St. Augustine as a preacher

Historical and homiletical research Subject of research, its purpose and task. – Research plan. – Sources and benefits. The subject of this study is a review of the preaching activities of Blessed Augustine, Bishop of Hippo. St. Augustine is the most influential and most prolific of the Latin writing fathers of the ancient Christian church in the field of preaching 1. Despite the fact that in the extensive Russian and foreign literature about Augustine, we do not find special studies devoted to the review of this particular side in the activities of the blessed Ippon shepherd. In the monographs that exist about him, as well as in special systematic reviews of the history of preaching, one can find only brief information about his preaching ministry, most often a repetition of the same general judgments on this subject. A comparatively more detailed overview of the preaching activities of Blessed Augustine can be found in Bindemann in his work “Der heilige Augustinus” 2. But the task of the author of this work, dedicated to a general depiction of the life and work of Blessed Augustine, did not include a comprehensive consideration of his preaching ministry, and we would in vain look in the indicated study by Bindemann for an answer to many questions concerning that particular aspect of the work of Blessed Augustine, which is the subject of our study. The purpose of the latter is to fill the gap existing in theological literature, especially in Russian, on the issue of the preaching ministry of one of the outstanding preaching fathers of the ancient church. The personality of St. Augustine is in many respects very original and highly instructive. That is why it has always attracted the special attention of learned researchers in the field of church and theological writing; That is why the life and work of this shepherd of the Hippo Church has served and continues to serve as the subject of varied consideration. According to the fair admission of one Russian scientist, who devoted a lot of attention to the study of the life and work of Blessed Augustine, “rarely does anyone provide as many motives for his historical study as Augustine with his brilliant personality, moral height, with his leading role in his contemporary society and with his influence on a long series of subsequent generations” 3. In the field of Christian theology, the significance of the blessed Ipponian shepherd is very great, and we should, with diligence worthy of the glorious name of Augustine, “draw from his numerous works abundant, thoughtful theological and philosophical material to strengthen the edifice of Orthodox theological science” 4 . But the very instructive, original and interesting in many respects personality of Blessed Augustine seems far from uninteresting from the side from which it is subject to our consideration, i.e. from the side of his preaching ministry, and not only for people involved in the science of preaching, studying its history, but also for lovers of theological literature in general, as well as for every, we think, educated and inquisitive person. In the sermons of Blessed Augustine, as in a mirror, all his wide, varied activities are reflected, in connection with the special diverse movements and demands of the mental and religious-moral life of his contemporary society, and more clearly than in other writings, it is reflected what was the subject of his pastoral care, on what the thought of the great teacher most often stopped, what ached, worried and worried his pure, high soul. And if in the numerous and varied writings of the blessed Bishop of Ipponia the true thought of the author is often hidden in the depths of philosophical speculation, hidden behind a dialectical play on words, behind a polemical tendency to defend the truth and refute lies, then here, in a lively conversation from the church pulpit to the mostly simple and poorly educated listeners standing before him, the preacher appears before us in all the immediate charm of his great spirit, with all sincerity, the purity and holiness of your intentions. If in the first case, Blessed Augustine forces the reader to follow him often along the long and winding paths of an exploratory thought, heading towards clarifying the truth of the thought, then in his sermons he offers, as if in a ready-made form, the results of his mental work, the results and conclusions of his pious quests. The general task of our work is to depict or outline the activities of the blessed Ippon shepherd as a church speaker and preacher. Like any literary work, a sermon must be examined, first of all, from the point of view of content. Further, as such, it is subject to evaluation from the point of view of internal and external properties, and in both cases the evaluation should be made not only on the basis of general literary rules and requirements, but also from the point of view of special homiletical criticism. Thus, speaking more specifically, our task is, first of all, to indicate what was the subject of the content of Blessed Augustine’s sermons, what the preacher’s thought was directed and focused on, what was the subject of his constant concerns, cherished thoughts, feelings and desires, and then we must consider the sermons of Blessed Augustine from the side of their internal and external qualities. But Blessed Augustine is known in the history of preaching not only as an outstanding practical preacher, as one of the most prominent speakers and ministers of the church word, but also as a famous homiletic theorist, as the compiler of the first theory of preaching and the founder of homiletical science itself. This circumstance, naturally, expands our task and obliges the author to devote a significant amount of attention in his work to the review and presentation of the homiletical views of the preacher. In addition to all this, just as when studying the works of this or that writer it is necessary to become familiar with his biography, so when studying the sermons of this or that preacher it is necessary to dwell in more or less detail on the circumstances of his life. Without such acquaintance with the biography of the preacher, many of the properties of his sermons, their very spirit and character, will remain incomprehensible, and certain conclusions and provisions of ours could turn out to be groundless and unfounded. The preaching ministry is primarily a spiritual ministry. The special high properties and advantages of a sermon are determined not so much by the natural outstanding spiritual powers of the preacher, but by his high moral qualities, his mood, and for research it is necessary to find and indicate those factors or conditions under which this mood was formed. Finally, preaching is the work of church teaching. It is said to teach and edify people for the purpose of their religious and moral improvement, and the meaning of the preaching word is sometimes not limited only to the influence on a certain circle of listeners of the preacher, but extends to most of his contemporary society and even to many further generations, affecting their lives and being reflected, one way or another, in the works of subsequent preachers. Sometimes the power of this influence is immortal. Hence, a new task for the author of this study is to indicate how effective the preaching word of Blessed Augustine was, whether it achieved its goal, and how great, in general, was the influence and significance of this preacher in the history of Christian preaching. According to the specified requirements and tasks, our work plan is presented in the following form: An introduction, which first outlines the circumstances of the life of the famous Ippon bishop and gives his characteristics, then talks about the external conditions of preaching, the time and place for preaching, and, finally, offers bibliographic information about the very sermons of Blessed Augustine. Chapter I. Doctrine in the sermons of St. Augustine. Chapter II. Moral teaching in the sermons of the blessed one. Augustine. Chapter III. On the internal properties of the sermons of St. Augustine. Chapter IV. About external properties. Chapters V and VI, which set out the homiletical views of Blessed Augustine, with the first chapter reviewing his work “De doctrina christiana” (Christian Science), the second reviewing the content of his other work “De cathechisandis rudibus” (on the catechumen). In conclusion, the meaning of the preaching activity of Blessed Augustine is interpreted. We admit that the implementation of such a plan and the implementation of the tasks we have set are far from easy. The soil on which we decided to test our strength is little developed, one might say, almost virgin. The very sermons of Blessed Augustine, and they are very numerous, 5 with a few exceptions, have not been translated into Russian, and we had to study them in the Latin original. In addition, Blessed Augustine is one of the most thoughtful and original teachers and writers of the ancient Christian church. Reading his works, sometimes it is not so easy to grasp the true thought of the author - to follow all the smallest bends and intricacies of his peculiar subtle dialectical mind. To this we must also add that his views and judgments on some essential issues of Christian theology and philosophy have not yet been clarified with due completeness and thoroughness, being the subject of dispute and wrangling among scientists (such, for example, are the judgments of Blessed Augustine about good and evil, about original sin, about the meaning of the grace of God and human will in the matter of salvation, about predestination, about the moral sanity of man and etc.). All this significantly complicates our work and creates conditions under which the author’s work has to be called a more than daring attempt. That is why we especially earnestly ask readers to cover with condescension and love the shortcomings that will be seen in our work. We are inspired by one ardent desire to serve the cause of Russian theological science, and we would recognize our goal as achieved and ourselves completely satisfied if the proposed research were still some contribution to our poor theological literature. Perhaps this imperfect scientific experience will prompt one of the subsequent workers in the field of theological writing to take on the burden of a deeper and more thorough study of the subject we have taken in order to produce a more perfect work, fully worthy of the name of the great Ipponese bishop-preacher. The volume of the work would be significantly smaller if it were not for numerous and large excerpts from the sermons of Blessed. Augustine. But, not to mention the fact that such abundant excerpts are required by the essence and nature of our work, we wanted to introduce readers more closely to the preacher himself, so that our conclusions and judgments about him would be more reasonable in their eyes and could be confirmed to some extent by their own analysis. In addition, following prof. Guerrier 6, we consider it necessary to testify that the original words “ipsissima verba” of Augustine always have such a charming impression on us that we wanted others, at least those who cannot read the sermons of Blessed Augustine in the original, to give the opportunity to become acquainted with them, at least in fragments and translation. The sources that we used in our research, and the manuals that we had at hand, are indicated in the following list: S. Aurelii Augustini – Opera omnia – edit. Migne 7. tom. III, pars 1, Parisiis 1887; pars 2, – Parisiis 1864. tom. IV, pars 1–2, – Parisiis 1865. tom. V, pars 1–2, – Parisiis 1865. tom. VI, Parisiis – 1887. tom. VII, Parisiis – 1900. tom. VIII, Parisiis – 1886. tom. IX, Parisiis – 1845. tom. X, pars 1–2, Parisiis 1865. tom. XI, Parisiis – 1865. Possidius – Vita S. Aurelii Augustini – Patrol. Migne, ser. lat., tom. XXXII. Parisis 1877. Possidius – Indiculus librorum, tractatuum et epistolarum S. Augustini, Hipponensis Epistopi. – Patrol. Migne. ser. lat., tom. XLVI. Parisis 1865. Vita Sancti Aur. Augustini, Hipponensis Epistopi ex ejus potissimum scriptis concinnata. – Patrol. Migne, ser. lat., volume XXXII. Salvianus. – De governornatione Dei. – in Coffer’s German translation – Von der göttlichen Weltregierung. Aachen 1858. Euseb. Hieronymi – Opera omnia – vol. VII. Patrol. Migne, ser. lat., tom. XXVI. Parisiis – 1845. S. Gregorii pap. - Homiliae. Opera omnia, vol. V. Venetiis, 1769. S. Caesarii, Episcopi Arelatensis. – Homiliae auctoribus Cypriano, Firmino et Viventio episcopis. Patrol. Migne, ser. lat., volume LXVII. Parisiis, 1848. Vita S. Caesarii Episcopi auctoribus Cypriano, Firmino et Viventio S. Augustini. – Patrol. Migne, ser. lat., tom. XLVII. Parisis 1877. Homiliarius, hoc est, praestantissimorum Ecclesiae partum sermones sive conciones ad populum, primum a Paulo Diacono jussu Caroli Magni in unum collecti. – Patrol. Migne, ser. lat., tom. XCV. Parisis, 1851. Acta Sancrorum – I. Bollandi – Januar – vol. III. Bruxellis 1869; Mart. – tom. I, Parisiis et Romae 1867; September – vol. VI, Parisiis et Romae 1867. Baronius – Annales ecclesiastici – vol. VI, Lucae 1740; tom. VII, Lucae 1741; tom. VIII, Lucae 1741. Ausonius - Opera. Amsterdam 1621. Cave. – Scriptorum ecclesiasticorum historia litteraria, volume I. Basiliae 1741. Bingham. – Origines sive antiquitates ecclesiasticae. Ex lingua English. in lat. Vertit Henric. Grischovius, vol. I–III. Halae 1824–29. Bindemann. Der heilige Augustinus. B.I. – Berlin 1844; B.II. – Leipzig 1855; B. III, 1–2 – Greifswald 1869. Böhringer – Aurelius Augustinus, Bischof von Hippo, I–II, Stuttgart 1877–78. Codex canorum Ecclesiae Africanae, ed. Christophorus Iustellus. Lutetiae 1614. Codex Theodosianus, ed. Gust. Haenel. Bonnae 1742. Constitutiones sanctorum apostolum – Bibliotheca veterum partum antiquorumque scriptorium ecclesiasticorum – Gallandi – tom. III. Venetiis 1667. Herodianus – Historiarum libri VIII, – Henrici Boecleri. Argentorati – 1694. Herzog – Real-Encyclopädie, B. I, Hamburg – 1854. Huber – Die Philosophie der Kirchenväter, München 1859. Gandauf – Metaphysiche Psychologie des heiligen Augustinus, Abth. I–II. Augsburg - 1852. Des. Erasmi Rot. Ecclesiastae sive de ratione concionandi – 1535. Edm. Martine. Tractatus de antiqua ecclesiae disciplina. Antwerp – 1764. Matigny – Dictionnaire des antiquites chrétiennes. Paris, 1865. Münter – Primordia Ecclesiae Africanae. – Hafniae 1829. Aug. Neander. – Allgemeine Geschichte der christlichen Religion und Kirche – B. I. Gotha 1856. Ribbeck – Donatus und Augustinus oder erste entscheidende. Kampf zwischen Separatismus und Kirche. Elberfeld 1857. Schröckh – Christliche Kirchengeschichte, Theil 15. Leipzig 1827. Storz – Die Philosophie des hl. Augustinus. Freiburg im Breisgau 1882. Seyrich G. I. Geschichtsphilosophie Augustinus nach seiner Schrift De civitate Dei. Leipzig 1891. Brömel – Homiletische Characterbilder. – Berlin 1869. Bassermann – Handbuch der geistlichen Beredsamkeit. Stuttgart 1885. Conr. Ernesti. Anleitung zur geistlichen Beredsamkeit. – Regensburg. – 1881. Jos. Jungmann – Theorie der geistlichen Beredsamkeit. Academische Vorlesungen. B. I–II. Freiburg in Breisgan – 1883–84. Krauss – Lehrbuch der Homiletik. Gotha 1883. Krauss – Lehrbuch der practischen Theologie. B. I. Freiburg, 1890. Lesat – De oratore christiano apud Sanctum Augustinum. Parisis 1871. Lentz. – Geschichte der christlichen Homiletik, Th. 1–2, Braunschweig 1839. Lutz. – Chrisostomus und die übrigen berühmtesten kirchlihen Redner alter und neuer Zeit. Tubingen, 1851. Ant. Linsenmayer. – Geschichte der Predigt in Deutschland von Karl dem Grossen bis zum Ausgange des vierzenten Iahrhunderts. Munich 1886. I. Marbach – Geschichte der deutschen Predigt vor Luther. Berlin 1879. Joh. Lorenz von Moscheim. Kurze Anweisung, die Gottesgelahrtheit vernüftig zu erlernen, in academischen Vorlesungen vorgetragen. Helmstädt 1751. Heaven. – ZZur Geschichte der Predigt. I–II. Wiesbaden 1879. Nesselmann – Übersicht über die Entwiekelungsgeschichte der christlichen Predigt. Elbing 1862. Paniel – Pragmatische Geschichte der christlichen Beredsamkeit und Homiletik. – Leipzig 1839. Probst – Katechese und Predigt. – Breslau 1884. Rich. Rothe – Geschichte der Predigt von den Anfängen bis auf Schleiermacher. Bremen 1881. I. W. Schmid. – Anleitung zum populären Kanzelvortrag. Th. I–III. Jena 1795–800. Schuler – Geschichte der Veränderungen des Geschmacks im Predigen. Th. I. Halle 1792. Wilh. Thym – Historisch-kritisches Lehbuch der Homiletik. Halle 1800. Wiesner – Geschichte der christlichen Beredsamkeit und Homiletik. Leipzig 1829. Blessed creations Augustine, in Russian translation, in 3 volumes, 6 parts. Kiev 1880–1882. St. Augustine - “Christian Science”, trans. from Latin, Kiev 1835. Creations of St. our father John Chrysostom - parts 1–6, St. Petersburg, 1895–1900. Works like the saints of our father Vasil the Great - parts 1–7, Sergiev Posad, 1891–1892. Works of Blessed Jerome 8 (Russian translation), parts I–XVII. Ed. 1880–1903, Kiev. Anthony, Archbishop of Finland and Vyborg. "From the history of Christian preaching", ed. 2nd, St. Petersburg 1895 Amphitheaters - Readings on church literature, parts I–II, Kiev 1846. Afanasy, archimandrite Notes on conversational theology, or homiletics. St. Petersburg 1862 Bulgakov. Samples of patristic and Russian preaching. Kharkov 1887 Barsov, prof. – History of primitive Christian preaching. St. Petersburg 1885 Bolotov V.V., prof. Lectures on the history of the ancient church. Volume II, St. Petersburg 1910 Windelband. “History of Ancient Philosophy”, with appendix: “Augustine and the Middle Ages”, trans. edited by prof. A. I. Vvedensky. St. Petersburg 1893 Vetrinsky. Monuments of the ancient Christian church or Christian antiquities, vols. I and II, St. Petersburg. 1829–1830 Gerye V.I. – Architects and ascetics of the kingdom of God, part I Blessed Augustine. Moscow 1910 Govorov A. – The basic principle of church preaching and the subject and tasks of church eloquence arising from it. “Orthodox. Interlocution.” 1895, vol. 3. Dupanloup. Conversations on preaching as a pastoral ministry. St. Petersburg. 1899 Published. editorial staff of the magazine "Wanderer" Acts of the Ecumenical Councils – vol. VII. Kazan 1875 From time immemorial. Hierarchy of the North African Church. Vilna 1884 Zarnitsky. Collection of preaching samples. The experience of a homiletical anthology. St. Petersburg. 1891 Krasin M. – The creation of the blessed. Augustine: “De civitate Dei”, as an apology for Christianity in its struggle against paganism. Kazan 1873 Kutepov. Donatist split. Kazan 1884 Book of rules of St. apostles, St. ecumenical and local councils. Moscow 1893 Lebedev A.P., prof. – Church historical narratives of public content. Moscow 1900 His own. The era of persecution of Christians. 1st edition. Moscow 1897 Lopukhin A.P. The idea of God's providence in history (mainly according to the views of Blessed Augustine and Bossuet). Christ. Reading, 1892, part I. Lubker. A real dictionary of classical antiquities. Publication of the Society of Classical Philology and Pedagogy. St. Petersburg 1883 Macarius (former Metropolitan of Moscow) - History of the Russian Church, vol. II, St. Petersburg 1868 Malyshevsky. St. John Chrysostom in the rank of reader, in the ranks of deacon and presbyter. Kiev 1892 Potorzhinsky. Patristic anthology. Kiev 1887 His own. Samples of Russian church sermons of the 19th century. Kiev 1882 Pevnitsky V.F., prof. – St. Gregory the Dialogue, his sermons and homiletical rules. Kiev 1871 His own. From the history of homiletics. The first, the most ancient, is homiletics. Kiev 1892 His own. From the history of homiletics. Medieval homiletics. Kiev 1895 His own. From the history of homiletics. Homiletics in modern times, after Luther's reformation. Kiev 1899 His own. Church eloquence and its basic laws. Kyiv 1906 Robertson. History of the Christian Church, vol. I, trans. from English by A.P. Lopukhin. St. Petersburg. 1890 A Guide to Church Eloquence with Examples from the Holy Scriptures. Scriptures, Holy Fathers and Glorious Christian Orators, trans. from foreign I.I., 1804 Sokolov P. P., prof. - Faith. Psychological study. Moscow 1902 Sergius Archimandrite – Complete months of the East. vols. I–II. Moscow 1875–1876 Tareev M. M., prof. – On questions of homiletics. Critical Essays. Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra 1903 Trubetskoy Evgeniy, book. – The religious and social ideal of Western Christianity in the 5th century; Part I. Worldview of the Blessed. Augustine. Moscow 1892 Farrar. Life and works of St. fathers and teachers of the church. Transl. A. P. Lopukhan. St. Petersburg, 1891 Filaret, Archbishop of Chernigov. Historical doctrine of the church fathers, vols. I–III. St. Petersburg. 1859 Yuryevsky A., priest. Homiletics, or the science of pastoral preaching of the word of God. Kyiv, 1903 In addition to the names indicated here, we also used articles related, in one way or another, to the subject of our work, published in periodical Russian church-theological publications: in “Proceedings of the Kiev Theological Academy”, “Christian Reading”, “Theological Bulletin”, “Orthodox Interlocutor”, “Sunday Reading” and some others. The above list does not exhaust all the literature at our disposal. It contains only those names that, in their subject and nature, are more or less closely related to the subject and nature of the present study. Information about the life of St. Augustine and his characteristics. The external conditions of St. Augustine’s preaching, the place and time of his sermon. Bibliographic information about his sermons. Blessed Augustine was born in the insignificant 9 African Numidian city of Tagaste, on November 13, 353 10. His father, Patricius or Patrick, bore the honorary title of “decurion” 11, or member of the city council 12, and spared no expense in giving his son an education that was brilliant in its time 13. This latter consisted then primarily of the study of rhetorical sciences. Oratory was a necessary accessory for him 14. It was necessary for every educated person, and the very degree of education was measured by the ability to speak eloquently 15. To be eloquent was an ideal for students, and eloquence was considered the most perfect thing of all. Even emperors tried to advance themselves in the field of eloquence and considered themselves especially honored if their works were successful in this regard and deserved respect 16 . Therefore, Patricius, the father of Blessed Augustine, wanted to see an orator in his son and raise him according to this goal 17. First, Blessed Augustine studied in his home city of Tagaste 18, and then in the city of Madavre, not far southwest of Tagaste, 19 where he studied grammar, verbal science and eloquence 20. The study of these sciences had as its subject mainly classical philology and consisted of the development of classical linguistics on the basis of the philological and historical interpretation of ancient poets and writers. The pedagogical goal, at the same time, was, through acquaintance with ancient authors, to give students the harmonious development of the spirit and accustom them to the purity and beauty of pronunciation 21. This also included an exercise in eloquence through free paraphrase of passages selected from classical writers. “Allow me, my God,” writes Blessed Augustine in his “Confessions,” “to say something about my mind - Your gift, on what absurdities I spent it. I was often given a task that was quite alarming for my soul, forcing me, either with the promise of rewards or the threat of punishment, to utter the words of Juno, how she was angry and grieved when she could not turn the leader Teucr away from Italy. I never heard Juno say anything like that; but we had to follow in the footsteps of poetic inventions and tell in free speech what the poet said in verse. And the more in keeping with the position of the person represented, someone expressed the passions of anger and sorrow in words that accurately conveyed thoughts, the more he deserved respect and praise” 22. The laws of correct and pure pronunciation came first here. “If,” Augustine continues, “one of those teaching the generally accepted rules of sounds were to pronounce, contrary to grammar, without aspiration the word “homo,” he would be subjected to greater persecution for this than if, contrary to Your commandments, he hated man himself, being a man.”23 All training was focused exclusively on the external form. “Effective juxtaposition of words and thoughts, flaunting of exquisite, unusual words and phrases, petty finishing of each phrase, inappropriate wit, unnecessary quoting of ancient writers, playing with different figures and tropes, eliminating the naturalness of thoughts and expressions” - this is what the attention of teachers of eloquence in the rhetorical schools of that time focused on mainly 24. The content of the lessons and their practical interest receded into the background here. The direction of this education can be called sophistry. It was a skill to talk about different differences clearly and captivatingly. Sophists, on the one hand, provided education to students, teaching them eloquence; on the other hand, they themselves practiced eloquence and appeared before the public as masters of their craft or virtuosos of speech 25 . Here is a brief picture of the teaching of rhetoric, which Augustine himself draws in the form of a conversation between teacher and student in one of his works: the word “modus,” the teacher asks, which foot? “pyrrhic” 26, the student answers. What measures? – double. Teacher: “bonus” which foot? Doctrine: Same as "modus". Teacher: So, “modus” is the same as “bonus”? Student: no. Teacher: why (you say) the same thing? Student: Because one concerns pronunciation, and the other concerns meaning. Teacher: so, do you assume that the pronunciation is the same when we say “modus” and “bonus”? Student: I see by the sound of the letters that these words are different, but otherwise they are the same. Teacher: what, when we pronounce “pone” a verb and “pone” a preposition, do you think there is no difference in pronunciation? Student: There is a difference, of course. Teacher: why is this so, when both words consist of the same number of syllables and the same letters? – Student: because there is a difference that these words have stress (increase) in different places. Teacher: What art is recognizing this? Student: What I usually hear from grammarians is 27. Blessed Augustine studied at the Madavra school until he was sixteen years old 28 . But his father, Patricius, wishing only one thing for his son to achieve an external brilliant position, considered the education he received in Madaure insufficient to achieve his intended goal 29, and Augustine had to go to Carthage to improve there in eloquence, which alone then opened the way for people of relatively low position to honorary positions in academies and in the highest state institutions (in foro) 30. He spent his sixteenth year, however, in his parents' house 31, packing and preparing for the journey 32. In Carthage, where Blessed Augustine arrived in the seventeenth year of his life, he continued to study mainly rhetoric and dialectics, or “verbal sciences, which enjoyed special honor and had their application in litigation, in judicial places” 34. But even here, the practice of eloquence was limited only to the external formal side of the subject, without regard to its internal consistency or moral value. “Here wickedness,” writes Blessed Augustine, “was preferred to conscientiousness” 35. In Carthage, in his words, “there were unscrupulous perverts” who were engaged in outbursts of words, with which they, with impudent shamelessness, persecuted the modesty of the inexperienced, leading them into spiritual confusion with their impudence, and thereby delighting their evil soul 36. Possessing brilliant mental abilities, the young man Augustine, without much difficulty, successfully studied the so-called liberal sciences and arts - philosophy, eloquence, music and poetry, as well as “mathematical measurements” 37. With great ease, he assimilated Aristotle’s 10 categories - this stumbling block for many outstanding minds of that time 38. “Everything was clear and understandable to him when it came to substances, such as, for example, a person, and about the most particular definitions, for example, what is the figure of a person, what is his height, how many legs, and kinship: whose brother; or where it is located; or when was born; or whether he is standing or sitting; or whether he is shod or armed; whether in a real state or in a passive state; and in general all the countless definitions contained in these types given as examples or in the genus of substance itself” 39 . But while he excelled in the sciences, the young Augustine also excelled in the exploits of the turbulent African students. Guessing the thoughts of his parents, in particular his father, and completely sharing them, at first he had nothing more in mind than to achieve that brilliant external position, the path to which the education he received served. Without encountering any particular difficulties in achieving his goal, he was able at the same time to explore, as they say, the full breadth of his African nature. For uncontrollable youthful desires, Carthage at that time represented a very favorable soil. Although Christianity had long been widespread and established there, Carthage was largely pagan. The life-giving stream of the new grace-filled faith had not yet had time to penetrate deeply into the life of society there, and this latter was Christian more in name 40. The Marseille presbyter Salvian, a man of the same generation as Augustine, describes in the darkest and most unattractive terms the moral state of the Carthaginian metropolitan society. “That city,” he says about Carthage, “is true, abundant in population, but with even more shameful deeds, although it is full of wealth, but even more crimes; this is a crowd of people who try to outdo each other in depravity” 41. It was difficult for Augustine, who was still youthfully unstable and carried away, to protect himself from the seductions of metropolitan life, 42 and he became a victim of Carthaginian debauchery. “I indulged in great iniquities,” he repents before God, with blasphemous curiosity desecrating Thy shrine... I dared even during solemn festivities, within the walls of Thy church, to defile myself with unclean thoughts about carnal lusts and engage in such deeds that kill both body and soul, the fruits of which are death” 43. Even at first, precisely in the year 44 of his arrival in Carthage, Augustine became involved with one woman and already in the eighteenth year of his life had a son from her, Adeodatus 45. However, God did not abandon His chosen vessel by His mercy, which had to become a great lamp for the entire Christian world. Reading a book by Cicero that has not reached us, entitled “Hortensius,” changed Augustine’s disposition. All his hitherto tempting dreams and hopes seemed to him now, after reading this work, too pitiful and insignificant. What others found only as an example of eloquence, for Augustine had a more significant meaning. While others admired and were interested only in the form of expression, the deep mind of the young Tagaste turned this book of Cicero to his advantage, not so much for the improvement of himself in eloquence, but for the growth of his spirit. St. Augustine saw in the book an incentive to eternal wisdom. “Suddenly,” he writes, “if they did not completely disappear in me, then at least all vain hopes lost their strength, and I, having experienced their emptiness by experience, having received disgust from my previous empty pursuits, with all my heart’s ardor I desired eternal wisdom.”46 But Augustine's desire was destined to remain only a desire for now. The stronger the hunger, the more delicious the food, or the longer and more difficult the journey, the more pleasant the rest. And Blessed Augustine had to wander for a long time through the wilds of human error in order to finally reach the path of truth and establish himself on it. Reading “Hortensius” aroused in him an ardent desire for the truth, but the truth was far from him. He began to read Holy Scripture, but this latter did not satisfy Augustine’s proud mind and was inaccessible to his deluded thoughts. To him, accustomed to the eloquent works of classical writers, the language of Holy Scripture seemed too simple and even rude. And in many places the content of Holy Scripture seemed incomprehensible to him 47 . Not finding satisfaction for his desire for truth in Holy Scripture, Augustine thought to find the truth among the Manichaeans. Manichaeism came closest to his then mood, and he became a follower of this sect. What especially attracted Manichaeism was that it flattered his pride, the desire to achieve and understand the truth by the power of reason alone. The word “truth” was constantly heard among the followers of Manes 48 . And the names of God, Christ and the Holy Spirit of the Comforter that were often heard in their mouths were close to Augustine, familiar and familiar sounds from an early age 49 . In addition, the Manichaeans tried to humiliate in the eyes of Blessed Augustine the authority of Holy Scripture and church teaching with various apparent contradictions, especially on the question of the origin of evil. They also pointed to the absurd, seemingly crude, generally accepted church concept of deity and to some seductive actions of the Old Testament righteous 50. All these questions had troubled Augustine before. Now, in the misleading light of the Manichaeans, they even more incited his young mind, still unaccustomed to delving into the meaning of Holy Scripture, against church teaching, and with their promise to resolve all apparent contradictions on a reasonable basis, the Manichaeans gave him the opportunity, albeit for a while, to renounce the anxious doubts oppressing his spirit. Thus, Blessed Augustine became a Manichaean and for nine years (from the nineteenth to the twenty-eighth year of his life) was a follower of this sect, as he was deceived, so he deceived others 51. But having become a Manichaean and indulging in the fantasies of the Eastern worldview, he, however, did not cool down at all to study the classical sciences. As before, he enjoyed the brilliant works of rhetoricians and the beauties of poets. After completing his education in Carthage, returning to Tagasta, Augustine became a grammar teacher there, and then, saddened by the death of one of his close friends, moved again to Carthage, where he exchanged the boring study of grammar for a more prominent position as a teacher of rhetoric 52, still spending a noisy life in the circle of his Carthaginian friends. “Especially,” he recalls, “I was inspired and entertained by the successes and amusements of my other friends; together with them, my love turned to those objects that I loved instead of You (God): it was a terrible dream and a long deception; and my soul was deceived and corrupted among the harmful company of friends... Together we talked and joked with mutual obligingness, together we read sweet-tongued books, together we chatted idle words, and paid mutually friendly honors; sometimes they allowed disagreements without hatred, or they taught each other and learned” 53 . Among the friendly fun and entertainment, Augustine completely calms down from the emotional excitement aroused in him by reading “Hortensius”, again indulging in the seductive dream of becoming a famous speaker. In Carthage, in the 26th or 27th year of his life, Augustine wrote his first essay “on the beautiful and decent” (De pulchro et Apto), dedicated to the famous Roman rhetorician Hierius, from whom the aspiring teacher of rhetoric wanted to get a good recommendation 54. Soon, however, he had to leave Carthage and move to Rome. The motivation for this was not the desire for greater benefits, but rumors that teaching conditions in Rome were somewhat better. There, “education proceeded calmer and more correctly, and there was more order and strictness in school discipline, so that no one could enter the school without the knowledge of the teacher, and only those who had permission from him were admitted” 55 . Meanwhile, in Carthage, students were self-willed and often caused riots. “They arbitrarily and indiscriminately invaded schools, with shamelessness and impudence, like feverish and frantic ones, they violated the order introduced by the teacher between students for better success in the sciences. Many schoolchildren made the most rude insults, for which they should have been prosecuted if custom had not protected them” 56. In 383 57 Augustine arrived in Rome and here began teaching rhetoric 58 . The significance of his stay in Rome for Augustine was that there he came into contact with academic philosophers who argued that man cannot comprehend the truth. Already at first, upon entering Manichaeism, Augustine had doubts about the viability of this very sect. His doubts increased when, while still in Carthage, he had to listen to public conversations and debates with the Manichaeans of a certain Gelpidius 59. The latter, with his clever questions and detailed answers, put the Manichaeans in a hopeless position, so that they gave evasive answers and generally tried to avoid public clashes 60 . The dilemma constructed against the Manichaeans by his friend Nebridius had particular force in the eyes of Augustine. “For me, Lord,” he writes, “it was enough that Nebridius objected to them (the Manichaeans) when we lived in Carthage, and by which all of us who listened to him were amazed. He asked: what harm could any dark and evil beings, whom the Manichaeans usually opposed to You under the name of the evil principle, have caused You, if You had not deigned to enter into a fight with them? If the Manichaeans answered that evil beings could harm You, then the conclusion would naturally follow that You are subject to damage, and therefore to change. If the Manichaeans say that the evil principle is powerless to harm You, then there is no need to fight with it, and, moreover, in such a way that a part of You Yourself or a branch of Your substance, mixed with these dark forces that did not come from You, through this suffered such damage that from a state of bliss it passed into a state of fall and needed Your help to return to the primitive state" 61 . To the theoretical inconsistency of Manichaeism was added the practical or moral inconsistency of even the so-called “elect”, who were predominantly proud of their moral purity 62. But the decisive blow that undermined Augustine’s faith in Manichaeism was his disputes with Faustus, Bishop of Milevis, on whom the Manichaeans had high hopes, and for whom Blessed Augustine was eagerly awaiting, expecting to find in him a solution to his perplexities. However, he was bitterly disappointed. Faust turned out to be nothing more or less than just a talker, and this talkie “became all the more tempting and fascinating for him because it was seasoned with some wit, dissolved with friendliness and politeness, and, moreover, supported by a stately and beautiful posture by nature” 63. Faustus could not answer the questions proposed by Augustine with due thoroughness, and the former’s hopes of calming his worried spirit were in vain 64 . Thus, Augustine came to Rome already shaken in his Manichaean views, although he was still considered a follower of this sect. He “began to think that perhaps the smartest philosophers were those who doubted everything, claiming that man could not comprehend the truth” 65. However, Augustine did not have to stay in Rome for long. Here he was embarrassed by the behavior of the students, about whom he heard that they often, having agreed among themselves not to pay the teacher, suddenly leave him and move on to another. Therefore, Augustine willingly accepted the offer of the Roman prefect Symmachus, an educated man of his time and an outstanding orator, to take the vacant position of professor of eloquence in Milan 66, a city that at that time had as its adornment a great and glorious husband, St. Ambrose. Arriving in this city, Augustine introduced himself, first of all, to Ambrose, “that enlightened and pious,” as he himself later writes, “the saint, whose eloquent lips at that time gave plenty to those hungry for spiritual food, thirsty for spiritual drink and suffering for the oil of joy” 67. Here he often had to listen to the sermons of this famous church teacher. Sermons of St. Ambrose had the meaning for Augustine that, representing in images the difficult places of St. The Scriptures, mainly of the Old Testament, resolved, one after another, the perplexities that had previously arisen in it when reading the Scriptures. He became more trusting of Scripture and the teachings of the church and decided to completely abandon Manichaeism. Holy Scripture no longer seemed in his eyes untenable and self-contradictory, as the Manichaeans claimed. He “no longer believed that nothing equivalent could be opposed to the critics of Scripture” 68 . However, having decisively abandoned Manichaeism, Augustine was still far from becoming a faithful son of the Catholic Church, although he joined the ranks of the catechumens 69 . His spirit was “tense to seek the truth and was painfully tormented by various perplexities,” 70 although these perplexities, which had long troubled him, were little by little resolved. The corporeal representation of the deity in Scripture, which had previously seduced him, was clarified by him through the medium of the great Mediolan teacher, St. Ambrose, whose key to the interpretation of Scripture was the words: “the letter kills, but the spirit gives life” (2 Cor. 3:6) 71. True, Augustine could not reveal to St. Ambrose of all your thoughts and pour out all the sorrow of your aching heart. There were so many seeking the saint’s advice and help that Augustine was afraid to take away any time from him for himself. But the more carefully and attentively he listened to his sermons. “When the word (of Ambrose), he later confesses before God, once touched upon the creation of man in the image and likeness of God, then I saw that Your spiritual children, reborn in the Catholic Church by Your grace, think of their God not as a limited, material being, but as a spiritual one.” 72 “Conscious of the weakness in achieving the truth with my own mind, even bright and alien to prejudice, and feeling the need for the highest authority of Holy Scripture, I began to positively believe that You would not have presented such a high and universal authority to this Scripture if you did not want us to believe in You and know You through it” 73 . However, even after this, everything was not eliminated, which prevented Augustine from becoming a full Christian. The question of the origin of evil, after Manichaean dualism proved untenable before the court of strict criticism, was still a painful question in his life. At that time, around 386 74, he had to become more thoroughly acquainted with the views of Plato 75, who, with his teaching about ideas, about the Logos - the Word of God, about the spiritual essence of the Divine, contributed to his greater rapprochement with Christianity. Reading the works of Plato forced Augustine to “enter the inner church of his soul” 76. It opened to him a new world of “the self-conscious, testing and judging spirit, the highest form for physical feeling, relating to the eternally perfect divine essence, which is contemplated by the human spirit as the inner sun that gives all life, through the illuminating ideas of which he is given the shrine of truth, far from the sensory world.” Having entered this church of his soul, he “saw there with his inner eye, albeit myopic, that eternal and unchanging light that is above her gaze, above herself” 77 . Thus, through his acquaintance with Platonism, Augustine, contrary to his previous doubt, borrowed from academics, about the impossibility of knowing the truth, was confirmed in the idea that a sincere desire for knowledge does not remain in vain 78. At the same time, the question of the origin of evil finally became clear to Augustine. He now began to think that, although God created everything and controls everything, He is not, however, the source of evil 79. He is the purest, absolutely good substance. According to His will, only what was true and good could happen. But since it is from Him that everything exists, then everything that exists is good. About objects that are lower than God and originated from God, Blessed Augustine argues, “one cannot say either that they exist or that they do not exist” 80 . They exist because they received their being from God; do not exist because they are not like God 81 . Thus, from the point of view of St. Augustine, substantial evil does not exist. Evil has nothing in common with the divine and is the negation of the latter. God is the creator of only existing things. Evil, since it does not exist, is not “substantua” and cannot come from God. It is not substance, but only in substance, the negation of good in substance, so that beings devoid of good cease to exist altogether. Evil can only exist with goodness and is not something existing separately in itself 82. If it were something like that, existing in itself, then in it, as already completely evil, there could be no place for corruption, and where there is existence without corruption, there is no longer evil. And, thus, unconditional evil would not turn out to be evil, which is absurd and can only be eliminated if we assume that evil is not a substance, but only the negative side of substance, which is always good: it is non-existence (μὴ ὄν) 83 or the negation of good 84. However, Platonism, although it helped Augustine in clarifying some of the questions that tormented him, however, still did not lead him to complete devotion to Christianity. Augustine, however, found the path to knowledge of the Divine 85, but still could not rise to the point of achieving blissful communion with God 86. He lacked that love “which is built on the foundation of humility, that is, on Christ Jesus Himself” 87 . He could not understand the mystery contained in the words: “The Word became flesh,” he could not understand the deepest humility in the Lord, “he did not comprehend what such humiliation of Him could teach” 88 . But reading Holy Scripture, especially the epistles of St. Apostle Paul, finally showed Blessed Augustine the helplessness of human nature, led to the awareness of the need for divine help for it and, thus, changed his view of the face of Jesus Christ, reconciled him with the Christian teaching about the incarnation of the Son of God and His perfect redemption of man. Augustine now stood on the threshold of his conversion. However, some more time had to pass before he finally became a Christian. Just as the providence of God once used extraordinary measures to turn the zealous enemy of Christianity, Saul, into a zealous Paul, so the Lord God was pleased to subject the still hesitant Augustine to strong emotional upheavals, so that he would more decisively renounce his former way of life, and the more selflessly devote himself to serving Him, the steeper and more decisive the turning point that revived him from one state to another could be. Although he was theoretically ready to accept Christianity, his will was still too unstable. Two wills - old and new, carnal and spiritual - fought in him, “and in this struggle his soul was torn apart” 89. “My will,” recalls Augustine, “at that time was not so much in my power as in the power of my enemy, in whose hands I was, like a prisoner in chains of a tyrant. For the corruption of my will gave rise to passions; passions, when indulged, turn into habit, and skill, when not resisted, becomes a necessity and, as it were, a second nature” 90 . A lot of work was required from him in order to overcome the attraction to the pleasures of sensual love and free himself from the bonds of shameful voluptuousness, to which he was devoted from the first days of his youth. “I was aware that marriage ties entailed countless disasters that I wanted to avoid, and, meanwhile, indomitable passion irresistibly drew me towards these ties” 91. The story of Simplician, confessor of St. Ambrose, about the conversion of the famous rhetorician of that time, Victorinus, stories of Pontian 92 about the conversion and exploits of St. Anthony of Egypt, as well as about his two court comrades, who exchanged a rich life at the royal court for a hermit life 93, made such a strong impression on Augustine that he decided to renounce the world once and for all. “I was troubled in spirit,” he says, “I lost my temper, got excited, indignant at my sensuality, because because of it I had not yet entered into communion with You, my God, while all my bones proclaimed that I should enter into a union with You, and extolled to the heavens the bliss of such communion... I tore out my hair, hit myself in the face, clenching my hands between my fingers” 94. The mysterious voice in the garden: “take and read, take and read” 95, which Augustine compared with the words that decided the lot of Anthony the Great, finally strengthened him in this decision. Retiring 96 then, on the occasion of the upcoming holidays, to a dacha known as Cassiciacum 97, which belonged to one of his teaching comrades, a certain Verecundus 98 and located at some distance from Milan, he spent time there awaiting baptism in the saving reading of psalms, in pious conversations and reflections. At the end of the vacation period, Augustine refused the professorship, “leaving the Mediolans to take care of finding another merchant of words for their children” 99. Finally, at the beginning of 387 100 he returned to Mediolan with his friends and here on the eve of Easter, on Holy Saturday, together with his friend Alypius and his fifteen-year-old son Adeodatus, he received from St. Ambrose 102 baptism. After this, Blessed Augustine decided to go to Africa to live there with friends like monks “in a sacred union” 103. But on the way, in Ostia 104, his mother died. Monica's death changed the travel plan. From Ostia, Blessed Augustine went to Rome, where he remained for about a year, until the autumn of 388 105. Here, in this huge and noisy city, under the living impression of the crumbling greatness of the ancient classical world, Blessed Augustine became more convinced of the vanity of all earthly glory and was even more confirmed in the Christian desire for heaven, in the holy desire to devote himself to serving God in that quiet contemplative solitude and distance from the outside world, examples of which he had the opportunity to directly observe there, among the bustle and debauchery of the capital 106. True, Blessed Augustine had been in Rome before, but then, engulfed in the flames of internal struggle, he might not have been so sensitive to the external impressions of Roman life 107 . Only now, with a peaceful soul, with a calm, serene eye, could he observe the phenomena of this life, see all the emptiness and pettiness of it and, thus, once again consciously weigh his decision to renounce the world and its charms. Around the fall of 388, Augustine left Rome for Carthage, from where, after a short time, he arrived in his home city of Tagasta. Here he hastened to sell his father's estate, which he had inherited, and distributed the proceeds to the poor 109 . However, he kept part of this inheritance - a home and a garden - 110 and, having settled here with some of his friends, tried to arrange his life according to the model of the original Christian community, away from worldly concerns, spending time in prayer, good deeds, reading and interpretation of Holy Scripture 111. The blissful silence was at times broken only by the inhabitants of Tagasta, who, both in spiritual and worldly matters, turned to the glorious monk for advice. But Augustine did not have to live here for long in communication with his friends. On one occasion he needed to be in Ippon Regia 112, a once large and fortified city, considered the capital of the district of coastal Numidia 113. Bishop Valery of Ipponia, already an old man, needed a pious presbyter who would help him in his ministry. Augustine seemed most suitable to Valery for this purpose. And so, when he, having become involved with the people as a commoner, stood in the church, Valery turned to those present with a proposal to elect him an assistant presbyter. Everyone's eyes focused on the newly arrived Tagastian, and the latter was unanimously elected by the people and appointed by Valery to the presbyter of the Ipponian church (in 391) 114 . The reverence with which Augustine was imbued with his new ministry, and the humble awareness of the inadequacy of his preparation for its passage, forced the newly ordained presbyter to ask his bishop to allow him to retire for some time from performing presbyteral duties in order to be better prepared to carry them and preach the word of God. “Nothing in this life,” the now truly blessed Presbyter Augustine writes to Bishop Valery, “is more difficult, more painful and dangerous than the titles of bishop, presbyter and deacon, but before God there is nothing more blessed than them, if only they fulfill their ministry as our Master commanded to fulfill it. But I did not learn this either in childhood or in my youth, and at the time when I began to learn this, violence was committed against me, due to my sins (otherwise I don’t know how to explain this), so that I am given the second place at the helm, I, who have not even learned to wield an oar... Maybe, and there is no doubt about it, in the Holy Scriptures some instructions are set out, which, having learned, a person can serve divine affairs, and also in the midst of dominion the wicked to live with a sound conscience and die there, so that the life for which humble and meek Christian hearts sigh is not lost. But how can this be achieved if, as the Lord says, not by asking, seeking and knocking, that is, by prayer, reading and contrition. For such a matter, at least a little time before Easter, I would like to receive from your purest and worthy of all respect love, and now I ask about it” 115. Having spent some time after this outside Ippon in solitary prayer, in reading and studying the word of God, in internal self-collection and self-examination, Augustine, with the onset of Easter 116, returned again to Ippon and began to discharge the difficult duties of the ministry entrusted to him. Regarding the presbyteral service of Blessed Augustine, it should be noted that he, unlike others, received from Valery the right to preach the word of God even in the presence of the bishop himself, contrary to the custom of the African church 117. So, a lighted and burning candle, placed on a lampstand, began to give light to everyone who was in the house (Matthew 5:15). In order to serve God more easily, Augustine, in Ippon, with the consent of his bishop, who even gave him a garden for this purpose, 118 built a monastery, where he tried to spend his life with his clergy and friends in the communion of property, according to the rules established under St. apostles (Acts 4:32) 119. Four years after his ordination as a presbyter, namely, in 395 120, Blessed Augustine, at the insistence of Valery and during his lifetime, was elevated to the rank of bishop, as his assistant or “vicar” 121. Valery himself soon died 122, and Augustine became an independent bishop of Ipponia. From the very first day of his assumption of office as a minister of the Church of Christ, he devoted himself entirely to broad, comprehensive and fruitful activities for its benefit and for the salvation of his neighbors. He, according to his disciple Possidius, who knew him closely, taught and proclaimed the word of salvation privately and publicly, at home and in church, with all boldness exposing in his writings and sermons the errors of African heresies, especially Donatists, Manichaeans and pagans, to the great surprise and joy of Christians... And thus, the Catholic Church in Africa, writes Possidius, with the help of God, triumphed again, that the church, which for a long time, due to many heretics, mainly Donatists, was subjected to insults and misfortunes (seducta et oppressa jacebat) 123. In these few words all the beneficial, complex and tireless activities of the famous Ippon bishop are presented. The fight against Manichaeism, Donatism, Pelagianism and other errors of that time was the main content of the pastoral ministry of Blessed Augustine, which lasted almost 40 years 124 until his death, which followed on August 28, 430 125, during the siege of Ippon by the Vandals. He did not live long (14 months) 126 before the capture and devastation of the city by the enemy, the city to which his forces were mainly devoted, and which is better known only thanks to the name of its glorious bishop 127 . From the presented brief sketch of the life of Blessed Augustine, one can see in what wondrous ways God’s providence led him to the high service destined for him as a shepherd and teacher of the Church of Christ. Augustine's course of schooling, from Tagasta to higher education in Carthage, made him one of the enlightened people of his time. He studied eloquence perfectly, a subject very necessary for anyone preparing for the oratorical title. Reading poets developed his imagination and at the same time ennobled his taste. In his studies in philosophy, the range of his ideas expanded, and he developed a special dialectical resourcefulness, mobility and sharpness of thought. A mistaken passion for Manichaeism in his youth, as well as other theoretical and moral errors, along the path of which he walked towards the truth, developing and refining his mind, enriched his experience. From his pious mother Monica, Augustine from an early age received special responsiveness and sensitivity to religious impressions. Study of St. The Scriptures strengthened even more the religious mood inherent in him from childhood, filled his spirit with the representation of everything sublime, ideal, holy. Augustine was also a rare, exceptional personality in relation to the mental strength and abilities endowed to him by nature. Combined with great mental talent was a hot, ardent, purely African, but at the same time a tender heart and a strong will that did not stop at any obstacles to achieve the desired goal. Thus, in the very nature of the still infant Augustine there were all the makings to become an extraordinary person, outstanding from a number of others. But special favorable circumstances were required so that from this extraordinary man an extraordinary teacher of the church could emerge, so that from the gifted, ardent, energetic Augustine, the blessed Augustine could emerge, “the most glorious father and wonderful teacher” 128 of the Church of Christ, illuminating centuries and generations with the light of his God-enlightened mind. Unusual, richly gifted people can be both extremely useful and at the same time extremely harmful to social life, depending on what path they take and what direction they take. This is a double-edged sword. Their influence is great everywhere, their words and concessions have a huge effect on the crowd. If bad inclinations take over in them, if their will is directed towards vice, they become geniuses of evil, the true scourge of humanity. On the contrary, if the opposite qualities prevail in such people, if good dispositions of spirit triumph over bad ones, they become friends of humanity, geniuses of virtue. According to the conditions of his birth and the initial circumstances of his life, Blessed Augustine could equally have become one or the other. The son of a rude, depraved 129 pagan African and a pious, exemplary Christian, from the day he was born, he seemed destined to be the bearer of that dualism, those two hostile principles, the struggle between which he immortalized in his “Confession.” The duality of Augustine’s mental makeup was supported by the entire course of African life at that time, serving at the same time as a living example of it. In Augustine's era, Africa was a land of contrasts par excellence. Here one could encounter strict asceticism with gross debauchery, extreme religiosity alongside all kinds of sensual excesses. Augustine's younger contemporary Salvian describes Africa as some kind of continuous brothel. According to him, Africans combined in themselves all kinds of wickedness and depravity. Their concepts of good and evil are confused. Almost everything about them is bad. “If,” says Salvian, “we exclude the few in number of the servants of God, then what else will the whole African country represent than a house of debauchery, like that pot about which the prophet says: “Woe to the city of blood, the pot whose rust is on it and whose rust does not leave it behind (Ezek. 24:6).” In the African capital, Carthage, there is not a street or alley that is not filled with all sorts of depravity and uncleanliness, so that even those that were still protected by a natural feeling of disgust could hardly help but become infected” 130. At the same time, Africa is the birthplace of the greatest ascetic teachers, such as Tertullian and Cyprian, and finally Augustine himself. Thus, the future teacher of the church had to develop in an atmosphere of struggle between gross African depravity, long-rooted depravity and not yet strengthened Christian purity and holiness. If the tender, impressionable soul of the child Augustine, under the guidance of his holy mother Monica, was ready to take the path of Christian piety, then, on the other hand, the same impressionability and sensuality of young Augustine was one of the favorable conditions that plunged him into the abyss of the then prevailing moral unbridledness. From his biography it is clear that in this regard he paid a considerable tribute to his time, yielding to the desires of sensuality and being guided by the base interests of vanity and selfishness. But the tender impressions of childhood, the image of a sweet mother, did not allow Augustine to fall completely, to reach a state of moral indifference. Never, even in the days of uncontrollable youthful passions, does he leave the state of struggle. Sensuality spread around like a wide river, tickling and easily exciting Augustine’s ardent organism, which grew under the scorching rays of the African sun; on the other hand, the innocence of childhood and the reproachful face of his beloved mother are at first two opposite poles of his internal struggle. To the aid of the last figure, restraining and protecting him on the path of disastrous hobbies, the broad and sober mind of Augustine, which over time emerged from the period of ordinary youthful superficiality, perhaps even frivolity, appeared. Before his matured mental gaze, all the ugliness of his youthful unbridled sensual hobbies was finally revealed. Reading Cicero’s “Hortensius” finally broke the sensual complacency that had hitherto existed in him, turning his gaze to the highest, ideal. True, this idealism was not expressed in any specific worldview, but so far had only a motivating character, had the character of an unconscious search for the pure and beautiful. Augustine recognized the discrepancy between reality and the sublime, the ideal, “wisdom” or “truth”, which were glorified in “Hortensia”, and learned about something purer and more worthy than sensual goods. But having learned about the existence of this, he was still far from possessing it. Wisdom and truth still eluded him in the thick fog of spiritual blindness and sinful habits. Hence the new severe pains and torments of a languid search for the ideal flashing before the mental gaze, a long and painful wandering through the wilds of human delusions. Then from the lips of truth-seeking Augustine one hears a soul-tearing cry of hopeless despair. “Oh truth, truth,” he says, “how deeply my soul sighed for you” 131. “Having hardened my heart from immersion in sensuality, I did not understand myself” 132. Sometimes a ray of joyful hope will flash, only to fade away again into the abyss of despair. “My heart cried out strongly against all my phantasmagoria, and with this voice of my heart I tried to drown out the discord of unclean ideas that was confusing my mind. But as soon as I dispersed this chaos, it again enveloped my soul, hiding the truth from it with its darkness” 133. Thanks to his sound, insightful mind, he managed to free himself from the networks of Manichaean dualism, and the sad experience of being carried away by Manichaeism forced him to treat everything carefully, to tread gropingly. Under such circumstances, the skepticism of the academicians after that turned out to be most consistent with his mood. However, this was not the skepticism of cold philosophical doubt for the sake of doubt itself. Augustine’s gentle, soft, deeply feeling soul, which in the breadth of its feelings never ceases to hope, could not put up with such skepticism. He doubted in order to avoid error, in order to more accurately take the path of truth. Mental inquisitiveness, strengthened and taught by experience, finally showed him the unreliability and illusory nature of everything that apparently exists. Acquaintance with the Neoplatonists introduced a new feature into Augustine’s character and prompted him to seek the desired ideal through deepening into himself, in internal mystical contemplation. But Augustine’s mysticism is not an unconscious soaring upward, not a rush of unaccountable feeling, but a quiet, calm, balanced desire of the soul for God. Platonism, with its teaching about the inner contemplation of truth, did not captivate St. Augustine so much that he could uncontrollably surrender to the guidance of blind feeling and lose himself in it. With his characteristic depth, thoroughness and sobriety of thought, with the desire to penetrate into the very essence of the subject, to examine it comprehensively, he sees gaps in Platonism, which comes close to Christianity. The latter only showed the truth as if in a foggy distance. Augustine wanted to own it, so to speak, tactilely. He needed real truth, one that would comprehend the life of the world and overcome the discord of earthly reality. What was required was a spiritualizing beginning, elevating reality, reconciling with its adversity and disorder, and therefore calming, bringing bliss, in a word, a saving beginning. Thus, by the power of his thought, inquisitiveness and persistence of his searches, Blessed Augustine reaches a convinced state of the truth of Christianity. In order to reconcile man with all sorts of disorders of earthly reality, in order to save us from suffering and death, in order to comprehend existence in general, the divine principle, the “transcendental unity” of the Platonists had to approach earthly life, unite with it, penetrate it with itself. To save a person, God had to appear in the flesh, become in direct bodily relationship, face to face with him 134. Thus, Christianity was not something external for Augustine, apart from his will and consciousness, given at birth, and serving him was not a matter of mechanically acquired habit or imitation of others; no, both were the result of long and hard mental work, and his very transition to Christianity was therefore “not the replacement of one belief with another, one faith with another, but a complete moral turning point, a turn in the direction of life” 135. The truth was found through Augustine's personal persistent efforts. From here it becomes clear the attitude in which he became towards the truth after he found it. Hardly any of the teachers of the ancient church was possessed by the flame of holy animation to such a degree as Augustine. In his works one can feel not only a preacher and teacher, but an ascetic, a fighter for the proclaimed truth. Like an ardent, carried away African nature, Blessed Augustine did not know how to live halfway, he gave himself entirely to the impulses of his spirit, and just as in his youth he passionately loved the world with its pleasures, so later he loved virtue. “He taught nothing that he had not experienced in himself” 136. This is a lost son, returning from a distant country, who, in the joy of the forgiveness of his previous sins, in view of the parental embrace extended to him, turns to his friends through the errors of a sinful life and convinces them to leave the sad wandering, the horror of which he experienced himself. The heavier the sadness, the greater the joy that drives it out; Likewise, the more valuable the truth is, the more difficult it is found. The path that Blessed Augustine took after accepting Christianity, his renunciation of the world and complete devotion to God, his tirelessness in the fight against heretics, his unstoppable desire to turn the hearts of everyone to God, to make everyone sons of the humane mother church, his deep piety and humility - all this becomes understandable only if we imagine the pangs of his early languor and the whole severity of his previous situation, when he walked in the darkness of delusion. Himself illuminated by the light of Christ’s truth, having learned from experience how difficult and miserable the life of every person is outside this blessed light, he, naturally possessing a loving heart, and even more warmed by the love of Christ, wanted to make others partakers of the achieved truth, burning with a selfless desire to serve God and his neighbor. Having found the precious pearl of the Gospel, he wanted to enrich everyone with it, to lead everyone to the knowledge of the true faith of Christ, to teach the truth, to guide everyone on the path of righteousness. From here it is self-evident that, having become the shepherd of the church, Blessed Augustine cannot neglect one of the essential aspects of pastoral service - preaching. “He was very zealous in preaching (the word of God)” 137 and this preaching occupies a very important place in his wide educational activities. According to the custom of the ancient Christian church, the time for preaching was the days of liturgical meetings. In this case, the annual liturgical circle of the Hippo Church did not present any obstacles to the preaching zeal of Blessed Augustine. In addition to the weekly repeating Sundays 138, some of the great twelve holidays that now exist in the church also took place at that time. Thus, the birthday of Christ has long been celebrated among Christians in northern Africa as one of the great and bright sacred days 139. The celebration of the New Year 140 was adjacent to this holiday and not far removed from it in time. Then followed the so-called holiday “Epiphania”, when the worship of the Magi as the firstborn of the pagan world, who was to be brought to Christ, was remembered. After these holidays came the days of St. Pentecost, which served as a preparation for the great days of Christ’s suffering and therefore, before other times, was sanctified primarily by deeds of piety: intense prayer, fasting and the manifestation of Christian charity. Regardless of the holiness and importance of the days of Pentecost in itself, it was also important as a time of preparation for the baptism of believers newly entering the church, which usually served as a reason and incentive for preaching for its pastoral leaders. About two weeks before Easter, 142 proselytes who wished to join the community of believers in Christ were taught the symbol of the Christian faith. Eight days after the teaching of the symbol, the catechumens had to read it by heart in the church in the presence of believers. On the same day they were taught the Lord's Prayer (traditio dominicae orationis), in the knowledge of which they were tested, as well as in the knowledge of the symbol, again after eight days 143. All these actions related to the catechumens and their baptism itself were preceded or accompanied by corresponding teachings, in which the truths offered to them were explained and the meaning of the sacraments performed on them was indicated 144. Following Pentecost, came the days of remembering the sufferings of Christ and, finally, the bright days of Easter, which lasted a whole week. On these days, all social, worldly activities were abandoned, and Christians gathered daily in basilicas to pray and listen to the word of God 145. After Easter, soon came the feast of the Ascension of the Lord and, finally, ten days later, the feast of Pentecost. However, all other days between Easter and Pentecost were of a festive nature. They pointed to the future bliss of the righteous in the afterlife and therefore were consecrated by singing “Alleluia”, as an image of the praise that the saints worthy of eternal bliss would offer to God 146. In all these celebrations, Blessed Augustine found an opportunity to teach the believers a word of edification. But in addition to these holidays, there were many other holidays in the African and, in particular, in the Hippo church. There was a holiday there in honor of the Forerunner and Baptist of Christ John, in memory of his birth 147 and death 148. The memory of the holy supreme apostles Peter and Paul was also honored - the day of their martyrdom 149 and the day of the latter’s conversion 150. Further, the day of remembrance of the first martyr and archdeacon Stephen 151 was celebrated, part of whose relics was in one of the basilicas of Ippon 152, the days of the death of Bishop Fructuosus and deacons Augurius and Eulogius 153, who suffered in Spain, the day of the martyrdom of Vincent 154, Perpetua and Felicity 155, Lawrence 156 , Protasius and Gervasius 157, Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage 158 and many other holy martyrs. Thus, the days of liturgical meetings of Christians were relatively very frequent, which, in turn, made it possible for Blessed Augustine to address his flock with very frequent teachings. Neither illness, nor hoarseness of voice, nor fatigue kept him from doing this. “Have pity on us,” he once asks his listeners, “you see that my voice is hoarse. Help me by maintaining calm and silence" 159. Or another time the preacher addresses them with the following words: “Sorry that I can’t talk much with you. After all, you know my fatigue. Like yesterday, without eating anything (jejunus), I could do so much and not weaken, so that even now I am still talking with you, the prayers of St. helped me with this. Stefan" 160. So, regarding the question of how often Blessed Augustine delivered his sermons, then, bearing in mind, on the one hand, the practice of the ancient church, according to which preaching usually formed an integral part of Christian worship, and on the other hand, the zeal of the blessed Bishop of Ipponia for the work of preaching, we are unlikely to be mistaken if we say that every liturgical meeting was announced by his preaching word. It was customary then to consecrate with public worship the annual day of ordination of the primates of the church - bishops 161. Blessed Augustine, too, did not miss the opportunity to share with his listeners his feelings and thoughts about the severity of pastoral service and his readiness to fulfill his duty to the end 162. Whether the consecration of the church took place, the tireless shepherd hurried to teach the flock entrusted to his care a word of edification 163 . Any social event that stirred the minds happened, and it found a response in the soul of the preacher, becoming the subject of his teachings from the church pulpit 164. Most of St. Augustine's sermons were delivered in Ippon, in the Ippon Basilica of Peace (ecclesia pacis) 165. But, undoubtedly, he had to preach sermons in some other cities of northern Africa. In the ancient church there was a custom: bishops who appeared in foreign dioceses were invited to preach the word of God in churches 166. And Blessed Augustine, whose preaching fame already during his lifetime spread far beyond the borders of the diocese of Hippo, often, when visiting foreign regions, had to obey this custom. Thus, when he was still a presbyter, the bishops gathered at the council in Ippon 167 instructed him to deliver a teaching on faith and symbol (De fide et symbolo) 168. “They valued me so much,” says Blessed Augustine about himself, “that wherever I happened to be, I had to speak to the people. Very rarely did I happen to be silent and listen to others” 169. If he appeared at councils in other places, the fathers of the cathedral hurried to listen to the blessed Bishop of Ipponia and forced him to preach. “Let your love know,” this is how Blessed Augustine begins one of his conversations, “that this psalm has been proposed to us to be explained by our brothers and fellow bishops” 170. He begins the second conversation on Psalm 36 with the following words: “We have received the command to explain this psalm to your love and we must obey” 171. But if Blessed Augustine often had to preach in the presence of other bishops and at their request, then, on the contrary, these bishops themselves refused to preach in the presence of Blessed Augustine, due to the superiority of his preaching talents, despite the fact that he encouraged them to do so and tried to touch the attention of the listeners. “My brothers and fellow bishops,” we read in one of his teachings, “were pleased to please me with their visit. But I don’t know why they don’t want to help me preach. I am telling you about this so that your attentive listening will in some way intercede (intercedat) for me before them, so that they, too, having heeded my request, will speak” 172. Or, at the beginning of the conversation on Psalm 131, Blessed Augustine says the following: “It would be fair, beloved, for us ourselves to be listeners to my brother and companion, who is here among us 173. And now he did not refuse completely, but only postponed his word for a while. For your love, it should not seem strange that I obeyed the command. He forced me to have him as my listener only on the condition that I would also be his listener” 174. Thus, the widespread fame of Augustine as a remarkable preacher, which forced other preachers to remain silent in his presence, at the same time naturally expanded the circle of his preaching activity far beyond the boundaries of the Ippon district. Possidius, in his account of the life of St. Augustine, reports that he (Augustine), when he could, visited the cathedrals of Sts. fathers, “seeking not what is our own, but what belongs to Christ, so that the faith of St. the Catholic Church was unharmed" 175. And wherever he had to be, he appeared everywhere as a teacher, from whose word of wisdom everyone was in a hurry to learn. More often, Blessed Augustine happened to speak in Carthage as a preacher. Карфаген был столицей северной Африки и в общественно-политическом отношении мог считаться первым городом в государстве после Рима и Константинополя. The poet Ausonius, speaking about the cities of the Roman state, notes that “the first city, magnificent with the houses of the gods, is Rome; after Constantinople, Carthage rises to the first" 176. Herodian testifies that this city in wealth, number of inhabitants and size is second only to Rome and competes with Alexandria 177. Carthage was also important in church terms. This was the place where Christianity was originally founded in the North African country, and from here came the first preachers of the Gospel within its borders. Undoubtedly, this circumstance, in connection with the special political position of Carthage, greatly contributed to its rise in the eyes of Christians and was the reason that the Carthaginian bishop became first in honor among other bishops of the North African churches. He bore the honorary title of “primate” and, although he did not have the title of archbishop, metropolitan, exarch or patriarch, however, he was equal to them in his position and rights. Being the first among the bishops of other North African regions, he had greater powers and a wider range of action compared to them. He had the right to supervise other churches 178, the right to select clergy from different regions, arbitrarily appoint them to places, even in foreign dioceses, and also appoint bishops to certain sees 179. Wanting to elevate Blessed Augustine to the rank of bishop and make him his assistant-co-bishop, Valerius, Bishop of Hippo, as is known, asked permission to do this from the Carthaginian bishop Aurelius 180. The Bishop of Carthage also had the right to convene councils of bishops of northern Africa 181, and in general he gave movement to everything that was done on behalf of the African church 182. Under such circumstances, each bishop of this church became more or less closely connected with the bishop of Carthage, and in ecclesiastical terms, each episcopal district stood in some dependence on Carthage. Thus, as an outstanding church and public figure of his time, Carthage attracted Blessed Augustine because here was the focal point of government, from where all the functions of social, state and church life originated and where they converged again. As a private African, Augustine could often visit Carthage on his personal business. As a bishop, a church official, he could appear there on church affairs as an administrative church center of his country. It is not surprising, therefore, if the Carthaginian basilicas relatively often had to resound with the sermon of the blessed Ipponian teacher, and if his pastoral voice was heard in many of them. He preached several times in the Basilica of St. Cyprian (ad mensam sancti Cypriani) 183 and in the so-called basilica “Novarum” 184, in the basilica of St. Peter 185, in the basilica “Restituta” 186, in the basilicas of Faustus 187 and Theodosiana 188. It can be assumed without a doubt that, in addition to Carthage, Blessed Augustine also happened to act as an orator from the church pulpit in many other cities of northern Africa, although, with the exception of Caesarea Moorish 189 and, perhaps, Utica 190, one cannot find definitely clear indications regarding this. For the most part, if not always 191, Blessed Augustine spoke his teachings extemporaneously, without any prior recording, and to the greatest extent his preparation was limited to just thinking about the subject 192. He looked at preaching as the fruit of divine inspiration and in this case relied more on illumination from above 193. “Whoever,” writes Blessed Augustine in his “Christian Science,” “wants to learn himself and teach others, let him study the subjects of instruction, let him acquire the ability to speak as befits a church person: but at the very moment of speaking, let him rather bring to mind the words of the Lord: do not worry about how or what you will say: for it is not you who speak, but the spirit of your Father who speaks in you ( Matthew 10:19–20). When the Holy Spirit speaks in those who are given over to persecutors for Christ’s sake, why not speak to Him in those who teach Christ to the disciples with the word of the gospel?” 194. According to the custom of the ancient church, Blessed Augustine delivered his sermons while sitting 195 on the bishop's throne (ϑρὀνος cathedra) 196, which was located in the rear distant part of the basilica (absida) 197. It is clear that in large churches this was not particularly convenient, since the preacher, sitting in the recessed rear part of the building, was far from the listeners, and, due to the distance, not everything from his word could reach them. This prompted Blessed Augustine to sometimes leave his episcopal seat, come out closer to the people and speak while standing, from an elevated place called the pulpit (ἄμβων, suggestus, pulpitum) and located behind the bars that separated the middle part of the basilica or church from the altar 198. “You stand and listen with difficulty,” he addresses, for example, in one case to those ahead, “but we also stand and speak with even greater difficulty” 199 . It happens that during a conversation the preacher holds in his hands the books of St. Scriptures 200 and, where necessary, reads the sayings of the word of God from the book 201 or forces the reader to do this, and then he himself repeats what he has read. So, in conversation 356, having previously noticed that he decided to talk about the life and morals of the monastery established by him and under his jurisdiction, and wanting to show the ideal by which it was guided and by which it wanted to be organized, the preacher commands a certain deacon Lazarus to read a passage from the book of the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 4:31-35). After the reader finished reading, he himself read the same passage again. “And I want to read,” says St. Augustine. “I am more pleased to be a reader of this word than its researcher (disputatorem)” 202. Sometimes during a sermon the preacher even reads out entire definitions of councils 203 or, for greater evidence of his thoughts, cites arguments on a particular issue from authoritative church writers 204 . A lot of sermons attributed to St. Augustine have survived to this day. Число их, если включить сюда трактаты на Евангелие и первое послание Иоанна, а также беседы на псалмы, доходит до тысячи. If, together with the Benedictines, 205 of the sermons contained in the fifth volume of their edition of the works of Blessed Augustine, we count only 363,206 as undoubtedly belonging to him, then even in this case, adding 124,207 conversations on the Gospel of John, 10,208 on his first letter and 157,209 on the psalms, we get an impressive figure 654. The collection of sermons of St. Augustine, presumably, was written after the death of the preacher. True, many of them are already mentioned by Augustine’s student and friend, Possidius, in his index (Indiculus) 210. But Possidius says nothing about the existence in his time of collections of sermons of St. Augustine, but indicates only sermons known to him, and some, perhaps, directly heard by him. The origin of the oldest more complete collections of sermons (sermones) of Augustine dates back, according to the Benedictines, no earlier than 800 years 211. However, some less complete collections could have their origins much earlier; at least, they can date back in their origin to the time of Caesarea of ​​Arelate, i.e., to the end of the fifth and beginning of the sixth century 212. Many of the sermons that are now attributed to St. Augustine were collected and published already at the end of the 15th century. Thus, the collection of conversations known under the name “De tempore” was compiled, it is believed, only in 1495 213. In 1564, John Ulimmerius published another collection of sermons “De diversis” 214. Many sermons were published later under the name of Augustine, most of which, however, are recognized by the Benedictines as either dubious or outright forged 215 . Thus, just as it is difficult to reliably indicate the number of sermons of Blessed Augustine, it is equally impossible to vouch unconditionally for the integrity and integrity of those which, according to generally accepted judgment, undoubtedly belong to him, and this is all the more so since in most cases he preached sermons extemporaneously 216. Some of the listeners wrote down the preacher's words. “It is good for the brethren,” he once said, “to perceive our words not only with the ear and heart, so that we must have in mind not only the listener, but also the reader” 217 . Even heretics, gathering together with believers, listened with pleasure to the teachings of Blessed Augustine and tried to write them down 218. It goes without saying that in this case, many of his sermons could have been distorted either due to lack of hearing, or lack of memory, or, finally, intentionally, in one form or another, especially on the part of heretics. Those sermons that were written either directly by Augustine himself, or under his dictation by others, could be more secure from distortion. That some of the conversations, one way or another, were written down by the preacher himself, evidence of this can be found in the last chapter of the second book of his “Retractationes”, where he says about himself that he began to revise his works, being forced to do so by the brethren, and that he composed letters and speeches to the people that had not yet been revised, some written under dictation (dictatos), others spoken (a me dictos) 219. However, even in this case, St. Augustine’s sermons were not completely protected from damage, additions, and various kinds of insertions and amendments. His fame was so great among his contemporaries and subsequent generations, and his sermons were so respected that church pastors preached them in their churches, changing some things according to circumstances 220. Heretics could also deliberately distort the sermons that came out from under the hand of Augustine, so that, hiding behind the name of the famous teacher of the church, it would be easier to spread their false teachings. But if actually about the sermons of Blessed Augustine, it cannot be positively stated that any collections of them could have come out from the editorship of the preacher himself, then, on the contrary, about his conversations on the Gospel of John (Tractatus), with more or less sufficient probability it can be said that they were collected and published during the life of the author himself and, undoubtedly, under his leadership. Some basis for this can be found in his preface to the treatises on the first letter of John 221. “Your holiness knows,” he says here, “that we are now busy explaining (nos solera tractare) the Gospel of John in order of readings; but since now the feast of St. days (Easter), on which special readings from the Gospel are scheduled, the order that we have adopted must, of necessity, be somewhat changed” 222. Further, treatises on the Gospel of John are mentioned in his index (Indiculus) by Possidius, a contemporary of St. Augustine and the compiler of his biography 223 . The inscriptions that exist on some ancient copies of conversations convince us of the same thing, like the following: “Aurelius Augustine, teacher, bishop of Hippo, conversations on the Gospel of the Lord Jesus according to John, which he (i.e., Augustine) spoke first to the people and then published, word for word written down by notaries in the order in which they were written” 224. It can also be assumed with reasonable probability that even during the life of Blessed Augustine and under his direct leadership, his discourses on the psalms (Enarrationes in psalmos) were published. In the preface to Psalm 118, the author says that he interpreted all the psalms 225. Further, in a letter to Euodius, Blessed Augustine indicates that he compiled interpretations of three psalms in large scrolls: the 67th, 71st and 77th, and expresses the desire to have a complete collection of interpretations of the psalms. In an effort to fulfill this desire, he even temporarily abandoned the work “De Trinitate” that he had begun, which was completed only later 226. Our assumption may also find its basis in the great respect that Augustine had for the book of Psalms 227. Bearing in mind his such respect for the said book, it can hardly be allowed that, while offering interpretations of the psalms in conversations from the church pulpit, he did not take care of the collection of these interpretations and their more or less correct edition. However, in asserting that the treatises on the Gospel of John and the discourses on the psalms were collected and edited by Augustine himself, we do not at all want to say that their authenticity and integrity are beyond all doubt. Frequent disagreements among them suggest the opposite. Any minor additions, subtractions, corrections and distortions, intentional or unintentional, on the part of later lovers of writing are always possible, and especially at a time when there was no mention of printing houses. All sermons of Blessed Augustine fall into three categories: 1) the so-called “Sermones”, of which the Benedictines are considered genuine, as noted above, 363; 2) “Enarrationes in psalmos” – 157 and 3) “Tractatus” on the Gospel and the first letter of John – 134. In turn, “Sermones” in the Benedictine edition, which Lentz recommends following 228, are divided into four classes: 1st class – “sermons de scripturis veteris et novi testament” (numbering 183), that is, conversations spoken by the preacher on certain passages of scripture, about them, or having as their subject an interpretation of them; class 2 - “sermons de tempore” - conversations said on the occasion of holidays, mainly the Lord's holidays, such as: on the Nativity of Christ (in Natali Domini Nostri Jesu Christi) - 13, on the adoration of the Magi (in Epiphania Domini) - 6, on Easter - 42 conversations 229, then 5 conversations on the Ascension of the Lord and 7 conversations on the occasion of the holiday Pentecost. 7 conversations on St. belong to the same class “de tempore”. Pentecost (In qudragesima), two for the New Year (In Calendis januariis) 230, three teachings when teaching the Symbol to newcomers to the church (In traditione symboli), and one In redditione symboli, i.e. when they were tested in the knowledge of the taught Symbol, one lesson to the catechumens and those seeking enlightenment (Ad competentes), one on Friday, probably Great, about the suffering of the Lord (De passione Domini in parasceve) and, finally, another conversation on the words of Scripture: “Father, these you have given to me, I want them, so that where I am, they also may be with me” (John 17:24), uttered shortly before Easter (sermo 217). The third class of sermons of St. Augustine, known as “Sermones”, includes sermons delivered on the days of remembrance of saints “Sermones de sanctis”, numbering 67, including three conversations on the consecration of the church (In dedication ecclesiae) and two on the annual days of his installation as a bishop (In die ordinationis suae). Finally, the fourth class includes “Sermones de diversis” (23), - about various subjects, such as: about the love of God and the love of the world, about the fear of God, about the benefits of repentance, about contempt for the world, etc. However, the just indicated division of the sermons (sermones) of St. Augustine into four classes is rather accidental and does not have any characteristic features for each class. Both in content and in form, the sermons of one department do not differ significantly from the sermons of another department: many of the conversations of the first department could be placed in the second or third and vice versa. This, naturally, eliminates excessive fragmentation in their review, depending on this or that division of sermons into classes or categories. Starting now to this review, we must stop, first of all, to consider them from the point of view of content. The subject of this content is Christian theology in all its breadth, both from the theoretical-dogmatic side and from the practical-moral side, or, in other words, Christian doctrine and moral teaching. Let us dwell separately on both subjects and say first about the first, that is, about the doctrine in the sermons of Blessed Augustine. Chapter I. Doctrine in the Sermons of St. Augustine The doctrinal element in the sermons of St. Augustine should be considered in connection with the religious state of his contemporary society. His sermons were prompted by the needs of the time; they were a response to the requests and phenomena of the life surrounding the preacher. Therefore, we must first look at what was the religious state of the society among which St. Augustine had to live and act. – After three centuries of persecution of Christians by pagans, Christianity under Constantine the Great was finally declared the dominant religion. But paganism did not suddenly give up its primacy. Even after that, the pagan party continued to be very numerous, finding strong support for itself in the Roman aristocracy, among noble senatorial families 231. Paganism was especially strong in Africa, which in the time of Augustine was a stronghold of the former religion 232. Here the struggle between the old and new faiths often became acute, and the pagans in some districts of Africa felt so free and bold that they beat Christians 233 and burned Christian churches and houses of the clergy 234 . True, under the irresistible influence of the power of Christ, paganism gradually retreated and fell, but still it left very noticeable traces of its former dominance in the recently converted followers of the new teaching, in their views, morals, customs and habits. Often pagans accepted Christianity only externally, due to the benefits that the confession of the new faith provided, introducing into it the spirit of former pagan beliefs 235. But even in the best cases, that is, in cases of sincere conversion to Christianity, the old views and habits were not suddenly eradicated, and for many pagan Christians they retained all their charm and charm for a long time 236. In one of his teachings, the preacher says that among contemporary Christians there were those who, when they experienced bodily hunger, left God and turned with prayer to Mercury or Zeus or “to the one who was called “heavenly” (Ceres), or to some other similar deities” 237. From here flowed a strange mixture of highly diverse superstitions, which is a distinctive feature in the life of the society contemporary with St. Augustine. That was the time of the ongoing sharp struggle between old and new religious beliefs. In the disorder and disasters of life at that time and, by the way, in the devastation of Rome by barbarians (in 410), the pagans wanted to see the punishment of the gods for betraying the old religion. The catastrophe that befell Rome inflamed to the extreme the enmity that existed between pagans and Christians 238 . The destruction of Rome, the pagans thought, was a consequence of the anger of the gods at the Romans because they allowed the dominance of the Christian faith in their kingdom 239 . There was a belief among the pagans that with the fall of the traditional religion of the state, its very power would be shaken 240. The gods created the greatness of Rome, they protected and supported it, and Christianity destroyed it - such was the current pagan opinion 241. The circumstances and facts of real life seemed to confirm this. “In Christian times, Rome perishes,” said supporters of the former faith 242. “Behold,” they reproached the Christians, “when we made sacrifices to our gods, Rome stood and flourished. Now, since your faith has become dominant and sacrifices to our gods are prohibited, this is what Rome is experiencing” 243. Many Christians repeated the same reproaches after the pagans, pointing out the sad situation of the Roman state and themselves enduring the disasters of earthly life. “In Christian times, Rome is destroyed and burned. Why precisely in Christian times,” they thought with confusion 244. The discrepancy between piety, service to the true God and earthly well-being seemed strange and tempting to them. Some, in view of this discrepancy, murmured against God, were ready to reject divine providence and the meaning of the most benevolent life, complaining that God, Whom they serve, did not deliver them from disasters. “Behold,” says Blessed Augustine in one of his sermons, “it confuses you, Christian, that many who live badly are happy, rich, healthy, high-ranking, have safe houses, find joy in the family, obedience from their subordinates, nothing sad disturbs the well-being of their lives - and you think that there is no divine truth, that everything happens by chance. Because if God saw the deeds of people, such and such, you reason, would not prosper in his wickedness, and I, in my innocence, would not suffer...” 245. In addition to the fight against paganism, which was now, however, of a more theoretical nature, the church of the time of St. Augustine had to wage a stubborn struggle against heretics. The relatively calmer time that followed, after three centuries of fierce persecution, contributed to a particularly strong awakening of the philosophizing and theological thought of believers. Hence, there are many different kinds of heresies as an inevitable consequence of human desires to understand the truth. In his work “De haeresibus”, St. Augustine counts up to 88 heresies and sects of various kinds 246. True, he believes, among other things, that in his time only a memory could remain. But that there were many heretical and sectarian errors in the Christian Church and in the time of St. Augustine, he clearly testifies to this when he says in one of his conversations that they, that is, heresies, are difficult to even count 247 . Among them, the most widespread in Africa were: Manichaeism, Arianism with the varieties of Semiarians, Aetians, Macedonians, Photinians, Apollinarians, etc. that grew out of it, as well as the Pelagian heresy that arose already under Augustine and the Donatist schism. And among the believers belonging to the church, of course, there were those who had different opinions, hesitating and doubting regarding certain religious subjects. Some, for example, referred to the will of God, to fate, to justify their sins. “If God didn’t want it this way, I wouldn’t have done it,” 248 they said, or: “yes, I committed this sin, but God wanted it that way, what do I have to do with it?” 249. There were those who doubted the resurrection of the dead and the afterlife rewards for the righteous and for sinners. There were also those who believed that the whole meaning and purpose of life was in the egoistic animal pursuit of its pleasures 250. All these and similar questions found a warm response in the soul of Blessed Augustine and, to one degree or another, served as the subject of his preaching words. As was already said above, he treated his pastoral title and the responsibilities associated with this title with great reverence. As a faithful shepherd of the flock entrusted to him by God, he stood guard over his work and was always ready to expose the erring, teach the unbelievers, support and encourage the wavering, unsteady and faint-hearted. All the abstract theological subtleties, the deep secrets of Christian dogma, which served as the subject of debates that had long troubled the Christian world - all this interested Augustine’s subtle mind, naturally prone to abstractions. In this case, he stood at the height of contemporary enlightenment, “combined in himself, in the words of one German homilet, all the knowledge of his time” 251. There is almost no dogma in the Catholic doctrine that he has not touched upon and in one way or another explained, defended, or clarified. “He gives answers to the most confusing questions, which are used to this day and will continue to be used as eternal axioms of truth” 252. In the sermons of Blessed Augustine one can feel a fiery herald of the faith of Christ, fully armed with truth, a correct understanding of the purpose of human life and the meaning of world history, denouncing the false teaching of heretics, warning and repelling all kinds of attacks and at the same time, if possible, clarifying to the minds of believers the sublime mysteries of Christian teaching. The main goal of his preaching is to keep his flock in the bosom of the church, to confirm them in the rules of faith, to make them resistant to all seductive thoughts and temptations of the time. In his preaching polemics, Blessed Augustine deals primarily with those false opinions and objections that seemed most dangerous to believers, either due to their imaginary justice, or due to their indulgence in sinful human nature. Thus, polemicizing against the pagans, he dwells most of all on the objection that came from their crudely materialistic view of life, namely, that a person’s happiness is determined by the abundance of material earthly goods and sensual pleasures. Since this view went towards the sinful inclinations of human nature, flattering and indulging it, it was easily adopted by Christians. And of these, as stated above, many were embarrassed by the reproaches of the pagans that, with the spread of the Christian faith, the disasters of earthly life multiplied, Rome was being destroyed, and that this was the punishment of the gods for betraying them 253. “Behold,” some said, “the body of Peter rests in Rome, the body of Paul rests in Rome, the body of Lawrence and many other saints rest in Rome, and yet Rome is unhappy, Rome is devastated, humiliated, destroyed, given over to burning...” 