Cyprian & Lactantius · a new plain-English translation from the original language
Letter XLVI. Cyprian to Maximus, Nicostratus, and the other confessors, greeting. Since you have often learned from my letters, dearest brothers, with what regard for your confession and what devotion to our conjoined brotherhood I have kept my speech, I beg you now to trust and rest upon this letter of mine, in which I write to you about your conduct and your praises both simply and faithfully, offering you counsel. For it weighs on me and grieves me, and an unbearable sadness of a heart struck down and almost prostrated presses upon me, when I learned that there, contrary to God's ordinance, contrary to the law of the gospel, contrary to the unity of catholic instruction, you have agreed to the making of another bishop — that is, that which is neither right nor lawful, the setting up of a second church, the tearing apart of the members of Christ, the rending, by a divided rivalry, of the one heart and body of the Lord's flock. I beg that among us at least this unlawful rift of our brotherhood not continue, but that, mindful of your confession and of the divine tradition, you return to the mother from whom you came forth, from whom, amid that same mother's rejoicing, you came to the glory of confession. And do not think that you are thereby upholding the gospel of Christ, while you cut yourselves off from Christ's flock and from his peace and concord, when it befits glorious and good soldiers far more to stand fast within their own camp, and, being stationed within, to handle and provide for those matters which must be dealt with in common. For since our unanimity and concord ought never to be torn apart at all — because, the church not having been abandoned by us, we cannot go outside and come to you — we ask and beg, with whatever exhortations we can, that you rather return to the mother church and to your own brotherhood. I wish you, dearest brothers, always to fare well.
Letter XLVII. Cyprian to his brother Cornelius, greeting. I judged it both a religious duty and a necessary one, dearest brother, to write a brief letter to the confessors who are there and who, led astray by the obstinacy and perversity of Novatian and Novatus, have withdrawn from the church, so that, out of the affection we share, I might urge upon them a coming-back to the mother from whom they sprang, namely the catholic church itself. I first had this letter read to you by Mettius the subdeacon, so that no one might pretend that I had written something other than what is contained in my letter. I have nonetheless instructed this same Mettius, sent by me to you, to act according to your judgment; and if you think the confessors ought to be trusted with this same letter, let him then deliver it to them. I wish you, dearest brother, always to fare well.
Letter XLVIII. Cyprian to his brother Cornelius, greeting. Your letter reached me, dearest brother, carried by Primitivus our fellow presbyter, and in it I found you troubled because, after a letter had been directed to you from the colony of Hadrumetum in the name of Polycarp, and after Liberalis and I had come to that same place, letters had then begun to be directed there to the presbyters and deacons. I want you to know, and to believe for certain, that this was done with no disloyalty or intent of insult. Rather, when several of us colleagues, gathered together in one place, had determined that, delegates having been sent to us from our fellow bishops Caldonius and Fortunatus, everything should meanwhile be held in suspense until those same colleagues of ours returned to us, matters there having either been brought back to peace or ascertained according to the truth — the presbyters and deacons residing at Hadrumetum, our fellow bishop Polycarp being absent, did not know what we had jointly decided. But when we ourselves arrived in person, and our decision became known, they too began to observe what the rest were observing, so that the agreement among the churches established there might not differ in any respect. Yet certain persons sometimes trouble minds and spirits with their talk, reporting things otherwise than the truth actually stands. For as we gave an account to individual travelers by sea, so that they might not sail amid any scandal, we know that we urged them to acknowledge and hold fast to the source and root of the catholic church. But since our province is spread rather widely, and has Numidia and Mauretania attached to it as well, lest a schism arising in the city should confound the minds of those absent with uncertain rumor, it was resolved that, the truth of the matter being upheld by us through the bishops, and a greater authority being established to confirm your ordination, then at last, every scruple having been shaken from each person's heart, letters should be written — as indeed they are being written — to absolutely everyone stationed there, so that all our colleagues might alike approve and hold firmly both your fellowship, that is, the unity of the catholic church, and their affection for you. We rejoice that this has come about by divine will and that our plan has proceeded providentially. For thus now both the truth and the dignity of your episcopate stand founded in the clearest light, by the most manifest and most firm confirmation. And so, through the written replies our colleagues sent us from there, and through what our fellow bishops Pompeius, Stephanus, Caldonius, and Fortunatus reported and attested, all might come to know both the necessary origin and the just reason for your ordination, together with its glorious freedom from any stain. That we may administer this steadfastly and firmly together with our other colleagues as well, and hold to it in the harmonious unanimity of the catholic church, divine protection will bring to completion — so that the Lord, who deigns to choose and appoint priests for himself in his church, may also, by his own will and help, watch over those he has chosen and appointed, guiding, inspiring, and supplying both the firmness needed to restrain the defiance of the wicked and the gentleness needed to foster the repentance of the lapsed. I wish you, dearest brother, always to fare well.
