Exhortation to The Christians in The Face of a Pandemic - Part I

During the third century, in October, 249 A.D. Decius became the Roman Emperor, and in January, 205 A.D. he issued an edict persecuting the Christians. This edit struck the church the hardest since her inception. This persecution was quite as devastating as that of Diocletian.[1] Dionysius, the 14th Pope of Alexandria, was rescued by some countrymen, while Cyprian of Carthage hid, not due to lack of courage, but instead, he didn’t want to leave his flock without a shepherd during the time of persecution. Although out of the scope of this article, it is important to mention that the persecution caused internal problems within the church, pertaining to the lapses, but the reason for mentioning this, is to show that the church was going through external pressure as well as internal problems.

Meanwhile, in the Mediterranean region, a dreadful pandemic broke out.[2] The devastations of an abominable disease took place across the Roman Empire. This plague lasted from 249-262 A.D. The earliest literary evidence of this plague comes from a letter written by Pope Dionysius of Alexandria to another bishop in Egypt. In this letter, Dionysius mentions that Alexandria is not only suffering from this plague, but also from drought, and that “men wonder and are at a loss whence the continuous pestilence, whence the severe diseases, whence the different forms of death, whence the widespread and varied destruction of human beings.”[3] Thousands of people were dying in Rome every day. The plague must have reached Rome by 251 A.D., and Carthage a year after. In the “Life of Cyprian” of Carthage, written by his deacon Pontius, which he wrote after St. Cyprian’s martyrdom, he describes the disease to be contagious and affecting many people. Ironically this plague was named “The Plague of Cyprian” after St. Cyprian, the Bishop of Carthage. This correlation is due to his famous treaty, “On Mortality,” which is considered one of the few historical literary evidence of this pandemic, corollary it was named after him.

The Life of St. Cyprian of Carthage

St. Cyprian was born around the beginning of the 3rd century in North Africa, perhaps at Carthage, where he received a classical education. He was brought up in a wealthy family, and later on, probably held a high position in the metropolis of Africa. He was baptized at the age of 46, probably on Easter Eve of 246 A.D.

Two years after his baptism he was nominated to be the Bishop of Carthage, he assumed a leadership role not only of the bishops of Proconsular Africa but of all Latin Africa.[4] As a result of Decian persecution, St. Cyprian, from his hiding place, attempted to “govern the shattered communities through letters and messengers.”[5] After fourteen months of hiding, he was allowed to come back to Carthage. A few years after that came the reign of Emperor Valerian; St. Cyprian was exiled to Korba, a town in Tunisia. A year later, he was brought back to his own residence and shortly after was martyred on September 13, 258 A.D. under proconsul Galerius Maximus.

His treaty, “On Mortality,” is probably a sermon given to the “whole Christian community in Carthage.”[6] St. Cyprian doesn’t discuss the reason or the source of the pandemic, nor does he go into intellectual debates about God’s will or the sinful condition of the world, albeit the world was extremely corrupt. Instead, he starts his treaty exhorting his audience to live by faith and continues on to explain that the Christian outlook towards death, and eternal life rests on this very same faith. Then he explains that Christians are not immune from the disease or trials. And that True peace and joy come only from the Lord who overcame death and the world with all that’s in it.

These words are a great source of comfort, especially for the current times, given that they were spoken in similar circumstances.

On Mortality by St. Cyprian of Carthage[7]

The Righteous Shall Live by Faith

Although in very many of you, dearly beloved brethren, there is a steadfast mind and a firm faith, and a devoted spirit that is not disturbed at the frequency of this present mortality, but, like a strong and stable rock, rather shatters the turbulent onsets of the world and the raging waves of time, while it is not itself shattered, and is not overcome but tried by these temptations; yet because I observe that among the people some, either through weakness of mind, or through decay of faith, or through the sweetness of this worldly life, or through the softness of their sex, or what is of still greater account, through error from the truth, are standing less steadily, and are not exerting the divine and unvanquished vigor of their heart, the matter may not be disguised nor kept in silence, but as far as my feeble powers suffice with my full strength, and with a discourse gathered from the Lord’s lessons, the slothfulness of a luxurious disposition must be restrained, and he who has begun to be already a man of God and of Christ, must be found worthy of God and of Christ.

