The mystery of unity. The Church and the Eucharist in the theology of Blessed Aurelius Augustine, Bishop of Hippo

At the V Ecumenical Council, Blessed Augustine was named among the twelve most authoritative teachers of the Church. His works are not only a valuable source for theology and Christian philosophy, but also contain important liturgical information that allows us to form an understanding of the unique liturgical tradition of the ancient and once glorious North African Church. Archdeacon Konstantin Markovich, Associate Professor of the Department of Church-Practical Disciplines of St. Petersburg, reflects on the majestic rhetoric of his theological reasoning, on the sacrament of the Eucharist, and on the influence that Augustine had with his personality and work on Christian theology. I. Omnium doctor eximius Ecclesiarum - the most excellent teacher of all Churches The cradle of Latin Christian writing and liturgical tradition was not the capital of the empire - Rome, but the province of Proconsular Africa, the administrative center of which was the city of Carthage from 46 BC. In the second half of the 2nd century, Tertullian preached and wrote his works in Carthage. A native, apparently of Africa, Marcus Minucius Felix then wrote an apology for 1 Octavius, considered one of the first Christian texts in Latin. In the period from 248 to 258, the bishop of Carthage was the holy martyr Cyprian, a zealous defender of the canonical principle of the unity of the Church in the face of heresies and schisms, a prolific author who also wrote in Latin. At this time in Rome, Greek was the language of worship and communication among Christians, as evidenced by the works of the martyr Justin the Philosopher and the hieromartyr Hippolytus of Rome. The first documents of the Roman Church written in Latin and reaching us were the letters of the Roman popes, Saints Cornelius and Stephen to the Hieromartyr Cyprian, as well as the writings of the schismatic Novatian, the largest of which is De Trinitate (“On the Trinity”). Latin was established as the liturgical language of the Roman Church only during the pontificate of Pope Damasus (Damasius I; 366–384) 2 . The second most important city after Carthage was Hippo Regius, whose bishop was St. Augustine. He was born in 354. Already in adulthood, having experience in searching for religious and philosophical truth, in 387 Augustine received the sacrament of Baptism at the hands of St. Ambrose of Milan. Augustine was bishop of Ippon from 396 until his death on August 28, 430, one of the last days before the city was captured and sacked by the Vandals. It is impossible to overestimate the influence Augustine had on the formation of the Christian civilization of Western Europe. “Augustine is the greatest philosopher of the patristic age and perhaps the most important and influential theologian of the Church... He exerted a powerful influence not only on philosophy, doctrine, moral and mystical theology, but also on the social life of the Church and its charitable ministry, on ecclesiastical politics and ecclesiastical law, and became one of the great founders of medieval Western civilization” 3. The German philosopher K. Jaspers defined the place of Blessed Augustine in the history of Christian philosophical thought: “Latin Christian thought before Augustine had not yet reached the volume and depth of a special philosophical world. Those who came after Augustine fed on his thoughts. Augustine created Christian philosophy in its unsurpassed Latin form." 4 At the same time, there is a tendency among modern Orthodox theologians to look for various flaws in Augustine’s teaching and to underestimate his authority in the theological sphere. Professors N.I. and A.I. Sagarda believed that those ancient church writers “who sinned against church teaching or at least raised fundamental doubts about their constancy in Orthodoxy, despite their scholarship and services to the Church and theology,” 5 should not be called fathers of the Church, placing the names of Jerome and Augustine on the list of such. Protopresbyter John Meyendorff argued that “Orthodox theology is critical of certain aspects of its teaching,” without questioning the “holiness and authority” of Augustine 6 . The most radical opponent of Augustinianism was the Greek theologian Professor Archpriest I. Romanides, who blamed Augustine for all the erroneous theories of medieval scholasticism, believing that it was Augustine who laid the foundation for this theological movement, and believed that Augustine’s thoughts were “the source of all subsequent Western errors” 7 . Following him, the American Orthodox theologian priest Michael Azkoul wrote a study on St. Augustine, in which he subjected his views to extreme criticism: “The Augustinian synthesis changed the Christianity of the West, a West that was one spiritual entity with the East” 8, “If Augustinianism did not have a great influence on Orthodoxy, it was only due to its fidelity to the patristic tradition” 9. Augustine was criticized by H. Yannaras and Metropolitan John (Zizioulas). Eucharist. A picturesque sketch of the mosaic of the apse of the Cathedral of St. Alexander Nevsky in Warsaw. Artist: V.M. Vasnetsov The main complaints against Augustine from modern Orthodox theologians include the alleged filioquism in his doctrine of the Holy Spirit (treatise De Trinitate), the indistinction between the Divine nature and the Divine uncreated energies, his position in the discussion with Pelagius and his disciples Celestius and Julian of Eclun about what is the driving force in the salvation of each person - Divine grace or his free will. In this article we will not go into the essence of these controversial issues, so as not to deviate from the main topic. Nevertheless, the following should be noted regarding Augustine's filioquism. Firstly, the assertion that Augustine’s discussions about the manner of the procession of the Holy Spirit are in fact direct prerequisites