Cyprian & Lactantius · a new plain-English translation from the original language
Letter 58. Cyprian, to the people settled at Thibaris, greeting. Dearest brothers, I had truly considered, and kept it in my thoughts, that if the state of affairs and the pressure of the season allowed it, I would come to you myself, as you have so often wished, and there in person lend the brotherhood whatever slight strength my exhortation could give. But because the press of business holds me fast, leaving me no chance to travel so far from home or to stay long away from the flock over which divine mercy has set me, I have sent you instead, for the time being, this letter to act in my place. For since the Lord in his instructing kindness stirs and warns us again and again, it falls to us to carry that same warning and concern through to your conscience as well. You ought to know, and to hold as certain, believing it firmly, that the day of affliction has already begun looming over us, and that the world's end together with antichrist's season has drawn close, so that we should all stand prepared for the fight, fixing our minds on nothing but the glory of life without end and the crown that comes from confessing the Lord — and we should not imagine that what is coming will resemble what has already gone by. A fiercer, harsher battle now presses upon us, and for it Christ's soldiers must ready themselves with unshaken faith and sturdy courage, mindful that the daily draught they take from the cup of Christ's blood is meant to enable them, in turn, to pour out their own blood for his sake. To wish to be found alongside Christ is nothing other than this: imitating what Christ himself taught and carried out, following the apostle John's word — that whoever claims to remain in Christ is bound to walk exactly as Christ walked. In the same vein the apostle Paul urges and instructs: we are God's children; and if children, then also God's heirs, fellow heirs with Christ, provided we share his suffering so that we may likewise share his glory. All of this deserves our reflection now, so that none of us should crave anything more from a world already dying, but should instead follow Christ, who lives forever and gives life to those servants grounded in faith in his name. The season has arrived, dearest brothers, of which our Lord gave notice long before, teaching that it would come, in these words: an hour will come when whoever kills you will imagine he is rendering God a service. And they will act this way because they never knew the Father, nor me. I have said these things to you so that, once their hour arrives, you will recall that I told you beforehand. Let none of us be surprised that relentless persecutions wear us down and that crushing pressures assault us again and again, since the Lord foretold long ago that these very things would come in the last days, and armed our struggle with the teaching and encouragement of his own words; his apostle Peter likewise taught that persecutions arise so that we may be proven, and so that, following the pattern set by the righteous who came before us, we too may be bound to God's love through death and suffering. He wrote as much in his letter: beloved, do not be astonished at the fiery ordeal that falls upon you to test you, and do not fall away as though something unheard-of were happening to you; rather, whenever you take part in Christ's sufferings, rejoice in every way, so that when his glory is disclosed you may rejoice and exult as well. If you are reviled for Christ's name, you are blessed, since the name that carries the Lord's majesty and power comes to rest upon you — a name that unbelievers curse, yet we hold in honor. The apostles taught us these very things, which they themselves had learned from the Lord's commands and heavenly instructions, the Lord himself giving us strength and saying: no one abandons house, field, parents, brothers, wife, or children for God's kingdom's sake without receiving seven times as much back in the present age, and in the age to come, life everlasting. And there is a further saying of his: blessedness comes to you when hatred, exclusion, banishment, and slander fall upon you and your name is treated as something foul, and all on account of the Son of Man. When such a day arrives, leap for joy and rejoice, since a great reward is waiting for you in the heavens. It was the Lord's wish that we should be glad and exult amid persecutions, because it is precisely when persecutions strike that crowns of faith are awarded, God's soldiers are tested, and heaven stands open to martyrs. We did not enlist under this name only to dream of peace and to dodge and shrink from the fight, since it was the Lord himself — master of humility, endurance, and suffering — who marched first into this very struggle, so that he might be the first to do what he commanded be done, and so that the one who urges us to suffer might himself suffer first on our account. Keep this before your eyes, dearest brothers: he to whom the Father alone has handed every judgment, the one destined to come as judge, has already declared the verdict of that coming judgment and knowledge, announcing and affirming beforehand that he will acknowledge before his Father those who acknowledge him, and disown those who disown him. Were escape from death possible, our fear of dying would be justified. But since a mortal being cannot avoid death, let us seize the opportunity offered by the divine promise and favor, and let us pass through death's gate carrying the reward of immortality with us; nor should we dread being killed, since it is certain that the moment of our killing is also the moment of our crowning. Let none of you, dearest brothers, grow troubled at seeing our people scattered and driven to flight by fear of persecution, simply because he does not see the brotherhood gathered as one body, or hear the bishops delivering their teaching. They cannot all remain together at such a time, for they are forbidden to kill and are instead destined to be killed. Wherever, during those days, any brother finds himself cut off from the flock in body though