Epistolae Quae ad SS Stephanum I Papam Attinent

Letters Which Pertain to Saint Stephen I, Pope. A Letter. From Saint Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage, to Pope Stephen. (Erasm. III. 13; Pamel. Rigalt. Baluz. LXVII; Paris. LXVI; Oxon. Lips. XVIII; Coustant. Epist. Rom. Pontif., vol. 1, col. 211.) ARGUMENT.— That he should take care, by letters sent to the bishops of the Gauls, that Marcianus, bishop of Arles, a follower of Novatian, no longer boast that he has not yet been cut off; and that he should at the same time see to it, by other letters written to the Province and to the people of Arles, that another bishop be substituted in his place. Cyprian to Stephen, his brother, greeting. I. Our colleague Faustinus, who resides at Lyons, most dear brother, has written to me once and again, indicating those things which I know have certainly been announced to you also, both by him and by our other fellow bishops established in the same province, namely, that Marcianus, who resides at Arles, has joined himself to Novatian, and has withdrawn from the unity of the Catholic Church and from the concord of our body and of the priests, holding the most stubborn perversity of heretical presumption: so that the consolations and aids of divine mercy and paternal gentleness are closed to servants of God who are repentant and grieving, and who are knocking at the Church with tears, groans, and sorrow, and the wounded are not admitted for the healing of their wounds, but are left without hope of peace and communion, and are cast out to the rapine of wolves and the prey of the devil.

It is our duty to consider and to provide for this matter, most dear brother, who, reflecting on divine mercy and holding the balance for governing the Church, so exhibit strict censure to sinners that we nevertheless do not deny the medicine of divine goodness and mercy to those who have fallen, to be restored, and to the wounded, to be healed. II. Therefore, you ought to send a very full letter to our fellow bishops established in Gaul, that they no longer permit Marcian, stubborn and proud, and an enemy of divine piety and fraternal salvation, to insult our college, because he has not yet been seen by us to be excluded, he who for some time now boasts and proclaims that, following Novatian and his stubbornness, he has separated himself from our communion: since Novatian himself, whom he follows, was long ago excluded and judged an enemy of the Church; and when he had sent legates to us in Africa, desiring to be admitted to our communion, from that council of many priests who were present, he brought back the sentence that he had begun to be outside, and that no one of us could communicate with him, who, to Cornelius, bishop in the Catholic Church by the judgment of God and the suffrage of the clergy and people, had attempted to erect a profane altar, to place an adulterous chair, and to offer sacrilegious sacrifices against the true priest. Therefore, if he should come to his senses and wish to return to the counsel of a sound mind, he would do penance and return suppliantly to the Church.

How vain it is, most dear brother, that Novatian, recently rejected and refuted, and excluded by the priests of God throughout the whole world, we now suffer flatterers still to mock us and to pass judgment on the majesty and dignity of the Church. III. Letters shall be sent by you into the province and to the people dwelling at Arles, by which Marcianus, once excluded, another is substituted in his place, and the flock of Christ, which up to now has been scattered and wounded and despised by him, is gathered together. Let it suffice that many of our brothers there have passed away in these past years without peace: let help be given to the others who remain, and who groan day and night, and, imploring divine and paternal mercy, seek the comfort of our assistance. For this reason, most dear brother, the numerous body of priests is joined together by the glue of mutual concord and by the bond of unity, so that if any from our college should attempt to create a heresy and to tear apart and lay waste the flock of Christ, the others may come to the aid, and like useful and merciful shepherds, gather the Lord's sheep into the flock. For what? if in the sea some harbor, its breakwaters broken, should begin to be dangerous and perilous to ships: do not sailors direct their ships to other nearby harbors, where there is a whole and safe entrance and a secure station?

Or if on a road some inn should begin to be besieged and held by robbers, so that whoever enters is seized by the attack of those lying in wait there; do not travelers, having learned of this report, seek out other inns on the journey that are safer, where there are faithful lodgings and safe havens for travelers? This is what ought to be the case among us now, most dear brother, so that we may receive our brothers, who, fleeing the rocks of the deadly Marcian, seek the safe harbors of the Church, with prompt and kind humanity, and provide for travelers a lodging such as is in the Gospel, where those wounded and injured by robbers can be received, cared for, and protected by the innkeeper (Luke 10). IV. For what greater or better care is there for those set over others than to provide, with diligent concern and healing remedy, for tending and preserving the sheep? Since the Lord speaks and says: "What has become weak you have not strengthened, and what was ill you have not made strong, and what was bruised you have not made whole, and what went astray you have not recalled, and what was lost you have not sought; and my sheep are scattered, because there are no shepherds; and they have become food for all the beasts of the field, and there was no one to seek them, nor to recall them. Therefore the Lord says this: 'Behold, I am over the shepherds, and I will demand my sheep from their hands, and I will turn them away so that they do not pasture my sheep, and they will no longer pasture them, and I will draw them out of their mouths, and I will pasture them with judgment'" (Ezekiel 34:4).

Since, therefore, the Lord threatens such shepherds through whom the Lord’s sheep are neglected and perish, what else ought we to do, dearest brother, than to show full diligence in gathering and refreshing Christ’s sheep, and to apply the medicine of fatherly compassion to healing the wounds of the lapsed, when the Lord warns and says in the Gospel: “The physician is not needed by the healthy, but by those who are ill” (Matthew 9:12)? For, even though we are many shepherds, we yet feed one flock, and we ought to gather and cherish all the sheep which Christ sought with His blood and Passion, and not allow our suppliant and sorrowing brothers to be cruelly despised and trampled by the proud presumption of some, since it is written: “But he who is stubborn, a boastful man, will accomplish nothing at all; he who has dilated his soul like the underworld” (Habakkuk 2:5); and the Lord in His Gospel blames and condemns such men, saying: “You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of men. But God discerns your hearts, for what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God” (Luke 16:15). He says that those who please themselves, who are haughty and puffed up and arrogantly assume something for themselves, are abominable and detestable.

From among these, since Marcianus has begun and, joining himself to Novatian, has stood as an adversary of mercy and piety, let him not pronounce a sentence but receive one; nor should he act as though he himself has judged the college of priests, when he himself has been judged by all the priests. V. For the glorious honor of our predecessors, the blessed martyrs Cornelius and Lucius, must be preserved; and while we honor their memory, you, dearest brother, ought much more to honor and preserve it by your gravity and authority, since you have been made their vicar and successor. For they, filled with the Spirit of God and established in glorious martyrdom, decreed that peace was to be given to the lapsed, and signified in their letters that after penance had been performed, the fruit of communion and peace was not to be denied; and this we have all everywhere observed. For there could be no diversity of sentiment among us, in whom there was one Spirit; and therefore it is clear that he who is seen to hold diverse opinions does not hold the truth of the Holy Spirit together with the rest. Tell us plainly who has been substituted in the place of Marcianus at Arles, so that we may know to whom we should direct our brothers and to whom we should write. I wish you, dearest brother, always to be well.