The lapsed in the early church

Christians who denied the faith under persecution, and whether and how they were readmitted. Part of Church discipline and penance.

Didascalia 5.6Anonymous · first half of the third century
Antidote for the Scorpion's Sting 9Tertullian · ca. 211–213 · Christ too commands martyrdom: he blesses the persecuted, warns that all his disciples will be hated and betrayed, tells them to fear God rather than men, and promises to confess those who confess him and deny those who deny that they are Christians.
On Modesty 9Tertullian · ca. 210–220 · Parables must not be forced; the prodigal son is the heathen converted in baptism, not a Christian restored after grave sin, for that reading would make every apostasy pardonable.
On Modesty 22Tertullian · ca. 210–220 · Tertullian denies that confessors or martyrs can forgive adultery for others, since martyrdom washes only one's own sins, and protests that adulterers are readmitted more easily than those who denied Christ under torture.
PG 12:1633 (Ps 124–125 LXX)Origen · ca. 220-254 · Notes on Psalm 125:3 (LXX 124) and Psalm 126:1–2 (LXX 125): the rod of sinners and those who deny God in persecution, captivity as the fall of the rational nature, and the mouth filled with joy.
Instructions 2.9Commodian · 3rd century (disputed) · Using the image of war, Commodian says that those who surrender to the enemy in persecution have lost their King, and should rather have hidden or died.
Instructions 2.10Commodian · 3rd century (disputed) · Those who lapsed as children in persecution are not to be blamed, but once grown should return to the church as if newly born.
Instructions 2.11Commodian · 3rd century (disputed) · Deserters from Christ's army should seek his mercy, confess, and after restoration sin no more.
Commentary on Matthew, Latin Series 113Origen · ca. 244–249 (Latin translation, 4th–5th century) · The spitting and blows fulfil Isaiah 50 and are a further humiliation for which God exalted Christ; Peter, who denied in the night before the Spirit was given, could be forgiven, but believers who deny after receiving the Spirit have no excuse; the maidservants figure the synagogue, the Gentiles, and heresies, and Peter wept only once outside the courtyard.
Commentary on Matthew 15.37Origen · ca. 246–248 · On the simpler reading the vineyard is the church; those who fall away after being called cannot plead “no one hired us,” though they may still repent and return; Origen ends by asking his readers’ pardon.
Letter 8.2Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · The Roman clergy report that they are exhorting their people to stand firm, and that they urge those who fell into idolatry to do penance rather than abandoning them.
Letter 8.3Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · The lapsed who fall sick and repent should receive communion; widows, prisoners, the homeless, and sick catechumens must be cared for, and the dead buried.
Letter 11.8Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · Cyprian asks for united, tearful prayer for peace, the restoration of the church, the repentance of the lapsed, and the glory of those who stand firm.
Letter 15.1Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · Cyprian warns the martyrs that certain presbyters are admitting the lapsed to the Eucharist on the martyrs' recommendation without penance, confession, or the laying on of hands.
Letter 15.2Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · The lapsed are understandably eager, but pastors must not harm them by granting premature peace; the church must first have peace before their cases are decided.
Letter 15.4Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · Cyprian asks the martyrs to name each person in their certificates of peace, instead of writing vague notes covering someone “with his household”.
Letter 16.2Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · Denying Christ is the gravest sin; presbyters who give the lapsed communion before penance, confession, and the laying on of hands deceive them and profane the Eucharist.
Letter 17.1Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · Cyprian tells the laity that he shares their grief for the lapsed, but their cases will be examined only when peace returns, in the presence of the people.
Letter 19.2Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · The dying with martyrs' certificates may be reconciled; the rest must wait for a general council after peace returns, or, if impatient, may confess Christ now and win the martyr's crown.
Letter 20.2Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · Cyprian lists his thirteen letters: counsel to the clergy, encouragement to confessors, rebukes, restraint of the martyrs' flood of certificates, and the curbing of presbyters who readmitted the lapsed.
Letter 20.3Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · Cyprian explains that he allowed the dying who held martyrs' certificates to be reconciled, in agreement with the Roman clergy's letter, and deferred all other cases to a council.
Letter 21.2Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · Celerinus mourns his sister, who sacrificed under persecution, and asks Lucian and the martyrs to obtain pardon for the lapsed sisters Numeria and Candida.
Letter 21.3Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · Celerinus asks that whichever martyr is crowned first should forgive Numeria and Candida, noting that one of them only bribed her way out and did not actually sacrifice.
