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88-1027: The invitatory is used to start Nocturns in the Liturgy of the Hours , the Catholic Church's Divine Office. It is usually Psalm 94(95) , which begins Venite exsultemus in Latin. After the reform of the Liturgy of the Hours following the Second Vatican Council , the Invitatory is said either before the Office of Readings or Lauds , whichever is said first in a liturgical day. In place of Psalm 94(95), Psalm 99(100) , Psalm 66(67) , or Psalm 23(24) may be used as circumstances may suggest. Verse 17 of Psalm 50(51) Domine, labia mea aperies

176-509: A feria or a vigil day, there is no division into nocturns and the 12 psalms and 3 readings are treated as a single nocturn. In comparison with the post-Vatican II revision, the readings are very brief. In 1911 Pope Pius X introduced a radical revision of the psalter of the Roman Breviary . He ended many of the previous repetitions of the same psalms day after day. For instance, Psalms 148–150, which previously were said every day at

264-538: A Christian authorship. The notion of Tertullian being a priest is also questionable. In his extant writings, he never describes himself as ordained in the church and seems to place himself among the laity. His conversion to Christianity perhaps took place about 197–198 (cf. Adolf Harnack , Bonwetsch , and others), but its immediate antecedents are unknown except as they are conjectured from his writings. The event must have been sudden and decisive, transforming at once his own personality. He writes that he could not imagine

352-477: A Christian should abstain from the theatre and the amphitheatre. There pagan religious rites were applied and the names of pagan divinities invoked; there the precepts of modesty, purity, and humanity were ignored or set aside, and there no place was offered to the onlookers for the cultivation of the Christian graces. Women should put aside their gold and precious stones as ornaments, and virgins should conform to

440-492: A cleansing and preparation process which precedes the reception of the Holy Spirit in post-baptismal anointing ( De Baptismo 6). De Baptismo includes the earliest known mention of a prayer for the consecration of the waters of baptism. Tertullian had an ex opere operato view of the baptism, thus the efficiency of baptism was not dependent upon the faith of the receiver. He also believed that in an emergency,

528-525: A close relationship with God. Tertullian did not have a specific listing of the canon; however, he quotes 1 John , 1 Peter , Jude , Revelation , the Pauline epistles and the four Gospels . In his later books, he also started to use the Shepherd of Hermas . Tertullian made no references to the book of Tobit ; however, in his book Adversus Marcionem he quotes the book of Judith . He quoted most of

616-500: A dispute between the Church and a separating party, the whole burden of proof lies with the latter, as the Church, in possession of the unbroken tradition, is by its very existence a guarantee of its truth. The five books against Marcion, written in 207 or 208, are the most comprehensive and elaborate of his polemical works, invaluable for gauging the early Christian view of Gnosticism. Tertullian has been identified by Jo Ann McNamara as

704-483: A group mentioned by Augustine as founded by Tertullian. There exists differences of opinion on Tertullianists; Augustine seems to have believed that Tertullian, soon after joining the Montanists , started his own sect derived from Montanism, while some scholars believe that Augustine was in error, and that Tertullianists was simply an alternative name of North African Montanism and not a separate sect. Tertullian

792-487: A human form or change shape. He taught fideistic concepts such as the later philosophers William of Ockham and Søren Kierkegaard . The extent and nature of Tertullian's involvement to Montanism is now disputed by modern scholars. Montanism in North Africa seems to have been a counter-reaction against secularism. The form of Montanism in North Africa seems to have differed from the views of Montanus , and thus

880-488: A lawyer, based on his use of legal analogies and on an identification of him with the jurist Tertullianus, who is quoted in the Pandects . Although Tertullian used a knowledge of Roman law in his writings, his legal knowledge does not demonstrably exceed what could be expected from a sufficient Roman education. The writings of Tertullianus, a lawyer of the same agnomen , exist only in fragments and do not explicitly denote

968-514: A long distance in the way of approach to it. Tertullian was a defender of the necessity of apostolicity. In his Prescription Against Heretics , he explicitly challenges heretics to produce evidence of the apostolic succession of their communities. Unlike many early Christian writers, Tertullian along with Clement of Alexandria used the word "figure" and "symbol" to define the Eucharist, since in his book Against Marcion implied that: "this

