Blessed Augustine. Blessed Augustine biography briefly Interesting facts from the life of Augustine
Blessed Augustine, one of the most authoritative fathers of the Church, created a holistic system of Christian philosophy. And what of the ancient philosophical heritage especially influenced the development of Augustine as a thinker? Who did he argue with in his theological works? How did the maxim appear, which Descartes later repeated almost verbatim: “I think, therefore I exist”? Narrated by Viktor Petrovich Lega.
St. Augustine is one of the greatest Fathers of the Church. At the V Ecumenical Council he was named among the twelve most authoritative teachers of the Church. But Augustine was not only a major theologian, but also a philosopher. Moreover, we see in him not just an interest in certain aspects of philosophy, as, for example, in Origen or Clement of Alexandria. We can say that he was the first to create an integral system of Christian philosophy.
But before we understand the teachings of St. Augustine, including philosophical teachings, let’s get acquainted with his life. Because his life is quite complex, and his biography clearly shows both his philosophical formation and his formation as a Christian.
Why do the gods fight?
Aurelius Augustine was born in 354 in northern Africa in the city of Tagaste, near Carthage. His father was a pagan, his mother, Monica, was a Christian; she was subsequently glorified as a saint. From this fact we can conclude that Augustine probably knew something about Christianity from childhood, but his father’s upbringing still prevailed. When Augustine was 16 years old, he went to Carthage to receive a serious education there. What does “serious education” mean for a Roman? This is jurisprudence, rhetoric. Subsequently, Augustine will become a wonderful rhetorician and will participate in trials, and very successfully. Naturally, he is looking for idols whom he could imitate. And which of the great lawyers and orators could become an example for him? Of course, Cicero. And at the age of 19, Augustine reads Cicero’s dialogue “Hortensius”. Unfortunately, this dialogue has not survived to this day, and we do not know what struck Augustine so much that he remained an ardent supporter and lover of philosophy in general and an admirer of Ciceronian philosophy in particular throughout his life.
By the way, we know about all the vicissitudes of Augustine’s life from himself. Augustine wrote a wonderful work called “Confession”, where he repents of his sins before God, considering his entire life path. And sometimes, it seems to me, he evaluates his past life, his youth too harshly, calling himself a libertine who, while living in Carthage, was debauched. Of course, a large Roman city of that time was conducive to a frivolous lifestyle, especially for a young man. But, I think, Augustine is too strict with himself, and it is unlikely that he was such a sinner. If only because he was constantly tormented by the question: “Where does evil come from in the world?” He probably heard from his mother that God is one, He is good and omnipotent. But Augustine did not understand why, if God is good and omnipotent, there is evil in the world, the righteous suffer and there is no justice.
What is the meaning of the struggle of the gods if they are immortal and eternal?
In Carthage he met the Manichaeans, whose teaching seemed logical to him. This sect was named after the Persian sage Mani. The Manichaeans argued that there are two opposing principles in the world - good and evil. Good in the world comes from a good beginning, headed by a good god, the lord of light, and evil comes from an evil beginning, from the forces of darkness; these two principles are constantly fighting with each other, therefore in the world good and evil are always in struggle. This seemed reasonable to Augustine, and for several years he became an active member of the Manichaean sect. But one day Augustine asked the question: “What is the meaning of this struggle?” After all, we agree that any struggle makes sense only when one of the parties hopes to win. But what is the meaning of the struggle between the forces of darkness and the good God, if he is immortal and eternal? And why would a good god enter into a fight with the forces of darkness? And then Augustine asked his Manichaean friends a question: “What will the forces of darkness do to the good god if the good god refuses to fight?” After all, it is impossible to hurt him: God is impassive; kill even more so... So why fight? Manichaeans will not be able to answer this question. And Augustine gradually moves away from Manichaeism and returns to the philosophy of Cicero, who, as we know, was a skeptic. And he will come to a skeptical answer to his question about the causes of evil in the world. Which one? That there is no answer to this question.
“Take it, read it!”
Augustine is cramped in Carthage; he wants to be the first in Rome, like Cicero. And he goes to Rome, but after a few months he moves to Mediolan (present-day Milan): there was the residence of the Roman Emperor.