Letter 22.2Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · Lucian explains that the martyr Paulus charged him to give peace in his name, and that the martyrs, many starved to death in prison, have granted peace to all; the sisters should receive it after confession before the bishop.
Letter 24.1Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · Bishop Caldonius asks Cyprian whether those who once sacrificed but later confessed Christ and went into exile, losing their property, may be given peace.
Letter 25.1Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · Cyprian agrees that the lapsed who later confessed and went into exile have washed away their sin and should be given peace, and sends his other letters on the lapsed to be circulated.
Letter 26.1Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · Cyprian will not decide alone on the confessors' general grant of peace; his earlier instructions stand until a council meets, and the lapsed must be patient.
Letter 27.1Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · Cyprian tells the Roman clergy that the confessor Lucian, zealous but untaught, has been issuing certificates of peace in bulk in the names of the martyr Paulus and the illiterate Aurelius.
Letter 27.2Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · Lucian then wrote in the name of all the confessors granting peace to all the lapsed, which makes Cyprian's case-by-case examination look like a refusal.
Letter 30.3Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · Those who obtained certificates or had themselves registered as having sacrificed have denied Christ just as those who sacrificed; hasty readmission without penance is not healing but killing.
Letter 30.5Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · The Roman clergy thank Cyprian for encouraging their imprisoned confessors, and agree that, with Rome still lacking a bishop, the lapsed should be dealt with only after peace, by a broad council.
Letter 30.6Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · All should pray for peace; the lapsed should knock humbly at the church's door, not break it down, and plead with tears rather than agitation.
Letter 30.7Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · God is both merciful and just; until Rome has a bishop, the lapsed must wait, except the truly penitent who are dying, who may be helped with caution.
Letter 31.6Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · The confessors praise Cyprian for caring for his flock from hiding and for rebuking premature readmissions: penance, humility, and patience, not numbers, heal the sin of the lapsed.
Letter 31.8Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · If those who denied Christ were readmitted at once, the sufferings of the confessors would be meaningless; the lapsed could have kept communion by confessing.
Letter 33.2Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · Other lapsed have written humbly, waiting for Cyprian's return; the anonymous writers must sign their names before he will answer them.
Letter 36.1Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · The Roman clergy share Cyprian's grief at the lapsed who claim peace as already theirs; no privilege can grant communion if it contradicts the gospel.
Letter 36.2Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · Setting the martyrs against the gospel would undo both; in fact the martyrs, by referring the lapsed to the bishop rather than admitting them themselves, kept both modesty and truth.
Letter 36.3Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · The Roman clergy urge Cyprian to keep healing the lapsed with patience; their demands were probably stirred up by others, and they should instead show penance and humility.
Letter 43.6Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · The lapsed must not be pushed further from salvation by false teachers; they should shun these wolves, whose promises of peace are the devil's lies, and pray with their bishop.
Letter 55.3Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · Cyprian will explain why his early strictness toward the lapsed and his later readiness to reconcile them are consistent and carefully weighed.
Letter 55.13Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · Those reconciled when near death are not to be denied peace if they recover; and those who took certificates are not to be ranked with those who sacrificed, whose cases also differ widely.
Letter 55.14Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · One who bought a certificate to avoid sacrificing, now taught that this too was sin, weeps and repents, and should not be treated like one who sacrificed.
Letter 55.22Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · Scripture everywhere calls sinners to penance and promises pardon: Revelation, Tobit, the Gospel, Wisdom, Joel, and the Psalms.
Letter 56.2Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · Cyprian thinks these confessors, who fell only after long torture and have done three years of penance, should be reconciled even before the dying are.
Letter 57.1Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · The African council tells Cornelius that, with a new persecution approaching, it has decided to reconcile at once all lapsed who have persevered in penance, so that they can be armed for the struggle.
Letter 57.3Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · Peace is given not to apostates or schismatics but to penitents ready to fight; if some deceive, God judges the heart, and it is better that none who will be martyrs be passed over.
Letter 57.4Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · Martyrdom is a baptism in blood, but only one armed by the church's peace and the Eucharist is fit for it; and pastors who fail their sheep will answer to God, as Ezekiel warns.
Letter 58.8Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · In a greater contest than the games, God, his angels, and Christ watch; both the steadfast and the lapsed must put on the whole armor of God.
Letter 59.13Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · The schismatic presbyters, by offering the lapsed a false peace without penance, block their true healing, turn them against the clergy, and despise God's anger, for which priests must answer.
