The Epistles of Cyprian 60
60 To Euchratius, About an Actor PL 4, 359
Argument.—He Forbids an Actor, If He Continue in His Disgraceful Calling, from Communicating in the Church. Neither Does He Allow It to Be an Excuse for Him, that He Himself Does Not Practice the Histrionic Art, So Long as He Teaches It to Others; Neither Does He Excuse It Because of the Want of Means, Since Necessaries May Be Supplied to Him from the Resources of the Church; And Therefore, If the Means of the Church There are Not Sufficient, He Recommends Him to Come to Carthage.
1. Cyprian to Euchratius his brother, greeting. From our mutual love and your reverence for me you have thought that I should be consulted, dearest brother, as to my opinion concerning a certain actor, who, being settled among you, still persists in the discredit of the same art of his; and as a master and teacher, not for the instruction, but for the destruction of boys, that which he has unfortunately learnt he also imparts to others: you ask whether such a one ought to communicate with us. This, I think, neither befits the divine majesty nor the discipline of the Gospel, that the modesty and credit of the Church should be polluted by so disgraceful and infamous a contagion. For since, in the law, men are forbidden to put on a woman’s garment, and those that offend in this manner are judged accursed, how much greater is the crime, not only to take women’s garments, but also to express base and effeminate and luxurious gestures, by the teaching of an immodest art.
2. Nor let any one excuse himself that he himself has given up the theatre, while he is still teaching the art to others. For he cannot appear to have given it up who substitutes others in his place, and who, instead of himself alone, supplies many in his stead; against God’s appointment, instructing and teaching in what way a man may be broken down into a woman, and his sex changed by art, and how the devil who pollutes the divine image may be gratified by the sins of a corrupted and enervated body. But if such a one alleges poverty and the necessity of small means, his necessity also can be assisted among the rest who are maintained by the support of the Church; if he be content, that is, with very frugal but innocent food. And let him not think that he is redeemed by an allowance to cease from sinning, since this is an advantage not to us, but to himself. What more he may wish he must seek thence, from such gain as takes men away from the banquet of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and leads them down, sadly and perniciously fattened in this world, to the eternal torments of hunger and thirst; and therefore, as far as you can, recall him from this depravity and disgrace to the way of innocence, and to the hope of eternal life, that he may be content with the maintenance of the Church, sparing indeed, but wholesome. But if the Church with you is not sufficient for this, to afford support for those in need, he may transfer himself to us, and here receive what may be necessary to him for food and clothing, and not teach deadly things to others without the Church, but himself learn wholesome things in the Church. I bid you, dearest brother, ever heartily farewell.
ARGUMENTUM.-- Deplorata sub initium captivitate fratrum, Cyprianus sibi per episcopos Numidas nuntiata, mittere se dicit sestertiorum centum millia, adscriptis nominibus singulorum tum fratrum et sororum, tum collegarum, qui aliquid contribuerant. Verisimile est autem factam hanc captivitatem ab illis Barbaris, contra quos Decius in bellum profectus, interfectus est. Primi autem recens ediderunt hanc epistolam Manutius et Morelius.
Cyprianus Januario, Maximo, Proculo, Victori, Modiano, Nemesiano, Nampulo, et Honorato fratribus salutem. Cum maximo animi nostri gemitu et non sine lacrymis legimus litteras vestras, fratres charissimi, quas ad nos, pro dilectionis vestrae sollicitudine, de fratrum nostrorum et sororum captivitate fecistis. Quis enim non doleat in ejusmodi casibus, aut quis non dolorem fratris sui suum proprium non computet, cum loquatur apostolus Paulus et dicat: Si patitur unum membrum, compatiuntur et caetera membra; si laetatur membrum unum, collaetantur et caetera membra. . Et alio loco: Quis infirmatur, inquit, et non ego infirmor ? Quare nunc et nobis captivitas fratrum nostra captivitas computanda est, et periclitantium dolor pro nostro dolore numerandus est, cum sit scilicet adunationis nostrae corpus unum, et non tantum dilectio, sed et religio instigare nos debeat et confortare ad fratrum membra redimenda.
