c. A.D. 200 – 258

Cyprian

Worth knowing

A wealthy teacher of rhetoric in Carthage who became a Christian around A.D. 246 and was made bishop within about three years.
During the persecution under Decius he went into hiding and led his church by letter. Afterwards he had to decide how to receive back Christians who had denied the faith under threat.
His book On the Unity of the Church argues that there is one church, as there is one Christ. It was quoted on both sides of later arguments about the church.
He was beheaded outside Carthage in A.D. 258 under the emperor Valerian.

In Scholar’s Dream, Cyprian has three books

The Primacy TextCyprian, De Unitate 4 (Primacy Text recension)Ecclesiology

On the UnityCyprian of Carthage, De Ecclesiae Catholicae UnitateEcclesiology

Cyprian’s CorpusThe Works of Cyprian of CarthageEcclesiologyEthics

Cyprian’s quotes in the game

Every quotation from Cyprian that a player meets in Scholar’s Dream, attached to the move that says it. Or see them as a plain list →

In Scholar’s Dream, books argue with each other, and each thing a book can do in a debate is called a move. Every quote below is spoken by one of those moves. Open “How it works in the game” under a quote to see the move, which books learn it, and which arguments it answers best.

“And the primacy is given to Peter, that there might be shown one Church of Christ and one See; and they are all shepherds, and the Rock is one, which is fed by all the apostles with unanimous consent.”
Cyprian, On the Unity of the Catholic Church 4, Primacy Text recension (trans. R. E. Wallis, ANF 5, public domain). Both recensions are now generally held to be Cyprian’s own.public domain

How it works in the game: the move One Chair

EcclesiologyArgument · power 72 · 100% accurate

In the gameThe church is one thing, and a man who walks out of it does not take it with him. Cyprian died for that in 258 — and a century and a half later both sides of a schism were quoting him at each other.

Learned byThe Primacy Text (Lv 1), On the Unity (Lv 1)

Strong against

×2.5An Apology of the Church of Englanda book · why?

Jewel cites Cyprian in the Apology for the same point: the apostles were equal, and the bishop’s office is one. He reads it against the pope’s claim.

×2.5The Institutes (1559)a book · why?

Calvin quotes this chapter of Cyprian’s against the papacy (Institutes 4.6.4). He reads it as a call to unity and finds no pope in it.

×2The Conscience of the Giveran argument · why?

Cyprian taught that the church is one, and that nobody who leaves it takes it with him. A congregation that splits over a minister’s sin leaves the body it meant to keep pure.

×2The Traitor’s Handsan argument · why?

Cyprian taught that the church is one. Breaking away over other people’s sins divides the body Christ made one.

Passages you can read in the game

Longer excerpts the Scriptorium holds on screen for a player to sit and read, word for word.

“Upon him, being one, He builds His Church, and commits His sheep to be fed.”
Cyprian, On the Unity of the Church 4, the Primacy Text recension (trans. Wallis, ANF 5, public domain).

from The Primacy Text

“And the primacy is given to Peter, that there might be shown one Church of Christ and one See; and they are all shepherds, and the Rock is one, which is fed by all the apostles with unanimous consent.”
Cyprian, On the Unity of the Church 4, Primacy Text (trans. Wallis, ANF 5, public domain).

from The Primacy Text

“Who deserts the chair of Peter, upon whom the Church is founded.”
Cyprian, On the Unity of the Church 4, Primacy Text (trans. Wallis, ANF 5, public domain).

from The Primacy Text

“Assuredly the rest of the apostles were also the same as was Peter, endowed with a like partnership both of honour and power; but the beginning proceeds from unity.”
Cyprian, On the Unity of the Church 4 — this sentence stands in BOTH recensions (trans. Wallis, ANF 5, public domain).

from The Primacy Text

“…yet, that He might set forth unity, He arranged by His authority the origin of that unity, as beginning from one. Assuredly the rest of the apostles were also the same as was Peter, endowed with a like partnership both of honour and power.”
Cyprian, On the Unity of the Church 4 (trans. Wallis, ANF 5, public domain).

from On the Unity

“As there are many rays of the sun, but one light; and many branches of a tree, but one strength based in its tenacious root; and since from one spring flow many streams… yet the unity is still preserved in the source.”
Cyprian, On the Unity of the Church 5 (trans. Wallis, ANF 5, public domain). The ellipsis is a clause on the abundance of the streams.

from On the Unity

“Separate a ray of the sun from its body of light, its unity does not allow a division of light; break a branch from a tree,—when broken, it will not be able to bud; cut off the stream from its fountain, and that which is cut off dries up.”
Cyprian, On the Unity of the Church 5 (trans. Wallis, ANF 5, public domain).

from On the Unity

“He can no longer have God for his Father, who has not the Church for his mother.”
Cyprian, On the Unity of the Church 6 (trans. Wallis, ANF 5, public domain, lightly modernized).

from On the Unity

Words Cyprian’s books borrow from others

Moves these books can learn whose quotation comes from somebody else. The citation on each one names who actually said it.

“Eighty and six years have I served him, and he has done me no wrong. How then can I blaspheme my King who saved me?”
Martyrdom of Polycarp 9 (public domain trans.).public domain

How it works in the game: the move Martyr’s Resolve

EthicsArgument · power 50 · 100% accurate

In the game"Eighty and six years…" Strikes half again as hard when the book is nearly spent.

Learned byThe Primacy Text (Lv 8), On the Unity (Lv 22)

“For in him we live, and move, and have our being. As some of your own poets have said.”
Acts 17:28 (WEB) — Paul at the Areopagus, quoting the Athenians’ own poets back to them.

