In years following the Decian edict of 249/250 CE, controversy arose surrounding reconciliation of the penitent sacrificati, who had acquiesced to imperial demand. Also of immense concern to Cyprian of Carthage, himself recently ordained bishop, were those who had obtained a fraudulent “certificate of sacrifice” (libellus). These individuals, who included both lay and ordained Christians, Cyprian names libellatici (Cyp. Ep. 20.2; Ep. 55). His initial position is to hold these individuals strictly accountable for th…