Letter 44: I have read the letter you sent by the presbyter Primitivus, dear brother, and I noticed that you were troubled by...

Cyprian to his brother Cornelius, greetings. I have read the letter you sent by the presbyter Primitivus, dear brother, and I noticed that you were troubled by the fact that while letters from the Adrumetine colony had previously been addressed to you in the name of Polycarp, after Liberalis and I came there the letters began to be addressed instead to the presbyters and deacons. I want you to know with certainty, and to believe it without any reservation, that this happened without any levity or contempt on our part. When several of our colleagues who had assembled together decided that, while our co-bishops Caldonius and Fortunatus were serving as our ambassadors to you, everything should remain in place as it was until they returned — having either restored peace or having established the truth — the presbyters and deacons in the Adrumetine colony, in the absence of our co-bishop Polycarp, were simply unaware of this common decision. When we came before them and our purpose was made clear to them, they too began to observe what the others had done, so that the agreement of the churches gathered there was in no way broken. There are those, I know, who sometimes disturb people's minds with their words. I ask you not to let their meddling affect you. The facts are as I have stated them, and the unity of our brotherhood remains intact.

Epistle 44