2. THE MOST IMPORTANT TEACHERS OF THE WESTERN CHURCH.
§ 47.14.During the Period of the Arian Controversy.Jul. Firmicus Maternus.Under this name we have a treatiseDe errore profanarum religionum, addressed to the sons of Constantine the Great, in which the writer combats heathenism upon the Euhemerist theory (which traces the worship of the heathen gods from the deifying of famous ancestors), but besides reclaims many myths as corruptions of the biblical history, and shows that the violent overthrow of all idolatry is the sacred duty of a Christian ruler from God’s command to Joshua to destroy utterly the Canaanites.Lucifer of Calăris [Calaris]in Sardinia, was a violent, determined, and stubborn zealot for the Nicene doctrine, whose excessive severity against the penitent Arians and semi-Arians drove him into schism (§50, 8). He died inA.D.371. In his tract,Ad Constantium Augustum pro S. Athansio, lb. ii., written inA.D.360, he upbraids the emperor with his faults so bitterly as to describe him as a reckless apostate, antichrist, and Satan. He boldly acknowledged the authorship and, in prospect of a death sentence, wrote inA.D.361 his consolatory treatise,Moriendum esse pro filio Dei. The early death of the emperor, however, permitted his return from exile (§50, 2,4), where he had writtenDe regibus apostaticisandDe non conveniendo cum hæreticis.Marius Victorinusfrom Africa, often confounded with the martyr of the same name (§31, 12), was converted to Christianity when advanced in life, aboutA.D.360, while occupying a distinguished position as a heathen rhetorician in Rome. He gave proof of his zeal as a neophyte by the composition of controversial treatises against the Manichæans,Ad Justinum Manichæum, and against the Arians,Lb. iv. adv. Arium, De generatione divina ad Candidum, Deὁμοουσίῳrecipiendo. In his treatise,De verbis scripturæ, Gen. i. 5, he shows that the creative days began not with the evening, but with the morning. He composed three hymnsde Trinitate, and an epic poem on the seven brothers, the Maccabees.Hilary of Poitiers—Hilarius Pictavienses—styled the Athanasius of the West, and madedoctor ecclesiæby Pius IX. inA.D.1851, was sprung from a noble pagan family of Poitiers (Pictavium). With wife and daughter he embraced Christianity, and was soon thereafter, aboutA.D.350, made bishop of his native city. InA.D.356, however, as a zealous opponent of Arianism, he was banished to Phrygia, from which he returned inA.D.360. Two years later he travelled to Milan, in order if possible to win from his error the bishop of that place, Auxentius, a zealous Arian. That bishop, however, obtained an imperial edict which obliged him instantly to withdraw. He died inA.D.366. The study of Origen seems to have had a decided influence upon his theological development. His strength lay in the speculative treatment of the groundworks of doctrine. At the same time he is the first exegete proper among the Western fathers writing the Latin language. He follows exactly the allegorical method of the Alexandrians. His works embrace commentaries on the Psalms and the Gospel of Matthew, several polemical lectures (§50, 6), and his speculative dogmatic masterpiecede Trinitatein xii. books.Zeno, bishop of Verona, who died aboutA.D.380, left behind ninety-threeSermoneswhich, in beautiful language and spirited style, treat of various subjects connected with faith and morals, combat paganism and Arianism, and eagerly recommend virginity and monasticism.Philaster, bishop of Brescia, contemporary of Zeno, in his bookDe hæresibus, described in harsh and obscure language, in an uncritical fashion and with an extremely loose application of the word heresy, 28 pre-Christian and 128 post-Christian systems of error.Martin of Tours,146son of a soldier, had before baptism, but after his heart had been filled with the love of Christ, entered the Roman cavalry. Once, legend relates, he parted his military cloak into two pieces in order to shield a naked beggar from the cold, and on the following night the Lord Jesus appeared to him clothed in this very cloak. In his eighteenth year he was baptized, and for some years thereafter attached himself to Hilary of Poitiers, and then went to his parents in Pannonia. He did not succeed in converting his father, but he was successful with his mother and many of the people. Scourged and driven away by the Arian party which there prevailed, he turned to Milan where, however, he got just as little welcome from the Arian bishop Auxentius. He then lived some years on the island of Gallinaria, near Genoa. When Hilary returned from banishment to Pictavium, he followed him there, and founded in the neighbourhood a monastery, the earliest in Gaul. He was guilefully decoyed to Tours, and forced to mount the episcopal chair there inA.D.375. He converted whole crowds of heathen peasants, and, according to the legend given by Sulpicius Severus and Gregory of Tours (§90, 2), wrought miracle after miracle. But he was himself with his holy zeal, his activity in doing good, his undoubted power over men’s hearts, and a countenance before which even the emperor quailed (§54, 2), the greatest and the most credible miracle. He died aboutA.D.400 in the monastery of Marmontiers [Marmoutiers], which he had founded out from Tours. His tomb was one of the most frequented places of pilgrimage. He was wholly without scholarly culture, but the force of intellect with which he was endowed lent him a commanding eloquence. TheConfessio de s. Trinitateattributed to him is not genuine.