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Augustine of Hippo

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Reception of Augustine in the Orthodox Church: lowercase Greek
:''We further declare that we hold fast to the decrees of the four Councils, and in every way follow the holy Fathers, [[Athanasius of Alexandria|Athanasius]], [[Hilary of Poitiers|Hilary]], [[Basil the Great|Basil]], [[Gregory the Theologian]], [[Gregory of Nyssa]], [[Ambrose of Milan|Ambrose]], Theophilus, [[John Chrysostom|John (Chrysostom) of Constantinople]], [[Cyril of Alexandria|Cyril]], '''Augustine''', Proclus, [[Leo the Great|Leo]] and their writings on the true faith.''[http://www.ccel.org/fathers2/NPNF2-14/Npnf2-14-111.htm] (emphasis added)
In the acts of the [[Sixth Ecumenical Council]] (not yet translated into English), he is called the "most excellent and blessed Augustine" and is referred to as "the most wise teacher." In the Comnenian Council of Constantinople in 1166 he is referred to as "Ο ΑΓΙΟΣ ΑΥΓΟΥΣΤΙΌ Αγίος Αυγουστίνος - "Saint Augustine." Despite these acclamations, most of his works were not translated into Greek until ''circa'' 1360 by by Demetrios Cydones 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 (1) a theological writer who made too many mistakes to be included among the [[Church Fathers]] but still a [[saint]], (2) a theological writer among many in the early Church (but not a [[saint]]), and (3) a theological writer with, perhaps, 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 are at least two books 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, and ''The Influence of Augustine of Hippo on the Orthodox Church'' by Dr. Fr. Michael Azkoul (ISBN 0889467331), which tends to see Augustine as the root of all Western Christendom's errors. (There is also a condensation of this book into a booklet titled ''Augustine of Hippo: An Orthodox Christian Perspective''.) The former's cover (shown on right) includes a traditional Greek [[icon]] of Augustine, where he is labelled as "Ό Αγίος Αυγουστίνος"—"Saint Augustine." Another view is expressed by [[Christos Yannaras]], who descibed Augustine as "the fount of every distortion and alteration in the Church's truth in the West" (''The Freedom of Morality'', p. 151n.). ==Quotes=====From ''The City of God''===St. Augustine evidently originated the phrase "love the sinner, hate the sin", which he tied in with a privative notion of evil::For this reason, the man who lives by God's standards and not by man's, must needs be a lover of the good, and it follows that he must hate what is evil. Further, since no one is evil by nature, but anyone who is evil is evil because of a perversion of nature, the man who lives by God's standards has a duty of "perfect hatred" ([[Psalms|Psalm]] 139:22) towards those who are evil; that is to say, he should not hate the person because of the fault, nor should he love the fault because of the person. He should hate the fault, but love the man. And when the fault has been cured there will remain only what he ought to love, nothing that he should hate. (14:6, Penguin ed., transl. Bettenson) ===From ''Confessions''===:Our hearts shall ever restless be, until they find their rest in Thee. (1:1)  *[http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Augustine_of_Hippo More quotes at Wikiquote...] ==Writings==At the end of his life (426-428?) Augustine revisited his previous works in chronological order and suggested what he would have said differently in a work titled the ''Retractations'', which gives us a remarkable picture of the development of a writer and his final thoughts. ===Books===*''On Christian Doctrine'', 397-426*''Confessions'', 397-398*''City of God'', begun c. 413, finished 426.*''On the Trinity'', 400-416.*''Enchiridion'' ===Letters===*On the Catechising of the Uninstructed *On Faith and the Creed *Concerning Faith of Things Not Seen *On the Profit of Believing *On the Creed: A Sermon to Catechumens *On Continence *On the Good of Marriage *On Holy Virginity *On the Good of Widowhood *On Lying *To Consentius: Against Lying *On the Work of Monks *On Patience *On Care to be Had For the Dead *On the Morals of the Catholic Church *On the Morals of the Manichaeans *On Two Souls, Against the Manichaeans *Acts or Disputation Against Fortunatus the Manichaean *Against the Epistle of Manichaeus Called Fundamental *Reply to Faustus the Manichaean *Concerning the Nature of Good, Against the Manichaeans *On Baptism, Against the Donatists *Answer to Letters of Petilian, Bishop of Cirta *The Correction of the Donatists *Merits and Remission of Sin, and Infant Baptism *On the Spirit and the Letter *On Nature and Grace *On Man's Perfection in Righteousness *On the Proceedings of Pelagius *On the Grace of Christ, and on Original Sin *On Marriage and Concupiscence *On the Soul and its Origin *Against Two Letters of the Pelagians *On Grace and Free Will *On Rebuke and Grace *The Predestination of the Saints/Gift of Perseverance *Our Lord's Sermon on the Mount *The Harmony of the Gospels *Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament *Tractates on the Gospel of John *Homilies on the First Epistle of John *Soliloquies *The Enarrations, or Expositions, on the Psalms ==Bibliography==* Dr. Fr. Michael Azkoul, ''The Influence of Augustine of Hippo on the Orthodox Church'' (ISBN 0889467331)*Peter Brown, ''Augustine of Hippo'' (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1967) (ISBN 0-520-00186-9)*Fr. [[Seraphim Rose]], ''The Place of Blessed Augustine in the Orthodox Church'', 1997 (ISBN 0938635123)*Adolphe Tanquerey, ''The Spiritual Life: A Treatise on Ascetical and Mystical Theology'', 1930, reprint edition 2000 (ISBN 0895556596) p. 37.  ==External links==*[http://www.goarch.org/en/ourfaith/articles/article8153.asp St. Augustine in the Greek Orthodox Tradition], by Fr. [[George C. Papademetriou]]*[http://www.geocities.com/trvalentine/orthodox/augustine8.html Theological Discussion on Eight Teachings of Augustine of Hippo]*''On Christian Doctrine,'' ''Confessions,'' and ''City of God'' are available freely at http://www.ccel.org/a/augustine/*Other writings are available freely at http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/*[http://www.mrrena.com/august.shtml St. Augustine: Between Two Worlds]*[http://personal2.stthomas.edu/gwschlabach/docs/jhy-aug.htm Augustine and 'other catholics']*[http://www.philosophyarchive.com/text.php?era=400-499&author=Augustine&text=Confessions%20and%20Enchiridion%20Introduction The Enchiridion] by Augustine*[http://www.gutenberg.net/catalog/world/authrec?fk_authors=1156 eTexts] of Augustine's works, at [http://www.gutenberg.net/ Project Gutenberg] [[Category:Bishops]][[Category:Saints]]
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