for the doctrine of the Filioque (as adopted in the Frankish Empire at the Council of Aachen in 809) is highly controversial and requires multifaceted analysis, in particular from the point of view of linguistics. Secondly, the Council of Constantinople (381), which compiled the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed, on which the teaching of the Eastern Church about the procession of the Holy Spirit from the Father is based, received the sign of ecumenical only at the Council of Chalcedon in 451" 10 As for his Creed, “it would be strange to expect any official and solemn statements about its obligatory nature in the space from 381 to 451” 11 . Even if we assume that, in essence, Augustine’s teaching is in some contradiction with the Nicene-Constantinopolitan symbol, this circumstance in no way casts a shadow on the dignity of Augustine as a teacher of the Church. He in no way crossed the dogmatic boundaries of the Orthodox Catholic faith that existed during the period of his life. Regarding Augustine’s judgments about predestination (praedestinatio) to salvation, grace and the free will of man, it must be remembered that for many centuries they were considered the criterion of the Catholic faith. Saint Celestine I, Pope of Rome, in a letter to the Gallic bishops wrote: “We have always considered Augustine a man of holy memory because of his life and services in our communion, and no mention of him has ever been clouded by unfavorable suspicions. We remember that he was a man of such great knowledge that my predecessors in the past always considered him one of the most perfect teachers (inter magistros optimos)” 12. Pope Hormizd (514–523) argued that the Roman Church, and with it the entire Universal Church, “concerning the doctrine of free will and grace, follows and preserves everything that is written in many books of St. Augustine” 13 . Also, Pope Boniface II (530-532) determined: “Since many fathers, and above all Bishop Augustine of blessed memory, as well as our former great primates of the Apostolic See, judged this with careful arguments, so that no one should have any doubt that faith itself comes to us from grace... Faith in Christ, which we profess, just like all blessings, is given to every person from the gift of heaven grace, and not from the possibility of human nature" 14. In the 16th century, Augustinian ideas about predestination to salvation were compromised by the fact that they were adopted by the leaders of the Reformation, primarily J. Calvin. For this reason, in our time they are no longer perceived as the standard of Orthodoxy. But this is hardly the fault of Blessed Augustine himself. It should also be remembered that Augustine was very strict with himself and his theological judgments, not hesitating to subject them to revision, the results of which were recorded in one of his last books - Retractationes (427) 15. In ancient times, the Universal Church definitely revered Augustine among the holy fathers and teachers of the faith. The fathers of the Fifth Ecumenical Council called Augustine “father and teacher of the Church,” quoted his works in the acts of the Council, and publicly read out excerpts from his epistles 16 . Saint Gregory the Great (Dvoeslov) treated the literary heritage of Blessed Augustine with exceptional respect. In his letter to the prefect of Africa, Innocent, he advised him: “If you want to eat exquisite food, read the works of St. Augustine, your compatriot” - and at the same time called his writings “bran” in comparison with “his best flour” 17. Blessed Augustine. Fragment of the painting of the quadrangle of the Church of the Archangel Michael, Pushchino The saint advised Marinian, Archbishop of Ravenna, instead of reading his own works, to “drink from the deep and pure streams from the springs of the blessed fathers Ambrose and Augustine” 18 . Saint Bede the Venerable called Blessed Augustine “the most excellent teacher of all the Churches (omnium doсtor eximius Ecclesiarum)” 19. Saint Photius, Patriarch of Constantinople, spoke with deep respect of Blessed Augustine, as well as of Saint Ambrose of Milan and Blessed Jerome, considering them “worthy of praise due to many qualities testifying to virtue and piety,” although he assumed that they, like all people, could make mistakes “either through ignorance or negligence” 20 . Saint Gregory Palamas, “although he was not an “Augustinian theologian,” nevertheless clearly used the Greek translation of the treatise “On the Trinity” for various purposes” 21. As a philosopher and theologian, St. Augustine was distinguished by his diverse outlook. But there is an area of ​​theology in which Augustine’s talent was revealed to the highest degree. “When Augustine begins to talk about the Church and the sacraments,” argued Archpriest John Meyendorff (protopresbyter since March 1990), “we see him from a completely different side - in his best manifestations” 22. Augustine himself considered the topic of ecclesiology to be the most important in theological discourse after the doctrine of the Holy Trinity and Christ: “So, the correct order of confession required that the Church be joined to the Trinity, as if to the inhabitant - his house, and to God - his church, and to the founder - his city” 23. The doctrine of the sacraments, in particular the sacrament of the Eucharist, in Augustine’s theological system is inextricably linked both with the doctrine of the incarnation and saving feat of the God-man Christ, and with the doctrine of the nature of the Church. The literary and oratorical heritage of Blessed Augustine is exceptionally great. He himself compiled a list of 232 works, divided into 93 books 24. In addition, a collection of 400 sermons (sermones) and more than 270 letters to various individuals has been preserved. In terms of the number of works of the holy fathers of the Church, only his Eastern contemporary, St. John Chrysostom, can compete with Blessed Augustine. Augustine wrote about the