§ 47.15.Ambrose, bishop of Milan, sprung from a prominent Roman family, was governor of the province of Milan. After the death of the Arian Auxentius inA.D.374 violent quarrels broke out over the choice of a successor. Then a child is said to have cried from the midst of the crowd “Ambrose is bishop,” and all the people, Arians as well as Catholics, agreed. All objection was vain. Up to this time only a catechumen, he received baptism, distributed his property among the poor, and eight days after mounted the episcopal chair. His new office he administered with truly apostolic zeal, a father of the poor, a protector of all oppressed, an unweariedly active pastor, a powerful opponent of heresy and heathenism. His eloquence, which had won him a high reputation in the forum, was yet more conspicuous in the service of the church. To ransom the prisoners he spared not even the furniture of the church. To a peculiarly winning friendliness and gentleness he added great strength of character, which prevented him being checked in his course by any respect of persons, or by any threatening and danger. He so decidedly opposed the intrigues of the Arian Empress Justina, during the minority of her son Valentinian II., that she, powerless to execute her wrath, was obliged to desist from her endeavours (§50, 4). With Theodosius the Great he stood in the highest esteem. When the passionate emperor had ordered a fearful massacre without distinction of rank, age and sex, without enquiry as to guilt or innocence, of the inhabitants of Thessalonica on account of a tumult in which a general and several officers had been murdered, Ambrose wrote him a letter with an earnest call to repentance, and threatened him with exclusion from the communion of the church and its services. The emperor, already repenting of his hastiness, took patiently the rebuke administered, but did nothing to atone for his crime. Some time after he went as usual to church, but Ambrose met him at the entrance of the house of God and refused him admission. For eight months the emperor refrained from communion; then he applied for absolution, which was granted him, after he had publicly done penance before the congregation and promised never in future to carry out a death sentence within thirty days of its being pronounced. Theodosius afterwards declared that Ambrose was the only one truly deserving the name of a bishop. Ambrose was also a zealous promoter of monasticism in the West. In his sermons he so powerfully recommended virginity that many families forbade their daughters attending them.He deserves special credit for his contributions to the liturgical services (Officium Ambrosianum,Cantus Ambr., Hymn Composition, §59, 4-6). On all dogmatic questions he strongly favoured the realism of the North African school, while in exegesis he did not surmount the allegorical method of the Alexandrians. To the department of morals and ascetics belong the 3 bks.De Officiis Ministrorum, a Christian construction of Cicero’s celebrated work and the most important of all Ambrose’s writings; also several treatises in recommendation of virginity. The bookDe Mysteriisexplains baptism and the Lord’s Supper to the neophytes. The 5 bks.De fide, the 3 bks.De Spiritu S.and the tractDe incarnatîonis sacramento, treat of the fundamental doctrines of the Christian faith in opposition to Arians, Sabellians, Apollinarians, etc. These are somewhat dependent upon the Greeks, especially Athanasius, Didymus and Basil. His expositions of Old Testament histories (Hexaëmeron,De Paradiso,De Cain et Abel,De Noë et arca,De Abraham,De Jacob et anima, etc.) are allegorical and typical in the highest degree. More important are hisSermonesand 92 Epistles. But all his writings are distinguished by their noble, powerful and popular eloquence.Ambrosiasteris the name given to an unknown writer whose allegorizing Commentary on Paul’s Epistles was long attributed to Ambrose. This work, highly popular on account of its pregnant brevity, was perhaps the joint work of several writers. In its earliest portions it belongs to the age of Damasus, bishop of Rome, who died inA.D.384, who is named as a contemporary. Augustine names a Hilary, not otherwise known, as author of a passage quoted from it.Pacianus,147bishop of Barcelona, who died aboutA.D.390, wrote in a clear style and correct Latinity three Epistles against the Novatians, from the first of which,De Catholico nomine, is borrowed the beautiful saying:Christianus mihi nomen est, Catholicus cognomen. He also wrote aLiber exhortatorius ad pœnitentiamand aSermo de baptismo.§ 47.16.During the Period of Origenistic Controversy.Jerome148—Sophronius Eusebius Hieronymus—of Stridon in Dalmatia, received his classical training under the grammarian Donatus at Rome. InA.D.360 he was baptized by bishop Liberius, but afterwards fell into sensual excesses which he atoned for by penitential pilgrimages to the catacombs. During a journey through Gaul and the provinces of the Rhine and Moselle he seems to have formed the fixed resolve to devote himself to theology and an ascetic life. Then for more than a year he stayed at Aquileia,A.D.372, where he formed an intimate friendship with Rufinus. He next undertakes a journey to the East. At Antioch in a vision, during a violent fever, placed before the throne of the judge of all, having answered the question Who art thou? by the confession that he was a Christian, he heard the words distinctly uttered: Thou liest! thou art a Ciceronian and no Christian! He then sentenced himself to severe castigation and promised with an oath to give up the reading of the heathen classics which he had so much enjoyed. He afterwards indeed excused himself from the fulfilment of this twofold obligation; but this had sealed his devotion to an ascetic life, and the desert of Chalcis, the Syrian Thebaid, became for him during many years the school of ascetic discipline. Worn out with privations, penances and sensual temptations he returned inA.D.379 to Antioch, where he was ordained presbyter but without any official district being assigned. Urged by Gregory of Nazianzum [Nazianzen], he next spent several years in Constantinople. FromA.D.382 toA.D.385 he again lived in Rome, where bishop Damasus honoured him with his implicit confidence. This aroused against him the envy and enmity of many among the Roman clergy, while at the same time his zeal for the spread of monasticism and virginity, as well as his ascetic influence with women, drew upon him the hatred of many prominent families (§44, 4). On the death of his episcopal patron inA.D.384 his position in Rome thus became untenable. He now returned to the East, visited all the holy places in Palestine, and also made an excursion to Alexandria where he stayed for four weeks in the school of the blind Didymus. He then settled down at Bethlehem, founded there with the means of his Roman lady friends an establishment for monks, over which he presided till his death inA.D.420; and an establishment for nuns over which St. Paula presided, who with her daughter Eustochium had