Letter 63

Cyprian to his brother Epictetus and to the people of Assurae, greetings. I was seriously disturbed, dearest brothers and sisters, to learn that Fortunatianus — formerly your bishop, who fell during the persecution — is now trying to act as though nothing happened and is claiming the episcopate for himself again. This distresses me on several counts. First, for his own sake. The wretched man — blinded by the devil's darkness, or deceived by the sacrilegious persuasion of certain people — should be spending his days in atonement, pleading with the Lord night and day through tears, prayers, and supplications. Instead, he dares to reclaim the very priesthood he betrayed. As if a man could move directly from the altars of the devil to the altar of God. As if he would not provoke an even greater wrath and indignation from the Lord on the day of judgment. He who could not serve as an example of faith and courage to his brothers now sets himself up as a teacher of shamelessness. He who did not teach his people to stand bravely in battle now teaches the defeated not even to ask for pardon. The Lord says: "If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand, he shall drink the wine of the wrath of God, mixed full strength in the cup of his anger, and he shall be tormented with fire and sulfur" [Revelation 14:9-10]. Anyone who fears God will shudder at these words. It was decreed in council — and rightly so — that bishops who lapsed during the persecution may indeed be received back to repentance, but they cannot return to their former rank. They may be reconciled as penitent laymen, but they cannot be restored as priests. The altar of God cannot be served by one who deserted it. Do not be deceived by his claims. Do not be moved by his audacity. Let him do penance — genuine, lasting penance — and be thankful for whatever mercy God grants. But the bishop's chair is not his to reclaim. Farewell, beloved brothers and sisters.

Epistle 63 Please help support the mission of New Advent and get the full contents of this website as an instant download. Includes the Catholic Encyclopedia, Church Fathers, Summa, Bible and more — all for only $19.99... To Epictetus and to the Congregation of Assurae, Concerning Fortunatianus, Formerly Their Bishop. Argument.— He Warns Epictetus and the Congregation of the Assuritans Not to Allow Fortunatianus, a Lapser, But Their Former Bishop, to Return to His Episcopate, as Well for Other Reasons as Because It Had Been Decreed that Lapsed Bishops Should Not Be Admitted to Their Former Rank. 1. Cyprian to Epictetus his brother, and to the people established at Assurae, greeting. I was gravely and grievously disturbed, dearest brethren, at learning that Fortunatianus, formerly bishop among you, after the sad lapse of his fall, was now wishing to act as if he were sound, and beginning to claim for himself the episcopate. Which thing distressed me; in the first place, on his own account, who, wretched man that he is, being either wholly blinded in the darkness of the devil, or deceived by the sacrilegious persuasion of certain persons; when he ought to be making atonement, and to give himself to the work of entreating the Lord night and day, by tears, and supplications, and prayers, dares still to claim to himself the priesthood which he has betrayed, as if it were right, from the altars of the devil, to approach to the altar of God. Or as if he would not provoke a greater wrath and indignation of the Lord against himself in the day of judgment, who, not being able to be a guide to the brethren in faith and virtue, stands forth as a teacher in perfidy, in boldness, and in temerity; and he who has not taught the brethren to stand bravely in the battle, teaches those who are conquered and prostrate not even to ask for pardon; although the Lord says, To them have you poured a drink-offering, and to them have you offered a meat-offering. Shall I not be angry for these things? Says the Lord. Isaiah 57:6 And in another place, He that sacrifices to any god, save unto the Lord only, shall be destroyed. Exodus 22:20 Moreover, the Lord again speaks, and says, They have worshipped those whom their own fingers have made: and the mean man bows down, and the great man humbles himself: and I will not forgive them. Isaiah 2:8-9 In the Apocalypse also, we read the anger of the Lord threatening, and saying, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God mixed in the cup of His anger; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: and the smoke of their torments shall ascend up for ever and ever; neither shall they have rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image. Revelation 14:9-11 2. Since, therefore, the Lord threatens these torments, these punishments in the day of judgment, to those who obey the devil and sacrifice to idols, how does he think that he can act as a priest of God who has obeyed and served the priests of the devil; or how does he think that his hand can be transferred to the sacrifice of God and the prayer of the