Church and the sacraments mostly in a corpus of polemical works directed against heretics - Manichaeans, Pelagians, Arians, schismatic Donatists, in exegetical works, numerous sermons and epistles. Unfortunately, this vast layer of his heritage is only partially available in Russian translation. Augustine's theology remains to a large extent terra incognita for a wide range of people who read the patristic works only in Russian. Most of the quotes from the blessed father given below are borrowed from those works that were not published in Russian translation. Last Judgment. Fragment of the ceiling painting of the Monastery of St. Theodora the Myrrh-Streaming in Thessaloniki II. Ecclesia Corpus Christi est – The Church is the Body of Christ The starting point of reasoning about the nature of the Church for Blessed Augustine is the thesis of the Holy Apostle Paul that the Church is the Body of Christ (Corpus Christi), in which Christ is the Head, and all believers are members of His Body (see Cor. 1:12, 27, Eph. 1:22–23, etc.). In Latin, corpus means body, flesh, organism (of a person) and at the same time a collection, social organization, community. That visible part of the Church that resides in our earthly world, wanders the earth (qua peregrinatur in terris), unites all believers in Christ throughout the world, “From Jerusalem and in all other nations” 25. All Christians are “the seed of Abraham, in whom all the families of the earth will inherit blessing” 26 . “No matter how many of us there are, we are all, by the blessing of God, faithful in this Church, that is, in this city, in this region, in this province, overseas (that is, in Rome and Italy) and in all the countries of the world, so that from sunrise to sunset the name of the Lord is glorified. All this belongs to the Catholic Church, our true Mother, the true spouse of Her Bridegroom” 27. “The Church is one for all people (quia per totum est). Therefore, in Greek it is called catholic (καθόλου Graece dicitur)” 28. As long as the Church remains on earthly pilgrimage, in its bosom “the good and the evil are mixed (mixti sunt boni malis), and the evil throughout the whole earth, and the good throughout the entire earth; In the case of the wicked, the whole earth murmurs; in the case of the good, the whole earth praises [God]” 29 . This is where the concept of mixed Church (ecclesia permixta) comes from. The other, invisible part of the Church “has always, since the time of creation, been in heaven - in union with God and has not experienced the evil of the fall at all. This blessed one invariably remains among the holy angels and properly helps her wandering part, because both will be united by a common destiny in eternity, and are now united by bonds of love, being together established to worship one God” 30. In other words, the Church includes all rational beings who glorify God and are in communion with Him. This is both the angelic world and the communio sanctorum - a community of saints who lived from the beginning of the world, who professed faith in the One True God and glorified Him in the exploits of their lives. “My soul faints for Thy salvation; I trust in Your word” (Ps. 119:81). But who can say this except the chosen race, the royal priesthood, the holy nation, the people taken for their own (see Pet. 1:2, 9), who are waiting for Christ from the beginning of the human race to the end of the age in the person of everyone who at one time lived, lives or will live here? 31 The catholicity of the Church has a spatial and temporal dimension. Just as the wandering Church unites people who believe in Christ throughout the entire world, so the triumphant Church has united from the beginning of human history. Augustine denotes this historical dimension of the Church with the expression Ecclesia ab Abel (“Church from Abel”): “We are all together members of Christ and His Body. Not just those of us in this place, but all over the world; and not only those who are alive today, but – what can I say?! From Abel even to the end of the world, while people give birth and are born, and even those who have departed from this life, and all those who are now not in this place, but in this life will be born in the future - together there is the Body of Christ and each individually is a member of Christ" 32 . Augustine calls this Church of saints who have achieved salvation and eternal blessed life the “City of God” (Civitas Dei). His Christ will appear visibly at His Second Coming at the end of time. Christ Pantocrator. Monastery of Saint Catherine on Mount Sinai, Egypt In order to be in Catholic communion (catholica communione), it is necessary to profess “pure and right teaching,” that is, the Orthodox faith, “participate in the sacraments” 33, and have in your heart love for God and neighbor. Anyone “who is not a member of Christ cannot receive Christian salvation. True members of Christ bind themselves in unity of love and are united under the Head, which is Jesus Christ." 34 “Love, which covers a multitude of sins, is the special gift of Catholic unity and peace...” 35 III. Et fit Christus totus, caput et corpus - and thus the Whole Christ, Head and Body, was formed Developing the thesis of the Church as the Body of Christ, Augustine formulated the original theological theory of the “Total Christ” (Christus totus), which lies at the heart of his ecclesiology. According to it, “Christ, as the Head, always abides and actively acts in His Body - the Church; The Church and Christ leave one person” 36. “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. The Church is united with this Flesh, and thus the Whole Christ, Head and Body (et fit Christus totus, caput et corpus) was formed” 37. In his word against the Arians, Augustine reveals the essence of this idea more fully: “Our Lord Jesus Christ, brothers and sisters, as far as I have been able to tune my mind to what is written in Scripture, can be known and named in three ways (tribus modis intellegitur et