accompanied him from Rome. As to his share in the Origenistic controversies into which he allowed himself to be drawn, see §51, 2. His character was not without defects: vanity, ambition, jealousy, passionateness, impatience and intense bitterness in debate, are only all too apparent in his life. But where these, as well as his scrupulous anxiety for the maintaining of a reputation for unwavering orthodoxy and by zeal for monasticism and asceticism, did not stand in the way, we often find in him an unexpected clearness and liberality of view. Comp. §17, 6;57, 6;59, 1;61, 1. To the instructions of the Jew Bar Hanina he was indebted for his knowledge of Hebrew and Chaldee. The greatest and most enduring service was rendered to the study of holy scripture by his pioneer labours in this direction. He is at his weakest in his dogmatic works, which mostly are disfigured by immoderately passionate polemic. In exegesis he represents the grammatico-historical method, but nevertheless frequently falls back again into allegorico-mystical explanations. His style is pure, flowing and elegant, but in polemic often reckless and coarse even to vulgarity. In the department of exegesis the first place belongs to his translation of the bible (§59, 1). We have also a number of Commentaries—on Genesis, Ecclesiastes, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Minor Prophets, Matthew, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians and Philemon. HisOnomasticon s. de situ et nominibus locorum Hebr.is a Latin reproduction of the Τοπικά of Eusebius. In the department of dogmatics we have polemics against Lucifer of Calaris (§50, 3), against Helvidius, Jovinian and Vigilantius (§63, 2), against John of Jerusalem (§51, 2) and in several treatises against Rufinus, and finally against the Pelagians (§53, 4). In the department of history we have his Latin adaptation and continuation of the second part of the Eusebian Chronicle, hisCatalogus Scriptorum ecclest. s. de viris illustr., which tells in anecdotal form about the lives and writings of biblical and ecclesiastical writers, 135 in number, from Peter down to himself, with the avowed purpose of proving the falseness of the reproach that only ignorant and uncultured men had embraced Christianity. It was afterwards continued by the GaulGennadiusof Marseilles down to the end of the fifth century. Finally, the romancing legendary sketches of the lives of the famous monks Paul of Thebes (§39, 4), Hilarion (§44, 3) and Malchus, were added. His 150 Epistles are extremely important for the church history of his times. Of his translations of the Greek fathers only those of Didymus,De Spiritu S.and that of 70Homiliesof Origen, are now extant.§ 47.17.Tyrannius Rufinusof Aquileia after receiving baptism lived for a long time in monastic retirement. His enthusiasm for monasticism and asceticism led him inA.D.373 to Egypt. At Alexandria he spent several years in intercourse with Didymus. He contracted there that enthusiastic admiration of Origen which made his after life so full of debate and strife. He next went inA.D.379 to Jerusalem, where bishop John ordained him presbyter. Here he found Jerome, with whom he had become acquainted at Aquileia, and the two friends were brought more closely together from their mutual love for Origen, although afterwards this was to prove the occasion of the most bitter enmity (§51, 2). AboutA.D.397 he returned to Italy. He died inA.D.410. His literary activity was mainly directed to the transplanting of the writings of Greek fathers to Latin soil. To his zeal in this direction we owe the preservation of Origen’s most important work Περὶ ἀρχῶν,De principiis, and of no fewer than 124 Homilies. The former, indeed, has been in many places altered in an arbitrary manner. He also translated several Homilies of Basil and Gregory Nazianzen, Pamphilus’ Apology for Origen, the Pseudo-Clementine Recognitions (§28, 3), etc. There are extant of his own works: the Continuation of his Latin reproduction of the Church History of Eusebius, down toA.D.388, the romancingHistoria eremitica s. Vitæ Patrum, biographies of 33 saints of the Nitrian desert (§51, 1), anApologia pro fide sua, theInvectivæ Hieron.in 2 bks. the treatiseDe benedictionibus Patriarcharum, an exposition of Genesis xlix. in the spirit and style of Origen, and anExpositio symboli apost.Sulpicius Severus149from Aquitania in Gaul, had gained great reputation by his eloquence as an advocate, when the death of his young wife disgusted him with the world, and led him to withdraw into a monastery. He died aboutA.D.410. In hisChronicaorHistoria sacra(§5, 1), a summary of biblical and ecclesiastical history, he imitates not unsuccessfully the eloquence of Sallust, so that he has been called “the Christian Sallust.” HisVitaof Martin of Tours is a panegyric overflowing with reports of miracles. The three dialogues on the virtues of Eastern Monks and on the merits of St. Martin, may be regarded as a supplement to theVita.Petrus [Peter] Chrysologusis the name by which Peter, bishop of Ravenna, is best known. He also received the titleChrysostomus Latinorum. He died inA.D.450. Among the 176Sermonesascribed to him, the discourses expository of the baptismal formula are deserving of special mention. Of his Epistles, one in Latin and Greek addressed to Eutyches (§52, 4) is still preserved, in which the writer warns Eutyches against doctrinal errors.§ 47.18.The Hero of the Soteriological Controversy.