The Presbyters Project

Epistula 53

Cypriano fratri Maximus Urbanus Sidonius et Macarius s[alutem].

They inform Cyprian, the bishop of Carthage, that they made peace with their Bishop Cornelius.

Epistula 54

Cyprianus Maximo presbytero item Urbano et Sidonio et Macario fratribus s[alutem].

(ed. Diercks 1994: 250-255)

Letter 53

Maximus, Urbanus, Sidonius, and Macharius, to Cyprian their brother, greeting.

They inform Cyprian, the bishop of Carthage, that they made peace with their Bishop Cornelius.

Letter 54

Cyprian to Maximus the presbyter, also to Urbanus, and Sidonius, and Macharius, his brethren, greeting.

(trans. R.E. Wallis, https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf05.iv.iv.xlix.html, https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf05.iv.iv.l.html)

Discussion:

For the same event see also [1272] and [1274]. Maximus and the others initially supported Novatian. Novatian was ordained against Cornelius, after the election of Cornelius as the bishop of Rome in AD 251. Novatian and his followers took the rigorist view towards the lapsed, but they communicated with the followers of Novatus in Carthage, who rebelled against Cyprian considering him too rigorist.

Place of event:

Region

Latin North Africa
Rome

City

Carthage
Rome

About the source:

Author: Cyprian
Title: Letters, Epistulae, Epistolae
Origin: Rome (Rome)
Denomination: Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian

Cyprian was born probably about AD 200. He converted to Christianity in about 245 and in 248 was elected Bishop of Carthage. Soon after, the Decian persecution began (in 249/250) and Cyprian went into hiding. In 251 he returned to the city. Under Valerian, he was exiled in 257 and executed in 258. The epistolary of Cyprian consists of 81 letters (16 of them by his correspondents, and 6 synodal or collective), the majority of them are from the period of 250-251, when they were the means of Cyprian`s communication with his clergy. They offer us a wide view on the organization of the Church in Carthage in the middle of the third century, her relation with the Church of Rome, on the development of the persecutions, and on the conflicts that they caused inside the Church.

Different numerations of Cyprian's letters exist, I follow the edition of Diercks in Corpus Christianorum.

Edition:

G.F. Diercks ed., Sancti Cypriani Episcopi Epistularium. Epistulae 1-57, Corpus Christianorum. Series Latina 3B, Turnhout 1994.

Bibliography:

J. Patout Burns Jr, Cyprian the Bishop, London & New York 2002.

Categories:

Writing activity - Correspondence

PR166.

Change of denomination

PR166.

Described by a title - Presbyter/πρεσβύτερος

PR166.

Relation with - Bishop/Monastic superior

PR166.

Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: S. Adamiak, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER1276, http://presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=1276