254 . Refuting these pagan reproaches that confuse the Christian conscience, pointing out the cause of earthly disasters and the devastation of Rome in the replacement of the old pagan faith with a new one, Blessed Augustine notes that similar disasters happened earlier, in pagan times, and that Rome had been devastated and burned more than once before. “As the history of them (the pagans) tells, this fire of Rome 255,” says the preacher, “is already the third... What has now been subjected to fire in Christian times (inter sacrificia christianorum), has already been subjected to fire twice in pagan times (inert sacrificia paganorum). Once Rome was burned by the Gauls, so that only the Capitol survived. Then, from Nero, Rome was devastated by fire for the second time. Nero, the Roman emperor, servant of the gods (servus idolorum), murderer of the apostles, commanded, and Rome was burned. Why would you think, asks Blessed Augustine, for what reason? A self-deluded man (elatus), he replies, proud and depraved, Nero delighted in the fire of Rome.” - “I want,” he says, to see how Troy burned...” 256. Further, developing the same idea that the happiness of Rome could not depend on the will of the gods, the preacher points to the fire and destruction of Troy, as a result of which the pagan gods themselves were forced to move from there to Rome. “Why was Troy burned in pagan times? The gods, on whom the pagan Romans placed their hopes, moved from the burned Troy to Rome, which was to be founded (ad Romam condendam). The Roman gods were first Trojan gods. Troy burned down, and Aeneas took the fugitive gods (fugitivos), rather, fleeing himself, he took the motionless gods... They themselves could not escape; Having come with these false gods to Italy, he founded Rome. It’s too long, the preacher notes, to dwell on the details. I will only briefly say what is reported in their (pagan) books. The well-known pagan writer says this: the city of Rome, as I learned, was founded and owned first by the Trojans, who, wandering under the leadership of Aeneas, moved from place to place 257. They had idols with them, and, having founded Rome in Latium, they began to worship there the same gods who were worshiped in Troy...” 258. Yes, and it is strange, argues Blessed Augustine, to entrust the protection of cities to gods of stone and wood, “having eyes and not seeing.” “If they could save Rome, then why couldn’t they protect themselves? Behold, they say (the pagans): now Rome is perishing. However, the gods themselves had already perished 259. It was not they themselves who perished (the pagans object), but their images. But how can those who could not protect their images protect your homes? Alexandria long ago abandoned serving such gods. Also Constantinople... However, this city has grown, is growing and prospering, prospering as long as God pleases it. And Carthage, in the name of Christ, remains, although the idol of Ceres (or Cybella - coelestis) 260 has long been crushed there” 261. In refutation of the same opinion of the pagans that the Roman state suffers misfortunes for abandoning the former faith in the gods, the preacher points out to the listeners the recent defeat by the Romans of the barbarian leader Radages 262, who, being a zealous pagan, made daily sacrifices to Jupiter. This event took place shortly before the devastation of Rome by the Goths, precisely at the time when idolatry finally fell there. The army of Radages was much more numerous than the army of Alaric, and Radages himself was a zealous pagan who constantly made sacrifices to the gods, and, however, contrary to all the expectations of the adherents of paganism that Radages would certainly be victorious as a zealous admirer of his gods, the opposite happened. He was defeated by the Romans. With such a defeat of one of the most zealous followers of paganism, the Lord, according to the preacher, showed that earthly happiness and the well-being of kingdoms and peoples do not depend on pagan sacrifices and on attachment to the former pagan cult. The same Romans, some time later, were defeated by barbarians 263 who professed a different, Christian faith 264. In the very fact of the possible fall of Rome there is nothing unexpected, strange, nothing humiliating, even if this city was founded by Romulus himself. After all, even the world created by God will be destroyed, and man himself is mortal. Everything passes, is born and dies, appears and disappears. It is possible that the end of Rome is not yet over. However, no matter how much we try to drive away the thought of this end, sooner or later it must come 265. Further, the complaints and reproaches of the pagans are unfounded and unfair, according to the preacher, also because they (the pagans) have false judgments about human happiness, about the meaning and purpose of earthly life. Happiness, meaning and purpose of human life are not here on earth, and not in earthly pleasures and material goods, but in the future, afterlife. And if the pagans limited their aspirations to gaining earthly happiness, the pursuit of material wealth, then Christians are called for the bliss of the future life, for which the present earthly life should serve only as a preparation. We, Christians, are not for the sake of this earthly happiness, which is equally available to believers in Christ and non-believers in Him, which can be achieved by good people and evil ones. No, another happiness awaits Christians, which they will receive in another life, when the life of this age passes. Although that life will be physical, it will nevertheless be far different from real life. Here on earth we spend our time in need. We constantly need food and drink to strengthen our strength. Hence, our earthly life is a time of constant weakness, constant illness, and we support it only by continuous treatment of ourselves. Medicines themselves, if we use them more than we should, cause illness. “Now, if we do not eat, we become weak and feel hungry; if we don’t drink, we languish and feel thirsty; if we stay awake for a long time, we get tired and rest; if we rest for a long time (dormiamus), we become weaker and therefore need to stay awake; if we eat and drink a lot, then, although we drink and eat to strengthen ourselves, the most prolonged, excessive reinforcement becomes the cause of weakness. If we stand for a long time, we get tired and therefore sit down. And if we sit for a long time, we get tired again and therefore we get up... So, fatigue is everywhere, weariness is everywhere, decay is everywhere” 266. On the contrary, the blissful afterlife will be for us a state of constant complete satisfaction. This will be a state of true wealth and true health, since we will not experience any need there 267. From the point of view of this highest purpose of man indicated by Christianity, namely, from the point of view of his eternal bliss in the future afterlife, earthly disasters and earthly goods and pleasures take on a completely different meaning than what they had in the eyes of the pagans and all people in general who are alien to the Christian hope. If the present earthly life serves only as a preparation for the future life, then its happiness or unhappiness is conditional, even moreover, misfortune, from this point of view, should rather be called happiness, since it, arousing in a person dissatisfaction with the present, encourages him to strive for another true happiness and assists him in the pursuit of this happiness. On the contrary, earthly happiness, according to the preacher, should rather be called misfortune for us, because it binds a person to the earth, makes him love not what deserves love, but what turns our mind and heart away from God and from the desire for true good, and thus deprives us of true happiness in the future eternal blissful life. Hence, one should not look at earthly happiness as a reward sent by God to His true servants, virtuous people, and at misfortune as a punishment for wickedness. “If you have happiness, do not conclude from this that you are good, but try to be good. If you don’t have it, don’t conclude that you are bad, but avoid evil” 268. The suffering that people have to endure in this world is rather a sign of God’s mercy towards them, an admonition from God, who wants to correct us through temporary hardships and adversity and save us from eternal torment 269 . Therefore, it is more useful for us to rely on God, who, in any case, knows better what to give us and what he will take from us, 270 and if He often mixes sorrows into our earthly well-being, then he does this only for our benefit, so that we would look for another happiness and would not cleave too much to the blessings and pleasures of the present world, which, with all its sorrows and suffering caused to us, often seems so beautiful and seductive to us 271. Moreover, according to the view of Blessed Augustine, a Christian should not be embarrassed by the disasters of earthly life, because he is called by the teachings of his faith to patiently endure temporary sorrows, and that these sorrows were predicted to him by God Himself, who calls us to the hope of eternal bliss. “Have you not heard the prophets, have you not heard Jesus Christ Himself predicting future disasters? The further time goes, the closer the end of the world is. You have heard, brothers, we have heard these words together: there will be wars, there will be turmoil, there will be persecutions, there will be famines” (Luke 21:9–11) 272. To the reproach from the pagans, which was sometimes repeated even by Christians, that it was in Christian times that the world was subjected to great disasters and devastation, the preacher replies that even if such a reproach is recognized as fair, then in this case there should not be anything strange and unexpected for Christians. The pre-Christian pagan world did not possess the fullness of Divine revelation, it was as if in darkness, and the will of God was revealed in its entirety with the coming to earth of Christ the Savior, in the gospel preaching. The Gospel clearly tells us what we must do, what we must love and what we must despise, what we must avoid, what we must hope for. Therefore, if in fact, in Christian times, the misfortunes of earthly life are greater in comparison with the previous time, when the pagan religion occupied a dominant position, then here one can only see the fulfillment of the words of Christ the Savior about two slaves who did not fulfill the will of their master, of whom one knew this will, the other did not know it. And if Christians, who very often anger God with their lives and behavior, suffer here on earth, even more than the pagans, then they suffer quite rightly, as those who know the will of God and do not fulfill it, especially since the suffering of earthly life is only temporary, and that the Lord does this to us, loving us, so that we can find treasure in heaven, that is, eternal bliss in the future life 273. By sending misfortune to people, He wants to show how fragile and unreliable is what they love. He wants “that, having broken the bonds of passions that entangle us, we learn to concentrate all our love on Him from whom we cannot receive any harm” 274. So, according to Blessed Augustine, earthly misfortunes and suffering are useful for us as a means of admonition, as educational measures in the hands of Providence that contribute to our bliss. On the contrary, the well-being of the wicked, which binds them to real life and distracts them from the search for the highest heavenly happiness, serves, rather, as proof of God’s displeasure towards them. “A sinner,” the preacher argues, “who does a lot of evil and does not tolerate anything for it, has angered the Lord. He calls on the Lord, and in His anger the Lord will not hear him. That’s why he won’t hear because he’s angry a lot. He who does not take measures to correct himself is preparing for condemnation. If the Lord had heard the sinner, perhaps he would have corrected him. Now he gets angry a lot. The Lord is very angry with sinners who enjoy earthly happiness if they are not punished. Don't envy them. Don't want to be like those unfortunate lucky ones. It is better to be punished for a while than to be subjected to eternal condemnation" 275. But even without regard to the bliss of the eternal afterlife, the happiness of this life is illusory and, if we discuss properly the position of a person enjoying earthly well-being and material contentment, then it should rather be called misfortune for him. Grief and torment bring a person an abundance of earthly blessings, since the more people have, the more they need. Then they would be happy if they did not need anything. Then there would be true contentment, which man enjoyed in paradise when he was in blissful communion with God 276. Being conditional in themselves, the circumstances of our life, happy and unhappy, receive one or another meaning depending on ourselves, on the attitude of the person himself towards them. “Evil times,” says St. Augustine, “are created by evil people” 277. Good and evil, happiness and unhappiness are within the person himself, and not outside him. If people were always good themselves and led a good life, then their days would only be good. Dwelling on the words of Psalm 133 (Ps. 133:2) - “Deliver me, O Lord, from the evil man,” the preacher says that here we should pray to God to deliver us not from bad neighbors and not from robbers, but from our own passions, from our own wickedness. “It is true, it is true, it is not false, my brothers, that if the Lord delivers you from your own wickedness, no other evil person will harm you” 278. Blessed Augustine advises his listeners to take care first of all about freeing themselves from this inner evil, from their own wickedness. After all, bad people cannot do anything bad to us, as long as we ourselves are not bad, as long as we ourselves are free from covetousness, anger and other passions, which are our real enemies. If we ourselves are good, then what can our external enemy harm us? In the worst case, he can do to us the same thing that the Jews did to the first martyr Archdeacon Stephen. Wanting to do evil, they did good to him. We can get rid of our internal enemies through liberation from sinful passions, through a stubborn struggle against them, through the awakening in our soul of the opposite pure aspirations for virtue and through a living imagination of the highest heavenly joys, the thought of which would suppress our earthly sinful joys and pleasures 279. A virtuous person who has acquired justice, faith, piety and love has such wealth that no thief or robber can steal or take away from him. Therefore, this inner wealth is true wealth. “The thief will not approach him unless evil will gives him space... Neither a robber, nor an enemy, no matter how strong he may be, nor a barbarian, can take this wealth away from you, no shipwreck can destroy it... Here is a praiseworthy abundance, here is immeasurable wealth, free from gold, but full of the Divine (plenus Deo), free from all transitory possessions, full of knowledge of the will of God (plenus sui Domini voluntate). Why, the preacher addresses those listening, do you go to such trouble to look for gold? Love this wealth and now get rich. Its source is not hidden, if only the heart is open... 280. Refuting modern paganism with its errors from the church pulpit, Blessed Augustine calls on believers to fight pagan superstitions. However, in this case, he wants to stand only on ideological grounds and invites his listeners to an ideological struggle, convincing them to refrain from intolerance and violence. He is far from the fanaticism of his contemporary bishops Theophilus of Alexandria and Marcellus of Apammaea, who led a fanatical crowd into battle with the pagans 281. According to the fair remark of Prof. Guerrier, “he is pleased not so much by the defeat of enemies and haters of Christians, but by the manifestation of God’s Providence” 282. The preacher instructs believers not to rush to destroy pagan idols until they receive the power to do so. Such power can only be given to Christians by the pagans themselves. We must be concerned, first of all, about the destruction of idols in the hearts of the pagans. When this is achieved, the pagans themselves will not only break their idols, but they can also invite Christians to do this, who only in this case will receive the legal right to crush idols, that is, when the pagans themselves will ask them to help in destroying the forms and objects of their cult. “Many,” says the preacher, “keep this abomination (i.e., idols) in their estates. Are we really going to penetrate there and destroy?! No. But let us think about this first, in order to crush the idols in their (pagan) hearts. When they (the pagans) become Christians, then they can invite us to participate in such a good deed, or in the future they themselves will do it. You just need to pray for them, and not get angry” 283. Among the pagans in the time of St. Augustine, augurism and all kinds of superstitious fortune-telling were especially developed. This belief in fortune telling was widespread among Christians. Belief in astrology was especially strong. Many, wanting to justify their actions and behavior, argued that everything is done by the will of fate, or fate, that a person’s life and his actions depend on the stars, that the distance of the stars, their direction, rotation and location determines the fate of a person, his happiness or misfortune 284. On this basis, some wanted to free themselves from all responsibility for the sin committed. If, for example, the sin of adultery was committed, then the perpetrator could justify himself by saying that he was born under the constellation of Venus, and the murderer referred to the constellation of Mars. Responding to such references, with which Blessed Augustine’s contemporaries often tried to justify their shameful behavior, Blessed Augustine threatens with the judgment of God. God cannot be deceived, and He knows that we ourselves are to blame for our misdeeds; we must also bear responsibility for them. Denouncing superstitions based on astrological conclusions, the preacher takes as an example the astrologers themselves, who, in their own interests, tried to support superstition and at the same time, with all their behavior, contradicted the superstitious opinions that they themselves supported. “The astrologer himself (mathematicus), when he notices that his wife behaves too freely or is dishonestly attracted to other men, or when she often looks out the window, does he not punish her (verberat) and does he not maintain order in his house? Let his wife tell him: if you can, punish Venus, not me. Wouldn’t he answer her then: stupid, isn’t one thing needed for the manager (rectori), and another for the consumer (emptori)? In support of their opinion that the stars influence the fate of people and the circumstances of human life, fortune-telling astrologers pointed to the Gospel story of the worship of the Magi, who found the born Christ by the star and worshiped Him. But in this event the preacher sees evidence of Christ’s dominion over the stars, and not vice versa. After all, this star, argues Blessed Augustine, did not follow its usual path, but showed the way to people seeking Christ, to the very place where He was born, so in this case it was not the star that “miraculously produced Christ, but Christ miraculously revealed it. It was not she who determined the miraculous actions of Christ, but Christ showed her among his miracles” 286. But if the pagans and, like them, some of the Christians, in excuse for their misdeeds, referred to fate, or fate, to fate, determined and predetermined, as it were, by the heavenly bodies, then the Manichaeans and the so-called chosen ones among them (electi) used to in such cases refer to the power of darkness or gloom (gens tenebrarum) 287 to justify their mistakes. The Manichaeans taught that in the beginning there were two kingdoms: the kingdom of light and the kingdom of darkness or matter (͵ὕλη). From the mixture of these two kingdoms the real world 288 was formed. A person represents in himself a mixture of two principles: light and darkness or matter, or good and evil, and the body, like everything material in general, belongs to the evil kingdom, matter 289. Particles of heavenly divine life, the “suffering Jesus” or “crux luminis”, absorbed by the kingdom of darkness, are found not only in man, but also in animals and even in plants 290. Therefore, the life of animals and plants was sacred to the Manichaeans, who thought that plants could also feel pain and suffer, just like people 291. The Manichaeans rejected the Old Testament as contradicting the New and considered it the work of the evil inclination, the prince of darkness (princeps tenebrarum) 292. Based on such dualistic views, the Manichaeans abdicated all responsibility for their bad actions. According to the preacher, the chosen ones (electi), who constituted the highest rank of the sect, when someone pointed out to them a sin they had committed, “in defense of themselves they brought up such an impious, worse than all others and blasphemous justification: it was not I who sinned, but the power of darkness” (gens tenebrarum), parts of which were allegedly mixed with human nature 293 . This force or power of darkness, the Manichaeans argued, made an attack on the kingdom of light, and God, in order to protect His kingdom, produced from Himself a special being (substantiam suam, membra sua), a real world, which was formed from the mixing of parts of the kingdom of light with elements of darkness. As for man, in his soul he belongs to a divine being, but while in the body, this soul is under pressure from the power of darkness, so that if a person sins, then it is this evil force itself that sins 294 . Refuting before his listeners the false wisdom of the Manichaeans and revealing the cunning of their dialectical intricacies, the preacher points out that, trying to free themselves from the accusation of sin, the Manichaeans attribute to God Himself a feeling of fear or fear, and to His nature - the ability to corrupt: if God is unchangeable and irresistible, then what could that kingdom of darkness do to Him, fearing the invasion of which He supposedly created this visible world? If, further, the nature of the Divine is unchangeable, and if God is blameless, and nothing can cause Him any harm or damage, then His formation of special beings for the protection of His kingdom seems to be an aimless action. God becomes aimlessly cruel when He sends particles of His being or elements of the kingdom of light into the kingdom of darkness, and when He allows particles of these two kingdoms to mingle. God Himself, therefore, if we adhere to Manichaean views, is our enemy, and not the power or power of darkness, which could not harm God or any part of His nature in any way. So, trying to abdicate responsibility for their sins, the Manichaeans blasphemously transfer their guilt to God and blaspheme Him 295. They can avoid such blasphemy only if they consider themselves responsible for their actions and do not refer to fate, fate or the evil force of darkness 296. Claiming that the real visible world arose from the mixture of two principles - good and evil, and that particles of the deity, captivated by the kingdom of darkness and scattered throughout the world, are found in herbs, plants, trees and their fruits, the Manichaeans drew the conclusion from here that anyone who pulls grass out of the ground, or who plucks fruits from trees, acts badly. This makes, in their opinion, parts of the deity or the “crucified Jesus” suffer. For the same reason, they looked at agriculture with disdain. The latter, according to their concepts, was worse than usury, because the one who gives money on interest does not cause suffering to the suffering Christ (non laedit crucem luminis). In the eyes of the Manichaeans, namely, the chosen ones, the one who gives bread to the beggar sins in exactly the same way, because by receiving particles of the deity in the bread and eating them, the beggar again enslaves them to the evil principle, matter. Only the eating of bread by the Manichaeans themselves did not entail, in their opinion, such enslavement of particles of light. On the contrary, being enlightened by the Manichaean faith, and becoming “chosen” as a result of their prayers and deeds, they, eating bread, allegedly freed the particles of the deity absorbed by matter and sent them to the heavenly dwelling (ad thesaurus coelorum). Refuting these wisdom of the heretics, Blessed Augustine reproaches the Manichaeans for blasphemy against Christ, since they do not consider Him their redeemer, but they themselves are, as it were, the saviors of God. By refusing a piece of bread to the poor because of the vain fear of exposing a part of the deity to suffering, they commit actual murder when they force nothing to die of hunger 297 . “I,” says the preacher, addressing the Manichaeans, “according to the Gospel, recognize Christ as the savior, and you yourselves consider yourselves to be saviors. It is clear that you blaspheme Christ and will not receive salvation from Him. In your opinion, one should not give a piece of bread to a beggar, so that the particles of the deity are not tormented, and the beggar should die of hunger. Thus, vain imaginary mercy for a piece of bread commits true murder” 298. Dwelling on the error of the Manichaeans, that the Old Testament is the work of the evil principle, the prince of darkness, and that it contradicts the New Testament, Blessed Augustine proves in his sermons that this contradiction is apparent, and that only Manichaeans can think this way due to their spiritual darkness, just as happens to us when we look through the darkness of the night at the clouds floating above us. Our vision is so blinded by the darkness of the night that it seems to us as if the stars themselves were moving and floating. It also happens with the Manichaeans when, in the darkness of their errors, they want to consider and explain the Holy Scriptures. Scripture 299. The Manichaeans said that the Old Testament scriptures contained too crude an idea of ​​God. It seems to insult and humiliate God when it attributes to Him, for example, ignorance. So it is said about God there that He tests Abraham to find out his faith. Responding to this reproach, Blessed Augustine says that the Lord tests not with the goal of learning something Himself, but in order to make the unknown and secret in people known to them. By testing, God teaches us, is our mentor, having in mind only our benefit 300. And when the Scripture says that God does not know, or God has learned, it is said in relation to our concepts and the way of our speech, it means our knowledge or ignorance. In a conversation on Psalm 36, regarding the words of the Savior that no one knows the day and hour of the last judgment: neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father (Mark 13:32), the preacher explains to the listeners that the Lord said so, considering this ignorance useful for people. “As our mentor, He knew how to teach us useful things and not teach us harmful things. If, in relation to the usual methods of colloquial speech, it is said that He (the Son of God) does not know what He did not consider necessary to teach us, then what is meant is our ignorance, which makes us ignorant, just as we talk, for example, about a joyful day, because we ourselves are joyful, about a sad day, because we ourselves are sad, or about a carefree winter (frigus pigrum), because we ourselves become carefree.” 301. Pointing to the seemingly absurd and crude concept of God in the Old Testament, the Manichaeans themselves, however, could not rise above the sensual, bodily concept. Wanting to understand the nature of the Divinity, they, according to Blessed Augustine, reached only the idea of ​​visible, sensory light and cannot imagine God otherwise than as a bodily 302. However, such a representation of the Divine was not characteristic of only the Manichaeans. Many of the believers belonging to the Catholic Church and to the flock of Augustine himself could not rise higher than him in their concept of God. Therefore, the preacher tries to elevate his listeners above any sensory representation of the Divine. God is not something material, something like, for example, air or water. It “is not limited by place, is not fragmented into parts, does not spread in space, is not divided by distance. Although He fills heaven and earth, He does not eat half in heaven and half on earth. Although this air fills heaven and earth, however, that part of it that is in heaven is not on earth. And no matter how the water spills, it fills the space in which it is contained. One half is in one half of space, the other is in the other. God is not anything like that. Don’t think this at all about God, because He is not anything corporeal. To spread throughout space, to be limited by space, to have halves, thirds, and fourths - this is characteristic of bodies. Nothing like this is God, because God is everywhere. Everywhere He is All. Fills heaven and earth, but All is in heaven, All is on earth” 303. In another place, touching on the same subject, the preacher says: “Let no one imagine God by the sensory impressions of his eyes (nemo sibi pro concupiscentia oculorum cogitet Deum). Another imagines either a huge figure or some kind of greatness, spread out in vast space like this visible light, which he sees with his eyes, or imagines some venerable and handsome old man - do not imagine anything like that... God is love. What kind, what image, what size does love have? what kind of legs does she have? what hands? no one can say it. However, she also has legs that lead to church, she has hands that give to the poor, she has eyes that see the needy” 304. In general, according to the preacher, it is difficult for an ordinary person to imagine the nature of the Divine, and a very high degree of spiritual perfection is required in order not to imagine God otherwise than He is 305. However, we can and should know how God should not be represented. Here it is necessary, first of all, to discard the idea of ​​any body. But God is not a spirit like our spirit. Our spirit changes - sometimes it knows, sometimes it doesn’t know, sometimes it remembers, sometimes it forgets, sometimes it wants, sometimes it doesn’t want. And where there is change, there is death, which is the cessation of what was. That is why our soul, although immortal, on the one hand, as having to live forever, on the other hand, can also be called mortal, because its life is changeable. At one time she lives wisely, at another recklessly, changing for the worse or for the better. And “what passes from better to worse and from worse to better is not God, since the Supreme Good cannot change for the better, nor can True Eternity pass to the worse” 306. In order to better understand the truth that God is not anything material, is not limited to either place or time, that He is everywhere, not in parts - one here and another there, but the whole always and everywhere, blessed Augustine refers his listeners to abstract concepts or ideas of truth, wisdom and truth. These ideas do not increase or decrease depending on whether a person will or will not arrange his behavior according to them. At the same time, they, that is, these ideas, are inherent in every person, no matter where he is. “Try, brothers,” says the preacher, “to imagine the light of truth, the light of wisdom, how everywhere it is present for everyone; try to imagine the light of truth, because it is inherent in every thinker. Whoever wants to live unfairly sins. He leaves the truth. But has it decreased because of this? He turned to the truth - well, has it increased? leaves her - leaves her unharmed. He turns to her and finds her whole. What is the light of truth? does it rise from the east and set in the west? or is there another place from where it ascends and where it enters?! isn't he everywhere? Does a person who is in the West and lives justly lack truth to contemplate it and live according to it? Is it possible that a person living in the east also lacks it if he wants to live justly? Guided by her instructions, both will learn how fairly they need to live. And he lives piously when he sees her, and this one looks at her in order to coordinate his actions with her. Thus, she is in no place and yet everywhere. Such is truth, such is wisdom, such is truth, such is purity. So try to imagine such a light. If you cannot, if the gaze of thought trembles, let it be cleared in order to see” 307. But if it is difficult for a person to form a true idea of ​​God, then what do all the properties we attribute to God mean? According to the preacher, these properties are only relative concepts. Taken from the finite world, they cannot define the beings of the Infinite according to His dignity. The definitions and properties we attribute to God are nothing more than the properties of human souls, which, being imbued with divine light, one way or another reflect in themselves, in their properties, the rays of this light. The reflection of God's perfections through the properties and definitions of human souls illuminated by the divine light can be compared with what happens when, for example, this visible light illuminates bodies. It stops shining, and bodies lose their colors, becoming covered in darkness. When this light appears again, it, being itself one and the same, illuminates objects, according to their different properties, with different light or brilliance. However, although we try to attribute to God all the best, according to our concepts, qualities, we attribute them to Him only because we do not find anything better. Thus, we call God righteous in relation to our concepts of justice, but God is above those conventional concepts of truth and justice that may appear to us. If Holy Scripture also calls God righteous (Ps. 10:8), then in this case it only descends savingly to our imperfections and weaknesses. “When you ask how one should speak worthily about God, one will answer and tell you that God is righteous (quia justus est); another, more understanding, will consider this word below His dignity... so when the first wants to prove from Scripture, which calls God righteous, let him be answered in justice that in Scripture repentance is also attributed to God, so that, just as this is not understood in the sense in which repentance is attributed to people, so the fact that God is called righteous would not be considered consistent with His dignity. It is good, of course, that Scripture also indicated such properties (i.e. certain positive properties of Divine all-perfection), so that at least through this the spirit (ours) gradually ascends to that which cannot be determined (ut per qualicumque verba gradatim animus ad id, quod dici non potest, perducatur). You call God righteous, but know that He is higher than the righteousness that you usually think about in relation to people. Scripture called Him righteous. It called Him repentant and ignorant, which you no longer want to admit. But just as what you turn away from is said because of some weakness of yours, so what you value highly is said because of some, although less weak, weakness (firmitate) 308 . Whoever transgresses this and thinks worthily about God, as far as is possible for man, will find praiseworthy silence in the inexpressible voice of his heart” (inveniet silentium ineffabili cordis voce laudandum) 309. Blessed Augustine pays a lot of attention in his sermons to clarifying in the minds of his listeners the most incomprehensible Christian truth about the trinity of Persons in God. In his time, this truth was the subject of heated religious debate and reasoning. Some, refusing to understand the doctrine of three Divine hypostases with the unity of the Divine, rejected this teaching as something strange and inconsistent with the laws of reason. Thus, the Sabellians or Patripassians argued that the names: “Father”, “Son” and “Holy Spirit” are nothing more than a manifestation or types of the same Divine hypostasis 310. Others, such as the Arians and Macedonians, wanted to eliminate this apparent contradiction by one way or another misinterpretation of the relationships between the Persons of the Holy Trinity, proving that only the Father can be called God, that the Son and the Holy Spirit are not consubstantial with the Father, that They are created beings, and therefore lower in dignity 311. Refuting such heretical teachings from the church pulpit, Blessed Augustine tries to inspire his listeners that the One God in essence is threefold in Persons, and that the three Persons of Pr. The Trinity, when unfused, is inseparable from each other and equal in honor. “Although each Person has certain special personal properties and a special being (substantia), however, due to the inseparable and inseparable, eternal, true good nature, there are not three Gods, but One God” 312. “In the Father the beginning (auctoritas) is indicated to us, in the Son - birth, in the Holy Spirit - communion between the Father and the Son, in all three equality (aequalitas) ... The Father is the true beginning of the Son, the Son is the Truth that came from the True Father, and the Holy Spirit is from the Good Father ... poured out Goodness" 313. Wanting to more clearly imagine how the three Persons of the Divine: Father, Son and Holy Spirit are not three Gods, but one God, the preacher says that the names: Father, Son and Holy Spirit indicate only the relationship of the Divine Hypostases. The Father in relation to Himself is God, but in relation to the Son He is the Father, just as the Son Himself is God, and in relation to the Father He is the Son. Something similar happens in relationships between people. And here the father in himself is a man, but in relation to his son he is a father, just as the son in himself is the same man, but in relation to his father he is a son. Of course, in this case there cannot be complete similarity, since among people the father and son are not one person, but two. But between the creature and the creator, God and man, the preacher argues, and there cannot be complete similarity 314. Conditional relations of number or measure are not applicable to God in the sense that they are applied to created, limited objects and beings. When speaking about the three Persons, Pr. Trinity, then in this case the number denotes only their reciprocity, and not what They Themselves are 315. “Since God in Himself is God together with the Son and the Holy Spirit, therefore there are not three Gods; since in Himself He is omnipotent together with the Son and the Holy Spirit, therefore there are not three omnipotent ones. Since the Father is not in Himself the Father, but in relation to the Son, and the Son is not in Himself the Son, but in relation to the Father, and the Spirit is not in Himself, but in relation to the Father and the Son, I do not allow three otherwise than by confessing in the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit one God, one Almighty. So, one start" 316. In explaining the same truth about God, one in essence, but threefold in persons, the preacher points out to the listeners how in the original Christian society many believers, united by the spirit of love among themselves, had one soul and one heart (Acts 4:32). If unity becomes possible among people as they approach God, then how much more is this unity applicable to the Trinitarian Deity, Who is One God. “If the love of God, poured out into our hearts by the Holy Spirit given to us (Rom. 5:5), makes many souls one soul and many hearts one heart, then how much more are the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit one God, one Light, one Beginning?” 317. According to the preacher, the doctrine of the One Trihypostatic God not only does not contain anything unreasonable, but, on the contrary, with such a teaching, the closest communication between God and man, which is the source of true bliss for the latter, becomes more understandable and possible. God becomes our Father only in the Son and through the Son, so that without glorifying the Son, who gave Himself for us, we cannot glorify God as Father 318. The very concept of “Father” necessarily presupposes another concept of “Son”. When it is said about God that He is the “Father,” then at the same time the Son is also preached, because He cannot be called Father without having a Son, just as there cannot be a Son if there is no Father 319. But if the Trinity is inseparable, if it belongs to “one action, one greatness, one co-eternal being” (una operatio, una majestas, una aeternitas, una coaeternitas et opera eadem Trinitatis) 320, then how can this be reconciled with the fact that in the Holy. Scripture Three Persons Prov. Are the Trinity separated, as it were, by place, responsibilities and actions? The Scripture says that, for example, the Son came especially in human form, the Holy Spirit descended especially in the form of a dove, and the Father’s voice especially thundered from heaven. Is it therefore possible to speak of the Trinity as inseparable and unmerged? If we admit, in accordance with Scripture, that the Father does nothing without the Son, nor the Son without the Father, then does it not follow that together with the Son the Father was born of the Virgin, the Father suffered, died and was resurrected? Thus, one of two things: either it is unfair that the Trinity is indivisible and that, contrary to the words of Scripture, the Son does something without the Father and vice versa, or it remains to be assumed that the Father also suffered, died and was resurrected. Answering this objection, St. Augustine notes that the dilemma is not such that it excludes any other, third position, and so that it remains to choose one of the two - either this or that. “I choose neither one nor the other,” he says. “I don’t say what the Son does without the Father, because I would be lying if I said it, nor that the Father suffered, died and rose again, since I would be lying no less if I said that” 321. And then, resolving the misunderstanding itself, the preacher points out that, although this or that action, for example, incarnation, belongs to one Divine Hypostasis, however, the entire Trinity participates in the actions of each Person, and when one Hypostasis acts, She is assisted by the other two. Not the Father, but the Son was born from the Virgin; however, the birth itself was carried out by both the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It was not the Father, but the Son who was resurrected; however, both the Father and the Son performed the resurrection itself. The Trinity created the flesh of Christ, the Trinity sent down a dove from heaven, although the descent itself refers to no one but the Holy Spirit. The Trinity spoke a voice from heaven, but this also applies only to the Father. Likewise, only the Holy Spirit, neither the Father nor the Son, descended on the apostles in the form of tongues of fire, but with the assistance of the Father and the Only Begotten Word 322. In order to bring the listeners closer to understanding and better understand in their consciousness the teaching about the three Divine Hypostases, which appear separately and act inseparably, Blessed Augustine points to some semblance of such a trinity, noticeable in the human soul. This is how he talks about it in one of his conversations: “Let's see if we don't find something in creation that could show that the three are separate and act inseparably. Where should we turn? to the sky, to talk about the sun, about the moon, about the stars, or to turn to the earth, to talk about the bushes, about the trees, about the animals that fill the earth? or talk about heaven and earth itself, which contain everything that is in heaven and on earth? but why do you need to walk around the creature for a long time? come to your senses, look at yourself... God created man in His image and likeness, and perhaps the image of the Trinity has in itself some semblance of trinity... So I ask you: do you have memory? If you had not, how could you keep what I told you? Or maybe you've already forgotten what I said (dixi)? But this, at least the last word, these two syllables “di-xi” cannot be remembered otherwise than by memory. How could you hold on to these two syllables if, while the second syllable was sounding, you forgot the first? Clearly, therefore, you have memory. I ask further: do you have knowledge? I have, you say. If I had no memory, I would not remember what I said. If I did not have the ability of knowledge, I would not know what I remembered. I also ask... do you remember and know by will (volens tenuisti et intellexisti)? Of course, you answer at will. So, at the same time you have a will. Here are three that I intended to say. You find them in yourself, you can count them, but you cannot divide them. These three: memory, knowledge and will are separately named, but act inseparably... 323. Each of these abilities: memory, knowledge and will, has its own special purpose. But appearing together, one with the other, each of them acts together and inseparably with the other” 324. Most often in the teaching about the Most Holy. In the Trinity, Blessed Augustine dwells on the question of the Second Person, the Son of God and His relationship to the Father. This question was the reason for the emergence of the most widespread Arian heresy at that time. The Arians, as you know, taught that the Son of God is not coeternal with the Father, less than the Father and not consubstantial with Him 325. Exposing before his listeners such wickedness of heretics, blessed Augustine says the following in one of his conversations? “Always the Father, always the Son. If always the Father, always the Son. If you ask me whether the Son is born, I answer: born. But when I say that I am always the Son, I say precisely this, that I am always begotten” 326. To the Arians’ objection that the Son of God, simply because He is the Son, should be recognized as lesser than the Father, the preacher notes that such reasoning is applicable only to temporary created beings and births, when one grows up and the other grows old. However, even in this case, the son achieves the greatness of his father, grows up and becomes equal to him, since he is equal to him by nature. But in the conditions of time, of course, equality is temporary. In God, Who is above all convention, equality is constant 327. But if the Son of God was born, the Arians further said, then there was a time when He did not exist, since the one who gives birth always exists before the one who is born. In response to this reasoning, the preacher draws the attention of the listeners to some observable phenomena in nature, when the one being born appears simultaneously with the one giving birth. It indicates fire and the light or shine that appears from fire and with fire. Until the candle is lit, there is no light or shine. As soon as fire appears, light 328 immediately appears. Further, the preacher also refers to the reflection of objects in the mirror. Mirror images of objects are obtained immediately as soon as the object itself appears; the image of a person looking into it immediately appears in the mirror. However, the preacher admits that the last example is not entirely convenient for explaining the truth that he proves, since the one who looks in the mirror already exists before. To get out of this difficulty, St. Augustine takes another example and points to the reflection in water of algae or reeds growing in it. “You know, of course,” he reasons, “how water reflects bodies. Suppose now that something is born on water, such as reeds or grass, is it not born with its own reflection? As soon as it begins to appear, its reflection begins to appear along with it, it does not precede the birth of its image, it does not seem to me that something is born on the water first and then its reflection appears, but an object is born along with its reflection, and yet the reflection is from the object, not the object from the reflection. They are born together, the reed and the reflection from it begin to be together. Both the one who gives birth and that which is born begin to be together, they appear at the same time. So, therefore, there can be one who gives birth, and always with him there can be that which is born from him” 329. Then touching upon the false opinion about the inequality of the nature of the Divine Hypostases, the Son and the Father, the preacher recognizes such a statement of heretics as blasphemous because it too belittles the birth of the Son of God from the Father, making this birth inferior and worse in comparison with the birth of people and even animals. In human relations, if a son is called lesser than his father, then he is called so not by nature, but by age. Over time, growing up, every son achieves equality with his father, since their nature is the same. By rejecting the consubstantiality of the Son of God with God the Father, the Arians deprive the Son of the opportunity to ever achieve equality with the Father, that is, they deprive him of the advantage that people have. Further, if the Son of God and the Father are not of the same nature, then it turns out that the Father gives birth to a monster (monstrum). After all, when a creature, for example, a woman, gives birth not to a person, but to something else by nature, then they say that a monster is born. Meanwhile, this is exactly what happens if we recognize that the nature of God the Father and the Son is not the same, that They are not consubstantial. Such a statement would be the greatest blasphemy against God. Every person considers himself greatly offended when someone else calls him a degenerate, although this name “degenerate” is not applied in the sense of denying the very nature of man, but only in the sense of belittling some of his spiritual qualities. This is what they say, for example, when they want to point out that the ancestors of this or that person were brave, but he himself is cowardly and cowardly. He is called a degenerate not because of the difference in nature itself, but only because of some damage or lack of it. The Arians inflict a much more serious insult on the Son of God when they say that He is not consubstantial with the Father, and that Their nature is not the same. “Who,” the preacher concludes, “can bear such wickedness!” 330. “What could be more foolish, my brethren,” he argues in another place, “when I attribute to the creature something worthy of praise and reject the same in the Creator (Quid enim dementius, fratres mei, quam in aliquot laudem creaturam, quod non sit in Creatore), I praise the equality of nature in man and do not recognize this in Him who created man. If man is born from man, then what is born from God (the Eternal Word) will not be the same as God from Whom it was born?” 331. If people give birth to those equal to themselves, then how much more can God give birth to those equal to Himself. If the Father is eternal, then the Son is eternal, and birth is pre-eternal. “Equal gives birth to Equal, Eternal to Eternal” 332. There were also difficulties when the preacher clarified the most important Christian truth about the incarnation of God the Word. The doctrine of the incarnation of the Son of God, it seemed, could not be reconciled with the doctrine of the omnipresence of God. Resolving the misunderstanding that arose on this basis, the preacher says that the Eternal Word of God, having been conceived in the womb and appeared on earth in the flesh, did not cease to be in heaven. As omnipotent, It could “abide with the Father and be with us.” In order to better clarify this not entirely understandable truth to the consciousness of the listeners, the preacher compares the Hypostatic Word with the human word, which is first in the heart of a person, then spoken and passed on to others, remaining at the same time with the one who spoke it. This is how he speaks about it: “I reason about the Word, and the human word can be some kind of similarity... This is the word that I tell you, I kept before; it reached you, but did not leave me either; that which was not in you began to be in you; I still have it, although it went to you. So, just as my word, which came to you, did not depart from my heart, so that Word, which appeared to us, did not leave His Father. Just as my word was with me and manifested itself in my voice, so the Word was with the Father and descended into the flesh” 333. But the omnipresence of the Hypostatic Word, His presence with the Father and in the flesh on earth should not be understood in such a way that It was, as it were, divided into parts and one part was in one place, and the other in another. “It is Everything and everywhere,” says the preacher (ubique totum est). Trying, as far as possible, to show his listeners how the incarnate Eternal Word could be everything and everywhere at the same time, Blessed Augustine uses the same comparison of the Word of God with the word of man, although he admits that this is difficult to explain in words and understand due to our weakness and imperfection. “I am a man,” he notes, “and I speak to people like myself... So you hear me: I pronounce the word. If anyone, going out into the street from here, is asked what is going on here, he will answer: the bishop pronounces the word. I pronounce the Word about the Word. But what word and about what Word? a mortal word about the immortal Word, a changeable word about the Unchangeable, a transitory word about the Eternal. However, pay attention to my word. Above I told you that the Word of God is Everything and everywhere. Here I say a word to you. What I say reaches everyone... I tell you, and you have everything (my words). Not only do you have everything, but you have everything. Everything reaches everyone and everyone individually. Oh, the miracle of my word! What can you think about the Word of God after this?! Learn great things from small things. Think about earthly things, praise heavenly things” 334. Thus, just as we convey our inner words or concepts (intellectus) 335 to others, expressing them in external sounds, and these concepts, passing on to others, do not leave us, so the Eternal Word of God puts on human flesh in order to appear visible to us on earth, and, being in the flesh, at the same time is everywhere. Through the incarnation, the Son of God does not become lesser or worse in the same way as, for example, a high-ranking person, a senator, putting on slave clothing with the goal of entering a prison in this form to comfort the prisoners there, does not actually become a slave through this and does not lose his high dignity. On the contrary, the latter is preserved and supported to a greater extent, the more mercy the nobleman would want to put on the garment of humility. So “the Lord, the Eternal Power of God, the Eternal Wisdom, the Eternal Word, the Eternal God,” who deigned to come out of His palace and take flesh out of His great mercy towards us, was not thereby deprived of divine dignity and power” 336. In the time of St. Augustine, there was a misconception regarding the properties of the very flesh of Christ. There were heretics, Manichaeans and Priscillianists 337 who argued that Jesus Christ did not have real, but only apparent or ghostly (spiritus) flesh. Blessed Augustine calls this wisdom of the Manichaeans and Priscillianists a destructive delusion and refutes it with reference to the words of the Savior, spoken by Him to the disciple after the resurrection: “Handle Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones, as you see Me have” (Luke 24:39). “With this,” the preacher exhorts his listeners, “reflect unreasonable thoughts. Remember that Christ is the true Word, the Only Begotten, equal with the Father, the true spirit of man, the true flesh without sin. She died, she rose, she hung on the cross, she was in the tomb, she sits in heaven” 338. Other heretics, such as the Apollinarians, 339 said that Jesus Christ was not a complete man, that the Son of God, when incarnated, took on only flesh, and that there was no human soul in Him. Denouncing this error from the church pulpit, Blessed Augustine instills in his flock that Jesus Christ was a complete man, consisting of body and soul. It is impossible to imagine the incarnation of the Word of God in such a way that the worst part of human nature, i.e. the body, was accepted by Him, and the best part, i.e. the soul, was abandoned. Christ, the preacher teaches, “is the Word and the man. What is the Word and man? Word, soul and body..." 340. Some of the followers of the Apollinarian heresy, not recognizing in Christ a rational human soul, ascribed to Him an unreasonable (sine intelligentia humana) 341, animal soul (animam pecoris) 342, (quasi animam belluinam) 343. The soul in Christ, they said, had no mind (non habuit mentem), had no understanding (non habuit intellectum), had no reason, but the Word of God was instead of mind, reason and reason 344. The preacher convinces the listeners not to succumb to the seduction of heretics and not to share their wicked thoughts. “I don’t want you to think that,” he says. - The whole man was redeemed by the One who created him all. The whole man was accepted, the whole man was liberated by the Word. In Him (in the Word incarnate) is the human mind and understanding, in Him is the soul that animates the flesh, in Him is the true, not apparent body, but there is no sin there” 345. According to the preacher, sufficient proof of this is the words of Jesus Christ that He has the power to lay down His soul and receive it again (John 10:18). To give or lay down your soul means to die. And the Lord used His words in the same sense in which people use them, expressing their readiness to die, in which the Apostle Peter used it when he said: “Lord, I will lay down my life for You” (John 13:37), that is, I will die for You. Here the readiness to give one’s soul should be attributed to the human nature of Jesus Christ, to His flesh. Humanity or the flesh of Christ lays down the soul, the flesh, and again accepts it, albeit by the power of the Divinity dwelling in it. The words of the Gospel about Christ mean the same thing: “and having bowed his head, he gave up the spirit” (John 19:30). And here the words “given by the spirit” must also be applied to the flesh of Christ. The flesh has either given up the spirit or been left without a soul 346. But where Blessed Augustine had a strong influence on his time, and what especially contributed to his rise and glorification as a church leader, was his polemic with the Pelagians. This polemic, despite the fact that the appearance of the Pelagian heresy dates back to the second, last half of the church and social activity of Blessed Augustine (411), is, however, one of the very noticeable elements included in the content of the preaching activity of the blessed Bishop of Ipponia. The Pelagians, as is known, denied the heredity of original sin. Man, both after the fall of the first people, was mortal, and before the fall, it was as if he was mortal. The initial state of the primordial man was the same as the state of his descendants, so our nature is not damaged by the sin of Adam, it is no worse or lower than the nature of the first people 347. Just as before the fall man could sin, so after the fall he did not lose the opportunity not to sin. The words of the Apostle: “Just as by one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, so death spread to all men, because all sinned in him” (Rom. 5:12) the Pelagians understood in the sense that the first man, having sinned, set an example of sin 348. Refuting the heretics and dwelling on these just quoted words of the Apostle, Blessed Augustine considers such an interpretation of them incorrect. If you are looking for an example of sin or the first sinner, you should think, first of all, about the devil, he says. Meanwhile, the apostle, wanting to show that the nature of all people is damaged due to their very origin, names the one from whom we came. Further, if we agree with the indicated interpretation of the Pelagians, then there would be no need for the appearance of Christ after such a long time. If in Adam all sinners find only an example of sin, then in Abel, in turn, all the righteous could find an example and basis for their righteousness. But people need more than one example of virtue. A new birth is needed for humanity, which was condemned and damaged in Adam through birth from him 349. All of us, the descendants of Adam, are enslaved to sin, we are tributaries of death, bearing the sin of the first man, subject to condemnation before we can have freedom of choice 350. After the fall of our first parents, man lost the ability to act justly (non posse recta agere) 351. The law of his will was the need to sin, and sin is revealed in a person even against his own desire 352. The unfortunate chain of circumstances generated by the sin of Adam, together with this latter, entangled all of humanity 353. According to the preacher, the very cry (fletus) of newborn babies testifies to the corruption of human nature, to the misfortune to which all people were subjected through the sin of Adam. “As far as it can,” he says, “weak and little-conscious nature testifies. He (the baby) does not begin with laughter, but begins with crying. Get to know the unfortunate person here and lend a helping hand” 354. To prove the correctness of their opinion that Adam’s sin did not harm human nature, the Pelagians referred to the example of the Old Testament righteous men - Enoch and Elijah, who did not die, but were taken alive to heaven. The preacher considers such a reference to be unfounded, reckless, even contrary to the views of the Pelagians and more favorable to the opposite view. If we accept, as the preacher proves, that death is from sin, then we can also say that Enoch and Elijah did not die, since they had no sin, they were innocent. If we assume that death is by nature, as the Pelagians argued, then from this point of view it is no longer possible to explain why these two Old Testament righteous men did not die, because it cannot be said that they did not have nature 355. Contrary to the opinion of heretics that fallen man, even after the fall, as before the fall, remains with full opportunity for virtue, even before the opportunity not to sin, St. Augustine argues that in the fall, man “through the will of evil lost the possibility of good” (per malum velle perdidit bonum posse) 356, and that fallen man, without special help and guidance of divine grace, cannot do anything good. Such a person does not have the will to good, but only the will to evil, although such a will is no longer actually will, because it is not free, it is a shameful servant of sin. And “whoever is overcome by someone is his slave” (2 Peter 2:19) and also: “everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin” (John 8:34). The action of God's grace on a person, according to the preacher, cannot be understood as if it only facilitates the fulfillment of good deeds and is only, as it were, an assistant to the easier fulfillment of good, so that people can more easily do with the help of grace what they should and could do according to their free will, although not with such ease. With a sail, the Pelagians said, it is, of course, easier to sail on water than with an oar, but you can also sail with an oar. In the same way, it is easier to travel on an animal, for example, than on foot, however, you can also get where you need to go on foot. Blessed Augustine objects to such sophisms of his opponents with the words of the Lord, with which He addresses all His followers: “without Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). “Our True Mentor, Who deceives no one, deceives no one, Our True Teacher and Savior... when he talks about good deeds, he does not say: without Me, although you can do something, it is easier through Me; does not say: although you can bear fruit without Me, it is easier with Me. That's not what He said... What did the Lord say? “Without Me you can do nothing” 357. God produces in us both the desire for good and the accomplishment of it” 358. Since a person cannot do anything good on his own, grace is given to him as a gift, without any preliminary merit on his part. By giving us His grace, the Lord thus warns man, giving him benefits, for which he then also rewards him, thus rewarding him with His gifts. Blessed Augustine tries to confirm this idea with a clear example in the person of St. ap. Pavel. In one of the conversations, discussing the calling and conversion of the apostle, he says: “The benefit of this event is what the apostle himself recalls in his epistles... I was, he writes about himself, at first a blasphemer, a persecutor and an offender, but for this I was shown mercy, so that in me first all the long-suffering of Jesus Christ would be shown as an example to those who will believe in Him for eternal life (1 Tim. 1:13-16), because by the grace of God we are healed from the sins with which we are sick” 359. “Now in Paul, who was first called Saul, (the Lord) finds nothing good. And when I did not find anything good in him, I forgave him what was evil and gave him what was good. So, by first sending His gifts, the Lord precedes man by bestowing benefits, for which he then rewards the benefit and thus rewards him. He gives reward (bona) to those who fight a good fight, finish the course of their life, and keep the faith. But for what? for what He Himself gave. But did He Himself give you (appeal to the apostle) the strength to accomplish a good deed? if not, then what does it mean that you say in another place: I worked more than all of them, not I, however, but the grace of God, which is with me (1 Cor. 15:10)?.. So, with His help, with His mercy, you performed a good deed, and completed your course, and kept your faith... And when God crowns your merits, he crowns nothing other than His gifts.” 360. While the Pelagians, insisting on the integrity of human nature, considered the fulfillment of works of the “law” to be a completely sufficient means of achieving salvation, St. Augustine draws a sharp line between the Old Testament law, Sinai, and the New Testament law, the Gospel. The first, in his opinion, was not only not sufficient for salvation, but, on the contrary, only aggravated sin and made a person’s position even more helpless. The Old Testament law had only a negative meaning, since, aggravating sin and making a person even more ill, it encouraged him to seek a doctor and thereby led him to the “law of faith,” to the “law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus,” the law made a person a criminal. With the law came desires that became sinful because they were declared prohibited by the law. They existed, these wishes, in a person before, but they were not recognized. Now what was previously hidden is revealed and, thus, as a result of the law, our crime is revealed 361. However, the Old Testament law had important pedagogical significance for man on the other hand, since it kept him from evil through fear of punishment until perfect love appeared, casting out fear (1 John 4:18) 362. This fear-casting love is given to us by Jesus Christ, who, out of His love for us, suffered death for us, without deserving death 363. Faith in Christ, in His incarnation and suffering for the sin of people produces in man the law of love, that is, based on love, instead of the ancient, Old Testament, the fulfillment of which was supported by the fear of punishment and affirmed in reluctant, slavish obedience to the will of God. The human will, previously burdened with sin, is revived under the influence of Divine grace, and their suffering, slavishly fulfilling the commandments of God, becomes an active, loving servant of God. Whoever believes in Christ will fulfill the law not with his own righteousness, but with the righteousness that is given from God, from His grace 364. Our very faith, or even the beginning of faith, is, according to the preacher, a gift of God, undeserved 365. The direct logical conclusion of this view of Blessed Augustine on the matter of human justification was the doctrine of the predestination of some to salvation, others to destruction. And in his sermons he repeatedly and quite definitely speaks out in this sense. “God predestined us before we were,” he says, for example, at the beginning of the 158th conversation, “called us when we turned away from Him (cum aversi essemus), justified us when we were sinners, glorified us when we were mortals. If God is for us, who can be against us” (Rom. 8:31) 366. “Let no one say: God called me because I honored God. How would you honor if you were not called? If God called you because you first honored Him, then, therefore, first you gave, and then He rewarded you. But doesn’t the apostle deny this when he says: who gave Him in advance, that He should repay (Rom. 2:35)? However, when you were called, you already existed. But how are you predetermined when you did not yet exist?.. Since we were predestined when we did not yet exist, since we were called when we turned away from Him, since we were justified when we were sinners, let us glorify God,” the preacher exhorts his listeners, “and we will not remain ungrateful before Him.”367 Blessed Augustine also tries to substantiate the doctrine of predestination with considerations from reason. In his opinion, under this condition, the property of Divine omnipotence becomes more understandable and acceptable, and if not everyone is saved, it is not because God cannot save everyone, but because He wants and decided so. “Who can say that the Almighty lacked that which He could persuade so that all would believe?” 368. But, on the other hand, the preacher could not help but be embarrassed by the property of Divine justice and goodness. He could not help but feel difficulty in this case and expresses this, without, however, compromising his views, but pointing only to the incomprehensibility of God’s destinies and the limitations of human understanding. “Why does grace free this one and that one? why not one or the other? “I don’t want,” the preacher notes, “for you to ask me about this.” I am a man. I feel the depth of the cross, but do not penetrate, I tremble, but do not explore. His destinies are inscrutable and His ways unsearchable (Rom. 11:33). I am a man, you are a man. There was also a man who said: And who are you, O man, that you argue with God (Rom. 4:20)? Thus spoke man to man. Let man listen, lest man perish, for the reason of which God also became man.”369 “The potter has power to make from the same clay one vessel for honorable use, and another for dishonorable use. But, you ask, why did (God) destined me for glory (in honorem), but not the other (in contomeliam)? What should I answer to this? You want to hear Augustine, but haven’t you heard the apostle saying: who are you, a man, that you argue with God (Rom. 9:20)? Two babies were born. If you begin to demand what is due, both are subject to condemnation (ambo tenant massam perditionis). But why is one worthy of receiving grace, while the other’s mother fell asleep in a dream? Tell me, what did the first one, who was worthy of grace, deserve, and what did the other one, whom his mother fell asleep, deserve? Both deserve nothing (ambo nihil boni meruerunt), but the potter has the power to make from the same clay one vessel for honorable use, another for low. Do you want to argue with me? But rather, let us exclaim together in surprise: oh, the abyss of wealth! Let us both tremble and exclaim: oh, the abyss of wealth! and let us both unite in trembling, lest we perish in error. Oh, the depth of wealth and wisdom and knowledge of God! how incomprehensible are His deeds and unsearchable His ways” (Rom. 11:33) 370. However, we should not think that there is or can be untruth in God if the actions of His providence seem incomprehensible to us 371. All such doubts and misunderstandings regarding the incomprehensible plans of the Divine Mind will be resolved and revealed when we achieve “vision”. Then we will understand the truth of God and will not be tormented by the questions of why one was allowed by God’s providence to be baptized, another, having already been catechumens and leading a good life, suddenly died without waiting for baptism, and the third, who lived shamefully, died baptized and cleansed of sins 372. Of course, developing his doctrine of predestination, Blessed Augustine could not help but foresee the consequences that flowed from here, and all the unfavorable aspects of this teaching in moral and practical terms. Its direct consequence could be a decline in a person’s moral energy, an indifferent attitude towards good and evil, towards the pure and the vicious. Therefore, one can encounter some attempts by the preacher to reconcile the doctrine of irresistible grace and predestination with the free will of man, with his self-activity in doing good and in arranging his salvation. An excellent, deep-thought discussion about this can be found in his 26th treatise on the Gospel of John. Explaining the words of the Gospel: “no one can come to Me unless the Father draws him” (John 6:44), Blessed Augustine says, among other things, the following: “Do not think that you are drawn against your will; the spirit is drawn to love. Let us not be afraid of reproaches from people who weigh only words, but have withdrawn from understanding Divine objects, who, perhaps, will tell us: how can I believe by will if I am attracted? Not only are you attracted by will, even with pleasure (parum est voluntate, etiam voluptate traheris), I answer... There is a certain delight of the heart, for which that heavenly bread is sweet. If the poet could say: “everyone is drawn to his own pleasure” 373, not necessity, but pleasure, not compulsion, but pleasure, then how much more can we say that that person is drawn to Christ who delights in eternal life, delights, in a word, in Christ? Or do the bodily senses have their pleasures, but the spirit does not have its own? If the spirit does not have its own pleasures, then why does it say: the sons of men are at peace in the shadow of Your wings; They are satisfied from the fatness of Your house, and from the flow of Your sweets You will water them, for with You is the source of life; in Your light do we see light ( Ps. 36:8–10 )? Give it to someone who loves, and he will understand what I say; give someone who wants, give someone who thirsts, give someone who wanders in this loneliness, yearning and sighing for the source of the eternal fatherland, give him, and he will understand what I am saying. If I tell someone who is indifferent, he will not understand it... You show the green branch to the sheep and attract it. You show the nuts to the boy and attract him to you: he is attracted by love, without external coercion, but by heartfelt disposition (cordis vincula trahitur). So, if earthly pleasures and sweets attract those who love them, because each one truly attracts his own pleasure, then does not Christ, sent by the Father, also attract (revelatus Christus a Patre)? What does the soul desire more than truth? And where do we need to turn our thirsty larynx in order to be sound in the judgment of truth, if not to where we can taste and drink wisdom, justice, truth, eternity? 374. God draws to Himself “by sweet teaching, and not by violent coercion” (docendo delectate, non necessitate imponendo) 375. Not as from motionless stones, which are raised and moved by the builder, the Lord builds His church from believers, who are living stones. Therefore, the preacher calls on his listeners to stay awake and strive for their salvation. “Everything is from God, however, not so that we are as if asleep, not so that we do not try, not so that we do not want. Without your will, the truth of God will not be in you... The truth of God may be without your will, but it cannot be in you without your will” 376. In connection with Pelagianism, St. Augustine had to touch upon the issue of infant baptism in his sermons. Denying the heredity of original sin, the Pelagians argued that infants are alien to the state of sinfulness. To think that infants are not free from original sin is all the more impossible, in their opinion, if infants are born from parents who have already been regenerated and cleansed in the sacrament of baptism, that is, from Christians. This is a blessing. Augustine responds, first of all, by pointing out that no man is free from original sin. Sinful poison penetrated through the first man into the entire human race, and “no one approaches God except through the sacrament of baptism” 377. Even babies born from Christians, that is, from persons reborn in the sacrament of baptism, are not free from hereditary sinfulness, because they are born in the body and not in the spirit. This is a carnal birth. But that which is born of the flesh is flesh (John 3:6). The Pelagian preacher calls the opinions and reasonings new fabrications that violate the old rule of faith. With such fabrications they want to prevent children from coming to Christ, contrary to the direct command of the Lord: “let the children come to Me” (Mark 10:4) 378. However, there was no particular need for the preacher to insist on the need for infant baptism, since the Pelagians themselves did not leave children without baptism. But in this case, in his opinion, they were inconsistent. Recognizing that infants are free from original sin, the Pelagians either had to consider the sacrament of baptism unnecessary for them, or, admitting this latter, were obliged to abandon their views and admit that infants were involved in the sin of the first man. To get out of this contradiction, the Pelagians said that they did not allow infant baptism in those forms, so that infants could be cleansed of the hereditary filth of sin and receive salvation and eternal life, and then only so that they would not be deprived of the “kingdom of heaven,” the path to which is opened through baptism. Denouncing this fabrication of heretics, St. Augustine calls the opinion of the Pelagians new in the church and unheard of. He proves that this division of the “kingdom of heaven” and “eternal life” or “salvation” is not based on anything, that the “kingdom of heaven” and “eternal life” are one and the same, that, according to the teaching of the word of God, there are only two states: the “kingdom of heaven” or the state of salvation, and eternal torment, eternal death, and there is no middle ground between these two states. In support of this, he refers to the image of the last general judgment in the Gospel, given by the Lord Himself (Matthew 25:31–46). All people will then be divided into two halves: the righteous will be placed on the right side of the throne of the Judge, and sinners will be placed on the left. The Lord will say to the first: “Come... inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world,” and to the second, that is, those standing on the left side, He will command to go “into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” There is no mention of any third, middle, state of bliss in the kingdom prepared from the creation of the world, and the state of torment in eternal fire, besides these two. And that the “kingdom of heaven” and “eternal life” are one and the same, this is proven by further words of the Gospel, which indicate the fulfillment of the divine sentence: “and these (i.e., sinners) will go away into eternal torment, and the righteous into eternal life” 379. Further, the Pelagians are, according to the preacher, unfairly cruel to infants when, considering them completely innocent and not involved in original sin, they say that although they are rewarded with eternal life, they are not rewarded with the kingdom of heaven. “Why are you depriving the innocent of the inheritance of the kingdom of heaven?.. where is the justice here? tell me why? What serves as a stumbling block for an unbaptized baby, who has no guilt - neither his own nor that passed on from his parents - what prevents him, tell me, from entering the kingdom of heaven, so that he is separated from the saints and deprived of the community of angels? 380. In this case, heretics innocently condemn infants and subject them, as it were, to exile. Even if such a punishment is insignificant in itself. But it becomes large and severe when innocent, sinless infants are exposed to it 381. It is impossible to think that infants sin or can sin, as the Pelagians referred to when trying to free themselves from the just mentioned accusation of injustice and cruelty. The one who does not fulfill the commandments sins. Babies do not understand what is good and what is bad. “Where do they sin and when do they sin? - asks the preacher. - How do they sin?.. show me the sins of babies. Is it because they cry that they sin, or because with their movements they turn away from the unpleasant and seek the pleasant? If these movements are sinful, then they become great sinners in baptism, since when baptism is performed on them, they resist especially strongly. Why is this not charged to them as a sin, if not because they do not yet have any decision of the will (arbitrium voluntatis)? Insisting on the baptism of infants and proving its necessity, Blessed Augustine did not look at this sacrament only as an external action of grace, which is perceived by a person as if mechanically, without a corresponding internal disposition. He asserts that the grace of baptism is not imparted without the assimilating power of faith, and that children are credited with the faith of those who bring them to baptism. Explaining this idea, the preacher compares carnal birth and spiritual birth, and, just as in carnal birth the sin of their forefathers is imputed to children, so in spiritual birth, or in baptism, the faith of their parents and recipients is imputed to them. “They (babies) believe in the faith of their parents. If they are cleansed by the faith of their parents, they are also defiled by the sin of their parents. The mortal flesh of the first parents gives birth to them as sinners, and the spirit of life of subsequent parents (recipients) revives (regeneravit) them pure. Just as you (the speech is directed against the Pelagians) attribute faith to someone who does not speak, so I attribute sin to someone who does nothing.”383 If in polemics with the Pelagians, Bla. Augustine deals primarily with questions of an abstract metaphysical nature, such as: about the sin of the first man and its consequences, about free will in man and about grace, about their relationship in the arrangement of his salvation, about predestination and how to reconcile the teaching about it with the free will of people, with their moral responsibility for their actions, as well as with the property of divine goodness and justice, then in his conversations against the Donatists, who at the time St. Augustine were very numerous in Africa 384; he touches mainly on issues of a socio-practical nature - about the church and the sanctifying significance of its sacraments. For St. Augustine, the Church has the meaning of immutable authority. “I would not have believed the Gospel,” he writes, “if I had not been prompted to do so by the authority of the Catholic Church” 385. The authority of the church precedes in time, as the initial authority in the course of our spiritual and moral development 386. She is “the pillar and foundation of the truth” 387. Outside of it, the most “good deeds are useless” 388. “At least something else,” says Blessed Augustine in one of his writings, “could not be comprehended by reason and explained in words, however, if it is preached by the Orthodox faith and accepted by the entire Church, it is true” 389 . “By what we know,” he writes in another place, “we commit ourselves to reason, and by what we believe, to authority” 390. The church is such an authority for St. Augustine. As an external social organism, it was required by St. Augustine’s basic view of the world as a single whole, in which the law of divine power reigns. The Church seemed to him to be an expression of this eternal unity, a visible earthly form of divine power. Like Plato, with whose views Blessed Augustine had time to become sufficiently familiar even before his conversion to Christianity, 391 he desired the transformation of human society in accordance with its eternal prototype, with that ideal order that can be depicted in thought from the point of view of a theocratic worldview, emanating from the idea of ​​the highest divine wisdom. But if Plato’s ideal society is the kingdom of philosophers, a theocracy in the narrow Hellenic form of the state, then Augustine’s ideal is the unity of the human race, the consent of peoples united in the universal church, as a single living social organism. The Church on earth is the embodiment of the kingdom of God or the city of God in the world 392. As a divine institution, it stands outside and above any dependence on certain properties of its individual members. Therefore, to St. Augustine, it seemed false and unreasonable for the Donatists to assert that the authority and holiness of the church are independent of the persons of its constituents, their moral qualities, and that in the event of sinfulness of individual members of the church community, the church ceases to be a church, unless the sinned members are separated from it, since through communication with them all other members of the church become participants in their sins 393. Church sacraments cease to be sacraments, because, the Donatists said, whoever is not pure himself cannot have the holiness that sanctifies others 394 and cannot perform the sacraments. Contrary to this conclusion, Blessed Augustine tries to prove in his sermons that the church does not cease to be holy, even if among its members there are morally unworthy persons. It is not human holiness that saves, but the power of God, invisibly acting and visibly embodied in the church and its sacraments. The Donatists, making the sanctifying power of grace dependent on the properties of the performers of the sacraments, place their hopes on people, and not on God, and, thus, completely distort the church teaching about human salvation and deprive the church of its divine foundation. “Whoever the traitor is,” the preacher argues, “however, can the infidelity of the traitors abolish the faithfulness of God, which He (God) promised to Abraham, saying: “In your seed all nations will be blessed” (Gen. 22:18)?” 395. Consecration does not come from the person performing the sacrament. It is not man who is the author of our salvation. Salvation from God. Therefore, any of the Donastist clerics who would say: if you turn to me for the performance of the sacrament, you will receive sanctification, but if you turn to someone else, you will not receive it, is wrong. This would mean the same as if the pipe began to say about itself that it, and not the source, gives water, or if the messenger announcing the release of a prisoner in prison said that he is freeing, and not the judge 396. The absurdity of the Donatists’ assertion seems self-evident to the preacher, if you just think about their words, and for his listeners there should be no hesitation about whom to follow, whether those who, without boasting of their holiness, submit to God to judge whether they are saints or sinners, and place their hopes in God, or those who, as the Donatists do, proudly call themselves perfect and say about themselves: “if we were not perfect (boni), then you would have died.” Regarding such words and statements, the preacher is reminded of that “other” who comes in his own name, about whom the Lord speaks in the Gospel (John 5:43). But anyone who follows such self-deceived mentors will build the work of his salvation not on the true foundation, not on Christ, and he is threatened with destruction from the pressure of water and from the wind (Matthew 7:27) 397. Trying to prove the correctness of their judgments that only from morally pure and perfect persons can one receive the grace of the sacrament, the Donatists referred to the words of the Savior: “every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit” (Matthew 7:17). St. Augustine skillfully turns these words against the Donatists themselves. It is difficult for us, he argues, to judge another person whether he is good, and whether he can be called a good tree. He may have secret sins that he hides, and as a hypocrite he is undoubtedly worse than an open sinner. However, such a person may seem good and blameless to everyone else, because his secret sins are not known to anyone. Now, if such a person performs the sacrament, can the Donatists in this case apply the words of the Lord, that every good tree bears good fruit? Can a hypocrite and secret sinner performing a secret act be called a good tree? Either they must admit that in this case both the tree is bad and its fruit is bad, which, however, they do not say, and cannot say, since they do not know the moral state of the performer of the sacrament, or they must agree that the bad tree bears good fruit, and thus doubt the truth of the very words of Christ, which would be insane. We can get out of this difficulty only if we recognize that the sanctification of another person does not depend on a person, not on his personal properties, but solely on God, and that the grace of the sacrament is effective even with unworthy performers, that “the sacrament of the living God does not die in the dead” 398. Otherwise, i.e. If we agree with the opinion of the Donatists, we get a strange situation, inconsistent with common sense and with the spirit of the entire Christian teaching, when a person baptized, for example, by a secret sinner, an adulterer, receives sanctification, but not from the celebrant of the sacrament himself, but from God, who acts through him, because the sins of the person performing the celebrant are unknown to other people, and when another, baptized by a truly pure person, receives the same sanctification, but not from God as if, but from the sanctifying power and holiness of the performer of the sacrament, that is, from man. It turns out, therefore, that one who receives the sacrament from a secret sinner receives grace directly from God, and one who is baptized with a person known to be morally pure receives sanctification only from man. Happier, therefore, is “one born of a secret adulterer than one born of a pure man” 399. Such an incongruity arises, according to the preacher, when the Donatists want to make the sanctifying power of the church and its sacraments dependent on the personal moral properties of a person, and when their clergy, with the words pronounced at baptism: “I baptize you, I justify,” seem to say: “I am Christ,” and thereby anticipate the right of divine power 400. Dwelling, further, on the thought of the Donatists that the church is a society of only saints, and that all its members must therefore be morally free from all reproaches, otherwise the very existence of the church is impossible, the preacher tries to prove that the church in its earthly existence includes, along with worthy members, many unworthy ones, and that the holiness of the church is not diminished by the vices of its individual members and leaders. While the church is on earth, it is not a society of saints alone and includes many such persons who are not destined to reach the life of the next century. “She is a society of saints only in the idea of ​​a future kingdom.” Blessed Augustine repeatedly expresses this idea in his sermons and substantiates it with reference to the Lord’s parable about the wheat and the tares (Matthew 13:24–30): “You see the tares among the wheat,” he says once, explaining this parable. – You see evil Christians among the good ones. You want to purge the evil ones, calm down, it’s not harvest time yet. May (the Lord) come and find you with wheat. Why are you indignant? Why look with displeasure at the evil mixed with the good? They may be in the field with you, but they won’t be in the granary” 401. Just as precisely, speaking about the fishing of fish by the apostles on Lake Tiberias, before the suffering of the Lord (Luke 5:1-11) and after His resurrection (John 21:1-14), the preacher sees in this double fishing an indication of the fate of the Church of Christ in different periods of its existence: before the general judgment, when among its members there are good and evil, and after this judgment, when there will be only good members. “In these two fisheries the church is signified,” he says, “as it is now, and as it will be in the resurrection of the dead. Now she has without number many both good and evil, but after the resurrection of the dead she will have a certain number of only good ones” 402. Therefore, if blessed. Augustine advises his listeners to separate themselves from the evil in this life, then only with their hearts, without breaking, for the time being, the external connection with them. “Let no one leave the threshing floor ahead of time, let him endure the straw in the threshing floor, let him endure it now, it will not be in the granary. The Lord will come (ventilator), who will separate the evil from the good. There will then be a physical division, which is now preceded only by the spiritual. Always separate yourself from the evil ones, carefully uniting your body with them for the time being” 403. At the same time, not only should one not treat bad members of the church with any contempt and arrogance, but one should love them and take care that they improve (reprehendite, corripite, coercete) 404. Arrogantly considering themselves pure, withdrawing from all communication with members of the church who seemed unworthy to them, the Donatists thus violated the unity and peace of the church and, due to their arrogance and malicious intolerance, could not at all be called worthy members of it. If they themselves were pure, if they were “wheat,” then they would treat the tares with tolerance and love, and there would be no division in the church. “Whoever,” a preacher once says, “prospers in the church, should be lenient towards its bad members. However, such a person does not point out them, while many bad people murmur against the bad people, just as one healthy person can more easily endure the company of two sick people than two sick people can tolerate each other. So, I command you, brethren, this: the church of this age is a threshing floor, I have often spoken about this, often, and it contains wheat and tares. Let no one demand that all the chaff be removed before the winnow. Let no one leave the threshing floor before the winnowing day, under the pretext of not wanting to tolerate sinners, lest he himself find himself outside the threshing floor... He fears the presence of bad members who does not trust in the Lord. This is where the divisions came from. The Donatists trembled among sinners, although they themselves were the worst, and, considering themselves pure, did not want to be among the defiled. Oh, if they themselves were wheat, then until winnowing time they would endure straw on the threshing floor. But since they turned out to be tares (palea), the wind blew them out before the wind and scattered them among the thorns” 405. The Donatist community itself, therefore, cannot at all be called a society of “saints,” as they called themselves. This community is shaky and illegitimate, which is proven, according to the preacher, by the fact that instead of the character of catholicity inherent in the true church, the Donatist society carries within itself the spirit of partisanship and sectarianism. In the eyes of St. Augustine, as already said, the church is the embodiment of universal unity, which is required by the law of divine power in the universe. Hence, for the preacher, only that church is the true church, which has the character of catholicity and approaches the ideal of universality, world unity and harmony. “There are many things,” declares Blessed Augustine, “that keep me in the bosom of the church. Maintains the consent of peoples and tribes, maintains authority, sanctified by miracles, strengthened by hope, strengthened by love, established by antiquity... finally retains the very name “catholic” (catholicae), which, not without reason, among many heretical societies, only the (true) Church has retained, so that, although all heretics wish to be called catholics (cum omnes haeretici se catholicos dici velunt), however, to every stranger who asks where the meeting of Catholics is, none of the heretics dares to point to their basilica or their home” 406. “Am I, unfortunate one,” he says in another place, “will I doubt the truth of that faith, which I see widespread among nations and attested by churches scattered throughout the earth!..” 