Sermons

Blzh. Aurelius Augustine preached and composed about 400 sermons and teachings. He believed that preaching the Word of God was the most important duty of a pastor. His conversations have different contents: on individual sayings of the Holy Scriptures, church holidays, days of remembrance of saints, and various instructions. This publication contains 3 sermons: 1. “Sermon 59. On the Lord’s Prayer” (9 chapters). Pronounced on the eve of Easter and addressed to the catechumens awaiting Holy Baptism on the day of the Holy Resurrection of Christ. 2. "The Word on the Lord's Day" (Sermon 258, delivered in the Great Basilica on the Lord's Day). The discourse was delivered around 410–412. for Antipascha. On the 8th day, the newly baptized took off their white clothes, left the place reserved for them in the church and joined the entire believing people. It was a celebration of spiritual maturation and entry into the community. If they were previously called “babies,” now they received the name “faithful, believers.” In his sermon, Saint Augustine refers to verses from Psalm 117, as well as to the texts of Holy Scripture: - about the cornerstone (Jer 51:25; Isa 28:16; 1 Cor 3:11; Eph 2:14,20,21); - about the stone rejected by the builders (Psalm 117:22; Matt 21:42; Acts 4:11; 1 Pet 2:6); - about the stumbling block (Isa 8:14; 1 Pet 2:7). The preacher describes the image of Christ as a cornerstone in which two walls meet: one wall is a symbol of the Church, which consisted of Jews, the other represents the Church, which consisted of former pagans. Also blzh. Augustine uses the image of Christ as the Light that disperses the darkness of sin. 3. “Sermon of Guelferbiton 3. About the sufferings of the Lord” (4 chapters). The conversation has a dogmatic-catechetical content. Turning to the memories of Christ's Passion on the Cross, Blessed. Augustine gives the main provisions of Orthodox Christology. The Savior’s suffering is for us “the essence of the teaching of patience.” Guelferbiton sermons of the blessed. Augustine are named after the Latinized form of the German place name Wölfenbüttel, a city where many valuable documents of early Christianity are kept. Contents Sermon 59. On the Lord's Prayer I II III IV V VI VII VIII IX Homily on the Lord's Day Guelferbiton Sermon 3. On the Sufferings of the Lord I II III IV From the translator. Blessed Augustine (354-†430) - Bishop of Ippona, teacher of the Church. Born in Africa, in the city of Tagaste. He received his education in Carthage. Having gone through a difficult path of spiritual formation - at one time he joined the Manichaeans, later his worldview was determined by the philosophy of Neoplatonism - in 386, Augustine, under the influence of St. Ambrose of Milan, converted to Christianity and received Holy Baptism in Milan on the eve of Easter 387. His mother Monica soon died. The son’s grief is touchingly poured out in the famous “Confession”. Having distributed everything that was left of his mother, Augustine, upon returning to Tagaste, leads the life of an ascetic. In 391 he was ordained a presbyter, and in 395 he became a bishop. Blessed Augustine died during the siege of Ippon by the Vandals. St. Augustine is highly revered by all Christian confessions. He wrote many works (according to the testimony of his student Possidios, about a thousand), of which the most famous are “On the City of God,” “Confession,” and “Christian Science.” At the same time, he was an outstanding preacher. If most of his theological treatises were written according to a predetermined plan, then many of his sermons were the result of instant inspiration, spiritual insight, they are a living movement of the pastoral heart. St. Augustine always strived to ensure that his sermons were understandable and edifying. He said: “It is better that grammarians blame me than that people do not understand me.” The homiletical heritage of St. Augustine traditionally ranks among the best examples of Latin patristic eloquence. Sermon 59. About the Lord's Prayer From the translator. St. Augustine's 59th sermon is dedicated to the Lord's Prayer. This catechetical teaching was delivered on the eve of Easter and addressed to the catechumens awaiting Holy Baptism on the day of Christ’s Bright Resurrection. You have read by heart what you should believe in, you have heard what you should ask for in prayer. Since it was impossible to call on Him in whom you did not believe, according to the words of the apostle, “as to call on Him in whom you did not believe” (Rom. 10:14) 1, you first learned the Symbol, which contains a rule of faith that is both brief and great: short in the number of words, precious in the weight of its content. And the prayer that you were instructed to remember today and read by heart on the eighth day, as you already heard when reading the Gospel, was transmitted by the Lord Himself to His disciples and from them came to us, “for their sound goes throughout the whole earth” (Ps. 18:5). So, do not become attached to earthly things, having found