Episode Details

We wrestle with the early Church’s toughest question: what to do with Christians who failed under persecution and wanted to return. We follow Saints Cornelius and Cyprian as they defend real repentance, real penance, and real mercy without lowering the demands of the Gospel. 
• Decian persecution and the pressure to offer pagan sacrifice 
• Christians who resisted, suffered, or obtained certificates to survive 
• The controversy over apostasy and returning to the Church 
• Cornelius and Cyprian on grave sin and the path of reconciliation 
• Paul’s warning that gifts and knowledge mean nothing without love 
• The danger of being correct while staying cruel 
• Jesus criticised for austerity and for eating with sinners 
• The Church as a home for conversion, forgiveness, and restoration 
• The personal turn: what happens when we are the ones who fall 
• The closing invitation to repentant sinners: come home 

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