Letter CCL.

To His Beloved Lord and Venerable Brother and Partner in the Priestly Office, Auxilius,1580    Probably the Bishop of Nurco, named Auxilius, who was present at the conference in Carthage in 411.Augustin Sends Greeting in the Lord.

1. Our son Classicianus, a man of rank, has addressed to me a letter complaining bitterly that he has suffered excommunication wrongfully at the hand of your Holiness. His account of the matter is, that he came to the church with a small escort suitable to his official authority, and begged of you that you would not, to the detriment of their own spiritual welfare, extend the privilege of the sanctuary to men who, after violating an oath which they had taken on the Gospel, were seeking in the house of faith itself assistance and protection in their crime of breaking faith; that thereafter the men themselves, reflecting on the sin which they had committed, went forth from the church, not under violent compulsion, but of their own accord; and that because of this transaction your Holiness was so displeased with him, that with the usual forms of ecclesiastical procedure you smote him and all his household with a sentence of excommunication.

On reading this letter from him, being very much troubled, the thoughts of my heart being agitated like the waves of a stormy sea, I felt it impossible to forbear from writing to you, to beg that if you have thoroughly examined your judgment in this matter, and have proved it by irrefragable reasoning or Scripture testimonies, you will have the kindness to teach me also the grounds on which it is just that a son should be anathematized for the sin of his father, or a wife for the sin of her husband, or a servant for the sin of his master, or how it is just that even the child as yet unborn should lie under an anathema, and be debarred, even though death were imminent, from the deliverance provided in the laver of regeneration, if he happen to be born in a family at the time when the whole household is under the ban of excommunication. For this is not one of those judgments merely affecting the body, in which, as we read in Scripture, some despisers of God were slain with all their households, though these had not been sharers in their impiety. In those cases, indeed, as a warning to the survivors, death was inflicted on bodies which, as mortal, were destined at some time to die; but a spiritual judgment, founded on what is written, “That which ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven,”1581    Matt. xvi. 19.—is binding on souls, concerning which it is said, “As the soul of the father is mine, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth it shall die.”1582    Ezek. xviii. 14.

2. It may be that you have heard that other priests of great reputation have in some cases included the household of a transgressor in the anathema pronounced on him; but these could, perchance, if they were required, give a good reason for so doing. For my own part, although I have been most grievously troubled by the cruel excesses with which some men have vexed the Church, I have never ventured to do as you have done, for this reason, that if any one were to challenge me to justify such an act, I could give no satisfactory reply. But if, perchance, the Lord has revealed to you that it may be justly done, I by no means despise your youth and your inexperience, as having been but recently elevated to high office in the Church. Behold, though far advanced in life, I am ready to learn from one who is but young; and notwithstanding the number of years for which I have been a bishop, I am ready to learn from one who has not yet been a twelvemonth in the same office, if he undertakes to teach me how we can justify our conduct, either before men or before God, if we inflict a spiritual punishment on innocent souls because of another person’s crime, in which they are not involved in the same way as they are involved in the original sin of Adam, in whom “all have sinned.” For although the son of Classicianus derived through his father, from our first parent, guilt which behoved to be washed away by the sacred waters of baptism, who hesitates for a moment to say that he is in no way responsible for any sin which his father may have committed, since he was born, without his participation? What shall I say of his wife? What of so many souls in the entire household?—of which if even one, in consequence of the severity which included the whole household in the excommunication, should perish through departing from the body without baptism, the loss thus occasioned would be an incomparably greater calamity than the bodily death of an innumerable multitude, even though they were innocent men, dragged from the courts of the sanctuary and murdered. If, therefore, you are able to give a good reason for this, I trust that you will in your reply communicate it to me, that I also may be able to do the same; but if you cannot, what right have you to do, under the promptings of inconsiderate excitement, an act for which, if you were asked to give a satisfactory reason, you could find none?

