St. Ambrose of Milan

In the history of the Church, church literature and theology, the period from the Council of Nicaea (325) to the Council of Chalcedon (451) occupies an exceptional position. It is no coincidence that it received the stable name of the golden age of patristic writing, being at the same time the golden age of patristic theology 1 . It was during this period (or rather, the era - due to the significance of this period), when the Church was subjected to a powerful onslaught of heresies (Arian, Apollinarian, Nestorian and the emerging Monophysite), which seduced a considerable number of archpastors, pastors, monks and laity, in the bosom of the Body of Christ, by the grace of God, a whole host of men outstanding in holiness and divine wisdom appeared, to whom God bestowed an abundant gift prayers, words, thoughts and secrecy. They appear in various areas of Christendom. Thus, in the Greek East the stars of two great Alexandrians shone - St. Athanasius and St. Cyril, of whom the first was not only a crystal-clear defender of Orthodoxy, overthrowing all the intricacies of the Arianists, but also a wise apologist, a tireless ascetic and a good archpastor. As for the second, usually in St. Kirill is seen mainly as an indestructible fighter against Nestorianism. Although in general this is true, it is impossible to leave in the shadows such important aspects of his work as preaching and interpretation of the Holy Scriptures (not to mention apologetics), where the theological talent of this Alexandrian saint was revealed even more fully than in his polemical works. In consonance with the great Alexandrians, the triune voice of no less great Cappadocians was heard: Saints Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian and Gregory of Nyssa, who were supported, although less rich in shades, but the firm voice of St. Amphilochius of Iconium - disciple of St. Basil and the gifted preacher 2. In the Holy Land, the outwardly modest but profound talent of St. Cyril of Jerusalem, “defender of the apostolic teaching,” as the blessed one called him. Theodorite; according to the definition of Father Georgy Florovsky, he “was not an independent theologian, but was a wonderful teacher and witness of the Truth” 3. Several remarkable Church Fathers also appeared in Antioch, although things were not always simple here. For example, the fate of St. Eustathius of Antioch: companion of St. Athanasius the Great in the fight against Arianism, “he was, due to his wide education, wisdom and eloquence, the subject of surprise of his most learned and eloquent contemporaries, as well as other men of antiquity” 4. He was... – and became one of the “stepchildren of fate”, because mostly only fragments have survived from his numerous creations. The fate of Diodorus Tarsky, a zealous ascetic and ardent defender of Orthodoxy, one of the fathers of the Second Ecumenical Council, is similar. However, not only the works of this theologian have not been preserved, but he himself fell under suspicion as one of the predecessors of Nestorius 5. But, by the great mercy of God, almost all the numerous works of Father Chrysostom have reached us, whom the East and West “recognized as the universal teacher, the greatest lamp of the world, the pillar of the Church, the light of Truth, the trumpet of Christ, the wise interpreter of mysteries, the God-bearing and God-loving John” 6. Wise teacher of Christian life, St. John was not only the deepest expert on the Holy Scriptures and a chaste interpreter of it, but also a very sensible dogmatist, clearly aware of the limits of the human mind in comprehending God-revealed truths. In many ways, his successor was Blessed. Theodoret of Cyrus, who, despite the temptations of polemics with St. Cyril of Alexandria, takes a worthy place among other representatives of the golden age. One of the largest Christian exegetes, a brilliant polemicist, ascetic, Church historian and remarkable theologian, “Theodoret forever remained in the Church with the title of “blessed” and teacher. Just as he emerged from the Council of Chalcedon as Orthodox, so after a difficult and impartial trial in the 6th century, a hundred years after his death, he, according to the decision of the ecumenical court, retained the honor of dogmatic authority; Along with the great luminaries of the universe, he was, is and will be exalted as a divine man, as a great teacher, as an unshakable pillar of Orthodoxy” 7. In the eastern part of Syria, which was part of the Persian Empire, where the Syriac language predominated, the wonderful Ephraim the Syrian wrote in it, in addition to the very unique Christian writer Aphraates, the Persian Sage, who created the so-called “takhvits” (23 in number) in Syriac. A poet-theologian and an extraordinary thinker, 8 he demonstrated a high example of following Christ both in his life and in his works. It is noteworthy that St. Ephraim the Syrian was also one of the representatives of monastic writing, which flourished magnificently during the Golden Age. Among the many creators of this writing, one can mention, first of all, Rev. Macarius of Egypt, this “god-wise pilgrim of Truth,” in the words of St. Justin Popovich 9. The discoveries of a large number of his new creations, in