Cyprian & Lactantius · a new plain-English translation from the original language
Letter XXVII. Cyprian to the presbyters and deacons of Rome, greeting the brethren. Having already written to you, dearest brothers, a letter in which I set out our proceedings and gave some small account of the discipline and diligence we have observed, another matter has arisen which ought not to be hidden from you either. For our brother Lucianus, himself one of the confessors, warm indeed in faith and sturdy in courage, yet lacking a firm grounding in what the Lord's word teaches, attempted several things without proper skill, having some time back set himself up as an authority, so that slips written in his own hand were being handed out wholesale to many under the name of Paul—though Mappalicus, a cautious and modest martyr mindful of the law and of discipline, wrote no such letters running counter to the gospel, but only, moved by family affection, asked that peace be granted to his mother and sister who had lapsed; and Saturninus too, even after his tortures, while still held in prison, issued no letters of that kind. But Lucianus, not content with handing out, while Paul was still in prison, slips written in his own hand under Paul's name, went on doing the same thing under his name even after his death, saying that this had been entrusted to him by Paul—not realizing that obedience is owed to the Lord rather than to a fellow-servant. Many slips were also given out in the name of the young man Aurelius, who had endured torture, written in the same hand of Lucianus, because Aurelius himself did not know his letters. To offer some resistance to this state of affairs I wrote to them the letter which I sent to you enclosed in my previous one, in which I did not cease to ask and urge that the rule of the Lord's law and of the gospel be kept. After that letter, as though something more measured and restrained were now being done, Lucianus wrote, in the name of every confessor, a letter which very nearly dissolved the whole bond of faith, along with the fear of God, the Lord's command, and the holiness and firmness of the gospel. His claim, made in everyone's name, was that each of them had granted peace, and that he wanted this formula made known through me to the other bishops—a copy of which letter I have enclosed for you. To it was plainly appended the clause 'to those whose case shall be established by inquiry into what they did after their fall.' This has stirred up greater ill-will against us, since when we begin to hear and examine each individual's case we seem to many to be refusing what they now all boast of having received from the martyrs and confessors. In short, the origin of this disturbance has already begun. For in our province, in a number of towns, the crowd has risen up against those set over them, and they have forced the immediate grant to themselves of the peace which they clamor was given once for all to everyone by the martyrs and confessors, terrifying and overpowering their leaders, who lacked sufficient strength of spirit and firmness of faith to resist. Even among us certain troublemakers, who in time past were scarcely kept in check by us and were being put off until they could appear before me, have been kindled as though by torches through this letter and have begun to blaze up all the more and to wring from us the peace they claim was given them. I have sent along a copy of what I wrote to the clergy concerning them. Also enclosed for your reading are two things: what my colleague Caldonius, in his integrity and good faith, wrote to me, and my reply to him. I have likewise sent copies of the letter which Celerinus, a good and steadfast confessor, wrote to that same confessor Lucianus, along with Lucianus's reply, so that you may know how diligently we are laboring over all these matters, and may learn from the truth itself how measured and cautious the confessor Celerinus is, and how modest in the humility and fear proper to our faith, while Lucianus, as I have said, understands the Lord's word poorly and, through his own easy-going nature, is careless about the ill-will he leaves behind for our modesty. The Lord's own command was this: converts among the nations are to be baptized calling upon Father, Son, and Spirit as one, and that same washing blots out sins committed beforehand. Lucianus knows neither this precept nor the law behind it, yet he commands that peace be granted and sins remitted in Paul's name instead, insisting Paul himself had charged him with the task—a claim you can verify for yourselves in this same man's letter to Celerinus. He gives far too little weight to a simple truth: martyrs do not make the gospel; rather, the gospel makes martyrs. For the apostle Paul himself, the man the Lord called a vessel of his own choosing, wrote in his own letter: 'I marvel that you are turning away so quickly from the one who called you by grace, toward a different gospel—not that there is another, except that some are troubling you and wish to twist the gospel of Christ around. Yet even if we ourselves, or an angel out of heaven, should announce to you something other than what we announced, let that one be cursed; as we have said before, so now I say again: whoever announces to you anything other than what you received, let him be cursed.' Your letter, however, which I received, addressed to the clergy, arrived opportunely, as did the one sent by the blessed confessors Moyses, Maximus, and Nicostratus, together with the rest, addressed to Saturninus, Aurelius, and their companions, containing the full strength of the gospel and the firm discipline of the Lord's law. As we labor here and strain with all the strength of our faith against the assault of this ill-will, your letter has helped us greatly, so that by God's providence there might be some relief, and that, before the letter I lately sent you had reached you, your own judgment might already declare to us that, according to the gospel's rule, it stands firmly and with one mind alongside our own. I wish you, dearest and most longed-for brothers, always to fare well.