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1056-469: A married couple. He believed that marital relations coarsened the body and spirit and would dull their spiritual senses and avert the Holy Spirit since husband and wife became one flesh once married. Tertullian has been criticised as misogynistic , on the basis of the contents of his De Cultu Feminarum , section I.I, part 2 (trans. C.W. Marx): "Do you not know that you are Eve ? The judgment of God upon this sex lives on in this age; therefore, necessarily

1144-455: A notorious schismatic. Since no ancient writer was more definite (if not indeed fanatical) on this subject of schism than Saint Cyprian, the question must surely be answered in the negative." In the time of Augustine , a group of "Tertullianists" still had a basilica in Carthage, which within the same period passed to the orthodox church. It is unclear whether the name was merely another for

1232-401: A period of tribulation, to be followed by a literal 1000-year reign of Christ. He attacked the use of Greek philosophy in Christian theology. For him, philosophy supported religious idolatry and heresy. He believed that many people became heretical because of relying on philosophy. He stated "What has Athens to do with Jerusalem?" Tertullian's views of angels and demons were influenced by

1320-538: A single group and followed by only three readings. It was planned to proceed also to a revision of the readings at matins in view of the excessive abbreviation of the scriptural readings and the inclusion of unhistorical content in the accounts of the saints. This revision was not in fact carried out until after the Second Vatican Council , but concrete work on it had already begun under Pope Pius XII . The 1960 Code of Rubrics of Pope John XXIII specified what celebrations had three nocturns: The Code of Rubrics removed

1408-529: A truly Christian life without such a conscious breach, a radical act of conversion: "Christians are made, not born" ( Apol ., xviii). Two books addressed to his wife confirm that he was married to a Christian wife. In his middle life (about 207), he was attracted to the "New Prophecy" of Montanism , but today most scholars reject the assertion that Tertullian left the mainstream church or was excommunicated. "[W]e are left to ask whether Saint Cyprian could have regarded Tertullian as his master if Tertullian had been

1496-410: Is compared with the greatest of all evils". He argued that before the coming of Christ, the command to reproduce was a prophetic sign pointing to the coming of the Church; after it came, the command was superseded. He also believed lust for one's wife and for another woman were essentially the same, so that marital desire was similar to adulterous desire. He believed that sex even in marriage would disrupt

1584-414: Is debated which one he was referring to) when he challenged him on the Church forgiving capital sinners and letting them back into the church. He believed that the people who committed grave sins, such as sorcery, fornication and murder, should not be let inside the church. As a Montanist, he attacked the church authorities as more interested in their own political power in the church than in listening to

1672-646: Is discussed by other theorists such as Benjamin H. Dunning. Tertullian had a radical view on the cosmos. He believed that heaven and earth intersected at many points and that it was possible that sexual relations with supernatural beings can occur. Tertullian's writings are edited in volumes 1–2 of the Patrologia Latina , and modern texts exist in the Corpus Christianorum Latinorum . English translations by Sydney Thelwall and Philip Holmes can be found in volumes III and IV of

1760-592: Is my body" should be interpreted as "a figure of my body". While others have also suggested that he believed in a spiritual presence in the Eucharist . Tertullian advises the postponement of baptism of little children and the unmarried, he mentions that it was customary to baptise infants, with sponsors speaking on their behalf. He argued that an infant ran the risk of growing up and then falling into sin, which could cause them to lose their salvation, if they were baptized as infants. Contrary to early Syrian baptismal doctrine and practice, Tertullian describes baptism as

1848-539: Is no pagan religion against which Christians may offend. Christians do not engage in the foolish worship of the emperors, that they do better: they pray for them, and that Christians can afford to be put to torture and to death, and the more they are cast down the more they grow; "the blood of the Christians is seed" ( Apologeticum , 50). In the De Praescriptione he develops as its fundamental idea that, in

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1936-568: Is often considered an early proponent of the Nicene doctrine , approaching the subject from the standpoint of the Logos doctrine , though he did not state the later doctrine of the immanent Trinity . In his treatise against Praxeas, who taught patripassianism in Rome, he used the words "trinity", "economy" (used in reference to the three persons), "persons", and "substance", maintaining the distinction of

