ABSTRACT
I AMONG the correspondence of St Cyprian, we come across two letters, the XXXth and the XXXVIth, coming from the clergy in Rome and addressed to the Bishop of Carthage in connection with the question of the lapsi. In reply to a communication from Cyprian, who was anxious to assure himself whether he was in full agreement with the clergy of that city, Letter XXX insists on the duty imposed upon the Church of maintaining a rigorous discipline with regard to the apostates under whom were included the libellatici; it thanks the Bishop in warm terms for the encouraging words he had addressed to the confessors who were in prison, and concludes by declaring that the Church of Rome did not feel that it had the right to decide definitely the question of the lapsi before the Bishop of Rome, who had recently died, had been replaced; that in the meantime, the lapsi could only do penance without trying to extort a premature amnesty, it being understood that in case of peril of death, he should take into consideration the merits which they shall individually have acquired, with a view to their reconciliation with the Church. Letter XXXVI relates to the same discussion. It is in reply to Letter XXXV, in which Cyprian had drawn the attention of the clergy in Rome to the reprehensible obstinacy with which certain lapsi had refused to enter upon the way of penance, under the pretext that they had already received their pardon from the martyr Paulus. In it, Cyprian's attitude is fully commended while the inconsistency of certain martyrs, and the rebellion of certain sinners, receives a strong reprimand.
