Disciplinary, Moral, and Ascetical Works

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FLIGHT IN TIME OF PERSECUTION Chapter 1 ~ SHORT TIME AGO, my brother Fabius/ on the occa- ~ sion of some news or other, you asked me whether flight was justified in time of persecution. On that occasion, I offered some arguments against it-arguments that did justice to the place and the time, and satisfied the earnest requests of certain people-and took the rough draft along with me. Now I intend to take up my pen and to resume my discussion of the topic in fuller detail. For, you see, your request caught my interest and, besides, the conditions of the times made the question a pressing one. For, as bitter persecutions threaten us, with all the more zeal should we pursue a solution to your question, as to how a faithful Christian should conduct himself. It is particularly fitting that I should discuss this matter with you, for, if you are guilty in not accepting the Paraclete, the guide to all truth,2 deservedly, then, you are guilty even now in other matters also. 1 The addressee, otherwise unknown, is obviously a Catholic Christian. For, TertuIIian deplores Fabius' obstinacy in not accepting the 'ParacIete' of the Montanists (see the concluding sentence of the paragraph) . 2 Cf. John 16.13. 275 276 TERTULLIAN (2) To take up the case you presented in proper order, then, it occurs to me that we should determine the origin of the persecution-whether it comes from God or from the Devil; in that way, we will more easily get an idea of how to face it. The result of any investigation will be the clearer if we know the root of the whole matter. Of course, it is all right to say that nothing happens without God willing it, but, having said that, we must be on our guard lest we give rise to doubts on other questions, and thus be drawn off our course. For instance, someone might immediately conclude: 'Therefore, evil and sin are from God, and no blame is to be attached to the Devil or to ourselves.' (3) Let us come, then, to the nature of 'persecution'; at the outset, let me say that it never happens without God willing it, and it is fitting-even, at times, necessary-for Him to do so, to the approval or condemnation of His servants. For, what else is the result of a persecution, what finally is its effect, if not the approval or condemnation, when God puts the faith of His children to the test? (4) In this sense, then, a persecution is a 'judgment,' and the verdict is either approval or condemnation. To be sure, to God alone it belongs to judge, and this is His winnowing fan which even now cleanses the Lord's threshing floor-His Church, winnowing the mixed heap of the faithful and separating the wheat of the martyrs from the chaff of the cowards.3 This judgment, too, is the ladder of which Jacob dreamed, on which some are ascending on high, while others descend below.4 (5) In still another sense, a persecution can be considered as a contest. And who decrees any contest if not the one who 3 Cf. Matt. 3.12. 4 Cf. Gen. 28.12. FLIGHT IN TIME OF PERSECUTION 277 provides the crown and the prizes? You will find this contest decreed in the Apocalypse where He proclaims the rewards of victory, especially for those who really come through persecution victorious,5 and in their victorious struggle have fought not merely against flesh and blood, but against the spirits of wickedness.6 Obviously, then, the superintendent of the games and the one who sets the prize is the one who decides who is the winner of the contest. The essence, then, of a persecution is the glory of God, whether He approves or condemns, raises up or casts down. And whatever concerns the glory of God will certainly flow from the Will of God. But, when is God more sincerely believed than when He is more feared, than in time of persecution? (6) [When persecution strikes,] the Church is mightily stirred; then the faithful are more careful in their preparations , greater attention is given to fasts and station days, to prayers and humility, to mutual charity and love, to holiness and temperance. Men have time for nothing but fear and hope. Therefore, it is clear that persecution, which...