407. It is this universal character of the church that the preacher often points out in refutation of the Donatists, whose community was concentrated only in a comparatively insignificant part of the world of that time, mainly in Africa 408 . “The Church,” he says, “is spread throughout the whole earth. It is not I who proclaim it. The prophets and apostles declared this. God Himself declared so” 409. In conversation 265, touching upon the words of the Lord spoken by Him to His disciples before His ascension into heaven: “And you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8), the preacher finds that in these words the church is foreshadowed and its unity is proclaimed. “So let no one tell me,” he concludes from here, “there is a church here or there. Let human arrogance be silenced, let the Divine prediction be accepted, let the true promise be held.”410 Thus, the universal character of the church, on the one hand, proves its truth, on the other, exposes the falsity of all other religious societies that have separated from it and do not have the character of catholicity 411. “That one,” the blessed one once teaches. Augustine to his listeners, Who made His disciples fishers of men, concluded in the action of His nets every kind of certainty. If a multitude must be believed, what is more numerous than the church spread throughout the entire circle of the earth? If the rich are to be believed, let everyone see how many rich she has captured; if you need to believe the poor, let them look at the thousands of poor; if noble, then almost everyone is nobility; if kings, let them know that they too have submitted to Christ; if the orators, the learned, the wise, let them see how many orators, how many learned, how many wise men of this age have been caught by those fishermen (i.e., the apostles)” 412 . Being outside the church, Donatists and all heretics generally deprived of church communion cannot receive salvation, because only in the church is the sanctifying grace of the Holy Spirit active. The church compares the preacher to the human body. The human body has many members. But they all move and live with one spirit. If, for example, any member is torn from the body, then the spirit does not follow it, and it becomes dead. “What our spirit is, that is, our soul, in relation to our members, the same is the Holy Spirit in relation to the members of Christ, to the body of Christ, which is the church” 413. The members of our body are in such a relationship with each other that each member suffers if one of them suffers 414. But there may also be dead members in the human body, cut off from communication with the spirit, which do not live the common life of the body and do not share its joys and sorrows. Likewise, in the church body there may be dead members, that is, deprived of communion with the Holy Spirit. These are members who do not have the spirit of love and unity. Just as in the body a dead member represents nothing but one form and has no life, so every person who is outside the communion of the Holy Spirit, and in one way or another separated from the church, is a dead member, having only one appearance, one soulless form. “You look for the sacraments from him, you find them; you look for baptism, you find it; you look for a symbol, you find it. But everything is form. If there is no spirit inside, it is in vain that you boast about the form” 415. This inner spirit in relation to the members of the church is the spirit of unity and love. Only one who has love and strives for unity can be a true living member of the church, because he is in close unity with the soul of the entire church organism, the Holy Spirit, and through the communication of love takes part in all the grace-filled gifts of the church. “Here you have a sacrament, and I admit it,” says the preacher, turning his speech to the Donatists. “You have a form, but you are still a branch torn from the vine.” You show the form, and I’m looking for the root. But where is the root if not in love? 416. How a believer through love becomes an inseparable member of the single organism of the church, which is moved by the Holy Spirit, and how through this he becomes a partaker of the fullness of grace-filled gifts poured out on her, Blessed Augustine repeatedly speaks about this in his sermons. Here, for example, is one of his beautiful and thoughtful reflections on this issue: “Well, brethren,” the preacher addresses the listeners in one of his conversations on the Gospel of John, “if the one who now receives the sacrament of baptism and believes in Christ does not speak in the languages ​​of all nations, should one therefore think that he has not received the Holy Spirit? Let us not let such boldness tempt our hearts. We know that everyone (baptized) receives the Holy Spirit, but he receives it as much as he brings the vessel of his faith closer to the source. But if he does, why, someone will say, does no one have the gift of tongues (quare nemo loquitur linguis omnium gentium)? Because,” the preacher replies, “the church itself already speaks in the languages ​​of all nations.” Previously, the church was only in one tribe when it received the miraculous gift of tongues. Speaking then in the languages ​​of all nations, she predicted the future when, through distribution among all tribes, all languages ​​would be spoken. Whoever is not in this church does not now receive the Holy Spirit... If he has the Holy Spirit, let him prove it by the sign that was given to the apostles then. Let him speak in different languages. But do you yourself, - Blessed Augustine asks himself through the mouth of his opponent, - do you speak in different languages? “I certainly say,” he replies, “because every language is also my language, that is, that of the body of which I am a member.” The church, spread throughout the world among different peoples, speaks different languages. She is the body of Christ, and you are a member of this body. And since you are a member of that body that speaks in all tongues, believe that you also speak in all tongues. The unity of the members is maintained by love. And this unity speaks now as one person spoke then. Consequently, we also receive the Holy Spirit if we love the church, if we are bound by love... Let us believe, brethren, that to the extent that someone loves the Church of Christ, he becomes a partaker of the gifts of the Holy Spirit... If you love church unity, everyone has everything for you, no matter what he has in it (this unity). Drive out hatred, and what I have will be yours. I will drive out hatred, and what you have will be mine” 417. The preacher explains this further with examples from the relationship between the members of the human body. “One eye has the power of vision in the body. But does he really only see for himself? and for the hand he sees, and for the leg, and for the other members. Because if a blow threatens, for example, a leg, the eye tries to notice it and prevent the danger. Likewise, with the help of hands a person performs his various deeds (opera). But does the hand really only work for itself? and it works for the eye, and if some blow is directed not at the hand, but at the face, does the hand say: I won’t move from my place, I won’t touch, since it doesn’t concern me. Thus the foot serves all members, thus the tongue speaks for all. So we also have the Holy Spirit if we love the church. We love if we remain in her union and love” 418. The Church of Christ consists, in the opinion of the preacher, not only of believers in Christ now living on earth, but also of those who previously lived, as well as believers who will appear later until the end of the visible world. “She is the whole body of saints who make up one society (totus populus sanctorum ad unam civitatem pertinentium). This society (civitas) is the body of Christ, its head is Christ. Here the angels are our fellow citizens. But we, as travelers still, experience sorrows (laboramus), and those (angels) await our coming” 419. Touching upon the question of the relationship of the real earthly church (Ecclesia peregrina) 420 to the heavenly church, the church of saints (Ecclesia immanens in coelo) 421, the preacher says that communication between one and the other church consists, on the one hand, in the reverent veneration by members of the earthly church of the saints of the heavenly church, and on the other, in the gracious and beneficial assistance of the saints to believers, belonging to the earthly church. In his conversations, he often reminds his listeners of the veneration of saints and martyrs. However, this veneration of saints should be far from pagan polytheism. By honoring the martyrs, Christians should glorify God, who gave them the grace of martyrdom. “We do not consider our martyrs to be gods and do not honor them as gods” 422. It is not for them that Christians build churches and altars, it is not for them that they make sacrifices, it is not for them that priests serve (offerunt). All this is given to God. “Although they have St. martyrs are places consecrated... however, we do not honor them instead of Christ. Have you ever heard that I or anyone else at the tomb of St. They said to Theogenis: I bring it to you, Saint Theogenis, or: I bring it to you, Peter, I bring it to you, Paul? You've never heard this before. And if someone says to you, “Do you really not honor Peter?” answer the same as Eulogius said about Fructuosus: I do not honor Peter, but God, whom Peter also honors. Only then will Peter love you” 423. In particular, by glorifying and honoring the martyrs, we glorify their firmness in suffering, which they could only demonstrate with the help of God. Without God, the martyrs would not have won. Even if they conquered the fear of death, they could not defeat the devil. It happens that even without God’s help people overcome sorrows. But in this case, being defeated by the devil, they receive help from him, overcoming torment not with patience, but with bitterness (non habentes patientiam, sed duritiam) 424. Having loved God to the point of being ready to die for Him and having become friends of Christ, the saints do not need prayers for them to God, but, on the contrary, believers living on earth can entrust themselves to their prayers. “The (earthly) church does not pray for the martyr, but rather, it itself relies on their prayers” 425. “They came out of this life so perfect that they do not need our help, but they themselves are our intercessors” 426. To pray for the martyrs even means to insult them, according to the preacher 427. But by praying to the saints, the earthly church in no way diminishes the honor of its only Intercessor, Christ Jesus, because the saints do not help us by themselves, not by their own power, but by the power of Him with whom they are united, and to Whom they cleave, like the best members to the head (cui capiti perfecta membra cohaeserunt) 428 . God glorifies the very bodies of the dead saints, imparting to them miraculous power, so that those who remain alive, by this glorification of the remains of the saints, can judge what great glory their souls are awarded 429. At the same time, the Lord glorifies the bodies or relics of the saints not at all for their glory, which glory they, as having achieved heavenly eternal glory, do not need, but for the consolation and prayerful edification of believers (ad memorias orationum) 430. But if the holy saints of God do not require our prayers for them to God, who for other dead Christians, prayers, offerings and works of mercy performed for them are not useless, but only if they died in faith, in the communion of the Body and Blood of Christ. “There is no doubt,” says the preacher, “that the prayers of the Holy Church, the saving sacrifice (sacrificium salutare - refers to the sacrament of the Eucharist) and the works of mercy performed for the souls of the dead help them, so that they receive more mercy from God than they would deserve for their sins. Thus, it was handed down to us by the fathers and commanded by the entire Church that prayers be made and a (bloodless) sacrifice offered for those who died in the communion of the body and blood of Christ. When deeds of mercy are performed in their memory (eorum commendandorum causa), who can doubt that this benefits those for whom prayers are not offered to God in vain? There is no doubt that all this is useful to the dead, but only to those who lived in such a way before death that everything like this (prayers and acts of mercy performed for them) can be useful for them. Whoever dies without faith, which acts through love (quae per dilectionem operatur), and its mysteries, the deeds of piety, which he did not have while he lived here on earth, are in vain.”431 However, this does not mean that the dead acquire any new merits when any deeds of mercy are performed for them, but only to the good deeds that precede them are these subsequent ones added (sed eorum praecedentibus consequentia ista redduntur), or, in other words, prayers offered for the dead, and deeds of charity performed for them, can be useful to them when the earthly life of the dead is not alien to virtue so much as to make the prayers and other deeds of Christian piety that accompany them after death on the part of the remaining living useful. Thus, everyone who dies receives after death only what he deserved during his earthly life 432. The preacher teaches about the afterlife state of the souls of the dead that for the good it will be a state of peace, and for the evil it will be a state of torment. However, both of them - both peace and torment - intended for the dead, until the general judgment, are insignificant in comparison with the bliss and the torment that will come after this judgment. Now, after death, the righteous (qui bonas causas habent) go to a place of peace, and sinners (qui autem malas habent causas) to a place of torment. This state of peace for the righteous and torment for sinners in relation to the bliss and torment that is to come after the general resurrection can be likened to the state of bliss or sorrow that a person sometimes experiences in a dream, in comparison with the joys or sorrows that he has to experience in reality 433. Blessed Augustine often dwells in his sermons on eschatological issues: the resurrection of the dead, the universal judgment, the eternal bliss of the righteous and the eternal punishment of sinners after judgment. The preacher was encouraged to discuss these issues not only by the fact that they relate to the fundamental, pressing issues of human existence, on one or another resolution of which this or that direction of life itself depends, but also by the special circumstances of his time. As was already said above, many of the Christians contemporary with Blessed Augustine were embarrassed by reproaches from the pagans that, with the spread of the Christian faith, not only did the earthly well-being of people not increase, but, on the contrary, the misfortunes of earthly life increased noticeably, and the Roman state itself was close to its fall. In view of the external shocks to which the Roman state was subjected in the days of Augustine, his contemporaries felt as if “on a volcano, which with its eruption could hourly engulf them with all their civilization; but the less secure the tomorrow was for them, the deeper they plunged into the most hidden religious questions,” 434, among which questions of eschatology occupied not the least place. In addition, in Christian society itself, borrowed negative views were spreading from the pagans, undermining faith in God's providence, in the resurrection of the dead and in the future life beyond the grave. The misfortunes of earthly life, the excessive pursuit of material wealth, the exaggerated importance that was given to them not only by pagans, but also by Christians, alien to the hope of their faith, the disparity between virtue and the well-being of people, which is very noticeable in the world, all this directed the preacher’s thought to heaven, to the hope of the resurrection and the future blessed life. Here, in this hope, he himself found and indicated to others the meaning and purpose of real life and reconciliation with the sad earthly reality. In his opinion, our real earthly life, strictly speaking, is not life. In comparison with the future life, it can rather be called death, because it is combined with constant fear and fear that all this earthly will end. From such constant fear comes constant torment, and where there is torment, can we talk about life? Reasoning in this way, Blessed Augustine comes to the conclusion that there is no life except a blessed one, and that such a blessed life can only be eternal life. “Behold,” says the preacher, “when we achieve life (to which should we add eternal or blessed, since it is said - life, because that alone is life that is eternal and blessed), when we achieve life, then we will truly know that this life will be eternal. If we don’t have this knowledge, this confidence that we will always live that life, then there will be fear. If there is fear, then there will be torment not of the flesh, but, what is even worse, torment of the spirit (cordis). Where is the torment, what bliss is there? 435. Due to its brevity, earthly life is like a dream. Its benefits are fragile, and the pleasures from them are as fleeting as the fleeting riches of a poor man, which he saw in a dream 436. The same eternal blissful life is the actual true life, because there will be no anxiety, no danger, no temptation, no fear, but only endless bliss 437. Regarding the latest eschatological events, the preacher stands on the basis of general church teaching 438. Eternal blessed life comes after the general resurrection of the dead. “We are promised the resurrection of the flesh, the destruction of death, eternal life along with the angels. We will get all this together. Everyone receives the peace that is given after death, if he deserves it, immediately as soon as he dies. Some have been in this peace for a long time, others not so long ago, some have died recently, while others are almost forgotten. When they awaken from this sleep of death, together they will all receive what was promised” 439. The very resurrection of the dead will happen quickly, in the blink of an eye, and the body of the resurrected will be like the body of the risen Lord 440. The Resurrection of Christ serves precisely as the basis of our faith in the future general resurrection and its guarantee 441. The very miracle of Christ’s resurrection is beyond any doubt: “If we are lying,” says the preacher, “ask the face of the earth. Much that was promised has already happened. Much that was a source of hope has come true. The Christian faith is widespread throughout the world. Even those who have not yet believed in Him do not dare to contradict the resurrection of Christ. The sky testifies, the earth testifies, the higher ones testify (testimonium ab angelis), the lower ones testify (testimonium ab inferis). What would not indicate this? 442. The truth of the future resurrection of our flesh, the guarantee of which is the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, can also find its confirmation in the everyday phenomena of the visible nature around us. As proof of this truth, the preacher points to facts constantly observed in life: sleep and awakening from it, the monthly appearance and disappearance of the moon, the blossoming and falling of leaves on trees, etc. This is how he speaks about this in one of his conversations: “All creation, unless we are deaf to its voice, testifies to the resurrection. Based on the numerous similarities that we observe in daily life, we can conclude what the Lord will do at the end of the age with the human race. The resurrection of Christians will happen one day, but the sleep and awakening of everyone living on earth happens every day. Sleep is like death, awakening is like resurrection. Based on what happens daily, believe that it will happen once. Here the moon is born every month, grows, reaches its full measure, then decreases, disappears and is born again. What happens monthly in the moon will happen once on Sunday... Next, where do the leaves on the trees come from and where do they go? where do they go? Which room are they coming from? Behold, having dried up and fallen off in winter, now with the onset of spring they again bloom and turn green. Is it just now that this has happened, or was it like this last year? Of course, this was the case last year as well. Greenery falls from trees in autumn and winter, and appears again in spring and summer. If this is how nature rotates in time, then will people, created in the image of God, perish with death - (Ergo annus redit in tempore, et homines, facti ad imaginem Dei, cum mortui fuerint, interibunt)? But perhaps someone who has little insight into the changes and rebirth taking place in nature will say: these leaves rot and new ones are born. But anyone who understands sees that everything that rots serves to fatten the earth (in vires terrae cedunt). Where does the earth become fat, if not from the decay of earthly objects? Those who cultivate the land know this well; but even those who do not cultivate the land, who always live in cities, can know from the estates adjacent to the city how carefully the waste of the city is preserved. True, they (impurities) are despicable and are considered completely useless by ignorant people. But what even the gaze of another turns away from, the farmer tries to preserve. That which has already worn out and seems unnecessary serves to fertilize the earth, passes into sap and into the root, and then rises in invisible ways into the trunk, is divided into branches, from here passes into shoots, from shoots into fruits and leaves” 443. Expounding before the audience the general church teaching about the resurrection of the dead, the preacher at the same time refutes various negative views directed against this teaching. As always, in the time of St. Augustine there were many people whose main rule of life was the words: “let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we will die” (1 Cor. 15:32) 444. To justify their unworthy behavior, they ridiculed the belief in the resurrection of the dead, pointing out, among other things, that no one ever returns from the afterlife. “So-and-so lies in the grave,” they say. “It would be nice to hear his voice.” I would like to hear the voice of my father, grandfather and great-grandfather. Who returned from there? who declared what happens beyond the grave (apud inferos)?” 445. To this objection, the preacher replies that for such persons it could not even matter if the signs they demanded were fulfilled. "Insane! - he addresses everyone who thinks this way. - If your father were resurrected, you would believe; The Lord of all has risen, and you don’t want to believe?! Why did He want to die and rise again, if not so that we could all believe one thing and not be deceived by many? and what would your father do if he rose again and said that he would die again? 446. Some further pointed out the impossibility of the resurrection of bodies, because they decay and turn to dust. “Will this dust,” they said, “one day have the appearance of beauty and return to life, return to the light? when will this happen, and can we expect anything living to come out of these ashes?” 447. To resolve this bewilderment, Blessed Augustine points to the omnipotence of God. Nothing is impossible for God Almighty. For Him, if we really think about it this way, it was more difficult to create us out of nothing than to turn something, even ashes, into a body. “Now I affirm,” the preacher declares, “that God will do this (resurrect the dead), but you doubt the possibility of resurrection. I do not say to you: show me a Christian or a Jew, but show me a pagan, an idolater, a servant of demons, who would not call God omnipotent. He can deny Christ, but he cannot deny the omnipotence of God. So, whom you (suppose that I, notes Blessed Augustine, am talking as if with a pagan, quasi pagano loquor) call Almighty God, by his action the dead will be resurrected. If you say that this (resurrection) cannot happen, you are limiting the Almighty. If you admit that he (God) is omnipotent, why do you laugh at the preaching of the resurrection?” 448. “You,” says the preacher in another place, “even if you find ashes in the grave, take yourself, let you be thirty, fifty or more years old. In the grave you find at least the ashes of the deceased. What were you fifty years ago, and where were you? The bodies of all of us, speaking now or listening, after a while, will be ashes, but before there was no ashes themselves. So, the one who created what did not exist will not be able to recreate what was?” 449. Sometimes opponents of the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead also pointed to the words of the apostle that “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Cor. 15:50). But the words of the apostle, the preacher objects, should not be understood in the sense that a person clothed with a body cannot achieve the kingdom of God, but that there, in the eternal kingdom, there will be no domination of sinful sensuality. These words in the Latin text read like this: “caro et sanguis regnum Dei non possidebunt” 450. “It’s fair,” the preacher reasons, “the apostle said: “non possidebunt” (that is, they will not take possession). It is not characteristic of the flesh to possess, but to be possessed (non est enim carnis possidere, sed possideri). After all, it is not your body that controls your soul, but your soul that controls your body. Consequently, if the flesh is resurrected, it will not be for domination, but so that it itself can be under domination. And what is surprising, therefore, when it is said that flesh and blood will not inherit the kingdom of God, since they, flesh and blood, will not dominate, but will themselves be under dominance. Only those who are possessed by the flesh belong to the kingdom of the devil, and not to the kingdom of God.”451 In addition, the apostle, according to the preacher, in his own words wants to show that only those who reach the kingdom of heaven do not live according to the flesh, that is, are not guided by its sinful motives 452. In the time of Augustine, there was also an opinion that allowed only the so-called moral resurrection, that is, moral rebirth through faith. But such a resurrection cannot, he says, be confused with the future resurrection of the flesh. “Spiritual resurrection through faith is taking place even now. The apostle writes the following about him: “if you have been raised with Christ, then seek the things that are above, where Christ sits at the right hand of God; Set your mind on things above, and not on earthly things. For you are dead and your life is hidden with Christ in God” (Col. 3:1-3). Just as we die in spirit and then are resurrected in spirit, so then we die in the flesh and are resurrected in the flesh. When a person withdraws from all bad deeds, the soul dies and is resurrected for good deeds. “Mortify,” says the apostle, “your earthly members: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil lust and covetousness, which is idolatry” (Col. 3:5). By mortifying these evil members, we acquire the opposite good ones: holiness, meekness, love, mercy. So, just as death in the spirit precedes resurrection in the spirit, so death in the flesh precedes the future resurrection in the flesh" 453 . The preacher also had to resolve some casuistic questions in his conversations, which came either from the desire of non-believers to ridicule the teaching about the future resurrection of the body, or simply from the curiosity of believers. These were questions, for example, about at what age infants will be resurrected - whether as grown people, or as they died, that is, as infants, whether we will have ears to hear, eyes to see, a tongue to speak, whether we will have teeth, mouth, lungs, belly and other members. Answering the first of these questions, the preacher is ready to admit that it is more likely that babies will be resurrected at full age and will immediately receive what they could receive gradually during their earthly life. If we assume that babies will be resurrected at the age at which they died, then we still cannot think that they will be as helpless as here. One cannot think that the old ones will also rise weak, bent and suffocating. “However,” notes Blessed Augustine, “throw away only corruption and think as you wish” 454. As for the members of the human body, even though there was no need for them as serving tools of the human body, however, in the opinion of the preacher, they will not be superfluous in the future life for beauty and harmony (ad speciem, non ad usum) 455. Let there be no need for them, but this will not make them indecent. And those members of the human body that are now considered shameful will then not be considered such; Then there will be nothing shameful, because the most shameful passion will not exist. After all, even here on earth, where a person lives under the burden of constant need, his body has such accessories that are intended by God not for any use, not for the purpose of satisfying any practical need, but only for beauty. Only from this point of view can it be considered appropriate, for example, for a man to have a beard or for him to have chest bulges. The same expediency, i.e. beauty and harmony, one can justify the existence in the resurrected body of a person of different members of this body, although in the future life, after the resurrection, those needs for which they are now intended cannot take place 456. Opponents of the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead sometimes wanted to justify their disbelief with data from positive science. Some of the representatives of natural knowledge, mainly learned pagans (philosophi gentium), based on the weight of bodies and the arrangement of the elements, argued that a body cannot be in heaven, because the law of gravity does not allow this 457. Regarding the above objection of pagan scientists, the preacher points, first of all, to the beliefs of Christians that, due to the peculiarities of their properties, those ordinary conditions in which all bodies are found and to which they are subject will not apply to resurrected bodies. “We believe that we will have bodies that are capable of being wherever we want” 458. They will be similar to the body of Christ with which He ascended to heaven 459. Further, Blessed Augustine refers to the omnipotence of God, which, even according to the beliefs of the pagans themselves, can overcome the laws of nature. “What,” he says, “if God wants this? Do you not admit, every pagan, that God is omnipotent? Isn’t it read in Plato’s book, which I mentioned yesterday 460, that the uncreated God addressed the created gods with the following words: since you were created, you are mortal and perishable. However, you will not decay or die. No power of death is more powerful than my definition, which binds you more strongly than any other ties by which you are bound 461. – God rules everything according to His will; for Him even the impossible is possible. What else do these words mean: you are mortal, but I make you immortal, if not that I am doing something impossible? 462. Finally, the order of arrangement of elements, to which pagan scholars referred, is not always observed, according to the preacher, so that some deviations from it can be found. According to the ancients, the world consists of four elements: earth, water, air and pure fire - ether, with earth below, water above earth, air and fire behind it 463. Why, however, asks St. Augustine, does a tree, which should be related to the earth, float in water? “The earthly is a body (wood). If you apply the law of gravity to it, then it should be under water, and not on water. Here we find water in the middle between the earth and the tree: above the earth and above the water is the earth again, because the tree must be related to the earth. Now you have lost the law of gravity, so better hold on to faith” 464. Also, lead, one of the heaviest bodies, when formed into a vessel, floats in water. If the hand of an ordinary craftsman does something so that the heaviest of earthly bodies, lead, can float on water, then how much more can God do something similar with the human body 465 . And the water itself, before flowing on the earth, enclosed in clouds, floats in the air 466. The resurrection of bodies, the pagan philosophers (Porfiry) further said, is unnecessary and unnecessary. The soul can be blessed only if it is freed from any body. The body is the prison of the soul. Therefore, whatever it is, the soul must get rid of it if it wants to achieve bliss 467. Analyzing this objection of pagan philosophers, St. Augustine accuses them of inconsistency and contradiction. The statement that the soul cannot be blessed while remaining in the body contradicts their teaching about the world as a great animal (animal magnum), whose soul, which they call Zeus or Hecate, is contained in the world as in a body, and will remain in it forever, without ceasing to be blessed. “You, who claim that it is necessary to take care of liberation from every body, first kill the world. You tell me to avoid my flesh; but let your Jupiter withdraw from heaven and earth” (that is, from the universe, the soul of which he is) 468. In addition, the preacher refers to the above evidence from Plato that the gods, created by Zeus from two substances, corporeal and incorporeal, receive from him a promise that they will forever remain in their bodies in order to eternally enjoy a state of serene bliss 469. Blessed Augustine also accurately refutes the opinion of pagan scientists, according to which the souls of the dead righteous, having spent some time in heaven, return to earth again to begin the same life there 470. And here the preacher refers to the authority of writers respected by pagans. Namely, he points to Aeneas, who descended into the kingdom of the dead. Even Aeneas was horrified and did not believe it when his deceased father, showing him the souls of deceased noble Romans, announced that they, that is, these souls, should return again to their bodies. "Father! - he exclaimed, - do gentle souls go from here to heaven and return from there again to rough bodies? what a terrible desire of this unfortunate world!” 471. Touching further on the doctrine of the universal final judgment of God, Blessed Augustine expresses an interesting opinion on the question of why the Lord will come to judge people, albeit with glory, however, in the same slavish form in which He appeared before to be condemned. In the same slavish form, the Lord will appear at judgment because, the preacher reasons, that along with the pure-hearted righteous, sinners unworthy to see God will also have to appear before Him, since only “the pure in heart will see God” (Matthew 5:8). Therefore, it is the Lord who will appear at the judgment in the same form in which he came before, in which sinners saw Him and, not understanding God in Him, killed Him. Therefore the wicked will see Him. They will not see the image of the Divine, since “blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God” (Matthew 5:8) 472. Together with the Lord, the saints will also be judges on the day of the final universal judgment. “He will come with all His angels, when all nations are gathered before Him” (Matthew 25:31–32). Among the angels we should also count those who will be so perfect that, sitting on twelve thrones, they will judge the twelve tribes of Israel (Matthew 19:28). People are also called angels. Thus, the apostle says about himself in his letter to the Galatians: “you received me as an angel of God” (Gal. 4:14). – Likewise, it is said about John the Baptist: “Behold, I send My angel before Your face, who will prepare Your way before You” (Mk.1:2; Matt.11:10; Mal.3:1). So, having appeared with all the angels, the Lord will have the saints with Him..." 473. The number twelve, about which the Lord speaks in the Gospel, must be understood in an indefinite sense. It only indicates the completeness of the judicial tribunal. Otherwise, the preacher argues, even the Apostle Paul would have to be excluded from the number of judges, who, however, worked more than all the other apostles in the work of the gospel of Christ 474. The life of the righteous in the next century will be like the life of angels 475. This will be eternal sabbath (sabbatum erit perpetuum), ineffable peace. It is impossible to express what will happen there. One can only say what will not be there. There will be no marriage, for example, and the birth of children, there will be no need for reinforcement with food, because there will be no fatigue, there will be no growth, old age and death, there will be no deeds and activities, even worthy of praise, which are caused by the needs and requirements of this earthly life 476. However, the preacher argues, there will be no what could be called idleness 477. This will be a state of constant wakefulness and continuous glorification of God 478, and it will not manifest itself in the transitory sounds of the voice, but “in the flame of the spirit” (affectu animi) 479. “Without any fatigue and with unceasing delight, contemplating the truth itself, flaming with love for it, and uniting with it in some pure contact (amplexu) incorporeal, with the same (i.e. incorporeal) voice we will glorify it and say: hallelujah” 480. However, while depicting in general terms the benefits of eternal life, St. Augustine admits at the same time that they cannot be expressed or described. If this could be done, the word of Scripture would turn out to be false: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man, the things that God has prepared for those who love Him” (1 Cor. 2:9). How, in this case, the preacher asks himself, can one talk about something that has not even crossed the person’s heart? “This,” he answers, “is accepted by faith (creditur), and not seen; not only is it not seen, but it is also not expressed” 481. But, reasoning this way, Blessed Augustine feels in great difficulty, and even, in the end, refuses to resolve such a misunderstanding, modestly declaring that he cannot clarify this issue. “If (the bliss of eternal life) cannot be expressed,” he says, “then how can it be an object of faith? who believes in what he does not hear? if he hears and believes, then it can be expressed. If you can express it, therefore you can think. If it is thought and expressed, it means... – and it enters a person’s heart. This is a question that,” the preacher modestly concludes, “we cannot explain.”482 The bliss of the righteous in the eternal heavenly kingdom of Christ will not be the same for everyone. According to the difference in merit, some will experience more bliss, others less, although in relation to duration (ad vitam aeternam) this bliss will be the same. “That which is equally constant will not be longer for one and shorter for another. What has no end will have no end either for you or for me” 483. With all this, despite the different degrees of bliss of eternal life, there will be no dissatisfaction with one’s condition and an envious attitude towards the condition of others, because it will be a kingdom of perfect all-reconciling love, excluding any manifestations of selfish isolation or envy. “God will be there - all and in all” (1 Cor. 15:28), so that through love, since God is love (1 John 4:8), what will be common to all will be what each individual will have. So everyone, if he loves, has in another what he does not have. There will be no envy of unequal glory, because the unity of love will reign in everyone” (unitas charitatis) 484. The opposite of the bliss of the righteous, the state of sinners after the general judgment appears to the preacher as a state of eternal torment, eternal death. Although no one dies there, still blessed. Augustine finds it more decent to say that no one lives there, because there can be no talk of any life there, where there is eternal torment, only constant sorrow of body and soul 485. Corporal sorrow will consist of constant punishment, constant suffering of the body, and mental sorrow will consist of distance from God (Dei absentia) 486. As in the kingdom of bliss, here too the torment will be different according to everyone’s sins. “Everyone will suffer, but one more, another less” 487. The preacher tends to imagine the eternal fire burning the bodies of sinners sensually. Thus, pointing to the torment of the gospel rich man in hell, he says that this rich man found “eternal thirst, an unceasing flame. The fire engulfed purple and fine linen; the tunic in which he boasted was burning” 488. But here the question arose for St. Augustine: how the body of resurrected sinners, which does not have the property of corruption, can be subjected to sensual torment. The inquisitive mind of the great teacher does not stop before this difficult eschatological question, and in his sermons one can find some, albeit casuistic, but at the same time witty solution. He claims that the body of resurrected sinners will be somewhat different compared to the body of the righteous. It will be, he says, some kind of corruptible incorruptibility - a body, although incorruptible, is still available for sensual punishment and torment. Therefore, it will turn out to be incorruptible, so that this torment could be eternal. “The bodies of the wicked will be incorruptible, there will be no destruction in them, but this incorruptibility of the body and a certain, how to say, integrity (firmitas) of it, corruptible incorruptibility, will serve as punishment. Because where there is sorrow, one cannot say that there is no corruption. But it (the body) will not weaken from sorrows, so that the sorrow itself does not die” 489. It is easy to see, however, that the matter remains unclear even after this explanation. We simply cannot understand two contradictory concepts in the words: “corruptible incorruptibility.” But this testifies to the curiosity of the preacher and his ardent devotion to church teaching, which he tried to protect and protect from all possible objections. From the presented outline of the doctrine in the sermons of Blessed Augustine, it is clear that the entire almost wide area of ​​​​Christian dogma was the subject of his preaching, and in this respect he can take first place among the preachers of the Western ancient Christian church 490. The preacher pays primary attention, as we have seen, to those questions, the clarification of which was caused by the circumstances of his contemporary life, which were the subject of heretical errors, and regarding which misunderstandings and doubts, tempting and harmful to Christian piety, existed at that time and are always the most possible. These are the questions: about the purpose and meaning of real life, about its happiness and unhappiness, about the providence of God, about good and evil, about God, one in essence and trinitarian in persons, about the relationship of the persons of the Most Holy Trinity, about the incarnation of the Son of God, about the freedom of human will and about its relation to divine grace, about the earthly church, about the sanctifying and saving power of God operating in it, with the sinfulness of its individual members, as well as eschatological questions: about the resurrection, about the future afterlife, etc. Expounding before his listeners the truths of the Christian faith, Blessed Augustine not only gives answers to existing objections, but tries to find and warn against all possible tricks of the human mind, which is stubborn in its delusion. At the same time, the preacher’s thought, prone to abstraction and brought up on dialectics, is distinguished by its resourcefulness, wit, and is so resourceful that it is often difficult to follow all its twists. “You need to have a lot of patience,” says one of our domestic theologian writers, “to follow all the subtle combinations of Augustine’s thoughts with your thoughts; not only when reading polemical works, but also when reading sermons, his reader’s mind becomes tired of considering the cunning constructions of a refined mind” 491. For a better understanding of the sublime truths of the Christian faith in the minds of those listening, the preacher, as we have seen, turns to objects and phenomena of the surrounding life and, with the examples and similarities found here, tries to prove the correctness of the contents of the teaching of the church. The entire unwritten great book of God’s works served for him as the ladder along which he himself ascended and wanted to lead others to the understanding of that “Invisible”, which, according to the word of the Apostle, through the examination of creation becomes visible (Rom. 1:20). “Shall I begin to consider the earth,” says Blessed Augustine in one of his conversations, “contemplating in the surrounding visible nature the wondrous traces of the creative power of God, - the earth was created. Its beauty is great, but it has an artist. Great are the miracles of seeds and those who give birth, but all this has a Creator. Will I take in the greatness of the overflowing sea all around? I am perplexed, amazed and looking for the organizer. I will look at the sky and the beauty of the stars, I will marvel at the brilliance of the sun, sufficient to indicate the day, and the moon, cheering the darkness of the night. All this is wonderful, worthy of praise... But it is still insufficient for me. I thirst for the One who arranged all this” 492. With his wide powers of observation and his mind, illuminated by divine light, the preacher knew how to read this great book of nature and draw from it numerous lessons for the edification of his listeners and their confirmation in the truths of faith. This constituted the main and cherished goal to which the preacher’s creed was reduced. And no matter how deeply his thoughts go, he always tries to stand on the basis of the generally accepted teaching of the church in explaining certain dogmatic subjects. Even some of the deviations he made in this regard, such as, for example, the doctrine of predestination and the fact that man does not have freedom of choice and cannot do anything good without the special influence of divine grace on him, came from the pious fear of Blessed Augustine to sin against the doctrine of the omnipotence of God and from a special feeling of reverence for God and divine grace 493. And it is not surprising if, in view of his own experience of rebirth by divine grace, he was imbued with a feeling of special reverence for it and, perhaps, was sometimes carried away by a feeling of what was more appropriate 494. Touching upon dogmatic issues, the preacher reveals an extraordinary depth of Christian and scientific thought 495. But "God is the central point of his faith and thought" 496. All his judgments are imbued with a feeling of deep, sincere piety. The latter indicated the boundaries for his inquisitive mind, beyond which he did not dare to cross 497. This deeply pious feeling of Blessed Augustine found expression in the following beautiful words of his in a letter to the governor of Africa, Darius: “Receive the books of my Confessions,” he wrote to Darius, “for which you asked. Look at me there and don't praise me more than I deserve. Believe not what others say about me, but believe in myself. Look at me there and admire what I was like (et vide, quid fuerim in me ipso, per me ipsum). And if you find anything good in me, praise not me, but Him whom I wanted to glorify. He created us and recreated us when we destroyed ourselves” 498. Chapter II. Moral teaching in the sermons of St. Augustine Teaching the doctrine of the Christian faith in his sermons, Blessed Augustine at the same time pays a lot of attention to issues of a moral and practical nature. The motivation for this was, again, the conditions of contemporary life. If there was little peace in church life in the age of St. Augustine from its inner side, from the side of the firmness of faith and confession of the dogmas of the church, then many negative phenomena were noticed in the state of the then Christian society and from the moral side. Already from the very first centuries, complaints about the morals and worldliness of Christians can be heard from the lips of the fathers and teachers of the church. Origen, for example, laments that the Christians of his time were more devoted to worldly affairs, were careless in listening to the sermon, and behaved indecently and irreverently when delivering it. The women indulge in empty chatter and rush to leave the church before the sermon. On the greatest holidays, some did not come to church, and if they did, it was only for show 499. Cyprian also grieves that he sees lazy people, fornicators and adulterers among Christians 500, and the Council of Elvira (305) was forced to issue strict decrees against carnal sins 501. The moral state of society was no better in the time of Augustine, when the outwardly secure peaceful position of the church that followed the persecution could give rise to a greater weakening of morals, the more scope was given for enjoying the blessings and pleasures of life. “The predominant Christian virtue, love, was adopted only by the best part of society. Not long enough has passed since it was preached for its influence to be felt everywhere, and for it to have time to transform, so to speak, the very soul of humanity.”502 Not only the common people, but also representatives of the clergy of the African church were often Christians more by name than by their inner mood. In this last respect, even bishops sometimes turned out to be frantic people, remaining those Bedouin Africans who had not yet had time to be reborn “neither under the Roman toga, nor under the cassock of a Christian bishop” 503. We have already seen above in what unsightly terms Salvian, this “Jeremiah of his century” 504, describes the moral state of the African society contemporary with St. Augustine. All the more possible was the moral instability of this society in view of the many dogmatic contradictions of that time. In an excuse for their vicious inclinations and habits, Christians usually referred to the difficulty of fulfilling the commandments of God, to their unbearability for the sinful and weak nature of man 505. Some so-called Origenists argued that the supposed torments in the future life would either not exist at all, or, if they did exist, they would not last forever 506 . This alone could not but have a weakening effect on morality. No matter how enviable it was, the fact of the emergence of Pelagianism as a reaction against the widespread moral laxity in Western Christendom can eloquently testify. Pelagius was struck by the deep decline in morals among his contemporaries. He considered it necessary to bring society out of a state of moral indifference, laziness and despair, and to arouse a saving reaction in it. Before his eyes, a terrible judgment took place on the capital of the then world (the invasion of Alaric in 410). “The city recently shuddered,” writes Pelagius to a certain Demetrias, “at the sound of trumpets and screams, the city was struck with horror. Where did the rank of nobility go? where are the different honorary degrees? everything was confused and filled with fear. There is a groan in every house and everyone has the same horror. One was both slave and master. The same type of death for everyone" 507. In terrible social events, Pelagius sees punishment for the sins of people. These events lead him to think about the coming day of God's wrath, when the world will tremble at the sound of the archangel's trumpet 508. And Blessed Augustine himself testifies that among the Christians of his time there were many who ridiculed everyone who wanted to be morally better than others. “There are many,” he says, “Christians who live badly, who, if anyone wants to live piously: among drunkards to be sober, among fornicators chaste, and also if he does not want to go to theatrical performances with others, they attack him and say: you are great, you are righteous, you are Elijah, Peter, you came from heaven. Wherever he turns, he hears these words” 509. Jerome, Augustine's senior contemporary, mourns the fact that in his time in many cities and villages, bishops and presbyters hated and persecuted those Christians in whom they noticed manifestations of living Christian feeling, seeing their virtuous life as a reproach for themselves 510. In addition, some pagan habits also remained in force among Christians. Blessed Augustine, in one of his conversations, reproaches his listeners for participating in ceremonial dinners that were held by the pagans in their temples 511. And in their churches, Christians sometimes organized the same feasts, combined with revelry 512. In a letter to Aurelius, Bishop of Carthage, written around 392, Blessed Augustine asks Aurelius to heal fleshly ulcers and diseases, which many members of the African Church suffer from and about which only a few mourn 513. Pointing out to the Bishop of Carthage the feasts that took place on the graves of the dead and near the tombs of martyrs, Blessed Augustine notes that in this case, “feasting and drunkenness are so considered accepted and permissible that they occur not only on holidays (every reasonable person, the author of the letter notes, will understand that this is worthy of tears), but even every day...” 514. Thus, contemporary life for the preacher provided ample reasons to turn his thoughts to the area of ​​moral issues, and encouraged him to be not only a religious teacher, but also a moral teacher. Therefore, when explaining the truths of the Christian faith in his conversations to the people from the church pulpit, Blessed Augustine always has in mind active faith. And he believes the goal of his preaching activity is not only to teach listeners the right faith in God, but also to morally correct them, to indicate and explain to them the rules of Christian behavior 515. “There is no joy for me in this life,” he admits to his listeners, “as soon as your good life” 516. Blessed Augustine points out the beginning of a truly virtuous life in the right Christian faith 517. It is to this faith that the preacher repeatedly calls his listeners in his sermons, and at the same time he admonishes those of them who, treating faith with some disdain, preferred knowledge to it and sought precisely this latter. In admonishing such people, the preacher says that by its very essence, faith is the recognition of precisely that which cannot be seen, and that vision is already a reward for faith. But this does not mean that knowledge and faith are incompatible with one another or opposed to each other. One cannot look at knowledge and faith as hostile concepts that exclude one another. Faith is the same knowledge or the first stage of knowledge, and the difference here between them does not concern the essence of the matter, but relates only to the degree or intensity of assimilation or perception of the cognizable, and faith is always a necessary condition for knowledge, an inevitable step towards it. To prove this, the preacher refers to the words of the prophet: “if you do not believe, you will not know” (nisi credideritis, non intelligelis - Is. 7:9) 518. Thus, according to the preacher, knowledge cannot be separated from faith. Even more than that: true knowledge is at the same time faith, and, conversely, true faith is also knowledge. If anyone wants to know truly, he must believe, and if anyone believes truly, he will have real true knowledge. The words of the prophet: “if you do not believe, you will not know” can be rearranged as follows: “if you do not know, you will not believe,” in the sense that knowledge and faith are always inextricably linked 519, that in essence there is no difference between them, since faith is created by the same logical process by which all the provisions of exact science are created 520. Therefore, those who seek and desire knowledge alone are not free from faith. They lack only true faith, which is true knowledge. “Do you think, beloved,” the preacher turns in one case to the people standing before him, “that he who says: I would like to know in order to believe, does not believe in anything (nihil dicere)? If such people did not believe at all, they would not be here. Faith drew them to listen, faith brought them closer to the word of God. But this faith, which has already sprouted, should be grown, nurtured and strengthened... So, beloved..., he himself believes somewhat (non nihil dicit etiam ipse) when he says: “I will know in order to believe.” And now, if I say something, I say it so that those who do not yet believe will believe. And yet, they can believe no other way than once they know what I say. Therefore, to some extent it is true that he (the doubter) says: I want to know in order to believe. It is also true that I agree with the prophet when I say: believe in order to find out. We both speak the truth... Know so as to believe, and believe so as to know. Hear my word to believe, and believe the Word of God" 521. But if faith is the beginning and foundation of Christian morality, then the essence of the latter lies in Christian love. Therefore, an insistent call for love is especially often heard in the mouth of a preacher. In one of his conversations one can find the following enthusiastic glorification of Christian love: “Follow, brothers, love, follow this sweet and saving spiritual union (vinculum mentium), without which the rich become poor, and with which the poor become rich. It (love) is patient in misfortune, moderate in happiness, courageous in great suffering, generous in good deeds, firm in temptation, welcoming in strangers, joyful among true brothers, restrained among hypocrites. In the sacrifice of Abel she is pleasing, in Noah during the flood she is calm, in Moses she is meek amid insults, in David she is gentle during the persecution of him, in the three youths she endures fire unharmed. She is pure in Susanna in relation to her husband, in Anna after her husband, in Mary without a husband (praeter virum), bold in Paul to reproof, humble in Peter to obedience and in all believers to confession (sins), divine in Christ to forgiveness. However, can I express praises about love that are better than those that the Lord Himself utters through the mouth of the Apostle? showing the excellent way of love, he (the apostle) says: if I speak in the tongues of men and angels, but do not have love, then I am a ringing brass or a sounding cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and know all mysteries, and have all knowledge and all faith, so that I could move mountains, but do not have love, then I am nothing. And if I give away all my property and give my body to be burned, but do not have love, it does me no good. Love is long-suffering, merciful, love does not envy, love is not arrogant, is not proud, is not rude, does not seek its own, is not irritated, does not think evil, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; covers all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things, love never ceases (1 Cor. 13:1-7)… What could be more generous than to die for the wicked? What could be more lenient than love for enemies? she is not burdened by other people's happiness, because she does not envy. She is not proud of her own well-being, because she is not proud. She is not hurt by an evil conscience because she does not do what she should not do. In the midst of reproach she is meek, in the midst of hatred she is benevolent, in the midst of anger she is calm, in the midst of deceit she is innocent, in the midst of untruth she grieves, and in the truth she is comforted. What is more effective than it in smoothing over troubles? What is more reliable than it, not in this vain life, but for eternity? That’s why she endures everything in this life, because she hopes for everything in the future; She endures everything, no matter what happens here, because she expects everything that is promised there” 522. The many different manifestations of Christian love, according to the preacher, can be summed up under the following three main types: love for God, love for one’s neighbor and a person’s love for himself, and the first, love for God, has the main, self-sufficient meaning, while the other two types are subordinate to the first. Only depending on a person’s love for God, his love for his neighbor and for himself receives true meaning and meaning 523. Our love for God is not needed for God Himself, Who does not need anything, but is useful and necessary for ourselves, so that, therefore, not loving God, we do not love ourselves 524. Love for God encourages us to do towards ourselves and our neighbors only what God commands. And God commands only what is useful and saving for man. Therefore, “we would not love each other with true love if we did not love God. Because everyone loves his neighbor as himself if he loves God. If he doesn’t love God, he doesn’t love himself” 525. Love is possible between people even in the absence of love for God, but such love is not love, but attachment, conditioned by a community of interests, resulting from random self-interested calculations. Such love happens, for example, between robbers, when people living badly are united by common participation in bad deeds and, as if they love each other, come together for a common conversation and are bored if they fail to meet any of their comrades. This kind of love is disastrous. It is completely different from true Christian love. The latter is love, as the apostle says, “from a pure heart” (1 Tim. 1:5). It is this love “from the bottom of the heart” that does not exist between robbers. It can only exist if we love other people in the name of God 526. Therefore, the preacher often and persistently exhorts his listeners to kindle in themselves a feeling of love for God. We must love God to the point of forgetting ourselves 527 and sacrifice in the name of this love our strongest and most precious earthly attachments. We must love those closest to us and those dearest to us, our parents, wives and children, in the name of Christ, that is, insofar as this is required by the law of Christ and is consistent with it, and insofar as our love for our relatives and people close to us can serve to reveal our love for Christ and for the glory of His name. “Love your children,” the preacher once says, “love your spouses. But you must love them in the name of Christ, care for them in the name of God, love nothing in them except Christ, and turn away from everything that is contrary to Christ. This is true holy (divina) love. What benefit do they have in your transitory and mortal love? however, when you love them with natural earthly love, love Christ more. I am not saying that you should not love your wife, but love Christ more. I’m not saying not to love your father or children, but love Christ more. Listen to His words: “Whoever loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me” (Matthew 10:37) 528. Our love for God must be selfless. Many of the Christians contemporary to Blessed Augustine tended to look at Christian piety from a crudely utilitarian point of view and expected external rewards and earthly well-being for their religious exploits and virtue. Such people were embarrassed and tempted when, being themselves exposed to the misfortunes and calamities of this life, they saw wicked people prospering, who did not honor God 529 . The preacher, calling on his listeners to love God, convinces them to suppress in this case all selfish thoughts and earthly desires, to be alien to all self-interest and prudence, and not to expect rewards from Him for their love for God. Let the reward for a Christian be God Himself, Who is most beautiful of all, and communication with Whom can serve as a source of bliss for a person. “Strive for God, because He is eternal (nunquam vilescit), and there is nothing more beautiful than Him. Everything else is insignificant and fragile, because it is not like Him. Nothing can satisfy you, soul, except Him who created you. Whatever else you turn to, all this is insignificant, except for the One who created you in His own likeness” 530. The fact that we do not see Him cannot hinder our love for God, because God is love. This love is the object of our love. Even in cases of ordinary earthly affection, for example, a man to a beautiful woman, what is valued and loved is not so much what can be seen with bodily eyes, i.e., the beauty of the body, but rather what cannot be seen, namely, heartfelt disposition and love. If a man notices that the woman he loves hates him, he himself very often begins to hate her, although the physical beauty of the woman, which gave rise to his attraction, remains unchanged. On the contrary, if a man sees that he is being reciprocated, his feeling of love for a woman inflames more strongly only because he notices the love in her for himself, and this love arouses in him the strongest love in return. As an inner disposition of the heart, love is inaccessible to sensory vision, although it is precisely the object of love for another, it is this that is valued primarily. Therefore, the preacher exhorts, it is possible to love God, even if we have not seen Him 531. A particularly beneficial advantage of our love and affection for God is that He is with us and becomes, as it were, our property as soon as we begin to love Him. “You do not see God, but love, and He is with you (ama, et habes). How many things are the subject of vicious passions and are not achieved, sought and not acquired? Is it the same thing to love gold and to have gold? many love and do not have. Is it the same thing to have vast and luxurious estates as to love them? many love and do not have. Is it the same thing to love honors and to have them? many seek honors and, for the most part, die without receiving what they sought. God offers Himself to us advantageously (de compendio). Love Me, He says, and I will be with you, because you cannot love Me otherwise than by being with Me (quia nec potestis amare me, nisi habueritis me)” 532. In connection with love for God, Blessed Augustine exhorts his listeners to cultivate in themselves a sense of humility before Him. This humility is required, first of all, by the feeling of our fiery love for God, because only the humble can have true love, 533 and only through humble love do we approach God. In ordinary affairs, if we want to achieve something high, we strive for the high, we rise to the heights. In spiritual matters, in order to rise, one must humble oneself, humble oneself, and communication with God, Who is above all, is achieved not by exaltation, but by humility 534. That is why humility is the basis of our spiritual and moral improvement. Just as in order to build a large building, you first need to deepen the place for the foundation, and the lower, deeper the foundation is usually laid, the grander, larger and taller the building that is erected on it, so the building of a person’s spiritual and moral perfection is built on humility, as on the foundation. And just as a building, before rising upward, first seems to be humbled, so a person must humble himself first in order to reach the “peak of love” and draw closer to God 535. Therefore, “humility, according to the preacher, is our perfection” (perfectio nostra) 536. It is our wealth, the source of great blessings, the fullness of which believers will understand later, in the future life 537. Our humility before God must border on reverent fear of Him, since we owe everything to God both for the fact that we exist and for the fact that we are virtuous, if only we are virtuous. In the 13th conversation, calling on the listeners to serve the Lord with fear, the preacher refers to the admonition of the Apostle Paul: “work out your salvation with fear and trembling” (Phil. 2:12), because, says Blessed Augustine in the words of the same apostle, “God is at work in you” (Phil. 2:13), and because “the proud loses what the humble receives” 538. But our fear of God must be a pure fear of love, and not that fear that is the fruit of a slavish, involuntary fear. “Twofold is fear, which produces two kinds of fearers; twofold is slavery, which produces two kinds of slaves. There is fear, which perfect love casts out, and there is another fear, pure, abiding forever and ever” 539. Fear of slavery occurs when a person fulfills the commandments of God out of fear of punishment. “Here,” the preacher argues, “God forbids adultery. You covet someone else’s wife, yet you do not approach her, you do not commit sin. The opportunity has presented itself, there is time, the place is ready, no one sees, and yet you do not commit adultery. Why? because you are afraid of punishment. Let no one know about it. But will this really be hidden from God? Since God knows everything, whatever you do, that’s why you don’t do it. And you tremble at God Himself, the one who threatens, and you do not love the one who commands. Why don't you do it? because if you do, you will be thrown into Gehenna, therefore, you are afraid of fire” 540. Pure fear of God is possible, according to the preacher, only with unfeigned, selfless love for Him 541. God is truly honored only by this last pure fear, when a person does not do anything bad out of love for God, and not out of fear of punishment for himself. In a conversation on Psalm 77, explaining the words of this psalm: “When He (God) killed them, they sought Him” (Ps. 77:34), Blessed Augustine notes: “Those who, because of earthly blessings, sought God, did not seek God, but thirsted for these earthly blessings. In this case, God is given honor to slavish fear, and not to free love. But this is not how one should honor God, because true respect is in love (hoc enim colitur, quod diligitur) 542. However, the preacher also recognizes the effect of slavish fear, which can be the beginning of pure fear, as useful, and can lead us to love 543. By holding back from evil through fear of punishment, people acquire the habit of virtue. Gradually, they begin to love what previously seemed unpleasant to them and, thus, take the path of a righteous life out of love for such a life, and not because they are afraid of punishment. The former slavish fear is driven out in them by love and is replaced by pure fear of love 544. However, until a person has achieved perfect love, which casts out the fear of slavery, he must carry this fear within himself in order to achieve pure fear, which is bestowed by perfect love. Moreover, no one, while he lives on earth, can be free from slavish fear, because perfect love, by which he is expelled, for a person is something only achievable, and can never be achieved in its entirety while he remains in this earthly life. While we are here on earth, none of us can be so perfect as to have perfect love that banishes fear. In conversation 348 regarding the words of the Apostle John: “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear” (1 John 4:18), - Blessed. Augustine offers his listeners the following instruction: “He speaks wisely and truly (St. Apostle John). If you don’t want to have fear, first look to see if you have perfect love, which casts out fear. If, before achieving this perfection, fear is driven out, it is not creative love that acts here, but insolent pride... Examine your conscience if you do not want to have fear. Having entered into yourself, penetrate into the depths of your heart, consider carefully whether there is in it the corrupting love of this age, whether you are excited and not caught by any illicit lure of carnal pleasure, whether you are exalted by some vain arrogance, whether you are worried about some futile care and, in general, whether you can call yourself pure, so that the consciousness of injustice does not burden you, and negligence about justice did not creep up on you” 545. But, the preacher further argues, none of the people can recognize themselves as pure, because the very recognition of oneself as such makes a person unclean 546. Therefore, “let,” he concludes, “let a Christian fear before perfect love casts out fear. Let him believe and understand that he is still far from God (peregrinari a Domino) while he lives in a body that is destroyed and burdens the soul. Let there be as much less fear in us as the fatherland where we are striving becomes closer to us. There should be greater fear among those who are far away (peregrinantium), less fear among those who are approaching, there will be none among those who reach” 547. In another place, the preacher, urging his listeners to kindle in their hearts a feeling of reverent fear of God, compares the saving effect of such fear with the healing beneficial effect of a knife in the hands of a surgeon. “Let fear,” he says, “possess your heart; love will come after him. A doctor’s knife often leaves scars in the body, but the fear of God is a doctor who will not leave behind any signs in the soul; just bow down complacently under his right hand: because if you do not have it at all, you will not be justified, since he who does not have fear cannot be justified (Sir. 1:21). Therefore, it is necessary that fear first enter the heart, and through it love will enter. Fear is medicine, and love is health" 548. But fear of God should be far from despair, when a person, no longer hoping to receive leniency and mercy at the Last Judgment of God, continues to sin in anticipation of one outcome for himself. Exhorting believers to avoid such extremes, Blessed Augustine points to God’s mercy towards repentant sinners and His readiness to always accept them into His fellowship. “Know,” he says, “that if anyone, by faith in Christ, turns from his path, full of all excesses and impurities, all the sins previously committed will be forgiven him... let no one worry that anything will not be forgiven him” 549. “Do not despair, cry out from the depths of sin (de profundo) to the Lord and tell Him: from the depths I cry to You, Lord. Lord, hear my voice. Let Your ears be attentive to the voice of my prayers. If You, Lord, notice iniquity, Lord, who will stand. But with You there is forgiveness (Ps. 129:1-4)” 550. As proof of God's mercy towards repentant sinners, Blessed Augustine points to the inhabitants of Nineveh, who turned to God with a prayer of repentance for their sins and received forgiveness. Let the sinner not be embarrassed by the fact that his sins were committed by him after baptism, after he solemnly took a vow to a holy life. While a person lives on earth, hope for the mercy of God is not lost for him. If the Lord still allows us to enjoy earthly life, despite our sins, this means that He wants our correction, that the goodness of God leads us to repentance (Rom. 2:4) 551. Further, in confirmation of the same idea about the inexhaustibility of God’s mercy towards repentant sinners, the preacher gives examples of the repentance of David and the Apostle Peter. “Look at King David: and he was honored with the sanctifying religious actions of that time, he was circumcised, and circumcision replaced baptism in the Old Testament... he was already anointed with the testimony of a saint (venerabili), which marked the “royal consecration” (regale sacerdotium) of the church. And, however, having suddenly become guilty of adultery and murder, it was not in vain that he cried out from the monstrous, terrible abyss of sin to the Lord, saying: Turn away Your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquities (Ps. 50:11). Why, if not because, he says, I am aware of my iniquities, and my sin is always before me (Ps. 50:5)... Look also at Peter, in the arrogance of the condemned, in the fear of the defeated (vulneratum) and in the crying of the forgiven... We have many, - the preacher concludes, - we have rules of virtue, and examples not only of good deeds, but also of repentance to obtain salvation lost through sin" 552. No less dangerous is another state of false hope, opposite to despair, when a person, trusting in the mercy of God, is too self-confident about the matter of his salvation, neglecting the means necessary for this and putting off worries about it from day to day. Speaking against this extreme, Blessed Augustine in his teachings convinces Christians to abandon carelessness and not be overly self-confident, because false hope, like despair, kills the soul 553. You should not put off caring for your salvation. After all, a person does not know the hour of his death, does not know whether he will live to see tomorrow, and therefore cannot count on it. The Lord promises us forgiveness of sins if we repent and convert, but He did not promise us tomorrow. If others are inclined to rely in this case on the predictions of fortune-telling astrologers (mathematicus), then their predictions are unreliable and deceptive. And soothsayers promise themselves, for the most part, happiness (lucra), but in reality they experience unhappiness. “So,” the preacher exhorts, “do not delay, do not shut the doors of salvation in front of you... do not delay any longer. As it is said in one place of Scripture: do not say (to the one asking): go and come again, go and return, tomorrow I will give (Proverbs 3:28), when you have it with you, because you do not know what will happen the next day” 554. “The Lord is good,” St. Augustine teaches on another occasion, “the Lord is long-suffering, the Lord is merciful, but at the same time righteous and true. He gives you time to correct yourself, but you put off taking care of it. If you sinned yesterday, correct yourself today. But maybe you spent today poorly too? at least change tomorrow. Why do you hesitate, self-confidently counting on God’s mercy, as if the One who promised you forgiveness of sins if you repented also promised a long life? How do you know what tomorrow will give you? You reason correctly: if I correct myself, the Lord will forgive me all my sins. And we do not deny that the Lord promised forgiveness to those who reform and turn to Him... But how will you prove to me that God has promised you a long life?” 555. But even if in fact we knew well the time of our earthly life and its duration, we still need to take care that our life is good, because a good life is better than a bad one. Unfortunately, people care least of all about their lives being virtuous and good. They want nothing bad except their bad life. “If you want to buy a dacha, you look for a good one; If you want to take a wife, you choose a good one, if you want to have good children, if you need workers, you look for good ones, but you like to lead a bad life” 556. The preacher points out the saving way out of both states, that is, from the state of despair and the state of false hope, through repentance and prayer. You need to repent of your sins in order to achieve eternal and blessed life 557. God is not only an all-good being, but also an all-righteous, all-holy being, and human sin cannot go unpunished, because that would be unfair 558 . But a sin is punished either by the person who committed it, when the latter repents of it and, thus, is not the defender of sin, but its judge, or God. By punishing or condemning his sin, a person frees himself from punishment for it. God, while condemning sin, also punishes the sinner himself. Therefore, the preacher advises believers to repent of their sins and condemn them in order to avoid the punishment of God’s judgment. He warns against the usual excuses on our part in this case, the meaning of which is to somehow excuse ourselves and justify ourselves in the sin committed. Thus, some refer to unfavorable circumstances, fate or fate, others blame the devil as the inspirer of sin (the evil one has misled). Blessed Augustine points to the words of the psalmist: “I said: Lord, have mercy on me, heal my soul, for I have sinned before You” (Ps. 40:5). “I,” says (the psalmist), said. I am not looking for someone to whom I could refer as an excuse for my sin. I’m not saying: fate did it this way or fate judged it this way. Finally, I’m not saying what the devil did... “Don’t accuse anyone,” the preacher exhorts his listeners, “lest you find an accuser from whom you will not be able to defend yourself.” After all, our enemy the devil rejoices when they refer to him, and really wants you to lay your guilt on him. He is ready to accept any guilt, just to prevent your repentance” 559. Therefore, a person should always carry a repentant mood within himself. May there be no grave sins behind him. Nevertheless, he has behind him many small sins, which together amount to something great and “separate us from the beautiful sight of the Bridegroom more than all the sons of men, if they are not atone for by daily repentance” 560. But the hope for forgiveness of sins through repentance, some objected, can act on people in a corrupting way, since, counting on the forgiveness of sins in repentance, the easier it will be for a person to sin, and the less reason for him in this case to deny himself anything. This reproach was heard mainly from the pagans. “You,” the pagans said to Christians, “encourage people to sin when you promise them forgiveness if they repent. Through this, morality worsens, not improves” 561. In response to this kind of reproach, Blessed Augustine says that, on the contrary, if the hope of repentance is taken away from a person, sin will not only not decrease, but rather will increase. Without such hope, the sinner, despairing of salvation, would become completely indifferent to his moral state and would not hesitate to satisfy his sinful desires. “I have sinned, the sinner may say, there is no forgiveness for me; repentance is fruitless, I must be condemned. Why can't I live the way I want? since there (in the afterlife) I will no longer find consolation, at least here I will feed my passion. Why else should I abstain? The door of salvation is closed to me. Whatever I do here, I will still perish and will not inherit the life that is to come after this. Why shouldn’t I serve my lusts, satisfying and satiating them? why not do whatever you want?.. Thus, concludes Blessed Augustine, if you take away people’s hope for repentance, then, due to despair, their sins will multiply more and more” 562. But if, without the hope of repentance, on the one hand, a person can fall into a state of despair that is disastrous for him, then, on the other hand, repentance is by no means the basis for false hope and moral carelessness. True, the preacher agrees that someone who hopes for God’s mercy and forgiveness of his sins could fall into a state of false hope and give free rein to his passions, trusting in the goodness of God, but only if such a person knew the day of his death. But since tomorrow is unknown to us and the end of our earthly life is hidden from us, we, therefore, must always be prepared for it, must take care to be honored with a worthy Christian death, and therefore must not hesitate and put off from day to day our correction and turning to God. So “divine Providence took care of both cases for us. So that, due to despair, we do not increase sin, we have been given refuge of repentance; and so that sin does not increase due to excessive hope, the day of death is hidden from us” 563. Along with the exhortation of repentance, Blessed Augustine often in his sermons calls his listeners to prayer, as the most important condition for repentance. The very possibility of us turning to God in prayer, according to the preacher, should be looked at as a manifestation of God’s mercy towards us. “When you see,” he says, “that your prayer has not been taken away from you, know (securus esto) that God’s mercy has not been taken away from you” 564. When praying, a Christian should not be embarrassed that the Lord does not fulfill his requests. Sometimes God in anger gives what we ask, and mercifully does not give what we desire 565. The Lord fulfills the request of the devil for permission to test Job (Job 1:11–12, 2:5–6), allows the demons, according to their request, to enter the herd of swine (Matthew 8:31–32) and does not satisfy the request of the apostle, who prayed for the removal of the thorn of the flesh that oppresses him, the angel of Satan (2 Cor. 12:7–9) 566. God knows what is useful for each of us, and if sometimes He does not satisfy our requests, it is perhaps because these very requests are either sinful, contrary to the properties of divine goodness and justice, or their satisfaction would not be useful and not salutary for us. Thus, we sometimes ask for misfortune for our enemies and wish them death. But God is the common father of us all and cannot be partial and partial, fulfilling our requests and not fulfilling the requests of our enemies, who, in turn, would also ask Him for disasters and misfortunes for us. Therefore, not only should we not be sad that all such prayers of ours remain unsatisfied, but rather we should rejoice that the Lord also does not satisfy the prayers of our enemies directed against us 567. It often happens, however, that people’s prayers that do not contain anything bad or reprehensible remain unfulfilled, for example, the prayer of parents for the granting of life and health to their dying son. But man cannot understand all the actions of the Wise Providence, and therefore it is better for him to rely on the will of God. It is possible that the Lord sometimes sends people a seemingly premature death so that, with a longer life, “malice will not change their minds” (Wis. 4:11). But, someone will say, the deceased was a sinner, and it would be useful for him to still live on earth in order to correct himself and atone for his sins. However, we, argues Blessed Augustine, cannot know whether this would have been more beneficial for the deceased, and whether he would have used the further time of earthly life to correct himself, or whether he would have sinned even more and become even worse. Therefore, it is wiser here for a person to submit to the will of God, and if any of our prayers are not fulfilled, one should not indulge in sadness 568. The preacher compares God to a doctor who cares about restoring the health and strength of the patient. The patient asks the doctor for a lot, but the doctor does not satisfy his requests, wanting to make him healthy. Likewise, God often does not fulfill our desires, thinking about our salvation. Just as doctors, caring for our recovery, not only do not fulfill our whims and caprices, but often with their medicines and actions cause severe pain and suffering to the patient in order to cure him, so the Lord deals with us, directing everything to our good 569. Further, explaining the same idea, the preacher gives the example of parents who, out of love for their children, do not fulfill their unreasonable requests and demands. “Here,” he says, “take yourself as an example, because what your son is before you, who does not yet properly understand the phenomena and relationships of human life, you are the same before God, not understanding the ways of God. Here is your son crying all day, asking you to give him a knife. You refuse to give, you don’t give, you despise the one who is crying, so as not to grieve later for the dying person. Likewise, let him cry, hit himself, hit himself, demanding that you put him on a horse. You don't do this because he doesn't know how to control a horse. The horse can throw him off and kill him. To whom you refuse a part (cui negas partem), for that you save everything. So that he (the son) can grow up and become the owner of all your estate, you do not allow him to be in the slightest danger...” 570. But if God knows what is needed and useful for someone, then should a person pray? Isn’t it better, relying entirely on the will of God, to wait for what will happen, and not exhaust yourself with prayer, nor offend God with your delusion. To this question, Blessed Augustine answers that our ignorance of what we need to pray for and what is useful for us is not unconditional. There are a number of subjects for which prayer is always useful. These are the eternal blessings: future life, incorruptibility, immortality, communication with angels, the heavenly city, etc. It is these blessings that one should primarily pray for, one should strenuously strive to achieve them, one should desire them with all one’s heart, constantly remember and sigh about them 571 . However, there is no sin in praying for temporary blessings, such as health, property, honors, friends, children and, in general, relatives and other things that are necessary for real life. But in praying for this, we must behave like pilgrims on a journey, and not like permanent possessors of earthly things. It should be remembered that temporary benefits are sometimes useful, sometimes harmful. Thus, for many, wealth turns out to be harmful, and poverty is beneficial, and vice versa. For many, the high honors they seek are also harmful; for some, money is useful, for others, power and high position. Therefore, allowing listeners to ask God for temporary blessings, the preacher recommends, however, to observe prudence and caution in this case, to ask with fear (cum timore), with faith and hope in God, entrusting oneself to His all-good will 572. “Let us, brethren,” he admonishes, “with prudence and moderation (moderate) ask God for temporary blessings, believing that if we receive them, then He will give them to Him who knows what is for our benefit” 573 . True, God knows our needs before we ask, but this does not free us from the obligation to pray to Him, since He gives only to those who ask 574. Otherwise, everything that was given to him from God could lose all meaning in the eyes of man. “Therefore God wants your prayer so that he can give it to anyone who wants it, and so that what He gives does not seem insignificant (ne vilescat)” 575. Therefore, He often postpones the fulfillment of our requests, testing and exercising those who ask, and not despising them 576. Sometimes delaying the satisfaction of our requests for a while, the Lord wants us to pray more and desire more strongly what we ask for. “God wants to give more than we want to receive; He is more ready to have mercy on us than we ourselves want to be shown mercy... He wants to give. If you have asked and have not yet received, ask again. He is ready to give. But He postpones His giving, so that you may desire what you ask for more strongly, and so that, if you receive it quickly, it will not lose its value” 577. God knows the hour of giving better than we do and acts with us in the same way as we do with the sick, who are entrusted to our care, giving them medicine and everything they need in due time 578. Exhorting his listeners to love God, Blessed Augustine in his sermons very persistently and often reminds Christians of the other most important commandment of the Gospel law, love for our neighbors, and only with this last love can we, in the opinion of the preacher, prove our love for God. “Whoever loves God,” he says, “cannot fail to keep His commandments about loving one’s neighbor; and who loves his neighbor with pure holy love, what does he love in him if not God?” 579. But being a consequence of love for God, love for neighbor itself to some extent determines the first, serving as the initial stage of communication with God and unity with Him 580. By loving our neighbor, we purify our inner eye and become capable of contemplating God. “God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God” (John 4:16). Consequently, only through love for our neighbor and care for him is it possible for us to pave the way to God, Whom we should love with all our heart, with all our soul and with all our mind 581. In our love for our neighbors, we must imitate the love of Christ 582 , and we cannot bring to Christ a better gift than an example of imitation 583 . Love for other people is most closely manifested in two virtues: giving love, i.e. almsgiving, and forgiving love, i.e. kindness. It would hardly be an exaggeration to say that the exhortation about alms and mercy towards the poor and needy is the most important subject in the church teachings of ancient Christian preachers. Numerous beautiful and touching conversations have survived to this day, in which the shepherds of the ancient Christian church called on their flock to help the poor and needy people 584. And this is quite understandable, not only because caring for the poor in the ancient Christian church lay mainly with the responsibility of its representatives, and the poor were then considered “the treasure of the church” (Hae sunt divitiae Ecclesiae) 585, but also because love for the poor is, as St. rightly notes. Gregory the Theologian, “the most excellent part” of the first and most important Christian commandment about love for neighbors, and “no service is more pleasing to God than mercy” 586. During the time of St. Augustine, there were special charitable institutions in Ippon, established for the purpose of helping the poor with donations from believers, and run by the church 587. But the funds available to these institutions were too small to meet the needs of all the poor. Private charity was required, and church pastors saw themselves forced to appeal to the fraternal feelings of wealthier church members. St. Augustine represents an instructive example of Christian charity, pastoral zeal and concern for the poor. Helping them himself to the best of his ability, he encouraged others to do the same. At the end of his 61st conversation, he contains the following touching instruction to his listeners: “Give to the poor, I ask (you), I convince, I command, I command. Give as much as you can to the poor. I will not hide from your love why I considered it necessary to address you with this speech. When we go here to this church and return from here, the poor stop us and ask us to persuade you to give alms, and so that through this they can at least receive something from you. They encourage us to ask you, and when we receive nothing, they think that we are working for you in vain. They hope to get something from us too. We give as much as we have, we give as much as we can. But are we able to make up for the lack of all of them? Since we cannot satisfy their needs, they sent us to you” 588. And no matter how Blessed Augustine convinces his listeners to help the disadvantaged and poor! he points to the fragility of earthly blessings, and to reward beyond the grave, and to the universal brotherhood of people, to the fact that they are all created by God and equal to each other as children of the One Heavenly Father, and to the direct commandments of Christ to love our neighbors and help them. Earthly goods, the preacher argues, are too fragile and unreliable. Therefore, a person should not slavishly become attached to them, placing all his happiness in them. If they do not die during our lifetime, then we ourselves leave them when we die. The preacher laments the passionate desire of most people to acquire material earthly treasures. He finds that there is nothing crazier and more deplorable than such a desire, in view of the fact that we are all threatened with death, and what has been collected through avarice, with great difficulty and hardship, can squander the luxury of the heirs who will receive it, and sometimes this very thing becomes the property of thieves, robbers and robbers 589 . Moreover, people should be attentive to the needs and requests of their neighbors, since we are all poor before God, to whom we turn with constant requests. If we want God to satisfy our needs, then we ourselves should not refuse when the poor cry to us for help. After all, there is a huge difference between God and people. And yet, we dare to turn to Him with our prayers and hope to receive from Him mercies and eternal blessings, precisely those, possessing which, we will no longer need anything. Meanwhile, when a poor man turns to a rich man for help, there is, in essence, no difference between the one asking and the one to whom the request is directed, except for the occasional difference in property. Both of them are mortal, both are weak, both are equally unhappy, and there is no reason for rich people to be proud of the poor and treat them with disdain 590. “You are both naked,” says the preacher, denouncing the arrogance of the rich, “you are both weak when you begin this sad life, and that is why you both cry. Remember, rich one, your birth. Did you bring anything here? tell me what you brought? If you are ashamed to tell you yourself, listen to the apostle: we, he says, have brought nothing into the world. But perhaps, since you have acquired a lot here, you will take something from here with you? Perhaps you yourself are afraid to admit such an attachment to wealth? listen to the apostle here too, who does not deceive you. “We, he says, brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out when we leave it (1 Tim. 6:7). You didn’t bring anything, and you won’t take anything from here. Why are you arrogant in front of the poor? Now, when babies are born, then let the parents and slaves be removed, let those around them leave, and then let them recognize the crying children born from rich parents. Let a rich woman and a poor woman give birth together, let them not watch what is born. Let them go away a little, then let them come back and find out which child belongs to whom. Therefore, rich man, you brought nothing into the world, but you cannot take anything from here. What I said about those who are born, I say the same about those who die. Now, when tombs are destroyed for some reason, then let the bones of the rich man be recognized..." 591. Continuing his exhortations about helping the poor, the preacher points out that material possessions are important to us only insofar as they are necessary to satisfy our immediate needs for food and clothing. What remains after satisfying this need turns out to be superfluous and must be distributed to the poor. True, some rich people can justify themselves by citing their habits, the fact that they are used to eating, for example, expensive food. But this difference between expensive and cheap food is determined by the whims of people. Essentially, from the point of view of the purpose for which food serves, there is no difference between refined dishes and simple ones. The result is the same, the same satiation, whether the poor eat cheap food or the rich eat expensive food. Moreover, the poor in this case find themselves in better conditions, since they eat their meager food with greater pleasure than the rich, who, with their contentment and satiety, eat as if reluctantly 592. However, the preacher does not demand that rich people give up the refined food to which they are accustomed and eat the cheap food of the poor. He does not insist on such selflessness on the part of the rich. Those who have wealth are not prevented, due to their weakness, from enjoying the food that is familiar to them, as long as they do not forget about helping the poor and, grieving that they cannot keep up with delicious dishes, do not at all boast about this weakness of theirs. “If a beggar is not proud of his beggary, then why are you proud of your weakness? use the luxurious table, but help the poor with what they need... use the expensive, but give the poor cheap... He (the poor) has nothing, you are too burdened; he carries nothing with him, you carry more than you need and are burdened. Give him what you have. Then you will feed him, and you will lighten your burden” 593. With this use, earthly wealth can serve for our heavenly enrichment. The poor, to whom we give from what we have, are citizens of heaven: they are, as it were, our porters (laturarii nostri), carrying our treasures to heaven, since by giving to the poor, we give to Christ Himself, and in the person of the poor Christ turns to us with a request 594. So precisely, that is, by helping our neighbors, and, in particular, by serving them with our property, if we have any, we can serve Christ, we can, like Zacchaeus, accept Him, although He has already ascended to heaven. In one of the conversations, regarding the Lord’s visit to Zacchaeus’s house, the preacher says: “When the words of the Lord to Zacchaeus were read: “Zacchaeus, come down quickly, for today I need to be in your house” (Luke 19:5), I heard the expression of your wishes, so that all of you, following the example of Zacchaeus, would accept Christ. Oh, blessed Zacchaeus! you said in your heart. The Lord entered his house! what a lucky guy! can we be worthy of this? Christ is already in heaven... But so that you know that now Christ is near you, and you can serve Him, listen to what He will say when He judges us: just as you did it to one of the least of My brothers, you did it to Me (Matthew 25:40). If each of us wants to accept Christ ascended into heaven, look at Him lying at the entrances, look at the hungry one, look at the one suffering from the cold, look at the weak one, at the wandering one” 595. Thus, by distributing our property to the poor, we give it its proper, most faithful and profitable use, we hand it into the most reliable hands, receiving for this the invaluable benefit of eternal salvation - the kingdom of heaven. Contrary to the view of most modern sociologists, who see the uneven distribution of material wealth among people as the cause of all the evils of life, St. Augustine believes that the property inequality of people, on the contrary, has a deep meaning and significance. The Lord could, the preacher argues, eliminate poverty and misery if it were necessary and useful. If He does not do this, therefore, He does not find it useful according to the plans of His wise providence for the world. The social significance of wealth and poverty, according to St. Augustine, is that they determine feelings of mercy and mutual goodwill. The Lord created the poor and the rich, providing for the good of people and their benefit. “All the poor you see,” says the preacher in one case, exhorting the rich to do good to the poor, “can be nourished by Christ just as He fed Elijah through the raven. However, he also took away the raven from Elijah for the benefit of the widow who fed the prophet (1 Kings 17:6). So, if the Lord creates the poor, it is because He Himself wants to do so. If He creates the poor, tests the rich... who created them both (rich and poor)? Lord, for the rich, so that he can help the poor, and the poor, so that he can test the rich. Let everyone (the rich man) give according to his means, but not so much as to suffer deprivation himself. This is not what we are saying. What is superfluous to you should belong to someone else. You heard from the Gospel you just heard: whoever gives one of My least (ex minimus meis) a cup of cold water in My name (propter me) will not lose his reward (Matthew 10:42). He (the Lord) made the kingdom of heaven as if it were an object of trade and set a cup of cold water at the price for it” 596. In order to more strongly motivate those listening to acts of mercy and charity to the poor, Blessed Augustine points them to the example of the Pharisees, who paid a tenth of their wealth for the benefit of the poor, and advises them to follow their example. However, the preacher is ready to concede in this case too. He does not reproach those who give the beggar only a piece of bread, which is perhaps even less than a thousandth of their property. Christ does not neglect this sacrifice either: He hungers and thirsts so much in the face of the poor that He is glad for these crumbs. However, so that we do not deviate from such charity and do not consider our benefactions as something great, Blessed Augustine points his listeners to the words of Christ: “If your righteousness does not exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, then you will not enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:20). Having these words of the Savior in constant memory, let everyone, the preacher teaches, while doing good to the poor, think about how much he gives to others, and how much he leaves for himself to satisfy his passions 597. Often people, when the poor turn to them asking for help, justify their stinginess and hard-heartedness with various hypocritical arguments. Thus, it is sometimes pointed out that this or that person asking for alms is not worthy of it and does not deserve help, since he is not a poor person at all and only appears to be such. According to the preacher, one should not enter into a discussion about whether the one who asks for alms from us is really poor or only appears to be so. Charity must have closed eyes and an open hand. If a farmer, for fear that his seeds might fall on poor rocky soil, refused to sow, he would expose himself to starvation. Likewise, if, out of fear of providing help to someone unworthy of it, we refuse to sow in the winter, then we will suffer from hunger in the summer 598. Let a person before us be unworthy, but still a person. There are two concepts here: “human” and “unworthy.” The first is the work of God, the second belongs to the realm of human affairs. St. Augustine suggests giving to what is God and not giving to what is human. To give to a human being, according to his reasoning, means to help or give to a sinner for the sake of his sin. “Let those who give money to gladiators (venatoribus) tell me,” the preacher asks, “why do they give it? because they delight in the gladiator because of which he is unworthy... Likewise, who gives to comedians, horsemen, dancers, (meretricibus), why does he give? and don’t they give it to people here? however, they are not looking here for what is the work of God’s hands, but they are looking for the lewdness of human works...” 599. At the same time, the preacher recommends doing the work of charity with humility and joy 600 and without any unclean sinful thoughts and motives 601. Our almsgiving is only useful to us when we lead a good Christian life. Moreover, it cannot be done in the hope, for example, of impunity for our bad behavior, which we would not like to give up. “If you give so that you can sin with impunity, then you are not serving Christ, but want to bribe the Judge (God)” 602. But denouncing the miserly rich in his sermons and calling them to charity and helping the poor, Blessed Augustine, in turn, exhorts the poor not to be proud of their poverty and not to envy the external well-being of others, but to be content with their lot and not to seek more than what is necessary for a person in this life. Poverty in itself does not make a person better or more worthy than a rich person. On the contrary, the rich can also be people of high piety, more impeccable than the poor from the point of view of evangelical perfection. True poverty, which has value in the eyes of God, lies not in material poverty, but in humility. It's in the shower, not in the wallet 603. In one of his conversations, the preacher gives the following instruction to the proud and envious poor: “You who boast of your poverty, beware of pride, lest pious rich people reprove you; beware of drunkenness, lest sober rich people rebuke you. Do not boast about poverty, if those (the rich) should not boast about their wealth... Curb your passions. Listen to the apostle. It is a great gain, he says, to be godly and content (1 Tim. 6:6). True, you have the same world with the rich, but not the same houses. You have one sky, one light, but look for what you need, be content with what is necessary and do not desire more” 604. Peace must reign between the poor and the rich, because the rich and the poor have the same Father, God, and by His good will some have wealth, while others are in poverty. Let one not deceive, the other not oppress. Let both of them walk hand in hand along the path leading to the kingdom 605. It is this kingdom or the bliss of the future life that people should care about first of all, prepare themselves for it, and not chase after the illusory, fleeting pleasures of the present age. Therefore, if anyone owns property, let him make good use of it; if he does not own it, let him not pursue profit, remembering the words of Christ about laying up for himself treasures in heaven (Matthew 6:20). There, in heaven, those worthy of bliss will enjoy direct contact with God. And where God is, there is wealth, there is the highest lasting good, there everything is in the sense of true happiness; where there is no God, there is no real happiness, and even with great material enrichment, man is essentially naked and poor, since all his riches are illusory and fleeting. “Listen to me, poor people,” St. Augustine concludes one of his conversations with these words, “what do you not have, if you have God? Listen to me, you rich people: what do you have if you don’t have God?” 606. But even if we forget for a while about the impermanence and fleetingness of earthly goods, the passion for profit, or covetousness, causes a person only torment and anxiety. When attached to wealth, he is overcome by a constant painful desire for more and a painful fear of losing what he has. Referring to the words of the apostle about the dangers that threaten covetous people (1 Tim. 6:9), the preacher proves that the desire for profit is insatiable. He likens the covetous rich to those suffering from dropsy. Just as someone with dropsy, the more he drinks, the more thirsty he becomes, so a covetous person, the more he acquires, the more he needs. As soon as he achieves what he wants, he again wants to achieve even more, so that, as he gains, the need of such a person increases 607. This gives the preacher additional reason to warn his listeners not to get carried away by the pursuit of material gain, but to seek true wealth, to take care of inner enrichment, which consists of pleasing God and communicating with Him 608 . In comparison with this spiritual internal acquisition, material acquisitions are nothing, and one must be careful lest, due to attachment to the latter, one lose the former, which both rich and poor should fear equally. Spiritual true wealth is acquired through contempt for material, material wealth. In conversation 113, explaining to the listeners the gospel words about “the mammon of unrighteousness” (Luke 16:9), Blessed Augustine says: “All the riches of the earth are called the mammon of unrighteousness, no matter where and how they are collected. All this is the mammon of untruth, that is, the wealth of untruth. But what is the wealth of untruth? money, which falsehood (iniquitia) calls wealth. If you start looking for true wealth, it is different. Job abounded in such wealth when, remaining naked, he surrendered himself to the will of God and, deprived of all his possessions, offered up praises to God, as if some precious gifts (tanquam gemmas pretiosissimas). Where did he exalt from if he had nothing? These very praises were true wealth for him. If you have it, I don’t blame you. Perhaps you received an inheritance: your father was rich and left it to you. Or, perhaps, you yourself acquired it in an honest way, through your own labor you acquired a large estate. However, don't call it wealth. If you start calling him that, you will love him and die with him. Destroy him so that you yourself do not perish; give in order to gain; this one so that you can reap it. Do not consider these earthly riches as riches, since true wealth does not lie in them. They are full of poverty (paupertate plenae sunt) and are not reliable. Indeed, what kind of wealth is this if because of it you are afraid of the robber, if you are constantly afraid that your servant might kill you and take away your wealth with him? if it were true wealth, it would not rob you of your peace” 609. Calling on listeners to charity and helping the poor, urging them to beware of covetousness and to take care of the inner enrichment of the soul, St. Augustine often insists in his sermons on another type of manifestation of Christian love for others, on kindness and forgiveness of offenses. Almsgiving and forgiveness of offenses are, according to him, two wings through which our prayer ascends to God 610. Revolting against anger, the preacher draws the attention of believers to the fact that he who is angry with his neighbor harms only himself, killing his soul with anger and increasing hostility towards himself on the part of others, and that hostility towards us on the part of others can be overcome only by love and goodwill towards them 611. Convincing listeners to live in peace and mutual goodwill, the preacher appeals to their fraternal feelings, based on the unity of human nature, on descent from the same forefathers and on their spiritual unity in the Church of Christ. “Is it because,” asks Blessed Augustine, “that he (your neighbor) is your enemy because he has soul and body? he is the same as you. If you have a soul, so does he; if you have a body, so does he. You are of the same nature, from the same earth, created by God - know your brother. We have the same ancestors: Adam and Eve, that father and that mother, therefore we are brothers. But let’s leave our carnal origins behind. God is our Father, the Church is our mother, and we are brothers” 612. Since, by becoming angry, a person ultimately harms only himself, the preacher likens the action of anger to the action of poison. Excited by anger, we usually think of annoying our enemy or getting rid of him. But, first of all, we ourselves should try to get rid of anger, as the worst enemy, whose actions are more disastrous and dangerous for us than all the actions of people who are not disposed towards us. After all, what especially bad thing, argues Blessed Augustine, can be done to a person by another person, his enemy? In the worst case, this latter could take his life. However, rarely does the vengeance of warring parties extend to the point where one wants to kill the other. More often, enemies, seeing the suffering of those they hate, turn their anger into pity. But even if revenge had reached the point where one killed the other, what special harm would have been caused to the victim in that case? What did the Jews achieve by killing Archdeacon Stephen? they deserved punishment for themselves, but they gave him the crown. After all, each of us must die sooner or later, and whoever kills another does only what illness (fever) may soon do to him. Hence, there is no reason to be angry with people and hate them, even if they were even ready to take our lives. By killing us, they increase our heavenly reward if we die in piety (bene) and with love for them 613. As an incentive to forgive enemies, the preacher points to the Lord Himself, hanging on the cross and praying for those who crucified Him, as well as to the first martyr Archdeacon Stephen, who, praying for his enemies, loudly exclaimed: “Lord! Do not count this sin against them” (Acts 7:60). By following these examples, we can purchase for ourselves that wedding garment, which, according to the Gospel parable, was not available to some of those invited to the supper. Instead of being angry with the enemy, you need to worry about correcting him, about eradicating the evil in him, because if he is hostile to another, then not by his essence, but because he is evil, he is not good. It is necessary to distinguish between two concepts: “man” and “evil”. One is the name of nature, and the other is the name of guilt, one is from God, and the other is from man himself, from his disobedience. The first, that is, a person, must be loved, and the second must be tried to be destroyed and prayed for, because only by correcting our neighbor, eradicating evil in him, we thereby destroy the root and source of his enmity towards us 614. In order to more strongly encourage listeners to disinterested mutual love and love for enemies, in order to force them to extend their love beyond natural love for those closest and dearest, the preacher also points to dumb animals and says that in this last kind of love animals (birds and cattle) are not inferior to people, if only they are not superior to them. As for kindred natural love, both sparrows and male swallows love their females, hatch eggs together and take care of children, without thinking about any retribution for this on their part. In such love, therefore, there is still no merit on the part of people, and loving one’s spouse and children does not yet mean being in wedding clothes 615. Those who love peace are worthy of praise. A true lover of peace is also kind to his enemies, to those who love enmity and quarrels. “Just as, loving this visible light,” the preacher once says, “you are not annoyed with the blind, but grieve for them and consider them deserving of your mercy, knowing what good they are deprived of, so... if you love the world, take pity on the one who does not love it and does not have it. Such is the property of the world that, having it, you do not envy the one who owns it equally with you, and he does not impede your possession...” 