St. Augustine's teaching on compulsion in matters of faith

From an extensive work that has just been published, entitled: The Teaching of St. Augustine on the mutual relationship between church and state. The excerpt is printed without scholarly quotations, which can be read on pages 229–255 of the said work. Many of St. Augustine’s predecessors, the writers of the fourth century church, also allowed for coercion in the matter of faith. In the same way, back in the fourth century, the schismatic Donatists expressed their remarks against him. Therefore, at the same time, there were the first attempts to reconcile it with Christian teaching. But a complete and more or less thorough justification of coercion is possible, from a Christian point of view; the first time was made only by St. Augustine. Nothing new was added to his theory, except for the extreme conclusion - the death penalty for heretics, even in the Middle Ages. It should be noted, however, that at the beginning of his activity against the Donatists, St. Augustine did not sympathize with coercion. “My original opinion,” he says, was that no one should be forced to the unity of Christ, that we must act with the word, fight with reasoning, conquer with reason, so as not to have as pretended Catholics those whom we knew as open heretics.” He was of this opinion until 497. Until this time, he wanted the state to prosecute the Donatists exclusively as state criminals, for civil crimes, especially for the well-known robberies and violence of the circumcellions - fanatics from among the Donatists, who united with various wandering people of Africa and formed real robber gangs. His demands for help from the state of the church did not extend beyond the protection of the freedom of the Orthodox Church itself. “I,” says Blessed Augustine, with many brothers, despite the fury of the Donatists everywhere, did not think, asks the emperor to take away the right to exist from the heresy itself, punishing those who would like to remain in it, and would only issue such a decree that those preaching the Catholic truth would not have to endure cruel violence from them... We thought that this could be done to some extent, if the law of the most pious Theodosius is against everyone apply heretics to the Donatists so that not all bishops are subjected to the punishments defined in this law, but only those in the areas of which the Catholic Church suffered any kind of violence... Thus, we thought that by intimidating them, it would be possible to learn and strengthen in the Catholic truth without coercion, voluntarily.” In this sense, the request from the council to the emperors was also drawn up. But as a result of complaints from other bishops, who suffered a lot from the Donatists and were even deprived of their cathedras, Emperor Honorius decided differently: he decided to prosecute them not only as civil criminals, but also as religious ones. Then Blessed Augustine agreed and even saw in this the action of Divine providence: “Divine mercy increases,” he said on this occasion. St. Augustine developed his views on coercion in polemics with the Donatists and in accordance with the objections that these schismatics made to him. While defending freedom in the matter of religion, they naturally pointed out that coercion was contrary to both the essence of the church and its external history. The main provisions of St. Augustine's theory were the following: coercion, although not required by faith, nevertheless does not contradict it, either as truth or as a matter of freedom; in the same way, it does not contradict its external history, but in fact is completely justified. When discussing the possibility of coercion, St. Augustine proceeds from the concept of the goal or main motive of human actions. “What you need to pay attention to,” he says, “is not what is being forced, but what is being forced to do for good or evil.” Different people can do the same thing, and yet their apparently identical actions can actually be completely different. This depends precisely on the purpose for which they do it. Good people in their actions are guided by good goals, and therefore their actions, whatever they may be in themselves, regardless of the goal, will always be good; on the contrary, exactly the same actions of evil people will have the character of evil. "Pharaoh exhausted the people of God with hard labor (Exodus 5:9), Moses subjected the same people to cruel punishments for their wickedness (Exodus 32:27); they did similar things, but did not have the same desire to be useful: one was motivated by the love of power, the other was inflamed by love. Jezebel slew the prophets, Elijah slew the false prophets ( 1 Kings 18:4-40), but the merits of both those who act and those who suffer are different. The false prophets did not endure persecution from Elijah as much as Elijah himself suffered from the wicked king (1 Kings 18:4-40). In the same way, one cannot compare the sufferings of the Lord that the persecutors inflicted on him with the blows of the scourge with which He himself expelled the merchants from the church, but the same can be considered just and lawful.” the very actions of the evil may be illegal and unjust. “God the Father betrayed his Son, Christ himself his body, and Judas his Lord; Why