ST. CYPRIAN THE LAPSED THE UNITY OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH TRANSLATED AND ANNOTATED BY MAURICE BEVENOT, SJ. D.D. (ROME), M.A. (OXON.) ‘Mag. Aggr. Pont. Univ. Greg. Professor of Ecclesiology Heythrop College, Oxon. WESTMINSTER, MARYLAND THE NEWMAN PRESS LONDON LONGMANS, GREEN AND CO 1957THE NEWMAN PRESS WESTMINSTER MD USA LONGMANS, GREEN AND CO LTD 6 & 7 CLIFFORD STREET LONDON W 1 BOSTON HOUSE STRAND STREET CAPE TOWN 605-611 LONSDALE STREET MELBOURNE ¢ 1 LONGMANS, GREEN AND CO INC 55 FIFTH AVENUE NEW YORK 3 LONGMANS, GREEN AND CO 20 CRANFIELD ROAD TORONTO 16 ORIENT LONGMANS PRIVATE LTD CALCUTTA BOMBAY MADRAS DELHI HYDERABAD DACCA First published in U.S.A. 1957 First published in Great Britain 1957 Liprary oF Concress CaTatoc Carp Number: 57-7364 De licentia Superioris SJ. Nihil obstat : J. QuastEN, cens. dep. Imprimatur : Patercrus A. O'Boyte, D.D., Archiep. Washingtonen d, 2 Nov. 1956 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED MADE AND PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, LONDON AND BECCLESST. CYPRIAN THE LAPSED DE LAPSIS THE UNITY OF THE CATHOLIC GCHURCH DE ECCLESIAE CATHOLICAE UNITATEANCIENT CHRISTIAN WRITERS THE WORKS OF THE FATHERS IN TRANSLATION EDITED BY JOHANNES QUASTEN, S. T. D. JOSEPH C. PLUMPE, Px.D. Catholic University of America Pontifical College Josephinum Washington, D.C. Worthington, O. No. 25 (iene) wy ‘WESTMINSTER, MARYLAND THE NEWMAN PRESS LONDON LONGMANS, GREEN AND CO 1957CONTENTS PAGE INTRODUCTION . 5 : s a Z 3 EXE Tue Lapsed , : . : : Cals Tue Uniry of THE CATHOLIC CHURCH . 5 643) NOTES . fs 2 j b : S 69) List OF ABBREVIATIONS . : 7 : 7k Noves TO THE INTRODUCTION. 2 é a3 To ‘Tue Lapsep’ ; - 5 78 to ‘THe Uniry og tHE CatTHorIc Cuurcu’ : : : 3 . 100 INDEX . % : E 2 3 elesSi. CYPRIAN THE LAPSED THE UNITY OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCHINTRO DUCTION Caecilius Cyprianus was Bishop of Carthage 249-258. In this short period, he led his flock through a two years’ persecution, defended the unity of the Church against two schismatical movements, was the soul of the city’s morale during a devastating plague,* had a sharp conflict with the Bishop of Rome over t and was beheaded, a m: persecution. The two treatises here period of his episcopate, in 251. They deal with th tion (that of Decius), w! he had been in hiding, order that his people mig! and the encouragement his clergy could alone them, his first public a Lapsed’)? in which, whil to the Church and rej he validity of heretical baptism, artyr for the faith, in a second translated belong to the earlier being addresses made to his flock e after-effects of the first persecu- hich had just finished. During it not from any cowardice, but in ht have the direction, the support, which his letters to them and to provide.? On his return among ddress was the De lapsis (‘The le celebrating the return of peace joicing in the heroism of those martyrs and confessors who had been faithful to Christ, he laid down the ob those who, succumbing renounced their faith. There had been no acti Septimius Severus (193 creased in numbers but ¢ few scandals, even amon: ligation of long penance* for to fear or torture, had publicly ive persecution since the reign of -211). The Christians had in- heir fervour had waned, and not a g the higher clergy, showed what might be expected in a fresh outburst of persecution. This 34 INTRODUCTION came at last with the accession of Decius in 249 who, recognizing the weaknesses within the empire and the dangers which threatened it from the barbarians of the North-East, resolved to re-create its unity by a religious revival, imposing on all his subjects the obligation to offer sacrifice to the gods, to whom were due the glories of the empire in the past. It was this edict under which the Christians suffered. It was not directed primarily against them; it did not aim at their extermination; it did not want to make martyrs (though not a few did die because of it)—it only wanted apostates.® Those who obeyed the edict would present to the officials, appointed for the purpose, a written statement of their having duly taken part in the sacrifice, and they received it back countersigned by them. This was the libellus, which gave their name to a definite class of lapsed among the Christians—the libellaticc. Those who had actually joined in the sacrificial rites were known as sacrificati, their having received libelli needing no emphasis. The libellatici, on the other hand, had not actually sacri- ficed, but were so called because they had secured, by bribery or otherwise, a libellus with the required signature. They tried to salve their conscience by the fact that, after all, it was sacrificing to the gods which was forbidden. Cyprian made clear to them that such a course, whereby they publicly—if mendaciously—recorded their submission to the edict, was quite as much a denial of their faith as actual participation in the sacrifice would have been. Soon after, both at Carthage and in Rome, the bishops decided that the libellatici, who had so far been doing penance, should now be reconciled, and in the following year, when a fresh persecution (under Gallus) was expected, the sacrificati too were admitted to Communion, so that theyINTRODUCTION 5 might re-enter the fray refreshed and rearmed. But in the De lapsis Cyprian is intent on making clear the guilt not only of the latter, but of the libellatici too, who were all too prone to make excuses for themselves. The treatise is a model of pastoral denunciation, combined with exhorta- tion and encouragement to those who keenly felt the disgrace of their fall, or who shrank from the rigours of the Church’s penance. ® The other treatise, De ecclesiae catholicae unitate (‘The Unity of the Catholic Church’),®* was written within a few months of the first. It is the earliest work on the sub- ject which has survived, and it is not surprising that its treatment of the nature of the Church should seem to us incomplete. Cyprian’s whole-hearted conversion, his dis- tribution of his wealth to the poor, and his edifying mode of life had led to his elevation to the episcopate perhaps oversoon. His strong and kindly practical character and his deep religious spirit made him admirably suited for the posts but he had not that long experience of life in the Church which alone would have enabled him to write of the Church not merely in a way adequate to its present needs, but also with that accuracy of touch which would stand the test of time. In his treatise he was meeting the situation as he saw it: we must not expect in it a complete theological treatise on the Church. What the precise situation was, has been a matter of dispute. Two schisms were at work in 251: that led by the African deacon Felicissimus, and that headed by Novatian, the Roman priest who made himself ‘Antipope’ in opposition to the newly elected Cornelius. In recent times it has been held that the treatise was written before Novatian’s revolt; the older, traditional view is that it6 INTRODUCTION was prompted by it and so included both schisms in its scope. The reasons favouring the first view do not seem convincing,® and it is here supposed that Novatian had already made attempts to secure recognition in Carthage® when Cyprian wrote his treatise and delivered it there. He sent a copy to Rome, where it no doubt played a part in the return of those confessors who had supported Novatian’s party.1¢ In the treatise no names are mentioned: the references to the situation are quite general. But chapter 4 presents a crux, there being two rival versions of it which have been mixed together in various ways in many MSS. The view here taken is that Cyprian himself revised his text, and that what is known as the ‘Primacy Text’ (because it contains the word primatus) is the original one, whereas the generally received text is his correction of it. This chapter has been the subject of endless controversy, Catholics generally defending the ‘primacy’ passages against the charge of interpolation, and seeing in them an explicit recognition of the Papal Primacy. But in more recent times, controversy has mostly been replaced by discussion, and the protagonists are no longer divided on strictly denominational lines. The truth seems to be that though aimed chiefly at Novatian, the intruded Bishop of Rome, the treatise was not meant as a defence of the Papacy as we understand it, but as a defence of the rightful bishop there. In speaking of the ‘primacy of Peter’ or of ‘the Chair of Peter,’ Cyprian was not thinking specifically of Rome, but literally of Peter and of the unity which Christ intended for His Church when He founded it on Peter, and which Novatian was destroying. That unity, in his theory, was constituted simply by the union of the bishops among themselves.INTRODUCTION a Actually, Cyprian recognized the Bishop of Rome’s special position in the Church in many practical ways.! But he never formulated this to himself as implying a real authority over the whole Church. Hence, though his practice repeatedly went further than his theory, it is not surprising that, at a moment of crisis, he should have refused to accept the ruling on heretical baptism notified to him by Stephen of Rome. His unwonted vehemence on receiving it shows that he was nonplussed. He had always taken for granted that Carthage and Rome would see eye to eye on any matter of importance: he now found himself in disagreement with Rome on a matter which involved the unity of the Church itself. His theory had, in fact, broken down, but he saw no way out of the impasse. For his instinctive regard for Rome prevented his even considering the only logical course open to him: to break off relations with Rome by excommunicating Stephen. If he altered the text of chapter 4 (as he seems to have done precisely at this juncture), this will have been not because he had changed his mind about the Papacy, but because Rome was reading more into it than he had intended. At Rome, where there were no doubts about its Bishop’s authority over the whole Church, Cyprian’s original text could not fail to be read as a recognition of that fact. If in the course of the baptismal controversy this was, as it were, thrown in his teeth, he will have exclaimed, quite truthfully: “But I never meant that!’