world
is now being shaken and oppressed have occurred through
us, and that they ought to be imputed to us, because your
gods are not worshipped by us. You who in this respect are
ignorant of divine knowledge and are a stranger to the truth,
in the first place ought to know this, that the world has grown
old, does not enjoy that strength which it had formerly
enjoyed, and does not flourish with the same vigor and
strength with which it formerly prevailed. The world itself
is now saying this, even as we are silent and offer no citations
from holy Scriptures and divine prophecies, and it testifies
to its decline by the proof of its failing estate. In the winter
the supply of rain is not so plentiful for the nourishment
of seeds; there is not the accustomed heat in the summer for
ripening the harvest; neither are the corn fields so joyous
in the spring nor are the autumn seasons so fecund in their
leafy products. To a less extent are slabs of marble dug out
of the disembowelled and wearied mountains; to a less extent
do the mines already exhausted produce quantities of silver
and gold, and the impoverished veins are lessened day by
day. The farmer is vanishing and disappearing in the fields,
the sailor on the sea, the soldier in the camp, innocence in
the market, justice in the courts, harmony among friendships,
skill among the arts, discipline in morals. Do you think that
there can be as much substance in an aging thing, as there
would have flourished formerly, when it was still young and
vigorous with youth? Whatever at its very last is sinking to its
setting and end must be diminishing. Thus the sun at its
setting casts forth rays of less bright and fiery splendor; thus
the moon, as its course declines, diminishes with exhausted
170 SAINT CYPRIAN
horns; and the tree, which had once been green and fertile,
afterwards, as its branches dry up, becomes sterile, deformed
by old age; and the fountain, which before flowed forth
profusely from its overflowing veins, in failing old age scarcely
trickles with moderate moisture. This sentence has been passed
upon the world; this is the law of God; that all things which
have come into existence die; and that those which have
increased grow old; and that the strong be weakened; and
that the large be diminished; and that when they have been
weakened and diminished they come to an end.
Chapter 4
You impute to the Christians that everything is diminished
as the world grows old. What if old men also impute to
Christians that they have less strength in old age, that no
longer as before are they vigorous in the sense of hearing,
in the swiftness of their feet, in the sharpness of their eyes >
in the force of their strength, in the freshness of their vitals,
in the fulness of their limbs, and that, whereas before the
old age of man extended eight hundred and nine hundred
years, now it can scarcely arrive at the number of one hun-
dred. We see grey hair among boys; hair falls out before
it grows; and age does not cease in old age but begins with
old age. Thus, still at its beginning birth rushes to its end; 1
thus whatever is born degenerates with the old age of the
world, itself, so that no one should marvel that everything
in the world has begun to fail, when the entire world itself
is already in a decline and at its end.
1 Cf. Wisd 5.13.
TOBEMETRIAN 171
Chapter 5
Moreover, that wars continue with greater frequency, that
barrenness and famine accumulate anxiety, that health is
broken by raging diseases, that the human race is laid waste
by ravages of pestilence, this too you should know was pre-
dicted, that in the last days evils are multiplied and adversities
are diversified and presently with the approach of the day
of judgment more and more is the censure of an indignant
God roused to the scourging of the human race. For these
things do not occur, as your false complaints and inexperience
ignorant of the truth boast and cry out, because your gods
are not worshipped by us, but because God is not worshipped
by you. For since He himself is the Lord and the Director of
the universe, and since all things are done at His decision and
nod and nothing can be done except what He Himself has
done or has permitted to be done, surely when those things
are done which show the anger of an offended God, these
are done not on account of us by whom God is worshipped,
but are inflicted because of your sins and merits, by whom
God is neither sought nor feared, nor are empty superstitions
abandoned and true religion recognized, so that He who is the
one God for all is alone worshipped and sought by all.
Chapter 6
Finally, hear Him as He speaks, as he instructs and advises
us with His divine words: 'Thou shalt worship the Lord thy
God, and Him only shalt thou serve/ 1 and again: Thou
1 Deut. 6.13.,
172 SAINT CYPRIAN
shall not have strange gods before me, 32 and again: 'And
go not after strange gods to serve them, and adore them;
nor provoke me to wrath by the works of your hands to scatter
you. 33 The prophet likewise, filled with the Holy Spirit, attests
and proclaims the wrath of God in these words: 'Thus saith
the Lord omnipotent: "Because my house is desolate, and
you make haste every man to his own house, therefore the
heaven will abstain from dew, and the earth will withdraw
her fruits, and I shall bring a sword upon the earth and
upon the corn and upon the vine, and upon the oil, and
upon man and upon beasts and upon all the labors of their
hands.' 5 M Likewise, another prophet repeats and says: C I shall
cause it to rain upon one city, and I shall not cause it to rain
upon another city. One piece shall be rained upon, and the
piece upon which I shall not rain, shall wither. Two and
three cities shall gather in one city to drink water, but shall
not be filled. Yet you returned not to me, saith the Lord. 35
Chapter 7
Behold, the Lord is indignant and wrathful and, because
you do not turn to Him, threatens. And you wonder or com-
plain in this your obstinacy and contempt, if the rain descends
rarely from above, if the earth lies neglected because of the
accumulation of dust, if the barren globe with difficulty pro-
duces feeble and pallid blades of grass, if the destructive hail
2 Exod. 20.3.
3 Jer. 25.6.
4 Ag. 1.9-11.
5 Amos. 4.7,8.
TO DEMETRIAN 1 73
weakens the vines; if the overwhelming whirlwind uproots
the olive, if drought stanches the spring, if a breeze spread-
ing pestilence befouls the air, if deadly disease consumes
mankind, although all these things come because of the sins
that provoke them, and God is exasperated the more when
such great evils avail nothing. For the same God declares
in holy Scriptures in these words that these things occur
either for discipline of the obstinate or for the punishment
of the devil: c ln vain have I struck your children; they have
not received correction. 31 And the prophet devoted and
dedicated to God replies to these same words and says: 'Thou
has struck them and they have not grieved; thou hast bruised
them and they have refused to receive correction.' 2 Behold,
blows are inflicted by God and there is no fear of God.
Behold stripes and scourgings from above are not lacking,
and there is no trembling, no alarm. What if even such
censure did not interfere with human affairs? How much
greater still would the audacity of men be, if it were secure
in the impunity of its crimes?
Chapter 8
You complain because now the rich springs and the salub-
rious breezes and the frequent rains and the fertile earth
furnish you less support, because the elements do not serve
interests and pleasures so much. But do you serve God
through whom all things serve you; do you wait upon Him,
at whose nod all things wait upon you? You yourself exact
servitude from your slave and you, a man, compel a man
1 Jer. 2.30.
2 Jer. 5.3.
174 SAINT CYPRIAN
to submit and obey you, and although you both have the
same lot as to being born, one condition as to dying, identical
material of bodies 3 a common order of souls, although your
coming into this world and later your departure from the
world is with equal right and by the same law, nevertheless,
unless you are served according to your decision, unless you
are obeyed according to the obedience of your will, you as
an imperious and excessive exactor of servitude, flog, whip,
afflict, and torture with hunger, thirst, nakedness, and fre-
quently with the sword and imprisonment. Do you acknowl-
edge the Lord, your God, when you yourself thus exercise
Lordship?
Chapter 9
Therefore, deservedly are the stripes and lashes of God
not lacking in these attacking plagues. Since these avail no-
thing here and do not turn you one by one to God by such
terror of destruction, there awaits you later the eternal prison
and everlasting flame and perpetual punishment, nor will
the groaning of the suppliants be heard there, because the
terror of the indignant God was not heard here, who cried
out through the prophet, saying: 'Hear the word of the Lord,
ye children of Israel, for the Lord shall enter into judgment
with the inhabitants of the land, for there is no mercy, and
there is no truth, and there is no knowledge of God in the
land. Cursing, and lying, and killing, and theft, and adultery
have overflowed upon the land, and blood has touched blood.
Therefore shall the land mourn with all its inhabitants, and
with the beasts of the field, with the creeping things of the
earth, with the fowls of the air, and the fishes of the sea
shall fail, so that no one passes judgment, no one convicts
TO DEMETRIAN 1 75
another.' 1 God says that He is indignant because there is
no knowledge of God on earth, and God is not known,
neither is he feared. God rebukes and accuses the sins of
lying, of lust, of fraud, of cruelty, of impiety, and of mad-
ness, but no one is converted to innocence. Behold, the events
that were formerly foretold by the words of God are coming
to pass, and no one by faith in the present is warned to
take counsel for the future. Among these adversities, bound
and hemmed in by which the soul breathes with difficulty,
there is time for men to be evil and in so great perils to pass
judgment not so much on themselves as on others. You are
indignant that God is indignant, as if you deserved anything
good by living evilly, as if all those things that happen were
still not less and lighter than your own sins.
Chapter 10
You who judge others, at some time be also a judge of
yourself, look into the recesses of your own conscience; rather,
because there is no shame, indeed, in doing wrong, and sin
is so committed as if pleasure came rather through sins
themselves, do you who are seen clearly and nakedly by all
yourself also look upon yourself. For you are either swollen
with pride, or greedy with avarice, or cruel with anger, or
prodigal with gambling, or drunk with wine-bibbing, or
envious with jealousy, or incestuous with lust, or violent with
cruelty; and do you wonder that the wrath of God increases
for the punishment of the human race, when what is worthy
to be punished increases daily? You complain that an enemy
rises up, as if, though an enemy were waiting, there could
1 Osee 4.1-4.
176 SAINT CYPRIAN
be peace among the very togas of peace, as if, though external
arms and dangers from barbarians were repressed, the weap-
ons of domestic attack from the calumnies and injuries of
powerful citizens were not ranging more fiercely and more
seriously from within; you complain about barrenness and
famine, as if drought causes more famine than rapacity, as
if the fierceness of want did not increase more flagrantly
from the striving after the yearly crops and the accumulation
of their price; you complain that the heavens are shut off
from showers, although the granaries on earth are so shut
off; you complain that less is being produced, as if what has
been produced were offered to the needy; you accuse of the
crime of plague and disease, although by plague itself and
disease the crimes of individuals are either detected or in-
creased, while mercy is not shown the weak and avarice and
rapine await open-mouthed for the dead. The same men
are timid in the observance of piety, rash for impious gains,
avoiding the deaths of the dying, but seeking the spoils of
the dead, so that it appears that the wretched in their sick-
ness have even been abandoned perhaps for this, that they
may not be able to escape when they are being treated,
for he who enters upon the property of the dying wished
the sick man to die.
Chapter 11
So great a terror of destruction cannot give the teaching
of innocency, and in the midst of a people dying with re-
curring slaughter no one considers that he too is mortal.
There is running about everywhere, there is seizure, there
is taking possession, there is no concealment of plundering,
TODEMETRIAN 177
no delay; as if it were lawful, as if it were right, as if he
who does not seize were experiencing damage and a proper
loss; thus every one hastens to seize. Among thieves there
is at least some shame for their crimes; they love pathless
ravines and deserted solitudes, and wrongs are so committed
there that nevertheless the crime of the wrong-doers is veiled
by shadows and night. Avarice rages openly and safe by its
very boldness thrusts forth in the light of the market-place
the arms of unrestrained lust. Thus they are cheats, thus
poisoners, thus in the middle of the city murderers are eager
for sinning as they sin with impunity. The crime is confessed
by the guilty, but the innocent is not found to press the
charge. There is no fear of the accuser or the judge; the
wicked obtain impunity, while the modest are silent, accom-
plices are afraid, and those who are to judge have a price.
And so through the prophet the truth of the matter is set
forth with the divine spirit and inspiration; a certain and
manifest method is shown: that the Lord can prohibit ad-
versities, but the merits of sinners cause Him to give no
aid. 'Behold, 5 he says 'does not the hand of the Lord prevail
to save [men], or will His ear be heavy that it cannot hear?
But your iniquities divide between you and your God, and
on account of your sins He turns his face away from you
lest He have mercy. 31 Therefore, let your sins and offences
be computed; let the wounds of your conscience be con-
sidered; and let each one cease to complain about God and
about us, if he understands that he deserves what he suffers.
1 Isa. 59.1,2.
178 SAINT CYPRIAN
Chapter 12
Behold of what nature is the subject of our discourse
chiefly about that you molest us who are innocent, that you
in contempt of God attack and oppress the servants of God?
It is of little importance that your life is stained by a variety
of mad vices, with the iniquity of deadly crimes, with a col-
lection of bloody rapines, that the true religion is overturned
by false superstitions, that God is in no way ever sought or
feared. Still more you provoke with unjust persecutions the
servants of God and those dedicated to His majesty and
will. It is not enough that you yourself do not worship God.
Still more with a sacrilegious attack do you persecute those
who do worship. Neither do you worship God, nor do you
permit Him to be worshipped at all, although others who
not only venerate those empty idols and images fashioned
by the hand of man but also certain portents and monsters
please you, the worshipper of God alone displeases. Every-
where in your temples the funeral pyres and piles of cattle
smoke, but the altars of God do not exist or are concealed.
Crocodiles and bees and stones and serpents are worshipped,
and God alone on earth either is not worshipped or His
worship does not exist with impunity. The innocent, the just,
the dear to God you deprive of a home, you despoil of their
inheritance, you load down with chains, you shut up in
prison, you punish by beasts, by the sword, by fire. And
you are not content with the collection of our pains and
with the simple and swift brevity of the punishments; you
apply long torments by lacerating our bodies, you multiply
the numerous punishments by tearing our vitals; nor can
your savagery and inhumanity be content with customary
torments; your ingenious cruelty devises new inflictions.
TODEMETRIAN 179
Chapter 13
What is this insatiable madness for torture, what this in-
terminable lust for cruelty? Why not rather choose one of
two alternatives: to be a Christian either is a crime or it
Is not. If it is a crime, why do you not kill him who confesses
it? If it is not a crime, why do you persecute the innocent?
For I ought to have been tortured, if I had denied it. If
out of fear of your punishment I concealed with lying deceit
that which I had been before and that I had not worshipped
your gods, then I ought to have been tortured, I ought to
have been forced to a confession of the crime with force
of pain, just as in other trials defendants who deny that
they are guilty of the crime of which they are accused, so
that the truth of the misdeed, which is not forthcoming by
the testimony of the word, is extracted by pain of body.
But now when of my free will I confess and cry out and
with words frequent and repeated again and again I attest
that I am a Christian, why do you apply tortures to me as
I confess and destroy your gods not in hidden and secret
places but openly and publicly in the very forum within
the hearing of the magistrates and officers, so that, even if
that with which you charged me before had been a little
thing, it has increased to something which you ought both
to hate and punish the more? Why, when I pronounce
myself a Christian in a crowded place with people standing
all around, and confound you and your gods by a clear
and public pronouncement, why do you concern yourself
with the weakness of the body, why do you contend with
the feebleness of earthly flesh? Attack the vigor of the mind,
break the strength of the mind, destroy faith, conquer, if
you can, by discussion, conquer by reason.
180 SAINT CYPRIAN
Chapter 14
Indeed, If your gods have any divinity and power, let
them themselves rise to their vindication, let them themselves
defend themselves by their own majesty. But of what advan-
tage can they be to their worshippers, who cannot avenge
themselves on those who do not worship them. For if he who
avenges is of greater power than he who is avenged, you
are greater than your gods. Therefore, if you are greater
than those whom you worship, you should not worship them,
but you should be worshipped by them. Thus your vengeance
defends them when afflicted, just as also your protection
guards them, when enclosed, from perishing. You should
be ashamed to worship those whom you yourself defend;
you should be ashamed to hope for protection from those
whom you protect.
Chapter 15
Oh, if you would hear and see them, when they are ad-
jured by us, when they are tortured by spiritual scourges
and are ejected by torments of words from the bodies of the
possessed, when howling and groaning at a human voice and
feeling the lashes and scourges of divine power they confess
the judgment which is to come. Come and learn that what
we say is true, and since you say that you thus worship the
gods, then believe them whom you worship. Or if you should
wish to believe yourself also, within your hearing he [the
demon] will speak of you yourself, who now has possessed
your breast, who now has blinded your mind with the night
of ignorance. You will see that "we are entreated by those
TODEMETRIAN 181
whom you entreat, that we are feared by those whom you
adore. You will see that they stand bound under our hand
and tremble as captives whom you look up to and venerate
as lords. Surely even so you can be confounded in those
errors of yours, when you see and hear that your gods on
our questioning immediately betray what they are, and that
even in your presence cannot conceal those deceptions and
trickeries.
Chapter 16
So what cowardice of mind is this, rather, what blind
and stupid madness of fools not to come from darkness to
the light, and when bound by the bonds of eternal death
to be unwilling to receive the hope of immortality, not to
fear God as He threatens saying: 'He that sacrificeth to gods
shall be put to death, save only to the Lord'; 1 and again:
'They have adored them whom their fingers have made,
and man hath bowed himself down, and man hath been
debased, and I shall not forgive them 3 ? 2 Why do you humble
and bend yourself to false gods? Why do you bow your
captive body before foolish images and creations of earth?
God made you erect, and, although the other animals are
prone and are depressed with posture bent toward earth,
you have an exalted stature and a countenance raised upward
toward heaven and the Lord. Look there, direct your eyes
there, seek God on high. That you may be able to be free
of things here below, hold up and raise your heart to the
heavenly things on high. Why do you prostrate yourself into
the ruin of death with the serpent whom you worship?
1 Exod. 22.20.
2 Isa. 2.8,9.
182 SAINT CYPRIAN
Why do you fall into the destruction of the devil through
him and with him? Preserve the sublime nature with which
you were born. Persevere just as you were made by God.
Establish your soul with the state of your face and body.
That you may be able to know God, know yourself first.
Abandon the idols which human error invented. Turn to
God, and if you implore Him, He comes to your aid. Believe
in Christ whom the Father sent to quicken and restore us.
Cease to injure the servants of God and of Christ with your
persecutions for when they are injured divine vengeance
defends them.
Chapter 17
For this reason it is that no one of us fights back when
he is apprehended, nor do our people avenge themselves
against your unjust violence though numerous and plentiful.
Our certainty of the vengeance which is to come makes us
patient. The harmless give way to the harmful; the innocent
acquiesce in the punishments and tortures certain and confi-
dent that whatever we suffer will not remain unavenged, and
that the greater is the injury of the persecution, the more
just and serious will be the vengeance for the persecution.
Never is there any uprising from the wickedness of impious
man against our name, that is not immediately accompanied
by divine vengeance. To be silent on the old memories of the
past and not to reflect upon the oft-repeated vengeances in
behalf of the worshippers of God with clarion voice, the
testimony of a recent event is enough to prove that our defense
recently followed so swiftly and in such great swiftness, so
mightily in the ruin of affairs, in the loss of wealth, in the
waste of soldiers, and in a decrease of forts. And let no one
TODEMETRIAN 183
think that this happened by chance or consider that it was
fortuitous, since long ago divine Scripture laid down and
said: 'Vengeance is mine, I shall repay, says the Lord/ 1 and
let the Holy Spirit again warn us saying: 'Say not: I will
avenge myself on my enemy, but wait in the Lord so that
He may aid thee.' 2 Thus it is clear and manifest that not
through us but for us do all these things happen which come
down from the anger of God.
Chapter 18
Nor let anyone, therefore, think that Christians are not
avenged by these things that happen, because they also seem
to be affected by the onrush of events; that man feels the
punishment of the adversities of the world whose every joy
and glory is in the world; that man grieves and mourns if it
is ill with him in this life, with whom it cannot be well after
this life, the fruit of whose living is taken entirely here, whose
solace is all ended here, whose fleeting and short life reckons
some sweetness and pleasure here, but, when he has passed
from here, only punishment unto grief remains. But there
is no grief from the attack of present evils for those who have
confidence in future blessings. Finally we are not prostrated
by adversities, nor are we broken down, iior do we grieve,
nor do we murmur in any catastrophe of events or in sickness
of body. Living by the spirit rather than by the flesh we
overcome the weakness of the body by the strength of the
soul. By those very things that torture and weary us we know
and are confident that we are proved and strengthened.
1 Rom. 12.19.
2 Cf. Prov. 20.22.
184 SAINT CYPRIAN
Chapter 19
Do you think that we endure adversities equally with you,
when you see that the same adversities are not sustained
equally by us and by you? With you there is always a clamor-
ous and querulous impatience; with us there is a strong and
religious patience always quiet and always grateful to God,
and it does not claim anything here for itself, either pleasant
or prosperous, but gentle and kind and firm against all the
disturbances of a changing world it awaits the time of the
divine promise. For as long as this body remains common with
the rest, its corporal condition must also be common, and
it is not granted the members of the human race to be
separated from one another, unless there is withdrawal from
this life. Meanwhile, we, good and evil, are contained within
our house. Whatever comes within the house we endure with
equal fate, until, when our temporal earthly period has been
fulfilled, we are distributed among the homes of eternal death
or immortality. So then we are not comparable and equal
with you, because, while we are still in this world and in
this flesh, we incur equally with you the annoyances of the
world and of the flesh. For since all that punishes is in
the sense of pain, it is manifest that he is not a participant
in your punishment whom you see does not suffer pain with
you.
Chapter 20
There flourishes with us the strength of hope and firmness
of faith, and in the midst of the very ruins of a collapsing
world our mind is lifted up and our courage is unshaken, and
never is our patience unhappy, and our soul is always secure
TODEMETRIAN 185
in its God, just as the Holy Spirit says and exhorts through
the prophet, strengthening the firmness of our hope and faith
by His heavenly voice. He says: 'The fig tree shall not bear
fruit, and there shall be no spring in the vines. The labor
of the olive tree shall deceive and the fields shall yield no
food. The sheep shall lack pasture, and there shall be no
oxen in the stable. But I will rejoice in the Lord, and I will
joy in God my Savior. 1 He says that the man of God and the
worshipper of God relying on the truth of hope and estab-
lished in the stability of faith is not moved by the assaults of
this world and life. Although the vine fails and the olive
deceives and the field with its grass dying from drought be-
comes parched and withers, what is this to Christians? What
to God's servants whom paradise invites, whom all the graces
and abundance of the heavenly kingdom awaits? They al-
ways exult in the Lord and rejoice and are happy in their
God and bravely endure the evils and adversities of the
world, while they look forward to the blessings and prosperity
of the future. For we, who after putting off our earthly birth,
have been recreated and reborn in the Spirit and no longer
live to the world but to God, will not receive God's gifts and
promises except when we have come to God. And yet for
warding off the enemy and for obtaining rain and for either
removing or mitigating adversities we always beseech and
pour forth prayers, and, propitiating and placating God, we
pray constantly and fervently day and night for your peace
and salvation.
1 Cf. Hab. 3.17,18,
186 SAINT CYPRIAN
Chapter 21
Thus let no one flatter himself that meanwhile for us and
the profane, the worshippers of God and the adversaries of
God by reason of the equality of flesh and body there is a
common condition of worldly troubles, so that from this he
think that not all the things that happen are imposed upon
you, since by the prediction of God Himself and the attesta-
tion of the prophets it was predicted before that God's wrath
would come upon the unjust, that persecutions which would
harm us in a human way would not be lacking, but also that
vengeance to defend in a divine way those who were hurt
would follow.
Chapter 22
How great the things which meanwhile are being done
here for us ! Something is given as an example that the wrath
of God may be known. But on the other hand there is the
day of judgment which holy Scripture announces saying:
'Howl ye, for the day of the Lord is near: it shall come as a
destruction from the Lord. For behold the day of the Lord
shall come, a cruel day, and full of indignation, and of
wrath, to lay the land desolate, and to destroy the sinners out
of it. 51 And again: 'Behold the day of the Lord comes
kindled as a furnace, and all the proud and all the wicked
shall be as stubble; and the day coming shall set them on
fire, says the Lord.' 2 The Lord prophecies that aliens will
be burned and consumed, that is, aliens from the divine race,
and the profane, those who have not been reborn spiritually
1 Isa. 13.6.
2 Mai. 4.L
TODEMETRIAN 187
and have not become sons of God. For in another place God
says that only those can escape who have been reborn and
signed with the sign of Christ; when sending His angels
to lay waste the world and to destroy the human race He
threatens more seriously than the last time, saying: 'Go ye
and slay and do not spare your eyes. Do not have pity on
the old or the young, but slay the maidens and the women and
the children that they may be blotted out. But everyone on
whom the sign has been written you shall not touch. 33 But
what this sign is and in what part of the body it is placed,
God makes clear in another pla'ce saying: e Go through the
midst of Jerusalem and mark the sign upon the foreheads
of the men who mourn and grieve for all the iniquities that
are done in the midst of them. 34 And that this sign pertains
to the passion and blood of Christ and that he is kept safe
and unharmed whoever is found in this sign, is likewise proved
by the testimony of God who says: 'And the blood shall be
unto you for a sign upon the houses where you shall be; and
I shall see the blood and shall protect you, and the plague
of destruction shall not be on you, when I shall strike the
hand of Egypt. 35 What preceded before in a figure in the
slaying of a lamb is fulfilled in Christ the truth which followed
later. Just as then, when Egypt was smitten, no one could
escape except by the blood and sign of the lamb, so too,
when the world begins to be laid waste and smitten, he alone
escapes who is found in the blood and sign of Christ. 6
3 Ezech. 9,5,6.
4 Ezech. 9.4.
5 Exod. 12.13.
6 Cf. Ezech. 9.4; Apoc 7.3, 9.4.
188 SAINT CYPRIAN
Chapter 23
Therefore, while there is time, look to the trees, and eternal
salvation, and, since the end of the world is now at hand,
out of fear of God turn your minds to God. Let not your
powerless and vain dominion in the world over the just and
the meek delight you, since also in the fields the tares and
the darnel have dominion over the cultivated and fruitful
corn, and you should not say that evils happen because your
gods are not worshipped by us, but you should realize that
this is God's anger, this is God's censure, so that He who is
not recognized for His blessings may at least be recognized
for His plagues. Seek God at least late, since He has now
for a long time been warning and exhorting you through the
prophet, saying: 'Seek God, and your soul shall live.' 1 Ack-
nowledge God at least late, because Christ too at His coming
advises and teaches this, saying: 'Now this is everlasting life,
that they may know Thee the only true God, and him whom
Thou hast sent, Jesus Christ. 32 Believe Him who by no means
deceives. Believe Him who has foretold that all these things
would come to pass. Believe Him who will give the reward
of eternal life to those who believe. Believe Him who by the
fires of Gehenna will inflict eternal punishments on the in-
credulous.
Chapter 24
What glory of the faith will there be then, what punish-
ment for perfidy, when the day of judgment shall come!
What joy for believers, what sorrow for unbelievers, that they
were unwilling before to believe here and cannot now return
1 Cf. Amos. 5.6.
2 John 17.3.
TODEMETRIAN 189
to believe ! An ever burning Gehenna and a devouring pun-
ishment ^ of lively flames will consume the condemned, and
there will be no means whereby the torments can at any
time have respite and end. Souls with their bodies will be
reserved in infinite tortures for suffering. There he will be
seen always by us, who here saw us for a time, and the
brief of cruel eyes in the persecutions that took place will be
compensated by a perpetual spectacle according to the faith
of holy Scripture which says: "Their worm shall not die
and their fire shall not be extinguished, and they shall be for
a spectacle for all flesh.' 1 And again: Then shall the just
stand with great constancy against those that have afflicted
them and taken away their labors. These seeing it shall be
troubled with great fear, and shall be amazed at the sudden-
ness of their unexpected salvation, saying within themselves,
repenting and groaning for anguish of spirit: "These are they
whom we had some time in derision, and for a parable of
reproach." We fools esteemed their life madness and their
end without honor. How are they numbered among the sons
of God and their lot is among the saints? Therefore, we
have erred from the way of truth, and the light of justice
hath not shined unto us, and the sun hath not risen upon us.
We wearied ourselves in the way of iniquity and destruction
and have walked through hard ways, but the way of the
Lord we have not known. What hath pride profited us? Or,
what advantage hath the boasting of riches brought us? All
those things are passed away like a shadow. 32 Then there
will be the pain of punishment without the fruit of repentance,
useless weeping, and ineffectual prayer. Too late do they
believe in eternal punishment who were unwilling to believe
in eternal life.
1 Isa. 66.24.
2 Wisd. 5.1-9.
190 SAINT CYPRIAN
Chapter 25
Therefore, while you may, provide for security and life.
We offer you the salutary aid of our mind and counsel. And
since we may not hate, and thus we are more pleasing to
God, while we do not return injury for injury, we urge, while
the opportunity is at hand, while there still remains some-
thing of this life., to make satisfaction to God, and to come
forth from the depth of dark superstition into the bright
light of true religion. We do not envy your advantages nor
do we conceal divine benefits. We repay your hatreds with
kindness, and for the torments and punishments which are
inflicted upon us we point out the ways of salvation. Believe
and live, and do you who persecute us in time rejoice with
us for eternity. When there has been a withdrawal hence,
then there is no opportunity for repentance, no accomplish-
ment of satisfaction. Here life is either lost or kept; here by
the worship of God, and by the fruit of faith provision is
made for eternal salvation. Let no one either by sins or by
years be retarded from coming to the acquiring of salvation.
To him who still remains in this world no repentance is too
late. The approach to God's forgiveness is open, and for those
who seek and understand the truth the access is easy. Although
you entreat for your sins at the very end and sunset of tem-
poral life and you implore God who is one and true by the
confession and faith of the acknowledgment of Him, pardon
is granted to him who confesses, and to him who believes
saving forgiveness is conceded out of God's goodness, and
there is a crossing into immortality at the very moment of
death.
TO DEMETMAN 191
Chapter 26
This grace does Christ bestow; this gift of His mercy He
confers by undergoing death with the victory of the cross,
by redeeming the believer at the price of His blood, by recon-
ciling man with God the Father, by quickening mortality by
heavenly regeneration. This one, if it can be done, let us
follow; under the sacrament and sign of this one let us be
counted. This one opens up to us the way of life; this one
causes us to be led back to paradise; this one guides us to the
kingdom of heaven. With Him we shall always live, having
become sons of God through Him; with Him we shall always
rejoice, having been restored by His blood. We Christians
will be both glorious with Christ and blessed of God the
Father, rejoicing in perpetual delight always in the sight
of God, and giving thanks to God always. For he cannot be
other than ever happy and grateful who, after he has been
subject to death, has been made secure in immortality.
MORTALITY
Translated by
ROY J. DEFERRARI, Ph.D.
The Catholic University of America
MORTALITY
|YPRIAN'S TREATISE,, Mortality, is one of the earliest
contributions to the Christian literature of consola-
tion and the most valuable source of information on
a plague which spread over the Roman Empire. In assigning
a date to this work which appears in the earliest manuscripts
and which is enumerated in Pontius' list of Cyprian's writings,
one is aided by the words of the author. Undoubtedly,
Cyprian wrote this as a sermon to be delivered to the Chris-
tians of his diocese who were alarmed over the high death
rate (Mort. 1) and who at the same time lamented that
they were thus being deprived of martyrdom (Mort. 17).
