On Prayer 2
Summary: In calling God “Father” we honor him, fulfill Christ's command, and acknowledge the Son and the church, our mother, while rebuking those who do not know the Father.
Latin text · CSEL 20:181–182
Incipit a testimonio dei et merito fidei, cum dicimus, PATER QVI IN CAELIS ES. nam et deum oramus et fidem commendamus, cuius meritum est haec appellatio. scriptum est: qui in eum crediderint, dedit eis potestatem, ut filii dei uocentur. quamquam frequentissime dominus patrem nobis pronuntiauit deum, immo et praecepit, ne quem in terris patrem uocemus, nisi quem habemus in caelis. itaque sic adorantes etiam praeceptum obimus. felices, qui patrem agnoscunt. hoc est quod Israeli exprobratur, quod caelum ac terram spiritus contestatur, filios, dicens, genui, et illi me non agnouerunt. dicendo autem patrem deum quoque cognominamus. appellatio ista et pietatis et potestatis est. item in patre filius inuocatur. ego enim, inquit, et pater unum sumus. ne mater quidem ecclesia praeteritur. siquidem in filio et patre mater recognoscitur, de qua constat et patris et filii nomen. uno igitur genere aut uocabulo et deum cum suis honoramus et praecepti meminimus et oblitos patris denotamus.
English · Claude translation
The prayer begins with a testimony to God and with the merit of faith, when we say, “Our Father who art in heaven.” For we both pray to God and commend our faith, of which this form of address is the reward. It is written: “To those who believed in him he gave power to be called sons of God.” Though the Lord very often declared God a Father to us, indeed he even commanded us to call no one on earth father except the one we have in heaven. So in praying thus we also fulfill a precept. Happy are those who acknowledge the Father! This is the reproach against Israel, to which the Spirit calls heaven and earth to witness: “I have begotten sons, and they have not acknowledged me.” And in saying “Father” we also call him God: this form of address is one of both love and power. Likewise, in the Father the Son is invoked; for “I and the Father,” he says, “are one.” Not even our mother the church is passed over, since in the Son and the Father the mother is recognized, from whom the name both of Father and of Son is established. With one term, then, or word, we both honor God with his own, and remember the precept, and mark those who have forgotten the Father.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations are John 1:12, Isa 1:2 (in an Old Latin form), and John 10:30; the precept is Matt 23:9.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray dash in the digital text): patris - denotamus → patris denotamus.
Cite this passage
Tertullian, Or. 2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/tertullian-oratione/2/).
Plain text
Tertullian, Or. 2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/tertullian-oratione/2/).
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