616. Mostly his instructions about forgiving love or, what is the same thing, about love for enemies, Blessed Augustine coincides with the fifth petition of the Lord’s Prayer: “and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.” In his opinion, these words contain, as it were, a condition and an agreement under which, and by virtue of which, we can hope for forgiveness from God of our own sins. “God made a condition and a strong agreement with us (firmumque chirographum), so that we say: just as we also leave our debtor. Whoever wants to say with hope: and forgive us our debts, let him sincerely say: just as we forgive our debtors. If he does not say what comes after, or speaks falsely, then what comes before speaks in vain” 617. Thus, only then can we say the Lord’s Prayer sincerely and with a clear conscience if we ourselves have no debts towards our neighbors, if we are at peace with everyone, forgive those who have offended us and, in turn, ask for forgiveness from others if we have caused them any offense or insult. It may happen, however, that the person offended by us, despite all attempts at reconciliation on our part, will not want to reconcile and forgive the debt owed to us. But how, the preacher asks, will such a person read the Lord’s Prayer, how will he pronounce the words of this prayer: “just as we forgive our debtors,” if he does not want to forgive the offenses of his neighbor? if he does not say these words, he cannot say the previous ones: “and forgive us our debts,” therefore, he cannot count on receiving forgiveness from God for his own sins 618. But whether the offended person wants to forgive us or not, we ourselves must forgive him and reconcile with him in our hearts. God sees our hearts, and if we ourselves are not ready to reconcile with someone who has something against us, we should not worry if the other did not want reconciliation with us. We only need on our part to seek this reconciliation and forgiveness of our guilt from the bottom of our hearts, with true humility and unfeigned love. Both – the one who offended and the one who was offended – are servants of one Lord. “You owe it to your fellow servant: he did not want to forgive you, then cry out to the Lord. If you receive forgiveness from the Lord, then let the slave seek it from you, if he can” 619. It also happens that we, being offended by someone, are ready to reconcile with our offender and forgive him, but the latter himself does not want this. In this case, the preacher finds it useful to involve third parties or intermediaries (pacifici), who would encourage the offender to ask for forgiveness from the offended person. He advises the latter only to be ready to forgive the offender, to forgive completely and from the bottom of his heart. If the offended person has such a mood and such a readiness to forgive, it means that he has already forgiven. In addition, the victim has prayer at his disposal. You should pray for your offender, so that the Lord will enlighten him, and he would ask for forgiveness from the offended person. “Since you know,” teaches Blessed Augustine, “that it is harmful for him (the offender) not to want to reconcile with you, pray for him so that he will come to his senses and ask you for forgiveness. So say to the Lord in your prayer: Lord! You know that I did not sin against my brother, but he sinned against me, and it is harmful for him if he does not ask me for forgiveness. I pray to You with all my heart that You forgive him." 620 In any case, the preacher does not want to allow the offended person to go to the offender and ask for forgiveness from him. This would mean putting the victim in a false position and forcing him to lie if he began to ask for forgiveness from another without having sinned against him 621. However, by offering in his teachings instructions on kindness and forgiveness of offenses, Blessed Augustine is also consistent with the social status of people. It may happen that the offender is a person of significantly higher position, a person superior to the one whom he offended - one turns out to be a master, and the other a slave. Although it is fair, he argues that in essence they are both slaves, since both were bought with the precious blood of Christ, however, it is cruel to insist that the master who offended his slave should ask for forgiveness from him, “not because,” the preacher notes, “that this should not happen at all, but so that he (the slave) does not become proud” 622. In this situation, the preacher advises the offended person to repent of his sin and condemn himself before God, and also to atone for his guilt by treating the offended person kindly, “because to treat someone kindly,” he says, “means to seek his favor” (blanda enim appellatio veniae est postulatio.” Thus, in the preacher’s instructions about Christian forgiveness, there is a fear that this might not happen. led to a weakening of discipline, to moral looseness and unbridledness of society. “If, as a result of this commandment (about forgiveness of offenses), the severity of discipline weakens, then with the fall of discipline, unpunished indecency (saevit impunita nequitia) can spread,” asks Blessed Augustine. The guiding principle in this case, in his opinion, should be Christian love, which will indicate what measures of admonition should be applied in certain similar circumstances. It is only necessary to take care that the measures that have to be resorted to in order to correct the guilty are applied with love and pity. After all, no one will talk about the cruelty or brutality of a doctor performing an operation, even if it causes extreme suffering to the patient. He is cruel to the wound, and not to the person suffering from it. In the same way, we must treat our brothers who have sinned in some way or are guilty of something, keeping in mind only their good, and “with love, when necessary, using disciplinary measures, so that as a result of the weakening of discipline, lewdness does not increase” 623. More often than about other virtues, Blessed Augustine reminds his listeners of patience and abstinence, of which the first consists of a courageous, resigned enduring of earthly disasters, and the second, abstinence, is the moderate, reasonable use of the blessings of the world, in limiting and restraining the lower sinful desires of our body 624. The call for patience in the mouth of the preacher was a natural response to the disasters, adversities and disorganizations of contemporary social and state life. As was already mentioned above, even among the believers, many were embarrassed by the fact that in Christian times the Roman Empire was subjected to devastation by the barbarians, and the worshipers of the true God, the followers of the Gospel, suffered the same misfortunes as the pagans. The memory of the times of martyrdom, when Christianity was an intolerant religion, and when those professing the faith of Christ were subjected to terrible persecution, was also fresh. But besides this, questions about happiness and unhappiness, about pleasures in earthly life and its misfortunes, about the uneven distribution of material goods among people, about wealth and poverty were topical issues at that time, giving rise to grumbling and discontent especially on the part of offended and disadvantaged people. Calming and consoling all the unfortunate, persecuted and offended, the preacher calls them to patience, which is included among the essential duties of a Christian. He points out that the final goal of human life is the bliss of the future afterlife. Our earthly life should be directed according to this final goal. It only receives its meaning and significance insofar as its main and final goal is achieved and realized. With such a view of real life, its blessings and pleasures, as well as the disasters experienced by a person, receive a completely different value in the eyes of a Christian. The more a person enjoys earthly happiness, the more strongly he becomes attached to earthly life and the weaker his desire for another life, which should be a constant goal for him. On the contrary, the hardships and hardships that we have to experience here on earth, instilling in us indifference and even contempt for earthly life with all its illusory pleasures, turn our gaze to the future world, the afterlife, and force us to seek more strongly the blessings of this particular world. In this case, death itself ceases to be terrible in our eyes, and we calmly and joyfully meet that last hour, which marks the end of our sorrowful earthly existence, and which serves as a transition for us to the world where we are promised a reward for our patience and suffering in this life. Thus, suffering is beneficial and saving for a Christian. They admonish him and cleanse him, distracting and freeing the spirit from sinful addictions. Just as gold is purified in fire, so in the same way people, when exposed to suffering, become more perfect and capable of achieving future bliss, so from this point of view, suffering for people is rather a sign of God's mercy 625. Hence, a Christian should not be faint-hearted and lose heart if he has to experience certain calamities in real life. On the contrary, he must endure them patiently, since they make it easier for him to achieve the blessings of the heavenly kingdom. What do people endure when they want to achieve temporary gains? what do the robbers experience because of the spoils? What do those engaged in trade expose themselves to when, due to the passion for profit, they cross the seas, surrender to the mercy of storms and winds, striving for unknown places, looking for fleeting treasures, regarding which a person does not know who will get them? the more difficult it is, the more intense perseverance and patience we should seek for eternal, imperishable, heavenly treasures. We may have to experience severe suffering on the way to this goal, but what does temporary suffering mean in comparison with the eternal bliss to which it leads? 626. “Work will end, peace will come, illusory pleasures will disappear and the good will be revealed, which every believing soul anticipates, and about which every wanderer in this age sighs - the blessed heavenly fatherland, the abode of angels (patria contemplationis angelorum), the fatherland where no one dies, where no enemy will penetrate, where there is no fear, where there is constant communication with God (ubi habeas sempiternum Deum amicum)" 627. The very concept of faith, which in the future represents and promises to every believer what he would like to receive in the present, requires patience from a person. But while it is time for faith, patience is necessary before the reward for faith, or the desires of faith, is achieved. This time of faith is not easy, it is a feat followed by a reward. And in ordinary everyday relationships between people, reward follows work, which often requires great patience. After all, when hiring a worker, they do not give him wages in advance, but first demand the work itself. In the same way, in matters of faith, patience and feat are first required, and then a reward for it is given 628. Finally, our Lord Jesus Christ Himself showed us the path of patience in His life filled with sorrows, suffering on the cross and death. The Lord could have freed himself from His enemies and destroyed them, but He did not do this, but chose to suffer from the Jews and, suffering, prayed for them 629. The same should be the patience of the followers of Christ. For all of them, the commandment of self-sacrifice is obligatory; everyone must be ready to endure everything for Christ, no matter what - prison, bonds, torture, torment and death itself 630. Christian martyrs were living examples of Christian patience. The preacher himself treats the memory of St. with deep reverence. martyrs 631. The same reverence for St. He tries to instill in the martyrs and his listeners, calling on them to imitate the exploits of these “friends of Christ” 632, whose blood was the seed from which the most abundant field of the Church of Christ 633 grew. “Pray for this,” says the blessed one. Augustine in one of his conversations - to follow in the footsteps of the martyrs. And they were people just like you; they were born in the same way as you, and they wore the same flesh that you wear... So, beloved, honor, love, glorify the martyrs” 634. Exhorting Christians to imitate the martyrs, the preacher points to women and children who were not afraid of this path of suffering 635. And the very veneration of the martyrs should not consist in limiting ourselves to merely celebrating the days dedicated to them, but in trying more closely to imitate the faith of those in whose honor the festivities are held 636. The whole point and significance of such celebrations is to encourage us to imitate the virtues of the persons being honored. “It’s easy to praise a martyr,” says the preacher, “you need to imitate his faith and patience. Let us perform the first (glorification) in such a way as to strive for the second, so let us celebrate in order to love what they (the martyrs) give us as an example...” 637. By themselves, St. the martyrs do not need our celebrations. There is no benefit for them personally. Holidays in honor of the martyrs were established in the Church of Christ only “so that through this the entire body of Christ’s members would be encouraged to imitate the martyrs. This is the only benefit of such holidays; there is no other” 638. The example of the martyrs should be considered especially instructive. If, the preacher argues, you point people only to Christ as an example to follow, then they may object that it is difficult and even impossible for a person to be equal to Christ. When the holy martyrs are cited as examples, who were the same people as everyone else, then there can be no place for the indicated objections, and, thus, any excuse is taken away from the careless 639. But calling on Christians to imitate the martyrs until they are ready to accept death for the name of Christ, Blessed Augustine at the same time tries to explain that martyrdom has value and significance not in itself, but depending on the mood with which the torment is endured, and that only those who suffer for a good deed and for good, pure, truly Christian motives deserve the name of martyrs. Then only true martyrdom (patentia) occurs when they are subjected to it for a good deed (quando praecedit bona causa) 640. Among the Christians contemporary to the preacher there were many who sought martyrdom for themselves. This was especially noticeable among the Donatists. The extreme adherents of this schism, the so-called “circumcellions,” sometimes wanted to achieve martyrdom by violently disrupting pagan worship 641. It also happened that they stopped travelers on the roads and, threatening to kill them, demanded that they kill themselves 642. Denouncing such a perverse understanding of martyrdom, Blessed Augustine says that patience is commendable when it is established on a good foundation, and that a person is a martyr if he suffers for the truth. It is therefore necessary to pay attention to why this or that person has to suffer. If we look only at suffering, and not at the reason that caused it, then we should count among the martyrs the robbers when they are punished, as well as the devil himself. “If suffering alone deserves praise, then the devil also deserves praise. Look how much he suffers, whose churches are destroyed everywhere, idols are crushed, priests and ministers are beaten. But how can he say: “I too am a martyr, because I suffer greatly” 643. Our piety is pleasing to God, not torment. “It is not through torment, but through our righteousness (justitia) that we please God,” the preacher argues. – At His court, the Almighty and True Judge does not ask who suffered what, and for what he suffered. So the opportunity to mark ourselves with the cross of the Lord was given to us not by the punishment of the Lord, but by the reason that led to the punishment (ut enim cruce dominica nos signemus, non fecit hoc Domini poena, sed causa). Because if this was done as a punishment, the same should then be attributed to the punishment of the robbers. There was one place for three crucified people. In the middle the Lord was crucified, numbered among the villains (Is. 53:12), while two robbers were crucified on the side. However, there was a completely different reason for which they were punished. The robbers were crucified for their crimes, but He (the Lord) was crucified for ours” 644. Only suffering for Christ and in the name of Christ is precisely the kind of suffering that gives those who suffer the crown of martyrdom. Having cited the words of the Apostle to the Philippians: “it has been given to you for Christ’s sake not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for Him” (Phil. 1:29), the preacher exhorts the listeners to be prepared for precisely this kind of patience, that is, to suffer for Christ. “This,” he says, “is true patience. It is this patience that we will begin to love, we will abide in it, we will pray for it, if we do not already have it” 645. But if we need patience to endure the hardships and disasters of this life, then in order to protect ourselves from being carried away by its blessings and pleasures, we must acquire continence (continentia), which consists of not relying on the blessings of this world and not being carried away by its pleasures. Based on the conviction that a person’s true happiness is beyond the grave, and that the blessings and pleasures of earthly life serve only as an obstacle to the achievement of this happiness, since they give rise to an insatiable passion (quia non exstinguunt insatiabilem cupiditatem) 646, St. Augustine advises Christians to be moderate in their use and restrain their inclinations even to what is permitted 647. Mainly, abstinence should be manifested in two virtues: fasting and marital fidelity, or marital chastity. It is to these virtues that the preacher persistently calls his listeners. “Fasting,” in his words, “is a great thing, a Christian thing” 648. And although the entire time of real life should be a time of abstinence for Christians 649, the Church has also established special times when fasting is obligatory for believers. This is the time before the remembrance of the sufferings of Christ and before Easter - St. Pentecost. “Today, after a year’s interval,” this is how the preacher begins one of his conversations, “we again enter into Pentecost and, as usual, we want to address you with an instruction, so that the word of God, through our service, will feed the hearts of those who have to fast physically, and so that the inner man, strengthened by this food, will be able to curb the outer and courageously be able to endure the feat of fasting. Because it is necessary that we, in view of the approaching sacred remembrance of the sufferings of Christ, crucify ourselves, renouncing carnal pleasures, according to the word of the Apostle: those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and lusts (Gal. 5:24). A Christian must hang on this cross throughout his life, filled with temptations... But if this must be done throughout our entire present life, then how much more so now, in these days of Pentecost, which spiritually marks the time of our present life? at other times, do not let your hearts be burdened with overeating and drunkenness (Luke 21:34), and on these days (Lenten) also fast” 650. Since fasting has as its goal the taming of our sinful aspirations and passions, 651 it should not consist in replacing some pleasures a person receives from this or that food and drink with others, but in a possible renunciation of these pleasures. Some of the Christians contemporary to the preacher spent their entire fast in the fact that instead of ordinary wine they looked for special moisture, and instead of meat they tried to find other varied and pleasant food. He considers this understanding of fasting to be erroneous and insists that moderation be combined with fasting. You should avoid satiety and restrain the urge to eat, limiting “carnal pleasure.” Therefore, during fasting, one must avoid any kind of refined, skillfully prepared and expensive food 652. But abstinence from food alone, although strict, cannot be called fasting in the true sense of the word. “The greatest and most important thing in fasting is abstinence from impurity and sinful pleasures of the age - this is true fasting” 653. During fasting, a Christian, with limited consumption of food, must avoid everything sinful and, as often as possible, practice prayer and deeds of Christian charity, so that through fasting, generous alms and intense prayer, he can join God, which is the final goal of fasting 654. As at any other time, especially during Lent, Christians should refrain from mutual strife and litigation, avoid quarrels and disagreements. “Now the time is coming,” this is how Blessed Augustine begins one of his conversations, “when I must remind you of greater care for the soul and taming the body. These are the most sacred days throughout the entire earth, the days of Pentecost, which, before the onset of Easter, are solemnly honored by the whole world, united in Christ with God. And if any strife, which either should not have taken place at all between the brethren, or, in any case, should soon end, whether due to absent-mindedness, or stubbornness, or some arrogant shyness, could still continue until this time, then at least let them end now... Let memory be vigilant against absent-mindedness, mercy against obstinacy, humble prudence against arrogant shyness. Whoever has become insensitive to peace and harmony, let him awaken and shake off his indifference; whoever does not want to forgive his debtor, let him think that he himself is a debtor to God; whoever is ashamed to ask for forgiveness from his brother, let this false shame overcome with good fear, so that you live, having stopped or, as it were, put to death all harmful strife” 655. In addition to the deliberately established time for fasting, Blessed Augustine calls Christians to it even on the days of pagan holidays, exhorting them to fast and pray for unbelievers at a time when they indulge in their insane pleasures. In this case, it is not for the sake of the pagan holidays that the preacher invites Christians to fast, but so that they can thereby express their grief over the unreasonable amusements of the pagans. These amusements should evoke in Christians a feeling of sadness and a reminder of how miserable they (the pagans) still are 656. Regarding the issue of chastity and marital abstinence, Blessed. Augustine establishes, first of all, that the state of celibacy or virginity is better than the state of marriage or marriage. Members of the Church of Christ who lead a chaste, celibate life are called by preachers “more perfect members” (excellentiora membra) 657. However, this idea was not new or unexpected for Christians of that time. The ideal of an ascetic life and abstinence from marriage, or the ideal of virginity, was highly valued in the eyes of the society contemporary to St. Augustine. Perhaps this was partly facilitated by the then widespread Manichaean heresy, whose followers looked negatively at marriage, calling it evil, an obsession of the devil 658. However, there was a special circumstance that prompted the preacher to repeatedly touch upon the issue of virginity in his sermons and point out its preferable moral significance over marriage. In Rome at that time, the teaching of a certain monk Jovinian, who denied the meaning of virginity and did not recognize the ever-virginity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, became widespread. Are you really, said Jovinian, addressing the virgins, better than Sarah, Susanna, Anna and many other pious wives who were married, and with whom, nevertheless, the virgins did not dare to compare themselves? 660. Jovinian's views had significant success in more than one Rome and prompted some who had taken upon themselves the feat of virginity to change their vow 661. Responding to such perplexities, Blessed Augustine does not hide his sympathy for the feat of celibacy and, giving preference to it over the marital state 662, expresses the general principled view that every virtue is a property or valor of the spirit, from which side, first of all, it should be weighed. “After all, abstinence,” he writes in one of his works, is a property (virtus) not of the body, but of the spirit. The properties of the soul sometimes manifest themselves in practice, sometimes they remain hidden. Thus the virtue of martyrdom shone forth and was manifested in enduring suffering. But there were many people who possessed the same property of the soul, but for whom the opportunity did not arise for what was visible in them only to God became noticeable to people too” 663. Therefore, abstinence was also characteristic of the Old Testament righteous. If it did not manifest itself and even, moreover, if the Old Testament righteous had, for example, more than one wife, then this was required of them by the faith and piety of that time 664. Based on such considerations, the preacher concludes that virginity should be considered superior to marriage, and people who have taken a vow of celibacy are better and more perfect members compared to those who marry, however, only if they remain faithful to this vow and humbly fulfill it. Otherwise, those who are married but humble are better off than those who condemn themselves to celibacy. Just as in the human body some members are considered more honorable, while others are, although less noble, nevertheless equally necessary, so in the body of the Church of Christ some members are the best and highest (virgins), others are inferior (marital life). But just as in the human body some members should not and cannot neglect others, so the living members of the church body must mutually love and respect each other. Those who are married also deserve praise if they adhere to the right faith and have hope of a future life, and if they give preference to virgins. But these latter turn out to be worse than the former if they do not show them appropriate respect and exalt themselves before them with their feat. The preacher points to the devil, who is incorporeal and is condemned only for pride and envy. The history of the persecution of Christians testifies that the host of martyrs included not only those who took a vow of celibacy, but also those who were married, not only the virgin Agnia, but also the married Christina, and many of those who took a vow of virginity even fell at that time, while those who were married remained firm and won. Based on all this, according to the commandment of the Apostle Paul: “in humility, consider one another better than yourselves” (Phil. 2:3) and “warn one another in respect” (Rom. 12:10), the preacher instructs believers to think more about what they lack in relation to religious exploits, rather than about what they have. You need to be afraid so as not to lose what you have, and pray for what you don’t have. “Be afraid of what you have, so as not to lose it. What is not there, pray that it will be” 665. Among those who took a vow of marital abstinence there were also those who, exulting in their state of celibacy, treated even their parents with contempt, since those (parents) were married, and they renounced married life. In admonishing these persons, the preacher invites all such virgins to at least think about the fact that they could only be born as a result of the marriage of their parents, and that therefore one should not despise marriage, since it is the reason that determines the very birth of people. True, a son who has taken upon himself the feat of celibacy is, regardless of moral significance, higher and better than his married father, and likewise a celibate daughter is better than her married mother, because “the holiness of virginity is better than the chastity of marriage.” If we compare these two states, the first is better than the second. If we add pride to virginity, and humility to marriage, “I have no doubt,” says St. Augustine, “to prefer a humble wife to a proud virgin.” When virginity and marriage are compared, two goods are compared, although one is greater, the other less. As for pride and humility, here one, namely pride, is a great evil, and the other, humility, is a great good. If, therefore, you combine the great good of virginity with the great evil of pride, then everything becomes bad. On the contrary, when the good of humility is combined with another, albeit smaller, good of marriage, a great good is obtained in the aggregate. Therefore, “a mother, as a married woman, will receive less bliss in the kingdom of heaven than a daughter if she takes a vow of virginity. The daughter who renounces marriage will receive greater bliss than the mother, but both will be blessed, just as two stars, emitting unequal brilliance, both shine in the sky. “If your mother,” the preacher turns to the one who has taken the vow of virginity, “is humble, and you are proud, she will receive whatever bliss there is, but you will not receive any” 666. Calling his listeners to chastity, Blessed Augustine especially arms himself against the very common violation of marital fidelity at that time. He considers ideal those spouses who completely abstain from carnal communication, who are bound not by carnal lust (libido), but by marital love (charitas conjugalis) 667 . The preacher knows examples of such marital relationships when spouses, strong by the grace of God, by mutual consent, in the name of Christ, restrain carnal lust, remaining in mutual marital love. And through this, he notes, their marital connection not only does not weaken, but, on the contrary, is confirmed and strengthened all the more, the purer and more sublime their mutual love 668. Therefore, one should not confuse and, especially, separate such spouses. “Let them not say,” the preacher urges, “that this one is not a spouse or that one is not a wife because they do not have a carnal connection with each other, but are in a union of the heart” 669 . But if in the time of St. Augustine there were examples of such sublime and pure marital relations, then, of course, much more often he had to observe phenomena of the opposite nature, namely, numerous cases of adultery and violation of marital fidelity. Mostly, violation of legal marital relations was allowed on the part of men, and this vice was so common at that time that it was not even considered a vice 670. Both in the Greek east and in the Latin west, the majority did not find adultery in the fact that a married man entered into a relationship with a dissolute woman or with a domestic servant 671. People who observed marital chastity were considered cowardly. It happened that they were ashamed of their chastity in front of those who allowed themselves to violate it, and were even embarrassed to come close to the latter, fearing that they would mock their virtue and laugh, calling such people undeserving of the name of a man 672. Denouncing this vice that has almost become a custom, Blessed Augustine points out the unfair attitude of husbands towards their wives, from whom they want to demand what they themselves do not provide to them. Men who violated marital fidelity said in their apology that they were having a relationship not with someone else’s wife, but with a servant. “But do you really want,” the preacher objects to this, “to be answered in the same way: the man to whom I am going is not a stranger? Let it not happen,” he immediately notes, “for her (your wife) to tell you this. It’s better when she grieves for you than if she starts following your example” 673. The preacher considers it shameful when men referred to the difficulty of maintaining chastity. After all, women are not ethereal, he says. As you know, the wife was deceived by the serpent before her husband. And, however, it is possible for them to maintain cleanliness; it is possible to do what a man is ready to consider impossible for himself. It can be said, argues St. Augustine, that women are exposed to many dangers in case of violation of chastity: they are subject to the vigilance of their spouse, the regulations of the law, the fear of public disgrace, as well as their greater shyness and shame. But all this, according to the preacher, only testifies to the greater weakness of women compared to men. The latter, as a stronger being, precisely because of his greater power, should be able to conquer passions with greater ease 674. “Isn’t it because there is greater protection for a woman because she is more frail? She blushes before her husband, why don’t you blush before Christ? You are freer because you are stronger. Since you can win more easily, you are left to your own devices. Above her is the vigilance of her husband, and responsibility before the law, and the spirit of morals, and great shyness. Above you is God, and only God" 675. Sometimes men who violated marital fidelity pointed out in defense of themselves that there was no harm to anyone from illegal cohabitation with a maid or a harlot. But even if, Blessed Augustine responds to this, there was in fact no harm from that to any of the people, still, by satisfying his shameful passion, a person harms himself and angers God, desecrating His church, that is, his body. Anyone who commits fornication spoils himself, spoils the image of God, which he carries within himself and, thus, offends God and, by doing something displeasing to Him, violates the basic rule of morality in relation to God: do not do to anyone what is hateful to yourself (Tov.4:15). “You don’t want your house to be destroyed, so why are you destroying the house of God?” 676. After all, we are all servants of God and are obliged to show God the same obedience that we want to see in our own servants. If we praise the obedience of our servants, who were created by God and subordinate to people like them, created by God and similar to them, then all the more must we ourselves obey God in everything and fulfill His commandments. If we do not do this, then we insult God, we do to Him what we do not want for ourselves, we praise our servants for their honesty and obedience and do not want to show what we praise to our Lord. Such a person’s attitude towards God seems all the less excusable to the preacher because everything he has that is good has been received by him from God. And if our servants treat us unworthy with dignity and honesty, then they owe this to God. “You should also,” the preacher concludes from here, “remember that God rules over you, remembering Whom, and your servant fulfills his duty” 677. The then still strong pagan society had a considerable influence on Christians in terms of the spread of intemperance and other vices among them. Some of the weaker believers, seeing before them tempting examples of dissolute pagan life, could not resist the temptation and themselves were immortalized by the bad examples of the pagans, adopting their morals and customs 678. But besides this, there were many among the followers of Christ who converted to Christianity from paganism, who carried with them into Christian society the bad habits of their previous life and, in any case, could not suddenly and completely lag behind some pagan customs. As before, they were still keen on pagan celebrations and took part in pagan feasts. Due to the natural inclination of people to have fun, others probably did not lag behind them, finding nothing reprehensible in this and reassuring themselves that they did not share pagan beliefs and misconceptions 679 . But no matter what such persons say in their justification, Blessed Augustine considers such complicity of Christians with pagans in their celebrations unacceptable. He considers it harmful, firstly, because the Christian himself participating in these celebrations, especially if he is not yet completely firm in his faith, can be carried away by bigger and worse things; secondly, by such complicity of believers with pagans, other weaker Christians may be tempted, who, seeing the presence of their brothers at pagan feasts, will not, perhaps, consider it reprehensible for themselves to participate in pagan idolatry 680. Some of the Christians, in their apology, referred to the fear that if they refused to participate in the festivities together with the pagans, they would offend one of the influential persons and those in authority (ne offendam majorem). The preacher advises such people to think about whether they are offending God, whose commands and demands are primarily obligatory for us 681. If nothing can justify or excuse the participation of Christians in pagan celebrations and feasts, then, on the contrary, the avoidance of believers from such feasts would not only not disturb the weak conscience of the weakest of Christians, but would also have a sobering effect on the pagans themselves, since it would make their festive gatherings less crowded and would deprive them of an extra reason for rejoicing. The absence of Christians in this case would be for the pagans a kind of reproach and exposure of their error. “If you,” the preacher addresses the listeners, “want to know how to expose the pagans, how to enlighten them and attract them to salvation, do not attend their religious celebrations (solemnitates), do not participate in their outrages. And if they (the pagans) do not agree with our truth, let them blush at least in front of their paucity of people” 682. The pagans also had special festivals of a civil-patriotic nature, in honor of the patron gods of this or that city or state, known as “geniuses.” Christians did not refuse to participate in these celebrations and, to justify themselves, pointed out that these celebrations were, as it were, of a civil nature, in honor of the “genius,” for example, Carthage. St. Augustine recognizes the sincerity of such statements, however, he does not dare to approve the complicity of Christians with pagans in such celebrations. After all, from a Christian point of view, neither Mars nor Mercury are gods. In this case, you should pay attention to how pagans look at these deities, and not talk about what they really are. And that the pagans considered “geniuses” to be deities is evidenced by the altars dedicated to them. If by the concept of “genius” they want to express simply the glory of this or that city or its beauty, for example, by the “genius” of Carthage they want to mean the beauty of this city, then it would be better, the preacher suggests, that the Carthaginians lead a good life, and then they themselves will be the genius of Carthage 683. In addition to participating in pagan celebrations, Christians, on some of their holidays, indulged in, following the example of the pagans, immoderate feasts in churches or in Christian cemeteries 684. In general, how contagious the influence of the pagans was, and how inclined Christians were to be carried away by their festive revelry and to jointly participate with them in all kinds of festive indecent and superstition-based amusements, this can be judged by the fact that once, in view of the approach of the January Kalends, the preacher considered it necessary to address the listeners with a deliberate warning - not to get carried away by the upcoming pagan celebrations, and reproached them in superstition, discovered on the day of the celebration of the Nativity of the Forerunner and Baptist of the Lord John. “Here,” says the blessed one. Augustine, - the calendars of January are coming. You are all Christians, by the grace of God, and this city is Christian... Let there not be what God hates, namely: nasty games and shameless amusements. After all, you are Christians and members of Christ. Think about who you are and at what price you were bought. And yet, what are you doing? I address those who do this. Do not take offense to this, you who are innocent of it; I appeal to those who are guilty and do not condemn themselves in their conscience. What are you doing and do you know what grief you are causing us? do the Jews do this? Be ashamed, so that you can correct yourself. On the birthday of John the Baptist, that is, six months ago, Christians, due to a superstitious pagan custom, gathered on the seashore and immersed themselves in water (et ibi se baptizabant). “I myself,” notes the preacher, “was not there at that time. As I learned, the elders, guided by the rules of Christian discipline, imposed on some the appropriate church punishment. Those who were punished then grumbled and began to complain that they had not been warned about this before. If, they said, the elders themselves had warned us earlier, we would not have done this. Now the bishop warns you; So I exhort, I declare publicly and let you know” 685. However, warning Christians against pagan superstitions and against pagan licentiousness and revelry, Blessed Augustine advises them at the same time not to shun external communication with pagans in ordinary everyday affairs and relationships. Believers in Christ should only be concerned about spiritual alienation from the infidels, about sharing with them in matters of faith, hope and love. It is important who believes, what they hope for and what they love. If Christians have a different faith, different hopes, a different love than the pagans, then what other greater division is needed? The preacher considers it only necessary that Christians testify to their faith, their hopes and love with their actions, confirm and justify them with their entire lives. If a Christian, he notes, will, like the pagans, celebrate the triumph of “strenarum” (celebrationem strenarum) 686, and also indulge in pagan games and get drunk, then can it be said about him that he has a different faith, other hopes, another love? Therefore, one should not imitate the morals of the pagans and their deeds. Only in this sense, according to the preacher, should one avoid communicating with them. “They (the pagans) give strenya, but you give alms. They are carried away by immodest songs, you practice reading and hearing the word of God (avocate vos sermonibus scripturarum). They are in a hurry to the theater, and you are in a hurry to church. They get drunk, you fast. If you cannot fast today (the conversation was delivered on the day of the Kalends of January), then at least be abstinent” (cum sobrietate prandete) 687. Like St. Chrysostom 688 and Blessed Augustine insisted in his sermons on eradicating among his contemporaries the habit of frequent and frivolous use of oaths. The preacher considered the question of the oath to be one of the difficult questions 689. It was necessary to reconcile some expressions of the priest. scriptures prohibiting oaths, with others allowing them. On the one hand, the commandment of the Lord: “Do not swear at all” (Matthew 5:34) and a similar commandment of His disciple (James 5:12), on the other hand, examples of God swearing (Ps. 109:4; Gen. 22:16; Num. 14:16, 28) and His words resolving an oath (Lev. 19:12; Deut. 23:21), as well as the repeated oath of St. Apostle Paul (1 Cor. 1:23; Gal. 1:20) - all this made the question of the oath so difficult in the eyes of the blessed Saint of Hippo that he avoided considering this issue for a long time, until, finally, he saw a special incentive to do so from above. The preacher expresses his view of the oath in the following brief and precise formula: “a false oath is disastrous, a true oath is dangerous, non-use of an oath is calm” (falsa juratio exitiosa est, vera juratio periculosa est, nulla juratio secura est) 690. A true oath is not sinful, but a true, infallible oath is possible only for one who cannot make mistakes, that is, for God. A person, due to his limitations, when taking an oath, can often be mistaken, mistakenly thinking that what he affirms with his oath is true. He is always close to the danger of giving a false oath and, thus, sinning, from which danger he would be free if he had never used an oath at all. “If,” says Blessed Augustine, “you swear truly, you do not sin. But man is among many temptations, clothed with a body... His corruptible body burdens his soul, and this earthly church suppresses his over-anxious mind (Wis. 9:15). When,” asks the preacher, “among all your unclear and fleeting thoughts, among all your assumptions and intentions, a lie did not creep up on you, on you, living in the land of lies? Do you want to be further from perjury? don't swear. He who swears can sometimes only swear truly. Whoever does not swear can never swear to a lie. Let God alone swear; an oath is not dangerous for Him, He knows everything. He never lies, and He Himself is not deceived. And when He swears, He swears by Himself. Just as you, when you swear, call God as a witness, so when you swear, He swears by Himself. When you call Him as a witness, perhaps you call on the name of God falsely and in vain. So, in order not to swear a lie, do not swear at all. An oath is dangerous, perjury is disastrous, the one who swears is close to this destruction, the one who does not swear is far from it. He who takes a false oath sins and gravely. He who swears truly does not sin. But he who does not swear at all does not sin, and the latter is far from sin, and the former is close to it. He walks, as it were, along a steep cliff, on the edge of an abyss” 691. Convincing Christians to abstain from swearing, Blessed Augustine refers to himself, points to his example of how he himself weaned himself from this bad habit and conquered it. “Fearing God, we drove the oath from our lips. Here we live with you. Who, however, has ever heard us swear? Wasn’t I also used to swearing every day? but as soon as I read (presumably the passages of Scripture prohibiting swearing), I became afraid, began to fight against my habit, in the struggle I called on the Lord for help, and the Lord helped me. Nothing is easier for me now than not swearing” 692. But if, in the opinion of Blessed Augustine, the one who makes an oath does not remain without sin, then the one who forces another to take it 693 sins all the more, especially if he knows at the same time that the other will take a false oath. Such a person is worse than a murderer, because a murderer kills the body of another, and one who forces a false oath kills the soul, and not only his own soul, but also the soul of the one whom he forces to take an oath 694. However, although an oath is something disapproving from a Christian point of view, it can, under certain circumstances, be inevitable. And the preacher does not say about himself that he never swears at all, since that would be false. But he turns to an oath only in the most extreme cases, when this is caused by the good and benefit of his neighbor. “When I see,” notes Blessed Augustine, “that they do not believe me without an oath, and the one who does not believe does not benefit from his unbelief, then with great fear I say: “before God” or “God is my witness,” or “Christ knows that this is so” (scit Christus sic esse in animo meo)” 695. Thus, the preacher’s demand not to use oaths serves only as an expression of his ardent desire to see Christians morally perfect, so that mutual love, mutual sincerity and trust would reign among them, and there would be no need for them to resort to an oath, which serves as a sign of our sinfulness and moral weakness. In order to better understand the judgments of Blessed Augustine on this issue, we must remember that Christianity deals with the inner world of every person, with his soul. The first and main goal of Christianity is the salvation and good of the human soul, from which the earthly good of man then grows and is determined (Matthew 6:33). The Gospel, as is known, does not raise or resolve issues of social life, for example, about the inequality of people, about the distribution of material wealth among them, about the forms of government, about the spheres of activity of men and women, etc. 696. The Lord Jesus Christ refused any interference in public, state and even family affairs (see Luke 12:13–14). He offered His teaching to man, and not to society, and Christianity educates only man as a freely rational being. All His rules and instructions have an individual character, relate to the will of a separate individual and come down to one main requirement, according to which a person must approach God and become like Him, be perfect, just as the Heavenly Father is perfect (Matthew 5:48). From the point of view of this obligatory personal perfection, each of us sins because he does not care about implementing in himself, in his own life, the rules of a perfect Christian life and does not strive for blissful communion with God. But committing ourselves personally to the exact fulfillment of the divine commandments, to constant moral improvement, to a gradual ascent to God and the achievement of eternal bliss, we must lead others to the same, guided by the beginning of Christian love for them. Offering each person, regardless of the rules of pure moral perfection, Christianity at the same time grants him broad authority in all kinds of life relationships to apply these rules in one way or another, as long as his personal moral purity and the indicated basic guiding principle in relation to his neighbors are preserved, that is, truly Christian love for them 697. A Christian can take an oath if it is required by love for other people, zeal for their salvation, and if, due to human imperfection, it cannot be avoided. In this case, the oath is one of those sad inevitabilities that entailed the loss of primitive holiness and bliss by man. She, the oath, argues Blessed Augustine, is “a consequence of the general imperfection of the human race, since we cannot see each other in our hearts. After all, if they could know what was in the hearts of others, then to whom would they take an oath? Why would our oath be needed if we could see the very thoughts of our neighbor?..” 698. We have tried to convey the essential and most characteristic features of the moral teaching contained in the sermons of St. Augustine. As can be seen from the presented outline of this moral teaching, its subject is the most diverse manifestations of moral activity that are included in the circle of a person’s duties to God, to his neighbor or to himself. Dwelling on the consideration of these duties, the preacher tries to indicate and comprehend to the listeners the requirements of the Christian moral law, as well as to eliminate possible objections and misunderstandings on this basis. At the same time, his special penchant for dialectics often makes itself felt here, in the presentation and clarification of the rules of Christian morality. He is not content with a simple moral exhortation, but wants to convince his listeners of the correctness of certain conclusions, so that they follow them freely, according to their own conviction, and not blindly rely on the authority of others. Perhaps through this, conversations sometimes played him out in the strength of their feelings. But the deep, moving thought of Blessed Augustine, in turn, awakened the thoughts of his listeners, expanded their mental horizons, accustoming them to a deeper and more correct view of everything around them, and, in particular, to a more meaningful and conscious attitude towards the phenomena of moral life. Expounding from the church pulpit the rules of Christian virtue, the preacher focuses the attention of others not so much on the external manifestations of these rules, but on the mood with which they are carried out, and in this he believes the entire value of a person’s moral behavior (see, for example, the preacher’s discussions about patience, fasting, virginity, etc.). All external actions receive their significance, according to St. Augustine, only insofar as they are based on a feeling of pure selfless love for God and neighbor in the name of God, since they are imbued and warmed by this very feeling. God is the center to which the preacher’s heart is always turned, around which his life and all his theology revolve 699. The main point of his preaching morality is the love of God and glorifying Him in life. A person can glorify God in a worthy manner only through his holy life or holiness. Therefore, a Christian must serve Christ with a pious, virtuous life in His name, so that “every head of a family for the sake of this name knows that he owes love to his family” 700. Members of Christ must follow Christ, deny themselves and take up their cross, that is, “they must be ready to endure whatever may be necessary for Christ” 701. From this ardent love of Blessed Augustine for Christ, from his zeal for the glory of God and for the salvation of his neighbors, flow some opinions in his dogmatic teaching that do not entirely agree with the general church teaching, and some contradictions in moral teaching. Such contradictions can be found, for example, in his teaching about the fear of God, when, on the one hand, he asserts that Christians should have no place for fear 702 (timor servitutis, timor poenae, timor servilis), and on the other, when he says that Christians must cultivate and have this fear in themselves, since only perfect love casts out fear, but such love is impossible here on earth, it will only be beyond the grave 703. St. Augustine was afraid to come to terms with the idea that man could not fear God. This seemed to him both a belittlement of divine greatness and exaltation on the part of man 704 . The same contradiction is seen in his teaching on the oath. On the one hand, the direct command of the Lord: “do not swear at all,” on the other hand, the words of the Holy. The scriptures authorizing an oath put the preacher in a difficult position, presenting before his mind a difficult question (difficilem quaestionem) 705, what is an oath - good or evil, something sinful or innocent. And so, bearing in mind the words of the Lord: “do not swear at all,” he says that an oath is sinful for a person, that only one who knows everything can swear, but a person, as one who does not know everything, thereby anticipates the right of God and sins even if he, being called to it by someone else, swears truly 706; then, on the other hand, following the words of Scripture that allow an oath, he asserts that a true oath is permissible 707 to a person and does not constitute a sin 708 . The preacher is also somewhat inconsistent in his discussions about the forgiveness of offenses. On the one hand, he insists on complete forgiveness when he says: “Ask forgiveness, brothers, from your brothers, do with them as the apostle commands: forgive one another, as God in Christ forgave you (Eph. 4:32), forgive and do not be ashamed to ask for forgiveness. I command this to everyone equally, husbands and wives, lesser and greater, laity and spiritual. Let us all be obedient" 709. On the other hand, he finds it necessary to limit this requirement for masters or elders in relation to those subordinate to them, fearing that these latter will not become proud 710, and “so that through the weakening of discipline, depravity will not increase” (ne per solutionem disciplinae crescat nequitia) 711, and thus, greater harm will not occur to the salvation of those to whom indulgence is granted. But here again the preacher is confused by the possibility of weakening the general requirement or rule regarding kindness and forgiveness of offenses. Therefore, having expressed the indicated limitation, he immediately adds that this limitation is not allowed because it should be so, but only in order to avoid the otherwise possible bad moral consequences 712. Such inconsistency and all such contradictions can find their explanation in the holy zeal of Blessed Augustine for the glory of God, and partly also in his polemical fervor and ardor in the fight against the enemies of the church 713. Their source is a holy feeling of unfeigned devotion and love for God, 714 deep reverence for His ineffable greatness, as well as deep sincere love for one’s neighbor in the name of God. This holiness of feeling, purity of moral mood, fiery love for God manifested everywhere and an ardent desire to associate all others with this love constitutes that side in the sermons of Blessed Augustine, which puts his name in line with the greatest preachers of the ancient Christian church, and which we should now begin to consider. Chapter III. Internal properties of the sermons of St. Augustine If some of the scientists 715 do not highly value the sermons of Blessed Augustine based on their external properties, they unanimously recognize the high internal properties in the sermons of this church teacher, pointing to the strength and depth of the preacher’s feelings, the purity of his believing heart and the conviction of his thoughts. The internal merits of preaching are largely determined by how devoted the preacher himself is to his work, how much he feels a calling or an irresistible inner attraction to the “ministry of the word” of God. For example, the Old Testament prophet experiences such an internal attraction to the work of preaching when he says: “You attracted me, Lord, and I was carried away: You are stronger than me and have overcome; and every day I am in ridicule, everyone mocks me... and I thought: I will not remind of Him and I will no longer speak in His name; but there was in my heart, as it were, a burning fire, shut up in my bones, and I was weary, holding it, and could not” (Jer. 20: 7-9) 716. A similar force of irresistible inner attraction characterizes the attitude towards the preaching of the blessed shepherd of the Hippo Church. He views the duty of preaching service as a command from God, which he cannot resist, and in case of non-fulfillment of which he will be obliged to give an answer before God. “These are not my words,” the preacher once says about himself, “calling his listeners to correction. I speak at the command of God, and because He frightens me, I do not remain silent. Who would not prefer to remain silent and not give an answer for you? but we have already accepted a burden that we cannot throw off our shoulders and should not” 717. “I hear the apostle saying: Preach the word, be present in season and out of season (2 Tim. 4:2). For whom on time and for whom not on time? a time for those who want (to be saved), not a time for those who do not want to. Even if I appear at the wrong time, I will not remain silent. You want to remain in your delusion and perish, but I don’t want that. Finally, He who frightens me does not want to... will I fear you more than Him? We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ (2 Cor. 5:10). You cannot overthrow the judgment seat of Christ. I will call upon those who are in error and seek out those who are perishing. Whether you like it or not, I will do it. And if wild animals began to threaten me as a seeker, I would not stop at any dangers, I would overcome all obstacles, I would be ready to endure everything with the help of God, calling the erring one and looking for the perishing one.” 718 Or here are also the words of the preacher, spoken by him on the annual day of his consecration as a bishop, showing how alive the consciousness of pastoral duty was in him and how necessary he considered the work of preaching service for himself: “Today, my brethren,” he addresses the listeners standing before him, “convinces me to think more carefully about my burden. Although I should think about the severity of it (that is, the severity of this burden) day and night, this annual day, however, for some reason reminds me so vividly of the duties of my service that I cannot at all turn away from thinking about them. And the further the years go and bring us closer to the last day, which in any case will come sooner or later, the stronger the thinking in me, the greater the anxiety about what answer I will give about you to the Lord our God. This is the difference between you and us, that you will only give an account of yourself, while we will give an account of ourselves and all of you... The Gospel frightens me. I could say: why should I be a burden to people and say to the wicked: do not act wickedly, do not do this... should I give an answer for others? but the Gospel is frightening, and no one will convince me to such calm idleness. There is nothing better and more pleasant than thinking about divine objects in silence, when no one is distracting. This is good and pleasant. To preach, to reprove, to correct, to edify, to take care of everyone is a great burden, a great burden, a great work. Who would not shirk this work? but the Gospel is terrifying" 719. Perhaps, primarily in the awareness of this difficulty of pastoral service, Blessed Augustine, as has already been mentioned, soon after his ordination as a presbyter asked the Bishop of Ipponia Valery to allow him to retire from his duties for some time, so that in solitude, devoting himself to prayer and the study of Holy Scripture, he could better prepare for the service entrusted to him. “But perhaps,” writes Blessed Augustine to Valery, “your holiness will say: I would like to know what is missing for your teaching. But there is so much of this that I can more easily count what I have than what I would like to have. I also dare to say that I know and hold with full faith what pertains to our salvation. But how can I serve the salvation of others, seeking not only what is useful to me, but what is useful to many?.. Pay attention to all this, venerable Valeri (senex Valeri), I beg you with the goodness and severity of Christ, His mercy and judgment. I pray for love and favor, that you take pity on me and let me go for this time, and also help me with your prayers, so that my desire is not in vain and that my absence is not fruitful for the Church of Christ, for the benefit of my brothers and fellow servants” 720. The basis for such a strict and attentive attitude of Blessed Augustine to pastoral duties and, in particular, to preaching lies a feeling of reverent devotion and love for God. He preached, first of all, out of love for God, wanting to appear before Him worthy of the service entrusted to him. “I am a servant,” he says, “and not a householder. From there I offer it to you, from where I myself receive it, from the treasury of the Lord, from the table of that Lord of the House, who, being rich, became poor for our sakes, so that through His poverty we might become rich (2 Cor. 8:9)” 721. “Here I shake the dust from my clothes before the face of God,” this is how the preacher once concludes his admonition to his listeners, calling them to correction. “I’m afraid that I wouldn’t be guilty if I didn’t say anything.” I fulfill my duty..." 722. But true love for God is inextricably linked with love for one’s neighbor, and the latter is always necessarily conditioned by the former. And if, out of love for God, the preacher wanted to be a worthy and faithful servant of Him, then by virtue of the same feeling he was prompted to love and serve his neighbors, introducing them into blissful communion with God and, thus, contributing to their eternal salvation. In this latter, that is, in promoting the salvation of his neighbors, he believed the whole meaning and significance of his pastoral ministry. “What do I want, what do I strive for, why do I say? - exclaims Blessed Augustine in one of his conversations, - why am I sitting here, if not so that we can all be together with Christ? This is my desire, this is my glory, this is my joy, this is all my wealth. But even if you do not listen to me, I still will not keep silent, I will deliver my soul. However, I don’t want to be saved without you” 723. “We do not want to derive any benefit for ourselves from what is not useful to you. Let us work together, brothers, in the field of the Lord, so that together we may be comforted by the same reward” 724. “For you I am a bishop, together with you I am a Christian. That is the name of perceived duty, this is the name of grace. That is the name of danger, this is the name of salvation: as if we are rushing along the waves of some great stormy sea and then, with the memory of the blood by which we have been delivered, we enter, as it were, into a quiet pier; Thus, we are consoled in carrying out our (pastoral) labors by reflecting on the common goodness of Christ shown to us. So, if the consciousness of a common redemption with you gives me more consolation, then I will be more willing to be your servant, so as not to be ungrateful for the benefit for which I was worthy to be your fellow servant... So, my brethren, - the blessed teacher asks his listeners, - as companions we beseech you, so that the grace of God will not be received by you in vain (2 Cor. 6:1). Make our service fruitful - you are God's field (1 Cor. 3:9)" 725. Unselfish, selfless love for the listeners, being the starting point of the preaching activity of Blessed Augustine, at the same time constitutes that life-giving stream, which from beginning to end feeds, inspires and guides the preacher’s word, which imparted to his sermons “that power of conviction and fire that captivated the listeners” 726. Feeding and being inspired by this life-giving source of love, the preacher was able to speak at the right time with that wonderful language of the heart, which restrained the restless, consoled the faint-hearted, strengthened the weak, exposed the erring, destroyed the plans of the treacherous, taught the inexperienced, excited the careless, curbed the obstinate, humbled the proud, brought those who quarreled to agreement, and spoke to everyone about the same selfless pastoral love and care. What contributes to the success of the sermon and wins over the listeners is, first of all, the preacher’s deep conviction in the truth of his word. “Tone of persuasion is the magic thing in eloquence. If the speaker has it, then the listeners do not argue, do not pay attention to the one who speaks, but only to what he says... or better, to what God Himself speaks through his lips” 727. Therefore, the preacher’s own conviction, imbued with a living religious feeling, must be made the most essential and most important condition for the success and effectiveness of the sermon. “In this condition is the focus of all homiletics. Pectus est, quod disertos facit. Only the will acts on the will. Only those who are convinced themselves can convince.” 728 From childhood, St. Augustine was accustomed to living by conviction. Striving to find the truth on his own and to comprehend everything with his own mind, he, as was clear from his biography, moved from one error to another until, finally, he reached a quiet refuge and became a faithful son of the Church of Christ. He learned the truth of Christ's faith after persistent, long-term efforts to master the truth, after preliminary hard work of his own thought. The preacher followed the truth and believed in it out of free independent conviction, and this convinced faith became the focus of his entire being, the alpha and omega of his life. In the conversations of Blessed Augustine, one feels, first of all, the power of firm and unshakable conviction, one hears, as it were, the voice of a prophet, “who ardently believed in the mighty power of words and truth” 729. He teaches as “one who has authority.” And his word is powerful because it is spoken with a convinced, clear consciousness of the truth. He himself deeply believes in what he teaches, and only teaches what he himself believes. Standing on the basis of church teaching, the preacher calmly repels attacks from opponents, because he believes in the correctness of the doctrine he preaches. In a firm and unshakable consciousness of this rightness, he sometimes, proposing this or that truth, simply affirms it by the power of his immediate, internalized conviction, without attaching much importance to evidence and without chasing after it, especially when the latter, by the very nature of the question under investigation, cannot have the power of complete obvious persuasiveness. In this case, as elsewhere, the pure fiery faith of the preacher himself is evident. “He who sincerely believes believes without reasoning; some instinctive force invincibly draws his thought and will to where the idol of his faith lies” 730. St. Augustine knew very well the influence of such faith and knew how to use it. In conversation 52, having touched upon the question of the inseparability of the three divine hypostases with certain special actions attributed to each of them, the preacher then says: “Everything that concerns God (quidquid est quod Deus est), let him be accepted with pious faith, let him be reverently thought and understood in the mind, to the extent that it will be given to anyone, and to the extent that he will be capable of it. Let the words be silent and the tongue humble. Let the heart ascend and ascend there (to God)" 731. The truths of the Christian faith are too deep for them to be fully understood by the limited human consciousness through the conventional forms of human speech, and the preacher does not always succeed in fully expressing in words and conveying to others the strength of his inner conviction, or with the desired accuracy and clarity in presenting to them what was accessible to his own thought and clearly presented to his consciousness. “Almost never,” says St. Augustine, “I don’t like my word. I long for the best, which I often enjoy inside before I begin to express it in words. And where I can communicate less than what is internally known to me, I grieve that my tongue is not sufficient for my heart. I want everything that I understand to be understood by those who listen to me, but I feel that I am not speaking in the right way to do this. Because while inner understanding permeates my spirit with a strong brilliance, my speech is heavy and slow, far from being similar (to what is inside) and while it continues, it (i.e., the thought clearly flashing in my consciousness) disappears and hides in the depths” 732. Before the thinking eye of St. Augustine, the truth was often clear and definite. But as soon as he wanted to convey to others what he himself clearly understood internally, the word refused to serve him. “Great souls, deep thinkers always have the displeasure of learning this bitter truth. Only small souls, only superficial speakers think that everything can be expressed easily and smoothly” 733. It cannot be disputed, however, that the evidence of St. Augustine is not always convincing. So, for example, in conversation 319, proving that St. Archdeacon Stephen remains after death with the Lord Jesus Christ, the preacher refers to the words of the Lord: “Where I am, my servant will also be,” explaining that in the Greek text the servant is called “διάϰονος” 734. Or in another place from the words of etc. Virgin Mary: “Behold, your father and I have been looking for you with great sorrow” (Luke 2:48), from the fact that she first says “father” and then calls herself, the preacher draws a conclusion about the humility of the venerable Virgin 735. In conversation 268, speaking about the unity of the church, he proves this unity by the fact that the believers on whom the Holy Spirit descended on the day of Pentecost began to speak different languages ​​736. Равным образом, желая доказать, что Исаак знаменовал собою Ветхий завет, проповедник рассуждает, напр., таким образом: «Вот уже состарился Исаак; and where there is old age, there is decay. In old age, therefore, I see decay, and in decay the Old Testament” - per senectutem intelligo vetustatem; et per vetustatem intelligo Vetus Testamentum 737. The fact, further, that the stone thrown by David struck Goliath in the forehead (1 Samuel 17:49), according to St. Augustine, expresses the idea that pride is overcome by humility 738. Celebrating the birth of John the Baptist on the day from which the days begin to decrease, and the birth of Christ at the time when the days begin to increase, in his opinion, proves the inferior human dignity of John in comparison with Jesus Christ as God. The different types of their death also indicate the same. John was beheaded, but the Lord Jesus Christ was ascended to the cross. The first, through the removal of the head, was, as it were, reduced. The second, having been lifted up to the cross, seemed to grow on it 739. Regardless, such evidence is, of course, of little significance. But they mean a lot in the mouth of St. Augustine, the inspired herald of truth. The lack of external formal persuasiveness is compensated here by the firm conviction of the speaker himself. Where the external word turns out to be powerless, there the preacher acts with the power of his unfeigned deep faith and unshakable consciousness of the correctness of his convictions. A persuader, as has already been said about this above, can only be a convinced person himself, and a convinced person should not be considered the one who bombards others with various kinds of skillfully constructed arguments, but rather the one who boldly, decisively and with the dignity that comes from a firm consciousness of truth, expresses what he thinks and feels. This is what Blessed Augustine does when the art of language and the power of thought could not embrace the subject in all its breadth and depth. In conversation 117, for example, pointing in confirmation of the pre-eternal birth of the Son of God from the Father to the fire and shine that is born from him, as well as to the image obtained from an object in a mirror or water, and anticipating the objection from the Arians that fire and shine, an object and the image from it, although they have similarities, do not have complete equality, and that, therefore, judging by the relationship with them, the Father and the Son are not equal, the preacher then says, firmly relying on the strength of his faith and his own conviction: “Behold, I have understood the Eternal Father and the Co-Eternal Son. However, should we imagine the relationship between the Father and the Son in the same way as we imagine the relationship of fire to brilliance, considering the latter to be less powerful than the first, or just as we consider the reflection from a reed to be less than the reed itself? no, but perfect equality. I don’t believe it,” Blessed Augustine seemed to object through the mouth of an opponent, “since you did not find any similarity.” But believe,” he answers this, “the apostle, who says (about the Son of God) that He did not consider it robbery to be equal with God” (Phil. 2:6) 740. The preacher's direct, unshakably convinced tone is supported, among other things, by his view of preaching as the fruit of grace-filled insight, and of himself as an instrument of grace, as a servant of the divine word, who says only what God puts into his mouth. The source of true preaching is in God. “If I can,” Blessed Augustine once addresses those listening, with your assistance and prayers, tell you what I want, I think that whoever understands will rejoice. Whoever does not understand, let him forgive the person who is working, let him pray to the good God. Because everything I say is from Him" ​​741. “We are servants of the word, but not our own, but the word of the Lord and our God, who glorifies those who serve Him and punishes those who forsake Him...” 742. The preacher does not even want to call himself a mentor of believers. “Your love knows that we all have one Teacher and His fellow disciples (et sub illo condiscipulos esse). We are not your mentors because we speak to you from an elevated place, but the Teacher of all is He who dwells in all of us” 743. “They call us teachers, but in many ways we ourselves are looking for teachers. We don’t want to be considered mentors. This is dangerous and forbidden, since the Lord Himself says: “Do not be called instructors, for you have only one instructor—Christ” (Matthew 23:10)” 744. It would be a grave mistake, however, to think on the basis of this that the preacher’s convictions were based on blind and unaccountable faith alone. No. They were based on the long work of his inquisitive, subtle and deep mind. The pious faith of Blessed Augustine and all his judgments were the result of this mental work. Thought gives him that confidence in his judgments, that conviction in which his word could be strong and convincing even without special arguments. As a philosopher and thinker, the preacher often turned out to be the same in his sermons, skillfully using, where it turned out to be possible and necessary, arguments “from reason.” He loves to touch on sublime theological subjects, leading the listener into the realm of abstract metaphysical questions, to which he gives thorough answers, remarkable in depth and subtlety of thought, with skillful and unexpected dialectically witty transitions and comparisons, giving his word a character of originality and fascination. As an example, we present here an excerpt from conversation 288, where the preacher clarifies the meaning of the eternal Word and the auxiliary meaning of the Forerunner of the Lord John in relation to this Word, through a comparison of the relationship between the word and the voice uttering the word, and where his depth and subtlety of thought, originality of judgment and dialectical wit are revealed with particular force. “Notice,” argues Blessed Augustine, “what is surprising in these two - John and Christ. The word means a lot even without a voice. The voice is empty without a word. We will try to prove this and explain it as much as possible. So you wanted to say something. This very thing that you want to say is already perceived, held in memory, prepared by the will, lives in the consciousness (intellectu). It is not yet expressed in any language. What you want to express, what you have received in your heart, cannot yet be expressed in any language - neither in Greek, nor in Latin, nor in Punic, nor in Hebrew, nor in the language of any other people. It is perceived only by the heart, ready to come out. So, as I have already said, here is something, some thought has been perceived by the heart and is ready to come out to become known to the listener. As far as it (the thought) is known to the one in whose heart it is contained, it is a word already known to the one who has to express it, but not to the listener. The word has already been formed, fully formed, being in the heart. It wants to come out to become known to the listener. Here is the one who has received the word in his heart, wants to say it and looks at who has to speak... Let your love be attentive. Here is a word, received by the heart, looking for a way out to be spoken, and looking to whom it should be said. Finds a Greek - looks for a Greek sound that could be spoken to a Greek; finds a Latin, searches for a Latin sound through which it could be expressed to a Latin; sees a Carthaginian (punicum), looks for a Punic sound with the help of which it could be conveyed to the Carthaginian. Eliminate the differences between the listeners, and the word that is received by the heart will not be Greek, Latin, Punic, or anything else. This is the kind of sound it seeks to emit, just like the listener. Now, brethren, so that you may understand this, I have decided in my heart to say “Deus.” I want to name God and I look at who I’m talking to. If a Latin is in front of me, I say “Deum”; if a Greek, I say “Θεόν”. To a Latin I say “Deum”, to a Greek “Θεόν”. Between "Deum" and "Θεόν" the pronunciation is different. Some sounds here and others there. In my heart, in what I want to say and what I think about, there is no difference in sounds, no difference in syllables. It is what it is (hoc est quod est). To speak to a Latin, one pronunciation is used, to a Greek, another. If I wanted to say to a Carthaginian (punico), I would use one sound, to a Jew - another, to an Egyptian - a third, to a Hindu - a fourth. And how many forms (pronunciations), according to the difference in persons (speakers), can the word of the heart have without any change or difference in itself. It passes to a Latin through Latin pronunciation, to a Greek through Greek, to a Jew through Hebrew. It passes to the listener and does not leave the speaker. Do I lose what I say to another? I’m thinking about God, and you haven’t heard my voice yet. Having heard him, you began to have what I was thinking about, but I also did not lose what I had. So, in me, in the depths of my heart, in the recesses of my thoughts, the word preceded my voice. The voice has not yet sounded in my mouth, but it is already in my heart. In order for what I perceived to pass to you, this requires the assistance of the voice... Now I already know what I want to say, I hold it in my heart and demand the service of the voice. Before the voice is in my mouth, the word is already in my heart. The word came before my voice, and first the word appears in me, and then the voice. But so that you too can know, a voice first comes to you, with which the word is imprinted in your thought. You could not know what was in me before using the voice, if it had not passed into you after pronouncing it with the voice (nisi in te fuerit post vocem)” 745. With such a witty analogy, Blessed Augustine very deeply and at the same time clearly explained the relationship of the Forerunner of the Lord and the Baptist John to the Lord in accordance with their names “voice” and “Word”. By calling John the “voice” and the Lord Jesus Christ “the Word,” the scripture, according to the preacher, thereby wants to indicate the eternal existence of God the Word or the Son of God, who was younger than John by incarnation and birth on earth. Like the human voice, with the help of which the word is uttered, and which, thus, has an official meaning in relation to this latter, John the Baptist was in relation to the Lord only an official person, and without this Hypostatic word he would have had as little meaning as pronunciation is meaningless and empty - a voice without a word (vox inanus est sine verbo) 746. But with all the loftiness of his reasoning and with all his inclination to abstract subjects, the preacher in his conversations from the church pulpit does not leave the soil of contemporary reality. His preaching was a living word on the living, burning questions of current life, and answered the vital interests and issues of the day. And no matter how deeply the preacher goes into the field of abstract research, he always has in mind the religious and moral needs of his flock, trying to protect them from being carried away by the false opinions of pagans and heretics, to dispel current misconceptions and doubts, to confirm believers in the truths of the Gospel teaching and to show them the rules of Christian conduct. Soulful pastoral fidelity to one's duty is what lies at the basis of the preaching word of Blessed Augustine 747. From here it receives the character of practicality or modernity as meeting the actual needs of listeners 748. Blessed Augustine teaches his preaching lessons with a wise application to the spiritual needs of his listeners, and therefore his preaching is vital. The impression of this vitality is further strengthened by the fact that, in developing his propositions and to prove his thoughts, the preacher often refers to well-known, for some reason memorable and instructive facts to the listeners from modern or recent past life. Thus, in conversation 105, responding to the reproaches that Rome is subjected to disasters and devastation by the barbarians as a result of betrayal of the former gods, the preacher points, as we have seen, to the recent victory (Momentote, fratres, momentote: non est longum, pauci anni sunt, recordamini), won by the Romans over the Gothic leader Radages, who was a zealous pagan and made daily sacrifices to his gods (Paganus homo erat Rhadagaysus: Jovi sacrificabat quotidie) 749. Or, for example, in conversation 308 the preacher tells the audience how someone named Tutuslimenius, whom they all knew 750, was punished for forcing another to swear, knowing in advance that he would swear falsely. “This Tutuslimenius, a respectable (gravis) and trustworthy man, said that at night (in a dream) he was called to the judge, and when he approached with great confusion and fear a certain majestic and wondrous man, before whom the duties of servants were performed by glorious men like him (cui parebat officium excelsorum), he received an order to step back and was then asked: why did he force an oath to a man whom he knew? that he would swear falsely? and in response to his (Tutuslimenia) answer that he did this because he (the one who swore) did not recognize himself as a debtor to him, he was told: would it not have been better for you to lose the thing that you demanded from another than to kill his soul with a false oath, and then he was stretched out and beaten so hard that on his back, upon awakening, traces of blows were visible. Only your honesty is spared, he was told after he was punished, be careful not to do this in the future. “Here,” the preacher concludes, “he (Tutuslimeniy) sinned and was punished. But the one who, after these words of mine and this admonition, does something like that, will sin much more. Beware of false and reckless oaths" 751. In conversation 286, pointing the listeners to the glorification of the bodies of the holy martyrs after their death, Blessed Augustine says that he himself witnessed the miracle of the healing of one blind man during the discovery of the relics of Protasius and Gervasius, the Mediolan martyrs. “I was there,” he notes, “in Mediolan... one blind man, known throughout the city, became sighted, came to the relics with a leader, and returned alone, without an escort. We haven't heard about his death yet. Perhaps he is still alive today. At the very basilica where the bodies of those martyrs were laid, he made a vow to serve throughout his life. We rejoiced at his insight and saw him already serving (at the basilica)” 752. In another place, calling on listeners to be non-covetous, the preacher tells them about the action of one poor man. “I’ll tell you what one of the poorest people did in Mediolan when we were there. He (this man) was so poor that he held the position of assistant grammar teacher (ut proscholus esset grammatici) 753. By faith he was a Christian, but the grammar teacher himself was a pagan, so there was a better one at the entrance than the one who stood at the pulpit (melior ad velum, quam in cathedra) 754. One day this poor man found a wallet, if I’m not mistaken, with almost two hundred gold pieces. Having found it, he made a public statement; he knew that he needed to give what he had found, but he just didn’t know to whom he should give it. Therefore, he made the following announcement: whoever lost money should come to such and such a place and ask such and such a person. The man who had lost his money walked around in grief and, having read the advertisement, came to this man. First, wanting to find out if this is what he was looking for, the one who found the money asked about the signs, about the quality of the wallet, about the stamp on it and about the number of coins. And when the lost one correctly indicated all the signs, he gave him the find. This one, wanting to thank him in return, offered him a tenth, twenty gold pieces. The finder did not want to take it; then the victim offered to take ten, but he refused even ten; he finally asked to accept at least five coins, but he did not want to take even that. Then the one who lost the money, amazed (at such non-covetousness), threw away the wallet with the money. “I haven’t lost anything,” he said. If you don't want to accept anything from me, and I haven't lost anything. What a competition, my brothers! - exclaims the preacher, having told this incident, - what a competition! what a controversy! what a struggle! The place (scene) where it takes place is the world, and the spectator is God. Having finally been defeated, he (who found the money) took what was offered to him, but immediately distributed everything to the poor, not leaving a single coin for himself.”755 In conversation 324, Blessed Augustine also talks about the resurrection of a woman’s young son at the tomb of St. firstmuch. Stephen in the African city of Uzala, where the bishop was the preacher's friend Evodius (episcopum habet fratrem meum, quem nostis, Evodium) 756, known to the listeners. “One woman,” says the preacher, “lost her young infant son, who had already been catechumens. When she saw that he had died and perished irrevocably, she began to mourn him more as a believing Christian than as a mother. She did not want the earthly life of her son, but grieved that he died and lost the life of the next century. Filled with ardent hope, she took him, dead, ran to the tomb of the blessed martyr Stephen and began to ask him for a son and say: holy martyr Stephen! you see that there is no consolation left for me. I cannot say about my son that he preceded me (in the kingdom of heaven), about whom you know that he perished; You see what I am grieving about. Return my son to me, so that he can remain before the face of Him who crowned you. When she prayed like this with tears, not asking, but as if demanding, her son came to life... She immediately brought him to the elders. He was baptized, consecrated, anointed, hands were laid on him, and after performing these sacraments he died again. And his mother buried him with such calmness, as if she were escorting him not to the grave, but to the blessed home of the martyr Stephen” 757. With such stories and examples, the preacher enlivens his word, strengthens it in the minds of those listening and deepens its influence on them. But most of all, Blessed Augustine’s authority in the eyes of his listeners is raised and the success of the sermon itself is ensured by his own life in harmony with the word, or, in other words, the harmony between the word and the work of the preacher. “Christianity,” writes one of the Russian homiletic archpastors, “is not an abstract philosophical doctrine, not a dead theory that gives food only to the mind and imparts to it known knowledge, known truths; it is a living spirit, a life-giving force that penetrates a person’s entire being, enlightening his mind, purifying his heart and directing his will to activities consistent with all his moral principles. And a Christian preacher is not a simple teacher, striving only to enrich the mind with knowledge that has nothing to do with moral life. He is most often an animated speaker who must touch the heart and move the will towards goals corresponding to his calling. Therefore, a sermon about Christianity and its ideals can only be strong in the mouth of a person who is completely imbued with its spirit, who implements it in his life, who strives with all his heart for the establishment of the kingdom of God on earth and, at the same time, firmly, intelligently and consciously considers the ideals of Christianity to be the only treasure, the only source of human happiness” 758. The preacher teaches his listeners the true life, precisely the kind in which a person would realize and achieve, if possible, the purpose indicated to him by God. But life can be taught, rather, through life and words, which comes from the life of the teacher and is confirmed by it. “In a Christian preacher, his inner real life, his inner feat, comes first. This is not art, but spiritual life itself” 759. Blessed Augustine himself attaches special importance to the pious life of the preacher, considering it an essential condition for success in the work of preaching. “No matter how exalted our preaching may be,” he writes in his “Christian Science,” “but in actual victory over the listeners, the life of the preacher always has more weight and power... For how many listeners are there who seek protection for their vicious life in the behavior of their superiors and teachers, thinking in their souls, or in bad times, even saying to the preacher’s face: why don’t you do what you command me?” 760. Or again: “In order to force one to listen to oneself with humility, a mentor who serves as an example for others, whether he preaches in a simple, or medium, or high style, always preaches shamelessly, for he lives impeccably. The good life he prudently manages does not in the least prevent him from earning a good reputation; on the contrary, fearing God and providing for people, he, to the best of his ability, always takes care of what is praiseworthy in the sight of God and men (2 Cor. 8:21). And in his very teachings it will always seem more pleasing to him to please with things than with words; He will honor one thing in expression better and more eloquently, what is expressed more truly and truly, and will not think that the teacher should be a slave of words, but that, on the contrary, words should be servile to the teacher” 761. “We have often said to your love,” the preacher instructs his listeners in one conversation, that just as the proclamation of the truth is nothing if the heart does not agree with the tongue, so the hearing of the truth is nothing if it is not accompanied by action” 762. And in practice, in his life, Blessed Augustine tried to implement what he taught in theory. His word does not differ from his deed. “What he preached about, he lived by, and what he lived by, he taught to others - this is the power of his preaching” 763. History unanimously testifies to his highly holy, ideal life. Sometimes the preacher himself, in support of his words, refers to his experience and examples from his own life in order to have a stronger effect on the listeners and encourage them to imitate. “But perhaps,” he remarks one day, forestalling an objection from the listener, “doubt arises in you whether I myself do what I say?” and then he answers: “I do it, my brothers, I do it myself first to the best of my ability. With God's help, I first test and do it on myself. I hate my vices and open my aching heart to my doctor (God)” 764. “Many,” St. Augustine admits in another place, “want to receive bad advice from us, in order to commit deception and fraud, thinking to flatter us (putantes, quia placent nobis). But, Christ is the witness (sed in nomine Christi), if these words of ours are acceptable before God, none of them tempted us and found what they thought they would find” 765. In conversation 51, Blessed Augustine recalls with bitterness his former errors, at the same time rejoicing at his liberation from them. “Pitiful me, considering myself as if capable of flying, left the nest and fell. But the Merciful Lord raised me up so that I would not be trampled by those walking by and die, and he put me in the nest. What confused me before is that now I calmly propose and explain to you in the name of the Lord” 766. Convincing his listeners not to swear, the preacher declares that he himself was once devoted to this bad habit, but, having decided to give up on it once and for all, with the help of God he succeeded in his decision 767. He does the same when he invites listeners to charity and care for the poor 768. Of course, with all his purity and holiness, Blessed Augustine as a man, even if only before the judgment of his conscience, could not be unconditionally pure and perfect. Therefore, when teaching and admonishing his listeners, he sometimes places himself alongside them, referring his instructions to himself 769 and calling himself their fellow student. “You are the hearers of the word, we are the proclaimers of it. In essence (intus autem, ubi nemo videt) we are all listeners” 770. “Listen to me, listen quickly with me. Together we will listen, together we will learn. After all, because I speak and you listen, I do not listen with you... listen with me; I don’t say - listen to me, but with me. In this school we are all fellow students. Heaven is the pulpit of Our Teacher" 771. “We preach to our fellow disciples in the school of the Lord. We have one Teacher, in whom we are all one, who, admonishing us not to be proud of the right of teaching, says: do not be called teachers, for you have one teacher, Christ (Matthew 23:8)” 772. The strength and effectiveness of the preaching word of Blessed Augustine increases even from that pastoral zeal for the salvation of his flock, which makes him especially persistent in his instructions. This persistence is sometimes combined with great touchingness. “Change, change,” he cries on one occasion, for example, urging his listeners to lead a life worthy of Christians. – Why are you still postponing the beginning of a good life, assuming that your life will be long? Do you think that life will last long, but you are not afraid of sudden death?! But let life be long. How much better, however, is a long good life than a bad one? No one (of you) wants to endure a long bad dinner, but everyone wants to have a long bad life... what bad things do you want, tell me, in all your actions, thoughts and passions? You don’t want bad land, you don’t want bad harvest, but good; you want to have a good tree, a good horse, a good slave, a good friend, a good son, a good wife... you even want to have good clothes, not bad ones, you don’t want to have shoes other than good ones. Show me at least something bad that you would like to have, and something good that you would not want to have. You want to have a good dacha or estate, but you want to have a bad soul (your own). How have you annoyed yourself? Why do you offend yourself (quid te offendisti? quid de te male tu ipse meruisti)? You don’t want anything around you to be bad, except yourself...” 