Eutropius (60.5) and Osorius (7.21) record the fact that
this plague was the only noteworthy event in the reign of
Callus and Volusianus (251-253). Furthermore, Cyprian
speaks of a new army which, recruited at the time of the
plague, will fight without fear of death when the battle comes
(Mort. 15) a reference, no doubt, to the prospect of a new
persecution which is mentioned again in Epistles 57-58, and
which Monceaux assigns to the year 252. Epistle 59.6 states
that toward the middle of 252 a decree of Gallus ordered
public sacrifices in all parts of the Empire, and that this
195
196 SAINT CYPRIAN
occasioned a new persecution of the Christians. Hence, one
is led to believe that Mortality was composed in that year.
The morale of the Christians was low. Only the year before,
the Church in Africa had been agitated by the discussion over
the readmission of the lapsi and libellatici who had renounced
their faith during the Decian persecution. A short time later
the Christians were the objects of verbal attacks on the part
of the pagans who held their unwillingness to participate in
the State religion responsible for the plague raging in Africa*
Conditions in the plague-stricken city were appalling; no one
wanted to care for the sick, relatives even exposed members
of their family lest they themselves suffer from contagion,
bodies lay in the street, greed was rampant.
At this period Cyprian showed himself a real leader of his
people. Pontius relates (Vita 7-10) that before an assembly
Cyprian spoke of the blessings of mercy and of the merit
to be gained by helping not only the faithful but also the
pagans. He went further in an effort to relieve the situation;
he assigned duties to individuals in proportion to their wealth
and position. Those who could not give money gave their
services. To comfort the members of his flock, to strengthen
them in the throes of such a calamity, to reconcile them to
the will of God, and to recall to their minds the glories of
paradise impelled Cyprian to write his Mortality.
In a work of this sort it is not surprising to find that
Cyprian borrowed, consciously or not, some of the common-
place expressions employed by earlier writers, such as Cicero
and Seneca. They were part of his literary heritage but he
did not cite them as authorities. Not once did he refer formally
to arguments or thoughts other than those derived from the
Scriptures or from reason.
In developing Ms theme Cyprian follows the method of
MORTALITY 197
presentation of his other treatises, namely, that of going
straight to the point by quoting from the Scriptures, by com-
menting on the text, and by applying it to the present circum-
stances. The following outline illustrates his procedure.
I. Introduction
(1) By a discourse drawn from the Scriptures the
spiritual weakness of the Christians, displayed in
this trial, may be overcome
II. Death is not to be feared but welcomed (2-19)
( 1 ) The plague is not an unexpected evil, for it was
prophesied as a sign of the coming of the king-
dom of God with its everlasting happiness (2-3)
(2) Life is a series of contests with the forces of the
devil; death is release from these cares (4-5)
(3) Reluctance to die shows a love of worldly joys
and little confidence in Scripture or the provi-
dence of God (6-7)
(4) By bearing the plague with resignation a Chris-
tian will store up merit for himself (8-19)
(a) The affliction of Christians as well as pagans
benefits the former by testing their faith
(8-13) _
(b) The pains and results of the disease have a
salutary effect on the Christians, for they
free the latter from the world or prepare
them for glory to come (14-16)
(c) The loss of martyrdom should not cause
concern; obedience and resignation to God's
will are requisite for heaven (17-19)
III. There should be no mourning for the dead (20-24)
(1) Mourning reveals a lack of confidence in the
promises of God (20-24)
198 SAINT CYPRIAN
IV. Conclusion (25-26)
( 1 ) Death, from the plague brings an earlier release
from the world (25)
(2) Consider the joys of paradise.
The symptoms and effects of the plague are graphically
described by Cyprian, yet it cannot be definitely identified
with any of the great pestilences known to modern times.
Its demoralizing effects on the populace (cf. Eusebius 7.22)
are corroborated by Pontius and Dionysius who were eye-
witnesses; they furnish precious information on the practical
application of the principles of Christian charity at that time,
even though these sources give no details as to the existence
of formal Christian organization for this purpose.
Throughout this work Cyprian gives evidence of the warm
sympathy and charity which aroused the admiration of St.
Augustine (De doctrina Christiana 4.31) . Vigorous and direct
in his approach to practical problems he encouraged and
strengthened his flock by his philosophy of Christian Stoicism.
The text used in this translation is that of W. von Hartel
in the Vienna Corpus (3.1.297-314). In the Scriptural pas-
sages the Challoner revision of the Rheims-Douay translation
of the Bible is used wherever it corresponds with the text used
by Cyprian.
MORTALITY
Chapter 1
Although in most of you, beloved brethren, there is a re-
solute mind and a firm faith and a devout spirit, which is not
disturbed at the numbers in the present mortality, 1 but like
a strong and unmoving rock breaks rather the turbulent
attacks of the world and the violent waves of the age and
is itself not broken, and is not vanquished but tried by tempt-
ations, yet because I observe that among the people, some
either through weakness of spirit, or littleness of faith, or
the charm of life in the world, or weakness of sex, or, what
is worse, because of a wandering from the truth, are standing
less firmly and are not revealing the divine and invincible
strength of their hearts, the matter must not be ignored or
passed over in silence, but, so far as our weak power suffices,
with full strength, and with a discourse drawn from the
Lord's text, the cowardice of a luxury-loving mind must be
checked and one who has already begun to be a man of
God and Christ must be considered worthy of God and
Christ.
1 The word mortalitas is found only rarely in classical Latin, where it
has the meaning of death (Cicero, De natura deorum 1.10JJ6) . In
this treatise Cyprian uses it in a new sense to indicate the plague
(Mori. 8.15-17) . However, it here denotes the death, rate, as in
Chronogr. (Mommsen 648.2) .
199
200 SAINT CYPRIAN
Chapter 2
For, beloved brethren, he who serves as a soldier of God,
who, being stationed in the camp of heaven, already hopes
for the divine things, ought to recognize himself, so that we
should have no fear, no dread at the storms and whirlwinds
of the world, since the Lord predicted that these things
would come through the exhortation of His provident voice,
instructing and teaching and preparing and strengthening
the people of His church to all endurance of things to come.
He foretold and prophesied that wars and famine and earth-
quakes and pestilence would arise in the various places, and,
that an unexpected and new fear of destructive agencies
might not shake us, He forewarned that adversity would in-
crease more and more in the last times. Behold the things
which were spoken of are coming to pass, and since the
things which were foretold are coming to pass, there will
follow also whatsoever were promised, as the Lord Himself
promises, saying: 'When you shall see these things come to
pass, know that the kingdom of God is at hand. 51 The king-
dom of God, beloved brethren, has begun to be at hand;
the reward of life and the joy of eternal salvation and per-
petual happiness and the possession of paradise once lost are
now coming with the passing of the world; 2 now the things
of heaven are succeeding those of earth, and great things
small, and eternal things, transitory. What place is there here
for anxiety and worry? Who in the midst of these things is
1 Cf. Luke 21.31.
2 From the time of the fall of Jerusalem early Christian writers felt
that the end of the world was approaching. Cyprian shared this view
and gave frequent expression to it in his writings, (cf. Demetr 5.23-
Fort. 1; Epist. 58.1). *
MORTALITY 201
fearful and sad save he who lacks hope and faith? For it
is for him to fear death who is unwilling to go to Christ.
It is for him to be unwilling to go to Christ who does not
believe that he is beginning to reign with Christ.
Chapter 3
It is written that c the just man livcth by faith. 31 If you are
a just man and live by faith, if you truly believe [in God],
why do you, who are destined to be with Christ and secure
in the promise of the Lord, not rejoice that you are called
to Christ and be glad that you are free from the devil?
Finally, Simeon, the just man who was truly just, who with
full faith kept the commandments of God, when the answer
had been given him from heaven that he would not die
before he had seen Christ, and when Christ as an infant had
come into the temple with His mother, knew in spirit that
Christ was now born, concerning whom it had been foretold
to him before, and on seeing Him he knew that he himself
would quickly die. Happy, therefore, at the death that was
now at hand and untroubled at the approaching summons,
he took the child into his hands and blessing God, he cried
out and said: 'Now thou dost dismiss thy servant, O Lord,
according to thy word in peace, because my eyes have seen
thy salvation,' 2 proving surely and bearing witness that then
do the servants of God have peace, then do they have a free,
then a tranquil repose, when we on being released from the
storms of the world have sought the harbor of our abode
and eternal security, when on this death being accomplished
1 Rom. 1.17.
2 Luke 2.29.
202 SAINT CYPRIAN
we have to come to immortality. For that is our peace, that
our sure tranquility, that our steadfast and firm and ever-
lasting security.
Chapter 4
For the rest, what else is waged daily in the world but a
battle against the devil, but a struggle with continual onsets
against his darts and weapons? With avarice, with lewdness,
with anger, with ambition, we have a conflict; with the vices
of the flesh, with the allurements of the world, we have a
continual and stubborn fight. The mind of man besieged and
surrounded on all sides by the assault of the devil with
difficulty opposes these foes one by one, with difficulty
resists them. If avarice is cast to the ground, lust springs
up; if lust is put down, ambition takes its place; if
ambition is disdained, anger provokes, pride puffs up, drunk-
enness invites, envy destroys harmony, jealousy severs friend-
ships. You are forced to curse, which the divine law prohibits;
you are compelled to swear, which is forbidden.
Chapter 5
So many persecutions the mind endures daily, by so many
dangers is the heart beset. And does it delight to remain here
long, amidst the devil's weapons, when we should rather earn-
estly desire and wish to hasten to Christ aided by a death
coming more speedily, since He Himself instructs us, saying:
'Amen, amen, I say to you, that you shall lament and weep,
but the world shall rejoice: you shall be sorrowful but your
MORTALITY 203
sorrow shall come into joy?' 1 Who would not long to be free
from sorrow? Who would not hurry to come to joy? Now
when our sorrow will come to joy, our Lord Himself again
tells us, saying: I will see you again, and your heart shall
rejoice; and your joy no man shall take from you.' 2 Since,
then, to see Christ is to rejoice, and since none of us can have
joy unless he shall see Christ, what blindness or what madness
it is to love the afflictions and punishments and tears of the
world and not rather to hurry to the joy which can never
be taken from us.
Chapter 6
But this happens, beloved brethren, because faith is lacking,
because no one believes those things to be true which God
promises, who is truthful and whose word is eternal and
steadfast to those who believe. If an influential and reputable
man were to promise you something, you would have con-
fidence in his promise and you would not believe that you
would be deceived or cheated by the man who you knew
stood by his words and actions. God is speaking to you, and
do you waver faithless in your unbelieving mind? God prom-
ises immortality and eternity to you leaving this world, and
do you doubt? This is not to know God at all. This is to
offend Christ, the Teacher of believing, by the sin of disbelief.
This is, though one is in the Church, not to have faith in
the House of Faith.
1 John 1630.
2 John 16.22.
204 SAINT CYPRIAN
Chapter 7
What an advantage It is to depart from the world Christ
Himself the teacher of our salvation and welfare makes mani-
fest, who, when His disciples were sorrowful because He
said that He was now about to go away, spoke to them
saying: c lf you loved me you would indeed be glad, because
I go to the Father,' 1 thus teaching and showing that there
should be rejoicing rather than sorrowing when the dear
ones whom we love depart from the world. And mindful of
this fact, the blessed Apostle Paul sets this down in his Epistle
and says: Tor to me to live is Christ; and to die is gain/ 2
counting it the greatest gain to be no longer held by the
snares of the world, to be no longer subject to any sins and
faults of the flesh, but, released from tormenting afflictions
and freed from the poisoned jaws of the devil, to set out,
at Christ's summons, for the joy of eternal salvation.
Chapter 8
Now it troubles some that the infirmity of this disease carries
off our people equally with the pagans, as if a Christian
believes to this end, that, free from contact with evils, he
may happily enjoy the world and this life, and, without
having endured all adversities here, may be preserved for
future happiness. It troubles some that we have this mortality
in common with others. But what in this world do we not
have in common with others as long as this flesh, in ac-
cordance with the law of our original birth, still remains
1 John 1458.
2 Phil. m.
MORTALITY 205
common to us? As long as we are here in the world we are
united with the human race in equality of the flesh, we are
separated in spirit. And so, until this corruptible element puts
on incorruptibility and this mortal element receives immor-
tality and the spirit conducts us to God the Father, the dis-
advantages of the flesh, whatever they are, we have in com-
mon with the human race. Thus when the earth is barren
with scanty production famine excepts no one; thus when
a city has been taken by a hostile attack, bondage ruins aH
its inhabitants together; and when clear skies keep back the
rain there is the one drought for all; and when craggy rocks
destroy a ship the shipwreck is common to all on board with-
out exception; and eye trouble and attacks of fevers and every
ailment of the members we have in common with others as
long as this common flesh is borne in the world.
Chapter 9
Nay, rather, if the Christian recognizes and understands
under what condition, under what law he has believed, he
will know that he must labor more in the world than others,
as he must carry on a greater struggle against the assault of
the devil. Divine Scripture teaches and forewarns, saying:
'Son, when thus comest to the service of God, stand in justice,
and in fear, and prepare thyself for temptation,' 1 and again:
*in thy sorrow endure, and in thy humiliation keep patience,
for gold and silver are tried in the fire/ 2
1 Eccli. 2.1.
2 Eccli. 2.4,5.
206 SAINT CYPRIAN
Chapter 10
Thus Job, after the losses of his property, after the deaths
of his children, and after being grievously tormented also by
ulcers and worms, was not vanquished but was tried, who,
showing the patience of his devout mind in the very midst
of his afflictions and sufferings says: 'Naked came I out of
of my mother's womb, and naked also shall I go under the
earth; the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; as
It seemeth best to the Lord so is it done: blessed be the
name of the Lord.' 1 And when his wife also urged him in
impatience at the severity of Ms suffering to utter something
against God in complaining and hateful language, he
answered and said: 'Thou hast spoken like one of the foolish
women: if we have received good things at the hand of God
shall we not endure the evil? In all these things which befell
him Job sinned not by his lips in the sight of the Lord. 52
And, therefore, the Lord God bears witness to him, saying:
'Hast thou noticed my servant Job? there is no one like him
in the earth, a man without complaint, truthful and serving
God. 33 And Tobias, after his splendid works, after the many
glorious commendations of his mercy, having suffered blind-
ness of the eyes, fearing and blessing God in his adversity,
by that very affliction of his body increased in praise. And
him also his wife tried to corrupt, saying: 'Where are your
acts of clemency? Behold what you are suffering!' 4 But he
steadfast and firm in his fear of God and armed for all en-
1 Cf. Job. UL
2 Job. 2.10.
3 Job, 1.8. Sabatier notes that this reading occurs also in St. Augustine.
4 Tob. 2.14(16). Cyprian's quotation of this passage is similar to the
Greek.
MORTALITY 207
durance of suffering by the faith of his religion did not yield
in his affliction to the temptations of his weak wife, but de-
served more of God through his greater patience. And after-
wards the angel Raphael praises him and says: 'It is honor-
able to reveal and confess the works of God. For when
Sarra and I prayed I offered the memory of your prayer
before the splendor of God: and because you buried the
dead, likewise, and because you did not hesitate to rise and
leave your dinner and you went and buried the dead, I was
sent even to tempt you. And again, God sent me to cure
you and Sarra your daughter-in-law: for I am Raphael one
of the seven holy angels who stand and serve before the
splendor of God/ 5
Chapter 11
This endurance the just have always had; this discipline
the apostles maintained from the law of the Lord, not to
murmur in adversity, but to accept bravely and patiently
whatever happens in the world, since the Jewish people al-
ways offended in this, that they murmured very frequently
against God, as the Lord God testifies In Numbers, saying:
'Let their murmuring cease from me and they shall not die.* 1
We must not murmur in adversity, beloved brethren, but
must patiently and bravely bear with whatever happens, since
it is written: C A contrite and humble heart God does not
despise. 32 In Deuteronomy also the Holy Spirit through Moses
admonishes us, saying: The Lord God shall afflict thee and
5 Tob. 12,11-15.
1 Num. 17.25 (10) .
2 Ps. 50.19.
208 SAINT CYPRIAN
cast famine on thee and shall examine in thy heart if thou
hast kept his precepts well or not/ 3 and again: 'The Lord
your God tempts you to know if you love the Lord your
God with your whole heart and with your whole mind,' 4
Chapter 12
Thus Abraham pleased God because, in order to please
God, he neither feared to lose his son nor refused to commit
parricide. You cannot lose your son by the law and the chance
of mortality, what would you do if you were ordered to kill
your son? The fear of God and faith ought to make you
ready for all things. Though it should be the loss of private
property, though it should be the constant and violent afflic-
tion of the members by wasting diseases, though it should be
the mournful and sorrowful tearing away from wife, from
children, from departing dear ones, let not such things be
stumbling blocks for you, but battles; nor let them weaken
or crash the faith of the Christian, but rather let them reveal
his valor in the contest, since every injury arising from present
evils should be made light of through confidence in the bless-
ings to come. Unless a battle has gone before there cannot
be a victory; when a victory has been won in the conflict
of battle, then a crown also is given to the victors. The pilot
is recognized in the storm, in the battle-line the soldier is
tested. Light is the boast when there is no danger; conflict
in adversity is the trial of truth. The tree which is firmly
held by a deep root is not shaken by onrushing winds, and
the ship which has been framed with strong joints is beaten
3 Dent. 8.2.
4 Deut. 13.3.
MORTALITY 209
by the waves but is not staved in; and when the threshing
floor treads out the harvest the strong hard grain scorn the
winds; the empty straw is whirled and carried away by the
breeze.
Chapter 13
Thus also the Apostle Paul, after shipwrecks, alter scourg-
ings, after many grievous tortures of the flesh and body,
says that he was not harassed but was corrected by adversity,
in order that while he was the more heavily afflicted he
might the more truly be tried. There was given to me, he
says, a sting of my flesh, an angel of Satan, to buffet me
lest I be exalted. For which thing thrice I besought the Lord,
that it might depart from me. And He said to me: 'My
grace is sufficient for thee: for power is made perfect in in-
firmity.' 1 When, therefore, some infirmity and weakness and
desolation attacks us, then is our power made perfect, then
our faith is crowned, if though tempted it has stood firm, as
it is written : 'The furnace trieth the potter's vessels, and the
trial of affliction just men.' 2 This finally is the difference
between us and the others who do not know God, that they
complain and murmur in adversity, while adversity does not
turn us from the truth of virtue and faith, but proves us in
suffering.
1 2 Cor. 12.7-9.
2 Eccli. 27,5 (6) .
210 SAINT CYPRIAN
Chapter 14
That now the bowels loosened into a flux exhaust the
strength of the body, that a fever contracted in the very
marrow of the bones breaks out into ulcers of the throat,
that the intestines are shaken by continual vomiting, that
the blood-shot eyes burn, that the feet of some or certain
parts of their members are cut away by the infection of
diseased putrefaction, that, by a weakness developing through
the losses and injuries of the body, either the gait is en-
feebled, or the hearing impaired, or the sight blinded, all
this contributes to the proof of faith.' 1 What greatness of
soul it is to fight with the powers of the mind unshaken
against so many attacks of devastation and death, what sub-
limity to stand erect amidst the ruins of the human race
and not to lie prostrate with those who have no hope in
God, and to rejoice rather and embrace the gift of the oc-
casion, which, while we are firmly expressing our faith, and
having endured sufferings, are advancing to Christ by the
narrow way of Christ, we should receive as the reward of
His way and faith, He himself being our judge! Let him
certainly be afraid to die who, not having been reborn of
water and the spirit is delivered up to the fires of hell. Let
him be afraid to die who is not listed under the cross and
passion of Christ. Let him be afraid to die who will pass
from this death to a second death. Let him be afraid to die
whom, on departing from the world, the eternal flame will
torment with everlasting punishments. Let him be afraid to
die to whom this is granted by a longer delay, that his tor-
tures and groans meanwhile may be deferred.
1 Despite this vivid description of the effects of the plague, the plague
itself cannot be definitely identified with any of the great pestilences
known to modern times.
MORTALITY 211
Chapter 15
Many of us are dying in this mortality, that is many of us
are being freed from the world. This mortality is a bane to
the Jews and pagans and enemies of Christ; to the servants
of God it is a salutary departure. As to the fact that, with-
out any discrimination in the human race, the just also are
dying with the unjust, it is not for you to think that the
destruction is a common one for both the evil and the good.
The just are called to refreshment, the unjust are carried off
to torture; protection is more quickly given to the faithful;
punishment to the faithless. We are improvident, beloved
brethren, and ungrateful for divine favors and we do not
recognize what is being granted us. Behold the virgins are
departing in peace, going safely with their glory, not fearing
the threats of the antichrist and his corruptions and his
brothels. Boys are escaping the danger of their unsettled age;
they are coming happily to the reward of their continency
and innocence. No longer does the delicate matron dread
the racks, having by a speedy death gained escape from the
fear of persecution and the hands and tortures of the hang-
man. Through their panic at the mortality and the occasion
the fearful are aroused, the negligent are contrained, the
slothful are stimulated, the deserters are compelled to return,
the pagans are forced to believe, the old members of the
faithful are called to rest, for the battle a fresh and numerous
army of greater strength is being gathered, which, entering
service in the time of the mortality, will fight without fear
of death when the battle comes.
212 SAINT CYPRIAN
Chapter 16
What a significance, beloved brethren, all this has! How
suitable, how necessary it is that this plague and pestilence,
which seems horrible and deadly, searches out the justice of
each and every one and examines the minds of the human
race; whether the well care for the sick, whether relatives
dutifully love their kinsmen as they should, whether masters
show compassion to their ailing slaves, whether physicians do
not desert the afflicted begging their help, whether the violent
repress their violence, whether the greedy, even through the
fear of death, quench the ever insatiable fire of their raging
avarice, whether the proud bend their necks, whether the
shameless soften their affrontry, whether the rich, even when
their dear ones are perishing and they are about to die with-
out heirs, bestow and give something! Although this mortal-
ity has contributed nothing else, it has especially accomplished
this for Christians and servants of God, that we have begun
gladly to seek martyrdom while we are learning not to fear
death. These are trying exercises for us, not deaths; they
give to the mind the glory of fortitude; by contempt of death
they prepare for the crown. 1
Chapter 17
But perhaps someone may object and say: 'Now in the
present mortality this is a source of sorrow to me that I who
had been prepared for confession and had dedicated myself
with my whole heart and with all my courage to the endur-
2 This picture of conditions in Carthage during the plague is repeated
by Cyprian in Demetr. 10, and by Pontius, Vita 9.
MORTALITY 213
ance of suffering, am deprived of my martyrdom, 1 since I
am being forestalled by death.' In the first place, martyrdom
is not in your power but in the giving of God, and you
cannot say that you have lost what you do not know whether
you deserved to receive. Then, secondly, God is a searcher
of the reins and heart and the observer and judge of hidden
things; He sees and praises and approves you. And He who
perceives that your virtue ready will give a reward for virtue.
Had Gain already killed his brother when he was offering
his gift to God? And yet God in His foresight condemned
beforehand the murder contemplated in his mind. Just as
in that instance the evil thought and pernicious design was
foreseen by a provident God, so also in the case of the
servants of God among whom confession is contemplated and
martyrdom is conceived in the mind, the intention dedicated
to good is crowned, with God as judge. It is one thing for the
intention to be lacking for martyrdom; it is another thing
for martyrdom to have been lacking for the intention. Such
as the Lord finds you when He summons, such likewise also
does He judge you, since He himself bears witness and says:
'and all the churches shall know that I am the searcher of
reins and heart.' 2 For God does not ask for our blood but
our faith; for neither Abraham nor Isaac nor Jacob was put
to death, but, nevertheless, honored for the merits of their
faith and righteousness, they have deserved to be first among
the patriarchs, and to their feast is gathered whosoever is
found faithful and just and praiseworthy.
1 Cf. Epist. 105 and 12.1 for similar expressions of comfort for those
who had been denied martyrdom.
2 Apoc, 2.23.
214 SAINT CYPRIAN
Chapter 18
We should remember that we ought to do not our will but
God's will, in accordance with the prayer which the Lord
has ordered us to say daily. How absurd it is and how per-
verse that, while we ask that the will of God be done, when
God calls us and summons us from this world, we do not
at once obey the command of His will! We struggle in op-
position and resist and in the manner of obstinate slaves we
are brought with sadness and grief to the sight of God, de-
parting from here under the bond of necessity, not in obe-
dience to our will, and we wish to be honored with the
rewards of heaven by Him to whom we are coming unwilling.
Why then do we pray and entreat that the kingdom of
heaven may come, if earthly captivity delights us? Why in
our often repeated prayers do we ask and beseech that the
day of His kingdom may come quickly, if there are greater
longings and stronger desires to serve the devil here than
to reign with Christ?
Chapter 19
Finally, in order that the signs of divine providence might
become more clearly manifest that the Lord, foreknowing the
future, looks to the true salvation of His own, when one of
our colleagues and fellow priests, exhausted by illness and
alarmed in the face of approaching death, prayed for a respite
for himself, there stood beside him, as he prayed and was
now almost dying, a young man venerable in honor and
majesty, noble in stature, shining in aspect, and upon whom
as he stood before it the human sight could scarcely look
MORTALITY 215
with the eyes of the flesh, except that on the point of depart-
ing from the world it could already regard such a one. And
he, not without a certain indignation of mind and voice,
spoke angrily and said: 'You are afraid to suffer, you do
not wish to depart, what shall I do with you? 5 the voice
of one rebuking and warning, who, anxious at the thought
of presecution but untroubled at the summons of death, does
not yield to the present longing but looks to the future. Our
brother and colleague who was about to die heard what he
was to say to others. For he who heard this at the point of
death heard it to the end that he should say it; he did not
hear it for himself, but for us. For what could he learn now
as he was about to depart? Nay rather he learned it for us
who remain that, through knowing that the priest who
prayed for a respite was rebuked, we might know what is
of benefit to all.
Chapter 20
How often it has been revealed to us ourself also, the least
and the last, how frequently and manifestly have I been com-
manded, through God's vouchsaving, that I should bear
witness constantly, that I should preach publicly that our
brethren who have been freed from the world by the sum-
mons of the Lord should not be mourned, since we know
that they are not lost but sent before; that in departing they
lead the way; that as travellers, as voyagers are wont to be,
they should be longed for, not lamented; and that dark
clothing should not be worn here, inasmuch as they have
already assumed white garments there; and that no occasion
should be given to the pagans to censure us deservedly and
justly, on the ground that we grieve for those who we say
216 SAINT CYPRIAN
are living with God, as if entirely destroyed and lost, and
that we do not show by the testimony of the heart and breast
the faith which we declare in speech and word! We are
prevaricators of our hope and faith, if what we say seems
pretended, feigned, falsified. It profits nothing to show forth
virtue in words and destroy truth in deeds.
Chapter 21
Finally, the Apostle Paul censures, rebukes, and blames
any who are sorrowful at the death of their dear ones. c We
will not,' he says, 'have you ignorant, brethren, concerning
them that are asleep, that you be not sorrowful, even as
others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died,
and rose again; even so them who have slept through Jesus,
will God bring with him. 31 He says that they are sorrowful at
the death of their dear ones who have no hope. But we who
live in hope and believe in God and have faith that Christ
suffered for us and rose again, abiding in Christ and rising
again through Him and in Him, why are we ourselves either
unwilling to depart hence from this world, or why do we
mourn and grieve for our departing ones as if they were
lost, since Christ our Lord and our God himself admonishes
us and says: C I am the resurrection: he that believeth in
me, although he be dead, shall live: And everyone that
liveth and believeth in me, shall not die forever'? 2 If we
believe in Christ let us have faith in His words and promises,
that we who are not to die forever may come in joyful security
to Christ with whom we are to conquer and reign for eternity.
1 Thess. 4.13.
2 John 11.25.
MORTALITY 217
Chapter 22
As to the fact that meanwhile we die, we pass by death
to immortality, nor can eternal life succeed unless it has be-
fallen us to depart from here. This is not an end, but a
passage and, the journey of time being traversed, a crossing
over to eternity. We would not hasten to better things? Who
would not pray to be more quickly changed and reformed
to the image of Christ and to the dignity of heavenly grace,
since the Apostle Paul declares: But our conversation, he
says, is in heaven: from whence also we look for the Lord
Jesus Christ, who will reform the body of our lowness, made
like to the body of his glory? 1 Christ the Lord also promises
that we shall be such, since He prays to His Father for us
that we may be with Him and may rejoice with Him in the
eternal abodes and heavenly kingdom saying: Father, I will
that where I am, they also to whom thou has given me may
be with me and may see my glory which thou hast given
me before the world was made. He who is to come to the
abode of Christ, to the glory of the heavenly kingdom, ought
not to grieve and mourn, but rather, in accordance with the
promise of the Lord, in accordance with faith in the truth^
to rejoice in this his departure and translation.
Chapter 23
Thus, finally, we find that Enoch also, who pleased God,
was transported, as divine Scripture testifies in Genesis and
says: 'And Enoch pleased God and was not seen later because
1 Phil. 3.20,21.
218 SAINT CYPRIAN
God took him. Jl This was to have been pleasing in the sight
of God: to have merited being transported from this con-
tagion of the world. But the Holy Spirit teaches also through
Solomon that those who please God are taken from here
earlier and more quickly set free, lest, while they are tarrying
too long in this world, they be defiled by contacts with the
world, 'He was taken away lest wickedness should deter his
understanding, for his soul pleased God; therefore he hastened
to bring him out of the midst of iniquity.' 2 Thus also in the
psalms the soul devoted to its God in spiritual faith hastens
to God, as it is written: 'How lovely are thy dwellings, O
God of hosts. My soul longs for and hastens to the courts
of God. 33
Chapter 24
It is for him to wish to remain long in the world whom
the world delights, whom the world allures by blandishing
and deceiving with the enticements of worldly pleasure.
Furthermore, since the world hates a Christian, why do you
love that which hates you and not rather follow Christ who
has redeemed and loves you? John in his Epistle cries out and
tells us and exhorts us, lest in our pursuit of carnal pleasures
we should love the world. 'Love not the world, 3 he says,
'nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the
world, the charity of the Father is not in him. For all that
is in the world is the concupiscence of the flesh and the con-
cupiscence of the eyes and the ambition of the world, which
is not of the Father but is of the concupiscence of the world.
1 Gen. 5.24.
2 Wisd, 4.11.
3 John 2.15,
MORTALITY 219
And the world will pass away, and the concupiscence thereof;
but he that does the will of God abideth forever even as
God also abideth forever.' 1 Rather, beloved brethren, with
sound mind, with firm faith, with rugged virtue, let us be
ready for every manifestation of God's will; freed from the
terror of death, let us think of the immortality which follows.
Let us show that this is what we believe, so that we may not
mourn the death even of our dear ones and, when the day
of our own summons comes, without hesitation but with
gladness we may come to the Lord at His call.
Chapter 25
While the servants of God have always had to do this, they
ought to do it all the more quickly, now with the world falling
and oppressed by the storms of attacking evils, so that we who
perceive that grievous things have already begun and know
that more grievous things are imminent should count it the
greatest gain if we should speedily depart from here. If the
walls of your house were tottering from decay, if the roof
above were shaking, if the house now worn out, now weary,
were threatening imminent ruin with its framework collapsing
through age, would you not leave with all speed? If, while
you were sailing, a wind and furious storm with waves
violently agitated were presaging future shipwreck, would you
not more quickly seek port? Behold, the world is tottering and
collapsing and is bearing witness to its ruin, not now through
age, but through the end of things; 1 and you are not thanking
God, you are not congratulating yourself that, rescued by
an earlier departure, you are being freed from ruin and
shipwrecks and threatening disasters!