addition to the well-known “Spiritual Conversations,” show the purity of the thought of God and the spiritual experience of this wonderful father of the Church. And no matter what disputes there are around the “problem of authorship” of his creations (a “problem” largely fictitious and artificially inflated by extra-church and anti-church researchers), these creations undoubtedly constitute one of the best parts of the golden fund of the patristic heritage. Among other representatives of monastic writing of the era in question, one can point to Abba Evagrius of Pontus, a strict and zealous ascetic and an exquisite “wise man in the desert,” whose fate is also paradoxical: having gained fame among his contemporaries as one of the grace-filled Egyptian elders, after his death, together with Origen and Didymus the Blind, he was condemned as a heretic. However, despite this, the writings of Evagrius, both under his own name and under the name of Ven., are remarkable in their secret visual depth and amazing knowledge of the strategy and tactics of spiritual warfare. Nile of Sinai, were included in the famous “Philokalia” - the treasury of patristic experience. It is impossible not to mention, in addition to Rev. Mark of the Ascetic, also blessed. Diadochos of Photiki, a little-known ascetic and bishop, who in his relatively few, but precious in terms of spiritual wisdom, works “acts as a witness and exponent of the fatherly Tradition” 10. The flourishing of church writing and church theology also spread to the western part of the Christian world. The first representative of the golden age here can be considered the “Western Athanasius” - St. Hilary of Pictavian, who strives in the field of dogmatic theology, interpretation of Holy Scripture and preaching. “The fame of him as a valiant confessor and theologian, established among his contemporaries, passed into history: and already the famous church figures closest to him in time, such as, for example, Blessed. Augustine, crowned his memory with the following epithets: “the strongest defender of the Catholic Church against heretics, the universal and glorious teacher of the Catholic Church, a man in explaining the Scriptures and in revealing authoritative dogmas.” 11. A little later, St. Ambrose of Milan appears on the church-historical scene, and even later, Blessed Jerome of Stridon. a philologist and sincere admirer of fine literature, he became a monk and a zealot of Christian ascetic ideals. In personality and worldview, Blessed. Jerome sometimes encounters contradictions, 12 but they coexist organically in him. The dogmatic disputes that so worried Christian society in the 4th–5th centuries had little impact on the blessed. Jerome, which, however, did not prevent him from taking part in them. The element of this most learned man was literature: his translation of the Holy Scriptures into Latin, the famous “Vulgate,” which later became the liturgical text of the Western Church, determined many parameters of the entire Western Christian culture. Naturally, such a translation required from the translator, in addition to talent, serious knowledge in many areas of human knowledge: philology, history, theology, etc., and blessed. Jerome in this regard was superior to many of his Western contemporaries 13. He was also widely known as an interpreter of the Holy Scriptures; however, in his interpretations of Blessed. Jerome depended heavily on the exegesis of Origen, whose works he also translated into Latin. Finally, the “Hermit of Bethlehem,” as he was called, acted as an ardent defender of monasticism and its ideals against those critics of asceticism who had already appeared among Western Christians (Jovinian and others). A contemporary of the “Hermit of Bethlehem” was Blessed. Augustine, in whose work the golden age of patristic writing reached its highest point of development in the West. It is generally accepted that personality and worldview are blessed. Augustine, who found himself at the turn of two eras - ancient and medieval - is in many ways the focus of Western Christianity 14. In his literary fertility, he surpasses all previous Western Christian writers who lived before him, covering with his mental gaze almost all areas of Christian doctrine. Dogmatist, polemicist, philosopher, exegete, preacher and teacher of Christian morality, blessed. Augustine, possessing a hot temperament, in the heat of polemics also went to extremes, as was the case, for example, with his doctrine of original sin, which caused so much criticism - it was these extremes, which significantly distorted the purity of the Christian faith, that caused and still cause a very wary attitude towards Augustine in Orthodoxy 15 . True, as rightly noted, blessed. Augustine “was not very logical in his constructions. Following pastoral needs, he forgot about his theories and became a realist" 16. Among the host of listed outstanding fathers of the golden age, St. Ambrose of Milan is certainly one of the most worthy. His very life, a Roman aristocrat and a very influential dignitary, who, by the will of God and the powerful Providence of God, became a bishop, reveals amazing purity and integrity, thanks to which the “energetic, perspicacious and even, noble Ambrose” 17 became the ruler