On the Church
Select Treatises
Translation with Introduction and Commentary by
Allen Brent
St vladimir’s seminary press
crestwood, new york
2006
st vladimir’s seminary press
Popular Patristics Series
Number 32
The Popular Patristics Series published by st Vladimir’s Seminary Press provides readable and accurate translations of a wide range of early Christian literature to a wide audience—students of Christian history to lay Christians reading for spiritual benefit. Recognized scholars in their fields provide short but comprehensive and clear introductions to the material. The texts include classics of Christian literature, thematic volumes, collections of homilies, letters on spiritual counsel, and poetical works from a variety of geographical contexts and historical backgrounds. The mission of the series is to mine the riches of the early Church and to make these treasures available to all.
Series Editor
John Behr
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Cyprian, Saint, Bishop of Carthage.
[Treatises. English. Selections]
On the church: select treatises / St. Cyprian of Carthage; translation with introduction and commentary by Allen Brent.
p. cm.—(St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press “popular patristics” series; no. 32)
Includes bibliographical references (p.).
ISBN-13: 978-0-88141-312-0 (alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 0-88141-312-7 (alk. paper)
1. Church discipline—History—Early church, ca. 30-600. 2. Church—Unity. 3. Cyprian, Saint, Bishop of Carthage. I. Brent, Allen. II. Title. III. Series.
BR65.C82E52 2006
262′.013—dc22
2006017889
copyright © 2006
st vladimir’s seminary press
575 Scarsdale Rd, Crestwood, NY 10707
1-800-204-2665
ISBN 0-88141-312-7
ISBN 978-088141-312-0
ISSN 1555-5755
All Rights Reserved
Caroline Penrose Hammond Bammel, F.B.A.
In piam memoriam
§2.1 Absolution of the Fallen in Persecution
§2.2 Baptism in Heresy or Schism
§5 Issues of Text and Translation
§2 The Unity of the Catholic Church (De catholicae ecclesiae unitate)
References are in accordance with the abbreviations in The SBL Handbook of Style (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1999).
*Means that the work is not included in this present translation.
Psalms are cited according to the Vulgate/LXX numeration.
These translations with their introductions and notes are the product of a continuing research project begun at the British School at Rome in 1999, supported then by a Grant in Aid of Research by the Leverhulme Trust. My work has been concerned with the interface between the development of church order and Christian theology and Graeco Roman culture and history.
Cyprian was the great publicist who ...
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About On the Church: Select TreatisesSt. Cyprian, third-century bishop of Carthage, developed a theory of church unity almost universally accepted up to the European Reformation: to be a member of the Body of Christ you needed to be in communion with a priest who was in communion with a bishop who in turn was in communion with all other bishops in the world. But, how could you discern who was a legitimate bishop? And, on what kind of issue would it be right to break off communion? Additionally, could self-authenticating ministries, like those of martyrs and confessors who had suffered for the faith, supersede this order? Finally, did the Church need, and in what form, a universal bishop who could guarantee the integrity of the network of bishops? St. Cyprian wrestled with these questions in his letters and treatises. Each volume contains an introduction to the two principal controversies that spurred St. Cyprian to write his defense on church unity: first, the readmission to the Eucharist of those Christians who had lapsed or fallen in the persecution under Emperor Decius; and second, the sacramental validity of baptism in heretical and schismatic communities. This volume contains an introduction to the life and controversies of St. Cyprian. It includes the following treatises: • To Donatus • To Demetrian • The Fallen (De Lapsis) • The Unity of the Catholic Church (De catholicae ecclesiae unitate) |
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