# On Patience - Author: [Tertullian](https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/authors/tertullian/) - Latin title: *De patientia* - Date: ca. 198–206 (approximate) - Source: Emil Kroymann, ed., Quinti Septimi Florentis Tertulliani Opera, Pars 3, CSEL 47 (Vienna: Tempsky; Leipzig: Freytag, 1906), 1–24 (Latin text: Emil Kroymann (CSEL 47), digitized by Open Greek and Latin, University of Leipzig (csel-dev), CC BY-SA 4.0) - Translation: Claude, from the original text; each passage below gives the model and date - Work page: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/tertullian-patientia/ - Passages: 16 ## On Patience 1 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/tertullian-patientia/1/ - Source: CSEL 47:1–2 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Tertullian confesses that he, an impatient man, writes on patience as a sick man speaks of health; patience is necessary to every Christian virtue and is praised even by pagan philosophers. ### Latin text Confiteor ad dominum deum satis temere me, si non etiam impudenter, de patientia componere ausum, cui praestandae idoneus omnino non sim, ut homo nullius boni, quando oporteat demonstrationem et commendationem alicuius rei adortos ipsos prius in administratione eius rei deprehendi et constantiam commonendi propriae conuersationis auctoritate dirigere, ne dicta factis deficientibus erubescant. atque utinam erubescere istud remedium ferat, uti pudor non exhibendi quod aliis suggestum imus exhibendi fiat magisterium, nisi quod bonorum quorundam sicuti et malorum intolerabilis magnitudo est, ut ad capienda et praestanda ea sola gratia diuinae inspirationis operetur. nam quod maxime bonum, id maxime penes deum, nec alius id quam qui possidet dispensat, ut cuique dignatur. itaque uelut solacium erit disputare super eo, quod frui non datur, uice languentium, qui, cum uacent a sanitate, de bonis eius tacere non norunt. ita miserrimus ego, semper aeger caloribus impatientiae quam non obtineo patientiae sanitatem et suspirem et inuocem et perorem necesse est, cum recordor et in meae imbecillitatis contemplatione digero bonam fidei ualitudinem et dominicae disciplinae sanitatem non facile cuiquam, nisi patientia adsideat, prouenire. ita praeposita dei rebus est, ut nullum praeceptum obire quis, nullum opus domino complacitum perpetrare extraneas a patientia possit. bonum eius etiam qui caeca uiuunt summae uirtutis appellatione honorant. philosophi quidem, qui alicuius sapientiae animalis deputantur, tantum illi subsignant, ut, cum inter sese uariis sectarum libidinibus et sententiarum aemulationibus discordent, solius tamen patientiae in commune memores huic uni studiorum suorum commiserint pacem. in eam conspirant, in eam foederantur, in illam adfectatione uirtutis unanimiter student; omnem sapientiae ostentationem de patientia praeferunt. grande testimonium eius est, cum etiam uanas saeculi disciplinas ad laudem et gloriam promouet. aut numquid potius iniuria, cum diuina res in saecularibus artibus uolutatur? sed uiderint illi, quos mox sapientiae suae cum saeculo destructae ac dedecoratae pudebit. ### English translation (Claude) I confess to the Lord God that I have been rash enough, if not actually shameless, in daring to write on patience, for the practice of which I am altogether unfit, being a man of no good; since those who undertake to demonstrate and commend anything ought first to be found practising it themselves, and to direct the constancy of their admonition by the authority of their own conduct, lest their words blush for want of deeds. And would that this blushing might bring a remedy, so that shame at not displaying what we are about to urge on others might become a schooling in displaying it; except that the greatness of certain good things, as of evil ones, is unbearable, so that only the grace of divine inspiration works to grasp and practise them. For what is most good is most with God, and none but he who possesses it dispenses it, as he deigns to each. So it will be a sort of consolation to discuss what one is not given to enjoy, like sick people who, being without health, do not know how to keep silent about its blessings. So I, most wretched, always sick with the fevers of impatience, must sigh and call and plead for the health of patience which I do not possess, when I recall and, in contemplating my own weakness, reflect that good health of faith and soundness in the Lord's discipline do not easily come to anyone unless patience sits beside him. It is so set over the things of God that no one can fulfill any precept or perform any work pleasing to the Lord if he is a stranger to patience. Its good even those who live blindly honor with the title of highest virtue. The philosophers, indeed, who are reckoned creatures of some wisdom, set their seal to it so far that, while they disagree among themselves through the various whims of their sects and the rivalries of their opinions, yet, mindful of patience alone in common, they have entrusted to it alone the peace of their studies. On it they agree, in it they are allied, it they unanimously pursue in their affectation of virtue; every display of wisdom they present through patience. It is great testimony to it that it promotes even the vain disciplines of the world to praise and glory. Or is it rather an injury, when a divine thing is rolled about in worldly arts? But let them see to it, who will soon be ashamed of their wisdom, destroyed and disgraced along with the world. ### Scripture references - 1 Cor 1:19: echo, low confidence ### Translation notes - The digital text has many stray letters (e.g. “nLon”, “bonisj”), corrected below. “Destroyed … along with the world” echoes 1 Cor 1:19–20. ### Citation (SBL) Tertullian, Pat. 1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/tertullian-patientia/1/). ## On Patience 2 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/tertullian-patientia/2/ - Source: CSEL 47:2–3 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: The model of Christian patience is God himself, who bears with ungrateful and wicked humanity and gives his gifts to just and unjust alike. ### Latin text Nobis exercendae patientiae auctoritatem non adfectatio humana caninae aequanimitatis stupore formata sed uiuae ac caelestis disciplinae diuina dispositio delegat, deum ipsum ostendens patientiae exemplum iam primum, qui florem lucis huius super iustos et iniustos aequaliter spargit, qui temporum officia, elementorum seruitia, totius geniturae tributa dignis simul et indignis patiatur occurrere, sustinens ingratissimas nationes ludibria artium et opera manuum suarum adorantes, nomen familiam ipsius persequentes, luxuriam auaritiam iniquitatem malignitatem cotidie insolescentem, ut sua sibi patientia detrahat. plures enim dominum idcirco non credunt, quia saeculo iratum tamdiu nesciunt. ### English translation (Claude) For us, the authority for practising patience is delegated not by a human affectation formed by the stupor of doglike indifference, but by the divine arrangement of a living and heavenly discipline, which shows God himself first of all as the example of patience: he who scatters the flower of this light equally over the just and the unjust; who allows the services of the seasons, the ministries of the elements, the tributes of all creation to come alike to the worthy and the unworthy; bearing with the most ungrateful nations, who worship the playthings of their arts and the works of their own hands, who persecute his name and his household; bearing with luxury, avarice, iniquity, and malice growing daily more insolent, so that by his patience he detracts from himself. For many do not believe in the Lord for this reason: because they have not known him angry with the world for so long a time. ### Scripture references - Matt 5:45: allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - “Doglike indifference” refers to the Cynic philosophers (Greek kynikos, “doglike”). The allusion is Matt 5:45. ### Citation (SBL) Tertullian, Pat. 2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/tertullian-patientia/2/). ## On Patience 3 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/tertullian-patientia/3/ - Source: CSEL 47:3–5 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Christ showed divine patience throughout his life, from his birth and baptism to his gentle ministry, his refusal of the sword at his arrest, and the insults of his passion. ### Latin text Et haec quidem diuinae patientiae species, quasi de longinquo, fors ut de supernis aestimetur. quid illa autem, quae inter homines palam in terris quodammodo manu adprehensa est? nasci se deus in utero patitur matris [expectat] et natus adolescere sustinet et adultus non gestit agnosci, sed contumeliosus insuper sibi est et a seruo suo tinguitur et temptatoris congressus solis uerbis repellit. cum de deo fit magister docens hominem euadere mortem, ob salutem scilicet ueniam offensae patientiae eruditum, (non contendit, non reclamauit nec quisquam in plateis uocem eius audiuit; arundinem quassatam non fregit, linum fumigans non restinxit.) nec enim mentitus fuerat propheta, immo ipsius dei contestatio, spiritum suum in filio cum tota patientia collocantis. nullum uolentem sibi adhaerere non suscepit, nullius mensam tectumue despexit; [atquin ipse lauandis discipulorum pedibus ministrauit] non peccatores, non publicanos aspernatus est, non illi saltim ciuitati, quae eum recipere noluerat, iratus est, cum etiam discipuli tam contumelioso oppido caelestes ignes repraesentari uoluissent; ingratos curauit, insidiatoribus cessit. parum hoc, si non etiam proditorem suum secum habuit nec constanter denotauit. cum uero traditur, cum adducitur ut pecus ad uictimam, — sic enim non magis aperit os quam agnus sub tondentis potestate — ille, cui legiones angelorum, si uoluisset, uno dicto de caelis adfuissent, ne unius quidem discentis gladium ultorem probauit. patientia domini in Malcho uulnerata est. itaque et gladii opera maledixit in posterum et sanitatis restitutione ei, quem non ipse uexauerat, satisfecit per patientiam, misericordiae matrem. taceo, quod figitur; in hoc enim uenerat. numquid tamen subiendae morti etiam contumeliis opus fuerat? sed saginari uoluptate patientiae discessurus uolebat: despuitur, uerberatur, deridetur, foedis uestitur, foedioribus coronatur. mira aequanimitatis fides: qui in hominis figura proposuerat latere, nihil de impatientia hominis imitatus est. hinc uel maxime, Pharisaei, dominum agnoscere debuistis; patientiam huiusmodi nemo hominum perpetraret. talia tantaque documenta, quorum magnitudo penes nationes quidem detrectatio fidei est, penes nos uero ratio et structio, satis aperte non sermonibus modo in praecipiendo sed etiam passionibus domini (in) sustinendo probant his, quibus credere datum est, patientiam dei esse naturam, effectum et praestantiam ingenitae cuiusdam proprietatis. ### English translation (Claude) And this indeed is a form of divine patience, as it were from afar, perhaps to be appraised as from on high. But what of that patience which was grasped