then does God, betraying, remain innocent, and man becomes guilty, if not because there is more than one reason for the same deed? Therefore, the persecution of the righteous cannot even be called persecution or persecution: “the truth does not persecute lies.” “The king was a persecutor when he threw Daniel to the lions, but was he a persecutor, asks Blessed Augustine, turning to the Donatists, when, after saving him... he threw his enemies to the same lions?... (Dan. 2:6) If he was, then why didn’t Daniel himself resist him, since, due to friendship, he could have done this very easily. If after this the king was not a persecutor, since he quite rightly punished the crime against the holy man, then how can you tell us to distract the kings from persecuting people? But if it was considered deserved to be subjected to such punishment for endangering the members of the prophet, then how should kings punish such a crime as the destruction of the sacrament of Christ? It is also clear that the king was a persecutor when he threw three youths into the fire because they did not want to bow to the statue, but I ask, was he a persecutor when he issued a decree that those who slander the one true God should be executed and their houses devastated? – If you were a persecutor, then why do you say: Amen after the words of the persecutor? if he was not, then why do you call those who keep you from slandering you through fear persecutors? Coercion can only be called persecution or coercion in the proper sense when they are forced to do evil and restrained from good, otherwise it is not persecution, but correction: “the good do not persecute, but correct.” The wicked, when they suffer persecution from the pious, do not actually suffer from them, but from their own deeds. (Wis.11:21). Therefore, it is possible to force one to do good. “Pay attention,” writes Blessed Augustine to Presbyter Donatus, to the words of the Apostle: “Whoever desires the episcopate desires a good work (1 Tim. 3:1); and yet many are forced to this good deed...., all the more, therefore, you should be forced in order to distract you from the harmful error... and lead you to the truth.” “You are mistaken,” he says to the Donatists, if it seems to you that you should not be forced to the truth..., after all, the Ninevites also repented by force, since this was ordered by the king. In general: “the pious can persecute the wicked, and the righteous the unrighteous.” Just as in general the coercion of a wicked person by a pious person cannot be called persecution in the proper sense, so the activity of the church when it forces heretics to join it is not identical with persecution. It does not persecute, since the truth does not persecute lies, does not force one to become defiled, but convinces one to be healed. Just as free Sarah oppressed her servant and the apostle did not call it persecution, so the church does not persecute and coerce heretics. On the contrary, in this, on the part of the church, only one love and care for the lost is manifested; she wants to save them from error by all means - both with Scripture, and words, and temporary punishments. When kings threaten you, Bl. also says. Augustine to the Donatists, for your heresy, they are intimidated not cruelly, but mercifully. In this case, they act like the Angel who says to Hagar, who was driven out by Sarah: return to your mistress (Gen. 14:9). Blessed Augustine compares the activities of kings against heretics with paternal punishments of children. Just as a father punishes his son in order to correct him, so kings make laws against heretics for the purpose of correction. “If you rebel against the Church of Christ,” he says to the Donatists, and are separated by a sacrilegious schism from the unity of Christians, then you are wicked and sacrilegious, the same ones who, for such a crime... frighten you with deprivation of places, honor and wealth, so that you realize what you are suffering for, leave behind the sacrilege you have recognized and free yourself from eternal condemnation - they do not want to persecute you, but to correct you, like a father to his son, and therefore can be considered not persecutors, but the most diligent correctors and the most pious advisers.” If the Church’s coercion of heretics cannot be considered persecution, then naturally there is no reason to think that the Church repays evil for evil, as the Donatists say. “When the true and legitimate mother, the church, does something that is felt cruel and bitter, then she does not repay evil with evil, but imposes good teaching, driving out the evil of disorder.” On the contrary, from its point of view, the Church would repay evil for evil if it allowed the erring to remain in error without taking all possible measures of conversion on its part. “In truth, we would repay evil for evil if, for the sake of tolerance, we did not undertake anything that could frighten and correct our fallen enemies. After all, if someone saw that his enemy, due to a very strong fever, had become insane and was running into an abyss, would he not repay evil for evil rather if he allowed him to escape than if he took the trouble to seize him and tie him up? And yet, he would seem extremely unpleasant and hostile to the patient precisely at that moment when