—and so he “toned it down’ in his revised version. He did not, then, repudiate what he had formerly held. He had never held that the Pope possessed universal jurisdiction. But he had never denied it either; in truth he had never asked himself the question where the final authority in the Church8 INTRODUCTION might be. The “union of the bishops’ sufficed for all practical purposes—so he thought, at least until the bap- tismal controversy. It may be that, in the last months of his life, before his martyrdom, he came to realize that his theory of Church unity was only good as far as it went, but that it did not go far enough. If the foregoing reconstruction is correct, we have in Cyprian’s De ecclesiae catholicae unitate a good example of what a dogma can look like while still in an carly stage of its development. The reality (in this case, the Primacy of Rome) is there all the time: it may be recognized by some; by others it may even be denied, and that though much of what they say or do unconsciously implies it. Such a possibility is not always allowed for; as L. Hertling has well said: “Those who bandy about the word “develop- ment” most are often just those who are least capable of entering into the mind of the men who only knew the dogma in question at an undeveloped stage.’ 14 Cyprian is a standing example of what we mean when we speak of the Papal Primacy being ‘implicit’ in the early Church. That his difference with Rome created no doubts there as to his loyalty to the unity of the Church, is shown by his being included in the first Roman ‘Martyrology’ (a.p. 354), and enshrined for ever in the Canon of the Roman Mass. 7 Tey The controversies that have raged about the name of Cyprian, and especially about his treatise on The Unity of the Catholic Church, have obscured the value of his evidence for the Christian life and thought of his period. The majesty of God, His mercy and loving kindness; theINTRODUCTION 9 mediatorship of Christ, His Son incarnate, and the revela- tion made manifest in His teaching, His life, death, and resurrection; our dependence on Him for our salvation through Faith, Baptism, the Eucharist, and Penance; His creation of the Church and, within it, of the authority first of the Apostles, then of the bishops their successors, and the necessity of membership of the Church in which He lives on in all its members, and which alone dispenses the gifts of the Spirit; the need of unity and charity in all its forms; the maintenance of a high standard of faith and morality even in the face of the fiercest persecution, and yet a sympathetic understanding for those who have fallen; the future life, prepared for here, determined by Christ’s just judgment as eternal happiness or eternal woe —all these features form the background of Cyprian’s thought and manifest themselves continually in all his treatises and letters. Equally natural to him is his constant appeal to Scripture: Old and New Testament alike® provide him with illustrations or justifications of his teaching and exhortations. And as he is a true pastor of his people, so does he guide his clergy in the difficult times that confront them, and himself promotes, as best he knows, the unity and concord among the bishops of his own African provinces as well as between them and the bishops overseas. His love for Christ and for the Church, as expressed in his writings, enables us to see something of the living Church in action in the middle of the third century. But in any just estimate of his thought due regard must be had for his style, and this presents certain diffi- culties to the translator. Cyprian uses all the artifices of the rhetorical schools, and his style has been compared with that of Apuleius, however diverse may have been theirIo INTRODUCTION subject-matter. ‘It would be impossible to show any direct influence of Apuleius on Cyprian, though nothing can be clearer than the fact that both had been trained in the same school of rhetoric. The writers on the style of Apuleius might, with a very small amount of change, turn their books into a treatise on Cyprian. There is only one of Apuleius’ devices, the use of diminutives, which is not also employed by Cyprian. . . . The symmetrical arrange- ment of balanced clauses, the constant pleonasm (for Cyprian when striving to be eloquent will always use two words in preference to one), the alliteration, the rhyme, the poetical diction, the forced metaphors and combina- tions of incongruous words, and all the artifices of style are to be found in both.’ To get his point across, Cyprian. will pile words one on top of another, regardless of the nuances between his synonyms, or else he shapes a lapidary dictum—which may sound good, but will not always stand up to close analysis. The general effect is powerful, and his thought reveals itself as strong and often beautiful. But given this genre of writing, it is particularly dangerous to isolate particular sentences or phrases from their context, or to build up a system from such phrases gathered from disparate contexts, and call it Cyprian’s ‘thought.’ His Christianity was indeed his life, and he judged all things in its light: this he could do without having any all- embracing preconceived system, and it did not preserve him from occasional inconsistencies. In his search for accuracy, the translator is tempted to over-emphasize words and phrases which occur incident- ally in a general passage; on the other hand, his instinct is to tone down any appearance of inconsistency. If, besides these temptations, the many difficulties inherent in the language itself are borne in mind, as well as the differenceINTRODUCTION wu in background at a distance of seventeen centuries, it should surprise no one if at times the translation seems involved, or stumbling, or obscure. te The text translated is substantially that of G. Hartel in CORPUS SCRIPTORUM ECCLESIASTICORUM LATINORUM 3.1 (Vienna 1868) 207-64. Its few departures from it depend for the De lapsis on J. Martin’s edition in the series FLORILEGIUM PATRISTICUM 23 (Bonn 1930), and for the De ecclesiae catholicae unitate either on Hartel’s own critical apparatus, or (especially in chapter 4) on personal study of the MSS. The following previous translations have been noted: Thornton, C., The Treatises of S. Caecilius Cyprian, in LIBRARY OF THE FATHERS OF THE HOLY CATHOLIC CHURCH 3 (Oxford 1839) 131-76. Wallis, R. E., The Writings of Cyprian, in ANTE-NICENE CHRISTIAN Liprary 8 (Edinburgh 1868) 350-98. See the reprint in ANTE-NICENE FATHERS § (New York 1907) 421-47. The De ecclesiae catholicae unitate has been separately translated into English—see E. H. Blakeney, with the Latin text (London 1928); O. R. Vassall-Phillips (London 1924); F. A. Wright, Fathers of the Church: a Selection from the Writings of the Latin Fathers (London 1928) 112-32 (cf. also 133-37: De lapsis §§23-29); into French, with the Latin text, P. de Labriolle (Paris 1942). For further transla- tions into foreign languages, see J. Quasten, Patrology 2 (Utrecht-Antwerp 1953) 349 and 352. However, rightly or wrongly, hardly any use has been made of previous translations in the course of preparing 2—A.C.W. 2512 INTRODUCTION this one. There is therefore no question of the rendering of any passage having been ‘preferred’ to theirs. At most, some corrections or improvements have been inspired by them in the final revision. Nore. The cross-headings are not in the original.THE LAPSED Joy at the return of peace for the Church and at the triumph of the steadfast (1-3). t. At last, dear brethren, peace has been restored to the Church and, though the pessimists thought it improbable and the pagans impossible, we have recovered our liberty? through the avenging intervention of God.? Joy fills our hearts once more and, with the storm-clouds of persecu- tion swept away, the sunshine of calm and tranquillity has returned. We must give praise to God; we must acknow- ledge His blessings and gifts by our thanksgivings— though in fact our lips never ceased giving thanks even in the midst of persecution; for, however great be the power conceded to the Enemy® against us, he can never prevent those who love God with their whole heart and soul and strength from proclaiming His blessings and hymning His praises at all times and places. The day longed for and prayed for by all has come at last, and after a long night of horror and black gloom, the world is bathed in the radiance and splendour of its Lord. 2. Our confessors* are a joy to look upon, men whose renown is on every tongue, whose courage and faith have covered them with glory; long have we yearned after them with passionate longing,® and we embrace them at last, and affectionately impress on them the sacred kiss.® They form the bright army of the soldicrs of Christ, whose steadfastness broke the fierce onslaught of persecu- tion, ready as they were for the long-suffering of prison life, steeled to the endurance of death. Valiantly you 1314 THE LAPSED repudiated the world; to God you offered a glorious spectacle, to your brethren an example to follow. Your pious lips pronounced the name of Christ and acknow- ledged your unchanging faith in Him;” your hands, which none but sacred works had occupied, were kept unsullied by any sacrilegious sacrifice; your lips, sanctified by the food of heaven, would not admit, after Our Lord’s body and blood, the contamination of idolatrous sacrifices; your heads retained their freedom from the shameful heathen veil® which enslaved the heads of the sacrificers in its folds; your brows, hallowed by God’s seal, could not support the wreath of Satan,® but reserved themselves for the crown which the Lord would give. With what joy in her breast does Mother Church? receive you back from the fray! How blessed, how happy she is to open her gates for you to enter as, in closed ranks, you bear the trophies of the vanquished foe! Joining the victory of their men, come the women too, triumphing over the world and over their sex alike. With them also, celebrating a double victory,1! come the virgins and boys with virtues beyond their years. Nay, but the great body of the faithful follow close upon you, having earned titles to glory almost equal to your own. Theirs was the same loyalty of heart, the same integrity of steadfast faith. Rooted unshakably in the laws of God and disciplined in the teachings of the Gospel, they were unmoved by fear at the decrees of banishment, at the tortures awaiting them, or the threats against their property and persons. The date for the testing of their faith had been fixed ; but when a man remembers that he has renounced the world, he recognizes no day of the world’s fixing; if he looks to an eternity from God, he reckons not the time of earth. 