Prescription against Heretics 34
Summary: No heresy in the apostles' day questioned the Creator; Marcion, Apelles, and Valentinus were the first, so they are either condemned with the older heresies or condemned by their lateness.
Latin text · Oehler 2:32–33
Haec sunt, ut arbitror, genera doctrinarum adulterinarum, quae sub apostolis fuisse ab ipsis apostolis discimus. Et tamen nullam invenimus institutionem inter tot diversitates perversitatum quae de deo creatore universorum controversiam moverit. Nemo alterum deum ausus est suspicari. Facilius de filio quam de patre haesitabatur, donec Marcion praeter creatorem alium deum solius bonitatis induceret, Apelles creatorem angelum nescio quem gloriosum superioris dei faceret deum legis et Israëlis, illum igneum affirmans, Valentinus Aeonas suos spargeret et unius Aeonis vitium in originem deduceret dei creatoris. His solis et his primis revelata est veritas divinitatis, maiorem scilicet dignationem et pleniorem gratiam a diabolo consecutis, qui deum sic quoque voluerit aemulari, ut de doctrinis venenorum, quod dominus negavit, ipse faceret discipulos super magistrum. Eligant igitur sibi tempora universae haereses quae quando fuerint, dum non intersit quae quando, dum de veritate non sint, et utique quae sub apostolis non fuerunt, fuisse non possint. Si autem fuissent, nominarentur et ipsae, ut et ipsae coercendae essent. Quae vero sub apostolis fuerunt, in sua nominatione damnantur. Sive ergo eaedem nunc sunt aliquante expolitiores quae sub apostolis rudes, habent suam exinde damnationem: sive aliae quidem fuerunt, aliae autem postea obortae quasdam ex illis opiniones usurpaverunt, habendo cum eis consortium praedicationis habeant necesse est etiam consortium damnationis, praecedente illo fine supradicto posteritatis, quod etsi nihil de damnaticiis participarent, de aetate sola praeiudicarentur, tanto magis adulterae quanto nec ab apostolis nominatae. Unde firmius constat has esse quae adhuc tunc nuntiabantur futurae.
English · Claude translation
These, I think, are the kinds of adulterous doctrines that we learn from the apostles themselves existed under the apostles. And yet among so many varieties of perversity we find no system that raised a dispute about God, the Creator of all things. No one dared to imagine a second God. There was more hesitation about the Son than about the Father, until Marcion brought in, besides the Creator, another God of goodness alone; until Apelles made the Creator some glorious angel of the higher God, the God of the law and of Israel, declaring him fiery; until Valentinus scattered his Aeons and traced the origin of the Creator God to the fault of one Aeon. To these alone and to these first has the truth of the Godhead been revealed! They have obtained, no doubt, a greater favor and fuller grace from the devil, who wished to rival God in this way too, by making, through doctrines of poison, disciples above their master, which the Lord denied. Let all the heresies, then, choose for themselves the times when they existed, since it makes no difference which existed when, so long as they are not of the truth; and certainly those that did not exist under the apostles cannot have existed. If they had existed, they too would have been named, so that they too might be restrained. Those that did exist under the apostles are condemned in being named. So if the same heresies now exist, somewhat more polished, that were crude under the apostles, they have their condemnation from that time; or if there were some then and others arose later that took over certain opinions from them, then by sharing their preaching they must share their condemnation too, since the rule of lateness stated above comes first: even if they had no share in the condemned doctrines, they would be judged in advance by their date alone, all the more adulterous for not having been named even by the apostles. Hence it is all the more firmly established that these are the ones that were then being announced as coming.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The allusion is Matt 10:24 (Luke 6:40). The digital text's “bonitalis,” “sues,” and “praciudicarentur” are read as “bonitatis,” “suos,” and “praeiudicarentur.”
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (letter misread in the digital text): bonitalis → bonitatis; Aeonas sues → Aeonas suos; praciudicarentur → praeiudicarentur.
Cite this passage
Tertullian, Praescr. 34 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/tertullian-praescriptione/34/).
Plain text
Tertullian, Praescr. 34 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/tertullian-praescriptione/34/).
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