Letter I. Cyprian to the presbyters and deacons and people abiding at Furni, greeting. We have been gravely disturbed, I and my colleagues who were present and our fellow presbyters who sat beside us, dearly beloved brethren, when we learned that our brother Geminius Victor, on departing from this world, had named the presbyter Geminius Faustinus as guardian in his testament; whereas it has long since been decreed in a council of bishops that none of the clergy and ministers of God should appoint by his testament any guardian or curator, since each one, honoured with the divine priesthood and set in the clerical ministry, ought to serve only the altar and the sacrifices and to give himself to prayers and supplications. For it is written:
'No man that wars for God entangles himself with worldly troubles, that he may please Him to whom he has approved himself.' Since this is said of all, how much more ought those not to be entangled with worldly troubles and snares who, being occupied with divine and spiritual things, cannot withdraw from the church and give themselves to earthly and secular affairs.
The form of this ordinance and religion the Levites of old observed under the law: when the eleven tribes divided the land and apportioned possessions, the tribe of Levi, which was given to the temple and the altar and the divine ministries, received nothing of that portion of the division, but, while the others tilled the soil, that tribe worshipped God alone and received tithes from the eleven tribes of the fruits that grew, for its sustenance and nourishment. All this was done by divine authority and arrangement, so that those who were intent upon the divine works might be called away to no other thing, nor be compelled to think of or do worldly matters.
This same principle and form is now maintained in the clergy: that those who are advanced in the Lord's church by clerical ordination should in no way be called away from the divine administration, nor be bound by the troubles and businesses of the world, but, receiving as it were tithes from the fruits in the honour of the brethren who give offerings, should not depart from the altar and the sacrifices, and should serve day and night in heavenly and spiritual things. This our predecessor bishops, considering religiously and providing wholesomely, decreed that no departing brother should name a clergyman to guardianship or wardship; and if anyone should do so, no offering should be made for him, nor any sacrifice celebrated for his repose.
For he does not deserve to be named at the altar of God in the prayer of the priests, who wished to call away the priests and ministers from the altar. And therefore, since Victor dared, contrary to the form lately given by the priests in council, to appoint the presbyter Geminius Faustinus as guardian, there is no reason that an offering should be made among you for his repose, or any supplication made in his name in the church; so that the decree of the priests, religiously and necessarily made, may be observed by us, and at the same time an example be given to the rest of the brethren, that none should call away the priests and ministers of God, who serve His altar and church, to secular trouble.
For it can hereafter be guarded against, that nothing of this kind be done henceforth concerning the person of the clergy, if what has now been done be punished. I wish you, dearly beloved brethren, ever to fare well. Letter II. Cyprian to his brother Eucratius, greeting.
Out of your affection and our mutual respect, dearly beloved brother, you have thought fit to consult me as to what seems to me concerning a certain actor, who, established among you, still persists in the disgrace of his same art, and as a master and teacher not of instructing but of ruining boys, instils into others also that which he himself learned to ill purpose—whether such a one ought to communicate with us. This I think befits neither the divine majesty nor the discipline of the Gospel, that the modesty and honour of the church should be defiled by so foul and infamous a contagion.
For since in the law men are forbidden to put on a woman's garment, and such are judged accursed, how much greater is the crime not only to take on women's garments, but also by the teaching of a shameless art to express disgraceful and effeminate and womanly gestures? Nor let anyone excuse himself if he himself has retired from the theatre, while yet he teaches this to others. For he cannot be seen to have ceased who substitutes deputies, and who, in place of himself alone, supplies many successors, teaching and instructing, against the institution of God, how a male may be broken into a female, and the sex changed by art, and how the devil, who defiles the divine handiwork, may be gratified by the sins of a corrupted and enervated body.
But if such a one alleges poverty and the necessity of want, his necessity also can be relieved among the others who are sustained by the church's maintenance—provided he be content with frugal and innocent food, and not think that he must be ransomed by a salary to cease from his sins, since this he does not for our benefit but for his own. For the rest, let him seek thence as much as he will: what sort of gain is that which from the banquet of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob snatches away men, and leads those wickedly and ruinously fattened in the world to the punishments of eternal hunger and thirst? And therefore, as far as you can, recall him from this depravity and disgrace to the way of innocence and to the hope of his life, that he may be content with the church's allowance, scantier indeed but wholesome.