773. “I do not seek money from you,” says the preacher in another place, “but I want to have joy in your good deeds. Living a good life doesn't make me rich. And, however, let him live well and enrich him (non enim qui bene vivit, divitem me facit. Et tamen bene vivat, et facit). My wealth is not any other, but your hope in Christ. My joy, my consolation, repose from dangers among all temptations is found in nothing other than your good life. I beg you, brothers, if you forget about yourself, have pity on me” 774. Sometimes this pastoral zeal for the salvation of his neighbors, the insistence of the preacher even leads him to some self-abasement. “Trust not in me,” he says one day, “but in God.” What am I? Human. I am the same as you, I bear the flesh and am weak” 775. In other cases, the preacher tries, on the contrary, to influence the listeners with the power of his pastoral authority, when he not only asks them, but commands them in the name of his pastoral dignity. “So, give to the poor, I ask you, I convince you, I command you, I command you” 776. But just as the preacher’s self-humiliation never reaches the point of humiliating his hierarchical dignity, his high title as a shepherd and servant of Christ, so in the same way his consciousness of his sacred authority never turns into arrogance and proud arrogance. The true and ardent love with which the preacher was imbued with his flock is not reconciled with either extreme. Love is humble if it turns out to be necessary in view of the same good. Assuming a lack of conceit and proud self-exaltation in a person, it requires at the same time a condescending, meek, cordial and sincere attitude towards all others. Both constitute the distinctive feature of the blessed preacher of Ippon. He does not separate himself from his listeners and does not consider himself higher or better than them. “What am I? a man is one of many, but not one of the great" 777. He is always aware of the weakness of his own strength and makes the success of his preaching dependent on the will of God. In cases where he finds it difficult to answer any question, he openly declares that he does not know it and cannot answer. So, for example, in conversation 244, touching on the question of how the pre-eternal existence of the Son of God and His birth from the Father can be reconciled, Blessed Augustine admits that he cannot resolve this question. “How He (the Son of God) was born... let it be explained to me, you cry,” says the preacher, directing his speech against the Arians. “But let it be explained to me too,” he objects. What do you want to be explained to you? whether He is born or not. But he would not be a son if he had not been born. If He was born, then there was a time when He was not?! “This is false,” answers the blessed teacher. “You are the earth, who speaks like this, and you speak from the earth.” Explain, the heretic says to me, how was he born, if he has always been? I don’t explain, I can’t (non expono, non expono, non possum); I don’t explain, but I represent the prophet for myself: “Who will confess His generation” (Is. 53:8) 778. “Why do you, brethren, seek this from me,” St. Augustine declares in another place, pointing out the difficulty of the question, the solution of which his listeners wanted to get from him. Think how sublime this mystery is. You know what I am, just as I know what you are. In all of us, the corruptible body burdens the soul and “this earthly church suppresses the over-anxious mind” (Wis. 9:15)” 779. Quite often, when resolving questions that seem more or less difficult to the preacher, he himself turns to God with prayer, and, in the same way, encourages his listeners to do so, 780, and after resolving a difficult question, he sometimes expresses thanks to God. "God bless. What was dark has now, I think, become clear. Here, as far as I could, I resolved the issue” 781. In general, when delivering sermons, he never lost sight of the assistance of divine grace. Hence, in them you can often find the expressions: “with the help of God” (“Domino adjuvante”, “in adjutorio Domini”) 782, “with the help of the Lord our God” (“adjuvante Domino Deo nostro”) 783, “if the Lord is pleased to open” (“Si Dominus dignatus fuerit donare”) 784, “may the Lord our God help” (“adsit Dominus Deus noster”) 785 and others under. Expressing this or that judgment on issues that admit of several solutions, he does not consider his judgment to be infallible and allows his listeners, if any of them thinks differently (si quis amplius capit), to hold their own opinion 786. At the same time, he asks only one thing, that they should not be aroused to pride. “Understanding, do not be proud, but... hold it with love” 787. The preacher himself is sometimes even ready in such cases to learn from his listeners and take advantage of their instructions. “Whoever understands better, let him teach. I am not the kind of teacher who would not learn himself (sic doctor sum, ut indocilis non sim)" 788. Having often received general praise from his listeners for his preaching, Blessed Augustine, however, did not allow himself to be deluded by this and not only did not become more lenient towards those giving praise, but, on the contrary, even seemed to become stricter towards them and more attentive to himself. It was not joy, but rather sadness that aroused these praises in him. “Your praises burden us and plunge us into danger. They make us sick and scared (toleramus illas et tremimus inter illas). These praises of yours are like the leaves of a tree, but you need fruit” 789. “I do not love,” he notes in another place, “with the lips of one who praises, but with the heart of one who despises. When you praise and do not correct yourself, you are a witness against yourself” 790. “We are not so much consoled by the voices of those who praise as by the mood of the faithful (devotio confitentium) and the deeds of the righteous. And that we are not consoled by anything except your spiritual success (prtofectibus vestris), and how dangerous the praises given by you seem to us - this is known only to the One who can deliver us from all danger” 791. However, burdened by the praise given to him by his listeners, the preacher sincerely and sincerely admits that he is ready to accept manifestations of sympathy for himself, but only from those who lead a good life. However, even here he is afraid of becoming fussy and falling into sinful self-indulgence. “He, before whose eyes I talk, even more, before whose eyes I meditate, knows that I do not so much enjoy the praises of people as I am worried and worried about the lives of those who praise me. I don’t want to be glorified by those who live badly; I turn away and abhor it. This is to my chagrin, not my pleasure. To receive praise from those who live well, if I say: I don’t want, I’m lying, but if I say: I want, I’m afraid, lest I turn out to be thirsting for more vain than essential. So what can I say? I don’t quite want and I don’t quite don’t want (nec plene volo, nec plene nolo). I don’t completely want to, so as not to be in danger from human praise, I don’t completely want to, so as not to turn out to be ungrateful before those to whom I preach” 792 . But being strict in relation to himself, Blessed Augustine, on the contrary, is very simple, meek, affectionate and condescending in relation to others. “Great souls are always meek and condescending, and two circumstances give rise to this condescension in them: experience of the infirmities of their own human nature and deep knowledge of the weak human heart” 793. The preacher addresses the listeners only with the words: “your holiness” 794, “your love” 795, or “your holiness” 796, “your love” 797, “my brothers” 798, “most beloved” 799, “most beloved brothers” (fratres dilectissimi) 800, and even “saints” (sancti) 801 or: “my brothers, my sons, my daughters and my sisters” 802. Due to his meekness, he would not want to make any reproaches or denunciations to his listeners, and only the consciousness of his duty, in connection with an irresistible feeling of love for them, prompts him to fulfill this sad duty. “I would not like to express this (reproaches and threats), - Blessed Augustine once notes with sorrow, - but what should I do?.. Should I be afraid of a person so as to remain silent about the truth?.. as if I don’t know what is said: “You wicked and slothful servant, you should have given my silver to the merchants, and I would have received it with profit” (Matthew 25:26–27)” 803. Or again: “I fulfill my duty, I seek fruit from you, I have joy in your good deeds” 804. “Behold, before the face of Him (God) I say, seeking nothing else from you except your salvation” 805. Everywhere he shows up he is afraid of offending someone. “I speak before the people, I speak not alone; although everyone can hear me, I don’t speak to one, but I speak to everyone” (non dico uni, sed humano generi) 806, he says in one place, fearing that with his speech he might arouse the suspicious suspiciousness of individuals. “I speak openly, but I denounce secretly. I appeal to everyone, but I awaken conscience only in some... I don’t say: you are an adulterer, correct yourself; but whoever is an adulterer among this large congregation, let him reform. Public accusation and secret correction. I know that whoever fears will correct himself” 807. On another occasion, expressing displeasure at the small number of believers who came to church, he addresses those present with the following words: “In the person of you, I am addressing those who are not here. Thank you for coming." 808 Cordiality is a distinctive feature of the preacher’s conversation, even when he has to expose the shortcomings of others. “Oh, good man,” he once addresses those who are angry, “oh, good man!” I don’t want to say: a bad person, I’d rather call you what I want you to be, rather than what you really are...” 809. Or this is how he denounces, for example, in conversation 224, men for their infidelity towards their wives. “But someone will say,” he says, “that the one I love is not a harlot (quam habeo), but my wife. Oh, holy bishop, you have made my partner a harlot! But did I really say that? - Augustine objects. - The apostle speaks, but I fell into guilt. I want you to be pure (Ego te volo esse sanum); Why are you raging at me like crazy? do you have a wife? There is. Wonderful. Whether you like it or not, the one with whom you are having a relationship, besides your wife, is a harlot. So go and tell her that the bishop offended you” 810. In the same conversation, persuading his listeners to improve and change their lifestyle, he likens them, for their constant excuses and promises to improve later, the next day (cras), to crows, whose croaking they resemble, in his opinion, by the frequent repetition of the word: “cras”, “cras” - tomorrow, tomorrow. “When will you get better? when will you change? tomorrow, you answer. So you constantly say: “cras”, “cras” and you become like a raven..." 811. Blessed Augustine was no less cordial, affectionate and meek in his polemics against the open enemies of the Church of Christ - heretics. He wants to win them over with meekness and attract them to his side with softness, tenderness and compliance rather than with severity and strict reproof. And here he notices an effort not to offend someone and thereby push them away from himself and his faith. “I’m not telling you,” he once remarks, addressing the Donatists, “you are a traitor (tu es potius traditor) ... I don’t want to say this, because although yours did 812, you didn’t. I do not impute to you the misdeeds of others, but I look at yours and convict you of this, that you are outside (the true church), ... I leave out your drunkenness, usury and extortion (fenus et usuras super usuras), I leave behind the crowds and furies of the Circumpellions and many other things that cannot even be counted. Not everyone does this here..." 813. However, the preacher's condescension and tolerance towards the erring does not border on indifference to the truth or religious indifference. “I don’t say,” he notes at the end of the 64th conversation, “that we should stop caring about them (the Donatists), but so that with our attacks we do not cause them only greater grief” 814. In the very errors of the heretics, Blessed Augustine sees only a manifestation of the general weakness and sinfulness of human nature, from which no one can be considered free, and therefore no one has the right to despise them and treat them with hatred and intolerance. “We will quietly respond to all their objections and will not boast of victory. “The servant of the Lord,” says the apostle, “should not quarrel, but should be friendly to everyone, teachable, gentle, instructing his opponents with meekness, whether God will give them repentance to the knowledge of the truth, so that they will be freed from the snare of the devil, who has ensnared them in his will” (2 Tim. 2:24-26). So, be lenient (patentia ergo ferte) if you yourself are healthy... because who can be completely called pure? when the righteous Judge sits on the throne, who can boast of the purity of his heart, or who dares to call himself clean from sin” 815. Everyone has the right to our love, because it is unknown what will happen to whom. The Apostle Paul was at first an enemy of the Church of Christ, but then became its zealous servant. The same can happen to any pagan or heretic 816. Therefore, in his polemics with heretics, the preacher never allows himself to be carried away by the so-called polemical fervor, which aims only to emerge victorious from the dispute and shame the enemy. He tries with quiet exhortation, calm, peaceful consideration of the truth to touch the lost, to act, first, not so much on his mind, but on his heart as a container of love. It is to the heart, to the height of the Christian love spilled within it (Rom. 5:5) that he most often appeals. Through all his denunciations and reproaches to his opponents, a red thread runs through the tone of pastoral, touching, seeking love for the lost. He wants to renounce everything, even the honors of the high rank of his pastoral ministry, just to reunite those who have fallen away from the church with it again. “Lord our God,” he prays, “deign that through this height (i.e., the height of Christian love) we turn our brothers to the inheritance of the world. Do you want to be bishops? stay with us 817. The people do not want two bishops; be brothers in our inheritance. Let us not hinder the peace of Christ because of our honors. What honor will we receive in the heavenly world if here, in earthly disputes, we stand for our honor? let the barrier of error fall, and let us be together. Recognize me as a brother, and I will recognize you as a brother, but after you have abandoned division, error and disagreement. Let all this be eliminated and you are mine. Or don't you want to be mine? I, if you improve, I want to be yours. So, having eliminated the error, as it were, some impenetrable wall dividing us (tanquam pariete maceriae contradictionis et divisionis), be my brother, and I will be yours, so that together we both can serve Him who is both your and my Lord” 818. It happens, however, that when denouncing heretics, Blessed Augustine allows for some kind of irony. “A righteous man, a holy man, a man without any filth or vice,” this is how, for example, he expresses himself, denouncing the arrogance of the Pelagians, who hoped to be saved by their own strength alone, without the help of divine grace 819. Or in another place, pointing out the inconsistency of the same Pelagians when, on the one hand, they insisted on the unconditional purity and innocence of infants, on the other, they argued that, without being baptized, infants achieve only eternal life, and not the heavenly kingdom, St. Augustine calls them oppressors of infants, and not their protectors (non adjutores parvulorum, sed oppressores miserorum) 820. But the purpose of the preacher’s irony is not to mock the enemy, to present him in an unattractive form, but to turn him to the path of truth. This is the irony of love trying to attract another to its side. Just as a mother, in order to distract her rebellious son from some harmful deed, while no admonitions and threats have any effect on him, wants to touch his cold heart with her maternal affection, her good-natured and loving laughter, so the blessed Saint of Ipponia, wanting to influence the callous soul of the listener and touch a stubborn schismatic or heretic, sometimes allows himself an innocent a joke, which is nothing more than the contrition of a loving soul, laughter through tears. “We will laugh at those who should be cried,” he says in one case about the Donatists, “and we will cry over those who should be laughed at” 821. In general, how painful and sad every church division, disagreement and enmity was for Blessed Augustine, this can be seen from his following confession, which he sets out before his listeners in his contrition about the Donatist division: “May our Lord help me, according to the desire of my heart, because it is filled with much sorrow, to express everything that I grieve about. But I beg you, by Christ Himself, to consider for yourselves what I cannot express, since my grief cannot be expressed sufficiently. I see many fornicators who want to take possession of a bride bought at such a price... let your love know that I grieve a lot over this circumstance. I don’t say: if I talk, if I cry all day, I won’t be able to express everything, I don’t say, like the prophet: if I have a source of tears,... but if I turn into tears and become tears, even that will not be enough to express my grief” 822. But if the source of heresies and errors, in the opinion of the preacher, is a lack of love and arrogance, then the only and sure way to eliminate them can be that which drives out pride, that is, love 823. We need to make up for the lack of love, we need to instill it where there was none. But love is kindled only by love. It is therefore the guiding principle for Augustine in his polemic against the erring. Here, for example, are the words in which he expresses his concern for admonishing them and converting them into the bosom of the true Church of Christ. “Don’t tell me: why are you looking for me if I’m dead? That's why I'm looking for you, because you died. Don't look for me, says the dying man. This, undoubtedly, the preacher notes, is what the wickedness by which we are separated from you wants, but the love by which we are brothers does not want. If I began to look for my servant, no one would consider me bad for this. But can you blame me when I want to find my brother? let him who has no brotherly love think so, but I will look for my brother. Let him be angry while he is looking, then, after he is found, he will calm down. I'm looking for my brother. And not against him, but for him I pray to God, I don’t say, praying: Lord! tell my brother that he should share the inheritance with me (Luke 12:13), but tell my brother that he should share the inheritance with me...” 824. In a loving, meek attitude towards opponents, Blessed Augustine sees a sign of the presence of truth, otherwise only the fear of lies is revealed. “Look, brothers, what a difference there is between the hope of truth and the fear of lies,” the preacher notes in one of his conversations regarding the fact that some of the Orthodox who wanted to enter the Donatist basilica were not allowed in, while the Donatists themselves received free access to Orthodox basilicas 825. The preacher's meekness towards his listeners and cordiality in addressing them were all the more evident in positive cases, when those to whom his word was directed turned out to be worthy of approval. It was very pleasant for his all-encompassing love when, instead of denunciations, he had to address his listeners with praise regarding their success in the good Christian life. And he willingly praises believers, if only he notices something worthy of praise in them. “I rejoice,” he says one day, addressing those present, “at your large crowd, because you willingly gathered in larger numbers than I could have counted on. What pleases and consoles us in all the labors and dangers of this life is your love for God, your pious exercises, the firmness of hope and vigilance of the spirit” 826. It is impossible not to notice, however, that such praise is very rare in the sermons of St. Augustine 827. This is explained by the fact, firstly, that people in the mass, even speaking relatively, are very rarely worthy of praise, in most cases they are rather worthy of blame, and this is all the more so from the point of view of St. Augustine, who extremely belittled the importance of man in doing good and organizing his salvation, and secondly, deep knowledge of the human soul, rich psychological experience tells him that for a person who is always prone to sin, praise can be dangerous. They are the closest path to pride - the mother of all vices. Therefore, the preacher himself, as already mentioned, always met praise from his listeners with embarrassment and anxiety. “Your praises burden us and plunge us into danger” 828, “I do not so much admire the praises of the people as I am wounded and frightened” 829 - this is what, as we have seen, he usually answers when he happens to notice others’ approval of his word. But no matter what the preacher said - praise or blame - all this, coming from the depths of a loving heart, was directed towards one high and holy goal - the salvation of those being preached. Hence, his word possesses to the highest degree what can be called the saving power of preaching. He does not seek to teach his listeners much, but only cares that everything, serving for edification, is useful to them for salvation, and says only what, one way or another, contributes to the achievement of this salvation. He perfectly expressed the whole meaning of his sermon in the following words quoted above: “I seek nothing else from you except your salvation” 830. He wanted to be ignorant rather than preach anything contrary to the sound doctrine of the faith 831. The inventive and resourceful mind of the preacher tries to find edification for listeners even where, it would seem, it could not be found. What could be said, for example, about the number of fish caught on the Sea of ​​Tiberias by the disciples of the Lord and at His command (John 21:11)? meanwhile, here too, for the purpose of edifying the listeners, the preacher tries to find an indication that a person can fulfill the commandments of God only with the assistance of divine grace 832. He wants to find edification even in the names of the Apostle Paul: before his conversion to Christianity “Saul” (Saulus) and after his conversion “Paul” (Paulus). The latter, in his opinion, is the name of Christian humility 833, and the first is the name of earthly greatness, worldly nobility and pride 834. The saving name of our Lord Jesus Christ is the only guiding star in the sermons of Blessed Augustine. He strives to bring all his instructions to Christ and sanctify him in His name. With this saving banner in his hands, he becomes bold and decisive in his judgments, not embarrassed by one or another arbitrary comparison, as long as all this is imprinted by the spirit of Christ and has a greater or lesser connection with the word of the cross 835. That is why very often the preacher is original, but his originality is always edifying, since this is the only direction it is directed towards, establishing itself at the focal point in the teaching about our salvation - Jesus Christ. In conversation 218, discussing, for example, Joseph and Nicodemus, who buried Christ, Blessed Augustine stops at considering their very names and in these names he finds a mysterious reference to Christ Jesus. “Joseph means,” he says, “multiplied (auctus), but the word “Nicodemus” is Greek and is composed of the words “victory” and “people”, because νῖϰος - victory (Victoria) and δῆμος - people (populos). But who has multiplied in death if not the One who said: “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone, but if it dies, it bears much fruit” (John 12:24)? and who, by dying, defeated the people pursuing him, if not the One who will judge him in the resurrection?..” 836. Being imbued and warmed by a feeling of deep sincere piety, flowing from a heart flaming with love for one’s neighbors, aching with zeal for their salvation, sanctified by constant remembrance of God and Christ the Savior, and strengthened by the teachings of the Catholic Church, the preacher’s word has that church-biblical spirit or character that can be found in a spiritual speaker who always carries “in his mind and heart the fundamental Christian truths - about Christ, the Son of God, who became incarnate for our salvation and was crucified for us, and about the helpless poverty of the sinner man, left to his own devices" 837. In its content, his word is holy, because it has the goal of sanctifying a person and bringing him closer to the very source of holiness - God; it is true because it is born from only one pure intention to teach others the truth; it is saving, since it is spoken for the benefit of the listeners and shows them the only way of salvation in Christ. The Word of God, the Bible, is the only true and reliable guide for a preacher. The authority of this leadership resolves its own misunderstandings. The doubts and misunderstandings of others must cease before him. Blessed Augustine always has ready evidence, abundantly drawn by him from the Holy Scriptures. Scriptures. Due to the fact that the preacher constantly revolves in the circle of biblical concepts, as well as the saving truths of the Gospel, and is filled with a fiery desire for the good of his listeners, his speech gives the impression of a conversation of a loving father to his children. In this conversation one can hear a breath of heavenly goodness, touching the most callous and cold hearts. This touching speech sometimes brought listeners to the point that they began to beat their chests 838 and shed tears 839 with contrition. The seed of the saving teaching proclaimed from the church pulpit did not fall to the ground, but penetrated into the hearts of those listening, poured joy into them, bowed and humbled them, calmed them, consoled them, eased them and made them sigh in holy joy for the indicated path of salvation. At the same time, the preacher’s heart merged with the hearts of the listeners. You cannot find dryness, indifference or coldness in his judgments, and the mind does not suppress the heart. Even in those cases when he touches on deep dogmatic issues, his speech is constantly interrupted by expressions of touching humility, piety and cordiality. “Pray for us,” he asks the believers standing before him in conversation 52, discussing the sacrament of the Most Holy. Trinity. – Help us (collaborate). You know what we want to talk about, you know, and who we are (coming to this subject)..." 840. “Perhaps you expect me,” he addresses the listeners in the 27th conversation, “for me to tell you why God has mercy on whomever He wants, and hardens whomever He wants (Rom. 9:18)? and what do you, man, expect from me? after all, if you are a man, and I am a man; Therefore, let us both listen to the apostle, who says: And who are you, O man, that you argue with God (Rom. 9:20)? Better is pious ignorance than foolish knowledge." 841 “Lift up, brethren,” he asks the believers in another place, “lift up your ears to me, and your mind to the Lord. I tell your love that perhaps in all of Scripture there is no other, more difficult question. And I confess to you that in the speeches that I made to the people, I always tried to avoid the difficulty of this issue” (about blasphemy against the Holy Spirit) 842. “Be attentive,” Blessed Augustine also prays to his listeners, discussing the eternal existence of the Son of God and His equality with the Father. – May He (the Lord) help you with your prayers... to explain to some what we want (quod coepimus). But, brethren, I say in advance: if I am not able to explain, know that it is not the teaching that is weak, but the person (non rationem putetis, sed hominem defecisse). So, I urge and ask you to pray that the Lord, in His mercy, will help us to present the matter in such a way as you need to hear and we need to speak” 843. “Look,” the preacher says on another occasion, pointing out the severity of his ministry, “what danger threatens us when it is said: “My brothers, do not many become teachers,... for we all sin many times” (James 3:1-2). Who is not afraid when the apostle says: “all”? and what comes next? “He who does not sin in word is a perfect man” (James 3:2). But who dares to say that he is perfect?! therefore, whoever stands and listens only does not sin in word. Whoever says, even if he has not sinned, which is difficult to admit, nevertheless, he suffers and suffers, fearing lest he sin. Therefore, you should not only listen to those who speak, but also be compassionate towards those who are afraid, so that if we say what is true, since everything that is true is from the truth, you glorify not us, but God, and if we sin as people somewhere, pray to Him for us” 844. This heartfelt, touching tone of Augustine’s preaching speech is combined with its special touchingness, which is most manifested in those cases when the preacher either exhorts the members of his flock to do something, or tells them about himself and confesses to them his unworthiness. “Do what is fair,” he exhorts his listeners in one of his conversations, for example. Have faith (credite). “The just shall live by faith” (Hab.2:4; Rom.1:18). It is difficult to allow anyone to lead a troubled life while having a strong faith (qui bene credit). Believe with all your heart, believe without hesitation or doubt... Do you believe? I'm asking you. I believe, you answer. Prove by action what you say; only then will there be (true) faith. So, even if I hear your voice, I cannot see your heart. But do I make you a laborer in the vineyard (sed numquid ego ad vineam conduco), I who do not see your heart? I am not the one who delivers, I am not the one who specifies the work, and it is not I who will reward the work. I'm your employee. To the extent of the strength that He (the Lord) was pleased to give me, I also work in the vineyard, and how I work is seen by the One who showed me my work. “For me,” says the apostle, “it means very little how you judge me” (1 Cor. 4:3). So you can hear my voice, but you cannot see my heart. Let us give our hearts to God and do God’s work from the soul. Let us not anger the one who put us to work, so that we can later receive the reward without shame (libera fronte)” 845. “Enlarge your hearts,” St. Augustine asks those listening in another place, “help the poverty of our thoughts. What I can say, listen, what I can’t say, think for yourself” 846. Or again: “Strengthen you, sinners (peccatores), your prayers, confess your sins, pray that they will be blotted out and diminished, pray that, as you improve, they will weaken; just don’t despair, pray even if you have already sinned. Who doesn't sin? start with the priests. And God commanded them to offer sacrifices, first for their sins, then for the sins of the people (Lev. 16:6; Heb. 7:27)... Behold, brethren, I, by the will of God, His priest, a sinner, together with you I beat my chest, with you I cry out for mercy, with you together I trust in the Good God,” 847 - the preacher often addresses his listeners with such and similar expressions. And how touching and touching are those words of Blessed Augustine, in which he depicts the burden of pastoral service placed on him, inappropriate, as he thinks, to his strengths, and prays for the relief of this heavy burden, when in his mouth the following cry is heard from the depths of his aching heart: “Revelate, fratres, revelate sarcinam meam, bene vivite” (lighten, brothers, lighten my burden, live well) 848. Or this is how, for example, in conversation 355 he tells his listeners about himself: “I, whom, by the grace of God, you see as your bishop, was still a young man, as many of you know, and came to this city. I was concerned about setting up a monastery where I could live with my brothers, since I abandoned the pleasures of this age and, what I could have been, did not want to be. Nor did I seek what I am now. I wished better to be at the threshold of the house of God than to live in the tents of wickedness (Ps. 83:11). He moved away from those who seek the pleasures of the age, but did not equate himself with those who stand ahead of others (qui praesunt populis). He did not seek a higher place at the Lord’s table, but wanted to be content with the lowest and unnoticeable. But it pleased Him (the Lord) to say to me: ascend higher. I was so afraid of being a bishop that, since for some time now rumors about me had spread among the servants of God, I tried not to appear in a place where there was no bishop. I was afraid of this and wanted to escape in a low place rather than be exposed to danger in a high place. But a servant should not resist his Lord. I came to this city to see my friend, whom I thought to acquire for the Lord so that he would live with us in a monastery, and I came completely calm, since this city had a bishop. Captured (apprehensus), I was first made a presbyter, and then through this step I reached the episcopate. I didn’t bring anything with me; I came here, to this church, only with the clothes that I was wearing then. And since I wanted to live in the monastery with the brethren, Elder Valery of blessed memory, having recognized this desire of mine, gave me the garden in which the monastery is now located. I then began to gather well-intentioned brothers, my comrades, who had nothing, just as I had nothing, and who were ready to imitate me, so that, just as I sold my insignificant possessions (tenuem paupertatulam meam) and distributed them to the poor, those who would want to live a common life with me would do the same, and so that God Himself would be our common and abundant wealth.”849 No less touching is the preacher’s speech when he begs his listeners not to donate to him precious clothes that are different from the clothes of his other fellow clerics. “I don’t want,” he says, “for your holiness to bring me clothes that I alone used more preferentially than others (quibus ego solus quasi decentius utar), at least, for example, a precious birga (byrrhum) 850. Perhaps it is appropriate for a bishop, but it is not appropriate for Augustine, a poor man born of the poor. Then people will say that I have found precious clothes, which I could not find either in my father’s house or in my worldly service 851. No, these clothes do not suit me. I want to have one that I can give to my brother if he needs it. What kind of presbyter can have, what is appropriate for a deacon and subdeacon, this is the kind I want to accept. If someone gives the best, I usually sell... I sell and distribute to the poor. If he likes me to wear it, let him give me one for which I would not be ashamed. I confess to you, I am ashamed of my precious clothes, because they are not suitable for this service and title, not suitable for these members and these gray hairs” 852. Blessed Augustine undoubtedly owes all the just indicated high internal merits of his sermons, mainly, to the strength and depth of religious feeling, the purity of his heart and the holiness of his intentions, the constant vigilance of the spirit, through which he became more receptive to the special beneficial influence and illumination from above. Outside of this blessed illumination, his word could only be outwardly fascinating, riveting and titillating to the ear, beautiful, but beautiful from a general literary point of view; it could be beautiful as a word, as speech, but not as a preaching word, not as a sermon. Such a word may satisfy the tastes of literary aesthetics, but it may be of little use or even completely ineffective for the sense of morality, for the sanctification of a person. Only a holy word can sanctify a person, make him morally purer. A sermon can only be holy if it comes from a sanctified heart, purified by the fire of divine love. That is why the great Ipponian shepherd and teacher, just as he recommends that everyone who begins to preach, first of all, turn to God in prayer 853, so he himself always approaches this work with reverent reverence, prayerfully lifting up his mind and heart to God, so that He will help him “with His mercy and grace” 854. Chapter IV. External properties of the sermons of St. Augustine The dominant form of church teaching in the ancient Christian church was homilies or explanatory discourse 855. Ancient preachers devoted most of their attention to explaining the word of God in the order of biblical reading and from here offered listeners the instructions necessary for their edification 856. Blessed Augustine in this case did not represent any exception in comparison with other ancient preachers. Almost all of his conversations on the psalms and the Gospel and the first letter of John, as well as most of the sermons known as “sermones”, can be classified as homily or explanatory conversations on certain passages of Holy Scripture. He himself calls his teachings homilies in the introduction to the conversations on the 118th Psalm. “I decided,” says Blessed Augustine here, “to do this (i.e., to explain the psalm) in conversations that could be spoken before the people, and which the Greeks call homilies” 857. The theory of preaching distinguishes homilies: lower, analytical, and higher - synthetic, or analytical-synthetic 858. The lower homily is distinguished by greater artlessness. It consists in explaining the subject of speech according to the given arrangement of its parts and does not have what is called thematization. The preacher explains the text sequentially, word by word, offering moral lessons here and there, without, however, ensuring the unity and consistency of thought. The highest homily comes close to the thematized word and differs in comparison with the first by greater artificiality, greater order and unity of parts. Here you can already find one main thought running through the entire conversation, around which all the others are grouped. The sermons of Blessed Augustine for the most part should be attributed to this latter type of homily. Traces of synthesizing thought are noticeable in them. It is not the preacher’s thoughts that are connected by the text, but on the contrary, the text is connected by them, although their very order is determined by the text. Here one can already find a general guiding idea, under which the preacher tries to bring all those thoughts that are indicated to him in the text. A lot of examples could be given to prove this point. Let's dwell on at least one of them. In a conversation on Psalm 42, starting to explain this psalm, the preacher expresses the basic point that in real life virtuous people have to live together with the wicked, so that the good seed is scattered among the tares and suffers among them (inter zizania gemit) 859. In relation to this state of the virtuous on earth, that is, in relation to the state of their life together here with the wicked, he explains the words of the first verse: “Judge me, O God, and enter into my litigation with the unkind people. Deliver me from the evil and unjust man" 860. In these words, according to the preacher, the prayer of the righteous is expressed that, during external bodily communication with the wicked, the Lord would protect him from communicating with them in actions, so that with the same weakness the conscience would not be the same, and with the same work its goal would be different 861. Accordingly, he wants to explain the next verse, connecting it with the previous one, however, only mechanically. Since, he argues, being together here with the tares must continue until the time of harvest, and since, in view of such being together with the “good seed with the tares,” or pious people with the wicked, it is necessary to be courageous first, then we must ask ourselves for courage from Him “who commanded that we should be courageous” 862. But so that the soul does not become exhausted, assimilating this courage, immediately, the preacher notes, the sacred writer added: “Since you, my God, are my strength” (quia Tu es, Deus meus, fortitude mea) 863. In the same way, in relation to the main thought expressed at the beginning, the preacher explains the third and following verses. Among the homilies of Blessed Augustine there are also those which, in the correctness of external structure and in the unity of thoughts, come very close to thematized, artificially constructed words, and which, following the example of exemplary oratorical speeches, have an introduction, a sentence, a division and a conclusion. This is, for example, his 166th conversation, which can well be called a thematic word. It begins with an introduction, where the preacher also indicates the subject of speech, i.e. the introduction is at the same time a proposal. Its title contains text from the letter of the Apostle Paul to the Ephesians: “Having rejected lies, speak the truth” (Eph. 4:25) and from Ps. 116:2: “Every man is a lie.” The preacher wants to resolve the bewilderment aroused by the words of Scripture: “If God helps,” he says, “we will try to explain briefly that this thought expressed by the apostle: “having rejected lies, speak the truth,” does not contradict the thought expressed in the psalm: “every man is a lie.” What do these words mean: “having rejected lies, speak the truth” and the other “every man is a lie”? Is it possible that God commands something impossible through the Apostle? No. What does He command? I dare to say, but accept what is said without grief, because I am also speaking about myself: God commands that we should not be human (hoc jubet Deus, ut non simus homines). If I were to say: God commands that you should not be human, you might find it offensive to you. Therefore, I add myself as well” 864. Next, the preacher moves on to the main part, to the resolution of the bewilderment aroused by these words and concludes the conversation with an exhortation to the listeners to follow what he has expressed, to leave the lie that relates to Adam (mendacium ad Adam pertinent), and to speak the truth that relates to Christ, to put on Christ. The following conversations should also be included among similar conversations: 92nd, 108th, 114th, 134th, 207th, 231st, 254th, 267th, 349th, 361st and some others. In the latter, for example, the preacher, before proceeding to the subject of speech, in an attack indicates the reason for the conversation and briefly indicates its subject - about the resurrection of the dead. Not content with this brief designation of the subject of speech, he further indicates the entire meaning of the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead for man, defines in more detail the plan of the conversation, outlining two points that he must consider, namely, paragraph 1, will there be a resurrection of the dead, and 2, what will be the life of the saints in the resurrection. “Assuming faith in the resurrection of the dead,” he says, “another question arises as to whether the future life will be different from the present, transitory life... So, our first reasoning is whether there will be a resurrection of the dead, and the second is what the life of the saints will be like in the resurrection” 865. According to this division, Blessed Augustine then considers first the first question in the 361st conversation, concluding it in accordance with the truth proven in it with the exhortation to fast and pray, not to burden the hearts with overeating and drunkenness, awaiting the coming of the Lord and the future life, and then the second question, which forms the subject of the next 362nd conversation, which in its external structure and strict internal unity is similar to the first. However, such conversations, more or less correct and strictly according to plan, are found relatively rarely in St. Augustine. In most of them, there is no big claim to artificiality in the construction of speech. The sermons of St. Augustine, in the characteristic expression of one learned homiletic, “are for the most part the product of a moment, the product of a moment dedicated to God, the outpouring and expression of his deeply touched heart and his keen spirit.”866 Their subject is the explanation of one or another place of the Holy Scripture. Scripture, usually daily reading of one or more from both Testaments 867, or from different books of one Testament, New 868 or Old 869. Such a homilial explanatory nature of the conversations of the blessed Ippon shepherd already speaks of the absence in them of strict unity of subject matter, strict logical connection and roundness of speech. The preacher is not embarrassed by the external demands of oratory and moves in speech from one subject to another if he sees that what has been said is enough for the listeners and if for some reason he finds it useful for them to change the subject of speech 870. “I moved from one subject to another,” he declares, for example, in one of his teachings, “but this is necessary for the strength of our faith against some of the growing evil interrogators” 871. Sometimes some accident, in connection with a corresponding change in the preacher's mood, prompts him to take up another question that has no relation to the first. So, during the delivery of the 311th conversation, the praises and cries of the listeners unexpectedly force Blessed Augustine to speak on the text from the Gospel (Matthew 11:17): “Cantavimus vobis et non saltastis” (we sang to you, and you did not dance) 872. At the same time, he relied entirely on the power and help of God, guided by faith in the mysterious illumination from above 873 and the conviction that the Lord directs his very mistakes for the benefit of those listening. And the preacher’s hopes did not deceive him. Possidius, in his account of his life, reports that Blessed Augustine once, during a meal after a service, asked him, Possidius, and others present, whether they had noticed how he in church on the same day, without finishing one question in the sermon, took up another? when those asked answered that they had noticed and were surprised by this, Blessed Augustine told them: “I believe that God, in whose hand we and our words are, wanted to teach and heal one of those who were lost through our oblivion and error. So, when I was considering one question, I veered into another and, without finishing or explaining what I started, directed my speech more against the error of the Manichaeans, which I had not even thought of talking about.” And indeed, Possidius writes, on the next or third day after that, someone named Firmus, a merchant, came to the monastery to Blessed Augustine, and, prostrating himself before him, with tears asked to pray for his sin. At the same time, he said that he previously belonged to the Manichaean sect and was converted thanks to the recent sermon of the bishop 874. It happens that a preacher begins his sermon under the influence of an insight he directly senses from above. “Today,” he begins one of his conversations, “when the Gospel was read, my heart was so touched that I saw the will of God here, so that you would listen to something from here through my ministry” 875. Unexpectedly, even to himself, the preacher sometimes begins to say to his listeners something completely different from what he intended to say, prompted to such a change by instructions from above, which he saw in some insignificant and random phenomena that occur just before the delivery of the sermon 876. At the beginning of the conversation on Psalm 138, he declares that he was preparing to speak about something other than this psalm and that he had not ordered the reader to sing it, but he mistakenly took another one. In this he sees a command from God and “would rather follow the will of God in the reader’s error than in his intention to fulfill his will” 877. In one case, the preacher changes the subject of speech due to an unusual event that occurred at the moment of delivering the sermon. So, when he wanted to tell his listeners about the miracle that took place in Uzala with the relics of St. Stephen, at that time, at the shrine with the relics of the same saint, located in one of the basilicas of Ippon, a miracle occurred, healing a certain Cappadocian woman from shaking and writhing. This forces St. Augustine to interrupt the narrative he had begun and say a few words about the extraordinary event that had just occurred. “And when Augustine said this,” he explains at the end of the conversation (the remark probably belongs to the person who recorded the sermon), “the people began to shout from the place where the tomb of St. Stephen (de memoria sancti Stephani): thank God (Deo gratias)! praise to Christ (Christo laudes)! Amid this incessant scream, the woman who received healing was brought to the episcopal see (ad absidam) 878. At the sight of her, the people continued to shout with joy and tears for some time. When silence reigned, Bishop Augustine said: “It is written in the psalm: “I confess my crimes to the Lord, and You have taken away from me the guilt of my sin (cordis mei)" (Ps. 31:5). He said, “I confess,” but have not yet confessed. I confess, and You have already forgiven me. I entrusted this unfortunate woman to your prayers. We decided to pray - and we were heard. Let our joy also be an act of thanksgiving." 879. In some cases, the lack of unity of subject in the sermons of Blessed Augustine is due to his desire to give his listeners edification from all the passages of Holy Scripture read in the church, which individually seemed important to him for the edification of believers. "From the divine scriptures, brethren,” he once addresses those who are coming, “listen with attention to what the Lord will give through my ministry. We heard the first reading from Apostle: “This is a true saying, and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the first. But for this reason I received mercy, so that Jesus Christ in me first might show all long-suffering, as an example to those who will believe in Him for eternal life” (1 Tim. 1:15-16). Then we sang a psalm, admonishing ourselves mutually, and saying with one voice and one heart: come, let us worship and fall, bow our knees before the face of the Lord our Creator, and also: let us stand before His face with praise, let us shout to Him in songs (Ps. 94:6, 94:2). After this, the Gospel reading shows us ten cleansed lepers and one of them a foreigner, giving thanks to the Purifier (Luke 17:12–19). “Let us consider these three readings,” the preacher notes, “as time permits, and talk about each at least a little” 880. It would be in vain for us to look for sublime and magnificent introductions in the teachings of Blessed Augustine, as was the custom among the preachers of his time, especially among the Eastern ones. By his example, he seems to warn against the requirement of the newest homiletical science, according to which “the preacher should not have the slightest concern about the attack, or about any rhetorical figures, or about the pathetic part and conclusion, or about the beauty of speech” 881. As a rule, Blessed Augustine begins his words simply and calmly, and this simplicity and calmness is noticeable even in his conversations on the days of annual holidays, in honor of the holy martyrs and in his teachings on various occasions, that is, where, it seems, there could be a wide field for magnificent rhetoric, and where this latter was usual at that time. His solemn flourish is imperceptible even in those cases when, starting a speech about some wondrous manifestations of the omnipotence and goodness of God or about the exploits of martyrs, he expresses his reverence for them and confesses the inadequacy of his strength to glorify them. Often the introduction to the conversations of St. Augustine is brief and consists of only a few words 882. Sometimes it is only a brief repetition of what was said before 883 or a reminder of the promise given to the listeners to talk with them. “As it pleased the Lord,” Blessed Augustine once begins his word, “that we should live to see the day of our promise, so may He help us to fulfill the promise itself” 884. “Waiting for your love,” he says at the beginning of another conversation, “is a requirement of my duty. I have no doubt that you remember my promise to tell you something, if the Lord helps, regarding the reading from the Evangelist John. When you listened to the reader, I know that you were thinking about me, that I should repay my debt to you” 885. You can also find a lot of teachings from the preacher that have no introduction at all 886. Often the conversations of St. Augustine have conclusions at the end, in which he either confirms what was said, summing up everything, or turns to the listeners with an admonition to adhere to what he called them to in the sermon, or promises to talk with them at another time, due to the inability to continue the word due to weakness and fatigue, or due to some other reasons 887. These conclusions in the sermons of St. Augustine, for the most part, despite their simplicity and artlessness, are brief. Thus, his 135th conversation ends with the following short call to prayer from listeners: “So, pray” (ergo orate) 888. The preacher concludes the 137th conversation with equally brief words: “Pray that the Lord will find us ready” (orate, ut paratos nos inveniat) 889. Or in another case, he ends his teaching as follows: “flee from condemnation, seek and expect eternal salvation” (fugite contemnationem, amate et sperate salutem aeternam) 890. At the very end of his teachings, Blessed Augustine usually pronounces a special prayer of gratitude and supplication, which can be called an afterword. Here is this prayer, as it is stated at the end of the 34th conversation: “turning with a pure heart to the Lord God and the Almighty Father, let us offer Him, as far as possible for us, great and abundant thanksgiving, with all our souls asking for His goodness, so that He mercifully hears our prayers and with His power drives away the enemy from our actions and thoughts, so that He increases our faith, controls our mind, builds our spiritual strength and leads us to His blessedness through His Son and our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives with Him and reigns with the Holy Spirit (in unitate Spiritus Sancti) forever and ever. Amen" 891. In addition to this prayer, which occurs at the end of many of the preacher’s conversations, one can sometimes find in him the so-called “post sermonem.” This “post sermonem” occurs twice in the collection of conversations of St. Augustine: at the end of the 20th and 111th conversations. In the first case, the preacher convinces the listeners to pay attention to the preaching of the word of God, even if the preachers are elders 892; in the second he warns listeners about the celebration of the annual day of ordination (ordination) of Bishop Aurelius 893. “Your love knows,” he says, “what we want to remind you of. Tomorrow comes the annual day of installation of the elder lord (Domini senis) of Aurelius. He asks and convinces through my unworthiness (per humilitatem meam) your love, so that you will willingly gather in the Basilica of Faustus” 894. As simple as St. Augustine’s sermons are in their construction, they are just as unartistic and simple in terms of presentation. The preacher does not strive for grace of expression; he is more concerned not about the beauty and correctness of words, but about the correctness of thoughts and their clarity for listeners - “not about what sounds good, but about what expresses and reveals the truth well” 895. Preaching, according to St. Augustine, should teach. And “whoever teaches,” he argues, “should avoid expressions that do not teach; let him choose correct expressions, if this can be done without harming clarity; if it’s impossible, either because they don’t exist at all, or because they don’t come to mind quickly, then let him use words that are not entirely correct, as long as the subject itself is taught correctly” 896 . In his speech, the preacher seeks more evidence (documenta), rather than decoration (ornamenta). With a penchant for philosophical speculation, he tries to trace a thought to its last foundation. “From the height of eternal truth, he wants to survey everything so that not a single point, not a single aspect of the subject escapes” 897. Due to the special love and inclination 898 of Blessed Augustine for dialectics, one can find in him a lot of wit and little of the plasticity or artistic presentation that is distinguished, for example, by the sermons of Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian and some other preachers, especially Eastern ones. However, it would be a mistake to draw a conclusion from this about the tediously monotonous and dry presentation in the sermons of St. Augustine. Even in those cases when the preacher touches on the most incomprehensible dogmas of the Christian faith, he does not become too dry and abstract; on the contrary, he never forgets that there are listeners before him and not those listeners in relation to whom it would be indifferent to him whether they consider it necessary to agree with him or not; before him are listeners whom he with all his soul desires to involve in his conviction, to lead to knowledge and understanding of the truth he himself professes. Its dialectics is not a play on words or thoughts of a sophist indifferent to the truth. St. Augustine uses it only to explain, prove and confirm the truth of which he himself is convinced. This is the confident speech of a preacher, a loving shepherd, trying in every possible way to put the truth into the soul of another. It is a living conversation between a father and his children, constantly interrupted by deeply felt confessions and outpourings of a gentle and tenderly loving spirit. The preacher is always ready, if the question exceeds the boundaries of research, and it is impossible to penetrate further into the depths, to confess the insufficiency and limitations of his powers and humbly bow before faith in divine revelation. “Let no one question me,” he once says about the meaning of the secret. – If you came to test the untestable and explore the unsearchable, then know that you are lost. To experience the untestable and to explore the unsearchable is the same as to see the invisible and say the inexpressible” 899. Often in the middle of a sermon, especially when some difficult issue is being discussed, he calls his listeners to attention. “Great mystery, brothers,” he says in such cases, “be careful!” 900 or: “be attentive, saints” (attendite sancti) 901. “Lift up your hearts, my brethren, lift up” 902 or: “enlarge your hearts, help the poverty of my speech. What I can say, listen: what I can’t say, think about it yourself” 903. “Ah, brothers, strain all the strength of your spirit” (Eja, fratres, adestote toto animo) 904 - these and similar appeals to listeners are very frequent in the sermons of Blessed Augustine, and the listeners did not remain cold to his call. They are drawn into the conversation, following it with all attention and intensity. Despite the fact that the path of research is sometimes long and difficult, they follow the preacher, or, more precisely, together and next to him, not weakening in the least, but, on the contrary, more and more excited by his words, so that the preacher lives, as one of his biographers rightly notes, with the soul of his listeners and these latter with his soul. Hence, his speech is often dialogical in nature, and “his word is, as it were, a conversation between him and the listeners” 905. He poses questions and answers them. “You announce with a shout... what I’m going to say, you know, and with a shout you warn... listen to what you know; I don’t teach, but I remind by preaching. Rather, I don’t teach, because you know, and I don’t remind, because you remember, but together we will talk about what you hold with us” 906. Loudly the listeners testified in some cases that they understood what was said 907, and the preacher did not hide his pleasure about this 908. If some of them, having assimilated what was said, ran ahead in developing what was said, the preacher restrained them and asked them to be patient for the sake of others who turned out to be weaker in this regard. “You who have quickly learned what has been stated (expositionem), remember that you are, as it were, on a journey with those who are weary. Let the speed of some be moderated somewhat, so that a weaker traveler is not left behind.”909 The preacher does not hesitate to repeat what has been said where he finds it useful, or hastens to make the necessary clarifications 910. As a result of all this, the preaching word of Blessed Augustine has the character of spontaneity, sincerity and the resulting ease and simplicity. There is no distance between the speakers and the listener. Here everyone is the same as people, as slaves of the one God, as brothers in Christ, as disciples of the one Teacher. “It is safer,” says the blessed saint, “for us, who speak, and you, who listen, to be considered fellow disciples of the one Teacher” 911. The interest of external presentation is supported by the so-called antitheses or comparisons of concepts one opposite to another, 912 often found in the preacher, as well as jokes, witticisms, 913, proverbs and sayings. “There is,” he once said, for example, “an old Punic proverb, which I will tell you in Latin, since you don’t all know Punic: “nummum quaerit pestilential, duos illi da, et ducat se” (“peril is looking for coins, give it two, just to leave”)” 914. But the images, comparisons and examples he often used especially contribute to the liveliness, entertaining and captivating presentation in Blessed Augustine’s sermons - these are, as it were, “a scaffolding for our mind” 915, the need for which is hardly felt in any other area as strongly as in the field of religion. When choosing images and examples, the preacher’s attention is focused primarily on the closest objects that are before the eyes of the listeners, on phenomena that are well-known and ordinary for them, or he dwells on his inner experience, on considering the facts and phenomena of a person’s inner mental life, while revealing an amazing art in describing psychological states, in revealing the innermost feelings and movements of the human heart 916. Thus, proving that although God is everywhere, however, this omnipresence of the Divine is tangible mainly for believers and pious people, who have a purely inner eye of the heart, Blessed Augustine gives the example of a blind man who does not see the light of the sun, not because it does not exist, but because he himself, due to his blindness, is not able to see the light emanating from the sun and spreading everywhere 917. Further, urging the listeners to beware of the smallest sins and to take care of cleansing from them, since, being individually insignificant, these sins in the aggregate constitute something great, the preacher compares them with grains, from which huge piles of bread are formed, from which ships can sink, with raindrops, from which formidable destructive streams are formed, with insignificant insects, which, in their numbers, can kill a person, causing him such torment that punishment of this kind found its place among the ten plagues of Egypt 918. A covetous person is likened to a person with dropsy, who, the more he drinks, the more he wants to drink 919. In conversation 357, calling on believers to meekly deal with heretics and erring brethren, Blessed Augustine gives the example of doctors who sometimes patiently endure insults from the sick, whom they have to treat with strong, painful means (quos etiam mordaciter currant). “They (doctors) listen to abuse and treat; They don’t respond to abuse with abuse” 920. He explains the mystery of the eternal birth of the Son of God from the Father by comparison with the simultaneous appearance of fire and brilliance or an object and reflection from it 921. To clarify the idea that the Son of God in the Incarnation did not become less than he was, the preacher points to the example of a senator who, putting on slave clothes, does not, however, lose his dignity through this and does not actually become a slave 922. The fact that infants cannot take solid food, and that this food, eaten by mothers, is processed into milk, which infants eat, serves to clarify the question of why the Son of God deigned to take on human flesh. The incarnate God is for people, according to the preacher, the same as milk is for children. “If we cannot see God the Word, let us listen to the Word Flesh. Since we have become carnal, let us listen to the Word made flesh. This is why It comes, this is why it takes on our weak flesh, so that you can perceive the Word of God, who bears your weakness. And It (the Word of God) is rightly called milk. It gives milk to babies, so that it can then give the food of wisdom to older ones.”923 The doctrine of the Triune God, the separateness of the divine hypostases and the inseparability of their action, with their special personal properties, is illuminated by Blessed Augustine by indicating three separate and together inseparably operating abilities in the human soul: memory, knowledge and will 924. When resolving the question of how the Son of God, having become incarnate, could remain omnipresent, be in the womb and not be separated from the Father, the preacher focuses his attention on the act of pronouncing the human word 925. To explain the truth of the unity of the Divine with three Persons, he refers to the connecting power of love, which makes many as if they were one being 926. As simple as the entire structure and presentation of Blessed Augustine’s conversations is, so is their language, in particular, whether the preacher is discussing lofty objects of faith or telling listeners about some event he has seen or heard. He wanted better to be understandable to his listeners in the barbarian language than to remain incomprehensible in his pure dialect 927. For the great teachers of church eloquence - St. John Chrysostom and St. Augustine, “turns of phrase,” as Dupanloup rightly notes, “are not the main inspiration of their thoughts; what occupies them, what interests them, what they most strive for, is the very result: a clear and firm statement of faith when they are engaged in teaching; persuasion and conversion of their listeners, when they have exhortation in mind... their eloquence is fatherly, pastoral, popular” 928. In this regard, Blessed Augustine rightly deserves the glory of a “great genius” who knew how to speak to his people in a simple and generally understandable language 929. “I often used,” he himself once confesses to his listeners, “non-Latin expressions so that you would understand me” 930. And if the preacher’s language is sometimes not alien to rudeness 931, then in this case it is not him who should be blamed, but rather the circumstances in which he had to preach. After all, the majority of the listeners of his sermons were simple African Puns who spoke bad barbaric Latin 932. “If,” writes Blessed Augustine in his “Christian Science,” our translators were not ashamed to say: “non congregabo conventicula eorum de sanguinibus” - I will not gather their councils from the bloods - (Ps. 15:4), for they felt that the subject required the use here of the word sanguinibus (bloods) in the plural, although in learned Latin it is used only in the singular; then why should a teacher of faith, talking with uneducated people, be ashamed and not use the common people “ossum” (bone) instead of the bookish “os”, in order to avoid ambiguity in a word that has two meanings - bone and mouth, and differs only in the emphasis in pronunciation - long or short (os - oris - short, os - ossis - long), why not, I say, when the rough African ear is not at all can judge either the contraction or the continuation of vowels? What is the use of correctness of language, which cannot be followed by the concept of a listener, while the only reason and purpose of our conversations is so that we are understood by the people with whom we are talking? 933. But with its simplicity, with a certain lack of purity and correctness, the language of Blessed Augustine also has its great merits, all the more remarkable since he delivered his teachings without special preparation, by improvisation 934. The preacher's word is popular and at the same time sublime 935. It bears the imprint of importance and grandeur, corresponding both to the subject of speech, as well as to the circumstances of its pronunciation and the high mood of the speaker himself. You can find places when Augustine’s sublimely serious style dissolves with lyrical animation and delight 936. “Like an orator, a preacher,” in the characteristic expression of one German homilet, “combines simplicity with greatness, height with clarity, strength with attractiveness, firmness with anointing, a strong flame of fire with pure light” 937. With one goal pursued by him - just to express his thought aimed at the edification of the listeners, to reveal his inner content and convey it to others standing before him, a natural correct connection is established between the word and the thought of the preacher. Here the word is the servant of thought, it becomes a real expression of it, since thought itself necessarily gives birth to it, freely pouring out in the word without distracting or stopping the attention of the speaker’s face on it. Hence, the style of Blessed Augustine is precise and apt, just as his thought is precise and resourceful. This is especially noticeable in cases where the preacher talks about the dogmas of faith. Many dogmatic passages, in their precision and accuracy of expression, can rightly be called classical, the meaning of which will remain in Orthodox Christian dogma forever. As an example of this, let us cite a few words from conversation 214, where, when asked whether God should be called omnipotent when He cannot die, be deceived, be defeated, suffer misfortune and many other similar experiences, the preacher says the following: “Let it not be that the omnipotent can do all this. From the very fact that He cannot do this, it follows not only that He is omnipotent, but also that the one who can do this is not omnipotent. God wants to be what He is. Eternal, unchanging, true, blissful, invincible He wants to be. If He could be what He does not want to be, He would not be omnipotent. If He is omnipotent, therefore, He can be whatever He wants. That is why He is called omnipotent, because He can do exactly what He wants” 938. Or in another place, explaining the hypostatic difference and unity of the essence of the Father and the Son, the preacher says: “Although this is different, this is different, yet not this is different, and this is different. But what that one (i.e., the Father in essence), is the same as this one. Not who is one is the same and the other, but what is one is also the other” 939. As a feature of the language in the sermons of Blessed Augustine, one should further point out the very often smooth and harmonious combination of syllables and words, reaching the point of rhyme, and the smooth and measured endings of periods or individual parts of a period. Ancient rhetoricians believed the dignity of speech not only in its meaning and internal logical connection, but also in the number of syllables and words and in the external euphony of the word for the ear based on this, in its musicality 940. They “also demanded that oratorical prosaic speech adhere to the correct size, reminiscent in some way of the size of poetic or verse speech” 941. This requirement or rule of ancient eloquence often makes itself felt in the sermons of Blessed Augustine due to his special predilection for the external smoothness and harmony of speech 942, which was determined mainly by the consistency and consonance of endings, such as, for example, the following: “Demonstrabit potentiam, qui demonstravit patientiam: in cruce patentia erat, in judicio potentia erit” (He who previously showed patience will show power: there was patience on the cross, there was power at the judgment) 943 ; or: “cantate vocibus, cantate cordibus, cantate oribus, cantate moribus” (sing with your voice, sing with your heart, sing with your lips, sing with your morals) 944; “Nemo sic gaudeat de bono largitatis, ut bonum amittat humilitatis” (let no one boast of his generosity, lest he be deprived of the benefit of humility) 945; or again: “arguit enim jejunia litigiosorum, quaerit piorum. Arguit opprimentes, quaerit relaxantes. Arguit inimicantes, quaerit liberantes” (the prophet denounces the fasting of those who love litigation, seeks the fasting of the pious, denounces the oppressive, seeks the meek, denounces the warring, seeks the forgiving) 946; “Qui tollit correptionem, parat damnationem” (whoever delays the time of correction prepares damnation for himself) 947. Examples of such measured and harmonious speech are so frequent and common in St. Augustine that when reading his conversations one can encounter them at almost every step. But what constitutes the “living soul” of the sermons of the blessed Ippon shepherd is, undoubtedly, Holy Scripture. It is “the seed or root from which Augustine’s sermons grow, the soil on which they rest, the light and air under which they develop” 948. According to St. Augustine, “a person speaks wisely, more or less, the more or less he has shown true success in the knowledge of Holy Scripture... The best and most honorable speaker is the one who at the same time speaks the passages of Scripture from memory word for word, whenever he pleases, and understands them as they should” 949. As an interpreter of St. In his sermons, Blessed Augustine most often leans towards the allegorical method, which was quite common among ancient exegetes. He values ​​very highly the allegorical way of explaining Scripture, and the initial guiding principle for him in this case is the beginning of Christian love for God and neighbor. “Whoever, when interpreting the word of God, thinks that he has understood the Holy. Scripture, or some part of it, and, meanwhile, its understanding does not edify anyone in the dual love of God and neighbor; he has not yet understood the Scripture. On the contrary, whoever extracted from it thoughts useful for edification in love, even if sometimes he did not say exactly what the writer he was explaining wants to say in a certain place, however, his mistake is harmless” 950. Such a one is like a traveler, “who by mistake, leaving the straight road, goes through the field, however, to the same place where the road itself leads” 951. True, from the words of Blessed Augustine just quoted, it is clear that he does not neglect the literal interpretation of the Holy Scriptures. text. It is much better, in any case, to follow the straight path and not go astray at all. He does not look at the literal meaning, like Origen, as an “unreasonable” humiliation of the highest knowledge 952, and recommends, for the successful interpretation of Scripture, to compare different translations and compare them with the original, for which he considers it useful to know the languages ​​in which the Holy Scriptures are written. books, advises acquiring knowledge from the field of natural sciences 953, considers history, geography and astronomy 954, medicine, agronomy, politics 955, logic and mathematics 956 useful. And in his conversations, the preacher more than once declares the importance and necessity of historical literal understanding. “First of all,” he says, for example, in one case, “in the name of the Lord we convince you as much as we can, and we command that when you hear that the secret of a historical narrative is being explained, you would first believe that everything that was read happened as it was read” 957. Despite this, the preacher is rarely satisfied with his own or literal meaning of the biblical text. He does not want to dwell on what is clear in itself, and tries to find the Holy Scripture in the letter. Scripture has an allegorical, allegorical meaning. “I ask your love,” he once addresses his listeners, “so that you do not be offended that we do not dwell on clear words, but are more concerned with what needs to be explained. Because many things are clear in themselves for the souls of believers. Much needs only a brief indication. “Something else happens that requires considerable effort in order for it to be understood” 958. Or in the preface to Psalm 119, he says, among other things, the following: “The clearer this psalm seems, the deeper it seems to me, so that I cannot even imagine how deep it is. The meaning of others, incomprehensible (qui difficile intelliguntur), although dark, is at least visible in them. In this same psalm it is also invisible, so that it seems as if it requires only a reader and listener, and not an interpreter. And now, when I finally begin to interpret it, whether I will be able to do anything (quid in eo possum), I have absolutely no idea. I hope, however, that the Lord will help me do something” 959. There are also many passages in Scripture that, according to St. Augustine, cannot be understood without allegory, with just a literal explanation. According to his reasoning, if we take the healing at Bethesda literally, then it turns out that our Lord did nothing there that would demonstrate His great goodness. Only one was healed. Meanwhile, His omnipotence did not cost any effort to make everyone healthy. “What should we see here, if not that power and goodness were doing here more what relates to eternal salvation than what concerns the temporary salvation of the body?” 960. The obscurity of some passages of Scripture and the seeming incomprehensibility of others push the preacher into the area of ​​allegorical ideas, where his abstract and speculative thought floats freely in a wide space, bringing together little similar or even completely dissimilar biblical sayings, and uniting them in one common mystical-allegorical idea. It is also not surprising to encounter an allegorical explanation, where it is at least a little conceivable, where the meaning of Holy Scripture is somewhat mysterious, when the preacher explains, for example, the story of the struggle of Jacob with the angel 961, or when he speaks of the appearance of God to Moses at the bush 962, when he concerns the prophetic writings or parables and any allegorical expressions of the Lord Jesus Christ and His apostles. But the preacher finds deep hidden meaning even where there is nothing but an instructive edifying narrative. What seemingly mysterious meaning can be found in the Gospel presentation of the Savior’s genealogy? however, even here the preacher does not refrain from his favorite allegorical way of explaining the sacred. text. The Evangelist Matthew, he argues, sets out the genealogy of the Lord in descending order because he wants to indicate the descent of the Lord to take away our sins, so that in the seed of Abraham all the tribes of the earth could receive blessing. The Evangelist Luke sets out the genealogy in ascending order and begins it with the story of the baptism of the Lord through John, thereby pointing to the cleansing of our sins in the name of Jesus Christ in baptism. That is why the first traces his genealogy through Solomon, “in whose mother David sinned” (in cujus matre peccavit David), and the second through Nathan, another son of David, through whom he was cleansed from sin” (per quem a peccato purgatus est) 963. There is hardly any reason to see any special allegorical meaning in the Gospel story about the Lord’s healing of the two blind men of Jericho (Matthew 20:29–34). But St. Augustine finds an allegory here. The two blind men, in his opinion, signify Judaism and paganism, united in Christ, the cornerstone. The fact that Jesus “passes by” (Matthew 20:30) means the temporary deeds of the Savior, accomplished by Him during His earthly life, and events from this life. “What,” asks the preacher, “does it mean that Jesus is passing by (transit Iesus)? This means that Jesus does the temporary, accomplishes the transitory. Look and see what works have passed away from Him. He was born of the Virgin Mary, - but is He always born?.. He passed through the age of maturity - does He always grow physically? after infancy comes adolescence, after adolescence comes youth, after youth courage follows successively... He was crucified, but does He really always hang on the cross? was buried, resurrected, ascended to heaven and no longer dies, death does not possess Him, His Divinity always abides, and His body will forever remain immortal. But everything that He did in time has passed away. In all this Jesus passed away..." 964. Or, for example, this is how the preacher interprets the story of the Lord’s resurrection of Jairus’s daughter and the healing of a woman who suffered from bleeding 965: the daughter of Jairus, the leader of the synagogue, signifies the Jewish people. The bleeding woman means the church of the pagans. This woman received healing by touching the hem of the Lord's robe while He was going to Jairus's house to heal his daughter. This procession to the house of Jairus signifies the coming of Christ to the Jewish people to save them. But although He came closest to the Jewish people, nevertheless, from Him, thanks to His coming to the Jews, the pagan church also received the Gospel of salvation, not directly, but through the apostles, as if through His clothing. More specifically, the woman’s touch to the hem of the Savior’s robe indicates the conversion of the pagans through the Apostle of the Gentiles, Paul, because the hem (fimbria), the preacher argues, is a small, insignificant part of the robe. And St. the apostle Paul called himself the least of the apostles (1 Cor. 15:9) 966. Also in cases of the Lord’s resurrection of the dead, where, of course, nothing else can be seen except the greatest manifestation of the power of God, the preacher seeks a deep mysterious meaning. It is not without reason, he thinks, that only three cases of the resurrection of the dead are mentioned in the Gospel, although, presumably, there were many similar cases. According to Blessed Augustine, our Lord Jesus Christ wanted “that everything that He did physically should be understood spiritually, and that He would perform miracles not just for the sake of miracles, but so that His deeds, wondrous for those who see them, would be instructive for those who understand” (vera essent intelligentibus) 967. The three events of the resurrection of the dead by Jesus Christ mentioned in the Gospel: the daughter of Jairus, the son of the widow of Nain and Lazarus - mean, as the preacher thinks, three degrees of man’s sinful state. The dead daughter of Jairus, resurrected in the house when she had not yet been taken outside its walls to the street, serves as an image of sin in its embryonic state, in the heart and thoughts, when it had not yet had time to manifest itself in deeds. Her resurrection means the liberation of man from this state of sinfulness with the help of divine grace. The young man of Nain, who was resurrected by the Lord when he was taken out of the city, represents sin, having already manifested itself in deeds, from which sin a person is delivered again with the help of the same divine grace. Finally, a third degree of sinfulness is possible, figuratively foreshadowed in the deceased Lazarus, when a person acquires the habit of evil, so that he does not notice his bad deeds and even becomes their defender. Such a person, like Lazarus, becomes as if already buried and emitting a stench. The stone rolled up against the cave in which Lazarus was found signifies all the terrible force of habit, by which the soul is so suppressed that it is no longer able to rise itself 968. The four-day stay of Lazarus in the tomb shows that the soul reaches such a terrible state in four steps (quarto quodam progressu pervenit anima). The first consists of preliminary internal pleasure in sin, the second in a person’s consent to sin, the third in action and the fourth, finally, in the habit itself. But even such morally dead people can be resurrected by the power of God. Finally, the Lord’s command to the disciple to untie Lazarus, who was resurrected by Him and bound in swaddling clothes, so that he could walk freely, indicates, according to the preacher, the power given by Jesus Christ to the apostles to “bind and decide,” through which the bonds of guilt are removed from a person who previously served sin 969. However, allegories like the one indicated, although arbitrary, are not incongruous. The interpretation here is in more or less complete accordance with the historical event and the circumstances under which it occurred. Each of the indicated cases of resurrection is very successfully adapted to the corresponding three degrees of sin and awakening from it. There is not that tension and groundlessness in interpretation that can be found in Augustine, for example, in the explanation of the commandment given by Jesus Christ to the disciples sent to preach: not to take with you a bag or shoes and not to greet anyone on the road (Luke 10:4). The commandment not to take bags with you cannot be understood, according to the preacher, in the literal sense. The Lord Himself had with Him an ark, which He commanded Judas to carry. What does sum mean? asks Blessed Augustine. The bag, he replies, is where the money is hidden. Therefore, the bag is a symbol of the hidden and valuable, in this case - a symbol of hidden, secret wisdom - (Quid est sacculus? pecunia clausa, id est, occulta sapientia). Don’t take bags, which means don’t be wise only for yourself. “You must be a source, something from which you can draw, and not something from which you can hide” (unde erogatur, non ubi includatur) 970. The command not to take shoes with them indicates to Christians the need to free themselves from the dead works of sin, since shoes are made from the skin of dead animals. Also, the prohibition to greet anyone on the way, except for the idea that the apostles, going to preach, should not be delayed in any way in fulfilling the assignment entrusted to them until they complete it, may have another higher meaning. The Latin word “greeting” (salutatio) comes from the word “salus” - salvation. To greet on the way from here means to proclaim salvation as if in passing, on some occasion (per occasionem). But the Gospel should be preached out of love for it, and not for any other random motives. It is precisely this desire to preach, fueled by love alone, that is commanded by the words of the Savior: “Greet no one on the road” (Luke 10:4), because “there are people who preach the Gospel for low, selfish reasons, about whom the apostle, sighing, says that they “seek their own, and not what is pleasing to Jesus Christ” (Phil. 2:21)” 971 . In the same way, the preacher explains the gospel story about the healing of the paralytic in Jerusalem, at the sheep's font (John 5:1-15). The five covered passages or porticos in which the sick lay, signify, according to St. Augustine, the law of Moses, with which five books were written. But the law was given not to heal man from sin, but to reveal sin. In the same way, the weak who lay at the font were not healed by being there, but through this only showed their weakness. The patient received healing only if he went into the water immediately after the angel was outraged by it. Water signifies the people, because, the preacher argues, when John the Theologian saw many waters in one of the revelations and asked what they meant, he was told that they meant nations (Rev. 17:15). The water disturbed by the angel in the font represents the Jewish people, because just as that water was surrounded by five porticos, so the Jewish people relied in their lives on the Pentateuch of Moses. The Jews were worried during the earthly life of Jesus Christ and, especially, during His suffering. Therefore, the angel who disturbed the water is the Lord Himself. The descent of the angel into the water serves as an image of the voluntary coming of the Son of God for suffering and death. Only after His appearance on earth the Lord stirred up the waters, that is, brought the Jewish people into unrest and suffered from it, after His precious blood was shed, did healing from sins become possible for the sinner, but only if he tries to portray the suffering of Christ in himself, if he immerses himself in the font, that is, humiliates himself, humbles himself, drives away pride. The fact that only one received healing after the disturbance of the water by an angel means, according to the preacher, the unity of the church, by adhering to which only a person can achieve salvation 972. However, speaking about such attachment of Blessed Augustine to allegory when explaining St. text, we do not want, however, to thereby diminish his dignity as a preacher. A passion for allegory, as Basserman rightly notes, was generally in the character of that time 973. One cannot blame Blessed Augustine for what was then, and even now is, the generally accepted rule of exegetical science. At all times and even now, allegory is one of the means of explaining Holy Scripture. The allegory is legitimized by St. The Apostle Paul, when in his letter to the Galatians (Gal.4:22-27) interprets the story of the two sons of Abraham allegorically - “even the essence is allegorical” (ἀλληγορούμενα - Gal.4:24). Of the ancient fathers and teachers of the church, Origen pointed out with particular insistence the importance of the allegorical method in explaining the word of God. “According to Origen, in every smallest part of the Holy. Scripture, even in every letter and iota there is hidden a special meaning, invisible to the simple eye or superficial understanding" 974. From Origen, the passion for allegory was inherited by many other subsequent fathers and teachers of the ancient Christian church 975. The closest and direct mentor, Blessed One, especially stood out in this regard. Augustine St. Ambrose of Milan, whose allegorism, as Panil noted, was so uncontrollable that none of the ancient church teachers went further than him in this regard 976. Blessed Augustine, therefore, walked only in the footsteps of other church speakers of his era and in a sense even got ahead of them in that his allegorism is less groundless, is not just a blind imitation of others, but has its basis in the theoretical views of the exegete 977. As for the inner side of St. Augustine’s allegory, the nature of its content, it pursues predominantly moral and practical goals, aiming at the edification of listeners and drawing from the letter of Scripture life-saving lessons of Christian faith and morality. If the allegory of the Eastern preachers revolved more around the deepest secrets of theology and sought, if possible, to penetrate deeper into them, then the allegory of the Western preachers concerns only the general principles of faith and morality, not having the depth and breadth that can be found in the works of Eastern teachers. And in this case, Blessed Augustine, despite his speculative mind, brought up in philosophy, remained faithful to the peculiarities of Roman thought, the nature of which cannot be assumed among Latin preacher-exegetes to have passions beyond the limits of simple heartfelt faith in the area of ​​lofty contemplation, as can be found in Origen and other Greek exegetes 978. The preacher’s allegorism does not go further than the simple truths of church doctrine, and its ultimate goal is to instruct believers in a good life worthy of Christians. Thus, in the above explanation of the miracle performed by the Lord at the sheep's font, pointing out the insufficiency of the Old Testament law for the justification of man and the significance in this justification of the saving power of Christ's suffering, he ultimately insists on humility as a means to assimilate this power 979. Interpreting the Gospel story about the healing of the demon-possessed daughter of a Canaanite woman (Luke 15:21-48), by which (the Canaanite woman) the preacher means the church of the Gentiles, he again draws the listeners’ attention to humility: “see how humility is praised” 980. The three loaves spoken of in the Gospel (see Luke 11:5) signify, according to the preacher, the holy sacrament. Trinity. “There is bread (Holy Trinity - Trinitas), bread and bread: God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. Eternal Father, Eternal Son, Eternal Holy Spirit. Creator Father and Son and Holy Spirit. Provider and giver of life and Father, and Son, and Holy Spirit. Food and bread - the eternal Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Learn this and teach others, live and feed. God, who gives you everything, gives nothing better than Himself” 981. But here, too, the preacher cannot refrain from moving into the realm of moral teaching. “You need,” he continues, “to have love, faith and hope, so that what is given is sweet” 982. However, he does not find in the image of the three loaves a complete correspondence with the three basic Christian virtues. Of these, love is greatest, according to the word of the apostle (1 Cor. 13:13). Meanwhile, it is not said about those loaves that one of them was larger than the others. Therefore, Blessed Augustine turns to other gospel words, in which he sees greater correspondence with those virtues: faith, hope and love. Namely, dwelling on the words of the Lord: “Which father among you, when his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? or, when he asks for fish, will he give him a snake instead of fish? or, if he asks for an egg, will he give him a scorpion?” (Luke 11:11–12), the preacher in the first case means by bread love, because bread is contrasted with a stone. And the stone is an image of cruelty, which is the opposite of love. The fish serves as a symbol of faith because it lives in the waves and does not die. Likewise, in the waves of real life, pious faith remains unharmed. The egg, of course, according to the preacher, means hope, which has the future as its subject. Behind the curtain of this future, what is expected is hidden from us until the time comes, just as a chicken that is about to be born is hidden in an egg 983. Of considerable importance in explaining St. The preacher sometimes adds numerical signs to the text. In "Christian Science" he points out the special importance in the matter of understanding the Holy. The Scriptures contain the numbers found in it and reveal the meaning of some of them. “The darkness of many improper and mysterious passages of Scripture,” according to Blessed. Augustine, – often also depends on the meaning of the numbers mentioned in it” 984. Pondering the question of why Moses, Elijah and the Lord Himself fasted for forty days, he says: “This such a significant action can only be understood and resolved except through consideration and knowledge of the properties of the fortieth day. The decimal number, taken four times, expresses the knowledge of all things in time, for the quaternary number determines the flow of all time - daily and annual... Therefore, for eternity, in which we want to live, we, while still living in time, must voluntarily abstain from attachment to everything temporary and thus fast... So, the decimal number, taken four times, teaches us to live in time not for time, i.e. that is, purely, abstinently and without attachment to the temporary, and thus fast for 40 days, i.e. all your life” 985. “It is possible to explore,” the author of “Christian Science” further argues, “how from the four-decimal number comes the number fifty, so sacred in our religion because of Pentecost: how this number, taken three times, - to signify the three times - before the law, under the law and under grace, or in adaptation to the highest subject - the Trinity itself, i.e., the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit - refers to the sacraments of the church, not only the earthly one, but also heavenly, and, further, as it leads to the conclusion that in Scripture the number 153 is not unimportant, that is, the number of fish that, after the resurrection of the Lord, were caught in nets cast on the right side” (John 21:6-11) 986. According to this view of the meaning of numbers mentioned in Scripture, in the sermons of St. Augustine one can repeatedly find interpretations of biblical expressions based on certain numerical considerations. Thus, in the conversation the 125th preacher raises the question of what “38” means, the number of years of illness of the paralytic healed by Jesus Christ at Bethesda. The number (40), he argues, in answering this question, serves as an expression of perfect righteousness, complete fulfillment of the law, complete abstinence or renunciation of the blessings and pleasures of this life, because it is composed of the number “10” (the number of commandments of the law), multiplied by four (the number meaning the entire universe for which the law is intended - per totum mundum praedicanda erat, - according to the number of the four countries of the world) 987. That is why, the preacher concludes, Christians fast for 40 days before Easter, which time marks our life here, which we must spend in abstinence and works of love, or in fulfilling the law. The holiday days after Easter mark our resurrection, which is why the entire celebration continues for fifty days. “The reward of the denarius (a Roman silver coin, the name of which comes from the word “deni” - in tens, in tens) is added to the number “40” and becomes fifty” 988. But if the number “40” expresses the fulfillment of the law, then “38” means its failure. Because the commandment of love, in which is the fullness of the law, is twofold: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind: this is the first and greatest commandment; the second is similar to it: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:37–39). Without these two commandments, the law cannot be called fulfilled. If, therefore, you subtract two from forty, the number of the two most important commandments, you get “38” – the number of failure to fulfill the law, the number of weakness. “What good is it,” asks the preacher, “that other commandments are fulfilled if these are not fulfilled? you have thirty-eight, but if you don’t have those two, the rest is not at all useful to you” 989. More than once, Blessed Augustine dwells in his sermons on explaining the number “153” - the number of fish caught by the apostles on the Sea of ​​Tiberias with a net cast at the command of the Lord (John 21). According to his reasoning, this number means those chosen righteous people who will be told at the last judgment: “Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom...” (Matthew 25:34). 153 should not be taken as a definite number. It was used because it shows the way by which the righteous achieve their perfection. This path consists in fulfilling the law, which is indicated by the number “10”, according to the number of commandments of the law. But the law cannot be fulfilled by man's own efforts. This requires help from the Holy Spirit, the assistance of grace. But the Holy Spirit is signified by a sevenfold number, according to the number of His seven gifts named by the prophet Isaiah (Is. 11:2–3). Fulfillment of the law, assisted by the grace of God, is the path leading to righteousness. In numbers this can be indicated by “17” (10+7=17). To obtain, further, the number “153,” the preacher suggests adding up all the numbers from one to seventeen, gradually adding each subsequent number to the sum obtained from adding the previous ones. “Count with yourself,” he invites listeners. - Think so; 1+2+3+4 make 10. Just as ten makes 1+2+3+4, so add the other numbers up to 17 and you will find the sacred number of the faithful saints who are destined to be in heaven” 990. However, as for the signification of individual numbers, there was no science about them, with a definite and accepted sign for each number once and for all. True, in the time of St. Augustine there was even a special work “on the secrets of numbers” (περὶ τῶν ἀριϑμῶν μυστηρίων), which belonged to the pen of Epiphanius of Cyprus (born around 310, died in 403), in which it was shown predominantly signifying the number triple, sixfold and septenary 991. However, the fact that the same number is used by the preacher in different signs 992 shows, rather, that here the matter depended more on his own resourcefulness and wit. Yes, it is hardly possible to connect one specific sign with every number in its different relationships. Here the matter must necessarily be left to everyone's imagination. But even the wildest imagination, it seems, will not be enough to indicate to each number a special independent meaning, regardless of certain circumstances and without any comparison with them. Therefore, when the preacher’s thought, prone to allegory, finds it difficult to directly indicate the meaning of a given number, he uses others that are more well-known and for some reason significant in the Holy Scriptures. Writing with numbers, using multiplication 993, or subtracting 994, or adding 995, trying to understand the meaning of the mysterious number. It is not surprising if the blessed shepherd and teacher of Hippo often had to resort here to rather original and fanciful combinations in order to extract a meaningful idea from the emptiness of the quantitative sign. And in such cases he reveals great resourcefulness, extraordinary breadth and lightness of imagination, which sought to spiritualize the deadening letter of “writing” in order to thereby broaden the spiritual horizons of the listeners and more powerfully imprint in their callous and immobile souls their new, sometimes deep truths 996. True, in our days such a play of exegetical thought would hardly surprise anyone. Perhaps it would seem completely unnecessary, a vain matter, funny and petty. But everything has its time, and there is nothing strange if the contemporaries of St. Augustine, despite some tension and humor of his homiletical exegesis, could be amazed and admire the power of his wit, who knew how to find divine secrets where, at the ordinary glance, there is no content other than a simple designation of quantitative relations. Chapter V. Exposition of the homiletical views of St. Augustine. Review of the contents of his Christian Science (De doctrina christiana) Blessed Augustine is known not only as a wonderful and outstanding preacher of his time, but also as the most ancient, the first compiler of the theory of church preaching, as a homilet. The writers of the ancient Christian church before Augustine found only private, random instructions on the issue of church preaching. Such instructions can be found even in Origen. He is the first to express the idea that preaching can be a subject of science, and “that Christian eloquence has a side that can and should be a product of the initiative of the human spirit” 997. Origen advises combining teaching with exhortation and moral instruction in preaching, since through moral teaching “the conscience is awakened in those who listen; from what is said, everyone will discern their own sinfulness and will be encouraged to confess their sins committed in secret” 998. The same sporadically scattered homiletical instructions can be found, in addition to Origen, in other ancient church writers. Thus, Cyprian recommends that the teachers of the people, the shepherds of the church, base their teachings on the Bible and Holy Tradition 999, advising them to develop the ability to teach practically, through listening to the speeches of other outstanding speakers 1000. Similar random homiletical notes are found in Arnobius, Lactantius, Hilary, Ambrose, Jerome and others 1001. Only from the time of Augustine did the systematic theory of preaching begin, and homiletics as the science of church preaching owes its emergence to him. He was the first of the fathers of the ancient Christian church to take care of the application of rhetoric, or the science of eloquence, to the needs of the church pulpit and the goals of religious teaching 1002. “We must therefore look upon Augustine as the founder (Begründer) of homiletics in the proper sense” 1003. Blessed Augustine expounds his homiletical views in two works belonging to him: in “Christian Science” (De doctrina christiana) and in another, known under the title: “De catechisandis rudibus”. Let us take a special look at each of these works 1004. Christian Science consists of a prologue and four books of study. This work was written by Blessed Augustine in two steps 1005, separated by a significant period of time. The first two books and 25 chapters of the third book were written in 397, the remaining half of the third book and the fourth appeared already around 426 or 427 1006. The purpose of writing Christian Science is indicated by the author at the very beginning of the first chapter of the first book. “Two main subjects,” writes Blessed. Augustine, - must be kept in mind when studying the learned image of St. With Scripture: 1) a way to find the true meaning of it and 2) a way to communicate or express this meaning to others. Therefore, I will first talk about how to find meaning, and then about how to communicate it” 1007. In accordance with this dual purpose, the work on the subject of its content is divided into two parts: in the first, embracing the first three books, methods are set out leading to an understanding of the meaning of Holy Scripture, or the rules of the Holy Scriptures. hermeneutics; in the second part, which constitutes the content of the last fourth book, Blessed Augustine discusses ways of communicating the found meaning of Scripture from the church pulpit in sermons or conversations to the people. Here the author enters into consideration of those issues that constitute the subject of homiletics, or the science of church eloquence. Thus, the last, fourth book of “Christian Science” represents the first attempt at a systematic presentation of homiletical rules. Let us first dwell on the methods that St. Augustine indicates for finding the meaning of Scripture. The main guiding principle in interpreting St. He considers the Scriptures edification in love for God and neighbor. “Whoever, when interpreting the word of God, thinks that he has understood the Holy. Scripture, or some part of it, and meanwhile, its understanding does not edify anyone... in the dual love of God and neighbor, he has not yet understood the Scripture. On the contrary, whoever extracts from it thoughts useful for edification in love, even if sometimes he did not say exactly what the writer he is explaining wants to say in a certain place, however, his mistake is harmless” 1008. Let the explaining Holy. Scripture is deceived in this case, finding a meaning that is not the one that the divinely inspired writer of this or that sacred book had in mind, but it is deceived in the same way “as a traveler is deceived who, by mistake, leaving the straight road, goes through a field, however, to the same place where the road itself leads” 1009. Blessed Augustine advises that the meaning extracted from the dark passages of Scripture be trusted by the teaching of faith, based on the clearest passages of the same Scripture and on respect for the voice of the church 1010. Establishing these main guiding principles in the interpretation of the word of God, Blessed Augustine demands from the interpreter, if he wants to fulfill his purpose and correctly understand his work, firm faith and piety. “Who,” he writes, “will fully comprehend that the purpose of the law is “love from a pure heart and a good conscience, and faith without laxity” (1 Tim. 1:5), and who has the whole understanding of the Holy. The Scriptures will be based on these (the author mentioned them above) three virtues (faith, hope and love), then boldly begin to explain the word of God. For when the apostle said: “love from a pure heart,” he thereby showed that one should love one thing worthy of love. To a pure heart he adds a good conscience for hope: since he cannot hope to achieve the object of his faith and love who has a bad, troubled conscience. Finally, he says: “and unfeigned faith” - for if we sincerely believe, then, on the one hand, we do not love anything that we should not love, - on the other hand, leading a correct life, we hope firmly, so that hope in no way can deceive us” 1011. St. Augustine places the fear of God as the basis of all the virtues necessary for an exegete. In addition to this basic requirement, the author considers other types of spiritual gifts necessary: ​​the spirit of piety, knowledge, strength or strength, advice, the gift of purity of heart and wisdom (see Is. 11:2) 1012. But holding firmly to the true teachings of the faith and being confirmed in piety, those who are engaged in explaining the word of God should not neglect scientific means that help to find the true meaning of Scripture. It is necessary to carefully study the Holy Scriptures. books, “to delve deeper into the knowledge of what they clearly speak about, whether they are the rules of life, or the rules of faith,” and thoroughly become familiar with their very language, so that, through a comparison of various places, they will be able to explain “unintelligible expressions with intelligible ones, unknown thoughts with known ones” 1013. Very important when studying St. Blessed Augustine considers the knowledge of the Scriptures to be knowledge of languages, especially Hebrew and Greek, so that, in case of any doubts, one can turn to the original text of one or another sacred text. books 1014. Of considerable importance for the correct understanding of St. Scripture may include natural science 1015, as well as familiarity with music 1016, painting and sculpture 1017, knowledge of archeology 1018, history 1019, geography 1020, medicine 1021 and other sciences 1022. But recommending when explaining St. Scriptures to use the services of various sciences, Blessed Augustine advises caution in this case and warns against possible infatuation with them, especially since these sciences owed their origin and development to the pagan world. “We should not,” he writes, “become carried away without any research by any teaching taught outside the Church of Christ, and entrust ourselves to it as a guide to achieving a blessed life; on the contrary, one must always pre-judge it with all attention and caution” 1023. The fear of evil influence from pagan sciences was so strong among Blessed Augustine that, while recognizing their considerable benefits for Christians, 1024 he was at the same time inclined to reject the need and importance of pagan knowledge for Christian knowledge. “Just as the abundance of gold, silver and clothing stolen by the people of Israel from Egypt is very insignificant in comparison with the wealth that the same people received in Jerusalem, especially during the reign of Solomon, the same is true of any knowledge, even useful, borrowed from the pagan scriptures - if you compare it with the knowledge contained in the Holy Scriptures. Scripture. For whatever a person learns from the outside (in pagan books), all of it, if harmful, is condemned in the Holy Scriptures. Scripture, if useful, is in it. And if everyone finds here everything that he managed to learn useful somewhere else, then he will find here in much greater abundance that which can never be found anywhere, but which is taught in the Holy Scripture alone. Scripture with amazing sublimity and at the same time amazing simplicity" 1025. To understand the meaning of St. In the Scriptures, according to St. Augustine, it is also useful to understand the signification of numbers mentioned in the sacred books. “Under various types of numbers,” he writes, “St. Scripture often hides secrets that are beyond the comprehension of readers who do not understand the meaning of the numbers themselves." 