44 Tertullian describes the contrasting purity ofthe Christian conception of God and of their whole way of life. 45 Christians form a community united by faith, by discipline and by a common hope. They meet to pray to God, and they pray on behalf of the world. They read the scriptures, they listen to edifying sermons, and they rigorously exclude anyone who breaks the rules. At the meetings there preside venerable old men, chosen for their probity not their wealth.
Christians con tribute funds once a month or whenever they wish, without any compulsion.
The money does not provide banquets or drinking parties, but goes to support the needy, orphans and the aged, shipwrecked travellers, and Christians who for their faith are working in the mines, exiled on inhospitable islands or confined in prison. Their care for one another can only be offensive to those who hate their neighbours. Unlike their enemies, they share everything except their wives. Their common meals have a name which signifies 'love' in Greek. For they know that during the night God may speak to them.