3. Let no one, dear brethren,”CHAPTERS 3-4 15 let no one make little of their glory, let no one with malignant tongue cast a slur on the untarnished courage of those who have stood firm.1® Once the period prescribed for apostatizing had passed, whoever had failed to declare himself within the time, thereby confessed that he was a Christian. If the primary claim to victory is that, having fallen into the hands of the pagans, a man should confess Our Lord, the next title to glory is that he should have gone underground and preserved himself for God's service.® The first makes a public confession, the second a private one; the first wins a victory over an earthly judge, the second keeps his conscience unsullied by the integrity of his will, content to have God as his Judge; in the first, courage is more active, in the second, conscientiousness has inspired prudence. The former, when his hour came, was found to be ripe for it; the hour of the other may only have been postponed since, when he left his estate and went into hiding, he had no intention of denying his faith;1® he would undoubtedly have confessed his faith, had he been taken too. The pitiful condition of the lapsed—the result of general laxity (4-6). 4. These heavenly crowns of the martyrs, these spiritual triumphs of the confessors,”’ these outstanding exploits of our brethren cannot, alas, remove one cause of sorrow: that the Enemy’s violence and slaughter has wrought havoc amongst us and has torn away something from our very heart and cast it to the ground. What shall I do, dear brethren, in face of this? My mind tosses this way and that—what shall I say? How shall I say it? Tears and not words can alone express the grief which so deep a wound in our body calls for, which the great gaps in our once16 THE LAPSED numerous flock evoke from our hearts. Who could be so callous, so stony-hearted, who so unmindful of brotherly love, as to remain dry-eyed in the presence of so many of his own kin who are broken now, shadows of their former selves, dishevelled, in the trappings of grief? Will he not burst into tears at sight of them, before finding words for his sorrow? Believe me, my brothers, I share your distress, and can find no comfort in my own escape and safety; for the shepherd feels the wounds of his flock more than they do. My heart bleeds with each one of you, I share the weight of your sorrow and distress. I mourn with those that mourn, I weep with those that weep, with the fallen I feel I have fallen myself. My limbs too were struck by the arrows of the lurking foe, his angry sword pierced my body too. When persecution rages, the mind of none escapes free and unscathed: when my brethren fell, my heart was struck and I fell at their side. 5. Yet, dear brethren, we must judge facts as they are, and the dark clouds of a cruel persecution must not so blind our eyes that we come to think no light remains to see what God bids us do. If we know what made us fall, we can learn how to heal our wounds. The Master wanted to make trial of His household; and because the long years of peace had undermined our practice of the way of life which God had given us, our languid faith—I had almost said our sleeping faith—was now quickened by the heavenly visitation and, whereas our sins deserved a punishment still greater, our merciful Lord so tempered the course of events that what has befallen us seems rather to have been a testing than a persecution. 6. Each one was intent on adding to his inheritance. For- getting what the faithful used to do under the Apostles! and#® what they should always be doing, each one withCHAPTERS 4-7 17 insatiable greed was engrossed in increasing his own property. Gone was the devotion of bishops to the service of God, gone was the clergy’s® faithful integrity, gone the generous compassion for the needy,?* gone all discipline in our behaviour. Men had their beards plucked,”* women their faces painted:** their eyes must needs be daubed other than God made them, their hair stained a colour not their own. What subtle tricks to deceive the hearts of the simple, what sly manceuvres to entrap the brethren! Marriages contracted with heathens, members of Christ given in prostitution to pagans 124 Not merely imprudent oaths, but perjury itself; swollen pride and contempt for authority; poisonous tongues cursing one another,”* hatred perpetuating mutual antagonisms. Too many bishops, instead of giving encouragement”® and example to others, made no account of their being God’s ministers, and became the ministers of earthly kings; they left their sees, abandoned their people, and toured the markets in other territories on the lookout for profitable deals. While their brethren in the Church went hungry, they wanted to have money in abundance, they acquired landed estates by fraud, and made profits by loans at compound interest. If that is what we have become, what do we not deserve for such sins, when the judgment of God warned us long since, saying: ‘If they forsake my law and walk not in my judgments: if they profane my statutes and observe not my commands: I will visit their crimes with a rod, and their transgressions with scourges’ ?”" God’s commands and warnings forgotten; men even hastened to the sacrifice—dragged others down with them (7-9). 7. We had already been told of this and warned before- hand. But heedless of established law and customary18 THE LAPSED discipline, we brought it upon us by our sins that we should have to face correction for our contempt of God’s commands, and should have our faith put to sterner tests; and even then we did not, at long last, come back to the fear of the Lord, so as to bear with courage and patience the punishment and trial which God sent us. At the first threatening words of the Enemy, an all too large number of the brethren betrayed their faith; they were not felled by the violence of the persecution, but fell of their own free will. Was it something unheard-of that had happened, something beyond expectation, that made men recklessly break their oath to Christ,28 as if a situation had arisen which they had not bargained for? Was it not foretold by the prophets before He came, and by His Apostles since? Were they not inspired by the Holy Spirit to predict that the just would always be oppressed? and ill-treated by the gentiles? Was it not to arm our faith at all times, to confirm the servants of God by a voice from heaven that Holy Writ says: The Lord thy God shalt thou adore, and Him only shalt thou serve?®° Was it not to reveal the wrath of the divine displeasure, and to inspire the fear of punishment that it is written : “They have adored those whom their own hands had made; and man hath bowed himself down, man hath abused himself—and I shall not weaken ‘towards them’; and again God says: ‘He that sacrificeth to gods shall be uprooted—save only if to the Lord’ 2% And in the Gospel later, Our Lord too who taught by word and fulfilled in deed—teaching what was to be, and bringing about what He had foretold—did He not warn us before- hand ofall that is now happening and of what shall happen yet? Did He not foreordain eternal pains for those who deny Him, and the reward of salvation for those who confess Him ?3*CHAPTERS 7-8 19 8. Oh the scandal of it! Some forgot all this and let it slip their memory. They did not even wait to be arrested before going up [to offer sacrifice];** they did not wait to be questioned before they denied their faith. Many were defeated before the battle was joined, they collapsed with- out any encounter, thus even depriving themselves of the plea that they had sacrificed to the idols against their will. Without any compulsion they hastened to the forum, they hurried of themselves to their death, as if this was what they had long been waiting for, as if they were embracing the opportunity to realize the object of their desires. How many, as night fell, had to be put off till later, and how many even begged the magistrates not to postpone their —doom !** What pretext of pressure can such men allege to excuse their crime, when it was rather they who pressed for their own destruction? But surely, even if a man did come to the Capitol®® spontaneously, even if he approached of his own accord to commit himself to this grim crime, did not his step falter, his eyes cloud, did not his heart quake, his limbs tremble? Surely his blood ran cold, his tongue clove to his palate, his speech failed him? Could a servant of God stand there and speak—and renounce Christ, whereas it was the world and the devil he had renounced before? Was not that altar, where he was going to his death, in fact his funeral pyre? When he saw that altar of the devil,®” smoking and reeking with its foul stench, should he not have fled in terror, as from the place where his soul must burn?