Primary source · Latin
On the Lapsed (De Lapsis)
Cyprian of Carthage · AD 251, after the Decian persecution
What this text is
Cyprian’s address on the church’s great wound — the multitudes who sacrificed or bought certificates under Decius — steering between rigorism and laxity: real penance, then real restoration.
Profile of Cyprian of Carthage →
Interlinear passages
Word-for-word glosses of the original; the complete public-domain translation is linked below.
Chapter 1 — The opening
PaxPeaceecce,behold,dilectissimimost belovedfratres,brethren,ecclesiaeto the Churchredditarestoredest.is
Public-domain translations
R. E. Wallis (ANF, 1886)
Behold, beloved brethren, peace is restored to the Church… At the first words of the threatening foe, a great number of the brethren betrayed their faith; nor were they cast down by the violence of the persecution, but cast themselves down of their own accord.
Manuscript witnesses
Early Cyprianic codices
6th–9th c.Among the best-attested Latin patristic corpora — read across Africa within Cyprian's lifetime.
Patrologia Latina, vol. 4 (Migne)
1844Standard pre-critical text of the corpus.
Provenance
Carthage, AD 251, on those who lapsed under Decius
Editions & scholarship
Critical editions and standard translations behind the text above.
- De lapsis and De ecclesiae catholicae unitate (OECT)Maurice Bévenot, 1971Critical edition and translation.
- Cyprien de Carthage: Ceux qui sont tombés (SC 547)Graeme Clarke & Michel Poirier, 2012Critical edition with French translation.