Resultados25 letters/passages
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. 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. 402 · score 0.02
… thank you for your letter, my son, and for the report on the enforcement of the imperial laws against the Donatists in your district. I know the task is unpleasant, and I know that you carry it out not from any love of coercion but from a sense of duty — both to the emperor and to the Church. Let me urge upon you only …
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 0.02
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. 388 · score 0.01
For if we manage temporal blessings justly, kindly, and with the sobriety that befits their passing nature — if they are held by us without holding us, multiplied without entangling us, and serve us without enslaving us — then we earn the reward of blessings that are eternal. As the Truth himself said: "If you have not …
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. 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. 391 · score 0.01
Augustine to Proculeianus, greetings. The titles I have prefixed to this letter — "my lord" and "honorable" and "most beloved" — I need not defend at any length. They may offend the petty prejudices of narrow-minded people, but I address you as "lord" rightly: we are both trying to free each other from error. Until the …
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. 393 · score 0.01
… le world: a schism had been made by wicked men, condemned by ecclesiastical and imperial judgment, and was sustained by nothing but obstinate fury. If, however, anyone says that the Council of Seventy was legitimate, let him first show that Caecilianus was present or lawfully summoned. But he was neither present nor su …
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. 424 · score 0.01
Augustine to Madaurans, greetings. You have written to me in defense of your city's pagan heritage, and I respect the passion with which you make your case. Madauros is an ancient city with a proud history, and the temples that stand in your streets are older than the churches that have risen beside them. But age is no …
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. 408 · score 0.01
I read your letter, in which I saw the outline of a great dialogue, expressed with praiseworthy brevity. I ought to respond without offering any excuse for delay. For it happened opportunely that I had some small leisure from the affairs of others. The works to which I had planned to devote this leisure I postponed a l …
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. 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. 389 · score 0.01
Augustine, Presbyter, to Bishop Aurelius — greetings. 1. When I kept trying and failing to find the right words for this reply, I finally gave up composing and simply cast myself on God, asking him to let me say something worthy of the zeal and care for his Church that you and I share — and worthy of the respect I owe …
augustine_hippo · c. 409 · score 0.01
Augustine to the magistrate Marcellinus, greetings. I am writing to you about the Donatist prisoners currently in your custody. I know that some of them are accused of violent acts — attacks on Catholic clergy, destruction of church property, and in certain cases, attempted murder. The evidence against several of them …
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. 417 · score 0.01
It came to us most gratefully and pleasantly that the letters of your Reverence found us both together at Hippo, so that we might return these joint replies. We rejoice at learning of your good health, and in turn, with mutual love, we report our own, which we trust is dear to you, my lady deserving honor in Christ and …
augustine_hippo · c. 423 · score 0.01
Their advance is relentless. The cities that stand in their path will face siege, destruction, and massacre. The bishops in those cities will face the question you have asked me. My answer, for myself, is this: I will not flee. I cannot. My people cannot flee, and I will not leave them. If the Lord takes me, he takes m …
augustine_hippo · c. 401 · score 0.01
How many of these now rejoice with us, accusing the former burden of their destructive habit, and confess that it was right for us to trouble them, lest they should perish in the sickness of ancient custom as in a deadly sleep! But some say these measures do not help. Should medicine be neglected because some cases are …
augustine_hippo · c. 422 · score 0.01
Augustine to Boniface, greetings. I hear disturbing reports about you, my friend, and I am compelled to write. When I first knew you, you were a man on fire for Christ. You served as a military commander with honor, defended the innocent, and lived with a discipline that put many monks to shame. You even considered lea …