of the Church and a caring archpastor. Nobility was probably one of the most striking personality traits of the Milan saint, which made an indelible impression on his contemporaries. Blazh. Augustine, who experienced the influence of this noble personality and, under the influence of the Milanese archpastor, took a decisive step towards the religion of Christ, describes his meeting with him this way: “I came to Milan to Bishop Ambrose, one of the best people known throughout the world, Thy pious servant, whose sermons tirelessly served Thy people “the fat of Thy wheat, made them glad with oil, made them drunk sober.” wine." You brought me to him without my knowledge, so that he would bring me to You without my knowledge. This man of God received me in a fatherly manner and welcomed my relocation in a bishop's manner. I immediately fell in love with him, at first, however, not as a teacher of the Truth, which I despaired of finding in Your Church, but as a person who was benevolent towards me” 18. For a number of reasons, friendly relations did not develop between the two remarkable saints, 19 but, nevertheless, the Bishop of Milan gave a powerful impetus to the spiritual development of the future Bishop of Hippo. And blessed Augustine was not an exceptional phenomenon in this case, for St. Ambrose was the ruler of the thoughts of many Western Christians. As for St. Ambrose as a church writer and theologian, it should be remembered that the consecration of bishop was unexpected for St. Ambrose, so that he, without undergoing preliminary training, was forced by circumstances to become a “didaskal” (for the teaching service was inextricably linked at that time and in subsequent centuries with the bishop’s service). About himself he writes as follows: “I, having been taken to the priesthood directly from the tribunal and magistracy (de tribunalibus atque administrationis infulis), began to teach you what I myself had not yet learned. Thus it happened that I began to teach (others) before I learned (myself). Therefore, I need to study and teach at the same time” 20. This is the “teaching” of St. Ambrose was, apparently, multifaceted: through communication with spiritually experienced people, and “liturgical” - through worship, and through prayer, and through reading the Holy Scriptures and the works of previous church writers. The blessed one left a very revealing testimony about the latter. Augustine: when there were no people with Ambrose, “in this very short period of time he restored his bodily strength with the necessary food, and by reading - his spiritual strength. When he read, his eyes ran over the pages, his heart searched for meaning, but his voice and tongue were silent. Often, when I went to see him (access was open to anyone, and there was no custom of reporting someone coming), I found him doing nothing but this quiet reading. After sitting in silence for a long time (who would dare to disturb such deep concentration?), I left, guessing that he did not want to be distracted by anything during the short time that he managed to seize, amid the deafening din of other people’s affairs, for his own mental pursuits.”21 Having received a good secular education and knowing the Greek language, the Bishop of Milan read a lot of Greek writers - both the works of Philo of Alexandria and church authors - Origen, St. Athanasius the Great, Basil the Great and others, learning a lot from them, especially in exegesis. It was precisely the area of ​​interpretation of Holy Scripture (as well as the area of ​​moral and ascetic teaching) that was closest to the spiritual and mental interests of the Milanese archpastor - and it was in these two areas of Christian doctrine that his talent as a church writer and theologian flourished most brightly. One of the Russian researchers of his work speaks of him this way: “Having studied the Eastern fathers, St. Ambrose did not go further than them, and likewise did not create his own school in the West, or even a literary movement, despite all the numerousness of his works. In this case, he lacked independence and originality. Perhaps this is easily explained by the fact that he was not capable of speculative thinking, his mind was aimed at resolving vital practical issues, his spirit was more interested in the area of ​​morality. In this case, Ambrose remained a Roman who, contrary to the Greeks, did not have a special disposition for abstract thinking, focusing his attention almost exclusively on issues of the day and business” 22. It seems that such a characteristic quite distorts the “worldview face” of St. Ambrose, making him a “pure moralist,” because in fact he was a fairly serious and versatile Christian thinker. More consistent with the truth, in our opinion, is the following characteristic given by one Western scientist: “St. Ambrose was to the West almost the same as Basil the Great was to the East. Both of them were great church leaders, both were people of high spiritual aspirations, which they carried out with energetic persistence, both showed a love of power, combined with the ability to govern, both were distinguished by a certain greatness of appearance and - one might say - some magnetic influence, both were fearless defenders of Orthodoxy against the Arians and emperors who accepted the Arian heresy, both made a deep impression on the Church, although more their own life than with your creations. They knew and respected each other. In calm importance and complete directness, Ambrose surpassed his great contemporary, although he was much lower than the great Bishop of Caesarea in depth and originality of thought. Vasily recognized in Ambrose a character akin to his own, and Ambrose made significant use of Vasily’s creations. The Western Church for a whole century received the imprint of his impressive character, and traces of his ecclesiastical views are found in many outstanding figures of subsequent times." 