In Mediolan, he hears about the sermons of Bishop Ambrose of Milan. Of course, Augustine cannot help but come to listen to them. He, as an expert in rhetoric, really likes them, but he is surprised by a different, unusual approach to Christianity for him. It turns out that the events described in the Bible, in which Augustine sees so many nonsense and contradictions, can be perceived somewhat differently, not so literally. Gradually, Augustine converges with Saint Ambrose and finally asks him the question that tormented him: “Where does evil come from in the world, if there is a God?” And Saint Ambrose answers him: “Evil is not from God, evil is from the free will of man.” However, Augustine is not satisfied with this answer. How about human free will? God created man, God knew how man would use this will, He actually gave man a terrible weapon that man would abuse.
And at this time, as Augustine says in his Confessions, he came across the works of Plotinus. This is how he himself writes about it: “You,” Augustine turns to God, he understands: this is Providence, this is not accidental, “brought me through one person... a certain book of the Platonist, translated from Greek into Latin. I read there, not in the same words, it is true, but the same thing with many different proofs convincing of the same thing, namely: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (further there is a long quotation from the Gospel of John)... I also read there that the Word, God, was born “not from blood, not from the will of a man, not from the will of the flesh,” but from God... I found out that in these books in all sorts of ways and it is said in different ways that the Son, possessing the properties of the Father, did not consider Himself an impostor, considering Himself equal to God; after all, by His nature He is God.” It’s surprising: Augustine reads Plotinus, but he actually reads, as he himself admits, the Gospel of John. The true meaning of Christianity, the true meaning of the Gospel begins to be revealed to him. But the final revolution has not yet occurred in Augustine’s soul.
In Hippo
Now Augustine has no doubts. He goes to Saint Ambrose, and he baptizes him. By the way, on the spot where St. Ambrose, one of the greatest fathers of the Church, baptized Blessed Augustine, another greatest father of the Church, a temple was erected - the famous Milan Cathedral Duomo.
Augustine's entire subsequent life will be devoted to Christianity, the Church, and theology.
He returned to his homeland - to north Africa, to the city of Hippo, not far from Carthage. He first became a priest, then accepted the rank of bishop. He wrote a huge number of works, taking part in the struggle against various heresies and developing a new Christian philosophically strict and harmonious teaching.
In order to somehow organize the entire vast Augustinian heritage, it is conventionally divided into several periods.
The first period is philosophical. Augustine is still a consistent philosopher; he is trying to understand Christianity through the prism of philosophical reflection, relying, of course, on Plato and Plotinus. These are works such as “Against Academicians”, “On Order”, “On the Quantity of the Soul”, “About the Teacher”, etc.
At the same time, Augustine also wrote a number of anti-Manichaean works: he needed to refute the teaching with which he was once so closely associated. Gradually, as Augustine himself admitted, he tried to move away from philosophy; he felt that philosophy was both fettering him and not leading him quite where true faith led him.
But Augustine cannot help but philosophize, this is evident when you read his works of any period. I would say this: philosophy is not a profession that can be changed, philosophy is a way of life, a way of thinking. And even in his later treatises, Augustine scolds himself for his excessive passion for philosophy, even calling it the lust of reason - that’s so rude! But at the same time, he still resorts to philosophical arguments, because he cannot think otherwise.
In adulthood, Augustine wrote the famous largest works: “Confession”, “On the City of God” and “On the Trinity”, in which Augustine tried to give a systematic presentation of Christian theology.
The last period of Augustine's life is associated with his struggle against the heresy of Pelagius. Pelagianism, according to Augustine, posed a very serious danger to the Christian Church, because it diminished the role of the Savior. It actually relegated the Savior to the background. “Man can save himself,” Pelagius argued, and God only rewards or punishes for our good or evil deeds. God is not a Savior, he is just a judge, so to speak.
Augustine died in 430 at the age of 76. The city of Hippo was at that time surrounded by Gothic troops.
This is such a rather complex, dramatic life path.
Theology in Philosophy
When reading Augustine's works, one must always keep in mind that Augustine, who was always thinking and searching for the truth, often renounces his views that he previously held. This is the difficulty of understanding Augustine; this, I would even say, is the drama of European history. Because Augustine was often "divided into parts." For example, in the 16th century, during the Reformation, Luther called for relying more on the later works of Augustine, who abandoned philosophy, condemned his passion for philosophy, and argued that no good deeds affect a person’s salvation, and a person is saved only by faith and only by Divine predestination . Catholics, including, for example, Erasmus of Rotterdam, objected to Luther, saying that, in general, one should rather read the early and mature Augustine, because in old age Augustine no longer thought so clearly. And in his early works, so close to the Catholic Erasmus, Augustine argued that a person is saved, among other things, by free will. Here is just one example of how Augustine has been understood in different ways.