not in spirit, owing to necessity and the pressure of the moment, let him not be shaken by dread of that flight, nor take fright at retreating into hiding in some lonely, deserted place. No one is alone whose companion in flight is Christ. No one who guards himself as a temple of God is ever alone, wherever he may be, for he is never apart from God. And should a robber corner him as he flees through wilderness and mountains, or a wild beast set upon him, or hunger, thirst, or cold wear him down, or should a storm and gale swallow him as he hurries across the sea on a headlong voyage — Christ watches over his soldier no matter where he fights, and to the one who dies, on account of persecution, for the honor of his name, he pays out the reward he promised to grant at the resurrection. Perishing quietly rather than publicly before a crowd takes nothing away from martyrdom's glory, since what makes death worthwhile is dying for Christ's sake. For the testimony of one's martyrdom it is enough that there is a witness who approves and crowns the martyrs. Let us imitate, dearest brothers, righteous Abel, who opened the way to martyrdom by being the first person killed for righteousness' sake. Let us imitate Abraham, God's friend, who did not hesitate to lay his own son on the altar with his own hands, submitting to God through the devotion of his faith. Let us imitate the three young men — Ananias, Azarias, and Misael — who, neither shaken by their youth nor crushed by captivity, though Judea had been conquered and Jerusalem taken, defeated the king within his own realm through the strength of their faith; ordered to bow before the statue King Nebuchadnezzar had erected, they proved themselves tougher than his threats and his flames, declaring and testifying to their faith in these words: King Nebuchadnezzar, we need not answer you on this matter. There exists a God we serve who has power to rescue us out of the blazing furnace, and he will free us from your hands; but even if he does not, know this — we will not serve your gods, nor bow to the golden statue you have raised. They trusted that their faith could win them escape, yet they added the words even if not, so the king would understand that they were equally ready to die for the God they worshiped. This, indeed, is the strength virtue and faith supply: to believe and know that God can rescue someone from death staring them in the face, and still not fear death or give way, so that faith might be shown all the stronger for it. Through their mouths burst the untainted, unconquerable force of the Holy Spirit, proving true what the Lord had proclaimed in his gospel: when they seize you, give no thought beforehand to what you will say. In that hour, what you should say will be given to you. For it is not you speaking, but your Father's Spirit, who speaks through you. He meant that the words and answers we would need would be granted and supplied to us by divine gift in that very hour, and that it would not be us speaking then, but the Spirit of God the Father — who, never abandoning or dividing himself from those who confess him, both speaks within us and is crowned in us. Daniel offers the same pattern: pressed to kneel before Bel, an idol the ruler and people of his day held sacred, he instead defended his God's honor with unshaken faith and boldness of speech, crying out that heaven and earth's maker, the Lord his God, was the sole object of his worship. Consider, too, the harsh torments the blessed martyrs endured in the books of the Maccabees — should a Christian, mere servant that he is, refuse to suffer when the Lord suffered before him? Should we, for sins that are our own, decline the suffering he endured on our account despite bearing no sin of his own? The Son of God suffered so that he might make us God's sons, so should a son of man refuse suffering if he means to go on being God's son? If the world's hatred weighs on us, Christ bore that same hatred first; if we endure insults, exile, or torment in this world, the world's own maker and lord underwent far worse, and he warns us of it, saying: if the world hates you, remember it hated me before you. Had you belonged to the world, the world would have loved what was its own; but because you do not belong to the world, since I have drawn you out of it, the world hates you for that reason. Remember the word I spoke to you: no servant outranks his master. If they hunted me down, they will hunt you as well. Everything he commanded, our Lord and God likewise did in his own person, so that no follower could plead learning without practice as an excuse. And let none of us, dearest brothers, grow so frightened at the prospect of coming persecution or antichrist's looming arrival that we fail to be found fully equipped, in every way, with the gospel's exhortations and its precepts and heavenly warnings. Antichrist arrives, but Christ comes after him and stands over him. The enemy storms and rages, but the Lord follows close behind to avenge what we have suffered and the wounds we bear. The adversary seethes and makes threats, yet there exists one who can rescue us from his grip. Fear belongs to a different power altogether � the one from whose wrath there is no escaping, exactly as he cautioned us beforehand: those who can destroy only the body, and not the soul, are not to be feared; dread rather the one able to hurl both soul and body together into the ruin of hell. And again: whoever clings to his own life will lose it, and whoever gives up his life in this world will keep it for life eternal. And the Apocalypse teaches and forewarns: if anyone bows to the beast and its image and takes its mark on forehead or hand, that one too will drink from the wine of God's fury, mixed into the cup of his wrath, and will be tormented with fire and brimstone in full view of the holy angels and in full view of the Lamb, and the smoke rising from their torment will ascend forever, and they will find no rest by day or by night, all who bow to the beast and its image. Men train and condition themselves for a worldly contest, counting it a mark of great personal honor if it