nominatur): either through the Law and the Prophets, or through the Epistles of the Apostles, or through our faith in His deeds, which we know from the Gospel. The first way: as God and in relation to His Divine nature, which is equal and eternal with God before He took on flesh. The next way is that He, having become incarnate, remains God, Who at the same time became man, and Man, who at the same time became God; by the superiority which belongs to Him and by which He is not equated with other human beings, but is the intercessor and head of the Church. The third way is as the “Total Christ” (totus Christus) in the fullness of the Church, that is, as the Head and Body, to the extent of the fullness of the perfect Man (Eph. 4:13), in which each of us is one of the members” 38. Christ is called whole “in relation to the Church, namely, as Head and Body. For the Head and Body are One Christ. Not because He is not perfect without a body, but because He deigned to be perfect together with us” 39. Augustine says: “...Christ, who associates us with Himself (concorporans nos sibi), makes us His members, so that in Him we are also Christ” 40. There is an opinion that the teaching of the Eastern Fathers of the Church on deification (θέωσις, deificatio) was unknown to Augustine and generally alien to Western theology 41 . However, in reality Augustine was very familiar with him. It can be assumed that this was a consequence of the influence of St. Athanasius of Alexandria, whose personality Augustine revered immensely and was thoroughly familiar with his works. Athanasius formulated the essence of the doctrine of deification in the following famous words: “Lord God subsequently became man in order to deify us” 42. Augustine, in one of his words on Christmas Day, said: “God became man so that man could become God” 43. In another word, he argued that God wanted to “make people partakers of the Divine nature (2 Pet. 1:4)”; “not wanting to remain what He was, He wanted to become what He Himself created. He created what He would later become because He added humanity to the deity; He did not destroy the deity in humanity." 44 Commenting on the Gospel of John, he exclaimed with fiery feeling: “Let us rejoice and thank God that we have become not only Christians, but also Christ Himself. Do you, brothers, understand God's grace to us? Be amazed and rejoice: we have become Christ!” 45 Deification, or likeness and unity with God by grace, leads a person to salvation - the main and final goal of his life on earth. Deification cannot change the created nature of man and make it identical to the Divine nature. No matter what height of holiness a person reaches, he will always be a man. “So, it is clear that he called people gods, deified by his grace, and not born from his essence... He who justifies deifies, because, by justifying, He makes us children of God” 46. Deification is realized through participation (participatio) of the Divine nature, and the path to it lies through unity with the God-man Christ, who became “a partaker of our weakness and at the same time gave us participation in His divinity (donans participationem suae divinitatis).” “Having become partakers of His deity, we will also be immortal in eternal life. And the Son of God gave us the guarantee of all this... That is, before we became partakers of His immortality, He Himself became partaker of our mortality. Therefore, just as He became mortal not because of His nature, but because of ours, so we will become immortal not because of ours, but because of His nature.”47 In Christ, “our Head, the source of grace is revealed to us, from where it is transmitted to all members of the Body according to each one” 48 . The path of deification presupposes that a person needs to follow throughout his life what the Gospel says. But this path cannot be passed without the gifts of God’s grace, which are given from above in the sacraments of the Church, primarily in Baptism and the Eucharist. “Who, if not Christ, is the bread from heaven? But so that man could eat the bread of the angels, the Lord of the angels became man. Therefore, if He had not made Himself such, we would not have His Body; without His Body, we would not eat Bread from the altar" 49 . Heavenly Liturgy. Gracanica Monastery, Serbia IV. Sacramentum, id est sacrum signum - sacrament, that is, a sacred sign By the liturgical concept of Sacramenta in a broad sense, Blessed Augustine meant religious instructions, rituals, and sacred rites. “No religious society, whether true or false, can exist without some sacrament or visible symbol as a bond of unity. The importance of these sacraments cannot be underestimated, and only fools would take them lightly. For if piety requires them, then it must be wicked to neglect them” 50. The Old Testament "sacraments" (prima sacramenta), such as the keeping of the Sabbath rest, circumcision, sacrifices, new moons, washings, the feasts of unleavened bread, etc., "which were performed in obedience to the law, were types of the coming Christ" 51 . Discussing the sacraments in the Church, Augustine, on the one hand, calls as such all liturgical institutions, “transmitted in Sacred Tradition and observed throughout the world, approved and commanded by the apostles and general councils (vel plenariis conciliis)” 52. To such institutions Augustine includes, for example, “the feasts of the Passion, the Resurrection and Ascension of the Lord, the Descent of the Holy Spirit, celebrated annually, and other similar holidays that are celebrated by the Catholic Church wherever it is widespread” 53, or rituals associated with the catechumenate, repentance, marriage, the Lord’s Prayer and much more 54. On the other hand, he singles out from among them “the most excellent in their meaning, such as Baptism, made sacred by the name of the Trinity, the communion of His Body and Blood, and all other means commanded in the canonical Scriptures” 55 . In the sacraments of Baptism and the Eucharist, the