2024-828: Is often used as the invitatory antiphon in the Liturgy of the Hours. In the Episcopal Church, the Morning Prayer office opens with an invitatory psalm, either the Venite (Psalm 95:1-7, or the entire psalm on Ash Wednesday, Holy Saturday, and all Fridays in Lent) or the Jubilate (Psalm 100). An invitatory antiphon may appear before, or before and after the invitatory psalm. The invitatory may be spoken or sung; there are several musical settings in plainsong or Anglican chant . An invitatory psalm may also be substituted for

2112-614: Is said to have held to a view similar to the Protestant priesthood of all believers and that the distinction of the clergy and the laity is only because of ecclesiastical institution and thus in an absence of a priest the laity can act as priests; his theory on the distinction of the laity and clergy is influenced by Montanism and his early writings do not have the same beliefs. He believed in Iconoclasm . He believed in historic premillennialism : that Christians will go through

2200-557: The Apologeticus , addressed to the Roman magistrates, is a most pungent defense of Christianity and the Christians against the reproaches of the pagans, and an important legacy of the ancient Church, proclaiming the principle of freedom of religion as an inalienable human right and demanding a fair trial for Christians before they are condemned to death. Tertullian was the first to disprove charges that Christians sacrificed infants at

2288-904: The Mar Thoma Syrian Church (an Oriental Protestant denomination), Nocturns is known as Lilio and is prayed at 12 am using the Shehimo breviary. It contains three watches in which the Quamo prayer is devoutly recited. In the Coptic Orthodox Church , an Oriental Orthodox denomination, the Midnight Praise is prayed at 12 am using the Agpeya breviary. Tertullian Tertullian ( / t ər ˈ t ʌ l i ə n / ; Latin : Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus ; c. 155 – c. 220 AD )

2376-465: The Montanist sect and may have apostasized ; however, modern scholars dispute this. Scant reliable evidence exists regarding Tertullian's life; most knowledge comes from passing references in his own writings. Roman Africa was famous as the home of orators , and that influence can be seen in his writing style with its archaisms or provincialisms, its glowing imagery and its passionate temper. He

2464-657: The New Testament and a reading by the abbot from the Gospels. Within the Carolingian Empire (800–888), a form of the liturgy of the hours , described by Amalarius , was imposed that can be called the "Roman-Benedictine Office". In this form, the first nocturn of the Sunday vigil or matins had twelve psalms sung in three groups of four psalms, each group treated as a single psalm with a single doxology at

2552-576: The Office of Readings and to it were assigned two substantial readings, one from Scripture, the second from the Fathers of the Church or other writers, and only three psalms or portions of psalms. This contrasted strongly with the arrangement to which the Rule of Saint Benedict gave witness: twelve complete psalms, to which on Sundays three canticles were added. In the Benedictine system, the psalms and

2640-623: The Old Testament including many deuterocanonical books , however he never used the books of Chronicles , Ruth , Esther , 2 Maccabees , 2 John and 3 John . He defended the Book of Enoch and he believed that the book was omitted by the Jews from the canon. He believed that the epistle to the Hebrews was made by Barnabas . For Tertullian, scripture was authoritative; he used scripture as

2728-655: The Phos Hilaron in Evening Prayer. In Anglican prayer beads , the invitatory bead is next to the cross, most often corresponding to the opening versicle of Evening Prayer. Nocturns Nocturns ( Latin : nocturni or nocturna ) is a Christian canonical hour said in the nighttime. In the liturgy of the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church , nocturns refer to the sections into which

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2816-607: The Roman Curia the texts and rubrics of the various books used for the celebration of the liturgy of the hours were combined at the beginning of the thirteenth century into the Breviarium secundum usum Romanae Curiae . A revision of this under Pope Honorius III was adopted by the Franciscans and by them popularized throughout Europe. It introduced many hymns but also led to celebration being spoken rather than sung. It

2904-462: The ablutions preceding it, Hippolytus wrote: Around midnight rise and wash your hands with water and pray. If you are married, pray together. But if your spouse is not yet baptized, go into another room to pray, and then return to bed. Do not hesitate to pray, for one who has been joined in marital relations is not impure. Those who have bathed have no need to wash again, for they are pure. By catching your breath in your hand and signing yourself with