** Poor fellow, why bring any other offering or victim for the sacrifice? You your- self are the offering and the victim come to the altar; there you have slain your hope of salvation, there in those fatal fires you have reduced your faith to ashes.20 THE LAPSED 9. But many were not content with their own destruc- tion: they encouraged one another and rode to their ruin in a body; with poisoned cup they toasted each other’s death! And to crown this accumulation of crimes: parents even carried their babies and led their youngsters to be robbed of what they had received in earliest infancy. When the day of judgment comes, will these not say : ‘It was not we who did anything, nor of ourselves that we left Our Lord’s food and drink® out of eagerness to defile ourselves with those unholy things; it was the wickedness of others which was our ruin—our parents murdered our souls; it was they who in our name denied the Church to be our Mother, and God to be our Father, so that, small and helpless and innocent as we were of so wicked a crime, through their making us join them in their sins, we became the victims of the unscrupulousness of others’? They could have fled elsewhere, but would not sacrifice their possessions (10-12). 10. There is, alas, no sound or serious excuse for so great a crime. A man had only to leave the country and sacrifice his property. Since man is born to die, who is there who must not eventually leave his country and give up his inheritance? It is Christ who must not be left, it is giving up one’s salvation and one’s eternal home that must be feared. Hear the warning of the Holy Spirit through His prophet: ‘Depart ye, depart, go ye out from thence and touch no unclean thing. Go out of the midst of her, break away, you that carry the vessels of the Lord.’4° And those who are them- selves vessels of the Lord, nay, the temple of God, why do they not go out of the midst and depart, to avoid being compelled to touch the unclean thing, to pollute andCHAPTERS Q-IT 21 desecrate themselves with poisoned meats? Again, in another place, a voice is heard from heaven warning the servants of God what they should do: ‘Go out from her, my people, that thou be not a partaker of her sins, and that thou be not stricken by her plagues.’4t The man who goes out and withdraws himself does not partake in her sin, but if he is discovered in sinful association with her, he too will be stricken by the plagues. That is why Our Lord commanded us to withdraw and flee from persecution, and to en- courage us to it, He both taught and did so Himself.” The crown is bestowed at God’s good pleasure and is not received till the appointed hour, so that ifa man, abiding in Christ, withdraws for a while, he is not denying his faith but only awaiting the time; but whosoever fell through not departing, showed by staying that he was prepared to deny. 11. My brothers, we must not hide the truth; we must not pass over in silence the true nature of our malady nor its cause. What deceived many was a blind attachment to their patrimony, and if they were not free and ready to take themselves away, it was because their property held them in chains. That is what fettered those who remained, those were the chains which shackled their courage and choked their faith and hampered their judgment and throttled their souls, so that the serpent, whom God had condemned to eat of earth,“ found in them his food and his prey, because they clung to the things of earth.* And Our Lord, the teacher of the good, looking to the future warned us against this, saying: “If thou wilt be perfect, sell all thou hast and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come follow me.’4° If the rich would do this, riches would not be their ruin; if they stored up their treasure in heaven, they would not now have an enemy22 THE LAPSED and a thief within their own household; their heart and thought and care would be in heaven, if their treasure lay in heaven: no man could be overcome by the world if he had nothing in the world to overcome him. He would follow Our Lord untrammelled and free as the Apostles and many others did at that time,*” and as some have often done since, leaving their parents and possessions to bind themselves inseparably to Christ. 12. But how can those who are tethered to their in- heritance be following Christ? And can those who are weighed down by earthly desires be secking heaven and aspiring to the heights above? They think of themselves as owners, whereas it is they rather who are owned : enslaved as they are to their own property, they are not the masters of their money but its slaves. The Apostle was pointing to our times and to these very men when he said: For they that will become rich, fall into temptation and into snares and into many hurtful desires, which drown a man into perdition and destruction. For the desire of money is the root of all evils; which some coveting have erred from the faith, and have entangled themselves in many sorrows.4® On the other hand, what rewards does not Our Lord hold out as He invites us to scorn the property we have! For the small, insignificant losses of this world, what rich compensation He makes! “There is no man, He says, ‘that leaveth house, or land, or parents, or brethren, or wife, or children for the kingdom of God’s sake, who shall not receive seven times more in the present time, and in the world to come life everlasting.’* Acknowledging this as we do, and knowing that God is faithful to His promises, not only should we not fear such losses but we should even desire them, for Our Lord Himself has also assured us beforehand: ‘Blessed shall you be when they shall persecute you, and when they shall separateCHAPTERS II-1I3 23 you, and when they shall expel you, and shall curse your name as evil for the Son of man’s sake. Be glad in that day and rejoice: for behold, your reward is great in heaven,’*° The tortures are no excuse for those who did not undergo them (13-14). 13. You will say that tortures came after that, and that the threat of brutal cruelties hung over those who should disobey. But a man can only blame the tortures if it is they that overcame him: the plea of pain can only be made by one who was broken by the pain. In that case he may well plead, and say: ‘I wanted to do battle bravely; remem- bering the promise I had sworn,*! I armed myself with loyalty and faith, but when engaged in the fight I was overcome by the repeated tortures and the endlessness of the suffering. My purpose was firm, my faith strong, and long did my soul struggle resolutely with the pain of the tortures. But as the ferocity of the cruel judge flared up again, I was already exhausted when first I was lashed with whips, then beaten with trunchcons, then stretched on the rack, then ploughed with hooks, then burnt with the fire, till I lost heart for the struggle; it was my physical weakness that gave way, it was not my spirit but my flesh that cracked under the pain.’ Such a plea may truly avail for forgiveness, such a defence deserves our pity. It was thus that in this city a short while ago Castus and Aemilius were pardoned by the Lord; it was thus that, after they had been worsted in the first engagement, He made them victors in the second, so that though they had yielded to the fire before, now they proved themselves the stronger, and what had then defeated them, now gave them their victory. They could call on God for pity, not with tears, but with wounds, not with cries of distress, but with the24 THE LAPSED sufferings of their tortured limbs; in place of tears it was their blood that flowed, in place of weeping the blood streamed from their deep-seared flesh.5™ 14. But what wounds can be shown here by the van- quished, what cuts in gaping flesh, what crippling of their limbs, when it was not faith that fell in the fight, but loss of faith that forestalled the fight? The fallen has not the excuse that he was forced to the crime when the crime was his own choice. Iam not saying this to add to the load of my brethren’s guilt: rather is it to spur them on to the prayer of reparation.™ For since it is written: They that call you blessed are leading you into error and confusing the path of your feet, he who soothes the sinner with comforting flatteries only encourages the sinful appetite; he is not checking crime but fostering it. But he whose advice is more vigorous, administering rebuke and instruction at once, is setting his brother on the way of salvation. ‘ Such as I love,’ saith the Lord, ‘I upbraid and chastise.’** Therefore, the duty of a bishop of the Lord is, not to deceive with false flatteries, but to provide the remedies needed for salvation. He is a poor doctor whose timid hand spares the swelling, festering wound, and who, by letting the poison remain buried deep in the body, only aggravates the ill. The wound must be cut open, the infected parts® cut out, and the wound treated with stringent remedies. Let the patient shout and cry never so much, let him protest in exasperation at the pain—later he will be grateful, when he feels his health restored. The lapsed need to do penance: they must not be deceived by offers of easy reconciliation (15-17). 15. For, dear brethren, there has now appeared a new source of disaster®* and, as if the fierce storm of persecu-CHAPTERS 13-16 25 tion had not been enough, there has come to crown it a subtle evil, an innocent-seeming pestilence, which mas- querades as compassion.®” Contrary to the full strength of the Gospel, contrary to the law of Our Lord and God, through certain people’s®* presumption a deceptive re- admission to communion is being granted,*® a reconcilia- tion that is null and void, one that imperils the givers and is worthless to those who receive it.