Church is created as the Body of Christ. In a teaching addressed to neophytes who received Baptism on Easter, Augustine said: “Although there are many of us, we are one bread, one Body... Remember that bread is not made from one grain of wheat, but from many. When the rites of exorcism were performed on you, it was as if you were threshed; when you were baptized, you were, as it were, kneaded; when you received the fire of the Holy Spirit, it was as if you were baked... Same with wine. Brethren, think about how wine is made. Many berries are attached to the bunch, but the juice of the berries merges into one. Christ the Lord designated (significavit) us in this way and wanted us to be part of Him; He consecrated on His altar the sacrament of our peace and unity” 56. Augustine calls the liturgical rites of the sacraments (sacramenta corporalia) “sacred signs.” “The visible sacrifice represents the sacrament of the invisible Sacrifice, that is, the sacred sign (invisibilis sacrificii sacramentum, id est sacrum signum est)” 57. Visible signs are involved and serve as a means by which the invisible spiritual reality of the sacrament is communicated to man (res 58 sacramenti). This reality cannot be felt through the bodily senses, but is known spiritually (spiritaliter), reason and religious faith. But this reality objectively exists regardless of the subjective disposition or personal qualities of the one who performs or, conversely, receives the sacrament. This reality may appear at different times in different visible forms, but the essence is the same, unchanging and eternal. Commenting on verses 48-50 from the 6th chapter of the Gospel of John (“I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate manna in the wilderness and died. And the bread that comes down from heaven is such that whoever eats it will not die”), Augustine says: “This Bread signifies manna, this Bread signifies the altar of God. Both are sacraments (sacramenta): different in signs, but identical in the reality they signify (in signis diversa sunt; in re quae significatur paria sunt)” 59. Virtus 60 sacramenti means the saving power of the sacrament, the beneficial effect that God's grace has on the souls of the people participating in its performance. Whether a person acquires virtus sacramenti, or whether the sacrament will not bring him any benefit, depends on the spiritual disposition and good intentions of the person receiving the sacrament: “...he who eats it will not die. But this refers to the fruit of the sacrament (ad virtutem), and not to the visible sacrament: it is important that a person eats internally, and not just externally, that he eats with his heart and not chews with his teeth” 61 . “The fruit (virtus) that the Eucharist gives is Unity. This means that we accept the Body of Christ and become its members, we are what we have received” 62. The Eucharist imparts to the faithful communion and unity with Christ, unity with each other in Christ and His Body - the Church. This is the most important thought for Augustine, which he tirelessly repeated in his sermons and literary works: “Hoc quod videtis, sacramentum est unitatis” - “What you see here (i.e., the Body and Blood of Christ on the altar) is the sacrament of unity” 63. V. Panis sanctificatus per verbum Dei – Bread sanctified by the word of God The bread and wine of the Eucharist, after their consecration on the altar, become the true Body and Blood of Christ. Although after consecration the bread and wine retain their previous visible physical properties, they become the very Flesh and Blood of Christ, which He received from the Most Pure Virgin Mary, which He ascended to the Cross, which He resurrected on the third day after death, which He ascended to the heavenly villages to God the Father. This is an indisputable dogma of the Orthodox faith. This dogma was clearly professed by the spiritual father and teacher of Blessed Augustine, Saint Ambrose of Milan: “There is no doubt that this is the true Flesh of Christ, which was crucified and buried. This means that this really is the sacrament of His Flesh” 64. The sacrament is sanctified by the word of Christ, which has the power to change the nature of substances. In the writings of Blessed Augustine one can also find many sayings that show his undoubted agreement with the teachings of both his mentor Saint Ambrose and other Fathers of the Church. In one of the words spoken on Easter days, Augustine teaches: “The bread that you see on the altar, consecrated by the Word of God, is the Body of Christ. The cup, or rather its contents, sanctified by the Word of God, is the Blood of Christ. Through them, Christ our Lord wished to bequeath to us His Body and His Blood, which He shed for us for the forgiveness of sins” 65. In another word he also says: “So Christ our Lord, who sacrificed for us through His suffering what He received from us, became High Priest forever and gave us the institution of the Sacrifice of His Body and Blood, which you see. Remember when His Body was pierced with a spear, it poured out water and blood with which He took away our sins... Recognize in the Bread that which hung on the Cross, and in the Cup that which poured out from His side” 66 . “The faithful understand what I mean: they too recognize Christ when He breaks bread: not just bread, but bread that receives the blessing of Christ and becomes the Body of Christ.”67 At the Last Supper, Judas, having received a piece of Easter food from the hands of the Lord, “prepared a place for the devil in himself, not by accepting something bad, but because he accepted it in a bad way.” In the same way, if a person receives the sacrament of the Lord unworthily, this does not mean that the sacrament is defective, because the person himself is defective. And this does not mean that he received nothing at all, but he did not receive any benefit from receiving the sacrament for his soul. “For it is the Body and Blood of the Lord, even in the case