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The Christian theologian Tertullian’s instructions on prayer use language from the Shepherd of Hermas, where the narrator prays and then sits before receiving a vision. This posture became an example that influenced early Christian tradition.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Shepherd of Hermas 25:1
Early Christian
1 As I was praying in the house, and sitting on the couch, a man glorious in appearance came in, dressed as a shepherd, with a white skin wrapped around him, and with a bag on his shoulders and a staff in his hand. And he greeted me, and I greeted him in return. 2 He immediately sat down beside me and said to me, “I was sent by the most holy angel, so that I might stay with you for the rest of your days.” 3 I thought he had come to test me, and I said to him, “Who are you? For I know,” I said, “the one I was entrusted to.” He said to me, “Do you not recognize me?” “No,” I said. “I,” he said, “am the shepherd to whom you were entrusted.”
Date: 90–140 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
Tertullian, On Prayer 16
Early Christian
Again, I see no reason for the custom some people have of sitting after prayer, except the kind of reason children give. Suppose Hermas, whose writing is generally titled The Shepherd, had done something else after finishing his prayer, instead of sitting on his bed: would we insist that everyone must follow that practice too? Of course not. As it stands, the sentence When I had prayed, and had sat down on my bed, simply describes the sequence of events in the story; it does not establish a rule of conduct. Otherwise, we would have to pray only where there is a bed! In fact, anyone who sits in a chair or on a bench would be going against that writing. Furthermore, pagans do the same thing: they sit down after worshiping their little images. That alone makes the practice objectionable among us, since it is part of idol worship. It is also disrespectful — as even pagans would understand if they had any sense.
Date: 200–230 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... In his 'Treatise on Prayer' Tertullian described the attitude required and correct posture for different occasions of Christian prayer ... Hermas stated in his 'Vision Fifth' that he sat after praying, 'After I had been praying at home, and had sat down on my couch.' It appears that some Christians had taken the example of Hermas, from his popular writings called the Shepherd of Hermas c. 160CE, as a guide to Christian practice ..."
Leon Francis Milroy, Prayer in Earliest Christianity in the Context of the Graeco-Roman World (University of New England, 2001), 56–57.
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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