he was extremely useful to him and treated him completely mercifully. But after a complete recovery, the patient would express gratitude to him the more, the more merciless he seemed to him at that time.” A similar example bl. Augustine also sees in the history of the church - in apostolic times. So up. Paul ordered the Corinthian incest to be handed over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that the spirit could be saved (Cor. 5:5), and with this, of course, he did not repay evil for evil, but did a good deed, although he corrected evil through evil. If the church’s coercion of heretics is not persecution and does not testify, because the church repays evil for evil, then, therefore, contrary to the opinion of the Donatists, it does not deprive the church of the right to be called and to actually be true. Sometimes the one who suffers persecution is unjust, but the one who persecutes is just. For Hagar also suffered persecution from Sarah (Gen. 16:6) and she who endured is unjust (iniqua). It was a different matter when David suffered from Saul (1 Samuel 18–19). Therefore, when the wicked persecute the Christian church, then this persecution is unjust, but when the church persecutes the wicked, then such persecution is just. “If the true church is the one that suffers persecution, and not the one that inflicts it, then let them ask the apostle what kind of church Sarah prefigured when she cast out her maid, our free mother, the heavenly Jerusalem (Gal. 4:22-31).” From such judgments Bl. Augustine quite consistently followed the idea that the Orthodox Church cannot recognize the glory of martyrdom for heretics. The very first and most important condition of true martyrdom is not just simple suffering and patience, but, namely, suffering for the truth. True martyrs, according to the word of the Lord himself (Matthew 5:10), are those who endure persecution “for the sake of righteousness.” If only persecution were enough for true martyrdom, then it would be unnecessary for the Savior to add the words “for the sake of truth.” But the Donatists suffer not for the truth, but for heresy. “How can they endure for the truth when they divide the church.” They suffer not for the truth and not for Christ, but for Donatus or generally for themselves. “They, on the contrary, resist the truth, since they resist the emperors who command what is due, through whom the Truth itself, Christ God himself, speaks, mercifully exhorting them to abandon error.” – Then, in order to be a true martyr, it is also necessary to possess moral virtues and, especially, to be guided in your life by the main Christian feeling - love. The Donatists, separating from the church, of course, cannot say that they satisfy this condition either; on the contrary, they were overcome by pride and arrogance. This is especially evident in the fact that, being persecuted, they think of gaining the glory of martyrs by committing suicide. They forget that the three Old Testament youths did not throw themselves into the fire, but were thrown; They also forget that by suicide they do not gain the glory of martyrdom, but commit a great sin. Without love, says the apostle. Iabel, there is no and cannot be any benefit to a person even if he gave up his body to be burned. Therefore, the Donatists, being persecuted, “have neither earthly consolation nor eternal glory in the future age...; in this age they will destroy temporary blessings, but according to the judgment of Christ they will receive eternal punishment.” Since both truth and true moral qualities, according to Blessed Augustine, can only be found among members of the church, among people who are in the church, then true martyrs are possible only in it, such as, for example. there were those who suffered persecution from the pagan state in the first three centuries; whoever suffers persecution without being in it, she considers him wicked and, therefore, subject to punishment from the state justly and legally. Reasoning from the point of view of the historical union of church and state, Bl. Augustine even considers the Donatists to be state criminals. After all, they are heretics, and the heresy of the Apostle Paul, without distinction, along with idolatry refers to the works of the flesh (Gal. 5:19). Finally, bl. Augustine also refers to their criminality, often in a strictly civil sense. Pointing to the behavior of the circumcellions, he tells them: “you live like robbers, but want to die like martyrs.” But allowing the church to coerce those outside it and not considering it illegal, in its hands, Blessed. Augustine, however, does not deny that it is still not a normal phenomenon, tolerable only out of necessity. And it seems to him that it would be better if the church did not have to resort to this means. “Of course,” he says, it would be better, who doubts this, if people came to true worship of God through inspiration, rather than being forced by fear or grief of punishment.” Therefore, if he allows coercion, it is, first of all, as a means of bringing those in error to the truth, a means of admonition, but not punishment. He wants to use it only for the sake of those on whom it can have a truly beneficial effect, that is, for the sake of the weak, who are not among the inveterate and bitter enemies of the