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| The Roman Clergy to Cyprian.
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Epistle
XXX.2330
| 2330
Oxford ed.: Ep. xxx. a.d.
250. |
The Roman Clergy to Cyprian.
Argument.—The Roman Clergy Enter into the Matters Which They Had
Spoken of in the Foregoing Letter, More Fully and Substantially in the
Present One; Replying, Moreover, to Another Letter of Cyprian, Which is
Thought Not to Be Extant, and from Which They Quote a Few Words.
They Thank Cyprian for His Letters Sent to the Roman Confessors and
Martyrs.2331
| 2331
This letter was written, as were also the others of the Roman clergy,
during the vacancy of the See, after the death of Fabian. |
1. To Father2332
Cyprian, the presbyters and deacons
abiding at Rome, greeting. Although a mind conscious to itself of
uprightness, and relying on the vigour of evangelical discipline, and
made a true witness to itself in the heavenly decrees, is accustomed to
be satisfied with God for its only judge, and neither to seek the
praises nor to dread the charges of any other, yet those are worthy of
double praise, who, knowing that they owe their conscience to God alone
as the judge, yet desire that their doings should be approved also by
their brethren themselves. It is no wonder, brother Cyprian, that
you should do this, who, with your usual modesty and inborn industry,
have wished that we should be found not so much judges of, as sharers
in, your counsels, so that we might find praise with you in your doings
while we approve them; and might be able to be fellow-heirs with you in
your good counsels, because we entirely accord with them. In the
same way we are all thought to have laboured in that in which we are
all regarded as allied in
the same agreement of censure and discipline.
2. For what is there either in peace so
suitable, or in a war of persecution so necessary, as to maintain the
due severity of the divine rigour? Which he who resists, will of
necessity wander in the unsteady course of affairs, and will be tossed
hither and thither by the various and uncertain storms of things; and
the helm of counsel being, as it were, wrenched from his hands he will
drive the ship of the Church’s safety among the rocks; so that it
would appear that the Church’s safety can be no otherwise
secured, than by repelling any who set themselves against it as adverse
waves, and by maintaining the ever-guarded rule of discipline itself as
if it were the rudder of safety in the tempest. Nor is it now but
lately that this counsel has been considered by us, nor have these
sudden appliances against the wicked but recently occurred to us; but
this is read of among us as the ancient severity, the ancient faith,
the ancient discipline,2333
since the apostle would not have
published such praise concerning us, when he said “that your
faith is spoken of throughout the whole world”2334
unless already from thence that vigour
had borrowed the roots of faith from those times; from which praise and
glory it is a very great crime to have become degenerate.2335
For it
is less disgrace never to have attained to the heraldry of praise, than
to have fallen from the height of praise; it is a smaller crime not to
have been honoured with a good testimony, than to have lost the honour
of good testimonies; it is less discredit to have lain without the
announcement of virtues, ignoble without praise, than, disinherited of
the faith,2336
| 2336 No
conception of Roman infallibility here.] | to have lost
our proper praises. For those things which are proclaimed to the
glory of any one, unless they are maintained by anxious and careful
pains, swell up into the odium of the greatest crime.2337
| 2337
[A concession which illustrates the present awful degeneracy of this
See.] |
3. That we are not saying this dishonestly,
our former letters have proved, wherein we have declared our opinion to
you with a very plain statement, both against those who had betrayed
themselves as unfaithful by the unlawful presentation of wicked
certificates, as if they thought that they would escape those ensnaring
nets of the devil; whereas, not less than if they had approached to the
wicked altars,2338
they
were held fast by the very fact that they had testified to him; and
against those who had used those certificates when made, although they
had not been present when they were made, since they had certainly
asserted their presence by ordering that they should be so
written. For he is not guiltless of wickedness who has bidden it
to be done; nor is he unconcerned in the crime with whose consent it is
publicly spoken of, although it was not committed by him. And
since the whole mystery2339
of faith is understood to be contained
in the confession of the name of Christ, he who seeks for deceitful
tricks to excuse himself, has denied Christ; and he who wants to appear
to have satisfied either edicts or laws put forth against the Gospel,
has obeyed those edicts by the very fact by which he wished to appear
to have obeyed them. Moreover, also, we have declared our faith
and consent against those, too, who had polluted their hands and their
mouths with unlawful sacrifices, whose own minds were before polluted;
whence also their very hands and mouths were polluted also.2340
| 2340
