From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   How we should not Believe all we Hear  [I]   
      
   THE DISCIPLE.   
    Lord, help me in my trouble, for vain is the help of man.(Ps. 60:11)   
   How often have I found no loyalty where I expected to find it! And how   
   often have I found it where I least expected! It is useless to place   
   our hope in man; salvation is to be found in Thee alone, O   
   God.(Ps.37:39) In all that befalls us, we bless Thee, O Lord our God.   
   --Thomas à Kempis --Imitation of Christ Bk 3 Ch 45   
      
   <<>><<>><<>>   
   September 16th - St. Cyprian, Martyr   
      
   Cyprian was born Caecillus Cyprianus about the year 200, probably at   
   Carthage and was known among his friends as "Thascius." He was from a   
   well-to-do family and had the best education Carthage could offer. As   
   a lawyer, orator and teacher of rhetoric, he apparently led a very   
   active public and social life until middle age when he met an old   
   priest named Caecilian.   
      
   With his conversion, Cyprian's outlook changed dramatically. After his   
   baptism he took a vow of celibacy which so amazed those who knew him   
   that his biographer, St. Pontus is said to have remarked that no one   
   had ever seen such a miracle. Cyprian studied the Scriptures   
   diligently, was ordained to the priesthood and in 248, against his   
   wishes, was consecrated bishop of Carthage, which gained him a few   
   clerical enemies.   
      
   Cyprian enjoyed peace in his diocese until a renewed outbreak of   
   persecution began under Decius. Forced into hiding, Cyprian continued   
   to lead his people by letter. Upon his return, Cyprian found that one   
   of the priests who had opposed him, Novatus, had set himself up in   
   schism against Cyprian and was receiving all those who had lapsed into   
   apostasy back, without penance, into full reception of the sacraments.   
   It was this situation which led Cyprian to write his now famous "De   
   lapsis," which set down guidelines for receiving back into full   
   communion with the universal church, those who had denied their faith.   
      
   Novatus and his group continued in schism, which brought more   
   confusion and hardship to the Church of Carthage. There were those who   
   questioned the validity of the baptisms performed by those who were in   
   schism with the universal Church. Cyprian, along with many of the   
   Oriental clergy, refused to accept the validity of heretical baptisms.   
   This issue would remain unresolved during his lifetime.   
      
   Cyprian's troubles were by no means at an end. In 257 with the   
   outbreak of the Valerian persecution, he was exiled to Curubis and a   
   year later was recalled to Carthage where he was again tried because   
   he was a Christian and condemned to death. Cyprian was martyred at   
   Carthage on September 14, 258.   
      
   Cyprian's writings are his greatest legacy to us. His "De Ecclesiae   
   Catholicae Unitate," emphasizes the need for unity under one head, the   
   Bishop of Rome. "Ad Demetrianum" vigorously defended the Christian   
   faith against pagan accusations and false beliefs. The majority of his   
   writings are directed to his people, teaching them the truths of their   
   faith and encouraging them in the face of persecution and martyrdom.   
   His writings give us a good sense of the Church not only in Africa,   
   but also in Rome, Gaul and Spain.   
      
   We see in his writings that Cyprian was a man of deep faith totally   
   committed to God and the shepherding of His people. We might say that   
   Cyprian was wrong in his strongly held belief about baptism and his   
   opposition to Pope Stephen in this regard. But, as St. Augustine   
   pointed out, this was most likely due to an innocent, but incomplete   
   understanding of the complexity of sacramental benefits, which was a   
   common misunderstanding of his day. One has to remember that in   
   Cyprian's day Rome was still in a process of development, and the   
   position of the bishop of Rome on every issue was still not settled.   
   Despite his position on baptism, Cyprian strongly supported the pope   
   and would never have considered deposing him because of their opposing   
   views. In actuality it is most likely that Cyprian was not even aware   
   that his position on baptism was undermining the very unity that he   
   was fighting for.   
      
   His was one of the few feasts of the earliest Martyrology calendar and   
   his name is included among the martyrs named in the canon of the Mass.   
   His writings have been a powerful tool of exegesis down through the   
   ages and are only outnumbered by a few others such as Basil, Gregory   
   and the other great Doctors of the Church.   
      
   Saint Quote:   
   "It is written, 'God is not mocked.' (Gal. vi, 7.) Indeed God cannot   
   be mocked, nor circumvented, nor deluded by any man's astute deceit. .   
   . Let each of you, then, I beg you, brethren, confess his fault while   
   the sinner is yet in this world, while confession is still possible,   
   while the satisfaction and remission granted by the priests is still   
   acceptable to God."   
   --St. Cyprian   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   Do not set your mind on high things, but condescend to the lowly.  (Rom.   
   12:16)   
      
      
   <><><><><>   
   A chapter from St. Cyprian's 'The Unity of the Catholic   
   Church' (AD 250):   
      
   [speaking of those that break with the Church such as Novatus   
   and Novatian, just as Core, Dathan, Abiron and Ozias of the   
   Old Testament broke the Law, and thus acted against the   
   Godhead]   
      
   These, certainly, they imitate and follow, who despise God's   
   tradition and seek after strange doctrines and introduce   
   teachings of human disposition. These the Lord rebukes and   
   reproves in His Gospel when He says: 'You reject the   
   commandment of God that you may establish your own   
   tradition.' This crime is worse than that which the lapsed seem   
   to have committed, who while established in penance for their   
   crime beseech God with full satisfactions. Here the Church is   
   sought and entreated, there the Church is resisted; here there   
   can have been necessity, there the will is held in wickedness;   
   here he who lapsed harmed only himself, there he who tried to   
   cause a heresy or schism deceived many by dragging them with   
   him; here there is the loss of one soul, there danger to a great   
   many. Certainly this one knows that he has sinned and bewails   
   and laments; that one swelling in his sin and taking pleasure in   
   his very crimes separates children from their Mother, entices   
   sheep from their shepherd, and disturbs the sacraments of God.   
   And whereas the lapsed has sinned once, the former sins daily.   
   Finally, the lapsed later, after achieving martyrdom, can   
   receive the promises of the kingdom; the former, if he is killed   
   outside the Church, cannot arrive at the rewards of the Church.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)