Uploaded December 2024 | Updated September 2026, 3 days ago
Cyprian, in Reply to Demetrianus the Proconsul of Africa, Who Contended that the Wars, and Famine, and Pestilence with Which the World Was Then Plagued Must Be Imputed to the Christians Because They Did Not Worship the Gods; Fairly Urges (Having Argued that All Things are Gradually Deteriorating with the Old Age of the World) that It Was Rather the Heathens Themselves Who Were the Cause of Such Mischiefs, Because They Did Not Worship God, And, Moreover, Were Distressing the Christians with Unjust Persecutions.
Little is known of the early history of Thascius Cyprian (born probably about 200 a.d.) until the period of his intimacy with the Carthaginian presbyter Cæcilius, which led to his conversion a.d. 246. That he was born of respectable parentage, and highly educated for the profession of a rhetorician, is all that can be said with any degree of certainty. At his baptism he assumed the name of his friend Cæcilius, and devoted himself, with all the energies of an ardent and vigorous mind, to the study and practice of Christianity.
His ordination and his elevation to the episcopate rapidly followed his conversion. With some resistance on his own part, and not without great objections on the part of older presbyters, who saw themselves superseded by his promotion, the popular urgency constrained him to accept the office of Bishop of Carthage (a.d. 248), which he held until his martyrdom (a.d. 258).
#cyprian
#churchfathers
#romanempire
#ancientrome
#earlychristianity
#catholicchurch
#easternorthodox
#protestant
#saints
#northafrica
#carthage
Cyprian, in Reply to Demetrianus the Proconsul of Africa, Who Contended that the Wars, and Famine, and Pestilence with Which the World Was Then Plagued Must Be Imputed to the Christians Because They Did Not Worship the Gods; Fairly Urges (Having Argued that All Things are Gradually Deteriorating with the Old Age of the World) that It Was Rather the Heathens Themselves Who Were the Cause of Such Mischiefs, Because They Did Not Worship God, And, Moreover, Were Distressing the Christians with Unjust Persecutions.
Little is known of the early history of Thascius Cyprian (born probably about 200 a.d.) until the period of his intimacy with the Carthaginian presbyter Cæcilius, which led to his conversion a.d. 246. That he was born of respectable parentage, and highly educated for the profession of a rhetorician, is all that can be said with any degree of certainty. At his baptism he assumed the name of his friend Cæcilius, and devoted himself, with all the energies of an ardent and vigorous mind, to the study and practice of Christianity.
His ordination and his elevation to the episcopate rapidly followed his conversion. With some resistance on his own part, and not without great objections on the part of older presbyters, who saw themselves superseded by his promotion, the popular urgency constrained him to accept the office of Bishop of Carthage (a.d. 248), which he held until his martyrdom (a.d. 258).
#cyprian
#churchfathers
#romanempire
#ancientrome
#earlychristianity
#catholicchurch
#easternorthodox
#protestant
#saints
#northafrica
#carthage
