Augustine of Hippo

From AnthroWiki
Revision as of 08:03, 24 February 2022 by Odyssee (talk | contribs) (Created page with "thumb|The oldest known depiction of Augustine ([[Wikipedia:Lateran|Lateranbasilica, 6th  century)]] File:Saint Augustine Portrait.jpg|thum...")
(diff) ← Older revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)
The oldest known depiction of Augustine (Lateranbasilica, 6th  century)
Sandro Botticelli, Augustine at a writing desk, c. 1480, Florence

Augustine of Hippo, also called Augustine of Thagaste, Saint Augustine or incorrectly Aurelius Augustinus (* 13 November 354 in w:Thagaste, Numidia, today Souk Ahras in Algeria; † 28 August 430 in Hippo Regius in Numidia, today Annaba in Algeria) was a Christian philosopher and one of the four Latin Doctors of the Church of Late Antiquity.

Life

Augustine's mother Monica was a Christian, his father Patricius, a small landowner, was baptised only shortly before his death in 372. Augustine was brought up as a Christian by his mother, but she did not have him baptised, as infant baptism was not yet common at that time. Augustine went to school in Thagaste until 370 and studied rhetoric in Carthage from 371. In 372, his partner, with whom he lived in celibacy, gave birth to their son Adeodatus ("the one given by God").

In 373, Augustine first turned to Manichaeism and worked as a rhetor in Thagaste from 375, later in Carthage, Rome and Milan and, as he confessed in his Confessiones, lived a dissolute lifestyle. In 380, Theodosius I proclaimed Christianity as the state religion. In 383, Augustine's encounter with the Manichean bishop Faustus of Mileve was disappointing. In 384 Augustine was called to Milan as a teacher of rhetoric. There he became acquainted with Platonic biblical interpretation through Bishop Ambrose of Milan. At the insistence of his mother, who had arranged an engagement with a Christian girl from a wealthy family, Augustine left his long-time companion in 385, who returned to Africa, while their son Adeodatus remained with Augustine. After his conversion experience under a fig tree, Augustine was baptised in 387.

„But when a deep contemplation, for a secret reason, drew forth all my misery and gathered it before the face of my heart, a mighty tempest broke loose in me, accompanied by tears in torrents. To give it free rein, I rose and went away from Alypius; for solitude seemed to me more suitable to enable me to weep; I went away, so far that his presence was no longer able to disturb me. That was how I was then, and he felt with me. I also think that I had already said something, whereby the tearful tone of my voice faltered, and so I rose. He remained behind where we had sat down, filled with amazement. But I prostrated myself on the trunk of a fig tree and gave free rein to my tears, and the fountain of the eye gushed forth, an offering which thou didst gladly receive, and I spoke many things to thee, though not in the same words, yet in thy mind: Thou, O Lord, how long? How long, O Lord, wilt thou be angry? Be not mindful of our former iniquity. For I felt myself bound by it, and groaned aloud in miserable lamentation. How long? How long? Tomorrow and again tomorrow? Why not now, why does not this hour of my shame set its end?

Thus said I, and wept bitterly in the contrition of my heart. And behold, I heard a voice from a neighbouring house say in a singing tone, it was a boy or a girl: 'Take and read! Take and read! I blurred my vision and wondered if perhaps children were used to singing such words in some game, but I could not remember ever having heard them. Then I pushed back my tears, stood up and interpreted the words I had heard in no other way than that a divine command was telling me to open the Holy Scriptures and to read the first chapter on which my eye would fall. For I had heard from Antonius that when the Gospel was read in the church, to which he had happened to come, he referred to the word which was read as an exhortation: Go and sell all that thou hast and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven; and come and follow me. By such a voice of God he was immediately converted. And so I hurriedly returned to the place where Alypius was sitting and where I had left the writings of the apostle Paul when I left. I took hold of the book, opened it and read silently to myself the passage that first caught my eye: "Not in gluttony and drunkenness, not in chambers and fornication, not in strife and envy, but draw near to the Lord Jesus Christ and wait on the body, but in such a way that it does not become lustful. I read no further, it was truly not necessary, for immediately at the end of these words the light of peace came upon my heart and the night of doubt fled away.“

– Augustine: Confessiones 8:12

Literature
References to the work of Rudolf Steiner follow Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works (CW or GA), Rudolf Steiner Verlag, Dornach/Switzerland, unless otherwise stated.
Email: verlag@steinerverlag.com URL: www.steinerverlag.com.
Index to the Complete Works of Rudolf Steiner - Aelzina Books
A complete list by Volume Number and a full list of known English translations you may also find at Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works
Rudolf Steiner Archive - The largest online collection of Rudolf Steiner's books, lectures and articles in English.
Rudolf Steiner Audio - Recorded and Read by Dale Brunsvold
steinerbooks.org - Anthroposophic Press Inc. (USA)
Rudolf Steiner Handbook - Christian Karl's proven standard work for orientation in Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works for free download as PDF.

Weblinks

Retrieved from "https://en.anthro.wiki/index.php?title=Augustine_of_Hippo&oldid=9256"