the Father who is in Heaven. After all, you will have to say: “Our Father who art in Heaven.” Truly, you intend to join a great family. This Father's brothers are the rich and the poor, this Father's brothers are the master and the slave, this Father's brothers are the general and the common warrior. On earth, all Christian believers have different fathers, some noble, others not, but they call on the One Father, Who is in Heaven. If our Father is in Heaven, then our inheritance is prepared for us in Heaven. After all, our Father is such that he gives us a joint possession with Him [that which He Himself has]. And indeed, He gives us an inheritance, but not in the same way [as usually happens when a person] dying leaves us something. For He does not go away so that we may inherit, but remains so that we may join. Now that we have learned from whom we are asking, we should know what to ask, so that we do not offend Such a Father with a bad request. So, what did the Lord Jesus [Christ] teach us to ask of the Father who is in heaven? - “Hallowed be Thy name.” What kind of benefit do we ask from God when we say: “Hallowed be thy name”? After all, it cannot happen that His name is not holy. The name of God is always holy; Therefore, is this not why we ask: “Let him be holy,” if not so that we ourselves may be sanctified through Him? We pray that what is always holy will be holy in us. The name of God will be sanctified in you when you accept Baptism, but even after Baptism you will pray for this, so that what you received will remain in you. Then follows the second petition: “Thy kingdom come.” Whether we ask or not, the Kingdom of God will come; Therefore, is this not why we ask, as if for the purpose that [the Kingdom] would come for us, which will come for all the saints, so that God would count us among the saints for whom His Kingdom will come? In the third petition we say: “Thy will be done as it is in Heaven and on earth.” What are we talking about here? Just as the Angels serve You in Heaven, so may we serve You on earth. The Holy Angels, loving God, obey Him, do not sin before Him, and fulfill His commands. Therefore, we pray that we too will be able to fulfill God’s commandments in love. The words: “Thy will be done as it is in Heaven and on earth” can be understood in another way. The sky in us is the soul, the earth in us is the body. How then [to interpret]: “Thy will be done as it is in Heaven and on earth”? Just as we have heeded Your commandments, so let our flesh be obedient to us, so that because of the discord between the flesh and the spirit, we will not be less zealous in fulfilling God’s commandments. However, dear ones, when the flesh desires what is contrary to the spirit, as the earth desires Heaven, then let the spirit also desire what is contrary to the flesh, so that the earth does not prevail over Heaven. And if we cannot abolish this disagreement, then we will deny [the flesh] consent. The words: “Thy will be done as it is in Heaven and on earth” are also understood this way: Heaven is the believers who have put on the image of the heavenly man, that is, Christ. Unbelievers, bearing the image of an earthly person, are called earth. Therefore, saying: “Thy will be done as it is in Heaven and on earth,” we pray to our Good Father: as the believers have believed in You, so may the unbelievers believe in You. In this way we learn to pray for our enemies. Below in the prayer it follows: “Give us this day our daily bread.” Whether we ask the Father for the food needed for the body, denoting by bread everything we need, or we understand by daily bread that which you will accept from the altar, it will be correct to say: “Give us this day,” that is, at the present time. Bread is necessary in this age when we tend to hunger. When another life comes and hunger subsides, will we have a need to ask for bread? And if we mean bread, which, as I said, we accept from the altar, then again it is good to pray that God will give it to us. After all, what should we pray for if not to not allow in ourselves all that evil that separates us from this [Holy] Bread? The daily proclaimed word of God is also bread. For, not being bread for the stomach, is it not bread for the soul? When this life is passed away, we will not seek the bread that hunger seeks; there will be no need to accept the Sacrament of the altar, for we will become one with Christ, whose Body we now receive; it will not be necessary for the words that we now speak to you to be spoken, and for the code [of the Holy Scriptures] to be read, for we will see the One who is the Word of God, by whom “all things began to be” (John 1:3), by whom the Angels are nourished, enlightened, wise, not seeking words of evasive speech, but drinking the One Word, shouting out praises from the abundance and not lacking in doxologies. Blessed are those who dwell in Your house; they will continually praise You (Psalm 83:5), says the Psalmist. The following petition also applies to present life: “Forgive us our debts.” In Baptism, all