23 However, any characteristics highlight, as a rule, only some part of the spiritual appearance of this or that personality, and even more so a great personality, which was, without a doubt, St. Ambrose. His works represent the mature fruits of the golden age of patristic writing in the West, that is, that period about which the Russian patrolologist said: “Church theological science does not know another period that, in the breadth and sublimity of thought, the depth of its content, the ideological richness and diversity of views and the energy of theological creativity, could be compared with what it experienced in the 4th and 5th centuries. In its history, this time constitutes an era that left indelible traces, and its theological writing is rightly the ideal of true church theological science. All generations of church theologians following this period stop before him in reverent amazement, consider it a sacred duty to carefully study the works of the great fathers and teachers of the Church, and from their rich treasury they draw edification in the right faith and truly Christian life” 24. The book currently being republished by I.I. Adamov is the only complete study in Russian of the life, work and theology of St. Ambrose of Milan. Unfortunately, very little is known about the author of this book. We only know that Ivan Ivanovich Adamov was the son of a Kherson tradesman and was born on January 18, 1880 in Kherson. He graduated from the Odessa Theological Seminary in 1901 and entered the Moscow Theological Academy the same year. Course of her I.I. Adamov successfully completed it in 1905 and was left at the Academy as a professorial fellow at the Department of Patrology. A year later, he was appointed teacher of the Ufa Theological Seminary, and from August 1911 became a teacher of the Kaluga Theological Seminary, where he first taught courses in basic, dogmatic and moral theology, and then took the position of teacher of philosophical sciences. We do not know what happened to Ivan Ivanovich Adamov after the revolution and the closure of the Kaluga Theological Seminary. His book about St. Ambrose of Milan was defended as a master's thesis in 1915 at the Moscow Theological Academy. Both reviewers are professors I.V. Popov and A.P. Shostin - gave positive feedback. It is noteworthy that the first reviewer (I.V. Popov) points out one of the distinctive aspects of the dissertation author: “Having subjected the entire system of religious ideas of the father of the Western Church to the most detailed analysis, breaking it down into separate terms and concepts, Mr. Adamov was forced to explore the sources of the views of St. Ambrose with the same detail." At the same time, Ivan Vasilyevich Popov emphasized that the attitude of I.I. Adamov “to the manuals and literature of the subject quite independently. Having become thoroughly familiar with the sources and having all the scientific material at his disposal, he had all the data to maintain complete independence in relation to her. He owes her not so much facts as well-known points of view that directed his attention to certain aspects of the text of the sources and helped him illuminate their entire content.” In general, the book by I.I. Adamov is a classic patrolological work, which, we are sure, will be read with interest by modern Orthodox readers, for whom the patristic heritage is not a collection of dead museum exhibits, but the living breath of the Church of God. The only thing one can regret is that the talent of the author of the book was just beginning to blossom when the tornado of revolution swept across our Rus'... But here too one should see the great Providence of God - in Russia, everyone involved in patrolology must not only study the Fathers of the Church, but also testify with their life and, if necessary, by premature and martyrdom, fidelity to the patristic Tradition. This is precisely the testimony that teacher I.I. showed. Adamova - Ivan Vasilyevich Popov: Martyr John. Professor MDA A. I. Sidorov In order to immediately reveal to the reader what he can find in the work offered below, we think it appropriate to begin with remarks regarding its character and guiding point of view. It is unlikely that anyone would argue that every researcher is allowed to limit the subject of his work as required by his main task. In the future, the author sets himself not so much church-historical goals in the broad sense of the word, but rather more special, pathological goals, and tries to find out in more or less detail not so much the activities of St. Ambrose in the field