about which the apostle said: whoever eats unworthily eats and drinks condemnation to himself” 68. In the Church there is a universal custom of reverent adoration (adoratio) of the Holy Gifts before communion. This means that Christians thereby show their faith that after consecration, the bread and wine became the true Body and Blood of Christ. “For He took flesh from the earth, because our flesh comes from the earth, and He took flesh from the flesh of Mary. In this flesh He walked here on earth. And He left this same flesh for us so that we could feed on it to gain life. Nowadays no one eats this flesh unless he first worships it.” 69 Multiplication of loaves. Fresco of the Fraternal Refectory of the Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra. The author of the painting project is A. N. Soldatov On the one hand, Augustine argued that the sacraments, whether we are talking about Baptism or the Eucharist, are performed at the moment when “the word of God is united with matter and thus becomes the visible Word (Accedit verbum ad elementum, et fit sacramentum, etiam ipsum tamquam visibile verbum)” 70 . Consequently, like St. Ambrose, 71 Augustine adhered to the original Latin teaching that the bread and wine of the Eucharist are sanctified by pronouncing over the gifts the gospel verba, that is, the words of Christ (Matthew 26:26-28): “That bread which you see on the altar, sanctified by the Word of God (sanctificatus per verbum Dei), is the Body of Christ. The cup, or rather, what is in it, sanctified by the word of God, is the Blood of Christ” 72. On the other hand, in the treatise “On the Trinity” Augustine speaks of the sanctifying action of the grace of the Holy Spirit in the Eucharist: “... and that, although brought by human hands to that visible image, cannot be sanctified so as to become a great sacrament, unless the Spirit of God invisibly cooperates” 73 . In other words, Augustine did not deny the point of view of the theology of the Eastern Church that the gifts of the Eucharist are sanctified by the prayerful invocation of the Holy Spirit (epiclesis). Unfortunately, no liturgical monuments or liturgical books containing prayer texts reflecting the ritual features of the ancient North African Church have survived to this day. We do not know the text of the Eucharistic prayer (anaphora), which was pronounced by Blessed Augustine and other African bishops and priests during the consecration of gifts. But it can be assumed with a high degree of probability that it emphasized verba as the main element, but also contained a pronounced formula of epiclesis. This hypothesis is supported by the words of Blessed Augustine’s senior contemporary, Saint Optatus of Milevitus, from his work written to denounce the schismatic Donatists: “What could be more blasphemous than breaking, scraping, destroying the altars of the Lord, on which the Sacrifice of the Lord was offered, on which the prayers of the people and members of Christ were offered, where the Almighty Lord was invoked, where the Holy Spirit descended in response to prayers, from which many accepted the guarantee of eternal salvation" 74 . Worship of the Sacrifice. Church of the Apostle Andrew on Treska, Macedonia VI. Sacrificium Ecclesiae – Sacrifice of the Church The Old Testament blood sacrifices were not established in the Law given by God to Moses because God needed them. Augustine believed that the meaning of these institutions boils down, firstly, to teaching the people of Israel the main commandments of the Law about love for God and for each other: “... sacrifices were a sign of what expresses our desire to be in communion with God and to help our neighbor in achieving the same goal... Everything that was prescribed in various ways regarding sacrifices in the tabernacle or church, all of this served to signify love for God and neighbor, for “the whole law is based on these two commandments and the prophets" (Matthew 22:40)." Secondly, the Old Testament sacrifices served as prophetic prototypes, “many and varied signs” of this true Sacrifice - the saving Sacrifice on the Cross for the entire human race, which Christ offered on Calvary, being both the Sacrifice and the High Priest - the Intercessor of the New Testament. The only and perfect Sacrifice was made for the atonement of sins and the reconciliation of humanity with God. The saving power of the church sacraments stems from the sacrificial deed of the Savior - “from the pierced side of Christ who died on the Cross with a spear flowed all the sacraments of the Church” 75 . Augustine, commenting on the Gospel phrase “but one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water flowed out (sed unus militum lancea latus eius aperuit, et continuo exivit sanguis et aqua) (John 19:34),” draws attention to the fact that the text uses the “meaningful” verb aperio (to open). “He [Apostle John the Theologian] did not say: he struck, wounded in the side, or something like that. He said - opened to show that from the ribs of Christ the door of life was opened, from which the sacraments of the Church flowed, and without them it is impossible to enter into that life, which is true life. This blood was shed for the forgiveness of sins; this water fills the cup of salvation and is both drink and washing” 76 . Through communion of the Eucharist, believers who are in the Church - the Body of Christ, assimilate the fruits of that one-time saving Sacrifice of Christ, offered by Him on the Cross, and at the same time they sacrifice themselves to God the Father through Christ, becoming members of His Body. “...This whole redeemed city, that is, the council and society of saints, is offered as a universal sacrifice to God by that great Priest, who also offered Himself for us in suffering in the form of a servant, so that we might be a body for such a Head... “We, who are many, are one body in Christ” (Rom. 12:5). This is a Christian sacrifice! This is what the Church expresses through the sacrament