금호동성당 게시판

Abstract

Caecilius Cyprianus, the bishop of Carthage, is the second african Father of the Church, the first being the famous Tertullian. As a theologian he is definitely dependent on Tertullian. However, instead of the latter's intemperance and dominating spirit, he was calm and genle and charitable, being a man of high prudence and practical judgement.

Cyprian was born between 200 and 210 in Africa, most probably near Carthage, in a rich and highly cultivated pagan family. As an expert rhetorician and master of eloquence he won great fame in Carthage. However, feeling disgusted by the immortality and injustice of the world, he became a christian under the influence of the priest Caecilius, soon afterwards to be ordained as a priest. In A.D. 248 (or 249) he became the bishop of Carthage, just before the Decian Persecution broke out. He immediately took refuge in a safe place for a short while, keeping in close touch with his flock by letters.

As the persecution ended and Cyprian came back, many backsliders who had denied their Christian faith during the persecution became repentant over their betrayal and wanted to reconcile with the church again. The deacon Felicissimus with some confessors argued that the backsliders were to receive the absolute forgiveness and the reconciliation with the church. And this argument was supported by Novatus, who had been the rival of Cyprian by the election to the episcopate. But Cyprian argued back that except in the hour of death all backsliders without distinction should not be admitted to reconcile with the community, until the period of expiation that varies with the gravity of the case had ended.

Such a situation of tumult in Carthage reemerged in Rome. After Pope Fabianus died for the faith, Pope Cornelius was elected as his successor. Novatianus who had been a famous theologian of his time became the counter pope, causing a schism. Pope Cornelius thought that the backsliders were to be forgiven, whereas Novatianus disagreed about that, arguing that the backsliders were never to be forgiven. Cyprian supported the argument of the Pope Cornelius, whereas Novatus, who had argued that the backsliders were to be forgiven easily, supported the viewpoint of Novatianus, himself going over the sea to Rome. The reason why people with contrary viewpoints could come together was that they were those who were beaten by the present bishops in the election over which caused them to become discontent with.

In this way, the disagreement over the treatment of the backsliders in the church of Carthage and Rome almost provoked the danger of a schism as the two sides of opponents got captured by the egoistical will of power over the episcopate. Thus, Cyprian, in A.D. 251, felt it necessary to write 'De ecclesiae catholicae unitate' and 'de lapsis' to warn the believers over the errors and call them to stay in the unity of the Church. In the end the problem over the unity of the Church were solved as a synod were hold in Carthage which confirmed the principles laid down by Cyprian and approved the excommunication of his antagonists, and Pope Cornelius and Novatianus reconciled with each other.

In his last years Cyprian was occupied by the controversy over the baptism of heretics. After the tradition of the African Church following the arguments of Tertullianus that were sanctioned by a great council of the African and Numidian bishops, Cyprian reaffirmed that the baptism of the heretics was invalid in three synods of Carthage in A.D. 255 and 256. Pope Stephen, informed of the decision, answered in a sharp tone and asked to change the decision. This baptism dispute abruptly ended without any conclusions as the two opponents died for their faith. Pope Stephen died in A.D. 256 as the emperor Valerian promulgated an edict against the Christians, whereas Cyprian was banished to Curubis on August 30th, A.D. 257 only to die for faith on the 14th of September, A.D. 258, not far from Carthage.

Cyprian left 14 works and 81 letters, which are valuable for us to understand the history and the life of the African and Roman Churches. If one takes into consideration that Cyprian took activity for only 12 years, from his ordination as a priest to his death in faith, the great amount of works he left show how great his pastoral devotion had been. This study intends to understand his notion on the 'unity of the Church' that are presented in his work 'De ecclesiae catholicae unitate'.

The contents Cyprian concentrates himself in 'De ecclesiae catholicae unitate' are the problem of the heretics and the unity of the Church, which also lead him to his theological understanding on the church and the salvation, the church and the primacy of Rome.