But if the church there does not suffice to furnish maintenance to those who labour, he can transfer himself to us, and here receive what shall be necessary to him for food and clothing; and let him not teach others outside the church things that are deadly, but himself learn within the church things that are wholesome. I wish you, most beloved son, ever to fare well. Letter III. Cyprian to his brother Rogatianus, greeting. We have been gravely and grievously disturbed, I and the colleagues who were present, dearly beloved brother, on reading your letter, in which you complained of your deacon, that, unmindful of your priestly place and forgetful of his own office and ministry, he exasperated you with his contumelies and injuries.
And you indeed have acted honourably toward us and according to your accustomed humility, in that you preferred to complain of him to us, although, by the vigour of the episcopate and the authority of your chair, you had the power by which you might at once have been avenged of him—certain that all your colleagues would have approved whatever you might have done by your priestly power concerning your contumelious deacon, since you have, concerning men of this kind, the divine precepts, when the Lord God says in Deuteronomy: 'And the man, whosoever shall do in pride, so as not to hearken to the priest or the judge, whosoever he shall be in those days, that man shall die; and all the people, when they hear, shall fear, and shall do impiously no more.'
And that we may know that this voice of God proceeded with His true and supreme majesty to honour and vindicate His priests: when against Aaron the priest three of the ministers, Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, dared to be proud and to lift up their necks and to make themselves equal to the priest set over them, they were swallowed up and devoured by the gaping of the earth, and at once paid the penalty for their sacrilegious audacity. Nor they alone, but the other two hundred and fifty also, who were companions with them in their audacity, were consumed by fire bursting forth from the Lord; so that it might be proved that the priests of God are vindicated by Him who makes priests. In the book of Kings also, when Samuel the priest was despised by the people of the Jews on account of his old age, as you now are, the Lord cried out in anger and said:
'They have not despised you, but they have despised me.' And to avenge this, He raised up Saul as king over them, who afflicted them with grievous injuries and trampled and oppressed the proud people through all manner of contumelies and punishments, that the despised priest might be vindicated by divine vengeance against the proud people. But Solomon also, established in the Holy Spirit, testifies and teaches what is the priestly authority and power, saying: 'With thy whole soul fear God, and sanctify His priests.' And again: 'Honour God with thy whole soul, and honour His priests.' Mindful of which precepts, the blessed Apostle, as we read in the Acts of the Apostles, when it was said to him: 'Do you thus revile the priest of God?' answered and said:
'I knew not, brethren, that he is the high priest. For it is written: Thou shalt not revile the ruler of thy people.' Our Lord Himself also, Jesus Christ, our king and judge and God, even unto the day of His passion preserved honour to the high priests and the priests, although they had preserved neither the fear of God nor the acknowledgment of Christ. For when He had cleansed the leper, He said to him: 'Go and show thyself to the priest, and offer the gift.' With that same humility by which He taught us also to be humble, He still called him a priest whom He knew to be sacrilegious. Likewise, under the blow of His passion, when He had received a buffet, and it was said to Him: 'Answerest thou the high priest so?', He spoke nothing contumelious against the person of the high priest, but rather defended His own innocence, saying:
'If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil; but if well, why do you strike me?' All these things were done by Him thus humbly and patiently, that we might have an example of humility and of patience. He taught that true priests are to be honoured lawfully and fully, while He Himself shows Himself such toward false priests. But the deacons ought to remember that the Lord chose apostles, that is, bishops and prelates, while the apostles, after the Lord's ascension into heaven, appointed for themselves deacons as ministers of their episcopate and of the church. But if we can dare anything against God who makes bishops, deacons too can dare against us, by whom they are made.
