Epistle LXXIV. 1
Firmilian, Bishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia, to Cyprian, Against the Letter of Stephen. a.d. 256.
Argument.--The Argument of This Letter is Exactly the Same as that of the Previous One, But Written with a Little More Vehemence and Acerbity Than Becomes a Bishop, 2 Chiefly for the Reason, as May Be Suspected, that Stephen Had Also Written Another Letter to Firmilianus, Helenus, and Other Bishops of Those Parts. 3
-
Oxford ed.: Ep. lxxv. [This is one of the most important illustrations of Ante-Nicene unity and its laws. Elucidation XIX.] ↩
-
[But observe, in contrast, the language of Stephen, which he rebukes (sec. 26, infra), and his schismatical conduct towards the whole African Church.] ↩
-
To the effect that he would not hold communion with them so long as they should persist in their opinion concerning the baptism of heretics, as Eusebius tells us from a letter of Dionysius of Alexandria to Xistus, the successor of Stephen, Hist. Eccles., book vii. c. 4. ↩
