(To Novatian)
(Eus., H. E. vi. 45)
If it was against thy will, as thou sayest, that thou wast promoted,[62] thou wilt prove this by retiring of thine own accord. It were good to suffer anything and everything so to escape dividing the Church of God. And martyrdom[63] to avoid schism is no less glorious than martyrdom to avoid idolatry. Nay, it is to my mind greater. In one case a man is a martyr for his own single soul’s sake. But this is for the whole Church. Even now wast thou to persuade or constrain the brethren to come to one mind, thy true deed[64] were greater than thy fall. This will not be reckoned to thee, the other will be lauded. And if thou shouldest be powerless to sway disobedient spirits, save, save thine own soul.[65] I pray for thy health and thy steadfast cleaving to peace in the Lord.
[I have to thank the editors and publishers for leave to reprint the above translation by Archbishop Benson from his Cyprian, p. 142.]
To Cornelius, Bishop of Rome, in Reply to a Letter from him about Novatian (circ. 253)
Eusebius (H. E. vi. 46) quotes only one short sentence from Dionysius’s letter, which refers to the death of Alexander, Bishop of Jerusalem, one of Origen’s distinguished pupils and supporters. Alexander twice boldly confessed Christ in the Governor’s Court at Cæsarea and died at last in prison. The sentence is as follows—
“The admirable[66] Alexander entered into a blessed rest whilst in custody.”
According to Eusebius, the letter also mentioned the invitation which Dionysius had received from the Bishops of Asia Minor to attend a synod at Antioch at which “they tried to suppress the schism of Novatian.”
To Stephanus, Bishop of Rome
(Eus., H. E. vii. 4 and 5)
(The First of the Epistles about Baptism)
(1) Know now, brother, that all the Churches in the East and even further afield[67] which were divided, have been united: and all their rulers everywhere are of one mind, rejoicing exceedingly at the unexpected peace[68] which has come about, Demetrian in Antioch, Theoctistus in Cæsarea, Mazabbanes in Ælia,[69] Marinus in Tyre, Alexander having fallen asleep, Heliodorus in Laodicea, Thelymidrus being at rest, Helenus in Tarsus and all the Churches of Cilicia, Firmilianus[70] and all Cappadocia. For I have mentioned only the more prominent of the Bishops, in order that I may not make my letter too long nor my narrative wearisome. Nevertheless, the whole of Syria and Arabia, districts whose needs ye from time to time supply[71] and to whom ye now have sent an epistle, Mesopotamia also and Pontus and Bithynia, and, in one word, all men everywhere exult in the harmony and brotherly love displayed and praise God for it.[72]
[The two following extracts are translated from Syriac versions, and I am indebted for them to Mr. N. MacLean of Christ’s College, Cambridge. The first has been put together out of two MSS. in the British Museum, neither of which contains the whole, and was printed by Pitra, Analecta Sacra, Vol. IV. The Greek original of most of the first sentence is preserved in a catena on Deuteronomy, Cod. Vat. 1521, fol. 591, and was first printed by Simon de Magistris in his edition of our author, p. 200. There is much probability that this extract formed part of the same letter to Stephanus as the extract from Eusebius which precedes it here. The second extract is found in three other Syriac MSS. in the British Museum, but is less certainly part of this letter, or indeed authentic at all.]