Nicole Petrin

The Berber population of North Africa is very ancient but starting some 3,000 years ago, Phoenician traders started to develop towns and sea ports along its Mediterranean shore. These settlements were very prosperous, and they were eventually conquered by the Romans over 2,000 years ago. Under Roman rule, the Latin language, Latin administration, Latin customs and rituals gradually transformed at least the elite of the mixed population of North Africa. As Christianity expanded within the Roman empire, it came also to North Africa.

The beginnings of Christianity in the lands occupied by modern Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco are shrouded in mystery: this happened during the age of persecutions, when Christians were perceived as enemies of the state and led a clandestine existence. In the late second century of our era, we suddenly experience a rich flowering of Christian life in these lands: a strong church organization, many martyrs, and many writers.

The most famous of these writers was Tertullian, born at Carthage (modern Tunis) in perhaps 160, who published his earliest work in 197, and died perhaps in 220. He was educated at Rome, probably in law; he certainly had a strong foundation in rhetoric. He has left voluminous writing but in accordance with the literary etiquette of his days, he mentioned almost nothing about himself. We know that he was a priest, and also that he was married: he dedicated two of his treatises to his wife.

Tertullian's works have survived in Latin. He knew Greek very well, and wrote some lost treatises in Greek, but he chose to write primarily in Latin. He used a Latin translation of the New Testament which is known to scholars today as the Vetus Latina; this early translation, carried out under uncertain conditions, was later replaced by a more standardized version, known as the Vulgate.

Tertullian was not only well educated; he had considerable innate talent as a writer. His style is powerful, brilliant, rich and versatile. He is generally considered the founder of Latin Christianity. There were Latin Christian authors before him, but they did not have deep, lasting impact. This may sound surprising but the first major Latin Christian writers lived and wrote in North Africa; the second wave originated in the Western Balkans. One of these was St. Nicetas of Remesiana (Bela Palanka), the author of the Te Deum (Tebje Boga hvalim).

There were Christians very early in Rome, St. Peter for one. But for a long time Christianity in Rome was practiced amongst Greek speaking migrants from the Eastern provinces. Rome itself, its ancient Latin population, was still a bastion of paganism in the days of Emperor Theodosius (who died in 395). By the mid fourth century, Latin Christianity in Rome was still rather unimportant, and the great Latin authors did not live or write in Rome. St Ambrose was bishop of Milan; St Jerome lived at Bethlehem. The ecclesiastical poet, St. Paulinus of Nola, was born near Bordeaux, and he was bishop of a small see just outside Naples.

Tertullian's career shows considerable fluctuations. He was first and foremost a passionate polemicist. He wrote brilliant denunciations of pagans, of heretics and also of the Gnostics (Bogomils) who were acquiring quite a following in this period. He wrote treatises in praise of martyrs, and launched blistering attacks against persecutors. Towards the end of his life, however, he ran into conflict with the Roman clergy, and he embraced the opinions of a poorly known religious leader, named Montanus, a believer in charismatic religious experience. The beliefs of the Montanists may be similar in some ways to the modern Pentecostal Church. The Montanists separated from the rest of Christianity, and are considered heretics. So is Tertullian. On the other hand, most of his treatises, especially the early ones, display perfectly orthodox doctrine. His treatise on baptism, for instance, could be used for teaching even today... in an Eastern Orthodox church. For instance, Tertullian includes chrismation as part of the baptism ritual; nowadays, those Western Churches which still have the sacrament of confirmation (Roman Catholics, Anglicans, etc) have separated baptism from chrismation; they administer confirmation several years later (age 7 for Roman Catholics, age 16 for Anglicans). Lack of documentation makes the study of heresies well nigh impossible. Too many important documents and books have been destroyed. Problems of perspective also emerge. For instance, modern Roman Catholic scholars call Tertullian a heretic because he was a married man, and also a priest. However married priests were common throughout Christian communities in this period.

The important aspect of Tertullian's writing is this: he was no innovator. In fact, in many ways, he could be called an Old Believer. For instance, in his days, Greek Christianity came under the influence of Greek philosophy, in particular the revival of Platonicism which was current in this period. Tertullian resisted this alien influence fiercely, with brilliant polemics.

Early Christians had no monastic movement because their existence was very precarious, and required almost ascetic discipline in order to survive. It was only when being a Christian was politically safe that the monastic movement emerged. Tertullian's ideas of the good Christian life were very austere. He refused to compromise with those who wanted to integrate Christianity into Roman life. One of Tertullian's most famous declarations is found in his De testimonio animae (On the testimony of the Soul): "for a man becomes a Christian, he is not born one".

Christianity in North Africa experienced very early an immense flowering. Egypt, in particular Alexandria (modern Cairo), was the home of such well-known writers as Origen and St. Athanasius. Cyrenaica (modern Lybia) was made famous by the philosopher and bishop Synesius. Tertullian and St. Cyprian shed great luster upon Carthage; Hippo (modern Bone) would have been forgotten but for St. Augustine. But the Arab conquests, first of Egypt and Libya in the mid seventh century, then the Western conquests in the years to the close of the seventh century, soon obliterated these Christian communities. (There is an entire website dedicated to Tertullian: http://www.tertullian.org/)