To Cyprian, on the Treatment of the Lapsed

To Pope Cyprian, the presbyters and deacons residing at Rome, greeting. Although a mind well conscious of itself, supported by the vigor of the Gospel's discipline and made a true witness to itself in heavenly decrees, is accustomed to be content with God alone as its judge, and neither to seek the praises of another nor to fear accusations, yet those are doubly worthy of praise who, knowing that their conscience owes itself to God alone as judge, nevertheless desire their actions to be approved also by their brethren. That you, brother Cyprian, do this is no wonder: for in your modesty and innate diligence, you wished us to be found not so much judges of your counsels as sharers in them, so that in your deeds accomplished we might find praise together with you when we approve them, and might be able to be co-heirs and also confirmers of your good counsels.

For we are all believed to have worked the same thing, in that we are found all united in the same agreement of judgment and discipline. For what is more fitting in peace, or more necessary in the wars of persecution, than to maintain the due severity of divine vigor? Whoever has relaxed this must of necessity always wander in the unstable course of affairs, and be scattered hither and thither by the various and uncertain storms of events, and as if the helm of counsel had been wrested from his hands, dash the ship of ecclesiastical safety upon the rocks: so that it becomes clear that the welfare of the Church cannot otherwise be provided for, unless whatever things are done against it, as certain adverse waves, are repelled; and the principle of discipline itself, always preserved, is kept as a saving helm in the storm.

Nor has this counsel been thought out by us only recently, nor have these sudden remedies against the wicked only now arisen among us, but this severity is ancient among us, ancient the faith, ancient the discipline that is read of. For the Apostle would not have brought forth such great praises of us, saying: Because your faith is proclaimed in the whole world, unless from that time this very vigor had borrowed the roots of faith from those times; and to have been degenerate from those praises and that glory is the greatest crime. For it is less disgraceful never to have attained to the proclamation of praise, than to have fallen from the height of praise. It is less criminal not to have been honored with good testimony, than to have lost the honor of good testimonies.

It is less, to have lain unknown without praise and without the proclamation of virtues, than, having been made disinherited of faith, to have lost one's own praises: for those things which are brought forth to someone's glory, unless they are preserved with anxious and careful labor, swell up into the reproach of the greatest crime. That we do not say this falsely, our earlier letters have proved, in which we set forth our judgment to you with clear exposition against those who had betrayed themselves as faithless by the unlawful profession of the wicked certificates, as though they seemed about to escape the ensnaring snares of the devil, by which they were held no less than if they had approached the impious altars, by this very fact that they had attested to it; but also against those who had received certificates, even though they had not been present when they were made, since they had in any case caused their own presence by commanding that they be so written.

For he is not free from guilt who commanded that it be done: nor is he other than guilty whose consent, even if the crime was not committed by himself, is nevertheless publicly read of: and since the whole sacrament of faith is understood to be set forth in the confession of the name of Christ, he who seeks deceitful pretexts in excuse has denied; and he who wishes to appear to have satisfied the edicts or laws set forth against the Gospel, has by this very fact already obeyed, in that he wished to appear to have obeyed. And likewise against those also who had polluted their hands and mouths with unlawful sacrifices, their own minds having been polluted beforehand, from which also the hands and mouths themselves were polluted, we showed our faith and agreement.

For far be it from the Roman Church to lay aside its vigor with such profane facility, and to dissolve the sinews of severity with the majesty of faith overthrown; so that while the ruins of fallen brethren still not only lie but also fall, remedies of communion, hastened too much and certainly of no profit, should be granted, and new wounds through false mercy be impressed upon the old wounds of transgression, so that even repentance is snatched away from the wretched to their greater ruin. For where will the medicine of indulgence be able to avail, if even the physician himself, with repentance cut short, indulges the dangers, if he only covers the wound and does not allow the necessary remedies of time to draw a scar over it? This is not to heal, but, if we wish to speak the truth, to kill.

Although you also have letters of the Confessors, whom here the dignity of their own confession has still enclosed in prison and whose faith in their already glorious confession has once crowned them for the evangelical contest, letters agreeing with our letters, in which they set forth the severity of evangelical discipline and recalled unlawful petitions from the modesty of the Church. Had they not done this, the ruin of evangelical discipline would not easily be repaired, especially since it was most fitting for none more than for those who had given themselves over to be tortured and torn to pieces for the Gospel by the raging, to keep the tenor of evangelical vigor unimpaired and to preserve its dignity, lest they deservedly lose the honor of martyrdom, if on the occasion of martyrdom they had wished to be transgressors of the Gospel: for he who does not guard what he has in that from which he possesses it, while he violates that from which he possesses it, loses what he was possessing.

In which place we ought and do render you the greatest and most abundant thanks, because you illuminated the darkness of their prison with your letters, because you came to them in whatever way you were able to enter, because you refreshed their souls, made strong by their own faith and confession, with your addresses and letters, because you kindled their felicities, having followed them with worthy praises, to a much more ardent desire of heavenly glory, because you urged those who were already inclined forward, because, as we believe and hope, you animated those who are to be victors with the strength of your discourse: so that although all this may seem to come from the faith of those confessing and from divine indulgence, yet they seem to have been made in some measure debtors to you in their martyrdom. But that the discourse, which seemed to have digressed, may return again to that from which it departed, you will have appended what letters we also sent to Sicily.

