Cyprian Quotes and Sayings - Page 1
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“Let us, then, who in Baptism have both died and been buried in respect to the carnal sins of the old man, who have risen again with Christ in the heavenly regeneration, both think upon and do the things that are Christ's.”
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“May all Christians be found worthy of either the pure white crown of a holy life or the royal red crown of martyrdom.”
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“This supernatural bread and this consecrated chalice are for the health and salvation of mankind.”
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“In proportion to the size of the vessel of faith, brought by us to the Lord, is the measure we draw out of His overflowing grace.”
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“There is one God and one Christ, and one Church, and one chair founded on Peter by the word of the Lord. It is not possible to set up another altar or for there to be another priesthood besides that one altar and that one priesthood. Whoever has gathered elsewhere is scattering.”
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“He [Christ] protects their faith and gives strength to believers in proportion to the trust that each man who receives that strength is willing to place in him.”
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“The spouse of Christ cannot be defiled; she is uncorrupted and chaste.”
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“Be constantly committed to prayer or to reading [Scripture]; by praying, you speak to God, in reading, God speaks to you.”
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“If, in the case of the worst sinners and those who formerly sinned much against God, when afterwards they believe, the remission of their sins is granted and no one is held back from baptism and grace, how much more, then, should an infant not be held back, who, having but recently been born, has done no sin, except that, born of the flesh according to Adam, he has contracted the contagion of that old death from his first being born. For this very reason does he [an infant] approach more easily to receive the remission of sins: because the sins forgiven him are not his own but those of another”
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“And according as we say, "Our Father," because He is The Father of those who understand and believe; so also we call it "our Bread," because Christ is The Bread of those who are in union with His Body. And we ask that this Bread should be given to us daily, that we who are in Christ, and daily receive The Eucharist for the Food of Salvation, may not by the interposition of some heinous sin...be separated from Christ's Body.”
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“The beard must not be plucked. 'You will not deface the figure of your beard'.”
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“Murder, considered a crime when people commit it singly, is transformed into a virtue when they do it en masse.”
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“Whereas there can be but one Baptism, they think they can Baptize; they have abandoned the fountain of life, yet promise the life and grace of the waters of salvation. It is not cleansing which men find there, but soiling; their sins are not washed away, but only added to. That being "born again" does not bring forth sons to God but to the Devil. Born of a lie, they cannot inherit the things which Truth has promised; begotten by the faithless, they are deprived of the grace of faith.”
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“Knowing that there is one Baptism, we who hold the head and root of the One Church know for certain that to him who is outside the Church nothing is lawful.”
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“None of us offers resistance when he is seized, or avenges himself for your unjust violence, although our people are numerous and plentiful...it is not lawful for us to hate, and so we please God more when we render no requital for injury...we repay your hatred with kindness.”
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“But later, by the help of the water of new birth, the stain of former years was washed away, and a light from above - serene and pure - was infused into my reconciled heart. Then through the Spirit breathed from heaven, a second birth restored me to a new man.”
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“The Lord withdraws when He is denied, and what is taken by the undeserving does not avail them unto salvation, since the saving grace is turned into ashes and holiness departs.”
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“Peter, in showing that the Church is one and that only those who are in the Church can be saved, said: "In the Ark of Noah certain persons, numbering only eight, were saved by water, which Baptism effects in like manner for you" (1 Peter 3:20). He proves and demonstrates that the solitary Ark of Noah was the figure of the One Church. If, at the time of this Baptism of the world anyone could have been saved without having been in the Ark of Noah, then he who is outside the Church could now be brought to life by Baptism.”
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“Men imitate the gods whom they adore, and to such miserable beings their crimes become their religion.”
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“Think not that you are thus maintaining the Gospel of Christ when you separate yourselves from the flock of Christ.”
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“It is a persistent evil to persecute a man who belongs to the grace of God. It is a calamity without remedy to hate the happy.”
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“For the helmsman is recognized in the tempest; in the warfare the soldier is proved.”
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“Custom, though never so ancient, without truth, is but an old error.”
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“The world is going mad in mutual extermination, and murder, considered as a crime when committed individually, becomes a virtue when it is committed by large numbers. It is the multiplication of the frenzy that assures impunity to the assassins.”
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“No one is strong in his own strength, but he is safe by the grace and mercy of God.”
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“When we pray to God with entire assurance, it is Himself who has given us the spirit of prayer.”
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“Since the baptismal rebirth takes place only with the one Bride of Christ, where could he be born who is not a son of the Church?”
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“The wretched bodies of the condemned shall simmer and blaze in those living fires.”
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