Unripe Fruit, Unmended Ship

Cyprian to his brothers among the people who have stood firm: greetings. [a]

That you weep and grieve over the fall of our brothers I know from my own case, dearly loved brothers, because I weep along with you and grieve for each one of them. I suffer and feel what the blessed apostle said:

“Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I do not burn?”

And he set it down again in his letter, saying:

“Whether one part of the body suffers, all the parts suffer with it; or one part rejoices, all the parts rejoice with it.”

So I share your suffering and your grief over our brothers, who lapsed and fell flat under the harshness of the persecution and have dealt us the same pain by their own wounds, since they tear away a part of us when they go. God’s mercy is able to heal them. Even so, I do not think there should be any rush, or that anything should be done carelessly and before its time — otherwise, in snatching at peace, we may bring God’s anger down on ourselves more heavily still.

The blessed martyrs have written to me about certain people, asking that their requests be looked into. As soon as the Lord gives peace to us all and we begin to return to the church, then each person’s request will be examined in your presence and with your own judgment.

Yet I hear that some of the elders — not keeping the good news in mind, not weighing what the martyrs wrote to me, and not leaving the overseer the honor that belongs to his priestly office and his position — have already begun to admit the lapsed to communion, to make the offering on their behalf, and to give them the thanksgiving, when these things ought to have come to them in their proper order.

Consider how it works even with smaller sins, the ones not committed against God himself. Repentance is carried out for a set length of time; confession is made; the life of the person repenting is looked into; and no one may come to communion until the overseer and the clergy have first laid hands on him. How much more, then, should matters like these be handled with caution and restraint, by the Lord’s own discipline, when the sins are the gravest and the worst there are!

Our elders and deacons should have given you this warning themselves, so as to care for the sheep entrusted to them and to teach them, on God’s own authority, how salvation is to be won by prayer. I know how peaceable our people are, and how they fear God. They would be keeping watch, making amends and pleading with God to turn his anger aside, if some of the elders had not misled them in order to please them.

So you must take them in hand yourselves, each of you, and steady the minds of the lapsed by your advice and by your own restraint, according to God’s commands. Let no one pick fruit while it is still unripe and the season has not come. Let no one hand his ship back to the deep, battered and broken by the waves, before he has carefully repaired it. Let no one be in a hurry to take up a torn tunic and put it on before he has seen a skilled workman mend it and has had it back from the fuller.

Let them bear with my advice patiently, I beg them, and let them wait for my return. Then, when God’s mercy brings me to you, I will be able to examine the letters and the requests of the blessed martyrs — with many of my fellow overseers called together according to the Lord’s discipline, in the presence of the confessors, and with your opinion given as well.

I have written about this matter both to the clergy and to the martyrs and confessors, and I have given orders that both letters be read to you. Dearest brothers, whom I long to see, I wish you strength in the Lord always. Remember me. Farewell.