Cyprian of Carthage did not write a Psalms commentary, but made frequent use of the Psalms in his works. Below is a list of references that was compiled as I was doing my dissertation work on the Psalms in the early church. All quotations are taken from the volume on Cyprian in Fathers of the Church 36 (I think! I did not double-check).
References to the Psalms in Cyprian's works
To Donatus (no quotes)
The Dress of Virgins
|
Ch. 5 |
Ps 52.6 |
-- |
The Lapsed
|
Ch. 6 |
Ps 89:31-33 |
"...while their brethren in the Church were starving,
they wished to possess money in abundance; they seized estates by crafty
deceits; they increased their capital by multiplying usuries. What do not
such as we deserve to suffer for such sins, when already long ago divine
censure warned us and said: 'If they forsake my law and walk not in my
precepts, if they violate my statutes, and keep not my commandments, I will
punish their crimes with a rod, and their sins with stripes.'4 Ch. 7 These things were foreshadowed to us and predicted before.
But we, unmindful of the law handed down and of its observation, have brought
it about by our sins that while we contemn the mandates of the Lord we have
come by severer remedies to the correction of our sins and a probation of our
faith, and not indeed have we at last turned to the fear of the Lord so as to
undergo this reproof and divine probation of ours patiently and bravely.
Immediately at the first words of the threatening enemy a very large number
of the brethren betrayed their faith, and were laid low not by the attack of
persecution, rather they laid themselves low by their own voluntary lapse. |
|
Ch. 27 |
Ps 138:16 |
Let them not persuade themselves that they should not do
penance, who, although they have not contaminated their hands by impious
sacrifices, yet have defiled their consciences with certificates. That
profession is of one who denies; the testimony is of a Christian who rejects
what he had been. He said that he had done what another actually did, and,
although it is written: 'You cannot serve two masters,'1 he served a secular
master, he submitted to his edict, he obeyed human authority rather than God.
He should have seen whether he published what he committed with less scandal
or less guilt among men; however, he will not be able to escape and avoid God
as his judge, for the Holy Spirit says in the Psalms: Thine eyes have seen my
imperfection and all will be written in thy book,52 |
|
Ch. 8 |
Ps 68:7 |
likewise, when the sacrament of the Passover contains
nothing else in the law of the Exodus than that the lamb which is slain in
the figure of Christ be eaten in one house? God speaks, saying: 'In one house
it shall be eaten, you shall not carry the ftesh outside of the house.55 The
flesh of Christ and the holy of the Lord cannot be carried outside, and there
is no other house for believers except the one Church. This house, this
hospice of unanimity the Holy Spirit designates and proclaims, when He says:
'God who makes those of one mind to dwell in his house.' 6 In the house of
God, in the Church of Christ, those of one mind dwell; they persevere in
concord and simplicity. |
|
Ch. 24 |
Ps 34:13-15 |
The Holy Spirit warns us, saying: 'Who is the man that
desireth life; who loveth to see the best days? Keep thy tongue from evil,
and thy lips from speaking guile. Turn away from evil and do good; seek after
peace, and pursue it'1 The son of peace ought to seek and follow peace; he
who knows and loves the bond of charity ought to restrain his tongue from the
evil of dissension. |
|
Ch. 5 |
Ps 4:5 |
This does Anna in the first Book of Kings, portraying a
type of the Church, maintain and observe, who prays to God not with a noisy
petition but silently and modestly within the very recesses of her heart. She
spoke with a hidden prayer but with manifest faith; she spoke not with the
voice but with the heart, because she knew that so the Lord hears, and she
effectually obtained what she sought, because she asked with faith. Divine
Scripture declares this saying : 'She spoke in her heart and her lips moved, but
her voice was not heard, and the Lord heard her.’1 Likewise we read in the
psalms: 'Speak in your hearts and in your beds be ye sorrowful.' 2 |
