Fabian’s Death and a Doubtful Letter

Cyprian to the elders and deacons, our brothers living in Rome: greetings. While the report of the death of that excellent man, my colleague, was still uncertain here, my dear brothers, and I was going back and forth in my own mind about it, I received the letter you sent me by Crementius the subdeacon. It told me in full about his glorious end, and I was overjoyed that a death so honorable matched the integrity with which he had held his office. [a]

I congratulate you warmly, too, for honoring his memory with a testimony so public and so distinguished. Through you I have learned not only what does you credit in the memory of your overseer, but what ought to serve me as well as an example of faith and courage. For just as the fall of an overseer drags down into ruin those who follow him, so it does real good when an overseer stands firm in the faith and sets himself before his brothers as a man to imitate.

I have also read a second letter, which did not plainly state who wrote it or whom it was written to. The handwriting, the contents, and even the sheet it was written on gave me the impression that something had been taken out of the original, or altered in it. So I am sending that letter back to you exactly as it reached me, for you to examine whether it is the same one you handed to Crementius the subdeacon to carry. For it is a very serious thing if the truth of a letter from the clergy is corrupted by any falsehood or trickery. So, to settle the matter, find out whether the handwriting and the signature are yours, and write back and tell me the truth of it.

I pray that you, dearest brothers, may always be well.