1Tertullian encourages Christians imprisoned and awaiting martyrdom to feed their spirits, not to grieve the Holy Spirit, and to keep peace among themselves so that the devil finds no foothold.
2The world is the real prison; for the Christian the prison is a retreat that frees the spirit from idolatry and temptation, as the desert did for the prophets.
3Like soldiers and athletes in training, the imprisoned martyrs are being prepared by hardship for a contest whose prize is an eternal crown.
4Since the weak flesh must serve the willing spirit, the martyrs should remember that pagans, men and women alike, endured death and torture for mere earthly glory.
5Even people with no higher motive than a craving for display endure the sword, beasts, fire, and whips, which should shame Christians who shrink from suffering for the truth.
6Ordinary life exposes people to fire, beasts, and violence, and many have recently died for the sake of a mere man; Christians should not hesitate to suffer for God.
authentic · Undisputed work of Tertullian, transmitted under his name.
Standing
Not honoured as a saint or in a church calendar by the Catholic, Orthodox, or Protestant traditions. Later sided with the New Prophecy (Montanism), but was never put outside the church in his lifetime by a substantial part of it; not venerated as a saint.
Older English translation
Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 3 (1885) (public domain, at CCEL; for comparison: our translation is made from the original first and checked against it afterwards)
Date
ca. 197 (approximate) · Usually dated to 197, when chapter 6 may refer to the executions after the defeat of Albinus; some date it to the persecution of 202–203.
Written at
Carthage, Africa Proconsularis (North Africa) (probable)
Addressed to
Christians imprisoned and awaiting martyrdom
Language
Latin
Genre
letter
Reference system
chapter (as divided by Oehler); the section numbers of modern editions are not yet divided
SBL abbreviation
Mart.
Clavis
CPL 1 (not yet checked)
Text from
Franz Oehler, ed., Quinti Septimii Florentis Tertulliani quae supersunt omnia, vol. 1 (Leipzig: T. O. Weigel, 1853), 3–16 (Printed edition in the public domain; digital text CC BY-SA 4.0)
Critical editions
Tertulliani Opera, Pars 1: Opera catholica; Adversus Marcionem, CCSL 1 (Turnhout: Brepols, 1954) (cited, not reproduced)