The Church Fathers · 251
On the Lapsed
De Lapsis
Cyprian of Carthage · c. 210–258
What it is
After the Decian persecution, an unsparing analysis of why so many complied so quickly, and a refusal to let confessors hand out forgiveness in place of the bishop and a period of penance.
Why it lasted
The document that set the Western church's practice on restoring apostates, and the immediate cause of two schisms.
Where to read it
This work is in the public domain and can be read in full, free, at the archives below. The Library catalogues it; it does not host the text.
These open a search on each archive rather than a direct link, which is the honest way to point at an edition nobody here has checked line by line.
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