1026 Further, in view of the fact that much of Scripture is said allegorically, its interpreter must “be careful not to take allegorical speech literally” 1027, and, conversely, not to “take one’s own speech as allegorical” 1028. As a general guideline for recognizing whether a well-known expression should be considered allegorical or as one’s own, Blessed Augustine points out the following: “everything in Holy Scripture, being accepted in its proper sense, does not agree with morality or with the truths of faith, everything should be understood in the allegorical sense. Morality is entirely based on love for God and neighbor, and the truths of faith are based on the knowledge of God and neighbor” 1029. Based on this rule, all those places of the Holy. The Scriptures by which vice and evil deeds are prohibited, or by which something good and beneficial is instilled for others, should be understood in their own sense. The sayings that apparently prescribe “something bad or criminal and prohibiting charity or proper concern for one’s own benefit must be explained in a higher sense” 1030. Therefore, in all the actions of “persons blessed in Scripture” that seem seductive and incongruous “with the behavior of pious Christians,” the exegete must find prototypes of the future 1031 and explain them so that everywhere the main goal is love for God and neighbor, or for both together 1032. However, the author argues, the acts of the Old Testament righteous, taken and in their own literal sense, which now seem shameful to us, did not seem reprehensible to them. According to the state of morals and customs of those times, much of what is now considered immoral and criminal, then could seem to be an ordinary and normal phenomenon 1033. It should also not be forgotten that the actions and deeds of people are not good and bad in themselves, but are judged by their motives, depending on whether they come from pure love or from impure, vicious aspirations 1034. Nevertheless, all the actions of the great and pious men mentioned in Scripture proceeded from their good motives and had, argues Blessed Augustine, “a good goal, namely: either the true benefit of themselves, or charity in relation to others, and this either in the proper sense, as we could act in their place, or in a symbolic sense, as was fitting for them, who were often prophets together” 1035. For example, the author considers their chaste use of many wives for the purpose of procreation and multiplication of offspring to be morally superior to an unchaste, voluptuous attitude towards one wife. “I approve more,” he writes, “of the one who took advantage of the fertility of many wives for the sake of a higher goal, than of the one who is content with one wife for her own sake” 1036. However, in addition to this, certain sinful actions of the Old Testament righteous, with only one literal understanding of them, turn out to be very useful for us, admonishing us “not to be proud of the righteousness of our own deeds” 1037, edifying us in humility and in a condescending attitude towards others. “The falls of great men are described for this reason, so that we constantly and with trembling remember the words of the Apostle: “Be determined to stand firm, lest you fall” (1 Cor. 10:12) 1038. Finally, the interpreter St. The Scriptures should not lose sight of the fact that the language is sacred. books are replete with images and a wide variety of literary expressions, known under the general name of “tropes” 1039. Acquaintance with these expressions, according to the author of “Christian Science,” is sometimes necessary for the correct understanding of the sacred. text. “If words taken in their proper meaning,” he writes, “come out with an incongruous meaning, then we need to look into whether this or that trope is used in a saying that we do not understand. This method explains a lot of things that previously seemed obscure” 1040. But the language of tropes, argues St. Augustine, is extremely extensive. Various forms of such figures of speech are not covered by the rules of rhetoric. It may not even contain “even a name for this or that trope” 1041. Consequently, it is not possible to name them all and explain them, so the understanding of some of them depends on the mental abilities of a person, which are given to people from God, some to a greater extent, others to a lesser extent 1042. That is why, in conclusion of his discussions about the rules that contribute to the understanding of the text of the Holy. books, the author invites those embarking on the interpretation of divine Scripture not to rely on their abilities, on the information obtained, but, first of all, turn to God in prayer, “may he give them the mind to understand the Scripture (ut intelligant). For in the same Scripture with which they desire to study, it is said: “The Lord gives wisdom, and from His presence knowledge and understanding” (Prov. 2:6). From Him comes the very desire to exercise in the word of God, if only it is accompanied by the spirit of piety” 1043. Starting in the 4th book of “Christian Science” to present the theory of church preaching, Blessed Augustine in the first chapters, after a brief remark that the task of his work does not include “to expound the rules of rhetoric, which he himself taught and studied in secular schools” 1044, touches on the question of the benefits and necessity of studying these rules for a spiritual speaker. “If,” the author writes, “rhetoric is the art of convincing others of both the true and the false, then who will dare to assert that truth in the hands of its defenders should remain unarmed against lies? -Who will demand that people who are trying to convincingly prove false objects should be able, in the very introduction to their speeches, to make the listener either supportive, or attentive, or understanding, while the defenders of truth, on the contrary, would not know such art? - so that in the narration the former would present lies briefly, clearly, plausibly, and the latter, on the contrary, would tell the very truth so badly that listening to them would be boring, difficult to understand, and therefore reluctant to believe them? - so that the defenders of lies in research are able to reject the truth with false arguments and unshakably affirm a lie, and the defenders of the truth are not able to either defend the truth itself or refute the lie? - so that in conclusion, finally, alone, by the power of words, moving and leading the hearts of the listeners astray, they could either terrify them and plunge them into despondency, or pour in joy and ardently exhort them; and others would slumber over the truth, being lazy and cold in defending it? - who, I say, would want to philosophize so unwisely?..” 1045. But speaking about the benefits of rhetoric, or the “science of oratory,” in the successful completion of the preaching ministry, Blessed Augustine does not consider it necessary for a church speaker to have a preliminary school study of rhetorical rules, familiarization with the theory of literature or eloquence (facundia vel eloquentia). He leaves the care of studying rhetoric or the theory of eloquence to children, and, moreover, to those “who are not busy with something much more necessary and more preferable than rhetoric” 1046. Eloquence should be learned, in his opinion, practically through reading and listening to eloquent people, as well as through imitation of them, as far as possible. In this way, one can become eloquent much more quickly, “than through precise execution of the rules of oratory” 1047. “If children become capable of simply speaking by quietly memorizing the words and expressions of those speaking in front of them, then why not become able to speak eloquently without listening to the rules of eloquence, but only by reading and listening to eloquent people, only by imitating them where one can imitate? – don’t we see examples of this in experience? We know quite a few men who, without knowing the rules of rhetoric at all, were more eloquent than people who carefully studied these rules. On the contrary, I do not know a single person who would become eloquent without reading and listening to speakers” 1048. A spiritual speaker can find examples for the practical study of eloquence in the canonical sacred books and “in the works of the church proper” (ecclesiasticae litterae) 1049. Reading these samples and constantly delving into the subjects presented there, “a person who is re-imagined, even without any special intention of becoming eloquent himself, imperceptibly becomes saturated with the very style or way of expressing them, especially if, along with reading, he engages in either copying them, or dictating, and, finally, speaking his own speeches about what he himself hears and feels according to the measure of faith and piety” 1050. – As in any verbal work, in a sermon, its internal side, that is, the content, is of significant importance. What is required of the preacher, first of all, is a word that is wise in content - useful, offering good and sound teaching, and this is what he should be primarily concerned about. External aspect or presentation is not particularly important in a sermon, and external eloquence is not necessary for it. It is beneficial only if it is combined with wise content. “The title of preacher,” writes Blessed Augustine, is more likely to be given to those who can reason and speak wisely (sapienter), even if they cannot speak eloquently (eloquenter): for such can be truly useful to those who listen... This idea was known to those very people 1051 who considered the study of the science of eloquence essential: for they also admitted that if wisdom without eloquence brings little benefit to states, then eloquence without wisdom often causes great harm; on the contrary, it never brings any benefit” 1052. However, giving a decisive preference to the internal side over the external or content over the form of presentation, Blessed Augustine does not reject the importance for preaching and the external beauty of speech. But this beauty of speech has value only if what is essential in the sermon, that is, its content, is “truly useful for those listening.” And if eloquence without wisdom is not only not useful, but even harmful and dangerous, 1053 then, on the contrary, the wise content of the word, accompanied by eloquence, is that perfect form of preaching, which is blessed. Augustine expects a perfect preacher. “Eloquent speakers,” he argues, “are only pleasant to listen to, but wise ones are salutary. For this reason, Scripture does not say: a multitude of eloquent ones, but a multitude of wise ones, the salvation of the world (Wis. 6:26). Just as it is often necessary to take the most bitter medicines, because they are life-saving, so, on the other hand, sweets should always be avoided when they are disastrous. But what is better than sweetness, when it is at the same time saving, and saving, when at the same time it is sweet? For in this case, the more desirable the sweetness, the faster and easier the salvation brings benefit” 1054. The source from which a preacher can draw wise, good and useful teaching and offer it to the people, Blessed Augustine points out in St. Scripture. The measure of a person’s wisdom depends on the degree of study of it. “A person speaks wisely, more or less, the more or less he has shown true success in the knowledge of the Holy Scriptures. Scriptures" 1055. At the same time, one must not only take care of a good understanding of the meaning of Scripture, but also try to retain in memory its individual words and expressions. “The best and most honorable of all is the one who at the same time speaks from memory the passages of Scripture word for word, whenever he pleases, and understands them as they should” 1056. Such a thorough study of the word of God makes the preacher’s work easier and elevates him in the eyes of his listeners. “The poorer he sees himself in relation to his own gifts, the more necessary it is for him to enrich himself with the knowledge of the word of God, so that what he says weakly in his own words can be supported by the power of Scripture. Thus, he who seems stunted in his tongue, in some way, will gain growth from the testimony of great men” 1057. Among the divinely inspired writers, St. In books, a spiritual speaker will find mostly worthy examples of eloquence. For St. Augustine, “nothing can be not only wiser, but also more eloquent” than these writers 1058. There is a special sublime, the only decent kind of orbit. “Another generation is unworthy of them, and others are unworthy of it” 1059. In this special ornateness of divinely inspired men, one can at the same time notice ordinary human eloquence 1060. The latter is so free and natural among them that it appears in addition to any tension and worries on the part of the authors themselves. “Here one simple wisdom comes from its abode, that is, from the chest of the sage, and eloquence follows it like an inseparable slave, without being in the least called to it” 1061. In support of his thought, Blessed Augustine cites several passages from St. Scripture 1062 and analyzes these passages, looking for signs of eloquence in them. When analyzing the examples cited from Scripture, the author reveals himself as a former teacher of rhetoric 1063. He focuses all his attention on the external structure of speech, pointing out the correct sequence and roundness of periods, the proportionality of members (membra) and commas (ϰὀμματα, caesa), admiring the smooth and harmonious flow of the word. Modern rhetorical taste is hardly touched by those forms of eloquence which the author of Christian Science admires. But this admiration will be understandable to us if we pay attention to the laws and tastes of ancient rhetoric. “The requirements of the ancients in relation to the external structure of oratorical speech differ from the requirements presented by our modern criticism. Under the influence of logical education, we have lost the sense of beauty and musicality of the periodic flow of speech, we cannot and do not know how to admire smooth, strictly proportionate periods: our requirements in relation to style are extremely limited... And the ancients also demanded from oratorical prose speech that the correct size be observed, reminiscent in some way of the size of poetic or poetic speech... The period among the ancients was a rounded whole from the outer sound side, in which there was a certain certain number of syllables and sounds, and they followed one another in the order required by the laws of musical euphony...” 1064. Thus, Blessed Augustine stands at the level of contemporary rhetorical science when, analyzing the examples of eloquence he took from the Holy Scriptures, he expresses such judgments that to our modern criticism “may seem refined and petty” 1065. However, pointing out the external beauties of the word inherent in the divinely inspired writers of the Holy. books, the author does not lose sight of the inner strength by which the works of these writers differ from the works of secular speakers; even more than that: he realizes that it would be “in vain to seek beauty in biblical books and sayings with a rhetorical pointer” 1066, and that the power here is not in compliance with certain requirements of rhetoric, but in the deep action of truth, “finding itself a worthy external form” 1067. “It would be possible,” writes Blessed Augustine, “according to the rules of rhetoric, to find a lot of other beauties in the example of the priest I cited (from the book of Prophet Amos). eloquence, but the good listener does not so much receive edification from careful analysis as warm his feelings when the passages of Scripture are spoken to him with fervor and skill. For this latter was not created by human efforts, but poured out from the mind of the divine, so that it was not wisdom that sought eloquence, but eloquence did not deviate one bit from wisdom” 1068. But, offering the spiritual speaker good and useful content for his sermons, seek from the inspired authors of St. books and learning eloquence from them, Blessed Augustine strongly advises against imitating them “where they were expressed with useful and saving darkness” 1069. “For a Christian teacher, the first and main duty is to be as intelligible as possible in all his teachings and to speak with such clarity that only the most incomprehensible person would be unable to understand us” 1070. Clarity in presentation is the first and main quality that St. Augustine demands from the minister of the preaching word. To be clear, a preacher, apart from any necessity, should not speak in his conversations to the people about subjects that are difficult and inaccessible to understanding 1071. Regarding the question of the relationship between clarity of speech and grace of expression, here the author of “Christian Science” argues just as accurately as on the question of what is more important in a sermon - the internal side or the external side, the content or the presentation. Just as there he gave decisive preference to useful content over eloquent presentation, considering it desirable and best, however, to combine both, so in this case, following the instructions of ancient famous orators, he advises the preacher, above all and above all, to take care of the clarity of speech, and not of its beautiful decoration, although he finds it desirable that clarity be combined with grace of form. A spiritual speaker’s entire concern should be “not about how to be more eloquent, but about how to present his subject more clearly and clearly” 1072 . St. Augustine finds it possible to sacrifice not only grace, but even the correctness of language, if only this turns out to be necessary in the interests of the listeners understanding what is being said to them. “What is the use of correctness of language, which cannot be followed by the concept of a listener, while the only reason and purpose of our conversations is so that we are understood by the people with whom we are talking?..” 1073. “For what good is a golden key if it cannot unlock what we want to unlock? And, on the contrary, what harm is there from a wooden one if it can open, when we do not require anything more from the key other than to open what is locked? But,” the author further notes, “we must not forget that students are in some way similar to eaters, who need to season well the most necessary food to support life: for most people are prone to disgust and disgust” 1074. Thus, although the most important advantage of a sermon is clarity, and not at all grace of expression, however, the preacher must also keep in mind the external decoration of speech and choose the correct expressions, if this can be done, without harming clarity; if it is impossible, then it is better for him to use words that are not entirely correct, “as long as the subject itself is taught correctly” 1075. The requirement of clarity and intelligibility, which is mandatory for any even private conversation, must be observed all the more in public teachings to the people. In private conversations, it is very easy for the speaker to know whether the listener has understood him. The preacher, who has not one or two, but many silent listeners, has no such opportunity to find out whether everyone understood him. Here, asking when, who and what does not understand is “neither in custom nor in decency” 1076. This places an obligation on him to talk about the subject under study until then and not to move on to another until, by some impatient movements of the people, he guesses “that everyone completely understood him” 1077. The author of Christian Science conducts further clarification of homiletical provisions, adhering to the general rhetorical requirements of his time. In relation to these requirements, by virtue of which every orator must “speak in such a way as to teach, to please, and to convince” 1078, St. Augustine sets the same goals for the spiritual speaker: to teach, to please and to convince (docere, delectare, flectere) 1079. Following the same requirements of ancient rhetoric 1080, he attaches the most importance to the duty to teach 1081, because “the first of these requirements, that is, the need to teach,” the author argues, “relates to the essence of objects, the last two to the way of expressing them” 1082. The important and primary significance of the duty to teach is also seen from the fact that it is inevitable in any sermon and can be dispensed with without the use of “the strongest methods of eloquence.” At the same time, the need to please and convince always presupposes a didactic element at its basis. “Men may or may not do what they know: but can it be said that they should do what they do not know? the need to convince is not a matter of necessity, since it is not always necessary, as long as the listener on a certain subject completely agrees with the preacher, either teaching or liking. On the contrary, convincing is a matter of victory, because the listener can be well taught, and he can like the teaching, and, meanwhile, he can persist and disagree with the preacher... 1083. The method of pleasing also does not have an absolute necessity: for clearly reveal the truth in your speech, that is, use the method of teaching, it will automatically please you by its simple explanation, and not by its pleasant expression in words” 1084. However, there are times when a spiritual speaker should be primarily concerned with “pleasing and persuading.” The need to “like” should occur when listeners “are squeamish people who don’t like the very truth except under the condition that they like the very syllable of the speaker” 1085. It is necessary to “convince” when it comes to moral and practical truths or, as the author puts it, “about objects of activity” in order to encourage listeners to implement the instructions given to them in their lives. What is needed here is majestic and sublime eloquence, which involuntarily acts on those “from whom neither the truth, clearly presented, nor the pleasantness with which it is expressed in speech” 1086 could previously extort recognition. Указывая случаи, когда проповеднику не бесполезно бывает позаботиться о том, чтобы нравиться слушающим, и чтобы убедить из к действованию, блаженный Августин предостерегает духовного наставника от возможного увлечения этими двумя целями – «убеждать и нравиться» – и от забвения важнейшей обязанности давать в проповеди чистейшую истину. “Let us,” he writes, “be less clear in our teachings; пусть будем менее нравиться, менее трогать, но мы должны говорить одно истинное, и слушатели наши должны восхищаться одним справедливым, а не неправедным» 1087 . Равным образом, в погоне за приятностью речи проповедник должен остерегаться и того, чтобы не впасть в ненужную напыщенность её. Это бывает, если «изображаются надутым слогом, хотя и неложные, но маловажные и непостоянные наслаждения 1088 , слогом, который неприличен и не годится даже для изображений благ возвышенных и неизменных» 1089 . St. Augustine seems to change and correct his judgments about the different significance of the three goals that a spiritual speaker must set for himself: to teach, to please and to touch (docere, delectare, flectere) and about the primary importance of the need to “teach” in the 32nd chapter, where he considers all these three goals or needs to be equally necessary for the preacher to carry out his ministry worthily. “Our spiritual speaker,” he argues, “acts worthy of himself when he offers the people one thing that is fair, holy and good, for he should not offer anything else; He acts with dignity when, if possible, he knows how to express what is just, holy and good in such a way that he is listened to with understanding, willingly and obediently” 1090. The success of the preaching ministry depends, in the opinion of Blessed Augustine, not only on oratorical abilities and not on one or another means indicated by the science of eloquence, but, first of all, on the help of God. The preacher should precede every word with a prayer for this help. He must first become a prayer book and then a preacher. “Before he opens his mouth, let him lift up his thirsty soul to God, so that by His grace he will regurgitate what he has been given to drink, and let him pour out from his fullness... At the very moment of speaking, let him better bring to mind the words of the Lord: “Do not worry about how or what you say: for fear He will give it to you in the hour that you say: for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit.” Your Father, speak in you” (Matthew 10:19–20) 1091. However, prayer and trust in God’s help do not at all eliminate or diminish the importance of other ordinary means that contribute to the most successful fulfillment of the work of church teaching. No, and under this condition, “whoever wants to learn himself and teach others, let him study the subjects of instruction, let him acquire the ability to speak as befits a church speaker” 1092. From the above words of the Gospel (Matthew 10:19-20) one also cannot conclude that we should not take care of ordinary natural preparation for spiritual oratory, just as from the words of the Gospel: “the message of your Father, these you require before you ask” (Matthew 6:8) one cannot conclude that our prayer to God is unnecessary and useless. And ap. Paul, Augustine argues, does not at all contradict himself when “having said that teachers are produced by the Holy Spirit 1093, he himself, meanwhile, prescribes rules for them, what and how they should teach” 1094. Just as medicines, receiving their healing power from God, who can heal illnesses without them, are necessary and useful for humans, “and their diligent delivery in any case is considered a matter of mercy and beneficence, so the benefits of science, taught by the hand of man,” are useful for people, although “they only benefit the soul when God Himself makes them useful” 1095. Trying to understand the rules of church oratory, in accordance with the requirements of ancient rhetoric, blessed. Augustine further introduces into his study a discussion of the three types of syllable - simple, medium and high. Treatises on syllables occupy a prominent place among the ancient representatives of rhetorical science and, by the way, among Cicero 1096, whom the author of “Christian Science” calls “the head of Roman eloquence” 1097. “A faithful and zealous follower of the ancient rhetoricians” 1098, Blessed Augustine found it necessary to introduce this ancient teaching about syllables into his theory of church eloquence, devoting to it as many as 25 chapters, that is, almost half of the last fourth book (there are 64 chapters in total in this book) of “Christian Science.” Cicero compares the dignity or meaning of the three genders of a syllable with the meaning of the objects of speech. For different objects, in his opinion, different types of syllable were required. “A true speaker,” he says, “will be the one who is able to express himself about ordinary objects in a simple syllable, about average ones in a moderate syllable, about great and important ones in a high syllable” 1099. Blessed Augustine compares this judgment of Cicero about the three types of syllable with the three above-mentioned goals of eloquence: to teach, to please and to touch. “A true orator,” he says, “will be one who is able to express himself about ordinary and unimportant subjects simply to teach; speak about moderate subjects in moderate language in order to please; speak about important subjects in a sublime style in order to convince” 1100. In relation to preaching, the distinction of syllables recommended by ancient rhetoric, according to the importance of the objects about which the speaker has to speak, is, according to St. Augustine, inapplicable. Here, in the sermon, “there are no important or unimportant subjects.” “All the truths offered to the people from us,” he writes, “we must measure by the attitude towards the salvation of people, not temporary, but eternal, or by the attitude towards their eternal destruction. In this case, the word about the acquisition or loss of property and money, proposed by church instruction, should not seem unimportant, whether the amount is large or small. For an important thing is fidelity, which we must maintain even in a small amount of money, according to the word of the Lord: “he who is faithful with a little is faithful also with much” (Luke 16:10). Consequently, small things in themselves are truly small: but great is this, in order to be faithful in small things. Just as the reason for roundness, that is, the drawing of all equal lines from the center to the extremities, is the same both in a large circle and in the smallest coin: just as in matters of justice, the greatness of fidelity is not diminished by the fact that unimportant duties are performed correctly” 1101. St. Augustine finds another reason not to ignore in his presentation of homiletical rules the most important treatise on syllables in ancient rhetoric. The use of different syllables is made dependent on the goals that the preacher has in mind. “A church teacher should use a simple syllable where he teaches something on an important subject; moderate or average where something is praised or blamed; and where it is necessary to force action, and where we talk with people who should act, but do not want, there important subjects necessarily require a high style, commensurate with the need to convince stubborn minds. Hence sometimes the same subject is presented simply when it is taught; moderately or in a middle syllable when describing its qualities; it is expressed sublimely when they try to attract to this subject the listener’s feeling that has shied away from it” 1102. For example, the author of “Christian Science” takes the dogma of the Holy Trinity. This subject can be spoken about in a simple style when it is necessary to teach, for example, the unity of the Holy Trinity, “so that the subject, in itself incomprehensible, can be presented more intelligibly” 1103. Further, in a conversation about the Triune God, one can use the middle syllable, “beautiful and brilliant” (pulchra ac splendida dictio) 1104 when the purpose of the conversation is to glorify God or Himself in Himself, or in His deeds 1105. Finally, one can speak about the same subject in a sublime style. “If it happens,” notes Blessed Augustine, “that God is not revered, or that He is revered on a par with idols, or even that idols, demons, or some other creature are preferred to Him, then one must speak in exalted language in order to show how great this evil is, and in order to turn people away from it” 1106. Measuring the dignity of each syllable by those goals that the preacher should have in mind 1107, Blessed Augustine gives preference to the high and simple syllable over the middle one on the basis that the first two act on the soul with the internal force of a teaching thought or sublime deep feeling, and the last one, “meaning to please with external eloquence alone” 1108, has only a service, auxiliary meaning in order to enhance the effect that they have to the listener the syllables are simple and high. The true purpose of eloquence is to convince the hearers of the truths being proposed 1109. And “the speaker convinces by means of a simple syllable when he tries to convince of the truth of the objects he proposes; convinces by means of a high syllable when it forces listeners to immediately do what they know but do not do; finally convinces through the middle syllable, but of what? only that his speech is beautiful and elegant. And what is the purpose of persuasion that we need? asks the author of Christian Science. – Let those who love to boast about the art and refinement of language strive for it; let them boast about it in panegyrics and such speeches where there is no need to edify or persuade to action, but only to please the listener. On the contrary, we, Christian teachers... will use this syllable (middle) as an auxiliary means of convincing the true good of which we want to convince the people” 1110. In order to make speech more entertaining, Blessed Augustine recommends that ministers of the church word in each of their teachings diversify the syllable, producing, as he puts it, “a decent mixture of syllables” 1111. If you pronounce the teaching for too long and in one syllable, you can soon bore the listener. If the preacher “makes decent ebbs and flows from one syllable to another, then a long sermon can be much more entertaining” 1112. Especially you should not dwell for a long time on a high syllable. One must be careful not to dull the senses of the listeners by over-exciting them, and thus not to weaken the effect of the high syllable or degrade it. “In general,” argues Blessed Augustine, “it is much easier and more possible to listen and endure one simple syllable than one high-pitched syllable that drags on for a long time. And therefore, the more important the need is to excite strong movements of the soul in order to wring out agreement and feeling from our listeners, the shorter this excitement should be in order to stop exactly where the soul of the listener is touched to the proper degree. One must always be careful so that, while trying to raise higher and higher what has already been raised, the listener’s feeling does not drop from the point to which the power of speech raised it. But by the way, know how to use a simple syllable in your sermon, then it will be good for you to move, where necessary, to a sublime syllable, so that the flow and swiftness of your speech alternately changes, like the ebb and flow of the sea” 1113. When a sublime syllable is mixed with a simple one, the first “appears even more sublime”; standing for some time as if in the shadows, he then appears “the more luminous” 1114. For the same purpose of better shading or expression of the strength and charm of another syllable, a simple syllable can be combined with a middle syllable. And here sometimes “some thoughts, in themselves capable of beauty, are not decorated, but are expressed in simple language in order to give other thoughts, as if in the wedding church of beauty, a most brilliant place” 1115. Indicating for each of the three types of syllable a special purpose and special use: to teach - for a simple syllable, to please - for a middle syllable and to convince - for a high syllable - St. Augustine at the same time demands from the preacher that, when using one or another syllable, he should have in mind, if possible, the combination of all the advantages of a good style, acquired separately by each of the three syllables, and, if possible, try to give them a place in his speech, no matter what syllable he speaks. He is obliged to speak “clearly, pleasantly and convincingly” (ut intelligenter, ut libenter, ut obedienter audiatur) 1116. “I don’t want,” says the author of Christian Science, “to be neglected and bored because in a certain case I speak in a simple syllable; and therefore, here I want to speak not only clearly, but also pleasantly... Who will want to listen to him (the preacher) if even in a simple presentation he does not captivate the listener with a certain degree of pleasantness of the syllable? Finally, who doesn’t know that you can’t listen to someone who speaks incomprehensibly, neither willingly nor with obedience?” 1117. A good preacher often, using one simple syllable in his speech, receives the most unfeigned praise from those listening. This happens when difficult questions are clearly resolved in the sermon or unexpected and witty thoughts are “brought out as if from some hidden depth,” if the misconceptions of opponents are victoriously overthrown, especially when the speech “has an unsophisticated and, in a way, innate beauty: there is a smoothness at the end of periods, not used out of boasting, but as if necessary, and from the properties of the most objects, so to speak, forcibly torn out" 1118. Here “the truth itself is liked, being simply but truly explained, defended and presented as invincible” 1119. In turn, and using the middle syllable, the preacher must speak not only pleasantly, but together and convincingly, “must strive to ensure that at the same time the listeners understand him, and are captivated and submissive to him” 1120. Likewise, a high diction, which aims to touch the listener, break his stubbornness, make him submissive, or, as St. Augustine puts it, “through powerful ornateness to captivate a hardened heart into obedience,” can be effective only if it combines the intelligibility of a simple syllable and the pleasantness of a middle syllable” 1121. You cannot touch a listener if he does not understand what is being said to him, just as you cannot force him to listen willingly to a sermon if it “does not captivate him with its pleasantness” 1122. In order to justify the relevance and applicability of the rules about syllables to preaching, the author looks for examples from the Holy Scriptures for each of them. Scriptures and from the works of church writers (St. Cyprian and Ambrose) and analyzes these samples from the point of view of the requirements of ancient rhetoric that he had learned. Blessed Augustine devotes 12 chapters (from 39 to 50 inclusive) to the analysis and consideration of samples borrowed from the Holy Scriptures and from the writings of some church writers. It is difficult to understand the distinctive features on the basis of which the author cites some passages as evidence of a simple syllable, others as evidence of a moderate or sublime syllable. “What Augustine cites as a sample of the middle syllable could be placed alongside the samples of the high or simple syllable, and vice versa: the samples of the sublime syllable are not much different from the samples of the middle syllable, and may even seem to others to be identical in character with the samples of the simple syllable” 1123. Therefore, without considering it necessary to dwell in detail on the examples cited and analyzed by the author of “Christian Science,” we will touch only on those considerations expressed by him along the way that may have one or another practical significance. In chapter XXXIX, citing as an example of a simple syllable the words of the Apostle Paul from the Epistle to the Galatians (Gal. 3:15-23), where the apostle reveals the meaning of the law of Moses and faith for the justification of man by resolving the objections that he makes to himself, Blessed Augustine invites the spiritual speaker to imitate this indicated saint in the matter of revealing the truth. received by the apostle. A spiritual speaker should not only be concerned with “revealing what is concluded and resolving the knots of the main issues, but also with preventing accidental contradictions or objections, so that they do not weaken or refute the main subject of our sermon” 1124. Blessed Augustine considers the study and resolution of all kinds of random objections and contradictions “a very good deed, despite the fact that there is sometimes a danger of deviating too far from the main subject, and the very attention may be lost “in a long chain of conclusions” 1125. If the preacher does not try to prevent and refute possible objections, then the listener may encounter them “at a time when there is no one to answer them; and, on the other hand, even if there was someone to answer, since the listener stands silently while delivering the teaching, without offering his doubts, he can leave after the sermon unsatisfied if the slow-witted preacher does not resolve the contradictions that came to the mind of the silent listener” 1126. When analyzing samples of the middle syllable, the author of Christian Science finds an opportunity to once again show his refined rhetorical taste, reaching the point of being somewhat demanding even in relation to sacred writers, despite his complete and deep reverence for them. He finds that sacred writers “sometimes lack that beauty of speech that the smooth and measured endings of periods impart to it” 1127. However, the pious thought of the author is inclined to admit rather that the inspired writers of the sacred books deliberately avoided external embellishments of speech 1128. At the same time, the exactingness of rhetorical taste, suppressed by piety, seems to fade away, and Blessed Augustine is ready to generously forgive the sacred writers for the shortcomings of external presentation they encounter and, in particular, the lack of smooth and measured endings or conclusions (clausula) of periods 1129. In general, it is noticeable that the author is double in his judgments: as a rhetorician who held the position of teacher of eloquence for several years, he attaches very important importance to external presentation, “talks a lot and often about the musical structure of speech and the external grace of expression” 1130; as a reverent teacher of Christian truth and piety, speaking about the high goals that a spiritual speaker must first of all have in mind, he forgets the requirements of rhetorical science and places all the power and significance not in the beauties of external presentation, but in the inner side of speech, in its content, in truth and truth, with which a Christian teacher should most of all act on his listeners, confirming them in those thoughts and feelings with which he himself is filled. However, no matter how perfect the sermon is in terms of compliance with the rhetorical requirements placed on it by the author of Christian Science, its success, in his opinion, is primarily determined by the life of the preacher, depending on how much he himself actually fulfills what he inspires in others. “In actual victory over the listeners,” he says, “the life of the preacher always has more weight and power than his word” 1131. Of course, argues Blessed Augustine, the preaching of teachers who lead an indecent life can also be useful for many. “If we preach Christ through guilt (occasione – in the Russian text it is translated: feignedly), if we preach Christ in the truth, and in this I rejoice” (Phil. 1:18), says St. apostle. Every true and right teaching is useful, even if it was taught through unworthy people. “Good Christians with humility listen in this case not to a person, no matter what he may be, but to the Lord Himself, who said: “Everything you are commanded to do, observe and do, but do not do them by deeds: for they say things and do not do them” (Matthew 23:3)” 1132. However, a sermon is incomparably more effective and much more useful if it is delivered by people who themselves practice in their lives what they teach others. The good life of a preacher is the best confirmation of the truth of his words, testifying to his sincerity and conviction, which, in turn, affects the conviction of his listeners. “Are there many,” reflects Blessed Augustine, “who seek protection for their vicious life in the behavior of their superiors and teachers themselves, thinking in their souls, or - in an unkind hour - even saying to the preacher’s face: why don’t you yourself do what you command me? This is where it comes from that people do not listen with obedience to someone who does not pay attention to himself, and together with the preacher they neglect the word of God that is preached to them” 1133. The good life of a preacher makes his preaching bold and daring. He “preaches without shame, for he lives blamelessly” 1134. In his teachings, he is more concerned about expressing more accurately and truly what serves for the good of those listening, and does not pursue the beauty of expression, making himself a slave to his words, but, on the contrary, being their master (nec doctor verbis serviat, sed verba doctori) 1135. Advocating not with words, but with deeds, such a teacher “in simple, medium, and high syllables always has one goal of words: so that in words the truth reveals itself, so that the truth pleases, so that the truth touches” 1136. Strengthening the effect of the sermon and raising the authority of the preacher in the eyes of those listening, his exemplary life in itself, regardless of one or another of his properties as a speaker, is an “always silent teaching” for others 1137. At the end of the book (chapter 52), the author touches on the question of whether a preacher can pronounce the teachings of others. St. Augustine does not prohibit using the “wisely and eloquently written” sermons of others and, memorizing them, offering them to the people. “This,” he declares, “is one of the truly useful ways of spreading the truth; for through him many preachers and proclaimers of the truth are made, without multiplying the number of teachers, if only they all preach the same teaching of the true Teacher" 1138. Preachers who pronounce the teachings of others should not be embarrassed by the words of the prophet Jeremiah, through whose mouth the Lord denounces those who steal His words “every one from his own sincerity” (Jer. 23:30) 1139. “The Word of God is not alien to those who obey Him” 1140. The words of the prophet Jeremiah are rather applicable to preachers who, having the gift of composing and eloquently delivering their own sermons, lead an indecent, bad life. Everything that they preach and teach others is alien to them in relation to themselves, to their rights and hearts, since “their own will and actions decisively refute what they say” 1141. This is confirmed by the words of the Lord, spoken by Him in denunciation of the Pharisees: “hypocritae, whatever good you can say, you are evil” (Matthew 12:34), and others who still command you to follow their teaching: “Everything that they say to you... do, but do not do them by deeds” (Matthew 23:3) 1142. From the comparison of these words of the Lord, it follows, according to the reasoning of Blessed Augustine, that teachers who are unworthy in their lives, “while speaking good, do not speak themselves,” but pass on someone else’s. “An eloquent, but bad person,” he writes, “against his will, as if against his will, composes a good teaching precisely so that someone else can preach it, although not an eloquent, but a good person: and in this case, the writer himself produces and conveys someone else’s, and the conductor or storyteller receives his own from someone else. If good Christian teachers lend their writings to good preachers, then both - the writers and the storytellers - preach their own, and not someone else’s: since they both have their own God, to whom belongs what they preach, and the writings of others become their own for those who, unable to compose their own, live decorously according to the writings of others” 1143. – At the conclusion of his homiletical considerations, in the 53rd chapter, the author of “Christian Science” considers it necessary to again remind the Christian teacher, whether he himself will pronounce his word or is thinking of dictating a sermon to others so that they can pronounce it before the people, about the need, first of all, to pray to God, “may the Lord give good words in his mouth.” “For if Queen Esther, preparing to speak before King Artaxerxes for the temporary salvation of her people, prayed that the Lord would give the word acceptable in her mouth (Esther 4:17), then shouldn’t he who works on the word and teaching about the eternal salvation of people pray more for receiving this important gift” 1145. In the same way, the author advises anyone who intends to preach a sermon composed by another, before receiving this sermon, to pray, firstly, for the compilers, secondly, for himself, so that the Lord will help him deliver the sermon well, and, thirdly, for the listeners, “so that they may well receive what is spoken to them” 1146. The preacher must also end his teaching with a prayer to God, offering thanks to Him on Whom the success of the sermon depends 1147. This, in essential terms, is the content of St. Augustine’s “Christian Science”; these are the homiletical rules he set forth in this book. As mentioned above, under the pen of the blessed Bishop of Ipponia they appear for the first time in a harmonious, systematic presentation and receive a completely scientific form. For this reason alone, the work we have considered is of enormous importance in the history of Christian preaching as it represents the first experience of an integral scientific discipline related to preaching, known in the system of other theological sciences under the name “homiletics.” Here, in Christian Science, is the beginning of homiletics and its first example, from which and according to which this science then began to develop. True, as the first experience of a homiletician, St. Augustine, from the point of view of modern homiletical criticism, is not without shortcomings. Thus, it is hardly possible to recognize as correct the thought of the author of Christian Science when, in favor of clarity of speech, he advises sacrificing not only its grace. but even correctness. “And from a homiletical point of view,” as Prof. rightly notes. Pevnitsky, - the correctness of language in church teachings is as obligatory as clarity of expression. The Word of God, explained in a sermon, is worth giving its explanation the purest and correct form possible. And wouldn’t it be a humiliation for the high truth that makes up the content of the preached word if they speak about it from the church pulpit in careless and incorrect language?” 1148. Further, St. Augustine takes a somewhat one-sided view of the matter when, speaking about the three purposes of oratory: to teach, to please and to convince, he attaches the main and preferable importance to the duty to teach, considering the other two less important for the preacher and not always necessary. This oversimplifies the requirements for preaching and reduces it to a simple lesson, to a simple, artless, perhaps sometimes dry and cold transfer of one’s knowledge to those listening. Meanwhile, the three goals of eloquence indicated by St. Augustine should not be separated and have an equally obligatory significance for any sermon. The sermon should be such that the listeners, keenly listening to the words of the spiritual mentor, obediently follow the saving teaching of the Christian faith and morality proclaimed by him. The purpose of the sermon is to make others think and act according to its demands. “The preacher, like any speaker, must try not simply to teach the listener or give him an explanation of something, but to convince him, to incline him to believe what he himself believes, or to follow what he considers useful. In these forms, he should not be deprived of the animation necessary for a true speaker, and it is not an excessive claim to demand from him that with strength and energy he convey into the minds and hearts of his listeners the concepts and ideas that he valued and carried by his soul” 1149. From the point of view of homiletical criticism, the treatise on syllables by the author of Christian Science is unlikely to be of great importance. By introducing this treatise into his research, Blessed Augustine is only an involuntary tributary of the then prevailing rhetorical demands 1150. He does not report anything essentially new regarding the rules of spiritual oratory here. The positions expressed by the author and the analysis of the examples given in support of these provisions are strained and arbitrary 1151. But these shortcomings do not at all detract from the homiletics of St. Augustine and do not prevent it from having great significance in relation to the homiletical science of subsequent times. It served as the “guidance and source” for most homiletical systems that appeared in the Middle Ages 1152. Some of the instructions of the author of “Christian Science” have not lost their meaning to this day and remain recognized in the modern science of preaching. Such, for example, is the idea that a preacher should learn his craft mainly practically, by listening to exemplary speakers and by reading the works of the best writers 1153. This is the statement of Blessed Augustine that the greatest influence on listeners is exerted by the preacher who leads an exemplary virtuous life, and in himself shows an instructive example of fulfilling what he teaches others. This is his view of the pronunciation from the church pulpit of teachings compiled by others. Finally, the main thought of the author, which runs through the entire study, must be recognized as completely correct, drawing the attention of the church mentor to the inner side of the sermon. The wise, true, good and useful content of the word is what the preacher should keep in mind first of all, or, in other words, the internal, and not the external, beauty of speech should be the subject of his primary concern. In relation to the preaching word, the refined requirements of rhetorical science concerning external presentation are not as obligatory as in relation to other types of oratory. A sermon, even if there is a lack of external eloquence, can be instructive and beautiful in its true and useful content. This idea is not lost on the author even in those cases when he discusses the importance and benefits of the science of eloquence for spiritual oratory, and when, yielding to the demands of his refined rhetorical taste, he goes into a detailed rhetorical analysis of certain examples he gives in support of his positions. The very examples are borrowed by Blessed Augustine, as we have seen, not from secular writers, but from the books of Holy Scripture and from the works of some church fathers. By this, Blessed Augustine wants to show, undoubtedly, that church oratory and secular oratory are not the same thing, and that, according to the special properties of preaching, the science of it, or homiletics, must be established on special grounds, different from those indicated by rhetoric, or the science of oratory in general. The author never loses sight of either the nature of the sermon or its special properties. Everything that he says in his research “is aimed at clarifying the special laws that the church speaker must fulfill and obey in his ministry” 1154. Chapter VI. Review of the contents of the work of Blessed Augustin: “De cathechisandis rudibus” (about the announcement) 1155 Blessed Augustine’s essay “De cathechisandis rudibus” was written by him around 400. The reason for writing the essay was the request of Deogratias, a deacon of Carthage, who wanted to receive instructions from Augustine on how to proceed when announcing those of other faiths who wanted to accept Christianity. He wanted to know under what conditions the Christian doctrine could be taught with the greatest success, and also where the catechumen should begin and to what point it should be carried out, whether it was necessary to add an exhortatio to the narrative of God’s economy in the Old and New Testaments, or whether it was necessary to limit oneself only to the communication of the commandments, the observance of which consists of Christian life and service 1156. Deogratias was also embarrassed a lot by his almost constant dissatisfaction with his own speech. It seemed sluggish and boring not only to the speaker himself, but also to those, apparently, whom he had to announce, as well as to other listeners 1157. With a contrite heart, informing the blessed teacher of Ipponia about this, Deogratias asks that he not consider it burdensome for himself to share his explanations and instructions regarding the issues that troubled him 1158. Blessed Augustine willingly bows to the request of Deogratias and is ready to help him in his difficulties, not only out of a friendly disposition towards the Carthaginian deacon, but out of love for the church and filial obedience to it. “For my part,” he replies, “out of the feeling of mutual love between us, and in general out of love for the mother of our church and devotion to her, I not only do not refuse, but with all my zeal I am ready, with God’s help, to assist my brother with instruction. Because the more I desire to distribute the divine treasure everywhere, the more I must take care to facilitate the ways of distributing it for my employees, so that they can more easily and more easily accomplish what they want to overcome with labor and zeal” 1159. First of all, St. Augustine reassures Deogratias regarding his complaints about the shortcomings of his own speech. He advises not to be embarrassed by the fact that his speech often seems to him imperfect, boring and sluggish. It is quite possible that to the listener she seems completely different. Dissatisfaction with one’s own speech, according to the author, comes from the fact that the speaker is sometimes overcome by a strong and completely natural desire to express his thoughts, if possible, more fully and better, so that what we express is always, as it were, worse and lower than what we would like to express 1160. “I often,” writes St. Augustine, “do not like my speech, because I desire the best, which I often enjoy in myself (interius) before I begin to express it in words. And if I fail to do this, I grieve that my tongue cannot sufficiently serve the dictates of my heart (constristor linguam meam cordi meo non potuisse sufficere) ... But the attention of those who listen to me often shows that my speech is not as boring as it seems to me. And that they receive some benefit from this, I learn about this from their pleasure (delectatione). And for my part, I carefully try to do my job when I notice that they (the listeners) perceive well what is being offered to them” 1161. From the very fact that many turn to Deogratias seeking instruction in the truths of the Christian faith, he must understand that for others, therefore, his speech is not as unpleasant as it seems unpleasant to himself. Therefore, one should not consider it sterile because in his own view it is somewhat imperfect. After all, complete perfection, Blessed Augustine reassures Deogratias, does not exist on earth. While we are on earth, “we see through a glass darkly” (1 Cor. 13:12). However, he notes, be that as it may, our speech is still much more pleasant when we pronounce it with pleasure, cheerfully, and enjoy it ourselves. And although indicating the means by which this property of speech is acquired is no small task (cura maxima est), however, in view of the importance of the subject, the blessed Bishop of Ipponia does not refuse to give the necessary instruction on how to eliminate that nagging feeling of dissatisfaction with oneself, about which Deogratias complains to him. First, he answers the question of where to start the announcement and what to bring it to, or, in other words, what should serve as the subject of the announcement. The subject of the catechumen, according to the reasoning of Blessed Augustine, is the entire sacred history from the beginning of the world to the present time, revealed and clarified under the guidance of Christian consciousness and in the light of the revealed teaching of the Church of Christ. This does not mean, however, that during the announcement one should convey everything contained in the sacred books of a historical and narrative nature, whether the transmission is literal. word for word, or in your own words. There is not enough time for this, and there is no need for it. The story will be complete if the catechist, having covered everything in general terms and briefly (summatim generatimque), focuses on the more outstanding and marvelous, which is usually listened to more willingly. But this too should be shown “as if under cover, and not immediately removed from the contemplation of the listeners, but presented with some delay, as if for greater clarity and clarification, and then, after a thorough analysis, as worthy of all surprise, offered for their own consideration. The rest can be stated briefly, so that by omitting other things, what we wish to highlight more clearly can be outlined, and also so that the one who is exposed to the announcement does not become tired, and so that his memory does not become dull” (nec illius memoria confunditur) 1162. The main rule that should be followed when transmitting and explaining the biblical narrative, and together the main meaning of this narrative, Blessed Augustine indicates, in the words of the Apostle Paul, “in love from a pure heart and a good conscience, and unfeigned faith” (1 Tim. 1:5). The catechist must not lose sight of this guiding principle, whether he is telling something from the New Testament or from the Old. The Old Testament foretells Christ; the New Testament speaks of His coming. The reason for the appearance of Christ the Savior into the world was that the Lord wanted to show his love for us, since - “Christ died for us while we were still sinners” - (inimici - Rom. 5:6-10); just as He laid down His life for us, so we must lay down our lives for our brothers (1 John 3:16) and we must respond to God’s love for us with love for Him, if we ourselves did not want to love Him first 1163. “If Christ came most of all for man to know how God loves him, and for this to know that, growing in the love of Him by Whom he himself was loved at first, at His command he would love his neighbor... if all the previously written divine Scripture was written in anticipation of the appearance of the Lord, and everything that was then commanded in Scripture and approved by divine authority refers to Christ and calls for love, then it is clear that on those two commandments of love for God and not only the entire “law” and “prophets” (Matthew 22:40), of which the Holy Spirit consisted, are affirmed to the neighbor. Scripture at the time when the Lord said this (i.e., the instruction about love for God and neighbor), but also all the books of divine scriptures later written and committed to memory. Therefore, the New Testament is hidden in the Old Testament, and the New is the revelation of the Old" 1164. Blessed Augustine invites the catechist to reduce all his instructions to these two commandments of love and with them to comprehend the entire teaching of the faith of Christ. Even in the case when we are talking about the severity of God’s judgment, care must be taken that this severity edifies the listener in love, so that he, rejoicing in the love of the One Whom he fears, responds to Him, in turn, with love and fears losing His love for himself 1165. Before proceeding with the announcement, Blessed Augustine advises everyone who wants to become a Christian to carefully examine what prompts him to accept the Christian faith. In this case, the author recommends caution and, if possible, finding out from others what circumstances motivate a particular person to accept the Christian faith. If there are no such people from whom we could obtain the necessary information, we must ask the person being announced and, only after receiving an answer from him, we must begin our speech in relation to this answer. It is curious, however, how St. Augustine advises what to do in the case when someone, wanting to become a Christian because of worldly benefits, tells a lie and pretends, or says something inconsistent with the mood that should be in one seeking instruction in the Christian faith with the intention of accepting it. If someone does not have a sincere intention to be a Christian, we must, argues the author of the work in question, talk with him, as if not noticing his similar mood, so that he has a real desire to accept the faith of Christ (tamen sic cum eo debemus agree, ut fiat in illo haec voluntas, etiamsi non est) 1166. “The mercy of God often produces through the ministry of the announcer that, moved by his speech, the person being announced actually wants to be what he only wanted to appear to be” 1167. Therefore, one should not give up when someone turns to a catechist, prompted to accept Christianity by earthly calculations, and tells a lie, hiding his true intentions from him. “There is no need,” says Blessed Augustine, “to expose his lies and show that you know them. But if someone says that he came with an intention that deserves approval, whether it be true or false, in any case, by approving and praising this intention with which, according to him, he came, we must make him enjoy the fact that he is what he wants to appear. Caution is also needed if you hear from the person being announced something inappropriate and inconsistent with the state of mind that should be in everyone who comes to the Christian faith. Here it is necessary, in the opinion of Blessed Augustine, to kindly and quietly reproach him as ignorant and ignorant, and through indicating the true goal of Christian teaching, as well as through a brief and expressive (breviter et graviter) praise of this teaching, make him really want what he did not want out of error or wanted hypocritically 1169. A good occasion is presented to the catechist to begin a speech when a person wishing to convert to Christianity is prompted to do so by some vision or a formidable suggestion and admonition from above 1170. In this case, he should, first of all, draw the listener’s attention to how great God’s care is for us. Hence, moving to the more solid path of the Scriptures, it is necessary to show the catechumen that the Lord would not have urged him to become a Christian and join the church, and would not have brought him up under such wondrous circumstances, if he did not want him to calmly and firmly take the reliable (praeparatum) path of the Scriptures, seeking in it not visible knowledge, but trusting in the invisible (invisibilia sperare consuesceret) 1171. Then one should proceed to the sacred historical narrative, starting from the creation of the world and leading to the present day of the history of the church, indicating the causes and meaning of those actions and phenomena that have to be touched upon, relating everything to the ultimate goal of the law - love, which must always be kept in mind in this (unde neque agentis aliquid neque loquentis oculus avertendus est) 1172. At the same time, one should try to avoid vague and difficult to understand reasoning in speech. “Let the truth of this explanation (adhibitae rationis) be like a golden chain connecting a row of pearls, but not disturbing the harmony of beauty by any excess” 1173. At the end of the sacred-historical narrative, the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead should be taught, with a refutation, if the ability and strength of the listener allows, and if there is enough time, empty ridicule on the part of unbelievers, as well as the doctrine of the future final judgment, good for the good, terrible for the evil and fair for all. After this, the person undergoing the catechumen must be warned about all temptations and temptations that arise outside the church or in it itself, about various errors and heresies that appear among Christians. However, there is no need in this case to list all the individual misconceptions and refute each of them. It is enough to note that they were predicted by Jesus Christ and the apostles, and to indicate the significance and benefits of temptations for the education of believers. In order to eliminate the bad influence on the newly enlightened person from the many unworthy members of the church, he should further be taught, albeit briefly, the rules of Christian behavior. By the testimony of the word of God it is necessary to show what fate awaits those who lead a vicious, sinful life, and until what time they will remain in the church, from which they will ultimately be separated. Then it is necessary to instill in the person intending to enter the path of faith in Christ so that he does not place his hope in people, no matter how good they may be. Let him not dare, if he begins to succeed in Christian knowledge and good morals, to attribute this neither to the one who announced him, nor to himself, but “let himself, and us, and others, be a man in Him and through Him, who loved him while he was still a sinner, so that, having justified him, he would make him righteous (amicum)” 1174. The question of the duration of the catechetical instruction, according to St. Augustine, does not require any detailed explanation. This is best taught by the case itself and the circumstances (ipsa necessitas), depending on the time available to the announcer and the announcer 1175. Special instructions are offered by Blessed Augustine regarding how to pronounce the educated (eruditi - cap. VIII, 12), as well as grammarians and rhetoricians (cap. IX, 13). The first usually declare their intention to convert to Christianity, having first thoroughly weighed their decision and discussed it with themselves and with others. In relation to them, Blessed Augustine advises to observe great delicacy. You should test them carefully and not intrusively ask them what they know about the new faith. “We believe, let us begin to tell them,” writes the author, “that they already know this and that, and thus we should list everything that should be taught to the unlearned, and if they have to learn anything at the same time, let them learn, but not as if from a teacher (a doctore), let them learn from us when we list what, according to our assumption, they already know” 1176. It also doesn’t hurt to ask the scientist how his desire to be a Christian arose. And if it turns out that this desire is caused by reading sacred (canonical) books or some useful treatises, these books should be praised in accordance with their merit. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to even find out from him which book he read most (maxime) and which ones he especially occupied himself with, so that he had the intention of joining the church. “If we learn that these books were written by some memorable Orthodox (catholico) man, we will approve them with pleasure (laeti). If he comes across the writings of a heretic, perhaps believing that they are Orthodox, he should admonish him by pointing out the authority of the church, as well as the opinions of outstanding men, glorious defenders of its truth (in ejus veritate florentium)” 1177. However, notes Blessed Augustine, sometimes those who died Orthodox, either due to human weakness or due to a lack of education, thoughtfulness and other information, in some places of their writings were distracted from the truth by the semblance of truth and thereby gave pretext to prejudiced and impudent persons to spread this or that heresy. And even the most sacred books, where everything is said very reasonably, are often used by heretics as a means of defending their false opinions. All this should be instilled in educated persons who want to accept the Christian faith, with modesty (modesta collation), arrogating to themselves the rights of teaching so that arrogance is not visible, and at the same time, so as not to give the listener a reason to be arrogant. For the rest, Blessed Augustine suggests that when announcing educated and learned persons, one should act in the same way as when announcing simple ones, leading everything to the excellent path of the love of Christ. Blessed Augustine advises grammarians and rhetoricians, famous for the art of eloquence, if they wish to convert to Christianity: not to despise those who would rather avoid bad morals than shortcomings in words, and not to prefer the art of language to purity of heart. Especially they should not neglect the language of the Holy. Scriptures because he is not pompous; in the words and actions of people described in the books of St. Scriptures, let them learn to find another, higher, spiritual meaning. At the same time, the author recommends showing by example how sometimes the truth is revealed and clarified as a result of the resolution of some allegory, although with a simple and literal understanding a completely different meaning is obtained 1178. We must further instill in grammarians and rhetoricians that they prefer thoughts to words, “just as the spirit is preferred to the body.” Let them know that God does not bow to words, but looks at the disposition of the soul 1179; let them strive more to listen to true speeches, and not to beautiful ones, just as they would rather have friends who are not beautiful, but prudent; Let them also not laugh at those heads and ministers of the church who sometimes allow barbarisms and solecisms in their prayers and confuse the very words 1180. At the conclusion of these instructions, Blessed Augustine also proposes to explain to his listeners the meaning and significance of the sacraments that they are about to receive, and it is enough for the more knowledgeable and intelligent to indicate the very essence of the matter, but for those who are slow and poorly understanding, they need to be explained in more detail, “so that they do not despise what they see” 1181. Moving on to indicating those means by which the word of a catechist can receive greater liveliness, greater animation and pleasantness, St. Augustine points out the main reason why our speech becomes boring and does not please us in what he calls “tedium animi” - in the languor of the spirit, in our dissatisfaction, despondency and annoyance. In turn, this depends on various reasons and, first of all, as the author says above (cap. II), on the consciousness of the impossibility of expressing properly what we would like to express - so that everything that we feel, those who listen to us also feel the same. But we often notice that we are unable to do this 1182. “What delights and captivates us more is what we mentally contemplate in silence, and we do not want to abandon our thoughts and replace them with a far different expression of words” 1183. To eliminate the dissatisfaction and annoyance that arises from this, Blessed Augustine recommends warming up a sense of humility in yourself and more vividly imprinting in your heart the image of the love shown to us by the Lord Jesus Christ. “Although our articulate speech does not correspond exactly (differat) to the creativity of our thought (ab intelligentiae nostrae vivacitate), yet the mortality of the flesh is much further removed from equality with God. And yet He, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, being in the image of God, made Himself of no reputation, taking on the form of a servant (Phil. 2:7). For what other reason did He become weak to the weak, if not to gain the weak?.. (1 Cor. 9:22)" 1184. St. teaches us the same thing. the Apostle Paul, embraced by the love of Christ and on it establishing his love for people (2 Cor. 5:13–14). He would not have spent himself for the souls of others (2 Cor. 12:15), if he had been burdened to bend to their ears. What if it is not love that makes parents, when referring to their children, babble shortened and distorted words? “Therefore,” says Blessed Augustine, “let not the thought of that bird (Matthew 23:37) be removed from our hearts, which covers its helpless young with weak feathers (wings) and gathers its chirping chicks with a torn voice” 1185. “And just as our thoughts delight us in the innermost depths of our spirit (in penetralibus sincerissimis), so should we delight the consciousness that love, the more willingly it condescends to those below, the stronger it becomes later, returning back inside, when we, in the purity of our conscience, do not seek anything from those to whom we condescend with our love, except their eternal salvation” 1186. The second reason for our dissatisfaction and annoyance is that we often want to read or hear something ourselves more than to say to others, not knowing what effect our word will have on others 1187. But you still shouldn’t be too embarrassed in such circumstances. One must take care mainly not to deviate from the truth. And if the listener does not like something in the speech, let the mentor learn from this that it is not a matter of words, but of the understanding of the subject being discussed. If the catechist deviates from the truth, “although,” the author notes, “this is difficult to admit in the catechumen of the simple (rudibus), where one has to follow the beaten path,” let him know that this happened only because the Lord was pleased to test us, whether we are conducting things carefully, so that by making a greater mistake we would not be reproached for it. According to St. Augustine, there is no harm if the mistake remains unnoticed and if it does not repeat itself. For the most part, we ourselves, recalling what was said, notice our error and often do not understand how this could happen. However, care should be taken to gradually correct the error of those who, through our fault, were led into it. If some envious people rejoice at our mistake, let us try to find in this a reason to exercise us in patience, as well as in mercy, because God’s long-suffering can lead them to repentance. Sometimes it happens that everything we say is good and correct, and yet, either due to the listener’s misunderstanding, or because our judgments are new to him, he is tempted and confused. If this happens, and if the listener shows a readiness to understand and assimilate what is said (sanabilemque sic praebet), immediately the necessary explanations and reference to authorities should eliminate the doubts that have arisen in him (auctoritatum rationumque copia sine ulla dilation sanandus est). It is possible, of course, that the confusion produced in the listener may remain silent and unknown. In this case, the author concludes, let him be helped by the power (medicina) of God. But it may also happen that the listener refuses to correct himself. Here Blessed Augustine finds consolation in the example of the Lord, Whom once, when His words seemed tempting to the listeners, even “many of His disciples” abandoned (John 6:66). By imagining all this in our minds and placing our hopes on God, we will be less afraid for the outcome of our speech and for its unknown effect on the listeners. And enduring troubles and hardships for good will give us pleasure, if only we are not looking for our own glory 1188. In the end, after work, reading or listening to some conversation that is best, in our opinion, will seem more pleasant to us. “And we will pray to God with all the greater boldness that He will teach us to speak as we want, if we willingly desire that He speak through us as we know how” 1189. The third reason for our chagrin and dissatisfaction with our speech may stem from the fact that it gives us little pleasure to frequently return to such ordinary and even elementary (infantilibus - childish) subjects, which we have to talk about during the announcement (quae rudibus insinuantur) 1190. Blazh. In this case, Augustine also recommends cultivating in oneself a feeling of brotherly and even more parental love for those listening. Then “to us,” he says, “whose heart is united with them, something new will be revealed” in what seemed old, long known (et copulatis cordi eorum etiam nobis nova videbuntur) 1191. “The property of a sympathetic spirit is such that while those (listeners) are attracted (afficiuntur) to us speaking, we mutually dwell in them, and moreover, in such a way that they seem to say in us what they hear, and in them we seem to learn in some way what we teach” 1192. This can be noticed in ordinary cases. “Doesn’t it happen that when we show some beautiful places in a city or field to those people who have never seen them before, our pleasure is renewed in their pleasure, although at other times, out of habit, we pass these places without experiencing any pleasure” 1193. Moreover, such sympathy of souls, such a feeling of pleasure can take place in spiritual matters, in matters of faith, “when people seek the knowledge of the true God” 1194. The aggravation of our pleasure here should also be facilitated by the thought that a person is moving “from the death of error to the life of faith,” the consciousness that we are bringing to the world an unfortunate soul, tormented by the mistakes of a sinful life 1195. The fourth reason, which makes our speech boring, so that we are not satisfied with it, is sometimes determined, according to St. Augustine, by the immobility and insensibility of the listener, when the latter does not show his mood in any way and seems to be completely indifferent to what is said to him. This happens either as a result of religious fear, or as a result of shyness, or, finally, from an insufficient understanding of the words of the speaker 1196. In this case, great restraint and a lot of caution are required from the catechist. First, through conversation, you should find out what is in the soul of the listener. If the fear turns out to be excessive, it must be eliminated with affection; if shyness, it must be tempered with brotherly sociability. It is necessary, further, to ask the speaker whether he understands what is being said, and to invite him to speak freely if anything in our words seems incomprehensible or contradictory to him. It doesn’t hurt to find out in the same way whether the listener has ever heard of what he is now hearing about, so that it, although well known to him for a long time, perhaps does not interest him at all. We should then act in accordance with the answer received, that is, either speak more clearly and intelligibly, or clarify the contradictions, or, briefly touching on what is already known to the interlocutor, dwell primarily on the little understood and mysterious, as a result of the disclosure and explanation of which our speech becomes more interesting and attractive (quae aperiendo et revelando noster sermo dulcescat) 1197. It is possible, St. Augustine further argues, that the listener will turn out to be too motionless and sluggish; maybe he will turn away from everything. In relation to such, the author advises to show patience and pity and, briefly touching on other things, to teach “with intimidation” (terribiliter) the most necessary things (about the unity of the Catholic Church, about temptations, about Christian behavior in view of the future judgment of God) and “to pray to God for him rather than to talk a lot about God” 1198. It also often happens that the listener, at first attentive, becomes tired of listening or standing, weakens in his attention and reveals a clear intention to withdraw. To arouse his attention, Blessed Augustine recommends that the catechist, without deviating from the subject of speech and in connection with it, mention something that causes surprise, or even sorrow, and, moreover, concerns the interlocutor himself, so that, moved by his own danger, he can sooner be encouraged. However, there is no need to resort to any harsh expressions here; It is better to take care to win over the person being announced with a friendly address. If the listener’s fatigue is caused by standing on his feet for a long time, then you need to invite him to sit down. St. Augustine finds it better and more convenient for the catechumen to sit down from the very beginning, where this is possible. “It is much more reasonable when in some foreign churches,” he writes, “not only the primates themselves speak to the people while sitting, but also invite the listeners to sit, so that any of the weaker, tired of standing, is not scattered by the saving attention and is not forced to leave” 1199. To confirm the possibility of this, the author refers to a case from his own practice, when one villager, whom he was announcing, left, weakened and unable to stand for more than 1200. He is inclined to attribute it to arrogance if we do not want to allow our brethren or those who are to be so to sit in our presence. So that the catechist has the opportunity to monitor the attention and behavior of those listening, Blessed Augustine does not advise him to begin the catechism if there are many of them. But if you had to start the business even under this condition, and if it is noticed that one of the listeners is bored, you should invite or even induce him to sit down and say something that would somewhat refresh his attention. If the reason why one or the other refuses to listen to the teaching is unknown, the author recommends in this case to say something about the thoughts that overcome us, or something about everyday affairs, depending on the circumstances, jokingly, with some joy or with sadness (aut hilari aut tristi modo). But in offering all these measures to maintain the attention of those listening, the author recommends that he should be as brief as possible, “so that the remedy itself does not increase the disease that we intend to eliminate.” In general, under such circumstances, the catechist must hurry, pointing to the tired listener to the speedy end of the conversation 1201. The fifth reason why he does not like the catechist’s speech is that, due to the announcement, he is sometimes forced to abandon another task that seemed more pleasant and necessary to him, and thus begins catechesis with dissatisfaction and annoyance at the fact that he cannot freely decide the order of his actions 1202. Touching upon this circumstance, Blessed Augustine exposes the complete unknown for us of what is more useful for us to do at a given time, what is more convenient to put off, and what to leave completely. We also do not know to what extent our services are desirable to people, and we can only speculate about this. Therefore, if we can do some things in the order in which we outlined earlier, we must remember that this is done not according to our will, but according to the will of God. And if, due to some necessity, the order we have outlined changes, we will not be sad, but will willingly give in, “since it is more just for us to His (i.e. God) did their will, not He ours” 1203, and since only “he brings better order to his affairs who is more capable of not doing what is delayed by the divine will” 1204. Sometimes, the author further argues, our spirit is agitated by some kind of sadness or temptation (scandalo). And at this time (6th reason) we are offered to make an announcement. Not being able to refuse, we take up the task with displeasure, performing it without the proper mood, which is why our very speech is not very animated and pleasant 1205. And here the author points out the means of healing in our love for our neighbors. The very fact that there turns out to be a person who wants to be a Christian should, in his opinion, drive away our sadness, “just as the joy of acquisition tempers the sorrow of losses” 1206. The fear that the proselyte will not become a son of Gehenna, in view of the many dangers and temptations surrounding him from ill-intentioned people and those who only call themselves Christians, should, in the opinion of the author, serve as a sufficient incentive to make our speech more animated. And we can only rejoice that our work is not in vain and not useless 1207. In addition, in the feat of the good deed presented to us (teaching those who accept the Christian faith), the best means is given to cleanse and atone for our own sins. “Just as, in view of a threatening fire, we run to water... and rejoice if someone quickly brings it, so too, if the flame of sin has flared up in us and we are tormented, we will rejoice at the opportunity that presents itself to render a work of mercy, as if we have unexpectedly found a source with which we can extinguish the flame of the fire that has begun” 1208. But this means, however, has not only a negative meaning of cleansing or atonement for our sins, but also a positive one, since we thereby fulfill the commandment of Christ the Savior (Matthew 25:26-27). And neglect of Christ’s commandment and failure to fulfill it increases our sinfulness, adding another new sin to previous sins 1209. By indicating and considering the sixth and final reason from which dissatisfaction with our own speech may arise, the first theoretical part of the work “De cathechisandis rudibus” (from Chapter II to XIV) ends. In this part, Blessed Augustine sets out the rules regarding how the catechist should carry out his task of instructing those who want to be Christians in the truths of the Christian faith. In the second half of the work, the author offers examples of catechetical teachings: one, longer (chap. XVI–XXV) and another, shorter (chap. XXVI–XXVII). First, however, he considers it necessary to note (Chapter XV) that the samples he offers, intended for the reader, cannot be attributed to the significance that direct hearing of living examples of catechetical preaching can have. Because “the writer has one goal, when the reader is intended, and the speaker has another, when the listener is meant. In the latter case, it is again another thing to speak (exhort) secretly when there is no one to judge us, and another thing to openly teach something when there is a crowd of dissenting minds around. And here it is another matter when the teaching is addressed to one, while others listen to what they already know, only as if they are connoisseurs or witnesses (judicantes aut attestantes), and another when everyone expects us to say... there is a big difference: whether you have to speak before many listeners, or when there are few of them - before learned or unlearned, or before learned and unlearned together, before townspeople or villagers, or again before both of them together..." 1210. St. Augustine refers to his experience and says that “he does not feel the same whether he delivers a catechetical teaching before the educated or the uneducated, before his own citizen or a foreigner, before the rich or the poor, before a simple person or before one who is respected and has some kind of power... According to the different mood, the speech itself is different. And although the same love should be for everyone, the same means are not applicable to everyone” 1211. Therefore, the author, in conclusion of all the instructions given, recognizes that it is more useful for Deogratias to directly hear his (the author’s) catechesis than to read exemplary saving teachings or instructions transmitted to him at the same time 1212. When presenting the first, more detailed instruction, the author has in mind a listener from the simple (de genere quidem idiotarum), however, not from the villagers, but from the townspeople, of which, he says, there are many in Carthage - who, in addition, when asked for what reasons he wants to be a Christian: whether because of earthly benefits or because of the bliss of the future life, gives a favorable answer, i.e., that he intends to accept Christianity because hopes of the future life. Presuming such a listener, and addressing his teaching to him, Blessed Augustine, first of all, gives praise to God and rejoices for the proselyte that he finally began to think “about some true and reliable refuge.” (Deo gratias, frater: valde tibi gratulor, et gaudeo de te, quod... de aliqua vera et certa securitate cogitasti) 1213. He further teaches that one should not seek peace for oneself in the visible blessings of this earthly life and place one’s happiness in them. Neither wealth nor honor will give us true happiness. All this is perishable, fleeting. Often a person suddenly loses these benefits, and they thus betray him by leaving him. But if earthly blessings remain with a person until the end of his life, then he himself, when dying, must leave them. “Therefore, whoever desires true peace and true happiness should not rely on corruptible and fleeting things, but trust in the word of God, which abides forever (Is. 40:8), so that, clinging to that which abides forever, he himself may abid with it forever” 1214. There are people who want to find peace and satisfaction for themselves in the unclean pleasures of life, in debauchery, spend time in entertainment establishments and dirty dens, or are addicted to theatrical and empty spectacles. But these pleasures are fleeting and are accompanied by sad consequences. Such joys come with significant costs; luxury plunges people into poverty, and this, in turn, forces them to engage in deception, theft and even murder, the consequence of which is constant fear for themselves, so that “those who recently sang in a cheerful house are already tormented in their sleep by the torture of prison” 1215. Further, by their attachment to entertainment spectacles, people become like demons, since with their shouts they excite others (gladiators) to murder and force those who, without offending themselves in any way, please only the demands of the mad crowd, to enter into the fight. Can, in this case, our spirit, “the spirit that feeds on disagreement and struggle” (that is, contemplating the spectacles of gladiatorial combat in theaters) enjoy the pleasure of the world? however, even if these pleasures actually brought people some joy, how often, however, the latter are poisoned during our lifetime by all kinds of diseases. Then only one wounded conscience remains with us, awaiting the strict judge of God, in Whom we did not want to see and love a good father. “But you,” Blessed Augustine addresses the intended listener, “seeking true peace, which is promised to Christians after this earthly life, even here, among the grave adversities of life, you will feel good and pleasant if you love the commandments of God, Who gave the promise of future bliss. You will soon notice that the fruits of truth are sweeter than the fruits of unrighteousness, and that a person with a good conscience has more joy in the midst of adversity than a person with a bad conscience in the midst of pleasures." There are people who want to be Christians either because they please people from whom they expect some temporary benefits, or because they do not want to offend those they fear. such people are called dishonest (sed isti reprobi sunt). Although they are among the members of the church, they are tolerated in it only for a time, just as the tares remain on the threshing floor along with the wheat only until winnowing. Ultimately, unworthy members of the church will be separated from it if they do not reform 1217. There are also those who, although they sincerely accept the Christian faith, naively think that through this they will be happier than those who do not honor the true God. Of course, their faith is not strong, they easily weaken in it and fall away if they do not achieve the expected earthly well-being, and if they notice the well-being of unbelieving and vicious people 1218. He only truly wants to be a Christian who seeks the Christian faith because of the eternal rest of the future life, who does not want to be cast into eternal fire with the devil, but strives for an eternal reign with Christ (Matthew 25:34, 41, 46). Such a person is prudent in all circumstances of life - with an abundance of earthly blessings he is modest and self-controlled, in adversity he is patient and courageous. Improving gradually, he reaches such a state of spirit that he loves God more than he fears Gehenna, and avoids sin not for fear of being punished, but for fear of offending God with sin, Whom he loves, and in Whom alone the peace prepared for those who love Him is found (1 Cor. 2:9) 1219. The Holy Spirit points to this peace of the future life. Scripture, when it says that after six days of creation, on the seventh day the Lord rested from all His work (Gen. 2:2). The six days of creation signify the six ages or periods of world life. After these six periods will follow the seventh, when the Lord, just as on the seventh day he rested from the works of creation, will rest in His saints, since they themselves will find rest in Him. “Just as when those (the saints by His grace do good deeds, it is rightly said that He (God) does, so also when they rest in Him (in God), it is rightly said that He rests" 1220. He Himself does not need rest or rest, since He does not experience fatigue. 