Cyprian's Letter To Fabius Analysis

The main victims of these persecutions were those that publicly refused to sacrifice, or voluntarily presented themselves as Christians. Most people would be imprisoned and put on trial where the judge would issue the sentence. Ranging from a simple dismissal of the case to a very rare edict of the death penalty, most Christians were subjected to torture and longer periods of imprisonment in order to persuade them to dismiss their Christian beliefs. The author Eusebius quotes a letter from Dionysius of Alexandria to the Bishop of Antioch, Fabius, which describes the scene of the persecutions in Alexandria. Dionysius explains that all of the Christians were afraid and most of which came forward and dismissed their Christian beliefs, participating in sacrifice and creating false documentations. Those that did not come forward and relinquished their previous beliefs either fled, were captured, imprisoned and put on trial, or tortured. Cyprian, a bishop from Carthage, fled Carthage
This issue would turn out to be the most damaging effect that the emperor’s decree would have had on the Christian church during the early 250’s.
“And everywhere the churches were left in the aftermath with the devastation of the fallen within their ranks.” In his letter to Carthage of the mass apostasy that had occurred there in his absence, Cyprian, furiously addresses the issue of those that denied God without hesitation and lapsed in their Christianity in order to save themselves. In reply to Cyprian’s disturbing letter, “The Letter of the Confessors” was sent explaining that those that had committed crimes of apostasy, had since confessed and had been readmitted into the church. This initially frustrated Cyprian even more and even though the members of the church were declining due to the persecutions, he did not believe that the confessors should be