The Ante-Nicene Church · AD 180–313
Moyses of Rome
d. 251 · Confessor-presbyter of Rome · Rome
The Ante-Nicene Church
Who Moyses of Rome was
A presbyter of Rome imprisoned in the Decian persecution who, with a group of confessors, wrote to Cyprian and held firm against the laxists — and, crucially, against Novatian, refusing to endorse his rigorist schism even from his cell. Cyprian praised him as one whose “glorious confession” gave weight to his counsel. He died in prison after eleven months, and Cyprian mourned him as a man whose martyrdom the church had watched unfold by letter. A confessor who spent his authority on unity.
Common questions
When did Moyses die?
Moyses of Rome is dated d. 251 in the archive, which places Moyses in the Ante-Nicene Church (AD 180–313).
What did Moyses write?
Moyses of Rome has 1 catalogued writing in the archive: The letter of the Roman confessors (Cyprian, Epistle 31).
Which early sources mention Moyses?
Moyses of Rome is named in 3 primary-source passages catalogued here, drawn from Cornelius of Rome, Cyprian of Carthage and The chronographer of 354. Every passage is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.
Where was Moyses from?
The archive associates Moyses of Rome with Rome.
Writings (1)
The letter of the Roman confessors (Cyprian, Epistle 31)
The prison letter to Cyprian in the name of Moyses, Maximus, and their fellow confessorsWhat more glorious, than to have confessed the Lord God in the midst of tortures, in the very hands of the executioner?Read the interlinear source text →
Primary-source mentions (3)
Every passage below is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.
Cornelius to Fabius, via Ecclesiastical History VI.43 (Moses among the Roman confessors)
c. AD 251Cyprian, Epistle 55 (to Antonianus)
c. AD 253Moyses, while he was yet in prison, observing what Novatian was contriving, separated himself from communion with him… a man whom I always esteemed and loved, and who was afterward crowned with a glorious martyrdom.Cyprian of Carthage · 55 · source text
Liberian Catalogue (the presbyter Moyses arrested under Decius)
c. AD 354Eo tempore Moyses et Maximus presbyteri et Nicostratus diaconus comprehensi sunt et in carcerem missi — At that time the presbyters Moyses and Maximus and the deacon Nicostratus were arrested and sent to prison.The chronographer of 354 · Liberian Catalogue · source text
Connected in the archive
People
Events in this lifetime
- AD 190 · The Quartodeciman controversy, AD 190
- AD 202 · Perpetua and Felicity martyred, AD 202
- AD 235 · Maximinus Thrax targets the clergy, AD 235
- AD 250 · The Decian persecution, AD 250
- AD 251 · The Novatianist schism, AD 251
Place
Places served
The one place the sources put Moyses.
- 1Rome