Acts of Cyprian

1In the fourth consulship of Valerian and the third of Gallienus, three days before the Kalends of September, at Carthage in the council chamber, Paternus the governor spoke to Cyprian the bishop: "The most sacred emperors Valerian and Gallienus have seen fit to send me a letter, commanding that those who do not practice the Roman religion must perform the Roman worship rites. I have asked about your identity, so what do you answer?"

Cyprian the bishop said: "I am a Christian and a bishop. I know no other gods but the one true God, who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them. We Christians serve this God, and we pray to him day and night for ourselves and for all people and for the safety of the emperors themselves."

Paternus the governor said: "Do you stand firm in this resolve then?" Cyprian the bishop replied: "A good resolve that knows God cannot be changed."

Paternus the governor said: "Then will you go into exile to the city of Curubis, as Valerian and Gallienus command?" Cyprian the bishop said: "I will go."

2Paternus the governor said: "They have seen fit to write to me not only about bishops but also about priests, so I want to learn from you who the priests are who live in this city." Cyprian the bishop replied: "Your own laws have wisely and usefully decreed that there are to be no informers, so they cannot be exposed and handed over by me. They will be found in their own cities."

Paternus the governor said: "I am asking my questions here today." Cyprian said: "Since our discipline forbids anyone to volunteer himself, and your own authority also disapproves of that, they cannot present themselves. But if you search them out, they will be found." Paternus the governor said: "They will be found by me." Then he added: "They have also ordered that there be no gatherings in any place and that the cemeteries not be entered, so if anyone fails to keep this most beneficial order, he will be punished with death." Cyprian the bishop replied: "Do what you have been ordered to do."

3Then Paternus the governor ordered blessed Cyprian the bishop to be carried away into exile. After he had remained there a long time, Galerius Maximus the governor succeeded Paternus as governor, and he ordered holy Cyprian the bishop to be recalled from exile and brought before him. When Cyprian, the holy martyr chosen by God, had returned from the city of Curubis, where he had been sent into exile by the order of Paternus while Paternus was governor, he remained in his own gardens by sacred command. There he expected every day that men would come for him, just as it had been shown to him. While he was still waiting there, suddenly on September 13th, in the consulship of Tuscus and Bassus, two senior officials came to him, one a stable attendant on the staff of Galerius Maximus the governor, who had succeeded Paternus, and the other a guard from the same staff. They lifted him into a vehicle, set him in the middle, and brought him to Sexti, where Galerius Maximus the governor had withdrawn to recover his health.

4Then Galerius Maximus the governor ordered Cyprian to be kept for another day. Under guard, Cyprian withdrew with the chief and the stable attendant of that same staff to the chief's lodging, and he stayed with him in the village called Saturn, between Venerea and Salutaria. There the whole company of fellow Christians gathered around him. When Cyprian learned of this, he ordered the young girls to be kept under guard, for they had all remained before the door of the chief's lodging.

On the morning of the next day, September 14th, a great crowd gathered at Sexti in obedience to the order of Galerius Maximus the governor. That same day, as he sat in the hall at Sauciolum, Galerius Maximus the governor ordered Cyprian to be brought before him.

When Cyprian was brought in, Galerius Maximus the governor said to Cyprian the bishop, "Are you Thascius Cyprian?" Cyprian the bishop answered, "I am." Galerius Maximus the governor said, "Have you set yourself up as pope over men of a sacrilegious mind?" Cyprian the bishop answered, "I have." Galerius Maximus the governor said, "The most sacred emperors have ordered you to perform worship rites." Cyprian the bishop said, "I will not do it." Galerius Maximus said, "Take counsel for yourself." Cyprian the bishop answered, "Do what you have been ordered to do. In so just a matter there is no deliberation."

5After conferring with his council, Galerius Maximus pronounced the sentence, only with difficulty and reluctance, in these words: "You have lived for a long time with a sacrilegious mind. You have gathered very many followers of a wicked conspiracy to yourself. You have made yourself an enemy to the Roman gods and the sacred laws. Even the dutiful and most sacred rulers Valerian and Gallienus, the emperors, and Valerian, the most noble Caesar, could not bring you back to the sect of their worship rites."

"Therefore, since you have been caught as the author and bearer of the standard of the vilest crimes, you yourself will serve as a warning to those you gathered with you through your crime. Discipline will be made binding by your blood." After saying this, he read the decree from the tablet: "It is decided that Thascius Cyprian be punished by the sword." Cyprian the bishop said, "Thanks be to God."

6After this sentence the crowd of fellow Christians said, "Let us be beheaded with him." An uproar among the fellow Christians broke out over this, and a large crowd followed him. So Cyprian was led out to the field of Sextus. There he stripped off his hooded cloak and thick outer cloak, bent his knee to the ground, and threw himself before the Lord in prayer. When he had stripped off his long tunic and handed it to the deacons, he stood in his linen tunic and began to await the executioner.

When the executioner arrived, Cyprian ordered his own people to give the executioner twenty-five gold pieces. Linen cloths and handkerchiefs were laid before him by fellow Christians. Then blessed Cyprian covered his eyes with his own hand. Since he could not tie the ends of the handkerchief for himself, Julian the priest and Julian the subdeacon tied them for him. So blessed Cyprian suffered, and his body was laid nearby because of the curiosity of the pagans. Then by night it was taken up and carried with candles and torches to the grounds of Macrobius Candidianus on the Mappalian Way near the pools, escorted with vows and great triumph. A few days later Galerius Maximus the governor died.

7Most blessed Cyprian the martyr suffered on the eighteenth day before the Kalends of October under the emperors Valerian and Gallienus, but our Lord Jesus Christ reigns, to whom belong honor and glory for ages of ages, amen.