—Augustine—Aurelius Augustinus—was born inA.D.354 at Tagaste in Numidia. From his pious mother Monica he early received Christian religious impressions which, however, were again in great measure effaced by his pagan father theDecurioPatricius. While he studied in Carthage, he gave way to sensuality and worldly pleasure. Cicero’s Hortensius first awakened again in him a longing after higher things. From aboutA.D.374 he sought satisfaction in the tenets of the Manichæan sect, strongly represented in Africa, and for ten years he continued a catechumen of that order. But here, too, at last finding himself cruelly deceived in his struggle after the knowledge of the truth, he would have sunk into the most utter scepticism, had not the study of the Platonic philosophy still for awhile held him back. InA.D.383 he left Africa and went to Rome, and in the following year he took up his residence in Milan as a teacher of eloquence. An African bishop, once himself a Manichæan, had comforted his anxious mother, who followed him hither, by assuring her that the son of so many sighs and prayers could not be finally lost. At Milan too the sermons of Ambrose made an impression on Augustine’s heart. He now began diligently to search the scriptures. At last the hour arrived of his complete renewal of heart and life. After an earnest conversation with his friend Alypius, he hastened into the solitude of the garden. While agonizing in prayer he heard the words thrice repeated:Tolle, lege! He took up the scriptures, and his eye fell upon the passage Rom. xiii. 13, 14. This utterance of stern Christian morality seemed as if written for himself alone, and from this moment he received into his wounded spirit a peace such as he had never known before. In order to prepare for baptism he withdrew with his mother and some friends to the country house of one of them, where scientific studies, pious exercises and conversations on the highest problems of life occupied his time. Out of these conversations sprang his philosophical writings. At EasterA.D.387 Ambrose baptized him, and at the same time his illegitimate son Adeodatus, who not long afterwards died. His return journey to Africa was delayed by the death of his mother at Ostia, and at last, after almost a year’s residence in Rome, he reached his old home again. In Rome he applied himself to combat the errors of Manichæism, arguing with many of his old companions whom he met there. After his return to Africa inA.D.388, he spent some years on his small patrimonial estate at Tagaste engaged in scientific work. During a casual visit to Hippo inA.D.391 he was, in spite of all resistance, ordained presbyter, and inA.D.395 colleague of the aged and feeble bishop Valerius, whose successor he became in the following year. Now began the brilliant period of his career, in which he stands forth as a pillar of the church and the centre of all theological and ecclesiastical life throughout the whole Western world. InA.D.400 began his battle against the Donatists (§63, 1). And scarcely had he brought this to a successful end in a religious discussion at Carthage inA.D.411, when he was drawn into a far more important Soteriological controversy by Pelagius and his followers (§53), which he continued till the close of his life. His death occurred inA.D.430 during the siege of Carthage by the Vandals. He has written his own life in hisConfessiones(Engl. translat., Oxf., 1838; Edin., 1876). In the form of an address to God he here unfolds before the Omniscient One his whole past life with all its errors and gracious providences in the language of prayer full of the holiest earnestness and most profound humility, a lively commentary on the opening words:Magnus es, Domine, et laudabilis valde.... Fecisti nos ad te, et inquietum est cor nostrum, donec requiescat in te.The biography of his disciple Possidius may serve as a supplement to the Confessions.—Augustine was the greatest, most powerful, and most influential of all the fathers. In consequence of his thoroughly Western characteristics he was indeed less perfectly understood and appreciated in the East; but all the greater was his reputation in the West, where the whole development of church and doctrine seemed always to move about him as its centre. The main field of his literary activity in consequence of his own peculiar mental qualities, his philosophical culture, speculative faculty, and dialectic skill, as well as the ecclesiastical conflicts of his time, to which his most important works are devoted, was Systematic Theology, Dogmatics and Ethics, Polemics and Apologetics. He is weakest as an exegete; for he had little interest in philological and grammatico-historical research into the simple literal sense of scripture. He was unacquainted with the original language of the Old Testament, and even the New Testament he treats only in a popular way according to the Latin translations. Neither does he deal much with the exegetical foundations of dogmatics, which he rather develops from the Christian consciousness by means of speculation and dialectic, and from the proof of its meeting the needs of humanity. Over against philosophy he insisted upon the independence and necessity of faith as the presupposition and basis of all religious knowledge.Rationabiliter dictum est per prophetam: Nisi credideretis non intelligetis. Credamus ut id quod credimus intelligere valeamus.§ 47.19.Augustine’s Works.Philosophical Treatisesbelonging to the period preceding his ordination. The 3 bks.Contra Academicoscombat their main position that men cannot attain to any certain knowledge; the treatiseDe Vita beatashows that true happiness consists in the knowledge of God; the 2 bks.De Ordinetreat of the relation of good and evil in the divine order of the world; the 2 bks.Soliloquiaare monologues on the means and conditions of the knowledge of supernatural truths, and contain beside the main question an AppendixDe immortalitate animæ, etc.Dogmatic Treatises.The most important are:De Trinitatein 15 bks. (Engl. transl., Edin., 1874), a speculative dogmatic construction of the dogma, of great importance for its historical development;De doctrina christianain 4 bks. (Engl. transl., Edin., 1875), of which the first three bks. form a guide to the exposition of scripture after the analogy of faith, while the 4th book shows how the truth thus discovered is to be used (Hermeneutics and Homiletics); finally, the two bks.Retractationes, written in his last years, in which he passes an unfavourable judgment on his earlier writings, and withdraws or modifies much in them. Among hisMoral-ascetic writingsthe bk.De bono conjugaliis of special interest, called forth by Jovinian’s utterances on non-meritoriousness of the unmarried state (§62, 2); he admits the high value of Christian marriage, but yet sees in celibacy genuinely chosen as a means to holiness a higher step in the Christian life. Also the bk.De adulterinis conjugisagainst second marriages, and two treatisesDe MendaciumandContra Mendacium ad Consentium, which in opposition to the contrary doctrine of the Priscillianists (§54, 2), unconditionally repudiates the