Not Killed but Crowned

Cyprian to his brother Successus, greeting. [a]

The reason I could not write to you at once, dearest brother, is that the whole clergy here are standing in the very heat of the contest and cannot leave this place at all — every one of them ready, in the full devotion of his mind, for the glory of God and of heaven. But you should know that the men I sent to the City have come back. I sent them for this purpose: to find out the truth and bring it to us, whatever had been decreed about us. All sorts of different and uncertain reports are running through people’s talk.

Here is the truth of the matter. Valerian has sent a rescript to the Senate ruling that overseers, elders, and deacons are to be punished at once; that senators, men of rank, and Roman knights are to lose their standing and be stripped of their property as well; and that if, once their means are taken from them, they still go on being Christians, they are to lose their heads too. Women of rank are to have their property taken and be sent into exile. And any of Caesar’s household who have confessed before, or who confess now, are to have their property confiscated and be sent in chains, assigned to Caesar’s estates.

The emperor Valerian also attached to this address a copy of the letters he has sent about us to the governors of the provinces. We are hoping every day that those letters will arrive, waiting — with all the strength our faith gives us — to endure what is coming, and looking for the crown of eternal life from the help and mercy of the Lord.

But know this: Sixtus was put to death in the cemetery on the sixth of August, and four deacons with him. And the prefects in the City are pressing this persecution forward day after day, so that anyone brought before them is put to death and his property claimed for the treasury.

I ask you to see that all this is made known to the rest of our colleagues, so that everywhere their encouragement may strengthen the brotherhood and make it ready for the spiritual struggle; so that every one of us may think not so much about death as about never dying; and so that, given over to the Lord in full faith and complete courage, they may meet this confession with joy rather than fear, knowing that in it the soldiers of God and Christ are not killed but crowned. I wish you well always and from the heart, dearest brother, in the Lord.