“Wealth without work Pleasure without conscience Science without humanity Knowledge without character Politics without principle Commerce without morality Worship without sacrifice. https://vidjambov.blogspot.com/2023/01/book-inventory-vladimir-djambov-talmach.html Apologetic Activity The time of Tertullian's ministry was a time of the most difficult trials for the Church. Christians were persecuted, they were hated, humiliated, beaten, tortured, tortured, killed. And Tertullian, sparing no energy, fearing neither scammers, nor judges, nor tormentors and executioners, spoke out in defense of Christianity so resolutely that it remains to be astonished how, in his entire life, he never ended up in prison and torture. And this despite the fact that he did not hide from persecution, but, as if challenging them, turned to the offenders in the most harsh, rough, and sometimes offensive words. Thus, he called the persecutors of the Church fierce ignoramuses, defilers of holy things; ridiculed pagan cults and mysteries, stigmatized idols and idols; threatened with the Judgment of God's Truth, the cup of God's wrath. At the same time, his apologetic works were filled with clear theological and logical argumentation. In times of persecution, it often happened that Christians were not killed immediately after being exposed as belonging to the Church, but were subjected to terrible beatings and torture, wanting to force them to publicly renounce Christ, to offer sacrifices to pagan gods, and to be defiled with sacrificial blood. Categorically objecting to such violence, Tertullian explained to the executioners that if the pagan gods existed in reality, then they would be pleased not with feigned, but with voluntary sacrifices, unless, of course, their gods were litigious. In addition, as a means of protection, he often used provisions from the field of law (this was reflected in his good legal preparedness). Calling on common sense, Tertullian noticed that criminals are tortured not so that they refuse to be involved in atrocities, but in order to give truthful confessions, rather than confess to their crimes. Christians, on the contrary, are tortured with the aim that they refuse to call themselves Christians: that is, they refuse to recognize themselves as criminals and guilty of breaking the law. He saw this as absurd. Tertullian countered the accusations of Christians of violating moral norms, hatred of power, including the emperor, with arguments that refuted the arguments of the accusing party, explained and showed that not Christians, but pagans themselves lead a vicious life, incite hatred in society; Christians are in love and prayer. In addition to defending Christianity from pagans, Tertullian also defended it from attacks by Jewish fanatics. ... Creative Legacy Tertullian left behind a large number of writings. Some of them, such as: Apologetics, To the Gentiles, To the Scapula, Against the Jews, etc., have an apologetic orientation. Others - Against Marcion in five books, Against Hermogenes, Against Praxeas, On Baptism, On the Testimony of the Soul, On the Prescription [Against] Heretics, Against Valentinians - dogmatic-polemical. Belonging to the third group of his works, moral and ascetic, are: On Repentance, On Prayer, On Chastity, On Patience, Epistle to the Wife, Epistle to the Martyrs, On the Attire of Women, etc. ... All doctrine which agrees with the apostolic churches, those nurseries and original depositories of faith, must be regarded as truth, and as undoubtedly constituting what the churches received from the Apostles, what the Apostles received from Christ, and what Christ received from God. – Prescription against Heretics 21 Table of Contents Apologetic. 3 Scorpiac, or the Antidote for Scorpion Remorse * 69 About Baptism... 99 On Prescription [Against] Heretics. 117 About the Testimony of the Soul 153 About the Soul 163 De Anima [Latin] 332 About Spectacles. 391 About Prayer. 421 About Repentance. 441 About Patience. 461 About Chastity. 481 About the Warrior's Crown. 499 Epistle to the Martyrs. 527 Biography. 535