of church structure and administration, how to determine the theoretical range of his theological ideas and indicate its significance in this particular area. Therefore, although, within the intended limits, completeness is one of the necessary conditions for the fruitfulness of each work, nevertheless, the author cannot promise the reader to give him answers to all questions related to the personality of the great Milanese bishop. Then, it goes without saying that any subject of research must be approached with a certain guiding point of view, which determines all the particulars of the work and clarifies the significance of its subject as a whole of science. In this regard to the literary activity of St. Ambrose can be approached from two sides. Firstly, in the history of literature in general, no matter what field it belongs to, there are writers whose significance lies in their main flaw. Usually unoriginal in their thought, they carefully study the literary heritage of the past and, so to speak, sum up what has been done before them. By collecting into one whole data from a wide variety of schools and sources, these writers introduce us to the sum of the results of literary creativity over an entire era: and by comparing together the most diverse views, they thereby highlight their mutual shortcomings and one-sidedness, indirectly pointing the way for subsequent generations to work in this direction. And this, of course, is much more than the value of a simple compilation. This is how we can look at the literary activity of St. Ambrose. Still, we would be unfair to St. Ambrose, if only this were considered his historical significance. In reality, the significance of his literary works is much more important. St. Ambrose, by his birth, education and activity, was a representative of the Western Church, which from the very beginning had its own characteristics both in teaching and in external structure. Of course, the Church, even in the first centuries of its historical life, was united not only in its ideal basis, not only in the primary source of its organization and teaching - St. Scripture, but to a large extent also according to legend. At present, especially after the work of Loofs, there can be no doubt about this. In some cases, the Church in the west received its beginning and finished structure from the east (Gaul). However, differences still existed in the literature devoted to the theoretical development and justification of questions of faith. This was explained not only by differences in language and education, long-established habits and interests of East and West. But, in our opinion, it also largely depended on the legal position of the Church in the empire. For the most part, the negative attitude towards the Church of state power, which even in the person of its best representatives for a long time stubbornly refused to legalize its existence, deprived the Church of an external cohesive unity and constantly operating means of mutual communication between its individual parts. Since the beginning of the 4th century, the situation has changed significantly. Since the time of Constantine the Great, the Church has been able to use the means of state power for its own purposes, and the unity of this power has been favored by the rapprochement of East and West. Almost simultaneously with this, Arian disputes arose, when the Eastern representatives of Orthodoxy themselves introduced Western bishops into the circle of their theological ideas, and the civil authorities, which almost always for one reason or another took an active part in these disputes, carried out the same religious formulas not only in the East, but also in the West. All this could not but affect the character of Western literature of the time under consideration: this literature began to come into close contact with Eastern literature. Here again is a trait characteristic of Ambrose, as well as of some of his older contemporaries. It manifested itself especially strongly in him. He devoted his literary activity mainly to opening up access to Eastern theology in the West, and to filling in with its ideas the shortcomings of the latter's theological science. In this case, he reveals in places not only a lack of independence, but sometimes even a slavish literary dependence on Eastern authors. But, on the other hand - and this also must always be borne in mind - the era we are considering did not at all forget the old traditions of the West and did not abandon its unique theological point of view: everything that was created in the field of theology by the West in the past, it accepted with the gratitude of its disciples into its new or, better to say, corrected, supplemented and somewhat expanded system. Consequently, here we do not always have a simple fact of mechanical borrowing, but rather we notice a unifying tendency, we see an attempt to synthesize differences and disagreements. Perhaps this synthesis did not always turn out to be consistent and successful, and the analysis of his works can reveal the lack of internal cohesion, the kinship of the elements being connected, and can state the presence of only their external connection. With all this, the direction that was the result of the process described