This is generally a person who had a colossal influence on European history. In the Catholic world, Augustine is Church Father No. 1, and his influence on all Western thought cannot be overstated. The further philosophical development of Europe, I think, is largely determined by Augustine. Augustine was a philosopher, and therefore in later times in theology, especially in scholasticism, it was simply impossible to reason without philosophizing, because this is how Blessed Augustine reasoned.
How to reason philosophically? For Augustine, this is also a problem, and in his work “On the City of God” he devotes an entire book to this - the eighth. This book is a brief sketch of the history of Greek philosophy, which Augustine needed in order to understand what “philosophy” is, how to relate to it, and whether we can take anything from it for Christianity. We will not go into all the details of this rather extensive essay. Let us only note that Augustine believes that Christianity is a true philosophy, because “if Wisdom is God, through whom all things were created, as divine Scripture and truth testify, then a true philosopher is a lover of God.” Of all the ancient philosophers, Augustine singles out Pythagoras, who was the first to direct his mind to the contemplation of God. To contemplation - that is, the knowledge of objective truth that exists outside of man. He singles out Socrates, who first directed philosophy along an active path, teaching that one must live in accordance with the truth.
“The purest and brightest face of the philosopher Plato”
Among the ancient philosophers, Augustine singles out Pythagoras, Socrates and especially Plato
And Augustine especially singles out Plato, who in his philosophy combines the contemplative path of the philosophy of Pythagoras and the active path of the philosophy of Socrates. In general, Augustine writes about Plato as the philosopher who came closest to Christian teaching, and explains this clearly philosophically, following the generally accepted division of philosophy into three parts: ontology, epistemology and ethics - or, as they said in those days: physics, logic and ethics .
In the physical realm, Plato was the first to understand that - further Augustine quotes the Apostle Paul: “His invisible things, His eternal power and Godhead, have been visible from the creation of the world through the consideration of creation” (Rom. 1: 20). Plato, cognizing the sensory material world, comes to understand the existence of a divine, primary, eternal world of ideas. In logic, or epistemology, Plato proved that what is comprehended by the mind is higher than what is comprehended by the senses. It would seem, what does this have to do with Christianity? For a Christian, God is Spirit, and no one has ever seen God, so you can comprehend Him not with your feelings, but with your mind. And for this, writes Augustine, “mental light is necessary, and this light is God, by whom all things were created.”
In "Retractationes" he denounces his overindulgence in Plato.
And in the ethical field, according to Augustine, Plato is also above all, because he taught that the highest goal for a person is the highest Good, which should be strived for not for the sake of anything else, but only for his own sake. Therefore, pleasure must be sought not in the things of the material world, but in God, and as a result of love and desire for God, a person will find true happiness in Him. True, in his latest work, which Augustine called somewhat unusually - “Retractationes” (from the word “treatise”; it is translated into Russian as “Revisions”), in it he returns to his previous treatises, as if anticipating that these treatises will read, re-read and snatch quotes from them out of context) ... so, in this work, Augustine very carefully revises what he wrote before, and condemns himself for previous mistakes, in particular for being too enthusiastic about Plato. But at the same time, we still see the influence of Plato in almost all of Augustine’s treatises.
Augustine's history of philosophy
As for other philosophers, what is interesting is this: although the Aristotelian elements in Augustine’s teaching are very noticeable, he writes practically nothing about Aristotle, stating only that Aristotle was Plato’s best student. Apparently, that’s why he doesn’t write about him.
Augustine portrays some philosophical schools, such as the “Cynics” and Epicureans, in the most negative light, considering their adherents to be libertines and preachers of unbridled bodily pleasures. He highly values the Stoics, but only in terms of their moral philosophy.
In Plotinus, the same philosopher who helped him, as it were, rethink his previous life and understand the meaning of Christianity, Augustine sees only Plato’s best student. “The purest and brightest face of the philosopher Plato, having parted the clouds of error, shone especially in Plotinus. This philosopher was a Platonist to such an extent that he was recognized as similar to Plato, as if they lived together, and due to the huge period of time that separated them, one came to life in the other.” That is, for Augustine Plotinus is just a student of Plato, who understood his teacher better than others.
