Cyprian & Lactantius · a new plain-English translation from the original language
Letter 76. From Cyprian to Nemesianus, Felix, Lucius, a second Felix, Litteus, Polianus, Victor, Iader, and Dativus, his fellow bishops, together with the presbyters, deacons, and remaining brothers held at the mine — martyrs consecrated to God the almighty Father, to Jesus Christ our Lord, and to God our preserver — everlasting greeting. Your own glory, most blessed and most beloved brothers, called for me to come in person, to see you and hold you in my arms, had I myself not been confined — banished for confessing the Name — within the limits of a fixed place of exile. Yet as best I can, I make myself present to you: though I am not permitted to reach you on foot and in the flesh, I come nonetheless through affection and through the spirit, putting into a letter the joy with which your virtues and your honors fill me, and counting myself joined to you — not through bodily suffering, but through the bond of love. How could I stay silent, how could I force my own voice into stillness, when I hear such glorious things of those dearest to me, whom divine favor has so honored — some of you already past the finish line of martyrdom, soon to take from the Lord the crown earned by your merits; others of you still waiting behind prison bars or amid the chains of the mine, turning the very length of your torment into a stronger lesson for arming and strengthening the brothers, and gaining, through the slowness of your suffering, an ever larger claim on merit — bound to receive as many heavenly rewards as the days you now count in pain? None of this surprises me, bravest and most blessed brothers, as the fitting reward of your devotion and faith: the Lord has lifted you to the towering peak of glory through the honor of his own radiance — you who have always thrived within his church by keeping unbroken the thread of faith, holding to the Lord's commands without wavering: purity in your simplicity, unity in your love, humility in your restraint, care in your stewardship, alertness in aiding those who toil, compassion in tending the poor, steadfastness in upholding truth, and rigor in the discipline you observe. And so that your example of right conduct should lack nothing, now, through the confession of your own voices and the suffering of your own flesh, you call the brothers' hearts onward toward holy martyrdom, proving yourselves leaders by your courage — for as a flock follows its shepherds and copies what it watches done by those placed above it, so it may earn from the Lord a crown matching its obedience. As for your having begun the holy first steps of your confession by being severely beaten with rods and battered under such punishments, this is nothing we should recoil from. A Christian's body has no dread of clubs, for its whole hope is fixed upon a tree. Christ's servant has understood the mystery of his own deliverance — bought back through wood into life without end, and carried by that same wood toward his crown. What wonder, then, that you — vessels made of gold and silver — were sent to the mine, the very birthplace of gold and silver, save that the mines' function has now been turned around, and ground that once yielded up gold and silver has begun instead to take it in? They have also clamped fetters onto your feet and wrapped disgraceful chains around limbs made blessed as temples of God — as if binding the body could bind the spirit too, or as if contact with iron could stain your gold. For men given over to God, whose devout courage bears witness to their faith, these are adornments and not fetters; the feet of Christians so joined are not led toward shame but lifted toward radiance and a crown. O blessed feet in bonds, to be freed not by any blacksmith but by the Lord himself! O blessed feet in bonds, guided along the road of salvation straight toward paradise! O feet chained for now within this world, so as to stand forever free before God! O feet held back a little while by shackles and crossbars, yet destined soon to race their glorious course toward Christ! However long jealous cruelty or malice wishes to hold you fast in its knots and bonds, you will soon pass from this earth and these torments into the kingdoms of heaven. In the mines no bed or cushion comforts the body — it is Christ's own refreshment and comfort that sustains it. Bodies worn down by toil lie on bare ground, yet lying there with Christ is no punishment at all. Unwashed limbs grow filthy and marred with grime, but whatever grows dirty outwardly in the flesh is cleansed within, in the spirit. Bread there is meager, yet a person lives not on bread by itself, but on God's own word. Clothing fails those who shiver, yet whoever has clothed himself in Christ is richly dressed and adorned already. Hair on a half-shaved head stands rough, but since Christ himself is the head of every man, any head marked for the Lord's name must surely be a fitting one. With what brightness will all this ugliness — loathsome and repulsive as it looks to pagans — be repaid! This brief, worldly punishment will be exchanged for a reward of shining, unending honor, when — as the blessed apostle says — the Lord reshapes the body of our humble state into the likeness of his own glorified body. Nor, dearest