above, in general, also had something original, it was not completely covered by its Eastern prototype: it contained in its depths the sprouts from which a new and complete system of Western theology subsequently grew. This was his historical merit. The only question now is where to look for that new system of primary importance in history, which our transitional era has to some extent prepared. In answer to this question, history, which has preserved for us information about close ties between St. Ambrose and St. Augustine, points us to the latter’s system as the greatest thing that the theological productivity of the West has given the world. Undoubtedly, Augustine stands higher than Ambrose and went further than him; and there is no way to derive Augustine’s system from the works of Ambrose. But if we could show that our transitional era moved along the same channel along which the bliss subsequently followed. Augustine, that some of the elements discovered by analysis in Augustine’s system are already noticeable in it, then we would consider our work completed even if it did not even provide any other conclusions for science. Turning in conclusion to the method of work, we will limit ourselves to very little. In view of the noted peculiar nature of the works of St. Ambrose, the study of his teaching should include not only a more or less systematic presentation of his basic theological views, but also a statement of their historical genesis, an explanation of where, what exactly and to what extent he drew individual elements of his teaching. Together with the statics of the latter, i.e., together with the presentation of their positive content, here, to the best of our ability and possibility, its dynamics, so to speak, should be given, that is, the roots and elements that caused a certain ideological formation should be indicated. In accordance with this task of presentation, its method should be predominantly analytical, consisting in a more or less detailed disclosure of all individual aspects of a given point of teaching and in clarifying the exact meaning of the terms expressing it. This method will make it possible, at least approximately, to establish the meaning of a given range of ideas and understand it in the sense required by the general stock of theological ideas of that time, the logical boundaries of the theological terminology of that time. The same analytical method will provide a means of determining the degree of influence of other theological systems on Ambrose, the degree of Ambrose’s agreement with them and the points separating them. Only as an addition, it should be given a place on the following pages and synthesis, so that the entire presentation does not have the character of a dry schematism, blurred into particular moments and details; the task of synthesis is to give a general formula of the doctrine, to indicate the unity by which the particulars are united to one degree or another, and sometimes logically follow from it and are explained by it. But it goes without saying that the rights of synthesis should be relatively narrower, should take place only where the unifying connection really exists, and not where it does not exist and where it is only desirable to see it; It is impossible to construct from a given foundation particulars that are not actually based on it. This remark is appropriate here especially because in teachings of an eclectic nature, by the very essence of the matter, one must always be ready to encounter this kind of phenomenon, the internal disunity of parts. As you can see, the main attention in the following work will be paid to the analysis of the accounting of St. Ambrose. But since at the same time we will sometimes need information about the life and works of Ambrose, we will divide the entire following presentation into two main parts: 1) Life and works of St. Ambrose. In Russian, see about him: Cyprian (Kern), archimandrite. The Golden Age of Patristic Writing. M., 1995; Skurat K.E. Golden age of patristic writing (IV - first half of the 5th century). A textbook on patrolology. M., 2003. Wed. his characterization: “If the lack of a deep philosophical analysis of dogmatic issues is the weak side of his works, then, on the contrary, the precise, precise expression of thought is their strength” (Popov I.V. Works on patrolology. Vol. 1: Holy Fathers of the 2nd–4th centuries. Sergiev Posad, 2004. P. 259). Georgy Florovsky, archpriest. Eastern fathers of the 4th century. M., 1992. P. 46. Kudryavtsev N. Eustathius of Antioch // Dep. reprint from The Theological Bulletin. Sergiev Posad, 1910. P. 1. N. Fetisov calls this suspicion “one of the examples of sad scientific superstition.” For details, see: Fetisov N. Diodorus Tarsky. Experience of church-historical research of his life and work. Kiev, 1915. pp. 227–283. Filaret (Gumilevsky), archbishop. Historical teaching about the Fathers of the Church. M., 1996. T. 2. P. 226–227. Glubokovsky N.N. Blessed Theodoret, Bishop of Cyrrhus. His life and literary activity. M., 1890. T. 1. P. 349. In this case, we do not entirely agree with the characterization of Father Georgy Florovsky: “Least of all, he was a thinker. He remained a lyricist in his theology, melodious and melodious” (Georgy