It is surprising that he even rates Porphyry higher than Plotinus. In Porphyry he sees a Platonist who contradicts Plato for the better. We remember that Plato had many provisions that were clearly incompatible with Christianity, like Plotinus, for example, the doctrine of the subordinationism of hypostases, the pre-existence of the soul, and the transmigration of souls. So, Augustine notes, Porfiry does not have this. Perhaps Porfiry abandoned these provisions because in his youth he was a Christian. True, he later abandoned Christianity and became a student of Plotinus, but he apparently still retained some Christian truths.
Augustine has a special attitude towards skeptics. He himself was once under the influence of Cicero and therefore returns to skepticism more than once - both in his early works, such as, for example, in the essay “Against the Academicians,” and in later ones. In his work “Against the Academicians,” Augustine polemicizes with the views of the students of Plato’s Academy - skeptics who said that it is impossible to know the truth and, at best, we can only know something similar to the truth. Having become a Christian, Augustine cannot agree with this, because he knows that the truth is Christ, we are obliged to know the truth and we are obliged to live in accordance with the truth. Therefore, the work “Against the Academicians” is full of arguments proving that the truth exists. He takes many of his arguments from Plato, for example, he points out that the principles of mathematics are always true, that “three times three is nine and is an indispensable square of abstract numbers, and this will be true at the time when the human race plunges into deep sleep.” The laws of logic, thanks to which we reason, are also truths and are recognized by everyone, including skeptics.
The teaching of skeptics refutes itself, for example, their statement is self-contradictory that knowledge of the truth is impossible, and only knowledge of what resembles the truth is possible. After all, if I claim that knowledge of truth is impossible, then I believe that this statement of mine is true. That is, I claim that the truth is that knowledge of the truth is impossible. Contradiction. On the other hand, if I say that I cannot know the truth, but can only know what is similar to the truth, then how will I know whether my knowledge is similar to the truth or not if I do not know the truth? This is the same as, as Augustine ironically notes, claiming that a son is like his father, but at the same time never seeing the father. In his first treatise, Augustine said goodbye to his passion for skepticism. But apparently something was bothering him. And Augustine constantly reflects and often returns to his arguments.
To doubt everything, you need to exist. But to doubt everything, you need to think
And in the work “On the City of God,” as well as in others, for example, in “On the Trinity,” “Christian Science,” written by him at the age of 40–50, at the turn of the 4th–5th centuries, Augustine constantly asks the question: “What if skeptics object to me here too? What if they say, let’s say, that we can still doubt both the truths of mathematics and the truths of logic? Then I will answer them this way: if I doubt everything, then I don’t doubt that I doubt everything. Therefore, in order to doubt everything, one must exist. On the other hand, to doubt everything, you need to think. Therefore, we come to the conclusion that if I doubt everything, then, firstly, I do not doubt that I doubt. I have no doubt about what I think. I have no doubt that I exist. And besides, I have no doubt that I love my existence and my thinking.
In the 17th century, the great French philosopher René Descartes famously said: “I think, therefore I exist.” More precisely, he will say exactly the same as Augustine: if I doubt everything, then I do not doubt that I think, therefore I exist. Many will reproach Descartes: this is pure plagiarism, at least he referred to Augustine for the sake of decency!.. But why Descartes did not refer to Augustine and did not even respond to this reproach, we will talk in due time.
So, Augustine refutes skepticism, opening the way for us to know the truth, which is God, which is Christ. And he is constantly looking for this truth. He asks himself in one of his early works: “What do you want to know?” - and answers himself: “God and soul.” - “And nothing more?” - “And nothing more.” This knowledge of God and the human soul is the main thing in all of Augustine’s not only theological, but also philosophical heritage.
(To be continued.)
AUGUSTINE the Blessed(Aurelius Augustine) (lat. Aurelius Sanctus Augustinus) (354-430), Christian theologian and church leader, the main representative of Western patristics. Bishop of Hippo (North Africa); the founder of Christian philosophy of history (the essay “On the City of God”); The "earthly city" - the state - was opposed to the mystically understood "city of God" - the church. He developed the doctrine of grace and predestination and defended it against Pelagius (see Pelagianism). The autobiographical “Confession”, depicting the formation of personality, is distinguished by the depth of its psychological analysis. Augustine's Christian Neoplatonism dominated Western European philosophy and Catholic theology until the 13th century.
