The Plague of St. Cyprian

The Plague of St. Cyprian

“…the bowels loosened into a flux exhaust the strength of the body…a fever contracted in the very marrow of the bones breaks out into ulcers of the throat…the intestines are shaken by continual vomiting…the blood-shot eyes burn…the feet of some or certain parts of their members are cut away by the infection of diseased putrefaction…by a weakness developing through the losses and injuries of the body, either the gait is enfeebled, or the hearing impaired, or the sight blinded.”  St. Cyprian of Carthage, On Mortality, 252 A.D.

Saint Cyprian of Carthage had the privilege of pastoring during a pandemic afflicting much of Roman Empire. The above-mentioned quote comes from his work On Mortality and is a description of the plague vexing his people. It was written to encourage, challenge, and strength believers in the midst of terrible suffering. Death was lurking everywhere, and people were abandoning even basic decency. Dionysius, Bishop of Alexandria during the same period of plague, writes, “At the first onset of the disease, they pushed the sufferers away and fled from their dearest, throwing them into the roads before they were dead and treated unburied corpses like dirt…but do what they might, they found it difficult to escape.” Christians living in the ancient world also had to grapple with the reality of a pandemic. Without taking away from those who have suffered during COVID and beyond, I might add that their experience was probably a harsher than ours. They didn’t have hospitals or vaccines. And if the plague didn’t touch you directly, there was still the crippling fear of a slow and agonizing death. But what can we say to those tormented either by disease or demoralizing fear?
Here are a couple points of encouragement from Cyprian’s work. First, Cyprian’s comfort is stern. He challenges to us evaluate whether we truly believe the things we claim about God, resurrection, and eternal life. If in fact we believe that this world is not ultimately our home, then debilitating fear of death is inappropriate for Christians. Cyprian reminds us that the fear of death and disease has no place in the eternally secure joy rightfully ours in Christ. He says, “If we believe in Christ let us have faith in his words and promises, that we who are not to die forever may come in joyful security to Christ with whom we are to conquer and reign for eternity.”
Cyprian wants the anticipation of heavenly joy to saturate life here on earth and in doing so admits to no room for fear or despondency. He thinks it strange for people to believe in life everlasting on the one hand and be gripped by fear on the other. Do you believe that God has the sum of all blessedness waiting for you in his presence? How you respond to the afflictions of life reveals whether this is so. Second, the plague also occasions a deeper examination of our hearts. Often times we are far more attached to the pleasures and things of this world than we realize. Cyprian thinks that many of his people simply love this world and that’s why they fear death. Our love of money and material goods becomes crystalized at the threat of loss. Suffering has a purifying effect and makes utterly transparent the inner recesses of the soul. Hear Cyprian’s question to us all: “Why then do we pray and entreat that the kingdom of heaven may come, if earthly captivity delights us?” 
His question stings and is more than rhetorical. In our songs, prayers, and sermons we often entreat the Lord to come quickly and remind each other of heaven. At the same time, we weep and wail or spend our time and resources as if we have no hope to experience the blessedness of eternal joy! The loss of earthly things ought not to cut us to the heart.  Brothers and sisters, God is good to show us the true state of our affections. As a good pastor, Cyprian cuts us no slack. If we claim to be on the cusp of heaven but cringe as we approach the precipice, we prove our affirmations to be hollow. He writes, “we are prevaricators of our hope and faith, if what we say seems pretended, feigned, falsified. It profits nothing to show forth virtue in words and destroy truth in deeds.” We might make many claims about our faith, but the reality is demonstrated in how we live. Nothing makes this more evident than our response to adversity.  Let me be clear: how we respond to the ugly face of death and loss says more to the world about our convictions than anything we might say.
Our afflictions not only challenge us to evaluate what we really believe and occasion deeper heart examination, they also prepare us to receive the eternal weight of glory. God forms us into the people he wants us to be using the rough edges of life here and now. We need only to fix our eyes on the incomparable beauty of our crucified and resurrected King.
 
So, we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.  For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.
 2 Corinthians 4:16-18
Pastor John

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