Letter 59.15Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · Fortunatus's following is dwindling as many return; Cyprian weighs each case carefully and must struggle to persuade his people to accept even the unworthy, some of whom have proved false.
Letter 59.18Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · It would be absurd for those outside the church, the lapsed and guilty, to judge its bishop and force their way in by threats; bishops will not yield, but pray for their enemies' conversion.
Letter 60.2Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · Rome's united confession fulfilled Paul's praise of the Romans' faith; the enemy, hoping to pick off individuals, met a whole army ready to die, and many lapsed redeemed themselves by confessing.
Letter 64.1Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · The council rebukes Bishop Therapius for reconciling the lapsed presbyter Victor too early, but lets the peace once given stand.
Letter 65.1Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · Cyprian is grieved that Fortunatianus, bishop of Assuras, who sacrificed in the persecution, now claims his episcopate again instead of doing penance.
Letter 65.2Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · A bishop who sacrificed to idols cannot return to offer God's sacrifice; the law barred even blemished priests from the altar, and God does not hear sinners.
Letter 65.5Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · The lapsed should stay in the one catholic church and seek its mercy by penance, not follow fallen leaders who will lead them to judgment.
Letter 67.6Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · Basilides and Martialis, who took certificates, blasphemed, joined pagan guild banquets and burials, and publicly denied Christ, may do penance but, as Cornelius and all bishops decreed, can never again hold priestly office.
Letter 68.4Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · Shepherds who neglect wounded sheep stand under Ezekiel's threat; though bishops are many, they feed one flock, and Marcianus, who spurns the penitent, must be judged, not judge.
12Anonymous · 250 (the text may be later) · Pionius laments over the Christians who have lapsed.
18Anonymous · 250 (the text may be later) · The garlands are torn off; they return to prison; Euctemon's apostasy is described.
Letter 3Anonymous · uncertain · A spurious synodal letter rules that clergy who handed over the Scriptures in persecution (traditores) may not serve at the altar, while those who only pretended to do so are pardoned and those who surrendered them unasked are reduced to lay communion.
In Praise of Martyrdom 23Anonymous · 3rd cent. (disputed) · Martyrdom is God's remedy: it crowns the faithful and also restores those who had fallen, washing away their sin in their own blood.
On the Lapsed 4Cyprian of Carthage · 251 · Cyprian's joy is clouded by grief for the many who fell in the persecution, whose wound he feels as his own as their shepherd.
On the Lapsed 7Cyprian of Carthage · 251 · The 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.
On the Lapsed 8Cyprian of Carthage · 251 · Many rushed to sacrifice voluntarily, without waiting to be arrested or questioned, and so destroyed their own salvation at the idols' altars.
On the Lapsed 9Cyprian of Carthage · 251 · Some lapsed Christians drew others into sacrificing, even their baptized infants, who will accuse their parents at the judgment.
On the Lapsed 13Cyprian of Carthage · 251 · Those 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.
On the Lapsed 14Cyprian of Carthage · 251 · Those 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.
On the Lapsed 15Cyprian of Carthage · 251 · Cyprian 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.
On the Lapsed 16Cyprian of Carthage · 251 · Easy 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.
On the Lapsed 17Cyprian of Carthage · 251 · Only 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.
On the Lapsed 22Cyprian of Carthage · 251 · Some 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.
On the Lapsed 26Cyprian of Carthage · 251 · Other 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.
On the Lapsed 33Cyprian of Carthage · 251 · Some lapsed, blinded by God's judgment, refuse penance and, joining schismatics, take for themselves a false peace and communion.
On the Unity of the Catholic Church 19Cyprian of Carthage · 251 · Schism is worse than lapsing under persecution, since the lapsed repent and harm only themselves, while schismatics mislead many.
Against Novatian 1Anonymous · after 251 (disputed) · The anonymous bishop, troubled over the lapsed who have long been doing penance, attacks Novatian, who refuses them any hope of reconciliation and has separated from the church.
Against Novatian 5Anonymous · after 251 (disputed) · The ark figures the church and the flood the recent persecution; the dove that found no rest figures the lapsed who fell.
Against Novatian 6Anonymous · after 251 (disputed) · The dove's second, successful flight with the olive leaf figures the lapsed of the Decian persecution who, received back into the church, stood firm as martyrs in the next persecution.
Against Novatian 7Anonymous · after 251 (disputed) · The Novatianists refuse penance to the lapsed on the basis of Christ's saying about denial, usurping the judgment that belongs to Christ alone.