your debts, that is, sins, are forgiven to you, absolutely everything. But since no one can live here without sin - after all, no one can live on this earth, if not without great sin, because of which we are cut off from the [Holy] Bread, then without sins at all, and we can accept Baptism once - then this prayer is given to us as a source of daily cleansing, so that our sins are forgiven daily, but only if we fulfill what then follows [in the prayer]: “just as we forgive our debtor." So, my brothers, I warn you: you will be children of God, and not of some great man. Would the governor of the province deign to adopt any of you? And God’s grace makes everyone His children. You will say this prayer daily after Baptism, and even mainly after Baptism. Actually, you will not pray this prayer before Baptism: until the eighth day it will be recitation by heart, and not prayer; You will pray with it after Baptism, for who can say “Our Father” without being born. So, since you will say this prayer daily, I convince you, by God’s grace to my sons, and by the [Heavenly] Father to my brothers: when someone offends you or sins against you, and [then] comes, confesses his sin and asks you for forgiveness, immediately with all your heart let him go, so that you will not be removed from the mercy that descends from God. After all, if you don’t let go, then He won’t let you go either. Look what God says to you: “It is right that you ask Me for forgiveness, for I cannot sin. And when no sin can be found in Me, I forgive, but you do not want to forgive. Well, I give in, do not forgive. But then live in such a way that I do not find in you anything worthy of punishment.” God allows you to repay the person who insults you but asks for mercy. He was an enemy, but by asking for forgiveness, he destroys the enmity. “No,” you say, “I want revenge.” Beware lest you yourself find grounds for revenge; Do you, a man who is in sin, want sin to be punished? Be careful that He in Whom no sin cannot be found punishes you. Thus, this forgiveness relates to the present life, for where sins are committed, they are forgiven; in another life they will not be released due to lack. After this we pray, saying: “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.” He who sympathizes with the tempter falls into temptation. And indeed, in this life it is useful to be tempted, but it is not useful to fall into temptation. When you are tempted, trying to tempt you with money to do some bad act, you are tempted, but [precisely as a person] honest. And if you do not consent, you will be found innocent. I advise you: condemn the love of money [in your soul] - and money will not tempt you. Shut the door against temptation and bolt it - the love of God. And this can only be done with the help of Him whom we call in prayer. People are tempted in various ways: some are tempted by promises, others by threats; so that the one who could not be seduced by temptation would be seduced by intimidation. But a person who is strengthened in God and on whose lips God hears the words: “do not lead us into temptation,” overcomes bad addictions, overcomes empty fears. Again, asking: “do not lead us into temptation” is necessary in this life, for this is the essence of temptation; equally: “Deliver us from the evil one,” for there is an evil one here. Thus, there are seven petitions in total: three relate to Eternal Life, four – to present life. “Hallowed be thy name” will always be. “Thy Kingdom come” - this Kingdom will be eternal. “Thy will be done as it is in Heaven and on earth” will always be. “Give us this day our daily bread” will not always happen. “Forgive us our debts” will not always happen. “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil” will not always be the case; but where there is temptation and where the evil one is, this petition is necessary. The Lord's Prayer encourages you to not only learn to ask for what you want from God the Father who is in Heaven, but also to learn to want what you should. Amen. From the translator. The sermon translated below (Sermon 258, preached in the Great Basilica on the Lord's Day) was delivered by St. Augustine around 410–412, on the first Sunday after Easter (the Latin name dies octavus means "eighth day"). On the eighth day, the newly baptized took off their white clothes, left the place reserved for them in the church and joined the entire believing people. It was a celebration of spiritual maturation and entry into the community. Previously called infantes “babies,” they now received the name fideles “faithful, believers.” After reading the Gospel, the bishop addressed all the people, including the newly baptized, with a short speech, in which he usually analyzed the text of the 117th Psalm. This psalm was sung in the church, starting with Easter Matins. Blessed Augustine uses in this sermon verses from this psalm, as well as texts from Holy Scripture: about the corner stone (Jer 51:25; Isa 28:16) given by the Apostle Paul (1 Cor 3:11; Eph 2:14,20,21), about the stone