São Cipriano de Cartago
São Cipriano de Cartago · On the Unity of the Church · To the People of Thibaris, Exhorting to Martyrdom. · séc. III
Cipriano, em carta de 258 d.C., exorta a comunidade de Thibaris a perseverar no martírio tendo diante dos olhos os "exemplos dos bons desde o princípio do mundo". A carta documenta a prática de invocar a memória dos mártires anteriores como modelo e sustentação — o martírio como ato de comunhão com os que já morreram pela fé.
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To the People of Thibaris, Exhorting to Martyrdom. [It has been a question whether this daily reception of the communion was confined to times of persecution, or was more generally the custom. It seems to me exceptional. Freeman, vol. i. p. 383.] 1 John ii. 6. Rom. viii. 16, 17. 1 Pet. iv. 12–14. Luke xviii. 29, 30. Luke vi. 22, 23. 3. The Lord desired that we should rejoice and leap for joy in persecutions, because, when persecutions occur, then are given the crowns of faith, then the soldiers of God are proved, then the heavens are opened to martyrs. For we have not in such a way given our name to warfare that we ought only to think about peace and draw back from and refuse war, when in this very warfare the Lord walked first—the Teacher of humility, and endurance, and suffering—so that what He taught to be done, He first of all did, and what He exhorts to suffer, He Himself first suffered for us. Let it be before your eyes beloved brethren, that He who alone received all judgment from the Father, and who will come to judge, has already declared the decree of His judgment and of His future recognition, foretelling and testifying that He will confess those before His Father who confess Him, and will deny those who deny Him. If we could escape death, we might reasonably fear to die. But since, on the other hand, it is necessary that a mortal man should die, we should embrace the occasion that comes by the divine promise and condescension, and accomplish the ending provided by death with the reward of immortality; nor fear to be slain, since we are sure when we are slain to be crowned. Matt. x. 19, 20. Bel and the Dragon 5. John xv. 18–20. Matt. x. 28. John xii. 25. Apoc. xiv. 9–11. It is observed here that the Eucharist was at this time received by the hand of the communicant, and not placed in his mouth by the minister, as some have pretended was the original mode of administration. 11. Let these things, beloved brethren, take hold of our hearts; let this be the preparation of our arms, this our daily and nightly meditation, to have before our eyes and ever to revolve in our thoughts and feelings the punishments of the wicked and the rewards and the deservings of the righteous: what the Lord threatens by way of punishment against those that deny Him; what, on the other hand, He promises by way of glory to those that confess Him. If, while we think and meditate on these things, there should come to us a day of persecution, the soldier of Christ instructed in His precepts and warnings is not fearful for the battle, but is prepared for the crown. I bid you, dearest brethren, ever heartily farewell.