®° The latter no longer seek the slow painful road to recovery, nor the genuine cure through satisfaction done; what remorse they had has been snatched from their breasts, the gravity and enormity of their crime has been blotted from their memory. The wounds they are dying of are covered up and, through pretence of lack of pain, the mortal affection deep in their organism is concealed. People coming back from the altars of Satan approach Our Lord’s sacred body, * their hands still foul and recking ; © while still belching, one may say, from the poisonous food of the idols—their breath even yet charged with the foulness of their crime and with the stench of their repulsive death-feast—they desecrate the body of the Lord, whereas Sacred Scripture cries aloud against them: He that is clean shall eat of the flesh, and if any man shall eat of the flesh of the saving sacrifice which is the Lord’s, and his own defilement be upon him, that man shall perish from among his people. So the Apostle also testifies when he says: You cannot drink the chalice of the Lord and the chalice of devils; you cannot have communion at the table of the Lord and at the table of devils;*4 and he threatens and denounces the obstinate and the unrighteous, saying: ~ Whosoever shall eat the bread and drink the chalice of the Lord unworthily shall be guilty of the body and of the blood of the Lord.® 16. With utter neglect and contempt for all this,26 THE LAPSED without making any expiation for their sins or any open acknowledgment® of their guilt, before their conscience has been purified by any sacrifice offered by the priest or by imposition of hands,®? before the menacing anger of their offended Lord has been appeased, they make an assault upon His body and blood, and their hands and mouth sin more grievously now against their Lord than when with their lips they denied Him. They think that it is the pax®® which certain men® are hawking about”? with honeyed words; it is not peace but war, and no one is in union with the Church who cuts himself off from the Gospel. Why do those men describe the harm they inflict as a blessing? Why do they call the sacrilege they commit a sacrament??? Why do they admit to communion, as they pretend, those who should still be weeping and calling on God’s mercy, making them drop all sorrowing and penance? Those men do as much harm to the lapsed as hail to the crops, as a wild tempest does to trees; they are like a ravening plague to cattle, like a fierce storm to ships at sea. They rob men of the comfort of hope, they tear them up by the roots, their poisonous words spread a deadly contagion, they dash the ship against the rocks to prevent its making port. Their indulgence does not mean the granting of reconciliation but its frustration, it does not restore men to communion but bars them from it and from salvation.” This is a new sort of persecution, a new sort of temptation, by which the crafty Enemy” still attacks the lapsed, and ranges about wreaking unsuspected devastation: silencing lamentation, dispensing from re- pentance, abolishing all memory of crime; no breast is to sigh, no tears to flow, no long, expiratory penance is to implore the mercy of a Lord so grievously offended. YetCHAPTERS 16-18 27 is it written: “Remember from whence thou art fallen: and do penance.’74 17. Let no man deceive himself, let none be misled. Only the Lord can grant mercy.” Sins committed against Him can be cancelled’® by Him alone who bore our sins and suffered for us, by Him whom God delivered up for our sins. Man cannot be above God,” nor can the servant by any indulgence of his own remit or condone the graver sort of crime committed against his Lord, for that would make the lapsed liable to this further charge, that he knows not’$ the words of the prophet: ‘Cursed be the man that putteth his hope in man.’” It is Our Lord we must pray to,*°itis Our Lord we must win over by our satisfac- tion; for He has said He will deny the man that denies Him, ** and He alone has received all power of judgment from His Father. ®? The intercession of the martyrs has its own virtue: but not against the Gospel (17-20). We do not call in question the power which the merits of the martyrs® and the works of the just have with the Judge, but that will be when the day of judgment comes, when after the passing of this present world;®* Christ’s flock stands before His tribunal. 18. If, however, anyone® in his impatience of delay thinks that he can condone the sins of all, presuming thus to override Our Lord’s com- mands,*** so far from benefiting the lapsed his rashness does them harm. To disregard His decree§* is to call down His anger, if one thinks that there is no need now to appeal to His mercy, but, treating the Lord with contempt, one presumes to exercise indulgence oneself. At the foot of God’s altar®’ the souls of the martyrs who have been slain ty aloud saying: How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost —A.C.W. 2528 THE LAPSED Thou not judge and revenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? 8 And they are told that they must wait and have patience yet awhile. Is it credible, then,® that anyone should wish for good to be done, by wholesale remissions and condonations of sin, against the will of the Judge, or that before he has himself been avenged, he should have the power to defend others? Suppose*? the martyrs do want something done; if it is good and lawful, if it does not involve that God’s bishop should act against Our Lord Himself, then let him accede readily and with all deference to their wishes—provided of course that the petitioner observes a becoming modesty. The martyrs want some- thing done, no doubt; but if their behest is not in the Lord’s written Law, we must first know whether what they ask for has been granted to them by the Lord, and only then carry out their bidding.*! We cannot take it for granted that because man has made a promise, the same has been granted by the majesty of God. 19. For even Moses prayed on behalf of the sins of the people without securing pardon for the sinners he was pleading for. I beseech Thee, Lord, he said, this people hath committed a grievous crime;...and now if Thou wouldst forgive them their crime, forgive them; but if not, strike me out of the book that Thou hast written. And the Lord said to Moses: ‘If a man hath sinned before me, him will I strike out of my book.’® Moses was the friend of God, Moses had often spoken with the Lord face to face, yet he was unable to obtain what he asked for, and his intercession did not appease God’s offended anger. Jeremias was praised and extolled by God: ‘Before I formed thee in the bowels of thy mother, I knew thee, and before thou camest forth out of the womb, I sanctified thee and appointed thee a prophet unto the nations, *? and yet when he besought and prayed repeatedlyCHAPTERS 18-20 29 for the sins of the people, God said to him: ‘Pray not for this people, and ask not for them in prayer and petition; for I will not hear them in the time when they shall call upon me, in the time of their affliction.’ Again, was ever justice greater than Noe’s, who when the world was covered with sins, was the only just man found on earth? Was ever glory greater than Daniel’s? In enduring martyrdoms was there ever constancy in the faith®® more robust than his, or more favour of God enjoyed, who so often was put to the test and won; and winning, survived unscathed ?9%* Was there ever alacrity in service greater than Job’s, greater fortitude in trials, greater patience in suffering, greater resignation in time of fear, greater staunchness of faith than his? And yet God said that not even if they were to ask, would He grant their prayer. When the prophet Ezechiel was praying for his sinful people, God spoke: ‘Whatever land shail sin against me so as to commit iniquity, I will stretch forth my hand upon it and will destroy its support of bread, and I will send famine upon it and will carry off man and beast from it. Even if these three men, Noe, Daniel, and Job, shall be in it, . . . they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters, but they themselves alone shall be saved.’®® So true is it that not every request is settled by the merits of the petitioner, but that it lies at the discretion of the giver,®? and no human verdict can presume to claim any authority, unless God’s judgment concurs. 20. In the Gospel, Our Lord says: ‘He that shall confess ime before men, I will also confess him before my Father who is in heaven; but he that shall deny me, I will also deny him.’®8 If He is not to deny the man who denies Him,” neither will He confess him who confesses Him; the Gospel cannot in part stand and in part fail: either both parts must hold, or both must lose their authority. If those who deny Him30 THE LAPSED are not to be held guilty ofa crime, neither shall those who confess Him receive! the reward of virtue. But if the victory of faith receives its crown, the defeat of faithless- ness must receive its punishment. Therefore, either the martyrs avail nothing, if the Gospel fails; or, if the Gospel cannot fail, then those whom the Gospel enables to become martyrs, cannot act in opposition to the Gospel. But let none, my dear brethren, let none besmirch the fair name of the martyrs, let none rob them of the glory of their crown. The strength and purity of their faith stands unimpaired: nothing can be said or done against Christ by one whose whole hope and faith, whose whole strength and glory abides in Christ; those who themselves have fulfilled the commands of God, cannot instigate the bishops to act against the command of God. God's judgments provoked by sin and insubordination; some recent instances of prompt retribution (20-26). Ort” does some individual think himself greater than God or more merciful than the divine goodness, that he should want to undo what God has allowed to take place and, as if God were unequal to the protection of His Church, should pretend to come to our rescue and save us? 21. Or was it, perhaps,1°* without God’s knowledge that these things happened, or without His permission that all these calamities! befell us? Let the stubborn! learn, and the forgetful be reminded what Sacred Scripture says: Who hath given Jacob for a spoil, and Israel to those who were pillaging him? Is it not God, He against whom they have sinned refusing to walk in His ways or hearken to His Law? And He drew down upon them the fury of His wrath.1°° And elsewhere it testifies thus: Has then the hand of God lost its power that it cannot save, or has He dulled His ear that itCHAPTERS 20-23 au carinot hear? But your sins form a barrier between you and your God, and because of your sins He turns His face from you lest He have mercy. Let us reckon up our sins, let us examine the secret springs of our actions and desires, and ponder what in conscience we deserve. Let us recognize in our hearts that we have not walked in the ways of the Lord, that we have cast aside the Law of God, that we have never been willing to obey°8 His commands and salutary warnings. 