church. “Many whom we knew,” he says, would like to enter into communion with the Catholic Church, but are afraid of the violent hatred of pernicious people; Of course, for the sake of justice and eternal life, they should not pay any attention to this, but even such weak ones, until they become strong, must be supported, and not despaired about them. We must not forget that the Lord says to the still fragile Peter: you cannot follow me now, but you will follow me later (John 13:36). Some were also held back by habit, others by false rumors about the Catholic faith, etc. - for all of them, indeed, the fear of temporary punishments was useful.” In this case, repeats bl. Augustine's reasoning Firmicus Maternus, fear of punishment is a bitter but healing medicine. Punishment for such natures is not only permissible, but also obligatory, and whoever truly loves a person recognizes the benefits of punishment. “Not everyone who spares is a friend, and not everyone who strikes is an enemy. Better are the wounds inflicted by a friend than the kisses of an enemy; It is better to love with severity than to deceive with tenderness.” But St. Augustine does not deny that coercion is useful only for many, but not for all. “The fear of temporary power... is a useful warning for those who are mistaken and dissenters, but a useless torment for the insane.” Also in view of the fact that Blessed Augustine considers coercion not a punishment, but a means of attracting to the truth and, moreover, an extreme means, he believes that one should not be limited to it alone, but that it is necessary to combine it with teaching. “If they began, he says, only to intimidate, without instructing at the same time, then the government would be cruel, although, on the contrary, if they only began to instruct, without intimidating, then those rooted in prejudice would be brought much more slowly to the path of salvation.” So, this means, according to St. Augustine, both teaching and coercion should be used in the matter of conversion; but, nevertheless, if teaching is possible without coercion, then coercion without teaching, in his opinion, makes no sense. “For many,” he says, it was useful to first be subjected to coercion by fear or grief, but so that, he adds, they could then be taught verbally, or so that they could carry out what they had already learned verbally. Emperors, therefore, with their laws, so to speak, only encourage heretics to think about why they are being persecuted, but do not directly lead them to the truth; their laws are only a reason for turning to it. In accordance with such judgments about the use and significance of coercion in the matter of religion, Bl. Augustine also provides examples. They confirm precisely the idea that it may have a right to exist, but only as a means of admonition, that is, in the hands of someone who loves and desires good. He finds such examples in the phenomena of ordinary social and civil life - in the relations of parents to children, husband to wife, masters to slaves, military leaders to judges, etc. He points out similar examples from the sacred history of the Old and New Testaments. “The Ninevites repented forcibly, because they carried out the order of their king about this... what business did the royal power have?.., it was needed because among them there were those who would not have cared and would not have believed the Divine sermon if they had not been frightened by earthly power. Thus, “by order of the royal power... many are given an opportunity for salvation in Christ; although by force, they are also brought to the feast of the Gospel host, who sent his servants to entice those on the roads and crossroads to enter (compello intrare) (Matthew 21:9–10, Luke 14:21–23). Or: “Who can love us more than God? And yet, He constantly not only teaches us with tenderness, but also saves us with fear. He often combines even a strong healing remedy for misfortune with gentle consoling measures. He tests even the pious and God-fearing patriarchs with hunger (Gen. 12, 26, 42, 43), the disobedient people are struck with severe punishments and does not take away the dirty flesh from the apostle after the thrice request.” And especially striking in this regard is the example of the conversion of the Apostle Paul to Christianity. “Who can love us more than Christ, who laid down his life for his sheep (John 10:15)... But on St. Know first how Christ first compels, then teaches, first beats, then consoles. And it is amazing how this one, forced to the Gospel by corporal punishment, worked in the gospel more than all others who were called only by the word (1 Cor. 15:10), and how perfect love drove out all fear in the one whom it was fear that forced him to love.” “Let us also love our enemies just like God, who...his sun shines on the good and the evil and rains on the righteous and the unjust (Matthew 5:45). But, praising His gifts, let us also remember His scourges on those whom He loves.” Here we come to another objection to coercion, which is also based on the concept of the essence of the church and its faith. The Donatists said that coercion is not only reconciled with the concept of the true church, but also contradicts the Christian concept of religion as a matter of freedom. Bl. Augustine, in fact, does not