3. What I have said hitherto applies to the case even on the supposition that our son Classicianus has done something which might appear to demand most righteously at your hands the punishment of excommunication. But if the letter which he sent to me contained the truth, there was no reason why even he himself (even though his household had been exempted from the stroke) should have been so punished. As to this, however, I do not interfere with your Holiness; I only beseech you to pardon him when he asks forgiveness, if he acknowledges his fault; and if, on the other hand, you, upon reflection, acknowledge that he did nothing wrong, since in fact the right rather lay on his side who earnestly demanded that in the house of faith, faith should be sacredly kept, and that it should not be broken in the place where the sinfulness of such breach of faith is taught from day to day, do, in this event, what a man of, piety ought to do,—that is to say, if to you as a man anything has happened such as was confessed by one who was truly a man of God in the words of the psalm, “Mine eye was discomposed by anger,”1583    Ps. vi. 8, LXX. fail not to cry to the Lord, as he did, “Have pity on me, O Lord, for I am weak,”1584    Ps. vi. 3. so that He may stretch forth His right hand to you, rebuking the storm of your passion, and making your mind calm that you may see and may perform what is just; for, as it is written, “the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.”1585    Jas. i. 20. And think not that, because we are bishops, it is impossible for unjust passionate resentment to gain secretly upon us; let us rather remember that, because we are men, our life in the midst of temptation’s snares is, beset with the greatest possible dangers. Cancel, therefore, the ecclesiastical sentence which, perhaps under the influence of unusual excitement, you have passed; and let the mutual love which, even from the time when you were a catechumen, has united him and you, be restored again; let strife be banished and peace invited to return, lest this man who is your friend be lost to you, and the devil who is your enemy rejoice over you both. Mighty is the mercy of our God; it may be that His compassion shall hear even my prayer, imploring of Him that my sorrow on your account may not be increased, but that rather what I have begun to suffer may be removed; and may your youth, not despising my old age, be encouraged and made full of joy by His grace! Farewell!

[Annexed to this letter is a fragment of a letter written at the same time to Classicianus; it is as follows:—

To restrain those who for the offence of one soul bind a transgressor’s entire household, that is, a large number of souls, under one sentence of excommunication, and especially to prevent any one from departing this life unbaptized in consequence of such an anathema,—also to decide the question whether persons ought not to be driven forth even from a church, who seek a refuge there in order that they may break the faith pledged to sureties, I desire with the Lord’s help to use the necessary measures in our Council, and, if it be necessary, to write to the Apostolic See; that, by a unanimous authoritative decision of all, we may have the course which ought to be followed in these cases determined and established. One thing I say deliberately as an unquestionable truth, that if any believer has been wrongfully excommunicated, the sentence will do harm rather to him who pronounces it than to him who suffers this wrong. For it is by the Holy Spirit dwelling in holy persons that any one is loosed or bound, and He inflicts unmerited punishment upon no one; for by Him the love which worketh not evil is shed abroad in our hearts.1586    This noble vindication of Christian liberty merits quotation in the original:—“Illud plane non temere dixerim, quod si quisquam fidelium fuerit anathematus injuste, ei potius oberit qui faciet quam ei qui hanc patietur injuriam. Spiritus enim sanctus habitans in sanctis, per quem quisque ligatur aut solvitur, immeritam nulli pænam ingerit: per eum quippe diffunditur charitas in cordibus nostris quæ non agit perperam.”]

EPISTOLA CCL . Augustinus senex Auxilio episcopo juveni, ut aut anathematis sententiam rescindat, aut doceat quibus adductus causis putet ob unius peccatum totam familiam excommunicari posse.

Domino dilectissimo, et venerabili fratri et consacerdoti AUXILIO, AUGUSTINUS, in Domino salutem.

1. Vir spectabilis filius noster Classicianus graviter apud me litteris questus est, quod sit anathematis injuriam a tua Sanctitate perpessus: narrans quod venerit ad ecclesiam apparitione paucorum suae potestati congrua comitatus, et egerit tecum, ne contra salutem suam faveres eis qui per Evangelium pejerando, adjutorium violandae fidei in ipsa fidei domo requirebant; quos tamen considerantes quid mali fecerint, non inde violenter abductos, sed sponte dicit egressos, atque hinc Venerationem tuam ita sibi succensuisse, ut ecclesiasticorum confectione Gestorum cum omni domo sua anathematis sententia feriretur. Quibus litteris ejus lectis, non mediocriter aestuans, cogitationibus magna cordis tempestate fluctuantibus, apud Charitatem tuam tacere non potui; ut si habes de hac re sententiam certis rationibus vel Scripturarum testimoniis exploratam, nos quoque docere digneris quomodo recte anathemetur pro patris peccato filius, aut pro mariti uxor, aut pro domini servus, aut quisquam in domo etiam nondum natus, si eodem tempore, quo universa domus est anathemate obligata, nascatur, nec ei possit per lavacrum regenerationis in mortis periculo subveniri. Neque enim haec corporalis est poena qua legimus quosdam contemptores Dei cum suis omnibus, qui ejusdem impietatis participes non fuerunt, pariter interfectos. Tunc quidem ad terrorem viventium mortalia corpora perimebantur, quandoque utique moritura: spiritualis autem poena, qua fit quod scriptum est, Quae ligaveris in terra, erunt ligata et in coelo (Matth. XVI, 19), animas obligat, de quibus dictum est, Anima patris mea est, et anima filii mea est: anima quae peccaverit, ipsa morietur (Ezech. XVIII, 4).