should fall to them to be crowned with the crowd looking on and the emperor present. Consider, then, how much loftier and greater this contest is, made glorious by the prize of a heavenly crown, where God himself watches us compete, fixing his gaze on those he has deigned to make his children, and delights in the spectacle of our struggle. As we fight and grapple in the contest of faith, God watches, his angels watch, and Christ himself watches. How great is the honor of that glory, how great the happiness, to contend with God presiding and to be crowned with Christ as judge! Let us arm ourselves, dearest brothers, with our whole strength, and make ready for the contest, with mind unspotted, faith intact, and courage given wholly over. Let God's camp advance to the battle line to which we are called. Let those still standing whole be armed, so that the whole man does not lose what he only recently gained; let the fallen too be armed, so that even the one who has stumbled may recover what he lost — let honor call the whole to the fight, and let grief call the fallen. The blessed apostle teaches us to arm and prepare ourselves, saying: what we wrestle against is not flesh and blood, but rather this world's powers and its rulers, this darkness, the wicked spirits dwelling in the heavens. Because of this, put on the whole armor, so that you may stand firm on the evil day, and, having done everything, remain standing, your waist bound with truth, wearing righteousness as a breastplate, your feet fitted with readiness to carry the gospel of peace, taking up faith as a shield with which you can douse every burning arrow the wicked one shoots, and salvation as a helmet, and the Spirit's sword, which is God's word. Let us take up these weapons; let us fortify ourselves with these spiritual, heavenly defenses, so that on the evil day we may stand firm against the devil's threats and fight back. Let us wear righteousness as a breastplate, so that our chest is shielded and made secure against the enemy's arrows. Let our feet be shod and armed with the gospel's teaching, so that once we begin to tread on and crush the serpent, it cannot bite and trip us up. Let us carry faith bravely as our shield, under whose protection whatever the enemy hurls can be extinguished. Let us also take up, to cover our heads, the spiritual helmet, so that our ears are guarded against hearing savage edicts, our eyes guarded against seeing loathsome idols, our forehead guarded so that God's mark stays unblemished, our mouth guarded so that a victorious tongue may confess the Lord Christ. Let us also arm our right hand with the spiritual sword, so that it firmly rejects deadly sacrifices, and, keeping the eucharist in mind, which receives the Lord's body, embraces it instead — destined afterward to receive from the Lord the crowning reward of heaven. What a day that will be, dearest brothers, how momentous, when it arrives — when the Lord begins to review his people and, through the scrutiny of divine knowledge, to recognize each one's merits; to cast the guilty into hell and condemn our persecutors to the endless burning of a punishing flame, while paying out to us the reward owed to faith and devotion. What glory, and how vast a joy, to be granted the sight of God, to be honored with sharing, alongside Christ the Lord your God, in the joy of salvation and everlasting light; to greet Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and all the patriarchs, along with the apostles, the prophets, and the martyrs; to rejoice with the righteous and God's friends amid the delight of the immortality granted in heaven's kingdom; to receive there what no eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no human heart has conceived. For the apostle declares that we will receive far more than whatever we here do or endure, saying: the sufferings of this present time do not measure up to the glory that will be revealed in us. When that revelation comes, when God's brightness shines down upon us, we will be as blessed and joyful, honored by the Lord's favor, as those left behind will be guilty and wretched — those who, as deserters of God or rebels against him, carried out the devil's will, and so must inevitably be tormented together with him in unquenchable fire. Let these things, dearest brothers, take hold of your hearts. Let this be how we prepare our armor, our meditation by day and by night: to keep before our eyes, and turn over constantly in thought and feeling, the punishments awaiting the wicked and the rewards and merits due the righteous — what the Lord threatens as punishment for those who deny him, and what he promises as glory for those who confess him. If the day of persecution should overtake us while we are pondering and dwelling on these things, the soldier of Christ, schooled by his precepts and warnings, will not flinch at the battle, but will stand ready for the crown. I wish you, dearest brothers, lasting good health.
Cyprian, to his brother Cornelius, greeting. I have read your letter, dearest brother, the one sent through our brother Saturus the acolyte — a letter full, indeed, of brotherly affection, of church discipline, and of a bishop's sternness. In it you informed me that Felicissimus, Christ's enemy, had been barred by you not for the first time but long since, on account of his many and very grave offenses, and that he had been condemned and turned away there, not merely by my judgment but by that of a great many fellow bishops as well; and that when he arrived, backed by a mob and a gang of reckless men, he was thrust out of the church with the full vigor that bishops are bound to exercise — out of the same church from which, together with those of his own kind, both God's majesty and the sternness of Christ, our Lord and our Judge, had already driven him out long before, so that, as one who fathered schism and division, embezzled money placed in his trust, violated virgins, and ruined and corrupted many marriages, he would not go on to defile the bride of Christ — incorrupt, holy, and chaste — with the disgrace of his presence and with impure, incestuous contamination.