1221. But God created everything by His Word. This word is Jesus Christ, before Whose face the angels and all the purest heavenly spirits abide in holy silence. And man at first enjoyed peace in the communion of His Divinity, but through sin he lost his peace, receiving it again in His humanity 1222. For this purpose, the Word of God became man, being born of a woman. His coming by the revelation of the Holy Spirit was recognized and predicted by the Old Testament saints, who were saved by faith that He (the Son of God) would come, just as we are saved by faith that He had already come, and, believing, we love God, because He Himself loved us and sent His only begotten Son, Who, having taken human flesh, suffered death from the wicked 1223. So, everything visible and invisible, in heaven and on earth, was created by the Almighty Lord according to His goodness, truth and mercy. God created man in His image, “so that, just as He Himself surpasses all creation in His power, man, with his understanding, surpasses all the animals of the earth” 1224. Man's helper, the wife, was also created not for carnal lust, since the bodies themselves at that time did not have the properties of lust, “but so that the husband would be glorified for his wife, leading her to God, and showing her in himself an example of holiness and piety, just as he himself was the glory of God while he listened (sequeretur) to His wisdom” 1225. Having settled the first people in a special place of eternal bliss, in paradise, the Lord gave them a commandment, which they transgressed, for which they were punished, lost their primeval bliss and became mortal. The Lord knew that people would sin. However, He created them out of His goodness, just as God created animals in order to fill the earth with earthly blessings. Man, even a sinner, is better than an animal. The very commandment, regarding which the Lord knew that people would break it, was given moreover so that they would not consider themselves deserving of an apology when they were punished by God. “Whatever a person does, he always finds God wise in His deeds (laudabilem in suis factis invenit Deum): if he acts justly, he finds God worthy of glorification for the justice of the reward; if he sins, he finds God worthy of praise for the justice of the punishment; if, confessing sins, he turns to a virtuous life (ad recte vivendum redierit), sees the Great God in His mercy. Why didn’t God create man, knowing that man would sin, when He crowns the one who stands, and supports the one who falls, and helps the one who rises, always and everywhere glorious with His goodness, justice and mercy, especially if He knew that from that generation (i.e., the first man - de propagine mortalitatis ejus) saints would come?” 1226. Neither did one of the angels, who fell away from Him and became the devil, in any way harm God or diminish His dignity. “He who gave free will to people, so that they would honor God not under compulsion (not out of slavish necessity, non servili necessitate), but according to their own free will, gave it to the angels” 1227. “The Lord knew how to manage the souls leaving Him, and how to decorate the lower parts of His creation, upset by their sin, with consonant and harmonious laws of wondrous harmony. Therefore, neither the devil caused any harm to God by the fact that he himself fell and carried away man, nor man himself, having sinned, did not in any way diminish the immutability of His Creator, His power and glory" (nec ipse homo in aliquot minuit veritatem aut potestatem aut beatitatem conditoris sui) 1228. One should not be embarrassed that many are separated from God by sin, and only a few obey Him. “To God the multitude of sinners is nothing,” 1229 and He knows how to deal with them so that the glory of His eternal kingdom does not fade at all. Almost from the very days of the origin of the human race until the end of the world, there have been two kingdoms: the kingdom of the wicked and the kingdom of the saints. Being now mixed bodily (corporibus) and separated spiritually (voluntatibus), both these kingdoms will be finally (and bodily) separated from one another on the day of the final judgment. In the meantime, before this judgment, God’s mercy and long-suffering gives time for repentance to the wicked, just as before the flood people were given time to repent. The Lord knew that they would not correct themselves, but he did this by exercising and cultivating our patience, so that we would be lenient towards the wicked, especially since their future is unknown to us. The flood mysteriously foretells the future church, saved by the mystery of the cross of Christ. “God knew that from those who were saved in the ark there would come evil ones (mali), who would fill the face of the earth with wickedness, but he gave an example of the future judgment and foreshadowed the deliverance of the saints by the sacrament of the tree” 1230. Although after the flood wickedness spread on earth, among the wicked there were also righteous ones, “citizens of the holy kingdom,” who were saved by faith in the coming of Christ. Such was Abraham, from whom came a people in whom true reverence for God was preserved. However, even among this people there were not many “who thought about future bliss and sighed for the heavenly fatherland, by which the future humiliation of our King and Lord Jesus Christ was prophetically revealed, by faith in which they were healed of arrogance and pride” 1231. The whole life of these persons mysteriously predicted (prophetia fuit) the fate of the future New Testament church, of which they themselves were members, despite the fact that they lived before the birth of Christ the Savior in the flesh. “The Only Begotten Son of God, the Word of the Father, equal and co-eternal with the Father... became man for our sake and became the head of the whole church as His body. Just as a person, when he is born, even if he puts his hand forward at the moment of birth, still this hand in one organism is connected with the whole body, just as some of the patriarchs, as an indication of the same truth, were born with their hand extended forward (Gen. 25:26), so in the same way all the saints who lived before the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, although they lived before (ante nati sunt), are nevertheless in unity with the body of which He (the Son of God) is the head” 1232 . The entire history of the Old Testament was an image of the New Testament Church of Christ. The miraculous passage of the Jews through the Red Sea, in the waters of which the wicked army of Pharaoh perished, like the flood, when the earth was washed with water from the wickedness of sinners, serves as an image of baptism, through which believers enter into a new life, and in which their sins, like enemies, are destroyed and die. The rod with which Moses struck the waters of the Red Sea, like Noah’s ark, prefigured the mystery of the cross of Christ. The Passover lamb, with whose blood the Jews smeared the doorposts of their houses, served as a prototype of the suffering of Christ the Savior, Whom the prophet Isaiah likens to a lamb led to the slaughter (Is. 53:7). “You,” the author addresses the intended listener, “should be marked today on your forehead with the sign of His suffering or the cross, just as all Christians are marked” 1233. Upon leaving Egypt and crossing the Red Sea, the Jewish people received the law written by the finger of God on tablets of stone. By the finger of God we should understand, says Blessed Augustine, the Holy Spirit, as the Lord Jesus Christ Himself calls Him in the Gospel (Luke 11:20). “God does not have a bodily form, and it is not necessary to imagine members and fingers in Him as they appear to us in ourselves” 1234. The reason why the Holy Spirit is called the finger of God is that the gifts of the Holy Spirit, although they may be different, are nevertheless connected by the consent of love, just as the fingers of a hand, existing separately, are at the same time in one hand inseparable from one another and together form one whole. “However, for one reason or another, the Holy Spirit is called the finger of God, in any case,” the author notes, “we should not imagine the forms of the human body” 1235. The stone tablets served as a sign of the heartfelt callousness of the Jews, as a result of which they were incapable of fulfilling the law. “When asking God for bodily blessings, they were more restrained by carnal slavish fear, and not by an internal attraction to the good (magis carnali timore, quam spirituali charitate tenebantur), not by love. The law is fulfilled by love" 1236. Therefore, they (the Jews) had many external decrees concerning food, sacrifices and other diverse manifestations of public and private life, and all this external ritual Old Testament cult contained a deep mysterious meaning relating to Christ and the New Testament church, which meaning, being inaccessible to the majority, was understandable only to a few saints 1237. By many and varied signs, which contained a mysterious indication of future things, the Jewish people were led into the Promised Land, where they founded their kingdom, which served as an image of the spiritual kingdom. Jerusalem was built there, the most glorious city of God, the image of the heavenly, highest Jerusalem (Gal.4:26). The citizens of this kingdom are all holy (sanctificati) people in the present, past and future and all the purest heavenly spirits who obey God, and the King is “the Lord Jesus Christ, the Word of God, who commands the angels, who became incarnate and became man in order to show the way to people who will reign with Him in the inheritance of eternal peace” 1238. Of the kings of that earthly Jewish kingdom, David was primarily a prototype of Christ, from whose seed He came in the flesh. Many other prototypes can be found in the history of the chosen people of God, “which can little by little become clear to you,” says St. Augustine, turning to his mental interlocutor, “from the sacred books” 1239. The seventy-year Babylonian captivity predicted by the prophet was a prototype of the slave state of the New Testament church, the church of saints, especially in the first three centuries of its existence, when it was subject to the domination of unbelievers and wicked kings. Just as this captivity served to the benefit of those who captivated, since the Babylonian kings, prompted by certain signs and wonders, came to know the true God and commanded to honor Him, just as the pagan kings who had previously persecuted Christians, in the end, leaving idols, came to know the One True God. And just as then the kings of Babylon, having come to know the true God, gave the Jews the right to build dwellings, plant gardens and vineyards, so now the kings who accepted the Christian faith and knew the true God, with their orders, ensured the peace of the church for the creation of spiritual dwellings and for the planting of spiritual gardens and vineyards. “And now with this word,” the author notes, addressing an imaginary listener, “we create and plant you (aedificamus atque plantamus). And this is done throughout the entire earthly circle under the patronage (cum pace) of Christian kings" 1240. The number “70”, the number of years of Babylonian captivity, means the time of earthly existence of the church of saints together with the society of the wicked, which will continue until the final judgment 1241. The fact that the Jews, upon their return from captivity and the restoration of the temple and Jerusalem, did not receive complete peace and tranquility, passing into slavery and subjugation from one people to another until they were finally defeated by the Romans, should have had educational significance for them. Under favorable political circumstances, understanding the promises given to them about Christ the Deliverer sensually and not spiritually, and identifying in their minds the reign of the Messiah with the political dominance of their tribe, the Jews could mistakenly see in one of the national leaders the fulfillment of these promises. The disasters and persecutions they experienced from the pagan kings were supposed to weaken their false ideas about political domination over the whole world and, in the awareness of the impossibility of realizing such hopes, turn their gaze from the carnal to the spiritual, from the earthly to the heavenly 1242. With the coming of Jesus Christ, the sixth and final period (aetas) of the history of the human race began 1243, when spiritual gifts (spiritualis gratia), previously communicated only to a few patriarchs and prophets, are made available to all peoples, when worship of God is established not on the desire for material material benefits and not on the pursuit of real earthly happiness, but on the hope of eternal life. Just as on the sixth day man was created in the image of God, so in this last sixth period, that is, from the time of the coming of Christ the Savior to earth, he is renewed in the image of God (mens humana renovetur ad imaginem Dei) 1244. Only here is the law fulfilled, since it is fulfilled not out of fear of losing temporary material benefits, but out of love for the Lawgiver Himself. Because who would not be inflamed with love for the most just and merciful God, Who so loved the world that He sent His Only Begotten Son to save it, through Whom all things were created, and Who wanted to live among sinful people and even be killed by them and for them? 1245 Having become a man, the Lord Jesus Christ “despised all earthly blessings in order to show that they should be treated with contempt, and likewise endured all sorts of earthly hardships, wanting to show that they should be endured, so that, thus, neither (people) would believe happiness in those, nor fear misfortune in these” (aut neque in illis quaereretur felicitas, neque in istis infelicitas timeretur) 1246 . “He became poor, to Whom everything belongs, and through Whom everything was created, so that whoever believes in Him would not dare to be proud of his earthly wealth... He who feeds everyone suffered hunger, He through Whom water was created (potus) thirsted... He who freed people from the scourging of all sorrows was scourged; the one who put an end to our torment was nailed to the cross; he who raised the dead accepted death; but he also rose again, never having to die again, so that we could learn from Him not to fear death, being confident that we too will rise again” 1247. After forty days after the resurrection, the Lord Jesus Christ, in front of the eyes of His disciples, ascended into heaven, and 10 days after that He sent them the promised Holy Spirit, “so that by love poured out through Him into their hearts they could fulfill the law, not only without being at all burdened by this, but even with joy (cum jucunditate)” 1248. After all, the whole law comes down to two commandments: love for God and neighbor, as the Lord Himself teaches this in the Gospel (Matthew 22:37–40). And just as the Old Testament law (decalogue) was given to the Jewish people on the fiftieth day after they celebrated Passover for the first time, a law written on stone tablets by the finger of God, by which name, as stated above, the Holy Spirit is designated, so on the fiftieth day after the resurrection of the true Passover, the Holy Spirit was sent down to the disciples of Christ in the form of tongues of fire, and they began to speak in different tongues ( Acts 2:1-4). After preaching with boldness about Christ, the apostles performed many signs in His name, so that even the shadow of the passing Apostle Peter once raised the dead (...ita quemdam mortuum transeunte Petro umbra ejus tetigerit, et resurrexit) 1249. Many of the Jews, seeing the signs and wonders performed in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, believed in Him. These were no longer Jews seeking only bodily blessings, wanting to see in the promised Savior the founder of the earthly kingdom, but those who expected from Him immortality and eternal life. “Having put off the old man and being reborn for a new spiritual life, they, as the Lord commanded in the Gospel, sold everything they had, and laid the price of what was sold at the feet of the apostles (Acts 2:45, 4:34-35) ... and living in Christian love and harmony among themselves, they did not call anything theirs, but they had everything in common” 1250. Then, suffering persecution from their fellow Jews, those who believed in Christ were forced to scatter to different countries, “so that through their dispersion the gospel sermon would spread further, and so that they would learn to imitate the patience of their Lord” 1251. The Apostle Paul was especially outstanding for his hatred of the first Christians and his persecution of them, before his conversion to Christianity, who later, having become a Christian, received the command to proclaim the Gospel to the pagans and suffered more severe sorrows for the name of Christ than he himself caused when he was a persecutor of Christians. Establishing the churches and preaching the Gospel among the pagans, the Apostle Paul strongly urged them, in view of the fact that for them, as those who served idols and were little prepared for the correct veneration of the One God, the requirement regarding the communion of property (Acts 2:45, 4:34-35) might seem incomprehensible and unbearable, to make feasible offerings in favor of the believers located in Judea. By this he wanted to point to Christ as the cornerstone 1252 in which two opposing walls, paganism and Judaism, seem to converge, uniting in love 1253. When spreading the new faith among the pagans, Christians had to endure numerous and severe persecutions. But, like a vine, the Church of Christ spread its branches throughout the entire circle of the earth and was more fruitful (pullulabat) the more abundantly it was watered (rigabatur) with the blood of the martyrs. To them, who were dying in countless numbers for the truth of the faith, the persecutors themselves finally gave in and, having humbled themselves, turned to Christ. In addition to external enemies, the church had and still has internal enemies - these are the heresies and schisms that arose in it over time, in the fight against which the patience of true Christians was tested and the teaching of Christ's faith was better understood in their consciousness 1254. All of the above, concerning the coming of the Savior into the world, the founding of His Church by Him, as well as the spread and establishment of the Christian faith on earth, happened as it was predicted earlier, and as can be read in books written long before this time. The fulfillment of everything previously predicted should have the same meaning for us as the signs and wonders with which their faith was confirmed had for the first Christians. Seeing that everything that was previously predicted came true as it was predicted, we can be sure that everything else that was foretold in the Holy Scriptures will also come true. books, such as: future disasters and the day of the last judgment, when everyone will be resurrected and before the throne of the Judge-Christ will give an account of their lives. “He who first came in the humble form of a man will come in the glory of greatness, and will separate all the pious from the wicked, not only from those who did not want to believe in Him at all, but also from those whose faith was vain and fruitless, and will give to some an eternal kingdom with Himself, and to others eternal torment along with the devil” 1255. The bliss of the pious and the torment of the wicked will be such that no earthly joys or torments can equal them 1256. No matter how wonderful the doctrine of the resurrection is, it is by no means contrary to common sense. “In yourself,” St. Augustine convinces the imaginary listener, “believe that you will live, since you have already lived, since, despite the fact that you did not previously exist, you now see yourself existing... Is it difficult for God... to return to you the body that was, if He could create this body when it (the body) did not exist?” 1257. Therefore, one should firmly and unshakably believe that everything that apparently perishes, escaping from human eyes, remains safe and sound for the omnipotence of God. “When He wants, He can restore (reparabit) without any difficulty or delay, at least that which finds it necessary to restore His truth, which requires that in the same bodies people give an answer for their actions, being in which they committed them, and that together with them they are awarded either heavenly incorruption (coelestis incorruptionis) for deeds of piety, or for wicked deeds they are punished by such a state of corruption, which, without being destroyed death, would be the bearer of unceasing sorrows" 1258. With the firmness of faith and a truly Christian life, one must try to avoid such a terrible state, “where neither the tormentors weaken, nor the tormented die” 1259 in order to be worthy of the eternal kingdom of the saints. There will be “in this kingdom neither tedious labor nor idle rest,” there will be unceasing glorification of God there. He will be the joy and consolation of the holy city, where we will be like angels. Now “we believe in what we do not see, so that by the very merit of faith we may be worthy to see what constitutes the object of faith..., so that not with words of faith and passing sounds, but in immediate, pure contemplation, we silently glorify the equality of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and the unity of the Trinity itself” 1260. Holding all this firmly in our hearts, we must pray to God that the Lord will protect us from the temptations (tentationes) of the devil. He tries to deceive Christians not only through pagans, Jews and heretics who separated from the church, but also through ill-intentioned people who are in the church itself and are called Christians, whom, like tares in wheat, the Lord tolerates in the church for a time, on the one hand, exercising the faith and patience of good Christians, on the other, and to the sinners themselves, unworthy members of the church, giving time and opportunity for repentance and atonement for your sins. “Not all of them store up for themselves through the patience of God “wrath for the day of wrath and revelation of righteous judgment from God” (Rom. 2:5), but for many the same patience of God leads to the saving sorrow of repentance. In the meantime, this is not the case, through them the Lord tests the patience, as well as the mercy of His servants” 1261. Insisting on patience and compassionate love for all those who are mistaken and those Christians who lead a far from Christian life, the author gives instructions to avoid participating in their iniquities and from imitating their bad deeds. “If you came with the conviction that you can calmly do the same things, then you are greatly mistaken” 1262, because everyone who does this and remains completely stuck in their vicious deeds will face destruction (damnatio) 1263. Instead of such fellowship with the wicked, new churchgoers should seek fellowship with good Christians (conjungere bonis). “You will find many such people if you are like that yourself” 1264. However, we should remember that we do not owe our improvement to ourselves or to them, but to God, who justifies and perfects us. Therefore, you should not place your hopes on people, even good ones. You can't rely on a person 1265. Of course, we commit ourselves to love for all people in general. “But it is one thing to love a person and another to place your hope in him; there is such a difference between one and the other that God commands the first, and the second forbids” 1266. At the very end of his instructions, the author points out the great reward that he who accepts the Christian faith will receive if he has to suffer for the name of Christ. We just need to pray to God that He will not allow us to be tempted beyond our strength, since if firmness in faith, despite all the persecution for it, entails a great reward, then, when one falls away from the faith, a person is deprived of even a small one 1267. After the catechetical teaching, a sample of which has just been outlined above, Blessed Augustine invites the catechist to ask the listener whether he believes everything taught and whether he will adhere to it 1268. Upon receiving an affirmative answer, the prescribed sacred rites 1269 should be performed over him, with an explanation of their meaning and significance. In this case, it is not out of place to point out to the proselyte that in the Holy Scriptures, behind external bodily images that seem incomprehensible to us, something higher spiritual is hidden, which relates to the future. As a general guiding rule, the author offers the following here: everything that cannot be directly, with a literal understanding, interpreted in the sense of love for God and neighbor, must be considered as images and understood allegorically, in accordance with the requirements of this love for God and neighbor 1270. The author also advises to explain to the catechumen that neighbors should be considered not those close to us only by kinship, friendship, acquaintance or something else, “but everyone who can be in the kingdom of saints.” And since one cannot despair of the correction and salvation of anyone, no matter how vicious and incorrigible he may seem, then it is necessary, therefore, to look at every person as his neighbor 1271. If the teaching, the content of which was conveyed above, turned out to be long, and circumstances would force one to hurry, Blessed Augustine finds it possible in this case to limit himself to a shorter instruction, a sample of which he offers at the end of his work. In its content, it is nothing more than a reduction of the first. Having first touched upon the bliss of the future life promised to the saints, the author, as in the first teaching, points out the fragility and perishability of visible material wealth. Perishing themselves, these benefits lead to the destruction of those people who slavishly become attached to them and place all their happiness in them. Wanting to save man from this destruction, that is, from eternal torment, the merciful God sends to earth His Only Begotten Son, “His Word equal to Himself, through Whom all things were created. Abiding in the Divinity, without being separated from the Father, without changing in anything, the Son of God, having assumed human flesh (assumendo tamen hominem), comes to people, so that, as through one person, i.e. through Adam, death entered the world (in genus humanum) ... so through one man, who at the same time is God, through Jesus Christ, all who believe in Him, receiving forgiveness of former sins (deletis omnibus peccatis praeteritis), achieved eternal life" 1273. The coming of the Son of God to earth, His life and suffering, resurrection, ascension into heaven, His sending of the Holy Spirit on the disciples, the founding of the church and the initial history of the spread and establishment of the Christian faith on earth, all this happened as it was predicted long ago in the Old Testament. “Everything that you now see in the Church of God, and that in the name of Christ is being accomplished throughout the entire face of the earth (per totum orbem terrarium geri), was predicted long ago (ante saecula); and what we read (in holy books) is what we see” 1274. This fulfillment, visible to us, of what was previously predicted about the destinies of the Church of Christ should confirm us in the confidence that everything else predicted by the prophets or the Lord Himself and His apostles, sooner or later, will certainly be fulfilled 1275. Therefore, one cannot doubt the future resurrection of the dead, which is clearly foreshadowed to us, which some laugh at as an incongruity, claiming that the body decays and therefore cannot be resurrected. Having been resurrected for punishment, such people will be convinced that “He who could create real bodies before they began to exist can at one moment restore them after they already existed” 1276. All true believers will be resurrected to reign with Christ. They will become like the angels of God (Luke 20:36) and will always glorify God, being with Him in that joy and bliss that man cannot not only express, but also imagine 1277. Like the first, this short public teaching is combined with an exhortation to beware of temptations from pagans, Jews and heretics, as well as from those Christians who lead a vicious life inconsistent with their rank, and to strive for communication with worthy members of the Church of Christ, “in order to unselfishly honor and love God with them” (ut simul colatis et diligatis Deum gratis) 1278 . God should be imagined not as something external, visible with bodily eyes, but as we imagine, for example, wisdom, truth, holiness, justice, love, etc. 1279. It is with those who love these virtues not in the form of their relative manifestations between people, but irrespectively, in the very source of eternal and unchanging wisdom, that one must seek communication 1280, and the general guiding rule of behavior in relation to others should be the following: “imitate the good, tolerate the evil, love everyone” 1281. But advising one to seek fellowship with the good, Blessed Augustine, here too, considers it necessary to warn the listener not to place his hopes on people, whatever they may be. You need to place all your trust in God, and not in man. “One is He who justifies us, and another is those with whom we are justified” 1282. This teaching, like the first, concludes with an indication of the great reward promised to those who suffered for the name of Christ, and with an expression of hope that the Lord, for the deeds of mercy and prayers of His servants, will not allow them to be tempted more than they can bear (1 Cor. 10:13) 1283. From the presented review of the contents of Blessed Augustine’s work “De cathechisandis rudibus”, it is clear that it sets out rules and instructions regarding a special, exclusive type of spiritual oratory - the announcement of those of other faiths who are newly joining the Church of Christ. Taking a general look at these rules, we are convinced that they are based on broad and deep psychological experience and, as such, have not lost their meaning to this day. A modern preacher of the gospel truth among the Gentiles and, in general, a spiritual mentor will find much useful for himself if, to repeat the words of one guide to church eloquence, “read with great attention Augustine’s wonderful work on the method of teaching the catechumens, a work in which this great man, having proposed excellent rules on this matter, shows a model by which one should teach another the principles of religion” 1284. At the same time, this work is not useless for those involved in homiletics, or the science of preaching in the special sense of the word. Being closely related to each other, the church sermon itself and the catechetical or missionary sermon, bound by the unity of their goals, also have the same common grounds for themselves. Therefore, some of the instructions contained in the work we have considered are as obligatory for the pulpit preacher as for the missionary. Such, for example, are the advice of the author of “De cathechisandis rudibus” regarding the comprehensibility, simplicity and animation of public conversation or instructions regarding its main goal - to edify the listener in love for God and neighbor and achieve bliss through this; These are also the author’s reasoning, which requires from the catechist mentor purity of intention, sincerity, cordiality towards the listener and readiness to sacrifice everything for his salvation. All these are questions that relate to the theory of preaching and bring this work closer to another homiletical work of St. Augustine, “Christian Science.” This is his interest for the homilet. This is also where the real attempt to present a feasible overview of its contents must find its justification. Conclusion. The significance of the preaching activity of St. Augustine The question of the significance of the preaching activity of Blessed Augustine can be considered from two sides: firstly, from the side of its influence on listeners and on the life of modern society and, secondly, from the side of its influence on the preaching of subsequent times. The influence of St. Augustine's sermons on his listeners was very great. The teacher, imbued with a feeling of ardent love for God and his neighbors, under the gracious illumination of the Holy Spirit, and drawing the word of teaching from the living source of the divine word, could not help but make a strong impression on those listening with his conversations. The deep and meaningful thought of the blessed Ippon shepherd was all the more instructive because he knew how to speak simply, directly. The preacher’s language reflects that powerful spirit of his, which conquers with its charm and delights with its power. To this we must also add the immediate charm of the personality of Blessed Augustine. “From his writings,” Possidius narrates, “it is clear that this pious and godly saint lived ... in the faith, hope and love of the Catholic Church, which can be learned by those who succeed in reading his writings about the divine. But I think,” the author adds, “those who knew his behavior and treatment of people could have succeeded more” 1285. In the sermons of St. Augustine one can find repeated indications that listeners were sometimes unable to resist expressing their approval to him by shouting or even applauding 1286. Thanks to the lively interest that the sermons of St. Augustine aroused in the listeners, they did not feel tired even if the conversation dragged on for too long. “I forgot how long I’ve been talking,” the preacher concludes his conversation on Psalm 72. – Just from the fact that the psalm is over, and from this smell (ex isto odore - indicating the heavy, stale air from the long stay of a large number of people in the church) I conclude that I spoke a lot. But this is not enough for your jealousy (sed studiis vestris non sufficio). You are too strong. Oh, if only you would delight the kingdom of heaven with such power" 1288. In those cases when the word of Blessed Augustine aroused in believers a painful understanding of their sinfulness and pointed to the need for humility and repentance before God, they struck their chests in heartfelt contrition, sighed heavily in the awareness of their sins, as well as in tender anticipation of the sweetness of forgiveness and liberation from them. “Do not,” he once exhorts the Christians standing before him, “be such as you know from Scripture that they will not enter (the kingdom of heaven), especially adulterers. Now, when the scripture named murderers among those who will not be included, you were not horrified. When it named adulterers, I noticed that you were striking your chest. I heard, I heard (these blows) and I saw (ego audivi, ego audivi, ego vidi); and what I did not see on your beds (in cubilibus vestris), I saw in the sounds when you struck your chest” 1289. “You confirm, you sigh” (acclamastis, suspirastis), the preacher remarks another time, admonishing them to despise the delights of this visible world and thirst more for the bliss of the future life 1290. Sometimes the listeners were so moved by the strong fiery word of the preacher that crying arose in the church, and Blessed Augustine himself could not restrain himself from tears and, thus, was forced to finish his word. He reports about one of these cases in a letter to the Tagast Bishop Alypius. This incident took place in Ippon, when Blessed Augustine told the Ipponians about the vileness of their existing custom of organizing on the days of memory of St. martyrs, feasting dinners in churches, accompanied by widespread revelry and many outrages. “It was not with my tears that I caused their tears,” writes Blessed Augustine, “but, I confess, touched by their crying, I could not resist my own. And when everyone began to cry together, my speech was finished in full hope of their correction” 1291. St. Augustine mentions a similar example of the beneficial effect of his sermons on listeners in Christian Science. “In the Moorish city of Caesarea,” he writes, “there was a barbaric custom called katerva; it was a folk game, similar to an internecine war, and even worse than an internecine war. At certain times of the year, not only citizens who were strangers to each other, but even close relatives, brothers, fathers and children gathered in a designated place; they were divided into two sides by lot; For several days in a row they solemnly carried out battles and struck, often to death, each other, whoever could do what they could. I had to turn away the people with my teachings, and therefore I used, as much as possible, a strong and sublime tone of speech in order to uproot and destroy in the hearts and morals of my listeners such a cruel and deeply rooted evil from long ago... And now, by the mercy of my Christ, almost eight or more years have passed since this barbaric fun has not been resumed” 1292. In addition to these two cases, we also know the already mentioned 1293 fact of the abandonment of Manichaean errors by one merchant, Firmus, under the influence of the preaching of St. Augustine. But it would be a mistake, of course, to limit the entire influence of the preacher only to these few examples indicated here. After all, the effect of the preaching word touches the human heart. Originating and developing in the innermost region of his spirit, it rarely manifests itself in a noticeable way, before the eyes of the preacher himself. In most cases, it matures unnoticed by a person and only sometimes, after many years, it is reflected in certain visible facts, and it can be very difficult to trace the connection between the facts and the cause that produced them. It is like the gospel mustard seed, which, when thrown into the ground, grows into a large tree (Matthew 13:31-32), or leaven put into dough, from which the latter leavens everything (Matthew 13:33). Therefore, the statement of Blessed Augustine himself should be considered not at all exaggerated and quite plausible, that in his preaching practice there were many experiences when his word caused not only sighs and tears, but also a change in the way of thinking of listeners and their lives 1294. “We grieve a lot,” he also says in one of his conversations, “over the sins of our brothers, we suffer greatly, we are sick in soul and sometimes we correct them. Rather, we always correct (imo nunquam non corripimus). All who listen to my words can testify how many of the sinning brothers have been corrected by me and have finally become good people” (et vehementer correpti) 1295. This is entirely consistent with the attention and respect that Blessed Augustine enjoyed among his contemporaries. The following fact can serve as proof of such respect: at the Council of Jerusalem, which took place in 415, the young Spanish presbyter Orosius, denouncing Pelagius, among other things, read one of Augustine’s letters. “What do I need Augustine?” - Pelagius answered Orosius, but received a reproach from the council for such a disrespectful attitude towards the great Ipponian teacher 1296. Even during the life of Blessed Augustine, his fame as a pious man and pleasing to God spread far beyond the borders of Ippon. In one of his sermons the following story is given by a certain Paul the Cappadocian, who received in Ippon, with the relics of St. Stephen, healing from the illness that tormented him (body shaking): “Therefore,” says Paul, “I could not receive healing in another place (above we are talking about his journey through various countries famous for their shrines, in the hope of finding healing), which was intended by Providence for this place. I didn’t miss the African city of Uzaly, where, they say, with the relics of St. Martyr Stephen, many signs are performed. And so, three months ago, that is, on the day of the Kalends of January, me and my sister, who is here with me and suffers from the same illness 1297, had a clear vision: a handsome-looking man, adorned with gray hair, told me that within the third month (intra tertium mensem) my health would be restored. To my sister, your holiness (appeal to Blessed Augustine) appeared in the very form in which we now see you. Through this we received instructions to go here. Later, during my travels, I often saw your bliss exactly as I see it now. So, according to God’s instructions, fifteen days ago we came to this city” (i.e., to Ippon) 1298. Emperors, high-ranking statesmen, generals, bishops, in general persons of different ranks and positions, men and women in various circumstances of life turned to Blessed Augustine with letters 1299, seeking in his authority, like emperors, assistance in their orders 1300, or asking for the resolution of certain misunderstandings 1301. From different sides urgent requests were made to Blessed Augustine for literary development of certain issues. His works were translated into Greek and were eagerly awaited in 1302. “Not only in Africa, but in Italy and other western provinces there were people who thought that Augustine, as an oracle, could resolve and clarify all sorts of questions” 1303. Some inquisitive people came from afar in order to enrich their minds with knowledge through personal contact with him 1304. In the authoritative voice of Blessed Augustine, many sought encouragement and approval in their endeavors, and only by securing approval from him did they gain confidence in their abilities and in the success of the undertaking. “I thank your blessedness,” a certain Avdax once wrote to Augustine, “for the fact that you favorably accepted the experience of my speech (testamenta sermonis). Then only sons receive boldness (audacia) of firm hope if they are fed with water (wisdom) from their father's source. I turned to you, blessed archpastor (dulcis antistes), not only to receive a little, but to be fully satisfied from an abundant source (sed ut ingens divitis ubertim flumen haurirem). I desired the treasures of wisdom, but received less than I desired, although this cannot be called a small one, but a precious gift should be everything that Augustine offers, the oracle of the law, the sanctifier of truth, the restorer of spiritual glory, the minister of eternal salvation. You know the whole world as well as you have comprehended everything in it. You are as well known to him as you are glorified. I would like to enjoy the flowers of wisdom and nourish myself with moisture from a living source. Give the thirsty one what would in any case be useful to him” 1305. It is difficult, after all this, to allow the preaching of such an authoritative, such a glorious and respected teacher of the church, as Blessed Augustine is in the eyes of his contemporaries, to remain without influence on the surrounding society. The teaching of true faith and morality, which this, in the words of Blessed Jerome, “holy and eloquent” 1306 bishop revealed in his conversations from the church pulpit, was deeply imprinted in the hearts of those listening, and, in addition to everything else, supported by the authority of the speaker, could not easily be shaken by various perverse heretical views of that time. And it is impossible not to see here a special action of the all-wise Providence, which raised up this great man at the right time, who knew how, in time and out of time, according to the word of the Apostle, to reprove, forbid, and exhort “with all long-suffering and edification” (2 Tim. 4:2). The blessed Bishop of Ipponia belongs precisely to those persons in the history of the church whom the Lord “chooses and places in positions of special activity and exploits for the good of the flock of Christ” 1307. It would hardly be an exaggeration to say that Blessed Augustine, and, moreover, to a very significant extent as a preacher, by the election of God, was that double-edged weapon, which was destined to be crushed by the countless militia of the enemy, who, due to various errors and heresies, had been attacking the church for many years and disturbing it. And during his lifetime he had to see the joyful fruits of his military exploits for the glory of God and in the name of the Holy Church of Christ. The struggle against Arianism, Peligianism, Donatism and other false trends in church life, a struggle in which the blessed preacher of Ipponia was one of the foremost, tireless and brave fighters, finally ended, towards the end of his days, with the complete defeat of his enemies and the triumph of the church that they had outraged for so long. Church unity prevailed over separatism. Stormed by the waves of human delusions, the saving ship of Christ finally reached the coveted haven of inner peace and silence. It is precisely these consoling fruits of the beneficial teaching activity of Blessed Augustine that Possidius points to when he says: “And from here 1308 the glorious teaching and the most pleasant fragrance of Christ spilled and spread throughout the whole body of Africa, to the common joy of the other churches of God when they learned about it. Because when one member suffers, all members suffer with them, just as if one member is glorified, all members rejoice with it (1 Cor. 12:26) ... and more and more with the help of Christ, day by day, the unity of the world and the brotherhood of the church of God increased and expanded" 1309. Having had a significant beneficial influence on modern life around us, the preaching activity of Blessed Augustine did not remain without significance for the preaching of subsequent times. On it, as a basis, the further development of Western Christian preaching is established in 1310. Subsequent, even outstanding, preachers were subject to the strong influence of Augustine. In his sermons they found ready-made examples of teachings to the people, which they tried to use in necessary cases. Above 1311, it was noted about Caesarea of ​​Arela that he ordered priests and deacons to read in churches mainly the sermons of Blessed Augustine, whose memory he treated with great reverence, and whose teachings he himself sometimes delivered from the church pulpit 1312. Even such an authoritative and largely original preacher as Gregory Dvoeslov sometimes reveals undoubted signs of the influence of Blessed Augustine on him. This is especially noticeable in his homiletical exegesis. Here St. Gregory often finds himself in slavish dependence on the Ippon shepherd, borrowing from him the same allegorical formulas. Thus, in conversation 31, explaining the gospel story about the barren fig tree and the crumpled woman (Luke 13:6–16), St. Gregory, together with Augustine, by the three years during which the fig tree turns out to be barren, means three periods of human history: pre-law, under law and under grace. The pure “18” also means the same thing, because the number “6” signifies man, who was created on the 6th day. If six is ​​multiplied by three, according to the number of the three named periods, then we get eighteen, the number of years of weakness of the crumpled woman, expressing the entire time of the earthly life of the human race. During all this time, man could not achieve perfection without the help of God's grace. He was like a crumpled eighteen-year-old woman 1313. Touching upon the Gospel reading about the woman who anointed the Savior’s feet in the house of the Pharisee (Luke 7:36–50) and wiped them with her hair, Gregory, like St. Augustine, means by woman pagans and sinners turning to Christ. The standing of the woman behind at the feet of Jesus means the turning of sinners to true repentance. Washing the Lord's feet with tears serves as an image of our compassion and help to each, even the least, of His followers. “Woman,” says St. Gregory,” she wiped her feet, which she had washed with tears, with her hair. Hair is like excess on the body. Isn’t material abundance the same excess for us as hair... So, we wipe the Lord’s feet with our hair when, with compassion, we give from our wealth to our needy brothers” (sanctis ejus) 1314. Or, comparing the two fisheries mentioned in the Gospel on the Sea of ​​Tiberias - one before the resurrection of the Lord (Luke 5:4-7) and the other after His resurrection (John 21:1-11), St. Gregory, like Blessed. Augustine, in the first fishing, which was before the resurrection, sees the image of the real earthly church, in the second - the image of the church of saints in the future blessed life. Therefore, in the first case, inviting the disciples to throw nets into the water, the Lord does not mention either the right or the left side (Luke 5:4); in the second, it is commanded to cast the nets on the right side of the ship (John 21:6), since at the general judgment the elect will be placed on the right side (Matt. 25:33). After the catch that St. tells about. Evangelist Luke, from the multitude of fish even the net is broken, because now, along with the chosen and worthy, many unworthy members are entering the church, tearing it apart with heresies; then, after the general judgment, only the elect will be in the church of saints, which is why the nets are not torn, although there were a lot of fish 1315. But the influence of St. Augustine on the preaching of subsequent times was not limited only to the generations closest to him. Famous preachers of later times were brought up on it, imbued with its spirit and ignited. “If,” notes Lutz, “Bossuet 1316 achieved high fame in eloquence, then he owes this mainly to St. Augustine, whom he studied with all care, and from whom he borrowed not only the most sublime thoughts, but also the perfect form for thought” 1317. As exemplary sermons of Blessed Augustine, they were later included in various homiletical collections, which were compiled from conversations of outstanding preachers, mostly fathers and teachers of the church, and were intended for practical use in churches 1318. The sermons of St. Augustine also have an influence on our Russian preaching. In the original Russian writing that has survived to our time, one can find indications that among the works of other fathers and teachers of the church, we, in the Old Russian Church, also knew the works of Blessed Augustine 1319. Ancient homiletical manuals, indicating examples of preaching, number first the eastern preachers, and then the western ones, and between them Augustine, “for they are the sources of sacred eloquence” 1320. And at the present time, the sermons of the blessed shepherd of Ipponia are offered as examples of church oratory for the strength of pious feeling, for the purity of intention, for the depth, conviction and truth of thought, as a guide to the teaching “about true Christian perfection” 1321, and are ranked among the “most important and basic manuals on homiletics” 1322, among the sources “pure and abundant” 1323 . But Blessed Augustine had a particularly strong influence on the preaching of subsequent times with his theory of preaching, set out in Christian Science (De doctrina christiana). For most of the medieval homiletics, the homiletical theory of St. Augustine had guiding significance 1324. His "Christian Science" and "Pastoral Rule" of St. Gregory Dvoeslov, - these are the two books that were always before their eyes and from which later homiletic writers took material for themselves 1325. The latter, when presenting their homiletical views, “adjoin either the blessed. Augustine, or to St. Gregory Dvoeslov, and sometimes they take homiletical material from both books and combine it in their systems" 1326. In this regard, the homiletical manual of Rabanus the Maurus “De institutione clericorum ad Heistulphum Archiepiscopum libri III” deserves mention, from which the author borrowed material mainly from the “Pastoral Rule” of St. Gregory and from “Christian Science” Blessed. Augustine 1327. Even about the most outstanding of the medieval Latin homiletists, Erasmus of Rotterdam, it should be said that, on the one hand, he is under the influence of St. Gregory the Dvoeslov, when, speaking about pastoral and preaching ministry, he reproduces the teaching on this subject of St. the Bishop of Rome, on the other hand, follows in the footsteps of Blessed. Augustine, when, together with him, he points out the three goals that a preacher should keep in mind: to teach (ut doceat), to delight (ut delectet) and to touch (ut flectet), while giving the main importance to the first of them, or when, discussing the properties of language, together with the author of Christian Science, he insists on the expressiveness of speech, on the smooth and consonant arrangement of its parts 1328. The positions expressed in Christian Science also formed the basis for the homiletical views of Reuchlin, Luther, Melanchthon, Hyperius and other subsequent homiletists 1329. In a fairly close acquaintance with homiletics, Blessed. Augustine also turns out to be a homiletics scholar of modern times, sometimes being respectfully dependent on her. The most prominent representatives of homiletical science of modern times, such as Mosheim 1330, Giber 1331, Fenelon 1332, Dupanloup 1333, Jungmann 1334 and others, including our “first” 1335, are consistent with the judgments of the author of Christian Science, they are repeated and in some cases they justify their own judgments. domestic homilet of the Amphitheatres. In his “Readings on Church Literature or Homiletics” he often listens to the voice of the blessed one. Ipponese teacher, reverently listening to his advice and instructions 1336. The later Russian homiletians of 1337 also listened carefully to this voice. According to Prof. Pevnitsky, “Christian Science” of Blessed Augustine, containing his theory of preaching, “deserves full attention from people interested in the fate of Christian theological science, and especially from people involved in the science of preaching” 1338. And, undoubtedly, as long as the very science of spiritual eloquence exists, until then the named book will not lose its significance not only as a famous literary monument, but also as one of the excellent homiletical manuals, “which reading can benefit a Christian speaker” 1339. See Pevnitsky V.F. “St. Gregory Dvoeslov and his preaching works." - Proceedings of the Kyiv Theological Academy 1894, vol. 3, p. 571. - See him - “St. Gregory Dvoeslov - his sermons and homiletical rules" - page 17. Kiev, 1871. Bindemann. Der heilige Augustinus. B. I. Berlin 1844; B. II – Leipzig 1855, B. III, 1–2 – Greifswald 1869. Prof. V. Guerrier - “Architects and ascetics of the Kingdom of God”, part I. “Blessed Augustine”, page V, Moscow 1910. See art. prof. L. Pisareva - “The authority of Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, in the field of Christian theology” - in “Orthodox. Interlocutor” – 1903, Oct., p. 560. According to the remark of one scientist, the sermons that have reached us are Blessed. Augustine constitute about a third of all his writings. – See prof. Guerrier in his study “Blessed Augustine” - page 298. Moscow 1910 See Guerrier - “Architects and Ascetics of the Kingdom of God”, part I “Blessed Augustine” - page XV, Moscow 1910. We present all excerpts from the works of St. Augustine from this particular edition. At different times the author had to use different editions of the work. bliss Jerome, why above, in this index of the literature he had at hand, the Latin original of these works is also named. “Obscuro Africae oppido, in mediterranea Numidiae parte” see Schoennemannus – Notitia litteraria in vita, scriptus et edition, oper. S. Augustini – Patrol. Migne, Tom. XLVII, col. 9. Parisiis 1877. Böhringer – Aurelius Augustinus, Bischof von Hippo. I, s. 1, Stuttgart 1877. Bindemann – Der heilige Augustinus – B. I, s. 2. Berlin - 1844 Herzog – Real-Encyklopädie – B. I s. 617. Hamburg 1854. Other births of the blessed. Augustine dates back to 354. See Robertson, History of Christ. churches", p. 369, from English translation. A. P. Lopukhina, St. Petersburg, 1890. Pisarev “Teaching of the Blessed. Augustine, Bishop of Ippona, about man in his relation to God” - page 2, Kazan 1894. Farrar “The Life and Works of St. Fathers and Teachers of the Church,” p. 674, transl. from English Lopukhina, St. Petersburg 1891 Filaret, Archbishop of Chernigov “Historical teaching about the fathers of the church” vol. III, p. 18. St. Petersburg 1859 Prof. V. Guerrier – “Blessed Augustine” – page 1. Moscow 1910 "De numero curalium." – Possidius – Vita S. Aurel. August. – Cap. 1. col. 35. – Migne-Patrol., series. lat. tom. XXXII, Parisiis 1877. Bindemann. – Der heilige Augustinus, vol. I, 32. Augustini – Confession. – lib. II, cap. III, no. 5, col. 677 – opera omnia volume. I. Prof. A. P. Lebedev. “Church historical narratives” – page 100. Moscow. 1900. Pevnitsky. “Education of the preaching fathers of the 4th century” - “Proceedings of the Kiev Theological Academy”, 1892, vol. 3, pp. 15–16. Bindemann – Der heilige August. B. I, 18; "Confession", book. 1, ch. 9, p. 13. – Creations of the blessed. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, in Russian translation, edition of the Kyiv Spirit. Academy, part 1. Bindemann. – B. I, 28; Böhringer – Aur. Augustinus, Bischof von Hippo – I. S. 5. Bindemann. – B.I.s. 28; “Confession” – book. 2, ch. 4, pp. 32–33. "Confession", book. 2, ch. 3, p. 33. Bindemann – Der heilige Augustinus. – B. I, s. 13; see also the article by prof. A. P. Lebedeva “Methods of education of the clergy and their intellectual state from the 4th–9th centuries.” – “Theological Bulletin” 1902, June–August, p. 488, etc. Confession, book. I, ch. 17, pp. 23–24. Confession, book. I, ch. 17, p. 25. Prof. A. P. Lebedev. “Church historical narratives”, p. 100. Moscow, 1900. Prof. Pevnitsky. "Education o.o. preachers of the 4th century,” – Proceedings of the Kyiv Spirit. Academy, 1892, vol. 3, p. 16. Pyrrhichia is a foot in verse of 2 short syllables. Augustini – De musica – lib. I, cap. 1, col. 1080–81. – Opera omnia – vol. I. Confession - book. II, end of chapter 2. and beginning 3, pp. 32–33. Confession - book. II, ch. 3, p. 33. Schoenemannus – “Notitia litteraria in vita, scriptis et editionibus operum S. Augustini” – cap. 1, col. 9–10. – Patrolog. Migne tom. XLVII, Parisiis 1877. Schröckh – Christliche Kirchengeschichte – Th. 15, s. 224. Leipzig 1827. Confession - book. III, ch. 3, p. 47. There is also a book. IV, ch. 16, p. 93. Confession - book. IV, ch. 16, p. 92. Farrar - Life and Works of St. fathers and teachers of the church - p. 682. trans. Lopukhina - St. Petersburg. 1891 Salvianus – “De gubernatione Dei” in the German translation. Caffer's – Von der göttlischen Weltregierung – lib. VII, cap. VI, 258. Aachen 1858. Possidius calls Carthage the capital of Africa "Caput Africae". – Vita S. Aur. Augustini – cap. I, col. 96 Patrolog. Migne tom. XXXII. See Vita sancti Aurelii Augustini, Hipponensis Episcopi, ex ejus potissimum scriptis concinnata – lib. I, cap. IV, 3, col. 73/Patrol. Migne - tom. XXXII. Ibidem - lib. 1, IV, 4, col. 73. – “Anno suae in dicta urbe peregrinationis forte secondo sustulit ex ea filium, cui nomen fuit Adeadato.” See also Schoenemannus – Notitia litteraria – cap. I, col. 10. Robertson - History of Christ. churches – vol. I, p. 370. Confession - book. III, ch. 4, p. 49. Confession - book. III, ch. 5, pp. 50–51. Confession - book. III, ch. 6, p. 51. Confession - book. III, ch. 4, p. 50. Confession - book. III, ch. 7, pp. 54–55. Confession - book. IV, ch. 1, page 67. Confession - book. IV, ch. 4 and 7, pp. 73–79. See also Possidii – Vita sancti Aurel. Augustini – cap. I, col. 35. – “Nam et grammaticam prius in sua civitate, et retoricam in Africae capite Carthagine postea docuit.” Confession - book. IV, ch. 8, pp. 79–80. Confession - book. IV, ch. 13–14, pp. 85–88. Confession - book. 5, ch. 8, pp. 108–109. Confession - book. 5, ch. 8, p. 109. Cf. Prof. V. Guerrier. “Blessed. Augustine" page 31. Farrar. - “The Life and Works of St. Fathers and Teachers of the Church,” p. 696; Robertson. - “History of Christ.” churches” – vol. I, p. 371; Vita S. Aurelii Augustini, Hipponensis Epistoli, ex ejus potissimum scriptis concinnata – lib. I, cap. IX, 6. Confession - book. 5, ch. 12, pp. 117–118. Confession - book. 5, ch. 11, p. 117. Confession - book. VII, ch. 2, p. 158. Cf. Augustini – De moribus Manichaeorum – cap. 12, 26. – Opera omnia – vol. I, col. 1356. Examples of this moral laxity of the Manichaeans can be found in Augustine’s work “De moribus Manichaeorum” - cap. XIX. Opera omnia – volume. I, col. 1373–78. Confession - book. V, ch. 6, p. 106. Confession - book. V, ch. 7, p. 107. Confession - book. 5, ch. 10, p. 115. Confession - book. 5, ch. 13, p. 119. Confession - book. 5, ch. 14, p. 121. Confession - book. 5, ch. 14, p. 122. Confession - book. VI, 3, p. 127. Confession - book. VI, 4, p. 130. Confession - book. VI, 3, p. 129. Confession - book. VI, 5, p. 132. Bindemann – Der heilige Augustinus – B. I. S. 257. That Augustine was already familiar with Platonism, there can hardly be any doubt. See Böhringer – Aur. Augustinus, Bischof von Hippo. – I, S. 36. Confession - book. VII, 10, p. 176. Bindemann – Der heilige Augustinus – B. I. S. 258. Confession - book. VII, 15, p. 181. Confession - book. VII, 11, p. 177. See about this in the book by prof. Pisarev “Teaching of the Blessed. Augustine, Bishop of Ippona, about man in his relation to God,” pp. 49–50, 103, 108. Kazan, 1894. August Neander – Allgemeine Seschichte der christlichen Religion und Kirche. – B. I. Abth. 2, s. 732–33, Gotha, 1856. Excellent clarification of the judgments of Bl. Augustine about evil and its essence can be found in the work of I. Sforz - “Die Philosophie des hl. Augustinus” – S. 234–258. Confession - book. VII, ch. 12, pp. 178–79. Confession - book. VII, 20, p. 187. Confession - book. VII, 18, p. 184. Confession - book. VIII, 5, p. 204. Confession - book. VIII, 1, p. 193. African and fellow countryman blessed. Augustine, who occupied a very honorable place at the royal palace. – Confession – book. VIII, 6, p. 207. Confession - book. VIII, 6, pp. 208–210. Confession - book. VIII, 8, p. 214. Confession - book. VIII, 12, p. 224. Together with his friend Alypius, with his mother Monica, who was in Mediolan at that time, with his son Adeodatus and some other relatives and students. Confession - book. X, ch. 4, p. 233; De beata vita – cap. I, 6. August. Opera omn. tom. I, col. 962. Augustini – Confession. lib. IX, cap. III, col. 769. See op. V. Guerrier – “Blessed Augustine”, p. 57. Confession - book. IX, ch. 5, p. 238. Bindemann – Der heilige Augustinus – B. I, S. 344; Böhringer 3 Aurelius August., Bischof von Hippo – I, 8, 49; Vita S. Aur. Augustini, Hipponensis episcopi, ex ejus potissimum scriotis concinnata – lib. II, cap. VII, 4, col. 123; Schoenemannus – Notitia litteraria in vita, script. et edition. operum S. Augustini – cap. I, col. 13; Robertson - History of Christ. churches – vol. I, p. 373. Confession - book. IX, ch. 6, p. 239. Possidius – Vita Sancti Aurelii Augustini – cap. I, col. 34; Augustini – Contra Julianum pelag – lib. I, cap. III, 10. Opera omnia – volume X, pars I, col. 645. Confession - book. IX, ch. 8, p. 242. Ostia is a Roman port city with rich saltworks, located at the mouth of the Tiber, 16 miles from Rome. At that time, Ostia was a lively and rich place, very different from the present heap of ruins, which appears to the eye of the modern traveler, after he, having passed from the trees and violet-strewn countryside of the Campagna, through the vast swamps near the salt pits, looks at the gloomy pine forest at Castel Fugano. – See – Farrar. - “The Life and Work of St. Fathers and Teachers of the Church,” pp. 1009–10, note. 74. Lubker - Real dictionary of classics. Antiquities, p. 963. Ed. General classic philology and pedagogy. St. Petersburg, 1883. See also Brockhaus-Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary, vol. XXII, pp. 341–342. St. Petersburg, 1897 Böhringer – Aur. August., Bischof von Hippo – I, s. 87; Bindemann – Der heilige Augustinus – B. II, S. 46; Vita Sancti Aur. Augustini, Hipponensis episcopi, ex ejus potissimum scriptis concinnata – lib. II, cap. XIV, 1, col. 155; Schröckh – Christliche Kirchengeschichte – Th. 15, S. 245. – Leipzig 1827. See Augustini – De moribus Ecclesiae Catholicae – lib. I, cap. XXXIII, 70. – Opera omnia – vol. 1, col. 1340. In addition, shortly after arriving in Rome for the first time, Augustine fell ill. – See Confession – book. V, 9, pp. 111–12. In the autumn of the same year 388. – See Bindemann. – Der heilige Augustinus – B. II, S. 52; Schoenemannus – Notitia litteraria in vita, scriptus et editionibus operum S. Augustini – cap. I, col. 14. Robertson - History of Christ. churches - vol. I, p. 374; Vita S. Aur. Augustini, Hipponensis episcopi, ex ejus potissimum scriptis concinnata – lib. III, cap. II, 1, col. 160; Bindemann. – Der heilige Augustinus – B. II, S. 79. However, prof. Guerrier proves that St. Augustine did not sell his father’s estate immediately after arriving in Tagasta, but only towards the end of his three-year life there, before leaving for Ippon. See Guerrier – “St. Augustine” – pp. 96–100. Moscow, 1910 Bindemann. – Der heilige Augustinus – B. II, S. 79. Possidius – Vita S. Aur. Augustini – cap. III, col. 36. Blessed Augustine came to Ippon to see one of his friends who lived there (ex iis, quos dicunt agentes in rebus), who, feeling an inclination towards monastic life and intending to join the monks of the monastery founded by Augustine in Tagaste, wanted to personally talk with him about his intentions. – See Possidius – Vita S. Aur. Augustini – cap. III, col. 36. Sn. Augustini – sermo 355, n. 2, col. 1569. Ippon was called Regian (Hippo Regius) in contrast to the other Ippon of Diarrhytus (Hippo Zaritus oder Diarrhytus). Ippon received the name “Regius” because it sometimes served as a residence for the Numidian kings. See Forbider - Handbuch des alten Geographie - B. II, S. 856. Hamburg, 1877. Possidius – Vita S. Aur. Augustini – cap. IV, col. 37. Sn. Vita S. Aurelii August., Hipponensis episcopi, ex ejus potissimum scriptis concinnata – lib. IV, 1, col. 169–70. Schoenemannus – Notitia litteraria in vita, scriptus et editionibus operum S. Augustini – col. 14; Bindemann – Der heilige Augustinus – B. II, S. 128; Robertson - History of the Christian Church - vol. I, p. 374; Filaret, architect. Chernigovsky - Historical teaching about the fathers of the church - vol. III, p. 22. St. Petersburg, 1859. Augustini – Epistola 21, n. 1, 4. – Opera omnia – vol. II, col. 88–89. Bindemann – Der heilige Augustinus – B. II, S. 34; Vita Sancti Aur. Augustini, Hipponensis episcopi, ex ejus potissimum scriptis concinnata – lib. III, cap. IV, no. 5, col. 172–73; Farrar - Life of St. fathers and teachers of the church - page 723. Possidius – Vita S. Aur. Augustini – cap. V, col. 37. – “Et eidem presbytero,” writes Possidius, “potestatem dedit coram se in Ecclesia Evangelium praedicanti, ac frequentissime tractandi, contra usum quidem et consuetudinem Africanarum Ecclesiarum.” See Augustini – Sermo 355, n. 2, col. 1570. Sn. Bindemann, Der heilige Augustinus –B. II, s. 136. Possidius – Vita S. Aurelii Augustini – cap. V, col. 37. Wed. Augustini – Sermones 355–56. Sending a letter to Augustine with Deacon Presidius, Blessed. Jerome asks the bishop of Ipponia to receive and accommodate the bearer of the letter, Presidius. “He,” writes Bl. Jerome on the Praesidium, “with the greatest impatience longs for the communication of property and will consider their union to be the greatest favor for himself.” - Blazh. Jerome - Creation. Part II, p. 387, ed. 2, Kiev, 1894. Bindemann – Der heilige Augustinus – B. II, S. 486; Schröckh – Christliche Kirchengeschichte – 15, 327; Schoenemannus – Notitia litteraria in vita, scriptis et edition, operum S. Augustini – col. 15; Filaret, Archbishop. Chernigovsky – vol. III, p. 22. See Filaret, architect. Black – Historical teaching about the church fathers – vol. III, p. 22; Farrar - Life and Works of St. fathers and teachers of the church - p. 727; Robertson - History of Christ. churches - page 375. Bindemann – Der heilige Augustinus – B. III, 1, S. 1; Robertson - History of the Christian Church - p. 375; Filaret, Archbishop. Chernigovsky - Historical. uch. about the fathers and teachers of the church - page 22. Schreck dates the death of Valery to the year 396 (Christliche Kirchengeschichte - 15, s. 331), and prof. Guerrier (“Blessed Augustine”, p. 101) to 395. Possidius – Vita S. Aurelii Augustini – cap. VII, col. 38–39. Ibidem – cap. XXXI, col. 63. Böhringer – Aurelius Augustinus, Bischof von Hippo – II, s. 154; Bindemann – Der heilige Augustinus – B. III, II, S. 921; Schröckh – Christliche Kirchengeschichte – 15, n. 496; Baronus – Annales ecclesiastici – vol. VII, pag. 345–45, – Lucae, 1741; Robertson - History of the Christian Church - vol. I, p. 404. Vita S. Aurelii Augustini, Hipponensis episcopi, ex ejus potissimum scriptis concinnata – lib. VIII, cap. XI, 5, col. 577; Bindemann – Der heilige Augustinus – B. III, II, S. 922; Robertson - History of the Christian Church - vol. I, p. 404. “If it were not for the glory of Augustine, then the very name Ippon would certainly remain unknown.” Farrar - “The Life and Works of St. fathers and teachers of the church,” page 722. During the destruction and devastation of the city by vandals, the tomb of St. Augustine remained, however, untouched. Fifty-four years after this, when, as a result of the Arian persecutions in Africa, many bishops and believers were exiled to the island of Sardinia, they took the remains of Blessed Augustine with them and placed them in a church built in his honor. At the beginning of the 8th century, after the island of Sardinia was conquered by the Saracens, at the request of the pious Lombard king Liutprand, a coffin with the remains of Blessed. Augustine was transferred to Pavia and placed in the church of St. Petra. During the misfortunes that subsequently befell Pavia, they were hidden in a secret crypt in the church of St. Peter's and were rediscovered in 1695. After the restoration of the Basilica of St. Peter's relics of the blessed one. Augustine, with the permission of Pope Leo XIII, about 20 years ago, were again placed in it; until that time they were in the Cathedral of St. Mikhail. Only part of the relics, and not all, as some think (see Bindemann - Der heilige Augustinus - B. III, II, S. 922), with the permission of Pope Pius IX, was transferred to the first Bishop of Algiers in 1842 and placed in one of the churches built on the ruins of Ippon. (See “Church Gazette”, additions for 1902 No. 43, pp. 1537–38; fn. Bindemann - Der heilige Augustinus - B. III, II, S. 922). This is the name of Blessed Augustine in the acts of the seventh ecumenical council. See Acts of the Ecumenical Councils, vol. VII, p. 138, Kazan - 1875. Augustini – Confessions – lib. IX, cap. IX. Opera omnia – volume. I, col. 772–73. In Russian lane – “Confession” – book. IX, ch. 9, pp. 245–46. Salvianus – De gubernatione Dei. In the lane Caffer'a – Von der göttlichen Weltregierung – VII, 13–14, s. 252. Aachen, 1858. Confession, - book. III, ch. 6, pp. 51–52. Confession, - book. VII, ch. 1, p. 157. Book Evgeny Trubetskoy. – The religious and social ideal of Western Christianity in the 5th century, part I. Worldview of St. Augustine, p. 42. Moscow, 1892. V. Guerrier. - “Blessed. Augustine,” p. vii. Moscow, 1910 Huber – Die Philosophie der Kirchenväter – S. 236. München, 1859. “Erat., in concionando frequens, in disputando acer, in scribento indefessus”... – Cave – Scriptorun ecclesiasticorum historia litteraria, – volume I, pag. 291. – Basiliae 1741. Possidius, pointing out the pastoral and preaching zeal of Blessed. Augustine, says: "Verbum Dei usque ad ipsam suam extremam aegritudinem impraetermisse, alacriter et fortiter, sana mente sanoque consilio in ecclesia praedicavit." – Possidii – Vita S. Aur. Augustini – cap. XXXI, col. 64. Wed. also cap. VII, col. 38–39. Of the other days of the week, the ancient Christian church especially revered Friday as the day of remembrance of the sufferings of the Savior. Sozomen (lib. I, cap. 8) reports on the decree of Emperor Constantine, which on Friday prohibited the conduct of judicial and other civil cases. In Antioch, on Fridays, as well as on Sundays, liturgical meetings took place and the liturgy was celebrated. The same thing happened in Constantinople. – See August Neander – Allgemeine Geschichte der Christlichen Religion. – B. I, 2, s. 574. Bindemann – Der heilige Augustinus. – B. II, s. 144. See also Augustini – Sermones 184–196. Calendae Januariae. At the end of conversation 196 “In Natali Domini” the preacher says: “Satis haec sint charitati vestrae. Quia multos hic video, opportel, ut dicam. Calendae Januariae venturae sunt.” – Sermo 196, 4, col. 1020. See Augustini – sermo 199, n. 1, col. 1026; Sermo 200, n. 1, cal. 1028; Sermo 201, n. 1, col. 1031 etc. This is evident from the fact that the last act of instruction of the catechumens “redditio dominicae orationis” fell on the day of their baptism, on Holy Saturday. But “redditio dominicae orationis” took place on the 8th day from “traditio dominicae orationis”. “Ad octo autem dies ab hodierno die reddituri estis hanc orationem, quam hodie accepistis,” the blessed one addresses these words. Augustine in one of his teachings to the catechumens (August. sermo 58, n. 1, col. 393). On the same day as the “traditio dominicae orationis” the “redditio symboli” also took place (see ibid.), and this latter also occurred on the 8th day from the “traditio symboli” (see August. sermo 58, 1, 13, col. 393, 399 and sermo 59, n. 1, col. 400). See Augustini – sermo 58, n. 1, 393; Sermo 59, n. 1, col. 400. See Augustini sermones 58–59; 212–216; 225–228. See Augustini – sermo 259, n. 1, col. 1201. Wed. sermo 247, n. 1, col. 1156. “Ecce dies isti sancti, qui post resurrectionem Domini celebrantur, significant futuram vitam post resurrectionem nostram. Sicut enim Quadragesimae dies ante Pascha significaverunt laboriosam vitam in hac aerumna mortali: sic isti dies lacti significant futuram vitam, ubi erimus cum Domino regnaturi. Vita, quae significatur Quadragesima ante Pascha, modo habetur: vita, quae significatur quinquaginta diebus post resurrectionem Domini, non habetur, sed speratur et sperando amatur, et in ipso amore Deus, qui promisit esta, laudatur et ipsae laudes alleluia sunt.” – Augustini – sermo 243, 8, col. 1147. August. Sermones 287–293. Augustini. Sermon. 295–299. August. Sermo 318, n. 1, col. 1437. See also Sermones 320–324. See Augustini - sermo 273. Fructuosus, Augurius and Eulogius suffered at Tarraco, in Spain, in the time of Valerian, in 259. See Acta sanctorum – Boll., September, vol. VI, pag. 381, – Parisiis et Romae 1867. Prof. A.P. Lebedev - The era of persecution of Christians - p. 129, ed. 2, Moscow, 1897. See Augustini – Sermones 274–277. Vincent was an archbishop in the Spanish city of Saragossa. He died in Valencia, also in Spain, as a martyr, together with Bishop Valerius, during the persecution of Diocletian in 304 or 305. – Acta sanctorum – I. Bollandi, – januar, tom. III, pag. 450, Bruxellis, 1863. Prof. A. P. Lebedev - The era of persecution of Christians - p. 175. See August. Sermones 280–282. Some think that these martyrs suffered in Carthage, others point to the city of Tubourba, in Mauritania, as the place of their suffering. The year of martyrdom is believed to have been 203, the eleventh of the reign of Severus. – Acta sanctorum – J. Boll., mart, tom. 1, 629–30, – Parisiis et Romae, 1867. Prof. A.P. Lebedev - “The Age of Persecution of Christians”, pp. 229–230. Archim. Sergius - Complete months of the East - vol. II, pp. 39–40, Moscow, 1896. Augustini – Sermones – 302–305. Lawrence, Archdeacon of Rome (Sermo 304) died a martyr during the persecution of Valerian, in 258. See Acta sanctorum - Boll., august, tom. II, pag. 492, Parisiis et Romae, 1867. Archim. Sergius – Complete months of the East – vol. II, p. 239. Augustini – Sermones 309–313. Sermo 142, n. 2, col. 743. Sermo 320, col. 1442. Wed. Sermo 94, col. 580. V. F. Pevnitsky - “Orders and customs observed when delivering sermons in the ancient church (in the 3rd–4th centuries).” – Proceedings Kievsk. Spirit. Academician 1885, vol. 3, p. 197. See Augustini – Sermones 339–340. Discourse 296 was delivered, for example, on the occasion of the invasion of Rome by the Goths and on the occasion of their devastation of this city in 410. Conversation 323 was delivered on the occasion of the miracle of healing of one sick Cappadocian from the relics of the first martyr. and Archdeacon Stephen. See Augustini – Sermo 356, 7, col. 1577. See the mention of this basilica - August. Epist. 213, 1. Opera omnia – vol. II, col. 966. Whether there were other basilicas in Ippon and which ones is not known with certainty. “Si autem presbyter ex paroetia (παριϰοίας) advenerit, excipiatur a presbyteris in communitatem: et si diaconus, a diaconis: si vero episcopus cum episcopo sedeat, a quo parem honorem abtinebit; rogabisque eum, o episcope, ut populum alloquatur in sermone doctrinae: peregrinorum enim cohortatio et admonition acceptissima et utilissima est.” – Const. sanct. apostolorum – lib. II, cap. LVIII. See Bibliotheca veterum partum antiquorumque scriptorium ecclesiasticorum, – Gallandii – tom. III, pag. 81. Venetiis, 1667. Apparently, this custom depended on the personal merits of the preacher. Their 94th conversation Blessed. Augustine, we learn that at least some of the bishops who visited him refused to preach, despite the proposals and requests of the Ipponian shepherd. – Sermo 94, col. 580. See Augustini – Retractat. – lib. 1, cap. XVII. Opera omn. tom. 1, col. 612. See Retractations. – Prologus. Opera omn. tom. I, col. 584. Enarratio in p.s. 34, Sermo 1, n. 1, col. 322–23. Enarrat. in p.s. 36, Sermo II, col. 363. The conversation was delivered at the council against the Donatists in 411. This probably means Severus, Bishop of Milevis, friend of Augustine. Wed. a conversation on Psalm 95, which begins with these words: “Dominus et frater meus Severus adhuc differ laetitiam nostrum de sermione, quem nobis debet: nam quod debtor teneatur, agnosit” - Enarrat. in p.s. 95, 1, col. 1227. Enarrat. in p.s. 131, no. 1, col. 1715–16. See also Enarrat. in p.s. 52, no. 1, col. 612; Enarrat. in p.s. 86, no. 1, col. 1100; Sermo 179, n. 2, col. 967; Enarrat. in p.s. 139, no. 1, col. 1803. Possidius – Vita S. Aur. Augustini – cap. XXI, col. 51. “Prima urbs inter divum domos aurea Roma; Constantinopoli assurgit Carthago priori." – See Izvekov’s “Hierarchy of the North African Church” – page 86. Vilna, 1884. See Izvekov – “Hierarchy of the North African Church” – p. 87. See Rule 66 of the local Carthage Council. Book of rules. Moscow, 1893, pp. 206–207. Possidius – Vita S. Aur. Augustini – cap. VIII, col. 39. See Izvekov – “Hierarchy of the North African Church” – page 89. Münter – Primordia Ecclesiae Africanae – pag. 45. Hafniae, 1829. See Augustini - Sermones - 13, 49, 114, 131, 154, 169, 305. August. Sermones - 19, 29, 90, 112. Baronius suggests that this basilica received its name as a result of its restoration or renovation, after it passed from the Donatists, who temporarily owned it, again to the Orthodox. Baronius – Annales ecclesiastici – vol. VI, pag. 247. Lucae 1740. Augustini – Sermones 23, 261у See Augustini – De doctrina christiana – lib. IV, cap. XXIII, 53. Opera omn. tom. III, I, col. 115–16. See Augustini – Sermo 311, n. 10, col. 1417. Sn. Enarratio in psalmum 144, n. 17, col. 1880. After Carthage, Utica was the most significant city in northern Africa. This city was located 27 miles northwest of Carthage. The size and former splendor of Utica are evidenced by the aqueducts of remarkable work that are still preserved, as well as the remains of many other monuments. Forbiger – Handbuch der alten Geographie – B. II, S. 852. Lubker – Real Dictionary of Classical Antiquities. Ed. total classical philophyology and pedagogy, pp. 1434–35. St. Petersburg 1883. The discourses on Psalm 118 were, it is true, pre-written by the preacher, but they were not delivered by him. See Preface to Volume IV of the works of Bl. Augustine, ed. Migne. Wed. Possidii – Indiculus librorum, tractatuum ei epistolarum S. Augustini – cap. VI. Patrolog. Migne tom. 46, col. 12. Erasmus believes bl. Augustine was a happy and skillful preacher (felix et argutus) in delivering teachings without preparation, attributing this to his innate abilities. – Des. Erasmi Rot. – Ecclesiastae sive de ratione concionandi – pag. 256–57, ed. ann. 1535. “Today,” says the preacher one day, “when the Gospel was read, my heart beat strongly, and I saw that the Lord wanted to reveal something to you through my ministry” (Hodie autem... cum Evangelium legeterur, ita pulsatum est cor meum, ut Deum crederem vello aliquid hine per meum ministerium vos audire) - Sermo 71, 8, col. 449. Wed. Sermo 180, 4, col. 974; Sermo 244, 2, col. 1149. See also Enarratio in ps. 118. – Prooemium. August Neander – Allgemeine Geschichte der christlichen Religion und Kirche – B. I, 2, S. 586. Böhringer – Aur. August., Bischof von Hippo – I, S. 74. “Christ. science" book. IV, ch. XXXII, pp. 290–91. In lat. authentic – De doctrina christiana – lib. IV, cap. XV, 32, col. 103. See Augustini – Sermo 17, 2, col. 125. Sn. Sermo 95, 2, col. 581; Sermo 355, n. 2, col. 1569. Paniel – Pragmatische Geschichte der christlichen Beredsamkeit und Homiletik – S. 679. Leipzig 1839. Pevnitsky V.F. – “Orders and customs observed when delivering sermons in the ancient church (in the 3rd–5th centuries).” – Tr. Kievsk. spirit. acad. 1885, vol. 3, p. 360. Vetrinsky - Monuments of the ancient Christian church or Christian values ​​- vol. II, p. 146. St. Petersburg. 1830. See Martigny – Dictionnaire des antiquités chretiénnes – p. 6. Paris 1865. Sn. Augustini – Epistola XXIII, n. 3, col. 96. Opera omnia – volume. IIg. Paniel – Pragmatische Geschichte der christlichen Beredsamkeit und Homiletik – S. 673–674. Wiesner – Geschichte d. christlich – kirchlichen Beredsamkeit – B. I, S. 115, Leipzig 1829. See also Art. V.F. Pevnitsky - “Orders and customs observed when delivering sermons in the ancient church (in the 3rd-5th centuries)” - Tr. Kievsk. acad. 1885, vol. 3, p. 364. In Joannis Gospel. – tract. XIX, 17, col. 1554. Wed. Sermo 23, 1, col. 155. See Augustini – Sermo 9, 6, col. 79; Sermo 37, 1, col. 221; In Joannis Evang. tract. 15, 1, 1511; In Joannis evang. tract. 40, 1, 1686. See In Joannis Evang. tract. 35, 3, 1658; Sermo 365, n. 25, col. 1628. Enarrat. in p.s. 103, II, n. 1, col. 1352; In Joannis Evang. tract. 40, 1, 1686. So, in the 2nd conversation on Psalm 36, blessed. Augustine cites the definition of the council of the so-called “Maximinists”, which took place in 393, against the Donatist bishop Primian, and under the definition the signature of the bishops. - Enarrat. in p.s. 36, Sermo II, n. 20, col. 376–82. See, for example, Sermo 294, n. 19, where the preacher on the issue of infant baptism reads to the audience the reasoning of St. Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage. The best edition of the works of Bl. Augustine is considered to be the edition of the Benedictine Monks of 1679–1700. (see Schröckh - Christliche Kirchengeschichte - 15, S. 503; J. Wilh. Schmid - Anleitung zum populären Kanzelvortrag - III, S. 151. Jena 1800), then repeated more than once, also reprinted by Min in his patrolology. S. Aur. Augustini, Hipponensis Episcopi – Sermones. – Opera omnia – vol. V, pars I–II. Patrolog. Migne, Series lat., volume XXXVIII–XXXIX. S. Aur. Augustini, Hipponensis Episcopi – in Joannis Evangelium tractatus CXXIV. Opera omn. – tom. III, pars 2. Patrol. Migne - tom. XXXV. S. Aur. Augustini, Hipponensis Episcopi – in Epistolam Joannis ad Parthos – tractatum decem. – Opera omn. tom. III, 2. Patr. Migne - tom. XXXV. S. Aur. Augustini, Hipponensis Episcopi – Enarrationes in psalmos. – Opera omn. tom. IV, pars I–II. Patrol. Migne - tom. XXXVI–XXXVII. Indiculus librorum, tractatuum et epistolarum S. Augustini, Hipponensis Episcopi, editus cura Possidii, Episcopi Calamensis. – See Patrol. Migne series lat. tom. XLVI, col. 5–22. Parisis 1865. See Praefatio to volume V. bl. Augustine (opera omnia), pag. 11–12, edit. Migne 1865. Schoenemannus – Notitia litteraris in vita, scriptis et editionibus operum S. Augustini – col. 94. Praefatio to Volume V of operum omnium Augustini – pag. 13–14. Schoenemannus – Notitia litteraria – col. 94. Praefatio to Volume V of operum omnium Augustini – pag. 13–14. Praefatio to Volume V of operum omnium Augustini – pag. 13–14. Sn. Ulimmerii – Praefatio dedicatoria ad sermonnes S. Augustini. Patrol. Migne, series lat., vol. XLVII, col. 378. Praefatio to the Vth volume of oper. omn. Augustini, ed. Benedict. 1836–39 – “Disquisitio critika” – pag. XXXIV. See Augustini – Enarrat. in p.s. 138, 1, 1784; Sermo 330, 1, 1456; Sermo 23, 1, 156; Sermo 352, 1, 1150; Sermo 225, 3, 1097. We consider it necessary to warn the reader that when we make references to conversations of Bl. Augustine, the first number denotes the ordinal account of the conversation, the second - a division or part of it (nota), and the third - a column (columna) of the volume. Enarratio in p.s. 51, 1, 600. Possidius – Vita S. Aur. Augustini – cap. VII, col. 39. Wed. Augustini – In Joannis Evangelium tract. 40, 7, 1689. Retractions – lib. II, cap. 67, col. 656 – Oper. omn. tom. I. This was done, for example, by Caesarius of Arelate (470–542), who ordered priests and deacons to pronounce the teachings of the blessed in churches. Augustine, adding something to them (usually the beginning and the end) and leaving them for the most part intact. – Vita. S. Caesarii Episcopi, auctoribus Cypriano, Firmino et Viventio episcopis – lib. I, cap. V, 41. Migne – Patrolog. series lat., volume LXVII, col. 1021. – Parisiis 1848. S. Aurelii Augustini, Hipponensis Episcopi, in Epistolam Joannis ad Parthos tractatus decem. – Opera omn. tom. III, p. 2, col. 1977–2062. Migne 1864. August. – Opera omn. volume III, p. 2, col. 1977. "Tractatus de Evangelio Joannis, a capite usque ad finem, in codicibus sex." – Indiculus librorum, tractatuum et epistolarum S. Augustini. Hipponensis Episcopi, editus cura Possidii, Episcopi Galamensis – col. 12. – Patrol. Migne - tom. XLVI – 1865 “Aurelii Augustini Doctoris Hipponensis Episcopi Homiliae in Evangelium Dom. Jesu secundum Joannem incipient, quas ipse colloquendo prius ad populum habuit, et inter loquendum a notariis exceptas, eo quo habitae sunt ordine, verbum ex postea dictavit.” – See Admonitio de subsequentibus in Joannem tractatibus. – August Opera omnia, vol. III, p. 2, col. 1375–78. Enarrat. in p.s. 118, procemium. – August. Opera omnia – volume. IV, p. 2, col. 1501. “Dictati etiam trium psalmorum expositions non parvis voluminibus sexagesimi septimi, septuagesimi primi, septuagesimi septimi. Reliquii nondum dictate, neque tractate, vehementer a nobis expectantur atque flagitantur. Ab his me revocari et retardari, irruentibus de transverso quibuslibet quaestionibus, nolo: ita nec libros de Trinitate, quos diu in minibus verso nondumque complevi, modo attendere velim”... Augustini – Epistola 169, n. 1. Opera omn. – tom. II, col. 743. Wed. Possidii – Indiculus librorum, tractatuum et epistolarum S. Augustini, Hipponensis Episcopi – col. 12. See Confession - book. IX, 4, p. 234. Lentz – Geschichte der christlichen Homiletik, – Theil – 1, s. 170–71. Braunschweig - 1839. Including in this number 5 conversations “In vigiliis Paschae” - on the eve of Easter or on the night of Easter - and two conversations “In die Dominico octavarum Paschae” - on the 8th day of Easter, or on Fomino Sunday. – See August Neander – Allgemeine Geschichte der christlichen Religion und Kirche – B. I, 2, s. 584, Gotha 1856. "Calendae januariae" is a pagan celebration of the New Year. This celebration was accompanied by noisy revelry among the pagans. Christians, on the contrary, tried to spend New Year's Day in abstinence and prayer (August. Sermo 198, 1, 1024), and the time of New Year's festivities was for them, rather, a time of fasting. - Bingham. – Origins sive Antiquitates ecclesiasticae – vol. III, 3, pag. 248, Halae 1729. Edm. Martène – Tractatus de antiqua ecclesiae disciplina; pag. 40–44. Antverp. 1764. V. I. Guerrier. – “Medieval worldview, its emergence and ideal.” – “Bulletin of Europe” 1891, vol. I, p. 178. Robertson. – “History of the Christian Church,” vol. I, p. 345. This is what, for example, the blessed one writes. Augustine to the rulers of one of the African provinces: “Immanitatis vestrae famosissimum scelus, et inopitata crudelitas terram concutit et percutit coelom, ut in plateis ac delubris vestris eluceat sanguis, et resonet homicidium. Apud vos Romanae sepultae sunt leges, judiciorum rectorum calcatus est terror. Imperatorum certe nulla veneration nec timor. Apud vos LX numero fratrum innocens effuses est sanguis, et si qui plures occidit, functus est laudibus, et in vestram curiam tenuit principatum”... Epistola 50. – Opera omnia – volume II, col. 190–91. See Augustini – Epistola 91, n. 8. – Opera omn. – tom. II, col. 316. Robertson - History of Christ. churches – vol. I, p. 344. See Augustini – Sermo 62, n. 7, col. 417. Enarratio in psalmum 62, n. 7, col. 752. Guerrier - “Medieval worldview, its emergence and ideal.” - “Vestn. Europe" - 1891, vol. I, p. 184. Paul Allar - “Christianity and the Roman Empire from Nero to Theodosius! – page 4, St. Petersburg, 1898 Book Evgeny Trubetskoy - “The social ideal of Western Christianity in the 5th century,” part 1, p. 216. August. – Sermo 81, n. 9, col. 505. Sn. Sermo 105, n. 8, col. 621–22; Retractations – lib. II, cap. XLIII. – Opera omn. tom. I, col. 647–48. Augustini – Sermo 296, 7, 1356. Enarrat. in p.s. 36, no. 3, col. 357. Wed. Enarrat. in p.s. 23, no. 1, 2, col. 1189–1191; Enarrat. in p.s. 148, no. 10, 1944; Enarrat. in p.s. 48, sermo 1, n. 1, col. 543; Enarrat. in p.s. 72, no. 22, col. 924; Sermo 19, no. 6, col. 135. De haeresibus – Augustini – Opera omn. – volume VIII, col. 24–25. “Quis tot numerat pestes?” – Sermo 183, 1, 988. Sn. Enarrat. in p.s. 67, no. 38, col. 837. Augustini – Enarrat. in p.s. 58, 14, 702. Augustini – Enarrat. in p.s. 31, sermo 1, n. 16, col. 268. See Augustini – Sermo 301, 3, 1381; Enarrat. in p.s. 73, n. 25, 944; Sermo 361, n. 6, col. 1601. Lutz – Chrisostomus und die übrigen berühmtesten kirchlichen Redner alter und neuer Zeit – S. 45. Tübingen 1859. Lutz – Handbuch der katholischen Kanzelberedsamkeit – S. 240. Tübingen 1851. Augustini – S. 296, 7, 1356; S. 105, 9, 623–24; S. 81, 9, 505. Augustini – Sermo 296, 6, 1355. This refers to the attack on Rome by the Goths led by Alaric in 410. Sermo 296, n. 7, col. 1356. Wed. De civitate Dei – lib. II, cap. XXII, – Opera omnia, vol. VII, col. 69–70. See Sallustii - Bellum Catilinarium sive de conjuratione Catilinae - cap. VI, pag. 6. Sermo 81, 9, 505–506. Wed. De civitate Dei – lib. I, cap. II–III. Opera omn. – tom. VII, col. 15–17. The fall of paganism in Rome is indicated. For the cult of this goddess in Carthage, see Augustini – De civitate Dei lib. II, cap. IV. – Oper. omn. tom. VII, col. 50. In Russian translation - Creation. bliss Augustine – part 3, pp. 66–67. Kyiv 1880. According to Augustine, during one of the celebrations in honor of this deity, “the most obscene actors publicly sang such things that would not be appropriate to listen to not only the mother of the gods, but also the mothers of some senators, or some honest husbands, even the mothers of these very actors... The actors themselves, at home rehearsals, were ashamed to perform this disgrace of vile words and actions in front of their mothers, and publicly in front of their mother gods, in the presence and hearing of a large gathering of people of both sexes, were performed. If a multitude of people gathered from everywhere could be present at this, attracted by curiosity, they should have left in embarrassment, with an offended sense of chastity. What after this will we call sacrilege, asks Augustine, if this is a sacred service, or what will be desecration if this is ablution? And this was called ferculi, as if a feast was being held at which it was as if the wicked demons were being fed with their own food.” Sermo 105, n. 12, col. 624; Enarrat. in p.s. 98, no. 14, col. 1270. The invasion of Radages dates back to 406. See Baronius – Annales ecclesiastici, tom. VI, pag. 501–503, Lucae 1740; Robertson. History of Christ. churches – vol. I, p. 343. The preacher is referring to the invasion of the Goths in 410. See Sermo 105, 12, 624–25. Wed. De civitate Dei, lib. V, cap. XXIII, col. 169–70. Augustini. Sermo 81, 9, 505. Wed. Sermo 105, 11, 623. Enarrat. in p.s. 62, 6, 751–52. Wed. Enarrat. in p.s. 122, 12, 1639; Sermo 77, 13, 489; Sermo 127, 1, 705–6. Sermo 77, 13, 489; Enarrat. in p.s. 122, 12, 1639. Sermo 19, no. 4, col. 135. Augustini – Sermo 22, n. 3, col. 150. Sn. S. 21, 8, 147. S. 105, 8, 621–22. Wed. St. Gregory the Theologian - A Word about love for the poor. - Creation. Part 2, page 22. Moscow 1843. Augustini – S. 296, 6, 1357. Augustini – Epistola 244, n. 2, col. 1060. Wed. Epistola 210, 1, 957. – Opera omn. tom. II. Sermo 296, 10, 1358. Cf. Sermo 21, 8, 147. Sermo 105, 11, 623. Enarrat. in p.s. 26, 7, 209. De civitate Dei, lib. I, cap. VIII–X, col. 2–25. Enarrat. in p.s. 19, 11, 224. See also S. 177, 6, 956; S. 345, 5, 1521. “Faciunt malignos dies maligni homines” – Sermo 25, 4, 168. Cf. Sermo 297, 9, 1363. “Bene vivamus et bona sunt tempora. Nos sumus tempora: quales sumus, tales sunt tempora." Sermo 80, 8, 497. Sermo 297, 9, 1363–64. Sn. Sermo 25, 4, 168–69. Sermo 311, n. 8, 1416–17. Sermo 177, 4, 955. Cf. Sermo 107, 6, 630. Sermo 72, 5, 468–69. Prof. Guerrier - “Blessed Augustine”, p. 304. Moscow 1910 Sermo 62, 17, 422–23. Wed. Enarratio in p.s. 80, 14, 1040. Augustini. Enarratio in p.s. 61, 23, 747. See also In Joannis Evangelium tractatus 37, n. 8–9, col. 1674–75; Sermo 199, 3, 1027–28. Enarrat. in p.s. 140, 9, 1821. Wed. In Joannis Gospel. tractatus IX, 10, 11, col. 1456–57. See also – Augustini Epistola – 246, n. 2–3. Opera omn. tom. II, col. 1061–62. Sermo 199, n. 3, col. 1028. Sn. Augustini. Contra Faustum manichaeum, lib. II, cap. V. Opera omn. tom. VIII, col. 212. See Augustini, Enarrat. in p.s. 140, 10, 1822. Wed. Augustini. Retract. lib. I,cao. XV, no. 1, opera volume vol. I, col. 608. Contra duas epistolas pelagianorum. lib. IV, cap. IV, no. 5, opera omn. tom. X, pars I, col. 612. Augustini. Enarrat. in p.s. 140, 10, 1822. Sn. De haeresibus, cap. XLVI, opera omn. tom. VIII, col. 35. Augustini, Sermo 152, 4, 821. Sn. Sermo 12, no. 11–12, col. 105–106. De genesi contra manichacos, lib. II, cap. XXVI, opera omn. tom. III, I, col. 217. De nuptiis et concupiscentia, lib. II, cap. III, no. 9, opera omn. tom X, 1, col. 441. August. Enarrat in p.s. 140, 12, 1823. Sn. Augustini. De moribus manich. lib. II, cap. XVII, no. 54, opera omn. tom. I, col. 1368. August. De haeresibus. XLVI, col. 37. Sn. Enarrat. in p.s. 140, 12, 1823. August. Sermo 26, 10, 175; Sermo 152, 6, 822; Sermo 50, 1, 326; S. 2, 2, 28; S. 1, 1, 23. Enarrat. in p.s. 140, 10, 1822. Augustini. Enarrat. in p.s. 140, no. 10, col. 1822. Enarrat. in p.s. 140, 10, 1822. Sn. De moribus manich. lib. II, cap. XI, no. 22–25, opera omnia, vol. I, col. 1354–55. Enarrat. in p.s. 140, no. 11, col. 1823–24. Enarrat. in p.s. 140, no. 12, col. 1823. Cn. De moribus manichaeorum, lib. II, cap. XVI, no. 53, col. 1367–68. Enarratio in p.s. 140, 12, 1823–24. Sermo 1, n. 4, col. 25; Enarrat. in p.s. 146, no. 13, col. 1907–8. Enarrat. in p.s. 36; Sermo 1, n. 1, col. 355. Wed. Augustini – De genesi contra manichaeos, lib. I, cap. XXII, no. 33–34, Opera omn. tom. III, I, col. 189–190; De diversis quaestionibus, cap. LX. Opera omnia, vol. VI, col. 48. Enarratio in p.s. 146, no. 13, col. 1907–8. Sermo 277, 13, 1264. Sermo 53, n. 7, 12, 13, col. 367–70. Wed. Augustini. Contra epist. manichaei, cap. XV, n. 20, Opera omn. tom. VIII, col. 184. In Epistolam Joannis ad Parthos – tractatus VIII, n. 10, col. 2034. Wed. Sermo 4, n. 5, col. 35. In Joannis Gospel. tract. 23, no. 9, col. 1588. In Joannis Gospel. tract. 23, 9, 1588. Wed. Enarrat. in p.s. 85, n. 12, col. 1090; Confession - lib. X, cap. VI, no. 9–10, col. 783. Sermo 4, n. 7, 36. Wed. Sermo 341, n. 2, col. 1494; De catechisandis rudibus – cap. XXII, no. 55, – opera omn. tom. VI, col. 347–48; Epistola 120, n. 10, col. 457; Epistola 92, n. 2–3, col. 318–319; Epistola 147, n. 29, 31, 43, 44, 45, col. 610–17, – opera omn. tom. II. It is better to read: “infirmitate”, according to some manuscripts, for example, Colbertine. See Lectiones variantes in the appendix to volume V of the work. bliss Augustine, Benedict. ed., sheet LXXX. Sermo 341, n. 8–9, col. 1498. Wed. Sermo 117, n. 7, col. 665; Epistola 148, n. 13, col. 628, – opera omnia, vol. II. See Augustini – In Joannis Evangel. tract. 36, no. 8, col. 1667; tractatus 40, n. 3, col. 1687; tractat. 29, 7, 1631; Sermo 52, 6, col. 357. See Augustini – Enarrat. in p.s. 130, 11, 1712; Enarrat. in p.s. 32, 5, 288; In Joannis Gospel. tract. 1, 11, 1384; Sermo 126, 8, 701; Sermo 71, 5, 448. “Tamen propter ipsam individuam et inseparabilem aeternitatis, veritatis, bonitas essentiam vel naturam, non esse tres deos, sed Unum. Deum" – Sermo 71, 18, 454. Sermo 71, 18, 454. Wed. Sermo 214, 10, 1071; In Joannis Gospel. tract. 39, 3, 1682–83. In Joannis Gospel. tract. 39, no. 3, 4, col. 1682–83. "Hoc solo numerum insinuant, quod ad invicem sunt, non quod ad se sunt." Ibidem, n. 4, col. 1683. In Joannis Gospel. tract. 39, 4, 1683. Wed. Augustini – Collatio cum Maximino arianorum episcopo – n. 11. – opera omn. tom. VIII, col. 714; Contra sermonem arianorum – cap. IV, cap. XI, – opera omn. tom. VIII, col. 686, 694; De Trinitate – lib. VIII, no. 1, opera omn. tom. VIII, col. 947. In Joannis Gospel. tract. 39, n. 5, col. 1684; Wed tractat. 14, no. 9, col. 1508. In Joannis Gospel. tract. 19, n. 6, col. 1546. Sermo 126, n. 10, col. 703. Sermo 52, n. 7, col. 357. Sermo 52, n. 8, col. 357. Sn. Sermo 71, n. 27, col. 460; Sermo 126, 10, 703; Sermo 225, 2, 1096; In Joannis Gospel. tract. 20, 13, 1563; Contra sermonen arianorum – cap. XV, col. 694; cap. XXXII, col. 705; De Trinitate – lib. II, cap. X, n. 18, col. 857, opera omn. tom. VIII. Sermo 52, n. 17–19, col. 360–62. Ibidem - n. 21, col. 363. Sn. Augustini – De Trinitate – lib. XV, cap. XXI, no. 40–41, cap. XXII, no. 42, – opera omn. tom. VIII, col. 1088–90; Epistola 169, n. 6, – opera omn. tom. II, col. 744–45. Augustini – Sermo 117, n. 6, col. 664; Sermo 244, 4, 1150; Sermo 139, 3, 770; S. 126, 8, 701; In Joannis Gospel. tract. 26, no. 5, col. 1609. Sermo 118, n. 2, col. 672–73. See Sermo 118, n. 2, 673; Sermo 139, 3, 771; Sermo 117, 10, 666. Sermo 117, n.11, 667. See Sermo 118, 2, 672–73; In Joannis Gospel. tract. XX, 8, 1560. Sermo 117, n. 12, col. 668. Sermo 139, n. 3–4, col. 771–72. Sermo 117, 14, 669. See S. 140, 5, 774–75. In Joannis Gospel. tract. 20, no. 8, col. 1560. Sermo 117, n. 7, col. 675. Sermo 120, n. 2–3, col. 677. Wed. Sermo 225, 3, 1097; Sermo 187, 2–3, 1001–2; Sermo 341, 2, 1494. See Sermo 28, n. 4–5, col. 184–85. Sn. Augustini – Epistola 137, n. 7. – opera omn. volume II, col. 518. Sermo 264, n. 4, col. 1215. Priscilianists are followers of a sect that originated from a certain Priscilian (385), and strengthened especially in Spain. Their teaching consisted of a mixture of Gnostic and Manichaean errors with the addition of some others. They argued that the human soul is of the same nature, substance, as God. To exercise in some arbitrary struggle, souls descend, as it were, through seven heavens to earth and plunge into the evil principle, scattering across various bodies. The Priscillianists did not eat meat as unclean food. They also avoided marriage, separating husbands from wives and wives from husbands. Priscillianists attributed the creation of flesh not to the true and good God, but to evil angels. In their teaching about Christ, they adhered to Sabellianism, saying that he was not only the Son, but the Father and the Holy Spirit. – See Augustini – De haeresibus ad Quodvultdeum – LXX, – opera omn. tom. VIII, col. 44. See also – Neander – Allgemeine Geschichte der christlichen Religion und Kirche – B. I, 2, S. 812–16. Sermo 238, 2, 1125–26. See Sermo 237, n. 2–3, col. 1122–23. The heresy got its start from Apollinaris, bishop of Laodicea, who died around 392. Augustini – In Joannis Evangel. tract. 47, no. 9, col. 1737. Wed. Enarrat. in p.s. 29, 3, 218; Confession. – lib. VII, cap. XIX, – opera omn. tom. I, col. 746; De vera religione – cap. XVI, – opera omn. tom. III, I, col. 134; Epistola 264, n. 3, col. 1085, – opera omn. tom. II. Enarrat. in p.s. 29, n. 2, col. 217. In Joannis Gospel. tract. 47, no. 9, col. 1737. In Joannis Gospel. tract. 23, 6, 1586. Sermo 237, n. 4, col. 1124. Sermo 237, n. 4, col. 1124. See In Joannis Evangel. tract. 23, no. 6, col. 1586; Enarratio in p.s. 29, no. 2–3, col. 218. See In Joannis Evangel. – tract. 47, no. 11, col. 1738–39. See Augustini – De natura et gratia – cap. XXI, 23. – opera omn. tom. X, 1, col. 258. n. De haeresibus – LXXXVIII, opera omn. tom. VIII, col. 48. Augustini – Sermo 295, n. 15, col. 1344. Sn. De gratia Christi – cap. XXXIX, no. 43, – opera omnia, vol. X, 1, col. 379–80. Sermo 294, n. 15, col. 1344–45. Augustini – Opus imperfectum – lib. VI, cap. XII, – Opera omnia, volume X, 2, col. 1522. Ibidem - lib. I, cap. CV; lib. IV, cap. C, Opera omn. tom. X, col. 1119, 1396. Augustini – De civitate Dei – lib. XIII, cap. XIV. Opera omn. tom. VII, col. 386. Sermo 239, n. 10, col. 1333. Sermo 299, n. 11, col. 1375–76. Elsewhere bliss. Augustine, based on the words of the Apocalypse (Rev. 11: 3–7), says that Elijah and Enoch will appear later and die. – Augustini – De genesi ad litteram – lib. IX, cap. VI, no. 11. – Opera omnia, vol. III, 1. Sn. Epistola 193, cap. III, no. 5–7, – opera omn. tom. II, col. 872. Sermo 30, n. 3, col. 188. Sermo 156, n. 13, col. 856–57. Augustini – De gratia Christi – cap. XXV, opera omnia, vol. X, 1, col. 397. Sermo 278, n. 1, col. 1268–69. Sermo 333, n. 5, col. 1466. See Sermo 26, 9, 175. Sn. Sermo 155, 4, 842–43; S. 153, 6–9, 828–30. Sermo 156, n. 14, col. 857. See Sermo 169, n. 10–11, col. 921–22. Sermo 165, n. 3, col. 912–13. Wed. in the same place – n. 5, col. 913–14. Sn. De dono perseverantiae – cap. XX, n. 52, – Opera omnia, vol. X, 2, col. 1026. Sermo 158, n. 1, col. 862. Sermo 158, n. 3, col. 863–64. See De diversis quaestionibus ad Simplicianum – lib. I, 14, – Augustini – Opera omn. tom. VI, col. 119. “Audiat homo, ne pereat homo, propter quem Deus factus est homo” – Sermo 165, 9, 907. Cf. Sermo 27, n. 3–4, col. 179–80. Sermo 26, no. 3, col. 177. “Neque enim propterea sunt ista injusta, quia occulta” – Augustini – Epistola 194, n. 10, – Opera omn. tom. II. col. 878. Sermo 27, n. 6, col. 181. Sn. De dono perseverantiae – n. 30, – Opera omn. tom. X, 2, col. 1011; De praedestinatione sanctorum – cap. XIV, no. 26, – Opera omn. tom. X, 1, col. 980. "Trahit sua quemque voluptas." P. Virgilii Mar. – Eclog. 2, – Opera omn. tom. I, pag. 100. – Parisiis 1819. In Joannis Gospel. tract. 24, no. 4, 5, col. 1668–9. Wed. Sermo 131, n. 2, col. 730; Epistola ad Galathas – n. 49, – opera omn. tom. III, 2, col. 2140–41. In Joannis Gospel. tract. 24, no. 7, col. 1610. In the first book of his work “Contra duas epistolas Pelagianorum”, Blessed. Augustine, resolving the same question, writes the following: Quis trahitur, si jam volebat? et tamen nemo venit, nisi velit. Trahitur ergo miris modis, ut velit, ab illo, qui novit intus in ipsis hominum cordibus operari, non ut homines, quod fieri non potest, nolentes credant, sed ut volentes ex nolentibus fiant. – Cap. XIX, n. 37; Wed cap. III, no. 6, – Opera omn. tom. X, I, col. 568, 553. Sermo 169, n. 13, col. 922–23. Sn. Sermo 156, n. 13, col. 856; De peccat. merit – II, 6, – Opera omn. tom. X, I, col. 154–55. In one of the works of his blessed. Augustine reports how the doctrine of predestination, based on the foreknowledge of God, was reinterpreted by some of his contemporaries. He says that in his monastery there was someone who, to all the admonitions of the brethren of the monastery not to do what should not be done, answered: whatever I am now, I will be what I should be according to the foreknowledge of God. Reasoning this way, he came to the point that he left the monastery, like a dog returning to its vomit. “And yet,” writes the blessed one. Augustine, it remains to be seen what he will be like. Is it possible, out of fear of such cases, to deny the foreknowledge of God or remain silent about it? – See Augustini – De dono perseverantiae – cap. XV, n. 38, – Opera omn., vol. X, 2, col. 1017. See Sermo 174, 9, 944–45. Sn. Sermo 294, 16, 1345. Sermo 294, 3, 1337; In Joannis Gospel. tractat. 67, 3, 1813. Sn. Augustini – De peccatorum meritis et remissione, et de baptismo parvulorum ad Marcellinum, lib. I, n. 26, col. 123; De peccato originali contra Pelagium et Coelestium – cap. XVII–XIX, col. 394–95; De anima et ejus origine – lib. I, n. 11, col. 481, – Opera omn. tom. X, 1. Sermo 294.n. 6, col. 1339. Sermo 294, 6, 1339. Sn. Contra secundam Juliani responsionem – lib. I, cap. XXXII, opera omn. tom. X, 2, col. 1062; Epistola 194, n. 42, – opera omnia, volume II, col. 889. Sermo 165, 7, 906. Wed. Augustini – Epistola 186, n. 12–15, – opera omn. tom. II, col. 820–821; De peccatorum meritis et remissione et de baptismo parvulorum – lib. I, n. 64–66, opera omn. tom. X, 1, col. 147–48. "Tu das fidem non respondent, et ego peccatum nihil agenti." Sermo 294, n. 17, col. 1346. Wed. Sermo 351, 2, 1537; De libero arbitrio – lib. III, cap. XXIII, no. 67, opera omnia, vol. I, col. 1304. Donatism was especially strong in Ippon itself, where there was an episcopal see of Blessed. Augustine. – See Guerrier – “St. Augustine”, p. 482. Augustini – Contra epist. Manichaei, quam vocant Fundamenti – n. 6. – Opera omn., vol. VIII, col. 176. Wed. De utilitate credendi – cap. XVII, – Opera omn. tom. VIII, col. 91. Augustini – Enarrat. in p.s. 103, S. I, n. 17, col. 1350. Enarrat. in p.s. 83, 7, col. 1060. Sn. Augustini – Contra epistolam Parmeniani – lib. II, cap. III, no. 6, – opera omn. tom. IX, col. 54. Contra Julianum – lib. VI, cap. V, n. 11, – opera omn. tom. X, I, col. 829. “Quod intelligimus igitur, debemus rationi, quod credimus – auctoritati.” – De utilitate credendi – n. 25, – opera omnia, vol. VIII, col. 83. Augustini – Enarrat. in p.s. 98, no. 4, col. 1261. As is known, the Donatists argued that the universal church ceased to be a church, since, by maintaining communication with traitor bishops (of course, the traitors of church books during the persecution of Diocletian in 303) and the persons whom they ordained, it thereby became a participant in their vices and ceased to be a holy church. – See Augustini – Enarrat. in p.s. 36, S. II, n. 18, col. 374. Sn. De haeresibus ad Quodvultdeum – LXIX, – opera omn. tom. VIII, col. 43. Augustini – Contra litteras Petiliani 1 lib. II, cap. XLVIII, n. 111, – Opera omn. tom. IX, col. 298. Sermo 88, n. 21, col. 550–51. August. Enarrat. in p.s. 145, no. 9, col. 1890. Sn. In Joannis Gospel. tract. 4, n. 11, col. 1410; tract. 