Source edition
Tertullian. Quinti Septimi Florentis Tertulliani opera, Pars I (Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum, Volume 20). Reifferscheid, August; Wissowa, Georg, editors. Prague, Vienna, Leipzig: F. Tempsky, G. Freytag, 1890.
Source data
Open Greek and Latin · CC BY-SA 4.0
Cloned and adapted by Humanitext, with ongoing edits.
Summary
In this treatise, Tertullian defends the rigorous fasting practices of the Montanist movement to which he belonged, while sharply criticizing the complacency and gluttony of his mainstream opponents, whom he terms "psychic" or "soulish" people. The author begins by linking Adam's original sin to a lack of restraint regarding food, thereby establishing hunger and fasting as vital to restoring humanity's relationship with God. He draws extensively on both Old and New Testament precedents—including Moses, Elijah, Daniel, Jesus Christ, and the Apostles—to demonstrate that fasting and restrictive dry diets (xerophagia) are highly effective spiritual disciplines for securing divine favor and revelation. Tertullian also refutes accusations that these practices are unauthorized innovations, defending prolonged prayer vigils (stationes) using biblical chronology. Ultimately, he argues that fasting is an indispensable means of training the physical body for spiritual warfare and imminent persecution, concluding with a fierce rebuke of his opponents' self-indulgent faith.