By the time the third century rolled around persecution of
Christians had become the new “it” thing. Since Christianity was now seen as
being distinct from Judaism and was not an ethnic religion it had no protection
from the state.[1]
Since there was no protection, there began to be orders that high ranking
clergy were to perform rituals to pagan gods or suffer the consequence.
Needless to say this raised a lot of questions within the church itself. There
were some who felt that those who had fallen away (also called the lapsi) should be given letters of pardon
immediately while there were others who felt they should never be allowed back in
the church.
There were
two main sides of this issue one side was called rigorism which felt apostates
should not be restored to full fellowship, but must be kept in the condition of
penitents for the rest of their lives.[2] Those
who tended to be more rigorous felt that their way would teach the seriousness
of sin while strengthening the faithful to have a strong confession during
periods of persecution.[3] The
opposition to this stance were considered lax, and considered that the apostate
could be restored to full communion immediately.[4]It
has been said that the laxist side would restore the numbers of the fallen to
the church while trying to strengthen them against further temptation.[5]
There is
another view and it is one that I agree more with and that is Cyprians middle
of the road view. We should not keep someone away from fellowship forever for a
lack of momentary (or however long) courage. While at the same time we should
not go around promoting that it is acceptable to deny your beliefs in the face
of hardship and when it is smooth sailing again come back on board. Cyprian
felt that depending upon the nature of your disavowment determined the severity
of discipline. There were pretty much three levels of transgression: actually
making a sacrifice to a foreign god, obtaining a certificate of sacrifice
falsely, and privately entertaining the thought of sacrificing.[6] Those
who actually sacrificed would have to wait until death to be fully accepted
back into the fold, while those who had the certificates had to wait a described
amount of time, and the other made private confession to their bishop.[7]
