Cyprian

Life

Cyprian was born into a wealthy pagan family in North Africa. He gained renown as a teacher of rhetoric (oratory) and was baptized as a Christian around 246. After his conversion he is said to have given a substantial portion of his wealth to the poor. In 248 or 249, only a few years after his conversion, he was elected bishop of the church in Carthage.

Persecution broke out in 250 when Emperor Decius ordered all inhabitants of the empire to sacrifice to the Roman gods. Cyprian went into hiding and guided the church by letter, a withdrawal that drew criticism even at the time. During the persecution under Emperor Valerian he was sent into exile in 257, and on September 14, 258, he was beheaded at Carthage, dying as a martyr.

Ministry and Achievements

The question of readmitting the lapsed. During the persecution many believers offered sacrifice or purchased certificates attesting that they had sacrificed; these became known as the "lapsed" (lapsi). One party wished to receive them back immediately, while rigorists held that they could never be readmitted. Through the Council of Carthage in 251 and other deliberations, Cyprian established a middle position: even those who had lapsed could be received back into the church at the bishop's discretion after a period of penance proportionate to the gravity of their sin. When Novatian in Rome rejected this approach and broke away, Cyprian supported Cornelius, bishop of Rome. His thinking from this period is set out in On the Lapsed (De lapsis).

The unity of the church. In On the Unity of the Catholic Church (De unitate) he emphasized the unity of the church centered on the bishop. The saying "He cannot have God for his Father who does not have the Church for his mother" comes from this work. The expression "Outside the Church there is no salvation" derives from his letters.

The rebaptism controversy. He maintained that baptism received from heretics or schismatics was invalid and that those returning to the church must therefore be baptized again. On this issue he came into conflict with Stephen I, bishop of Rome, who recognized such baptisms. The controversy ended without resolution with the deaths of both men, and the Western church thereafter generally followed Stephen's position.

Also extant are his exposition of the Lord's Prayer, writings on the Eucharist and on almsgiving, and a collection of letters.

Influence on the Korean Church

Cyprian's direct influence on the Korean church has been limited, but his ecclesiology has reached it indirectly through the Reformation tradition. The passage in the Institutes of the Christian Religion in which John Calvin calls the church the "mother" of believers is regarded as carrying forward Cyprian's expression. Chapter 25 of the Westminster Confession of Faith confesses that outside the visible church there is no ordinary possibility of salvation, and this confession is taken up in courses on ecclesiology at Korean Presbyterian seminaries. When controversy arose after Korea's liberation over the repentance and restoration of ministers who had taken part in Shinto shrine worship, the problem of the lapsed in the early church was at times cited as a point of comparison. The Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church venerate him as a saint.

Assessment

Cyprian is regarded as a figure who exerted great influence on the ecclesiology and the practice of church discipline in the early church. Augustine held him in deep esteem but differed with him on the question of baptism. The Donatists later invoked his insistence on rebaptism in support of their own position.

Some Protestants criticize his emphasis on episcopal authority, arguing that it was later used to reinforce the church's hierarchical structure. Interpretations of the proposition "no salvation outside the Church" also diverge. Since the Second Vatican Council, the Catholic Church has interpreted it more broadly, while the Protestant tradition often understands it by distinguishing between the visible and the invisible church.