1 Cf. Mort. 2.
220 SAINT CYPRIAN
Chapter 26
We should consider, beloved brethren, and we should re-
flect constantly that we have renounced the world and as
strangers and foreigners we sojourn here for a time. Let us
embrace the day which assigns each of us to his dwelling,
which on our being rescued from here and released from the
snares of the world, restores us to paradise and the kingdom.
What man, after having been abroad, would not hasten to
return to his native land? Who, when hurrying to sail to his
family, would not more eagerly long for a favorable wind
that he might more quickly embrace his dear ones? We
account paradise our country, we have already begun to look
upon the patriarchs as our parents. Why do we not hasten
and run, so that we can see our country, so that we can
greet our parents? A great number of our dear ones there
await us, parents, brothers, children; a dense and copious
throng longs for us, already secure in their safety but still
anxious for our salvation. How great a joy it is both for
them and for us in common to come into their sight and
embrace ! What pleasure there in the heavenly kingdom with-
out fear of death, and with an eternity of life the highest
possible and everlasting happiness; there the glorious choir
of apostles, there the throng of exultant prophets, there the
innumerable multitude of martyrs wearing crowns on account
of the glory and victory of their struggle and passion, trium-
phant virgins who have subdued the concupiscence of the
flesh and body by the strength of their continency, the merci-
ful enjoying their reward who have performed works of justice
by giving food and alms to the poor, who in observing the
precepts of the Lord have transferred their earthly patrimony
to the treasuries of heaven ! To these, beloved brethren, let us
MORTALITY 221
hasten with eager longing! let us pray that it may befall us
speedily to be with them, speedily to come to Christ. May
God see this our purpose. May Christ look upon this resolu-
tion of our mind and faith, who will give more ample rewards
of His charity to those whose longings for Him have been
greater.
WORKS
AND ALMSGIVING
Translated by
ROY J. DEFERRARI, Ph..D.
The Catholic University of America
WORKS AND ALMSGIVING
JHE TREATISE on Works and Almsgiving, like that on
Mortality, owes its origin to the pestilence which
raged in Carthage and its vicinity, especially from
252 to 254, and they both appeared at about the same time.
It is an exhortation to efficacious charity towards our neigh-
bor. Many people had been impoverished and left destitute
by the devastating plague. Here was an opportunity for
Christian charity to help the needy, the sick, and the dying.
Cyprian develops the idea that the giving of alms is not
only a duty for the Christian but also an advantage as a
principle to sanctification and a leaven to divine favor. If
through human weakness and frailty man has fallen into sin
after baptism, almsgiving has been provided for securing
salvation a second time. He supports his idea by examples
and declarations taken from holy Scripture. The current
maxims on the inconveniences of too great liberality are
brushed aside. The ideal way of life for the Christian is that
of the first community of Christians whereby, according to
the Acts of Apostles, all shared whatever they possessed with
one another, and all desired to possess nothing except what
they had in common.
225
WORKS AND ALMSGIVING
Chapter 1
| ANY AND GREAT,, most beloved brethren, are the divine
blessings by which the abundant and copious clem-
ency of God the Father and of Christ has both
worked and is always working for our salvation, because the
Father has sent His son to preserve us and to quicken us that
He might be able to restore us, and because the son wished
to be sent and to be called the son of man that He might
make us the sons of God. He humbled Himself that He might
raise up the people who before were prostrate; He was
wounded that He might cure our wounds; He served that
He might draw those served away to liberty. He underwent
death that He might hold forth immortality to mortals. These
are the many and great gifts of divine mercy. But still further,
what providence and what great clemency that is, that we
are provided for by a plan of salvation so that more abundant
care is taken for man's salvation who has already been re-
deemed ! For when the Lord had come and healed the wounds
which Adam had borne and had cured the old poisons of
the serpent, He gave him when made whole a law not to
sin anymore lest something more serious happen to him in
his sinning. We were restricted and shut within a narrow
limit by the prescription of innocence. And the infirmity of
227
228 SAINT CYPRIAN
human frailty would have no resource nor accomplish any-
thing, unless again divine goodness came to the rescue and by
pointing out the works of justice and mercy opened a way
to safeguard salvation, so that by almsgiving we may wash
away whatever pollutions we later contract. 1
Chapter 2
The Holy Spirit speaks in the Scriptures, saying: 'By alms
and by faith sins are cleansed.' 1 Surely not those sins which
had been contracted before, for they are purged by the blood
and sanctification of Christ. Likewise again he says: 'As water
quenches fire, so do alms quench sin. 32 Here also it is shown
and proved that just as with laver of the waters of salvation
the fire of Gehenna is extinguished, so by almsgiving and
good works the flame of sins is quenched. And because the
remission of sins is once granted in baptism, constant and
continuous labor acting in the manner of baptism again
bestows the indulgences of God. This does the Lord also
teach in the Gospel. For when it was noted that His disci-
ples were eating without first having washed their hands,
He replied and said : c He who made the inside made also the
outside. Truly give alms, and behold all things are clean to
you,' 3 that is, teaching and showing that not the hands but
the heart ought to be washed and that the foulness within
1 By this time the reader must have noticed the beauty of Cyprian's
exordiums and perorations, the marks of an excellent orator.
1 Cf. Prov. 16.6.
2 Cf. EcdL 3.33.
3 Cf. Luke 11.40,41.
WORKS AND ALMSGIVING 229
rather than without ought to be taken away, but that he who
cleanses what is within has cleansed also what is without and
when the mind has been made clean he has begun to be
clean in skin and body. But furthermore advising and show-
ing how we can be pure and cleansed, He added that alms
must be given. The merciful One advises that mercy be
shown, and, because He seeks to save those whom He re-
deemed at a great price, He teaches that those who have
been polluted after the grace of baptism can be cleansed
again.
Chapter 3
So, most beloved brethren, let us acknowledge the saving
gift of divine indulgence by cleansing and purging our sins;
let us, who cannot be without some wound of conscience,
care for our wounds with spiritual remedies. Let no one so
flatter himself on his pure and immaculate heart that relying
on his innocence he think that medicine should not be applied
to his wounds, since it is written: c Who shall boast that he
has a pure heart or who shall boast that he is clean from
sins? 51 and since again John lays down and says in his Epistle:
c lf we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the
truth is not in us.' 2 But if no one can be without sin, and
whoever says that he is without fault is either proud or foolish,
how necessary, how kind is the divine clemency which, since
it knows that certain later wounds are not lacking to those
already healed, gave salutary remedies for the care and heal-
ing of the wounds anew.
1 Cf. Prov. 20.9.
2 I John 1.8,9,
230 SAINT CYPRIAN
Chapter 4
Finally, most beloved brethren, never has the divine ad-
monition failed and been silent in the Old as well as the
New Testament in always and everywhere urging the people
of God to works of mercy., and, as the Holy Spirit prophesies
and exhorts, in ordering everyone, who is being instructed
unto hope of the heavenly kingdom, to practice almsgiving.
The God of Isaias commands and orders: c Cry out in
strength,' he says, 'and spare not; lift up thy voices as with
a trumpet; announce to my people their sins, and to the
house of Jacob their crimes.' 1 And when He had ordered
their sins to be charged upon them and when He had set
forth their iniquities with the full force of His indignation,
and had said that they could not make satisfaction for their
sins, not even if they resorted to prayers, nor even if they
rolled in sackcloth and ashes could they soften God's anger,
yet in the last part showing that God can be placated by
almsgiving alone, he added saying: 'Break thy bread with
the hungry and bring into thy house those who lack a roof.
If you see one naked, clothe him, and thou shalt not despise
the offspring of thy seed. Then shalt thy light break forth
seasonably, and thy garments shall speedily arise, and thy
justice shall go before thee and the brightness of God shall
surround thee. While you shall yet speak, He shall say 'Loj
here I am.* 2
1 Cf. Isa. 58.1.9.
2 a. Isa. 58.7,8.
WORKS AND ALMSGIVING 23 1
Chapter 5
The remedies for propitiating God have been given in the
words of God himself; divine instructions have taught that
God is satisfied by just works, that sins are cleansed by the
merits of mercy. And in Solomon we read: 'Shut up alms
in the heart of the poor, and it shall obtain help for thee
against aU evil.' 1 And again: 'He that stoppeth his ears lest
he hear the weak, shall himself call upon God, but there
will be none to hear him.' 2 For he will not be able to merit
the mercy of God who himself has not been merciful, nor
will gain any request from the divine love by his prayers,
who has not been humane toward the prayer of the poor.
This likewise the Holy Spirit declares in the Psalms and
proves, saying: 'Blessed is he who thinks of the needy and
the poor; the Lord will save him in the evil day: 33 Mindful
of these precepts Daniel, when king Nebuchodonosor being
frightened by an unfavorable dream was worried, gave a
remedy for averting evils by obtaining divine help, saying:
'Wherefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable to thee,
and redeem thy sins with alms, and thy iniquities with works
of mercy to the poor, and God will be patient with thy sins/ 4
When the king did not obey him, he suffered the misfortunes
and trouble which he had seen, which he might have escaped
and avoided, if he had redeemed his sins by alms-giving. The
angel Raphael also testifies likewise, and urges that alms-
giving be practiced freely and generously, saying: Trayer is
good with fasting and alms, for alms delivereth from death,
1 Ecdi. 29.15.
2 Prov. 21.13.
3 Ps. 40.2.
4 Ban. 4.24.
232 SAINT CYPRIAN
and itself purges away sins.' 5 He shows that our prayers and
fastings are of less avail, unless they are aided by almsgiving,
that entreaties alone are able to obtain little, unless they are
made sufficient by the addition of deeds and works. The
angel reveals and makes manifest and confirms that our peti-
tions are made efficacious by almsgiving; that by almsgiving
life is redeemed from dangers; that by almsgiving souls are
freed from death.
Chapter 6
Most beloved brethren, we do not so bring forth these
things, so as not to approve by the testimony of truth what
the angel Raphael said. In the Acts of the Apostles faith in
the fact is established, and it is discovered by the proof of the
accomplished and fulfilled fact that by almsgiving souls are
freed not only from the second but also from the first death.
When Tabitha who had been very much given to just works
and almsgiving fell sick and died, Peter was summoned to
the body of the lifeless one. And when he had come quickly
in accord with apostolic charity, there stood around him
widows weeping and beseeching, showing the cloaks and
tunics and all the garments which they had previously re-
ceived, and praying for the deceased not by their words but
by her own works. Peter felt that what was sought in this
way could be obtained and that Christ's help would not be
lacking the widows as they pleaded, since He Himself was
clothed in the clothing of widows. So when, falling on his
knees, he had prayed and as a proper advocate of the widows
and the poor had brought the prayers entrusted to him to
5 Cf. Tob. 12.8,9.
WORKS AND ALMSGIVING 233
the Lord, turning to the corpse which already washed lay on
the bier, he said: 'Tabitha, arise in the name of Jesus Christ. 31
Nor did He fail to bring aid to Peter at once, who had said
in His Gospel that whatever should be asked in His name
was granted. Therefore, death is suspended and the spirit
is restored and, as all marvelled and were amazed, the bodf
is revived and quickens for the light of this world anew. So
powerful were the merits of mercy, so much did just works
avail! She who had conferred upon suffering widows the
assistance for living deserved to be recalled to life by the
petition of widows.
Chapter 7
Thus in the Gospel the Lord, the Teacher of our life and
Master of eternal salvation, quickening the populace of be-
lievers, and providing for them forever when quickened,
among His divine mandates and heavenly precepts, com-
mands and prescribes nothing more frequently than that we
continue in almsgiving and not depend on earthly possessions
but rather lay up heavenly treasures, 'Sell/ He says, Tour
possessions, and give alms 5 ; 1 and again: c Do not lay up for
yourselves treasures on earth, where rust and moth consume,
and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves
treasures in heaven where neither rust nor moth consumes
and where thieves do not break in. For where thy treasure is,
there also will be thy heart.' 2 And when He wished to show
1 Cf, Acts. 9.40
1 Luke 12.33.
2 Matt. 6.19-21.
234 SAINT CYPRIAN
the man who had been made perfect and complete by the
observance of the law, He said: 'If you wish to be perfect,
go, sell all that you have, and give to the poor, and thou
shalt have treasure In heaven, and come follow me. 53 Like-
wise in another place He says^that a merchant of heavenly
grace and a purchaser of eternal salvation, after ridding
himself of all his possessions, ought to purchase from the
amount of his patrimony the precious pearl, that is eternal
life, precious by the blood of Christ. He says: 'The kingdom
of heaven is like a merchant seeking good pearls. When he
finds a pearl of great price, he goes and sells all that he has
and buys it.' 4
Chapter 8
Finally also He calls those sons of Abraham, whom He
perceives active in aiding and nourishing the poor. For when
Zachaeus said: 'Behold I give one-half of my possessions to
the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I
restore it four-fold/ Jesus replied: Today salvation has come
to this house, since he, too, is a son of Abraham.' 1 For if
Abraham believed in God, and it was accounted to him unto
righteousness, surely he who gives alms according to the
precept of God believes in God; and he who possesses the
truth of faith keeps the fear of God; moreover, he who keeps
the fear of God considers God in showing mercy to the poor.
For so he labors, because he believes in God, because he
knows that those things are true which have been predicted
3 Matt. I9.2L
4 Matt 13.45,46.
I Luke 19.8,9.
WORKS AND ALMSGIVING 235
in the words of God, and that holy Scripture cannot He,
that unfruitful trees, that is, sterile men, are cut off and
cast into the fire, that the merciful are called to the kingdom.
He also in another place calls the laborious and fruitful faith-
ful, but to the unfruitful and sterile he denies the faith, say-
ing: 'If in the wicked mammon you have not been faithful,
who will entrust to you what is true? And if in the case of
what belongs to another you have not been faithful, who
will give you what is your own? 3
Chapter 9
But you are afraid and you fear lest, if you begin to act
very generously, your patrimony come to an end because of
your generous action and you perchance be reduced to
penury; be undisturbed on this score, be secure. That can-
not be ended, whence expenditure is made in the service of
Christ, whence the heavenly work is celebrated. I do not
promise you on my own authority but I vouch for it on the
faith of holy Scriptures and on the authority of the divine
promise. The Holy Spirit speaks through Solomon and says:
*He that giveth to the poor shall never be in want; but he
that turns away his eyes shall be in great want/ 1 showing
that the merciful and those who do good can never be in
want, that rather the sparing and the sterile later come to
want. Likewise the blessed apostle Paul full of the grace of
the Lord's inspiration says: 'He who provides seed for the
sower, also will give bread to eat and will multiply your seed
2 Luke 19.11,12.
I Cf. Prov. 28.27.
236 SAINT CYPRIAN
and will Increase the growth of the fruits of your justice,
so that in all things you may be enriched.' 2 And again: 'The
administration of this service not only will supply what the
saints lack but will abound also through much action of
gratitude in the Lord/ 3 because, while the action of thanks
is directed to God by the prayer of the poor for our alms-
giving and good works, the wealth of him who does good
is increased by the retribution of God. And the Lord in the
Gospel, already considering the hearts of such men and de-
nouncing the faithless and unbelievers with prescient voice,
bears witness and says: 'Be not anxious, saying: 'What shall
we eat or what shall we drink or what shall we put on?' For
after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your Father knows
that you have need of all these things. But seek first the
kingdom and the justice of God, and all these things shall
be added to you. 34 He says that all things are added and
given over to those who seek the kingdom and the justice
of God; for the Lord says that, when the day of judgment
shall come they, who have labored in His Church, are ad-
mitted to receive the kingdom.
Chapter 10
Your fear lest your patrimony perchance fail you, if you
begin to do good generously from it, and you do not know,
wretched man that you are, that, while you are afraid lest
your personal wealth be failing, life Itself, and salvation fail,
and, while you are anxious lest any of your possessions be
2 Cf. 2 Cor. 9.10,11.
3 Cf. 2 Cor. 9.12.
4 Matt. 6.31-33,
WORKS AND ALMSGIVING 237
diminished, you do not take notice that you yourself, a lover
of mammon rather than of your soul, are being diminished,
and, while you are afraid lest for your own sake you lose
your patrimony, you yourself perish for the sake of your
patrimony. Therefore, the Apostle well exclaims, saying: 'We
brought nothing into this world, and we can take nothing
out. Therefore, having food and clothing, with these let us
be content. But those who seek to become rich fall into temp-
tation and a snare, and into many harmful desires which
plunge a man into destruction and damnation. For covetous-
ness is the root of all evils and some seeking wealth have
made shipwreck of their faith and have involved themselves
in many troubles.' 1
Chapter 11
Do you fear lest your patrimony perchance fail, if you
begin to act generously from it? For when did it happen
that resources could fail a just man, when it is written:
The Lord will not afflict the soul of the just with famine. 31
Elias in the desert is fed by ministering ravens, and a meal
is prepared in heaven for Daniel when he was inclosed in
a den of lions by order of the king; and you fear lest food
be lacking for you while you do good and deserve well of
the Lord, when He Himself in the Gospel bears witness for
a reproach of those of doubtful mind and little faith and
says: 'Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap a
or gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them.
l 1 Tim. 6.7-10.
1 Prov. 10.3.
238 SAINT CYPRIAN
Are not you of more value than they?' 2 God feeds the fowls,
and dally sustenance is furnished the sparrows, and to those
creatures who have no sense of things divine neither drink
nor food is lacking. Do you think that to a Christian, do
you think that to a servant of God, do you think that to
one devoted to good works, do you think that to one dear
to the Lord anything will be lacking?
Chapter 12
Unless you think that he who feeds Christ is not himself
fed by Christ, or that earthly things will be lacking to those
upon whom heavenly and divine things are bestowed, whence
this incredulous thinking, whence that impious and sacri-
legious contemplation? What is a faithless heart doing in a
home of faith? Why is he called and spoken of as Christian
who does not believe in Christ at all? The name of pharisee
is more befitting you. For when the Lord in the Gospel was
discoursing about almsgiving, and forewarned faithfully and
for our salvation that we should make friends for ourselves
of our earthly lucre by provident good works, the Scripture
added after this the following words: 'Now the Pharisees,
who were very fond of money, were listening to all these
things, and they were sneering at him/ 1 Certain persons like
these we now see in the Church, whose closed ears and
blinded hearts admit no light from the spiritual and saving
warnings, of whom we should not marvel that they contemn
the servant in his discourses, when we see that the Lord
Himself is contemned by such.
2 Matt. 6.26.
1 Luke 6.14.
WORKS AND ALMSGIVING 239
Chapter 13
Why do you give approbation to yourself with these empty
and foolish thoughts, as if you were withheld from good
works by fear and solicitude for the future? Why do you
hold forth certain shadows and illusions of a vain excuse?
By all means confess what is the truth, and, since you cannot
deceive those who know, set forth the hidden and secret
things of your mind. The shadows of sterility have besieged
your mind, and with the withdrawal from it of the light of
truth the deep and profound darkness of avarice has blinded
your carnal heart. You are the captive and slave of your
money; you are tied by the chains and bonds of avarice,
and you whom Christ had already freed are bound anew.
You save money which, when saved, does not save you;
you accumulate a patrimony which burdens you with its
weight; and you do not remember what God replied to the
rich man who boasts with foolish glee over the abundance
of his abounding harvest. 'Thou fool, 9 He said, 'this night
thy soul is demanded. Therefore, the things that thou hast
provided, whose will they be? 31 Why do you alone watch
over your riches? Why do you pile up the burden of your
patrimony, that the richer you have been in the sight of
the world, the poorer you may become in the sight of- God?
Divide your returns with your God; share your gains with
Christ; make Christ a partner in your earthly possessions,
that He also may make you co-heir of His heavenly kingdom.
1 Luke 12.20.
240 SAINT CYPRIAN
Chapter 14
You err and are deceived, whoever think yourself rich in
the world. Hear the voice of your Lord in the Apocalypse
as He rebukes such men with just reproaches. He says: 'You
say: "I am rich and have grown wealthy and I have need
of nothing," and you do not know that you are wretched
and poor and blind and naked. I counsel you to buy of me
gold refined by fire, that you may become rich, and that
you may put on a white garment, and that the shame of
your nakedness may not appear; and anoint your eyes with
eye-salve that you may see.' 1 You, therefore, who are wealthy
and rich buy for yourself from Christ gold that has been
tried by fire, that you can be pure gold, when your impurities
have been burnt out as if by fire, if you are cleansed by
almsgiving and just works. Buy for yourself a white garment,
that you, who according to Adam had been naked and were
before frightful and unseemly, may be clothed in the white
raiment of Christ. And you who are a rich and wealthy
matron annoint your eyes not with the stibium of the devil
but with the eye-salve of Christ, that you can come to see
God, when you merit God by character and good works.
Chapter 15
But you, who are such, cannot do good works in the
Church; for your eyes suffused with blackness and covered
with the shadows of night do not see the needy and the
poor. Do you, rich and wealthy, think that you celebrate
the Lord's Feast, who do not at all consider the offering,
I Cf, Apoc. 3.17,18.
WORKS AND ALMSGIVING 241
who come to the Lord's Feast without a sacrifice, who take
a part of the sacrifice which the poor man offered? Behold
in the Gospel the widow mindful of the heavenly precepts,
doing good in the very midst of the pressures and hardships
of poverty, casting two mites which were her only possessions
into the treasury; and when the Lord noticed and saw her,
considering and weighing her good work not as from a patri-
mony but as from the heart, He answered and said: Truly
I say to you that this widow has put more than all into the
offering for God. For all these out of their abundance have
put in as gifts to God, but she out of her want has put in
all that she had to live on. 31 A greatly blessed and glorious
woman, who even before the day of judgment merited to
be praised by the voice of the Judge. Let the rich man be
ashamed of his sterility and his misfortunes. A widow, that
is, a poor widow is found with an offering, and, although
all things that are given are conferred upon orphans and
widows, she gives who ought to receive, that we may know
what punishment awaits the rich man, when by this teaching
the poor also should do good. And that we may understand
that these works are given to God and that he, whoever
does these, deserves well of God, Christ calls this 'gifts of
God 5 and points out that the widow has placed two mites
among the gifts of God, that it can be more and more
manifest that he who pities the poor lends to God.
Chapter 16
Let not this fact, dearest brethren, restrain and recall the
Christian from good and just works, that anyone think that
1 Luke 21.5,4.
242 SAINT CYPRIAN
he can be excused for the benefit of his children, since in
spiritual contributions we should consider Christ who has
professed that He receives them and not prefer our fellow-
servants to our children but the Lord, for he instructs and
warns us, saying: 'He who loves father or mother more than
me is not worthy of me, and he who loves son or daughter
more than me is not worthy of me.' 1 Likewise in Deuteronomy
for the strengthening of the faith and the love of God, similar
things are written. He says: Those who say to their father
and mother: "I do not know you," and who have not known
their children, these have kept thy precepts and observed thy
covenant. 52 For if we love God with our whole heart, we
should prefer neither parents nor children to God. This also
John lays down in his Epistle, that there is no love of God
in those whom we see unwilling to do good to the poor. He
says: 'He who has the goods of this world and sees his
brother in need and closes his heart to him, how does the
love of God abide in him? 53 For if by almsgiving to the poor
God is made our debtor, and when it is given to the least
it is given to Christ, there is no reason for anyone preferring
earthly things to heavenly, nor placing human things before
divine.
Chapter 17
Thus when the widow in the third Book of Kings, after
all had been consumed in the drought and the famine, had
made a cake upon the ashes from the little meal and oil that
was left, and after this had been eaten was about to die
1 Matt. 10.37.
2 Deut 33.9.
3 1 John 3.17.
WORKS AND ALMSGIVING 243
with her children, EHas came and asked that there first be
given him to eat and that she with her children then eat
what was left of this. She did not hesitate to obey nor did
the mother put her children before Elias in the famine and
want. Rather, there is done in the sight of God what pleases
God; promptly and gladly what was sought is offered, and
a portion is not given out of the abundance but the whole
from a little, and another is fed before her hungry children,
and in poverty and hunger food is not considered before
mercy, so that while in a saving work life according to the
flesh is contemned the soul spiritually is preserved. Thus
Elias, playing the part of Christ, and showing that he returns
to each according to his mercy, replied and said: 'Thus saith
the Lord: the pot of meal shall not fail, nor the cruse of oil
diminish until the day wherein the Lord will give rain upon
the earth.' 1 According to her faith in the divine promise
what she promised was multiplied and heaped high for the
widow, and, as her just works and merits of mercy took on
growth and increase, her vessels of meal and oil were filled.
Nor did the mother deprive her children of what she gave
Elias, but rather she conferred upon her children what she
did kindly and piously. But she did not yet know Christ;
not yet had she heard his precepts; she did not, as one
redeemed by His cross and His passion, repay food and drink
for His blood, so that from this it is apparent how much he
sins in the world, who, placing himself and his children
before Christ, preserves his wealth, and does not share his
plentiful patrimony with the indigent poor.
1 3 Kings 17.14.
244 SAINT CYPRIAN
Chapter 18
But yet there are many children in the house, and the
number of offspring prevents you from applying yourself to
good works. Still by this very fact you ought the more to
do good works, since you are the father of many pledges.
There are more for whom you beseech the Lord; the sins
of many must be redeemed; the consciences of many must
be purged; the souls of many must be freed. As in this unholy
life the greater the number of your children the greater is
the expense for their nourishment and sustenance, so too in
the spiritual and heavenly life the greater the abundance of
your children, the greater also should be the outlay of good
works. Thus Job offered numerous sacrifices for his children,
and as great as was the number of pledges in his home, so
great a number of victims also was offered to God. And
since daily there cannot be lacking some sinning in the sight
of God, daily sacrifices were not lacking with which the
sins could be wiped away. Scripture proves this when it says:
'Job, a true and just man, had seven sons and three daughters,
and he cleansed them by offering for them sacrifices to God
according to their number, and for their sins one calf. 31 If
then you truly love your sons, if you show them the full and
paternal sweetness of love, you should do good works more
that you may commend your sons to God by your righteous
works.
1 Cf. Job. 1.2-5.
WORKS AND ALMSGIVING 245
Chapter 19
Do not consider him the father of your children who is
both temporary and weak, but obtain Him who is the eternal
and strong Father of spiritual children. Assign to Him your
wealth which you are keeping for your heirs; let Him be
your children's guardian, their caretaker, their protector
with his divine majesty against all worldly injuries. When
your patrimony is entrusted to God, the state does not seize
it, nor does the tax-collector assail it, nor any forensic calumny
overturn it. The inheritance is placed in safety, which is
lept under God's care. This is to provide for the future of
your dear charges; this is to provide for your future heirs
with paternal love according to the faith of the holy Scrip-
ture which says: C I have been younger and I have grown
old, and I have not seen the just man foresaken nor his seed
begging bread. All the day he shows mercy and lends, and
his seed shall be blessed. 31 And again: 'He who lives with-
out reproach in justice shall leave behind him blessed chil-
dren.' 2 So you as a father are a transgressor and a betrayer,
unless you look out faithfully for the welfare of your children,
unless you attend to their salvation with religious and true
love. Why are you eager for earthly rather than heavenly
patrimony? Why do you prefer to comnied your children
to the devil rather than to Christ? You sin twice and com-
mit a twofold and double crime both because you do not
make ready the help of God the Father for your children
and because you teach your children to love their patrimony
more than Christ.
1 Cl Ps. 3635,26.
2 Ci Prov. 20.7.
246 SAINT CYPRIAN
Chapter 20
Be to your children such a father as was Tobias. Give
useful and salutary precepts to your pledges such as he gave
to his son; command your children as he too commanded
saying: 'And now, sons, I command you, serve God in truth,
and do before Him what pleases Him; and command your
children that they do justice and almsdeeds, and that they
be mindful of God, and bless His name on every occasion. 51
And again: 'And all the days of thy life, son, have God
in mind, and do not transgress His commandments. Do
justice all the days of thy life, and do not walk the way of
iniquity, for when you act truthfully there will be respect of
your works. Give alms out of thy substance, and turn not
away thy face from any poor person, for so shall it come to
pass that the face of the Lord shall not be turned from thee.
As you have, my son, so give: if you have an abundant
supply, give alms the more from that. If you have a little, give
a share from that little. Have no fear when you bestow an
alms; you are storing up for yourself a good reward for the
day of necessity, for alms delivers from death and does not
suffer one to go into darkness. Alms provides a great con-
fidence for all who do it before the most high God.' 2
Chapter 21
What sort of gift is it, dearest brethren, whose setting forth
is celebrated in the sight of God? If in a gift of the Gentiles
it seems grand and glorious to have proconsuls or emperors
1 CL Tob. 14.10-12.
2 Cf. Tob. 45-12.
WORKS AND ALMSGIVING 247
present, and the preparation and the expense on the part of
the givers is greater that they may be able to please greater
personages, how much more illustrious and greater is the
glory of the giver to have God and Christ as spectators;
how much richer in this case is the preparation, and extensive
the expense to be set forth, when the powers of heaven
assemble for the spectacle, all the angels assemble, when not
a four-horsed chariot or a consulship is sought for the giver,
but eternal life is presented, nor is the empty and temporary
favor of the mob laid hold of, but the everlasting reward
of the heavenly kingdom is received.
Chapter 22
And that the lazy and the sterile and those doing nothing
about the fruit of salvation because of their covetousness for
many may be more ashamed, that the blush of their shame
and disgrace may the more strike upon their sordid con-
science, let each one place before his eyes the devil with
his servants, that is, with the people of perdition and of
death springing forth into the midst, the people of Christ,
with Him present and judging, calling forth in a contest of
comparison, as he says: % for those whom you see with me
have neither received blows nor have I undergone stripes,
nor carried the cross, nor poured forth blood, nor have I
redeemed my family at the cost of suffering and blood; more-
over, neither do I promise them a heavenly kingdom nor,
after restoring immortality, do I again recall them to paradise;
and what precious, what grand gifts, sought out with what
excessively long labor do they prepare for me with the most
sumptuous devices, after mortgaging or selling their posses-
248 SAINT CYPRIAN
sions; and, unless a respectable demonstration follows, they
are cast out with reproaches and hissings, and sometimes
they are almost stoned to death by the fury of the populace.
Point out such almsgivers of yours, O Christ, those rich men,
those men affluent with abounding wealth, whether in the
Church where you preside and watch they give forth a gift
of this kind, after pawning and distributing their possessions,
rather after transferring them to heavenly treasures by ex-
changing what they possess for something better. By those
transitory and earthly gifts of mine no one is fed, no one is
clothed, no one is sustained by the solace of any food or
drink. Everything in the midst of the madness of the giver
and the mistake of the spectator are perishing because of the
prodigious and foolish vanity of frustrating pleasures. There
among your poor You are clothed and You are fed; You
promise those who give alms eternal life; and scarcely are
Your people, who are honored by You with divine wages
and heavenly rewards, made equal to mine.'