And therefore it behoves the deacon of whom you write to do penance for his audacity, and to acknowledge the honour of the priest, and to make satisfaction to the bishop set over him with full humility. For these are the beginnings of heretics and the origins and endeavours of evil-minded schismatics: that they please themselves, that they despise the prelate with proud swelling. Thus one departs from the church; thus a profane altar is set up outside; thus rebellion is raised against the peace of Christ and the ordinance and unity of God. But if he should further exasperate and provoke you with his contumelies, you shall exercise against him the power of your office, so as either to depose him or to suspend him. For if the Apostle Paul, writing to Timothy, said:
'Let no one despise your youth,' how much more ought it to be said to you by your colleagues: 'Let no one despise your old age.' And since you have written that a certain one has associated himself with this same deacon of yours, and is a partaker of his pride and audacity, this one too—and if any others such shall have appeared and acted against the priest of God—you may either coerce or suspend. Save that we exhort and admonish that they should rather understand that they have sinned, and make satisfaction, and suffer us to keep our purpose. For we rather desire and wish to overcome the contumelies and injuries of individuals by clement patience than to avenge them by priestly license. I wish you, dearly beloved brother, ever to fare well. Letter IV.
Cyprian, Caecilius, Victor, Sedatus, Tertullus, with the presbyters who were present, to their brother Pomponius, greeting. We have read your letter, dearly beloved brother, which you sent by our brother Paconius, asking and desiring that we should write back to you what seems to us concerning those virgins who, when they had once resolved to hold their state continently and firmly, were afterwards detected to have remained together in the same bed with men—of whom you say that one is a deacon—plainly those same women who have confessed to have slept with men asserting that they are intact.
Concerning which matter, since you have desired our counsel, know that we do not depart from the evangelical and apostolic traditions, but rather that our brethren and sisters should be counselled constantly and firmly, and that ecclesiastical discipline should be preserved by all the ways of usefulness and salvation; since the Lord speaks and says: 'And I will give you pastors according to my own heart, and they shall feed you, feeding you with discipline.' And again it is written: 'He that casts away discipline is unhappy.' And in the Psalms also the Holy Spirit instructs, saying: 'Keep discipline, lest perhaps the Lord be angry, and you perish from the right way, when His wrath shall quickly be kindled against you.'
First, therefore, dearly beloved brother, both for the prelates and for the people, nothing else is to be laboured at than that we who fear God should hold the divine precepts with all observance of discipline, and not suffer our brethren to err and to live according to their own caprice and impulse, but faithfully counsel each one unto life; nor suffer virgins to dwell with men—I do not say to sleep together, but not even to live together—since both the weak sex and the still slippery age ought in all things to be bridled and ruled by us, lest occasion be given to the devil, who lies in wait and desires to rage, to do harm; since the Apostle also says: 'Give no place to the devil.' The ship is to be delivered watchfully from dangerous places, lest it be broken among the reefs and rocks.
The baggage must be swiftly cast out of the fire before it is consumed by the oncoming flames. No one is long safe who is near to danger. Nor can the servant of God escape the devil who has entangled himself in the devil's snares. Such persons must be intervened with quickly, that they may be separated while the innocent can still be separated, since they cannot afterwards be parted by our intervention, after they have cleaved together by a most grievous consciousness. In short, what grievous ruins of many we see arise from hence, and through such unlawful and dangerous conjunctions we behold very many virgins corrupted, with the deepest grief of our soul.
But if they have dedicated themselves to Christ in faith, let them persevere modestly and chastely without any scandal, and so, strong and stable, let them await the reward of virginity. But if they are unwilling or unable to persevere, it is better that they should marry than that they should fall into the fire by their sins. Certainly let them give no offence to brethren or sisters, since it is written: 'If meat offend my brother, I will eat no flesh in the world, lest I offend my brother.'
Nor let any one think that she can defend herself by this excuse, that she can be examined and proved whether she is a virgin, since both the hands and the eye of the midwives are often deceived; so that, even if a virgin be found uncorrupted in that part by which a woman can be such, she may nevertheless have sinned in another part of the body, which can be corrupted and yet cannot be inspected. Certainly the very lying together, the very embrace, the very converse and kissing, and the disgraceful and foul sleeping together of two reclining persons—how much shame and crime does it confess! If a husband should come and see his betrothed lying with another, does he not grow indignant and rage, and through the grief of jealousy perhaps take even a sword into his hands?
What of Christ the Lord and our judge, when He beholds His virgin, dedicated to Himself and destined for His holiness, lying with another—how indignant and angry is He, and what punishments does He threaten for such incestuous conjunctions! That each one of the brethren may be able to escape His spiritual sword and the coming day of judgment, we ought by every counsel to provide and labour. And since it behoves all without exception to keep discipline, much more is it right that the prelates and deacons should take care of this, who give to the rest an example and pattern by their conversation and morals. For how can they preside over integrity and continence, if from themselves the beginnings of corruption and the schools of vices proceed?