admissibility of equivocation.Controversial Treatises.Of 11 treatises against the Manichæans (§54, 1) the most important is thatC. Faustumin 33 bks. (Engl. transl., Edin., 1875), interesting as reproducing in quotations the greater part of the last work of this great champion of the Manichæans. Then came the discussion with the Donatists (§63, 1), which he engaged in with great vigour. We have ten treatises directed against them (Engl. transl., Edin., 1873). Of far greater importance was the conflict which soon after broke out against the Pelagians and then against the semi-Pelagians (§53, 4,5), in which he wrote fourteen treatises (Engl. transl., 3 vols., Edin., 1873-1876). Also the Arians, Priscillianists, Origenists and Marcionites were combated by him in special treatises, and in the bk.De hæresibushe gave a summary account of the various heresies that had come under his notice.Among hisApologetical Treatisesagainst pagans and Jews, by far the ablest and most important is the workDe Civitate Dei, in 22 bks., a truly magnificent conception (Engl. transl., 2 vols., Edin., 1873), the most substantial of all apologetical works of Christian antiquity, called forth by the reproach of the heathens that the repeated successes of the barbarians resulted from the weakening and deteriorating influence of Christianity upon the empire. The author repels this reproach in the first four bks. by showing how the Roman empire had previously in itself the seeds of decay in its godless selfishness, and thence advancing immorality; Ilium was and continued pagan, but its gods could not save it from destruction. Ilium’s Epigone, haughty Rome, meets the same fate. It owed its power only to God’s will and His government of the world, and to His using it as a scourge for the nations. The next five books show the corruption of the heathen religions and the inadequacy of heathen philosophy. Then the last 12 bks. point out the contrast between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of the world in respect of their diverse foundations, their entirely different motive powers, their historical development and their ultimate disposal in the last judgment.The most important and complete of hisExegetical Worksare the 12 bks.De Genesi ad litteram, a gigantic commentary on the three first chapters of Genesis, which in spite of its title very often leaves the firm ground of the literal sense to revel in the airy regions of spiritualistic and mystical expatiation. Of hisSermones, 400 are recognised as genuine (Engl. transl., Hom. on N.T., 2 vols., Oxf., 1844 f.; Hom. on John and 1st John, 2 vols., Oxf., 1848; Comm. on Psalms, 6 vols., Oxf., 1847 f.; Harmony of Evangelists, and Serm. on Mt., Edin., 1874; Commentary on John, 2 vols., Edin., 1875). His correspondence still preserved comprises 270 Epistles (Engl. transl., 2 vols., Edin., 1874, 1876).§ 47.20.Augustine’s Disciples and Friends.Paulinus, deacon of Milan, who wrote, at Augustine’s request, the life of Ambrose, awakened inA.D.411 the Pelagian controversy by the charges which he made, and took part in it himself by writing inA.D.417 theLibellus c. Cœlestium ad Zosimum Papam.Paulus [Paul] Orosius, a Spanish presbyter, who visited Augustine in Africa inA.D.415 to urge him to combat Priscillianism, took part with him there in his conflict with the Pelagians. He has left behind aCommonitorium de errore Priscillianistarum et Origenistarum ad Augustinum; anApologeticus de arbitrii libertate c. PelagiumandHist. adv. Paganosin 7 bks. The last named work was written at Augustine’s urgent entreaty, and pursues in a purely historical manner the same end which Augustine in hisCity of Godsought to reach in a dogmatico-apologetic way.Marius Mercatorwas a learned and acute layman, belonging to the West, but latterly resident in Constantinople. He made every effort to secure the condemnation of Pelagianism even in the East, and so wrote not only against its Western leaders but also against its Antiochean supporters, Nestorius and Theodore of Mopsuestia (§53, 4).Prosper Aquitanicus, also a layman and an enthusiastic follower of Augustine, not only wrote several treatises against the semi-Pelagians of his native Gaul (§53, 5), but also poured out the vials of his wrath upon them in poetic effusions (§48, 6). He died aboutA.D.460.Cæsarius, bishop of Arelate, now Arles in Gaul, originally a monk in the monastery of Larinum, was one of the most celebrated, most influential, and in church work most serviceable of the men of his times. It is also mainly due to him that inA.D.529 moderate Augustinianism gained the victory over semi-Pelagianism. He died inA.D.543. His treatiseDe gratia et libero arbitriois no longer extant, but two rules for monks and nuns composed by him,Ad monachos,Ad virgines, as well as a considerable number ofSermones, the best of their time, are still preserved.Fulgentius, bishop of Ruspein Africa, on account of his zeal for the Catholic doctrine, was banished by the Arian Vandal king Thrasimund, but returned after the king’s death inA.D.523. He was one of the stoutest champions of Augustinianism. His writings against Arians and semi-Pelagians have been often printed. He died inA.D.555. His scholar and biographer wasFulgentius Ferrandus, deacon at Carthage aboutA.D.547. Alongside of and after him we meet with bishopFacundusof Hermiane, and the archdeaconLiberatus of Carthage, who with characteristic African energy defend theTria Capitula(§52, 6) basely surrendered by the Roman bishop Vigilius.§ 47.21.Pelagians and semi-Pelagians.Pelagius, a British monk, the originator of the heresy named after him (§53, 3,4), left behind a considerable number of writings, of which, however, for the most part we have now only fragments in the works of his opponents. References in Augustine, Marius Mercator, and others show that to him belong theLb.xiv.Expositionum in Epistt. Pauli, which have been ascribed to Jerome and included among his works, scholia-like explanations with good sound grammatico-historical exegesis. The wish to make this useable and safe for the Catholic church led at an early date to various omissions and alterations in it. Afterwards its heretical origin was forgotten which notwithstanding the purifying referred to is still quite discernible. Two epistles addressed to Roman ladies recommending virginity have also got a place among the works of Jerome.