rejected by the builders (Ps 117:22), given by the Evangelist Matthew (Matthew 21:42; also Acts 4:11; 1 Pet 2:6), the stumbling block (Isa 8:14) is given in 1 Pet 2:7, which very often became the subject of exegetical commentary in patristic literature. Thus, St. Cyprian of Carthage brings these texts together because of their messianic character in the second book of Testimoniorum contra Judaeos, cap. 16, along with many other places of Holy Scripture where the stone is mentioned. St. Augustine focuses on the image of Christ as the cornerstone in which two walls meet: one wall is a symbol of the Church, which originally consisted of Jews, the other represents the Church, which included former pagans. Being a symbol of the unity of the Church, this image serves St. Augustine as an important argument in his polemics with the Donatists 2 . In this sermon, the image of Christ as the cornerstone is also combined with the image of Christ as the Light, dispelling the darkness of sin. Having sung to God: “This is the day that the Lord has made” (Ps 118:24) 3, let us say what the Lord will give us [to say on this topic]. With these prophetic words, Holy Scripture seeks to raise our minds to understand the true meaning of this event. The Day of the Lord is not that ordinary day, visible only with the eyes of the flesh, not the one that begins with sunrise and ends with sunset, but which saw the sunrise, but has no sunset! The psalm says: “The stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner; it is made of the Lord and wondrous in our eyes” (Ps 118:22–23). And then follows the continuation: “This is the day that the Lord has made” (Ps 117:24). Why? Let's start this day from the cornerstone. Who is the cornerstone that the builders rejected? The Lord Jesus Christ Himself, for the Jewish scribes, knowledgeable in the Law, rejected Him, saying: “Not from this God, who broke the Sabbath” (John 9:16). Behold, you Jewish scribes said: This is not of this God, who broke the Sabbath, and you rejected Him who was made the chief of the corners. How did Christ become the center of attention? Why is He called the cornerstone? Because every corner connects two different walls. The apostles came from the Jewish family, they came through circumcision. Along with them came those crowds that accompanied the Lord walking on a donkey’s colt, exclaiming in the words of our today’s psalm: “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” (Ps 117:26). Many churches also came from there, about which the Apostle Paul speaks: “I was not personally known to the churches of Christ in Judea, but they only heard that he who once persecuted them is now preaching the gospel of faith, and they glorified God for me” (Gal 1:22–24). They were all Jews, but they followed Christ like the apostles, came, believed Christ - and formed one wall. There was another wall left. It was composed by the Church of the Pagans. And they, these two Churches, found each other, found each other, united in Christ, the cornerstone, for He is our peace, “who made both one and destroyed the barrier that stood in the middle” (Eph 2:14). Therefore, the following words follow in the psalm: “This is the day that the Lord has made” (Ps 118:24). By this day as a whole, spiritually understand the unity of the Head and the Body; “The Head of the Church is Christ, the Body of Christ is the Church” (Eph 1:22–23). “This is the day that the Lord has made” (Ps 117:24). Remember the initial state of the world: “darkness was over the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God hovered over the water. And God said, “Let there be light.” And there was light. And God separated the light from the darkness, and God called light day, and the darkness night” (Genesis 2:2–5). Think of the darkness in which the newly baptized were before they came to the remission of sins. They were darkness over the deep before their sins were forgiven, but the Spirit of God hovered over the waters. They plunged into the waters [of Baptism], the Spirit of God hovered over the waters, and the darkness of sin was dispersed. And now they are the day that the Lord has made. The apostle addresses them, the newly baptized, as a newly created day: “You were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord” (Eph 5:8). Did he say: You were darkness in the Lord? No. Darkness is in you, light is in the Lord. But God called the light day, and by the grace of God day is what it is. By themselves, they could only remain darkness, but they could not become light if the Lord had not created it. And this is the day that the Lord made: the day itself was not made, but the Lord made it. Wasn’t Thomas, one of the disciples, almost a man from the crowd, an ordinary person? His fellow disciples said to him: We have seen the Lord. But he said: “Unless I touch him, unless I put my finger into his side, I will not believe” (John 20:25). The evangelists tell you, Thomas, don’t you believe them? The world believed, but does the student not believe? After all, it is said