And therefore you have acted advisedly and with vigour, dearly beloved brother, in suspending the deacon who often remained with a virgin, and also the others who had been accustomed to sleep with virgins. But if they have done penance for this unlawful cohabitation of theirs, and have withdrawn from one another, let the virgins meanwhile be carefully examined by midwives; and if they be found virgins, having received communion, let them be admitted to the church—with this threat, however, that if they return afterward to the same men, or if they dwell together with the same in one house and under the same roof, they shall be cast out with severer censure, nor shall such be afterward easily received into the church.
But if any one of them be found to have been corrupted, let her do full penance, since she who has committed this crime is an adulteress, not against a husband, but against Christ; and therefore, after a just time has been estimated, having afterward made confession, let her return to the church. But if they obstinately persevere and do not separate from one another, let them know that with this their shameless obstinacy they can never be admitted by us into the church, lest they begin to make an example of ruin to others by their sins. Nor let them think that the account of life or of salvation holds good for them, if they have been unwilling to obey the bishops and priests, since in Deuteronomy the Lord God says:
'And the man, whosoever shall do in pride, so as not to hearken to the priest or the judge, whosoever he shall be in those days, that man shall die; and all the people, when they hear, shall fear, and shall do impiously no more.' God commanded those not obeying His priests to be slain; He appointed the time of His judgment against the disobedient. And then indeed they were slain with the sword, while as yet the carnal circumcision remained; but now, because the spiritual circumcision has begun to be among the faithful servants of God, the proud and contumacious are slain with the spiritual sword, in that they are cast out of the church. For neither can they live outside, since the house of God is one, and there can be salvation to no one except in the church.
But that the undisciplined perish, while they neither hear nor obey wholesome precepts, the divine Scripture testifies, which says: 'The undisciplined man loves not him that chastens him; but they who hate reproofs shall be consumed disgracefully.' Therefore, lest the undisciplined be consumed and perish, give heed, dearly beloved brother, that as far as you can you may govern the brotherhood with wholesome counsels and counsel each one unto his own salvation. Narrow and strait is the way by which we enter unto life, but highest and greatest is the fruit when we arrive at glory. Let those who have once made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven please God in all things, and not offer themselves as a stumbling-block, either to the priests of God or through the church, to themselves and to the brethren.
And for the present, if they seem to be saddened by us, let us nevertheless admonish them with wholesome persuasion, knowing that the Apostle also said: 'Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?' But if they obey, it is most gratifying to us; standing, we have confirmed them unto salvation by the regard of our discourse. But if certain of the perverse are unwilling to obey, according to the same Apostle who says: 'If I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ'—if we cannot persuade some so as to make them please Christ, let us at least please Christ our Lord and God, keeping His precepts, in that which is our own. I wish you, dearly beloved and most longed-for brother, ever to fare well in the Lord. Letter V.
Cyprian to the presbyters and deacons, his dearly beloved brethren, greeting. I salute you, being myself unharmed through the grace of God, dearly beloved brethren, glad that I have learned that all things are sound also as regards your safety. And since the condition of my situation does not now permit me to be present, I beg you, for your faith and religion, to discharge there both your own parts and mine, that nothing may be wanting either to discipline or to diligence.
As to furnishing expenses, whether to those who, having confessed the Lord with a glorious voice, are placed in prison, or to those who labour in poverty and need and yet persevere in the Lord, I beg that nothing be wanting; since the whole small sum that has been gathered together is there distributed among the clergy for cases of this kind, that many might have wherewith to work for the necessities and afflictions of individuals. I beg also that your skill and solicitude be not wanting to procure quiet.
For although the brethren, out of their love, are eager to assemble and to visit the good confessors whom the divine condescension has already illustrated with glorious beginnings, yet I think this ought to be done cautiously, and not in crowds, nor by a multitude joined together at once, lest from this very thing ill-will be stirred up and the means of entrance be denied, and while, insatiable, we wish for much, we lose all. Take counsel therefore, and provide, that this may be done more safely with moderation, so that the presbyters also who there make the offering with the confessors may alternate by turns, each one with single deacons; since both the change of persons and the alternation of those assembling lessens ill-will.