22. What good can there be in a man, what can you think of his fear of the Lord or of his faith, when neither warnings have been able to correct him, nor even persecu- tion has induced him to reform? His stiff and arrogant neck was not bowed even by his fall; his proud and swollen spirit was not quelled even by defeat. Stricken to the dust, he challenges those who are standing unscathed; and because Our Lord’s body is not at once placed in his unclean hands nor his polluted mouth given Our Lord’s blood to drink, he raves against the sacred ministers— steeped in sacrilege as he is. Yes, you rave—and what madness could be greater? You rave against him who is trying to shield you from the anger of God, you abuse him who invokes Our Lord’s mercy upon you, who feels your wound as his own which you do not feel yourself; who weeps for you who, it seems, weep not for yourself. You are only heaping up and adding to your guilt, and if you pursue the bishops and priests of God1?° so unrelentingly, do you think that Our Lord will be moved to relent!!! towards you? 23. No—hear what we say and take it to heart. Why are your ears deaf to the rules of salvation that we propose? Why are your eyes blind to the road of penitence that we point to? Why is your mind closed and prejudiced in the32 THE LAPSED presence of the life-giving remedies which we learn and proclaim from the Holy Scriptures? If certain doubters have too little faith in what the future holds in store, let them learn to tremble from what is happening even now. Look at what penalties we see overtaking men who have denied the faith, what an evil end, alas! they have come to. Not even here below can they go unpunished, though the day of reckoning is yet to come. If some are struck down already,’ it is to instruct the rest. The penalty of a few’ is a warning to all. 24. Among those who of their own accord went up to the Capitol’ to deny Christ, there was one who after his denial was struck dumb. His punishment fell where his crime had begun; now he could not even pray, as he had no words with which to beg for mercy.1!* Another, a woman, went to the baths—as she had lost the grace of the waters of baptism, her sin and sorry state wanted nothing but she must make straight for the baths, of all places !415* But there, unclean as she was, she was possessed by an unclean spirit, and with her teeth she bit her own tongue to pieces because it had tasted and uttered 6 such impious things. The criminal food had filled her mouth with such rage as to become a weapon for her own des- truction. She was made her own executioner and could not long survive: in the throes of internal pangs she expired. 25. Listen to what happened in my presence, before my very eyes. There was a baby girl, whose parents had fled and had, in their fear, rather improvidently left it in the charge of its nurse. The nurse took the helpless child to the magistrates. There, before the idol where the crowds were flocking, as it was too young to cat the flesh, they gave it some bread dipped in what was left of the wine offered by those who had already doomed themselves.12”CHAPTERS 23-26 33 Later, the mother recovered her child. But the girl could not reveal or tell the wicked thing that had been done, any more than she had been able to understand or ward it off before. Thus, when the mother brought her in with her while we were offering the Sacrifice, "8 it was through ignorance that this mischance occurred.*” But the infant, in the midst of the faithful,° resenting the prayer and the offering? we were making, began to cry convulsively, struggling and tossing in a veritable brain-storm, and for all its tender age and simplicity of soul, was confessing, as if under torture, in every way it could, its consciousness of the misdeed. Moreover, when the sacred rites!* were completed and the deacon began ministering to those present, 14 when its turn came to receive, it curned its little head away as if sensing the divine presence, it closed its mouth, held its lips tight, and refused to drink from the chalice.1#° The deacon persisted and, in spite of its opposi- tion, poured in some of the consecrated chalice. There followed choking and vomiting. The Eucharist could not remain in a body or a mouth that was defiled; the drink which had been sanctified by Our Lord’s blood#"* returned from the polluted stomach. So great is the power of the Lord, so sacred His majesty; under His light the hidden corners of darkness were laid bare, even secret crimes did not escape the priest of God. 7 26. So much for the child involved in the crime of others, but too young to reveal it. But an older girl, already growing up, slipped in secretly among those assisting at [our] sacrifice. 1?8 It was not food that she took so much as a sword against herself, and what she swallowed might have been some deadly poison entering her breast. After the first spasms, struggling for breath, she began to choke and, a victim now not of the persecution but of her own34 THE LAPSED crime, she collapsed in tremors and convulsions. The guilt which she had tried to hide did not remain long un- punished or concealed. If she had deceived man, she was made to feel the avenging hand of God. There was a woman too who with impure hands tried to open the locket in which she was keeping Our Lord’s holy body, *° but fire flared up from it and she was too terrified to touch it. And a man who, in spite of his sin, also presumed secretly to join the rest in receiving of the sacrifice? offered by the bishop, * was unable to eat or even handle Our Lord’s sacred body; when he opened his hands, he found he was holding nothing but ashes. By this one example it was made manifest that Our Lord removes Himself from one who denies Him, and that what is received brings no blessing? to the unworthy, since the Holy One™ has fled and the saving grace is turned to ashes. How many there are every day who, refusing to do penance or to confess the guilt on their souls,1° become possessed by unclean spirits, how many are driven out of their senses in a frenzy of fury and madness! No need to recount the fate of each, since among the innumerable calamities in the world, the variety of the punishments is as great as the number of the sinners themselves. Let each one consider not what has befallen someone else but what affliction he deserves himself; and let him not think that he has escaped because no penalty has yet overtaken him; he has all the more to fear if the wrath of the divine Judge has reserved him for itself. Those who only secured certificates of sacrifice sinned less grievously, yet their guilt is great (27-28). 27. Nor let people flatter themselves that they need doCHAPTERS 26-28 35 no penance because they have kept their hands clean from the accursed sacrifices, when all the time they have certificates of sacrifice on their conscience. Why, such a certificate is itself a confession of apostasy, it is a testimonial that the Christian has renounced what he once was. All that others have done in fact, he says he has done too; and in view of the Scripture saying : ‘Ye cannot serve two masters, °° he has served an earthly master, he has obeyed his decree, he has obeyed a man’s command rather than God’s. Small comfort to him that the publica- tion of “what he did’ has saved his honour and reputation a little in the eyes of men;*” he will not be able to escape the eye of God his Judge, for the Holy Spirit says in the Psalms: Thy eyes have seen what is the imperfection of my being, and in Thy book all shall be written;** and again: Man looks upon the countenance, but God upon the heart; and the Lord Himself forewarns and forearms us: ‘ And all the churches shall know that I am the searcher of the reins and the heart.’ 4° He sees what is secret and hidden, He discerns what is concealed, and no man can evade the eyes of the God who says: ‘I am a God at hand, and not a God afar. Ifa man be hid in secret places, shall I not therefore see Him?” 141 He sees the heart and conscience of every man, and He who is to judge not only our deeds, but also our words and thoughts, contemplates the movements of the minds and wills of all, hidden though they be in the recesses of the soul. 28. And lastly, how much greater is the faith and more salutary the fear of those who, though bound by no crime of sacrifice or certificate, yet merely because they enter- tained such a thought, confess even this to the priests of God simply and contritely, and manifest their conscience to them. They lay bare the burden that is on their minds36 THE LAPSED and seek treatment for their wounds, light and superficial as they are, knowing that it is written : God is not mocked. God cannot be mocked or outwitted, no clever cunning can deceive Him. Indeed, a man sins all the more griev- ously if he judges of God by human standards and thinks he will escape the penalty of his sin because he committed no overt act. Christ in His teaching says: ‘He that shall be ashamed of me .. . him shall the Son of man put to shame’ ;44 and can a man account himself a Christian if being a Christian makes him blush and™ afraid to admit it? How can he be ‘with Christ’ if he is ashamed and afraid to belong to Christ? Let us grant that he has sinned the less because he avoided looking upon the idols and profaning the sanctity of his faith before the eyes of a scoffing multitude, and because he avoided polluting his hands with the offerings of perdition and befouling his mouth with the execrable food : his only gain is that his guilt is less, not that his conscience is free from stain. More easily can he obtain pardon for his sin, but guilty he is for all that; let him persevere in doing penance and imploring God’s mercy, lest what made for the mitigation of his crime turn to its increase through the neglect of reparation. Genuine penance is called for, after the example of the Saints of the Old Law (29-32). 