장음표시 사용
271쪽
1. Cyprian to his brother Stephen, greeting. Faustinus our colleague, abiding at Lyons, has once and again writtento me, dearest brother, informing me of those things whichalso I certainly know to have been told to you, as Weli is himas by others our fello aishops establislied in the samo pr Vince, that Marcianus, Who abides at Artes, has associaledhimself with Novatim, and has departed hom the unity of tho catholio church, and Dom the agreement of our body and priesthood, holding that most extremo depravity os horeticalpresumption, that the comioris and alti os divino lovo and paternat tendernem ars closed to the servants ot God whorepent, and mourn, and knoch at the gate of tho church Withtears, and groans, and griei; and that thoso who are Woundedare not admitted for the wothing of their πο-ds, but that, forsahen Without hope of peace and communion, they mustbe thrown to become the prey of wolves and the booty of the devit; whicli matter, dearest brother, it is our business totaviso for and to aid in, since we Who consider the divine
3 Oxtord ed.: Ep. lxviii. This episse does not appear in many MM., and ita genuinenem has been thereloro do ted. But the Myle minis to Cyprian M ita auctor, and the documenta Whero it is found are among the oldest, ono the moat ancient of HL
272쪽
232THE EPISTLES OF CYPRIAM clemen , and hold the balance in governing the churta, dothus exhibit the rebulis of vigour is sinners in such a Way asinat, neverihelem, We do not refuse the medicino os divino
2. Wheretare it belloves you to Write a very copious leuerto our fello bishops appoinred in Gaul, not in suffer any longer that Marcian, froWard and haughty, and hostile tothe divino mercy and to the salvation of the brothectood, should insuit our assembly, becauso he does not yet seem tobe excommunicared by us; in that he noW for a long timeboasis and announces that, adhering to Novalian, and folio ing his hoWardness, he has separated himself hom Our communion ; although Novatian himself, Whom he follows, has formerly been excommunicated, and judged an enemy to thochurch; and whon he sent ambassadors to us into Africa, ashing to be received into our communion, he received bachword from a councit os severat priesis Who Were here present,
that he himself had excluded himself, and could not by any
of us be received into communion, as he had alte ted in erect a profane altar, and lo set up an adulterous throne, andio offer sacrilegious sacrifices opposed to the true primi;while tho Bishop Cornelius was ordained in the catholicchurch by the judgment of God, and by the suffrages of thoclery and people. Therefore, ii ho mere Willing to returnio a right mind, and to come in himself, ho fhould repontand return to the church as a suppliant. How vata it is, dearest brother, When Novatian has lately been repulsed and rejected, and excommunicated by God's priesis throughout the whole worid, sor us stili to suffer his flatterem noW tojest With us, and to judge of the majesty and dignity oi thochurelii 3. Let lettere bo directed by you into the province and to the peοplo abiding at Artes, by Whicli, Marcian beingeXcommunicated, another may be substituted in his place, and Chrises floch, whicli even to this day is contemned asscattered and wounded by him, may be gathered tinetheri Let it sussice that many os our brethren have departed in
273쪽
ther, tho body os primis is abundantly large, joined togetheris the bond of mutuat concord, and the link of uni ; so thatii any one of our college should try to originate heresy, andis lacerate and lay Waste Christ's floch, others may help, andas it Mere, as useful and mercisul shephetas, gather together the Loraes sheop into tho floch. For What is any harbour in
wo dod and maimed by robbers may be received and cherished, and protected by the host.
274쪽
5. For the glorious honour os our predecessors, the bl sed martyre Cornelius and Lucius, must be maintainia, Whose
275쪽
cessor. For then fuit of the Spirit of God, and ostilliinedin a glorious martyrdom, judged that peace should bo grantedio the lapsed, and that when penitence Was undergone, thereWard of peace and communion was not to bo dented; and this they attested by their lettera, and we ali every here andentirely have judged the fame thing. For them could not beamong us a diverse Deling in Whom there Was one spirit; and thereiare it is manifest that ho does not hold tho truth of tho Holy Spirit With the rest, Whom Wo observe to thinh differently. Intimate plainly to us who has been substituted at Artes in the place of Marcian, that we may kno to Whom
Moreover, he alludes by the way to certain mattera about theaneient rite os episeopal election. The eontem indieates
that this was written during the prima. of Sephen. 1. Cyprian, Caecilius, Primus, Polyca , Nicomedes, Lucilianus, Successus, Sedatus, Fortunatus, Januarius, Secundinus, Pomponius, Honoratus, Victor, Aurelius, Sattius, Petrus, another Januarius, Saturninus, another Aurelius,
276쪽
236 THE EPISTLES OF CYPRIAM. Venantius, Quietus, Rogatianus, Tenax, Felix, Faustinus, Quintus, mother Saturninus, Lucius, Vincentius, Libosus, Geminius, Marcellus, Iambus, Adelphius, Victoricus, and Paulus, to Felix the presbyter, and to the peoples abissingat Legio and Asturica, also in Laelius the deacon, and the peoplo abiding at Emerita,' brethren in tho Loes, greoting. When we had come together, dearly boloved brethren, Wo read your letters, whicli according to the integri oi your faith and your fear of God you wroto to usby Felix and Sabimus our felloW-bishops, signi bing that Basilides and Martiat, heing stained mith the certificates of
spolio to the JeWs by Isaiah the prophet, rebuking, and
277쪽
THE EPISTLES OF CXPRIAM 237 indignant stat they had despised the divine precepta and fol-
