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| Cyprian to Sergius, Rogatianus, and the Other Confessors in Prison.
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Epistle LXXX.3030
| 3030
Oxford ed.: Ep. vi. a.d. 257;
possibly a.d. 250. |
Cyprian to Sergius, Rogatianus, and the
Other Confessors in Prison.
Argument.—He Consoles Rogatianus and His Colleagues, the Confessors
in Prison, and Gives Them Courage by the Example of the Martyrs
Rogatianus the Elder and Felicissimus. The Letter Itself
Indicates that It Was Written in Exile.
1. Cyprian to Sergius and Rogatianus, and
the rest of the confessors in the Lord, everlasting health. I
salute you, dearest and most blessed brethren, myself also desiring to
enjoy the sight of you, if the state in which I am placed would permit
me to come to you. For what could happen to me more desirable and
more joyful than to be now close to you, that you might embrace me with
those hands, which, pure and innocent, and maintaining the faith of the
Lord, have rejected the profane obedience? What more pleasant and
sublime than now to kiss your lips, which with a glorious voice have
confessed the Lord, to be looked upon even in presence by your eyes,
which, despising the world, have become worthy3031
| 3031
[Luke xx. 35; xxi. 36; 1
Thess. ii. 12. Such
expressions in our author teach no worthiness apart from the merits of
Christ.] | of looking upon God? But since
opportunity is not afforded me to share in this joy, I send this letter
in my stead to your ears and to your eyes, by which I congratulate and
exhort you that you persevere strongly and steadily in the confession
of the heavenly glory; and having entered on the way of the
Lord’s condescension, that you go on in the strength of the
Spirit, to receive the crown, having the Lord as your protector and
guide, who said, “Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of
the world.”3032
O
blessed prison, which your presence has enlightened! O blessed
prison, which sends the men of God to heaven! O darkness, more
bright than the sun itself, and clearer than the light of this world, where now
are placed temples of God, and your members are to be sanctified by
divine confessions!
2. Nor let anything now be revolved in your
hearts and minds besides the divine precepts and heavenly commands,
with which the Holy Spirit has ever animated you to the endurance of
suffering. Let no one think of death, but of immortality; nor of
temporary punishment, but of eternal glory; since it is written,
“Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His
saints;”3033
and again,
“A broken spirit is a sacrifice to God: a contrite and
humble heart God doth not despise.”3034
And again, where the sacred
Scripture speaks of the tortures which consecrate God’s martyrs,
and sanctify them in the very trial of suffering: “And if
they have suffered torments in the sight of men, yet is their hope full
of immortality; and having been a little chastised, they shall be
greatly rewarded: for God proved them, and found them worthy of
Himself. As gold in the furnace hath He tried them, and received
them as a sacrifice of a burnt-offering, and in due time regard shall
be had unto them. The righteous shall shine, and shall run to and
fro like sparks among the stubble. They shall judge the nations,
and have dominion over the people; and their Lord shall reign for
ever.”3035
When,
therefore, you reflect that you shall judge and reign with Christ the
Lord, you must needs exult and tread under foot present sufferings, in
the joy of what is to come; knowing that from the beginning of the
world it has been so appointed that righteousness should suffer there
in the conflict of the world, since in the beginning, even at the
first, the righteous Abel was slain, and thereafter all righteous men,
and prophets, and apostles who were sent. To all of whom the Lord
also in Himself has appointed an example, teaching that none shall
attain to His kingdom but those who have followed Him in 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 keep it unto life
eternal.”3036
And
again: “Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able
to kill the soul: but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both
soul and body in hell.”3037
Paul also exhorts us that we who
desire to attain to the Lord’s promises ought to imitate the Lord
in all things. “We are,” says he, “the sons of
God: but if sons, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with
Christ; if so be that we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified
together.”3038
Moreover, he added the comparison of the present time and of the future
glory, saying, “The sufferings of this present time are not
worthy to be compared with the coming glory which shall be revealed in
us.”3039
Of
which brightness, when we consider the glory, it behoves us to bear all
afflictions and persecutions; because, although many are the
afflictions of the righteous, yet those are delivered from them all who
trust in God.
3. Blessed women also, who are established
with you in the same glory of confession, who, maintaining the
Lord’s faith, and braver than their sex, not only themselves are
near to the crown of glory, but have afforded an example to other women
by their constancy! And lest anything should be wanting to the
glory of your number, that each sex and every age also might be with
you in honour, the divine condescension has also associated with you
boys3040
| 3040
[See p. 404, note 6, supra.] | in a glorious
confession; representing to us something of the same kind as once did
Ananias, Azarias, and Misael, the illustrious youths to whom, when shut
up in the furnace, the fires gave way, and the flames gave refreshment,
the Lord being present with them, and proving that against His
confessors and martyrs the heat of hell could have no power, but that
they who trusted in God should always continue unhurt and safe in all
dangers. And I beg you to consider more carefully, in accordance
with your religion, what must have been the faith in these youths which
could deserve such full acknowledgment from the Lord. For,
prepared for every fate, as we ought all to be, they say to the king,
“O king Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this
matter; for our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the
burning fiery furnace; and He will deliver us out of thine hand, O
king! But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not
serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set
up.”3041
Although
they believed, and, in accordance with their faith, knew that they
might even be delivered from their present punishment, they still would
not boast of this, nor claim it for themselves, saying, “But if
not.” Lest the virtue of their confession should be less
without the testimony of their suffering, they added that God could do
all things; but yet they would not trust in this, so as to wish to be
delivered at the moment; but they thought on that glory of eternal
liberty and security.
4. And you also, retaining this faith, and
meditating day and night, with your whole heart prepared for God, think
of the future only, with contempt for the present, that you may be able
to come to the fruit of the eternal kingdom, and to the embrace and kiss, and the sight of
the Lord, that you may follow in all things Rogatianus the presbyter,
the glorious old man who, to the glory of our time, makes a way for you
by his religious courage and divine condescension, who, with
Felicissimus our brother, ever quiet and temperate, receiving the
attack of a ferocious people, first prepared for you a dwelling in the
prison, and, marking out the way3042
for you in some measure, now also goes
before you. That this may be consummated in you, we beseech the
Lord in constant prayers, that from beginnings going on to the highest
results, He may cause those whom He has made to confess, also to be
crowned. I bid you, dearest and most beloved brethren, ever
heartily farewell in the Lord; and may you attain to the crown of
heavenly glory. Victor the deacon, and those who are with me,
greet you.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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