of the altar, known to believers, by which it is shown to her that in what she brings, she herself is offered” 77 ; “Therefore, this true Mediator, Who, having taken the form of a servant, became the Mediator between God and people, the man Christ Jesus, although in the form of God he accepts the Sacrifice together with the Father, with whom He is the One God, yet in the form of a servant he chose rather to be the Sacrifice Himself than to receive it... Thus, He is both the Priest who makes the sacrifice, and at the same time He Himself is the Sacrifice offered. He deigned to be the daily sacrament of this sacrifice to the Church, which, being the Body of this Head, considers itself to be offered through Him” 78 . Just as Christ made the Sacrifice of the Cross out of love for humanity, the Church makes the Sacrifice of the Eucharist, being moved by grateful sacrificial love for God: “To Him we offer the sacrifice of humility and praise on the altar of the heart with the fire of fiery love. We are cleansed from all filthiness of sins and evil lusts and are sanctified by His name, in order to see Him as He can be seen, and to unite with Him” 79 . At the same time, the Church, celebrating the Eucharist, offers the Bloodless Sacrifice for all those living in the world, both for Christians and for all those who have not yet been enlightened by the light of the true faith: “Will you refrain from answering “Amen” when you hear how a bishop at the altar of God exhorts the believers to pray to God or himself loudly prays to Him in order to call on unbelieving peoples to accept his faith?” 80 The sacrifice of the Eucharist is also offered in intercession with God for all those who have completed their earthly journey: “The whole Church respects what is essentially the tradition of the fathers: we pray for those who died in communion with the Body and Blood of Christ when they are remembered during the sacrifice; and we remember that the Sacrifice is made for them too” 81. This thesis is an important argument against Protestant theology, which denies the fact that the Eucharist is the Bloodless Sacrifice of the Church for the living and the dead. VII. Panis quotidianus – Daily Bread Saint Augustine, like Saint Ambrose 82, insists on the need for daily communion of the Eucharist. Just as a person needs to be fed daily with bodily food, so the soul must be nourished with “spiritual food”, “with the Sacraments of the Body and Blood of Christ, which we receive daily” 83 . In the mouth of St. Augustine, the expression from the Lord's Prayer, daily bread, or daily bread (panis quotidianus), has a double meaning. “Let the bread of the Eucharist be our daily bread, which we eat in order to live. When we reach Christ Himself, then we will no longer need to receive the Eucharist... So the Eucharist for us is food for every day. We must, however, accept it not in order to regain bodily strength, but also spiritual strength... However, what I preach to you is also your daily bread, and the same applies to the chants that you hear. All these things are necessary for our journey along the path of earthly life. When we reach the goal of our path, we will not need to listen to the reading of a book. We will see the Word Itself, we will eat, listen and drink It." 84 In his teachings to those preparing to receive the sacrament of Baptism (competentes), Augustine says: “Our daily food on this earth is the Word of God, which is always taught in churches. Our reward after labor (in the vineyard of Christ) is eternal life. Again, if by daily bread you mean that which the faithful receive, and that which you will receive when you are baptized, then there is a good reason why you ask and say, “Give us our daily bread,” that you may live so as not to be excommunicated from the holy altar.”85 However, just like St. Ambrose, St. Augustine admits that daily communion was not a custom among Eastern Christians: “Those most of whom live in the eastern regions do not partake of the Lord’s Supper every day... It follows that this is not considered daily bread in their countries, for if it were not so, then those who do not take communion daily would be accused of committing a serious sin.”86 They justified their abstinence from daily communion “without stumbling” by the establishment of the Church, which clearly caused St. Augustine’s bewilderment. The reason for this abstinence was declared to be reverence for the shrine and fear of unworthy communion due to real or imaginary sinfulness. Augustine respected the fact that different Christian nations and different churches have customs that may differ significantly from each other. “For example, some fast on Saturday, some do not, some partake of the Body and Blood of Christ every day, others receive them on set days, in some places not a day goes by without the Sacrifice being offered, in others only on Saturday or the Lord's Day (Dominica - Sunday), or it can only be the Lord's Day. With regard to these and all other various customs which may be found everywhere, every one is free to obey them or not, as he pleases. But there is no better rule for a wise and earnest Christian in these matters than to adhere to the practice more common in the church he at the time attends. For that custom, which is not clearly contrary to faith and generally accepted morality, should be considered of no importance and observed for the sake of brotherhood with those among whom we live...” 87 Sixteen centuries have passed since the time when the great teacher of the Church, Blessed Augustine, preached with inspiration from the church pulpit and wrote his numerous works. However, those thoughts and judgments that Augustine uttered about the Church of Christ and its sacred sacraments have not lost their significance even today. Testing the strength of fraternal communion and unity of Orthodox Churches throughout the world is the most acute, pressing church problem of our time. And in Augustine we find very clear, piercing