On Prayer 18
Summary: Those fasting should not refuse the kiss of peace after common prayer, since that reveals their fast, which Christ commanded be kept hidden; only on the public fast of Passover is the kiss rightly omitted.
Latin text · CSEL 20:191–192
Alia iam consuetudo inualuit. ieiunantes habita oratione cum fratribus subtrahunt osculum pacis, quod est signaculum orationis. quando autem magis conferenda cum fratribus pax est, nisi cum operantis oratio commendabilior ascendit, ut ipsi de nostra operatione participent, qua maduerint de sua pace fratri transigendo? quae oratio cum diuortio sancti osculi integra? quem domino officium facientem impedit pax? quale sacrificium est a quo sine pace disceditur? quaecumque oratio sit, non erit potior praecepti obseruatione, quo iubemur ieiunia nostra celare. iam enim de abstinentia osculi agnoscimur ieiunantes. sed et si qua ratio est, ne tamen huic praecepto reus sis, potes domi, si forte, inter quos latere ieiunium in totum non datur, differre pacem. ubicumque autem alibi operationem tuam abscondere potes, debes meminisse praecepti; ita et disciplinae foris et consuetudini domi satisfacies. sic et die paschae, quo communis et quasi publica ieiunii religio est, merito deponimus osculum, nihil curantes de occultando quod cum omnibus faciamus.
English · Claude translation
Another custom has now become prevalent. Those who are fasting, when prayer has been made with the brothers, withhold the kiss of peace, which is the seal of prayer. But when is peace more to be exchanged with the brothers than when prayer ascends more commendably from one engaged in a work of devotion, so that they may share in our devotion, having gained from it by passing on their peace to their brother? What prayer is complete when it is divorced from the holy kiss? Whom does peace hinder in doing his duty to the Lord? What sort of sacrifice is it from which one departs without peace? Whatever the prayer may be, it will not be better than the observance of the precept by which we are commanded to hide our fasts. For now, from the abstaining from the kiss, we are recognized as fasting. But even if there is some reason for it, yet, so as not to be guilty against this precept, you may perhaps postpone the peace at home, among those from whom your fasting cannot be altogether hidden. But wherever else you can conceal your devotion, you ought to remember the precept: so you will satisfy both the discipline abroad and custom at home. So too on the day of the Passover, when the observance of the fast is general and as it were public, we rightly lay aside the kiss, taking no care to conceal what we do along with everyone.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- “Work of devotion” renders operatio, Tertullian's term for an act of worship such as fasting. The clause “having gained … brother” (qua maduerint) is obscure in the Latin. “The day of the Passover” is Good Friday (or the Paschal fast). The allusions are Matt 6:16–18 and the holy kiss (Rom 16:16; 1 Thess 5:26).
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray punctuation in the digital text): signaculum; orationis → signaculum orationis; oratio. sit → oratio sit; paschae., → paschae,.
Cite this passage
Tertullian, Or. 18 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/tertullian-oratione/18/).
Plain text
Tertullian, Or. 18 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/tertullian-oratione/18/).
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