Against Novatian 8Anonymous · after 251 (disputed) · Christ's warning that he will deny those who deny him refers to the last judgment; during his life he did not reject Peter after his denial but comforted him.
Against Novatian 12Anonymous · after 251 (disputed) · God showed mercy to Nineveh and even to Pharaoh, so Novatian has no right to judge the lapsed hopeless, as Paul and Micah warn.
Against Novatian 14Anonymous · after 251 (disputed) · Novatian once taught that grave sins could be blotted out by good deeds, yet now refuses healing to the lapsed, like Saul and Judas and the false shepherds rebuked by Zechariah and Ezekiel.
Life of Cyprian 8Anonymous · ca. 258–265 · The author argues that God preserved Cyprian through his withdrawal to heal the lapsed and to steer the church between the schisms.
Passion of Montanus and Lucius 14Anonymous · 259 · Montanus's last exhortations against idolatry, heresy, and hasty reconciliation of the lapsed.
Canon 46Anonymous · ca. 306 (disputed, ca. 295–314) · A lapsed believer who returns and did not commit idolatry receives communion after ten years.
Church History 5.1.11Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Some were ready for martyrdom, but about ten fell away, grieving the church and discouraging others.
Church History 5.1.12Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · The church feared not the tortures but that more would fall away.
Church History 5.1.33Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Those who had denied Christ gained nothing: they were held as murderers and suffered more than the confessors.
Church History 5.1.45Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Meanwhile the confessors restored those who had denied, and the church, the virgin mother, rejoiced to receive them back alive.
Church History 5.1.46Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Most of those who had denied were restored and came back to confess before the governor.
Church History 5.1.48Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Most former deniers now confessed and were martyred; only those without any real faith stayed outside.
Church History 5.2.6Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Out of love the confessors fought to rescue the lapsed from the devil, weeping for them before the Father.
Church History 5.2.8Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Eusebius cites this example of mercy to the lapsed as a rebuke to the harshness of later rigorists.
Church History 6.41.11Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Many prominent Christians came forward to sacrifice, some trembling as if they were the victims.
Church History 6.41.12Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Others eagerly sacrificed, denying they had ever been Christians; the rest fled or were arrested.
Church History 6.41.13Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Some arrested Christians denied after imprisonment or partial torture.
Church History 6.42.5Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · The martyrs, now judging with Christ, had received back repentant lapsed Christians into communion.
Church History 6.42.6Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Dionysius asks whether the church should uphold the martyrs' mercy to the lapsed or overturn it.
Church History 6.43.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Novatian, a Roman presbyter, denied the lapsed any hope and founded the sect of the “Pure.”
Church History 6.43.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · A Roman synod of sixty bishops excommunicated Novatian and ruled that the lapsed be restored through penance.
Church History 6.44.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Dionysius: Serapion, an old believer who had sacrificed, often asked for pardon in vain and then fell gravely ill.
Church History 6.44.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · On the fourth day Serapion asked for a presbyter to release him.
Church History 6.44.4Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · The sick presbyter sent a portion of the eucharist, to be moistened and given to Serapion, following Dionysius's instruction to absolve the dying.
Church History 6.46.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Dionysius wrote to the Egyptians on repentance, distinguishing degrees of lapse.
Church History 8.3.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Some were dragged to sacrifice and released as if they had sacrificed; others were falsely reported to have done so; others were thrown out half dead.
Church History 8.3.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Some were counted as having sacrificed against their will, while others loudly refused and confessed themselves Christians.
Church History 9.1.9Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Faithful confessors regained their freedom, while those who had lapsed sought healing, begging the steadfast for help and God for mercy.
Divine Institutes 5.13.6Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Those who lapse can make satisfaction and return more devoted.
Divine Institutes 5.13.8Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · God is not implacable toward those forced to sacrifice.
Divine Institutes 5.13.10Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · When peace comes, the lapsed return and new converts join.
Appendix of Ten Documents on the Donatist Controversy 1Anonymous · documents of 303–330 · The court record of 320 before the governor Zenophilus at Thamugadi, where witnesses and the record of a search of the Cirta church in 303 show that Silvanus, later bishop of Cirta and one of Maiorinus's ordainers, had handed over church property, and that money from Lucilla and fees for ordination went to the bishops.
Appendix of Ten Documents on the Donatist Controversy 2Anonymous · documents of 303–330 · The record of the proconsul Aelianus's inquiry (315) at Carthage, which showed that the Donatists' evidence against Felix of Abthugni, Caecilian's ordainer, rested on a letter of the former magistrate Alfius Caecilianus to which Ingentius had added a forged passage, and cleared Felix.
