Sermon 309
SERMO 309
On the birthday of Cyprian the Martyr
The suffering of Cyprian is remembered.
The sermon owed by us to your ears and hearts is demanded by so pleasing and religious a solemnity, in which we celebrate the passion of the blessed Martyr. The Church was undoubtedly sad then, not from the loss of the falling one, but from the longing for the departing one; always desiring to see present such a good leader and teacher. But those whom the anxiety of the battle had afflicted, the victor's crown consoled. And now, not only without any sadness, but even with immense joy, we recall by reading and cherishing all that was done at that time; and on this day, it is now allowed to rejoice, not to fear. For we do not dread him coming fearfully, but await him cheerfully returning. Therefore, it pleases us to remember with exultation the entire passion of that most faithful and most courageous and most glorious Martyr in the past, which the brothers then endured with anxiety in the future.
His exile. Return from exile.
First, therefore, the fact that he was sent into exile in Curubis for the faith of the confession of Christ, it did not harm Saint Cyprian in any way, but rather it greatly benefited that city. For wherever he himself would be sent, would not Christ also be there, for whose testimony he was being sent? Thus Christ who said: "Behold, I am with you all days, even unto the consummation of the age," received his member in every place, wherever the rage of the enemy drove him. O foolish unbelief of the persecutor! If you seek a place of exile to which a Christian is to be sent; first, if you can, find a place from which Christ can be forced to go out. You think that you are excluding the man of God from his homeland into a foreign land, in Christ never an exile, in the flesh everywhere a pilgrim. But now it is pleasing to consider and recall after that, which Cyprian did not feel, but the enemy thought was exile, what followed in the order of his suffering. For when Cyprian, a holy martyr chosen by God, had returned from the city of Curubis, into which he had been sent into exile by the decree of Aspasius Paternus the proconsul, he was staying in his gardens: and from there he daily hoped to be visited, as it had been shown to him.
The arrest by two officers.
What now would the force of the persecutor’s attack rage against a heart always prepared, further strengthened by the revelation of the Lord? For when would He abandon the one who suffers, whom He did not allow to be surprised in ignorance? So now, as it happened that two were sent to present him to the suffering, who even lifted him into the chariot and placed him in the middle; and this was a sign of divine admonition, so that he would joyfully recall that he belongs to His body, who was reckoned among the wicked. For Christ, hung on the wood between two thieves, was provided as an example of patience. But Cyprian, carried to his passion in the chariot between two attendants, was following the footsteps of Christ.
The pastoral concern of Cyprian.
What is it, when he had been delayed another day with his guards, and a crowd of brothers and sisters gathered and spent the night at the doors, he ordered the girls to be guarded—how greatly must this be considered? How greatly must it be praised? How greatly must it be lauded? At the point of bodily death, the pastoral vigilance of the shepherd did not die in his mind; and the care of protecting the Lord's flock was maintained with sober mind up to the last day of this life: nor did the hand already near the bloody executioner drive from his mind the duty of the most faithful steward. As he contemplated being a martyr, he did not forget being a bishop: he cared more about how he would give an account to the chief shepherd for the sheep entrusted to him than what he would reply to the unfaithful proconsul about his own faith. For he loved Him who had said to Peter: Do you love me? Feed my sheep. And he was feeding His sheep, for whom he prepared to shed his blood in imitation. He ordered the girls to be guarded, knowing that he had not only a simple Lord, but also a wily adversary. Thus, he armed a manly heart against the lion openly roaring in confession, while also fortifying the female sex against the wolf lurking for the flock.
How one should take counsel for oneself. Every day should be counted as if it were the last. The words of the proconsul to Cyprian, and his response.
He truly takes care of himself who thinks of God as judge, before whom each one is going to present the case of this life conducted and the charge entrusted to him by Him: where every man receives, as the Apostle testifies, the things done through the body, whether good or evil. Thus, he takes care of himself who, living by faith and striving not to be taken unawares by the final day, reckons every day as his last, and so conducts his behavior pleasing to God until the final day. Thus, the blessed and merciful bishop and most faithful martyr Cyprian took care of himself, not as the deceitful tongue of the devil seemed to advise him through the mouth of a judge possessed by that impious one, saying: “Take care of yourself.” When indeed he saw his resolute mind, when he said to him: “The leaders have ordered you to perform the ceremonies”; and he responded: “I do not comply”: he added and said: “Take care of yourself.” That is the deceitful tongue of the devil: even if not of him who did not know what he was saying, yet of the one who was speaking through him. For the proconsul spoke, not so much according to human leaders whose orders he claimed to have imposed upon himself, but according to the prince of the power of the air of whom the Apostle says: Who works in the children of disobedience: who Cyprian knew was working through the tongue of this one, though he himself did not know it. Cyprian, I say, knew, when he heard from the proconsul: “Take care of yourself” that flesh and blood was speaking foolishly, this the devil was speaking deceitfully: and thus he saw in one action two actors; one with his eyes, the other with faith. This one did not want him to die, that one did not want him to be crowned: accordingly, he was calm towards this one, cautious towards that one; he openly replied to this one, secretly he overcame that one.
The words of Cyprian. A sentence concerning Cyprian.
"Do, he said, what you have been commanded: in such a just matter, there is no need for consultation". He had indeed said: "Consult yourself". To this it was responded: "In such a just matter, there is no need for consultation." For he who consults either gives counsel or seeks it. But the proconsul did not want to receive counsel from Cyprian, but rather admonished him to receive it from himself. But he said: "In such a just matter, there is no need for consultation." I do not still deliberate, because I no longer doubt: for justice itself has removed doubt from me. However, the just man, that he may securely die in the flesh, lives certain in faith. Many martyrs had preceded Cyprian, whom he with his most fervent exhortations had inspired to defeat the devil; and it was certainly just that he, whom as a truthful speaker he had sent forth, should follow them as an intrepid sufferer: therefore "in such a just matter, there is no need for consultation". What shall we say to these things? How shall we rejoice over these things? Our heart and our mouth shall burst forth with so much conception of joys, except into the very last voice of the venerable Martyr himself? For when Galerius Maximus had recited the decree from the document: "It pleases to punish Tascius Cyprian with the sword". He responded: "Thanks be to God". Therefore, holding in memory such a great matter, the festivity of this most solemn day, the proposal of this most salutary example, let us all with the marrow of our being also say, thanks be to God.