Presbyters Uniwersytet Warszawski
ID
ER 1085
Cyprian, the bishop of Carthage (North Africa), reminds his presbyters and deacons that the reconciliation of penitents is obtained through the imposition of hands by the bishop and clergy, and not by the arbitrary decision of some presbyters. He threatens the disobedient with the prohibition of celebrating Eucharist. Cyprian, Letter 16, AD 250.
Epistula 16.
 
Cyprianus presbyteris et diaconis fratribus s[alutem]
 
I,2. Quod enim non periculum metuere debemus de offensa Domini, quando aliqui de presbyteris nec euangelii nec loci sui memores, sed neque futurum Domini iudicium neque nunc sibi praepositum episcopum cogitantes, quod numquam omnino sub antecessoribus factum est, cum contumelia et contemptu praepositi totum sibi uindicent?
 
II,3. [...] Nam cum in minoribus peccatis agant peccatores paenitentiam iusto tempore et secundum disciplinae ordinem ad exomologesin ueniant et per manus inpositionem episcopi et cleri ius communicationis accipiant, nunc crudo tempore persecutione adhuc perseuerante, nondum restituta ecclesiae ipsius pace, ad communicationem admittuntur, et offertur nomine eorum, et nondum paenitentia acta, nondum exomologesi facta, nondum manu eis ab episcopo et clero inposita, eucharistia datur, cum scriptum sit: “qui ederit panem aut biberit calicem Domini indigne reus erit corporis et sanguinis Domini”. [...]
 
III,2. Exponunt deinde inuidiae beatos martyras, et gloriosos seruos dei cum dei sacerdote committunt, ut, cum illi memores loci nostri ad me litteras direxerint et petierint tunc desideria sua examinari et pacem dari, quando ipsa ante mater nostra pacem de misericordia domini prior sumpserit et nos diuina protectio reduces ad ecclesiam suam fecerit, hi sublato honore quem nobis beati martyres cum confessoribus seruant, contempta domini lege et obseruatione quam idem martyres et confessores tenendam mandant, ante extinctum persecutionis metum, ante reditum nostrum, ante ipsum paene martyrum excessum, communicent cum lapsis et offerant et eucharistiam tradant, quando etiam si martyres per calorem gloriae minus scripturam contemplantes contra legem domini plus aliquid cuperent, a presbyteris et diaconis suggerentibus admoneri deberent, sicut semper in praeteritum factum est. [...]
 
IV,2. Interim temerarii et incauti et tumidi quidam inter uos, qui hominem non cogitant, uel Deum timeant, scientes quoniam si ultra in isdem perseuerauerint, utar ea admonitione qua me uti Dominus iubet, ut interim prohibeantur offerre, acturi et apud nos et apud confessores ipsos et apud plebem uniuersam causam suam, cum Domino permittente in sinum matris ecclesiae recolligi coeperimus [...]
 
(ed. Diercks 1994: 91-95)
Letter 16
 
Cyprian to the presbyters and deacons, his brethren, greeting.
 
I,2. For what danger ought we not to fear from the Lord's displeasure, when some of the presbyters, remembering neither the Gospel  nor their own place, and, moreover, considering neither the Lord's future judgment nor the bishop now placed over them, claim to themselves entire authority, — a thing which was never in any wise done under our predecessors—with discredit and contempt of the bishop?
 
II,3. [...] For although in smaller sins sinners may do penance for a set time, and according to the rules of discipline come to public confession, and by imposition of the hand of the bishop and clergy receive the right of communion: now with their time still unfulfilled, while persecution is still raging, while the peace of the Church itself is not yet restored, they are admitted to communion, and their name is presented; and while the penitence is not yet performed, confession is not yet made, the hands of the bishop and clergy are not yet laid upon them, the eucharist is given to them; although it is written, "Whosoever shall eat the bread and drink the cup of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord" [1 Cor 11: 27].
 
III,2. [...] Then, moreover, they lay the blessed martyrs open to ill-will, and involve the glorious servants of God with the priest of God; so that although they, mindful of my place, have directed letters to me, and have asked that their wishes should then be examined, and peace granted them—when our Mother, the Church herself, should first have received peace for the Lord's mercy, and the divine protection have brought me back to His Church,— yet these, disregarding the honour which the blessed martyrs with the confessors maintain for me, despising the Lord's law and that observance, which the same martyrs and confessors bid to be maintained, before the fear of persecution is quenched, before my return, almost even before the departure of the martyrs, communicate with the lapsed, and offer and give them the eucharist: when even if the martyrs, in the heat of their glory, were to consider less carefully the Scriptures, and to desire anything more, they should be admonished by the presbyters' and deacons' suggestions, as was always done in time past.
 
IV,2. In the meanwhile, let those certain ones among you who are rash and incautious and boastful, and who do not regard man, at least fear God, knowing that, if they shall persevere still in the same course, I shall use that power of admonition which the Lord bids me use; so that they may meanwhile be withheld from offering, and have to plead their cause both before me and before the confessors themselves and before the whole people, when, with God's permission, we begin to be gathered together once more into the bosom of the Church, our Mother.
 
 
 

Discussion:

This letter is addressed to the presbyters and deacons of Carthage. At the same time Cyprian sent letters dealing with the same issue, which resulted from the requests of those who lapsed during the Decian persecutions,  to the martyrs and confessors (Letter 15 [1084]), and to the lay of Carthage (Letter 17 [1086]).
A. Brent proposes that the presbyters attacked by Cyprian here are the confessors who became presbyters by the fact of the confession, and not by the act of ordination by the bishop. The only analogy would be in Traditio Apostolica, chapter 9 (Brent 2001).

Place of event:

Region
  • Latin North Africa
City
  • Carthage

About the source:

Author: Cyprian
Title: Letters, Epistulae, Epistolae
Origin: Carthage (Latin North Africa)
Denomination: Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian
Cyprian was born probably about 200 AD. He converted to Christianity in about 245 and in 248 was elected Bishop of Carthage. Soon after, the Decian persecution began (in 249/250) and Cyprian went into hiding. In 251 he returned to the city. Under Valerian, he was exiled in 257 and executed in 258. The epistolary of Cyprian consists of 81 letters (16 of them by his correspondents, and 6 synodal or collective), the majority of them are from the period of 250-251, when they were the means of Cyprian`s communication with his clergy. They offer us a wide view on the organization of the Church in Carthage in the middle of the third century, her relation with the Church of Rome, on the development of the persecutions, and on the conflicts that they caused inside the Church.
Different numerations of Cyprian's letters exist, I follow the edition of Diercks in Corpus Christianorum.
Edition:
G.F. Diercks ed., Sancti Cypriani Episcopi Epistularium. Epistulae 1-57, Corpus Christianorum. Series Latina 3B, Turnhout 1994.
Bibliography:
A. Brent, "Cyprian and the question of ordinatio per confessionem”, in: Studia Patristca 36 , Leuven 2001, 332-337.
Saint Cyprien, Lettres 1-20, Introduction, texte, traduction et commentaire par S. Deléani, Paris 2007.

Categories:

Described by a title - Presbyter/πρεσβύτερος
    Usurping episcopal power
      Ritual activity - Eucharist
        Ritual activity - Reconciliation/Administering penance
          Conflict
            Relation with - Bishop/Monastic superior
              Administration of justice - Suspension
                Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: S. Adamiak, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER1085, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=1085