2992-476: The anti-Jewish Adversus Iudaeos , Adv. Marcionem , Adv. Praxeam , Adv. Hermogenem , De praescriptione hereticorum , and Scorpiace were written to counteract Gnosticism and other religious or philosophical doctrines. The other group consists of practical and disciplinary writings, e.g., De monogamia , Ad uxorem , De virginibus velandis , De cultu feminarum , De patientia , De pudicitia , De oratione , and Ad martyras . Among his apologetic writings,

3080-483: The canonical hour of matins was divided from the fourth or fifth century until after the Second Vatican Council . A nocturn consisted of psalms accompanied by antiphons and followed by readings, which were taken either from Scripture or from the Church Fathers or similar writings. Matins was composed of one to three nocturns. Originating in a prayer service celebrated by early Christians at night,

3168-520: The celebration of the Lord's Supper and committed incest. He pointed to the commission of such crimes in the pagan world and then proved by the testimony of Pliny the Younger that Christians pledged themselves not to commit murder, adultery, or other crimes. He adduced the inhumanity of pagan customs such as feeding the flesh of gladiators to beasts. He argued that the gods have no existence and thus there

3256-503: The seven fixed prayer times . From the time of the early Church , the practice of seven fixed prayer times have been taught; in Apostolic Tradition , Hippolytus instructed Christians to pray seven times a day "on rising, at the lighting of the evening lamp, at bedtime, at midnight" and "the third, sixth and ninth hours of the day, being hours associated with Christ's Passion." With respect to midnight prayer and

3344-682: The 5th century. In the 2nd-century writings of Tertullian, paganus meant a "civilian" who was lacking self-discipline. In De Corona Militis XI.V he writes: The chronology of his writings is difficult to fix with certainty. In his work against Marcion , which he calls his third composition on the Marcionite heresy, he gives its date as the fifteenth year of the reign of Severus ( Adv. Marcionem , i.1, 15) – which would be approximately 208. The writings may be divided according to their subject matter, falling into two groups: Apologetic and polemic writings, like Apologeticus , De testimonio animae ,

3432-402: The 9th century ( De Paradiso, De superstitione saeculi, De carne et anima were all extant in the now damaged Codex Agobardinus in 814 AD). Tertullian's writings cover the whole theological field of the time – apologetics against paganism and Judaism, polemics , polity, discipline, and morals, or the whole reorganization of human life on a Christian basis; they gave a picture of

3520-508: The Apologists in dating His 'perfect generation' from His extrapolation for the work of creation; prior to that moment God could not strictly be said to have had a Son, while after it the term 'Father', which for earlier theologians generally connoted God as author of reality, began to acquire the specialized meaning of Father of the Son." As regards the subjects of subordination of the Son to

3608-530: The Book of Enoch. He held that the Nephilim were born out of fallen angels who mingled with human women and had sexual relations. He believed that because of the actions of the watchers as described in the Book of Enoch, men would later judge angels. He believed that angels are inferior to humans, and not made in the image of God. He believed that Angels are imperceptible to our senses, but they may choose to take on

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3696-426: The Christian life and that abstinence was the best way to achieve the clarity of the soul. Tertullian's views would later influence much of the western church . Tertullian was the first to introduce a view of "sexual hierarchy": he believed that those who abstain from sexual relations should have a higher hierarchy in the church than those who do not, because he saw sexual relations as a barrier that stopped one from

3784-577: The Epistles of the Apostle Paul . Tertullian's resolve to never marry again and that no one else should remarry eventually led to his break with Rome because the orthodox church refused to follow him in this resolve. He, instead, favored the Montanist sect where they also condemned second marriage. One reason for Tertullian's disdain for marriage was his belief about the transformation that awaited

3872-544: The Father belong also to the Son, including his names, such as Almighty God, Most High, Lord of Hosts, or King of Israel. Though Tertullian considered the Father to be God (Yahweh), he responded to criticism of the Modalist Praxeas that this meant that Tertullian's Christianity was not monotheistic by noting that even though there was one God (Yahweh, who became the Father when the Son became his agent of creation),

