Acts of Cyprian · §3 · Origen of Alexandria

Exile and seizure under a new governor

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After Paternus orders exile, the narrative reports Cyprian waiting at Curubis until the succeeding governor Galerius Maximus has him seized and taken to Sexti.

Then 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lifted him into a vehicle, set him in the middle, and brought him to Sexti, where Galerius Maximus the governor had withdrawn to recover his health.

Greek

II. Tunc Paternus proconsul iussit beatum Cyprianum episcopum in exsilium deportari. cumque diu ibidem moraretur, successit Aspasio Paterno proconsuli Galerius Maximus proconsul, qui sanctum Cyprianum episcopum ab exsilio revocatum sibi iussit praesentari. cumque Cyprianus sanctus martyr electus a deo de civitate Curubitana, in qua exsilio ex praecepto Aspasii Paterni tunc proconsulis datus fuerat, regressus esset, ex sacro praecepto in suis hortis manebat et inde quotidie sperabat veniri ad se, sicut illi ostensum fuerat. et cum illic demoraretur, repente idibus Septembris Tusco et Basso consulibus venerunt ad eum principes duo, unus strator officii Galeri Maximi proconsulis, qui Aspasio Paterno successerat, et alius [equistrator — rank garbled in scan] custodis eiusdem officii. qui et in curriculum eum levaverunt in medioque posuerunt et in Sexti perduxerunt, ubi idem Galerius Maximus proconsul bonae valetudinis recuperandae gratia secesserat.

About this text

The work preserves a sequential record of Bishop Cyprian's interrogations, condemnation, and execution at Carthage for communal memory.

This work is anonymous and names no addressee. It follows in sequence the interrogations, condemnation and execution of Cyprian at Carthage for communal memory, and it states its purpose only in its closing doxology.

Before Paternus the governor, Cyprian confesses that he is a Christian and bishop who worships only the one true creator God and refuses the worship rites, and he refuses to name the priests. After exile at Curubis he is brought before Galerius Maximus the next governor, where he again admits his leadership and refuses the rites ordered by the emperors Valerian and Gallienus. Galerius Maximus consults his council and condemns him as organizer of an unlawful association hostile to Roman gods and laws. He is executed by the sword, thanks God, and is carried away by night by fellow Christians for burial on the grounds of Macrobius Candidianus, with Julian the priest and Julian the subdeacon helping to blindfold him. The speeches of Paternus, Cyprian, Galerius Maximus and the crowd of fellow Christians are quoted in direct exchange, with Cyprian answering the two governors.

Here bishop means leader of the local Christians, priests means its subordinate clergy, governor means the Roman governor judging the case, worship rites means the acts of Roman worship demanded, gatherings means forbidden Christian gatherings, cemeteries means places for burial that Christians were forbidden to enter, and fellow Christians means those accompanying and burying Cyprian. No book of the Bible is formally quoted and no titles occur. The only biblical language is Cyprian's creator formula of the God who made heaven and earth, the sea and all that is in them, which recalls Exodus, Acts and Revelation.

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 Greek on each section for the source text. This is not a complete critical edition.