Chapter 23
What do you reply to all this, dearest brethren? In what
manner do we defend the sacrilegious sterilities and the minds
of the rich covered by a kind of night of shadows; by what
excuse do we clear them, we who are less than the servants
of the devil, so as not to repay Christ even in small measure
for the price of His passion and blood? He has given us
precepts; He has taught what His servant should do; prom-
ising a reward to those who give alms and threatening punish-
ment to the sterile; He has set forth His sentence; He has
foretold what His judgment would be. What excuse can
WORKS AND ALMSGIVING 249
there be for him who ceases to do so; what defense for the
sterile? Unless it be that, unless the servant does what is
commanded, the Lord will do what He threatens. He even
says: 'When the Son of man shall come in His majesty, and
all angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His
glory; and before Him will be gathered all the nations, and
He will separate them one from another, as the shepherd
the sheep from the goats, and He will set the sheep on His
right hand, but the goats on the left. Then the king will
say to those who are on His right hand: "Come, ye blessed
of my Father, take possession of the kingdom prepared for
you from the foundation of the world; for 1 was hungry
and you gave me to eat; I was thirsty and you gave me to
drink; I was a stranger and you took me in; naked and
you covered me; I was sick and you visited me; I was in
prison and you came to me." Then the just will answer Him
saying: "Lord, when did we see hungry, and feed thee;
or thirsty, and give thee drink? And when did we
see thee a stranger, and take thee in; or naked, and clothe
thee? Or when did we see thee sick, or in prison, and come to
thee?" Then the king answering will say to them, "Amen
I say to you, as long as you did it for one of these, the
least of my brethren, you did it for me." Then he will say
to those who are on His left hand: 'Depart from me, ac-
cursed ones, into the everlasting fire which my Father has
prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry
and you did not give me to eat; I was thirsty and you
gave me no drink; I was a stranger and you did not
take me in; naked, and you did not clothe me; sick, and
in prison, and you did not visit me." Then they also will
answer and say to Him: "Lord, when did we see Thee
hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in
prison, and did not minister to Thee?" And He will answer
250 SAIHT CYPRIAN
them: "Amen, I say to you, as long as you did not do it
for one of these least ones, you did not do it for me." And
these will go away into everlasting fire, but the just into
everlasting life." 1 What greater declaration could Christ have
made to us? How more could He have stimulated the works
of our justice and mercy than by having said that whatever
is offered to the poor and the needy is offered to Him,
and by having said that He is offended unless offering is
made to the needy and the poor? So that he in the Church,
who is not moved by consideration of his brother, may in-
deed be moved by contemplation of Christ, and he who does
not give thought to his fellow servant in trouble and in need
may indeed give thought to the Lord abiding in that very
one whom he despises.
Chapter 24
And so, most beloved brethren, let us whose fear is in-
clined toward God, and whose minds, after spurning and
trampling upon the world, are turned to heavenly and divine
things to deserve well of the Lord, offer obedience with full
faith, devoted minds, and continual good works. Let us give
Christ earthly garments that we may receive heavenly cloth-
ing. Let us give worldly food and drink that together with
Abraham and Isaac and Jacob we may come to the heavenly
banquet. Lest we reap little, let us sow very much. While
there is time, let us take thought for security and eternal
salvation, as Paul, the Apostle, advises saying: 'Therefore,
while we have time, let us do what is good to all men, but
especially to those who are of the household of faith. And
I Cf. Matt. 25J1-46.
WORKS AND ALMSGIVING 25 1
in doing good let us not grow tired, for in due time we shall
reap.' 1
Chapter 25
Let us consider, most beloved brethren, what the assem-
blage of. believers did under the Apostles, when at the very
beginning the mind flourished with greater virtues, when
the faith of believers was warm with a fervor of faith still
new. Then they sold their homes and estates, and gladly and
generously offered the proceeds to the Apostles for distribu-
tion among the poor, by selling and distributing their earthly
patrimony transferring their estates there where they might
receive the fruits of an eternal possession, there preparing
homes where they might begin to live always. Such was their
abundance in good works then as was their unity in love,
as we read in the Acts of the Apostles: 'Now the multitude
of those who believed were acting with one soul and one
mind, nor was there any discrimination among them, nor
did they judge anything their own of the goods that they
had, but they had all things in common.' 1 This is truly to
become a son of God by spiritual birth; this is to imitate
the equity of God by the heavenly law. For whatever belongs
to God, belongs to all by our appropriation of it, nor is any-
one kept from his benefits and gift, nor does anything pre-
vent the whole human race from equally enjoying God's
goodness and generosity. Thus the day illuminates equally;
the sun radiates, the rain moistens; the wind blows, and for
those who sleep there is one sleep; and the splendor of the
1 Cf. Gal. 6,9,10.
1 Cf. Acts. 4.82.
252 SAINT CYPRIAN
stars and the moon is common. With this example of equality
the possessor on the earth who shares his returns and fruits,
while he is fair and just with his gratuitous bounties, is an
imitator of God the Father.
Chapter 26
What, dearest brethren, will be that glory of the charitable;
how grand and consummate the joy, when the Lord begins
to number His people, and, distributing the rewards for our
merits and works, to grant heavenly things for the earthly,
everlasting for the temporal, great for small, to offer us to
the Father to whom he restored us by His sanctification, to
bestow eternal immortality on us, for which He has prepared
us by the quickening of His blood, to bring us back again
to paradise, to open up the kingdom of heaven by the faith
and truth of His promise! Let these things cling firmly in
our thoughts; let these things be understood with a full faith;
let these things be lived with a whole heart; let these things
be redeemed by the magnanimity of unceasing good works.
Dearest brethren, a glorious and divine thing is the work of
salvation [charity], a grand solace for believers, a salutary
safeguard of our security, a bulwark of hope, a safeguard of
faith, a cure for sin, something placed in the power of the
doer, a grand and easy thing, a crown of peace without
the danger of persecution, a true and very great gift of
God, necessary for the weak, glorious for the strong, aided
by which the Christian bears spiritual grace, deserves Christ
as judge, and accounts God his debtor. Let us strive gladly
and promptly for this palm of the works of salvation; let
us all run in the contest of justice as God and Christ look
WORKS AND ALMSGIVING 253
on, and let us, who already have begun to be greater than
this life and this world, not slacken our course by a desire
for this life and this world. If the day of reward or of per-
secution comes upon us ready and swift as we run in this
contest of good works, the Lord will never fail to give a
reward for our merits; in peace He will give to those who
conquer a white crown for their good works; in persecution
He will give a second crown, a purple one, for our passion.
THE GOOD OF PATIENCE
Translated by
SISTER GEORGE EDWARD CONWAY, S. S. J.
Chestnut Hill College
THE GOOD OF PATIENCE
| E BONO PATIENTIAE is one of the minor works of
Cyprian, but is was great enough, with his other
works, to have circulated freely throughout East
and West for hundreds of years after its author's death. 1 A
century and a half later we find St. Augustine writing: c But
having considered and treated all these things, we have now
come to that peaceful statement of Cyprian, at the end of
the letter [73] which never tires me, though I have read
and reread it many times over so great is the charm of
fraternal love which breathes forth from it, so great the
sweetness of charity in which it abounds. "As for us, he
[Cyprian] says, as far as in our power, we do not contend
on the subject of heretics, with our colleagues and fellow
bishops. We keep with them divine harmony and the peace
of the Lord. . . With patience and gentleness we keep charity
1 The diffusion of Cyprian's writings everywhere after his death has
been called almost unique in Christian literary history (J. deGheliinck,
S. J., Patrtstique et Moyn Age II [Brussels, Paris, 1947] 203-204) .
And the unusually large number of extant early manuscripts of his
works testify to this popularity. In confirmation of this prestige we
have citations from St. Jerome (Epist. 107.12) , Prudentius (Peristeph.
13.100-106) , Cassiodorus (De inst. div. litt. 19) , and many other
Christian writers. But St. Augustine has surpassed everyone else in
his praise of Cyprian. In addition to his ten sermons on St. Cyprian*
he has also cited his predecessor more than a hundred times, and
always refers to him in terms of the highest praise.
257
258 SAINT CYPRIAN
of spirit, the honor of the college, the bond of faith, and the
harmony of the priesthood. Because of this also, we have
written to the best of our poor ability and with the permission
and inspiration of the Lord, a treatise, The Good of Patience,
which we sent to you, in token of mutual affection/ 5 ' 2 If
the letter introducing The Good of Patience could evoke
such a eulogy, how much more inspiring the work that was
composed specifically for the spread of love and patience!
In the ever-present Christian paradox it was an occasion
of dispute and rising tension which ensured for us the posses-
sion of this appealing work on patience. The simple, but at
that time enigmatical, question: "Should a person who has
been baptized by a heretic be rebaptized on coming into the
Catholic Church? 5 was the source of all Cyprian's difficulty.
This was the subject which brought him almost to the point
of rupture with Rome, which severely tested his genuine
Christian love, faith, humility, and patience, which so aroused
the concern of his priests and people that he found it wise
to publish The Good of Patience in an effort to 'keep, with
gentleness and patience, charity of spirit/
In the first ages of the Church this question had caused no
trouble, but in the beginning of the third century the practice
of rebaptizing converts from heresy was adopted in Africa
and in Asia Minor. 3 This practice was commended by Ter-
tullian, 4 and, therefore, naturally Influenced Cyprian. In the
course of the succeeding years the same practice was recom-
mended by councils in Carthage 5 and in Asia Minor. 6 Rome,
2 St. Augustine, De baptismo 5.22.
3 A. d'Ales, La theologie 237, and also in DAFC 1.390-418; P. Godet,
ZTC 3.2460.
4 Tertullian, De baptismo 15.
5 c. 220.
6 Councils of Iconium and Synnada, c. 222-235.
THE GOOD OF PATIENCE 259
however, and Alexandria never fell into the error, but kept
to the primitive practice of simple laying hands on such
converts. The differing practices of East and West spread,
came into conflict, and finally flared into a wide controversy
during the pontificate of Pope Stephen (254-257).
Cyprian's letters concerning the controversy 7 offer enlighten-
ing information on the state of the question and on the con-
cern felt by many because of the differing opinions and
practices, and give, also, his own adamant opinion. In Letter
69, written in the first months of 255, Cyprian answers a
certain Magnus, who had written him asking for a definite
answer on the problem of the validity of the baptism
administered by the followers of Novatian. In this letter,
Cyprian definitely holds that, since Novitian has no power
or authority to confer the sacrament, rebaptism 8 would be
necessary for such converts. Letter 70, a synodal letter of
the same year from thirty-one bishops of Proconsular Africa
to eighteen Numidian bishops, answering their question on
the validity of the baptism administered by heretics or schis-
matics, restates the view that no one can be baptized out-
side the Church. In Letter 71, also from the year 255, Cyprian
answers Quintus, a bishop of Mauretania, who had requested
from him the correct teaching on the baptism of heretics and
schismatics, by reiterating his view that the Church is one
and that baptism cannot be outside the Church. Letter 72,
written in the spring of the following year (256), is a synodal
letter from seventy-one bishops of Proconsular Africa and
7 Letters 69-75.
8 It must be remarked that Cyprian studiously avoided the use of the
word 'rebaptism,' in accordance with his belief that, since heretical
baptism was not baptism, there could not be a rebaptism. Cf. his
Epist. 71.1: 'Nos autem dicimus eos qui inde veniunt non rebaptizari
apud nos sed baptizari.'
260 SAINT CYPRIAN
Numldla to Pope Stephen. This letter definitely holds their
concerted opinion that when a person has been baptized by
a heretic admission into the Church demands rebaptism.
Letter 73 (spring of 256), a lengthy and important letter on
the same topic, is written in answer to Bishop Jubaianus of
Mauretania. While answering the bishop's questions, Cyprian
gives full and detailed reasons for his belief. This letter,
arguing so strongly for his position, yet strives at its close to
infuse sentiments of charity and patience in his own heart
and those of his fellows. Of the closing paragraph of this
letter St. Augustine could say: 'There are many things to
be considered in these words, wherein the brightness of
Christian charity shines forth in this man who loved the
beauty of the Lord's house, and the place where His glory
dwelt. 59 Thus, into the growing uncertainty of many in
Africa concerning the proper procedure, and the consequent
shortness of temper, Cyprian circulated The Good of Patience.
We say circulated because, although Cyprian acknowl-
edges his work to be a libeilus, a treatise, it contains many
of the elements of an early Christian homily or sermon, and,
without doubt, was used as sermon material. His frequent
use of the title 'beloved brethren,' the repeated and emphatic
use of verbs of hearing and speaking in the introductory
paragraph, the consistent use of the plural number, the
abundant use of examples of a broad, general nature, all
point to the theory that probably this was originally a sermon
delivered by Cyprian to his flock, which later, in the heat
of the baptismal controversy, was adapted and sent by him
to Bishop Jubaianus. The treatise was an admirable effort
to check his own growing obstinacy and to spread love and
patience.
9 St. Augustine, op. dt. 533.
THE GOOD OF PATIENCE 26 1
Looking into the decade of Cyprian's episcopate, and not-
ing the variety and seriousness of the problems which beset
him, we find ample justification for his use of the virtue of
patience as meditation and sermon material. Two persecu-
tions/ almost three, 11 the schism of Novatian, 12 the problem
of the lapsed/ 3 at least seven provincial councils/ 4 the wide-
spread physical and spiritual harm of the plague/ 5 the exile
and martyrdoms of the Popes/ 6 and the grave disagreement
on the question of the baptism of heretics such problems
were the proving-grounds of Cyprian's own patience and
gave him the right to preach it. Thus his teaching of pa-
tience is based not only on the work of Tertullian, but also
on his own conviction, experience, and practice.
As with his The Lord's Prayer and The Dress of Virgins,
10 Decian (249-251) ; Valerian (257-260) .
11 The edict of Callus and Volusianus did not bring about the severe
persecution which had been feared in 252, although even in the
short-lived struggle Pope Cornelius was exiled (Fliche-Martin II 151) .
12 The very serious schism which developed when Novatian tried to
claim for himself the throne of Peter affected the whole Church.
13 In the Decian persecution many weak Christians denied their faith
in Christ, but afterwards repented and sought reconciliation with
the Church. The delicate balance of judgment needed in determining
the varying degrees of guilt of these lapsed Christians was one of
Cyprian's difficult problems.
14 In 251, 252, 253, 254, 255; two in 256. These dates are those of L,
Bayard, trans., Saint Cyprien, Correspondence (2 vols., Paris 1925)
liii.
15 The plague which ravaged the Roman Empire from. 251 to 255 tested
and found wanting the charity and faith of many weak Christians.
Cyprian strove to strengthen their faith and love by his De moria-
litate and by his own generous example.
16 Pope Fabian was martyred in 250, and Pope Cornelius died in exile
in 253. Lucius, who was in charge for less than a year, disappeared
in March, 254. St. Stephen ascended the throne of Peter on May 12,
254 and was martyred in August, 257. Sixtus II, Pope for less than
a year, was martyred on August 6, 258, just a month before Cyprian.
The papal throne was vacant for nearly a year until the Valerian
persecution began to subside, when Dionysius of Rome was raised to
the office on July 22, 259.
262 SAINT CYPRIAN
so also with The Good of Patience, Cyprian leaned heavily
on Tertullian for some of his basic ideas. However, the
similarity ends there, for Cyprian's originality is evident in
the structure, style, spirit, and vocabulary of his own work.
In developing this theme, Cyprian follows the same plan
which characterizes his other homiletic treatises like Mortality,
that is, quotation from Scripture, commentary on it, and
application of the lesson to the current circumstances. His
treatment of this spiritual work of mercy involves its differ-
entiation from the pagan concept of patience, its origin in
God, its practice by Christ and the saints, and its necessity
in our lives; its practicality from the moment of birth to
death in circumstances physical, moral, spiritual. He urges
his people to practice patience with a sweetness, gentleness,
strength, and persuasiveness that mark his own possession of
it. For him it is a basic virtue. It is the 'pith and marrow 3 of
his concept of Christianity, and can be found hidden or ex-
pressed, in all his exhortations.
THE GOOD OF PATIENCE
Chapter 1
SPEAKING OF PATIENCE, beloved brethren, and in
preaching on its benefits and advantages, how can
I better begin than by pointing out the fact that
now, just for you to listen to me, I see that patience is
necessary, as you could not even do this, namely, listen and
learn, without patience. For only then is the word of God
and way of salvation effectively learned, if one listens with
patience to what is being said. Nor do I find, beloved brethren,
among all the ways of heavenly discipline whereby we Chris-
tians are directed to seek the God-given rewards of our hope
and faith, any other thing that is preferable, whether as more
useful for life or more significant in attaining glory, than
that we who are subject to the precepts of the Lord with
an obedient fear and devotion should maintain patience espe-
cially and with extreme care.
Chapter 2
Philosophers also declare that they pursue this virtue, but
their patience is as false as is their wisdom, for how can
anyone be either wise or patient unless he knows the wisdom
263
264 SAINT CYPRIAN
and patience of God? For He Himself warns and states con-
cerning those who think that they are wise in this world: I
will destroy the wisdom of the wise and the prudence of the
prudent I will reject. 51 Likewise the blessed Apostle Paul,
filled with the Holy Spirit and sent to call and to form the
Gentiles in the faith, declares and teaches, saying: 'See to it
that no one ravages you by philosophy and vain deceit, ac-
cording to human traditions, according to the elements of the
world and not according to Christ, for in Him dwells all the
fullness of the Godhead.' 2 And in another place he says: 'Let
no one deceive himself. If anyone of you thinks he is wise,
let him become foolish in the eyes of this world that he may
become wise, for the wisdom of this world is foolishness in
God's sight. For it is written: I will catch the wise in their
craftiness, and again: God knows the thoughts of the wise
that they are foolish.' 3 Therefore, if their wisdom is not true,
their patience cannot be true either. For if that man who
is humble and meek is patient, and yet we see that the philo-
sophers are not humble or meek, but very pleasing to them-
selves, and displeasing to God by the very fact that they are
pleasing to themselves, it is evident that patience is not found
where there is the arrogant boldness of an affected freedom
and the shameless boasting of the proud and half -naked breast.
Chapter 3
We, however, beloved brethren, are philosophers not in
words but in deeds; we exhibit our wisdom not by our dress,
1 I Cor. 1.19 (Isa. 29.14) .
2 Col. 2.8,9.
3 1 Cor. 3.18-20 (Job. 5.13; Ps 93.11) .
THE GOOD OF PATIENCE 265
but by truth; we know virtues by their practice rather than
through boasting of them; we do not speak great things but
we live them. Therefore, as servants and worshipers of God,
let us show by spiritual homage the patience that we learn
from heavenly teachings. For that virtue we have in common
with God. In Him patience has its beginning, and from Him
as its source it takes its splendor and dignity. The origin and
greatness of patience proceeds from God its Author. The qual-
ity that is dear to God ought to be loved by man. The Divine
Majesty commends the good which He loves. If God is our
Master and our Father, let us strive after the patience of Him
who is both our Master and our Father, because it is fitting
that servants be obedient and it is not proper that sons be
unworthy .
Chapter 4
But how wonderful and how great is the patience of God !
He endures most patiently the profane temples, the earthly
images and idolatrous rites that have been set up by men in
insult to His majesty and honor. He makes the day to rise
and the sun to shine equally over the good and the evil. 1
When He waters the earth with showers no one is excluded
from His benefits, but He bestows His rains without distinction
on the just and the unjust alike. We see that, at the will of
God, with an indivisible uniformity of patience toward the
guilty and the innocent, the religious and the impious, the
grateful and the ungrateful, the seasons obey and the elements
serve, the winds blow, fountains flow, harvests increase in
abundance, the fruits of the vines ripen, trees are heavy with
fruit, the groves become green, and the meadows burst into
1 Cf. Matt. 5.45.
266 SAINT CYPRIAN
flower. And although God Is provoked by frequent, yes even
continual, offenses, He tempers His anger and patiently waits
for the day of retribution which He once foreordained. And
although vengeance is in His power, He prefers to be long-
suffering in His patience, that is, waiting steadfastly and de-
laying in His mercy, so that, if it is at all possible, the long
career of malice at some time may change, and man, however
deeply he is infected with the contagion of error and crime,
may be converted to God even at a late hour, as He Himself
warns and says: 'I desire not the death of him that dieth,
as much as that he return and live.' 2 [And again: 'Return
to Me, saith the Lord. 3 ] And again: "Return to the Lord
your God for He is merciful and loving and patient and rich
in pity, and one who turns aside His judgment in respect
to the evils proposed. 34 The blessed apostle Paul, calling back
the sinner to penance by reminding him of this, putting the
question says: 'Or do you despise the wealth of His goodness
and His long-suffering and patience? Dost thou not know
that the patience and goodness of God is meant to lead you
to repentance? But thou, according to thy hardness and thy
unrepentant heart, dost treasure up to thyself wrath on the
day of wrath and of the revelation of the just judgment of
God who will render to every man according to his works/ 5
He said that the judgment of God is just, because it is de-
layed; because it is postponed repeatedly and for a long time,
so that care and thought may be taken for man's eternal
life by the long-enduring patience of God. Punishment is
finally paid by the impious and the sinner when repentance
of the sin can no longer avail.
2 Ezech. 18.32.
3 Mai. 3.7.
4 Joel 2.13.
5 Rom. 2.4-6.
THE GOOD OF PATIENCE 267
Chapter 5
And in order that we may be able to understand more
fully, beloved brethren, that patience is an attribute of God
and that whoever is gentle, patient, and meek is an imitator
of God the Father, when in His gospel the Lord was giving
salutary precepts and in revealing the divine counsels was
instructing His disciples unto perfection, He made this pro-
nouncement: 'You have heard that it was said: "Thou shalt
love thy neighbor and shalt hate thy enemy." But I say to
you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute
you, so that you may be the children of your father in
heaven, who makes his sun to rise on the good and evil and
sends rain on the just and the unjust. For if you love those
who love you, what reward shall you have? Do not even
the publicans act thus? And if you salute your brethren only,
what are you doing more than others? Do not even the
Gentiles do that? You, therefore, will be perfect as your
heavenly Father is perfect/ 1 He said that it is in this way
that the sons of God are made perfect; He showed that it is
in this way that we attain our goal, and He taught that we
are restored by a heavenly birth, if the patience of God the
Father abide in us, if the divine likeness which Adam lost 2
by sin be manifested and shine in our actions. What glory
it is to become like God! What wonderful and what great
happiness it is to possess among our virtues what can be put
on a par with the divine merits !
1 Matt. 5.43-48.
2 CL Gen. 3.
268 SAINT CYPRIAN
Chapter 6
And this, beloved brethren, Jesus Christ, our Lord and
our God, did not teach by words only, but He also fulfilled
it by His deeds. And He who said that He came down for
this purpose, namely, to do the will of His Father, 1 among
the other miracles of virtue by which He gave proof of His
divine majesty, also preserved and exemplified His Father's
patience by His habitual forbearance* Accordingly, His every
act right from the very outset of His coming is marked by an
accompanying patience; 2 for from the first moment of His
descent from the sublimity of heaven to earthly things, He
did not disdain, though the Son of God, to put on man's
flesh, and although He Himself was not a sinner, to bear
the sins of others. 3 Having put aside His immortality for a
time, He suffered Himself to become mortal, in order that,
though innocent, He might be slain for the salvation of the
guilty. 4 The Lord was baptized by His servant, and He,
although destined to grant the remission of sins, did not
Himself disdain to have His body cleansed with the water
of regeneration. 5 He, through whom others are fed, fasted
for forty days; He felt hunger and starvation so that those
who were famished for the Word of God and grace might
be filled with the Bread of Heaven; He engaged in conflict
with the devil who tempted Him, and content with having
vanquished so formidable an enemy, He did not carry the
fight beyond words. 6 He did not rule His disciples as a master
1 Cf. John 6.38.
2 Cf. Math. 1.18.
3 Cf. 1 Peter 2.24.
4 Cf. Matt. 151.
5 Cf. Matt. 3.13-17; Mark 1.9-11; Luke 3.21-23.
6 Cf. Matt. 4.1-10; Mark 1.12,13; Luke 4.1-13.
THE GOOD OF PATIENCE 269
rules his slaves, but being both kind and gentle, He loved
them as a brother, even deigning to wash the feet of His
apostles, so that, while He was such a Master to His servants,
He might teach by His example the attitude that a fellow
servant ought to have toward his companions and equals. 7
We should not wonder then that He was such a one among
His disciples, who was able to tolerate Judas, even to the
end, with enduring patience, who could eat with His enemy,
who could know the foe in His household and not reveal
him, 8 who could not refuse the kiss of His betrayer. 9 But what
wonderful equanimity in bearing with the Jews, and what
wonderful patience in persuading the unbelieving to accept
the faith, in winning the ungrateful by kindness, in responding
gently to those who contradicted Him, in enduring the proud
with mercy, in yielding with humility to persecutors, in wish-
ing to win over the murderers of the prophets and those per-
sistently rebellious against God even to the very hour of His
passion and cross!
Chapter 7
But in that very hour of His passion and cross, before
they had come to the cruel act of His slaughter and the
shedding of His blood, what violent abuses He listened to
with patience, and what shameful insults He endured! He
was even covered with the spittle of His revilers, 1 when, but
a short time before, with His own spittle He had cured
7 Cf. John 13.1-20.
8 Cf. John 13.1-30; Matt. 26.20-25.
9 Cf. Matt. 26.48,49; Mark 14.44,45; Luke 22.47,48.
1 Cf. Matt. 26.67,27,30; Mark 15.19,
270 SAINT CYPRIAN
the eyes of the blind man. 2 He Himself suffered the lash,
in whose name His servants now scourge the devil and His
angels. 3 He who now crowns the martyrs with eternal garlands
was Himself crowned with thorns; 4 He who now gives true
palms to the victors was beaten in the face with hostile
palms; 5 He who clothes all others with the garment of im-
mortality was stripped of His earthly garment; 6 He who has
given the food of heaven was fed with gall; 7 He who has
offered us the cup of salvation was given vinegar to drink. 8
He the innocent. He the just, nay rather, Innocence Itself and
Justice Itself is counted among criminals, 9 and Truth is con-
cealed by false testimonies. He who is to judge is judged,
and the Word of God, silent, is led to the cross. And although
the stars are confounded at the crucifixion of the Lord, the
elements are disturbed, the earth trembles, night blots out
the day, 10 the sun withdraws both its rays 11 and its eyes lest
it be forced to gaze upon the crime of the Jews, yet He does
not speak, nor is He moved, nor does He proclaim His
majesty, even during the suffering itself. He endures all things
even to the end with constant perseverance so that in Christ
a full and perfect patience may find its realization.
2 Cf. Mark 8.23; John 9.6.
3 Cf. Matt. 27.26; Mark 15.15; John 19.1.
4 Cf. Matt. 27.29; Mark 15.17; John 19.2.
5 Cf. Matt. 26.67; Mark 14.65; Luke 22.64; John 19.3.
6 Cf. Matt. 27.35; Mark 1554; Luke 23.34; John 1933..
7 Cf. Matt. 27.34.
8 Cf. Luke 23.36; Matt. 27.48.
9 Cf. Matt. 27.38; Mark 15.27; John 19.18.
10 Cf. Matt. 27.45; Mark 15.33; Luke 23.44.
11 Cf. Matt. 23.45.
THE GOOD OF PATIENCE 27 1
Chapter 8
And after such sufferings, He even still receives His mur-
derers if they are converted and come to Him, and with a
patience instrumental in saving man, this kind Master closes
His Church to no one. Those adversaries, those blasphemers,
those persistent enemies of His name, provided they do
penance for their offense, provided they acknowledge the
crime committed, He not only receives and pardons, but
admits to the reward of the kingdom of heaven. What can
be called more patient, what more kind? Even he who shed
the blood of Christ is given life by the blood of Christ. Such
is the wonderful patience of Christ. And unless it were so
wonderful in character, the Church would not have Paul the
great Apostle.
Church 9
But if we also, beloved brethren, are in Christ, if we put
Him on, if He Himself is the way of our salvation, let us
who follow in the salutary footsteps of Christ walk by the
example of Christ as John the Apostle teaches, saying: 'He
who says that he abides in Christ ought himself also to walk
just as He walked.' 1 Likewise Peter, on whom the Lord
had deemed it worthy for His Church to be founded, writes
in his letter and says: Christ also has suffered for you,
leaving you an example that you may follow in His steps,
"Who did no sin, neither was deceit found in His mouth,"
1 I John 2.6.
272 SAINT CYPRIAN
who when He was reviled, did not revile in turn, when He
suffered did not threaten, but yielded Himself to Him who
judged Him unjustly.' 2
Chapter 10
We find accordingly that the patriarchs and prophets and
all the just, who set up in their persons the type of Christ
as a prefiguration, have treasured nothing in the estimation
of their virtues more than the fact that they preserved patience
with a strong and stable equanimity. So Abel, as the first one
to inaugurate and dedicate martyrdom and the suffering
of the just, did not resist or struggle against his brother the
parricide, but in humble and gentle patience allowed himself
to be killed. 1 So Abraham, trusting God and being the first
to establish the root and foundation of faith, when he was
tempted in regard to his son, did not hesitate or delay but
obeyed the commands of God with a full and devoted
patience. And Isaac, prefigured in the likeness of the Lord
as victim, was found to be patient when he was offered by
his father to be sacrificed. 2 When Jacob was driven from his
own land on account of his brother, he departed patiently
and, with greater patience afterward, humbly petitioning by
means of peaceful gifts, he restored to harmony his still more
impious brother and persecutor. 3 Joseph, sold by his brothers
and banished, not only patiently forgave but even generously
2 I Peter 2.21-23.
1 Cf. Gen. 4.
2 Cf. Gen. 22.
3 Cf. Gen. 28,33.
THE GOOD OF PATIENCE 273
and kindly bestowed free grain on them when they came to
him. 4 Moses was often scorned by an ungrateful and faithless
people and almost stoned, and yet with mildness and patience
he prayed to the Lord in their behalf. 5 But what great and
wonderful and Christian patience is to be found in David,
from whom Christ descended according to the flesh! David
often had the opportunity to kill Kong Saul, his persecutor,
who was eager to destroy him. Yet when Saul was subject
to him and in his power, David preferred to save his life and
did not retaliate on his enemy but, on the contrary, even
avenged him when he was killed. 6 In short, many prophets
have been killed, many martyrs have been honored with
glorious deaths, and all have attained their heavenly crowns
through the merit of patience, for a crown for sorrow and
suffering cannot be obtained unless patience in sorrow and
suffering precede.
Chapter 11
But in order that it can be more manifestly and more fully
known, beloved brethren, how useful and necessary patience
is, let us consider the judgment of God which, at the very-
beginning of the world and of the human race, was passed
upon Adam who was unmindful of God's command and a
transgressor of the law that was imposed. 1 Then we shall
know how patient we ought to be in this world, we who
are born under the condition that we must struggle here
4 CL Gen. 37.45.
5 Cf. Num. 14.9.
6 Cf. 1 Kings 26.
1 Cf. Gen. 3.17.
274
SAINT CYPRIAN
under trials and conflicts. 'Because you have listened/ He said,
c to the voice of your wife and you have eaten of that tree
from which alone I commanded you not to eat, cursed will
be the earth in all your works; in sorrow and mourning you
shall eat from it all the days of your life. Thorns and thistles
shall it bring forth to you and you shall eat of the food of
the field. In the sweat of your brow you shall eat your bread
till you return from the ground from which you were taken,
since you are earth and shall return to earth/ 2 We are all
bound and confined by the bond of this sentence until, having
paid the debt of death, we leave this world. We must be in
sorrow and lamentation all the days of our life. And we must
eat our bread with sweat and labor.
