Tertullian · a new plain-English translation from the original language
[1] "But let your works shine," he says. Yet nowadays it is the taverns and our own front doors that shine. You would find more pagan doorways bare of lamps and laurels than Christian ones. And what do we make of this custom in particular? If it is honor paid to an idol, then beyond doubt that honor is idolatry. If it is done for a man's sake, let us reconsider the whole matter — that all idolatry is, at bottom, done for a man's sake. [2] Let us reconsider that all idolatry is, at bottom, worship offered to men, since it is agreed even among the pagans themselves that the very gods of the nations were once men. It therefore makes no difference whether such superstition is paid to the men of an earlier age or of this one. The censure of idol-worship falls not upon whose likeness is honored, but upon the ritual acts turned toward that likeness — acts that in truth serve demons. [3] "Pay back to Caesar what belongs to Caesar." And rightly he went on: "and to God what belongs to God." What, then, belongs to Caesar? Exactly the point being argued just then — whether the tribute-tax was owed to Caesar at all. This is why the Lord had a denarius brought to him and asked whose likeness was stamped there, and upon hearing "Caesar's," replied, "Pay back to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and to God what belongs to God" — meaning: Caesar's likeness, stamped upon the coin, goes to Caesar; God's likeness, stamped upon man, goes to God. Hand over coin to Caesar, then, but hand over your very self to God. [4] Otherwise, what will be left for God, if everything belongs to Caesar? "So," you say, "is it an honor to God to hang lamps before the doors and laurel on the doorposts?" Not that it is an honor to God, of course — but it is an honor to the one who, in place of God, is honored by rites of this kind; and however plain that may seem, the actual operation, hidden from view, still reaches all the way to the demons. [5] We ought to be sure
of this — in case it escapes anyone through ignorance of secular literature — that indeed
the Romans worshipped gods of the doorway too: Cardea, named from hinges, Forculus from the door-leaf, Limentinus from the threshold, and Janus himself from the doorway (ianua). And we surely know that, empty and invented as these names are, once drawn into superstition they attract to themselves demons and every unclean spirit through the binding-force of consecration. [6] Otherwise demons have no name of their own individually, but find a name wherever they find a pledge of devotion. Among the Greeks too we read of Apollo Thyraeus and the Antelii as the demon-guardians of doorways. Foreseeing this from the beginning, the Holy Spirit foretold, through the most ancient prophet Enoch, that doors too would fall into superstition. Indeed we also see other doors being worshipped, in the baths. [7] But if
there really are beings worshipped at doorways, then the lamps and the laurels belong to them too. Whatever you do to the doorway, you do to an idol. On this point I call God's own authority to witness as well, since it is not safe to suppress whatever has been shown to one person, when it concerns everyone. I know a brother who, the same night, was severely rebuked in a vision because his slaves had suddenly crowned his door with garlands on the announcement of a public celebration. [8] And yet he himself had neither crowned it nor ordered it; in fact he had gone out earlier, and on returning had reproached them for what they had done. So exactingly are we, God's household, judged even in a matter of this kind. As for the honors due to kings or emperors, then, we have sufficiently laid down that we ought to be obedient in every observance, as the apostle commands, yielding to magistrates, to rulers, and to authorities — yet staying inside the boundary set by our discipline, provided we remain untouched by idol-worship. [9] That is why the example of the three brothers stands before us: obedient to King Nebuchadnezzar in other respects, they steadfastly refused to honor his image, proving that it is idolatry whenever anything is exalted beyond the human measure of honor into a semblance of divine majesty. [10] So too Daniel remained submissive to Darius in everything else, for just as long as he could keep clear of danger to his discipline; and rather than submit to that, he feared the king's lions no more than those three feared the king's fires. Let them, then, light their lamps daily, lamps that give no light at all,
and hang their laurels on doorposts that are destined later to burn — theirs are the fitting emblems of darkness and the fitting omens of punishment. [11] You are the light of the world, and a tree forever green. If you have renounced temples, do not make your own door a temple. I have understated it: if you have renounced brothels, do not dress your house in the face of a new brothel.
XVI.