On the Lapsed

Contents

1. 1Cyprian rejoices that peace has returned to the church after persecution and calls for thanksgiving to God.
2. 2Cyprian welcomes the confessors who resisted sacrifice, and praises equally those who stood firm by refusing to sacrifice even if they were not arrested.
3. 3Those who withdrew rather than sacrifice by the appointed day are also confessors, in a private rather than public way.
4. 4Cyprian's joy is clouded by grief for the many who fell in the persecution, whose wound he feels as his own as their shepherd.
5. 5The persecution was God's testing and correction of a church whose discipline had been corrupted by long peace, and it was milder than its sins deserved.
6. 6Cyprian lists the sins that provoked the persecution: greed, vanity, fraud, marriage with unbelievers, perjury, quarreling, and bishops who neglected their people for business and usury.
7. 7The persecution had been foretold in Scripture, yet most of the brothers fell at once, voluntarily denying the faith that the prophets, apostles, and Christ had warned them to keep.
8. 8Many rushed to sacrifice voluntarily, without waiting to be arrested or questioned, and so destroyed their own salvation at the idols' altars.
9. 9Some lapsed Christians drew others into sacrificing, even their baptized infants, who will accuse their parents at the judgment.
10. 10Fear of losing home and property is no excuse, for Scripture and Christ command flight in persecution; the one who withdraws keeps the faith, while the one who stays for his property falls.
11. 11Love of property kept many from fleeing and made them fall; Christ's call to sell all and follow him would have kept them free.
12. 12Those possessed by their wealth cannot follow Christ; Scripture warns against the love of money and promises great reward to those who lose everything for Christ's sake.
13. 13Those who gave way only after long torture have a pitiable excuse and can quickly be pardoned, like Castus and Aemilius, who later died as martyrs.
14. 14Those who sacrificed willingly have no wounds to show; flattery would harm them, and like a good physician the bishop must treat them with stern remedies for their healing.
15. 15Cyprian attacks those who readmit the lapsed to communion without penance, a false peace that lets them receive the Lord's body with hands still defiled by idol sacrifice.
16. 16Easy readmission of the lapsed before penance and reconciliation is not peace but a new persecution by the devil, which robs them of true repentance; only the Lord can show mercy.
17. 17Only Christ can forgive sins against God; the martyrs' merits will count with the Judge, but only at the last judgment, not as a present substitute for penance.
18. 18Rash forgiveness harms the lapsed; even the martyrs beneath the altar must wait for God's judgment, so their requests for the lapsed can be honored only if they agree with the Lord's law.
19. 19Even Moses, Jeremiah, Noah, Daniel, and Job could not obtain forgiveness for others against God's will; so no human petition can override God's judgment.
20. 20Christ's promise to deny those who deny him must stand, or his promise to confess the faithful falls too; the martyrs, faithful to the gospel, cannot ask bishops to act against it.
21. 21The persecution came by God's will because of the people's sins, as Scripture shows; the lapsed should examine their consciences.
22. 22Some of the lapsed, unrepentant and proud, rage against the clergy for refusing them the Eucharist, though these are the very ones praying for their forgiveness.
23. 23If the lapsed do not fear future judgment, let them fear the present punishments that have already struck some who denied Christ.
24. 24Cyprian tells of a man struck dumb after denying Christ and a woman who, possessed after sacrificing, bit her own tongue and died.
25. 25Cyprian recounts how a little girl, fed idol-offered bread and wine by a nurse without her parents' knowledge, refused and vomited the eucharistic cup.
26. 26Other lapsed Christians who received the Eucharist secretly were struck down: a woman choked, another was stopped by fire from her box holding the sacrament, and a man found it turned to ashes.
27. 27Those who obtained certificates of sacrifice without actually sacrificing (libellatici) have also denied Christ and must do penance, for God sees the heart.
28. 28Those who only considered sacrificing do well to confess it to the clergy; those with certificates sinned less than those who sacrificed, but are not innocent and must still do penance.
29. 29Cyprian urges the lapsed to confess their sin while still alive and to return to God with fasting, weeping, and mourning.
30. 30Cyprian rebukes lapsed men and women who live in luxury, bathing, feasting, and adorning themselves, instead of mourning their spiritual death with true penance.
31. 31Even the innocent three youths in the furnace and Daniel confessed their sins to God with fasting and humility.
32. 32Cyprian begs the lapsed to join the clergy's tears and prayers with full penance.
33. 33Some lapsed, blinded by God's judgment, refuse penance and, joining schismatics, take for themselves a false peace and communion.
34. 34Believers should avoid those who promise the lapsed salvation without penance, for this false teaching is deadlier than persecution.
35. 35The lapsed must do long and earnest penance with prayer, fasting, mourning, and generous almsgiving, spending on the poor the property that caused their fall.
36. 36God can forgive the truly penitent and even restore them to fight again and win the martyr's crown.