Although a greater necessity of deferring this matter presses upon us, who, after the departure of the man of most noble memory, Fabian, have not yet had a bishop appointed on account of the difficulty of circumstances and times, who might regulate all these things and be able to take account of those who have lapsed with authority and counsel. Although in so great a matter it pleases us also what you yourself have treated: that the peace of the Church should first be awaited, and then, with counsel having been taken together with bishops, presbyters, deacons, confessors, and likewise with the laity who have stood firm, the case of the lapsed should be dealt with. For it seems to us both very invidious and burdensome not to examine through many what seems to have been committed through many, and to pronounce one sentence when so great a crime is noted to have gone forth spread through many; since a decree cannot be firm which will not seem to have had the consent of very many.

Behold nearly the whole world laid waste, and everywhere the remnants and ruins of the fallen lying prostrate, and therefore so great a counsel being sought as the transgression seems to have been widely spread. Let the medicine be no less than the wound, let the remedies be no less than the deaths: so that just as those who fell, fell because with blind rashness they were too incautious, so those who strive to arrange this matter may use every moderation of counsel, lest anything done not as it ought to be, should be judged as void by all.

Therefore with one and the same counsel, with the same prayers and tears, both we who seem thus far to have escaped the ruins of this time, and those who seem to have fallen into these disasters of the time, beseeching the divine majesty, let us seek peace for the name of the Church: let us cherish, guard, and arm one another with mutual vows; let us pray for the lapsed, that they may be raised up; let us pray for those standing firm, that they be not tempted even to ruin; let us pray that those who are reported to have fallen, acknowledging the greatness of their transgression, may understand that they should not desire a momentary or premature remedy.

Let us pray that the effect of indulgence for the lapsed may follow upon repentance, so that, with their crime understood, they may wish to grant us patience in the meantime, and not disturb the still wavering state of the Church, lest they seem to have kindled an interior persecution against us, and it be added to the heap of their crimes that they were also restless. For modesty is most fitting for those in whose transgressions a shameless mind is condemned. Let them knock at the doors, but not break them down. Let them approach the threshold of the Church, but not leap over it. Let them keep watch at the gates of the heavenly camp, but armed with the modesty by which they may understand that they have been deserters. Let them take up the trumpet of their prayers, but one with which they do not sound a battle-call.

Let them arm themselves indeed with the weapons of modesty, and resume the shield of faith which they had cast away by denying it through fear of death; but so that, armed now against the enemy the devil, they may not believe themselves to be armed against the Church, which mourns their falls. A modest petition will profit them much, a reverent supplication, a necessary humility, a patience not idle. Let them send tears as ambassadors for their sorrows; let groans brought forth from the inmost breast serve as their advocacy, proving the grief of the committed crime and the shame. Indeed, if they shudder at the greatness of the disgrace committed, if they truly treat with a physician's hand the deadly wound of their breast and conscience and the deep recesses of the sinuous wound, let them blush even to ask; except that it is of greater danger and shame again not to have sought the aid of peace.

But all this in the sacrament, but with the moderation of time made in the very law of the petition, but with a submissive petition, but with a humble prayer: since both he who is petitioned ought to be moved, not provoked; and as divine clemency ought to be regarded, so also divine judgment ought to be regarded; and as it is written: I forgave you all the debt because you asked me; so it is written: He who denies me before men, I also will deny him before my Father and before his angels. For God, as he is indulgent, so is he an exactor of his own precepts, and indeed a diligent one; and as he calls to the banquet, so he casts out him who has not the wedding garment, with hands and feet bound, outside the assembly of the saints. He has prepared heaven, but he has also prepared hell. He has prepared refreshments, but he has also prepared eternal punishments.

He has prepared inaccessible light, but he has also prepared the vast and eternal darkness of perpetual night. Seeking here to maintain the moderation of this balance for a long time, and indeed many of us, and indeed together with certain bishops neighboring and near to us, and those whom the heat of this persecution had driven out from other provinces far away, before the appointment of a bishop we thought nothing should be innovated, but believed that the care of the lapsed should be moderately tempered; so that in the meantime, while a bishop to be given to us by God is awaited, the case of those who are able to sustain the delay of postponement should be held in suspense.

But for those whose pressing end of life cannot bear the delay of postponement, having performed penance and having frequently professed the detestation of their deeds, if they have shown signs of a grieving and truly penitent mind by tears, by groans, by weeping, when no hope of living according to human reckoning remains, aid should then at last be given cautiously and carefully, God himself knowing what he will do concerning such persons, and how he weighs the scales of his judgment; yet we anxiously taking care that neither the wicked praise our prone facility, nor the truly penitent accuse our severity as though it were harsh cruelty. We wish you, most blessed and most glorious Pope, always to fare well in the Lord and to be mindful of us.