3960-564: The Father, the New Catholic Encyclopedia has commented: "In not a few areas of theology, Tertullian's views are, of course, completely unacceptable. Thus, for example, his teaching on the Trinity reveals a subordination of Son to Father that in the later crass form of Arianism the Church rejected as heretical." Though he did not fully state the doctrine of the immanence of the Trinity, according to B. B. Warfield, he went

4048-478: The Latin-Church Liturgy of the Hours, involving among other things distribution of the psalms over a period of four weeks instead of the previous arrangement whereby they were said within a single week. In line with the decision of the Second Vatican Council that matins, while retaining its character of nocturnal praise should become a prayer for any hour of the day, that canonical hour was renamed

4136-471: The Liturgy of the Hours. It fell to Pope Pius V to put into effect the Council's desire. In the Roman Breviary as arranged by Pope Pius V in 1568, Sunday matins has three nocturns, the first with 12 independent psalms, the second and third with 3 psalms each, and each nocturn has 3 readings. Feasts of double or semidouble rank have 3 nocturns, each with 3 psalms and 3 readings. On a feast of simple rank,

4224-449: The Lord. Stars and trees and waters stand still for an instant. All the host of angels serving him, together with the souls of the righteous, praise God. This is why it is important that all those who believe make certain to pray at that hour. Testifying to this, the Lord says thus, "Behold, a cry was made at midnight, saying, 'Behold the bridegroom is coming! Arise to meet him!'" And he adds, saying, "Watch, therefore, for you do not know when

4312-585: The North African Montanists or that it means that Tertullian later split with the Montanists and founded his own group. Jerome says that Tertullian lived to old age. By the doctrinal works he published, Tertullian became the teacher of Cyprian and the predecessor of Augustine, a key figure of western theology. Thirty-one works are extant, together with fragments of more. Some fifteen works in Latin or Greek are lost, some as recently as

4400-542: The North African Montanists believed Catholic bishops to be successors of the apostles, the New Testament to be the supreme authority on Christianity and they did not deny most doctrines of the Church. Tertullian was drawn to Montanism, if he was, mainly because of its strict moral standards. He believed that the Church had forsaken the Christian way of life and entered a path of destruction. Tertullianists were

4488-567: The Old Testament. Scripture was a record of the earlier Tradition that should not be interpreted outside that tradition: scripture should not be cherry-picked and early interpretations should be preferred over later ones. Tertullian denied Mary's virginity in partu , and he was quoted by Helvidius in his debate with Jerome. He held similar views as Antidicomarians . J. N. D. Kelly argued that Tertullian believed that Mary had imperfections, thus denying her sinlessness . Tertullian

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4576-453: The Son could also be referred to as God, when referred to apart from the Father, because the Son, though subordinate to God, is entitled to be called God "from the unity of the Father" in regards to being formed from a portion of His substance. The Catholic Encyclopedia comments that for Tertullian, "There was a time when there was no Son and no sin, when God was neither Father nor Judge." Similarly J.N.D. Kelly stated: "Tertullian followed

4664-459: The Son from the Father as the unoriginate God, and the Spirit from both the Father and the Son ( Adv. Praxeam , xxv). "These three are one substance, not one person; and it is said, 'I and my Father are one' in respect not of the singularity of number but the unity of the substance." The very names "Father" and "Son" indicate the distinction of personality. The Father is one, the Son is another, and

4752-409: The Spirit is another ( "dico alium esse patrem et alium filium et alium spiritum" Adv. Praxeam , ix)), and yet in defending the unity of God, he says the Son is not other ( "alius a patre filius non est" , ( Adv. Prax. 18) as a result of receiving a portion of the Father's substance. At times, speaking of the Father and the Son, Tertullian refers to "two gods". He says that all things of

4840-464: The Spirit. Tertullian's criticism of Church authorities has been compared to the Protestant reformation . Tertullian's later view of marriage, such as in his book Exhortation to Chastity , may have been heavily influenced by Montanism. He had previously held marriage to be fundamentally good, but after his conversion he denied its goodness. He argues that marriage is considered to be good "when it