—Julianus, bishop of Eclanumin Italy, is the only one among the followers of Pelagius who can be regarded as of scientific importance. He was an acute but frivolous and vulgar opponent of Augustine, whom he honoured with the epithetsamentissimus et bardissimus(comp. §53, 4).At the head of the semi-Pelagians or Massilians stands:Johannes Cassianus. Gennadius designates him asnatione Scythus; but he received his early education in a monastery at Bethlehem. He then undertook a journey in company with the abbot to visit the Egyptian monks, stayed next for a long time with Chrysostom at Constantinople, and after his banishment resided some years in Rome, and finally inA.D.415 settled down at Massilia (Marseilles), where he established a monastery and a nunnery, and organised both after the Eastern model. He died aboutA.D.432. His writings were held in high esteem throughout the Middle Ages. In theDe institutis Cœnobiorumhe describes the manner of life of the Palestinian and Egyptian monks, and then treats of the eight vices to which the monks were specially exposed. The 24Collationes Patrumreport the conversations which he had with the Eastern monks and hermits about the ways and means of attaining Christian perfection. The 13thCollatiois, without naming him, directed against Augustine’s doctrine, and develops semi-Pelagian Synergism (§53, 5). Both writings, however are certainly calculated to serve the development of his own monkish ideal as well as his own dogmatic and ethical views, rather then to afford a historically faithful representation of the life and thinking of oriental monasticism of that time. The 7 bks.De incarnatione Christicombat not only Nestorianism but also Pelagianism as in its consequences derogatory to the divinity of Christ.Vincentius [Vincent] Lerinensis, monk in the Gallic monastery of Lerinum, was Cassianus’ most distinguished disciple. He died aboutA.D.450. On his often printedCommonitorium pro cath. fidei antiquit. et universit., comp. §53, 5.Eucherius, bishop of Lyons, left behind him several ascetical works (De laude eremi; De contemtu mundi), Homilies, and aLiber formularum spiritualis intelligentiæas guide to the mystico-allegorical interpretation of Scripture. He died aboutA.D.450.Salvianus, presbyter at Marseilles, was in his earlier days married to a heathen woman whom he converted, and with her took the vow of continency. He died aboutA.D.485. He wroteAdv. avaritiamLb. iv., in which the support of the poor and surrender of property to the church for pious uses are recommended as means of furthering the salvation of one’s own soul. In consequence of the oppression of the times during the convulsions of the migration of the peoples and the reproach of the heathen again loudly raised that the weakness of the Roman empire was occasioned by the introduction of Christianity, he wroteDe providentia s. de gubernatione Dei et de justo præsentique judicio, Lb. viii., which in rhetorical and flowery language depicted the dreadful moral condition of the Roman world of that day.Faustus of Rhegium, now Riez in Provence, in his earlier years an advocate, then monk and abbot of the cloister of Lerinum, and finally bishop of Rhegium, was the head of the Gallic semi-Pelagians of his times. In his writings he stated this doctrine in a moderate form. He died inA.D.493.Arnobius the Younger, the contemporary and fellow-countryman of Faustus, wrote a very important work entitledPrædestinatus, which in a very thorough and elaborate manner contests the doctrines of Augustine. Comp. §53, 5.§ 47.22.The Most Important Church Teachers among the Roman Popes.Leo the Greatoccupied the papal chair fromA.D.440 toA.D.461. While but a deacon he was the most distinguished personage in Rome. On assuming the bishopric he gave the whole powers of his mind to the administration of his office in all directions. By the energy and consistency with which he carried out the idea of the Roman primacy, he became the virtual founder of the spiritual sovereignty of Rome. With a strong arm he guided the helm of the church, reformed and organized on every side, settled order and discipline, defended orthodoxy, contended against heretics (Manichæans, Priscillianists, Pelagians, Eutychians), and appeased the barbarians (Attila). Of his writings we have 96Sermonesand 173 Epistles, which last are of the utmost importance for the church history of his times. He is also supposed to be the author of a talented workDe vocatione Gentium(§53, 5).Gelasius I.,A.D.492 toA.D.496, left behind him a treatiseAdv. hæresin Pelagianem, anotherDe duabus in Christo naturis, and a work against the observance of the Lupercalia which some prominent Romans wished to have continued. He also wrote 18 Decretals. The celebratedDecretum de libris recipiendis et non recipiendis, in a sense the oldestIndex prohibitorum, is ascribed to him. The first section, wanting in the best MSS., contains a biblical canon corresponding to that of the Synod of Hippo,A.D.393 (§59, 1); the second section treats of the pre-eminence of the Church of Rome granted by our Lord Himself in the person of Peter; the third enumerates the œcumenical Councils; and the fourth, the writings of the fathers received by the Roman Church; the Chronicle and Church History of Eusebius are found fault with (quod tepuerit) but not rejected; in respect to the writings of Origen and Rufinus the opinion of Jerome is approved. The fifth section gives a list of books not to be received—the New Testament Apocrypha, Tertullian, Clement of Alexandria, Arnobius, Cassianus, Faustus of Rhegium, etc.Gregory the Great,A.D.590 toA.D.604, born in Rome aboutA.D.540, sprung from a distinguished old Roman family, held aboutA.D.574 the office of city prefect, after his father’s death founded on his inherited estates, six monasteries, and himself withdrew into a seventh, which he built in Rome.Ordained deacon against his will inA.D.579, he was entrusted with the important and difficult office of a papalapocrisiariusin Constantinople, and was constrained inA.D.590, after a long persisted-in refusal, to mount the papal chair, which obliged him to abandon the long-cherished plan of his life, the preaching of the gospel to the Anglo-Saxons (§77, 4). Gregory united a rare power and energy of will with real mildness and gentleness of character, deep humility and genuine piety with the full consciousness of his position as a successor of Peter, insight, circumspection, yea even an unexpected measure of liberal-mindedness (comp.e.g.