AUGUSTINE the Blessed(Aurelius Augustine, lat. Aurelius Sanctus Augustinus), the largest representative of Latin patristics, one of the key figures in the history of European philosophy and theology.
Biography
Augustine came from a poor provincial family and in his youth was influenced by his Christian mother Monica, but for a long time maintained religious indifference. Having been educated in Madaurus and Carthage, he chose the career of a professional rhetorician (from 374). The hobbies of the big city did not pass him by: with bitterness he recalls the revelry that he indulged in with his peers. Promiscuous relationships soon gave way to concubinage with the woman he loved, although their union was not sanctified by the law and the church. In con. 370s experienced a passion for Manichaeism, and in the beginning. 380s - skepticism. In 383 he moved to Rome, and soon received a position as a rhetorician in Milan, where he met Bishop Ambrose (Ambrose of Milan) and began to study the writings of the Neoplatonists and the epistles of the Apostle Paul. In the spring of 387 he was baptized. In 388 he returned to North Africa; from 391 - presbyter, and from 395 until his death - bishop of the city of Hippo Regius.
Essays and main stages of creativity
Augustine's multifaceted legacy, one of the most significant in the history of patristics (about 100 treatises, several hundred letters and sermons, some of them very extensive), has been relatively well preserved. Augustine's work can be divided into 3 main periods.
The 1st period (386-395) is characterized by a strong influence of ancient (primarily Neoplatonic) dogma, abstract rationality and a high status of the rational: philosophical “dialogues” (“Against Academicians”, “On Order”, “Monologues”, “On Free Decision” etc.), a cycle of anti-Manichaean treatises, etc.
The 2nd period (395-410) was marked by the predominance of exegetical and religious-church issues: “On the book of Genesis”, a cycle of interpretations of the letters of the Apostle Paul, a number of moral treatises and “Confession”, summing up the first results of Augustine’s spiritual development; anti-Manichaean treatises give way to anti-Donatist ones.
In the 3rd period (410-430), he was primarily occupied with questions of the creation of the world and problems of eschatology: a cycle of anti-Pelagian treatises and, in many ways, the final work “On the City of God”; critical review of his own writings in "Revisions". Some of the most important treatises were written intermittently for many years: “On Christian Science” (396-426), “On the Trinity” (399-419).
Augustine's teaching organically combines the high theology of the East with the West's in-depth attention to psychology and anthropology. One of the largest representatives of Christian non-Platonism (the Platonists are “closest to us” - De Civ.D. VIII 5), Augustine, with his hitherto unprecedented interest in human personality and human history, is the founder of European “subject-centric” and historical consciousness. Far from strict systematism, he combines four main groups of problems in the idea of the Christian individual: onto-theology, psychological anthropo-epistemology, moral psychology and, finally, their mystical-eschatological projection - the historical theo-anthropology of the “City”; their external framework is exegesis and hermeneutics.
Onto-theology
Augustine’s onto-theology pays tribute to the primacy of being before consciousness, traditional for Christian Neoplatonism: unchangeable, self-identical and eternal good, the existence of God is the original highest reality (vere summeque est - De lib. arb. II 15.39) for individual consciousness, exceeding the concept of substance and other categories (De trin. V 1.2; VII 5.8). But the mind is forced to resort to them in order to conceive of God either as a transcendental light, or as a higher substance, the focus of eternal ideas-paradigms (De div.qu. 83, 46.2) - although complete knowledge of God is impossible. Absolute Individuality (Persona Dei - De Trin. III 10.19) - the substantial unity of “persons”-hypostases (una essentia vel substantia, tres autem personae - ib. V 9.10). The substantiality of changeable things is determined by participation in a higher being and is characterized by form as a set of essential qualities (Ep. 11.3; De Civ. D. XII 25). Matter is a low-quality substrate capable of acquiring form (Conf. XII 28; XIII 2).
