Tertullian was a well-educated Roman orator and jurist who lived in North Africa at the turn of the 2nd/3rd century CE. In about 190 CE he was baptized and became a zealous supporter and defender of Christianity. He founded his own Tertullian sect, which preached moral rigour and forbade escape from persecution; it mandated fasts that other Christians did not practice.
The adherents of this doctrine accused the bishops of being too lenient towards repentant sinners; they were hostile to the hierarchical structure of the Church but attached great importance to the charism of prophecy.
Tertullianism allowed only one marriage in a person’s lifetime; he considered the next relationship, after the death of the first spouse, to be adultery. The movement survived in Carthage until the beginning of the 5th century CE.