openly among men on earth, as it were by the hand? God allows himself to be born in a mother's womb and, once born, he bears to grow up; and, grown up, he is not eager to be recognized, but is even insulting to himself, and is dipped by his own servant, and repels the assaults of the tempter by words alone. When from God he becomes a teacher, teaching man to escape death, trained, for the sake of salvation of course, in the forgiveness of offended patience, “he did not strive, he did not cry out, nor did anyone hear his voice in the streets; a bruised reed he did not break, a smoking flax he did not quench.” For the prophet had not lied, or rather the attestation of God himself, placing his Spirit with all patience in the Son. He did not refuse anyone who wished to cling to him; he despised no one's table or roof; he did not spurn sinners or tax collectors; he was not angry even with the city that had refused to receive him, when even his disciples wanted heavenly fire brought on so insulting a town. He healed the ungrateful; he gave way to those who plotted against him. That would be little, if he had not also kept his own betrayer with him and did not steadily denounce him. But when he is handed over, when he is led like a sheep to the slaughter (for so he no more opens his mouth than a lamb in the power of its shearer), he, to whom legions of angels would have come from heaven at one word if he had wished, did not approve even of the avenging sword of one disciple. The Lord's patience was wounded in Malchus. And so he both cursed the works of the sword for the future, and, by restoring to health one whom he himself had not injured, made amends through patience, the mother of mercy. I pass over the fact that he is crucified; for it was for this that he had come. Yet was there any need of insults too for one who was to undergo death? But, being about to depart, he wished to be sated with the pleasure of patience: he is spat upon, scourged, mocked, clothed in foul garments, crowned with fouler ones. Wonderful is the faithfulness of his equanimity! He who had resolved to lie hidden in the form of a man imitated nothing of man's impatience. From this above all, you Pharisees, you ought to have recognized the Lord: no human being would achieve patience like this. Such and so great proofs (whose very greatness among the nations is a reason for disparaging the faith, but among us is its reason and foundation) prove clearly enough, not only by the Lord's words in teaching but also by his sufferings in enduring, to those to whom it is given to believe, that patience is God's nature, the effect and excellence of a certain inborn property. ### Scripture references - Isa 42:2: quotation, high confidence - Isa 42:3: quotation, high confidence - Matt 12:19: allusion, medium confidence - Matt 3:13: allusion, high confidence - Matt 4:1: allusion, high confidence - Matt 9:11: allusion, high confidence - Luke 9:54: allusion, high confidence - Isa 53:7: allusion, high confidence - Matt 26:53: allusion, high confidence - John 18:10: allusion, high confidence - Luke 22:51: allusion, high confidence - Matt 26:52: allusion, high confidence - Matt 27:30: allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - The editor deletes “expectat” (“and waits”) and the clause “atquin ipse lauandis discipulorum pedibus ministrauit” (“indeed, he himself served in washing his disciples' feet”, cf. John 13:5); they are left untranslated. The quotation is Isa 42:2–3 (Matt 12:19–20). The allusions are Matt 3:13–15; Matt 4:1–11; Matt 9:10–11; Luke 9:52–55; Isa 53:7 (Acts 8:32); Matt 26:53; John 18:10; Luke 22:51; Matt 26:52; Matt 27:26–30. ### Citation (SBL) Tertullian, Pat. 3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/tertullian-patientia/3/). ## On Patience 4 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/tertullian-patientia/4/ - Source: CSEL 47:5–6 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Just as servants follow their master's character and even animals obey us, we ought to obey God, and obedience itself springs from patience. ### Latin text Igitur si probos quosque seruos et bonae mentis pro ingenio dominico conuersari uidemus, - siquidem artificium promerendi obsequium est, obsequii uero disciplina morigera subiectio est — quanto magis nos secundum dominum moratos inueniri oportet, seruos scilicet dei uiui, cuius iudicium in suos non in compede aut pilleo uertitur, sed in aeternitate aut poenae aut salutis? cui seueritati declinandae uel liberalitati inuitandae tanta obsequii diligentia opus est, quanta sunt ipsa, quae aut seueritas comminatur aut liberalitas pollicetur. et tamen nos non de hominibus modo seruitute subnexis uel quolibet alio iure debitoribus obsequii, uerum etiam de pecudibus, etiam de bestiis oboedientiam exprimimus, intellegentes usibus nostris eas a domino prouisas traditasque. meliora ergo nobis erunt in obsequii disciplina quae nobis deus subdit? agnoscunt denique quae oboediunt: nos cui soli subditi sumus, domino scilicet, auscultare dubitamus? at quam iniustum est, quam etiam ingratum, quod per alterius indulgentiam de aliis consequaris, idem illi, per quem consequeris, de temetipso non rependere! nec pluribus de obsequii exhibitione debiti a nobis domino deo. satis enim agnitio dei, quid sibi incumbat, intellegit. ne tamen ut extraneum de obsequio uideamur interfecisse, ipsum quoque obsequium de patientia trahitur. numquis non patiens obsequitur aut patiens obluctatur? quam ergo dominus deus, omnium bonorum et demonstrator et acceptator, in semetipso circumtulit, quis de bono eius late retractet? cui item dubium sit omne bonum, quia ad deum pertineat, pertinentibus ad deum tota mente sectandum? per quae in expedito et quasi in praescriptionis compendio [et commendatio et exhortatio] de patientia constitutum est. ### English translation (Claude) So if we see all upright servants of good disposition conduct themselves according to their master's temper (for the art of deserving well is obedience, and the discipline of obedience is compliant subjection), how much more ought we to be found formed in character according to our Lord, since we are servants of the living God, whose judgment on his own turns not on a fetter or a freedman's cap but on an eternity either of punishment or of salvation? To avoid this severity or to invite this generosity there is need of a diligence in obedience as great as the things which severity threatens or generosity promises. And yet we exact obedience not only from men bound in slavery, or debtors of obedience by any other right, but even from cattle, even from beasts, understanding that they have been provided and handed over for our use by the Lord. Shall the things God subjects to us, then, be better than we in the discipline of obedience? Those that obey acknowledge it; do we hesitate to listen to him to whom alone we are subject, that is, the Lord? But how unjust it is, how ungrateful too, not to repay from yourself to him, through whose indulgence you obtain it from others, the same thing that you obtain! No more need be said about showing the obedience we owe to the Lord God; for the knowledge of God understands well enough what is incumbent on it. Yet, lest we seem to have put in something foreign in speaking of obedience, obedience itself too is drawn from patience. Does anyone obey who is not patient, or struggle against it who is patient? Who, then, would discuss at length the good of that patience which the Lord God, both the demonstrator and the accepter of all good things, carried about in himself? To whom, again, could it be doubtful that every good, because it belongs to God, is to be pursued with the whole mind by those who belong to God? By these considerations, as in a ready and compendious prescription, the case for patience has been established. ### Translation notes - “Freedman's cap” (pilleus) was the sign of manumission. The editor deletes “et commendatio et exhortatio” (“both its commendation and its exhortation”), left untranslated. The digital text's stray “fl.” before “quae oboediunt” is removed; the clause probably means that even the creatures that obey us acknowledge obedience. ### Citation (SBL) Tertullian, Pat. 4 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/tertullian-patientia/4/). ## On Patience 5 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/tertullian-patientia/5/ - Source: CSEL 47:6–10 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Impatience was born in the devil, who could not bear God's favor to man; through it Eve and Adam sinned, Cain murdered, and Israel repeatedly rebelled; every sin springs from impatience. ### Latin text Verumtamen procudere disputationem de necessariis fidei non est otiosum, quia nec infructuosum. loquacitas in aedificatione nulla turpis, si quando turpis. itaque si de aliquo bono sermo est, res postulat contrarium quoque boni recensere. quid enim sectandum sit, magis inluminabis, si, quid uitandum sit, proinde digesseris. consideremus igitur de impatientia, an sicut patientia in deo, ita aduersaria eius in aduersario nostro nata atque comperta sit, ut ex isto appareat, quam principaliter fidei aduersetur. nam quod ab aemulo dei conceptum est utique non est amicum dei rebus. eadem discordia est rerum quae et auctorum. porro cum deus optimus, diabolus e contrario pessimus, ipsa sui diuersitate testantur neutrum alterius facere, ut nobis non magis a malo aliquid boni quam a bono aliquid mali editum uideri possit. igitur natales impatientiae in ipso diabolo deprehendo, iam tunc, cum dominum deum uniuersa opera, quae fecisset, imagini suae, id est homini, subiecisse impatienter tulit nec enim doluisset, si sustinuisset, nec inuidisset homini, si non doluisset. adeo decepit eum, quia inuiderat; inuiderat autem, quia doluerat; doluerat (autem,) quia patienter utique non tulerat. quid prius fuerit ille angelus perditionis, malus an impatiens, contemno quaerere, palam cum sit aut impatientiam ab malitia aut malitiam ab impatientia auspicatam deinde inter se conspirasse et indiuiduas in uno patris sinu adoleuisse. at enim quam prius senserat, per quam [primus] delinquere intrauerat, de suo experimento quid ad peccandum adiutaret (in)structus, eandem impingendo in crimen homini aduocauit. conuenta statim illi mulier, non temere dixerim, per conloquium ipsum eius afflata est spiritu impatientia infecto. usque adeo numquam omnino peccasset, si diuino interdicto patientiam perseruasset. quid, quod non sustinuit sola conuenta, sed apud Adam, nondum maritum, nondum aures sibi debentem, impatiens etiam tacendi est ac traducem illum eius, quod a malo hauserat, facit? perit igitur et alius homo per impatientiam alterius, perit(urus) mox et ipse per impatientiam suam utrobique commissam et circa dei praemonitionem et circa diaboli circumscriptionem, illam seruare, hanc refutare non sustinens. hinc prima iudicii, unde delicti, origo; hinc deus irasci exorsus, unde offendere homo inductus. [inde in deo prima patientia, unde indignatio prima, qui tunc maledictione sola contentus ab animaduersionis impetu in diabolo temptatoris] aut