4928-510: The appellation God, in the sense of the ultimate originator of all things, to the Father, who made the world out of nothing though his Son, the Word, has corporeity, though he is a spirit ( De praescriptione , vii.; Adv. Praxeam , vii). However Tertullian used 'corporeal' only in the Stoic sense, to mean something with actual material existence, rather than the later idea of flesh. Tertullian

5016-549: The basis of the Gospel of Luke too, prayer at any time of the night was also seen as having eschatological significance. The quotation above from Tertullian refers to the all-night vigil service held at Easter. A similar service came to be held in the night that led to any Sunday. It corresponded in a way to the later early-night vespers , midnight vigil and dawn lauds and was sometimes referred to as three vigils or watches ( vigiliae ), as by Methodius of Olympus and Jerome . By

5104-504: The continuance of the prophetic gifts. Geoffrey D. Dunn writes that "Some of Tertullian's treatises reveal that he had much in common with Montanism ... To what extent, if at all, this meant that he joined a group that was schismatic (or, to put it another way, that he left the church) continues to be debated". On the principle that we should not look at or listen to what we have no right to practise, and that polluted things, seen and touched, pollute ( De spectaculis , viii, xvii), he declared

5192-476: The division of vigils into two parts (for which he does not use the name "nocturns") on ordinary days, and three on Sundays and feast-days. The term nocturnus (nocturnal) appears nine times in his Rule . As an adjective four times (chapters 9, 10, 16 and 43) qualifying vigiliae (vigils), once (chapter 9) qualifying psalmi (psalms), once (chapter 10) qualifying laus (praise), and once (chapter 42) qualifying hora (hour). It appears twice (chapters 15 and 17) in

5280-558: The eighth century, but most are of the fifteenth. There are five main collections of Tertullian's works, known as the Cluniacense , Corbeiense , Trecense , Agobardinum and Ottobonianus . Some of Tertullian's works are lost . All the manuscripts of the Corbeiense collection are also now lost, although the collection survives in early printed editions. Tertullian's main doctrinal teachings are as follows: Tertullian reserves

5368-488: The end of lauds and which may have given that hour the name of "lauds", were each said only once in the week and no longer together. The longer psalms were divided into portions, which in many cases were assigned to different hours and days. In his completely new arrangement, matins always had nine psalms or portions of psalms, whether distributed in groups of three among three nocturns, each nocturn of which had three readings, or, on liturgically less important days, recited as

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5456-399: The end. This was followed by three readings, each with a responsory. In each of the other two nocturns the readings and responsories were also three, but each nocturn had only three individual psalms instead of three groups of four. The ferial vigil had only one nocturn, composed of six groups of two psalms, followed by three readings with their responsories. On the basis of the practice of

5544-415: The first nocturn were replaced by an Old Testament passage recited by heart. On Sundays, the monks rose earlier. The first nocturn had four readings instead of three, and the second nocturn also had four readings instead of recitation by heart of a passage of Saint Paul. Then followed a third nocturn, which instead of six psalms had three Old Testament canticles . These were followed by four readings from

5632-436: The founder of Western theology ". He is perhaps most famous for being the first writer in Latin known to use the term trinity (Latin: trinitas ). Tertullian originated new theological concepts and advanced the development of early Church doctrine. However, some of his teachings, such as the subordination of the Son and Spirit to the Father , were later rejected by the Church. According to Jerome , he later joined

5720-509: The fourth century this Sunday vigil had become a daily observance, but no longer lasted throughout the night. What had been an all-night vigil became a service only from cockcrow to before dawn. Saint Benedict wrote about it as beginning at about 2 in the morning ("the eighth hour of the night") and ending in winter well before dawn (leaving an interval in which the monks were to devote themselves to study or meditation) but having to be curtailed in summer in order to celebrate lauds at daybreak. In

5808-490: The guilt should live on also. You are the gateway of the devil; you are the one who unseals the curse of that tree, and you are the first one to turn your back on the divine law; you are the one who persuaded him whom the devil was not capable of corrupting; you easily destroyed the image of God, Adam . Because of what you deserve, that is, death, even the Son of God had to die." The critic Amy Place notes, however, that "Revisionist studies later rehabilitated" Tertullian. This