Letter XXVIII. Cyprian to Moyses and Maximus, presbyters, and to the rest of the beloved confessors, brethren, greeting. I had already learned by report, most valiant and blessed brothers, of the glory of your faith and courage, and rejoiced greatly and gave heartfelt thanks that a special favor has prepared you, by the confession of his name, for the crown of our Lord. For you, made the first leaders and captains for the battle of our times, have raised the standards of the heavenly army. You have imbued with your own courage the spiritual contest which God has willed to be waged in this age. You broke the first onset of the rising war with unshaken strength and unshaken steadiness. From you the happy beginnings of the fight arose. From you came the first omens of victory. It has fallen to some to complete their martyrdom through torture; but he who went before in the struggle and became an example of courage to the brothers shares in honor with the martyrs. You have handed down from your own hand the woven crowns to this place, and have offered your brothers a drink from the cup of salvation. To the glorious beginnings of your confession and to the auspicious opening of a victorious campaign there has been added that steadiness of discipline which we have seen from the force of your letter, which you recently sent, with careful admonition, to your colleagues joined with you in confession of the Lord, urging that the holy precepts of the gospel and the life-giving commands once handed down to us be kept with strong and steady observance. Here is another lofty step in your glory; here again, doubled together with your confession, a title to merit before God: to stand firm of foot in this battle-line where an attempt is made to break in upon the gospel, and to drive back with the strength of faith those impious hands raised to undermine the Lord's commands—having already given, at the outset, examples of courage, now to give also lessons in conduct. After rising from the dead, the Lord sent the apostles out with this charge: all authority in heaven and on earth belongs to me now. Go, therefore, to every nation, baptize them by invoking Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as one, and teach them to observe everything I have commanded you. And the apostle John, mindful of this command, later sets down in his letter: by this, he says, we recognize that we have come to know him, if we hold fast to his precepts. Whoever claims to know him yet fails to keep his commands is a liar, and truth has no place in him. These are the precepts you urge to be kept; these are the divine and heavenly commands you observe. This, and nothing less, is what makes one a confessor of the Lord; this is what makes one a martyr of Christ—holding his word's firmness whole and unbroken in every respect, and not attempting, in the Lord's name, to become a martyr while working to destroy the Lord's own commands, thereby turning, against him, the very distinction he has granted you, armed with weapons received from him, into a kind of rebellion against him. That would be to wish to confess Christ while denying the gospel of Christ. I rejoice, then, over you, most valiant and most faithful brothers, and just as I give thanks for the martyrs honored there for the glory of their courage, in the same measure I give you thanks too, for the crown that belongs to the Lord's own discipline. The Lord has poured out his favor in manifold generosity, distributing the praises and spiritual glories of his good soldiers with rich variety. We too share in your honors; we count your glory as our own glory—we whose times such great blessedness has made illustrious, that it has fallen to our own age to see the tried servants of God and the soldiers of Christ crowned. I wish you, most valiant and most blessed brothers, always to fare well and to remember me.
Letter XXIX. Cyprian to the presbyters and deacons, brethren, greeting. So that nothing might escape your notice, dearest brothers, of what was written to me and of what I wrote back, I have sent you a copy of both letters, and I trust that what I wrote back does not displease you. But this too I owed it to you to convey by letter—that pressing need has led me to send letters to the clergy residing in the city. And since it was necessary for me to write through members of the clergy, and since I know that most of ours are away, while the few who are there are barely sufficient for the daily service of the work, it was necessary to appoint some new men to be sent. I would have you know that I have appointed the reader Saturus and the subdeacon Optatus, a confessor, whom we had already, by common counsel, placed close to the clergy some time ago—when we gave Saturus the reading once and again on the day of Easter, or when, lately, in carefully testing readers together with the teaching presbyters, we placed Optatus among the readers of the teachers' pupils, examining whether all the qualities that ought to be present in those being prepared for the clergy were indeed found in them. During your absence, then, I introduced nothing new; rather, something set in motion long before by all of us in common counsel has now, under the pressure of necessity, simply been pushed further along. I wish you, dearest brothers, always to fare well and to remember me. Greet the brotherhood. Farewell.