29. Let each one, I entreat you, brethren, confess his sin while he who has sinned is still in this world, while his confession ™® can still be heard, while satisfaction and for- giveness granted through the priests are pleasing to God. Let us turn back to the Lord with our whole heart and, expressing our repentance in deep sorrow, implore God for His mercy. Let our souls bow before Him, let our sorrow be offered to Him in satisfaction, let our hopes allCHAPTERS 28-30 37 rest in Him. He Himself has told us how to ask: ‘Return to me from all your heart, along with fasting and weeping and mourning, and rend your hearts and not your garments.’ 4° Let us return to the Lord with all our hearts, let us appease His anger and displeasure, by fasting, tears, and lamenta- tions, as He Himself enjoins. 30. But are we to believe that a man is sorrowing with all his heart, that he is calling on the Lord with fasting, tears, and lamentations, when from the very day of his sin he is found daily at the baths, or after feasting sumptu- ously and gorging himself to excess he is next day belching with indigestion, and never shares any of his food or drink with those in need? When he goes about laughing cheerfully, how can he be lamenting the state of death he is in? And whereas it is written: ‘You shall not spoil the appearance of your beards, °° why is he plucking hairs from his beard and making up his face? Is he courting someone’s favour when he is out of favour with God? Or is that lady sighing and sorrowing who spends her time decking her- self out in rich dresses, without a thought for the ‘putting on of Christ’ !®1 which she has lost; or when she dons such costly ornaments and jewelled necklaces, without a sigh for the lost splendour of holiness with which God once decked her? For all the foreign garments you put on, for all your silks from China—you are naked still; with whatever gold ~ and pearls and jewels you enhance your beauty, without Christ’s beauty you are unsightly still. Dye your hair no more, at least now that you are in mourning; and as for your eyes which you paint up with kohl, let tears, at least now, wash them clean of it. If death had robbed you of one of your dear ones, you would mourn and weep in sorrow; with face neglected, finery laid aside, hair dis- hevelled, melancholy look and eyes cast down, you would38 THE LAPSED show every sign of grief. Yet now, for shame, when you have lost your very soul and only survive here in a life of spiritual death, walking about in your own corpse—why are you not weeping bitterly and moaning inconsolably ? Why do you not hide away, out of shame for your crime, and give yourself up to your grief? Nay, your wounds are even greater, your guilt still deeper: for after sinning you make no atonement, you have fallen and you do not repent. 31. Those noble and splendid youths, Ananias, Azarias, and Misael, even in the flaming heat of the fiery furnace ceased not making confession to God. Though they were clear in conscience, having often earned God’s favour by the service of their faith and reverence, yet they persevered in humility and in making satisfaction to God even in the midst of those tortures!® which so gloriously testified to their virtues. Holy Scripture records that: standing, Azarias prayed and opened his mouth and made confession to God together with his companions in the midst of the fire.° Daniel too, even after the many graces which rewarded his faith and innocence, after being repeatedly honoured by the Lord for his virtues and merits, yet continued to strive after God’s favour and, rolling on the ground in sackcloth and ashes, made his confession in sorrow, saying : O Lord God, the great and the strong and the terrible, who keepest the covenant and mercy to them that love Thee and keep Thy commandments, we have sinned, we have transgressed and abandoned Thy commands and Thy judgments. We have not listened to what Thy children the Prophets have spoken in Thy name over our kings and all the nations and over all the earth. To Thee, O Lord, to Thee be justice, but to us distress.1°" 32. This is what those who were meek and simple andCHAPTERS 30-33 39 innocent did to win the favour of the majesty of God; and to-day those who have even denied the Lord refuse to pray to the Lord or to make satisfaction! Brethren, submit, I beg you, to the remedies of salvation; yield to better counsels, join your tears to ours, add your sorrow to our sorrow.!°8 We appeal to you, so as to be able to appeal to the Lord for you; to you first we direct the prayers which we are offering to God for you, that He may show you mercy. Carry out your penance to the full, show proof of the sorrow of a repentant and contrite heart. Avoid the example and the company of unrepentant sinners and their abettors (33-34). 33- And do not be influenced by the recklessness or silly empty-headedness of certain folk who, for all the gravity of their guilt, are so blinded in soul that they neither recognize their sins nor repent of them. Thus has God’s anger struck them a still greater blow, as it is written: And God has stricken their minds through; and again: They received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And therefore God shall send them the operation of error, to believe lying : that all may be judged who have not believed the truth but are contented in their injustice.18° Thus, self- contented without justice, their minds stricken with a foolish madness, they despise the commands of God, they leave their wounds untended, they refuse to do penance. Reckless before their fall, they are without remorse after it; weak-kneed before, they kneel not after; when they should have stood firm, they fell, when they should throw themselves prostrate before God, they think themselves to stand.** None gave them reconciliation, ! they presumed it for themselves; they have yielded to false promises and, joining apostates and renegades, they are receiving a sham40 THE LAPSED in place of the reality, taking as valid the communion of those who are themselves not in communion; they are putting their faith in men in despite of God,* after failing to profess their faith in God in despite of men.1™ 34. Doall you can to break away from such men; as you value your salvation, avoid those who associate with such harmful connections. Their talk spreads like a canker,*® their conversation is as catching?®° as an infection, their poisonous and pernicious propaganda is more deadly chan was the persecution itself. The latter leaves the door open to penance and satisfaction; but those who do away with penance for sin, shut the door against satisfaction al- together. And so it is that, through the presumption of certain folk who beguile with false promises of salvation, all true hope of salvation is destroyed. Implore God’s mercy by penance and almsdeeds : He is kind and full of mercy, He will strengthen and reward (35-36). 35. But those among you, my brothers, who are respon- sive to the fear of God and who despite your fall are conscious of your plight, let the sight of your sins move you to penance and sorrow; acknowledge how grievously your conscience reproaches you, open your soul to the realization of your crime, neither despairing of God’s mercy nor yet claiming instant pardon. While God in His fatherly affection is ever forgiving and kind, in His majesty as Judge, He deserves our fear. Let the earnestness of our repentance correspond to the gravity of our sin. When the wound is so serious, let it have the exacting and prolonged treatment it needs; let the penance do full justice to the crime. Do you think that God will be appeased” in a moment—God, whom you repudiated with treasonable words; God, whom you chose to place lower than yourCHAPTERS 33-36 4I patrimony; God, whose temple you polluted with the defilement of sacrilege?#®® Do you think that He will easily have mercy on you,? after your saying that He meant nothing to you? You must beg and pray assiduously, spend the day sorrowing and the night in vigils and tears, fill every moment with weeping and lamentation; you must lie on the ground amidst clinging ashes, toss about chafing in the sackcloth of mourning; having once been clothed with Christ, refuse all other raiment now; having supped with the devil, choose rather now to fast; apply yourself to good deeds*”° which can wash away your sins, be constant and generous in giving alms, whereby souls are freed from death. What the Adversary was trying to make his own, let it become Christ’s. A man should not keep and love that patrimony which ensnared him and caused his down- fall. Such property must be shunned like an enenry, fled from like a highwayman; those who own it must fear it as they would fear poison or the sword. Let what remains of it serve only to make reparation for the guilt of sin. Let your largess be without delay, without stint,!” let all your wealth be expended on the healing of your wound; let us use our goods and our riches to make Our Lord * beholden to us,!” for He is one day to be our Judge. Such was the rich fruit of faith in the Apostles’ time, this was how the first assembly of believers observed. Christ’s com- mands: they gave at once, and generously. They gave their all to be distributed by the Apostles—yet!’® they had no such crimes to repair. 