On the Church: Select Letters (Popular Patristics Series)
Overview
St. Cyprian, third-century bishop of Carthage, developed a theory of church unity almost universally accepted up to the European Reformation: to be a member of the body of Christ you needed to be in communion with a priest who was in communion with a bishop who in turn was in communion with all other bishops in the world. But, how could you discern who was a legitimate bishop? And, on what kind of issue would it be right to break off communion? Additionally, could self-authenticating ministries, like those of martyrs and confessors who had suffered for the faith, supersede this order? Finally, did the Church need, and in what form, a universal bishop who could guarantee the integrity of the network of bishops?
St. Cyprian wrestled with these questions in his letters and treatises. Each volume contains an introduction to the two principal controversies that spurred St. Cyprian to write his defense on church unity: first, the readmission to the Eucharist of those Christians who had lapsed or fallen in the persecution under Emperor Decius; and second, the sacramental validity of baptism in heretical and schismatic communities.
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- Offers a first hand account of the controversies experienced by the early church
- Delves into the theory of church unity set forth by St. Cyprian
- Examines ideas instigated by the early church and how they still apply
- The Crisis from the Decian Perspective
- The Unity of the Church and the Nature of Schism
- Controversies on the Eucharist and Baptism
- The End: Cyprian’s Account of His Final Days
Top Highlights
“Thus water alone cannot be offered in consecrating the chalice of the Lord, but neither can it be wine alone. For if someone offers wine only, it begins to become the blood of Christ without us. But if on the other hand, it should be only water, it begins to become the gathered people without Christ. When however both elements are mixed and fused together by a unifying bond, joining them to each other, then a spiritual and heavenly pledge (sacramentum) is realized.” (Page 182)
“For since Christ was bearing us all when he was bearing our sins, we see in the reference to water to be understood the idea of a people. On the other hand, quite differently, wine is indicative of the blood of Christ. So when in the chalice wine is mixed with water, the people are united with Christ and the popular assembly of believers are linked and joined together in him in whom they have believed.” (Pages 181–182)
“Exulting oneself, and an inflated ego, and arrogance, and proud boastfulness, are born not from the authority of Christ who teaches humility, but from the spirit of Antichrist, against whom the Lord expresses his disapproval through the prophet in these words: ‘You have said in your heart: ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will set my seat above the stars of God, I will take my seat on a high mountain in the North above the high mountains. I will ascend above the clouds, I will be like the most High’ ’ (Is 14:13–14). But he adds these words: ‘Regardless, you will descend to the place of the departed into the depths of the earth, and those who will see you will be amazed because of you’ (Is 14:15–16).” (Page 147)
- Title: On the Church: Select Letters
- Author: St. Cyprian of Carthage
- Translator: Allen Brent
- Publisher: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press
- Publication Date: 2006
- Pages: 250
- Christian Group: Orthodox
- Resource Type: Ancient Texts
- Topic: Christianity