brothers, should anyone feel that faith or religion suffers any loss because God's priests have no means there now to offer and perform the sacred sacrifices. In fact you yourselves perform and offer to God a sacrifice at once precious, glorious, and of great value toward your reward in heaven, for scripture itself says it plainly: what God wants offered to him is a contrite spirit, and a heart ground down and humbled he will never turn away. Such is the offering you make him; such, unceasing through every day and night, is the sacrifice you perform, standing as living victims and presenting yourselves as unblemished, consecrated gifts — just as the apostle urges: I beg you, then, brothers, through God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a sacrifice, living and holy, pleasing to God; do not take the shape of this present age, but be remade by a renewed mind, so you can discern what God wants — the good, the pleasing, the perfect. This above all is what pleases God; this is what carries our works forward to greater merit in winning his favor; this alone is what repays the Lord — for his great, saving gifts — with the devotion and faithful service we owe him, as the Holy Spirit announces and affirms in the psalms: What return shall I make to the Lord for everything he has given me? I shall lift up the cup of deliverance and cry out the Lord's name. Costly, in the eyes of the Lord, is the death of those who are righteous. Who would refuse to lift the cup of deliverance eagerly and at once? Who would not long, joyful and glad, for a chance to give something back to his own Lord? Who would not face, bravely and without wavering, a death so costly in God's eyes, hoping to please the one who watches from above as we struggle in the contest for his name — approving our willingness, aiding our fight, crowning our victory, repaying in us through fatherly kindness whatever he himself supplied, and honoring the very work he himself brought about? That our victory, and our reaching the palm of this great contest by overcoming our adversary, belongs to him — this the Lord himself teaches and declares in his gospel: When they hand you over, do not worry over how or what you will say, for in that very hour what you must say will be given to you; it is not you speaking, but your Father's Spirit speaking through you. And elsewhere: resolve in your hearts not to plan your defense beforehand, for I myself will give you speech and wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to withstand. Here lies both the believer's great confidence and the disbeliever's gravest fault: failing to trust the one who pledges his aid to those who confess him, and likewise failing to fear the one who warns of everlasting punishment for those who deny him. All of this, bravest and most faithful soldiers of Christ, you have impressed on our brothers, fulfilling through deeds what you had already taught in words — set to be counted among the greatest in the heavenly kingdom, according to the Lord's own promise: whoever both does and teaches these things will be named greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And indeed, a great many of the people, following your lead, made confession alongside you and were crowned alongside you too, bound to you by an unbreakable tie of love, never parted from their leaders by either prison or mine. Among them are virgins too, whose sixtyfold harvest has gained a hundredfold besides, lifted toward the heavenly crown by a twin measure of glory. Even in children, a valor beyond their years has outstripped their age through the honor of confession, so that your blessed company of martyrs is graced by every age and both sexes alike. What strength of a conquering conscience is now yours, dearest brothers — what greatness of soul, what inner rejoicing, what triumph filling your breast — knowing that each of you stands firm awaiting God's promised reward, unafraid of the day of judgment, moving through the mine with a body held captive yet a heart that reigns, aware that Christ himself walks beside you, delighting in the endurance of his servants as they tread his own footsteps and paths toward the everlasting kingdom! Day after day you look forward, glad, to the saving day of your own departure, and, ready at any instant to leave this world behind, you press on toward the martyrs' reward and God's own dwelling places — soon to behold, once this world's darkness ends, a brilliant light, and to gain a splendor beyond all your afflictions and struggles, as the apostle testifies: What we suffer now cannot be weighed against the glory still to come, the glory that will be shown in us. Clearly, since your words now carry more weight in prayer, and requests made amid suffering are more readily granted, plead all the harder and ask that divine favor bring every one of our confessions to completion, so that God may free us too, together with you, whole and glorious, out of this world's darkness and its snares — so that we, joined here by the tie of love and peace against the wrongs of heretics and the pressure of pagans, may rejoice together in the same way within the kingdoms of heaven. I wish you well always in the Lord, most blessed and bravest brothers, and ask that you keep me in mind everywhere and always. Farewell.