As he said many times, the thing the Church has to fear is not the persecution against the Church, nor the open offense, but the heretics leading the Church into the temptation of errors. Those who got into the errors of the heretics cannot find out that they are going off the road to the salvation, unless they have the wisdom that comes from God. Hence, whereas the backsliders repent of their sins and hope to reconciliate with the Church, those who got fallen into the errors of the heretics believe they are on the right way to salvation, and do not want to reconciliate with the Church.

This is the reason why Cyprian stresses on the solidarity of the Church. For him the sole foundation of the salvation lies on the unity in the one Church, as Christ came into the world and acted in the world for salvation, and leaving this world he built the visible Church upon Peter and put the Church in charge of the Holy Spirit in order to maintain the redemptive actions of the world. And the Church can receive the redemptive gift Christ promised only by unitying herself around the bishop after the model of the unity of the Holy Trinity. Thus, for him the Church is the sole community of the redemption, and there can be no salvation outside the Church.

But the Church presented by 'Lumen Gentium' of the Second Vatican Council, one has to admit, looks different from the Church of Cyprian. 'Lumen Gentium' stresses on the 'universality of the Church' by saying that "everybody is called to constitute the new people of God"(c.13), and stress on the 'necessity of the Church' by saying that the Church is certainly necessary for the redemption, "because Christ is the only mediator and way to the salvation, and this Christ is with us in the Church that constitutes His body"(c.14). This means that the Church has to become the 'sacrament of the redemption' for the whole world.

When we compare it with 'Lumen Gentium', it is true that the Church of Cyprian as the 'Arche of the salvation' does not have the universality. However, we should not think his vision of the Church is erroneous, for his vision of the Church has to be understood under the circumstances of that time. When Cyprian said there is no salvation outside the Church, it was a time when the persecutions and the heretics were raging. Under such circumstances the Church had to lay the priority on the building of one united community. This was what he thought when he mentioned about the problem of the unity of the Church. Thus something that must not be changed and that should be applied to the situation of today is not the final word that 'there is no salvation outside the Church', but the something that brought about such a result by the circumstances of that time. And that something was for Cyprian the unity of the Church. And that is what is left of in the 'Lumen Gentium'.

The unity of the Church that was of so much importance to Cyprian presents itself visually by the solidarity with the bishop. The unity with the bishop was a matter-of-fact problem for the Church of Carthage. But the prime reason why he wrote 'De ecclesiae catholicae unitate' lied on the tumult of misleading arguments in the Church of Rome, rather than because of the problem of the Church of Carthage. Thus the unity of the Church he meant does not only mean the unity within the regional Church, but the unity of the whole Church. This is why he is saying about the one bishop. It is certain that the one bishop means the bishop of Rome for him. And it is also certain that he sought the solidarity with the bishop of Rome as the bishop of Carthage.

However, it is very difficult to understand his confrontation with the bishop of Rome because of the controversy on the baptism. Of course we cannot put his understanding of the primacy of Rome on the same level with today's understanding, just like the problem of the universality of the redemption. To put this in other words, the reason why we think that his confrontation with the bishop of Rome collides with the unity towards one bishop is that we apply the relation between the churches of Rome and Carthage he saw to the relation of nowadays between the universal church and the regional church. He was not arguing with the Church of Rome with the absolute power. He was trying to reach the solidarity of the Church by conducting agreements from the same level with the Church of Rome that was to be foundation of the unity, her bishop being the successor of Peter. Only the death of the bishop of Rome and himself for faith prevented his intention to ripen.

In this way we can conclude that his vision of the Church as the sole community of the redemption, on the ground of the unity of the Church, could develop itself to a vision of the Church that fulfills the universality of the salvation. And his attempts to accomplish the solidarity with the bishop as the visible sign of the unity of the Church in the regional church and to achieve the unity betwen the Church of Rome and Carthage, had been the foundation of the unity, there is no doubt, between the pope of Rome and the whole Church. And this spirit of the unity of the Church by Cyprian will for ever remain as the foundation of the Church until the day our Lord comes back.