Fasts will merit from God the recognition of mysteries (Tert. ieiun. 7,6): on the relationship between fasting and prophecy in early Christianity

The present paper attempts to reconstruct the religious experience of prophecy within Montanism via a re-evaluation of the treatise De ieiunio adversus psychicos, written by Tertullian at the turn of the 3rd century. Montanists were urged to fast because of the imminence of the end of times: they had to purify their bodies in order to remove corporeal 'impurities' preventing them from receiving salvation. On the other hand, Tertullian states that one can experience a communication with God only when the body is free from the weight of food and drinking. On such basis, I set out to identify a series of key features that may constitute a more reliable outline of prophecy as a religious experience as it occurred in the Montanist circles. More specifically, I will focus on the description of the relationship between the physiological effects of fasting on human body and the ecstatic prophecy. In this sense, a discussion on fasting as a religious practice in Montanist circles will reveal unexpected entry-points into the whole discussion of prophecy in Early Christianity.