2. Audisti fortasse aliquos magni nominis sacerdotes cum domo sua quempiam anathemasse peccantium: sed forte si essent interrogati, reperirentur idonei reddere inde rationem. Ego autem, quoniam si quis ex me quaerat utrum recte fiat, quid ei respondeam non invenio; nunquam hoc facere ausus sum, cum de quorumdam facinoribus immaniter adversus Ecclesiam perpetratis, gravissime permoverer. Sed si tibi forte quoniam juste fiat, Dominus revelavit nequaquam juvenilem aetatem tuam, et honoris ecclesiastici rudimenta contemno: en adsum, senex a juvene et episcopus tot annorum a collega necdum anniculo paratus sum discere, quomodo vel Deo vel 1067 hominibus justam possumus reddere rationem, si animas innocentes pro scelere alieno, ex quo non trahunt sicut ex Adam , in quo omnes peccaverunt (Rom. V, 12), originale peccatum, spirituali supplicio puniamus. Etenim Classiciani filius, etsi traxit ex patre primi hominis culpam sacro fonte Baptismatis expiandam; tamen quidquid, posteaquam genuit eum, peccati pater ejus admisit, ubi particeps ipse non fuit, ad eum non pertinere quis ambigit? Quid dicam de conjuge? quid de tot animabus in universa familia? unde si una anima per istam severitatem qua tota domus ista anathemata est, sine Baptismate de corpore exeundo perierit; innumerabilium mors corporum, si de ecclesia homines innocentes violenter abstrahantur et interficiantur, huic damno non potest comparari. Si ergo de hac re potes reddere rationem, utinam et nobis rescribendo praestes ut possimus et nos: si autem non potes, quid tibi est inconsulta commotione animi facere, unde si fueris interrogatus, rectam responsionem non vales invenire?

3. Haec autem dixi, etiamsi filius noster Classicianus aliquid admisit, quod tibi anathemate plectendum justissime videretur. Caeterum si veras ad me litteras misit, nec solus in domo sua debuit ista sententia coerceri. Sed hinc cum tua Sanctitate nihil ago, nisi tantum peto ignoscas petenti veniam, si agnoverit culpam: si autem nihil eum peccasse prudenter agnoscis, quoniam ipse in domo fidei justius flagitabat fidem debere servari, ne ibi frangeretur ubi docetur; fac quod sanctum virum facere oportet, ut si tibi contigit tanquam homini, quod utique homo Dei dicit in Psalmo, Turbatus est prae ira oculus meus, exclames ad Dominum, Miserere mei, Domine, quoniam infirmus sum (Psal. VI, 8, 3); ut porrigat tibi dexteram suam, et comprimat iracundiam tuam, et tranquillet mentem tuam ad videndam faciendamque justitiam. Sicut enim scriptum est, Iracundia viri justitiam Dei non operatur (Jacobi I, 20). Nec arbitreris ideo nobis non posse subrepere injustam commotionem, quia episcopi sumus: sed potius cogitemus inter laqueos tentationum nos periculosissime vivere, quia homines sumus. Aufer itaque Gesta ecclesiastica quae perturbatior fortasse fecisti, et redeat inter vos charitas quam cum illo et catechumenus habuisti: aufer litem et revoca pacem, ne tibi pereat homo amicus, et de vobis gaudeat diabolus inimicus. Potens est autem misericordia Dei nostri, quae et me exaudiat orantem, ne mea tristitia de vobis augeatur, sed potius quae est exorta sanetur; et erigat per gratiam suam, et laetificet juventutem tuam non contemnentem senectutem meam. Vale.

FRAGMENTUM Quod in veteri codice Ecclesiae Trecensis continente collectiones Cresconii et Ferrandi repertum est, cum titulo hic affixo. EX EPISTOLA AD CLASSICIANUM , Qui excommunicatus fuerat.

Ego propter eos qui pro peccato unius animae, totam 1068 domum ejus, id est plurimas animas anathemate ligant, maxime ne ibi quisquam sine Baptismate de corpore abscedat; et utrum non etiam de ecclesia pellendi sunt, qui eo confugiunt quo fidem fidejussoribus frangant, adjuvante Domino, et in concilio nostro agere cupio, et si opus fuerit ad Sedem apostolicam scribere; ut in his causis quid sequi debeamus concordi omnium auctoritate constituatur, atque firmetur . Illud plane non temere dixerim, quod si quisquam fidelium fuerit anathematus injuste, ei potius oberit qui faciet, quam ei qui hanc patietur injuriam. Spiritus enim sanctus habitans in sanctis, per quem quisque ligatur aut solvitur, immeritam nulli poenam ingerit: per eum quippe diffunditur charitas in cordibus nostris, quae non agit perperam.