Florovsky, Archpriest. Op. op. p. 222. “Lyricism” is in no way an obstacle to the depth of theological thought, of which both St. Gregory the Theologian and St. Simeon the New Theologian can serve as a striking example. See: Collection of works of St. Justin (Popovich). M., 2004. T. 1. P. 237. Skurat K.E. Great teachers of the Church. Klin, 1999. P. 53. Orlov I. Trintar views of Hilary of Pictavius. Historical and dogmatic research. Sergiev Posad, 1908. S. LVIII. They are, however, sometimes exaggerated; see, for example, the statement about the spiritual appearance of Jerome - in it “there was such a strange combination of asceticism and subtle tastes, science and poetry, embitterment and tenderness, hatred of the world and admiration for it” (Diesperov A. Blessed Jerome and his century. M., 2002. P. 109). See: “Even the great Augustine seemed to be in awe of Jerome’s vast knowledge of the Bible. Although considering it necessary to repeatedly express disagreement with the Bethlehem learned monk, Augustine, nevertheless - not out of false modesty, but out of simple honesty - wrote to him: “I do not have such great knowledge of the Divine Scripture as you do, and I could not even have the kind of knowledge that I see in you.” (Metzger B.M. Early translations of the New Testament. Their sources, transmission, limitations. M., 2002. P. 357). See, for example, the description: “In his personal life and in his works, he was an equally enthusiastic preacher and champion of those two principles on which the coming period of history was based - the principle of asceticism and faith in the Church as the highest leader of humanity. Thus, Augustine became one of the main builders of the medieval worldview” (Gerrier N. Blessed Augustine. M., 2003. P. 10). Also: “Augustine (Harnack) is recognized as the center in the history of the religious development of the West, to the extent that, on the one hand, he concentrates in himself the features of Western Christianity, which could be partly observed in the representatives of this Christianity that preceded him, on the other hand, he determines with his influence its further history in the field of theological thought and religious-moral disposition” (Brilliantov A.I. The influence of Eastern theology in the West in the works of John Scotus Erigena. M., 1998. pp. 129–130). Therefore, “Western theology, based on the teachings of Blessed. Augustine, as a cornerstone, considers Augustine the pillar of the Church, the exceptional genius among the holy fathers, and places him in first place after the Apostle Paul in terms of his significance for the Western Church; but Augustine always made a dual impression on the Eastern Church, causing, on the one hand, surprise at the power of his thought and important merits for the Church in the fight against heresies, especially Pelagianism, and, on the other, bewilderment at the strangeness of some original thoughts. Peculiar private opinions were also found among the holy fathers of the Eastern Church, and the Church did not condemn the holy fathers for them, but did not accept the opinions themselves. But Augustine’s peculiar, strange opinions for an Eastern Christian entered into his dogmatic system in such a significant way, giving it such a unique coloring that the Eastern Church did not find it possible to canonize Augustine among the holy fathers, calling him only blessed, which name in the ancient Church was applied to all respected church leaders and generally pious people” (Kremlin A. Original sin according to the teachings of St. Augustine Ipponiysky. St. Petersburg, 1902. P. 15). John Meyendorff, archpriest. Introduction to Patristic Theology. Klin, 2002. P. 282. Karsavin L.P. History of European culture. I: The Roman Empire, Christianity and Barbarians. St. Petersburg, 2003. P. 163. Blessed Augustine. Confession / Transl. from lat. M. Sergeenko. M., 1992. pp. 137–138. See: “Augustine failed to establish friendly relations with the Bishop of Milan and open his soul to him in an intimate conversation. Ambrose influenced Augustine not as a close friend or attentive interlocutor, but as a public figure whose personal feelings remain largely unknown to those to whom he speaks. The emergence of closeness between Ambrose and Augustine was hampered, first of all, by a significant difference in age (almost fourteen years), and then by the bishop’s burden with the practical duties of his ministry, which left no leisure for friendly outpourings, and, finally, by the difference in characters” (Popov I.V. Works on patrolology. Vol. 2. The personality and teaching of Blessed Augustine. Sergiev Posad, 2005. P. 120). Ambrose of Milan. On the duties of clergy (De officiis ministrorum) / Trans. from lat. G. Prokhorova; Ed. prof. Kazan Theological Academy L. Pisarev. M. Riga, 1995. P. 35. Blessed Augustine. Decree. op. P. 146. See G. Prokhorov’s preface to the already mentioned translation: “On the duties of clergy.” P. 17. Farrar F.V. The life and works of the holy fathers and teachers of the Church. M., 2001. T. 2. P. 94–95. Sagarda N.I. Ancient church theological science in the Greek East during its heyday (IV–V centuries): its main directions and characteristic features // Works of Blessed Theodoret of Cyrus. M, 2003. Appendix. P. 713.