answer this objection, but bypasses it and eliminates it. He says that punishment exists not to force one to do good, but only to deter from evil, and those being punished can freely choose good and can follow or not follow it. “Indeed, no one should be forced to believe, but... unbelief is usually punished with the scourge of misfortune. If good morals are followed freely, then is it really that a just law should not punish bad ones.... Therefore, if laws are decreed against you, says Bl. Augustine, turning to the Donatists, you are not forced to do good, but are restrained from doing evil. For no one can do good unless he wants to: “... the fear of punishment... at least keeps evil passion within the depths of thought.” That this is really possible, as proof of bl. Augustine points to the attraction of people by God the Father to God the Son (John 6:44). How, he argues, does the Father attract people to the Son, when He Himself gave them free will and... allowed them to choose whatever they wanted? And yet both are true, although few can understand it.” In the same way, laws, while convincing through coercion, do not destroy free will. “No one takes away your free will, but think as hard as possible what is better to choose: whether to live reformed in the world or, being in anger, to preserve the name of false martyrs.” As for free will in general, as a right of the human person, for St. Augustine such a right does not exist. St. Augustine makes a distinction between good and evil will. That God gave people free will - from here, he says, it does not follow that no one can be forced: the will can be good and bad. And, in his opinion, a person with good will even acts mercifully when he forces a person with a bad will, especially if he uses power, but, it must be added, for the purpose of correction, or when, therefore, he does not actually force, but tries to correct. If an evil will should be given freedom, then why were the Israelites kept from evil with such strong whips and led by force to the promised land, why does Scripture say that a stubborn son must be corrected not only with words, but also with bodily blows (Eccl. 30:12). Moreover, from the point of view of bl. Augustine, one can even say that when the good force the evil to reform, they, in fact, do not take away free will from an evil person, but, on the contrary, return it to its true purpose. After all, true freedom is possible only for a person who lives not according to his own, but according to the will of God. Heretics belong to the city of the devil and, therefore, to the number of people who live not according to the will of God, but according to their own. Therefore, when the church forces them to join it, it does not destroy the will, but only self-will and corruption, or returns the will to its true freedom. Then, the Donatists pointed to the contradiction of coercion in the history of the first centuries of Christianity, when the church spread exclusively by word, without any assistance, but, on the contrary, with the opposition of kings. For St. Augustine, this only proves the idea that the church then had no actual opportunity to act by force, since secular power was pagan and did not serve the true God. But this does not mean that among the means of distribution it cannot have measures of civil power. The lack of examples in the New Testament is more than compensated for by the history of the Old Testament, the history of the Jewish people, who served as the shadow and image of the Church of Christ. Hezekiah served God when they destroyed groves and churches of idols and those high places that were built contrary to the commandments of the Lord (2 Kings 18:4); Josiah served in a similar manner (2 Kings 18:4–5);... the king of Nineveh also served when he forced the entire city to repentance before the Lord (John III: 6–9); Darius also served, throwing Daniel’s enemies to the lions (Dan. 14:21–41), and Nebuchadnezzar, who forbade all his subjects to blaspheme the true God by the strictest law. (Dan.3:96) In the time of the apostles, the kings did not serve the Lord, they even madly opposed Him and His Christ, so that everything predicted by the prophets would be fulfilled. Therefore, then the laws, of course, could not prevent wickedness; on the contrary, they contributed to its strengthening. Such was the time when the Jews killed the preachers of Christ, thinking that they were serving God, as the Savior Himself had predicted (John 16:2), and the pagans raged against the Christians, and the patience of the martyrs defeated them all. But after what was written began to be fulfilled: and all the kings of the earth will worship Him, all nations will serve Him (Ps. 71:11), what sane person will say to the kings: do not pay attention whether the church of your Lord in your kingdom enjoys peace or is attacked; It’s not your business whether anyone in your kingdom wants to be pious or wicked, just as you cannot say to kings: it’s none of your business whether anyone in your kingdom wants to live chastely or depravedly.” By the way, refuting the objection based on history, Bl. Augustine also points to the contradiction of the Donatists themselves, to their own appeal to secular measures for help. But if, in reality, any religious party can turn to the secular