The aftermath of Christian persecutions

The purpose of this paper is to uncover similarities and differences between the works of the famous 3rd-century Carthaginian bishop written in adverse of his lapsed and heretic “colleagues”. The former ones are primarily the object of Letters 65 and 67, while the latter ones appear in the De Ecclesiae Unitate and in Letters 69–75. Their comparative analysis is motivated by the fact that in both cases the author’s purpose is to prove that these ecclesiastic leaders had become inconvenient to their office and thus to carry out their job substantially. Causes mentioned by Cyprian are the following: they call wrongfully for the right of performing a sacrifice; their sacraments are invalid because of their sins; they are separated from the Church; their inaptness is proclaimed by both contemporary and former bishops and synods; and finally, they contaminate their followers, so it is necessary to be separated from them. These arguments are formulated concerning both groups, so it can be supposed that in Cyprian’s opinion lapsed and heretic bishops were not sharply different from each other, therefore he may have used the same thoughts about the former group to apply them to the latter one as well

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• The Donatist Church

  W H C Frend•The Donatist Church•1985

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• Sacerdos’ as Understood by Cyprian

  Maurice Bévenot•The Journal of Theological Studies•1979

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