Read It Before I Send It

Cyprian to his brother Cornelius: greetings. [a]

Dearest brother, I have thought it a duty laid on me, and something you needed as well, to write a short letter to the confessors who are there with you — the men who were misled by the stubbornness and the wickedness of Novatian and Novatus and have left the church. In it I might win them back, for the sake of the love we have for one another, to their Mother: that is, to the universal church. I have entrusted that letter first of all to you, by Mettius the sub-deacon, for you to read through — so that no one can pretend I wrote anything other than what my letter contains. I have also charged the same Mettius, whom I am sending to you, to be guided by your decision: if you judge that the letter ought to be handed to the confessors, then let him deliver it.

I wish you well always, dearest brother, with all my heart.