Acts of the Abitinian Martyrs 1Anonymous · 304 (12 February) · The narrator introduces the persecution of Diocletian, which demanded the surrender of the Scriptures, and says the martyrs sealed with their blood the exclusion of the traitors from the church.
Canonical Epistle, canon 1Peter of Alexandria · AD 306 · Those who lapsed only after long imprisonment and torture, and have already done penance for some time, are to be readmitted after a further forty days.
Canonical Epistle, canon 2Peter of Alexandria · AD 306 · Those who lapsed after imprisonment but without torture are to do penance for a year beyond the time already spent.
Canonical Epistle, canon 3Peter of Alexandria · AD 306 · Those who lapsed without imprisonment or torture, out of fear, are to do penance for a longer period, after the pattern of the barren fig tree.
Canonical Epistle, canon 4Peter of Alexandria · AD 306 · For those who lapsed and refuse to repent, the curse on the barren fig tree and Isaiah's undying worm and fire are set out.
Canonical Epistle, canon 5Peter of Alexandria · AD 306 · Those who evaded sacrifice by trickery (passing the altars, written certificates, or sending pagans in their place) are to do six months of penance.
Canonical Epistle, canon 7Peter of Alexandria · AD 306 · Free masters who compelled their Christian slaves to sacrifice in their place are to do penance for three years.
Canonical Epistle, canon 8Peter of Alexandria · AD 306 · Those who lapsed but then returned to confess Christ and suffered imprisonment and torture are to be received into full communion, including the Eucharist.
Canonical Epistle, canon 10Peter of Alexandria · AD 306 · Clergy who gave themselves up, lapsed, and then confessed again are not to resume their ministry, but may be admitted to lay communion.
Canonical Epistle, canon 11Peter of Alexandria · AD 306 · The first to rush forward to martyrdom are praised; and the requests of the faithful to pray for those who lapsed after torture, and for their reconciliation, are to be granted.
Canonical Epistle, canon 12Peter of Alexandria · AD 306 · Those who paid money to escape persecution are not to be blamed, since they lost money to save their souls.
Martyrs of Palestine (shorter recension) 1.4Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 311–314 · Officials forced or feigned sacrifices so as to dismiss prisoners as though they had complied.
Epitome of the Divine Institutes 49.3Lactantius · ca. 314–320 · Those forced to sacrifice return to God with penance and are forgiven.
Canon 1Anonymous · 314 · Presbyters who sacrificed under persecution but then genuinely resumed the struggle keep their rank but may not exercise their ministry.
Canon 2Anonymous · 314 · Deacons who sacrificed but then confessed keep their honor without serving, though bishops may relax or tighten this.
Canon 3Anonymous · 314 · Christians who were forced against their will to touch or eat sacrifices while confessing Christ have not sinned, keep communion, and may even be ordained.
Canon 4Anonymous · 314 · Those forced to sacrifice who nevertheless feasted cheerfully at the idol banquet do six years of graded penance.
Canon 5Anonymous · 314 · Those who attended the idol banquet in grief receive lighter penance, and bishops may lessen or lengthen it after examining their lives.
Canon 6Anonymous · 314 · Those who sacrificed merely at the threat of punishment and are only now repenting do six years of penance, with allowance in danger of death.
Canon 8Anonymous · 314 · Those forced to sacrifice two or three times do penance for six years and are fully restored in the seventh.
Canon 9Anonymous · 314 · Those who not only lapsed but forced fellow Christians to sacrifice do ten years of penance.
Canon 13Anonymous · 1 August 314 · Clergy proved by public records to have surrendered Scriptures, church vessels, or names in persecution are deposed, but the ordinations they performed remain valid.
Canon 22Anonymous · 1 August 314 · Apostates who ask for communion only when ill are refused it unless they recover and show real repentance.
Canon 10Anonymous · 325 · Lapsed Christians who have been ordained are to be deposed when discovered.
Canon 11Anonymous · 325 · Those who lapsed without compulsion under Licinius do twelve years of graded penance.
Three Letters to Sympronianus 3.3Pacian of Barcelona · ca. 360-390 · Pacian argues that the Novatians, separated from the church, have neither its baptism nor its Spirit, and that receiving the lapsed did not make the whole church apostate, since each dies for his own sin.