For in all things we ought to be meek and humble, as befits the servants of God, to serve the times and to look to quiet and to provide for the people. I wish you, dearly beloved and most longed-for brethren, ever to fare well and to remember us. Salute the whole brotherhood. The deacon and those who are with me salute you. Farewell. Letter VI. Cyprian to Sergius and Rogatianus and the other confessors in God for everlasting, greeting. I salute you, dearly beloved brethren, desiring myself also to enjoy the sight of you, if the condition of my situation would permit me to come to you.
For what more wished-for and more joyful thing could befall me than now to cleave to you, that you might embrace me with those hands which, pure and innocent and keeping the faith of the Lord, have rejected sacrilegious compliances? What more delightful and more sublime than now to kiss your mouths, which with glorious voice have confessed the Lord; to be beheld also, present, by your eyes, which, despising the world, have shown themselves worthy of beholding God?
But since the opportunity of sharing in this joy is not granted, I send these letters to your ears and eyes in my stead, by which I both congratulate and exhort you that you persevere strong and stable in the confession of the heavenly glory, and, having entered the way of the Lord's condescension, may go forward by spiritual virtue to receive the crown, having the Lord as your protector and guide, who said: 'And behold, I am with you all the days, even to the consummation of the world.' O blessed prison, which your presence has illustrated! O blessed prison, which sends the men of God to heaven! O darkness more luminous than the sun itself and brighter than this light of the world, where now are established the temples of God, and your members are sanctified by divine confessions!
Let nothing now dwell in your hearts and minds but the divine precepts and the commandments of heaven, by which the Holy Spirit has ever stirred us up to the endurance of suffering. Let no one think upon death but upon immortality, nor upon temporal punishment but upon everlasting glory, since it is written: 'Precious in the sight of God is the death of His saints.' And again: 'A sacrifice to God is a troubled spirit; a contrite and humbled heart God will not despise.' And again, where the divine Scripture speaks of the torments which consecrate the martyrs of God and sanctify them by the very proof of their suffering: 'And though in the sight of men they suffered torments, their hope is full of immortality.'
'And having been chastened a little, they shall be well rewarded in many things, for God tried them and found them worthy of Himself. As gold in the furnace He proved them, and as a whole burnt offering He accepted them. And in the time of their visitation they shall shine. They shall judge the nations and have dominion over the peoples, and their Lord shall reign for ever.'
When therefore you consider that you are to judge and to reign with Christ the Lord, you must needs rejoice, and trample upon present sufferings in the joy of things to come, knowing that from the beginning of the world it was so ordained that righteousness should toil here in the world's conflict; for at the very origin righteous Abel is forthwith slain, and thereafter all the just, and the prophets, and the apostles who were sent—for all of whom the Lord also established an example in His own self, teaching that none come to His kingdom save those who have followed Him along His own way, saying: 'He that loveth his life in this world shall lose it, and he that hateth his life in this world shall preserve it unto life eternal.' And again:
'Fear not them that kill the body, but cannot kill the soul; rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in Gehenna.' Paul also exhorts us that we who desire to come to the Lord's promises ought to imitate the Lord in all things. 'We are,' he says, 'the sons of God; and if sons, then heirs also of God, and joint-heirs with Christ, if so be that we suffer together that we may also be glorified together.' He added too a comparison of the present time and the glory to come, saying: 'The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.'
Pondering the glory of that brightness, it befits us to endure all afflictions and persecutions, for though many are the afflictions of the righteous, yet out of them all are they delivered who trust in God. Blessed too are the women who are with you, set in the same glory of confession, who, holding the faith of the Lord and stronger than their sex, are not only themselves near to the crown, but have also furnished to other women an example by their steadfastness.
And lest anything should be lacking to the glory of your number, that every sex and every age might be in honour with you, the divine condescension has joined to you boys also in glorious confession, presenting to us something such as the illustrious boys Ananias, Azarias, and Misael once did, who, shut up in the furnace, found the fires give way and the flame yield refreshment, the Lord being present with them and approving—proving that against His confessors and martyrs the burning of Gehenna could avail nothing, but that those who believed in God should always abide unharmed and safe in all things. And I beg you, by your devotion, to consider more diligently what faith there was in those boys, which could so fully win the favour of God.