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==Life==
Aurelius Augustinus was born in 354 in Tagaste to a Christian mother and a Pagan father, raised in Roman north Africa, educated in Carthage, and employed as a professor of rhetoric in Milan by 383. He followed the [[Manichaeism|Manichaean]] religion in his student days, and was converted to Christianity by the preaching and example of [[Ambrose of Milan]]. He was [[baptized ]] at Easter in 387, and returned to north Africa and created a monastic foundation at Tagaste for himself and a group of friends. In 391 he was ordained [[ordain]]ed a [[priest]] in Hippo Regius (now Annaba, in Algeria). He became a famous preacher (more than 350 preserved sermons are believed to be authentic), and was noted for combatting the Manichaean heresy.
In 396 he was made coadjutor [[bishop]] of Hippo (assistant with the right of succession on the death of the current bishop), and remained as bishop in Hippo until his death in 430. He left his [[monastery]], but continued to lead a monastic life in the episcopal residence. He left a Rule (''Regula'' in Latin) for his monastery that has led him to be designated the "patron saint of Regular Clergy," that is, parish clergy who live by a monastic rule.
Augustine died on [[August 28]], 430, during the siege of Hippo by the Vandals. He is said to have encouraged its citizens to resist the attacks, primarily on the grounds that the Vandals adhered to heretical [[Arianism|Arian]] Christianity.
Despite these acclamations, most of his works were not translated into Greek until the 13th century (?) and some Orthodox Christians identify errors in his theology—especially those in his [[Triadology]] which gave rise to the ''[[Filioque]]'' addition to the [[Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed]]—and regard him as being one of the major factors in the [[Great Schism]] between the Church in the East and in the West. Thus, there are those among the Orthodox who regard Augustine as a [[heresy|heretic]], although there has never been any conciliar condemnation of either him or his writings.
More moderate views regard Augustine as either simply one theological writer among many in the early Church (but not a [[saint]]), or even perhaps with the title "Blessed" before his name. It should be noted, however, that the Orthodox Church has not traditionally ranked saints in terms of "blessed" or "saint" (i.e., suggesting that the latter has a greater degree of holiness than the former). Saint "rankings" are usually only differences in kind (e.g., monastics, married, bishops, martyrs, etc.), not in degree. The practice of ranking by degree is much more characteristic of the [[Roman Catholic Church|Roman Catholic]] tradition.
There is at least one book explicitly dealing with the issue of Augustine's place in Orthodoxy, ''The Place of Blessed Augustine in the Orthodox Church'' by Fr. [[Seraphim Rose]] (ISBN 0938635123), which is generally favorable toward Augustine, citing his importance as a saint in terms of his confessional and devotional writings rather than in his theology. Its cover includes a traditional Greek icon of Augustine, where he is labelled as '''Ο ΑΓΙΟΣ ΑΥΓΟΥΣΤΙΝΟΣ'''—"Saint Augustine."
