On Prayer 29
Summary: Prayer has great power: in the old covenant it worked deliverances and punishments, but Christian prayer brings endurance in suffering, turns away God's wrath, and does only good; all creation prays, and Christ himself prayed.
Latin text · CSEL 20:199–201
Quid enim orationi de spiritu et ueritate uenienti negabit deus, qui eam exigit? legimus et audimus et cernimus quanta documenta efficaciae eius! uetus quidem oratio et ab ignibus et a bestiis et ab inedia liberabat et tamen non a Christo acceperat formam. ceterum quanto amplius operatur oratio Christiana! non roris angelum in mediis ignibus sistit nec ora leonibus obstruit nec esurientibus rusticorum prandium transfert, nullum sensum passionis delegata gratia auertit, sed patientes et sentientes et dolentes sufferentia instruit, uirtute ampliat gratiam, ut sciat fides, quid a domino consequatur, intellegens quid pro dei nomine patiatur. sed et retro oratio plagas irrogabat, fundebat hostium exercitus, imbrium utilia prohibebat. nunc uero oratio iustitiae omnem iram dei auertit, pro inimicis excubat, pro persequentibus supplicat. mirum si aquas caelestes extorquere nouit, quae potuit et ignes impetrare? sola est oratio quae deum uincit; sed Christus eam nihil mali uoluit operari. omnem illi uirtutem de bono contulit. itaque nihil nouit, nisi defunctorum animas de ipso mortis itinere reuocare, debiles reformare, aegros remediare, daemoniacos expiare, claustra carceris aperire, uincula innocentium soluere. eadem diluit delicta, temptationes repellit, persecutiones extinguit, pusillanimos consolatur, magnanimos oblectat, peregrinantes deducit, fluctus mitigat, latrones obstupefacit, alit pauperes, regit diuites, lapsos erigit, cadentes suspendit, stantes continet. oratio murus est fidei, arma et tela nostra aduersus hostem, qui nos undique obseruat. itaque numquam inermes incedamus. die stationis, nocte uigiliae meminerimus. sub armis orationis signum nostri imperatoris custodiamus, tubam angeli expectemus orantes. orant etiam angeli omnes, orat omnis creatura, orant pecudes et ferae et genua declinant et egredientes de stabulis ac speluncis ad caelum non otioso ore suspiciunt uibrantes spiritum suo more. sed et aues mane exurgentes eriguntur ad caelum et alarum crucem pro manibus expandunt et dicunt aliquid quod oratio uideatur. quid ergo amplius de officio orationis? etiam ipse dominus orauit, cui sit honor et uirtus in saecula saeculorum.
English · Claude translation
For what will God deny to prayer that comes from spirit and truth, since he requires it? How great are the proofs of its efficacy that we read and hear and see! The old prayer, indeed, delivered from fire, from beasts, and from hunger, and yet it had not received its form from Christ. But how much more does Christian prayer accomplish! It does not station an angel of dew in the midst of the flames, nor shut the mouths of lions, nor carry the peasants' lunch to the hungry; it does not by a delegated grace avert all feeling of suffering; but it equips with endurance those who suffer and feel and grieve, it enlarges grace by strength, so that faith may know what it obtains from the Lord, understanding what it suffers for God's name. In the past, too, prayer inflicted plagues, routed the armies of enemies, withheld the benefits of rain. But now the prayer of righteousness turns away all the wrath of God, keeps watch for enemies, makes supplication for persecutors. Is it any wonder if it knows how to wrest the waters of heaven, when it could even obtain fire? Prayer alone conquers God; but Christ has willed that it work no evil. He has conferred on it all its power for good. So it knows nothing except to call back the souls of the dead from the very road of death, to restore the weak, to heal the sick, to cleanse the demon-possessed, to open the bars of prison, to loose the chains of the innocent. It likewise washes away sins, repels temptations, extinguishes persecutions, consoles the faint-hearted, delights the high-hearted, guides travelers, calms the waves, stuns robbers, feeds the poor, rules the rich, raises the fallen, holds up the falling, keeps those who stand. Prayer is the wall of faith, our arms and weapons against the enemy who watches us on every side. So let us never go out unarmed. By day let us remember the station, by night the vigil. Under the arms of prayer let us guard the standard of our commander; praying, let us await the angel's trumpet. All the angels pray too; every creature prays; cattle and wild beasts pray and bend their knees, and coming out of their stalls and dens look up to heaven, not with idle mouth, making their breath tremble in their own way. And the birds, too, rising in the morning, lift themselves toward heaven and spread out the cross of their wings instead of hands, and say something that seems to be prayer. What more, then, about the duty of prayer? Even the Lord himself prayed; to whom be honor and power for ever and ever.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The “angel of dew” in the furnace is from the Greek additions to Daniel (Pr Azar 26–27; Dan 3:49–50 LXX); the peasants' lunch carried to Daniel is Bel 33–39. Other allusions: Dan 6:22; Exod 7–11 (plagues); Exod 17:11; 1 Kgs 17:1 and 18:38 (Jas 5:17–18); Matt 5:44; 1 Thess 4:16; Luke 5:16 (echo). “Station” (statio) is the half-day fast.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray punctuation in the digital text): sed. patientes → sed patientes.
Cite this passage
Tertullian, Or. 29 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/tertullian-oratione/29/).
Plain text
Tertullian, Or. 29 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/tertullian-oratione/29/).
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