Letter 60

Cyprian to his brother Euchratius, greetings. Our mutual affection and your respect for me have prompted you to consult me, dearest brother, about a certain actor living in your community. He continues in the disgrace of his old profession. Worse, as a teacher he is not instructing but corrupting the boys under his training — passing on to others what he unfortunately learned himself. You ask whether such a person should be admitted to communion with us. I think this is incompatible both with the divine majesty and with the discipline of the Gospel. The modesty and reputation of the Church cannot be polluted by so disgraceful a contamination. The law forbids men from putting on women's clothing, and those who do so are judged accursed. How much greater, then, is the sin not merely of wearing women's garments but of teaching the skills of an obscene art — training others in soft, effeminate, degrading gestures? Nor should he claim as an excuse that he himself has retired from the stage while still teaching others. A man who substitutes others in his place has not given it up. Instead of one performer, he supplies many. Against God's clear intent, he instructs and teaches how a man may be unmade into a woman, how the natural form may be corrupted by artifice, and how the devil may be gratified through sins that degrade the body God created. But if he claims poverty — that he cannot afford to stop — his need can be met from the church's resources, along with the others who are supported by the congregation's charity, provided he is content with simple and modest food. Let him not think this amounts to being paid to stop sinning. The benefit is his, not ours. What more he might want, he must seek elsewhere — from the kind of profits that pull men away from the banquet of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and lead them down, wretchedly and weeping, to the punishment of eternal hunger and thirst. If your church's resources are not sufficient, he may come here to Carthage. We will supply what he needs for food and clothing, so that he does not use poverty as a pretext for continuing his profession. Farewell, dearest brother.

Epistle 60 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... Argument.— He Forbids an Actor, If He Continue in His Disgraceful Calling, from Communicating in the Church. Neither Does He Allow It to Be an Excuse for Him, that He Himself Does Not Practice the Histrionic Art, So Long as He Teaches It to Others; Neither Does He Excuse It Because of the Want of Means, Since Necessaries May Be Supplied to Him from the Resources of the Church; And Therefore, If the Means of the Church There are Not Sufficient, He Recommends Him to Come to Carthage. 1. Cyprian to Euchratius his brother, greeting. From our mutual love and your reverence for me you have thought that I should be consulted, dearest brother, as to my opinion concerning a certain actor, who, being settled among you, still persists in the discredit of the same art of his; and as a master and teacher, not for the instruction, but for the destruction of boys, that which he has unfortunately learned he also imparts to others: you ask whether such a one ought to communicate with us. This, I think, neither befits the divine majesty nor the discipline of the Gospel, that the modesty and credit of the Church should be polluted by so disgraceful and infamous a contagion. For since, in the law, men are forbidden to put on a woman's garment, and those that offend in this manner are judged accursed, how much greater is the crime, not only to take women's garments, but also to express base and effeminate and luxurious gestures, by the teaching of an immodest art. 2. Nor let any one excuse himself that he himself has given up the theatre, while he is still teaching the art to others. For he cannot appear to have given it up who substitutes others in his place, and who, instead of himself alone, supplies many in his stead; against God's appointment, instructing and teaching in what way a man may be broken down into a woman, and his sex changed by art, and how the devil who pollutes the divine image may be gratified by the sins of a corrupted and enervated body. But if such a one alleges poverty and the necessity of small means, his necessity also can be assisted among the rest who are maintained by the support of the Church; if he be content, that is, with very frugal but innocent food. And let him not think that he is redeemed by an allowance to cease from sinning, since this is an advantage not to us, but to himself. What more he may wish he must seek thence, from such gain as takes men away from the banquet of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and leads them down, sadly and perniciously fattened in this world, to the eternal torments of hunger and thirst; and therefore, as far as you can, recall him from this depravity and disgrace to the way of innocence, and to the hope of eternal life, that he may be content with the maintenance of the Church, sparing indeed, but wholesome. But if the Church with you is not sufficient for this, to afford support for those in need, he may transfer himself to us, and here receive what may be necessary to him for food and clothing, and not teach deadly things to others without the Church, but himself learn wholesome things in the Church. I bid you, dearest brother, ever heartily farewell.