ABSTRACT
Cyprian’s dispute with the confessors and their supporters among the clergy in Carthage focused on the necessity of the ritual of reconciliation for winning God’s forgiveness and receiving the peace of the church. Placing their trust in the intercessory power of the martyrs, these laxists did not require penance or use the ritual of reconciliation in admitting the lapsed to communion. When the African bishops rejected their practice, the laxists established a rival church with its own college of bishops. Though they failed to attract followers outside Africa, the availability of this alternative communion influenced the policies adopted by Cyprian and his colleagues for the reconciliation of the lapsed.1