quod crimen ante istud impatientiae admissum homini imputatur? innocens erat et deo de proximo amicus et paradisi colonus. at ubi semel succidit impatientiae, desiuit deo sapere, desiuit caelestia sustinere posse, exinde homo, terrae datus et ab oculis dei eiectus, facile usurpari ab impatientia coepit in omne, quod deum offenderet. nam statim illa semine diaboli concepta malitiae fecunditate iram filium procreauit, editum suis artibus erudiit. quod enim ipsa Adam et Euam morti inmerserat, docuit et filium ab homicidio incipere. frustra istud impatientiae adscripserim, si Cain ille primus homicida et primus fratricida oblationes suas a domino recusatas aequanimiter nec impatienter tulit, si iratus fratri suo non est, si neminem denique interemit. cum uero nec occidere potuerit nisi iratus nec irasci nisi impatiens, demonstrat quod per iram gessit ad eam referendum, a qua ira suggesta est. [per] haec impatientiae tunc infantis quodammodo incunabula. ceterum quanta mox incrementa! nec mirum. nam si prima deliquit, consequens est, ut, quia prima, idcirco et sola sit matrix in omne delictum, defundens de suo fonte uarias criminum uenas. de homicidio quidem dictum est. sed ira editum a primordio, etiam quascumque postmodum causas sibi inuenit ad impatientiam ut ad originem sui confert. siue enim quis inimicitiis siue praedae gratia id scelus conficit, prius est, ut aut odii aut auaritiae fiat impatiens. quidquid compellit, sine impatientia scelus non est ut perfici possit. quis adulterium sine libidinis impatientia subiit? quod et si pretio in feminis cogitur, uenditio illa pudicitiae utique impatientia contemnendi lucri ordinatur. haec ut principalia penes dominum delicta. nam ut compendio dictum sit, omne peccatum impatientiae adscribendum. malum impatientia est boni. nemo impudicus non impatiens pudicitiae et improbus probitatis et impius pietatis et inquietus quietis. ut malus unusquisque fiat, bonus perseuerare non poterit. talis igitur excetra delictorum cur non dominum offendat improbatorem malorum? an non ipsum quoque Israhel per impatientiam semper in deum deliquisse manifestum est, exinde, cum oblitus brachii caelestis, quo Aegyptiis adflictationibus fuerat extractus, de Aaron deos sibi duces postulat, cum in idolum auri sui conlationes defundit? tam necessarias enim Moysei cum domino congredientis impatienter exceperat moras. post mannae escatilem pluuiam, post petrae aquatilem sequellam desperant de domino, tridui sitim non sustinendo. nam haec quoque illis impatientia a domino exprobratur. ac ne singula peruagemur: numquam non per impatientiam delinquendo (per impatientiam) perierunt. quomodo autem manus prophetis intulerunt, nisi per impatientiam audiendi? domino autem ipso, per impatientiam etiam uidendi. quodsi patientiam inissent, liberarentur. ### English translation (Claude) Nevertheless, to forge out a discussion of things necessary to faith is not idle, because it is not fruitless. Talkativeness in edification is never shameful, if it is ever shameful. So if the subject is some good, the case requires that its contrary also be reviewed. For you will throw more light on what is to be pursued if you set out likewise what is to be avoided. Let us consider, then, whether, just as patience was born and found in God, so its adversary, impatience, was born and found in our adversary, so that from this it may appear how fundamentally it is opposed to faith. For what was conceived by God's rival is certainly not friendly to the things of God. The discord of things is the same as that of their authors. Further, since God is supremely good and the devil, on the contrary, supremely evil, by their very difference they testify that neither acts for the other, so that it cannot seem to us that anything good is produced by evil any more than anything evil by good. I find, then, the birth of impatience in the devil himself, already at the time when he bore impatiently that the Lord God had subjected all the works he had made to his own image, that is, to man. For he would not have grieved if he had endured it, nor envied man if he had not grieved. So he deceived him because he had envied him; and he had envied because he had grieved; and he had grieved because, of course, he had not borne it patiently. Which that angel of perdition was first, evil or impatient, I do not care to ask, since it is plain that either impatience began from malice or malice from impatience, and that they then conspired together and grew up inseparable in the one bosom of their father. But that which he had felt first, through which he had entered upon sinning, instructed by his own experience in what helps toward sin, he called in against man, to drive him into crime. The woman, as soon as he met her, was (I would not say it rashly) breathed upon, through the very conversation, with a spirit infected by impatience. Indeed, she would never have sinned at all if she had kept patience toward the divine prohibition. What of the fact that she did not endure having been met alone, but, before Adam, not yet her husband, not yet owing her his ears, she is impatient even of keeping silent, and makes him the transmitter of what she had drawn from the evil one? So the other human being too perishes through the impatience of another, soon himself to perish through his own impatience, committed in both directions, both concerning God's forewarning and concerning the devil's deceit: not enduring to keep the one or to refute the other. Here the origin of judgment lies where that of sin lies; here God began to be angry where man was led to offend. Or what crime before this one of impatience is imputed to man? He was innocent, a close friend of God, and a tiller of paradise. But once he gave way to impatience, he ceased to savor God, ceased to be able to endure heavenly things. From then on man, given to the earth and cast out from the sight of God, began easily to be seized by impatience for everything that would offend God. For at once, conceived from the seed of the devil, with the fertility of malice, it produced a son, anger, and trained its offspring in its own arts. For what had plunged Adam and Eve into death it taught the son too, to begin with murder. In vain would I ascribe this to impatience, if Cain, that first murderer and first fratricide, bore the refusal of his offerings by the Lord calmly and not impatiently; if he was not angry with his brother; if, in short, he killed no one. But since he could neither kill unless angry, nor be angry unless impatient, it shows that what he did through anger must be referred to that from which anger was prompted. These were in a manner the cradle of impatience, then an infant. But how great its growth soon was! Nor is it surprising. For if it was the first to sin, it follows that, because it was the first, it is for that very reason the sole womb of every sin, pouring out from its spring the various veins of crimes. Of murder something has been said. But, born of anger from the beginning, whatever causes it later finds for itself it refers to impatience as to its origin. For whether one commits that crime out of enmity or for plunder, it comes first that he becomes impatient either of hatred or of avarice. Whatever drives him, without impatience the crime cannot be accomplished. Who has undertaken adultery without impatience of lust? And if among women it is compelled by a price, that sale of chastity is certainly arranged by impatience of despising gain. These I mention as the chief sins in the Lord's sight. For, to put it briefly, every sin is to be ascribed to impatience. Evil is impatience of good. No one is unchaste who is not impatient of chastity, dishonest of honesty, impious of piety, restless of quiet. In order that each may become evil, he will be unable to persevere in being good. Why then should such a hydra of sins not offend the Lord, the condemner of evils? Is it not plain that Israel too always sinned against God through impatience, from the time when, forgetting the heavenly arm by which it had been drawn out of the afflictions of Egypt, it demanded of Aaron gods as its leaders, when it poured its contributions of gold into an idol? For it had impatiently borne the so necessary delays of Moses conversing with the Lord. After the rain of manna for food, after the water-giving rock that followed them, they despair of the Lord, not enduring a thirst of three days. For this impatience too is reproached them by the Lord. And not to go over details: never ceasing to sin through impatience, they perished through impatience. And how did they lay hands on the prophets, except through impatience of hearing them? On the Lord himself, through impatience even of seeing him. But if they had entered on patience, they would have been set free. ### Scripture references - Gen 1:26: allusion, medium confidence - Gen 3:6: allusion, high confidence - Gen 3:14: allusion, medium confidence - Gen 4:5: allusion, high confidence - Gen 4:8: allusion, high confidence - Exod 32:1: allusion, high confidence - Exod 16:4: allusion, high confidence - Exod 17:3: allusion, high confidence - Exod 15:22: allusion, medium confidence - 1 Cor 10:4: allusion, medium confidence - Matt 23:37: allusion, medium confidence ### Translation notes - The editor deletes the word “primus” and the incomplete sentence “inde in deo prima patientia … in diabolo temptatoris” (roughly “thence God's first patience, whence his first indignation, who, content then with a curse alone, … from the onslaught of punishment on the devil the tempter”); they are left untranslated. “Transmitter” renders tradux. “Adultery” renders adulterium. The allusions are Gen 1:26–28; Gen 3:1–6; Gen 3:14–19; Gen 4:3–8; Exod 32:1–4; Exod 16; Exod 15:22 and 17:1–7 (1 Cor 10:4); Matt 23:37. ### Citation (SBL) Tertullian, Pat. 5 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/tertullian-patientia/5/). ## On Patience 6 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/tertullian-patientia/6/ - Source: CSEL 47:10–11 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Patience proved Abraham's faith; Christ, bringing faith to the nations, replaced the law's “eye for an eye” with patience, commanding love of enemies. ### Latin text Ipsa adeo est, quae fidem et subsequitur et antecedit. denique Abraham deo credidit et iustitiae deputatus ab illo est; sed fidem eius patientia probauit, cum filium immolare iussus ad fidei, non temptationem dixerim, sed typicam contestationem, - ceterum deus quem iustitiae deputasset sciebat- tam graue praeceptum, quod nec domino perfici placebat, patienter et audiuit et, si deus uoluisset, implesset. merito ergo benedictus, quia et fidelis; merito fidelis, quia et patiens. ita fides patientia inluminata, cum in nationes seminaretur per semen Abrahae, quod est Christus, et gratiam legi superduceret, ampliandae adimplendaeque legi adiutricem suam patientiam praefecit, quod ea sola ad iustitiae doctrinam retro defuisset. nam olim et oculum pro oculo et dentem pro dente repetebant et malum malo fenerabant. nondum enim patientia in terris, quia nec fides. scilicet interim impatientia occasionibus legis fruebatur. facile erat absente domino patientiae et magistro. qui postquam superuenit et gratiam fidei patientia composuit, iam nec uerbo quidem lacessere nec fatue quidem dicere sine iudicii periculo licet. prohibita ira restricti animi, compressa petulantia manus, exemptum linguae uenenum. plus lex quam amisit inuenit. dicente Christo: diligite inimicos uestros et maledicentibus benedicite et orate pro persecutoribus uestris, ut filii sitis patris uestri caelestis. uides, quem nobis patrem patientia adquirat. ### English translation (Claude) Patience, indeed, is what both follows faith and goes before it. Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness; but patience proved his faith when, commanded to sacrifice his son (not, I would say, as a temptation of his faith but as a typical attestation of it; for God knew whom he had reckoned righteous), he both heard patiently so heavy a command, which even the Lord was not pleased to see carried out, and would have fulfilled it if God had willed. Rightly, then, was he blessed, because he was faithful; rightly faithful, because he was patient. So faith, illumined by patience, when it was being sown among the nations through the seed of Abraham, which is Christ, and was bringing grace in over the law, set patience, its helper, over the enlarging and fulfilling of the law, because patience alone had been lacking in the teaching of righteousness before. For formerly they exacted both an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, and lent out evil at interest for evil. For there was not yet patience on earth, because there was not yet faith. Meanwhile, of course, impatience enjoyed the opportunities of the law. That was easy while the Lord and master of patience was absent. But after he came and joined the grace of faith with patience, it is no longer lawful to provoke even with a word, nor even to say “fool,” without danger of judgment. Anger is forbidden, the mind restrained, the petulance of the hand checked, the poison of the tongue removed. The law has found more than it lost, as Christ says: “Love your enemies, and bless those who curse you, and pray for your persecutors, that you may be sons of your heavenly Father.” You see what Father patience wins for us. ### Scripture references - Gen 15:6: quotation, high confidence - Gen 22:2: allusion, high confidence - Gal 3:16: allusion, high confidence - Matt 5:38: allusion, high confidence - Exod 21:24: allusion, medium confidence - Matt 5:22: allusion, high confidence - Matt 5:44: quotation, high confidence - Matt 5:45: quotation, high confidence - Luke 6:28: allusion, medium confidence ### Translation notes - The quotations are Gen 15:6 (Rom 4:3) and Matt 5:44–45 (with Luke 6:28); the allusions are Gen 22:1–12, Gal 3:16, Matt 5:38 (Exod 21:24), and Matt 5:22. ### Citation (SBL) Tertullian, Pat. 6 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/tertullian-patientia/6/). ## On Patience 7 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/tertullian-patientia/7/ - Source: CSEL 47:11–13 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Christians should bear loss of property patiently, since nothing is truly theirs; patience in loss trains them to give freely, whereas pagans value money above the soul. ### Latin text Hoc principali praecepto, quo ne digne quidem malefacere concessum, uniuersa patientiae disciplina succincta est. iam uero percurrentibus nobis causas impatientiae cetera quoque praecepta suis locis respondebunt. si detrimento rei familiaris animus concitatur, omni paene in loco contemnendo saeculo scripturis dominicis commonetur; nec maior ad pecuniae contemptum exhortatio subiacet, quam quod ipse dominus in nullis diuitiis inuenitur. semper pauperes iustificat, diuites praedamnat. ita detriment(or)um patientiae fastidium opulentiae praeministrauit, demonstrans per abiectionem diuitiarum laesuras quoque earum computandas non esse. quod ergo nobis appetere minime opus est, quia nec dominus appetiuit, detruncatum uel etiam ademptum non aegre sustinere debemus. cupiditatem omnium malorum radicem spiritus domini per apostolum pronuntiauit. eam non in concupiscentia alieni tantum constitutam interpretemur: nam et quod nostrum uidetur alienum est; nihil enim nostrum, quoniam dei omnia, cuius ipsi quoque nos. itaque si damno adfecti impatienter senserimus, de non nostro amissum dolentes adfines cupiditatis deprehendemur. alienum quaerimus, cum alienum amissum aegre sustinemus. qui damni impatientia concitatur terrena caelestibus anteponendo, de proximo in deum peccat. spiritum enim, quem a domino sumpsit, saecularis rei gratia concutit. libenter igitur terrena amittamus, (ut) caelestia tueamur. totum licet saeculum pereat, dum patientiam lucrifaciam. iam qui minutum sibi aliquid aut furto aut ui aut etiam ignauia non constanter sustinere constituit, nescio an facile uel ex animo ipse rei suae manum inferre possit in causa elemosynae. quis enim ab alio secari omnino non sustinens ipse ferrum in corpore suo ducit? patientia in detrimentis exercitatio est largiendi et communicandi. non piget donare eum, qui non timet perdere. alioquin quomodo duas habens tunicas alteram earum nudo dabit, nisi idem sit, qui auferenti tunicam etiam pallium offerre possit? quomodo amicos de mammona fabricabimus nobis, si eum in tantum amauerimus, ut amissum non sufferamus? peribimus cum perdito qui hic inuenimus ubi habemus amittere. gentilium est omnibus detrimentis impatientiam adhibere, qui rem pecuniariam fortasse animae anteponant, nam id faciunt, cum lucri cupiditatibus quaestuosa pericula mercimoniorum in mari exercent, cum pecuniae causa etiam in foro nihil damnationi timendum adgredi dubitant, cum denique ludo et castris sese locant, cum peruia inmemores bestiarum latrocinantur. nos uero secundum diuersitatem, qua cum illis sumus, non animam pro pecunia, sed pecuniam pro anima deponere conuenit, seu sponte in largiendo seu patienter in amittendo. ### English translation (Claude) In this chief precept, by which not even deserved evil-doing is permitted, the whole discipline of patience is summed up. Now, as we run through the causes of impatience, the other precepts too will answer in their places. If the mind is stirred by loss of property, it is admonished almost everywhere in the Lord's Scriptures to despise the world; and there is no greater exhortation to contempt of money than that the Lord himself is found in no riches. He always justifies the poor and condemns the rich beforehand. So he has provided in advance, for patience in losses, a disdain for wealth, showing by his rejection of riches that damages to them too are not to be counted. What, then, we have no need at all to seek, because the Lord did not seek it either, we ought to bear without distress when it is cut down or even taken away. The Spirit of the Lord has declared through the apostle that covetousness is the root of all evils. Let us not interpret it as consisting only in desire for what is another's; for even what seems ours is another's, since nothing is ours, because all things are God's, whose we ourselves are too. So if, when we have suffered a loss, we feel it impatiently, grieving for what is lost of what was not ours, we will be found akin to covetousness. We seek what is another's when we bear the loss of what is another's with distress. He who is stirred by impatience at a loss, putting earthly things before heavenly, sins directly against God; for he shakes the spirit he received from the Lord for the sake of a worldly thing. Let us gladly lose earthly things, then, so as to keep heavenly ones. Let the whole world perish, so long as I gain patience. Now, one who has not resolved to bear steadfastly some small loss, whether by theft or force or even his own carelessness, I doubt could easily or heartily lay hand on his own property in the cause of almsgiving. For who, altogether unable to bear being cut by another, himself draws the knife through his own body? Patience in losses is a training in giving and sharing. He does not mind giving who does not fear losing. Otherwise, how will one who has two tunics give one of them to the naked, unless he is the same man who can offer his cloak too to one who takes away his tunic? How will we make friends for ourselves out of mammon if we love it so much that we do not endure its loss? We will perish with what is lost, we who find here where we have to lose. It is the Gentiles' way to meet all losses with impatience, since they perhaps put money before the soul; for they do this when, from desire of gain, they carry on the risky ventures of commerce at sea; when, for money's sake, they do not hesitate to undertake in the forum too things in which there is nothing to be feared from condemnation; when, finally, they hire themselves out to the gladiatorial school and to the camps; when, like beasts forgetful of themselves, they commit robbery on the highways. But we, according to the difference that separates us from them, ought to lay down not the soul for money but money for the soul, whether freely in giving or patiently in losing. ### Scripture references - Luke 6:20: allusion, medium confidence - Luke 6:24: allusion, medium confidence - 1 Tim 6:10: quotation, high confidence - Luke 3:11: allusion, high confidence - Matt 5:40: allusion, high confidence - Luke 16:9: allusion, high confidence - Matt 16:26: echo, medium confidence ### Translation notes - The quotation is 1 Tim 6:10; the allusions are Luke 6:20–24, Luke 3:11, Matt 5:40, Luke 16:9, and Matt 16:26 (echo). The text of the clause “things in which there is nothing to be feared from condemnation” is uncertain (the digital text has a stray “f”), and “like beasts forgetful of themselves … on the highways” renders an obscure phrase (peruia inmemores bestiarum). ### Citation (SBL) Tertullian, Pat. 7 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/tertullian-patientia/7/). ## On Patience 8 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/tertullian-patientia/8/ - Source: CSEL 47:13–14 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Christians should bear blows and insults patiently, as Christ commanded; patience blunts every injury, so that the one who inflicts it loses his aim and is himself the one who grieves. ### Latin text Ipsam animam ipsumque corpus in saeculo isto expositum omnibus ad iniuriam gerimus eiusque iniuriae patientiam sumus: minorum delibatione laedemur? absit a seruo Christi tale inquinamentum, ut patientia maioribus temptationibus praeparata in friuolis excidat! si manu quis temptauerit prouocare, praesto est dominica monela: uerberanti te, inquit, in faciem etiam alteram genam obuerte. fatigetur improbitas patientia tua; quiuis ictus illi sit dolore et contumelia constrictus. plus improbum illum caedis sustinendo, grauius a domino uapulaturum; ab eo enim uapulabit, cuius gratia sustines. si linguae amaritudo maledicto siue conuicio eruperit, respice dictum: cum uos maledixerint, gaudete. dominus ipse maledictus in lege est et tamen solus est benedictus. igitur dominum