[See p. 304, note 8, supra.] | Far be it
from the Roman Church to slacken her vigour with so profane a facility,
and to loosen the nerves of her severity by overthrowing the majesty of
faith; so that, when the wrecks of your ruined brethren are still not
only lying, but are falling around, remedies of a too hasty kind, and
certainly not likely to avail, should be afforded for communion; and by
a false mercy, new wounds should be impressed on the old wounds of
their transgression; so that even repentance should be snatched from
these wretched beings, to their greater overthrow. For where can
the medicine of indulgence profit, if even the physician himself, by
intercepting repentance, makes easy way for new dangers, if he only
hides the wound, and does not suffer the necessary remedy of time to
close the scar? This is not to cure, but, if we wish to speak the
truth, to slay.2341
| 2341
[The whole system of Roman casuistry, as it now exists in the
authorized penitential forms of Liguori, is here
condemned.] |
4. Nevertheless, you have letters agreeing
with our letters from the confessors, whom the dignity of their
confession has still shut up here in prison, and whom, for the Gospel
contest, their faith has once already crowned in a glorious confession;
letters wherein they have maintained the severity of the Gospel
discipline, and have revoked the unlawful petitions, so that they might
not be a disgrace to the Church. Unless they had done this, the
ruins of Gospel discipline2342
| 2342
[See Alphonsus de’ Liguori and the Papal Authorization,
vol. i. p. xxii., ed. Paris, 1852.] | would not easily be restored,
especially since it was to none so fitting to maintain the tenor of
evangelical vigour unimpaired, and its dignity, as to those who had
given themselves up to be tortured and cut to pieces by raging men on
behalf of the Gospel, that they might not deservedly forfeit the honour
of martyrdom, if, on the occasion of martyrdom, they had wished to be
betrayers of the Gospel. For he who does not guard what he
has, in that condition whereon he
possesses it, by violating the condition whereon he possesses it, loses
what he possessed.
5. In which matter we ought to give you
also, and we do give you, abundant thanks, that you have brightened the
darkness of their prison by your letters; that you came to them in
whatever way you could enter; that you refreshed their minds, robust in
their own faith and confession, by your addresses and letters; that,
following up their felicities with worthy praises, you have inflamed
them to a much more ardent desire of heavenly glory; that you urged
them forward; that you animated, by the power of your discourse, those
who, as we believe and hope, will be victors by and by; so that
although all may seem to come from the faith of those who confess, and
from the divine mercy, yet they seem in their martyrdom to have become
in some sort debtors to you. But once more, to return to the
point whence our discourse appears to have digressed, you shall find
subjoined the sort of letters that we also sent to Sicily; although
upon us is incumbent a greater necessity of delaying this affair;
having, since the departure of Fabian of most noble memory, had no
bishop appointed as yet, on account of the difficulties of affairs and
times, who can arrange all things of this kind, and who can take
account of those who are lapsed, with authority and wisdom.
However, what you also have yourself declared in so important a matter,
is satisfactory to us, that the peace of the Church must first be
maintained; then, that an assembly for counsel being gathered together,
with bishops, presbyters, deacons, and confessors, as well as with the
laity who stand fast,2343
| 2343
[All-important is this testimony of the Roman clergy to the
Cyprianic idea of the Church synods. See this vol. supra,
p. 283.] | we should deal with the case of the
lapsed. For it seems extremely invidious and burdensome to
examine into what seems to have been committed by many, except by the
advice of many; or that one should give a sentence when so great a
crime is known to have gone forth, and to be diffused among so many;
since that cannot be a firm decree which shall not appear to have had
the consent of very many.2344
| 2344
[Note this principle, as a test of synodical decrees.] | Look upon almost the whole world
devastated, and observe that the remains and the ruins of the fallen
are lying about on every side, and consider that therefore an extent of
counsel is asked for, large in proportion as the crime appears to be
widely propagated. Let not the medicine be less than the wound,
let not the remedies be fewer than the deaths, that in the same manner
as those who fell, fell for this reason that they were too incautious
with a blind rashness, so those who strive to set in order this
mischief should use every moderation in counsels, lest anything done as
it ought not to be, should, as it were, be judged by all of no
effect.
6. Thus, with one and the same counsel, with
the same prayers and tears, let us, who up to the present time seem to
have escaped the destruction of these times of ours, as well as those
who appear to have fallen into those calamities of the time, entreat
the divine majesty, and ask peace for the Church’s name.