Chapter 12
Hence when anyone is born and enters the abode of this
world, he begins with tears. Although even then inexperienced
and ignorant of all things, he can do nothing else at his birth
except weep. With natural foresight he laments the anxieties
and labors of this mortal life, and at its very beginning, by
weeping and lamentations his young soul testifies to the trials
of the world which he is entering. For he toils and labors as
long as he lives here. Nothing else can relieve those who labor
and toil more than the consolation derived from patience.
This is not only proper and necessary for everyone in this
world, but even more for us who, through the onslaughts of
the devil, are more harassed; who, standing daily in the front
of the battle, are wearied by our combats with an old and
well-trained enemy; who, in addition to the various and
2 Gen. 3.17-19.
THE GOOD OF PATIENCE 275
constant attacks of temptations and in the struggle of perse-
cution, must relinquish our patrimonies, who must endure
prison, bear chains, give up our lives, who must undergo
the sword, beasts, fire, the cross, in short, all kinds of tortures
and punishments, relying on our faith and the virtue of
patience, for the Lord Himself teaches and says: These
things I have spoken to you that in Me you may have
peace; in the world, however, you will have affliction; but
take courage: I have overcome the world. 31 If, however, we
who have renounced the devil and the world suffer trials and
the attacks of the devil and the world more frequently and
more violently, how much more ought we to maintain
patience, with which, as our helper and companion, we may
endure all afflictions.
Chapter 13
It is a salutary precept of our Lord and Master: "He who
has endured even to the end will be saved.' 1 And again: 'If
you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed, and you
shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free,' 2
We must endure and persevere, beloved brethren, so that,
having been admitted to the hope of truth and liberty, we
can finally attain that same truth and liberty, because the
very fact that we are Christians is a source of faith and hope.
However, in order that hope and faith may reach their
fruition, there is need of patience. For we do not strive for
1 John 16.33.
1 Matt. 10.22,
2 John 8.31,32.
276 SAINT CYPRIAN
present glory, but for a future one, according to what Paul
the Apostle teaches, saying: Tor in hope we were saved.
But hope that is seen is not hope. For how can a man hope
for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see,
we wait for it with patience/ 3 Patient waiting is necessary
that we may fulfill what we have begun to be, and through
God's help, that we may obtain what we hope for and
believe. Accordingly, in another place, that same Apostle
instructs and teaches the just and those who do works and
those who lay up for themselves heavenly treasures from the
increase of divine interest to be patient also, for he says:
"Therefore while we have time, let us do good to all men,
but especially to those who are of the household of faith.
And in doing good let us not grow tired, for in due time we
shall reap. 54 He warns lest anyone, through lack of patience,
grow tired in his good work; lest anyone, either diverted or
overcome by temptations, should stop in the middle of his
course of praise and glory and his past works be lost, while
those things which had begun to be perfect, cease, as it is
written: 'The justice of the just shall not deliver Mm in what
day soever he shall err.' 5 Aiid again: 'Hold fast what thou
hast, that no other receive thy crown.* 6 And these words
urge patient and resolute perseverance, so that he who strives
for a crown, now with praise already near, may be crowned
because his patience endures.
3 Rom. 8.24-25.
4 Gal. 6.10,9.
5 Ezech. 33.12.
6 Apoc. 3.11.
THE GOOD OF PATIENCE 277
Chapter 14
Patience, however, beloved brethren, not only preserves
what is good, but also repels what is evil. Devoted to the
Holy Spirit and cleaving to heavenly and divine things, it
struggles with the bulkwark of its virtues against the acts
of the flesh and the body whereby the soul is stormed and
captured. Accordingly, let us look at a few out of many of
these acts, so that from these few, all the rest may be under-
stood. Adultery, deceit, homicide, are mortal sins. Let pa-
tience be strong and stable in the heart, and then the sanc-
tified body and temple of God will not be corrupted by
adultery, innocence dedicated to justice will not be infected
by the contagion of deceit, and the hand that has held the
Eucharist 1 will not be sullied by the blood-stained sword.
Chapter 15
Charity is the bond of brotherhood, the foundation of
peace, the steadfastness and firmness of unity; it is greater
than both hope and faith; 1 it excels both good works and
suffering of the faith; and, as an eternal virtue, it will abide
with us forever in the kingdom of heaven. Take patience
away from it, and thus forsaken, it will not last; take away
1 In the early ages of the Church it was customary for the faithful to
receive the consecrated bread, the Body of the Lord, in their hands
and thus to administer Communion to themselves. Cyprian refers to
this custom also in De lapsis 16.22.26; EpisL 58.9. For a detailed
account see J. A. Tungmann, S. J., The Mass of the Roman Rite, Its
Origins and Developments (translated by F. A. Brunner, C. SS. R.
[New York 1955]) especially 2 378-386; H. Ledercq, 'Communion/
DACL 3.2428-2438; H. Moreau, 'Communion/ DTC 3.418-514.
1 Cf. 1 Cor. 13.13.
278 SAINT CYPRIAN
the substance of enduring and tolerating, and it attempts
to last with no roots or strength. Accordingly, the Apostle
when he was speaking about charity joined tolerance and
patience to it, saying: 'Charity is magnanimous, charity is
Mnd, charity does not envy, is not puffed up, is not provoked,
thinks no evil, loves all things, believes all things, hopes all
things, endures all things.' 2 By this he showed that charity
can persevere steadfastly because it has learned how to endure
all things. And in another place he says: 'bearing with one
another in love, taking every care to preserve the unity of
the Spirit in the union of peace. 33 He proved that neither
unity nor peace can be preserved unless brothers cherish one
another with mutual forbearance and preserve the bond of
unity with patience as intermediary.
Chapter 16
How then will you be able to endure these things not to
swear or curse, not to seek again what has been taken away
from you, 1 on receiving a blow to offer the other cheek also
to your assailant, 2 to forgive your brother who offends you
not only seventy times seven times, but all his offenses with-
out exception, 3 to love your enemies, to pray for your ad-
versaries and persecutors, 4 if you do not have the steadfastness
of patience and forbearance? We see what happened in the
2 I Cor. 13.43,7.
3 Eph. 4.2,3.
1 Cf.~Lu.ke 6.30.
2 Cf. Matt. 5.39; Luke 6.30
3 Cf. Matt. 18.21,22.
4 CL Matt. 5.44; Luke 6.27,28.
THE GOOD OF PATIENCE 279
case of Stephen. When he was being killed by the violence
and stones of the Jews, he did not ask for vengeance but for-
giveness for his murderers, saying: C O Lord, do not lay this
sin against them.' 5 So it was most fitting that the first martyr
for Christ who, in preceding by his glorious death the martyrs
that were to come, was not only a preacher of the Lord's
suffering but also an imitator of His most patient gentleness.
What shall I say of anger, of discord, of contention evils
which a Christian ought not to have? Let there be patience
in the heart and these evil things can not have a place there;
or if they attempt to enter, on being quickly driven out,
they depart, so that the heart may continue to be a peaceful
dwelling where the God of peace may delight to abide.
Accordingly, the Apostle admonishes and teaches, saying:
'Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in whom you were
sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, and
wrath, and indignation, and clamor, and reviling, be removed
from you.' 6 For if a Christian has withdrawn from the fury
and contention of the flesh as from the storms of the sea,
and has now begun to be tranquil and gentle in the harbor
of Christ, he ought not to admit into his heart either anger
or discord, for it is not right for him to render evil for evil
or to hate.
Chapter 17
Likewise, patience is also necessary in respect to the various
hardships of the flesh and frequent and cruel torments of the
body by which the human race is daily wearied and oppressed.
For since in that first transgression of God's command
5 Cf. Acts 758.60.
6 Eph. 4.30,31.
280 SAINT CYPRIAN
strength of body departed with immortality, and infirmity
entered the body by death, and since strength cannot be
regained except when immortality shall have been regained,
it is necessary to keep struggling and contending in this state
of bodily weakness and infirmity; and this struggle and strife
can not be endured without the strength of patience. But
different kinds of sufferings are imposed on us to test and
prove us, and many forms of temptations are inflicted upon
us by loss of wealth, burning fevers, torments of wounds,
by the death of dear ones. Nothing else distinguishes the
unjust and just the more than this, that in adversities the
unjust man complains and blasphemes because of impatience,
while the just man is proved by patience, as it is written:
*In thy sorrow endure and in thy humiliation keep patience,
for gold and silver are tried in the fire. 31
Chapter 18
Thus Job was examined and proved and raised to the
pinnacle of praise because of the virtue of patience. How
many weapons of the devil were hurled against him! How
many torments were inflicted on him! He suffered the loss
of his property, he was bereft of his numerous progeny; a
master rich in wealth and a father richer in children was
suddenly neither master nor father. Cruel wounds attacked
his body and a scourge of devouring worms consumed his
dissolving and decaying limbs. And lest anything at all might
remain which Job had not experienced in his trials, the devil
even armed his wife against him, using that ancient device
of his wickedness, as if he could deceive and cheat all men
1 Ecdi. 2.43.
THE GOOD OF PATIENCE 28 1
through a woman as he did in the beginning. Nevertheless,
Job was not broken by these heavy and continuous assaults,
and in spite of these trials and afflictions he extolled the
praise of God by his victorious patience. Tobias also, who
after his magnificent work of justice and mercy was tempted
by the loss of his eyes, endured his blindness with great pa-
tience and gained outstanding merit with God through the
renown of his patience.
Chapter 19
And, beloved brethren, that the good of patience may shine
forth more brightly, let us consider, on the other hand, what
evil impatience causes. For as patience is a good of Christ,
so, on the contrary, impatience is an evil of the devil; and
as the man in whom Christ lives and abides is found to be
a patient man, so he is always impatient whose mind is pos-
sessed by the wickedness of the devil. Accordingly, let us
consider the origins of impatience. The devil bore with im-
patience the fact that man was made to the image of God,
and for this reason was the first to perish and cause to perish.
Adam, in violation of the heavenly command, was incapable
of resisting the desire of the deadly food and fell into the
death of sin; he did not preserve, under the guardianship of
patience, the grace received from God. Cain was impatient
of his brother's sacrifice and gift and killed him* 1 Because
Esau put lower things before higher, he lost his birthright
through impatience for the lentils. 2 Why was the Jewish
people faithless and ungrateful toward the divine blessings?
1 Cf. Gen. 3,4.
2 Cfc Gen. 25.29-34.
282 SAINT CYPRIAN
Was it not that this crime of impatience first drew them
away from God? When they could not bear the delay of
Moses speaking with God they dared to demand profane
gods, and to proclaim as leader of their journey the head
of a calf and an earthly image. 3 They never abandoned this
same fault of impatience, but always impatient of the divine
teaching and guidance, by killing all their prophets and all
just men, they hastened to the cross and to the shedding of
the blood of the Lord. Impatience also produces heretics in
the Church, and, after the manner of the Jews, it drives
them, as rebels against the peace and charity of Christ, to
hostile acts and furious hates. And not to be tedious by giving
details, all things without exception which patience by its
works builds unto glory, impatience reduces to ruin.
Chapter 20
And so, beloved brethren, after the benefits of patience
and the evils of impatience have been carefully weighed, let
us observe fully and maintain the patience through which
we abide in Christ and with Christ are able to come to God*
That patience, rich and manifold, is not confined within
a narrow compass or restrained by bounds of small extent.
The virtue of patience extends widely and its wealth and
abundance proceed from a source that has indeed a single
name, but with its full-flowing streams it is diffused through
many glorious courses, and nothing in our actions can avail
towards the full realization of merit which does not take the
power for its accomplishment from that source. It is patience
that both commends us to God and saves us for God. It is
3 Cf. Exod. 32.
THE GOOD OF PATIENCE 283
that same patience which tempers anger, bridles the tongue,
governs the mind, guards peace, rules discipline, breaks the
onslaught of lust ? suppresses the violence of pride, extinguishes
the fire of dissension, restrains the power of the wealthy,
renews the endurance of the poor in bearing their lot, guards
the blessed integrity of virgins, the difficult chastity of widows,
and the indivisible love of husbands and wives. It makes
men humble in prosperity, brave in adversity, meek in the
face of injuries and insults. It teaches us to pardon our of-
fenders quickly; if you yourself should offend, it teaches you
to ask pardon often and with perseverance. It vanquishes
temptations, sustains persecutions, endures sufferings and
martyrdoms to the end. It is this patience which strongly
fortifies the foundations of our faith. It is this patience which
sublimely promotes the growth of hope. It directs our action,
so that we can keep to the way of Christ while we make
progress because of His forbearance. It ensures our persever-
ance as sons of God while we imitate the patience of the
Father.
Chapter 21
And since I know, beloved brethren, that very many,
either because of the weight of their pressing injuries or
because of resentment toward those who attack them and
rage against them, wish to be revenged quickly, I must warn
you before I close, that finding ourselves in these storms of
a turbulent world and in the midst of the persecutions of
the Jews or of the Gentiles or of the heretics, we should
patiently await the day of vengeance. We should not hasten
to revenge our pain with an angry speed, since it is written :
'Expect Me, saith the Lord, in the day of My resurrection
284 SAINT CYPRIAN
for a testimony, since My judgment is to the congregations
of nations that I may receive kings and pour out My anger
over them.' 1 The Lord commands us to wait and to endure
with a strong patience the day of future vengeance, and
He also speaks in the Apocalypse, saying: 'Do not seal up
the words of the prophecy of this book, because now the time
is close at hand and those who persevere in doing wrong,
let them do wrong, and he who is filthy, let him be filthy
still, but let the just man still do more just things, and like-
wise the holy man, holier things. Behold I come quickly!
and My reward is with Me, to render to each according
to his works.' 2 Therefore, even the martyrs as they cry out
and as they hasten to their punishment in the intensity of
their suffering are still ordered to wait and to show patience
until the appointed time is fulfilled and the number of mar-
tyrs is complete. And He said: 'When he opened the fifth
seal, I saw under the altar of God the souls of those who
had been slain for the Word of God and for their own test-
imony and they cried with a loud voice saying: How long,
O Lord, Holy and True, dost thou refrain from judging and
avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth. And
a white stole was given to each of them and they were told
to rest for a little while longer until the number of their
fellow-servants and brothers, who are to be slain later even
as they had been, should be complete.' 3
1 Soph. 3.8.
2 Apoc. 22.10-12..
3 Apoc. 6.9-11.
THE GOOD OF PATIENCE 285
Chapter 22
But when the divine vengeance for the blood of the just
come, the Holy Spirit declares through the prophet
Malachias, saying : 'Behold the day of the Lord comes glow-
ing as a furnace and all the strangers and all the unjust
will be as stubble and the coming day shall set them on fire,
saith the Lord.' 1 And we read likewise hi the psalms, where
it is announced that the coming of God the Judge must be
venerated because of the majesty of His judgment: 'God
our God shall come revealing Himself and He shall not be
silent. A fire shall burn before Him and a mighty tempest
shall be about Him. He shall call Heaven on high and earth
that he may separate His people. Collect for Him His just
men, those who place His testimony in sacrifices and the
heavens will announce His justice, for God is the Judge.' 2
And Isaias prophesies the same things, saying: Tor behold
the Lord will come like a fire and, like a whirlwind, His
carriage, to repay vengeance in anger. For in the fire of the
Lord they will be judged and by his sword they will be
wounded. 33 And again: 'The Lord God of Hosts shall go
forth and shall threaten war; He shall stir up battle and
shall cry over his enemies with strength; I have been silent,
shall I be silent always?' 4
1 Mai. 4.1.
2 Ps. 49.3-6.
3 Isa. 66.15,16.
4 Isa. 4^.13,14.
286 SAINT CYPRIAN
Chapter 23
But who is He who says that He was silent formerly and
will not always be silent? It is surely He who was led as a
sheep to the slaughter and who, like a lamb without making
a sound before its shearer, did not open His mouth/ 1 Surely
it is He who did not cry out and whose voice was not heard
in the streets. Surely it is He who was not stubborn and who
did not contradict when He offered His back to the scourges
and His cheeks to blows and did not turn away His face
from their filthy spittle; 3 He, who when He was accused
by the priests and elders, answered nothing 4 and, to the
amazement of Pilate, kept a most patient silence. 5 He is the
One who, although He was silent in His passion, will not
be silent later in the day of reckoning. He is our God, that
is, the God not recognized by all but by the faithful and
those who believe, and when He comes manifesting Himself
in His second coming, He will not be silent. For although
He was formerly hidden in humility, He wiH come manifested
in power.
Chapter 24
This is the Judge and the Avenger, beloved brethren, that
we are to await who, when He revenges Himself, is destined
to revenge us, the people of His Church and the number of
all the just from the beginning of the world. Let him who
1 Cf. Isa. 53.7.
2 Cf. Isa. 42.2.
3 Cf. Isa. 50.5,6.
4 Cf. Matt. 26.63; Mark 14.61.
5 Cf. Matt. 27.14; Mark 15.5.
THE GOOD OF PATIENCE 287
hastens and hurries too much to his own revenge consider
that He alone who avenges has not yet avenged Himself.
[God the Father commanded that His Son be adored and
the Apostle Paul, mindful of the divine precept, declares
this and says: 'God has exalted Him and has bestowed upon
Him that name that is above every name, so that at the
name of Jesus all should bend the knee, of those in heaven,
on earth, and of those under the earth'; 1 and] in the Apo-
calypse, when John wishes to adore him, the Angel resists
him and says : 'Thou fnust not do this because I am a fellow
servant of you and of your brothers. Adore Jesus the Lord.' 2
How wonderful then is Jesus our Lord, and what great
patience this is that He who is adored in heaven is not yet
avenged on earth! Let us think of His patience, beloved
brethren, in our persecutions and sufferings. Let us show
the full obedience that is inspired by our expectation of His
coming, and let us not hasten with the impious and shame-
less haste of a servant to defend ourselves before the Lord.
Let us rather persevere and let us labor, and watchful with
all our heart and steadfast even to total resignation, let us
guard the precepts of the Lord, so that when the day of
wrath and vengeance comes, we may not be punished with
the impious and sinners but may be honored with the just
and those who fear God.
1 Phil. 2.9,10.
2 Apoc. 22.9.
Translated by
ROY J. DEFERRARI, Ph.D.
The Catholic University of America
292 SAINT CYPRIAN
again and again by Christ and His Apostles. Finally, Cyprian
exhorts all to love of enemies, setting forth God as an example.
He dissuades from the sin of envy by urging the rewards of
a united love and a bond of brotherhood.
JEALOUSY AND ENVY
Chapter 1
j o BE JEALOUS of the good that you see and to be
envious of those better than one's self seems in the
eyes of some to be a slight and moderate wrong,
most beloved brothers, and, when it is thought to be light
and moderate, it is not feared; when it is not feared, it is
contemned; when it is contemned, it is not easily avoided;
and it becomes a dark and hidden source of destruction,
which, when it is not perceived so that it can be avoided
by the provident, secretly afflicts improvident minds. But fur-
thermore, the Lord has ordered us to be prudent, and He
bade us to be watchful with cautious solicitude, lest the ad-
versary himself ever watchful and always lying in wait, when
he has crept into the heart, blow up flames from sparks, make
very great things from small ones, and, when he soothes the
relaxed and the incautious with a milder air and a softer
breeze, after stirring up storms and whirlwinds, contrive the
ruin of faith and the shipwreck of salvation and life. So>
most beloved brethren, we must be on our guard, and strive
with all our strength, so that we may with watchful and
full diligence repulse the enemy who rages and directs his
shafts against every part of the body where we can be struck
or wounded, as Peter the Apostle in his Epistle forewarns and
293
294 SAINT CYPRIAN
teaches, saying: 'Be sober, be watchful! For your adversary
the devil, as a roaring lion, goes about seeking something
to devour. 31
Chapter 2
He encircles us individually and, like an enemy besieging
those enclosed explores the walls, tries whether any part
of the members is less stable and less trustworthy, by whose
approach penetration to the interior may be effected. He
offers to the eyes seductive forms and easy pleasures, so that
by sight he may destroy chastity. He tempts the ears with
melodious music, that by the hearing of sweet sounds he may
relax and enervate Christian vigor. He provokes the tongue
by abuse; he instigates the hand by irritating injuries to the
viciousness of murder. To make the defrauder, he presents
unjust gains; to capture the soul with money, he brings in
harmful gains; he promises earthly honors, to destroy heavenly
ones; he displays the false, to take away the true; and when
he cannot deceive secretly, he threatens boldly and openly,
holding out the terror of a turbulent persecution, always
restless to conquer the servants of God, and always hostile,
crafty in peace, violent in persecution.
Chapter 3
Therefore, most beloved brethren, the mind stands ready
and armed against all the deceitful plots or the open threats
of the devil, always as prepared to repulse, as the enemy is
always prepared to attack. And since his missiles which steal
I Cf. Peter 5.8.
JEALOUSY AND ENVY 295
upon us secretly are more frequent and his casting of them
more concealed and clandestine, and to the extent that this
is not perceived, this attack is the more effectual and more
frequent to our injury, let us also be alert to understand and
repel these. Among these is the devil of jealousy and envy.
If anyone should look deeply into this, he will discover that
nothing should be avoided more by a Christian, nothing
provided for more cautiously than that one be not caught by
envy and malice, that one, being entangled in the blind
snares of a deceitful enemy, when brother by envy turns to
hatred of brother, not himself unwittingly perish by his own
sword. That we may be able to gather this more fully and
perceive it more clearly, let us recur to its source and origin.
Let us see from what jealousy begins, both when and how.
For more easily will so pernicious an evil be avoided, if both
the origin and magnitude of the same is known.
Chapter 4
For this reason the devil at the very beginnings of the world
was both the first to perish and to ruin [others]. He supported
by his angelic majesty, acceptable and dear to God, after
he had seen man made to the image of God, with malevolent
envy plunged into jealousy, not casting down another by the
instinct of jealousy before he himself was cast down by
jealousy, a captive before capturing, ruined before ruining;
when at the instigation of envy he deprived man of the
grace of immortality which had been given him, he himself
lost that which he had been before. Of such a nature is the
evil, most beloved brethren, by which an angel fell, by which
that high and glorious sublimity could have been circum-
296 SAINT CYPRIAN
vented, and overturned, by which he who deceived was de-
ceived. Therefore, eavy rages on earth, when he who is about
to perish from jealousy obeys the master of perdition, when
he who becomes jealous imitates the devil, just as it is written :
'But by the envy of the devil., death came into world.' So
they who are on his side imitate him.
Chapter 5
Hence finally begin the first hatreds of the new brother-
hood; hence the abominable parricides, when the unjust Cain
is jealous of the just Abel, when the evil persecutes the good
out of jealousy and envy. So strong was the fury o emulation
for the consummation of the crime, that neither love of
brother nor the enormity of the crime nor fear of God nor
the punishment of the sin was considered. He was unjustly
oppressed who had been the first to show justice ; he endured
hatred who did not know how to hate; he was slain impiously
who while dying did not fight back. Jealousy was the cause
of Esau having been hostile to his brother Jacob, for because
Jacob had received the blessing of his father, Esau burned
with the firebrands of envy into a persecuting hatred. As for
Joseph's having been sold by his brothers, the cause for the
selling came from jealousy. After he set forth simply, as
brother to brothers, the prosperity which had been shown
him in visions, their malevolent minds erupted into envy.
What other than the stimulus of jealousy provoked Saul the
king also to hate David, to desire to kill that innocent, merci-
ful man, patient with a gentle mildness, by often repeated
persecutions? Because, when Goliath had been killed and so
great an enemy had been slain by divine assistance and con-
JEALOUSY AND ENVY 297
descension, the admiring people burst forth into approbation
unto praise of David, Saul through envy conceived the furies
of hatred and persecution. Not to make my account long by
naming individuals, let us consider the destruction of a peo-
ple that perished once and for all. Did not the Jews perish
on this account, since they preferred to envy rather than
to believe in Christ? Disparaging the great things that He
did, they were deceived by a blinding jealousy and they were
unable to open the eyes of their hearts so as to recognize
His divine works.
Chapter 6
Now considering these matters, most beloved brethren, let
us vigilantly and courageously fortify our hearts, which have
been dedicated to God, against so great an evil destructive-
ness. Let the death of others be of advantage for our salva-
tion; let the punishment of the imprudent confer health upon
the cautious. There is, however, no ground for anyone think-
ing that such an evil as that is contained under one form
or is confined to brief limits and within a narrow territory.
The manifold and fruitful destruction of jealousy is widely
spread. It is the root of all evils, the source of disasters, the
nursery of sins, the substance of transgressions. From it hat-
red arises; animosity proceeds from it. Jealousy inflames
avarice, when one cannot be content with its own on seeing
another richer. Jealousy incites ambition when one sees an-
other more exalted in honors. When jealousy blinds our sen-
ses and reduces the secrets of the mind to its sway, fear of
God is scorned, the teaching of Christ is neglected, the day
of judgment is not provided for. Pride inflates; cruelty em-
298 SAINT CYPRIAN
bitters; faithlessness prevaricates; impatience agitates; discord
infuriates; anger grows hot; nor can he who has become a
subject of an alien power restrain or rule himself. Hence
the bond of the Lord's peace is broken; hence fraternal
charity is violated; hence truth is adulterated, unity is broken,
there is a plunging into heresies and schisms, when priests
are disparaged, when bishops are envied, when one complains
that he himself rather has not been ordained or disdains to
tolerate another who has been placed over him. Hence the
proud man is recalcitrant and rebellious out of jealousy, per-
verse out of envy, out of animosity and jealousy an enemy
not of the man but of the honor.
Chapter 7
Of such a sort, indeed, is the gnawing worm of the soul.
What a plague of one's thoughts, how great a rust of the
heart to be jealous either of the virtue or of the happiness of
another, that is, to hate in him either his own merits or divine
blessings, to turn the good things of another to one's own
evil, to be tormented by the prosperity of illustrious men, to
make the glory of others one's own punishment, to apply,
as it were, hangmen to one's own heart, to bring tortures to
one's own thoughts and feelings to lacerate us with intestinal
tortures, to beat the secret places of the heart with the claws
of malevolence! No food can be delightful to such men, no
drink pleasing. There is always sighing and groaning and
suffering, and, since jealousy is never set forth by the envious,
day and night the heart is besieged and torn with intermission.
Other evils have a terminus, and whatever sin is committed
is brought to an end by its consummation. In the adulterer
JEALOUSY AND ENVY 299
the crime ceased when the act of lust has been perpetrated,
in the killer the crime rests when the homicide has been
committed; and the possession of the booty brings the rapacity
of the thief to an end; and the completion of the deception
places moderation on the deceiver. Jealousy has no terminus;
it is a continually abiding evil and a sin without end, and as
he who is envied proceeds with greater success, to this extent
does the envious one burn to a greater heat with the fires of
envy.
Chapter 8
Hence the threatening look, the savage appearance, pallor in
the face, trembling of the lips, gnashing of teeth, mad words,
unbridled insults, a hand prompt for the violence of murder,
and even if the hand is for the time without a sword, yet it
is armed with the hatred of an infuriated mind. And thus
the Holy Spirit says in the psalms: 'Be not jealous of him
who walks well in his way.' 1 And again: 'The wicked man
plots against the just man and gnashes his teeth against him.
But God will laugh at him, for He sees that his day will
come.' 2 The blessed Apostle Paul designates and notes these
when he says: 'The venom of asps is under their lips: and
their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are
swift to shed blood; contrition and calamity are in their ways,
for they have not known the way of peace, nor is the fear of
God before their eyes.' 3
1 Cf. Ps. 36.7.
2 Cf. Ps. 16.12,13.
3 Cf. Rom. 3.13-18.
300 SAINT CYPRIAN
Chapter 9
The evil is much lighter and the danger less, when the
limbs are wounded by a sword. The cure is easy where the
wound is manifest, and when a remedy comes to its assistance
what is seen is quickly brought to health. The wounds of
jealousy are concealed and hidden, nor do they admit the
remedy of a healing cure, which have concealed themselves
with blind pain within the lurking places of the conscience.
Whoever of you are envious and malignant, you are seen as
you are, crafty, pernicious, and hostile to those whom you
hate. You are the enemy of no one's well-being more than
of your own. Whoever he is whom you persecute with jeal-
ousy, will be able to escape and avoid you. You cannot escape
yourself. Wherever you are, your adversary is with you; the
enemy is always in your heart; destruction is shut up within;
you are tied and bound with an inescapable chain of links;
you are captive with jealousy as your master; and no solaces
come to your relief. It is a persevering evil to persecute a man
who belongs to the grace of God; it is a calamity without
a remedy to hate one who is happy.
Chapter 10
And therefore, most beloved brethren; the Lord, having
regard for this danger, lest anyone out of jealousy of his
brother fall into the snare of death, when the disciples asked
him who among them was the greatest, said: 'He who will
be the least among all you, this one. shall be the greatest.' 1
He cut off all jealousy by His reply; He eradicated and tore
1 Cf. Luke 9.48.
JEALOUSY AND ENVY 301
away every cause and basis for envy. It is not permitted
him to be envious. There can be no contention among us for
exaltation. From humility we grow to the highest accomplish-
ments; we have learned how we may be pleasing. Finally
also the Apostle Paul, when instructing and advising how we
who, being illuminated by the light of Christ^ have evaded
the darkness of the conversation of night, may walk in the
deeds and in the works of light, writes and says: The night
is far advanced; but the day is at hand. Let us, therefore,
lay aside the works of darkness, and put on the armor of
light. Let us walk becomingly as in the day, not in revelry
and drunkenness, not in debauchery and wantonness, not in
strife and jealousy. 3 If the shades have receded from your
heart, if the night is scattered from it, if gloom has been
wiped away, if the splendor of the day has illuminated your
senses, if you have begun to be a man of light, carry on the
things that are of Christ, because Christ is the Light and
the Day.
Chapter 11
Why do you rush into the darkness of jealousy? Why do
you involve yourself in a cloud of envy? Why do you extin-
guish all the light of peace and love by the blindness of ill-
will? Why do you return to the devil, whom you had re-
nounced? Why have you become like Cain? For that he is
bound by the crime of homicide, whoever has become envious
of his brother and holds him in hatred, the Apostle John
declares in his letter, saying: fi He who hates his brother is
a murderer. And you know that no murderer has life abiding
in him.' 1 And again: 'He who says that he is in the light
1 Cf. Rom. 13.12,13.
302 SAINT CYPRIAN
and hates his brother is in the darkness until now, and walks
in the darkness and does not know whither he goes because
the darkness has blinded his eyes.' 2 He who hates his brother
walks in the darkness and does not know where he goes, he
says. For he unwittingly goes to Gehenna; ignorant and
blind he plunges himself into punishment; withdrawing, that
is, from the light of Christ who warns and says: 1 am the
light of the world. He who follows me shall not walk in
darkness, but will have the light of life. 53
But he follows Christ who abides by His precepts, who walks
in the way of His teaching, who follows in His footsteps and
ways, who imitates what Christ both taught and did, accord-
ing as Peter also urges and advises, saying: 'Christ has suf-
fered for you, leaving you an example, that you may follow
in His steps/ 4
Chapter 12
We ought to remember by what name Christ calls His
people, by what title He names His flock. He calls them
sheep, that Christian innocence may be equated with sheep;
He calls them lambs, so that their simplicity of mind may
imitate the simple nature of lambs. Why does the wolf lie
hidden under sheeps 3 clothing; why does he who falsely
calls himself a Christian dishonor the flock of Christ? What
else is the putting on of the name of Christ and not going
over the way of Christ than a prevarication of the divine
name, than the abandonment of the way of salvation? Since
1 Cf. 1 John 3.15.
2 Gf. 1 John 2.941.
3 John 8.12.
4 I Peter 2.21.
JEALOUSY AND ENVY 303
He himself teaches and says that he comes unto life who has
kept the commandments, and he is wise who has heard and
done His words, that He also is called the greatest teacher
in the kingdom of heaven who has so taught and done, then
that will profit the preacher which has been well and use-
fully preached, if that which is uttered from the mouth is
fulfilled by the deeds that follow. But what did the Lord
urge more upon His disciples, what among His salutary coun-
sels and heavenly precepts should be guarded and kept more
than that with the same love with which He himself loved
the disciples, we should also love each other? How, moreover,
does he keep either the peace or the love of the Lord, who,
because of the intervention of jealousy, can neither be peace-
ful nor loving?