prophetically about the evangelists: “Their sound goes through all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world” (Ps 18:5). Their gospel reaches even the ends of the earth, the whole world believes, all the disciples proclaim to one - but he does not believe. Why? For it was not yet the day that the Lord made. There was still darkness over the abyss - in the depths of the human heart, there was darkness. Therefore, may the Lord come, may the Head of this day come and say the patient, condescending, wrathless Healer: “Come, come, touch and believe. You, Thomas, said: “Unless I touch, unless I put my finger, I will not believe.” - Come, touch, put your finger and do not be an unbeliever, but a believer (John 20:27). Come, put your finger. Knowing the wounds of your soul, I saved My wounds for you.” And so, having clearly put his hand [into the Lord’s wounds], Thomas gained the fullness of faith. What is it? It is to believe that Christ is not only man or only God, but man and God together. Such is the fullness of faith, for “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). And this disciple, whom the Savior allowed to touch the wounds of His Body, when he touched, exclaimed: “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28). He touched man, but knew God. He touched the flesh, but saw the Word, for “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). This Word suffered to have His flesh hanged on the tree. This Word suffered to have nails driven into His flesh. This Word suffered to have His flesh pierced with a spear. This Word suffered so that His flesh might be laid in the tomb. This Word resurrected His flesh, kept it intact for the eyes of the disciples, and allowed them to touch it with their hands. They touch, they exclaim: My Lord and my God! This is the day that the Lord has made! Sermon of Guelferbiton 3. About the sufferings of the Lord 4 From the translator. We offer to the pious attention of our readers the sermon “On the Sufferings of the Lord.” In terms of accuracy of argumentation, sincerity of feeling and theological thoroughness, this teaching is one of the best of the approximately 300 sermons of St. Augustine. The content of the sermon is mainly dogmatic and catechetical: in connection with the remembrance of the Savior’s Passion on the Cross, Augustine proposes some basic provisions of Orthodox Christology, supporting them (in polemics with heretics and pagans) with arguments from Holy Scripture and from reason. In addition, having determined at the beginning of the sermon that “the suffering of the Savior... is [for us] the teaching of patience (doctrina patientiae),” Bl. Augustine repeats in ch. IV this formulation again and then develops it into a clear and edifying moral application. The suffering of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is the guarantee of glory and the teaching of patience. And indeed, why cannot the hearts of the faithful hope for the grace of God, for whose sake the Only Son of God, co-eternal with the Father, considered it a small thing only to be born a Man from a man, but also died at the hands of the people whom He Himself created? Great is what, according to the promise of the Lord, should happen to us, but much greater is what - we remember again and again - has already been accomplished for our sake. When Christ died for the ungodly (see Rom 5:6), where were they and who were they? Who can doubt that He who has already given them His death gives His life to the saints? Why is human decay slow to believe that people will one day live with God? Something more incredible has already happened: God died for people. After all, Christ is the Word [about whom it is said]: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). This Word of God “became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). For It could not die for us without taking mortal flesh from us. This is how the Immortal was able to die, this is how He wished to give life to mortals, intending to make those to whom He Himself had first become partakers partakers. We did not have in ourselves how to live, He did not have in Himself how to die; therefore [the Savior] made with us - in a reciprocal way - an amazing exchange: we gave what He died by, He will give what we will live by. However, the flesh that He took from us in order to die, He gave to us as the Creator; but the life that we have, which we will live with Him and in Him, He did not accept from us. Therefore, from the side of our nature, according to which we are people, He died not in His own, but in our [nature], since His nature, according to which He is God, is completely not subject to death, but from the side of the creation, which He created as God, He also died in His own, for He Himself created the flesh in which He died. Therefore, we not only should not be ashamed of the death of the Lord our God, but, on the contrary, we should believe in it completely and boast about it. For [Christ], having accepted the death that He found in us, immutably promised