36. To him who prays with all his heart, to him who mourns with tears and sighs of true repentance, to him who by good works of persevering charity pleads to the Lord for mercy on his sin—to such He can extend His42 THE LAPSED mercy,‘ since He has shown the mercy of His heart when He said: “When you return and mourn, then shall you be saved and know where you once were’;"® and again: ‘I desire not the death of the dying,’ saith the Lord, ‘but that he return and live.” And the prophet Joel, at the bidding of the Lord, declares the Lord’s loving-kindness: Return, he says, to the Lord your God, jor He is merciful and kind and patient and full of mercy and ready to revoke His sentence upon wicked deeds.“8 He can be indulgent; He can revoke His own condenination. Towards sorrow, good works, plead- ings, He can show clemency and forgive; He can take into account what the martyrs have asked for on their behalf and what the bishops have done for them.” Nay, when a man’s reparation is such as to touch His heart still more, when the sincerity of his pleading appeases His anger at the offence, He equips the vanquished with arms once more, and restores and reinforces the vitality whereby faith is renewed and can bear fruit. A soldier once more he will return to the fray, he will engage anew and challenge the enemy—and will do so with all the more zest for his remorse. He who has made such satisfaction to God, he who by his repentance and shame for his sin, draws from the bitterness of his fall18° a fresh fund of valour and loyalty, shall by the help he has won from the Lord, rejoice the heart of the Church whom he has so lately pained; he will earn not merely God’s forgiveness, but His crown.THE UNITY OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH The devil's wiles must be unmasked and overcome by obedience to Christ’s commands (1-2). 1. Our Lord solemnly warns us: ‘ You are the salt of the earth, 1 and bids us in our love of good to be not only simple but prudent as well. Accordingly, dearest brethren, what else ought we to do but be on our guard and watch vigilantly, in order to know the snares of our crafty foe and to avoid them?? Otherwise, after putting on Christ who is the Wisdom of God the Father,* we may be found to have failed in wisdom for the care of our souls.‘ It is not persecution alone that we ought to fear, nor those forces that in open warfare range abroad to overthrow and defeat the servants of God. It is easy enough to be on one’s guard when the danger is obvious; one can stir up one’s courage for the fight when the Enemy shows himself in his true colours. There is more need to fear and beware of the Enemy when he creeps up secretly,> when he beguiles us by a show of peace and steals forward by those hidden approaches which have earned him the name of the ‘Serpent.’ Such is ever his craft: lurking in the dark, he ensnares men by trickery. That was how at the very beginning of the world he deceived and by lying words of flattery beguiled the unguarded credulity of a simple soul; that was how he tried to tempt Our Lord Himself, ap- proaching Him in disguise, as though he could once more creep upon his victim and deceive Him. But he was recognized and beaten back, and he was defeated precisely through being detected and unmasked. 4—A.C.W. 25 4344 THE UNITY OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH 2. Here we are given an example how to break company with the “old man,’* how to follow in the steps of Christ to victory, so that we may not carelessly stumble again into the snare of death, but being alive to the danger, hold fast to the immortality given us. And how can we hold fast to immortality unless we observe those command- ments of Christ by which death is defeated and conquered? He Himself assures us: “If thou wilt attain to life, keep the commandments’ ;7 and again: “If ye do what I command you, I call you no longer servants but friends.’® He says that it is those who so act® that are strong and firm; it is chey that are founded in massive security upon a rock,?° they that are established in unshakable solidity, proof against all the storms and hurricanes of the world. ‘Him that heareth my words and doeth them,’ He says, ‘I will liken to the wise man who built his house upon the rock. The rain fell, the floods rose, the winds came and they crashed against that house: but it fell not. For it was founded upon the rock.’ 14 We must therefore carry out His words: whatsoever He taught and did, that must we learn and do ourselves. Indeed how can a man say he believes in Christ if he does not do what Christ commanded him to do? Or how shall a man who when under command will not keep faith,” hope to receive the reward of faith? He who does not keep to the true way of salvation™ will inevitably falter and stray; caught up by some gust of error, he will be tossed about like windswept dust; walk as he may, he will make no advance towards his salvation. In face of heresy and schism, we must recognize that Christ founded the Church on Peter. Expansion no detriment to oneness (3-5). 3. However, we must not only beware of all that isCHAPTERS 2-3 45 obvious and unmistakable, but also of all that can deceive by fraud and cunning. What could be more clever and cunning than the Enemy’s moves after being unmasked and worsted by Christ’s coming ?™ Light had come to the gentiles and the lamp of salvation was shining for the deliverance of mankind, so that the deaf began to hearken to the Spirit’s call of grace, the blind to open their eyes upon the Lord, the sick to recover their health unto eternity, the lame to make speed to the Church, and the dumb to raise their voice aloud in prayer. Thereupon the Enemy, seeing his idols abandoned and his temples and haunts deserted by the ever growing numbers of the faith- ful, devised a fresh deceit, using the Christian name itself1* to mislead the unwary. He invented heresies and schisms so as to undermine the faith, to corrupt the truth, to sunder our unity.1” Those whom he has failed to keep in the blindness of their old ways he beguiles, and leads them up a new road of illusion. He snatches away people from within the Church herself, and while they think that coming close to the light they have now done with the night of the world, he plunges them unexpectedly into darkness of another kind.18 They still call themselves Christians after abandoning the Gospel of Christ and the observance of His law; though walking in darkness they think they still enjoy the light. The Enemy cajoles and deceives them; as the Apostle says, he transforms himself into an angel of light, and primes his servants to act as the servants of justice, to call the night day, and damnation salvation, to teach recklessness under the pretext of hope, 2% disbelief under colour of the faith, Antichrist under the name of Christ, so that by lies that have all the appearance of truth, they undermine the truth with trickery. All this has come about, dearest brethren, because men do not go46 THE UNITY OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH back to the origin of [the Christian] realities,2 because they do not look for their source, nor keep to the teaching of their heavenly Master.®* 4. But if anyone considers those things carefully, he will need no long discourse or arguments. The proof is simple and convincing, being summed up in a matter of fact.? The Lord says to Peter:?4 ‘I say to thee, that thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not overcome it. I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And what thou shalt bind upon earth shall be bound also in heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed also in heaven.’% [1st edition] And He says to him again after the resurrection : ‘Feed my sheep.’2 It is on him that He builds the Church, and to him that He entrusts the sheep to feed. And although He assigns a like power to all the Apostles,*® yet He founded a single Chair, thus establishing by His own authority the source and hallmark of the [Church’s] oneness.2” No doubt the others were all that Peter was, but a primacy is given to Peter,?8 and it is [thus] made clear that there is but one Church and one Chair. So too, even if they are all shepherds, we are shown but one flock which is to be fed by all the Apostles in common accord. Ifa man does not hold fast to [2nd edition] It is on one man*! that He builds the Church, and al- though He assigns a like power to all the Apostles after His resurrection, saying: ‘As the Father hath sent me, I also send you.... Receive ye the Holy Spirit: if you forgive any man his sins, they shall be forgiven him; if you retain any man’s, they shall be retained,’®* yct, in order that the oneness might be un- mistakable, He established by His own authority a source for that oneness having its origin in one man alone. No doubt the other Apostles were all that Peter was, endowed with equal dignity and power, but the start comes from him alone, in order to show that the Church of Christ is unique.**CHAPTERS 3-5 this oneness of Peter,?® does he imagine that he still holds the faith? If he deserts the Chair of Peter®° upon whom the Church was built, has he still confidence that he is in the Church? 47 Indeed this oneness of the Church is figured in the Can- ticle of Canticles when the Holy Spirit, speaking in Our Lord’s name, says: ‘One is my dove, my perfect one: to her mother she is the only one, the darling of her womb.’3* If 2 man does not hold fast to this one- ness of the Church, does he imagine that he still holds the faith? If he resists and with- stands the Church, has he still confidence that he is in the Church, when the blessed Apostle Paul®* gives us this very teaching and points to the mystery of Oneness®> saying: “One body and one Spirit, one hope of your calling, one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism, one God’ 237 5. Now this oneness we must hold to** firmly and insist on—especially we who are bishops®® and exercise autho- rity in the Church—so as to demonstrate* that the episcopal power is one and undivided too. Let none mislead the brethren with a lie, let none corrupt the true content of the faith*! by a faithless perversion of the truth. The authority of the bishops forms a unity,” of which each holds his part in its totality.4 And the Church forms a unity, however far she spreads and multiplies by the