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On Prayer

Tertullian

Chapter 19

About this work

Author: Tertullian

Chapter XIX.—Of Stations.

Similarly, too, touching the days of Stations, most think that

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they

must

not

be

present

at

the

sacrificial

prayers

,

on

the

ground

that

the

Station

must

be

dissolved

by

reception

of

the

Lord’s

Body

.

Does

,

then

,

the

Eucharist

cancel

a

service

devoted

to

God

,

or

bind

it

more

to

God

?

Will

not

your

Station

be

more

solemn

if

you

have

withal

stood

at

God’s

altar

?

When

the

Lord’s

Body

has

been

received

and

reserved

each

point

is

secured

,

both

the

participation

of

the

sacrifice

and

the

discharge

of

duty

.

If

the

“

Station

”

has

received

its

name

from

the

example

of

military

life

—

for

we

withal

are

God’s

military

—

of

course

no

gladness

or

sadness

chanting

to

the

camp

abolishes

the

“

stations

”

of

the

soldiers

:

for

gladness

will

carry

out

discipline

more

willingly

,

sadness

more

carefully

.

Notes

1
The word Statio seems to have been used in more than one sense in the ancient Church. A passage in the Shepherd of Hermas, referred to above (B. iii. Sim. 5), appears to make it ="fast.”
2
“Ara,” not “altare.”
3
For receiving at home apparently, when your station is over.
4
See 2 Tim. ii. 1, etc. [See Hermas, Vol. I., p. 33.]