Chapter 13
So also the Apostle Paul, when he was bringing out merits
of peace and love, and when he was strongly asserting that
neither almsgivings nor also the passion itself of a confessor
and martyr would avail him, unless he had kept the require-
ments whole and inviolate, added, and said: 'Charity is
magnanimous, charity is kind, charity is not jealous,' 1 that
is, teaching and showing that he can maintain charity, who-
ever is magnanimous and kind and free from jealousy and
envy. Likewise in another place, when he was advising that
a man who has already become full of the Holy Spirit,
and a son of God by heavenly birth, should follow nothing
but spiritual and divine things, he lays it down and says:
'And I indeed, brethren, could not have spoken to you as
to spiritual men, but as to carnal, as to little ones in Christ.
1 Cf. 1 Cor. 13.4.
304 SAINT CYPRIAN
I fed you with milk, not with solid food. For you were not
yet ready for it. Nor are you now ready for it, for you are
still carnal For since there are jealousy and strife and dis-
sensions among you, are you not carnal, and are you not
walking according to man?' 2
Chapter 14
Dearest brethren, vices and carnal sins must be crushed,
and the infestuous plague of the earthly body must be tram-
pled upon with spiritual vigor, lest, when we again are turned
back to the conversation of the old man, we become en-
tangled in deadly snares, as the Apostle providently and
beneficially forewarns. He says: Therefore, brethren, let us
live not according to the flesh, for if you live according to
the flesh, you shall begin to die; but if by the spirit you put
to death the deeds of the flesh, you shall live. For as many
as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God,' 1
If we are the sons of God, if already we begin to be His
temples, if, after receiving the Holy Spirit, we live holily and
spiritually, if we have lifted our eyes from the earth toward
heaven, if we have raised our heart full of God and Christ
to supernal and divine things, let us do nothing which is
not worthy of God and Christ, as the apostle arouses and
urges us. 'If you have risen with Christ,' he says, 'seek the
things that are above, where Christ is seated at the right
hand of God. Mind the things that are above, not the
things that are of the earth. For you have died and your
2 Cf. 1 Cor. 3.1-13.
1 Cf. Rom. 8.12-14.
JEALOUSY AND ENVY 305
life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, your life,
shall appear, then you too shall appear with Him in glory. 52
Let us, therefore, who in baptism have both died and
been buried according to the carnal sins of the old man,
who have risen with Christ in the heavenly regeneration,
both consider and do equally the things that are of Christ,
as the same Apostle again teaches and advises, saying: The
first man was of earth, earthy; the second man is from heaven.
As was that one from earth, so are those who are from earth;
and as is the heavenly, so are also the heavenly. Just as we
have borne the likeness of him who is of the earth, so let us
bear the likeness of him who is of heaven.' 3 Moreover, we
cannot bear the heavenly images, unless, in that condition in
which we have now begun to be, we show the likeness of
Christ.
Chapter 15
For this is to have changed what you had been, and to
begin to be what you were not, so that the divine birth shine
in you, so that the divine discipline may respond to God the
Father, so that, in the honor and praise of living, God may
shine in man, as He Himself exhorts and advises, and as
He promises to those who glorify Him a reward in their
turn. He says: Those who glorify me, I shall glorify, and him
who despises me shall be despised.' 1 The Lord, forming and
preparing us for this glorification, and the Son of God, instill-
ing the likeness of God the Father, says in His Gospel: 'You
have heard that it was said: "Thou shalt love thy neighbor,
2 Col. 3,1-4.
3 Cf. 1 Cor, 15.47-49.
1 1 Kings 2.30.
306 SAINT CYPRIAN
and shall hate thy enemies." But I say to you, Love your
enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may
be like your Father who is in heaven, who makes his sun
to rise on the good and the evil, and sends rain on the just
and the unjust/ 2 If it is a joy and a glory for men to have
children like themselves, and it delights them to have begot-
ten them when the remaining offspring with like lineaments
corresponds to the father, how much greater is the joy in God
the Father, when one is so born spiritually that in his acts
and praises divine goodness is proclaimed. What a palm of
justice it is, what a crown for you to be such that God does
not say about you : *I have brought up children, and exalted
them, but they have despised me.' 8 Let Christ rather praise
you and invite you to the reward, saying: 'Come blessed
of my Father, take possession of the kingdom which has been
prepared for you from the origin of the world. 54
Chapter 16
The mind, dearest brethren, must be strengthened by these
meditations: it must be confirmed against all the darts of the
devil by exercises of this kind. Let divine reading be in the
hands; let thoughts of the Lord be in the senses; let prayer
never cease at all; let saving labor persevere. Let us all be
occupied by spiritual actions, so that, as often as the enemy
approaches, as often as he tries to come near, he may find
the heart closed and armed against him. For the crown of the
Christian man is not the one which is received at the time
of persecution. Peace also has its crown, by which we are
2 Cf. Matt. 5.43-45.
3 Isa. 1.2.
4 Cf. Matt. 25.34.
JEALOU SY AND ENVY 307
crowned as the victor of many a varied combat, after the
adversary has been laid low and subdued. To have overcome
lust is the palm of continence. To have resisted wrath and
injury is the crown of patience. Triumph over avarice is to
spurn money. Praise of faith is to endure the adversities of the
world by faith in the future. And he who is not proud in pros-
perity obtains the glory of humility. And he who is inclined
to the mercifulness of befriending the poor gains the retribu-
tion of a heavenly treasure. And he knows not how to be jeal-
ous and, being of one mind and kind, loves his brethren,
is honored with the reward of love and peace. We run daily
in this contest of virtues; we arrive at these palms and crowns
of justice without interruption of time.
Chapter 17
That you also may be able to arrive at these crowns, you
who had been possessed by jealousy and zeal, abandon all
that malice with which you were formerly held, and reform
yourself to the way of eternal life with the footsteps of salva-
tion. Tear out of your heart the thorns and the thistles, that
the Lord's seed may enrich you with a fertile fruit, that the
divine and spiritual crop may burst forth into the plenty of
a rich harvest. Expel the venom of gall; cast out the virus
of discords; let the mind which the jealousy of the serpent
had infected be cleansed; let all the bitterness which had
settled within be softened by the sweetness of Christ. From
the sacrament of the cross you receive both food and drink;
let the wood, which availed at Mara in a figure for sweeten-
ing the taste, avail you in truth for soothing the softened
breast, and you will not labor for the remedy for increasing
308 SAINT CYPRIAN
the health. Cure yourself at the source from which you had
been wounded. Love those whom you hated before; esteem
those whom you envied with unjust disparagements. Imitate
the good, if you can follow them; if you cannot follow them,
surely rejoice with them and congratulate your betters. Make
yourself a sharer with them in a united love; make yourself
an associate in a fellowship of charity and in a bond of
brotherhood. Your debts will be forgiven you, when you your-
self shall forgive; your sacrifices will be accepted, when you
shall come to God as a peace-maker. Your thoughts and
actions will be directed by God, when you ponder the things
that are divine and just, as it is written: 'Let the heart of man
ponder just things, so that his steps may be directed by God. 51
Chapter 18
Moreover, you have many things to ponder. Ponder para-
dise, where Cain, who destroyed his brother through jealousy,
does not return. Ponder the kingdom of heaven to which the
Lord admits only those of one heart and mind. Ponder the
fact that only those can be called the sons of God who are
peace-makers, who, united by divine birth and law, corre-
spond to the likeness of God the Father and Christ. Ponder
that we are under God's eyes, that we are running the course
of our conversation, and life with God Himself looking on and
judging, that then finally we can arrive at the point of suc-
ceeding in seeing Him, if we delight Him as He now observes
us by our actions, if we shows ourselves worthy of His grace
and indulgence, if we, who are to please Him forever in
heaven, please Him first in this world.
1 Cf. Prov. 16.L
TO MARTYRDOM,
TOFORTUNATUS
Translated by
ROY J. DEFERRARI, Ph.D,
The Catholic University of America
EXHORTATION TO MARTYRDOM,
TO FORTUNATUS
E HAVE HERE only the material, not a finished work,
on the subject of martyrdom. Cyprian explains his
plan in detail in the preface. Thirteen theses regard-
ing the trials of persecution are presented, each serving as
a f P c on which to hang appropriate quotations from the
Bible interspersed with Cyprian's own observations. It thus
becomes the most important of Cyprian's work, next to Three
Books of Testimonies against the Jews, for the study of the
oldest Latin versions of the Bible. The specific purpose of the
treatise is to prepare the soldiers of Christ for the struggles
which they may have to endure in an approaching persecution.
The question of the date of composition to be assigned
to this work hinges chiefly on what persecution Cyprian had
in mind. While H. Kock places the treatise in the spring
of 253, when the persecution of Gallus was at hand, most
opinions are divided between that of Decius (250-251) and
that of Valerius (257). But Cyprian addresses the preface
to a Fortunatus, who is generally thought to be the Bishop
of Thuccalori and who we know took part in the African
Synod of September, 256. If the last is correct, the year 257
is the most probable date of composition.
We have already called attention to the eloquent perora-
tion with which Cyprian concludes his treatises. The pero-
ration of the present work, in which the signal honor of mar-
tyrdom is set forth, is one of the finest pieces of writing in all
Cyprian's works.
311
EXHORTATION TO MARTYRDOM,
TO FORTUNATUS
Chapter 1
ou HAVE DESIRED, my very dear Fortunatus, 1 that
since the weight of afflictions and persecutions lies
heavy upon us, and at the end and at the consum-
mation of the world the hostile time of antichrist has already
begun to draw near, I bring together from the sacred Scrip-
ture exhortations for the preparation and strengthening of the
minds of the brethren, with which I might animate the soldiers
of Christ for the spiritual and heavenly struggle. I have felt
obliged to obey your so compelling wish, so that, in so far as
our mediocrity is able, prepared with the aid of divine inspi-
ration, certain arms, as it were, and defenses might be brought
forth from the Lord's precepts for the brethren who are about
to fight. For it is a minor matter that we arouse the people
of God with the trumpet call of our voice, unless we confirm
by divine reading the faith of believers and their courage
dedicated and devoted to God.
1 A bishop of Tucca with, the name of For tuna tus is mentioned in the
Council of Carthage (256) .
313
314 SAINT CYPRIAN
Chapter 2
For what more fitly or more fully befits our care and
solicitude than to prepare the people divinely committed
to us and the army established in the heavenly camp with
constant exhortations against the weapons and darts of the
devil? For he cannot be a soldier fit for war who has not
first been trained in the field, nor will he who seeks to obtain
the contestant's crown be crowned in the stadium, unless
he first gives thought to the practice and skill of his powers.
He is an old adversary and an ancient enemy with whom
we wage battle. Almost six thousand years are now being
fulfilled since the devil first attacked man. All kinds of tempt-
ing and arts and plots for his overthrow has he learned by the
very practice of a long time. If he finds a soldier of Christ
unprepared, if untrained, if he does not find him vigilant with
a solicitous and whole heart, he besets him in ignorance,
he deceives him incautious, he entraps him inexperienced.
But if anyone guards the precepts of the Lord, and bravely
adhering to Christ stands against the devil, he must be con-
quered, since Christ whom we confess is invincible.
Chapter 3
And not to extend my talk at length, dearest brother, and
not to fatigue my listener or reader by the abundance of
a rather diffuse style, I have made a summary, so that, after
setting forth the headings first, which each one ought to know
and retain, I might add passages of the Lord, and might
establish what I had set forth by the authority of the divine
words, thus seeming not so much to have sent you a treatise
EXHORTATION TO MARTYRDOM, TO FORTUNATUS 3 15
of mine as to have furnished material for those who make
treatises. This plan is of greater utility to individuals in prac-
tice. For if I gave away a garment already finished and pre-
pared, it would be my garment which another would use
and perhaps the thing having been made according to the
contour of the stature and the body of another would he held
little fitting. But now I have sent the very wool and purple
of the lamb through whom we have been redeemed and
quickened, and when you receive it, you will make a tunic
according to your wish, and you will rejoice the more in it as
in your own private and personal garment, and you will also
show others what we have sent, that they too may be able
to make garments according to their judgment; thus covering
that old nakedness, they may all bear the garments of Christ,
dressed in the sanctification of heavenly grace.
Chapter 4
Furthermore also, most beloved brother, I have viewed the
plan as useful and salutary in so necessary an exhortation
as to make martyrs, that all delays and tardiness of our words
must be cut out, and that the meanderings of human speech
must be put aside, that those words alone must be set down
which God speaks, by which Christ exhorts His servants to
martyrdom. The divine precepts themselves must be supplied
as arms for those who fight. Let those be the incitements
of the military trumpet; let those be the clarion call for those
who fight. By those let the ears be made erect; by these let
the minds be made ready; by these also let the powers of mind
and body be strengthened for the endurance of every suffer-
ing. Let us only, who with the Lord's permission gave the
316 SAINT CYPRIAN
first baptism to believers, prepare each one for another bap-
tism also, urging and teaching that this baptism is greater
in grace, more sublime in power, more precious in honor,
a baptism in which the angels baptize, a baptism in which
God and His Christ exult, a baptism after which no one sins
again, a baptism which brings to completion the increases
of our faith, a baptism which immediately joins us with God
as we withdraw from the world. In the baptism of water
is received the remission of sins; in that of blood the crown
of virtues. This thing is to be embraced and longed for and
sought after with all entreaties of our prayers, so that we who
were servants of God may also be His friends.
Chapter 5
Thus exhorting and preparing our brethren, and in arm-
ing them with the strength of virtue and faith for the pro-
claiming of their confession of the Lord and for the battle
of persecution and suffering, it must be said in the first place :
L That the idols which man makes for himself are not
gods for neither are the things which are made greater than
their maker and fashioner, nor can they protect and save
anyone, who themselves perish from their temples, unless
they are saved by man but that neither are the elements
to be worshipped, which serve man according to the disposi-
tion and precepts of God.
II. That, after the idols have been destroyed and the plan
of the elements has been demonstrated, it must be shown
that God alone is to be worshipped.
III. That then there must be added what the threat of God
is against those who sacrifice to idols*
EXHORTATION TO MARTYRDOM, TO FORTUNATUS 317
IV. That besides It must be taught that God does not
easily pardon idolaters.
V. And that God is so angry with idolatry that He has
even ordered those to be killed who have persuaded to sacri-
fice to and serve idols.
VI. That after this there must be added that we, redeemed
and quickened by the blood of Christ, should place nothing
before Christ, because neither did He place anything before
us and He on account of us preferred evil things to good
things, poverty to riches, servitude to domination, death
to immortality, and that we, on the other hand, in our suffer-
ings prefer the riches and joys of paradise to the poverty
of the world, eternal sovereignty and rule to the slavery
of time, immortality to death, God and Christ to the devil
and antichrist.
VII. That it must also be insisted upon that, after being
snatched from the jaws of the devil and freed from the
snares of the world, if they begin to be in straitened circum-
stances and troubles, they do not wish to return anew to the
world and lose the benefit of having escaped.
VIII. That it must be urged too that that they persevere
in faith and virtue and in the consummation of heavenly
and spiritual grace, in order that they may arrive at the palm
and the crown.
IX. That difficulties and persecutions take place that we
may be proved.
X. That the injuries and punishments of persecutions are
not to be feared, because the Lord is greater at protecting
than the devil at attacking.
XI. And lest anyone become frightened and disturbed at
the difficulties and persecutions which we suffer in this world,
it must be proved that it was formerly predicted that the
318 SAINT CYPRIAN
world would hold us in hatred and would stir up persecutions
against us, so that from the very fact that these things happen
the faith of the divine promise is manifest in the benefits and
the rewards to follow afterwards, and that whatever happens
to Christians is nothing new, since from the beginning of the
world the good have labored and the just have been oppressed
and slain by the unjust.
XII. That in the last part there must be laid down what
hope and what benefit await the just and the martyrs after
the conflicts and sufferings of this time.
XIII. And that we are to receive more in the reward for
our suffering than what we endure here in the suffering itself.
I. That idols are not gods and that the elements are not
to be worshipped in place of gods. 1
In Psalm 134: 'The idols of the nations are silver and
gold, the work of man's hands. They have a mouth but speak
not; they have eyes but see not; they have ears, but hear
not; for there is no breath in their mouths. Like unto them
become all who make them. 32 Likewise in the Wisdom of
Solomon : Tor they have esteemed all the idols of the heathens
as gods, which have neither the use of eyes to see, nor noses
to draw breath, nor ears to hear, nor fingers on the hands
to handle, and as for their feet they are slow to walk. For
man made them, and he that borroweth his own breath,
fashioned them. For no man can make a god like himself.
For, being a mortal himself, he formeth a dead thing with his
wicked hands. For he is better than they whom he worship-
1 Astronomical idols seem to have been the earlist adopted by man
(cf. Job 31.27) , but the soul soon degraded itself to lower forms
(cf. Rom. UU3) .
2 Ps. 134 (5) .15-18.
EXHORTATION TO MARTYRDOM, TO FORTUNATUS 3 19
peth, because he indeed hath lived, but they never.' 3 Like-
wise in Exodus: Thou shalt not make to thyself a graven
thing, nor the likeness of anything. 54 Likewise in Solomon
(concerning the elements) : 'Neither by attending to the
works have they acknowledged who was the workman, but
have imagined either the fire, or the wind, or the swift air,
or the circle of the stars, or the great water, or the sun, or the
moon to be gods. And if on account of their beauty they
have thought this, let them know how much the Lord is more
beautiful than they. Or, if they admire their power and their
effects, let them understand by them that He that made them
mighty is mightier than they. 35
II. That God alone is to be worshipped.
As it is written: "Thou shalt worship the Lord Thy God,
and Him only shalt thou serve. 31 Likewise in Exodus: Thou
shalt not have strange gods before me.' 2 Also in Deuteronomy:
'See, see that I am, and there is no God beside me. I will kill
and I will make to live. I will strike and I will heal, and
there is none who can deliver out of my hands.' 3 Likewise
in the Apocalypse: 'And I saw another angel flying in mid
heaven having an eternal gospel to preach upon the earth
to every nation and tribe and people, saying with a loud
voice: "Fear rather God, and give him honor, for the hour
of his judgment has come; and worship him who made the
heaven and the earth and the sea, and all things that are
3 Wisd. 15.1547.
4 Exod. 20.14.
5 Cf. Wisd. 13.1-4.
1 Deut. 6.13.
2 Exod. 20.3.
3 Deut. 32.39.
320 SAINT CYPRIAN
in them." ' 4 Thus also the Lord in the Gospel makes mention
of the first and second commandments, saying: 'Hear,
Israel, the Lord thy God is one Lord, 35 and Thou shalt
love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy
whole soul, and with thy whole strength. This is the first com-
mandment. And the second is like it: Thou shalt love thy
neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments depend
the whole law and the prophets.' 6 And again: 'Now this
is life everlasting, that they may know thee, the only true
God, and him whom thou hast sent, Jesus Christ. 37
III. What is God's threat against those who sacrifice
to idols?
In Exodus: 'He that sacrificeth to gods shall be put to
death, save only to the Lord. 31 Likewise in Deuteronomy:
They sacrifice to devils and not to God. 32 Again in Isaias:
They have adored what their hands have made. And man
hath bowed himself down, and man hath been debased, and
1 shall not forgive them.' 3 And again: Thou hast poured
out libations to them and thou hast offered sacrifices to them.
Shall I not be angry at these things? says the Lord. 34 Like-
wise in Jeremias: 'And go not after strange gods to serve
them, nor to adore them, nor to provoke me by the works
of your hands to afHict you.' 5 Also in the Apocalypse: 'If any-
one worships the beast and its image and receives a mark
4 Apoc. 14.6,7.
5 Mark 12.29.
6 Cf. Mark 12.29; Matt. 22.37-40.
7 John 17.3.
1 Exod. 22.20.
2 Deut. 32.17.
3 Isa, 2.8,9.
4 Isa. 57.6.
EXHORTATION TO MARTYRDOM, TO FORTUNATUS 321
upon his forehead and in his hand, he also shall drink of the
wine of the wrath of God which is mixed in the cup of his
wrath; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone
in the sight of the holy angels and in the sight of the Lamb.
And the smoke of their torments goes up forever and ever.
And they have rest neither day nor night, whoever worship
the beast and its image.' 6
IV. It is not easy for God to pardon idolaters.
Moses in Exodus prays for the people and does not obtain
his prayer. I beseech thee, O Lord,' he says, c this people
hath sinned a heinous sin, and they have made to themselves
gods of gold and silver; either forgive them this trespass, or,
if thou do not, strike me out of the book that thou hast
written. And the Lord said to Moses: "If anyone sin against
me, I shall destroy him out of my book." 1 Likewise when
Jeremias was interceding for the people, the Lord spoke to
him saying: Do not thou pray for this people, and do not
make demands for them in praise and prayer, for I shall not
hear in the the time when they cry unto me, in the time of
their affliction. 32 Ezechiel also denounces this same wrath of
God upon those who sin against God. He says: 'And the
word of the Lord came to me saying: 'Son of man, when
a land shall sin against me so as to transgress grievously, I will
stretch forth my hand upon it, and will break the staff of
the bread thereof; and I will send famine upon it, and
destroy man and beast out of it. And if these three men,
Noe, Daniel, and Job, shall be in it, they will not deliver
5 Jer. 25.6.
6 Apoc. 14.9-11.
1 Exod. 32.31-33.
2 Jer. 11.14.
322 SAINT CYPRIAN
sons nor daughters; themselves alone shall be saved." 3 Like-
wise, in the first Book of Kings: 'If a man by sinning, sin
against a man, they will pray for him to the Lord; but if
a man shall sin against God, who will pray for him?' 4
V. That God is so angry at idolatry that He has ordered
those also to be killed, who have persuaded others to sacri-
fice and be subservient to idols.
In Deuteronomy: 'But if thy brother, or thy son, or thy
daughter, or thy wife that is in thy bosom, or thy friend who
is as thy own soul, should ask thee secretly saying: 'let us
go and serve strange gods, the gods of the heathen," thou
shalt not consent to him, nor hear him, neither shall thine
eye spare him, nor shalt thou conceal him, but thou shalt
make public announcement concerning him. Thy hand shall
be upon him first to kill him, and afterwards the hand of
all the people. And they shall stone him, and he shall die,
because he sought to turn thee from the Lord thy God. 31
And the Lord again speaks and says that neither must a city
be spared, even if it entirely consents to idolatry: 'Or if in
one of the cities which the Lord thy God shall give thee to
dwell in, thou hear some saying: "Let us go and serve strange
gods which you know not," thou shalt forthwith kill all who
are in the city with the edge of the sword, and shall burn
the city with fire, and it shall be without habitation forever.
It shall be rebuilt no more, that the Lord may turn from the
wrath of his fury, and he will show thee mercy and will have
pity on thee and will multiply thee, if thou shalt hear the
3 Ezech. 14.12-14.
4 1 Kings 2.25 (I Sam. 2.25) .
1 Cf. Deut. 13.6-10.
EXHORTATION TO MARTYRDOM, TO FORTUNATUS 323
voice of the Lord thy God, and observe his precepts.' 2 And
Mathathias, mindful of this precept and its force, killed him
who had approached the altar to sacrifice. 3 But if before the
coming of Christ these precepts were kept with regard to the
worship of God and the spurning of idols, how much more
should they be kept after Christ's coming; since He came
and exhorted us not with words but with deeds, suffering
also and being crucified after all injuries and insults, that
by His example He might teach us to suffer and to die, that
man might have no excuse for not suffering for Him, since
He suffered for us; and that, since He suffered for the sins
of others, much more ought each one to suffer for his own
sins. And so He threatens in the Gospel, and says: 'Everyone
who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge
him before my Father who is in heaven. But whoever disowns
me before men, 1 in turn will disown before my Father who
is in heaven. 54 Likewise the Apostle Paul says: Tor if we die
with Him, we shall also live with Him; if we endure, we
shall also reign with Him; if we disown Him, He will also
disown us.' 5 Also John: "He who disowns the Son does
not have the Father, he who confesses the Son has both the
Father and the Son. 56 Therefore, the Lord urges us to con-
tempt of death, and strengthens us by saying: c Do not be
afraid of those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul.
But rather be afraid of him who is able to destroy both the
soul and body in hell. 37 And again: 'He who loves this life
2 Cf. Deut. 13.12-18.
3 Cf. 1 Mach. 2.24.
4 Matt. 10.32,33.
5 2 Tim. 2.11.
6 1 John 2.23.
7 Matt. 10.28.
324 SAINT CYPRIAN
shall lose; and he who hates his life in this world, shall keep
it unto life everlasting.' 8
VI. That we who have been redeemed and quickened by
the blood of Christ should place nothing before Christ.
The Lord speaks in the Gospel and says: c He who loves
father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and he
who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of
me; and he who does not take up his cross and follow me
is not my disciple. 31 As it is written in Deuteronomy: 'Who
say to their father and to their mother: "I know you not,"
and have not known their own sons, these have guarded
thy precepts and kept thy covenant.' 2 Likewise the Apostle
Paul says: 'Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or hunger, or
nakedness, or danger, or the sword? Even as it is written:
Tor thy sake we are put to death all the day long. We are
regarded as sheep for the slaughter. But in all these things
we overcome because of Him who loved us.' 3 And again:
*You are not your own; for you have been bought at a great
price. Glorify God and bear him in your body. 34 And again:
'Christ died for all, so that they who are alive may live no
longer for themselves, but for him who died for them and
rose again. 35
VIL That those who have been snatched from the jaws
8 John 12.25.
1 Matt. 10.37,38.
2 Cf. Deut. 33.9.
3 Rom. 8.35-37.
4 1 Cor. 6.19,20.
5 2 Cor. 5J5.
EXHORTATION TO MARTYRDOM,, TO FORTUNATUS 325
of the devil and freed from the snares of the world should
not return anew to the world lest they lose the benefit of
having escaped.
In Exodus the Jewish people prefigured in our shadow
and image, when, with God as their guardian and avenger,
they escaped the very severe slavery of Pharao and Egypt,
that is, of the devil and the world, faithless and ungrateful
with regard to God, looking back upon the troubles of the
desert and of their labor, murmured also against Moses; and,
not understanding the divine benefits of freedom and salva-
tion, they sought even to return to the slavery of Egypt, that
is, to the slavery of the world, from which they had been
withdrawn, when they should rather have had faith and
belief in God, since He who liberates His people from the
devil and the world protects them when liberated. 'Why
have you done this to us," they say, by throwing us out of
Egypt? It was better for us to serve the Egyptians than to
die in this desert. And Moses said to the people: "Trust and
stand and see the salvation which is from the Lord, which
he will do today for us. The Lord will fight for you and
you will hold your peace. 331 The Lord warning us of this in
His Gospel, lest we return to the devil again and to the world,
which we have renounced, and from which we have escaped,
says : No one having put this hand to the plow and looking
back is fit for the kingdom of God. 32 And again: 'And let
him who is in the field not turn back. Remember Lot's wife/ 3
And lest anyone, either because of some desire for wealth or
by the charm of his own be regarded from following Christ,
1 Exod. 14.11-14.
2 Luke 9.62.
3 Luke 17.31,82.
326 SAINT CYPRIAN
He added saying : 'He who does not renounce all that he pos-
sesses, cannot be my disciple. 34
VIII. We must press on and persevere in the faith and
virtue, and In the consummation of heavenly -and spiritual
grace, that we may be able to arrive at the palm and the
crown.
In Paralipornenon : 'The Lord is with you, as long as you
are with him. But if you forsake him, he will forsake you.' 1
Likewise in Ezechiel : 'The justice of the just shall not deliver
him, in what day soever he shall sin.' 2 Again in the Gospel
the Lord speaks and says: 'He who has persevered to the
end, will be saved. 33 And again: 'If you abide in my word,
you shall be my disciple indeed, and you shall know the
truth, and the truth shall make you free. 34 Forewarning also
that we should always be prepared and stand firmly equipped
for battle. He added, saying: 'Let your loins be girt about
and your lamps burning, and you yourselves like to men
waiting for their master's return from the wedding, so that
when he comes and knocks, they may open to him. Blessed
are those servants whom the master of his return, shall find
watching. 55 Likewise the blessed Apostle Paul, that our faith
may prosper and increase and attain the highest, exhorts
and says: 'Do you know that those who run in a race, all
indeed run, but one receives the prize? So run as to obtain
it. And they indeed to receive a perishable crown, but we
an imperishable?' 6 And again: 'No one serving as God's
4 Luke 14.33.
1 Cf. Par. 15.2.
2 Ezech. 33.12.
3 Matt. 10.22-
4 John 8.31,32.
5 Luke 12.35-37.
6 1 Cor. 9.24,25.
EXHORTATION TO MARTYRDOM, TO FORTUNATUS 327
soldier entangles himself In worldly affairs, that he may please
Him whose approval he has secured. And again one who
enters a contest is not crowned unless he has competed law-
fully.' 7 And again: C I exhort you, therefore, brethren, by the
mercy of God, to present your bodies as a sacrifice, living, holy,
pleasing to God. And be not conformed to this world, but be
transformed in the newness of your mind, that you may
discern what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of
God. 38 And again: 'We are sons of God. But if sons, then
we are heirs also, joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer
with Him, that we may also' be glorified with him. 39 And
in Apocalypse the same exhortation of the divine preaching
speaks and says: 'Hold fast what thou hast, that no one
receive thy crown/ 10 This example of perseverance and per-
sistence is pointed out in Exodus, where Moses, to overcome
Amalech, who bore the figure of the devil, raised his out-
spread hands in the sign and sacrament of the cross, and
he was unable to overcome his adversary except after he
had persevered steadfastly in the sign with hands raised con-
tinuously. 'And it came to pass,' it says, 'when Moses lifted
up his hands, Israel prevailed, but when he let them down
Amalec overcame. So they took a stone and put it under
him, and he sat upon it. And Aaron and Hur stayed up his
hands on both sides. And the hands of Moses were made
firm even to sunset. And Josue put Amalec and all his people
to flight. And the Lord said to Moses: "Write this that it may
be a memorial in a book, and deliver it to the ears of Josue,
7 Cf. 2 Tim. 2.4,5.
8 Rom, 12.1,2.
9 Rom. a.16,17.
10 Apoc. $.11.
328 SAINT CYPRIAN
for I shall destroy utterly the memory of Amalec from under
the sun." ni
IX. That troubles and persecutions take place for this pur-
pose, that we may be proved.