For he who wars for God, dearest brethren, ought to acknowledge himself as one who, placed in the heavenly camp, already hopes for divine things, so that we may have no trembling at the storms and whirlwinds of the world, and no disturbance, since the Lord had foretold that these would come. With the exhortation of His fore-seeing word, instructing, and teaching, and preparing, and strengthening the people of His Church for all endurance of things to come, He predicted and said that wars, and famines, and earthquakes, and pestilences would arise in each place; and lest an unexpected and new dread of mischiefs should shake us, He previously warned us that adversity would increase more and more in the last times. Behold, the very things occur which were spoken; and since those occur which were foretold before, whatever things were promised will also follow; as the Lord Himself promises, saying, “So you also, when you see these things happening, know that the kingdom of God is near.”[8] The kingdom of God, beloved brethren, is beginning to be at hand; the reward of life, and the rejoicing of eternal salvation, and the perpetual gladness and possession lately lost of paradise, are now coming, with the passing away of the world; already heavenly things are taking the place of earthly, and great things of small, and eternal things of things that fade away. What room is there here for anxiety and solicitude? Who, in the midst of these things, is trembling and sad, except he who is without hope and faith? For it is for him to fear death who is not willing to go to Christ. It is for him to be unwilling to go to Christ who does not believe that he is about to reign with Christ.

For it is written that the just lives by faith.[9] If you are just, and live by faith, if you truly believe in Christ, why, since you are about to be with Christ, and are secure of the Lord’s promise, do you not embrace the assurance that you are called to Christ, and rejoice that you are freed from the devil? Certainly Simeon,[10] that just man, who was truly just, who kept God’s commands with a full faith, when it had been pledged him from heaven that he should not die before he had seen the Christ, and Christ had come an infant into the temple with His mother, acknowledged in spirit that Christ was now born, concerning whom it had before been foretold to him; and when he had seen Him, he knew that he should soon die. Therefore, rejoicing concerning his now approaching death, and secure of his immediate summons, he received the child into his arms, and blessing the Lord, he exclaimed, and said, “Now let Your servant depart in peace, according to Your word; for my eyes have seen Your salvation;”[11] assuredly proving and bearing witness that the servants of God then had peace, then free, then tranquil repose, when, withdrawn from these whirlwinds of the world, we attain the harbor of our home and eternal security, when having accomplished this death we come to immortality. For that is our peace, that our faithful tranquillity, that our steadfast, and abiding, and perpetual security.

Your Sorrow Shall be Turned Into Joy

But for the rest, what else in the world than a battle against the devil is daily carried on, than a struggle against his darts and weapons in constant conflicts? Our warfare is with avarice, with immodesty, with anger, with ambition; our diligent and toilsome wrestle with carnal vices, with enticements of the world. The mind of man besieged, and in every quarter invested with the onsets of the devil, scarcely in each point meets the attack, scarcely resists it. If avarice is prostrated, lust springs up. If lust is overcome, ambition takes its place. If ambition is despised, anger exasperates, pride puffs up, wine-bibbing entices, envy breaks concord, jealousy cuts friendship; you are constrained to curse, which the divine law forbids; you are compelled to swear, which is not lawful.

So many persecutions the soul suffers daily, with so many risks is the heart wearied, and yet it delights to abide here long among the devil’s weapons, although it should rather be our craving and wish to hasten to Christ by the aid of a quicker death; as He Himself instructs us, and says, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, That you shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice; and you shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy.”[12] Who would not desire to be without sadness? Who would not hasten to attain to joy? But when our sadness shall be turned into joy, the Lord Himself again declares, when He says, “I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice; and your joy no man shall take from you.”[13] Since, therefore, to see Christ is to rejoice, and we cannot have joy unless when we shall see Christ, what blindness of mind or what folly is it to love the world’s afflictions, and punishments, and tears, and not rather to hasten to the joy which can never be taken away!

But, beloved brethren, this is so, because faith is lacking, because no one believes that the things which God promises are true, although He is true, whose word to believers is eternal and unchangeable. If a grave[14] and praiseworthy man should promise you anything, you would assuredly have faith in the promiser, and would not think that you should be cheated and deceived by him whom you knew to be steadfast in his words and his deeds. Now God is speaking with you; and do you faithlessly waver in your unbelieving mind? God promises to you, on your departure from this world, immortality and eternity; and do you doubt? This is not to know God at all; this is to offend Christ, the Teacher of believers, with the sin of incredulity; this is for one established in the Church not to have faith in the house of faith.