|
Ch. 8 |
Ps 68:6 |
-- |
|
Ch. 21 |
Ps 57:25 |
-- |
|
Ch. 23 |
Ps 68:6 |
-- |
|
Ch. 35 |
Ps 5:3-4 Ps 118:22-24 |
Cyprian looks to this passage as commanding us to do
morning prayer in order to remember the resurrection in the morning Moreover, the Holy Spirit in the psalms declares that
Christ is called the Day. He says: The stone which the builders rejected has
become the cornerstone. This is the Lord's doing; it is wonderful in our
eyes. This is the day which the Lord has made; let us exalt and rejoice
therein.' 3 |
To Demetrian (no quotes)
Mortality
|
Ch. 11 |
Ps 51:19 |
We must not murmur in adversity, beloved brethren, but
must patiently and bravely bear with whatever happens, since it is written: ‘A
contrite and humble heart God does not despise.32 |
Works and Almsgiving
|
Ch. 5 |
Ps 41:2 |
For he will not be able to merit the mercy of God who
himself has not been merciful, nor will gain any request from the divine love
by his prayers, who has not been humane toward the prayer of the poor. This
likewise the Holy Spirit declares in the Psalms and proves, saying: 'Blessed
is he who thinks of the needy and the poor; the Lord will save him in the
evil day.'3 |
|
Ch. 19 |
Ps 37:25-26 |
-- |
The Good of Patience
|
Ch. 22 |
Ps 50:3-6 |
And we read likewise hi the psalms, where it is announced
that the coming of God the Judge must be venerated because of the majesty of
His judgment: 'God our God shall come revealing Himself and He shall not be
silent. A fire shall burn before Him and a mighty tempest shall be about Him.
He shall call Heaven on high and earth that he may separate His people.
Collect for Him His just men, those who place His testimony in sacrifices and
the heavens will announce His justice, for God is the Judge.'2 |
Jealousy and Envy
|
Ch. 8 |
Ps 37:7 Ps 17:12-13 |
Hence the threatening look, the savage appearance, pallor
in the face, trembling of the lips, gnashing of teeth, mad words, unbridled
insults, a hand prompt for the violence of murder, and even if the hand is
for the time without a sword, yet it is armed with the hatred of an
infuriated mind. And thus the Holy Spirit says in the psalms: 'Be not jealous
of him who walks well in his way.' 1 And again: 'The wicked man plots against
the just man and gnashes his teeth against him. But God will laugh at him, for
He sees that his day will come.' 2 |
Exhortation to Martyrdom, To Fortunatus
|
I |
Ps 135 |
Idols are not gods |
|
X |
Ps 118:6-7 Ps 20:8-9 Ps 27:3-4 |
That the injuries and punishments of persecutions are not
to be feared, because the Lord is greater in protecting than the devil in
assaulting. Likewise in Psalm 117: 'I shall not fear what man does to
me; the Lord is my helper.'2 And again: Those are strong in chariots, these
in horses, but we, in the name of our God. They with their feet bound have
fallen, but we are risen up and stand erect.'3 And still more strongly the
Holy Spirit, teaching and showing that the army of the devil is not to be
feared, and, if the enemy should declare war on us, our hope consists rather
in that war itself, and that this conflict of the just arrives at the reward of
the divine abode and of eternal salvation, lays down in Psalm 26, saying: If
a camp be pitched against me; my heart shall not fear; if a war shall arise
against me, in this do I hope. One thing I have sought of the Lord, this I
shall seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of
my life.'4 |
|
XII |
Ps 116:6 Ps 126:5-6 Ps 119:1-2 |
XII. What hope and reward awaits the just and the martyrs
after the conflicts and sufferings of this time. The price and reward of suffering is likewise indicated in
Psalm 115. It says: 'Precious in the sight of God is the death of His saints/
3 Likewise in Psalm 125 the sadness of conflict and the joy of retribution is
expressed. It says: 'They who sow in tears shall reap in joy. Going they went
and wept sowing the seed; but coming they shall come, with exultation
carrying their sheaves.54 And again in Psalm 118: 'Blessed are they whose way
of life is spotless, who walk in the light of the Lord. Blessed are they who
search His testimonies, who seek Him with the whole heart.'5 |
That Idols are Not Gods (no quotes)
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