Cyprian, a convert from paganism, known
for his writings on prayer, teaches us the importance of personal 'prayer of
the heart' with God
On Wednesday, 6 June
[2007], at the General Audience in St. Peter's Square, the Holy Father
commented on St. Cyprian, the third-century Bishop of Carthage, focusing on his
teachings of unity and prayer. The following is a translation of the Pope's
Catechesis, given in Italian.
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
In the series of our catecheses on the
great figures of the ancient Church, today we come to an excellent African
Bishop of the third century, St. Cyprian, "the first Bishop in Africa to
obtain the crown of martyrdom".
His fame, Pontius the Deacon his first
biographer attests, is also linked to his literary corpus and pastoral activity
during the 13 years between his conversion and his martyrdom (cf. Life
and Passion of St. Cyprian, 19, 1; 1, 1).
Cyprian was born in Carthage into a
rich pagan family. After a dissipated youth, he converted to Christianity at
the age of 35.
He himself often told of his spiritual
journey, "When I was still lying in darkness and gloomy night", he
wrote a few months after his Baptism, "I used to regard it as extremely
difficult and demanding to do what God's mercy was suggesting to me. "I
myself was held in bonds by the innumerable errors of my previous life, from
which I did not believe I could possibly be delivered, so I was disposed to
acquiesce in my clinging vices and to indulge my sins....
"But after that, by the help of
the water of new birth, the stain of my former life was washed away, and a
light from above, serene and pure, was infused into my reconciled heart... a
second birth restored me to a new man. Then, in a wondrous manner every doubt
began to fade.... I clearly understood that what had first lived within me,
enslaved by the vices of the flesh, was earthly and that what, instead, the
Holy Spirit had wrought within me was divine and heavenly" (Ad Donatum,
3-4).
Immediately after his conversion,
despite envy and resistance, Cyprian was chosen for the priestly office and
raised to the dignity of Bishop. In the brief period of his episcopacy he had
to face the first two persecutions sanctioned by imperial decree: that of
Decius (250) and that of Valerian (257-258).
After the particularly harsh
persecution of Decius, the Bishop had to work strenuously to restore order to
the Christian community. Indeed, many of the faithful had abjured or at any
rate had not behaved correctly when put to the test. They were the so-called lapsi that
is, the "fallen" — who ardently desired to be readmitted to the
community.
A turbulent
background
The debate on their readmission
actually divided the Christians of Carthage into laxists and rigorists. These
difficulties were compounded by a serious epidemic of the plague which swept
through Africa and gave rise to anguished theological questions both within the
community and in the confrontation with pagans. Lastly, the controversy between
St. Cyprian and Stephen, Bishop of Rome, concerning the validity of Baptism
administered to pagans by heretical Christians, must not be forgotten.
In these truly difficult circumstances,
Cyprian revealed his choice gifts of government: he was severe but not
inflexible with the laxists, granting them the possibility of
forgiveness after exemplary repentance. Before Rome, he staunchly defended the
healthy traditions of the African Church; he was deeply human and steeped with
the most authentic Gospel spirit when he urged Christians to offer brotherly
assistance to pagans during the plague; he knew how to maintain the proper
balance when reminding the faithful — excessively afraid of losing their lives
and their earthly possessions — that true life and true goods are not those of
this world; he was implacable in combating corrupt morality and the sins that
devastated moral life, especially avarice.
"Thus he spent his days",
Pontius the Deacon tells at this point, "when at the bidding of the
proconsul, the officer with his soldiers all of a sudden came unexpectedly upon
him in his grounds" (Life and Passion of St. Cyprian, 15, 1).
On that day, the holy Bishop was
arrested and after being questioned briefly, courageously faced martyrdom in
the midst of his people.
The numerous treatises and letters that
Cyprian wrote were always connected with his pastoral ministry. Little inclined
to theological speculation, he wrote above all for the edification of the
community and to encourage the good conduct of the faithful.
