Resultados25 letters/passages
augustine_hippo · c. 402 · score 0.02
To the distinguished lord, most deservedly excellent, and greatly honored son in the love of Christ, Olympius: Augustine sends greetings in the Lord. Although as soon as we heard you had been deservedly elevated — when the very report was not yet certain to us — we believed nothing else about your disposition toward th …
augustine_hippo · c. 408 · score 0.02
The ruler who restrains the wicked man by force may be doing the wicked man the greatest possible service — by preventing him from committing further sins that will weigh against him at the judgment. Third: the virtues Christ commands — patience, mercy, forgiveness, humility — are not alternatives to justice. They are …
augustine_hippo · c. 416 · score 0.02
… why, reluctantly and after much internal struggle, I came to support the use of imperial authority to break the social power of the Donatist leadership — not to force belief (which is impossible) but to create conditions in which people could hear the truth without fear. The scriptural basis for this position is the pa …
augustine_hippo · c. 402 · score 0.02
What I urge upon your Excellency by petition and suggestion, I have no doubt is the wish of all my colleagues throughout Africa. I judge that at the first opportunity it can and should easily be expedited, so that, as I said, these vain people — whose salvation we seek even as they oppose us — may know that the laws se …
augustine_hippo · c. 408 · score 0.02
Augustine to Marcellinus, greetings. You have asked me to address, at greater length, the objection raised by Volusian's circle about the compatibility of Christian teaching with the duties of the state. I do so gladly, because this is perhaps the most important practical question facing the Church in our time. The cha …
augustine_hippo · c. 401 · score 0.02
I received a letter which I have no difficulty believing to be yours, for it was brought by a man known to be a Catholic Christian who, I think, would not dare to deceive me. But even if these were not your words, I judged it necessary to write back to whoever did compose them. You may think me more desirous and seekin …
augustine_hippo · c. 390 · score 0.01
Return to the state of mind in which you wrote those words. Say to me again: "You have only to say the word." Here, then, is my word, if my saying it is enough to move you: Give yourself to me. Give yourself to my Lord, who is the Lord of us both and who gave you your gifts. For what am I, except His servant and your f …
augustine_hippo · c. 397 · score 0.01
Letter 65 — To the Aged Xantippus: The Case of Abundantius (A.D. 402) To the aged Xantippus, my most blessed lord, worthy of all veneration, my father and colleague in the priestly office — Augustine sends greetings in the Lord. With the respect your worth demands, and earnestly asking for a place in your prayers, I br …
augustine_hippo · c. 416 · score 0.01
… ica, it lays out the historical, theological, and practical arguments for using imperial force against the Donatists. The letter is simultaneously one of Augustine's most influential and most controversial works. It was cited by medieval inquisitors and by early modern persecutors of heresy. It was also cited by August …
augustine_hippo · c. 398 · score 0.01
Augustine to Jerome, my dear and venerable brother, greetings in the Lord. Your letter reached me — and I must confess, it stung. But truth sometimes stings, and I would rather be stung by a friend than flattered by an enemy. Let me address the matter of the letter's delivery first, because this seems to have caused yo …
augustine_hippo · c. 395 · score 0.01
Augustine to Januarius, greetings. Your letter raises questions about the diversity of practices among different churches — why some fast on certain days and others do not, why some observe certain ceremonies and others omit them, and what a conscientious Christian should do when confronted with these differences. Thes …
augustine_hippo · c. 402 · score 0.01
For the Lord has offered no small consolation in these troubles by willing that you should have far greater power than you had when we were already rejoicing in your many great good works. We rejoice greatly in the firm and steadfast faith of many — not a few — who have been converted to the Christian religion or Catho …
augustine_hippo · c. 392 · score 0.01
Paul's rebuke was real, necessary, and true. And the fact that Scripture preserves it is one of the great guarantees of its honesty: it does not conceal the faults of the apostles. I say this with the deepest respect for your learning, which surpasses mine in every way. But truth matters more than deference, and I trus …
augustine_hippo · c. 405 · score 0.01
Augustine to Fortunatus, greetings. Your letter reached me at a difficult time, brother — which is to say, it reached me at a time like any other, since difficult times seem to be the only kind I know. You ask a simple question: should a bishop attend the games? The answer is simple too: no. Not because there is someth …
augustine_hippo · c. 390 · score 0.01
The chains of this world, by contrast, have real harshness and deceptive charm, certain pain and uncertain pleasure, hard toil and troubled rest -- an experience full of misery and a hope empty of happiness. And you are submitting your neck, hands, and feet to these chains? You desire to be burdened with honors of this …
augustine_hippo · c. 401 · score 0.01
Why then should not the Church compel her lost sons to return, since the lost sons themselves compel others to perish? But I insist that the terror of temporal power is useful only as a preparation for instruction. The rod alone does not heal; neither does teaching alone always reach the hardened. But when the fear of …
augustine_hippo · c. 422 · score 0.01
Farewell, dear friend. I pray for you daily. [Context: Count Boniface was the Roman military governor of Africa and one of the most powerful men in the Western Empire. Augustine had known him for years and had once hoped he would enter the religious life. Instead, Boniface became entangled in the deadly politics of the …
augustine_hippo · c. 389 · score 0.01
Augustine, Presbyter, to my lord Bishop Valerius — most blessed and venerable, my father in the Lord — greetings in the Lord. 1. Before anything else, I ask you to consider something carefully: when the offices of bishop, presbyter, or deacon are carried out in a perfunctory, time-serving way, no work in this life is e …
augustine_hippo · c. 408 · score 0.01
Augustine to Volusian, greetings. I am delighted to learn of your interest in the Christian faith, my noble friend — all the more so because I know you come to it not out of political convenience (many do, in these times) but out of genuine intellectual curiosity. You have questions. Good. I would be worried if you did …
augustine_hippo · c. 400 · score 0.01
Augustine to Emeritus, greetings. I know you have no desire to hear from me, brother. The Donatist bishop of Caesarea does not welcome letters from a Catholic bishop of Hippo. But I write anyway, because the love of Christ compels me, and because the truth does not respect the boundaries we draw between our communities …
augustine_hippo · c. 396 · score 0.01
They could not undo what had been done, but neither were we seeking anything else by our reproof than that they should recognize and grieve that they had acted wrongly. By advising, we corrected all of them not to dare such things again, lest they experience the wrath of God; and especially Timothy, who said he was com …
augustine_hippo · c. 401 · score 0.01
Those who believed in Christ exalted above the heavens, even without seeing him, were nevertheless denying his glory over all the earth, even while seeing it — though the Prophet embraced both truths in one sentence. Those formerly savage enemies of ours, who heavily harassed our peace and quiet with various forms of v …
augustine_hippo · c. 394 · score 0.01
Augustine to Publicola, greetings. I have read your letter carefully, my son, and I see in your questions not an overanxious mind but a conscience genuinely striving to live well in a complicated world. That is exactly the kind of struggle God honors. Let me take your questions in order. First, about the barbarian's oa …
augustine_hippo · c. 395 · score 0.01
Do not let these differences scandalize you, brother. The Church is not weakened by diversity in matters of practice — it is weakened by schism over matters of practice. The one who fasts on Saturday and the one who does not may both be serving the Lord with a clear conscience. The one who breaks communion over fasting …
augustine_hippo · c. 403 · score 0.01
We sought that the violence would stop and that those who did such things would recognize their error. For what profit is there in a dead body to the Church? What we desire is living souls, repentant and reformed. Let not the name of one's homeland, or the memory of civil honors, or the bonds of old friendship prevent …