With mutual prayers, let us by turns cherish, guard, arm one another;
let us pray for the lapsed,2345
| 2345
[Probably a quotation from a “bidding prayer” in use at
Rome in those times. Elucidation VI.] | that they may be raised up; let us pray
for those who stand, that they may not be tempted to such a degree as
to be destroyed; let us pray that those who are said to have fallen may
acknowledge the greatness of their sin, and may perceive that it needs
no momentary nor over-hasty cure; let us pray that penitence may follow
also the effects of the pardon of the lapsed; that so, when they have
understood their own crime, they may be willing to have patience with
us for a while, and no longer disturb the fluctuating condition of the
Church, lest they may seem themselves to have inflamed an internal
persecution for us, and the fact of their unquietness be added to the
heap of their sins. For modesty is very greatly fitting for them
in whose sins it is an immodest mind that is condemned. Let them
indeed knock at the doors, but assuredly let them not break them down;
let them present themselves at the threshold of the church, but
certainly let them not leap over it; let them watch at the gates of the
heavenly camp, but let them be armed with modesty, by which they
perceive that they have been deserters; let them resume the trumpet of
their prayers, but let them not therewith sound a point of war; let
them arm themselves indeed with the weapons of modesty, and let them
resume the shield of faith, which they had put off by their denial
through the fear of death, but let those that are even now armed
believe that they are armed against their foe, the devil, not against
the Church, which grieves over their fall. A modest petition will
much avail them; a bashful entreaty, a necessary humility, a patience
which is not careless. Let them send tears as their ambassadors
for their sufferings; let groanings, brought forth from their deepest
heart, discharge the office of advocate, and prove their grief and
shame for the crime they have committed.
7. Nay, if they shudder at the magnitude of the
guilt incurred; if with a truly medicinal hand they deal with the
deadly wound of their heart and conscience and the deep recesses of the
subtle mischief, let them blush even to ask; except, again, that it is
a matter of greater risk and
shame not to have besought the aid of peace. But let all this be
in the sacrament;2346
| 2346 In
“sacramento,” scil. “fidei;”
perhaps in a way in harmony with their religious engagement and with
ecclesiastical discipline. | in the law
of their very entreaty let consideration be had for the time; let it be
with downcast entreaty, with subdued petition, since he also who is
besought ought to be bent, not provoked; and as the divine clemency
ought to be looked to, so also ought the divine censure; and as it is
written, “I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst
me,”2347
so it is
written, “Whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also
deny before my Father and before His angels.”2348
For God, as He is merciful, so
He exacts obedience to His precepts, and indeed carefully exacts it;
and as He invites to the banquet, so the man that hath not a wedding
garment He binds hands and feet, and casts him out beyond the assembly
of the saints. He has prepared heaven, but He has also prepared
hell.2349
| 2349
[Note this faithful statement of scriptural doctrine, and no hint
of purgatory.] | He has
prepared places of refreshment, but He has also prepared eternal
punishment. He has prepared the light that none can approach
unto, but He has also prepared the vast and eternal gloom of perpetual
night.
8. Desiring to maintain the moderation of
this middle course in these matters, we for a long time, and indeed
many of us, and, moreover, with some of the bishops who are near to us
and within reach, and some whom, placed afar off, the heat of the
persecution had driven out from other provinces,2350
have thought that nothing new was to be
done before the appointment of a bishop; but we believe that the care
of the lapsed must be moderately dealt with, so that, in the meantime,
whilst the grant of a bishop is withheld from us2351
| 2351 [How
different the language of the cardinal vicar, now, when he writes,
sede vacante.] | by God, the cause of such as are able to
bear the delays of postponement should be kept in suspense; but of such
as impending death does not suffer to bear the delay, having repented
and professed a detestation of their deeds with frequency; if with
tears, if with groans, if with weeping they have betrayed the signs of
a grieving and truly penitent spirit, when there remains, as far as man
can tell, no hope of living; to them, finally, such cautious and
careful help should be ministered, God Himself knowing what He will do
with such, and in what way He will examine the balance of His judgment;
while we, however, take anxious care that neither ungodly men should
praise our smooth facility, nor truly penitent men accuse our severity
as cruel. We bid you, most blessed and glorious father, ever
heartily farewell in the Lord; and have us in memory.2352
| 2352
[This eloquent and evangelical letter proves that much dross had been
burned away by the fires of persecution since the episcopate of
Callistus. It is referred to, p. 309, note 4.] | E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
|
