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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Compelling Answer to the Orthodox Pseudo-Academics, March 30, 2000
This review is from: The Place of Blessed Augustine in the Orthodox Church (Orthodox Theological Texts) (Paperback)
I have never been particularly impressed by Fr. Seraphim Rose's other books - especially "Orthodoxy and the Religion of the Future" and "The Soul After Dead" - but "The Place of Blessed Augustine..." is a beautifully written and convincingly argued defense of the great Bishop of Hippo. Fr. Seraphim refutes many Orthodox "scholars" (such as Fr. Michael Azkoul) who show a sort of hypocritical "West-o-phobia" in their shameless, merciless bashing of St. Augustine. While not ignoring the fact that some of St. Augustine's personal theological opinions concerning inherited guilt, grace, and free will are rejected by the Orthodox Church, Fr. Seraphim highlights his genius in many other areas. He makes an important distinction between holy Augustine himself and later medieval "Augustinians," who took the flawed points of the saint's theology and transformed them into a vast theological system. Above all, for Fr. Seraphim, St. Augustine is admired as a "Father of Orthodox Piety" - his "Confessions" are one of the greatest works on Christian repentance and reflect a mystical Orthodox experience with the Holy Trinity. The book includes many added goodies, including icons of St. Augustine and others, excerpts from the "Confessions," letters of Fr. Seraphim, and an Orthodox service to St. Augustine written by the 20th century American saint, John (Maximovitch) of San Francisco.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Compelling Answer to the Orthodox Pseudo-Academics, March 30, 2000
This review is from: The Place of Blessed Augustine in the Orthodox Church (Orthodox Theological Texts) (Paperback)
I have never been particularly impressed by Fr. Seraphim Rose's other books - especially "Orthodoxy and the Religion of the Future" and "The Soul After Dead" - but "The Place of Blessed Augustine..." is a beautifully written and convincingly argued defense of the great Bishop of Hippo. Fr. Seraphim refutes many Orthodox "scholars" (such as Fr. Michael Azkoul) who show a sort of hypocritical "West-o-phobia" in their shameless, merciless bashing of St. Augustine. While not ignoring the fact that some of St. Augustine's personal theological opinions concerning inherited guilt, grace, and free will are rejected by the Orthodox Church, Fr. Seraphim highlights his genius in many other areas. He makes an important distinction between holy Augustine himself and later medieval "Augustinians," who took the flawed points of the saint's theology and transformed them into a vast theological system. Above all, for Fr. Seraphim, St. Augustine is admired as a "Father of Orthodox Piety" - his "Confessions" are one of the greatest works on Christian repentance and reflect a mystical Orthodox experience with the Holy Trinity. In addition, Fr. Seraphim documents what both the pre-1054 Western Church and the Eastern Church thought of St. Augustine - undoubtedly Augustine is not a heretic but a greatly revered Father and Saint of the Western Church. An Oecumenical Council ranked him among the greatest Fathers of the Church, along with other "heavy-hitters" such as St. Basil the Great. The book includes many added goodies, including icons of St. Augustine and others, excerpts from the "Confessions," letters of Fr. Seraphim, and an Orthodox service to St. Augustine written by the 20th century American saint, John (Maximovitch) of San Francisco. If you are Orthodox, PLEASE purchase this book and learn the truth about St. Augustine's "place in the Orthodox Church," rather than listen to pseudo-scholarly ramblings blaming Augustine for everything from the schism of East and West to Protestantism to Freud.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Let those who speak ill of Blessed Augustine be put to shame, November 22, 2004
This review is from: The Place of Blessed Augustine in the Orthodox Church (Orthodox Theological Texts) (Paperback)
I love this little work by Fr. Seraphim. I love everything I've ever read from the man, but I especially enjoyed this one. I love Blessed Augustine, and I venerate him as one of the crowning jewels of the Orthodox West. So moving are the words found in his Confessions, that I have been moved to tears reading them. What pious Orthodox Christian, reflecting on his own sins, and desiring grace, cannot see the Orthodox spirit that shines so resplendantly in Blessed Augustine? What hard-heartedness has overtaken some, that such a holy and God-bearing father is denigrated and slandered? What authority do we moderns have to pass judgment on one who was so obedient to the instruction and discipline of the Church? If only we could all aspire to imitate his humility!
Yet there are many in our age who see themselves more astute, or even more spiritual, than the Fathers, and who pass judgment on those who are their elders. I am coming out of my own Babylonian captivity in American Protestantism, and I see in these supposed Orthodox "theologians" the same prideful spirit that for so long has tainted my own thinking. The Fathers are not stone figures to be used like chess pieces to advance fruitless theological arguments, or to inflate one's pride with some sort of false sense of orthodoxy. They are not open to dispute, for the simple fact that they know the truth much better than us. I know this is difficult for many to accept, but nevertheless it is true. The Fathers stand as living, theandric icons, and they speak to us now as lovingly as they did when they walked this earth. We should listen to them, because they live, though we see it not, and their words and deeds are as real now as they ever were. They pray for us and care for our souls. May God grant us the wisdom to see our own sin and hard-heartedness and to imitate our spiritual elders.
Blessed Augustine, pray for us sinners!
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