government for assistance, then all the more rightly can, in the opinion of Blessed Augustine, the true, Orthodox Church. In this case, she should follow the example of an. Paul, who, in order not to be killed by the Jews, demanded the judgment of Caesar. She asks, he says, for help from the Christian emperor, not in order to avenge herself, but to protect herself.... For the Apostle Paul was not concerned about his own transitory life, but about the Church of God, when he reported to the tribune about the plan of those who intended to kill him (Acts 23:17-32). He had no hesitation in calling for help from Roman laws, according to which it was not then allowed to subject a Roman citizen to corporal punishment (Acts 22:25). In the same way, in order not to be handed over to the Jews, who longed for his death, he demanded the help of an emperor (Acts 25:11) and even a Roman one, not a Christian one. By this he sufficiently showed what the dispensers of the sacraments of Christ should do when they find the emperors Christian during the disaster of the church. Therefore, if the church does not turn to the help of secular authorities, then one should not praise its patience, but, on the contrary, condemn, and rightly, its negligence. However, Blessed Augustine does not think that the church should turn to secular power immediately as soon as there is the slightest need for it: first, in his opinion, it should act only with its own moral means and only then resort to the help of the state when they turn out to be insufficient. In this case, the difference in the methods of invitation to a feast in the Gospel parable can serve as an example of imitation for the activities of the church. The Lord first ordered to invite guests to his feast and only then force them. He ordered his servant to go to the crossroads and force him to come (cogo, compello intrare) to the supper (Luke 14:22), when those invited had already refused. But the best justification for the theory of coercion for St. Augustine was the experience of his time, which surpassed all expectations. This experience, as he himself says, mainly reconciled him with coercion. Thus, thanks to coercion, even such schismatics as the circumcellions converted to the church. “Oh, if I could show you,” writes Bl. Augustine to the Donatist Bishop Vincent, how many we have already known Catholics from the Circumcellions themselves, who condemn their former life and unfortunate error... However, they would not have achieved this health if their madness had not been curbed by those laws that you do not like.” In the same way, thanks to the laws, not only individual people abandoned heresy, but also entire cities, which previously consisted almost exclusively of Donatists, such as for example. and the city of Hippo, where Blessed himself was bishop. Augustine. “Now they turn away from the devil's division and love unity entirely. In general, thanks to civil laws and physical fear of them, many have corrected themselves and are correcting themselves every day. Those who formerly hated, now love, considered the laws to be painful, now considered healing, formerly were mad, now, having received salvation, rejoice. And at the same time, the majority, if not exclusively, of those who converted to the church are precisely those who were kept in heresy by prejudices and, in general, by extraneous motives not related to faith. So many of the former Donatists say: “We already wanted this; Thanks be to God, who has given us the opportunity to fulfill our desire and put an end to our indecision. Others say: we knew that this was the truth, but we do not know what habit held us back; thanks be to God, who has broken our bonds and brought about the union of peace. Others say: we did not know that the truth was here, and did not want to learn it, but fear led us to the knowledge of it, thanks be to God, who destroyed our negligence with fear... Others say: we were afraid to join the church as a result of false rumors, the falsity of which we would never have known if we had not been forced to join the church. Thanks to God, who with a scourge drove out fears from us and showed us the lies and emptiness of the stories spread about the church by false rumors... Others say: we considered it indifferent, no matter where we contained the faith of Christ - thanks to God, who gathered us from division and showed us that He is the only one to worship befits in unity. Finally, some agree that there is truth in the Orthodox Church, but admit that it is difficult for them to leave the tradition of their parents. “For all such people, the fear of laws issued by emperors was useful.” The Donatists, of course, were not slow in contrasting the opposite cases with such an example. They indicated bl. Augustine that, on the other hand, some remained faithful to the sect in the presence of coercive laws, and, especially, drew his attention to those cases when some, as a result of coercion, reached suicide. For bl. For Augustine, such examples mean nothing. Convinced of the legality of coercion, he cannot stop before such unfortunate isolated facts of the application of the theory of coercion. “It’s true,” he says, “for some people, coercion doesn’t do any good. But should medicine really be neglected just because some people’s