278쪽
account a people obedient to the Loris precepta, and fearing God, ought to separate themselves from a sin ful P late, and
not to associato themselves With the sacrifices of a sacril gio
priest, especialty sinco they themselves have thct power est ros choosing Worthy priesu, or of rejecting un orthy ones. 4. Which very thing, too, me observe to com f in divino authority, that the priest should be chosen in th presenco of the peopte under the eyes of all, and should hct approuod morthy and sultable by public judment and testimony; as intho book of Numbere tho Lota commanded Moses, suing, Taho Aaron thy brother, and Eleazar his son, and placethem in tho mount, in the presence of ali the assembly, and strip Aaron of his garmenis, and put them Mon Elsagax his son; and let Aaron die there, and be added in his mulo. δGod commanda a priest to be appotnted in the presen- of allilio assembly; that is, He instrucis and shows that the ordination os priosis ouot not to be solemnised excopi missi thoknowledge of the peopte standing near, that in tho presen Oi tho peoplo either the crimes of the wiched may bo discloserior the merita of the good may be declared, and the ordinatio which shali have been examined by the suffrage and judyment os ali, may be just and legitimate. And this is subs quently observed, according to divine instruction, in tho Acts of tho Mosues, When Peter speata to the people of ordaluingan aposue in the place of Judas. Peter, it says, sinodup in the midst of the discipies, and the multitudo mere in one
the aposties only in the ordinations os bishops and priosis, butalso in thoso of deacons, of which matter itfelt also it is writton in their Acts: And they twelvo called together, it says, the wholo congregation of the disciplos, and saidio them ; hich was dono so diligently and caresultri Withtho cassing together of the whole os the people, fureb for ibis
Num. xx. 25, 26. Acta l. 15. From some authorities, Balutius hero interpolates, stenumber ol men vas a ut a hundred and tmen .' But this, sus 'modem editor, macha of emendation. . Aeta vi. 2.
279쪽
will of God, but aecording to human presumption, and thatinoso things which do not como os a legitimate and righteo ordination are disploasing to God, God Himseli manifesta is Hosea the prophet, saying, They have set up for the
selos a lann but not by me. 5. For Which reason you must diligently observo and heepine practice delivered frem divino tradition and apostolio observance, Which is also maintained among us, and almost throughout est the provincis; that for the proper celebration ofordinations est the net bouring bishops of the fame prorinceshould assemble mitti that peoplo for Which aprelate is ordianed; and the bistop should be chosen in the presence of the people, Who havo most fully known tho life of eata one, and havelooked into tho doings of each ono as respecta his habitualconduci. And this also, me see, Was done by you in the ordiu tion of our colleamo Sabinus ; so that, by the suffrage of tho hole brothorhood, and by tho sentence of the bishops Whohad asse led in thola presenco, and who had Written letters to Fou concerning him, the episcopate mas conterred upon him, and hands more imposed on him in tho placo os Basilides. ither can it roscind an ordination rightly perfected, stat Basilides, after tho dotection of his crimes, and tho baring of
his conscienco even is his οὐ confession, Went to Rome and
deceived Stephen our colleagne, placed at a distance, and ignorant of What had been dona, and of tho truth, in canVassinat ho might be replaced uniustly in the episcopale imm hich he had been righteousty deposed. Tho result of thisis, that the sius of Basilides are not so much abolished ase anced, in much as to his former sins he has also addedine crime os deceti and circumvention. For ho is not so muchto bo blamed who has been through hsedlemness su rised by haud, as he is to bo execrated Who has fraudulently taen himis su rise. But it Basilides could deceive men, he cannot deceive God, sinco it is Written, God is not mocked. But
280쪽
notther can deceit advantago Μartialis, in such a Way as thathe who also is involvod in great crimes aliould hold hisbishoprie, since tho apostle also mares, and mys, - Α bishopinust bo blameless, as tho steward os God.' 6. Wherelare, since as ye have written, dearly beloved brethren, and as Felix and Sabinus our colleagues assim, and M anothor Felix of Caesar Augusta,' a maintainer of tho faith and a defender of tho truth, signifies in his letter, Basilidos and Martialis have been contaminated by the abominable certificate of idolaim; and Basilides, moreοver, besides the stain of the certificate, When he was prostrate insichness, blasphemed against God, and consessed that he blasphemed ; and because of the wound to his oWn conscience,
voluntarily laying down his episcopate, turned himself is r pentanee, entreating God, and considering himself suffcientlyhappy ii it might be permitted him to communicate eVen asa layman: Martialis also, besides the long frequenting of the disgracesul and fit thy banquela of the Gentiles in their college, and placing his sons in the fame college, after themanner of soreign nations, among profane sepulchres, and
burying them together With strangera, has also amrmed, byacts whicli are publicly taken besore a ducenarian procurato '
and as there are many other and grave crimes in Which B silides and Martialis ars held to bo implicated; such persons attempt to claim for themselves the episcopale in Vain ; sinceit is evident that mon of that hind may neither rule over theehurch of Christ, nor ought to offer sacrifices in God, espeeialty since Cornelius also, our colleague, a peace te and righteous priest, and moreover honoured by the condescension