Sophia Scriptura

Prescription against Heretics 1

Tertullian · Prescription against Heretics · ca. 203 · Carthage · Read in context

Summary: Christians should not be astonished that heresies exist and are strong, since they were foretold and serve to test faith.

Latin text · Oehler 2:3–4

Condicio praesentium temporum etiam hanc admonitionem provocat nostram, non oportere nos mirari super haereses istas, sive quia sunt, futurae enim praenuntiabantur, sive quia fidem quorundam subvertunt, ad hoc enim sunt, ut fides habendo temptationem haberet etiam probationem. Vane ergo et inconsiderato plerique hoc ipso scandalizantur, quod tantum haereses valeant. Quantum, si non fuissent? Cum quid sortitum est ut omnimodo sit, causam accipit ob quam sit. Haec vim consequitur per quam sit, ne esse non possit.

English · Claude translation

The character of the present times prompts this warning of ours as well: that we ought not to be astonished at these heresies, either because they exist, for they were foretold as coming, or because they overturn the faith of some, for they exist for this very purpose, that faith, by having temptation, might also have its testing. Idly, then, and thoughtlessly are many scandalized by this very fact, that heresies are so strong. How strong would they be if they had not existed? When something has been allotted to exist by all means, it receives the cause for which it exists. This secures for it the power by which it exists, so that it cannot fail to exist.

About this passage

Source
Oehler 2:3–4 · Franz Oehler, ed., Quinti Septimii Florentis Tertulliani quae supersunt omnia, vol. 2 (Leipzig: T. O. Weigel, 1854), 3–46 · Latin text: Franz Oehler (Oehler 2), digitized by the Perseus Digital Library (canonical-latinLit), CC BY-SA 4.0
Text
As printed in Oehler 2. Manuscript variants and the editor's apparatus are not reproduced; no textual problem is noted in this passage.
Translation
Claude translation (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 · Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Oehler, vol. 2 (1854); made independently of existing English translations.
Compare
Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 3 (1885) (an older public-domain English translation, whole volume at CCEL; checked against ours only after ours was made)
Scripture
Topics
Heresy

Notes

Translation notes

  • The thought rests on 1 Cor 11:19, quoted in ch. 4.

Cite this passage

Tertullian, Praescr. 1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/tertullian-praescriptione/1/).

Plain text
Tertullian, Praescr. 1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/tertullian-praescriptione/1/).

Download citation:BibTeX ·RIS (Zotero, EndNote)

Whole work:BibTeX ·RIS ·Markdown text

Report an error in this passage