Stephen I
Bishop of Rome who held, against Cyprian of Carthage and the bishops of Asia Minor, that converts baptised by heretics should be received by the laying on of hands and not baptised again. His own letters are lost.
Stephen succeeded Lucius as bishop of Rome. Eusebius says that he regarded the rebaptism of heretics as an innovation against the tradition handed down from the beginning, that he was “very indignant” with Cyprian, and, quoting Dionysius of Alexandria, that he wrote that he would not hold communion with the bishops of Cilicia, Cappadocia and Galatia over the same question. Eusebius gives him two years in office (Eusebius, Church History 7.2–7.5); the Roman list of bishops gives him four (Chronograph of 354 part 13 (Liberian Catalogue), Steffanus).
His ruling survives in one sentence quoted by Cyprian: nothing is to be introduced beyond what has been handed down, namely that hands be laid on such converts in penance (Cyprian, Letters 73.1 [74.1]). Firmilian of Caesarea in Cappadocia, writing to Cyprian, complains that Stephen boasted of his see and of holding the succession from Peter, and that he refused to receive the African bishops’ envoys (Cyprian, Letters 74.17, 74.25 [75.17, 75.25]). Both witnesses are his opponents.
In the timeline
- 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.
Primary sources
Church History
- Eusebius, Church History 7.2–7.5newadvent.org
Letters
- Cyprian, Letters 73.1 [74.1]newadvent.org
- Cyprian, Letters 74.17, 74.25 [75.17, 75.25]newadvent.org