In Deuteronomy: 'The Lord your God trieth you, that
He may know whether you love the Lord your God with
all your heart and with all your soul and with all your
strength/ 1 And again in Solomon: The furnace trieth the
potter's vessels, and trial of affliction just men. 32 Paul also
gives like testimony, and speaks saying: 'We glory in the
hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we glory also in
tribulations knowing that tribulation works out endurance,
and endurance tries virtue, and virtue hope. And hope does
not disappoint, because the charity of God is poured forth
in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.' 3
And Peter in his Epistle lays it down, saying: 'Beloved, do
not be startled at the trial by fire that is happening among
you which is happening for your trial, and fail not, as though
a strange thing were taking place for you. But rejoice in all
things as often as you partake in the sufferings of Christ,
that you may rejoice with exultation in the revelation of his
glory. If you are upbraided for the name of Christ, blessed
are you, because the name of the glory and power of God
rests upon you, which indeed according to them is blasphemy,
but according to us is an honor.' 4
11 Cf. Exod. 17 .1 144.
1 Deut. 13.3.
2 Eccli. 27.6.
3 Rom. 5.2-5.
4 Cf. 1 Peter 4.12-14
EXHORTATION TO MARTYRDOM, TO FORTUNATUS 329
X. That the injuries and punishments of persecutions are
not to be feared, because the Lord is greater in protecting
than the devil in assaulting.
John in his Epistle approves, saying: 'Greater is he who
is in you than he who is in the world. 31 Likewise in Psalm
117: 'I shall not fear what man does to me; the Lord is
my helper/ 2 And again: Those are strong in chariots, these
in horses, but we, in the name of our God. They with their
feet bound have fallen, but we are risen up and stand erect. 33
And still more strongly the Holy Spirit, teaching and show-
ing that the army of the devil is not to be feared, and, if
the enemy should declare war on us, our hope consists rather
in that war itself, and that this conflict of the just arrives at
the reward of the divine abode and of eternal salvation, lays
down in Psalm 26, saying: If a camp be pitched against
me; my heart shall not fear; if a war shall arise against me,
in this do I hope. One thing I have sought of the Lord, this
I shall seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
all the days of my life.' 4 Likewise in Exodus holy Scripture
declares that we are rather multiplied and increased, saying:
The more they oppressed them, the more they were multi-
plied and increased.' 5 And in the Apocalypse divine protec-
tion is promised in our sufferings. Tear none of these things, 3
it says, that thou art about to suffer.' 6 Nor does any other
promise us security and protection than He who speaks
through Isaias the prophet saying: Tear not, for I have re-
deemed thee, and called thee by thy name. Thou art mine.
1 1 John 4,4,
2 Ps. 117.6,7.
3 Ps. 19.8,9.
4 Ps. 26.3,4.
5 Exod. 1.12.
6 Apoc. 2.10.
330 SAINT CYPRIAN
When thou shalt pass through the waters, I am with thee,
and the rivers shall not cover thee. When thou shalt walk
through the fire, thou shalt not be burnt; the flame shall
not bum thee. For I am the Lord thy God ? the Holy One
of Israel who shall save thee.' 7 And He also in the Gospel
promises that divine aid will not be lacking to God's servants
in persecutions, saying: 'But when they deliver you up, do
not be anxious how or what you shall speak; for what you
are to speak will be given you in that hour. For it is not
you who are speaking, but the Spirit of your Father who
speaks through you/ 8 And again: 'Resolve in your hearts
not to mediate beforehand to make excuse. For I shall give
to you utterance and wisdom which your adversaries shall
not be able to resist.' 9 Just as in Exodus God speaks to Moses,
when he delays and fears to go to the people, saying: 'Who
gave a mouth to man and who made the dumb and the deaf,
the seeing and the blind? Did not I the Lord God? Go now,
and I shall open thy mouth and I will teach thee what thou
shalt speak.' 10 It is not difficult for God to open the mouth
of a man devoted to Him, and to inspire constancy and con-
fidence in speaking in one who confesses Him, who in the
book of Numbers made even a female ass speak against
Balaam, the prophet. Therefore, let no one consider in per-
secutions what danger the devil brings, but rather let him
bear in mind what assistance God affords; and let not the
disturbances of men weaken the mind, but let divine protec-
tion strengthen the faith, since each one according to the
Lord's promises and the merits of his faith, receives so much
7 Isa. 43.1-3.
8 Matt. 10.19,20.
9 Luke 21.14,15.
10 Exod. 4.11,12.
EXHORTATION TO MARTYRDOM, TO FORTUNATUS 33 1
of God's help as he thinks he receives, and since there is
nothing which the Almighty cannot grant, except if the frail
faith of the recipient be deficient.
IX. That it was formerly predicted that the world hold
us in hatred, and that it would stir up persecutions against
us, and that nothing new happens to the Christians, since
from the beginning of the world the good have labored and
been oppressed, and the just have been slain by the unjust.
The Lord in the Gospel forewarns and predicts, saying:
'If the world hate you, know that it hates me first. If you
were of the world, the world would love what is its own; but
since you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out
of the world; therefore the world hates you. Remember the
word that I have spoken to you: "the servant is not greater
than this master." If they have persecuted me, they will per-
secute you also. 31 And again: The hour will come for any-
one who slays you to think that he does God a service. And
this they will do because they do not know the Father nor
me. But these things I have spoken to you, so that when
the time comes for them you may remember that I told you.' 2
And again: 'Amen, amen, I say to you that you shall weep
and lament, but the world shall rejoice; and you shall be
sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy.' 3 And
again: 'These things I have spoken to you that in me you
may have peace. In the world you will have affliction. But
take courage, for I have overcome the world. 34 But when
He was asked by His disciples about a sign of His coming
1 John 15.18-20.
2 John 16.2-4.
3 John 16.20.
4 John 16.33.
332 SAINT CYPRIAN
and of the consummation of the world. He answered and
said; Take care that no one leads you astray. For many
will come in my name, saying: "I am the Christ" and they
will lead many astray. Moreover, you shall begin to hear of
wars and rumors of wars. Take care that you do not be
alarmed; for these things must come to pass, but the end
is not yet. For nation will rise against nation and kingdom
against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes
and pestilence in various places. But all these things are the
beginnings of sorrows. Then they will deliver you up to
tribulation and will put you to death, and you will be hated
by all nations for my name's sake. And then many will fall
away and will arise and will lead many astray. And because
iniquity will abound, the charity of many will grow cold.
But whoever perseveres to the end, he shall be saved. And
this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole
world, for a witness to all nations, and then will come the
end. Therefore, when you see the abomination of desolation,
which was spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the
holy place let him who reads understand then, let those
who are in Judea flee to the mountains; and let him who is
on the housetop not come down to take anything from his
house; and let him who is in the field not turn back to take
his cloak. But woe to those who are with child, or have in-
fants at the breast in those days. But pray that your flight
may not be in the winter, or on the sabbath. For then there
will be great tribulation such as has not been from the begin-
ning of the world until now, nor will be. And unless those
days had been shortened, no living creature would be freed.
But for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened.
Then if anyone say to you: "Behold, here is the Christ,"
or, "There he is," do not believe it. For false Christs and
EXHORTATION TO MARTYRDOM., TO FORTUNATUS 333
false prophets will arise, and will show great signs and
wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. But
do yet take care. Behold I have told all things to you before-
hand. If, therefore, they say to you: "Behold, he is in the
desert," do not go forth; "Behold, he is in the inner chamber,"
do not believe it. For just as the lighting which goes forth
from the east and shines even to the west, so also will the
coming of the Son of man be. Wherever the body is, there
will be gathered together the eagles. But immediately after
the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened, and
the moon will not give her light, and the stars will fall from
heaven and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And
then will appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven; and
then will all the tribes of the earth mourn and they will see
the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with great
power and majesty. And he will send forth his angels with
a great trumpet and they will gather his elect from the four
winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.' 5
And these are not new or sudden things which are now
happening to Christians, since the good and the just, who
are always devoted to God by the law of innocence and by
the fear of the true religion, always walk through afflictions,
and injuries, and the severe and manifold punishments of
attackers in the difficulty of a narrow road. Thus at the
very beginning of the world, the just Abel is the first to be
killed by his brother, and Jacob is sent into exile, and Joseph
is sold, and King Saul persecutes merciful David, and King
Achab tries to oppress Elias who constantly and courageously
declares the majesty of God. The priest Zacharias is killed
between the temple and the altar, that he himself may be-
come a sacrifice there where he was accustomed to offer sacri-
5 Matt. 24.4-31.
334 SAINT CYPRIAN
fices to God. Finally so many martyrdoms of the just have
often been celebrated; so many examples of faith and of
virtue have been set forth for posterity. The three youths,
Ananias, Azarias, Misahel, equal in age, harmonious in love,
stable in faith, constant in virtue, stronger than the flames
and punishments that oppressed them, proclaim that they
serve God alone, know Him alone, and worship Him alone,
saying: 'King Nabuchodonosor, we have no occasion to
answer thee concerning this matter. For our God whom we
worship, is able to save us from the furnace of the burning
fire, and to deliver us out of your hands, O King. But if he
will not, be it known to thee, that we will not serve thy gods
and shall not adore the gods and the golden image that you
have set up.' 6 And Daniel, devoted to God and full of the
Holy Spirit, exclaims saying: 'Nothing do I worship except
the Lord my God who made heaven and earth.' 7 Tobias,
although under a royal and tyrannical slavery, yet in feeling
and spirit free, preserves his confession to God, and sublimely
proclaims the divine power and majesty saying: 'In the land
of my captivity I praise him and show forth His power in
a sinful nation.' 8
Now what as to the seven brothers in Machabees, alike in
their lot of birth and virtues, fulfilling the number seven in
the sacrament of a perfect fulfilment? Thus the seven broth-
ers, united in martyrdom, just as the first seven days in the
divine plan containing seven thousand years; as the seven
spirits and the seven angels who stand and go in and out
before the face of God, and the seven-branched lamp in the
tabernacle of witness, and the seven golden candlesticks in
6 Dan. 3.16-18,
7 Cf. Dan. 14.4.
8 Cf. Tob. 13.7.
EXHORTATION TO MARtYRDOM, TO FORTUNATUS 335
the Apocalypse, and the seven columns in Solomon, upon
which Wisdom builds her house, thus also here the number
of seven brothers embracing in the quantity of its number
seven churches, according as we read in the first book of
Kings that the barren woman bore seven. And in Isaias seven
women lay hold of one man, whose name they demand be
invoked upon them. And the Apostle Paul, who is mindful
of this lawful and certain number, writes to seven churches.
And in the Apocalypse the Lord directs His divine mandates
and heavenly precepts to seven churches and their angels.
This number is now found here in the brothers, that a lawful
consummation may be fulfilled. With the seven children is
clearly joined the mother 9 also, their origin and root, who
later bore seven churches, herself the first and only one
founded by the Lord's voice upon a rock. Nor it is without
significance that the mother alone is with her children in
their sufferings. For the martyrs, who in their suffering bear
witness to themselves as sons of God, are not considered as
of any father other than God, just as the Lord teaches in
the Gospel saying: And you shall call no one your father
on earth. One is your Father who is in heaven.' 10
What proclaimings of confessions have they given forth!
How glorious and how great proofs of faith have they fur-
nished ! Hostile King Antiochus, rather, antichrist represented
in Antiochus, sought to contaminate the mouths of the mar-
tyrs, glorious and invincible in the spirit of confession, with
the contagion of swine's flesh, and when he had beaten them
severely with rods and had been able to move them not at
all, he ordered irons to be heated. When these had been
heated and made to glow, he ordered him who had been
9 The mother referred to here is Ecclesia Catholica, the Catholic Church.
10 Matt. 23.9.
336 SAINT CYPRIAN
the first to speak and had provoked the king the more by
the constancy of his virtues and faith to be brought up and
to be roasted, after having pulled out and cut off the tongue
which had confessed God. And this happened the more glo-
riously for the martyrs. For the tongue which confessed the
name of God ought itself to have proceeded first to God.
Then in the second case, when more severe punishments were
devised, before he tortured the other members, he tore away
the skin of the head with the hair, out of hatred, namely
of a certainty on this account: for, since the head of man is
Christ, and the head of Christ is God, he who tore the head
on a martyr persecuted God and Christ in the head. But
trusting in his martyrdom and promising himself the reward
of resurrection from God's recompense he exclaimed and
said: 'Thou indeed, impotent one, destroyest us out of this
present life; but the King of the world will raise up into
the resurrection of eternal life us who have died for His
laws. 511 The third, on being ordered, put forth his tongue.
For he had now learned from his brother to despise the
punishment of having his tongue cut out. He also steadily
extended his hands to be cut off, happy with this kind of
punishment, whose lot it was to imitate the manner of the
Lord's passion. The fourth also with like virtue, despising
the torments and replying with the heavenly voice to restrain
the king, exclaimed saying: 'It is better, being put to death
by men, to look for hope from God, to be raised up again
by Him. For, to thee there shall be no resurrection unto
Me.' 12 The fifth, besides trampling under foot with the vigor
of faith the torments of the king and the severe and various
tortures, inspired by the Spirit of divinity to prescience also
11 2 Mach. 7.9.
12 2 Madi. 7.14.
EXHORTATION TO MARTYRDOM, TO FORTUNATUS 337
and * knowledge of the future, prophesied to the king that
God's wrath and vengeance would follow swiftly. He said:
'Whereas thou hast power among men and though you are
corruptible, thou dost what thou wilt, but think not that
our nation is forsaken by God. But stay and see in what
manner his great power will torment thee and thy seed.' 13
What a consolation that was for the martyr! How grand
a solace it was not to consider his own torments in his suf-
ferings but to predict the punishments of his tormentors ! But
in the sixth not virtue alone but also humility is to be pro-
claimed; that the martyr claimed nothing for himself and
did not bring forward the honor of his confession with proud
words; rather he ascribed his suffering persecution at the
hands of the king to his own sins, but that he would later
be avenged he attributed to God. He taught that martyrs
are modest, have confidence in their being avenged, and
boasted not at all in their passion. He said: 'Be not deceived
without cause, for we suffer these things for ourselves in that
we sin against our God. But we do not think that thou shalt
go unpunished to fight against God.' 14 Admirable also was
the mother who, neither broken by the weakness of her sex
nor moved by her manifold bereavement, gazed upon her
dying children cheerfully and did not compute the punish-
ments of her children but the glories, furnishing as grand a
martyrdom to God by virtue of her eyes as her sons had
furnished by the torments and sufferings of their limbs.
When, after six had been punished and killed, one of the
brothers survived, to whom he promised riches and power
and many things that his cruelty and fierceness might be
favored by the solace of at least one being subdued, and
13 2 Mach. 7.16,17.
14 2 Mach. 7.18,19.
338 SAINT CYPRIAN
when he asked that the mother also entreat the son to cast
himself down with herself, she entreated, but as befitted the
mother of martyrs, as befitted one mindful of the law and
of God, as befitted one who loved her sons not lightly but
strongly. For she entreated, but that he confess God. She
entreated that the brother be not separated from his brothers
in the communion of praise and glory, then accounting her-
self the mother of seven sons, if it should happen that she
had borne seven sons rather to God, not to the world. So
arming him and strengthening and bearing her son then by
a happier birth, she said: 'Son, have pity on me who bore
you in my womb ten months and gave you suck three years,
and nourished you and brought you up unto this age. I
beseech thee, my son, look upon heaven and earth and when
you have looked upon all things that are in them you may
know that from nothing God made them and so the race
of men came to be. And do not fear that tormentor, but
may you become worthy of your brothers and receive death,
that in that mercy I may receive thee with thy brethren. 315
Great was the praise of the mother in her exhortation to
virtue, but greater in her fear of the Lord and in the truth
of faith, because she claimed nothing for herself or her son
from the honor of six martyrs, nor did she believe that the
prayer of the brothers would avail for the salvation of a
denier; rather she persuaded him to become a sharer in their
suffering, so that on the day of judgment he could be found
with his brothers. After this the mother also died with her
children; for now nothing else was fitting than that she, who
had both borne and made martyrs, should be joined in the
companionship of their glory, and that she herself should
also follow those whom she had sent on ahead to God.
15 2 Mach. 27-29.
EXHORTATION TO MARTYRDOM, TO FORTUNATUS 339
And lest anyone, when the occasion has been presented
to him of a certificate or something else, whereby he may
deceive, embrace the evil role of deceivers, Eleazar must not
be passed over in silence. This man, when the opportunity
was given him by the servants of the king to take flesh which
it was lawful for him to eat and, to circumvent the king, to
pretend that he was eating what was handed him from the
sacrifices and the forbidden foods, refused to consent to this
deception, saying that to do this was becoming neither to
his age nor his dignity, for others would be scandalized
thereby and led into error, thinking that Eleazar, who was
ninety, years old, had gone over to the custom of strangers
after abandoning and betraying the law of God; that it was
not worthwhile so to barter the brief torments of life as to
offend God and incur eternal punishments. And, after he
had been tormented for a long time and was now at the
end of his life, as he died in the midst of lashes and torments,
lie groaned and said : C O Lord, who hast the holy knowledge,
it is manifest that, although I might be freed from death,
I endure most severe pains of the body as I am beaten with
stripes, yet I endure these things freely in soul because of
fear of thee.' 16 Certainly it was a sincere faith and a sound
and quite pure virtue not to have considered King Antiochus
but God the judge, and to have realized that it could not
profit him for salvation, if he derided and deceived man,
when God, who is the judge of our conscience and is alone
to be feared, can neither be derided in any way at all or be
deceived.
If then we too live dedicated and devoted to God, if we
make our way over the very tracks, ancient and holy, of the
just, let us proceed though the same evidences of punish-
16 2 Mach. 6.30.
340 SAINT CYPRIAN
merits, through the same testimonies of sufferings, considering
the glory of our time greater by this: that, although your
examples are numbered, as the abundance of virtue and
faith later comes forth, the Christian martyrs cannot be num-
bered, as the Apocalypse bears witness, saying: 'After this
I saw a great multitude which no man could number out
of every nation and out of every tribe and tongue standing
In the sight of the throne and of the Lamb; and they were
clothed in white robes, and there were palms in their hands,
and they were saying with a loud voice: "Salvation belongs
to our God who sits upon the throne and to the Lamb."
And one of the elders spoke and said to me: "These who are
clothed in the white robes, who are they and whence have
they come?" And I said to him: "My Lord, you know. 53
And He said to me: "These are they who have come out
of the great tribulation and have washed their robes and
made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore, they
are in the sight of the throne of God, and serve him in his
temple." n7 But if the assembly of the Christian martyrs is
shown and proved to be so great, no one should think that
it is difficult or hard to become a martyr, when he sees that
the people of the martyrs cannot be numbered.
XII. What hope and reward awaits the just and the mar-
tyrs after the conflicts and sufferings of this time.
The Holy Spirit shows and predicts through Solomon,
saying: 'And though in the sight of men they suffered tor-
ments, their hope is full of immortality. Afflicted in few things
in many they shall be well rewarded because God hath tried
them, and found them worthy of himself. As gold in the
furnace he has proved them and as victim of a holocaust
17 Apoc. 7.9,10,13-15.
EXHORTATION TO MARTYRDOM, TO FORTUNATUS 341
he hath received them, and in time there shall be respect
had to them. They shall judge nations, and rule over peoples,
and their Lord shall reign forever. 31 Likewise in the same our
vindication is described, and the repentance of those who
persecute and harass us is declared. He says: 'Then shall
the just stand with great constancy against those who have
afflicted them and taken away their labors. These seeing it
shall be troubled with terrible fear, and shall be amazed at
the suddenness of their unexpected salvation, saying within
themselves, repenting and groaning for anguish of spirit.
These are they whom we had some time in derision, and for a
parable of reproach. We fools esteemed their life madness,
and their life without honor. How are they numbered among
the children of God, and their lot is among the saints? There-
fore, we have erred from the way of truth, and the light
of justice has not shined on us, and the sun has not risen
upon us. We have wearied ourselves in the way of iniquity
and destruction, and have walked through hard ways, but
the way of the Lord we have not known. What has pride
profited us? Or, what advantage has the boasting of riches
brought us? All those things are passed away like a shadow.' 2
The price and reward of suffering is likewise indicated in
Psalm 115. It says: 'Precious in the sight of God is the death
of His saints/ 3 Likewise in Psalm 125 the sadness of con-
flict and the joy of retribution is expressed. It says: 'They
who sow in tears shall reap in joy. Going they went and
wept sowing the seed; but coming they shall come, with
exultation carrying their sheaves. 54 And again in Psalm 118:
1 \Visd. 3.4-6,8.
2 Wisd. 5.1-9.
3 Ps.. 115.6.
4 Cf. Ps. 125.5,6.
342 SAINT CYPRIAN
'Blessed are they whose way of life is spotless, who walk in
the light of the Lord. Blessed are they who search His testi-
monies, who seek Him with the whole heart.' 5 Likewise the
Lord in the Gospel, Himself the avenger of our persecution
and the rewarder of suffering, says: 'Blessed are they who
have suffered persecution for justice sake, for theirs is the
kingdom of heaven. 36 And again: 'Blessed shall you be, when
man shall hate you and when they shall shut you out and
reproach you and shall rewrite your name as evil because
of the Son of man. Rejoice in that day, and exult, for behold
your reward is great in heaven.' 7 And again: 'He who loses
his soul on account of me shall save it.' 8 Nor do the rewards
of divine promise await only the persecuted and the slain,
but, if the passion be wanting to the faithful, yet if the faith
has remained sound and unconquered, and, after forsaking
and continuing all his possessions, shows that he follows
Christ, he also is honored among the martyrs by Christ, as
He Himself promises and says. There is no one who leaves
house, or land, or parents, or brothers, or wife or children
for the sake of the kingdom of God, who shall not receive
much more in the present time, and in the age to come life
everlasting/ 9 Likewise in the Apocalypse He says this same
thing: 'And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded
because of the name of Jesus and the Word of God.' And
when he had put those beheaded in the first place, he added
saying : 'And who did not worship the image of the beast,
and did not accept his mark upon their foreheads or in their
hands. 3 And all these he joins together as seen by him in
5 Ps. 118.1,2.
6 Matt. 5.10.
7 Luke 6.22,23.
8 Luke 9.24.
9 Luke 18.29,30.
EXHORTATION TO MARTYRDOM, TO FORTUNATUS 343
the same place and says: 'And they came to life and reigned
with Christ. 310 He says that all live and reign with Christ, not
only those who have been slain, but whoever standing in
the firmness of their faith and in the fear of God have not
adored the image of a beast and have not consented to his
deadly sacrilegious edicts.
XIII. That we receive more as reward of suffering than
that which we endure in this world in the suffering itself.
The blessed Apostle Paul proves this, who, on being caught
up by the divine esteem, even into the third heaven and into
paradise, testifies that he heard unspeakable words, who
boasts that with a visible faith that he saw Jesus Christ, who
professes that which he both learned and saw with the truth
of a greater conscience. He says: 'The sufferings of the
present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory
to come that will be revealed in us. 31 Who then does not
labor in every way to arrive at such a glory as to become
a friend of God, as to rejoice at once with Christ, as to re-
ceive the divine rewards after earthly torments and punish-
ments? If it is glorious for the soldiers of the world to return
to their fatherland triumphant after vanquishing the enemy,
how much better and greater is the glory for one, after over-
coming the devil, to return to heaven triumphant, and, after
laying him low who had formerly deceived us, to bring back
the trophies of victory there whence Adam the sinner had
been ejected, to offer the Lord the most acceptable gift an
incorrupted faith, an unshaken virtue of the mind an illus-
trious praise of devotion, to accompany Him when He begins
10 Cf. Apoc. 20.4.
1 Rom. 8.18.
344 SAINT CYPRIAN
to come to receive vengeance on the enemies, to stand at
His side when He sits to judge, to become co-heir of Christ,
to be made equal to the angels, to rejoice with the patriarchs,
with the apostles, with the prophets in the possession of the
heavenly kingdom? What persecution can conquer these
thoughts, what torments can overcome them? The brave and
stable mind founded on religious meditations endures, and
the spirit persists unmoved against all the terrors of the devil
and the threats of the world, which a certain and strong
faith in the future makes strong. The lands are shut off in
persecutions, heaven is open; Antichrist threatens, but Christ
protects; death is brought on, but immortality follows; the
world is snatched from him who has been killed, but paradise
is displayed to him who has been restored; temporal life is
extinguished, but eternity is exhibited. How great a dignity
and, how great a security it is to go forth hence happy, to go
forth glorious in the midst 'of difficulties and affliction, in a
moment to shut the eyes with which men and the world
were seen, to open them immediately that God and Christ
may be seen. How great is the swiftness of so happy a de-
parture! You will be withdrawn suddenly from earth, that
you may be replaced in the heavenly kingdom. These things
should be grasped by your mind and thinking; these should
be meditated upon day and night. If persecution should come
upon such a soldier of God, virtue made ready for battle
will not be able to be overcome. Or if the summons should
come beforehand, the faith which was prepared for martyr-
dom will not be without its reward; without loss of time
with God as judge reward is rendered; in persecution loyal
military service, in peace purity of conscience is crowned.
7 HAT IDOLS
ARE NOT GODS
Translated by
ROY J. DEFERRARI, Ph.D.
The Catholic University of America
THAT IDOLS ARE NOT GODS
| HE TITLE, That Idols Are Not Gods, is definitely con-
firmed by the manuscripts, by Jerome in his letter
(70.5) 'To Magnus/ and by Cyprian himself in To
Fortunatus. Nearly all early editions have the title, The
Vanity of Idols, but this cannot be supported by evidence.
Chronologically, it is closely associated with To Donatus and
belongs in the period of Cyprian's conversion, probably in
the year 247. It is not included in Pontius' list of Cyprian's
works. It is largely a compilation from the Octavius of Minu-
cius Felix and the Apologeticum of Tertullian. There is no
longer any question as to its authenticity, although its author-
ship was long questioned.
Cyprian first argues that the popular divinities are identi-
fiable with historical benefactors. Their work is to 'confound
true with false, deceiving and being deceived.' Over against
all this confusion rises the glorious truth of the unity of God.
This he does not attempt to prove but illustrates, not always
happily, from analogy. Then follows an impressive sketch of
the history of Judaism, pointing out the exact correspondence
of its greatness and dispersion with predictions. Finally, he
sets forth the inadequacy of the Roman gods, and the con-
tinuous sufferings of believers in attestation of the credibility
of Christian truth. These ideas, repeated frequently by later
writers, appear to have their origin with Cyprian.
347
348 SAINT CYPRIAN
This treatise has been called 'the work of a learner, not
of a teacher.* In spite of Jerome's praise of its learning, it is
a simple compilation, showing little not already presented by
Cyprian's Christian predecessors. However, it is quite worthy
of Jerome's praise for brevitas and splendor, although it has
none of the literary polish that we find in Cyprian's other
works.
THAT IDOLS ARE NOT GODS
Chapter 1
JHAT THOSE ARE NOT GODS who are worshipped by
the populace is known from the following. There
were once kings, who, because of their memory as
kings, began later to be worshipped even in death. There-
upon, temples were established for them; thereupon, to retain
the features of the dead by an image statues were formed,
and men sacrificed victims and celebrated festal days giving
them honor. Thereupon, these rites became sacred for poster-
ity, which were taken up as consolations for those first con-
cerned. Let us see whether this truth also holds in individual
cases.
Chapter 2
Melicertes 1 and Leucothea are plunged into the sea and
later become divinities of the sea; the Casters 2 die alternately
1 Melicertes in Greek legend was the son of Ino. When Ino, his mother,
was driven mad by Hera, she threw herself with her hoy into the sea.
Both were then changed into marine deities, Ino becoming Leucothea,
and Melicertes Palaemon.
2 That is, Castor and Pollux.
349
350 SAINT CYPRIAN
that they may live; Aesculapius 3 is struck by lightning that
he may rise into a god; Hercules 4 is consumed by the fires
of Oeta that he may put off the man. Apollo 5 tended the
flocks of Admetus; Neptune built walls for Laomedon and
the unfortunate builder received no wages for his work. The
cave of Jupiter is seen in Crete and his tomb is pointed out }
and it is clear that Saturn was driven into exile by him; from
his hiding place 6 Latium received its name. This one was the
first to teach how to print letters and how to stamp coins in
Italy. Hence the treasury is called Saturn's. He always was
the cultivator of the rustic life, and so he is depicted carrying
a sickle. Janus had received him, when driven into exile, in
hospitality, from whose name the Janiculum was so called
and the month of January was established. He himself is
represented with two faces, because, placed in the middle, he
appears to the year equally as it begins and as it recedes.
The Mauri 7 indeed manifestly worship kings and do not
conceal this name by any covering.
3 The common story of the later poets make Aesculapius the son of
Apollo and Coronis. When Coronis was with child by Apollo, she
became enamored of Ischys, an Arcadian. Apollo promptly had her
killed, but, when the body was to be burned, he saved the child,
Aesculapius, and brought him to Chiron from whom he learned the
art of healing and the ways of the hunt. The legend is continued by
Pindar that he ntft only cured all the sick, but called the dead to life
again. While he was restoring Glaucus to life, Zeus, fearing lest men
might escape death entirely, killed him with a flash of lightning.
4 Hercules or Heracles put on a garment which had been soaked by his
wife Deianira out of jealousy in the blood of Nessus, This caused
Hercules excruciating pain. He then ascended Mt. Oeta, raised a
pile of wood, on which he placed himself, and ordered it to be set
on fire. When the pile was burning, a cloud came down from heaven,
and amid peals of thunder carried him to Olympus, where he was
honored with immortality.
5 Apollo tended the flocks of Admetus, when he was obliged to serve
a mortal for a year for having slain the Cyclops.
6 Latebra. *
7 One of the chief tribes of the Gaetulians who inhabited North Africa
west of the Syrtes,
THAT IDOLS ARE NOT GODS 35 1
Chapter 3
From this the religion of the gods is variously changed
throughout individual nations and provinces, since not one
God is worshipped by all, but the cult of its ancestors proper
to each is preserved. Alexander the Great wrote to his mother
that this is so in a famous volume, saying that because of fear
of his power the secret about the gods as men, which was
preserved in the memory of ancestors and kings, was revealed
to him by a priest. From this the rites of worshipping and
sacrificing have developed. But if the gods were born at some
time, why are they not born today? unless perchance Jupiter
has grown old or the faculty of bearing in Juno has failed.
Chapter 4
But why do you think that the gods have power in behalf of
the Romans, whom you see have availed nothing for their
own [worshippers] against their 1 arms? For we know that
the gods of the Romans are indigenous. Romulus was made
a god when Proculus 2 committed perjury, and Picus and
Tiberinus and Pilumnus and Consus whom Romulus wished
to be worshipped as the god of fraud as if the god of counsels,
after his perfidy resulted in the rape of the Sabine women.