Letter 77. From Nemesianus, Dativus, Felix, and Victor to Cyprian their brother — everlasting greeting in the Lord. In your letters, dearest Cyprian, you have always spoken with deep insight suited to the moment; reading them again and again sets the crooked straight and gives strength to those of sound faith. For as you keep uncovering hidden mysteries in your writings, you cause our faith to grow and draw people out of the world into belief. Indeed, whatever good things you have put into your many books, you have unknowingly painted a portrait of yourself for us. You surpass all men in exposition, outdo them in eloquence, exceed them in wise counsel, in unaffected wisdom, in generosity of deed, in holy self-denial, in humble service, and in blameless conduct. You yourself know, dearest one, our fondest wish: to see you, our teacher and the one we love, arrive at the crown of a great confession. Like a good and genuine teacher, you spoke first, before the proconsul's record, the very words we your students would later need before the governor; sounding the trumpet, you called God's soldiers, armed with heavenly weapons, into the battle; standing in the front rank, you cut down the devil with the sword of the spirit; and with your words you arranged the brothers' ranks on every side, so that traps closed in on the enemy from all directions and the corpse of that common foe, its sinews severed, was trodden underfoot. Trust us, dearest one: your blameless soul deserves no less than the hundredfold reward, for it did not flinch before the world's first assaults, did not balk at exile, did not hesitate to abandon its own city, did not shrink from staying in a desolate place — and since it gave so many an example of confession, it led the way to martyrdom before them. How many, indeed, has your example spurred toward their own martyrdoms! And you have joined yourself not merely to the martyrs already gone from this world, but formed a heavenly bond with those still to come. So the condemned here join us in giving you the greatest thanks before God, dearest Cyprian, because through your letters you have revived our worn-out hearts, tended limbs wounded by rods, freed feet shackled in irons, evened the ragged hair on half-shaved heads, brightened the prison's darkness, flattened the mine's mountains into level ground, laid sweet-smelling flowers beneath our noses, and driven off the foul reek of smoke. Your service, together with that of our beloved Quirinus, has already accomplished this: through Herennianus the subdeacon and the acolytes Lucanus, Maximus, and Amantius, you sent supplies for distribution, meeting whatever our bodies had lacked. Let us, then, support each other through prayer, and let us ask, just as you instructed us, that God, Christ, and the angels stand behind everything we do. We hope, brother and lord, that you always fare well and keep us in your memory. Greet everyone at your side. All of us here send you our love and greetings, and long to see you.