Anthropology and epistemology
Augustine's onto-theology is developed in anthropology and epistemology. Human individuality, substantial in its participation in the Absolute, is structurally isomorphic to it. Man as an “ideal” subject represents the unity of three “hypostases” - mind, will and memory - that is, a combination of auto-reflexive intentionality and the “subjective-historical” volume of individual consciousness. The mind turns the direction of the will towards itself (intentionem voluntatis - De Trin. X 9.12), that is, it is always aware of itself, always desires and remembers: “After all, I remember that I have memory, mind and will; and I understand , that I understand, desire and remember; and I wish that I have the will, understand and remember" (De Trin. X 11.18 cp. IX 4.4; X 3.5; De lib. arb. III 3.6 Sl.). This structural unity guarantees the psychological self-identity of every concrete empirical “I” - “a trace of mysterious unity” (Conf. I 20.31). However, speaking about the subject of psychology and epistemology, Augustine combines with the traditional onto-centric position a fundamentally different train of thought, unknown either to antiquity or to previous patristics. Doubt is not omnipotent, for the psychological fact of doubt testifies to the existence of a doubting subject. Thesis: “I doubt (or: I am mistaken), therefore I exist” (De lib. arb. II 3.7; Sol. II 1.1; De ver. rel. 39.73; De Trin. X 10, 14; De Civ. D. XI 26), which did not receive universal methodological status from Augustine (unlike Descartes), is nevertheless called upon to substantiate the existence of consciousness itself, and thereby the reliability of a higher being, the objectivity and certainty of truth. While maintaining his absolute scale, God acquires a counter-scale in human consciousness. For reason, its own existence is immediately obvious: mind, will and memory, or “to be, to know and to will” (Conf. XIII 11,12), are the same ultimate given as the existence of God. The logical priority of self-knowledge (which, however, is in principle possible only due to participation in a higher being), and therefore psychological introspection, is explained by the fact that the knowing subject occupies a central position between the lower (sensual) and higher (intelligible) spheres, without being completely similar to the first and adequate to the second: he “raises” the sensual to himself, and rises to the intelligible through speculation under higher guidance. The path of knowledge - the ascent of the mind led by faith to God - has a lower level, sensory perception (God is also known through creation - De Trin. XV 6.10). Perceptions are ordered by the “inner feeling” (sensus interior - De lib. arb. II 3.8 ff.), the primary authority of self-esteem and psychological introspection. Knowledge about sensory things arises as a result of reflection of the mind (mens, ratio, intellectus) over sensory data. The culmination of knowledge is a mystical contact with the highest truth (a variant of Neoplatonic “illumination”), enlightenment with intelligible light, equally intellectual and moral (De Trin. VIII 3.4; De Civ. D. XI 21). This is how the two goals of knowledge are united, “God and the soul” (Sol. I 2.7): “Return to yourself - the truth dwells in the inner man” (De ver. rel. 39.72). Therefore, the problem of time - internal (the experience of the “flowing” of time) and external (objective time as a measure of formation, arising together with matter and space - Conf. XI 4 ff.) acquired particular importance for Augustine.
Aurelius Augustine, one of the most prominent fathers of the Western Church, was born on November 12, 353 in Tagaste, in Numidia, and died on August 28, 430 in Hippo.
As a 17-year-old boy, studying rhetoric in Carthage, Augustine indulged in a wild life. From 383 he was a teacher of eloquence in Rome, from 384 - in Milan, where influence Saint Ambrose prompted him to convert to Christianity (387). The following year, Augustine, through Rome, returned to his hometown and became the head of an ascetic community here, spending his life in complete solitude. In 395, Bishop Valerius of Hippo ordained Augustine a bishop (as a vicar in his own place). From that time on, the African church was guided by the power of his mind and words. Aurelius Augustine with great persistence refuted all former or emerging heresies: Donatists, Manichaeans, Arians, pelagian and the Semi-Pelagians, whose victory brought the African Church to a position of prominence for some time. The name of Augustine became famous throughout the Western Church. He died during the Siege of Hippo by the Vandals. The remains of Augustine in October 1842, with the permission of the pope, were transferred to Algeria and buried here at the monument erected to him on the ruins of the former Hippo. The Catholic Church canonized him as a saint.
Aurelius Augustine the Blessed. 6th century fresco in the Sancta Sanctorum Chapel, Lateran (Rome)
Aurelius Augustine, among other fathers, had the strongest influence in the Western Church, both due to the persistence with which he defended its teachings and interests both in theology and in church practice, and because of his outstanding mind, which uniquely combined contemplative and mystical elements. Therefore, it is not enough to see in him only the founder of medieval scholasticism; Luther, to a certain extent, was brought up on it. In the struggle against the extremes of Manichaeism, Pelagianism and Donatism, Augustine sought to substantiate the middle point of view, developing two main ideas, the idea of \u200b\u200bthe omnipotence of divine grace and the idea of the church as the kingdom of God connecting heaven and earth. Augustine's view of the state as a sinful force and the requirement to subordinate secular power to ecclesiastical power formed the basis of the papacy's teaching on the relationship between both powers.