Three Letters to Sympronianus 3.5Pacian of Barcelona · ca. 360-390 · Pacian shows from Cyprian’s letter to Antonianus that Novatian himself, before the schism, wrote the Roman letter allowing peace to dying lapsed Christians.
Three Letters to Sympronianus 3.6Pacian of Barcelona · ca. 360-390 · Pacian tells how Novatus, fleeing trial at Carthage, urged the disappointed Novatian at Rome to set himself up as a rival bishop to Cornelius.
Oration 4.11Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · Gregory excludes from the celebration those who apostatized under Julian, and praises God, in the words of the psalms, for overthrowing the persecutor.
Oration 4.49Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · Gregory pities the apostates more than the persecuted, and refrains from gloating over the fallen.
Epigram 48Damasus I of Rome · 366–384 · Damasus's epigram on Marcellus, bishop of Rome, who required penance of the lapsed and was exiled by the tyrant after the resulting strife.
Question 102, section 3Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · If the old law, with lesser grace, pardoned the penitent, the new law must too; Novatian’s use of “whoever denies me” to exclude the lapsed is rejected.
Question 102, section 7Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · Jeremiah’s promises of forgiveness to idolatrous Israel show that God forgives even apostasy and idolatry when people return to him.
Ancoratus 14.2Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · The Melitians split over the readmission of the lapsed.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 54.1.5Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Theodotus denied Christ and fled to Rome.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 54.1.6Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · In Rome Theodotus was reproached for his apostasy.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 54.1.7Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Theodotus excused his denial by calling Christ a mere man.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 59.1.2Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Novatus denied restoration to those who fell after baptism.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 59.7.6Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The lapsed who repent can find mercy.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 64.2.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Origen chose to sacrifice rather than be abused.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 64.2.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Incense was put in his hands and cast on the altar.
Apostolic Canon 62Anonymous · ca. 380 · A cleric who denies Christ is cast out; one who denies his office is deposed.
Canonical Letter, Migne PG 45:225Gregory of Nyssa · ca. 390 · Gregory describes the right actions and failings of the desire and of the spirit, then sets lifelong penance for willing apostasy and a fixed term for those who denied under torture, and begins on those who consult sorcerers.
Book of Heresies 82.2Philastrius of Brescia · ca. 380s · The Novatians objected to the readmission of the lapsed.
Book of Heresies 82.8Philastrius of Brescia · ca. 380s · Peter and Paul offered repentance; the lapsed may lose rank but not salvation.
Petition to the Emperors (Libellus precum) 12Faustinus · ca. 383–384 · To sign a heresy out of fear is as much a sacrilege as sacrificing to idols; in matters of faith the few who suffer for the truth must be preferred to the many who gave way, and God has shown his judgment on the prevaricators by present punishments.
Petition to the Emperors (Libellus precum) 18Faustinus · ca. 383–384 · Under Julian the exiled bishops returned, and under Jovian the bishops who had signed at Ariminum returned to the Nicene faith; some confessors received them, but the petitioners hold that this contradicts Scripture.
Petition to the Emperors (Libellus precum) 19Faustinus · ca. 383–384 · A peace that restores bishops who denied the Son of God to their honor is not Christ's peace and makes the martyrs' sufferings vain; yet the petitioners are persecuted, under the emperors' laws, for refusing it.
Letter 1 to Himerius of Tarragona, chapter 3Siricius, bishop of Rome · 385 · Apostates who sacrificed to idols are excluded from communion, must do penance for life, and are reconciled only at death.
Letter 98.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Such parents are spiritual murderers in intent, but, as Cyprian's On the Lapsed implies, the infants themselves lose nothing before God.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 113.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Peter, brought into the courtyard by another disciple, denies that he is Jesus's disciple, which Augustine treats as denying that he is a Christian.
Against Lying 13Augustine of Hippo · ca. 420 · Believing in the heart while denying with the mouth is not enough, as the lapsed in persecution and Peter's bitter tears after his denial show.
Canon 10Anonymous · date disputed (between ca. 442 and 506) · Those who apostatized willingly in persecution do the penance set by Nicaea, which the bishop may shorten for true repentance.
Canon 11Anonymous · date disputed (between ca. 442 and 506) · Those forced by torture to deny or sacrifice do two years among the catechumens and three among the penitents.
Part 4, chapter 14Quodvultdeus of Carthage · ca. 445-450 · The garment to be kept is Christ, put on in baptism; those rebaptized by heretics or lapsed in persecution have lost it and should return in repentance like the prodigal son.