serui consequamur et maledicamur patienter, ut benedicti esse possimus. si parum aequanimiter audiam dictum aliquod in me proteruum aut nequam, reddam et ipse amaritudinis uicem necesse est, aut cruciabor impatientia muta. cum ergo (re)percussero maledictis, quomodo secutus inueniar doctrinam domini, qua traditum est non uasculorum inquinamentis, sed eorum, quae ex ore promuntur, hominem communicari, item: manere nos omnis uani et superuacui dicti reatum? sequitur ergo, ut a quo nos dominus arcet, idem ab alio aequanimiter pati admoneat. hic iam uide patientiae uoluptatem. nam omnis iniuria, seu lingua seu manu incussa, cum patientiam offenderit, eodem exitu dispungetur, quo telum aliquod in petra constantissimae duritiae libratum et obtusum. concidet enim ibidem inrita opera et infructuosa et nonnumquam repercussum in eum, qui misit, reciproco impetu saeuiet. nempe idcirco quis te laedit, ut doleas, quia fructus laedentis in dolore laesi est. ergo cum fructum eius euerteris non dolendo, ipse doleat necesse est amissione fructus sui. tunc tu non modo inlaesus abis, quod etiam solum tibi sufficit, sed insuper aduersarii tui et frustratione oblectatus et dolore defensus. haec est patientiae utilitas et uoluptas. ### English translation (Claude) We carry our very soul and our very body exposed in this world to injury from all, and we undertake patience under that injury: shall we be hurt by the slighting of lesser things? Far be from a servant of Christ such a defilement, that patience prepared for greater temptations should fail in trifles! If anyone tries to provoke you by force of hand, the Lord's admonition is at hand: “To him who strikes you on the face,” he says, “turn the other cheek as well.” Let wickedness be wearied by your patience; let whatever blow it is be bound up with pain and shame for him. You strike that wicked man more by enduring, since he will be beaten more heavily by the Lord; for he will be beaten by him for whose sake you endure. If bitterness of tongue breaks out in cursing or abuse, look back to the saying: “When they curse you, rejoice.” The Lord himself is cursed in the law, and yet he alone is blessed. Let us servants, then, follow the Lord and be cursed patiently, so that we may be blessed. If I hear with too little equanimity some insolent or wicked word against me, I must either return bitterness myself or be tortured by mute impatience. When, then, I strike back with curses, how shall I be found to have followed the teaching of the Lord, by which it has been handed down that a man is defiled not by the defilements of vessels but by what comes out of the mouth; and again, that the guilt of every vain and superfluous word awaits us? It follows, then, that what the Lord keeps us from, he also admonishes us to endure calmly from another. Now see here the pleasure of patience. For every injury, whether inflicted by tongue or by hand, when it strikes against patience, will be finished with the same outcome as some weapon hurled at a rock of the firmest hardness and blunted. For there it will fall, a vain and fruitless effort, and sometimes, rebounding, it will rage with a recoiling force against the one who sent it. Surely someone hurts you so that you may grieve, since the fruit of the one who hurts lies in the grief of the one hurt. So when you overturn his fruit by not grieving, he must grieve at the loss of his fruit. Then you not only go away unhurt, which alone is enough for you, but besides are both delighted by your adversary's frustration and protected by his grief. This is the usefulness and the pleasure of patience. ### Scripture references - Matt 5:39: quotation, high confidence - Luke 6:22: quotation, medium confidence - Matt 5:11: allusion, medium confidence - Deut 21:23: allusion, high confidence - Gal 3:13: allusion, high confidence - Matt 15:11: allusion, high confidence - Matt 12:36: allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - The quotations are Matt 5:39 (loosely) and a paraphrase of Luke 6:22–23 (Matt 5:11–12); the allusions are Deut 21:23 (Gal 3:13), Matt 15:11, and Matt 12:36. “Admonition” renders monela, a rare word in Tertullian. ### Citation (SBL) Tertullian, Pat. 8 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/tertullian-patientia/8/). ## On Patience 9 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/tertullian-patientia/9/ - Source: CSEL 47:14–15 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Christians should not grieve impatiently for the dead, since, believing in the resurrection, they know that death is only a departure to Christ, whom they too will soon follow. ### Latin text Ne illa quidem impatientiae species excusatur, [in amissione nostrorum] cui aliqua doloris patrocinatur adsertio. praeponendus est enim respectus denuntiationis apostoli, qui ait: ne contristemini dormitione cuiusquam, sicut nationes, quae spe carent. et merito. credentes enim resurrectionem Christi in nostram quoque credimus. propter quos ille et obiit et resurrexit. ergo cum constet de resurrectione mortuorum, uacat dolor mortis, uacat et impatientia doloris. cur enim doleas, si perisse non credis? cur impatienter feras subductum interim quem credis reuersurum? profectio est quam putas mortem. non est lugendus qui antecedit, sed plane desiderandus. id quoque desiderium patientia temperandum. cur enim immoderate feras abisse quem mox subsequeris? ceterum impatientia in huiusmodi et spei nostrae male ominatur et fidem praeuaricatur. et Christum laedimus, cum euocatos quosque ab illo quasi miserandos non aequanimiter accipimus. cupio, inquit apostolus, recipi iam et esse cum domino. quanto melius ostendit uotum! Christianorum ergo uotum, si alios consecutos impatienter dolemus, ipsi consequi nolumus. ### English translation (Claude) Not even that form of impatience is excused which some plea of grief defends. For regard must be given first to the apostle's warning, who says, “Do not be grieved at the falling asleep of anyone, as the nations are, who have no hope.” And rightly: for, believing in the resurrection of Christ, we believe also in our own, for whose sake he both died and rose again. Since, then, the resurrection of the dead is certain, grief at death is groundless, and groundless too is impatience in grief. For why should you grieve if you do not believe that he has perished? Why bear impatiently that one has been withdrawn for a time whom you believe will return? What you think death is a departure. He who goes ahead is not to be mourned, but certainly to be missed. And that longing too must be tempered by patience. For why should you bear without measure that one has gone away whom you will soon follow? Besides, impatience in such matters both bodes ill for our hope and betrays our faith. And we wrong Christ when we do not calmly accept that those whom he has called away are, as it were, to be pitied. “I desire,” says the apostle, “to be received now and to be with the Lord.” How much better a wish he shows! If, then, we grieve impatiently that others have attained it, we ourselves do not wish to attain the wish of Christians. ### Scripture references - 1 Thess 4:13: quotation, high confidence - 1 Thess 4:14: allusion, high confidence - Phil 1:23: quotation, high confidence - 2 Cor 5:8: allusion, medium confidence ### Translation notes - The editor deletes “in amissione nostrorum” (“in the loss of our own”), left untranslated. The quotations are 1 Thess 4:13 (loosely) and a free form of Phil 1:23 (cf. 2 Cor 5:8); the allusion is 1 Thess 4:14. ### Citation (SBL) Tertullian, Pat. 9 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/tertullian-patientia/9/). ## On Patience 10 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/tertullian-patientia/10/ - Source: CSEL 47:15–16 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: The desire for revenge is a chief form of impatience; it makes the one provoked as guilty as the provoker and usurps God's right to judge and avenge. ### Latin text Est et alius summus impatientiae stimulus ultionis libido, negotium curans aut gloriae aut malitiae. sed et gloria ubique uana et malitia numquam non domino odiosa, hoc quidem loco cum maxime, cum alterius malitia prouocata superiorem se in exsequenda ultione constituit et remunerans nequam duplicat quod semel factum est. ultio penes errorem solacium uidetur doloris, penes ueritatem certamen redarguitur malignitatis. quid enim refert inter prouocantem et prouocatum, nisi quod ille prior in maleficio deprehenditur, at ille posterior? tamen uterque laesi hominis domino reus est, qui omne nequam et prohibet et damnat. nulla in maleficio ordinis ratio est, nec locus secernit quod similitudo coniungit. par factum par habet meritum. absolute itaque praecipitur malum malo non rependendum. quomodo id obseruabimus, si fastidientes in fastidio ultionis non erimus? quem autem honorem litabimus domino deo, si nobis arbitrium defensionis arrogauerimus? nos putres, uasa fictilia! seruulis nostris adsumentibus sibi de conseruis ultionem grauiter offendimur eosque, qui nobis patientiam obtulerint suam, ut memores humilitatis seruitutis suae, dominici honoris diligentes non probamus modo, sed ampliorem, quam ipsi sibi praesumpsissent, satisfactionem facimus. id nobis in domino tam iusto ad aestimandum, tam potenti ad perficiendum periclitatur? hoc se nobis repromittit dicens: uindictam mihi, et ego uindicabo, id est: patientiam tibi, et ego patientiam remunerabo. cum enim dicit: nolite iudicare, ne iudicemini, nonne patientiam flagitat? quis enim non iudicabit alium, nisi qui patiens erit non defendendi? quid ergo credimus iudicem illum, si non et ultorem? quis idcirco iudicat, ut ignoscat? ac si ignoscet, tamen iudicantis impatientiam cauerit et honorem unici iudicis [id est dei] abstulerit. quantos uero casus huiusmodi impatientia incursare consueuit! quotiens paenituit defensionem! quotiens instantia eius deterior inuenta est causis suis! quoniam nihil impatientia susceptum sine impetu transigi nouit, nihil impetu actum non aut offendit aut corruit aut praeceps abit. iam si leuius defenderis, insanies, si uberius, oneraberis. quid mihi cum ultione, cuius modum regere non possum per impatientiam doloris? quodsi patientiae incubabo, non dolebo; si non dolebo, ulcisci non desiderabo. ### English translation (Claude) There is another supreme goad of impatience, the lust for revenge, which attends to the business either of glory or of malice. But glory is everywhere vain, and malice always hateful to the Lord; in this case most of all, when, provoked by another's malice, it sets itself up as superior in carrying out revenge, and, repaying wickedness, doubles what was done once. Revenge, in the view of error, seems a solace of grief; in the view of truth, it is convicted as a contest in malignity. For what difference is there between provoker and provoked, except that the one is caught first in wrongdoing, and the other later? Yet each is guilty, for injuring a man, before the Lord, who both forbids and condemns all wickedness. In wrongdoing no account is taken of order, nor does position separate