5, n. 13–15, col. 1420–22; Epistola 185, n. 37–48, – opera omnia, vol. II, col. 809–10; Contra Cresconium Donatistam – lib. II, n. 35, – opera omnia – vol. IX, col. 487–88. Sermo 129, n. 8, col. 724. "Sacramentum tamen Dei vivi nec in mortuo moritur." – Augustini – Contra litteras Petiliani – lib. II, 15, – opera omnia, vol. IX, col. 262. Sermo 292, n. 7, col. 1325–26. Sermo 292, n. 6, 8, col. 1323–26. Sn. Augustini – Contra Cresconium Donatistam – lib. IV, no. col. 557. De Baptismo contra Donatistas – lib. IV, no. 27–28, col. 172–173. Contra epistolam Parmeniani – lib. II, no. 23, col. 67/ Contra litteras Petiliani Donatistae – lib. I, n. 9, col. 250, lib. III, no. 30, col. 364–66. Opera omnia, volume IX. Sermo 72, n. I, col. 470. Wed. Sermo 15, no. 6, col. 119. Sermo 47, n. 6, col. 296. Sermo 88, n. 21, col. 550. Contra Gaudentium Donatistarum episcopum – lib. II, cap. V, VI, – opera omn. tom. IX, col. 744–45. Contra epistolam Parmeniani – lib. II, no. 5, lib. III, no. 13, 17, 18, 19. – Opera omn. tom. IX, col. 92, 95–97. Sermo 248, n. 1, col. 1159. Wed. Sermo 249, n. 2, col. 1161–62; Sermo 250, etc. Sermo 88, n. 19, col. 549. Wed. Enarrat. in p.s. 25, II, n. 5, col. 190–91. Enarrat. in p.s. 6, n. 9, col. 95. Sermo 213, n. 2, col. 1092–93. Sermo 249, n. 2, col. 1161–62; Sermo 73, n. 4, col. 471–72. Sermo 88, 19, 549. Cf. Sermo 302, 10, 1389. Enarrat. in p.s. 25, II, n. 5–6, col. 190–91. Sn. De Baptismo contra Donatistas – lib. I, n. 22. – Opera omnia, volume IX. De cathechisandis rudibus – cap. XIX, n. 31, cap. XXV, n. 48 – opera omnia, vol. VI, col. 333–34, 343–44. Augustini – Contra epistolam Manichaei, quam vocant Fundamenti – n. 5. – Opera omnia, vol. VIII, col. 175. August. – De moribus Catholicae Ecclesiae – lib. I, n. 61, – Opera omn. tom. I, col. 1335. Outside Africa, the Donatists had a small following in Rome and a small community in Spain. – See Robertson. – History of the Christian Church, vol. I, p. 181, St. Petersburg. 1900 – Book. Evgeny Trubetskoy, The religious and social ideal of Western Christianity in the 5th century, part I. Worldview of the blessed. Augustine, p. 112. Moscow, 1892 Sermo 47, n. 17, col. 305. See also S. 46, n. 33–34, col. 289. In Joannis Evangel. tract. 13, no. 3, 14, col. 1493, 1500. Sermo 265, n. 6, col. 1221–22. These thoughts are revealed in detail by Bl. Augustine in his work “De unitate Ecclesiae” (opera omnia, vol. IX), which takes the form of a pastoral letter to the flock. See also his work “Contra Cresconium” – lib. III, no. 70–77, – opera omnia, vol. IX, col. 534–38. Sermo 51, n. 4, col. 335–36. S. 268, 2, 1232. Sn. S. 267, 4, 1231. “Si unum membrum dolet alicunde, compatiuntur omnia membra.” – S. 268, 2, 1232. In Joannis Gospel. tract. XIII, 16, 1501. In Joannis Gospel. tractat. XXXII, no. 7–8, col. 1645–46. Sn. Augustini – Contra litteras Petiliani Donatistae – lib. II, no. 74, – Opera omn., vol. IX, col. 284. De Baptismo contra Donatistas – lib. III, no. 21, – Opera omn., vol. IX, col. 148–49. In Joannis Gospel. tract. XXXII, 7, col. 1646. Enarrat. in p.s. 90, S. II, n. 1, col. 1159. Sn. Enarrat. in p.s. 130, no. 4, col. 1776. Enchiridion sive de fide, spe et charitate – cap. LXI, August. – Opera omn. tom. VI, col. 260–61. Enarrat. in p.s. 149, 5, 1952. Sermo 273, 7, 1251. See also S. 313, 2, 1423. Enarrat. in p.s. 96, 12, 1245–46. Sn. De civitate Dei – lib. VIII, cap. XXVII, opera omn. tom. VII, col. 256. Contra Faustum manichaeum – lib. XX, cap. XXI, – opera omn. tom. VIII, col. 384–85. De vera religiouse – cap. LV, no. 108, – opera omn. – tom. III, I, col. 189. Sermo 283, 4, 1287. See also S. 284, 9, 1289–90; S. 299, n. 3, 1369; S. 333, 1, 1464. Sermo 285, 5, 1295. See also S. 316, 5, 1434; S. 319, 6, 1442; Enarrat. in p.s. 85, 24, 1099. "Injuria est enim pro martyre orare, cujus nos debemus orationibus commendari." – S. 159, n. 1, col. 868. Sermo 285, n. 5, col. 1295. Sermo 275, 3, 1255. - “Why does God show wondrous deeds around the bodies of departed saints, if not so that it is clear from here in what great honor their souls are, if even a lifeless body is glorified by such an action of divine power?” Sermo 277, n. 1, col. 1257. Sermo 172, n. 2, col. 936–37. Sermo 172, n. 2, – col. 937. Sermo 328, n. 5, col. 1454. See also In Joannis Evangel. tractat, 49, 10, 1751. Sn. De civitate Dei – lib. XXI, cap. XIII. – Opera omn. tom. VII, col. 728. Prof. V. Guerrier - “Blessed Augustine”, p. 363. Sermo 306, n. 7, col. 1404. See also In Joannis Evangel. tract. 45, n. 2, col. 1720. Sermo 84, n. 2, col. 520. Enarrat. in p.s. 118, s. 19, n. 4, col. 1555. Sn. Augustini – Epist. 56, no. 2, – opera omn. tom. II, col. 223, De civitate Dei – lib. XX, cap. VI, no. 2, – opera omn. tom. VII, col. 666. Sermo 345, n. 1, col. 1518. Sermo 19, no. 5, 135–36. Sn. Sermo 302, 8, 1384. For some time, however, Blessed Augustine held a chiliastic view of the thousand-year reign of the saints on earth. So, in one of his conversations he says the following: “The Lord will reign on earth with His saints and will have a church here, where not a single sinner (malus) will enter, a chosen church (separatam) and cleansed from every evil thought” (Sermo 259, n. 2, col. 1197). Augustine later abandoned this opinion. In Chapter 7 20 books In his work “On the City of God,” he says about chiliasm: “This opinion could be to some extent tolerable if it were assumed that on this Saturday the saints would have spiritual joys from the presence of the Lord. We once thought so too; but as soon as they claim that those resurrected at that time will indulge in the most immoderate carnal feasts, at which there will be so much food and drink that they will not only not observe moderation, but will exceed the measure of unbelief itself, no one except the carnal can in any way believe this.” – (Creative part 6, p. 193, Russian translation Comp. 30 chapter 22 books). Wed. Krasin - “The Creation of the Blessed. Augustine’s De civitate Dei as an apology for Christianity in its struggle against Roman paganism” - page 324. Kazan 1873. V. Guerrier - “Blessed Augustine”, page 615, Moscow, 1910. In Joannis Gospel. tract. 49, 10, 1751–52. Sermo 227, n. 12, 1264. “We marvel at the extraordinary and incredible, if only we ourselves had not experienced it, speed of action of the visual rays in our eyes. But what will be more amazing is the speed of the spiritual body that we will receive. In the blink of an eye it will rise again. Further, as is known, our Lord penetrated with His body through locked doors, which is also inaccessible to our vision. After His resurrection, He suddenly appeared to the disciples gathered in one house with the doors locked (John 20:19). Where the ray of vision cannot penetrate, He could pass. Let no one say that this was possible only for the body of the Lord and impossible for ours. Trust the Holy Spirit speaking through the apostle. After all, it is said about the same Lord that He transformed our lowly body so that it would be conformed to His glorious body” (Phil. 3:21). Wed. S. 362, 20, 1624. Enarrat. in p.s. 129, no. 7, col. 1700–1701. See also S. 361, 17, 1609; S. 362, 10, 1617. Sermo 361, n. 10–11, col. 1604–1605. Sn. Augustini – Epistola 102, n. 4–5, – opera omn. tom. II, col. 372. Sermo 361, n. 1, 4, 5, 7, col. 1599–1602. Ibidem - n. 6, col. 1501. Sn. Enarrat. in p.s. 73, 25, 944. Sermo 361, n. 8, col. 1603. Sermo 361, n. 12, col. 1605. Sermo 240, n. 2, col. 1131. Sn. Enarrat. in p.s. 62, no. 6, col. 751; De cathechisandis rudibus – n. 46, – Opera omn. tom. VI, col. 342. Sermo 361, n. 12, col. 1605; Wed n. 18, col. 1609. Sermo 32, n. 13, col. 1619. Ibidem - n. 14, col. 1620. Ibidem - n. 15, col. 1621. Sermo 362, n. 23, col. 1627. Sermo 242, n. 4, col. 1140. Sn. De civitate Dei – lib. XXII, cap. XIII–XIV, – Opera omn. tom. XII, col. 776–77. Sermo 243, n. 4, 6, col. 1145–46. Sn. De civitate Dei – lib. XXII, cap. XIX, n. 1–3, col. 780–82. August. – Sermo 242, n. 5, col. 1140. Sn. De civitate Dei – lib. XXII, cap. XI, no. 1, col. 773. Sermo 242, n. 5, col. 1140. Sermo 241, n. 8, col. 1139. Wed. Augustini – De civitate Dei – lib. XXII, cap. XXV, col. 793; cap. XXVI, col. 794. Sermo 242, n. 7, col. 1141. Sn. De civitate Dei – lib. XXII, cap. XI, no. 3, col. 774. Sermo 242, n. 7, col. 1141. Sermo 242, n. 8, col. 1141–42. Sn. De civitate Dei – lib. XXII, cap. XI, no. 2, 4, 5, col. 773–74. Sermo 242, n. 9, col. 1142. Sermo 241, 7, 1137. Sn. De civitate Dei – lib. XXII, cap. XXVI, col. 794. Sermo 241, n. 7, col. 1137–38. “Inducitur Deus a Platone ipso alloqui Deos, quos fecit de corporali et incorporali substantia, atque inter caetera dicere illis: “Quoniam estis orti, immortals esse et indissalubiles non potestis.” Jam ad istam vicem illi intremiscere poterant Quare? Quia immortals esse cupiebant, et mori nolebant. Ergo, ut eis auferret timorem, secutus adjunxit atque ait: “non tamen dissolvemini, neque vos illa mortis fata periment, nec erunt valen tiora, quam comsilium meum...” - Sermo 241, n. 8, col. 1138. See also - De civitate Dei - lib. XXII, cap. XXVI, – Opera omn. VII, col. 794. Sermo 241, 4, 1135. Wed. De civitate Dei – lib. XII, cap. XIII, no. 1, col. 361. Sermo 241, 5, 1135–36. Wed. De civitate Dei – lib. XII, cap. XX, n. 1–4, col. 369–71. Enarrat. in p.s. 85, 21, 1096. Sn. Sermo 127, 10, 711; S. 277, 16, 1267; Enarrat. in p.s. 48, S. 1, n. 5, col. 546–47; In Joannis Evang. tract. 76, no. 3–4, col. 1832. Enarrat. in p.s. 49, 11, 572–73. Enarrat. in p.s. 90, S. 1, n. 9, col. 1156. Sermo 362, n. 27, col. 1631. Sn. De civitate Dei – lib. XX, cap. V, n. 3, col. 663. Sermo 362, 28, 1631. Sn. Sermo 127, 3, 707–8; De catechisandis rudibus – cap. XXV, n. 47, – opera omn. tom. VI, col. 342–43; De civitate Dei – lib. XXII, cap. XXX, n. 1, – opera omn. tom. VII, col. 801. "Illud scio, fratres, quod non sumus dormitaturi vocando." – Augus. S. 362, 29, 1632. "Toca action nostra amen et alleluia erit." – Ibidem. Seermo 362, n. 29, col. 1633. Wed. De civitate Dei – lib. XXII, cap. XXX, no. 5, col. 804. Sermo 87, n. 6, col. 533. In Joannis Gospel. tract. 67, no. 2, col. 1812. Sn. De civitate Dei – lib. XXII, cap. XXX, no. 2, col. 802. Sermo 306, n. 5, col. 1402. Sermo 65, n. 8, col. 430. Sermo 161, n. 4, col. 879. Sermo 36, no. 6, col. 217–18. Sn. De civitate Dei – lib. XXI, cap. X, col. 724–25. “Nam integra erunt et corpora impiorum, nihil ex eis imminutum apparebit, sed ad poenam erit integritas corporis, et quaedam, ut dicam quaedam firmitas corporis, corruptibilis firmitas: quia ubi dolor esse poterit, non potest dici non esse corruptio; quamvis non deficiat illa infirmitas in doloribus, ne dolor ipse moriatur.” – Augustini – Sermo 362, n. 23, col. 1627. Sn. de civitate Dei – lib. XXI, cap. III, col. 710–712; cap. X, col. 724–25. Of the others, only Hilary of Poitiers often chooses one or another dogmatic issue as the subject of his sermons. Others were either unable to do this, or did not want to go into the subtleties of philosophical research and did not touch upon the deep issues of Christian theology. See Paniel - Pragmat. Geschichte der christlichen Beredsamkeit und Homiletik – S. 647, Leipzig 1839. Filaret, Archbishop. Chernigovsky. – Historical teaching about the church fathers, – vol. III, p. 43, St. Petersburg, 1859. Enarrat. in p.s. 41, 7, 468. See Augustini – De diversis quaestionibus ad Simplicianum – lib. 1, n. 14, – Opera omn. tom. VI, col. 119; Sermo 165, n. 9, col. 907; Sermo 26, n. 2, 13, col. 172 and 177. Filaret, Archbishop. Chernigovsky. – Historical. teaching about the fathers of the church, vol. III, pp. 41–42b St. Petersburg 1859. According to the fair remark of prof. Guerrier, “fiery admiration for the sovereignty of God in the world is felt, one might say, on every page of Augustine.” – See Guerrier, – “Blessed Augustine”, p. 400, Moscow, 1910. See Rich. Rothe – Geschichte der Predigt von der Anfängen bis auf Schleiermacher – S. 117. Bremen 1881. Lutz finds that in the depth of thought with bliss. No one can compare with Augustine among the orators of ancient and modern times. – Lutz – Chrisostomus und die übrigen berühmt. kirchl. Redner – S. 46, Tübingen 1859. P. J. Seyrich – Die Geschichtsphilosophie Augustins nach seiner Schrift. De civitate Dei – s. 9. Leipzig 1891. See eg. In Joannis Gospel. tract. 39, 4, 1683; Sermo 52, n. 2, 16, 19, col. 355–62; Sermo 120, n. 2, col. 676–77, etc. August. – Epistola 231, n. 6, – Opera omn. tom. II, col. 1025. See Brömel – Homiletische Charakterbilder – s. 42. Berlin, 1869. See Ribbeck – Donatus und Augustinus oder der erste entscheidende Kampf zwischen Separatismus und Kirche – S. 14, Elberfeld 1857. Pusch – St. John Chrysostom and the customs of his time – pp. 330–31. Transl. from French Izmailova. St. Petersburg, 1897. Prof. Guerrier - St. Augustine - page 473. That’s what Baronius calls it: “Novus ille hujus saeculi Hieremias Salvianus videlicet Massiliensis Episcopus.” – Baronius – Annales ecclesiastici – vol. VIII, pag. 353, Lucae 1741. See August. Neander – Allgemeine Geschichte der christlichen Religion und Kirche – B. 1, 2, s. 739. Gotha 1856. See Augustini – De gestis Pelagii – cap. III, no. 10. – Opera omn. tom. X, 1, col. 325. See augustini – Opera omn. tom. II. Appendix – Epistola XVII, cap. XXX, col. 1120. Enarrat. in p.s. 90, Sermo I, n. 4, col. 1152. “Vere nunc est cernere... in plerisque urbibus episcopos, sive presbyteros, si laicos viderint hospitals, amatores bonorum, invidere, fremere, excommunicare, de Ecclesia expellere, quasi non liceat facere, quod episcopus non faciat.” – S. Eusebii Hieronymi – Opera omn. tom. VII, col. 568. – Patrolog. Migne, ser. lat., tom. XXVI, Parisiis 1845. Read more about the moral state of the clergy in the 4th and 5th centuries. see Art. prof. A. P. Lebedeva: “Some information about the moral state of the clergy from the 2nd to the 8th century.” – Theological Bulletin 1903, July–August, pp. 444–470. See Augustini - Epistola ad Alypium Episcopum thagast. – 29, n. 2, 7. – Opera omnia – vol. II, col. 115 and 117. The Council of Carthage in 401 prompts the emperor to prohibit these feasts, which Christians borrowed from the pagans (quae ab errore gentili attracta sunt), and contributed to the maintenance of the old pagan faith. – See Codex canonum Ecclesiae Africanae – titul. LX, pag. 174.Ed. Christophorus Justellus, – Lutetiae Parisiorum (Paris) 1614. Augustini – Epistola 22, n. 2, – Opera omn. tom. II, col. 91. See Sermo 125, n. 8, col. 695. Sermo 17, 7, 128. See also S. 232, 8, 1112. See Sermo 8, n. 11, col. 72; Enarrat. in p.s. 139, no. 1, col. 1803. Sn. Augustini – De gestis Pelagii – cap. XIV, no. 34, – opera omn. tom. X, 1, col. 341; De gratia et libero arbitrio – cap. VII, n. 17–18, – opera omn. tom. X, 1, col. 892; De patientia – cap. XX–XXI, – opera omn. tom. VI, col. 921. See Sermo 43, n. 1, 4, col. 254–57. Sn. Enarrat. in p.s. 8, 6, 111. See also “De Trinitate” – lib. IX, n. 1, col. 961: Contra epistolam Manichaei, quam vocant Fundamenti – n. 17–18, col. 183–84, – opera omnia, vol. VIII; De agone christiano – cap. XIII, opera omn. tom. VI, col. 299; Epistola 120, n. 2–3, – opera omn. tom. II, col. 453. See Theod. Pandauf – Phychologie des heiligen Augustinus, – Abth. 1, S. 71, – Augsburg 1852. Storz – Die Philisophie des heil. Augustinus - s. 85–100, Freiburg im Breisgau 1882. See prof. Nesmelov in his book “The Science of Man,” vol. I, pp. 88, 90, 92, 96, ed. 3, Kazan 1906. Sermo 43, n. 8, 9, col. 257–58. Sermo 350, n. 3, col. 1534–35. Wed. Sermo 138, n. 3, col. 764; Epistola 185, n. 43, col. 311–12; Epistola 189, n. 2–3, col. 854–55, – August. – Opera omn. tom. II. “Let us love God, than whom we find nothing better. Let us love Him for His own sake, and us in Him and for His sake (et nos in Ipso, tamen propter Ipsum). He only truly loves his neighbor who loves God in his neighbor, either because He is in him, or in order to be. This is what true love is. If for other reasons we love (ourselves or others), we rather hate than love... How can you love God if you also love what God hates?” – Sermo 336, n. 2, col. 1472. Sermo 34, n. 8, col. 212. Wed. Enarrat. in p.s. 149, no. 4, col. 1952. In Joannis Gospel. tractatus – 87, n. 1, col. 1852. “What reasoning, what writings of any philosophers, what laws of any states,” writes Blessed Augustine to a certain Volusian, who belonged to the pagan aristocracy of Rome, “can be compared with the two commandments on which, according to the teaching of Christ, the law and the prophets are based: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” yours” and “thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself” (Matthew 22:37–39)? This is the whole essence of physics, because the cause of all things is in God the Creator. All ethics is here, because a good and worthy life is achieved only if what should be loved, that is, God and our neighbor, are loved by us and, moreover, in the way we should love them. All logic is here, because the truth and light of the rational soul is in God. This is also the true salvation of the state, because nothing strengthens and protects the state so much as the strength and unity of faith, firm consent, love for the common good. And the highest and true good is God, and in Him people then sincerely love each other when they love for the sake of Him, from Whom they cannot hide the mood with which they love.” – Augustini – Epistola 137, n. 17, – Opera omn. tom. II, col. 524. Enarrat. in p.s. 130, no. 2, col. 1816. Wed. Sermo 90, no. 6, col. 562–63. "Amandus est Dei ita, ut, si fieri potest, nos ipsos obliviscamur." – S. 142, n. 3, col. 779. Sermo 349, 7, 1532. Wed. Sermo 344, 2, 1512–13. “Now, when you see that temporary blessings abound in those who do not honor (offendunt) God, you begin to hesitate and say: look, I honor God, I go to church every day, my knees are worn from prayer, and yet I am constantly sick. People commit murder and theft, and yet they are cheerful and rich...” In Joannis Gospel. tractatus 3, n. 21, col. 1405. Sermo 125, 11, 698. Cf. Sermo 94, 3, 568; Sermo 165, 4, 905; Sermo 33, 3, 208; In Joannis Gospel. tract. 3, 21, 1405. Sermo 34, n. 4, col. 211. "Nihil excelsius via charitatis, et non illa ambulant, nisi humiles." - Enarrat. in p.s. 141, no. 7, col. 1837. Sermo 351, n. 1, col. 1536. Sermo 69, n. 2, 4, col. 441–42. Wed. Sermo 21, no. 2, col. 142–43; Sermo 117, n. 17, col. 671; In Joannis Gospel. tract. 40, no. 8, col. 1690. Enarrat. in p.s. 139, no. 14, col. 1714. Sermo 13, n. 2 and 3, col. 107–108. Sn. Augustini – De correptione et gratia – n. 24, – Opera omn., vol. X, I, col. 930. In Joannis Gospel. tractat. 85, n. 3, col. 1849. Sermo 145, n. 3, col. 792–93. Wed. Sermo 161, n. 9, col. 883. In Joannis Evangel. tract. 43, 7, 1708. Enarrat. in p.s. 18, 10, 155. Enarrat. in p.s. 118, s. 12, no. 3, col. 1534. De sancta virginitate – n. 39, – opera omn. tom. VI, col. 418. Epistola 145, n. 4, – opera omn. tom. II, col. 594. See Sermo 145, n. 3, col. 792–98. Enarrat. in p.s. 127, no. 9, col. 1682. Enarrat. in p.s. 77, n. 20, col. 996. "Timor pedagogus sit, non ipse in te remaneat, sed te ad charitatem, quasi ad magistrum perducat." – S. 349, n. 7, col. 1533. Sn. Sermo 347, n. 1–2, col. 1524–25. Enarrat. in p.s. 149, no. 15, col. 1958. Epistola 140, n. 45–46, – opera omn. tom. II, col. 557. See Enarrat. in p.s. 127, no. 7, col. 1680–81. Sermo 348, n. 1–2, col. 1526–27. Sermo 48, n. 2, col. 1527–28. In I Epist. Joann. – tract. IX, n. 4, col. 2048. Sermo 87, n. 10, col. 535. Sermo 351, n. 12, col. 1548. Sermo 354, n. 12, col. 1548–49. Wed. Enarrat. in p.s. 101, S. 1, n. 10, col. 1301. Enarrat. in p.s. 50, no. 18, col. 596–97. August. – Annotationum n Job liber unus – cap. XXXVII: opera omn. tom. III, 1, col. 871. “Ista enim occident animas, aut desperation, aut perversa spes.” – Sermo 87, n. 10, col. 535. Wed. Sermo 142, n. 1, col. 778; Enarrat. in p.s. 144, no. 11, col. 1876–77. Sermo 87, n. 11, col. 536. In Joann. Evangel. tract. 33, 7, 1650–51. Wed. Sermo 82, n. 14, col. 513. Enarrat. in p.s. 101, s. 1, n. 10, col. 1301. Sermo 82, n. 14, col. 513. Sn. Sermo 40, n. 3–5, col. 244–45. Sermo 20, n. 4, col. 140–41. Sermo 232, n. 8, col. 1111–12. Sermo 351, n. 3, col. 1537. Sermo 20, n. 2, col. 138–39. "Ad naturalem quippe justitiae ordinem pertinet, ut aut peccata non fiant, aut impunita esse non valeant quodlibet horum sit, naturalis ordo servatur, si non ab anima, certe a Deo." – Augustini – Contra Faustum manichaeum – lib. XXVI, cap. III, – opera omn. tom. VIII, col. 480. Sermo 20, 2, 139. Wed. Sermo 29, 6, 187. Enarrat. in p.s. 44, 18, 504–5. Enarrat in p.s. 58, s. I, n. 13, col. 701. De continentia – n. 13–14, – opera omn. rom. VI, col. 357–58. Sermo 351, n. 5, col. 1541. Augustini – Sermo 352, 9, 1559. Wed. Enarrat. in p.s. 101, s. 1, n. 10, col. 1300–01. Sermo 352, n. 9, col. 1559–60. Sermo 352, n. 9, col. 1560. Wed. s. 20, no. 4, col. 140. Enarrat. in p.s. 65, n. 24, col. 801. "Aliquando Deus iratus dat, quod petis, et Deus propitius negat, quod petis." – Sermo 354, n. 7, col. 1567. Enarrat. in p.s. 85, n. 9, col. 1088. Enarrat. in p.s. 85, n. 8, col. 1087. Ibidem. n. 8–9, col. 1087–88. Enarrat. in p.s. 85, n. 8–9, col. 1088–89. Sn. Enarrat. in p.s. 21, s. II, n. 5, sol. 173. Sermo 354, n. 7, col. 1566–67. Sermo 80, n. 7, col. 498. In Joannis Evang. tract. 73, no. 1–3, col. 1824–25. De umitate Ecclesiae – n. 49, – opera omnia vol. IX, col. 429. Epistol. 140, no. 19, – opera omn. tom. II, col. 545–46. Sermo 80, n. 7, col. 498. Ibidem – col. 497–98. Sn. August. Epistola 130, n. 9, 13, 14, 23, 25, 26, 27, – opera omn. tom. II, col. 497–505. Sermo 80, n. 7, col. 497–98. Sn. Sermo 145, n. 6, col. 795. Sermo 354, n. 7, col. 1567. Sermo 80, n. 7, col. 498. “Happy is he,” writes the blessed one. Augustine to a certain rich widow, Proba, who has everything he desires, and who does not desire what he should not desire. If this is so, then pay attention to what people should desire (quae homines non indecenter velint). One wants to get married, another, having been widowed, wants to live in abstinence, the third, even being married, does not want to have cohabitation (concubitum). And although one is better than the other, we cannot, however, say that it would be undignified to pray for any of these. Thus, one can wish for children, the natural fruit of marriage, and, if they exist, pray for their life and health, which also applies to those who live in the abstinence of widowhood. Although, having abandoned marriage, such people no longer want to give birth to children, nevertheless, they want their children to be unharmed... But is it possible, in addition to this temporary health, to wish for themselves, as well as for their own, honors and power? Of course, you can pray to people about this, if only through it they can benefit those who are dependent on them, pray not for the sake of honors and power themselves, but for the sake of the good that can come from here. But one should not pray for the sake of empty vanity, for the sake of unnecessary and harmful luxury.” – See Augustini – Epist. 130, no. 11, 12, – opera omn. tom. II, col. 498. “Deus autem dare vult; Sed non dat, nisi petenti, ne det non capienti.” - Enarrat. in p.s. 102, no. 10, col. 1324. In Joannis Gospel. tract. 20, 3, 1557. Sermo 105, n. 1, 3, col. 619. Enarrat. in p.s. 144, no. 19, col. 1881. In Joannis Gospel. tract. 65, n. 2, col. 1809. Wed. S. 34, 8, 212. S. 336, 2, 1472. In Joannis Gospel. tract. 17, no. 8, 9, col. 1531–32. In Joannis Gospel. tract. 65, n. 1, col. 1808. Sermo 304, n. 2, col. 1395–96. See, for example, the very touching conversation of St. John Chrysostom on alms, works, part III, book. I, pp. 263–276; conversation about Elijah, - ibid., pp. 356–358; about Lazarus - word II, creative work. Part I, book. 2nd, pp. 797–799, – Russian. translation 1895 See also the conversation of St. Basil the Great to those who get rich, TV. Part IV, ed. in Russian lane 1892, pp. 93–112; a conversation spoken during drought and famine, - ibid, pp. 125–131, a conversation about mercy and judgment, – ibid, pp. 362–367 Augustini – S. 303, 1, 1394. Sn. S. 302, 8, 1389. Creation like in St. our father Gregory the Theologian - part 2, pp. 5–6, Moscow, 1843. See, for example, Augustini – Sermo 356, n. 10, col. 1578. Sermo 61, n. 13, col. 414. Wed. Sermo 66, no. 5, col. 433. See Sermo 60, n. 2–4, col. 403–404. Sermo 61, n. 7–8, col. 411–12. Sermo 61, n. 9, col. 412. For comparison, we present here an excellent and similar in thoughts reasoning about the same St. Basil the Great from his conversation on the words “take heed to yourself” (Deut. 15:9). “You are proud of your wealth,” says St. Vasily, - are you proud of your ancestors, do you admire the fatherland, the beauty of your body, the honors bestowed upon you by everyone? Take heed to yourself that you are mortal, that you are earth and will return to earth (Gen. 3:9). Look at those who lived in similar nobility before you. Where are those invested with civil power? where are the irresistible twists? where are the rulers of the festivities, the noble horse keepers, the military commanders, the satraps, the rulers? Isn't everything dust? aren't they all fables? Are not a small number of bones left as a monument to their life? Look into the coffins: can you tell who is the servant and who is the master, who is poor and who is rich? distinguish, if you have the opportunity, the prisoner from the king, the strong from the weak, the handsome from the ugly”... Creation. in Russian translation 1892, Part IV, pp. 40–41. See his conversation to console the sick, part IV, pp. 368–372. Sermo 61, n. 12, col. 413–14. Sermo 61, n. 12, col. 414. Sermo 38, n. 9, col. 240. “Divitiae seculares si desunt, non per mala opera quaerantur in mundo; si autem adsunt, per bona opera serventur in coelo.” – Augustini – Epis. 189, no. 7, col. 856, – opera omnia, volume II. Sermo 25, n. 8, col. 170–71. Wed. Sermo 60, n. 8, col. 406. S. 38, n. 9, col. 240. Sermo 210, n. 12, col. 1053. Sermo 239, n. 7, col. 1129–30. Sermo 39, no. 6, col. 248. Wed. Sermo 239, n. 3, 4, 5, 6, col. 1128–1129. Sermo 311, n. 15, col. 1419–20. Sermo 86, n. 3, 4, col. 524–25. Sermo 85, n. 5, col. 522. Sermo 41, n. 7, col. 251. In this case, the preacher calls winter the time of present earthly life, and summer the life of the next century. Enarrat. in p.s. 102, no. 13, col. 1327. Sermo 259, n. 5, col. 1200–1201. Sn. Sermo 9, no. 19, col. 89. Sermo 149, n. 15, col. 806. Sermo 39, no. 6, col. 243–44. “One cannot help but say that sometimes one has to see a proud poor man and a humble rich man. We meet people like this every day. You see the poor as if suffering from the rich, and as long as the latter oppresses him, so long do you see him humble. Sometimes even in this case you can see not his humility, but his pride. From this you can conclude what would have happened to him if he had not been poor. So, true poverty is in the soul, and not in the wallet” - (Ergo pauper Dei in animo, non in sacculo). - Enarrat. in p.s. 131, no. 26, col. 1727. Sermo 85, n. 2, 6, col. 521–23. Wed. Sermo 14, no. 4–8, col. 113–115. Enarrat. in p.s. 48, S. I, col. 545. Enarrat. in p.s. 51, no. 14, col. 609–610. Sermo 85, n. 7, col. 523. Sermo 311, n. 15, col. 1420. Sermo 177, n. 3, 6, col. 955–56. “Divitiae tuae Deus tuus; Quando intravit, ipse dilatavit.” – Sermo 177, n. 4, col. 955. Sermo 113, n. 4, col. 650. Wed. Sermo 50, n. 6, col. 328. "Hae sunt duae alae orationis, quibus volat ad Deum." – Sermo 205, n. 3, col. 1040. Wed. Sermo 42, n. 1, col. 252. Sermo 210, n. 12, col. 1053. Sermo 56, n. 14, col. 383–84. Sermo 315, n. 9, col. 1430–31. Sn. Sermo 49, n. 6, 10, 11, col. 323–26. Sermo 82, n. 3, col. 507. Enarrat. in p.s. 25, no. 3–4, col. 189–90. Sermo 90, no. 9, col. 564–65. Sn. Sermo 211, 6, 1057–58. Sermo 90, no. 10, col. 566. Sermo 357, n. 1, col. 1582. Sermo 58, n. 7, col. 396. Wed. Sermo 49, n. 8, col. 324. Sermo 114, n. 2–5, col. 652–54. Sermo 211, n. 3, col. 1055. Sn. Augustini – Epistola 189, n. 8, – opera omn. tom. II, col. 556–57. Sermo 211, n. 4, col. 1056. Sermo 211, n. 5, col. 1057. Sermo 83, 8, 518–19. Sn. Sermo 13, 9, 111. Sermo 82, n. 9–10, col. 510. Enarrat. in p.s. 102, no. 14, col. 1328–29. Contra adversarium legis et prophetarum – lib. I, n. 36, – opera omnia, volume VIII, col. 623. "Ut autem est continentiae felicitate mundi non credere: ita sustinentiae est infelicitati mundi non credere." – Sermo 38, n. 1, col. 235. Sermo 22, n. 3, col. 150. Enarrat. in p.s. 21, no. 5, col. 173. Sermo 38, n. 6, 7, 11, col. 237–41. Sermo 38, n. 6, col. 237–38. Sermo 38, n. 11, col. 241. Sermo 38, n. 3–4, col. 236–97. Sn. De patientia – cap. IX, – opera omn. tom. VI, col. 614–15. Sermo 5, n. 3, col. 54. Sn. Sermo 96, n. 3–4, col. 586. Sermo 284, n. 6, col. 1292–93. Sermo 96, n. 9, col. 588. Sn. Sermo 156, n. 7, col. 871. See S. 313, 1, 1433. See also S. 284, 2, 1289. Sermo 280, n. 1, col. 1281. "Sparsum est semen sanguinis, surrexit seges Ecclesiae." – Augustini – Sermo 22, 4, 151. Sermo 273, n. 9, col. 1252. Sermo 306, n. 10, col. 1405. Sermo 311, n. 1, col. 1414. Sermo 325, n. 1, col. 1447. Wed. Sermo 295, n. 8, col. 1352. Sermo 325, n. 1, col. 1448. See also Sermo 284, n. 6, col. 1293. Sermo 283, n. 4, col. 1288. See Augustini – Epistola 185, n. 12, – opera omnia, vol. II, col. 797. Sn. Contra Gaudentium Donatist episcopum – lib. I, n. 32, – opera omn. tom. IX, col. 725. Blessed Augustine speaks of the “circumcellions” as very rude and desperate people (genus hominum agreste et famosissimae audaciae). They not only committed terrible crimes against others, but did not spare themselves in their fanaticism, throwing themselves from cliffs, throwing themselves into fire or water. – Augustini – De haeresibus ad Quodvultdeum – LXIX, opera omn. tom. VIII, col. 43. For the origin and character of this wild and fanatical sect, see Ribbeck – “Donatus und Augustinus oder der erste entscheidende Kampf zwischen Separatismus und Kirche” – S. 121–126, Elbefeld, 1857. For the same see the work of the book. Evgeniy Trubetskoy “The religious and social ideal of Western Christianity in the 5th century,” part I, pp. 115–125, Moscow, 1892, as well as in the work of prof. Guerrier - “Blessed Augustine”, pp. 108, 448–480. See Augustini – Epistola ad Catholicos contra Donatistas, vulgo de unitate Ecclesiae – n. 50, – opera omn. tom. IX, col. 429–430. De haeresibus ad Quodvultdeum – LXIX – aliquando ut occidantur ab aliis, morten, nisi facerint, “comminantes”, – opera omnia, tom. VIII, col. 43. In his lectures on the history of the ancient church, the late Prof. V.V. Bolotov reports the following information about the circumcellions: “These were people who, under the pretext of supreme perfection, lagged behind, according to the review of the blessed one. Augustine, from all useful work. They came from the darkest, most base layer of the common people and usually did not understand any other language than Punic... With clubs in their hands, they wandered around the huts (circum cellas) and earned their food either by alms or by robbery. These clubs had a religious and symbolic meaning for them, and they called them “Israel” and carried them in memory of the rods that the Jews held in their hands when they ate Passover for the first time in Egypt. With such weapons, fanatical crowds represented a dangerous force in the political sense. For the time being, they declared themselves only with a wild desire for martyrdom. In the days of Augustine, if the pagans celebrated any holiday, the circumcellions attacked them with the hope, in which they were very rarely deceived, that they would be killed for their faith... Sometimes they attacked armed travelers and threateningly demanded that they kill them, and if they refused, they threatened to beat them to death with their clubs... Their violence, murders, and arson terrified all of Numidia and Mauritania... One bishop (cf. Augustini - Sermo 359, 8, 1596. Epistola 185, n. 30, col. 807), who voluntarily joined the Catholic Church, they cut out the tongue of another presbyter, they gouged out the eyes of another presbyter and cut off his fingers... finally, they blinded one presbyter with refined cruelty: they put quicklime on his eyes and poured vinegar on it. “Deo laudes” - the fighting slogan of the circumcellions - became more terrible for the villagers in Numidia than the roar of a lion." See Prof. V. V. Bolotov - Lectures on the history of the ancient church, vol. II, pp. 406–408. St. Petersburg, 1910. Sermo 328, n. 4, col. 1453. Wed. Enarrat. in p.s. 145, no. 15, col. 1894. De patientia – n. 5 – “Non enim sicut omnes, qui sciunt, sunt participes scientiae, ita omnes, qui patiuntur, sunt participes patientiae: sed qui passione recte utuntur, hi patientiae veritate laudantur, hi patientiae munere coronantur.” – Opera omnia, vol. VI, col. 613. Sn. Epistola – 93, n. 8, col. 325. Sermo 285, n. 2, col. 1293. Wed. Sermo 325, n. 2, col. 1448–49. Sermo 327, n. 1–2, col. 1450–51. Sermo 335, n. 2, col. 1470–71. Sermo 331, n. 5, col. 1461. Epistola 93, n. 7–8, – Opera omn. tom. II, col. 324–25. Sermo 282, n. 4, col. 1288. Enarrat. in p.s. 105, n. 13, col. 1411. Sermo 132, n. 3, col. 736. "Magnum opus, christianum opus ejunium." – Enarratio in ps. 86, no. 9, col. 1108. See Sermo 210, n. 5, 7, col. 1050–51. Sermo 205, n. 1, 2, col. 1039–40. Wed. Sermo 207, n. 2, col. 1043. Epistola 35, n. 27, – opera omn. tom. II, col. 217–218. See Augustini – De utilitate ejunii – n. 3, 5, – opera omn. tom. VI, col. 709–711. Sermo 207, n. 2, col. 1043–44. Sn. Sermo 208, n. 1, col. 1045. Serm. 209, no. 3, col. 1047. In Joannis Gospel. tract. 17, no. 4, col. 1529. Sermo 210, no. 9, col. 1052. Cn. Enarrat. in p.s. 42, 8, 482. Sermo 209, n. 1, col. 1046. Wed. S. 205, 3, 1040. S. 206, 3, 1042. S. 211, 1, 1054. Enarrat. in p.s. 98, no. 5, col. 1262. Sn. Sermo 198, 2, 1024–25. Sermo 196, 4, 1121. Sermo 354, n. 4, col. 1564. Wed. Augustini – De genesi ad litteram – lib. IX, n. 12, – opera omn. tom. III, I, col. 397. De sancta virginitate – n. 1, – opera omn. tom. VI, col. 397. Contra secundam Juliani responsionem imperfectum opus – lib. IV, cap. 122, – opera omn. tom. X, II, col. 1418. See Augustini – Contra secundam Juliani responsionem imperfectum opus – lib. V, cap. XXV, opera omn. tom. X, II, col. 1462–63. De continentia – n. 18, 22, – opera omn. tom. VI, col. 360–361. See August. – De haeresibus – cap. LXXXII, – opera omn. tom. VIII, col. 47–46. De nuptiis et concupiscentia – lib. II, n. 15, – opera omn. tom. I, I, col. 445. Retractat. – lib. II, cap. XXII, opera omn. tom. I, col. 639. Augustini – Retractat. lib. II, cap. XXII, col. 639. See In Joannis Evangel. tract. 13, 12, 1499. S. 354, 4, 1564. S. 343, 4, 507–8. See also Augustini – De peccatorum meritis et remissione – lib. I, n. 57, col. 112. De nuptiis et concupiscentia – lib. 1, n. 5, col. 416, – opera omn. tom. X, 1. De sancta virginitate – n. 7, – opera omn. tom. VI, col. 392. De gestis Pelagii – n. 29, opera omn. tom. X, 1, col. 337. Augustini – De bono conjugali – n. 25, – opera omn. tom. VI, col. 390. Augustini – De bono conjugali – n. 18, 19, col. 385–87, n. 27, col. 391. – Opera omn. tom. VI. Sn. De nuptiis et concupiscentia – n. 9–10, 14, col. 419–422. Retract. lib. II, cap. XXII, col. 639–40, – opera omn. tom. I. Sermo 354, n. 4–5, col. 1564–65. Wed. Enarrat. in p.s. 75, n. 16, col. 968. Enarrat. in p.s. 99.n. 13, col. 1280. De sancta virginitate – n. 18, col. 404, no. 53–54, col. 426–27, – opera omn. tom. VI. Sermo 354, n. 8–9, col. 1567–68. Wed. De bono conjugali – n. 28, 29, – opera omn. tom. VI, col. 392–93. Sermo 51, n. 21, col. 344. Sermo 51, n. 21, col. 345. See Sermo 9, n. 11–12, col. 83–84. Aimé Puch. – St. John Chrysostom and the customs of his time – pp. 107–108, transl. from French Izmailova, St. Petersburg, 1897. Wed. St. John Chrysostom. – Creations in Russian. lane – vol. III, pp. 209, 211, St. Petersburg, 1897. “The depravity of people has reached such a point that the one who is overcome by lust is considered a husband (man), and not the one who is the conqueror of it.” – August. Sermo 9, no. 12, col. 84. Sermo 9, no. 11–12, col. 83–84. Sn. Sermo 132, n. 2, col. 735–36. See prof. A. P. Lebedeva - “Church historical narratives of publicly accessible content and presentation” - p. 307, Moscow, 1900. Sermo 62, n. 7, col. 417. Sermo 62, n. 8, col. 418. Sermo 62, n. 11, col. 420. Sermo 62, n. 10, col. 409. See Augustini – Epist. 29, no. 2–3, col. 115. Epistola 22, n. 6, col. 92, – opera omn. tom. II. Sn. Sermo 252, n. 4, col. 1174. Enarrat. in p.s. 59, no. 15, col. 723. Due to the fact that the pagans converting to Christianity, out of old habit, were carried away by pagan sacrificial feasts, in contrast to this and in order to protect Christians from such a hobby, some heads of the church allowed believers to organize in basilicas and on the tombs of St. martyrs, on the days of their memory, special feast dinners (August. - Epist. 29, n. 9, col. 118), which were called “letizia” (Laetitia). Sermo 196, n. 4, col. 1020–21. "Strenae" - gifts that the pagans exchanged among themselves on New Year's Day (Calendae Januariae). By giving each other gifts, they expressed their mutual wish that the new year would bring happiness and wealth. Sweets were usually sent as if to express a wish that the new year would bring more joys and pleasures. – See Augustini – opera omn. tom. V, col. 2002. Wed. Lubker – Real Dictionary of Classical Antiquities – p. 1319, ed. classical society philology and pedagogy, St. Petersburg. 1883. Sermo 198, n. 2, col. 1024–25. See the conversations of St. John Chrysostom to the people of Antioch: IV–XIV, XVI, XIX, XX. - Creation. St. John Chrysostom in Russian translation 1896, part II, book. I, pp. 66–67, 80–83, 93–5, 101–2, 107–8, 117–118, 127–128, 136, 146–147, 154, etc. See, for example, Sermo 180, n. 1–4, col. 972–974. Sermo 180, 4, 974. – “I know that this question (about the oath) is difficult, and, I confess to your love, I have always tried to avoid it. Now, in the circumstance that on the present day of the Lord this passage was read before the sermon (from the epistle of St. Apostle James James 5:12), I saw an instruction from above to speak specifically about the oath. It pleases God that I talk to you about this, and that you listen...” Sermo 180, n. 3, col. 973–74. See also Enarrat. in p.s. 88. S. 1, n. 4, col. 1122. Enarrat. in p.s. 109, no. 17, col. 1459. Sermo 307, n. 4, col. 1407. Epistola 157, n. 40, – opera omn. tom. II, col. 693. Sermo 307, n. 5, col. 1407. See also S. 180, 10, 977. Sermo 308, n. 3, col. 1409. Ibidem - n. 4, col. 1409. Sermo 180, 10, 978. Sn. Epistola 126, n. 9–10, col. 480–81. Epistola 125, n. 3–4, col. 475–76, – opera omn. tom. II. De sermone Domini in monte – lib. I, n. 51, – opera omn. tom. III, 1, col. 1255. Expositio epistolae ad Galathas – n. 9, opera omn. tom. III, II, col. 2110–11. See prot. P. Ya. Svetlova - “The Idea of ​​the Kingdom of God.” - “Theologian.” Bulletin", 1903 January, countries. 6–8. Christianity places love as “the final and universal principle for resolving all possible issues... Like a lighthouse, love should serve as an eternal light for the Church throughout its historical voyage through the waves of world storms.” – See Art. prof. M. D. Muretova - “The New Testament song of love compared with Plato’s “Symposium” and “Song of Songs.” – “Theological Bulletin”, 1903, November, pp. 468–469. Böhringer – Aurelius Augustinus, Bischof von Hippo – II, S. 414. Stuttgart, 1878. Augustini – In Joannis Evangel. tract. 51, no. 13, col. 1768. Sermo 96, n. 9, col. 588. See, for example, Enarrat. in p.s. 90, S. II, n. 8, col. 1167. See, for example, Sermo 348, n. 1–2, col. 1526–27. Wed. Malevansky - “An Essay on Free Will.” – “Proceedings of the Kyiv Spirit. Academy", 1891, vol. III, p. 251. Archimandrite. Sergius “Teaching of the Blessed. Augustine on predestination in connection with the circumstances of his life and work." – “Readings in the Society of Lovers of Spiritual Enlightenment”, 1887, vol. II, part I, pp. 435, 490. Bindemann. – Der heilige Augustinus – B. III, 2, s. 421. Sermo 180, n. 4, col. 974. “Si quis autem provocaverit te ad jurationem, ut forte sic sibi existimet satisferi posse, si juraveris de illa re, quam putat te commisisse, aut fecisse, et forsitan non fecisti$ nec remaneat in illo malo suspicion, si juraveris tu, non sic peccas, quomodo ille, qui te provocaverit." – Sermo 308, n. 3, col. 1409. Ibidem - n. 10, col. 977–78. Sermo 211, 4, 1046. See also Sermo 83, 8, 518–19. “Non quia non debet facere, sed non ille incipiat superbire.” – Sermo 211, n. 4, col. 1056. See N.P. Kibardin. – “The system of pedagogy based on the works of the blessed one. Augustine,” page XXI, Kazan, 1911. See also Guerrier. – “Blessed Augustine”, page 592, Moscow, 1910. The whole meaning and purpose of the Christian life is blessed. Augustine expresses it in the following words: “Amor Dei usque ad contemptum sui.” – De civitate Dei – lib. XIV, cap. XXVIII, opera omn. tom. VII, col. 436. Panille, Wilg. Schmid, Nesselman, Behringer, Wilg. Tim, Filaret, Archbishop. Chernigovsky and others. See also Bulgakov - “Samples of Patristic and Russian Sermons”, p. 20, appendix. Kharkov, 1887 See the book by prof. M. M. Tareeva - “On issues of homiletics” - page 27. Holy Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius, 1903 Sermo 82, n. 15, col. 513. Sermo 46, n. 14, col. 278. Sermo 339, n. 1, 4, col. 1480–81. See Augustini – Epist. 21, n. 4, 6, – opera omn. tom. II, col. 89–90. Sermo 339, n. 3, col. 1481. Sermo 232, n. 8, col. 1112. See also S. 82, n. 15, col. 513. S. 101, n. 4, col. 607–8. Sermo 46, n. 14, col. 278. Sermo 73, n. 3, col. 471. Sermo 17, no. 2, col. 125. Sermo 82, n. 15, col. 514. See also Sermo 356, n. 15, col. 1581 – “Nolumus cum detriment vestro magnam habere mercedem. Minus ibi habeamus, et temen vobiscum ibi regnemus.” Sn. Sermo 355, n. 1, col. 1568–69. - “Vobiscum hic vivimus et propter vos vivimus: et invention votumque nostrum est, ut apud Christum vobiscum sine fine vivamus.” Sermo 340, n. 1, col. 1483–84. See also S. 46, n. 2, col. 271. Sermo 42, n. 3, col. 254. Probst – Katechese und Predigt – S. 285. Breslau, 1884. A. Govorov. - “The basic principle of church preaching and the subject and tasks of church eloquence arising from it.” – “Orthodox Interlocutor” – 1895, part 3, p. 359. Anthony, Archbishop of Finland and Vyborg. – “From the history of Christian preaching”, p. 26, ed. 2, St. Petersburg, 1895 Prof. Guerrier. - “The struggle for the unity of faith.” – See “Bulletin of Europe” for 1901, March, page 42. P. P. Sokolov. Faith. Psychological study. – page 13; n. p. 67, Moscow, 1902 Sermo 52, n. 15, col. 360. See also S. 244, n. 4, col. 1151. S. 127, n. 3, col. 708. Sermo 196, n. 1, col. 1019. De cathechisandis rudibus – n. 3, – opera omn. tom. VI, col. 311. Heaven. – Zur Geschichte d. Predigt – 1, S. 222, Wiesbaden, 1879. Sermo 319, n. 3, col. 1441. Sermo 51, n. 18, col. 343. Sermo 268, n. 1, col. 1232. Sermo 32, n. 12, col. 201. Enarrat. in p.s. 143, no. 1, col. 1856. Sermo 287, n. 4, col. 1308, Sermo 288, n. 5, col. 1308. Sermo 293, n. 1, col. 1328. Sermo 117, n. 13, col. 668–69. Sermo 288, n. 4, col. 1305. Sermo 114, n. 1, col. 652. Sermo 134, n. 1, col. 742–43. Sermo 23, 1, 155. See also S. 261, 2, 1302. Sermo 179, 7, 970. Enarrat. in p.s. 58, s. 2, n. 1, col. 706. Sermo 288, n. 3–4, col. 1304–5. Ibidem - n. 3, col. 1304. Bassermann. – Handbuch der geistlichen Beredsamkeit – S. 274. Stuttgart, 1895. “A sermon is practical if it meets the true and real needs of Christian life, internal and external, if it is such that it does not draw further conclusions, which the preacher invites the listeners themselves to draw, but directly captures their life as it is, guiding and directing it; if he demands good and punishes evil, if he has a certain influence on the feelings, thoughts, views, aspirations, character and actions of people, coordinating them with the commandments of God, with the spirit of the church and its teachings, if he removes obstacles standing in the way of this goal and indicates the means to achieve it...” Joseph Jungmann – Theorie der geistlichen Beredsamkeit 1 B. I, S. 104–105, – Freiburg in Breisgau, 1883. “Preaching,” says Prof. Tareev, is a modern and folk form of the word of God; it is the same word of God, but addressed to the life of a given time, a certain people, known listeners. The calling of the preacher is to translate the word of God into a language understandable to a certain circle of listeners, to always find that side of Christian teaching from which it is most useful and accessible to a certain flock, to give it an expression in which it responds to the needs of living people of a given time and place.” Prof. M. M. Tareev - On issues of homiletics, p. 106. Holy Trinity Lavra of Sergius, 1903 Wed. Archbishop Anthony (Khrapovitsky) – Complete collection. cit., vol. II, p. 391, St. Petersburg, 1911 Sermo 105, n. 13, col. 624. “Fuit hic homo quidam simplex, innocens, bene fidelis, a multis vestris, id est, Hipponensibus, imo ab omnibus cognitus, Tutuslymeni vocatus. Tutuslymeni quis vestrum non novit, qui cives estis?” – Sermo 308, n. 5, col. 1409. Sermo 308, n. 5, col. 1409–10. Sermo 286, n. 4, col. 1299. Sn. Confessions – lib. IX, cap. 7, – opera omn. tom. 1, col. 770. See also – De civitatate Dei – lib. XXII, cap. VIII, 2, – opera omn. tom. VII, col. 761. Wed. Ausonii Burdigalensis – Opera. Commemoratio professorum burdigalensium – XXII, pag. 59. Amsterdam, 1621. Based on these words, one can think that “Proscholus” stood at the entrance to the classroom and performed inspector duties, observing silence and order when entering the classroom. Sermo 178, n. 8, col. 964. Sermo 324, col. 1446. Here the blessed one calls his brother. Augustine Euodia in the spiritual sense. Anthony, Archbishop of Finland and Vyborg. – “From the history of Christian preaching”, p. 30. St. Petersburg, 1895, ed. 2nd. Prof. M. M. Tareev - “On issues of homiletics”, pp. 21–22. Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra, 1903 “Christian Science”, in Russian translation – book. IX, ch. LIX and LX, pp. 344–346. In lat. authentic De doctrina christiana – lib. IV, 59–60, – opera omn. tom. III, pars 1, col. 118. “Christ. science,” book. IV, ch. LXI, pp. 346–47. In lat. authentic – lib. IV, 61, col. 119. Enarrat. in p.s. 66, no. 10, col. 812. – “Saepe diximus charitati vestrae: et praedicare veritatem nihil est, sic or a lingua dissentiat; et audite veritatem nihil est, si non auditionem fructus sequitur.” Brömel – Homiletische Charakterbilder – S. 41, Berlin, 1869. Sn. Lesat – De oratore christiano apud sanct. Augustinum – pag. 78, 81. Parisiis 1871. Sermo 137, n. 14, col. 762. Sermo 51, n. 6, col. 337. Sermo 307, 5, 1407. Sermo 180, 10, 977. Sermo 61, 13, 414. Sermo 339, 3, 1581. Sermo 38, n. 18, col. 203. Sermo 179, n. 7, col. 970. Sermo 261, n. 2, col. 1203. Sermo 270, n. 1, col. 1237. Sermo 232, n. 8, col. 1111–12. See also S. 82, 14, 513. Sermo 72, 5, 469. Sermo 20, n. 4, col. 141. Sermo 29, 5, 187. Sermo 232, n. 8, col. 1112. Sermo 61, n. 13, col. 414. Sermo 323, n. 2, col. 1445. Wed. Sermo 17, 6, 127 – “Homo sum, par vester sum.” Sermo 244, col. 1151. See also Sermo 127, 4, 708. Sermo 196, 1, 1019. Sermo 265, 9, 1223. In Joannis Gospel. tract. 69, no. 2, col. 1816. Sermo 133, 4, 739. – “Unde invicem pro nobis oremus, et commune adjutorium partier exspectemus.” See also Sermo 244, 2, 1149. Sermo 52, n. 1, 3, col. 354–55. Sermo 153, n. 1, col. 826. Sermo 71, n. 1, col. 445. Sermo 43, 5, 256. Sermo 145, 1, 791. Sermo 51, 6, 336. Sermo 285, 9, 1223. Sermo 180, 4, 974. Enarrat. in p.s. 118. S. 32, 8, 1596. Sermo 52, 10, 358. Sermo 133, 1, 737. Sermo 277, 18, 1268. In Joannis Gospel. tract. 2, n. 16, col. 1396. In Joannis Gospel. tract. 9, no. 1, col. 1458. Sermo 244, 2, 1149. See also Sermo 133, 4, 739. In Joannis Evangel. tract. 53, 8, 1777. Enarrat. in p.s. 66, no. 10, col. 812. See also S. 311, 4, 1415. S. 178, 7, col. 964. Sermo 339, n. 1, col. 1480. Lutz – Handbuch der katholischen Kanzelberedsamkeit – s. 244, Tübingen, 1851. Enarrat. in p.s. 25, S. 2, n. 1, col. 188. Sermo 4, n. 20, col. 44. Enarrat. in p.s. 33, S. 2, n. 8, col. 312. Sermo 46, n. 1, col. 270. Enarrat. in p.s. 30, S. 3, n. 3, col. 248 and many more etc. Enarrat. in p.s. 146, no. 11, col. 1906. Sermo 1, 1, 23. Enarrat. in p.s. 30, S. 2, n. 14, col. 247. Enarrat. in p.s. 48, no. 17, col. 555 and many more etc. Enarrat. in p.s. 37, no. 24, col. 409. Sermo 22, 1, 148 and many more. etc. "Charissimi" - See Sermo 137, 1, 754. Sermo 71, 18, 453. Enarrat. in p.s. 88, S. 2, n. 13, col. 1141 etc. Sermo 117, n. 1, col. 661. Enarrat. in p.s. 113, 1, col. 1475. Sermo 128, n. 10, col. 718. Sermo 224, n. 2, col. 1694. Sermo 132, n. 4, col. 736. Sermo 330, no. 3, col. 1458. Sermo 82, n. 12, col. 512. Sermo 298, n. 2, col. 1365. Sermo 315, n. 9, col. 1430. Sermo 224, n. 3, col. 1095. Ibidem - n. 4, col. 1095. The words have the meaning that the Donatist schism owes its origin not to the modern Donatist preacher, but to their predecessors. Sermo 47, n. 17, col. 306. Sermo 164, n. 15, col. 902. Sermo 56, n. 14, col. 384. The speech is addressed to the Donatists and, in particular, to their clergy, whom Blessed. Augustine finds it possible to accept them into office. See August. Epist. 78, no. 8, – opera omn. tom. II, col. 271–72. At the Council of Hippo in 393, it was decided: Donatist clergy joining the church should be accepted in their degrees, namely those clerics for whom it can be proven that they did not rebaptize those passing over to them from the Catholic Church, and who turned to the church with their flock, “for the sake of salvation, which should not be denied to anyone, and due to the shortage of candidates for hierarchical positions noticed in Africa.” (propter salute, quae nulli deneganda est, tantum autem inopiae clericorum ordinandorum in Africa patiuntur Ecclesiae, ut quaedam loca omnino deserta sint). – See Migne – Patrolog. cursus compl. tom. XLIII, col. 806–7. Also in the Council of Carthage in 401 it was determined: Donatist clergy who have renounced their error should be accepted, at the discretion of the bishop of each region, if this will be useful for the world of Christians (si hoc paci christianae prodesse visum fuerit), to the extent to which they were appointed by their Donatist bishops. – Migne – Patrol. tom. XLIII, col. 809. Wed. Codex canonum Ecclesiae Africanae – titul. LXVIII, pag. 190–93, ed. Christoph. Justellus, Lutetiae Parisiorum – 1614. See also “Book of Rules of St. apostles, St. ecumenical and local councils,” – 79th local rule. Council of Carthage, pp. 213–215. Moscow, 1893 “Homo juste, sancta, homo sine macula et ruga” – Sermo 181, 7, col. 982. Sermo 294, n. 5, col. 1338. "Irrideamus flendos, et fleamus irridendos." – Sermo 46, n. 41, col. 294. In Joannis Gospel. tract. 13, no. 10, 11, col. 1497–98. "Si superbia discissionem parit, charitas unitatem." – Sermo 46, n. 18, col. 280. Enarrat. in p.s. 18, s. 1, n. 6, col. 160–61. See also Sermo 46, n. 14, col. 278. Sermo 46, n. 31, col. 288. In Joannis Gospel. tract. 7.n. 1, col. 1437. See also tract. 6, 1, 1425. Enarratio in ps. 88, s. 1, n. 29, col. 1131. In addition to these places, see also Enarrat. in p.s. 61, no. 1, col. 729. Sermo 315, n. 10, col. 1431. Enarrat. in p.s. 72, no. 34, col. 929. Enarrat. in p.s. 147, no. 23, col. 1920. Sermo 269, n. 1, col. 1234. Sermo 133, n. 6, col. 740. “Melius est enim nescire, quam errare: sed scire est melius, quam nescire.” – In Joannis Evangel. tract. 21, n. 1, col. 1564. Sermo 248, 4, 1160–61. Sermo 249, 3, 1162–63. Sermo 150, 3, 1166–67 et al. "Paulus", according to the explanation of Blessed. Augustine, the same as “parvus”, “modicus” - small, few, insignificant. – See Sermo 279, 5, 1278. S. 169, 5, 917–18. S. 168, 7, 914. We consider it useful to cite here the following reasoning of the recently deceased Russian homilet Prof. V.F. Pevnitsky: “A preacher is a living witness sent by God or called to the church, showing the people the path of salvation leading to the kingdom of heaven. He must carry out this work entrusted to him with all possible diligence, without deviating either on the right hand or the other. He was shown the central point in the teaching about the economy of our salvation - Jesus Christ, crucified for us, whom he should not lose sight of for a minute. From this point, like radii from the center, diverse combinations of different ideas, caused by the needs of the listeners and the needs of the time, should diverge to a distant circle. Before the gaze of the preacher, attentive to his duty, is a great treasury. Take from it what you want, and only know how to choose what is most necessary and useful for the circle of listeners to whom he addresses his words. He cannot exhaust the rich content contained in this treasury. But everything that the preacher says must have a greater or lesser connection with the word of the cross.” – Prof. V. F. Pevnitsky. – “Church eloquence and its basic laws”, p. 97. Kiev, 1906. Sermo 218, n. 15, col. 1087. Prof. V. F. Pevnitsky. – “Church eloquence and its basic laws”, p. 188. Kiev, 1906. See, for example, Sermo 336, 5, 1474. S. 332, 4, 1468. S. 67, 1, 433. See “Christian Science” - book IV, ch. 53, p. 335 – in Russian. translation Sermo 52, n. 3, col. 355. "Melior est fidelis ignorantia, quam temeraria scientia." – Sermo 27, 4, 179. Sermo 117, n. 6, col. 664–65. Sermo 23, n. 1, col. 155–56. Sermo 49, 2, 321. See also S. 132, 4, 736–37. Sermo 232, 8, 1111–12. Sermo 137, 15, 762. Sermo 349, 5, 1531–32. Sermo 355, n. 2, col. 1569–70. This was the name of the caftan that St. Augustine wore over other clothes. This type of caftan was also worn by the laity. See J. Bingham – Origins sive Antiquitates ecclesiasticae – tom. I, 2, pag. 419–20. Halae, 1824. Vetrinsky. – Monuments of the ancient Christian church or Christian antiquities. – vol. I, p. 418, St. Petersburg, 1829 Prof. Guerrier means by the word “byrrhum” a woolen or silk cassock worn on top in bad weather. – See op. his “Blessed Augustine”, p. 104. Moscow, 1910. This refers, undoubtedly, to the professorial service of St. Augustine. Sermo 356, n. 13, col. 1580. See “Christ. science" - book. IV, ch. 63, p. 353 – in Russian translation. 1835 Sermo 23, n. 1, col. 155. See V. F. Pevnichsky - “Church eloquence and its basic laws”, p. 104, Kiev, 1906. "Statui autem per sermones id agere, qui proferantur in populis, quas Graeci ὀμιλας vocant." - Enarrat. in p.s. 118. Prooemium, – col. 1501. See Lutz. – Haudbuch der katholischen Kanzelberedsamkeit – s. 851, Tübingen, 1851. Conrad Eraesti – Anleitung zur geistlichen Beredsamkeit – s. 182, Regensburg, 1881. Potorzhinsky – Samples of Russian church sermon of the 19th century – pp. 707–709. Kiev, 1882. Favorov - Guide to church interviews - page 144, Kiev, 1858. Enarrat. in p.s. 42, no. 2, col. 476. Sermo 166, n. 1, col. 907–8. Nebe – Zur Seschichte d. Predigt – I, S. 209, Wiesbaden, 1879. See Sermo 127; 128; 149, etc. “How soon the preacher,” writes Blessed. Augustine in his “Christian Science” will understand that he is completely understood, then it is necessary either to finish the teaching or move on to another subject... The best way (of preaching) is for the listener to listen to one thing true and completely understand what he heard. This goal has been achieved, then there is no need to work hard to teach widely and widely the known truth” - “Christian Science” - book. IV, ch. XXV, pp. 278–279. Russian translation, Kiev, 1835. Sermo 299, n. 12, col. 1376. Wed. Sermo 196, n. 4, col. 1020. Sermo 311, n. 5, col. 1415. Bassermann – Handbuch der christlichen Beredsamkeit – s. 270. Stuttgart, 1885. Possidius – Vita S. Aur. Augustini – cap. XV, col. 45–56. – Patrolog. Migne, series lat. tom. 52. Sermo 71, n. 8, col. 449. Böhringer – Aurel. August. Bischof von Hippo – I, s. 75. Enarrat. in p.s. 138, no. 1, col. 1784. This was the name of the semicircular niche located in ancient Christian basilicas with the seat of the bishop, in front of which stood the altar. See N. Krasnoseltsev - “On ancient Christian architecture.” – Orthodox. Sob. 1874, part 2, p. 310; Wed Martigny – Dictionnaire des antiquités chrétiennes – p. 6, Paris, 1865. Sermo 323, n. 3–4, col. 1446. Sermo 176, n. 1, col. 950. Prof. M. M. Tareev - “On issues of homiletics” - p. 171, Holy Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius, 1903. See Sermones - 85, 83, 72, 61, 100, 101, 128, 146, 167, 169, 115, etc. See Sermones - 85, 83, 72, 61, 128, 146, 167, 169, etc. In Joannis Gospel. tract. 5, n. 1, col. 1414. Sermo 183, 1, 988. See also Sermones 355; 356. In Joannis Evangel. tract. 4; 57; 68, etc. See, for example, Sermones 38, 62, 63, 82, 158, 165, 170, etc. See, for example, Sermo 355, 7, 1574. Sermo 348, 4, 1529. Sermo 274, col. 1253. Sermo 149, 15, 805–6. In Joannis Gospel. tract. 4, n. 6, col. 1413; tract. 18, no. 12, col. 1543; tract. 40, 11, 1692, etc. Sermo 135, n. 8, col. 750. Sermo 137, n. 15, col. 763. Sermo 238, n. 5, col. 1115. “Conversi ad Dominum Deum Patrem Omnipotentem, Ei, quantum potest parvitas nostra, maximas atque uberes gratias agamus: precantes toto animo singularem mansuetudinem Ejus, ut preces nostras in beneplacito suo exaudire dignetur; inimicum quoque a nostris actibus et cogitationibus sua virtute expellat, nobis multiplicet fidem, mentem gubernet, spirituals cogitationes concedat, et ad beatitudinem suam perducat: per Jesum Christum, Filium suum, Dominum nostrum. Qui cum Eo vivit et regnat in unitate Spiritus Sancti Deus, per omnia saecula saeculorum. Amen." – Sermo 34, n. 9, col. 213. See also S. 67, n. 10, col. 437. S. 183, n. 15, col. 994. S. 272, col. 1248, etc. At the end of conversation 362, this prayer is stated in this more concise form: “Conversi ad Dominum, ipsum deprecemur pro nobis et pro omni plebe sua astante nobiscum in atriis domus suae: quam custodire protegereque dignetur; per Jesum Christum Filium Ejus, Dominum nostrum, Qui cum Eo vivit et regnat in saecula saeculorum. Amen." – Sermo 362, n. 31, col. 1634. Apparently, this refers to the beginning of the preaching activity of Blessed Augustine, while still in the rank of presbyter, when listeners could treat his sermon with embarrassment and were not accustomed to seeing presbyters as preachers, since before Augustine this was not the custom in the African church. See Possidius – Vita Sancti Aur. August. – cap. V, col. 37. – Patrolog. Migne - tom. XXXII. Bishop of Carthage. Consequently, the conversation was delivered in Carthage. Sermo 111, n. 2, col. 643. In addition, at the end of the conversation on Psalm 80 one can also find “post verbum”, in which the preacher asks the listeners to gather the next day to honor the memory of St. Cyprian (ad mensam Cypriani). - Enarrat. in p.s. 80, col. 1046. “Christ. science" - book. IV, ch. XXIV, p. 275. “Christ. science" – ch. XXIV, p. 277; see also chap. XXII and XXIII, pp. 273–274. Sn. Enarrat. in p.s. 36, S. III, n. 6, col. 1644–45. See Lutz – Handbuch d. katholischen Kanzelberedsamkeit. – S. 243. Tübingen, 1851. About this inclination Blessed. Augustine is testified to dialectics by a certain Maximus of Madaurus, a pagan, a grammarian by profession. In his letter to the blessed Ipponite saint, Maxim writes that he is ready to enter into an argument with him if he puts aside the power of his eloquence. “But I ask you this, wisest man,” writes Maxim, “that by abandoning the power of eloquence for which you are known to everyone, abandoning the techniques of Chrysippus (Greek Stoic philosopher who lived in the 3rd century BC), pushing into the background dialectic, which through tricks tries to destroy any solid support, you actually prove who your God is, whom you Christians seem to believe his property..." - Epist. 16, no. 2, – Augustini – Opera omn. tom. II, col. 82. Sermo 27, n. 7, col. 182. See also Sermo 120, n. 2, col. 677. Sermo 119, 3, 674. Sermo 117, 6, 664. Sermo 71, 1, col. 445 and many more etc. Sermo 52, n. 16, col. 360. Bindemann – Der heilige Augustinus – B. I, S. 175–76. Sn. Jos. Jungmann – Theorie der geistlichen Beredsamkeit. Academische Vorlesungen, – B. II, s. 107, – Freiburg in Bresgau, 1884. Sermo 131, n. 5, col. 731. See also Sermo 52, 13, 359. Sermo 358, 4, 1588. Sermo 164, n. 3, col. 896. Sermo 99, 6, 598. Sermo 101, 9, 609. Sermo 169, 7, 919. See. also Sermo 101, 9, 669. Sermo 250, 3, 1167. Sermo 264, 4, 1214, etc. Sermo 52, n. 14, col. 359. See also Sermo 264, n. 4, col. 1214. Sermo 23, n. 2, col. 115. See, for example, Sermo 187, n. 1, col. 1001. Sermo 192, 1, 1011–12. Sermo 190, 4, 1009. Sermo 123, 5, 686. Sermo 184, n. 2–3, col. 996–97, etc. See Sermo 82, n. 14, col. 512. Sermo 224, 4, 1095. Sermo 249, 3, 1163, etc. Sermo 167, n. 4, col. 910. In the translation of this conversation, placed in the “Sunday Reading” (Year IX, pp. 311–12), the word “pestilentia” is rendered by the word “litigation.” “Litigation requires coin; give her two and let her leave.” See also – Enarrat. in p.s. 123, 10, 1646. Prof. P. P. Sokolov. - Faith. Psychological study, page 65. Moscow, 1902. In general, internal psychological experience constitutes the unique writing style of St. Augustine, who is recognized as “a virtuoso in introspection and introspection.” See Windelband - “History of Ancient Philosophy” with appendix: “Augustine and the Middle Ages”, p. 338, transl. edited by prof. A. I. Vvedensky, St. Petersburg. – 1893 In Joannis Gospel. tract. 101, n. 2, col. 1927. See also tract. I, n. 19, col. 1383. Sermo 278, n. 12, col. 1274. Sermo 177, n. 6, col. 956. Sermo 357, n. 4, col. 1584. Sn. Sermo 83, n. 3, col. 518. Sermo 117, n. 11–12, col. 667–68. Sermo 118, n. 2, col. 672–73. In Joannis Gospel. tract. 20, no. 15, col. 1563 etc. Sermo 117, n. 16, col. 670. Sermo 52, n. 19–21, col. 362–63. In Joannis Gospel. tract. 39, n. 5, col. 1684. See Enarrat. in p.s. 36, S. III, n. 6, col. 386. Wed. De doctrina christiana – IV, cap. VIII, no. 22, col. 99; cap. X, n. 24, col. 99–100; cap. XI, no. 26, col. 100–101. – August. opera omn. tom. III, p. I. Dupanloup. – Conversations on preaching as a pastoral ministry – p. 10, ed. ed. magazine "Wanderer", St. Petersburg, 1899. Enarrat. in p.s. 123, no. 8, col. 1645. As some point out - see Faniel - Pragmatische Gesch. – S. 793. Nebe – Zur Geschichte d. Predigt – I, s. 221, – Wiesbaden, 1879. “Christ. science" - book. IV, ch. XXIV, pp. 276–77; in Latin authentic – De doctrina christ. – lib. IV, 24, col. 99–100. Böhringer – Aur. August. Bischof von Hippo – I, s. 73. Schröckh – Christliche Geschichte – Theil 15, s. 336. Jos. Jungmann – Theorie der geistlichen Beredsamkeit. Acad. Vorlesungen – B. II, s. 107. See, for example, Sermo 184, n. 2, col. 996. Sermo 225, n. 3, col. 1097. Sermo 256, n. 1, col. 1190. Sermo 284, n. 2, col. 1289 etc. Lutz – Chrisostomus und die übrigen berühmt. kirchl. Redner – S. 45–46. Sermo 214, n. 4, col. 1068. “Et licet alius sit ille, alius iste; non tamen aliud est ille, aliud iste; Sed quod ille, hoc et iste. Non qui ille, hic et iste; Sed quod ille, hoc et iste.” – Sermo 140, n. 2, col. 774. Prof. Pevnitsky, “From the history of homiletics. The first, the most ancient homiletics" - page 16, Kiev, 1892. In his “Christian Science,” Blessed Augustine, pointing out a certain deficiency in St. writers of the beauty of speech that smooth and measured endings of periods give it, writes, among other things, the following: “just as in my own syllable I do not like to omit smooth and measured endings, where I consider it decent and not beyond the bounds of modesty, so, on the contrary, in the writings of inspired men I like more the fact that I very rarely find these endings in them” - book. IV, ch. XLI, pp. 309–311. Enarrat. in p.s. 85, n. 21, col. 1096. Sermo 34, n. 6, col. 211. Sermo 209, n. 3, col. 1047. Sermo 206, n. 3, col. 1042. Sermo 296, n. 10, col. 1358. Bindemann – Der heilige August. – B. II, s. 183. “Christ. science" - book. IV, ch. VII, pp. 249–50. “Christ. science", book. I, ch. XL, pp. 59–60. There - ch. XLI, page 61. Paniel. – Pragmatische Geschichte – S. 182. “Christ. science" - book. II, ch. XXII–XXIV, pp. 98–104. There - Ch. XLII–XLIV, XLV–XLVI, pp. 129–136. There - Ch. XLVII, pp. 136–137. There - Ch. XLVIII, p. 137. See Sermo 2, n. 7, col. 30. Sn. Sermo 80, n. 4, col. 556. Enarrat. in p.s. 30, III, n. 1, col. 248. See also Enarrat. in p.s. 58, II, n. 1, col. 854. In Joannis Evangel. tract. 50, no. 1, col. 1758. Enarrat. in p.s. 118. Prooemium, col. 1501. In Joannis Gospel. tractat. 18, no. 1, col. 1527. Sermo 5, n. 6–8, col. 57–59. Sermo 6, no. 3, col. 60. Sermo 7, 2, col. 63. More correct: “per cujus nominis prophetam” – Sermo 51, n. 31, col. 351–52. Blazh. Augustine does not identify the prophet Nathan with Nathan, the son of David. – See Retractationes – lib. II, cap. XVI, Augustini – opera omn. tom. 1, col. 637. Sermo 88, n. 9, col. 544. Luke 8:41–56; Matthew 9:18–25; Mark 5:22–43. Sermo 77, n. 8, col. 486. Cp. Sermo 78, n. 2, col. 491. Sermo 98, n. 3, col. 592. Sermo 98, n. 5, col. 593–94. Sermo 98, n. 6, col. 594–95. Sermo 101, n. 6, col. 608. Sermo 101, n. 7–9, col. 607–610. Sermo 125, n. 2–6, col. 689–694. Wed. In Joannis Gospel. tractat. 17, n. 1–3, col. 1527–28. Bassermann – Handbuch der geistlichen Beredsamkeit – S. 274. Stuttgart, 1885. Prof. V. F. Pevnitsky. – “Church eloquence and its basic laws” – page 114, Kyiv, 1906. See also prof. Barsov. – “The History of Primitive Christian Preaching” – page 248. St. Petersburg, 1885. Less inclined to allegory were, for the most part, the Antiochian preachers (See Pevnitsky - “Church Eloquence” - p. 116) and the most famous among them, St. John Chrysostom. Paniel – Pragmatische Geschichte d. christlichen Beredsamkeit und Homiletik – s. 740. See “Christ. science" - book. I, ch. 40; book III, ch. 9, 14, 18, 24, 32. Confession - book. VI, ch. 4, p. 130. See also Sermo 32, n. 6, col. 198. Sermo 89, n. 4, col. 556–57. In Joannis Gospel. tract. 17, n. 1, col. 1527. See Pevnitsky - “On the history of ancient Christian preaching.” – “Proceedings of the Kyiv Spirit. Academy", 1890, vol. II, p. 355. Sermo 125, n. 6, col. 693. Sermo 77, n. 11, col. 487. Sermo 105, n. 4, col. 620. Sermo 105, n. 5, col. 620. Sermo 105, n. 5–7, col. 620–21. “Christian Science” - book. II, ch. XXV, p. 104. “Christ. science,” pp. 104–106. “Christ. science" - book. II, ch. XXV, pp. 106–107. See In Joannis Evangel. tract. 17, n. 6, col. 1530. “Quia denarii merces additur quadragenario, et fit quinquagenarius. Quomodo est merces denarius? Non legistis, quia qui ad vineam conducti sunt, sive illi, qui prima, sive qui sexta, sive qui novissima hora, non potuerunt accipere nisi denarium (Matthew 20:1-10): justitiae nostrae cum addita fuerit merces ejus, in quinquagenario erimus,” Sermo 125, n. 9, col. 696. See also In Joannis Evangel. tractat. 17, n. 4–6, col. 1528–31. Sermo 125, n. 10, col. 696–97. Sermo 248, n. 4, col. 1161. See also S. 249, 3, 1162–63. S. 250, 3, 1167. S. 251, 5–7, 1170–71. In Joannis Gospel. tract. 122, 8, 1964. See prof. Pevnitsky - “St. Gregory Dvoeslov - his sermons and homiletical rules" - page 254. Kiev, 1871. The number “three,” for example, means the three Persons of the Holy One. Trinity (Sermo 105, 4, 620), then the three most important Christian virtues: faith, hope and love (ibid. - n. 5–7, col. 620–621), then, finally, three periods of time: pre-law, under law and under grace (Sermo 110, 1, 638), or, without having an independent meaning, it serves to find another needed preacher numbers (Sermo 252, n. 8, 1176). Sermo 125, 10, 697. In Joannis Evangel. tract. 17, 6, 1531, etc. Sermo 249, 3, 1163. Enarrat. in p.s. 89, 10, 1144. Lesat. – De oratore christiano apud sanctum Augustinum – pag. 76. Parisiis, 1871. See Barsov, prof. – “The History of Primitive Christian Preaching” – St. Petersburg, 1885, p. 199. Paniel. – Pragmatische Geschichte d. Christl. Beredsamkeit und Homiletik – s. 167, note. Prof. Barsova in the same work, p. 201. Epist. ad Pomp. contra Stephan. See Paniel - Pragmat. Gesch. – s. 230. See also Barsov - “History of the First Nations.” Christ sermons” – page 224. “It is necessary,” writes Cyprian, “for a bishop not only to teach, but also to learn, because “he teaches better who grows daily and succeeds in learning the best.” See Paniel - Pragmat. Gesch. – s. 230, Barsov - “History of the First World. Christ sermons", page 224. See Paniel. – Pragmatische Geschichte – s. 230–31. Lesat – De oratore christiano apud sanctum Augustinum – pag. 70–71. Parisiis. See Alfred Krauss – Lehrbuch der praktischen Theologie – B. 1, s. 218. Freiburg 1890. Sn. his – Lehrbuch der Homiletik – s. 77, Gotha 1883. Although the essay “De catechisandis rudibus” does not mean church preaching in the narrow sense of the word, but refers to the proclamation or instruction in the truths of the faith of those who wish to accept the Christian faith, however, in view of the fact that church preaching and catechetical preaching, being varieties of the same preaching service in the broad sense of the word or apostolic ministry, are closely related to one another and have much in common with each other, We recognize the need to give space in our study to a review of the content of both works. August. Retractat. – lib. II, cap. IV, 1, – Opera omn. tom. I, col. 631. August. Retractat. – lib. II, cap. IV, 1, – Opera omn. tom. I, col. 531. Cp. “Admonitio in libros De doctrina christiana” – pag. 14–15. – August. Opera omn. tom. III, p. 1. See also Krauss – Lehrbuch der praktisch. Theologie – B. 1, s. 218. Pevnitsky - “From the history of homiletics.” The first, the most ancient homiletics, pp. 6–7, Kiev, 1892. “Christian Science” - (in Russian translation) - book. I, ch. I, p. 13; in Lat. vile De doctrina christiana – lib. 1, cap. 1, – opera omn. tom. III, 1, col. 19. “Christ. science" - book. I, ch. XL, pp. 59–60. De doctr. christ. lib. I, cap. XXXVI, 40, col. 34. “Christ. science" - book. I, ch. 41, p. 61. De doctr. christ. lib. I, cap. XXXVI, 41, col. 34. “Christ. science" - book. III, ch. II, p. 163; in Lat. vile lib. III, cap. 1, 2, col. 65. “Christ. science" - book. I, ch. XLIV, pp. 64–65; in lat. original – lib. 1, cap. XL, 44, col. 36. “Christ. science", book. II, ch. IX–XI, pp. 76–80; in lat. vile lib. II, cap. XI, 9–11, col. 39–40. "Ut ad obscuriores locutions illustrandas de manifestioribus sumamtur exempla, et quaedam certarum sententiarum testimonia dubitationem incertis auferant." – De doctrina christ. lib. II, cap. IX, 14, col. 42; in Russian lane book II, ch. 14, p. 35. See also book. III, ch. XXXVIII, pp. 206–7; in lat. vile lib. III, cap. XXVII, 38, col. 80. De doctr. christ. lib. II, cap. XI, 16, col. 42; in Russian translation “Christ. science" - book. II, ch. 16, p. 87. “Christ. science" - book. II, ch. 24, pp. 102–104, in lat. vile lib. II, cap. XVI, 24, col. 47. There is also a book. II, ch. XXVI–XXVIII, pp. 107–110, in lat. vile lib. II, cap. XVI, 26, col. 48–49. There - Ch. XXXIX, pp. 126–127; in lat. under. lib. II, cap. XXV, 39, col. 51. There - Ch. XXXIX–XL, pp. 127–128; in lat. vile lib. II, cap. XXV–XXVI, 39–40, col. 54–55. There - Ch. XLII–XLIV, pp. 129–132; in lat. vile lib. II, cap. XXVIII, col. 55–56. “Christ. science" – ch. XLV, pp. 132–133; in lat. vile lib. II, cap. XXIX, col. 56–57. There - Ch. XLVI–LVI, pp. 134–148; in Lat. vile lib. II, cap. XXIX–LVIII, col. 57–61. There is also a book. II, ch. LVIII, p. 150; in lat. vile lib. II, cap. XXXIX, col. 62. “...pagan sciences,” writes Blessed Augustine, “contain not only empty and superstitious fictions... but also contain noble knowledge, very beneficial truths, they also contain some moral rules that are very beneficial and a considerable number of truths related to the veneration of the one God...” - “Christian Science” - book. II, ch. LX, pp. 154–154; in Lat. vile lib. II, cap. XL, col. 63. Christ. science - book. II, ch. LXIII, p. 159, in lat. vile lib. II, cap. LXII, col. 64–65. Christ. science - book. II, ch. 25, p. 107; De doctr. christ. lib. II, cap. XVI, 25, col. 48. – “Numerorum etiam imperitia multa facit non intelligi, translate ac mystice posita in scripturis.” Christ. science - book. III, ch. IX, p. 172; De doctr. christ. lib. III, cap. V, 9, col. 68–69. There - Ch. XIV, p. 179; in Lat. lib. III, cap. X, 14, col. 71. “Demonstrandus est igitur prius modus inveniendae locutionis, propria ne an figurate sit. Et iste omnino modus est, ut quidquid in sermone divino neque ad morum honestatem, neque ad fidei veritatem proprie referri potest, figuratum esse cognoscas. Morum honestas ad diligendum Deum et proximum, fidei veritas ad cognoscendum Deum et proximum pertinet." – De doctr. christ. – lib. III, cap. X, 14, col. 71. Christ. science - book. III, ch. 24, p. 190. De doctr. christ. lib. III, cap. XV, 24, col. 74. See also - book. III, ch. XVIII, pp. 182–84; in lat. vile – lib. III, cap. XII, 18, col. 72–3. There - Ch. XXXII, p. 200; De doctr. christ. lib. III, XXII, 32, col. 78. There - Ch. XX, p. 187; De doctr. christ. lib. III, cap. XII, 20, col. 73. There - Ch. XX, p. 186, ch. XXVI, p. 193; De doctr. christ. lib. III, cap. XII, 20, col. 73, cap. XVIII, 26, col. 75. There is also a book. III, ch. XXVI, p. 194; De doctr. christ. lib. III, cap. XVIII, 26, col. 76. There - Ch. XXI, pp. 187–188; De doctr. christ. – lib. III, cap. XIII, 21, col. 74. Christ. science - ch. XXVII, p. 194. De doctr. christ. lib. III, cap. XVIII, 27, col. 76. There - ch. XXXIII, page 201. De doctr. christ. lib. III, cap. XXII, 3, col. 78. There is also a book. III, ch. XXXIII, page 201. De doctr. christ. lib. III, cap. XXIII, 33, col. 78. "Sciam autem literati modis omnibus locutionis, quos grammatici graeco nomine tropos vocant, auctores nostros usos fuisse." – De doctr. christ. lib. III, cap. XXIX, 40, col. 80, in Russian translation. “Christ. science" - book. III, ch. 40, p. 280. There is also a book. III, ch. XLI, p. 211; De doctr. christ. lib. III, cap. XXIX, 41, col. 81. There is also a book. III, ch. LVI, p. 236; in lat. vile lib. III, cap. XXXVII, 56, col. 88. There is also a book. III, ch. 56, pp. 237–238; in lat. authentic lib. III, cap. 37, 56, col. 89–90. There is also a book. IV, ch. II, p. 240; in lat. vile lib. IV, cap. 1, 2, col. 89. Christ. science - book. IV, ch. III, pp. 240–241; in lat. vile lib. IV, cap. II, 3, col. 89–90. There is also a book. IV, ch. IV, 243; in lat. vile lib. IV, cap. III, 4, col. 90. There is also a book. IV, ch. IV, p. 243; in lat. vile lib. IV, cap. III, 4, col. 90. See also – Ch. VIII, p. 251; according to the original cap. V, col. 92. Christ. science - book. IV, ch. V, pp. 245–246; in lat. vile lib. IV, cap. III, 5, col. 91. Christ. science - book. IV, ch. IV, p. 243; in lat. vile lib. IV, cap. III, 4, col. 90. Christ. science - book. IV, ch. IV, pp. 243–44; in lat. vile lib. IV, cap. III, 4, col. 90. See Cicero. – De oratore – lib. III, cap. XXII, pag. 201–202, lib. II, cap. LXXV, pag. 160, lib. II, cap. LXXXV, pag. 170–172, – Lipsiae, 1827. See also M. Fabii Quintiliani – De institutione oratoria – lib. XII, cap. II, pag. 299, Lipsiae, 1829. Christ. science - book. IV, ch. VII, pp. 248–49; in lat. authentic – lib. IV, cap. V, 7, col. 91–92. “A person who is abundant and strong in violent and reckless floridation should be all the more feared that the listener likes him even when he talks about subjects that are completely unworthy of listening: since he always speaks eloquently, the listener thinks that he always speaks truly and wisely.” – Christian Science – book. IV, ch. VII, p. 248; n. Ch. XXX, p. 286; in lat. vile – lib. IV, cap. V, 7, col. 91–92: cap. XIV, 30, col. 102. Christ. science - ch. VIII, p. 251; in lat. vile lib. IV, cap. V, 8, col. 92. Christ. science, - book. IV, ch. VII, p. 249; in lat. vile lib. IV, cap. V, 7, col. 92. Ibid., page 250. Original in lat. – lib. IV, cap. V, 8, col. 92. There, - Ch. IX, p. 252, in lat. vile lib. IV, cap. VI, 9, col. 93. Ibid., page 253. In lat. vile lib. IV, cap. VI, 9, col. 93. There - Ch. X, p. 254. Original. lib. IV, cap. VI, 10, col. 93. Rom.5:3-5; 2 Corinthians 11:16–30; Am.6:1–6. St. Augustine, after completing his education and before his baptism, was a teacher of eloquence. See Introduction. From the history of homiletics. The first, the most ancient homiletics. – Prof. V. F. Pevnitsky. Kiev, 1892, pp. 16–17. Prof. Pevnitsky. – From the history of homiletics. The first, the most ancient homiletics, - page 20. Christ. science - book. IV, ch. 21, pp. 271–272; in lat. vile lib. IV, cap. VII, 21, col. 98. Christ. science - ch. XXII, pp. 272–273. In lat. authentic – lib. IV, cap. VIII, 22, col. 98. Ibid., page 273. De doctr. christ. lib. IV, cap. VIII, 22, col. 99. There, - Ch. XXIII, p. 274; in lat. vile cap. IX, 23, col. 99. Christ. science, - book. IV, ch. XXIII, p. 275; in Lat. vile lib. IV, cap. IX, 23, col. 99. Christ. science, - ch. XXIV, pp. 276–77; in lat. vile lib. IV, X, 24, col. 99–100. There, - Ch. XXIV, p. 280; in lat. vile lib. IV, cap. XI, 26, col. 100–101. Christ. science - book. IV, ch. XXIV, p. 277; in lat. vile lib. IV, cap. X, 24, col. 100. See also ch. LXI, p. 349; according to the original lib. IV, cap. XXVIII, 61, col. 119. There, - Ch. XXV, p. 277, according to Lat. vile cap. X, 25, col. 100. "Tria sunt item, quae praestare debet orator, ut doceat, moneat, declectet." – M. Fabii Quintiliani – “De institutione oratoria” – lib. III, cap. V, pag. 136, Lipsiae, 1829. Sn. Ciceronis – “De oratore” – lib. II, cap. XXIX, pag. 109, Lipsiae, 1827. Christ. science - book. IV, ch. XXVII, p. 281; in lat. authentic lib. IX, cap. XII, 27, col. 101. "Et quoniam, quod saepe jam dixi, tribus rebus homines ad nostrum sententiam perducimus, aut docendo, aut conciliando, aut permovendo, una ex tribus his rebus res prae nobis est ferenda, ut nihil aliud nisi docere velle videamur." – Ciceronis – “De oratore” – lib. II, cap. LXXVII, pag. 161, Lipsiae, 1827. Christ. science. - book IV, ch. XXVII, XXVIII, pp. 281–84; in lat. authentic lib. IV, cap. XII, 27, 28, col. 101. There is also a book. IV, ch. XXVII, page 281. De doctrina christ. lib. IV, cap. XII, col. 101. The purpose of persuasion is to induce the listener to act, but to please is necessary in order “to keep him while listening.” – See “Christ.” science". - book IV, ch. XXVII, p. 282; in Lat. vile – lib. IV, cap. XII, 27, col. 101. There, - book. IV, ch. XXVIII, pp. 283–284; in lat. vile lib. IV, cap. XII, 28, 101. Ibid., page 282; in lat. authentic cap. XIII, 29, col. 101–102. Ibid., p. 285; in lat. authentic cap. XIII, 29, col. 102. Christ. science, - ch. XXX, pp. 286–287; in lat. authentic cap. XIV, 30, col. 102. In the original "bona". – See lib. IV, cap. XIV, 31, col. 102. Christ. science - book. IV, ch. XXXI, p. 287. There is also a book. IV, ch. XXXII, p. 289; in lat. vile lib. IV, cap. XV, 32, col. 103. Christ. science - book. IV, ch. XXXII, 289–91; in lat. authentic lib. IV, cap. XV, 32, col. 103. See, for example, Acts 20:28, n. Eph.4:11. Chris. science - book. IV, ch. XXXIII, p. 292; in lat. authentic lib. IV, cap. XVI, 33, 103. There is also a book. IV, ch. XXXIII, pp. 293–94; in lat. authentic lib. IV, cap. XVI, 33, 103. Ciceronis – “Orator” – cap. XXIII, XXVII, XXVIII, XXIX, pag. 364–372, – Lipsiae, 1827. Christ. science - book. IV, ch. XXXIV, p. 294; in lat. vile lib. IV, cap. XVII, 34, col. 104. Prof. V. F. Pevnitsky. From the history of homiletics. The first, most ancient homiletics – page 34. "Is erit igitur eloquens, ut idem illud iteremus, qui poterit parva summisse, modica temperate, magna graviter dicere." – Cictronis “Orator”, cap. XXIX, pag. 371, Lipsiae, 1827. Christ. science - book. IV, ch. XXXIV, p. 295; in lat. vile lib. IV, XVII, 84, col. 105. – “Is enim igitur eloquens, qui ut doceat, poterit parva submisse; ut delectet, modica temperate; ut flectet, magna granditer dicere.” Christ. science - book. IV, ch. XXXV, pp. 296–97; XXXVII, pp. 298–300; in lat. vile lib. IV, cap. XVIII, 35, col. 105; n. cap. XVIII, 37, col. 106. Christ. science - book. IV, cap. XXXVIII, pp. 300–301; in lat. authentic lib. IV, cap. XIX, 38, col. 106. There - Ch. XXXVIII, pp. 301–302; in lat. authentic – cap. XIX, 38, col. 106. Christ. science - book. IV, ch. XXXVIII, p. 302; in lat. authentic lib. IV, cap. XIX, 38, col. 106–107. See chap. XXXIV, p. 295; Ch. XXXVIII, pp. 300–301; in lat. authentic cap. XVII, 34, col. 105, cap. XVIII, 38, col. 106. Christ. science - book. IV, ch. IV, p. 337; in lat. vile lib. IV, cap. XXV, 55, col. 116. Ibid – pp. 338–39; in lat. vile cap. XXV, 55, col. 116–117. Christ. science - book. IV, ch. LI, 330; in lat. vile lib. IV, cap. XXII, 51, col. 114. Ibid – p. 331; in lat. authentic lib. IV, cap. XXII, 51, col. 114–115. Christ. science - book. IV, ch. LII, p. 332; in lat. authentic lib. IV, cap. XXIII, 52, col. 115. Christ. science - book. IV, ch. LII, p. 333; in lat. authentic lib. IV, cap. XXIII, 52, col. 115. Christ. science - book. IV, ch. XXXII, p. 289. Sn. Ch. LVI, p. 340; in lat. authentic lib. IV, cap. XV, 32, col. 103, cap. XXVI, 56, col. 117. There - Ch. 56, pp. 340–341; in lat. vile lib. IV, cap. XXVI, 56, col. 117. Ibid – pp. 341–342; in lat. vile lib. IV, cap. XXVI, 56, col. 117. There, - Ch. 57, p. 343; in lat. vile cap. XXVI, 57, col. 118. There, - Ch. 58, p. 344; in lat. vile lib. IV, cap. XXVI, 58, col. 118. Pevnitsky V.F. – From the history of homiletics. The first, the most ancient homiletics, - page 37. Christ. science - book. IV, ch. 39, pp. 304–305; in lat. vile lib. IV, cap. XX, 39, col. 107. There - Ch. 41, p. 309; in lat. vile lib. IV, cap. XX, 41, col. 108. Ibid – p. 311; in lat. vile lib. IV, cap. XX, 41, col. 109. – “Sicut in meo eloquio, quantum modeste fieri arbitror, ​​non praemitto istos numeros clausularum; ita in auctoribus nostris hoc mihi plus placet, quod ibi eos rarissime invenio.” See Pevnitsky V.F. - “From the history of homiletics. The first, the most ancient homiletics,” page 40. Christ. science - book. IV, ch. 59, p. 344; in lat. vile lib. IV, cap. XXVII, 59, col. 118. There - Ch. 60, p. 346; in lat. vile cap. XXVI, 60, col. 118–119. There - Ch. 61, p. 347; in lat. vile cap. XXVIII, 61, col. 119. Ibid – p. 349; in lat. vile cap. XXIX, col. 119. There - Ch. 62, p. 350; in lat. vile cap. XXIX, col. 119–120. One might think that in the society contemporary to Blessed Augustine there were people who were unfavorably disposed towards the delivery of other people’s sermons, and many, perhaps, were embarrassed to use such sermons, fearing the reproach of appropriating someone else’s property. And here the same thing could have happened that took place in the east during the time of Chrysostom. According to the latter, the educated society of his time was very demanding in relation to the preacher. “If one of the speakers happens to add to his words any part of the works of others, then he will be subject to greater reproaches than the thieves of other people’s property. But what am I saying about other people's works? Often he cannot use his own writings either.” – See word V, “On the priesthood” – (Creative part I, book 2, p. 453. St. Petersburg, 1895). Christ. science, ch. 62, p. 350; in lat. vile cap. XXIX, 62, col. 120 – “Verbum autem Dei non est ab eis alienum, qui obtemperant ei.” Christ. science, - ch. 62, pp. 351–352; in lat. vile cap. XXIX, 62, col. 120. Ibid., page 352; in lat. vile cap. XXIX, 62, col. 120. Christ. science, - book. IV, ch. 32, pp. 289–290. Christ. science, - book. IV, ch. 63, p. 353; in lat. vile lib. IV, cap. XXX, 63, col. 120. Ibid., pp. 353–354. “Illi vero.” qui ea dicturi sunt, quae ab aliis acceperunt, et antequam accipiant, orent pro eis, a quibus accipiunt, ut eis detur, quod per eos accipere volunt; et cum acceperint, orent, ut bene et ipsi proferant, et illi, ad quos proferant, sumant.” – De doctr. christ. lib. IV, cap. XXX, 63, col. 120. Christ. science, - page 354. “From the history of homiletics. The first, the most ancient homiletics”, p. 25. Christ. science, - book. IV, ch. IV–V, pp. 242–246; in lat. vile lib. IV, cap. III, 4–5, col. 90–91. Prof. Pevnitsky. – “From the history of homiletics. The first, the most ancient homiletics”, p. 47. An incomplete translation of this work was published in Christian Reading for 1844 (Part 3, pp. 3–77). The word “rudis” is understood by some in this case to mean religious ignorance or unfamiliarity with the truths of the faith of Christ (Bindemann - Der heilige Augustinus - B. III, 2, s. 690. Greifswald, 1869). Such an understanding can hardly be rejected if we take into account that in his work Blessed. Augustine also gives instructions on how to publicize educated people (see cap. VIII, 12; cap. IX, 13). Prof. Pevnitsky understands “rudis” in its own, literal sense as “simple”, “uneducated”, and translates the words “De cathechisandis rudibus” in the title of the book: “about the announcement of ordinary people”. – See his article – “Arelat Preachers” (V-VI centuries) – “Works of the Kyiv Spirit. Academy", 1870, vol. I, p. 637. De cathechisandis rudibus – cap. I, col. 310–311. – Augustini – opera omn. tom. VI. "Eaque te necessitate fuisse compulsum, ut ea me, quam tibi debeo charitate compelleres, ne gravarer inter occupationes meas tibi de hac re aliquid scribere." – De cathechisandis rudibus – cap. I, col. 311. Ibidem – cap. I, n. 2, col. 311. "Fieri enim potest, ut ei, quem instruebas, non ita sit visum, sed quia aliquid melius audire desiderabas, eo tibi, quod dicebas videretur indignum auribus aliorum." – Ibidem – cap. II, 3, col. 311. De cathechisandis rudibus – cap. II, no. 3–4, col. 311–12. De cathechisandis rudibus – cap. III, 5, col. 313. Ibidem – cap. IV, no. 7, col. 314. De cathech. rudibus – cap. IV, 8, col. 315. Ibidem – cap. V, 9, col. 316. De catechis. rudibus – cap. V, 9, col. 316. De catechis. rudibus – cap. V, 9, col. 316–17. "Rarissime quippe accidit, imo vere nunquam, ut quisquam veniat volens fieri christianus, qui non sit aliquot Dei timore perculsus." – De cathechis. rudibus – cap. V, 9, col. 316–17. Ibidem – cap. VI, 10, col. 317. De catechis. rudibus – cap. VI, 10, col. 317. Ibidem – cap. VII, 11, col. 318. De catechis. rudibus – cap. VII, 11, col. 318. Ibidem – cap. VIII, 12, col. 318–319. Ibidem – cap. VIII, 12, col. 318. De catechis. rudibus – cap. IX, 13, col. 320. De catechis. rudibus – cap. IX, 13, 320. “Totum enim, quod intelligo, volo ut qui me audit intelligat; et sentio me non ita loqui, ut hoc efficiam.” – De cathechis. rudibus – cap. II, 3, col. 311. "Magis nos delectate et tenet, quod in silentio mente cernimus, nec inde volumus avocari ad verborum longe disparem strepitum." – Ibidem – cap. X, 14, col. 321. De catechis. rudibus – cap. X, 15, col. 322. Ibidem – cap. X, 15, col. 322. "Si enim intellectus delectat in penetralibus sincerissimis, hoc enim intelligere delectat, quomodo charitas, quanto officiosius descendit in infima, tanto robustius recurrit in intima per bonam conscientiam nihil quaerendi ab eis, ad quos descendit, praeter eorum sempiternam salutem." – Ibidem. De cathech. rudibus – cap. X, 14, 321; n. cap. XI, 16, 322. De catechis. rudibus – cap. XI, 16, col. 323. Ibidem – cap. X, 14, 321; n. cap. XII, 17, 324. Ibidem – cap. XII, 17, 324. De catechis. rudibus – cap. XII, 17, col. 324. Ibidem – cap. XIII, 18, 324; n. cap. X, 14, 321. Ibidem – cap. XIII, 18, 325. Ibidem – “Magisque pro illo ad Deum, quam illi de Deo multa dicenda.” De catechis. rudibus – cap. XIII, 19, 325. Ibidem. - “Expertus hoc dico: nam fecit hoc quidam, cum eum catechisarem, homo rusticanus, unde magnopere praecavendum esse didici.” De catechis. rudibus – cap. XIII, 19, 326. Ibidem. – cap. X, 14, 321; n. cap. XIV, 20, 326. De catechis. rudibus – cap. XIV, 20, 326. "Nemo enim melius ordinat, quid agat, nisi qui paratior est non agere, quod divina potestate prohibetur." – Ibidem. De catechis. rudibus – cap. X, 14, 321: n. cap. XIV, 21, 326. "Sicut solent lucrorum gaudia dolorem lenire damnorum." – Ibidem. – cap. XIV, 21, 326. “Sicut ergo si pericliteremur incendo, ad aquam utique curreremus, qua posset exstingui, et gratularemur, si quis eam de proximo offeret; ita si de nostro feno aliqua peccati flamma surrexit, et propterea conturba mur, data occasione misericordissimi operus, tanquam de oblaio fonte gaudeamus, ut inde illud, quod exarserat, opprimatur.” – Ibidem – cap. XIV, 22, col. 327. Ibidem. – cap. XIV, 22, col. 327. De catechis. rudibus – cap. XV, 33, col. 328. "Quamobrem si quid tibi in nobis placuit, ut aliquam observationem sermonis tui in nobis audire quaereres, melius videndo et audiendo nos cum haec agimus, quam legend cum haec dictamus, edisceres." - De cathech. rudibus – cap. XV, 23, col. 328. Ibidem – cap. XVI, 24, 329. De catechis. rudibus – cap. XVI, 24, 329. "...et qui in popuna Paulo ante cantabant, jam planctus carceris somniant." - De cathech. rudibus – cap. XVI, 25, 329. De catechis. rudibus – cap. XVI, 25, 329. Ibidem – cap. XVII, 25, 330. De catechis. rudibus – cap. XVII, 27, 331. Ibidem – cap. XVII, 28, 331. De catechis. rudibus – cap. XVIII, 29, 332. Ibidem – cap. XVIII, 30, 332–33. De cathech. rudibus – col. 333. Ibidem. – cap. XIX, 31, 333. Ibidem. – cap. XIX, 32, 334. De cathech. rudibus – cap. XIX, 33, 334. "Omnes sancti qui ante Domini nostril Jesu Christi nativitatem in terris fuerunt, quamvis ante nati sunt, tamen universo corpori, cujus ille caput est, sub capite cohaeserunt." – De cathechis. rudibus – cap. XIX, 33, 335. "Cujus passionis et crucis signo in fronte hodie tanquam in poste signandus es, omnesque christiani signatur." – De cathechis. rudibus – cap. XX, 34, 335. Ibidem. – cap. XX, 35, 336. De catechis. rudibus – cap. XX, 35, 336. Ibidem. – cap. XX, 36, 336. De cathech. rudibus – cap. XXI, 37, 337–38. "Omnibus tamen praecipitur servire humanis potestatibus atque terrenis, quousque post tempus praefinitum, quod significant septuaginta anni, ab istius saeculi confusion tanquam de captivitate Babyloniae, sicut Jerusalem liberetur Ecclesia." – Ibidem – cap. XXI, 37, 337. Sn. cap. XIX, 31, 333. De catechis. rudibus – cap. XXI, 28, 338. Blessed Augustine considers the first period from Adam to Noah, the second from Noah to Abraham, the third from Abraham to David, the fourth from David to the Babylonian captivity, the fifth from the Babylonian captivity to the Nativity of Christ. See Ibidem, cap. XXII, 39, 338. De catechis. rudibus – cap. XXII, 39, 338. Ibidem. – cap. XXII, 38, 338–339. De catechis. rudibus – cap. XXII, 40, 339. De catechis. rudibus – cap. XXIII, 41, 340. The book of the Acts of the Apostles only says that the apostles and, in particular, St. ap. Peter, performed many miracles, and that some of the believers carried the sick out into the street, so that although the shadow of Peter passing by would overshadow them (Acts 5:15), but nothing is said about the resurrection of the dead by the shadow of St. apostle Perhaps Blessed Augustine is referring to some legend about this that existed in his time. De cathech. rudibus – cap. XXIII, 42, 340. De catechis. rudibus – col. 343. See Ps.117:22; Isa.28:16. De catechis. rudibus – cap. XXIII, 43, 341. Ibidem. – cap. XXIV, 44, 341. De cathechisandis rudibus. – cap. XXIV, 45, 342. Ibidem. – cap. XXIV, 45, 342. Ibidem. – cap. XXV, 46, 342. De catechis. rudibus – cap. XXV, 46, 342. "Ubi nec tortores deficient, nec torti moriuntur." – Ibidem – cap. XXV, 47, 342. "Ut aequalitatem Patris et Filii et Spiritus, et ipsius Trinitatis unitatem, quomodo sint haec tria unus Deus, non jam verbis fidei et strepentibus syllabis personemus, sed contemplatione purrissima et ardentissima in illo silentio sorbeamus." - De cathech. rudibus – cap. XXV, 47, 343. De cathech. rudibus – cap. XXV, 48, 343. Ibidem. – cap. XXV, 49, 344. "Securus es enim de Deo, quia non mutatur: de homine autem nemo prudenter secures est." – Ibidem. De catechis. rudibus – cap. XXVI, 50, 344. "Quod cum responderit, solemniter utique signandus est et Ecclesiae more tractandus." – Ibidem. De catechis. rudibus – cap. XXVI, 50, 345. Sn. De doctrina christiana – lib. III, cap. X, 14, col. 71; cap. XII, 20, col. 73. Ibidem. – cap. XXVI, 50, 345. According to St. Augustine, catechetical teachings should not be too great, at least more than what he indicated, although, he notes, in this case the circumstances of the case and the needs of the listeners matter a lot. – Ibidem. – cap. XXVI, 51, 345. De catechis. rudibus – cap. XXVI, 52, col. 345. Ibidem. – cap. XXVII, 53, 346. “Manifestum est, quia sicut ista praedicta venerunt, sic etiam illa ventura sunt, quaecumque tribulations justorum adhuc restant; et judicii dies.” – Ibidem – cap. XXVII, 54, 346. "Qui potuit haec corpora facere, antequam essent, potest ea in momento restituere sicut erant." – De cathechis. rudibus – cap. XXVII, 54, 346. Ibidem. – cap. XXVII, 54, 346. Ibidem. – cap. XXVII, 55, 347. “... non quemadmodum sunt ista in hominibus; sed quemadmodum sunt in ipso fonte incorruptibilis et incommutabilis sapientiae. Quoscumque ergo videris haec amare, illis conjungere.” Ibidem. – cap. XXVII, 55, 348. "Homines ergo bonos imitare, malos tolera, omnia ama, quoniam nescis, quid eras futurus sit, qui hodie malus est." – Ibidem. – cap. XXVII, 55, 348. De cathechisandis rudibus. – cap. XXVII, 55, 348. See “Guide to Church Eloquence with Examples from the Holy Scriptures.” Scriptures, St. father and the most glorious Christian speakers." Transl. from foreign I.I., pp. 172–173, 1804 Possidius – Vita S. Aur. Augustini – cap. XXXI, col. 64. – Patrol. Migne, Tom. XXXII. From the sermons of the ancient fathers and teachers of the church, it is clear that applause or applause was a fairly common form of sympathy for preachers on the part of listeners. – See Bingham – Origines sive antiquitates ecclesiasticae – tom. II, 3, pag. 187. Halae, 1787. Pevnitsky V.F. - “Orders and customs observed when delivering sermons in the ancient church.” – Works of the Kyiv Spirit. Academician 1886, vol. 2, p. 3. See Augustini – Sermo 61, 13, 414. Sermo 82, 15, 513. Sermo 86, 17, 530. Sermo 255, 5, 1183, Sermo 289, 6, 1312. Enarrat. in p.s. 66, 10, 812. Enarrat. in p.s. 147, 15, 1923, etc. See also “Christian Science” - book. IV, chapter 53, pp. 334–35. Enarrat. in p.s. 72, 34, col. 929. Sn. Enarrat. in p.s. 58, S. 1, n. 22, col. 706, Enarrat. in p.s. 88, S. 1, 29, col. 1131. In Joannis Evangel. tract. 19, no. 20, col. 1555. Sermo 348, 4, col. 1529. Sermo 332, 4, 1463. Sn. Sermo 29, 2, 186. Enarrat. in p.s. 117, 1, 1495. Augustini – Epistola 29, 7, – opera omn. tom. II, col. 117. “Christ. science,” book. 4, ch. 53, pp. 334–336. In lat. vile lib. IV, cap. XXIV, 53, col. 115–16. “Christ. science” – page 336. According to lat. authentic – lib. IV, cap. XXIV, 53, col. 116. Sermo – 137, 14, col. 762. See Robertson - History of Christ. churches, - vol. I, p. 389. Paul's sister, named Palladia, received healing in the same place on the day of the solemn reading in the church of the story "libellus" of her healed brother. See Sermo – 323, 4, 1446. Sermo – 322, col. 1444; n. De civitate Dei – lib. XXII, cap. VIII, 22, col. 769–771. Possidius reports that through the prayers of Blessed. Augustine received healing for the demoniac and other sick people. “Once, when he was sick and lying in bed, someone brought a sick man and asked for the laying of hands on him (the sick man) so that he could get well. And when he (Augustine) replied that if he could do this, he would do it, first of all, to himself, then the one who brought the sick man replied that he was prompted to do this by a dream in which he was told: go to Bishop Augustine. Let him lay his hands on the sick person, and he will recover. Having learned this, he (Augustine) did not hesitate to fulfill the request, and the patient left him healthy.” – Possidius – Vita S. Aur. Augustini – cap. XXIX, col. 59. Bindemann – Der heilige Augustinus – B. III, 1, S. 86, Greifswald, 1869. Such, for example, is the letter of the emperors Honorius and Theodosius, where they ask Augustine to exert his influence in suppressing the Pelagian heresy. “It will be especially fitting,” the emperors write, “that the authority of your holiness, praiseworthy and respected father, should be directed towards correcting the stubbornness of some bishops who either tacitly support the wrong opinions of heretics, or do not want to publicly condemn them...” See Augustini – opera omn. tom. II. Epist. 201, col. 927. See for example: Epistola 36, ​​where St. Augustine, at the request of the African presbyter Casulanus, answers the question whether one should fast on Saturday; Epistola 54 and 55 to the pious layman Januarius, in which some of Januarius’s perplexities regarding worship and church customs are resolved; Epistola 152, where the governor of Africa (Africae vicarius) Macedonius asks Blessed. Augustine, is it possible for bishops to intercede before judges for the guilty; Epistola (119) of the presbyter Consentius, who asked Augustine to resolve certain questions concerning the essence of God and the trinity of the divine Hypostases; Epistola (135) of the proconsul Volusianus with a request to explain how the incontainable God could fit in the womb of the Virgin and in the small body of a child; epistola 92, in which blessed. Augustine responds to a widow named Italice, who sought consolation from him regarding the death of her husband; Epistola 263, written to console the Carthaginian virgin Sapida, who was mourning her brother Timothy, a deacon of the Carthaginian church and many others. etc. All these letters are placed in volume 33 of Ming’s patrolology or in volume II of his edition of Augustine’s works (Augustini – Opera omnia). Possidius – Vita S. Aurelii Augustini – cap. XI, col. 42. “I ask you,” the regional governor Darius wrote to Blessed Augustine, “that you deign to send me the books of Confessions that you wrote.” Even if others with favor, as a sign of favor, gave us your works, then all the more you yourself should not refuse this.” – See Epistola 230, n. 4, – August. Opera omn. tom. II, col. 1022. Schoenemannus. – Notitia litteraria in vita, scriptis et editionibus operum S. Augustini. – Patrolog. Migne - tom. XLVII, col. 18. Parisiis, 1877. “Nam inde ad nos usque ab oceani litore,” says St. Augustine about one young man who came to him, “properavit, fama excites quod a me potest de hic, quae scire vellet, quidquid vellet audire.” – August. Epistola 166, n. 2, – operf omn. tom. II, col. 721. Epistola 260. Sn. Augustini – opera omn. tom. II, col. 1075–76. Blazh. Jerome - “Conversation against the Pelagians” - book. 3, 19. – Creations – part 3, p. 281, Kiev, 1879. See - “The Life of St. Augustine”, placed in Volume I of his works, ed. in Russian translation Kievsk. Spirit. Acad., countries 26–27. Kiev, 1880 Above, Possidius speaks of the preaching of Blessed. Augustine. Possidius – Vita S. Aur. Augustini – cap. VII, XIII, col. 39, 44. About the beneficial activities of the blessed one. Augustine, who manifested himself especially in the fight against heretical errors and in the defense of the Orthodox faith, is also testified by Blessed. Jerome. The latter, in one of his letters to Augustine, says the following: “I have always given decent honor to your blessedness and loved the Lord Savior who dwells in you... I don’t let an hour pass without remembering you, who with the flame of faith firmly resisted the opposing winds. You wished better, as much as it depended on you, to leave Sodom alone than to remain there with the perishing... You triumph in the world the victory of virtue. The Orthodox reverence and are surprised to see in you the restorer of the ancient faith, and all the heretics, which serves as a sign of greater glory, curse.” - Blazh. Jerome is a creator. Part 3, page 390. Ed. 2nd, Kiev, 1903 Bassermann – Handbuch der geistlichen Beredsamkeit – s. 275, Stuttgart, 1885. See, for example, S. Caesarii Episcopi Arelatensis – Homiliae XVIII, XIX, XX. – Patrolog. Migne, ser. latina, tom. LXII, col. 1081–82, Parisiis, 1848. See Homil. XXXI, 2–6, – S. Gregorii Papae – Opera omn. edit. Bened. tom. V, pag. 295–296. Wed. Augustini – Sermo 110, n. 1–2, col. 638–39. See Homil. XXXIII, no. 5. – opera omn. tom. V, pag. 308. Wed. Augustini – In Joannis Evangel. tract. 50, no. 6, col. 1760. Homil. XXIV, no. 3. – S. Gregorii Papae – Opera omn. tom. V, pag. 252–53. Wed. Augustini–Sermones 248–252; In Joannis Gospel. tractatus 122, n. 7–8, col. 1962–64. Famous French preacher (1627–1704). Lutz – Chrisostomus und die ubrigen berühmtesten kirchl. Redner - s. 53. Tübingen, 1859. See also the article by M. Lebedev “Bossuet, Bishop of Moscow, and his significance for the Catholic Church in France.” – Tr. Kiev Academy 1868, I, p. 71. See, for example, "Homiliarius", compiled, by order of Charlemagne, by Deacon Paul Winfried, - homiliae: 26, 27, 28, 33, 35, 40, 58, 66, 67, 112, 117, 119, 121, etc. - Migne - Patrolog. curs. compl., series lat., vol. XCV, col. 1159–1566, Parisiis, 1854. Mainly from the teachings of Blessed. Augustine and St. Gregory Dvoeslov also contains a collection of sermons by Raban the Maurus, Archbishop. Mainz (born 785, died 856). See Lentz – Geschichte der christlichen Homiletik – s. 218, Braunschweig, 1839. J. Marbach – Geschichte der deutschen Predigt vor Luther – s. 88. Berlin, 1873. See “History of the Russian Church” by Rev. Macarius - vol. II, p. 209, St. Petersburg, 1868. “Description of the manuscripts of the Solovetsky Monastery.” – I, pp. 148, 481, 555, – Kazan, 1881. See art. N. Petrova - “From the history of homiletics in the old Kyiv Academy.” – Works of the Kyiv Spirit. Academy, 1866, January, p. 101. Amphitheatres. – Readings about church literature – part I, countries. 125, Kyiv, 1846. See also Potorzhinsky. – Patristic Reader, – pp. 218–235, Kyiv, 1877 Bulgakov – Samples of the Patristic Fathers. and Russian prop. – Part I, pp. 468–476, Kharkov, 1887 – Translations of some sermons of Blessed. Augustine into Russian are placed for different years in “Christian Reading” (1827, part XV, pp. 306–318; 1834, part I, pp. 141–156; 1835, part III, pp. 258–273; 1838, part IV, pp. 194–197; 1839, part III, pp. 143–161; 1840, part I, pp. 46–64) and mainly in “Resurrection.” reading" (g. IX, pp. 1–2; 56–59; g. X, pp. 133–136, 162–164, 253–254, 289–290, 299–301, 423–424; g. XI, pp. 1–3, 48–50, 27–28, 213–215, 70–71, 311–313, 329–331, 356–358, 403–404, 455–457, 465–466; year XII, pp. 1–3, 27–29, 37–38, 78–79, 139–140, 164–165, 223–224, 267–267, 303–305, 311–313, 361–378, 431–432, 461–462, 489–491; year XIII, pp. 53–54, 119–122, 2–4, 9–11, 19–21; Year XIV, pp. 289–290; Year III, pp. 436–436; Year VII, pp. 45–46, 57–58, 75–77; 475–476, 401–402; g. XVII, pp. 51–52, 69–70, 95–98, 13–15; g. XIX, pp. 61–62; g. XVIII, pp. 71–73. Vedomosti", 1900, No. 21). M. Chepik. – Experience of a complete course of homiletics, pp. 7, 226–227, Moscow, 1893. Archim. Afanasy. – Notes on conversational theology, or homiletics. – page 56, St. Petersburg, 1862. Krauss – Lehrbuch der Homiletik – S. 77. Gotha, 1883. Schuler – Geschichte der Veränderungen des Geschmacks im Predigen, – Theil I, s. 39, Halle, 1792, Pevnitsky V.F. – From the history of homiletics. The first, most ancient homiletics – page 45. Pevnitsky V.F. From the history of homiletics. The first, the most ancient homiletics, – page 48. See also there. Sn. by the same author – “Medieval Homiletics”, p. 88. See Ant. Linsenmayer – Geschichte der Predigt in Deutschland von Karl dem Grossen bis zum Ausgange des vierzenten Jahrhunderts – s. 15, Munich, 1886. Des Erasmi Rot. – Ecclesiastae sive de ratione concionandi – pag. 260–64, 270 et sqn. Sn. prof. Pevnitsky - From the history of homiletics. Medieval homiletics – pp. 125, 160, 185. Wielh. Thym – Historisch-kritisches Lehrbuch der Homiletik – s. 57, Halle, 1800. Schuler – Geschichte der Veränderungen des Geschmacks im Predigen – 1, s. 39–40. Halle, 1792. Joh. Lorenz von Moscheim. – Kurze Anweisung, die Gottesgelahrtheit vernüftig zu erlernen, in academischen Vorlesungen vorgetragen – s. 62; 121, 131, 162, 166, 180. – Helmstädt, 1756. See prof. Pevnitsky. – “From the history of homiletics. Homiletics in modern times, after Luther’s reformation,” page 176, Kiev, 1899. See ibid., pp. 230, 233, 236. Dupanloup. – “Conversations on Preaching as a Pastoral Ministry” – pp. 4, 5, 7, 8, 10 et seq. Ed. editorial office of the magazine "Wanderer", St. Petersburg, 1899 Jos. Jungmann. – Theorie der geistlichen Beredsamkeit. Academische Vorlesungen, – B. I, s. 41, 66, 267–98, 337–39, 373, 431, 470, 483, 517, 521, 607; B. II, s. 18, 76, 158, 174–75, 200–01, 205, 256–57, 541, 551. Freiburg in Breisgau, 1883–84. This is what Prof. Amfitheatrov calls. V. F. Pevnitsky. – See Homiletics in Modern Times, page 174. See - “Readings on Church Literature”, part II, pp. 21, 130, 164–165, 185, 189. Kyiv, 1846. See, for example, Tareev M. M., prof. “On questions of homiletics,” pp. 23, 28, 66, 162. Holy Tr. Sergius Lavra, 1903 Potorzhinsky. – “Samples of Russian church sermon of the 19th century,” – pp. 698, 716. Kyiv, 1882; Zarnitsky – “Collection of preaching samples. The experience of a homiletical reader”, leaf. VII per rev. – St. Petersburg, 1891. - Priest A. Yuryevsky. – “Homiletics, or the science of the pastoral preaching of the word of God” – pp. 63, 11–12. Kiev, 1905 Prof. V. F. Pevnitsky. – “From the history of homiletics. The first, the most ancient homiletics,” p. 45. Cf. his - “Church eloquence and its basic laws” - pp. 27, 48, 79–81, 82, 129–130, 268–269. “A Guide to Church Eloquence with Examples from the Holy Scriptures.” Scriptures, St. father and glorious Christian speakers", trans. from foreign I. I., pp. 381–382, 1804