Lord which has been captive to sacrilege and to crime, when in the sacred Scriptures God forbids the priests to approach to sacrifice even if they have been in lighter guilt; and says in Leviticus: The man in whom there shall be any blemish or stain shall not approach to offer gifts to God? Leviticus 21:17 Also in Exodus: And let the priests which come near to the Lord God sanctify themselves, lest perchance the Lord forsake them. Exodus 19:22 And again: And when they come near to minister at the altar of the Holy One, they shall not bring sin upon them, lest they die. Exodus 28:43 Those, therefore, who have brought grievous sins upon themselves, that is, who, by sacrificing to idols, have offered sacrilegious sacrifices, cannot claim to themselves the priesthood of God, nor make any prayer for their brethren in His sight; since it is written in the Gospel, God hears not a sinner; but if any man be a worshipper of God, and does His will, him He hears. John 9:31 Nevertheless the profound gloom of the falling darkness has so blinded the hearts of some, that they receive no light from the wholesome precepts, but, once turned away from the direct path of the true way, they are hurried headlong and suddenly by the night and error of their sins. 3. Nor is it wonderful if now those reject our counsels, or the Lord's precepts, who have denied the Lord. They desire gifts, and offerings, and gain, for which formerly they watched insatiably. They still long also for suppers and banquets, whose debauch they belched forth in the indigestion lately left to the day, most manifestly proving now that they did not before serve religion, but rather their belly and gain, with profane cupidity. Whence also we perceive and believe that this rebuke has come from God's searching out, that they might not continue to stand at the altar; and any further, as unchaste persons, to have to do with modesty; as perfidious, to have to do with faith; as profane, with religion; as earthly, with things divine; as sacrilegious, with things sacred. That such persons may not return again to the profanation of the altar, and to the contagion of the brethren, we must keep watch with all our powers, and strive with all our strength, that, as far as in us lies, we may keep them back from this audacity of their wickedness, that they attempt not any longer to act in the character of priest; who, cast down to the lowest pit of death, have gone headlong with the weight of a greater destruction beyond the lapses of the laity. 4. But if, among these insane persons, their incurable madness shall continue, and, with the withdrawal of the Holy Spirit, the blindness which has begun shall remain in its deep night, our counsel will be to separate individual brethren from their deceitfulness; and, lest any one should run into the toils of their error, to separate them from their contagion. Since neither can the oblation be consecrated where the Holy Spirit is not; nor can the Lord avail to any one by the prayers and supplications of one who himself has done despite to the Lord. But if Fortunatianus, either by the blindness induced by the devil forgetful of his crime, or become a minister and servant of the devil for deceiving the brotherhood, shall persevere in this his madness, do you, as far as in you lies, strive, and in this darkness of the rage of the devil, recall the minds of the brethren from error, that they may not easily consent to the madness of another; that they may not make themselves partakers in the crimes of abandoned men; but being sound, let them maintain the constant tenor of their salvation, and of the integrity preserved and guarded by them. 5. Let the lapsed, however, who acknowledge the greatness of their sin, not depart from entreating the Lord, nor forsake the Catholic Church, which has been appointed one and alone by the Lord; but, continuing in their atonements and entreating the Lord's mercy, let them knock at the door of the Church, that they may be received there where once they were, and may return to Christ from whom they have departed, and not listen to those who deceive them with a fallacious and deadly seduction; since it is written, Let no man deceive you with vain words, for because of these things comes the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience; be not therefore partakers with them. Ephesians 5:6-7 Therefore let no one associate himself with the contumacious, and those who do not fear God, and those who entirely with draw from the Church. But if any one should be impatient of entreating the Lord who is offended, and should be unwilling to obey us, but should follow desperate and abandoned men, he must take the blame to himself when the day of judgment shall come. For how shall he be able in that day to entreat the Lord, who has both before this denied Christ, and now also the Church of Christ, and not obeying bishops sound and wholesome and living, has made himself an associate and a partaker with the dying? I bid you, dearest brethren and longed-for, ever heartily farewell.