5896-421: The hour is coming." The early-Christian custom of praying at night is mentioned by Tertullian (c. 155 – c. 240), who speaks of their "nocturnal convocations" and their "absence all the night long at the paschal solemnities" ( nocturnae convocationes , sollemnibus Paschae abnoctantes ) Cyprian (c. 200 – 258) also speaks of praying at night, but not of doing so as a group: "Let there be no failure of prayers in

5984-415: The hours of night — no idle and reckless waste of the occasions of prayer"( nulla sint horis nocturnis precum damna, nulla orationum pigra et ignava dispendia ). The Apostolic Tradition speaks of prayer at midnight and again at cockcrow, but seemingly as private, not communal, prayer. Prayer at midnight and at cockcrow was associated with passages in the Gospel of Matthew and the Gospel of Mark . On

6072-509: The laity can give the baptism. According to James Puglisi, Tertullian interpreted that in Matthew 16:18–19 "the rock" refers to Peter. For him, Peter is the type of the one Church and its origins, this Church, is now present in a variety of local churches. He also believed that the power to "bind and unbind" has passed from Peter to the apostles and prophets of the Montanist church, not the bishops. He mocked Pope Calixtus or Agrippinus (it

6160-435: The law of St. Paul for women and keep themselves strictly veiled ( De virginibus velandis ). He praised the unmarried state as the highest ( De monogamia , xvii; Ad uxorem , i.3) and called upon Christians not to allow themselves to be excelled in the virtue of celibacy by Vestal Virgins and Egyptian priests. He even labeled second marriage a species of adultery ( De exhortatione castitatis , ix), but this directly contradicted

6248-426: The liturgical office of matins was originally in Latin called vigilia (vigil, watch). The plural form, vigiliae (vigils, watches), also came into use. The Latin adjective nocturnus corresponds to English "nocturnal" and is attached to many different nouns, such as nocturnae horae (the hours of the night), nocturna tempora (nocturnal times), which are not necessarily connected with religion and are unrelated to

6336-410: The moisture of your breath, your body is purified, even to the feet. For the gift of the Spirit and the outpouring of the baptism, proceeding from the heart of the believer as though from a fountain, purifies the one who has believed. Thus it is necessary to pray at this hour. For those elders who handed down the tradition to us taught us that in this hour every creature hushes for a brief moment to praise

6424-439: The multiplicity of nocturns from matins of Sundays, apart from those that were I class feasts (Easter and Pentecost). This required a reduction in the number of readings. The three former scriptural readings were combined into two, and the first part of the homily in the previous third nocturn became the new third reading. With his apostolic constitution Laudis canticum of 1 November 1970, Pope Paul VI announced his revision of

6512-480: The person who originally invested the consecrated virgin as the "bride of Christ", which helped to bring the independent virgin under patriarchal rule. Scholars in the past accepting the Montanist theory have also divided his work into earlier Catholic works and the later supposedly Montanist works (cf. Harnack, ii.262 sqq.), aiming to show the change of views Tertullian's mind underwent. The earliest manuscript (handwritten copy) of any of Tertullian's works dates to

6600-418: The plural form, nocturni , with no express mention of a qualified noun, and thus practically as itself a noun equivalent to vigiliae . Psalmi (psalms) may be the masculine plural noun that it was originally understood as qualifying. In chapter 17, the phrase used is nocturni vel matutini , mentioned in relation to the psalms of the two hours that were later called matins and lauds, as a prelude to speaking of

6688-430: The primary source in almost every chapter of his every work, and very rarely anything else. He seems to prioritize the authority of scripture above anything else. When interpreting scripture, he would occasionally believe passages to be allegorical or symbolic, while in other places he would support a literal interpretation. He would especially use allegorical interpretations when dealing with Christological prophecies of

6776-573: The psalms in the six other canonical hours. Leonard J. Doyle's English version of the Rule of St Benedict translates horis nocturnis in chapter 42 as "the hours of the night", but elsewhere uses "the Night Office" to represent the entirety of each phrase in the Rule consisting of one of the nouns vigiliae , laus , hora , qualified by nocturnus ; to render an isolated nocturnus in chapters 15 and 17; and to translate vigiliae wherever it appears unaccompanied by nocturnus . Nowhere does it use

