Under the leadership and martyrdom of Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, the episcopate reached its most refined and authoritative expression in the pre-Nicene Church. Rooted in a theology of apostolic succession and imbued with sacerdotal character, Cyprian elevated the bishop to a sacred office that fused spiritual authority, ecclesial unity, and sacramental power. Yet even amidst this exalted vision, Cyprian tempered episcopal absolutism with collegiality, affirming the collaborative role of presbyters and maintaining a structured hierarchy rooted in apostolic tradition.
Cyprian’s Vision of the Bishop as Priest and Sacrificer
The mature form of Catholic episcopalianism flowered in the mid-third century, largely through the resolute vision and unwavering conviction of Cyprian of Carthage. In his ecclesiology, the bishop was not merely a church administrator or a guardian of tradition; he was a spiritual priest, a consecrated sacrificer, and the vicar of Christ in sacred affairs. Cyprian’s conception of episcopacy was intimately tied to a theology of sacramental mediation and priestly prerogative—a radical expansion beyond the more juridical models of earlier church fathers.
Bishop, martyr, and high-churchman par excellence, Cyprian faithfully practiced what he proclaimed. His tenure afforded him numerous occasions to assert his authority—especially during the Decian persecution in the controversy over the lapsed, in the schism of Felicissimus, and in the divisive debate over the validity of heretical baptism. In each of these, Cyprian’s episcopal theology was not merely theoretical but forcefully operative.
(As Lightfoot notes, “As Cyprian crowned the edifice of episcopal power, so also was he the first to put forward without relief or disguise the sacerdotal assumptions; and so uncompromising was the tone in which he asserted them, that nothing was left to his successors but to enforce his principles and reiterate his language.” See Lightfoot, p. 257.)
The Bishop as Bearer of the Holy Spirit
Cyprian understood the bishop to be the divinely appointed conduit of the Holy Spirit, a vessel through whom the life of Christ was transmitted to the Church. The Spirit, which Christ imparted to the apostles, was—according to Cyprian—conferred upon the bishops through ordination, establishing a living succession that ensured the validity of all sacred rites. In this pneumatological framework, episcopacy was not a mere human office but a channel of divine power. The bishop was the spiritual nerve center of the Church.
From this theological premise arose Cyprian’s bold assertion of ecclesial identity: “The bishop is in the Church, and the Church in the bishop; and if anyone is not with the bishop, he is not in the Church.” (Epist. lxvi.3) This identification of bishop and Church meant that separation from the bishop was tantamount to apostasy from Christ. To reject the bishop was, in Cyprian’s estimation, to cease being a Christian. His famous dictum—“Christianus non est, qui in Christi ecclesia non est”—underscored the inextricable link between communion with the bishop and union with Christ.
(See also Epist. lv.20; cf. Lightfoot, p. 238: “If with Ignatius the bishop is the centre of Christian unity, if with Irenaeus he is the depository of apostolic tradition, with Cyprian he is the absolute viceregent of Christ in things spiritual.”)
The Unity of the Episcopate
A distinctive feature of Cyprian’s episcopal vision was the doctrine of episcopatus unus—the unity of the episcopate. Though there were many bishops, Cyprian held that they shared one and the same office in solidum, each exercising it within his own diocese yet all participating in its full authority. This solidarity of bishops was both spiritual and juridical, forming a collegial body that together bore the weight of apostolic governance. In this vision, each bishop was not simply a local ruler but a representative of the universal Church.
As he declared in De Unitate Ecclesiae (ch. 5): “There is one episcopate, of which each bishop holds his part in full.” This principle echoed across his correspondence, reinforcing the notion of a shared and undivided authority among those ordained in the apostolic succession.
(See also Epist. lv.20: “As there is one Church of Christ throughout the world, divided into many members, so there is one episcopate, spread in harmonious multitude among many bishops.”)
Balance with the Presbyterate
Despite his high view of the episcopate, Cyprian did not rule unilaterally. He maintained a close consultative relationship with his presbyters and never undertook important matters without their counsel. This collegial practice reinforced the communal nature of church governance and mitigated against autocracy. Even in his robust assertion of episcopal dignity, Cyprian modeled a kind of episcopal humility—one that respected the collective wisdom of the clergy.
This ecclesial balance found later confirmation in the fourth Council of Carthage (398 AD), which ruled that any episcopal sentence rendered without the concurrence of the presbytery would be null and void. Furthermore, the council decreed that in the ordination of a presbyter, all presbyters present were to lay hands on the candidate alongside the bishop, emphasizing their participatory role in the sacred rite.
(See Council of Carthage, Canon 3: “When a presbyter is ordained, with the bishop blessing him and laying his hand on his head, all the presbyters present shall also lay their hands beside that of the bishop.”)
Ordination Practices and Regional Variations
The consecration of a bishop required the presence and cooperation of neighboring bishops—usually at least three—thus reinforcing the communal and apostolic character of the act. This pattern not only protected the integrity of succession but also reinforced the interdependence of diocesan leadership.
However, regional adaptations arose. In Egypt, for instance, historical circumstances compelled presbyters to perform episcopal ordinations during times when there was but one bishop in the land. Eutychius of Alexandria and Hilary the Deacon (or Ambrosiaster) both testify to this exceptional practice, offering a window into the fluid realities of ecclesial structure in different parts of the ancient world.
(See Eutychius, Annales, ed. Pococke, Oxford 1658, Vol. I, p. 331; Hilary the Deacon or Ambrosiaster, Commentary on Ephesians 4:11.)
The Legacy of Cyprianic Episcopacy
In the figure of Cyprian, episcopacy attained a degree of theological grandeur and institutional authority that shaped the trajectory of Latin Christianity for centuries. He embodied the transition from charismatic leadership to hierarchical order, from apostolic memory to sacramental mediation. His synthesis of ecclesial unity, episcopal succession, and sacerdotal theology forged a model of Church structure that would echo through conciliar canons, medieval theology, and even modern ecclesiology. His martyrdom sealed his testimony—not only to the faith, but to the enduring centrality of the bishop in the life of the Church.
