The model of the perfect Christian in st. Cyprian’s writings

Marcin Wysocki

Katolicki Uniwersytet Lubelski Jana Pawła II , Poland


Abstract

The article shows the model of the perfect Christian depicted by the Bishop of Carthage, St. Cyprian. This model is particularly interesting since it was formed during the persecution, which had a major impact on shaping the image of the perfect Christian. This paper consists of three main parts: the first - St. bishop Cyprian of Carthage and his time – in which the circumstances of his pastoral work and his works are given, the other - Perfection for all - shows a model of perfection that St. Cyprian proposed to all believers, and in the third part, the martyrs - „a fruit a hundredfold” of perfection - are portrayed. To them Cyprian admitted the highest degree of Christian perfection. For bishop Cyprian the Christian-martyrs, who perfectly fulfilled God’s commandments in everyday life and in the most perfect way they united themself with Christ in the suffering and in the death, were primarily a perfect model of the Christians. And this model of perfect Christianmartyr for decades after Cyprian - till the reign of Emperor Constantine the Great - was the main model of a perfect Christian.

Keywords:

Cyprian, perfect Christian

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Published
2010-07-15


Wysocki, M. (2010). Model doskonałego chrześcijanina w pismach św. Cypriana z Kartaginy. Vox Patrum, 55, 699–720. https://doi.org/10.31743/vp.4366

Marcin Wysocki 
Katolicki Uniwersytet Lubelski Jana Pawła II



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