Cyprian of Carthage on Swearing

Cyprian of Carthage on Swearing

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Treatise 7.4 (On Mortality)

Written c. 246-258 CE.

Source: Saint Cyprian of Carthage. 1958. Fathers of the Church, Volume 36 : Treatises, p. 202. Translated by Roy J. Deferrari. Baltimore, MD, USA: Catholic University of America Press.

For the rest, what else is waged daily in the world but a battle against the devil, but a struggle with continual onsets against his darts and weapons? With avarice, with lewdness, with anger, with ambition, we have a conflict; with the vices of the flesh, with the allurements of the world, we have a continual and stubborn fight. The mind of man besieged and surrounded on all sides by the assault of the devil with difficulty opposes these foes one by one, with difficulty resists them. If avarice is cast to the ground, lust springs up; if lust is put down, ambition takes its place; if ambition is disdained, anger provokes, pride puffs up, drunkenness invites, envy destroys harmony, jealousy severs friendships. You are forced to curse, which the divine law prohibits; you are compelled to swear, which is forbidden.

Treatise 9.16 (The Good of Patience)

Written c. 246-258 CE.

Source: Saint Cyprian of Carthage. 1958. Fathers of the Church, Volume 36 : Treatises, p. 278. Translated by Roy J. Deferrari. Baltimore, MD, USA: Catholic University of America Press.

How then will you be able to endure these things-not to swear or curse, not to seek again what has been taken away from you, l on receiving a blow to offer the other cheek also to your assailant, to forgive your brother who offends not only seventy times seven times, but all his offenses without exception, to love your enemies, to pray for your adversaries and persecutors, if you do not have the steadfastness of patience and forbearance?

To Quirinius: Testimonies against the Jews (Treatise 12), 3.12

Written c. 246-258 CE. Note: This work is sometimes disputed.

Source: ANF05:536-537

12. That we must not swear. In Solomon: “A man that sweareth much shall be filled with iniquity, and the plague shall not depart from his house; and if he swear vainly, he shall not be justified.” Of this same matter, according to Matthew: “(Again, ye have heard that it was said to them of old, Thou shalt not swear falsely, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths.) I say unto you, Swear not at all: (neither by heaven, because it is God’s throne; nor by the earth, because it is His footstool; nor by Jerusalem, because it is the city of the great King; neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black.) But let your discourse be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: (for whatever is fuller than these is of evil.”) Of this same thing in Exodus: “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.”