HILARY OF POITIERS ON TERTULLIAN

LATIN TEXT: “...De orationis autem sacramento necessitate nos commentandi Cyprianus vir sanctae memoriae liberavit. Quamquam et Tertullianus hinc volumen aptissimum scripserit : [ Variant Text: Sequenti errore ] sed consequens error hominis, detraxit scriptis probabilibus [ Varient Text: auctoritatem ] auetoritatem...” - (Chapter 5, Book 1, “In Matthaeum,” or: “Commentary On [Or: “In”] Matthew,” [Section 913 Migne Latina])

HILARY OF POITIERS (circa. 300-368 C.E.): “...Concerning a discourse on the sacred oath of [Christian] alegiance [Or: “the sacrement”], however, we have Cyprian, a hero of sacred rememberance who has absolved us from this obligation. Even though Tertullian also on this very point composed a volume [Textual variant: “who [Or: “that”] strayed into error”] worthy of aquiring, yet, by the subsequent error of this man, he has detracted [Or: “diminished” or: “taken away from”] from his writings which are worthy of approval [Textual variant: “have been decreed as allowed by official authorization”]...” - (Chapter 5, Book 1, “In Matthaeum,” or: “Commentary On [Or: “In”] Matthew,” [Section 913 Migne Latina] Translated by Matt13weedhacker 7/04/2014.)

HILARY OF POITIERS (circa. 300-368 C.E.): “...Concerning the sacrement{3} of prayer, Cyprian, the man of blessed memory, has freed us the necessity of making comment.{4} And although Tertullian wrote a most competent volume on this matter,{5} the subsequent error of the man has detracted from the authoity of his commendable writings.{6}...” - (Chapter 5, “St. Hilary of Poitiers – Commentary On Matthew,” Page 74, Translated by D. H. Williams, The Catholic University of America Press, USA, 2012.)
[FOOTNOTE 3]: Sacremento.
[FOOTNOTE 4]: The Cyprian mentioned here was bishop of Carthage from ca. 248 to 258, martyred under the reign of Decius.Among his surviving writings is De Dominica Oratione, a breif and apparently well known set of observations on the Lord's Prayer.
[FOOTNOTE 5]: Tertullian, De Oratione. Tertullain, a layman who also lived in Carthage, focuses on the Lord's Prayer in Chapters 2-8 of this work.
[FOOTNOTE 6]: The negative reference is to Tertullian's embrace of the New Prophecy later in his life. By Hilary's day, the New Prophecy, or Montantism, had become completely discredited as a heretical movement. See Jerome, De Viris Illust. 26, 40, 41, 53; Augustine, De Haer. 26-27. Vincent of Lerins cites this passage of Hilary's in Comm. 18.46, slightly altering it to read: “...by is subsequent error he undermined the authority of his commendable writings...” (PL 50:664). Hilary's attitude toward the value of Tertullian's contributions is probably typical. The latter's theological and biblical work utilized extensively, but despite its importance, the writer is never regarded in nomine as an authority.

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