Letter XLVIIII. Cornelius to his brother Cyprian, greeting. As great as the anxiety and worry we bore over those confessors who had been ensnared and almost deceived by the deceit and malice of a crafty and cunning man, and estranged from the church, so great is the joy that has now come upon us; and we give thanks to God almighty and to Christ our Lord, since, their error recognized and the venomous cunning of that malicious man understood — like a serpent's — of their own plain will they returned to the very church they had abandoned, exactly as they themselves confess in their own words. And at first indeed our brothers of proven faith, loving peace and desiring unity, reported their swelling pride softening into gentleness — yet the report was not reliable enough for us to be easily persuaded that they had suddenly changed. But afterward the confessors Urbanus and Sidonius came to our fellow presbyters, affirming that Maximus, confessor and presbyter, ... together with them likewise desired to return to the church. But since much had gone before, contrived by them, which you too have learned from our fellow bishops and from my letters, so that they should not rashly be trusted, it was decided that these things which they had sent by delegation should be heard from their own mouth and confession. When they had come and were questioned by the presbyters about what they had done, at last, as for the letters, crammed with slander and abuse, which had gone out under their names to every church and had stirred nearly all of them into turmoil, they claimed to have been tricked and to have had no idea what those letters held, saying they had merely put their signatures to them after that man's cunning led them astray; they also owned that they had set schism and heresy in motion, in that they allowed a hand to be laid on him as though for ordination to the episcopate. When these and other things were laid to their charge, they begged that they be blotted out and removed from memory. When the whole matter had been reported to me, it was decided to convene the presbytery. Five bishops were also present, who were there that day, so that, with the plan firmly settled, it might be decided by common consent what should be observed concerning their persons. And so that you might know the impulse and the counsel of each, it was decided that our own opinions too should be brought to your notice, which we have appended below. This having been done, Maximus, Urbanus, Sidonius, and a good many brothers who had joined themselves to them came into the presbytery, begging with the utmost entreaty that what had previously been done should fall into oblivion, with no mention made of it, as though nothing at all had been done or said, and that, all things being mutually forgiven, they might now show God a heart made clean and pure, in keeping with the gospel's saying that those pure of heart are blessed, for they shall look upon God. As followed from this, the whole matter had to be made known to the people, so that they too might see, established in the church, those whom they had for so long seen wandering and straying, and had grieved over. Their will being known, a great gathering of the brotherhood took place; there was one voice of all giving thanks to God, expressing the joy of their hearts in tears, embracing them as though on that day they had been freed from the punishment of prison. And to set down their own words: 'Cornelius', they said, 'is known to us as bishop of the most holy catholic church, God almighty and Christ our Lord having chosen him. Our error we own. Trickery was worked upon us. Treacherous and wheedling talk caught us in its snare. Even though we may have looked as if joined in some association with a schismatic, heretical man, our heart all the while never left the church. We know well enough that God is one, that the Christ we have confessed as Lord is one, that the Holy Spirit is one, and that within the catholic body a single bishop is what must be.' Who would not be moved by such a profession from them, so that what they had confessed before worldly power they should now confirm, established in the church? Wherefore we ordered Maximus the presbyter to resume his place. As for the rest, with the enormous approval of the people, we forgave to God almighty all that had been done before, in whose power all things are kept in reserve.
