Letter 3

While news of our colleague's fate was still reaching us in fragments, dear brothers, and I was uncertain what to make of the various reports, your letter arrived — delivered by Crementius the sub-deacon — and gave me the full account. I was filled with joy. His end was worthy of the life he lived: an honorable death crowning an honorable ministry. I congratulate you for honoring his memory with such a public and distinguished tribute. Through you I learn not only what brings glory to you in your bishop's memory, but what ought to serve as a pattern of faith and courage for the rest of us. When a bishop gives way, his people fall with him. When a bishop holds firm, he becomes a model for his brothers. There was also a second letter among the papers — one in which neither the author nor the intended recipients were clearly identified. The handwriting, the subject matter, and the condition of the document itself suggested that something had been removed or tampered with. I'm returning it to you exactly as I received it, so you can verify whether it matches what you sent. This is not a small matter: if a bishop's correspondence is being altered or intercepted, we need to establish the facts. Please let me know.

Epistle 3 Please help support the mission of New Advent and get the full contents of this website as an instant download. Includes the Catholic Encyclopedia, Church Fathers, Summa, Bible and more — all for only $19.99... To the Presbyters and Deacons Abiding at Rome. A.D. 250. Argument.— This is a Familiar and Friendly Epistle; So that It Requires No Formal Argument, Especially as It Can Be Sufficiently Gathered from the Title Itself. The Letter of the Roman Clergy, to Which Cyprian is Replying, is Missing. 1. Cyprian to the elders and deacons, brethren abiding at Rome, sends, greeting. When the report of the departure of the excellent man, my colleague, was still uncertain among us, my beloved brethren, and I was wavering doubtfully in my opinion on the matter, I received a letter sent to me from you by Crementius the subdeacon, in which I was most abundantly informed of his glorious end; and I rejoiced greatly that, in harmony with the integrity of his administration, an honourable consummation also attended him. Wherein, moreover, I greatly congratulate you, that you honour his memory with a testimony so public and so illustrious, so that by your means is made known to me, not only what is glorious to you in connection with the memory of your bishop, but what ought to afford to me also an example of faith and virtue. For in proportion as the fall of a bishop is an event which tends ruinously to the fall of his followers, so on the other hand it is a useful and helpful thing when a bishop, by the firmness of his faith, sets himself forth to his brethren as an object of imitation. 2. I have, moreover, read another epistle, in which neither the person who wrote nor the persons to whom it was written were plainly declared; and inasmuch as in the same letter both the writing and the matter, and even the paper itself, gave me the idea that something had been taken away, or had been changed from the original, I have sent you back the epistle as it actually came to hand, that you may examine whether it is the very same which you gave to Crementius the subdeacon, to carry. For it is a very serious thing if the truth of a clerical letter is corrupted by any falsehood or deceit. In order, then, that we may know this, ascertain whether the writing and subscription are yours, and write me again what is the truth of the matter. I bid you, dearest brethren, ever heartily farewell.