Aurelius Augustine gave a strict and impartial description of his own life in his “Confession” (“Confessionum”) of 12 books, to which are adjacent “Retractationum”, containing criticism of his own writings. He himself counts 93 of his works in 232 books. The most important of them can be considered: “On the true religion”, “On the Trinity” and “On the city of God”. It is also impossible not to mention that Augustine’s writings contain very valuable indications of the nature of music in the ancient Christian church, especially regarding the so-called Ambrosian church singing, which he introduced in his African diocese. Augustine also left a special work on music (“On Music”), dedicated to metrics.
Augustine "Blessed" Aurelius (November 13, 354 - August 28, 430) - Christian theologian and church leader, the main representative of Western patristics, bishop of the city of Hippo Regius (modern Annaba, Algeria), the founder of Christian philosophy of history.
Augustine Aurelius created the ontological doctrine of God as an abstract being, followed the Neoplatonist ontology, proceeded not from the object, but from the subject, from the self-sufficiency of human thinking. The existence of God, according to the teachings of Augustine, can be deduced directly from human self-knowledge, but the existence of things cannot. The psychologism of everything manifested itself in his teaching about time as an entity that cannot exist without a soul that remembers, waits, and observes reality.
Aurelius Augustine was born on November 13, 354 in the city of Tagaste, in North Africa, which was then part of the Roman Empire and was inhabited by Latin Christians. His father was a pagan, his mother, Saint Monica, was a deeply religious Christian. The family was wealthy, so in his youth the future saint endured all the joys typical of a representative of his state: drunken carnivals in the company of “priestesses of love,” brawls, visits to theaters and circuses with their cruel spectacles.
In 370, young Augustine went to study rhetoric in the capital of Africa, Carthage. Education was conducted in Latin, and therefore works of Greek origin were read in translation. Augustine never learned Greek, but his professional training in the field of rhetoric acquired for him a qualitatively spiritual dimension. A brilliant writer, he was always aware of language as a creative tool and was aware of all the advantages and temptations that flow from this. For him, language as a means of communication was an art that required perfection for reasons of love for one’s neighbor.
At the age of nineteen, Augustine became acquainted with the Manichaean teachings and became its supporter for ten whole years. The question of the origin of evil was resolved by the Manichaeans in terms of ontological dualism, that is, the existence of an evil god equivalent to the Creator. Manichaean influence forever left its mark on the mind of St. Augustine.
After completing his studies, Augustine began teaching rhetoric privately. At this time he was living with a woman who had been his friend for many years. She bore him a son, whom Augustine named Adeodatus, in Greek Theodore, God-given. This was his only child, and Augustine in his writings always speaks of him with special tenderness.
In 383 he moved to Rome and spent some time there teaching rhetoric. However, he did not stay in Rome and moved from there to Milan, where the great Ambrose was then bishop, whose sermons amazed Augustine. And the whole image of the holy Milanese made an indelible impression and added an undeniably Christian direction to his spiritual development.
Augustine's final conversion is described in Book VIII of the famous Confessions. This event changed Augustine's whole life. He completely converted to Christianity, was baptized in April 389, and in 391 was ordained a presbyter and spent the rest of his life in the African city of Hippo, of which he became bishop in 395. He remained Bishop of Hippo for 35 years, until his death. During this period, he wrote a lot of works, and also took an active part in church life. He became an indispensable participant in all African councils. Augustine actually led the church life of Africa. His enormous popularity and influence enabled him to make a major contribution to the legislative activities of the African Church.
Augustine (Aurelius) was born on November 13, 354 in the African province of Numidia, in Tagaste (now Souk-Ahras in Algeria). He owes his initial education to his mother, the Christian St. Monica, an intelligent, noble and pious woman, whose influence on her son, however, was neutralized by his pagan father (a Roman citizen, small landowner).
In his youth, Augustine showed no inclination towards traditional Greek, but was captivated by Latin literature. After finishing school in Tagaste, he went to study at the nearest cultural center - Madavra. In the fall of 370, thanks to the patronage of a family friend who lived in Tagaste, Romanian, Augustine went to Carthage for three years to study rhetoric. At the age of 17, while in Carthage, Augustine entered into a relationship with a young woman who became his partner for 13 years and whom he never married because she belonged to a lower social class. It was during this period that Augustine uttered his saying: “Good God, give me chastity and moderation... But not now, O God, not yet!” In 372, Augustine's son Adeodate was born in concubinage.