Letter 78. From Lucius, together with all the brothers at his side, to Cyprian, brother and fellow bishop — greeting in God. While we were rejoicing and glad in God for arming us for the struggle and, by his own favor, making us victors in the fight, your letter reached us, dearest brother, the one you sent through Herennianus the subdeacon and the acolytes Lucanus, Maximus, and Amantius. Reading it, we found ease within our chains, comfort amid distress, and support in our need; we were stirred and made bolder, ready for whatever further suffering awaits. For even before our own suffering began, you had already called us toward glory, you who first led the way for us in confessing the name of Christ. And we, walking in the footprints of your confession, hope to receive equal grace alongside you. For whoever runs ahead in the race also reaches the prize first, and you, having taken the lead, shared with us out of what you gained — proof of that undivided love with which you have always regarded us — so that those of one spirit might, through the grace of your prayers, be bound together in peace and share a single crown of confession. And added to your crown of confession, dearest brother, comes the reward for your labors — a generous measure you will receive from the Lord on the day of repayment, you who made yourself present to us through your letter, showing the pure and blessed heart we have always known, and speaking praises to God with us according to its full measure — not merely what we deserve to hear, but all that you are able to express. Your words have adorned and reinforced whatever was still weak in us, sustaining us through the same sufferings we now bear, secure in the heavenly reward, the martyr's crown, and the kingdom of God, according to the pledge you made us in your letter, filled as you were with the Holy Spirit. This entire promise rests on a single condition, dearest friend: keep us in your prayers — something I have no doubt you already do, just as we, on our side, never fail to do for you. We have received, then, most longed-for brother, the gift that you and Quirinus sent — an offering drawn from every clean deed. Just as when Noah made his offering to God and God took delight, favoring his sacrifice as a pleasing scent, so too God favors yours and delights in repaying you for so worthy a deed. I ask, further, that you arrange for the letter we wrote to Quirinus to be passed along. I wish you, dearest and most longed-for brother, lasting well-being and that you remember us. Greet everyone with you. Farewell.
Letter 79. To Cyprian, dearest and most beloved: Felix, Iader, and Polianus, along with the presbyters and all those staying with us at the mine of Sigus — everlasting greeting in God. We return your greeting, dearest brother, through our brothers Herennianus the subdeacon, Lucanus, and Maximus, who by your prayers' help remain strong and unharmed; through them we received the sum you sent as an offering, along with your letter, in which you were kind enough to console us like children with heavenly words. We have given, and continue to give, thanks to God the almighty Father through his Christ, for the comfort and strength your words have brought us, and we ask, from the purity of your heart, that you keep us continually in mind in your prayers, so that the Lord may complete both your confession and ours, which he has graciously granted within us. Greet all who share your dwelling. We hope, dearest brother, that you fare well in the Lord. Written by Felix, signed by Iader, read by Polianus. Greetings to my lord Eutychianus.
Letter 80. Cyprian to Successus his brother, greeting. The reason I did not write to you right away, dearest brother, was that the entire clergy, standing under the very blow of the contest, simply could not leave this place, every one of them ready, out of devotion of soul, for glory both divine and heavenly. Know, though, that the men I had sent to the city for this very purpose have returned, bringing back to us the confirmed truth of whatever rescript had been issued about us. For all sorts of conflicting, uncertain reports are circulating in people's opinions. But here is what actually stands true: Valerian has sent the senate a rescript ordering that bishops, presbyters, and deacons be executed without delay; that senators, distinguished men, and Roman knights be stripped of rank and then of property, and, should they persist as Christians even after losing their estates, be put to death as well; that noblewomen have their property seized and be sent into exile; and that any member of the imperial household, whether already confessed earlier or confessing now, have his goods confiscated and be shipped in chains to labor on the emperor's own estates. The emperor Valerian also attached to his address a copy of the letter he sent to the provincial governors concerning us; we look for that letter to arrive any day, standing firm in the strength of our faith to bear whatever suffering comes, and awaiting, through the Lord's help and mercy, the crown of everlasting life. Know that Xystus was executed in the cemetery on the eighth day before the Ides of August, along with four of his deacons. And the city prefects press this persecution daily, so that anyone brought before them is executed and his goods claimed for the imperial treasury. I ask that you pass all this along to our other fellow bishops as well, so that their encouragement may everywhere strengthen the brotherhood and prepare it for the spiritual contest, so that each of our people may dwell less on death than on immortality, and, given over to the Lord in full faith and complete courage, may find more joy than fear in this confession — knowing that the soldiers of God and of Christ are, in it, not destroyed but crowned. I wish you, dearest brother, lasting well-being in the Lord always.