§57, 4;75, 3) with all monkish narrowness and stiff adherence to the traditional forms, doctrines and views of the Roman Church. He himself lived in extremest poverty and simplicity according to the strictest monastic asceticism, and applied all that he possessed and received to the support of the poor and the help of the needy. It was a hard time in which he lived, the age of the birth throes of a new epoch of the world’s history. There is therefore much cause to thank the good providence which set such a man as spiritual father, teacher and pastor at the head of the Western Church. He took special interest in fostering monasticism and such-like institutions, which were, indeed, most conducive to the well-being of the world, for during this dangerous period of convulsion, monasticism was almost the only nursery of intellectual culture. The Roman Catholic church ranks him as the last of the Fathers, and places him alongside of Ambrose, Jerome and Augustine, the four greatest teachers of the church,Doctores ecclesiæ, whose writings have been long reverenced as the purest and most complete vehicles of the Catholic tradition. Among the Greeks a similar position is given to Athanasius, Basil, Gregory Nazianzen and Chrysostom. The rank thus assigned to Gregory is justifiable inasmuch as in him the formation and malformation of doctrine, worship, discipline and constitution peculiar to the ancient church are gathered up, completed and closed. His most complete work is theExpositio in b. Jobum s. Moralium, Ll. xxxv., (Engl. transl., Lib. of Fath., 3 vols., Oxf., 1844-1850) which, by dragging in all possible relations of life which an allegorical interpretation can furnish, is expanded into a repertory of moral reflections. HisRegula pastoralis s. Liber curæ pastoralisobtained in the West a position of almost canonical authority. In his “Dialogues,” of which the first three books treat “de vita et miraculis Patrum Italicorum,” and the 4th book mostly of visionary views of the hereafter (heaven, hell and purgatory), “de æternitate animarum,” we meet with a very singular display of the most uncritical credulousness and the most curious superstition. Besides these we have from him Homilies on Ezekiel and the Gospels, as well as a voluminous correspondence in 880 Epistles of great importance for the history of the age. To Gregory also is attributed the oft quoted saying which compares holy scripture to a streamin quo agnus peditat et elephas natat.§ 47.23.The Conservators and Continuators of Patristic Culture.Boëthius, Anicius Manlius Torquatus Severinus, was descended from a distinguished Roman family, and stood high in favour with the Ostrogoth Arian king Theodoric. Accused, however, by his enemies of treasonable correspondence with the Byzantine court, he was, after a long imprisonment, condemned unheard and executed,A.D.525. In prison he composed the celebrated treatise,De consolatione philosophiæ, which, written in pure and noble language, was the favourite book of the Latin Middle Ages, and was translated into all European languages: first of all by Alfred the Great into Anglo-Saxon, and often reprinted in its original form. The book owed its great popularity to the mediæval tradition which made its author a martyr for the Catholic faith under Arian persecution; but modern criticism has sought to prove that in all probability he was not even a Christian. Still more decidedly the theological writings on the Trinity and the Two Natures of Christ bearing his name are repudiated as irreconcileable with the contents and character of theDe consolatione; though, on the other hand, their authenticity has again found several most capable defenders. Finally, Usener has conclusively, as it seems, in a newly discovered fragment of Cassiodorus, brought forward a quite incontestable witness for their authenticity. In any case Boëthius did great service in preserving the continuity of Western culture by his hearty encouragement and careful prosecution of classical studies at a time when these were threatened with utter neglect. Of special importance was his translation of a commentary on the logical works of Aristotle as the first and for a long time almost the only philosophical groundwork of mediæval scholasticism (§ 99, 2).Magnus AureliusCassiodorus, surnamed Senator, belonged to Southern Italy and held the highest civil offices under Odoacer and Theodoric for fifty years. AboutA.D.540, he retired to the cloister of Vivarium founded by him in Southern Italy, and devoted the rest of his life to the sciences and the instruction of the monks. He collected a great library in his monastery, and employed the monks in transcribing classical and patristic writings. He died aboutA.D.575 when almost a hundred years old. His own writings show indeed no independence and originality, but are all the more important as concentrated collections of classical and patristic learning for the later Latin Middle Ages. His twelve books of the History of the Goths have come down only in the condensed reproduction of Jordanes or Jornandes. His twelve booksVariarum(sc. epistolarum et formularum), which consist of a collection of acts and ordinances of the period of his civil service, are important for the history of his age. HisHistoria ecclest. tripartita(§5, 1), was for many centuries almost the only text book of church history, and hisInstitutiones divinarum et sæcularum litterarumhad a similar position as a guide to the study of theology and the seven liberal arts (§90, 8). Also his commentary on the Psalms and the most of the books of the New Testament, made up of compilations, was held in high esteem.Dionysius Exiguus, a Scythian by birth, who became a Roman abbot, and died aboutA.D.566, may also be placed in this group. He translated many Greek patristic writings, by hisCyclus paschalisbecame founder of the Western reckoning of Easter (§56, 3), and also the more universally adopted so-called Dionysian era. By hisCodex Canonumhe is also the founder of the Western system of Canon Law (§43, 3).
