258
Cyprian was born into a wealthy home around 200. He studied rhetoric, showed a strong gift for debate, and opened a school to train students in public speaking. To demonstrate the best techniques, he sparred in front of his class with philosophers and Christians.
When he was about forty-five, the arguments of a Christian elder convinced Cyprian to convert. “A second birth created me a new man by means of the Spirit breathed from heaven,” he wrote. He gave up his wealth, became celibate, and devoted himself to reading the Bible. At Easter in 246 he was baptized.
Two years later, following the death of the bishop of Carthage, the people chose Cyprian to fill the vacancy despite his protests. Overnight, he became one of the most eminent leaders in North Africa. A contemporary described him as dignified, joyous, revered, and loved. However, his job would not be easy.
Some clergymen envied Cyprian’s elevation as bishop. Others resented him because he disciplined them. Two years after his election, with the pagans shouting, “Cyprian to the lions!” he fled into hiding. He tried to hold the church together with letters, but those Christians who stayed behind and suffered torture looked down on him. In 251, the Decian persecution ended. Though Cyprian returned to his church, more difficulties faced him.
Christians who had renounced their faith or who had purchased certificates of compliance with the Roman government’s rules were called “lapsed.” Some of the faithful said that no lapsed person should be readmitted to the church. They formed their own church and administered baptism. Later, when some of their converts wanted to unite with the catholic church, Cyprian said they must be baptized again by “legitimate” priests. Pope Stephen, the bishop of Rome, said any person baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit was truly baptized, regardless of who had done the baptizing.
Cyprian argued that no sacrament administered outside the church had validity. There was only one church, so breakaway groups cannot have the Holy Spirit. He wrote On the Unity of the Church to make his case. A series of councils in Carthage agreed with him, but Stephen threatened to excommunicate Cyprian, who gave in and said that no re-baptism was required.
Plague ravaged Carthage from 252 through 254. While the pagans abandoned their sick in the streets, Cyprian led the Christians in caring for the dying. They did this even as they were persecuted as the cause of the disease.
Soon persecution erupted again in North Africa. Proconsul Aspasius Paternus banished Cyprian to a town by the sea. When Aspasius died, Cyprian returned to Carthage but the new governor condemned him to death. On this day, 14 September 258, Cyprian said, “I am a Christian and cannot sacrifice to the gods. I heartily thank Almighty God who is pleased to set me free from the chains of this body.” He gave the executioner a piece of gold, knelt in prayer, and tied the bandage over his own eyes before his head was struck off. His courageous death impressed many of the eyewitnesses.
407
Because he spoke out boldly against the sins of Constantinople, John the Patriarch of Constantinople found himself in exile in the Taurus mountains. Several of the elite had taken offense at his sermons which showed up their shame. Among them was the Empress Eudoxia, who pulled strings to get him banished.
The winter before his death, John suffered dreadfully in the mountains. No amount of wood on the fire and no pile of blankets on his bed kept his shivering body warm. Still he wrote strong letters to the people under his care. Trained as a lawyer, his letters and sermons were masterpieces of religious literature. Although he was absent from them, church folk continued to take direction from him.
To John’s enemies, his power still seemed to be too great, his presence still too close. Although he was old and frail, his health undermined by years of stern living, they decided to move him up by the Euxine (Black) Sea.
They promised a reward to the guards who transferred him. The reward would be increased according to how quickly they made the transfer. There could not have been much doubt in the soldiers’ minds that the court wanted John walked to death.
And so his guards showed him little mercy. Relentlessly they hurried his tottering legs forward. Movement was torture. Five miles beyond Camona in Pontus (now in Turkey) he spent his last night alive in a church dedicated to another martyr, Bishop Basiliscus.
That night, Basiliscus supposedly appeared to John in a dream, assuring him that on the morrow they would meet.
The soldiers refused permission for him to have his devotions at the shrine the next morning. They hurried him on his way. But they had gone only about three miles when it became apparent John was dying. They took him back to the church.
There, he asked for a white robe, which was given him. He gave away his old clothes and surrounded by monks and nuns, raised himself up, saying, “Glory be to God for all things. Amen.” Those were his last words. He died on this day, September 14, 407.
Soon after his death, the title “Chrysostom,” (golden mouth) was added to his name. Eventually his remains were brought back to Constantinople where they received honor. He is remembered as one of the greatest orators of all history, a saint honored in many churches. The one ugly blot on Chrysostom’s character was his harsh anti-Semitism.
1741
Consuming many cups of coffee, George Frederick Handel completes the oratorio The Messiah, begun only twenty-four days earlier.
The manuscript is remarkably free of errors considering its length, the speed with which it is composed, and his own infirmity—he has already suffered a stroke.