He gets his sceptre where he first got his humanity his power where he got the breath of life. For he himself is His to whom heaven and every creature appertains. Just because he is less than heaven, he is great. Let the emperor make war on heaven let him lead heaven captive in his triumph let him put guards on heaven let him impose taxes on heaven! He cannot. Why not, since they are above all living men, and the living, as living, are superior to the dead? They reflect upon the extent of their power, and so they come to understand the highest they acknowledge that they have all their might from Him against whom their might is nought. They know from whom they have obtained their power they know, as they are men, from whom they have received life itself they are convinced that He is God alone, on whose power alone they are entirely dependent, to whom they are second, after whom they occupy the highest places, before and above all the gods. Hoc erit crimen, ubi veritas dei et devotio est.įor we offer prayer for the safety of our princes to the eternal, the true, the living God, whose favour, beyond all others, they must themselves desire. Hoc agite, boni praesides, extorquete animam deo supplicantem pro imperatore. Sic itaque nos ad deum expansos ungulae fodiant, cruces suspendant, ignes lambant, gladii guttura detruncent, bestiae insiliant: paratus est ad omne supplicium ipse habitus orantis Christiani. Vitam illis prolixam, imperium securum, domum tutam, exercitus fortes, senatum fidelem, populum probum, orbem quietum, quaecunque hominis et Caesaris vota sunt, haec ab alio orare non possum quam a quo me scio consecuturum, quoniam et ipse est qui solus praestat, et ego sum cui impetrare debetur, famulus eius, qui eum solus observo, qui propter disciplinam eius occidor, qui ei offero opimam et maiorem hostiam quam ipse mandavit, orationem de carne pudica, de anima innocenti, de spiritu sancto profectam, non grana thuris unius assis, Arabicae arboris lacrimas, nec duas meri guttas, nec sanguinem reprobi bovis mori optantis, et post omnia inquinamenta etiam conscientiam spurcam: ut mirer, cum hostiae probantur penes vos a vitiosissimis sacerdotibus, cur praecordia potius victimarum quam ipsorum sacrificantium examinentur. Illuc suspicientes Christiani manibus expansis, quia innocuis, capite nudo, quia non erubescimus, denique sine monitore, quia de pectore oramus, precantes sumus semper pro omnibus imperatoribus. Inde est imperator unde et homo antequam imperator, inde potestas illi unde et spiritus. Illius enim est ipse cuius et caelum est et omnis creatura. Caelum denique debellet imperator, caelum captivum triumpho suo invehat, caelo mittat excubias, caelo vectigalia imponat. Recogitant quousque vires imperii sui valent, et ita deum intellegunt adversus quem valere non possunt, per eum valere se cognoscunt. Quidni? cum super omnes homines, qui utique vivunt et mortuis antistant. Sciunt quis illis dederit imperium, sciunt, qua homines, quis et animam, sentiunt eum esse deum solum in cuius solius potestate sunt, a quo sint secundi, post quem primi, ante omnes et super omnes deos. Nos enim pro salute imperatorum deum invocamus aeternum, deum verum, deum vivum, quem et ipsi imperatores propitium sibi praeter ceteros malunt. Sources: Latin: Intratext. English: New Advent. Tertullian recognizes the legitimacy of the Roman emperor- the kingdom of God does not at once replace the rulers of the world. The political goods that such rulers can achieve are really good, and therefore the Christians pray for them: “We pray for life prolonged for security to the empire for protection to the imperial house for brave armies, a faithful senate, a virtuous people, the world at rest, whatever, as man or Cæsar, an emperor would wish.” The authority of the emperor is in fact derived from God: “I might say Cæsar is more ours than yours, for our God has appointed him.” And yet, “my relation to him is one of freedom,” for there is a higher authority than the emperor. They are a testimony to the continuity of Christian teaching on politics. 240) defends Christians against the charge that their refusing to offer pagan sacrifices for the well-being of the emperor is treasonous. The following chapters from the Apology of the early Church Father Tertullian (c.
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