§ 47.14.
§ 47.15.
§ 47.16.During the Period of Origenistic Controversy.
§ 47.17.
§ 47.18.The Hero of the Soteriological Controversy.—Augustine—Aurelius Augustinus—was born inA.D.354 at Tagaste in Numidia. From his pious mother Monica he early received Christian religious impressions which, however, were again in great measure effaced by his pagan father theDecurioPatricius. While he studied in Carthage, he gave way to sensuality and worldly pleasure. Cicero’s Hortensius first awakened again in him a longing after higher things. From aboutA.D.374 he sought satisfaction in the tenets of the Manichæan sect, strongly represented in Africa, and for ten years he continued a catechumen of that order. But here, too, at last finding himself cruelly deceived in his struggle after the knowledge of the truth, he would have sunk into the most utter scepticism, had not the study of the Platonic philosophy still for awhile held him back. InA.D.383 he left Africa and went to Rome, and in the following year he took up his residence in Milan as a teacher of eloquence. An African bishop, once himself a Manichæan, had comforted his anxious mother, who followed him hither, by assuring her that the son of so many sighs and prayers could not be finally lost. At Milan too the sermons of Ambrose made an impression on Augustine’s heart. He now began diligently to search the scriptures. At last the hour arrived of his complete renewal of heart and life. After an earnest conversation with his friend Alypius, he hastened into the solitude of the garden. While agonizing in prayer he heard the words thrice repeated:Tolle, lege! He took up the scriptures, and his eye fell upon the passage Rom. xiii. 13, 14. This utterance of stern Christian morality seemed as if written for himself alone, and from this moment he received into his wounded spirit a peace such as he had never known before. In order to prepare for baptism he withdrew with his mother and some friends to the country house of one of them, where scientific studies, pious exercises and conversations on the highest problems of life occupied his time. Out of these conversations sprang his philosophical writings. At EasterA.D.387 Ambrose baptized him, and at the same time his illegitimate son Adeodatus, who not long afterwards died. His return journey to Africa was delayed by the death of his mother at Ostia, and at last, after almost a year’s residence in Rome, he reached his old home again. In Rome he applied himself to combat the errors of Manichæism, arguing with many of his old companions whom he met there. After his return to Africa inA.D.388, he spent some years on his small patrimonial estate at Tagaste engaged in scientific work. During a casual visit to Hippo inA.D.391 he was, in spite of all resistance, ordained presbyter, and inA.D.395 colleague of the aged and feeble bishop Valerius, whose successor he became in the following year. Now began the brilliant period of his career, in which he stands forth as a pillar of the church and the centre of all theological and ecclesiastical life throughout the whole Western world. InA.D.400 began his battle against the Donatists (§63, 1). And scarcely had he brought this to a successful end in a religious discussion at Carthage inA.D.411, when he was drawn into a far more important Soteriological controversy by Pelagius and his followers (§53), which he continued till the close of his life. His death occurred inA.D.430 during the siege of Carthage by the Vandals. He has written his own life in hisConfessiones(Engl. translat., Oxf., 1838; Edin., 1876). In the form of an address to God he here unfolds before the Omniscient One his whole past life with all its errors and gracious providences in the language of prayer full of the holiest earnestness and most profound humility, a lively commentary on the opening words:Magnus es, Domine, et laudabilis valde.... Fecisti nos ad te, et inquietum est cor nostrum, donec requiescat in te.The biography of his disciple Possidius may serve as a supplement to the Confessions.—Augustine was the greatest, most powerful, and most influential of all the fathers. In consequence of his thoroughly Western characteristics he was indeed less perfectly understood and appreciated in the East; but all the greater was his reputation in the West, where the whole development of church and doctrine seemed always to move about him as its centre. The main field of his literary activity in consequence of his own peculiar mental qualities, his philosophical culture, speculative faculty, and dialectic skill, as well as the ecclesiastical conflicts of his time, to which his most important works are devoted, was Systematic Theology, Dogmatics and Ethics, Polemics and Apologetics. He is weakest as an exegete; for he had little interest in philological and grammatico-historical research into the simple literal sense of scripture. He was unacquainted with the original language of the Old Testament, and even the New Testament he treats only in a popular way according to the Latin translations. Neither does he deal much with the exegetical foundations of dogmatics, which he rather develops from the Christian consciousness by means of speculation and dialectic, and from the proof of its meeting the needs of humanity. Over against philosophy he insisted upon the independence and necessity of faith as the presupposition and basis of all religious knowledge.Rationabiliter dictum est per prophetam: Nisi credideretis non intelligetis. Credamus ut id quod credimus intelligere valeamus.
§ 47.19.Augustine’s Works.
§ 47.20.Augustine’s Disciples and Friends.
§ 47.21.Pelagians and semi-Pelagians.
§ 47.22.The Most Important Church Teachers among the Roman Popes.
§ 47.23.The Conservators and Continuators of Patristic Culture.