what likeness joins. Like deeds have like deserts. So it is absolutely commanded that evil is not to be repaid for evil. How shall we observe this if, in our disdain, we do not disdain revenge? And what honor shall we offer to the Lord God if we arrogate to ourselves the decision of defending ourselves? We, rotten, earthen vessels! When our slaves take revenge on their fellow slaves, we are gravely offended; and those who have offered us their patience, mindful of the humility of their servitude, loving their master's honor, we not only approve but make them fuller satisfaction than they would have presumed for themselves. Is this at risk for us with a Lord so just in judging, so powerful in accomplishing? He promises us this, saying, “Vengeance is mine, and I will avenge,” that is: “Patience is yours, and I will reward patience.” For when he says, “Do not judge, that you be not judged,” does he not demand patience? For who will not judge another except one who is patient enough not to defend himself? Why, then, do we believe him a judge if not also an avenger? Who judges in order to pardon? And if he does pardon, still he will have guarded against the impatience of one who judges, and taken away the honor of the only Judge. And how many mishaps of this kind impatience is accustomed to run into! How often has one repented of defending oneself! How often has its vehemence been found worse than its causes! Since nothing undertaken by impatience knows how to be accomplished without violence, and nothing done with violence fails either to offend or to collapse or to rush headlong. Now, if you defend yourself too lightly, you will rage; if too fully, you will be burdened. What have I to do with revenge, whose measure I cannot control through impatience of grief? But if I rest on patience, I will not grieve; if I do not grieve, I will not desire to be avenged. ### Scripture references - Rom 12:17: allusion, high confidence - 2 Cor 4:7: echo, medium confidence - Rom 12:19: quotation, high confidence - Deut 32:35: quotation, medium confidence - Matt 7:1: quotation, high confidence - Jas 4:12: echo, medium confidence ### Translation notes - The digital text lacks a full stop before “ultio penes errorem” and has stray asterisks and “ei” for “si”, corrected here. The quotations are Rom 12:19 (Deut 32:35) and Matt 7:1; the allusions are Rom 12:17 (1 Thess 5:15) and 2 Cor 4:7 (“earthen vessels”). “The only Judge” recalls Jas 4:12; the editor deletes the gloss “id est dei” (“that is, God”). ### Citation (SBL) Tertullian, Pat. 10 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/tertullian-patientia/10/). ## On Patience 11 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/tertullian-patientia/11/ - Source: CSEL 47:16–18 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Whatever the source of our troubles, the devil, ourselves, or God's discipline, we must bear them patiently; the Beatitudes promise happiness to the patient. ### Latin text Post has principales impatientiae materias ut potuimus regestas quid inter ceteras euagemur, quae domi, quae foris? lata atque diffusa est operatio mali multiplicia aspidum incitamenta, iaculantis, et modo paruula modo maxima. si paruula de sua mediocritate contemnas, maximis pro sua exuperantia cedas. ubi minor iniuria, ibi nulla necessitas impatientiae. at ubi maior iniuria, ibi necessarior iniuriae medela, patientia. certemus igitur quae a malo infliguntur sustinere, ut hostis studium aemulatio nostrae aequanimitatis eludat. si uero quaedam ipsi in nos aut imprudentia aut sponte etiam superducimus, aeque patienter obeamus quae nobis imputamus. quodsi a domino nonnulla credimus incuti, cui magis patientiam quam domino praebeamus? quin insuper gratulari [et gaudere] nos docet dignatione diuinae castigationis. ego, inquit, quos diligo castigo. o seruum illum beatum, cuius emendationi dominus instat, cui dignatur irasci, quem admonendi dissimulatione non decipit! undique igitur adstricti sumus officio patientiae administrandae, qua aequa ex parte aut erroribus nostris aut mali insidiis aut admonitionibus domini interuenimus. eius officii magna merces, felicitas scilicet. quos enim felices dominus nisi patientes nuncupauit dicendo: beati pauperes spiritu, illorum est enim regnum caelorum? nullus profecto spiritu pauper nisi humilis. quis autem humilis nisi patiens? quia nemo subicere sese potest sine prima patientia subiectionis ipsius. beati, inquit, flentes atque lugentes. quis talia sine patientia tolerat? itaque talibus et aduocatio et risus promittitur. beati mites. hoc quidem uocabulo impatientes non licet omnino censeri. item cum pacificos eodem titulo felicitatis notat et filios dei nuncupat, numquid impatientes pacis adfines? stultus hoc senserit. cum uero gaudete et exultate dicit, quotiens uos maledicent et persequentur, merces enim uestra plurima in caelo, id utique non [exultationis] impatientiae pollicetur, quia nemo in aduersis exultabit, nisi ante contempserit ea. nemo contemnet, nisi patientiam gesserit. ### English translation (Claude) Having gone over, as best we could, these principal occasions of impatience, why should we wander among the others, at home and abroad? The working of the evil one is broad and widespread, hurling manifold incitements of the asps, now very small, now very great. If you despise the very small because of their slightness, yield to the very great because of their excess. Where the injury is lesser, there is no necessity for impatience; but where the injury is greater, there the remedy of injury, patience, is more necessary. Let us strive, then, to endure what is inflicted by the evil one, so that our rivalry in equanimity may mock the enemy's zeal. But if we ourselves bring some things on ourselves, either through imprudence or even willingly, let us meet with equal patience what we impute to ourselves. And if we believe that some things are inflicted by the Lord, to whom should we show patience more than to the Lord? Indeed, he teaches us besides to give thanks at being deemed worthy of divine chastisement. “Those whom I love,” he says, “I chastise.” O blessed that servant whose amendment the Lord presses, with whom he deigns to be angry, whom he does not deceive by neglecting to admonish! On every side, then, we are bound to the duty of practising patience, since on every side we fall in with either our own errors or the snares of the evil one or the admonitions of the Lord. Great is the reward of that duty: happiness, namely. For whom did the Lord call happy except the patient, saying, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven”? Surely no one is poor in spirit unless he is humble. And who is humble unless he is patient? For no one can subject himself without the prior patience of subjection itself. “Blessed,” he says, “are those who weep and mourn.” Who bears such things without patience? So to such both comfort and laughter are promised. “Blessed are the meek”: by this word the impatient cannot possibly be counted. Again, when he marks the peacemakers with the same title of happiness and calls them sons of God, are the impatient akin to peace? Only a fool would think so. And when he says, “Rejoice and exult whenever they curse you and persecute you, for your reward is very great in heaven,” he certainly does not promise this to impatience, because no one will exult in adversity unless he has first despised it; and no one will despise it unless he has practised patience. ### Scripture references - Rev 3:19: quotation, high confidence - Prov 3:12: allusion, medium confidence - Matt 5:3: quotation, high confidence - Matt 5:4: quotation, high confidence - Luke 6:21: allusion, high confidence - Matt 5:5: quotation, high confidence - Matt 5:9: allusion, high confidence - Matt 5:11: quotation, high confidence - Matt 5:12: quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - The quotations are Rev 3:19 (Prov 3:12) and the Beatitudes, Matt 5:3–12 with Luke 6:21 (“weep … laughter”). The clause “hurling manifold incitements of the asps” is obscure in the Latin. The editor deletes “et gaudere” (“and rejoice”) and “exultationis” before “impatientiae”; they are left untranslated. ### Citation (SBL) Tertullian, Pat. 11 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/tertullian-patientia/11/). ## On Patience 12 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/tertullian-patientia/12/ - Source: CSEL 47:18–20 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Patience makes peace and forgiveness possible, waits for the repentance of sinners (even a separated spouse), and is the source of the love Paul describes in 1 Corinthians 13. ### Latin text Quod (ad) pacis gratissimae deo attinet disciplinam. quis omnino impatientiae natus uel semel ignoscet fratri suo, non dicam septies et septuagies septies? quis ad iudicem cum aduersario suo dirigens negotium conuenientia soluet, nisi prius iram delerit, duritiam amaritudinem, uenas scilicet impatientiae, amputarit? quomodo remittes et remittetur tibi, si tenax iniuriae per absentiam patientiae fueris? nemo conuulsus animum in fratrem suum munus apud altare perficiet, nisi prius, reconciliando fratri reuersus, ad patientiam fuerit. sol super iram nostram si occiderit, periclitamur. non licet nobis una die sine patientia manere. atenim cum omnem speciem salutaris disciplinae gubernet, quid mirum, quod etiam paenitentiae ministrat? solita lapsis subuenire, haec expectat, haec exoptat, haec exorat paenitentiam quandoque inituris salutem. quantum boni utrique confert, cum disiuncto matrimonio — ex ea tamen causa, qua licet seu uiro seu feminae ad uiduitatis perseuerantiam sustineri — alterum adulterum non facit alterum emendat. sic et illis dominicarum similitudinum exemplis de paenitentia saluis adest: erroneam ouem patientia pastoris requirit et inuenit — nam impatientia unam facile contemneret, sed laborem inquisitionis patientia suscipit - et humeris insuper aduehit, baiulus patiens, peccatricem derelictam; illum quoque prodigum filium patientia patris et recipit et uestit et pascit et apud impatientiam irati fratris excusat. saluus est igitur qui perierat, quia paenitentiam iniit; paenitentia non periit, quia patientiam inuenit. iam dilectio, summum fidei sacramentum, Christiani nominis thesaurus, quam apostolus totis uiribus sancti spiritus commendat, cuius nisi patientiae disciplinis eruditur? dilectio, inquit, magnanimis est: id a patientia sumit. benefica est: malum patientia non facit. non aemulatur: id quidem patientiae proprium est. nec proteruum sapit: modestiam de patientia traxit. non inflatur, non proteruit: non enim ad patientiam pertinet. nec sua requirit: suffert sua, dum alteri prosit. nec incitatur: ceterum quid impatientiae reliquisset? ideo, inquit, dilectio omnia sustinet, omnia tolerat, utique quia patiens. merito ergo numquam excidet. nam cetera euacuabuntur consummabuntur exhaurientur: linguae scientiae prophetiae, permanent autem fides spes dilectio: fides, quam Christi patientia induxit, spes, quam hominis patientia expectat, dilectio, quam deo magistro patientia comitatur. ### English