Life of Cyprian

Contents

Reading pages: 1–17 · 18

1. 1The author explains why he writes a short life of Cyprian, bishop and martyr, so that his example may be handed down, while confessing that the task is beyond his eloquence.
2. 2From his conversion Cyprian embraced continence and sold his property for the poor, becoming perfect almost before he had been taught.
3. 3Cyprian, though a recent convert, was quickly made a presbyter and urged others to imitate the deeds for which the saints, especially Job, had pleased God.
4. 4Cyprian revered the presbyter Caecilianus, who had converted him, and on his deathbed Caecilianus entrusted his wife and children to Cyprian.
5. 5Though a neophyte, Cyprian was chosen bishop by God's judgment and the people's acclaim, tried to decline, and later forgave those who had opposed his election.
6. 6As bishop Cyprian was grave and joyful, moderate in dress, and as generous to the poor as he had been as a catechumen.
7. 7Cyprian was proscribed in the Decian persecution, but his withdrawal into hiding was obedience to God, who preserved him to write and teach for the lapsed, the virgins, and the whole church.
8. 8The author argues that God preserved Cyprian through his withdrawal to heal the lapsed and to steer the church between the schisms.
9. 9When plague struck Carthage and pagans abandoned the sick, Cyprian taught his people to show mercy to all, even to enemies and persecutors, after the example of God.
10. 10Under Cyprian's direction the Christians of Carthage cared for all the plague victims, Christian and pagan alike, surpassing even Tobit, who buried only his own people.
11. 11Cyprian was exiled after his first examination by the proconsul, but for a Christian, to whom the whole world is one home, exile is glory rather than punishment.
12. 12In exile at Curubis Cyprian had a vision in which a young man showed him, by gestures, that he would be sentenced to death and granted a delay of one day.
13. 13The author interprets the vision: the day's delay signified one year, and Cyprian was martyred exactly a year later, after using the time to provide for the poor.
14. 14After the martyrdom of Bishop Xystus of Rome, Cyprian refused his friends' offers of refuge and kept exhorting the faithful, wishing to die while preaching.
15. 15Cyprian was arrested at his gardens, his hearing was postponed a day, and he spent the night in light custody while the people of Carthage kept vigil outside.
16. 16On the appointed day Cyprian was led through crowds to the praetorium, declined a soldier's offer of dry clothes, and confirmed his identity before the proconsul.
17. 17The proconsul's sentence called Cyprian a standard-bearer of the sect and an enemy of the gods whose blood would establish discipline, words the author reads as unwitting prophecy.
18. 18Cyprian was beheaded in a wooded valley before a great crowd, the first bishop of Carthage to be martyred, and the author closes torn between joy at his glory and grief at being left behind.