How great is the advantage of going out of the world, Christ Himself, the Teacher of our salvation and of our good works, shows to us, who, when His disciples were saddened that He said that He was soon to depart, spoke to them, and said, “If you loved me, you would surely rejoice because I go to the Father;”[15] teaching thereby, and manifesting that when the dear ones whom we love depart from the world, we should rather rejoice than grieve. Remembering which truth, the blessed Apostle Paul in his epistle lays it down, saying, “To me to live is Christ, and to die is gain;”[16] counting it the greatest gain no longer to be held by the snares of this world, no longer to be liable to the sins and vices of the flesh, but taken away from smarting troubles, and freed from the envenomed fangs of the devil, to go at the call of Christ to the joy of eternal salvation.

Christians Are Not Immune From Trials or Diseases

But nevertheless, it disturbs some that the power of this Disease attacks our people equally with the heathens, as if the Christian believed for this purpose, that he might have the enjoyment of the world and this life free from the contact of ills; and not as one who undergoes all adverse things here and is reserved for future joy. It disturbs some that this mortality is common to us with others; and yet what is there in this world which is not common to us with others, so long as this flesh of ours still remains, according to the law of our first birth, common to us with them? So long as we are here in the world, we are associated with the human race in fleshly equality, but are separated in spirit. Therefore until this corruptible shall put on incorruption, and this mortal receive immortality,[17] and the Spirit leads us to God the Father, whatsoever are the disadvantages of the flesh are common to us with the human race. Thus, when the earth is barren with an unproductive harvest, famine makes no distinction; thus, when with the invasion of an enemy any city is taken, captivity at once desolates all; and when the serene clouds withhold the rain, the drought is alike to all; and when the jagged rocks rend the ship, the shipwreck is common without exception to all that sail in her; and the disease of the eyes, and the attack of fevers, and the feebleness of all the limbs is common to us with others, so long as this common flesh of ours is borne by us in the world.

Moreover, if the Christian knows and keeps fast under what condition and what law he has believed, he will be aware that he must suffer more than others in the world since he must struggle more with the attacks of the devil. Holy Scripture teaches and forewarns, saying, “My son, when you come to the service of God, stand in righteousness and fear, and prepare your soul for temptation. And again, in pain endure, and in your humility have patience; for gold and silver is tried in the fire, but acceptable men in the furnace of humiliation.”[18]

Righteous Men Expressed Virtue in Trials

Thus Job, after the loss of his wealth, after the death of his children, grievously afflicted, moreover, with sores and worms, was not overcome, but proved; since in his very struggles and anguish, showing forth the patience of a religious mind, he says, “Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, naked also I shall go under the earth: the Lord gave, the Lord has taken away; as it seemed fit to the Lord, so it has been done. Blessed be the name of the Lord.”[19] And when his wife also urged him, in his impatience at the acuteness of his pain, to speak something against God with a complaining and envious voice, he answered and said, “You speak as one of the foolish women. If we have received good from the hand of the Lord, why shall we not suffer evil? In all these things which befell him, Job sinned not with his lips in the sight of the Lord.”[20] Therefore the Lord God gives him a testimony, saying, “Have you considered my servant Job? For there is none like him in all the earth, a man without complaint, a true worshipper of God.”[21]And Tobit, after his excellent works, after the many and glorious illustrations of his merciful spirit, having suffered the loss of his sight, fearing and blessing God in his adversity, by his very bodily affliction increased in praise; and even him also his wife tried to pervert, saying, “Where are your righteousnesses?[22] Behold what you suffer.”[23] But he, steadfast and firm in respect of the fear of God, and armed by the faith of his religion to all endurance of suffering, yielded not to the temptation of his weak wife in his trouble, but rather deserved better from God by his greater patience; and afterward Raphael the angel praises him, saying, “It is honorable to show forth and to confess the works of God. For when you prayed, and Sara your daughter-in-law, I did offer the remembrance of your prayer in the presence of the glory of God. And when you buried the dead in singleness of heart, and because you did not delay to rise up and leave your dinner, and went and buried the dead, I was sent to make proof of you. And God again has sent me to heal you and Sara your daughter-in-law. For I am Raphael, one of the seven holy angels, who are present, and go in and out before the glory of God.”[24]

Righteous men have ever possessed this endurance. The apostles maintained this discipline from the law of the Lord, not to murmur in adversity, but to accept bravely and patiently whatever things happen in the world; since the people of the Jews in this matter always offended, that they constantly murmured against God, as the Lord God bears witness in the book of Numbers, saying, “Let their murmuring cease from me, and they shall not die.”[25] We must not murmur in adversity, beloved brethren, but we must bear with patience and courage whatever happens, since it is written, “The sacrifice to God is a broken spirit; a contrite and humbled heart God does not despise;”[26] since also in Deuteronomy the Holy Spirit warns by Moses and says, “the Lord your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not.”[27] And again: “The Lord your God proves you, that He may know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul.”[28]