Letter L. Cornelius to his brother Cyprian, greeting. So that nothing might be lacking to the future punishment of this wicked man, cast down by the powers of God, when Maximus and Longinus and Machaeus had been expelled from that place, he rose up again; and, as my previous letter told you (the one carried by Augendus the confessor), Nicostratus, Novatus, Evaristus, Primus, and Dionysius have by now, I suppose, reached that place. Let watch therefore be kept, so that it may become known to all our fellow bishops and brothers: that Nicostratus is guilty of many crimes, and not only committed fraud and plunder in the accounts he managed for his fleshly patroness, but also — a thing reserved for his everlasting punishment — carried off no small deposits belonging to the church; that Evaristus stood among those who stirred up the schism, and that in his place, over the people he had once led, Zetus now holds the office of bishop as his successor; and that Novatus has marked out here such deeds, by his malice and insatiable greed, as he always practiced there among us — so that you may know what sort of leaders and protectors this schismatic and heretic always keeps joined to his side. Fare well, dearest brother.
Letter LI. Cyprian to his brother Cornelius, greeting. We profess, dearest brother, that we have given and continue to give the greatest thanks, without ceasing, to God the Father almighty and to Christ his Lord and our saving God, because his church is so protected by divine power that its unity and holiness are not perpetually or wholly corrupted by the obstinacy of treachery and heretical depravity. For we have read your letter, and received with exultant joy the fullest measure of our shared prayer, that Maximus the presbyter, and the confessors Urbanus, together with Sidonius and Macarius, have returned to the catholic church — that is, having laid aside their error and abandoned their schismatic, indeed heretical, madness, they have sought again, with faithful soundness, the dwelling of unity and truth, so that from whence they had gone forth to glory they might return there gloriously, lest those who had confessed Christ should afterward desert Christ's camp, and lest those who had not been conquered by force and violence should be tempted away from the faith of love and unity. Behold the unblemished and untarnished wholeness of their praise; behold the uncorrupted and solid worth of the confessors — to have withdrawn from deserters and fugitives, to have abandoned betrayers of the faith and assailants of the catholic church. Deservedly, as you write, both clergy and people and the whole brotherhood received them on their return with the greatest joy, since, when confessors preserve their glory and return to unity, there is no one who does not count himself their companion and sharer in their glory. We can gauge the gladness of that day from our own feelings; for if, here, upon your letter reporting their confession, the whole number of the brothers rejoiced and received the news with the greatest eagerness of common congratulation, how much more there, where the very event and its present joy were unfolding before everyone's eyes? For since the Lord says in his gospel that there is the greatest joy in heaven over one sinner doing penance, how much greater is the joy, alike on earth and in heaven, over confessors returning to the church of God with their glory and their praise, and making, by the trust and proof of their own example, a path of return for others? For here error had led certain of our brothers to think they were following the fellowship of the confessors. Their error now removed, light has been poured into the hearts of all, and it has been shown that the catholic church is one, and cannot be torn apart or divided. Nor will anyone now easily be able to be deceived by the wordy speeches of a raging schismatic, now that it stands proven: soldiers of Christ, good and glorious as they are, cannot be kept for any length of time outside the church through someone else's treachery and deceit. I wish you, dearest brother, always to fare well.
