On the Unity of the Catholic Church · §20 · Cyprian of Carthage

Confessors are not safe from sin

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Cyprian is addressing the faithful about the danger of schism, and now turns to the fact that even confessors can fall into grave sins.

And let no one wonder, most beloved brothers, that even some of the confessors proceed to these things, and that from that group too certain people sin so wickedly and so gravely. For confession does not make a person immune from the snares of the devil, nor does it defend with perpetual security someone still placed in the world against temptations and dangers and the attacks and assaults of the age. Otherwise we would never see in confessors the deceits and debaucheries and adulteries that we now see in some and groan and grieve over. Whatever confessor he is, he is not greater or better than Solomon or more dear to God. Yet as long as Solomon walked in the ways of the Lord, so long he held the grace which he had obtained from the Lord; after he abandoned the way of the Lord, he lost also the grace of the Lord. And therefore it is written: Hold what you have, so that no one else takes your crown (Revelation 3:11). Surely the Lord would not threaten that the crown of justice could be taken away unless, when justice departs, the crown also must necessarily depart.

Latin

Nec quisquam miretur, dilectissimi fratres, etiam de confessoribus quosdam ad ista procedere, inde quoque aliquos tam nefanda, tam grauia peccare. neque enim confessio inmunem facit ab insidiis diaboli aut contra temptationes et pericula et incursus adque impetus saeculares adhuc in saeculo positum perpetua securitate defendit: ceterum numquam in confessoribus fraudes et stupra et adulteria postmodum uideremus quae nunc in quibusdam uidentes ingemescimus et dolemus. quisque ille confessor est Salomone maior aut melior aut Deo carior non est: qui tamen quamdiu in uiis Domini ambulauit, tamdiu gratiam quam de Domino fuerat consecutus obtinuit, postquam dereliquit Domini uiam, perdidit et gratiam Domini. et ideo scriptum est: tene quod habes, ne alius accipiat coronam tuam. quod utique Dominus non minaretur auferri posse coronam iustitiae, nisi quia recedente iustitia recedat necesse est et corona.

About this text

Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, writes in 251 against the Novatian schism: the Church Christ founded is one and cannot be divided.

Cyprian of Carthage (c. 200–258) wrote this treatise as bishop of Carthage, addressing the faithful brethren and especially the bishops who preside in the Church. He composed it in 251 to warn Christians against schism and heresy, which he regarded as a subtler and more dangerous attack by the devil than open persecution, and to defend the unity of the Church against those who had broken away from it.

The immediate occasion was the schism of Novatian, which had been stirred up in part by Novatus and other presbyters of Cyprian's own church. Cyprian wrote to keep the Carthaginians from following the breakaway movement. He argues that the Church is one and indivisible, founded by Christ upon Peter as the single source of its unity, and that this unity is preserved through the one episcopate. Schismatics and heretics, even if they claim the name of Christian and suffer death, are cut off from the Church and cannot be saved.

A reader will meet Peter, the apostle upon whom Christ founded the Church, and Paul and John, whose letters and Gospel are quoted on unity, love, and those who went out from the Church. Old Testament figures such as Korah, Dathan, Abiram, Uzziah, Aaron, Ahijah, Rahab, Solomon, and Judas appear as examples of rebellion, division, or prefigurations of the Church. The Lord, Paul, John, the Holy Spirit, Ahijah the prophet, and Scripture all speak in the treatise.

New English from the Latin base text; no published English used as wording.

Printed text used

Translated from CSEL 3.1 (1868) (Latin)

This work has passed this project's source check. This is an AI-assisted study translation. Source fidelity and completeness have not been independently certified. Open Latin on each section (or the Latin source witness link) for the source text. This is not a complete critical edition.