In 373, after reading Cicero's Hortensius, he began to study philosophy. Soon he joined the Manichean sect. At that time, he began to teach rhetoric, first in Tagaste, later in Carthage. In his Confessions, Augustine dwelled in detail on the nine years he wasted on the “husk” of Manichaean teaching. In 383, even the spiritual Manichaean leader Faustus was unable to answer his questions. This year, Augustine decided to find a teaching position in Rome, but he spent only a year there and received a position as a teacher of rhetoric in Milan.
After reading some of Plotinus's treatises in the Latin translation of the rhetorician Maria Victorina, Augustine became acquainted with Neoplatonism, which presented God as an immaterial transcendental Being. Having attended the sermons of Ambrose of Milan, Augustine understood the rational conviction of early Christianity.
During Augustine's stay in Milan in 384-388. his mother found a bride for her son, for which he left his concubine. However, he had to wait two years before the bride reached the required age, so he took another concubine. Ultimately, Augustine broke off his engagement to his 11-year-old bride, left his second concubine, and never resumed his relationship with his first.
After this, he began to read the letters of the Apostle Paul and heard from the suffragan bishop Simplician the story of the conversion to Christianity of Maria Victorina. According to legend, one day in the garden Augustine heard the voice of a child, prompting him to randomly open the letters of the Apostle Paul, where he came across the Epistle to the Romans (13:13). After this, he, together with Monica, Adeodate, his brother, both cousins, his friend Alypius and two students, retired for several months to Kassitsiak, to the villa of one of his friends. Based on the model of Cicero's Tusculan Conversations, Augustine composed several philosophical dialogues. On Easter 387, he, along with Adeodate and Alypius, was baptized by Ambrose in Milan.
After this, having previously sold all his property and almost completely distributed it to the poor, he and Monica went to Africa. However, Monica died in Ostia. Her last conversation with her son was well conveyed at the end of “Confession.”
Some of the information about Augustine’s later life is based on the “Life” compiled by Possidio, who communicated with Augustine for almost 40 years. According to Possidia, upon his return to Africa, Augustine again settled in Tagaste, where he organized a monastic community. During a trip to Hippo Rhegium, where there were already 6 Christian churches, the Greek bishop Valerius willingly ordained Augustine as a presbyter, since it was difficult for him to preach in Latin. No later than 395, Valery appointed him suffragan bishop and died a year later.
The remains of Augustine were transferred by his followers to Sardinia to save them from the desecration of the Aryan-Vandals, and when this island fell into the hands of the Saracens, they were ransomed by Liutprand, king of the Lombards, and buried in Pavia in the church of St. Petra.
In 1842, with the consent of the pope, they were again transported to Algeria and preserved there near the monument to Augustine, erected to him on the ruins of Hippo by the French bishops.
Stages of creativity
The first stage (386-395), characterized by the influence of ancient (mainly Neoplatonic) dogmatics; abstraction and high status of the rational: philosophical “dialogues” “Against the Academicians” (that is, the skeptics, Contra academicos, 386), “On Order” (De ordine, 386; the first work in which the rationale for the seven liberal arts is given as preparatory cycle for the study of philosophy), “Monologues” (Soliloquia, 387), “On the Blessed Life” (De Beata Vita, 386), “On the Quantity of the Soul” (388-389), “On the Teacher” (388-389), “On Music” (388-389; contains the famous definition of music Musica est ars bene modulandi with a detailed interpretation; five of the six books, contrary to what the title promises, treat issues of ancient versification), “ On the immortality of the soul" (387), "On true religion" (390), "On free will" or "On free decision" (388-395); cycle of anti-Manichaean treatises. Some of the works of the early period are also called Cassician, after the name of a country house near Mediolan (Cassiciacum, this place in modern Italy is called Casciago), where Augustine worked in 386-388.
The second stage (395-410), exegetical and religious-church issues predominate: “On the Book of Genesis”, a cycle of interpretations of the letters of the Apostle Paul, moral treatises and “Confession”, anti-Donatist treatises.
The third stage (410-430), questions about the creation of the world and problems of eschatology: a cycle of anti-Pelagian treatises and “On the City of God”; a critical review of his own writings in Revisions.