to give life in Himself, which we ourselves cannot have. He Who loved us so much that, without sin, He endured for sinners what we deserved through sins, how will He not give us the same as He who justifies the righteous? The One whose promise is true, if not the one who gives us the reward of the saints - He who resignedly endured execution from the murmurers? Therefore, brothers, let us fearlessly confess and preach that Christ was crucified for us. Let us proclaim Christ crucified not timidly, but rejoicing, not ashamed, but boasting. The Apostle Paul knew and gave us a source of praise. Although Paul had much to say about the greatness and divinity of Christ, he did not say that he would boast in the miracles of Christ, who, being God the Word of the Father, created the world and, even becoming a man like us, ruled the world, but said: “I do not want to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Gal. 6:14). The Apostle saw who, for whose sake and where he hung, and in such humiliation of God he anticipated our divine exaltation. And the people who mock us for the fact that we honor the crucified Lord, although they seem reasonable to themselves, are in fact going mad - incurably and hopelessly - being unable to understand either our faith or our preaching. After all, we do not affirm that Christ died according to Divinity, but according to humanity. When any man dies, then that part of him which essentially makes him a man - that by which he differs from [dumb] cattle, which has reason, which distinguishes between the human and the divine, the temporal and the eternal, the false and the true, that is, his rational soul, does not suffer death along with his body, but departs alive; and yet it is said: the man died. Why then cannot one say: God died, not implying, of course, that His Divinity could die in God, but that His mortal [humanity] died, which He assumed for the sake of mortals. For just as with the death of a person his soul does not die in the flesh, so at the death of Christ His Divinity did not die in man. But God, they say, could not unite with man and become one with him in Christ. If we adhere to this carnal and empty view and human opinions, it would be much more difficult to believe that the spirit could be united with the flesh than that God could be united with man, and yet no man would be a man if the human spirit were not united with the human body. So, if spirit and body are a more complex and amazing combination than spirit and spirit, and if the spirit of a person, since it is not a body, and the body of a person, since it is not a spirit, are nevertheless united together in order to form a person, then how much more quickly could God, “who is spirit” (John 4:24), not with a body that does not have a spirit, but with a person who has one, be united by a spiritual combination, so that from the two there would become one Christ. Therefore, we too will glory in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which there is peace for us and we are crucified for the world; without being ashamed, let us place it on the forehead, this focus of shame. But if we try to explain in detail what and how saving the teaching of patience is preached by this cross, will we have enough words for the subject, will we have enough time for words? [Let’s just say]: what kind of person, if he sincerely and ardently believes in Christ, would dare to be proud when the Lord teaches humility not only by word, but also by His example? And the following saying of Holy Scripture briefly reminds us of how useful this teaching is for us: “Before a fall, the heart is exalted, and before glory it remains in humility” (Proverbs 18:13); something else is consonant with it: “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6); and one more thing: “He who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted” (Luke 4:2). In the same way, when the apostle calls us not to be arrogant, but to become of the same mind with the humble, we should consider into what abyss of pride a person falls when he opposes the humble God, and how destructive it is for a person to impatiently endure what the Righteous Lord wished [to send down] on him, if God patiently endured what the unjust enemy wished to [deal] to him. Amen. / Almanac “Alpha and Omega”. Translation from Latin of St. Maxim Kozlova Here and further in this issue, references to Scripture that are not provided by the author are given in italics. – Ed. Supporters of the religious movement of the IV-V centuries. in North Africa, named after their leader, Bishop Donatus, who preached intolerance towards Christians who apostatized from their faith during the period of persecution by the Roman emperors. Donatism was officially banned at the Council of Carthage in 411 - Ed. Quotations are based on the Latin translation of the Bible. – Per. Guelferbiton Sermons of Bl. Augustine are named after the Latinized form of the German place name Wölfenbüttel, a city where many valuable documents of early Christianity are kept. – Ed.