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St. Aurelius Augustine,
Bishop of Hippo
IV/V Centuries
Although his mother, St. Monica,
was a Christian, Augustine grew up to be a highbrow playboy, a professor
of rhetoric who joined the fashionable Manichee
religion. Then he met St. Ambrose of Milan,
became a Christian, and returned to his native
Africa.
From the Orthodox point of view, St. Augustine's legacy is controversial.
In the West, it would be impossible to overestimate the impact of
his writings, starting in his own lifetime, and by the VI Century he was
regarded as one of the greatest Latin Fathers, revered by Western
saints whose Orthodoxy has never been questioned in the East.
On the other hand, nearly all of those ideas which are most
distinctively
Augustinian -- in particular his views on
the Trinity, on original sin,
and on predestination --
have subsequently been rejected by the Orthodox Church, and
are among the distinguishing points between Eastern and Western
Christianity. Thus some Orthodox consider him not a saint, but an
heresiarch.
This view, however, is probably the minority one; it is hard to reconcile
with
the esteem in which Augustine was held by pre-Schism saints. More often,
St. Augustine's errors are cited as the foremost example of
the fallibility of the Fathers: saints are human and make mistakes.
Augustine was himself aware of this, and at the end of his life was
working on
a revised version of his works, rejecting some entirely and modifying
others
in accordance with his more mature later views. Had he lived longer,
possibly
he would have removed many of the more dubious sections of his writings.
- ABOUT:
- WORKS: In the words of Gennadius:
Who is there that can boast himself of having all [Augustine's]
works, or who reads with such diligence as to read all he has written?
Denies that St. Cyprian of
Carthage would have supported the Donatist movement, as the Donatists were
claiming.
--- CCEL
-
On the Correction of Donatists:
Holds that the Donatists
are not
without hope of salvation, but also urges the Orthodox government to put
legal pressure on them. --- CCEL
-
To the People of the Church at Cæsarea:
An appeal for the Donatist Emeritus to become Orthodox; upholds
the essential Orthodoxy of Emeritus' beliefs but affirms he
can still not be saved outside the Church. Copyrighted translation
by Jean Goodwin, 1996. --- Northwestern University
-
To Petilian
An open letter to the Donatist bishop of
Constantine,
Algeria. --- CCEL
WORKS: Anti-Manichee:
WORKS: Anti-Pelagian:
WORKS: Autobiographical, Epistolary, Etc.
- Confessions: Augustine's famous autobiographical
meditation, a classic of
Latin literature.
--- CCEL
Letters:
Augustine's many correspondents included
Jerome,
Paulinus, and other
major
figures. Cunningham translation. --- CCEL
WORKS: Biblical Commentaries:
WORKS: DOCTRINAL:
A "how-to'" sort of work. Salmond
translation. --- CCEL
City of God: Augustine's masterpiece,
and one of the most influential
books in the history of Western culture. A Christian meditation on the
nature of time and
history in response to the sack of Rome in 410, contrasting the earthly
City with the
heavenly. Also contains Augustine's theory of original sin, widely
accepted in the Western
(but never in the Eastern) Church.
Dods-Wilson-Smith translation.
---CCEL
De Doctrina Christiana: A textbook of Biblical theology,
hermeneutics,
and homiletics. Shaw translation. ---CCEL
Enchiridion:
A "handbook" of essential Christian doctrines as Augustine
understood them.
Shaw translation. ---CCEL
On Faith of Things Not Seen We have faith in
God as we
do in the unseen hearts of our friends. --- CCEL
De Fide et Symbolo Expanded version of an address
delivered at
the Council of Hippo-Regius in 393. --- CCEL
De
Symbolo ad Catechumenos An explanation of the Creed for
catechumens. --- CCEL
On
the Trinity Augustine's famous theory about the details of
the triune
structure of both divine and human nature, developed over the whole course
of his life.
Very influential in the Latin West, but heavily criticized in the East as
anthropomorphizing God. --- CCEL
WORKS: Miscellaneous:
A typically late-antique educational treatise on the science of
argumentation.
--- JOD
De Moribus Ecclesiæ Catholicæ: A philosophical
treatise in the Stoic sense, praising love of God and neighbour as
manifested in Orthodoxy; intended for
a Manichee audience. --- CCEL
Soliloquies
A very early work, written soon after his conversion. Augustine
himself later
pointed out theological errors in it.
Starbuck translation. --- CCEL
WORKS: MORAL THEOLOGY:
Defends the position that marriage is a good, not an evil
like fornication, but is a lesser good than celibacy. Also defends Old
Testament figures
against critics who regard them as inferior to monks, because married:
they had to marry to become ancestors of the Messiah or the Prophets.
--- CCEL
De Bono
Viduitatis Letter to a young widow. Remarriage is not
forbidden, but
remaining single is better. --- CCEL
To
Consentius: Against Lying --- CCEL
On
Continence: Praises continence and the ascetic struggle, but
rejects the
Manichee opinion that the flesh is by nature evil.
--- CCEL
De
Cura
Pro Mortuis: ---
CCEL
De
Mendacio:
--- CCEL
De Moribus Ecclesiæ Catholicæ: A philosophical
treatise in the Stoic sense, praising love of God and neighbour as
manifested in Orthodoxy; intended for
a Manichee audience. --- CCEL
De
Opere
Monachorum: --- CCEL
On
Patience
--- CCEL
Rule of St. Augustine Widely used from the V Century on by
Latin
monks, and in modern times by the Austin Friars and Canons. Russell
translation, 1976.--- JOD
On
Virginity Praises the superiority of virginity, but also
cautions the celibate
against pride. --- CCEL
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