1 The Romans,
2 One day, as Romulus was reviewing his people on the Campus Martius,
the sun was suddenly eclipsed, darkness spread over the earth, and a
dreadful storm dispersed the people. When daylight had returned,
Romulus had disappeared, for his father, Mars, had carried him up to
heaven in a fiery chariot. Shortly afterwards he appeared in more
than mortal beauty to Proculus Julius, and bade him tell the Romans
to worship him as their guardian god under the name of Quirinus.
This is the older of two legends.
352 SAINT CYPRIAN
Tatius also invented and worshipped the goddess Cloacina; 3
Hostilius, Pavor and Pallor. 4 Presently Februs 5 was dedicated
by someone or other and the harlots Acce and Flora. These
are Roman gods. But Mars is Thracian and Jupiter Cretan
and Juno either Argur or Samian or Carthaginian and Diana
of Taurus, and the mother of gods from Mt. Ida, and Egyp-
tian monsters, not divinities, which surely, if they had had
any power, would have saved their own and their people's
kingdoms. Plainly there are also among the Romans con-
quered household gods, 6 whom Aeneas as a fugitive conveyed
here. There is also bald Venus, much more disgraced by her
baldness here 7 than by being wounded in Homer.
Chapter 5
Moreover kingdoms do not come into existence by merit,
but they are varied by chance. Moreover the Syrians and
Persians formerly held an empire; and we know that the
Greeks and the Egyptians have ruled. Thus, with changes
of powers time for ruling fell to the Romans also as well as
to others. But if you should go back to their origin, you would
blush. A people is gathered together from the vicious and
the criminal, and, after an asylum was established, impunity
from crime makes a large number; presently that the king
himself may have the chief place in crime, Romulus becomes
a parricide and, in order to form a marriage, he begins an
affair of concord through discord. They steal; they rage; they
3 Sewer.
4 Fear and Paleness.
5 Fever.
6 Penates.
7 In Rome.
THAT IDOLS ARE NOT GODS 353
deceive to Increase the resources of the state; their marriages
are broken agreements of hospitality and cruel wars with
their fathers-in-law. Also the consulship is the highest step in
Roman honors. So we see that the consulship began as did
the kingdom; Brutus 1 kills his sons that praise for the dignity
may grow from the approval of the crime. Therefore, not
from holy observances nor from auspices or auguries did the
Roman kingdom grow, but it guards its appointed time
with a definite limit. Moreover, Regulus observed the auspices
and was captured, and Mancinus 2 maintained his religion
and was sent under the yoke; Paulus had chickens that fed
and yet at Cannae 3 he was slain; Gaius Caesar spurned the
auguries and the auspices that restrained from sending ships
to Africa before winter, and so much the more easily did he
both sail and conquer.
Chapter 6
Yet in all these affairs there is the principle of misleading
and deceiving and leading the foolish and wasteful people
astray by tricks that becloud the truth. They are impure and
vagrant spirits, which, after they have been immersed in
earthly vices and have receded from heavenly vigor because
of earthly contagion, themselves ruined do not cease to ruin
1 After the banishment of the Tarquins, Brutus and Tarquinhis Colla-
tinus were elected the first consuls of Rome. Brutus loved his country
better than his children, and put to death his two sons, who had
tried to restore the Tarquins.
2 Proconsul in 137; he had conducted the war against the Numan tines
but was defeated.
3 A village in Apulia, situated in an extensive plain east of the Aufidus
and north of the small river Vergellus, memorable for the defeat of the
Romans by Hannibal in 216 B. c.
354 SAINT CYPRIAN
others, and themselves depraved to infuse the error of de-
pravity in others. These demons the poets also know, and
Socrates declared that he was instructed and ruled according
to the will of a demon, and thence the Magi have power
to cause dangers or mockeries, of whom the chief one, Osta-
nes, both denies that the form of the true God can be seen
and says that true angels stand by His throne. In this also
Plato with like reasoning agrees, and, while maintaining one
God, calls the rest angels or demons. Hermes Trismegistus 1
speaks of one God, and confesses that He is incomprehensible
and impossible of estimation.
Chapter 7
So these spirits lurk under statues and consecrated images;
these inspire the hearts of seers with their afflatus; they
animate the fibres of entrails; they control the flight of birds;
they rule lots; they effect oracles; they always involve false-
hood with the truth, for they are both deceived and deceive ;
they disturb life; they disquiet sleep; also these spirits creeping
into bodies stealthily terrify minds; they distort the limbs;
they break down health; they provoke diseases, so as to coerce
people to worship them, so as to seem, when glutted with
the steam from altars and the piles of cattle, by removing
what they had constrained, to have affected a cure. This is
a cure on their part : the cessation of injury to their worship-
pers, and they have no other desire than to call men away
from God and to turn them from an understanding of the
1 The reputed author of a variety of works, some of which are still
extant. A vast number of works on philosophy and religion, written
by the Neo-Platonists, were ascribed to this Hermes.
THAT IDOLS ARE NOT GODS 355
true religion to superstition with regard to themselves. Since
they themselves are under punishment, [they have no other
desire than] to seek companions for themselves in punishments,
whom they will make by their error sharers in their own
crime. Yet these [spirits], when adjured by us through the
true God, immediately withdraw and confess and are forced
to go out of the bodies which they have possessed. You may
see them struck with the lashes of the unseen majesty at our
voice and prayer, burned with fire, stretched out with the
increase of a growing punishment, shriek, groan, implore,
confess to their very listeners, who worship them, whence they
come and when they depart, so that they either leap out at
once or vanish gradually, according as the faith of sufferer
gives aid or the grace of the healer draws near. Hence they
force the populace to hate our name, so that men begin to
hate us before they know us, lest they either be able to imitate
us when we are known or not be able to condemn.
Chapter 8
Therefore, one is the Lord of all. For that sublimity cannot
have a peer, since it alone holds all power. Let us borrow
an example for the divine government even from the earth.
When did an alliance of kinship ever either begin with trust
and cease without bloodshed? Thus the brotherhood of the
Thebans was disrupted, discord enduring even in death as
their funeral pyres were in disagreement. And one kingdom
does not take the Roman twins, whom one hospice took to
womb. Pompey and Caesar were related, 1 and yet they did
1 In order to cement the union of the first triumvirate more closely,
in 59 B. c. Caesar gave to Pompey his daughter Julia in marriage.
356 SAINT CYPRIAN
not hold the bond of relationship in the urge for power.
And you should not marvel at man, since in this all nature
agrees. The bees have one king, and there is one leader among
flocks, and one ruler among herds. Much rather is there one
ruler of the world, who by His word orders all things, what-
ever exist, arranges them according to plan, accomplishes
them by His power.
Chapter 9
This One cannot be seen, He is too bright to see; cannot
be comprehended, He is too pure to grasp; cannot be estim-
ated, He is too great to be imagined. And so we thus estimate
God worthily, when we declare Him inestimable. Indeed what
temple can God have, whose temple is the whole world? And
when I as man dwell far and wide, shall I enclose the power
of so great majesty within a small temple? He must be dedi-
cated in our mind; He must be consecrated in our heart. You
should not seek a name for God; God is His name. There
is need of words there where a multitude is to be distinguished
by the appropriate characteristics of designations. To God,
who is alone, is the whole name of God. Therefore, He is one
even wherever He is diffused. For even the populace naturally
confesses God in many things, when the mind and soul of their
author and origin are admonished. We hear it frequently
said: C O God' and 'God sees' and 1 commend to God' and
'God will render to me' and 'Whatever God wishes' and If
God shall grant.' But what a height of sin is this to be un-
willing to acknowledge Him of whom you cannot be ignorant.
THAT IDOLS ARE NOT GODS 357
Chapter 10
Now that Christ is, and how through Him salvation came
to us, this is the plan, this the means. At first the Jews had
favor with God. Thus at one time they were just; thus
ancestors were obedient to their religious views. Hence the
excellence of their kingdom flourished and the greatness of
their race advanced. But afterwards having become undiscip-
lined and puffed up with confidence in their fathers, when
they contemned the divine precepts, they lost the favor that
was granted them. How their lives became profane, what
offence to their violated religion was contracted, they them-
selves also bear witness, who, though silent in voice, confess
by their end; dispersed and straggling they wander about;
exiles from their soil and climate, they are tossed upon the
hospitality of strangers.
Chapter 11
Furthermore, God had predicted before that it would hap-
pen that, as the world passed on and the end of the universe
was now at hand, God would gather to Himself from every
nation and people and place much more faithful worshippers,
who would draw from the divine gifts the favor which the
Jews had lost by contemning their religious principles, after
having received it. Therefore, as the ruler and master of
this grace and teaching, the Word and the Son of God is
sent, who is proclaimed through all the prophets as the
Enlightener and Teacher of the human race. He is the power
of God; He is the reason; He is His wisdom and glory; He
enters into a virgin; the Holy Spirit put on flesh; God mingles
358 SAINT CYPRIAN
with man. This is our God; this our Christ who, as mediator
of the two, puts on man, to lead him to the Father. Christ
wished to be what man is, that man might be able to be what
Christ is.
Chapter 12
The Jews too knew that Christ would come, for He was
always being announced to them by the admonishment of the
prophets. But since His advent was signified as twofold, the
one which would perform the office and example of man, the
other which would confess God, not understanding the first
advent which preceded hidden in the passion, they believe
only the one which will be manifest in His power. Moreover,
that the people of the Jews were unable to understand this
was the desert of their sins; they were so punished for the
blindness of wisdom and intelligence, that those who were
unworthy of life had life before their eyes and saw it not.
Chapter 13
So when Christ Jesus according to the former predictions
of the prophets by His word and the command of His voice
drove demons out of man, released paralytics, cleansed the
leprous, illuminated the blind, gave the power to walk to the
halt, brought life back to the dead, compelled the elements
to be servants unto Him, the winds to serve Him, the seas
to obey Him, those of the lower regions to yield to Him,
the Jews who had believed Him only a man from the
humility of His flesh and body, thought Him a sorcerer from
the freedom of His power. Hence their masters and leaders,
THAT IDOLS ARE NOT GODS 359
that is those whom He surpassed in teaching and wisdom
were so inflamed with anger and roused with indignation that
they finally seized Him and handed Him over to Pontius
Pilate who at that time was procurator of Syria for the Ro-
mans, and demanded His crucifixion and death by violent
and stubborn approbations.
Chapter 14
He himself also had predicted that these would do this,
and the testimony of all the prophets had thus preceded, that
He should suffer, not that He might feel death, but that He
might conquer it, and that, when He had suffered, He should
return again to heaven to show the force of divine majesty.
Thus the course of events fulfilled the prophecy. For when
He had been crucified, forestalling the office of the executioner
He of His own accord gave up His spirit, and on the third
day of His own accord He rose again from the dead. He
appeared to His disciples just as He had been; He offered
Himself to be recognized to those who looked on and had
been joined with Him, and conspicuous by the firmness of
His corporeal substance He tarried for forty days, that they
might be instructed by Him according to the precepts of life
and learn what they should teach. Then, when a cloud had
spread about Him he was raised up into heaven, that as
victor He might bring to the Father the man whom He loved,
whom He put on, whom He protected from death, soon to
come from heaven for the punishment of the devil and the
judgment of the human race with the strength of an avenger
and the power of a judge; but the disciples scattered over the
world, with their Master and God advising, gave out precepts
360 SAINT CYPRIAN
for salvation, led man from the error of darkness to the way
of light, endowed the blind and ignorant with eyes to recog-
nize the truth.
Chapter 15
And that the proof might not be the less solid and the
confession of Christ not be a matter of pleasure, they are
tried by torments, by crosses, by many kinds of punishments.
Pain, which is the witness of truth, is applied, so that Christ,
the son of God, who is believed to have been given to man.
for life, might be proclaimed not only by the proclamation
of the voice but by the testimony of suffering. Therefore, we
accompany Him, we follow Him, we hold Him the Leader
of our journey, the Source of light, the Author of salvation,
as He promises heaven as well as the Father to those who
seek and believe. What Christ is, we Christians will be, if we
follow Christ.
INDEX
Aaron, 113, 114, 327
Abel, 149, 272, 296, 333
Abiron, 113
Abraham, 138, 208, 213, 234,
250, 272
Acce, a harlot, 352
Achab, King, 333
acta proconsularia, ix
Acts of the Apostles, 225, 232,
251
Adam, 227, 240, 267, 273, 281,
343
Aclmetus, 350 n.
advent, 358
adversarius, 95 n.
Advocate, our, 129
Aemilius, 68
Aeneas, 352
Aesculepius, son of Apollo and
Coronis, 350
Africa, 196, 258, (Proconsular)
259, 353
African Synod, 311
Ahias, 102
Aldhelm, St., Bishop of Malmes-
bury, 29
Alexander the Great, 351
Alexandria, 259
Almsgiving, see Works and; 228
Amaleck (Amalec) , 327, 328
Ananias, 84, 334
angels, 270, 295
Anna, 130, 159
Antichrist, 344
Antiochus, King, 335, 339
Apocalypse, 240, 284, 319, 320,
327, 329, 340, 342
Apollo, 350 n.
Apologeticum, of Tertullian,
347
363
Apology, of Tertullian, 164
Apostle, 40, 45, 67, 98, (Paul) ,
102, 104, 105, 109, 111, (the
blessed) 117, 118, 136, 142,
144, 148, 156, 209, 216, 217,
235, 237, 250, 264, 271, 276,
278, 287, 299, 301, 303, 305,
323, 324, 326, 343
Apostles, 66, 87, 98, 99, 117, 120,
133, 251, 269, 292
Apulia, 353 n.
Arnobius, 163
Asia Minor, 258
Aufidus, river, 353 n.
Augustine, St., xii; the Confes-
sions 5; De doctrina Chris-
tiana, 5 n., 25 and n.; 30, 125,
263, 257 n., 258 n., 260
Author of salvation, 360
avarice, 177
Avenger, 286
Azarias, 84, 114, 334
Babylon, 149
Balaam, 330
baptism, 228, 316
Bardenhewer, 26 n.
bees, 178, 356 .
Benson, E. W., xiii
betrayer, 269
Bible, Latin versions of, 311
Book of Kings, first, 322
Bread of Heaven, 268
Brunner, F. A., 277
Brutus, 353 and n.
Caesar, Gaius, 353, 355
Cain, 109, 148, 213, 281, 296,
301, 308
Callistus, Pope, 61 n.
Campus Martius, 351 n.
Cannae, 353
Canticle of Canticles, 99
Carthage, conditions in, 212 n.,
225, councils in, 258, 313
Cassiodorus, 30, 257 n.
Castor, 349 n.
Cestus, 68
Chapman, Dom, 92
Charity, 109, 277, 278, 328
Cheltenham list, 291
Chiron, 350 n.
Christ, 38, 50 58, 61 62, 64, 65,
66, 67, tribunal of, 72, 81, 82,
83, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101,
102, 103, 116, 118, 119, 121,
126, 134, 138, 140, 141, 142,
143, 147, 149, 158, 159, 182,
187, 188, 191, 199, 201, 202;
teacher 203, 204, 216, 217, 221,
227, 228, 232, 234, 235, 238,
240, 241, 242, 243, 245, 247,
248, 250, 252, 262, 264, 268,
270, 271, 279, 281, 282, 283,
292, 297, 301, 302, 304, 305,
306, 307, 308, 311, 313, 315,
316, 317, 323, 324, 327, 328,
332, 3336, 342, 343, 344, 357,
358, 360
Christianity, 262
Christians, 38, 98, 158, 163, 164,
364
170, 179, 183, 185, 191, 196,
197, 205, 208, 212, 225, 238,
241, 252, 261 n., 263, 275, 279,
295, 302, 306, 318, 331, 333,
360
Church, 38, 40, 48; Mother, 58,
65, 66, 71, 75, 88; Unity of,
91-121, 92, 97, 98, 99, 100; of
Christ, 101, 102, 103, 104, 107,
108, 109, 110, 111, 113, 114,
115, 117, 118, 130, 154; in
Africa, 196, 236, 238, 248, 250,
259, 261 n, 271, 277 n., 282,
286, 291
Cicero, 196, 199 n.
City of God, St. Augustine's, 163
Cloacina, 352
Clement of Alexandria, 25
commandments, 120, 320
Communion, 277 n.
Communion, infant, 79 n.
confession, 116
confessors, 55, 73 n., 116
Census, 351
Core, 113
Cornelius, Pope, vii, 155, 261 n.
Coronis, 350 n.
Crete, 350 n.
crocodiles, 178
Cross, 191, 269
crucifixion, 359
Curubia, ix
Cyclops, 350 n.
Cyprian, St., Life of, v-ix; trea-
tises of, x; letters of, xi; That
Idols Are Not Gods, 6; De
habitu virginum, 25-52
daemon, 95 n.
d'Ales, A., 258 n.
Daniel, 74, 84, 145, 157, 231,
237, 321, 332, 334
Dathan, 113
David, 102, 273, 296, 297, 333
Decian persecution, 261 n.
Decius, Emperor, vi, 85, 165, 311
de Ghellinck, J., 257 n.
Deianira, 350 n.
Demetrian, To, 163-191
Deuteronomy, 207,242,319,320,
322, 324, 328
devil, 201, 202, 204, 268, 270,
275, 281, 301, 314, 317, 325
diabolus, 95 n.
Diana, o Taurus, 352
Dionysius, Pope, 261 n.
Director, of the universe, 171
disci dium, 97 n.
disciples, 107, 204, 268, 269, 275,
331, 359
discipline, 140
discordia, 97 n., 109
dissensio, 97 n.
Donatus, To, 5-21, 347
Ecclesia Gatholica, 335
Egypt, 187, 325
Egyptians, 352
Eleazar, 339
Elias, 146, 243, 333
365
Empire, Roman, 163, 195, 261 n.
Enoch, 217
Epaphyroditus, 156
Esau, 281, 296
Eucharist, 79, 143, 277
eunuch, 51
Eutropius, 195
Exhortation to Martyrdom, 309-
344
Exodus, law of, 103, 319, 320,
321, 325, 327, 329, 330
exordiums, in Cyprian, 228 n.
Ezechiel, 74, 321, 326
Fabian, Pope, 261
Faith, House of, 203, 264, 277
fasces, 17
Father, 75, 101, 153
Fear and Palenus, 352 n.
Februs, 352
Felicissimus, deacon, vii, 91
festivities, wedding, 27, 28
Fever, 352
Fichter, J. H., xiii
fides, 98 n.
Flora, a harlot, 352
Fortunatus, Bishop of Thucca-
lori, 311
Fortunatus, To, 309-344, 347
Gaetulian, 350 n.
Gallus, 195, 261 n., 311
Gehenna, 189, 228, 302
Genesis, 217
Gentiles, 59, 61, 97, 157, 159,
236, 246, 264, 267, 283
Glaucus, 350 n.
Godet, P., 258 n.
Godhead, 264
gods, Roman, 347
Goliath, 296
Gospel, 70, 71, 75, 101, 102, 107;
interpreters of, 107, 110, 114,
116, 118, 120, 127, 131, 134,
150, 159, 228, 233, 236, 267,
323, 324, 326, 330, 331, 342
grace, 106, 143, 191, 208
Greeks, 352
Hannibal, 353 n.
Hartel, 92
heaven, kigdom of, 191, 197>
200, 277, 285
Hera, 349 n.
Hercules or Heracles, 350 n.
heresy, 97 n.
Hermes Trimegistus, 354
Hilary of Poitiers, 125
Hippolytus, 26
Homer, 352
humility, 140
Hummel, E., xiii
Hur, 327
Iconium, Council of, 258 n.
Ida, Mt, 352
Idols That Idols Are Not
Gods, 347-360
immortality, 202, 295
Ino, 349 n.
366
Isaac, 138, 213, 250, 272 Judea, 332
Isaias, 36, 42, 135, 151, 156, 230, Judge, 16, 72, 80, 137, 241, 285,
285, 320, 330 286
Ischys, an Arcadian, 350 n. judgment, day of, 64, 248, 266,
Israel, 76, 102, 135, 151, 174, 319, 359
320, 330 Julia, daughter of Caesar, 355 n.
Ital Y> 350 Jungmann, J. A., 277
Juno, 351, 352
Jacob, 76, 138, 149, 213, 230, Jupiter, cave of, 350, 351, 352
250, 272, 296, 333 justice, 140
Janiculum, 350
Jannus, 112 Kings, Book of, 242, 335; Icings,
January, 350 349
Janus, 350 Koch, H., 27 n., 291, 311
Jealousy and Envy, 291-308
Jeremias, 32, 74, 130, 320, 321 Lactantius, xii, 163, 164
Jeroboam, 102 Lamb, 340
Jerome, St., v, vi, 29, 257 n., Laomedon, 350
347, 348 Lapsed, The, 55-88, 115
Jerusalem, 102, 149, 187, 200 n. lapsi, vii, 196
Jews, 134, 135, 138, 159; Jewish Latebra, 350 n.
people, 207, 211, 269, 270, Latium, 350
279, 282, 283, 297, 325, 357, Leclercq, H., 277
358 LeMoyne, Dom Jean, 93
Job, 74, 150, 206, 244, 280, 281, Leucothea, 349
321 libellatici, vii, 56, 196
John 37, (Apostle) 110, 139, 146, libelli, vii
218, 229, 271, 287, 301, 323, Lot's wife, 325
329 Lucius, 261 n.
Joseph, 272, 296, 333
Josue, 327 Machabees, 334
Jubaianus, Bishop of Maureta- Magi, 354
ma, 260 Magnus, 259; To Magnus, 347
Judaism, history of, 347 maidens, of Christ, 39
Judas, 117, 149, 269 Malachias, 285
367
malice, 266
Mambres, 112
mammon, 237
Mancinus, 353 and n.
Mara, 307
Mars, 351 n., 352
martyrdom, 109, 115, 149, 197,
213 n., 311
martyrs, 49, 59, 73 n., 75, 270,
318, 335, 336, 337, 340
Mary, 120, 133
Master of unity, 132; of eternal
salvation, 233, 265, 269, 275
Mathathias, 323
Matthew, St., 125
Mauri, a tribe of the Gaetulians,
350
Melicertes in Greek legend, 349
n.
mercy, 191, 266
Methodius of Olympus, 26
Minucius, Felix, 347
Misahel, 84, 334
modesty, 140
Mommsen, 199 n.
Monceaux, P., xiii, 195
Moreau, EL, 277 n.
mortalitas, 199 n.
mortality, 195-221
Moses, 78, 112, 113, 207, 273,
282, 321, 325, 327, 330
Mother, 115, 118
Muir, W., xiii
Nabuchodonosor, king of Ba-
bylon, 149, 231, 334
Neptune, 350
Nessus, 350 n.
Nock, A. D., xiii
Noe, 74, 100, 321
North Africa, 350 n.
Novatian, vii, 259, 261, n.
Novatus, vii, 91
Numantines, 353 n.
Numbers, 207, 330
Octavius, 347
Oetna, Mt., 350 n.
Olympus, 350 n.
Origen, 25
Osorius, 195
Ostanes, 354
Ozias, 114
pagans, 211
Palaemon, 349
Pallor, 352
paradise, 191, 308
Paralipomenon, 326
passion, 157, 243, 248, 269, 336,
358
Passover, 103
Paternus, proconsul, ix
Patience, The God of, 257-287
patron, 16
Paul, St., 36, 38, 99, 141, 204,
264, 328, 335, 343
Paulus, consul, 353
Pavor, 352
368
peace, (of Christ), 118; (son
of) 119
peace-makers, 147, 308
Pelagians, 126
Penates, 352 n.
perfidia, 98 n.
Perler, O., 93
perorations, in Cyprian, 228 n.
persecution, Decian, 196
persecutors, 269
Persians, 352
pestilence, 210 n.
Peter, chair of, viii; 38, 40, 92,
98, 99, 153, 157, 232, 233, 261,
n., 271, 293, 302, 328
Pharao, 325
Pharisee, 131, 238
philosophus, 263, 264
Picas, 351
Pilate, 286
Pilumnus, 351
Pindar, 350 n.
Pollux, 349 n.
Pompey, 355
Pontius, v, 165, 195, 196, 291,
347
Pontius Pilate, procurator of
Syria, 359
Prayer, The Lord's, 125-159,
165
pride, 297
Proclus Julius, 351 n.
Prophet, 134, 172, 173, 320
Prudentius, xii
Psalms, 80, 231, 318, 329, 341
Pseudo-Clementine, letters ad
virgines, 26
Puech, 26 n.
Quintus, Bishop of Mauretania,
259
Quirinus, x, 351 n.
Romulus, 351
race, human, 171
Raphael, 155, 156, 207, 231, 232
rebaptism, 259 n.
regeneration, water of, 268
Regulus, 353
remission of sins, 228
retribution, day of, 266
Rhaab, 103
Roman kingdom, 353; twins,
355
Romans, 351 n., 352; defeat of,
353 n., 359
Rome, 258
Romulus, 351 n., 352
Sebatier, 206 n.
sabine women, 351
sacramentum, Christi, 62 n.
sacraments, 157
sacrificatij 55
salvation, part of, 19; safety and
salvation, 140, 190, 204, 227,
228, 268, 270, 325, 357
Sara, 155; Sarra, 207
Satan, 95 n., 149, 153; angel of,
209
369
Saturn, 350
Saul, King, 273, 296, 297, 333
Scapula, To, of Tertullian, 164
schism, 97 n., 291
schisma, 97 n.
scissura, 97 n.
Scripture, holy, 32, 34, 41, 63,
70, 76, 77, 84, 101, 120, 130,
133, 148, 149, 155, 158, 169,
173, 183, 186, 189, 196, 197,
205, 217, 225, 228, 235, 244,
245, 262, 313, 329
Acts, 120, 133, 155, 233, 251,
279
Aggeus, 172
Amos, 172, 188
Apocalypse, 34, 42, 45, 65, 69,
72, 73, 81, 115, 130, 187, 213,
240, 276, 284, 287, 320, 321,
327, 329, 340, 343
Canticle of Canticles, 99, 154
Colossians, 154, 264, 305
1 Corinthians, 32, 39, 40, 45,
51, 70, 71, 109, 113, 136, 264,
277, 278, 303, 304, 305, 324,
326
2 Corinthians, 209, 236, 324
Daniel, 84, 132, 231, 334
Deuteronomy, 63, 134, 171,
208, 242, 319, 320, 322, 323,
324, 328
Ecclesiasticus, 112, 205, 209,
228, 231, 280, 328
Ephesians, 99, 118, 278, 279
Exodus, 63, 73, 172, 181, 187,
282, 319, 320, 321, 325, 328,
329, 330
Ezechiel, 74, 88, 187, 266, 276,
322, 326
Galatians, 36, 81, 141, 251,
276
Genesis, 44, 50, 218, 267, 271,
273, 274, 281
Habacuc, 185
Isaias, 36, 42, 63, 65, 69, 76,
85, 88, 135, 149, 151, 156, 177,
181, 186, 189, 230, 264, 285,
286, 306, 320, 330
Jeremias, 32, 72, 74, 81, 106,
129, 172, 173, 321
Job, 150, 206, 244, 264, 318 n.
Joel, 82, 88, 266
John, 33, 38, 96, 99, 110, 119,
128, 129, 135, 139, 142, 143,
145, 150, 151, 154, 188, 203,
204, 218, 268, 269, 271, 275,
302, 320, 323, 324, 326, 331
1 John, 37, 38, 110, 133, 146,
148, 159, 216, 229, 242, 302,
329
1 Kings, 81, 130, 136, 273,
305, 322
3 Kings, 149, 343
4 Kings, 149
Leviticus, 70, 83, 136
Luke, 50, 68, 75, 116, 120,121,
131, 143, 144, 152, 153, 159,
200, 201, 228, 233, 234, 235,
238, 239, 241, 268, 269, 270,
278, 300, 325, 326, 330, 342
370
1 Machabees, 323, 336, 337,
338, 339
Malachlas, 158, 186, 266, 285
Mark, 64, 67, 82, 108, 110,
111, 112, 114, 128, 152, 268,
269, 270, 286, 320
Matthew, 34, 45, 66, 80, 95,
96, 98, 107, 111, 113, 116, 119,
128, 130, 132, 134, 137, 138,
139, 143, 145, 146, 147, 150,
152, 155, 167, 233, 234, 236,
238, 242, 250, 265, 267, 268,
269, 270, 275, 278, 286, 306,
320, 323, 326, 330, 333, 335,
342
Numbers, 114, 207, 273
Osee, 158, 175
2 Paralipomenon, 114, 326
1 Peter, 38, 271, 294, 302, 328
Philippians, 156, 204, 217, 287
Proverbs, 31, 129, 145, 167,
183, 228, 229, 231, 235, 237,
245, 308
Psalms, 31, 35, 81, 119, 330,
133, 145, 147, 158, 207, 231,
245, 264, 285, 299, 318, 329,
341, 342
Romans, 15 n,, 117, 183, 201,
266, 276, 299, 301, 304, 318
n., 324, 327, 328, 343
Samuel, 322
Sophonias, 284
2 Thessalonians, 85, 118, 216
1 Timothy, 38, 67, 144, 237
2 Timothy, 86, 112, 323, 327
Tobias, 155, 156, 206, 232,
246, 334
Wisdom, 31, 40, 170, 189, 218,
319, 341
Seneca, 164 n., 196
serpens, 95 n.
serpents, 178
Sewer, 352 n.
Simeon, 201
Sion, daughters of, 42
Sixtus II, Pope, viii, 261 n.
Socrates, 354
soldiers, of Christ, 58, 200, 311,
313
Solomon, 102, 115, 149, 218,
231, 235, 318, 328, 335
Son, 101, 128, 143, 148, 153, 248,
249, 333, 342
Source of light, 360
spectacles, 12-14
Spirit, Holy, 10, 20, 42, 51, 63,
80, 91, 99, 101, 104, 105, 111,
119, 128, 130, fruit of; 141,
148, 151, 157, 158, 172, 183,
185, 207, 218, 228, 230, 231,
235, 264, 277, 278, 279, 285,
299, 304, 328, 329, 334, 336,
340, 357
steadfastness, 140
Stephen, Pope, viii, 259, 260,
261 n., 279
Stoicism, 164
stones, 178
Sullivan, D. D., xiii
371
Synnada, Council of, 258 n.
Syrians, 352
Syrtes, 350 n.
Tabitha, 232, 233
Tatius, 352
Teacher, of peace, 132; of our
life, 233
Tertullian, 28, 55, 61 n., 125,
163, 258 n., 262, 347
Testament, New, 230
Testament, Old, 230, 291
Thebans, 355
Thornton, C., xiii
Tiberinus, 351
Tobias, 206, 246, 281, 334
toga, 16, 16 n.
Trinity, 157
Tucce, bishop of, 313 n.
twelve tables, 15
van den Eynde, D., 93
Venus, 352
Vergellus, 353
virginity, 34, 48, 50, 51
virgins, the Dress of Virgins, 25-
52; of Christ, 39, 42, 44, 46,
48, 50, 58, 211, 283
Volusianus, 195, 261
Von Hartel, W., xiii
Vanity of Idols, 347
vow, of chastity, 27; of poverty,
27; of obedience, 27
Wallis, E., xiii
widows, 44, 48, 232, 233, 241,
283
Wisdom, 335
witnesses, 73 n.
Word of God, 270
Works and Almsgiving, 225-255
Valerian, Emperor, ix, 126; per- Zachaeus, 234
secution, 261 Zacharias, 333
Valerius, 311 Zeus, 350 n.
372
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