6864-515: The publication in 1535, and the widespread printing of the drastically modified breviary of Cardinal Francisco de Quiñones , which restored generally the weekly recitation of the whole psalter and the reading of the major part of the Bible in a year, but which provoked a reaction that led to the determination of the Council of Trent to restore a somewhat purified form of the previously existing form of

6952-560: The readings were distributed among two or three nocturns. Between Benedict and Paul VI the two-nocturns arrangement had been done away with, and on days when matins was not divided into three nocturns it was spoken of as being of a single "nocturn". With the reform of Paul VI, the term "nocturns", whether in the singular or the plural form, ceased to be used. In the Syriac Orthodox Church and Indian Orthodox Church (both of which are Oriental Orthodox Churches ), as well as

7040-409: The religious life and thought of the time which is of great interest to the church historian. Like other early Christian writers Tertullian used the term paganus to mean "civilian" as a contrast to the "soldiers of Christ". The motif of Miles Christi did not assume the literal meaning of participation in war until Church doctrines justifying Christian participation in battle were developed around

7128-552: The subject of this article. The phrase hora nocturna (night hour) may refer to the canonical hour of vigils or matins, but not to the individual nocturns into which vigils or matins may be divided. In Oriental Orthodox Christianity and Oriental Protestant Christianity , the office is prayed at 12 am, being known as Lilio in the Syriac and Indian traditions; it is prayed facing the eastward direction of prayer by all members in these denominations, both clergy and laity, being one of

7216-420: The word "nocturns". The Rule of St Benedict laid down that on ordinary days, after the introductory psalms, there were two nocturns. The first consisted of six psalms followed by three reading, each of which was accompanied by a sung responsory . The second nocturn had another six psalms followed by a passage from Saint Paul recited by heart and by some prayers. In the shorter summer months the three readings of

7304-405: The writings of John Cassian (c. 360–435) is found the earliest mention of dividing the vigil service into three parts, thus breaking the monotony of the long night prayer. The Peregrinatio ad loca sancta of about 380 still gave no evidence of any division of the office of vigils whether on Sundays or on weekdays. Saint Benedict of Nursia (480 – c. 543 or 547) gives a detailed description of

7392-723: Was a scholar with an excellent education. He wrote at least three books in Koine Greek ; none of them are extant. Some sources describe him as Berber . The linguist René Braun suggested that he was of Punic origin but acknowledged that it is difficult to decide since the heritage of Carthage had become common to the Berbers. Tertullian's own understanding of his ethnicity has been questioned: He referred to himself as Poenicum inter Romanos ( lit.   ' Punic among Romans ' ) in his book De Pallio and claimed Africa as his patria . According to church tradition, Tertullian

7480-613: Was a prolific early Christian author from Carthage in the Roman province of Africa . He was the first Christian author to produce an extensive corpus of Latin Christian literature and was an early Christian apologist and a polemicist against heresy , including contemporary Christian Gnosticism . Tertullian was the first theologian to write in Latin, and so has been called "the father of Latin Christianity ", as well as "

7568-460: Was an advocate of discipline and an austere code of practise, and like many of the African fathers, one of the leading representatives of the rigorist element in the early Church. His writings on public amusements, the veiling of virgins, the conduct of women, and the like, reflect these opinions. His views may have led him to adopt Montanism with its ascetic rigor and its belief in chiliasm and

7656-502: Was raised in Carthage. Jerome claimed that Tertullian's father held the position of centurio proconsularis ("aide-de-camp") in the Roman army in Africa. Tertullian has been claimed to have been a trained lawyer and an ordained priest. Those assertions rely on the accounts of Eusebius of Caesarea , Church History , II, ii. 4, and Jerome 's De viris illustribus ( On famous men ) chapter 53. Tertullian has also been thought to be

7744-436: Was the main basis of Pope Pius V 's Roman Breviary of 1568, the contents of which became much more the private prayer of the clergy than the communal prayer of the Christian people, and the canonical hours became disassociated from particular times of the day. This tendency of viewing the Liturgy of the Hours as edification and spiritual nourishment of individual clergy rather than a form of worship had been strengthened by

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