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CYPRIAN, SAINT [Caecilius Cyprianus, ...

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Originally appearing in Volume V07, Page 695 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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CYPRIAN, See also:SAINT [See also:Caecilius Cyprianus, called THASCIUS] (c. 200–258) , See also:bishop of See also:Carthage, one of the most illustrious in the See also:early See also:history of the See also:church, and one of the most notable of its early martyrs, was See also:born about the See also:year 200, probably at Carthage. He was of patrician See also:family, wealthy, highly educated, and for some See also:time occupied as a teacher of See also:rhetoric at Carthage. Of an enthusiastic temperament, accomplished in classical literature, he seems while a See also:pagan to have courted discussion with the converts to See also:Christianity. Confident in his own See also:powers, he entered ardently into what was no doubt the See also:great question of the time at• Carthage as elsewhere. He sought to vanquish, but was himself vanquished by, the new religious force which was making such rapid inroads on the decaying paganism of the See also:Roman See also:empire. Caecilianus (or Caecilius), a See also:presbyter of Carthage, is supposed to have been the See also:instrument of his See also:con-version, which seems to have taken See also:place about 246. Cyprian carried all his natural See also:enthusiasm and brilliant powers into his new profession. He devoted his See also:wealth to the See also:relief of the poor and other pious uses; and so, according to his See also:deacon Pontius, who wrote a diffuse and vague See also:account of his " See also:life and See also:passion," " realized two benefits: the contempt of the See also:world's ambition, and the observance of that See also:mercy which See also:God has preferred to See also:sacrifice." The result of his charity and activity as a See also:Christian convert was his unanimous See also:call by the Christian See also:people to the See also:head of the church in Carthage, at the end of 248 or beginning of 249. The time was one of fierce persecution directed against the Christians, and the bishop of Carthage became a prominent See also:object of attack. During the persecution of See also:Decius (250–251) Cyprian was exposed to imminent danger, and was compelled for a time to seek safety in See also:retreat. Under See also:Gallus, the successor of Decius, the persecution was relaxed, and Cyprian returned to Carthage.

Here he held several See also:

councils for the discussion of the affairs of the church, especially for See also:grave questions as to the rebaptism of heretics, and the re-See also:admission into the church of the lapsi, or those who had fallen away through fear during the See also:heat of the persecution. 'Cyprian, although inspired by lofty notions of the prerogatives of the church, and inclined to severity of See also:opinion towards heretics, and especially heretical dissentients from the belief in the divine authorship of the episcopal See also:order and the unity of Christendom, was leniently disposed towards those who had temporarily fallen from the faith. He set himself in opposition to, Novatian, a presbyter of See also:Rome, who advocated their permanent exclusion from the church; and it was his See also:influence which guided the tolerant See also:measures of the Carthaginian synods on the subject. While in this question he went See also:hand in hand with See also:Cornelius, bishop of Rome, his strict attitude in the See also:matter of See also:baptism by heretics brought him into serious conflict with the Roman bishop See also:Stephen. It would almost have come to a rupture, since both parties held firmly to their , standpoint, had not a new persecution arisen under the See also:emperor See also:Valerian, which threw all See also:internal quarrels into the background in See also:face of the See also:common danger. Stephen became a See also:martyr in See also:August 257. Cyprian was at first banished to Curubis in See also:Africa Proconsularis. But soon he was recalled, taken into custody, and finally condemned to See also:death. He was beheaded on the 14th of See also:September 258, the first See also:African bishop to obtain the martyr's See also:crown. All Cyprian's See also:literary See also:works were written in connexion with his episcopal See also:office; almost all his See also:treatises and many of his letters have the See also:character of See also:pastoral epistles, and their See also:form occasionally betrays the fact that they were intended as addresses. These writings See also:bear the' See also:mark of a clear mind and a moderate and See also:gentle spirit. Cyprian had none of that character which makes the See also:reading of See also:Tertullian, whom he himself called his magister, so interesting and piquant, but he possessed other qualities which Tertullian lacked, especially the See also:art of presenting his thoughts in See also:simple, smooth and clear See also:language, yet in a See also:style which is not wanting in warmth and persuasive See also:power.

Like Tertullian, and often in See also:

imitation of him, Cyprian took certain apologetic, dogmatic and pastoral themes as subjects of his treatises. By far the best known of these is the See also:treatise De catholicae ecclesiae unitate, called forth in A.D. 251 by the See also:schism at Carthage, but particularly by the Novatian schism at Rome. In this is See also:pro-claimed the See also:doctrine of the one church founded upon the apostle See also:Peter, whose " tangible See also:bond is her one See also:united episcopate, an apostleship universal yet only one—the authority of every bishop perfect in itself and See also:independent, yet not forming with all the others a See also:mere agglomeration of powers, but being a See also:tenure upon a totality like that of a shareholder in some See also:joint See also:property." See also:Attention must also be called to the treatise. Ad Donatum (De gratia dei), in which the new life after regeneration with its moral effects is set forth in a pure and clear See also:light, as contrasted with the See also:night of heathendom and its moral degradation, which were known to the author from See also:personal experience. The numerous Letters of Cyprian are not only an important source for the history of church life and of ecclesiastical See also:law, on account of their See also:rich and manifold contents, but in large See also:part they are important monuments of the literary activity of their author, since, not infrequently, they are in the form of treatises upon the topic in question. Of the eighty-two letters in the See also:present collection, sixty-six were written by Cyprian. In the great See also:majority of cases the See also:chronology of their See also:composition, as far as the year is concerned, presents no difficulties; more precise assignments are mainly conjectural. In the See also:editions of the works of Cyprian a number of treatises are printed which, certainly or probably, were not written by him, and have therefore usually been described as pseudo-Cyprian'c. Several of them, e.g. the treatise on See also:dice (De aleatoribus), have attracted the attention of scholars, who are never weary of the See also:attempt to determine the identity of the author, unfortunately hitherto without much success. The best, though by no means faultless, edition of Cyprian's works is that of W. von Hartel in the Corpus scriptorum ecclesiasticorum (3 vols., See also:Vienna, 1868-1871). There is an See also:English See also:translation in the Library of the Ante-Nicene Fathers.

The most See also:

complete monograph is that by See also:Archbishop E. W. See also:Benson, Cyprian, his Life, his Times, his See also:Work (See also:London, 1897). See also J. A. Faulkner, Cyprian the Churchman (See also:Cincinnati and New See also:York, 1906).

End of Article: CYPRIAN, SAINT [Caecilius Cyprianus, called THASCIUS] (c. 200–258)

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