Cyprian
Teacher of rhetoric who became a Christian and soon afterwards bishop of Carthage. He led the African church through the Decian persecution and its aftermath, wrote on the unity of the church, clashed with Rome over baptism, and was beheaded in 258.
Jerome says that Cyprian was a well-known teacher of rhetoric before the presbyter Caecilius persuaded him to become a Christian (Jerome, On Illustrious Men 67). His deacon Pontius adds that he was chosen bishop of Carthage by popular demand while still a recent convert (Pontius, Life of Cyprian 4–5). When the persecution of Decius began and the crowd called for him, he withdrew from the city and directed his church by letter, a decision he had to defend to the clergy of Rome (Cyprian, Letters 14.1 [20.1]).
After his return he dealt with the Christians who had sacrificed, opposed the rival bishop Novatian, and held, against Stephen I of Rome, that baptism given by heretics was no baptism; see the Decian Persecution and Cyprian on the Unity of the Church. Under the emperor Valerian he was exiled to Curubis on 30 August 257, brought back, tried before the proconsul and beheaded on 14 September 258 (Proconsular Acts of Cyprian pp. xxv–xxviii).
In the timeline
- AD 250, firm dateThe Decian Persecution
The emperor Decius orders the inhabitants of the empire to sacrifice to the gods and obtain a certificate. Bishops are executed or driven into hiding, many Christians comply, and the churches are left divided over how to receive them back.
- AD 251 to AD 258, firm dateCyprian on the Unity of the Church
Faced with rival bishops at Rome and Carthage after the Decian persecution, Cyprian argues that there is one church, held together by one episcopate, outside which there is no salvation. He then defends his view of baptism against the bishop of Rome and dies a martyr in 258.