TO THE MARTYRS Chapter 1 ImLESSED MARTYRS ELECT/ along with the nourishment 13'\'\ for the body which our Lady Mother the Church2 t;;;.I from her breast, as well as individual brethren from their private resources, furnish you in prison,3 accept also from me some offering that will contribute to the sustenance of the spirit. For it is not good that the flesh 'Blessed' (benedicti) was an appellation given especially to catechumens and neophytes. The addressees are headed for martyrdom, hence Tertullian calls them 'martyrs elect' (martyres designati); the more common title for those awaiting martyrdom was 'confessors.' 2 The notion of the Church as a mother occurs here for the first time in early Latin Christian literature. Two earlier instances of 'Mother' as a direct appellative for the Church arc found in Greek Christian literature, namely, in a letter written in 177 or the year following by the Christian communities of Lyons and Vienne to their brethren in Asia Minor and Phrygia (Eusebius, Hist. ecel. 5.1.1ยท2.8). Cf. J. Plumpe, Mater Ecclesia. An Inquiry into the Concept of the Church as Mother in Early Christianity (Washington, D. C. 1943) 35-62. 3 In his Montanist period Tertullian bitterly denounced the custom of sending food to brethren awaiting martyrdom in prison, on the ground that this practice only weakened their preparedness for the final conflict. Cf. De ieiunio 12.2-3. 17 18 TERTULLIAN be feasted while the spirit goes hungry. Indeed, if care is bestowed on that which is weak, there is all the more reason not to neglect that which is still weaker.4 (2) Not that I am specially entitled to exhort you. Yet, even the most accomplished gladiators are spurred on not only by their trainers and managers but also from afar by people inexperienced in this art and by all who choose, without the slightest need for it, with the result that hints issuing from the crowd have often proved profitable for them. (3) In the first place, then, 0 blessed, 'do not grieve the Holy Spirif5 who has entered prison with you. For, if He had not accompanied you there in your present trial, you would not be there today. See to it, therefore, that He remain with you there and so lead you out of that place to the Lord.6 (4) Indeed, the prison is the Devil's house, too, where he keeps his household. But you have come to the prison for the very purpose of trampling upon him7 right in his own house. For you have engaged him in battle already outside the prison and trampled him underfoot. (5) Let him, therefore, not say: 'Now that they are in my domain, I will tempt them with base hatreds, with defections or dissensions among themselves.' Let him flee from your presence, and let him, coiled and numb, like a snake that is driven out by charms or smoke, hide away in the depths 4 Cf. Matt. 26.41; Mark 14.38. 5 Eph. 4.30. 6 In early Christian literature death is often referred to as a going to the Lord (migratio ad Dominum). Cf. A. C. Rush, Death and Burial in Christian Antiquity (Washington, D.C. 1941) 54-71. 7 Cf. Passio 55. Perpetuae et Felicitatis 4, where Perpetua describes her first vision. In her ascent to heaven on a golden ladder on the sides of which there were fixed all kinds of instruments of torture, she saw a dragon crouching under the first step and frightening those who ascended, but, invoking the Lord Jesus Christ, she 'trampled upon the dragon's head' and went up. [54.227.136.157] Project MUSE (2024-03-19 12:56 GMT) TO THE MARTYRS 19 of his den. Do not allow him the good fortune in his own kingdom of setting you against one another, but let him find you fortified by the arms of peace among yourselves, because peace among yourselves means war with him. (6) Some, not able to find this peace in the Church, are accustomed to seek it from the martyrs in prison. For this reason, too, then, you ought to possess, cherish and preserve it among yourselves that you may perhaps be able to bestow it upon others also.8 Chapter 2 ( 1) Other attachments, equally burdensome to the spirit, may have accompanied you to the prison gate; so far your relatives, too, may have escorted you. From that very moment on you have...