Thus Abraham pleased God, who, that he might please God, did not shrink even from losing his son, or from doing an act of parricide. You, who cannot endure to lose your son by the law and lot of mortality, what would you do if you were bidden to slay your son? The fear and faith of God ought to make you prepared for everything, although it should be the loss of private estate, although the constant and cruel harassment of your limbs by agonizing disorders, although the deadly and mournful wrench from wife, from children, from departing dear ones; Let not these things be offenses to you, but battles: nor let them weaken nor break the Christian’s faith, but rather show forth his strength in the struggle since all the injury inflicted by present troubles is to be despised in the assurance of future blessings. Unless the battle has preceded, there cannot be a victory: when there shall have been, in the onset of battle, the victory, then also the crown is given to the victors. For the helmsman is recognized in the tempest; in the warfare, the soldier is proved. It is a wanton display when there is no danger. Struggle in adversity is the trial of the truth. The tree which is deeply founded in its root is not moved by the onset of winds, and the ship which is compacted of solid timbers is beaten by the waves and is not shattered; and when the threshing-floor brings out the grain, the strong and robust grains despise the winds, while the empty chaff is carried away by the blast that falls upon it.

Thus, moreover, the Apostle Paul, after shipwrecks, after scourgings, after many and grievous tortures of the flesh and body, says that he is not grieved, but benefited by his adversity, in order that while he is sorely afflicted he might more truly be proved. “There was given to me, he says, a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, that I should not be lifted up: for which thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me; and He said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for strength is made perfect in weakness.”[29] When, therefore, weakness and inefficiency and any destruction seize us, then our strength is made perfect; then our faith, if when tried it shall stand fast, is crowned; as it is written, “The furnace tries the vessels of the potter, and the trial of tribulation just men.”[30] This, in short, is the difference between us and others who know not God, that in misfortune they complain and murmur, while adversity does not call us away from the truth of virtue and faith, but strengthens us by its suffering.

Part II to Follow

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Notes

  1. Henry Melvill Gwatkin, _Early Church History to A.D. 313 _(London: 1912), 253-255. ↩

  2. Saint Pontius, Saint Paulinus, Saint Possidius, Saint Athanasius, Saint Jerome, and Ennodius, _The Fathers of The Church: Early Christian Biographies _(Washington, D.C. : Catholic University of America Press, 2001), 13,14. ↩

  3. Eusebius Pamphili, T_he Fathers of The Church: Ecclesiastical History, Books 6–10, Vol. 29 _(Washington, D.C. : Catholic University of America Press, 2010), 122,123. ↩

  4. J. Patout Burns, “Cyprian of Carthage,” The Expository Times Vol. 120, no. 10 (2009): 469-477. ↩

  5. Ibid. ↩

  6. Naoki Kamimura, “North African Way of Approaching to Medical Healing and the Plague of Cyprian” (paper presented at APECSS 12th Annual Conference ‘Health, Well-Being, and Old Age in Early Christianity,’ Okayama University, Okayama, Japan, September 13-15, 2018). ↩

  7. Cyprian of Carthage, “The Treatises of Cyprian” in Ante-Nicene Volume VI: Fathers of The Third Century, edited by Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1995) 469-473. ↩

  8. Luke 21:31 ↩

  9. Habakkuk 2:4 ↩

  10. Luke 2:25-35 ↩

  11. Luke 2:29 ↩

  12. John 16:20 ↩

  13. John 16:22 ↩

  14. Serious or of great importance ↩

  15. John 16:28 ↩

  16. Philippians 1:21 ↩

  17. 1 Corinthians 15:53 ↩

  18. Sirach 2:5 ↩

  19. Job 1:21 ↩

  20. Job 2:10 ↩

  21. Job 2:3 ↩

  22. Rhetoric question implying that Job’s righteous acts and works are not intervening for him during his time of trial ↩

  23. Tobit 2:14 ↩

  24. Tobit 12:11-15 ↩

  25. Numbers 17:10 ↩

  26. Psalm 51:17 ↩

  27. Deuteronomy 8:2 ↩

  28. Deuteronomy 13:3 ↩

  29. 2 Corinthians 12:7-9 ↩

  30. Sirach 27:5 ↩

Matthew Androus