Letter 77: Nemesianus, Dativus, Felix, and Victor to their brother Cyprian, eternal salvation in the Lord.

Nemesianus, Dativus, Felix, and Victor to their brother Cyprian, eternal salvation in the Lord. You speak, dearly beloved Cyprian, always with deep meaning in your letters — fitting for the gravity of our times. By the steady reading of those letters the wayward are corrected and men of true faith are confirmed. You never cease, in your writings, to lay bare the hidden mysteries; you make us grow in faith; you draw men from the world toward belief. In all the good things you have put into your many books, you have — without knowing it — painted a portrait of yourself for us. For you are greater than all men in discourse, more eloquent in speech, wiser in counsel, more simple in patience, more abundant in works, more holy in abstinence, more humble in obedience, and more innocent in good deeds. You know this, beloved: our eager wish was to see you — our teacher and our father — receive the crown of a great confession. For before the proconsul, as a good and true teacher, you spoke first what we your disciples were to follow and repeat before the president. Like a sounding trumpet you stirred up God's soldiers, armed with heavenly weapons, into the close fight. Now fight on with us still, though from a distance. Pray without ceasing for those of us still in the struggle, that the Lord who has given us the will to confess may give us also the strength to complete what we have begun. We who follow in your footsteps hope for the grace you have already received. For whoever leads in the race leads also toward the prize. You who first set foot on this course have shared it with us from what you began — showing the undivided love with which you have always loved us, so that we who had one Spirit in the bond of peace might share also in the grace of your prayers, and one crown of confession. May we meet before the throne of Christ.

Epistle 77