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Letters, (1-81) (Paperback)
Loot Price: R1,412
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Letters, (1-81) (Paperback)
Series: Fathers of the Church Patristic
Expected to ship within 10 - 15 working days
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St. Cyprian works fall naturally into two groups: treaties
(sermons, libelli, tractus) and letters (epistulae). A translation
of the treatises will be found in volume 36 of this series. The
letters, of which eighty-one have come down to us, written from
c.249 until his death in 258 A.D., may be found translated in this
volume. They give a penetrating insight into the affairs of the
Church in Africa in the middle of the third century. They reveal
problems of doctrine and of discipline which had to be decided in a
period of crisis and persecution when the Church, still in its
infancy, had not yet emerged from the catacombs. Most important of
all, they make Cyprian vividly alive as an understanding bishop who
could be both gentle and firm, enthusiastic and moderate. He was
prudent enough to go into exile to direct his flock from afar when
his presence was a potential source of danger to the people; he was
courageous enough to face martyrdom that he knew would ultimately
he his. Of these letters, fifty-nine were written by Cyprian
himself and six more, emanating from Carthaginian Councils or
Synods, were largely his work also. Sixteen letters were written by
others; apparently eleven were lost. St. Cyprian's prestige and
influence was great in Christian antiquity. Unfortunately, he is
not well known or as widely read in modern times as he deserves.
This is probably due to Cyprian's lack of complete orthodoxy, in
the modern sense of the word, regarding the recognition of the See
of Peter and the rebaptism of heretics. The modern reader must bear
in mind that the period of the Fathers was the time of the laying
of the foundation of so much which we accept and see so clearly
today. In any case, both Lactantius (Div. Inst. 5.1.24) and St.
Augustine (De bapt. contra Donatistas), while acknowledging the
weaknesses of St. Cyprian's stand on the questions mentioned, do
not in the slightest detract from their respect and admiration for
their fellow countryman. Prudentius pays St. Cyprian the following
tribute in his Peristephanon 13.5.6 ff.): 'As long as Christ will
allow the race of men / to exist and the world to flourish, / As
long as any book will be, as long as there / Will be holy
collections of literary works, / Everyone who loves Christ will
read you, O / Cyprian, will learn your teachings.'
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