translation (Claude) As for the discipline of peace, most pleasing to God: who that is born for impatience will ever forgive his brother even once, not to say seven times, or seventy times seven? Who, taking his case to the judge with his adversary, will settle it by agreement, unless he has first done away with anger, harshness, bitterness, the veins, that is, of impatience? How will you forgive and be forgiven if, for lack of patience, you hold on to an injury? No one whose mind is torn against his brother will complete his offering at the altar unless he has first returned to patience by reconciling himself to his brother. If the sun sets on our anger, we are in danger; we are not allowed to remain one day without patience. But since patience governs every form of saving discipline, what wonder that it also ministers to repentance? Accustomed to help the fallen, it waits for, longs for, and prays for repentance for those who will at some time enter upon salvation. How much good it confers on both when a marriage has been dissolved (for that cause, however, for which it is lawful for either husband or wife to be kept persevering in widowhood): it does not make the one an adulterer, and it amends the other. So too it is present in those examples of the Lord's parables about repentance, to save: the shepherd's patience seeks and finds the straying sheep (for impatience would easily despise one, but patience undertakes the labor of the search), and moreover carries back on its shoulders, a patient bearer, the sinful one who had been abandoned. That prodigal son, too, the father's patience receives, clothes, and feeds, and excuses before the impatience of the angry brother. He is saved, then, who had perished, because he entered upon repentance; repentance did not perish, because it found patience. Now love, the highest sacrament of faith, the treasure of the Christian name, which the apostle commends with all the strength of the Holy Spirit, by whose disciplines is it taught if not by patience's? “Love,” he says, “is magnanimous”: this it takes from patience. “It is kind”: patience does no evil. “It is not envious”: that indeed is proper to patience. “Nor does it savor of insolence”: it has drawn its modesty from patience. “It is not puffed up, it is not insolent”: for this does not belong to patience. “Nor does it seek its own”: it gives up its own, provided it may benefit another. “Nor is it provoked”: otherwise, what would it have left to impatience? Therefore, he says, “love endures all things, bears all things,” certainly because it is patient. Rightly, then, “it will never fail.” For the rest will be made void, completed, exhausted: tongues, knowledge, prophecies; “but faith, hope, love remain”: faith, which the patience of Christ brought in; hope, which the patience of man awaits; love, which patience accompanies, with God as teacher. ### Scripture references - Matt 18:22: allusion, high confidence - Matt 5:25: allusion, high confidence - Luke 6:37: allusion, high confidence - Matt 5:24: allusion, high confidence - Eph 4:26: allusion, high confidence - Matt 19:9: allusion, medium confidence - Matt 5:32: allusion, medium confidence - Luke 15:4: allusion, high confidence - Luke 15:20: allusion, high confidence - 1 Cor 13:4: quotation, high confidence - 1 Cor 13:5: quotation, high confidence - 1 Cor 13:7: quotation, high confidence - 1 Cor 13:8: quotation, high confidence - 1 Cor 13:13: quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - The passage on marriage is compressed. Tertullian does not name the cause for which a marriage may be dissolved; it is usually taken to be adultery (cf. Matt 5:32; 19:9). He says that patience then benefits both spouses: it does not make the one an adulterer, since the separated spouse perseveres in widowhood, that is, stays unmarried (the implication is that remarrying would make that spouse an adulterer), and it amends the other. The digital text reads “a diuiduitatis perseuerantia sustineri”, a misdivision of “ad uiduitatis perseuerantiam sustineri” (“to be kept persevering in widowhood”), the reading translated here. “Sacrament” renders sacramentum. The allusions are Matt 18:21–22; Matt 5:25; Luke 6:37; Matt 5:23–24; Eph 4:26; Matt 19:9; Luke 15:4–7; Luke 15:11–32; the quotations are from 1 Cor 13:4–8, 13 in an Old Latin form. ### Citation (SBL) Tertullian, Pat. 12 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/tertullian-patientia/12/). ## On Patience 13 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/tertullian-patientia/13/ - Source: CSEL 47:20–21 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Patience is also exercised in the body: in fasting and penance, as Nebuchadnezzar showed, in continence and celibacy, and above all in enduring persecution and martyrdom. ### Latin text Usque huc de patientia tantum simplici et uniformi et tantum in animo constituta, cum eandem etiam in corpore demerendo domino multipliciter adlaboremus, utpote quae ab ipso domino in corporis quoque uirtute edita est, siquidem rector animus facile communicat spiritus inuecta cum habitaculo suo. quae igitur negotiatio patientiae in corpore? inprimis adflictatio carnis, hostia domino placatoria per humiliationis sacrificium, cum sordes cum angustia uictus domino libat, contenta simplici pabulo puroque aquae potu, cum ieiunia coniungit, cum cineri et sacco inolescit. haec patientia corporis precationes commendat, deprecationes adfirmat; haec aures Christi (et) dei aperit, seueritatem dispergit. clementiam elicit. sic ille rex Babylonius offenso domino cum squalore et paedore septenni ab humana forma exulasset, immolata patientia corporis sui et regnum recuperauit et, quod optabilius homini est, satis deo fecit. iam si altiores et feliciores gradus corporalis patientiae digeramus, eadem sanctitati quoque praecurat continentiam carnis: haec et uiduam tenet et uirginem adsignat et uoluntarium spadonem ad regna caeli leuat. quod de uirtute animi uenit in carne perficitur. carnis patientia in persecutionibus denique proeliatur. si fuga urgeat, incommoda fugae caro militat. si et carcer praeueniat, caro in uinculis, caro in ligno, caro in solo; illa et in paupertate lucis, illa et in penuria mundi. cum uero producitur ad experimentum felicitatis, ad occasionem secundae intinctionis, ad ipsum diuinae sedis ascensum, nulla plus illic quam patientia corporis. si spiritus promptus, sed caro infirma, ubi salus spiritus sine patientia et carnis ipsius? at cum hoc dominus de carne dicit, infirmam pronuntians, quid ei firmandae opus sit, ostendit, patientia scilicet aduersus omnem subuertendae fidei uel puniendae paraturam, ut uerbera, ut ignem, ut crucem bestias gladium constantissime toleret, quae prophetae, quae apostoli sustinendo uicerunt. ### English translation (Claude) So far we have spoken of patience only as simple and uniform and as lodged in the mind only; whereas we also labor for it in many ways in the body, to win the Lord's favor, since it was displayed by the Lord himself in bodily strength too; for the mind, as ruler, readily shares the gifts of the spirit with its dwelling. What, then, is the business of patience in the body? First of all, the affliction of the flesh, an appeasing victim to the Lord through the sacrifice of humiliation, when it offers to the Lord squalor and scantiness of food, content with simple fare and a pure drink of water; when it joins fasts to these; when it grows accustomed to ashes and sackcloth. This patience of the body commends our prayers, strengthens our entreaties; it opens the ears of Christ and God, scatters severity, draws out clemency. So that king of Babylon, when he had offended the Lord and had been exiled from human form for seven years in squalor and filth, by the sacrifice of the patience of his body both recovered his kingdom and, what is more desirable for a man, made satisfaction to God. Now if we set out the higher and happier grades of bodily patience, the same patience also watches over holiness through continence of the flesh: it holds the widow, seals the virgin, and lifts the voluntary eunuch to the kingdom of heaven. What comes from the virtue of the mind is perfected in the flesh. Finally, the patience of the flesh does battle in persecutions. If flight presses, the flesh fights out the hardships of flight. If prison too comes first, it is the flesh in chains, the flesh in the stocks, the flesh on the ground; it is the flesh in want of light, in want of comforts. And when it is brought out to the test of happiness, to the occasion of a second dipping, to the very ascent to the divine throne, nothing counts more there than the patience of the body. If “the spirit is willing but the flesh weak,” where is the salvation of the spirit without the patience of the flesh too? But when the Lord says this of the flesh, declaring it weak, he shows what it needs to be made strong: namely, patience against every apparatus for overthrowing or punishing faith, so that it may bear most steadfastly scourges, fire, cross, beasts, sword, which the prophets and the apostles overcame by enduring. ### Scripture references - Dan 4:33: allusion, high confidence - Dan 4:36: allusion, high confidence - Matt 19:12: allusion, high confidence - Matt 26:41: quotation, high confidence - Heb 11:37: echo, medium confidence ### Translation notes - “A second dipping” is martyrdom as a baptism of blood (cf. Bapt. 16). The allusions are Dan 4:33–36, Matt 19:12, and Heb 11:36–38; the quotation is Matt 26:41. ### Citation (SBL) Tertullian, Pat. 13 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/tertullian-patientia/13/). ## On Patience 14 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/tertullian-patientia/14/ - Source: CSEL 47:21–22 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Isaiah, Stephen, and above all Job are models of patience; Job, stripped of everything, only thanked God and was restored double. ### Latin text His patientiae uiribus secatur Esaias et de domino non tacet, lapidatur Stephanus et ueniam hostibus suis postulat. o felicissimum illum quoque, qui omnem patientiae speciem aduersus omnem diaboli uim expunxit! quem non abactae greges, non illae in pecore diuitiae, non filii uno ruinae impetu adempti, non ipsius denique corporis in uulnere cruciatus a patientia fide domino dedita exclusit, quem diabolus totis uiribus frustra cecidit. neque enim a respectu dei tot doloribus auocatus ille est, sed constitit nobis in exemplum et testimonium tam spiritu quam carne tam animo quam corpore patientiae perpetrandae, ut neque damnis saecularium nec amissionibus carissimorum nec corporis quidem conflictationibus succidamus. quale in illo uiro feretrum deus de diabolo extruxit, quale uexillum de inimico gloriae suae extulit, cum ille homo ad omnem acerbum nuntium nihil ex ore promeret nisi deo gratias, cum uxorem iam malis delassatam et ad praua remedia suadentem execraretur! quid ridebat deus, quid dissecabatur malus, cum Iob inmundum ulceris sui redundantiam magna aequanimitate destringeret, cum erumpentes bestiolas inde in eosdem specus et pastus refossae