Letter LII. Cyprian to his brother Cornelius, greeting. Both diligence and love marked what you did, dearest brother, when you hurried Niceforus the acolyte off to us, to announce to us the glorious joy concerning the returned confessors, and to instruct us fully about the new and destructive machinations of Novatian and Novatus aimed at assailing the church of Christ. For the day before, the guilty faction of heretical depravity had come here — already ruined itself, and destined to ruin others who agreed with it — and on the following day Niceforus arrived with your letter, from which we learned, and have begun to teach and instruct others in turn, that Evaristus, from being a bishop, has remained not even a layman, but is banished from his see and his people, an exile from the church of Christ wandering through distant provinces, and that he, himself a shipwreck of truth and faith, is stirring up like shipwrecks among certain others resembling him; that Nicostratus too, having lost the deacon's office of holy administration, having sacrilegiously and fraudulently withdrawn church funds and denied the deposits of widows and orphans, did not so much wish to come to Africa as flee there from the city because of his awareness of his plunder and abominable crimes; and that now, a deserter and fugitive from the church, as though changing one's region were the same as changing one's character, he boasts of himself further as a confessor and proclaims it, though one who has denied the church of Christ can no longer be called, nor be, a confessor of Christ. For the apostle Paul writes: 'On account of this a man will leave his father and mother, and the pair will become a single flesh — a mystery of great weight'; yet, he adds, my meaning points to Christ and the church. Given, then, that the blessed apostle states this and, in his own sacred words, bears witness that Christ and the church are joined by ties nothing can undo, how could anyone stand with Christ while standing apart from Christ's own bride, outside her church? Or how could someone claim the task of directing or shepherding the church, when it is that very church of Christ he has plundered and cheated? As for Novatus, nothing needed to be reported to us from there, since it should rather be through us that Novatus is shown to you: a man always greedy for revolution, raging with the insatiable rapacity of avarice, puffed up with arrogance and the stupor of swollen pride, the bishops there never held him in anything but contempt, every priest without exception has denounced him aloud as both heretic and traitor, he is ever on the watch to betray, ever fawning in order to trick, never loyal enough to love — a torch and a fire for kindling the flames of sedition, a whirlwind and a storm for making shipwreck of the faith, an enemy of quiet, an adversary of tranquility, a foe of peace. In short, once Novatus withdrew from you there — that is, once the storm and whirlwind withdrew — quiet was in part restored there, and the glorious and good confessors who, at his instigation, had departed from the church, returned to the church after he had left the city. This is the same Novatus who among us first sowed the fire of discord, who separated certain of the brothers there from their bishop, who during the very persecution was, for overturning the minds of the brothers, a kind of second persecution to us in his own right. He is the one who made Felicissimus, his own henchman, a deacon, without my permission or knowledge, by his own faction and ambition, and who, sailing with his own storm to Rome as well, to overturn the church there, attempted similar and equal things — tearing a portion of the people away from the clergy, rending apart the concord of a brotherhood that had held well together and loved one another. Clearly, since Rome, in keeping with its greatness, ought to take precedence over Carthage, he committed there greater and graver deeds — he who here had made a deacon against the church, there made a bishop. Nor should anyone marvel at this in such men: the wicked, maddened by their own fury, are always driven on, and once they have done their crimes, they are goaded by the very awareness of their guilty mind. Nor can those remain in the church of God who have kept neither the discipline of God and of the church in the conduct of their own life, nor the peace of good character. The orphans he despoiled, the widows he defrauded, the church funds he withheld, demand from him these punishments which we now see in his madness. His own father, too, died of hunger in the village, and afterward was not even buried by him in death; his wife's womb was struck by a kick, and by a hastened miscarriage the child was forced out in an act of infanticide. And now he dares to condemn the hands of those who sacrificed, though he himself is more guilty than their feet — his own feet, by which the son who was being born was killed. He had long feared this awareness of his crimes; for this reason he knew for certain that he would not merely be removed from the presbytery, but also barred from communion, and, the brothers pressing the matter, the day of inquiry was drawing near on which his case would be tried among us — had not persecution intervened first, which he seized upon with a kind of wish to escape and profit from condemnation, and so contrived and stirred up all these things, so that he who was bound to be cast out and excluded from the church might, by a voluntary withdrawal, forestall the priests' judgment — as though to have anticipated the sentence were the same as to have escaped the punishment. As for the rest of the brothers, we labor over those whom we grieve to see ensnared by him, that they may flee the pernicious side of this deceiver, that they may escape the deadly snares of this tempter, that they may seek again the church from which he by divine judgment deserved to be driven out; and we trust that, with the Lord's help, through his mercy, they can return. For none can perish except one it is certain will perish, since the Lord says in his gospel: 'Every planting which my heavenly Father has not planted shall be rooted up.' Whoever was never rooted through the Father's own commands and cautions is the only sort capable of forsaking the church, the only sort who, turning from the bishops, stays raging alongside schismatics and heretics. All the others, though, the Father's mercy, our Lord Christ's forbearance, and our own patient endurance will bring back into our fold. I wish you, dearest brother, always to fare well.