Indeed, the Church was easily his
favourite subject. Cyprian distinguished between the visible, hierarchical
Church and the invisible mystical Church but forcefully affirmed that the
Church is one, founded on Peter.
He never wearied of repeating that
"if a man deserts the Chair of Peter upon whom the Church was built, does
he think that he is in the Church?" (cf. De unit. [On the unity of
the Catholic Church], 4).
Cyprian knew well that "outside
the Church there is no salvation", and said so in strong words (Epistles 4,
4 and 73, 21); and he knew that "no one can have God as Father who does
not have the Church as mother" (De unit., 6). An indispensable
characteristic of the Church is unity, symbolized by Christ's seamless garment
(ibid., 7): Cyprian said, this unity is founded on Peter (ibid.,
4), and its perfect fulfilment in the Eucharist (Epistle 63, 13).
"God is one and Christ is
one", Cyprian cautioned, "and his Church is one, and the faith is
one, and the Christian people is joined into a substantial unity of body by the
cement of concord. Unity cannot be severed. And what is one by its nature
cannot be separated" (De unit., 23).
Cyprian teaches us to
pray
We have spoken of his thought on the
Church but, lastly, let us not forget Cyprian's teaching on prayer. I am
particularly fond of his treatise on the "Our Father", which has been
a great help to me in understanding and reciting the Lord's Prayer better.
Cyprian teaches that it is precisely in
the Lord's Prayer that the proper way to pray is presented to Christians. And
he stresses that this prayer is in the plural in order that "the person
who prays it might not pray for himself alone. Our prayer", he wrote,
"is public and common; and when we pray, we pray not for one, but for the
whole people, because we the whole people, are one (De Dom. orat. [Treatise
on the Lord's Prayer], 8).
Thus, personal and liturgical prayer
seem to be strongly bound. Their unity stems from the fact that they respond to
the same Word of God. The Christian does not say "my Father" but
"our Father", even in the secrecy of a closed room, because he knows
that in every place, on every occasion, he is a member of one and the same
Body.
"Therefore let us pray, beloved
Brethren", the Bishop of Carthage wrote, "as God our Teacher has taught
us. It is a trusting and intimate prayer to beseech God with his own word, to
raise to his ears the prayer of Christ. Let the Father acknowledge the words of
his Son when we pray, and let him also who dwells within our breast himself
dwell in our voice....
"But let our speech and petition
when we pray be under discipline, observing quietness and modesty. Let us
consider that we are standing in God's sight. We must please the divine eyes
both with the position of the body and with the measure of voice....
"Moreover, when we meet together
with the brethren in one place, and celebrate divine sacrifices with God's
priest, we ought to be mindful of modesty and discipline — not to throw abroad
our prayers indiscriminately, with unsubdued voices, nor to cast to God with
tumultuous wordiness a petition that ought to be commended to God by modesty;
for God is the hearer, not of the voice, but of the heart (non vocis sed
cordis auditor est)" (3-4). Today too, these words still apply and
help us to celebrate the Holy Liturgy well.
Ultimately, Cyprian placed himself at
the root of that fruitful theological and spiritual tradition which sees the
"heart" as the privileged place for prayer.
Indeed, in accordance with the Bible
and the Fathers, the heart is the intimate depths of man, the place in which
God dwells. In it occurs the encounter in which God speaks to man, and man
listens to God; man speaks to God and God listens to man. All this happens
through one divine Word. In this very sense — re-echoing Cyprian — Smaragdus,
Abbot of St. Michael on the Meuse in the early years of the ninth century,
attests that prayer "is the work of the heart, not of the lips, because
God does not look at the words but at the heart of the person praying" (Diadema
monachorum [Diadem of the monks], 1).
Dear friends, let us make our own this
receptive heart and "understanding mind" of which the Bible (cf. I
Kgs 3:9) and the Fathers speak. How great is our need for it! Only then will we
be able to experience fully that God is our Father and that the Church, the
holy Bride of Christ, is truly our Mother.
____________________________________________
From L'Osservatore Romano, Weekly Edition in English, 13 June 2007.
