To Stephen, on Marcianus of Arles

Cyprian to Stephen, his brother, greeting. Our colleague Faustinus, residing at Lyons, most dear brother, has written to me once and again, signifying those things which I know have likewise been reported to you, both by him and by the rest of our fellow-bishops established in the same province, that Marcianus, residing at Arles, has joined himself to Novatian, and has departed from the unity of the Catholic Church and from the agreement of our body and of the priests, holding fast the most harsh wickedness of heretical presumption: so that to the servants of God who are penitent and sorrowful, and who knock at the Church with tears and groaning and grief, the consolations and aids of divine mercy and paternal gentleness are shut off, and the wounded are not admitted to have their wounds tended, but, left without hope of peace and communion, are cast out as prey to the wolves and spoil of the devil.

It is our duty to take counsel and to bring relief in this matter, most dear brother, we who, mindful of divine clemency and holding the balance of governing the Church, so display to sinners the sense of our vigour, that nevertheless we do not deny to the fallen who are to be raised up, and to the wounded who are to be healed, the medicine of divine goodness and mercy.

Wherefore it behoves you to send a most full letter to our fellow-bishops established in Gaul, that they suffer not Marcianus any longer—obstinate and proud, and an enemy of divine mercy and of brotherly salvation—to insult our college, seeing that he does not yet appear to have been restrained by us, who has long since boasted and proclaimed that, following Novatian and pursuing his obstinacy, he has separated himself from communion with us: whereas Novatian himself, whom he follows, was long since restrained and judged an enemy of the Church.

And when he had sent legates to us in Africa, desiring to be admitted to our communion, he received from the council of very many priests who were present the verdict that he had begun to be outside, and that none of us could communicate with him, who had attempted to erect a profane altar against the bishop Cornelius, ordained in the Catholic Church by the judgment of God and the suffrage of the clergy and people, and to set up an adulterous chair, and to offer sacrilegious sacrifices against the true priest. Accordingly, if he wished to come to his senses and return to the counsel of a sound mind, let him do penance and return as a suppliant to the Church. How vain it is, most dear brother, that now when Novatian has lately been repulsed and rejected, and restrained by the priests of God throughout the whole world, we should still suffer his flatterers to mock us and to pass judgment upon the majesty and dignity of the Church.

Let letters be sent by you to the Province and to the people residing at Arles, whereby, Marcianus being restrained, another may be substituted in his place, and the flock of Christ, which up to this day is despised by him as scattered and wounded, may be gathered together. Let it suffice that many there of our brethren have in these past years departed without peace: let relief at least be brought to the rest who survive, and who groan day and night, and imploring the divine and paternal mercy, seek the comfort of our assistance. For this reason, most dear brother, the body of priests is numerous, bound together by the bond of mutual harmony and the bond of unity, so that if any one of our college shall attempt to make a heresy and to tear and lay waste the flock of Christ, the rest may bring aid, and as useful and merciful shepherds may gather the Lord's sheep into the flock.

For what if in the sea some harbour, its defences broken, begins to be dangerous and perilous to ships: do not those who sail direct their vessels to other neighbouring harbours where there is a safe and wholesome entrance and a secure anchorage? Or if on a road some inn begins to be beset and held by robbers, so that whoever enters it is taken by the ambush of those lying in wait there, do not travellers, when this report is known, seek other inns on the road that are safer, where there are trusty lodgings and shelters secure for travellers? This ought now to be the case among us, most dear brother, that we receive with ready and kindly humanity our brethren who, avoiding the rocks of Marcianus, seek the saving harbours of the Church, and that we provide for travellers such an inn as that in the Gospel, where those wounded and hurt by robbers may be received and tended and protected by the innkeeper.

For what greater or better care is there for those set over others than to provide with diligent solicitude and wholesome remedy for the tending and preserving of the sheep? Since the Lord speaks and says: That which was weakened ye have not strengthened, and that which was sick ye have not healed, and that which was broken ye have not bound up, and that which went astray ye have not recalled, and that which was lost ye have not sought: and my sheep were scattered, because there were no shepherds; and they became food for all the beasts of the field, and there was none who sought them out, nor who recalled them. Therefore thus saith the Lord: Behold I am against the shepherds, and I will require my sheep at their hands, and I will turn them away that they feed not my sheep, and they shall feed them no more, and I will deliver them out of their mouth, and I will feed them with judgment.

Since therefore the Lord thus threatens such shepherds, through whom the Lord's sheep are neglected and perish, what else ought we to do, most dear brother, than to show full diligence in gathering and refreshing the sheep of Christ, and to apply the medicine of paternal mercy in healing the wounds of the fallen, since the Lord admonishes and says in the Gospel: They that are whole need not a physician, but they that are sick?

For even if we are many shepherds, we feed nevertheless one flock, and we ought to gather and tend all the sheep which Christ sought with his blood and Passion, and not suffer our brethren who are suppliants and sorrowful to be cruelly despised and trodden down by the proud presumption of certain persons, since it is written: But the man who is contumacious, boasting of himself, shall accomplish nothing at all: who hath enlarged his soul as hell: and the Lord in his Gospel blames and condemns such men, saying: Ye are they who justify yourselves before men, but God knoweth your hearts, for that which is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God. He declares those to be abominable and detestable who are pleased with themselves, who, puffed up and inflated, arrogantly claim something for themselves.

Since Marcianus has begun to be of their number, and joining himself to Novatian has shown himself an adversary of mercy and piety, let him not pronounce sentence, but receive it: and let him not act as though he himself had judged concerning the college of priests, when he himself has been judged by all the priests. For the glorious honour of our predecessors the blessed martyrs Cornelius and Lucius must be preserved: and since we honour their memory, much more ought you, most dear brother, to honour and preserve it by your gravity and authority, you who have been made their vicar and successor. For they, full of the Spirit of God and established in glorious martyrdom, judged that peace ought to be granted to the fallen, and signified by their letters that the fruit of communion and peace ought not to be denied to those who had done penance—a matter which all of us everywhere without exception have judged.

For there could not be a different mind among us, in whom there was one Spirit, and therefore it is the more manifest that he does not hold the truth of the Holy Spirit together with the rest, whom we see to hold a different opinion. Inform us plainly who has been substituted in the place of Marcianus at Arles, so that we may know to whom to direct our brethren and to whom we ought to write. I pray that you, most dear brother, may always fare well.