Holy Bishops in Late Antiquity. Claudia Rapp
clergy. Converted as an adult, he chose a life of celibacy, disposed of most of his estate, and then, in short succession, was made presbyter and bishop in 248/249. His appointment was welcomed by the Christian congregation, which valued his prior training as a rhetorician and his network of connections. But as a newcomer to the clergy, he was met with less enthusiasm by a number of priests. Within a year or two after his election, the Decian persecution broke out. Cyprian himself went into hiding, convinced that he would serve his flock better by counseling them through his letters than by attracting the attention of the persecutors. His thought on the libelli developed over the course of the persecution, in response not only to the letters of the confessors in prison, but also with a view to preserving peace and unity within his church,122 for during Cyprian’s absence, some priests had honored the martyrs’ libelli and readmitted penitent apostates to the eucharist. Their decision could not easily be revoked.
Cyprian’s solution was to defuse the conflict by redefining the contested ground. The martyrs, he affirmed, had intercessory power with God with regard to admission to the kingdom in heaven. The bishop’s prayer could do the same, but, in addition, the bishop was responsible for the welfare of the kingdom of heaven as it exists, however imperfectly and insufficiently, in the here and now in the church. While the martyrs could issue recommendations, it was only the bishop’s prerogative to readmit sinners into the community. In essence, Cyprian was carving out a sphere of competence that was exclusively the bishop’s. And it belonged to the bishop because of the authority invested in his office. The question of the possession of spiritual authority in the individual was thus diverted and became a question over the area in which this authority was operative and effective. The persecutions resumed a few years later under Valerian. This time, Cyprian remained with his congregation. He suffered a brief period of exile, and then was martyred in Carthage in 258.
Martyrdom and Ecclesiastical Rank
The suffering that the confessors had endured during their trials translated into a special status within their communities after their return. Many confessors were made part of the clergy by their congregation, which wished to give recognition to their spiritual achievement and hoped to benefit from their spiritual gifts. According to the Apostolic Tradition, a confessor who had suffered judicial trial, imprisonment, or any other form of punishment, including binding in chains, was considered to hold the same honor (timē) as a deacon or priest: “But if a confessor has been in chains in prison for the Name [of Christ], hands are not laid on him for the diaconate or the presbyter’s office. For he has the honor (timē) of the presbyterate by his confession. But if he be appointed bishop, hands shall be laid on him.”123 Likewise the Testament of Our Lord, a fifth-century church order from Syria that is heavily indebted to the Apostolic Tradition: “For he [the confessor] has the honor of the clergy having been sheltered by the hand of God by his confessorship.”124
These statements regarding the confessors bring into focus the complex character of the episcopate. First of all, they make an implicit distinction between dignity and office. The confessors are automatically entitled to the former but achieve the latter only through proper initiation. Such niceties may well have been lost on the congregations, and the two were easily conflated. It was in order to avoid such misunderstandings that the Apostolic Constitutions, a compilation of the late fourth century, unambiguously declared that confessors ought not to usurp the dignity (axiōma) of the clergy.125 Further, these guidelines take for granted that the superior spiritual qualities of the confessors translate into the corresponding ecclesiastical rank of deacons and priests with the privilege to stand at the altar. Implicit in this ruling is the acknowledgement that the episcopate does not carry any increment in honor above the presbyterate but was rather an administrative position of elevated rank. It was for this reason, as we shall see momentarily, that Cyprian wanted to groom the confessors he had admitted into the clergy for their future tasks before promoting them to the episcopate. These statements seem to indicate that the higher dignity that the bishop enjoyed as the head of his clergy was the result of the spiritual nature inherent in his office, which placed him in the succession of the apostles, and which was conferred on him at the moment of his ordination. The spiritual authority that an individual acquired through his efforts in martyrdom—or asceticism for that matter—had its exact correspondence in the dignity of the priesthood or, in the case of young men or neophytes, of the deaconate.
Cyprian’s practice during the Decian persecution in Carthage shows how this question of dignity versus office could be resolved in practical terms. He appointed two young confessors, Aurelius and Celerinus, as readers. In this way, he noted, they could continue to give witness to their faith and be an inspiration and example to the congregation while they were performing their task of reading from the scripture during the liturgy. They were held in the same honor as priests through the allocation of a regular stipend and could expect eventually to be ordained to the priesthood and later the episcopate as the need arose. A third confessor, Numidicus, was made a priest immediately, again with the prospect of later elevation to the episcopate.126 He was more advanced in age and had endured greater physical suffering than the other two, which may explain his direct appointment to a higher rank in the clergy. Cyprian thus combined recognition of the special status of the confessors with integration into the ecclesiastical hierarchy at the appropriate level, sealed by a proper ordination rite. For many Christian believers, such distinctions between clergy and otherwise holy men were immaterial when their own salvation and well-being were at stake. A Syriac letter addressed by the presbyter Cosmas on behalf of his community to Symeon the Stylite contains the solemn promise to obey all his teachings lest they be cursed by him, and proclaims Symeon “the anointed priest given to us by God who effected reconciliation between God and his creation.”127
The Clergy and the Penitent
Holy men and martyrs offered intercessory prayer and vicarious penance on behalf of sinners, but their penitential abilities were limited to post-baptismal sins. The initial cleansing from sin and acceptance into the church through baptism was the exclusive purview of priests or bishops. They were also the ministers of penance for post-baptismal sins within the context of the church.
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