Moyses and Maximus, and Rest of Confessors

A collective addressee rather than a single person: Moyses, Maximus, and their fellow Roman confessors were Christians imprisoned at Rome during the Decian persecution (250-251 AD) for refusing to sacrifice to the pagan gods. They figure in the correspondence of Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, who exchanged letters with these confessors and with the Roman clergy during the crisis over the lapsed (those who had apostatized under torture). Moyses, a presbyter, is remembered as the leader of the group and died in prison after roughly eleven months of confinement (early 251); Maximus survived and was afterward made a presbyter, and is named again in connection with the schism of Novatian. Their letters and Cyprian's replies are an important window into how the African and Roman churches negotiated the readmission of the lapsed and the authority to grant reconciliation.