thoughts that there is nothing more important than catholic communion in love and peace, for the Church is not just a human community. It is the unity in the divine-humanity of the “All-whole” Christ (Christus Totus). “I exhort you, I beg you...” the call of the great and wise teacher Blessed Augustine sounds through the centuries, “love this Church, be in this Church, be this Church, love the Good Shepherd, the Bridegroom so wonderful, Who deceives no one, Who does not want anyone to perish. Pray also for the scattered sheep, so that they will come, so that they will know Him, so that they will love Him, so that they will be one flock under the One Shepherd" 88 . In his theory of a “mixed” Church (Ecclesia mixta), living in the earthly world, we find clear, disarming answers to the challenges of modern secular and anti-clerical propaganda, which often speculates on the imaginary and real shortcomings of the internal church environment. For a considerable number of Christians who are just beginning their spiritual path, encountering moral imperfection in the church environment often becomes an irresistible temptation, because of which they leave the church fence. The reason for the spiritual crisis of such Christians lies in the fact that they themselves initially have illusory ideas about what the Church is in its essence. The Church truly is the Body of Christ, and its Head is Christ the Savior Himself. But the members of this Body are people, and each of them has its own advantages and disadvantages. Precisely because the Catholic Church of Christ is one throughout the world, it unites in its bosom the righteous and the sinful, the strong and the weak. “Sancta Ecclesia nos sumus!” - “The Holy Church is us!” 89 In the holy sacraments, first of all in the sacrament of the Body and Blood of the Lord, we become partakers of the Whole Christ and through Him we become partakers of the Divine nature. Without the Church, without its sacraments, it is impossible to achieve salvation, since salvation cannot be achieved without Christ. Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill performs the Liturgy on the banks of the Velikaya River during the All-Russian Velikoretsky religious procession An essay written in defense of the Christian faith from criticism and accusations from paganism, proving the superiority of the Christian religion over paganism. Quasten J. Patrology. Vol. II. Westminster, Maryland, 1986, pp. 154, 217–219. Altaner B. Patrology. NY, 1961, pp. 492–493. Jaspers K. Great philosophers of the world. Book 2: Plato, Augustine, Kant / trans. with him. M., 2019. P. 193. Sagarda N. I., Sagarda A. I. Complete body of lectures on patrolology. St. Petersburg, 2004. P. 33. Meyendorff John, prot. Introduction to Patristic Theology. Minsk, 2007. P. 243. Demasopoulos G., Papanikolaou A. Augustine and the Orthodox: “the West” in the East // Orthodox Readings of Augustine. NY: St. Vladimir’s seminary, 2008. P. 30. Azkoul Michael, fr. The Influence of Augustine of Hippo on the Orthodox Church. Ontario, Canada, 1990. P. 10. Spassky A. A. History of dogmatic movements in the era of the Ecumenical Councils. Sergiev Posad, 1914. P. 618. Caelestinus I, papa. Apostolici verba. 237 // Denzinger H. Enchiridion Symbolorum: A Compendium of Creeds, Definitions and Declarations of the Catholic Church. Ed. XLIII / by P. Huenermann. Bilingual edition. San Francisco, 2012, pp. 87–88. Hormisdas, papa. Sicut ratione (520). 366 // Ibid. P. 132. Bonifatius II, papa. Per ilium nostrum. 399 // Ibid. P. 141. Retractatio – revision, change of views. Retractatio – revision, change of views. Demasopoulos G., Papanikolaou A. Op. cit. P. 13 Gregorius Magnus, papa. Register Epistolarum X. 16. The Letters of Gregory the Great / translated by R. C. Martin. Vol. 3. Toronto, 2004. P. 726. Beda Venerabilis. De temporum ratione // PL. 90. Col. 560. Photius, Patriarcha. 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Ch. VI. Allen, Texas, s.a. P. 447. In epistolam Ioannis tractatus 1. 2. Ennaratio in psalmum 26:2. Fleteren F., van. Defification, Divinization // Augustine through the Ages: An Encyclopedia / ed. by Allan D. Fitzgerald. Cambridge, 2009. P. 265. Athanasius of Alexandria, St. Epistle on Arian 1:39 // Creations. Part 2. Sergiev Posad, 1902. P. 227. Sermo 13 de Tempore // PL. 39. Col. 1097–1098. In Evangelium Ioannis tractatus 21:8. Ennaratio in psalmum 49:1–2. De praedestinatione Sanctorum 15:31. Contra Faustum Manichaeum 19.11.. See: Cutrone Emmanuelle J. Sacraments // Augustine through the Ages: An Encyclopedia. P. 742 Subject, essence, essence (lat.). The word "reality" comes from the Latin res. In Evangelium Ioannis tractatus 26:12. Strength, energy, talent (lat.). Ambrosius Mediolanensis. De mysteriis 53 // Collection of works in Latin and Russian. T. 1. M.: PSTGU, 2012. P. 295. De Baptismo contra Donatistas 5. 9. Ennaratio in psalmum 98:9 In Evangelium Ioannis tractatus 80:3. “This bread is ordinary bread only up to the words of consecration (verba sacramentorum). As soon as the time of consecration (consecratio) comes, from bread it will become the Body of Christ” (Ambrosius Mediolanensis. De sacramentis 4. 14 // Collection of works in Latin and Russian. T. 1. P. 224). Optatus. De Schismate donatistorum 6. 1. The quotation is from the English translation: Saint Optatus, Bishop of Milevis. Against the Donatists / translated by M. Evans. Liverpool, 1997. P. 115 In Johannis Evangelium tractatus 15:8. “If this is daily Bread, then why should you take it once a year (post annum illum), as is the custom in the East among the Greeks? Take daily what will be useful for you every day. Live in such a way that you are worthy to receive it every day. He who is not worthy to take it daily is not worthy to take it once a year” (Ambrosius Mediolanensis. De sacramentis V. 25 // Collection of works in Latin and Russian. T. 1. P. 245). De sermone Domini in monte secundum Matthaeum 2. 7. De sermone Domini in monte secundum Matthaeum 2:7.