illnesses are incurable? You pay attention only to those, he writes to the Donatist bishop Vincent, who are so stubborn that they are not receptive to any discipline. But you must also pay attention to those many whose salvation we rejoice in.” According to bl. Augustine, the refusal of the church to coerce heretics only for the sake of such isolated, unsuccessful cases could even indicate a lack of love for heretics in it. “Will it be brotherly love if, out of temporary fear for some, it leaves everyone to the eternal fire of Gehenna?... Isn’t it better for it to preserve those whom it can save, although those it cannot perish voluntarily. She sincerely wants everyone to live, but she tries even more to ensure that everyone does not die.” Not only that: bl. Augustine considers it possible to allow coercion even if only one were saved and all the others died. “Suppose,” he says, that in some collapsing house there were very many, and only one of them could be saved. But while they were concerned about saving him, the rest would have taken their own lives; Can't we console our sorrow for others by saving at least one? But we cannot, in order to save others from taking their own lives, allow everyone to perish and not save a single one.” But considering coercion in general to be permissible in the matter of converting unfaithful and dissenting minds to the church, Blessed. Augustine, however, did not go to extreme conclusions. He finds it possible to force them only through legitimate authorities and denies blind popular hatred. In speeches to his flock, he convinces the Orthodox to treat private relations with the Donatists meekly and generously. He, of course, also condemns all, especially personal, calculations under duress. Only love and truth should in this case, but in his opinion, guide the true members of the Orthodox Church. “Whoever, using the imperial law,” he says, turning to the Donatists, persecutes you not with the love of correction, but with the hatred of bitterness, is disgusting to us. And although all earthly property, both by Divine right, according to which everything is the property of the righteous, and by human right, which is in the power of earthly kings, may be the possession of an unjust one, like yours, and therefore we are allowed to use it, however, whoever, as a result of this law, which the earthly kings, serving Christ, declared to correct your wickedness, wants to take possession of your property, is hated by us. Whoever, further, takes possession of the property of the poor or the basilicas of the congregations that exist among you, under the name of the church..., not by right, but by greed, is disgusting to us. Whoever, finally, accepts those expelled by you for some crime or misdemeanor, as those who leave your error without a crime are accepted, he is disgusting to us.” – But the most important feature of the theory of coercion bl. Augustine, also mitigating it, is to deny the death penalty for heretics. The view of punishment in the matter of faith not as punishment, but almost exclusively as a means of correction and motivation, did not allow him to reach such a wild medieval conclusion, although, as they saw, some of his predecessors were not averse to defending this. In a letter to the proconsul Apringius, for example, he writes: “We know the words of the apostle, who says about you that it is not without reason that you carry a sword, that you are servants of God, punishing evildoers. But the matter of the province is different, the matter of the church is different. The latter must be governed with fear, and the latter must be distinguished by meekness. If I had a speech with a non-Christian judge, I would have handled the matter differently. However, I would not abandon the work of the church, and, as far as he would allow, I would insist that the sufferings of the Catholic servants of God, who should serve as models of patience, should not be stained with the blood of their enemies; and if he had not been willing to agree, I would have suspected him of being hostile to religion. Now, with you, it’s a different matter. We see you, indeed, invested with high power, but we also know you as the son of Christian piety.... You and I have a common cause; but you can do it in it, which I cannot. Agree with us and help. Things have come to the point that the enemies of the church, who usually captivate inexperienced people with the appearance of imaginary persecutions, which they even pride themselves on, themselves admit to the most terrible crimes committed against Catholic clergy... Why don’t you lean towards the more prudent side and towards a softer view, which is proper for judges to do even not in church matters? Fear with us the judgment of God the Father and trust in the meekness of the mother.” In another letter to the proconsul Apringius bl. Augustine also asks that the latter, if he wants to insist on his intention to execute the Donatists, at least include in the acts the letters that he wrote on this case to both of them. If he doesn’t want this, then let him detain the guilty in prison, and we, he says, “will take it upon ourselves to appeal to the mercy of the emperors and convince them so that the suffering of God’s servants .... will not be dishonored by the blood of their enemies.”