How it works in the game: the move Affirm

Status

In the gamePick the part of the opponent’s case that is true and affirm it. That point can no longer be used against you, and the opponent’s Defend falls sharply. It deals no damage. Affirm something false and you have only agreed with an error.

Learned byThe Primacy Text (Lv 19), On the Unity (Lv 27), Cyprian’s Corpus (Lv 36)

“Let them produce the original records of their churches; let them unfold the roll of their bishops, running down in due succession from the beginning… as the church of Smyrna, which records that Polycarp was placed therein by John; as also the church of Rome, which makes Clement to have been ordained in like manner by Peter.”
Tertullian, Prescription against Heretics 32 (trans. Thelwall, ANF 3, public domain).public domain

How it works in the game: the move Produce the Records

EcclesiologyArgument · power 70 · 100% accurate

In the gameName your bishops back to an apostle. Smyrna could: Polycarp was placed there by John. Rome could: Clement was ordained by Peter. A book or group that cannot has answered the question.

Learned byThe Primacy Text (Lv 20), On the Unity (Lv 34)

Strong against

×2Gos. Barnabasa book · why?

Tertullian asked for a line of bishops back to an apostle. The Gospel of Barnabas has none: nobody had heard of it before the late Middle Ages.

×2Gos. Judasa book · why?

Tertullian’s test: show your line of teachers back to an apostle. The Gospel of Judas came from a second-century sect, and no church received it from anyone who knew Judas.

×2Gos. Thomasa book · why?

Tertullian’s test: name your bishops back to an apostle. The churches of Smyrna and Rome could. No church ever received the Gospel of Thomas from Thomas.

×2Hidden Sparkan argument · why?

Tertullian asks for names, not beliefs. A teaching that arrived in secret has no list to hand over.

×2Letter to Floraan argument · why?

It claims a tradition handed down privately. Tertullian asks who handed it, and no name is ever produced.

×2On the Unitya book · why?

Jerome reports that Cyprian read Tertullian every day and would say, “Give me the master.”

×2Thirty Aeonsan argument · why?

Tertullian’s answer to a secret handover: the churches with the clearest lists teach none of this.

“The Church, though dispersed … the whole world… has received from the apostles and their disciples this faith… carefully preserves it, as if dwelling in but a single house.”
Irenaeus, Against Heresies 1.10.1–2 (trans. Roberts & Rambaut, ANF 1, public domain; condensed).public domain

How it works in the game: the move Rule of Faith

ChristologyArgument · power 55 · 100% accurate

In the gameOne public tradition, handed down openly in all the churches.

Learned byOn the Unity (Lv 26)

Strong against

×4Gos. Judasa book · why?

And this book is BUILT on that error — it has nowhere left to stand once the rule is read out.

×4Gos. Thomasa book · why?

And this book is BUILT on that error — it has nowhere left to stand once the rule is read out.

×2"That’s Three Gods"an argument · why?

Irenaeus points to the one faith held by the churches everywhere: one God the Father, one Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. The church has always named three and counted one God.

×2Hidden Sparkan argument · why?

Irenaeus shows the church has not grown through sharing secrets but by bearing witness (publicly!) to the truth, from Germany to Egypt.

×2Letter to Floraan argument · why?

Ptolemy wrote it privately, to one woman. Irenaeus’ test is a faith said aloud in every church, for anyone to compare.

×2The Traitor’s Handsan argument · why?

Irenaeus points to the one faith held by all the churches together. The Donatists kept a pure church in one province, but the true church is spread through the whole world.

×2Thirty Aeonsan argument · why?

Irenaeus’ complaint was that no two Valentinian teachers described the aeons the same way. He compared their disagreements against the shared and consistent testimony of the church — the Rule of Faith.

“Wheresoever the bishop shall appear, there let the people be; even as where Jesus may be, there is the universal Church.”
Ignatius, To the Smyrnaeans 8.2 (trans. Lightfoot, public domain).public domain

How it works in the game: the move The Universal Church

EcclesiologyType shift

In the gameThe church is wherever Christ is — larger than the congregation currently arguing. Raises the user’s Defend. The earliest surviving use of the phrase “the catholic church.”

Learned byOn the Unity (Lv 30), Cyprian’s Corpus (Lv 32)

Strong against

×3The Church That Suffersan argument · why?

It answers with the one mark he cannot claim — but nobody wins this one cleanly.

×2The Conscience of the Giveran argument · why?

Ignatius wrote that where Jesus Christ is, there is the universal church. What cleanses is Christ’s presence, not the conscience of the man pouring the water.

Who else was alive

Cyprian against everyone else in the game.

A.D. 1A.D. 50A.D. 100A.D. 150A.D. 200A.D. 250A.D. 300A.D. 350A.D. 400A.D. 450

Matthew Paul John Mark Pliny the Elder Clement of Rome Ignatius An early Christian community Polycarp Claudius Ptolemy Hermas Justin Martyr Aristides Quadratus Melito Unknown authors writing under borrowed names Irenaeus The author of the Epistle to Diognetus Athenagoras Clement of Alexandria Tertullian Marcus Minucius Felix Origen Cyprian Plotinus Lactantius Eusebius Athanasius Eustathius of Sebaste Apollinaris of Laodicea Cyril of Jerusalem Epiphanius of Salamis Gregory of Nazianzus Basil of Caesarea Eunomius of Cyzicus Gregory of Nyssa Ambrose of Milan Jovinian Augustine The Macedonians Helvidius

Solid bar = firm dates · faded = approximate61 authors sit outside this window