carnis ludendo reuocaret! itaque operarius ille uictoriae dei retusis omnibus iaculis temptationum lorica clipeoque patientiae et integritatem mox corporis a deo recuperauit et quae amiserat conduplicata possedit et si filios quoque restitui uoluisset, pater iterum uocaretur. sed maluit in illo die reddi sibi: tantum gaudii, securus de domino, distulit: sustinuit iam uoluntariam orbitatem, ne sine aliqua patientia uiueret. ### English translation (Claude) By these strengths of patience Isaiah is sawn in two and does not keep silent about the Lord; Stephen is stoned and asks pardon for his enemies. O most happy too was he who discharged every kind of patience against every force of the devil! Neither the driving off of his flocks, nor those riches in cattle, nor his sons taken away in one onslaught of ruin, nor finally the torment of his own body in its wounds shut him out from the patience and faith devoted to the Lord; the devil struck him with all his strength in vain. For he was not drawn away from his regard for God by so many griefs, but stood as an example and testimony for us of practising patience, in spirit as in flesh, in mind as in body, so that we may not give way either to losses of worldly goods, or to the deaths of those dearest to us, or even to the afflictions of the body. What a bier God built for the devil in that man! What a banner of his glory he raised over the enemy, when that man, at every bitter message, uttered nothing from his mouth except “Thanks be to God”; when he cursed his wife, already worn out by evils and urging him to wicked remedies! How God laughed, how the evil one was torn asunder, when Job with great equanimity scraped off the unclean overflow of his ulcer, when he playfully called back the little worms breaking out of it into the same caves and pastures of his dug-out flesh! So that workman of God's victory, all the darts of temptations blunted by the breastplate and shield of patience, soon recovered from God the soundness of his body, possessed doubled what he had lost, and, if he had wished his sons restored too, would again have been called father. But he preferred that they be given back to him on that day; secure about the Lord, he postponed so great a joy; he endured now a voluntary bereavement, so as not to live without some patience. ### Scripture references - Heb 11:37: allusion, high confidence - Acts 7:60: allusion, high confidence - Job 1:14: allusion, high confidence - Job 1:19: allusion, high confidence - Job 1:21: allusion, high confidence - Job 2:7: allusion, high confidence - Job 2:8: allusion, high confidence - Job 2:9: allusion, high confidence - Job 2:10: allusion, high confidence - Job 42:10: allusion, high confidence - Eph 6:16: echo, medium confidence ### Extrabiblical texts - Ascen. Isa. 5.1–14 (Ascension of Isaiah): allusion, medium confidence ### Translation notes - Isaiah's being sawn in two is told in the Ascension of Isaiah 5 and alluded to in Heb 11:37. The other allusions are Acts 7:59–60; Job 1:13–22; Job 2:7–10; Job 42:10–13; Eph 6:16 (“shield”). “Thanks be to God” paraphrases Job 1:21. That Job's sons were not restored follows Job 42:13, which gives him new sons. ### Citation (SBL) Tertullian, Pat. 14 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/tertullian-patientia/14/). ## On Patience 15 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/tertullian-patientia/15/ - Source: CSEL 47:22–23 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: God rewards patience, which supports every virtue; Tertullian pictures Patience as a serene figure sitting on the throne of the gentle Holy Spirit, who cannot dwell in us without her. ### Latin text Adeo satis idoneus patientiae sequester deus: si iniuriam deposueris penes eum, ultor est; si damnum, restitutor est; si dolorem, medicus est; si mortem, resuscitator est. quantum patientiae licet, ut deum habeat debitorem! nec inmerito omnia enim placita eius tuetur, omnibus mandatis eius interuenit: fidem munit, pacem gubernat, dilectionem adiuuat, humilitatem instruit, paenitentiam expectat, exhomologesin adsignat, carnem regit, spiritum seruat, linguam frenat, manum continet, temptationes inculcat, scandala pellit, martyria consummat, pauperem consolatur, diuitem temperat, infirmum non consumit, ualentem non extendit, fidelem delectat. gentilem inuitat, seruum domino, dominum deo commendat. feminam exornat. uirum adprobat; amatur in puero, laudatur in iuuene, suspicitur in sene; in omni sexu, in omni aetate, formosa est. age iam, sis, et effigiem habitumque eius comprehendamus. uultus illi tranquillus et placidus, frons pura, nulla maeroris aut irae rugositate contracta; remissa aeque is laetum modum supercilia, oculis humilitate, non infelicitate deiectis; os taciturnitatis honore signatum; color, qualis securis et innoxiis; motus frequens capitis in diabolum et minax risus; ceterum amictus circum pectora candidus et corpori impressus, ut qui nec inflatur nec inquinatur. sedet enim in throno spiritus eius mitissimi et mansuetissimi, qui non turbine glomeratur, non nubilo liuet, sed est tenerae serenitatis, apertus et simplex, quem tertio uidit Helias. nam ubi deus, ibidem et alumna eius, patientia scilicet. cum ergo spiritus dei descendit, indiuidua patientia comitatur eum. si non cum spiritu admiserimus, in nobis morabitur semper? immo nescio, an diutius perseueret; sine sua comite ac ministra omni loco ac tempore angatur necesse est. quodcumque inimicus eius inflixerit, solus sustinere non poterit, carens instrumento sustinendi. ### English translation (Claude) So God is a sufficiently trustworthy trustee of patience. If you deposit an injury with him, he is an avenger; if a loss, he is a restorer; if a grief, he is a physician; if death, he is a raiser of the dead. How much is granted to patience, that it has God as its debtor! And not undeservedly: for it protects all his decrees, it has a part in all his commands. It fortifies faith, governs peace, helps love, instructs humility, waits for repentance, sets its seal on confession, rules the flesh, preserves the spirit, bridles the tongue, restrains the hand, tramples temptations underfoot, drives away stumbling blocks, crowns martyrdoms; it consoles the poor, moderates the rich, does not overstrain the weak, does not exhaust the strong; it delights the believer, invites the Gentile, commends the servant to his master and the master to God; it adorns the woman, approves the man; it is loved in the boy, praised in the young man, looked up to in the old; in every sex, at every age, it is beautiful. Come now, if you please, let us grasp its likeness and bearing too. Its face is tranquil and calm, its brow clear, contracted by no wrinkle of sorrow or anger; its eyebrows evenly relaxed in a joyful manner, its eyes cast down in humility, not in unhappiness; its mouth sealed with the honor of silence; its color that of the carefree and harmless; frequent shaking of its head at the devil, and a threatening laugh; its robe about its breast white and close-fitting to the body, as neither puffed up nor soiled. For it sits on the throne of that most gentle and mild Spirit, who is not gathered in a whirlwind, nor darkened by cloud, but is of tender serenity, open and simple, whom Elijah saw the third time. For where God is, there too is his foster child, namely patience. So when the Spirit of God descends, patience accompanies him inseparably. If we do not admit it with the Spirit, will he always stay with us? Indeed, I doubt whether he would remain long: without his companion and servant he must be distressed in every place and time. Whatever his enemy inflicts, he will not be able to bear alone, lacking the instrument of bearing. ### Scripture references - 1 Kgs 19:12: allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - Several words are damaged in the digital text (e.g. “BKM” for “sine”), restored from the sense. The allusion is 1 Kgs 19:11–12 (the “third” sign after wind and earthquake, counting the fire as a separate manifestation; Tertullian counts loosely). “Confession” renders exhomologesis. ### Citation (SBL) Tertullian, Pat. 15 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/tertullian-patientia/15/). ## On Patience 16 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/tertullian-patientia/16/ - Source: CSEL 47:23–25 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Pagan “patience” in pursuit of money and pleasure is a devilish counterfeit; Christians should repay Christ's patience with patience of spirit and body, believing in the resurrection of both. ### Latin text Haec patientiae ratio, haec disciplina, haec opera, — caelestis et uerae. scilicet Christiana non, ut illa patientia gentium terrae, falsa probrosa. nam ut in isto quoque domino diabolus aemularetur, quasi plane ex pari — nisi quod ipsa diuersitas mali et boni aequaliter magnitudinis par est — docuit et suos patientiam propriam, illam dico, quae maritos dote uenales aut lenociniis negotiantes uxorum potestatibus subicit, quae aucupandis orbitatibus omnem coacti obsequii laborem mentitis adfectionibus tolerat, quae uentris operarios contumeliosis patrociniis gulae subiectione libertatis addicit. talia nationes patientiae studia nouerunt et tanti boni nomen foedis operationibus occupant; patientes riualium et diuitum et inuitatorum, impatientes solius dei uiuunt. sed uiderint sua et sui praesidis, quam patientiam sub terra ignis expectat. ceterum nos amemus patientiam dei, patientiam Christi: rependamus illi quam pro nobis ipse dependit; offeramus patientiam spiritus, patientiam carnis, qui in resurrectionem carnis et spiritus credimus. ### English translation (Claude) This is the reason of patience, this its discipline, these its works: heavenly and true, that is, Christian; not, like that patience of the nations of the earth, false and disgraceful. For so that the devil might rival the Lord in this too, as if on equal terms (except that the very difference between evil and good is equal to the magnitude of each), he too taught his own a patience of their own: I mean that which subjects husbands, sold for a dowry or trafficking in pandering, to the power of their wives; which, for the hunting of legacies from the childless, tolerates with feigned affection all the labor of forced attention; which binds the workmen of the belly, by the subjection of their liberty to the gullet, to insulting patronage. Such pursuits of patience the nations know, and they seize the name of so great a good for foul practices: patient of rivals, of the rich, of those who invite them to dinner, they live impatient of God alone. But let them see to their patience and that of their leader, which the fire beneath the earth awaits. We, however, let us love the patience of God, the patience of Christ; let us repay to him that which he himself paid out for us; let us offer the patience of the spirit, the patience of the flesh, we who believe in the resurrection of the flesh and of the spirit. ### Citation (SBL) Tertullian, Pat. 16 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/tertullian-patientia/16/).