Nam, cum denuo apostolus Paulus dicat, Nescitis quia templum Dei estis, et Spiritus Dei habitat in vobis ? etiamsi charitas nos minus adigeret ad opem fratribus ferendam, considerandum tamen hoc in loco fuit Dei templa esse quae capta sunt, nec pati nos longa cessatione et neglecto dolore debere ut diu Dei templa captiva sint, sed quibus possumus viribus elaborare et velociter gerere ut Christum judicem et Dominum et Deum 100 nostrum promereamur obsequiis nostris. Nam, cum dicat Paulus apostolus, Quotquot in Christo baptizati estis, Christum induistis , in captivis fratribus nostris contemplandus est Christus, et redimendus de periculo captivitatis qui nos redemit de periculo mortis; ut qui nos de diaboli faucibus exuit, nunc ipse qui manet et habitat in nobis, de barbarorum manibus exuatur, et redimatur nummaria quantitate qui nos cruce redemit et sanguine; qui idcirco haec fieri interim patitur ut fides nostra tentetur an faciat unusquisque pro altero quod pro se fieri vellet, si apud barbaros teneretur ipse captivus. Quis enim, non humanitatis memor et mutuae dilectionis admonitus, si pater est, illic esse nunc filios suos computet, si maritus est, uxorem suam illic captivam teneri cum dolore pariter ac pudore vinculi maritalis existimet? Quantus vero communis omnibus nobis moeror atque cruciatus est de periculo virginum quae illic tenentur! pro quibus non tantum libertatis, sed et pudoris jactura plangenda est, nec tam vincula barbarorum quam lenonum et lupanarium stupra deflenda sunt, ne membra Christo dicata et in aeternum continentiae honore pudica virtute devota insultantium libidine et contagione foedentur.
Quae omnia istic, secundum litteras vestras, fraternitas nostra cogitans et dolenter examinans, prompte omnes et libenter ac largiter subsidia nummaria fratribus contulerunt, semper quidem secundum fidei suae firmitatem ad opus Dei proni, nunc tamen magis ad opera salutaria contemplatione tanti doloris accensi. Nam, cum Dominus in Evangelio suo dicat, Infirmus fui, et visitastis me, quanto nunc quoque cum majore operis nostri mercede dicturus est: Captivus fui, et redemistis me . Et cum denuo dicat, In carcere fui, et venistis ad me, quanto plus est cum coeperit dicere: « In carcere captivitatis fui, et clausus et vinctus apud barbaros jacui, et de carcere illo servitutis liberastis me, » cum judicii dies venerit praemium de Domino recepturi? Denique maximas vobis gratias agimus quod nos vestrae sollicitudinis et tam bonae ac necessariae operationis participes esse voluistis, ut offerretis nobis agros uberes, in quibus spei nostrae semina mitteremus, expectaturi messem de amplissimis fructibus qui de hac coelesti et salutari operatione proveniunt. Misimus autem sestertia centum millia nummorum, quae istic in ecclesia cui de Domini indulgentia praesumus, cleri et plebis apud nos consistentis collatione collecta sunt, quae vos illic pro vestra diligentia dispensabitis.
Et optamus quidem nihil tale de caetero fieri et fratres nostros, Domini majestate protectos, ab ejusmodi periculis incolumes reservari. Si tamen, ad explorandam nostri animi charitatem et examinandam nostri pectoris fidem, tale aliquid acciderit, nolite cunctari nuntiare haec nobis litteris vestris, pro certo habentes ecclesiam nostram et fraternitatem istic universam ne haec ultra fiant precibus orare; si facta fuerint, libenter et largiter subsidia praestare. Ut autem fratres nostros ac sorores, qui ad hoc opus tam necessarium prompte ac libenter operati sunt, ut semper operentur, in mente habeatis in orationibus vestris, et eis vicem boni operis in sacrificiis et precibus repraesentetis, subdidi nomina singulorum, sed et collegarum quoque et consacerdotum nostrorum, qui et ipsi, cum praesentes essent, et suo et plebis suae nomine quaedam pro viribus contulerunt, nomina addidi; et praeter quantitatem propriam nostram, eorum quoque summulas significavi et misi, quorum omnium secundum quod fides et charitas 101 exigit, in orationibus et precibus vestris meminisse debetis. Optamus vos, fratres charissimi, semper bene valere et nostri meminisse.