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The Place of Blessed Augustine in the Orthodox Church (Orthodox Theological Texts)

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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.

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.

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!

_The Place of Blessed Augustine in the Orthodox Church_ by Fr. Seraphim Rose is about the theological controversy that has raged over the ages concerning the noteworthy Bishop of Hippo. Blessed Augustine, after Jesus Himself and St. Paul is probably the most controversial figure Christian history. This short book puts Augustine in his proper sphere of veneration--that of a Father of Orthodox piety. Fr. Seraphim comments on recent disputes in the Orthodox Church about Augustine. Augustine has been criticized in some circles as having set the course of Western Christendom on that path that it followed after the Great Schism in the 1000s toward overly-logical rationalism, the Calvinist denial of free-will, and corrupting Orthodox doctrine on God's grace toward sinners. The modern day Orthodox theologians who disparage Augustine are censured for not looking at how Augustine has always been viewed-as a Saint and great Teacher. _Blessed Augustine_ goes into some detail about the free-will debate as well. The traditional Orthodox teaching, explains Fr. Seraphim, is one of synergy, or God's grace working with man's free will to attain salvation. Augustine's teaching was an overreaction to Pelagius, a heretic who placed too much emphasis on man's free will and lessened the role of God in salvation. Augustine never denied free will, but went a little overboard when he spoke about the effect of God's grace. St. John Cassian in the West, along with the Eastern fathers, were more moderate in the balance between God's Grace and free will, and spoke out against Augustine's errors. This did not make Augustine a heretic, or one who spread false doctrine. Fr. Seraphim points out several examples where venerated Fathers have taught error in isolated instances or as a matter of private opinion, but their thought as a whole were in continuous agreement. The last three parts of Blessed Augustine_ contain letters in which Fr. Seraphim discussed Augustine, the passages Fr. Seraphim underlined in the _Confessions_, and a liturgy for Blessed Augustine.

Blessed Seraphim presents an account of renascent interest in Augustine among Orthodox readers in these 89 pages. Interest in Augustine comes on heels of "...Orthodox Christianity...returning to the West, which departed from it some 900 years ago" [29]. Correcting Orthodox responses to Augustine after a so-called patristic revival in the West [83-6], Seraphim sets out to rescue Blessed Augustine's legacy concerning grace and free will from Orthodox "overreactions" [26,83-9].

Seraphim presents his arguments against Orthodox overreactions to Augustine's views about grace, free will and predestination in Chapters two and three [33-50]. Predestination was "the most serious exaggeration" [43] of Augustine's "teaching on grace" [43], which stemmed from Augustine's deductive logic characterized by "...'overstatement' of the place of grace in Christian life, and his 'understatement' of the place of free will" [author's emphases, 37]. Seraphim asserts that Augustine's hyperbole about grace was due to biographical elements that caused him to rely on grace for conversion to Christ [34,50], and episcopal concerns while battling the Pelagian heresy [37 passim].

The author maintains that such overreactions either vilify or dismiss the errors that Augustine taught. Those who vilify Augustine, Seraphim considers "patristic elitists" [27,85]. On the other hand, those who fail to identify ignominious faults in Augustine's scholastic view of original sin, heap praise on Augustine [28]. Neither extreme paints a fair or charitable picture in Seraphim's estimation of this 4-5th-century Bishop from Hippo in North Africa.

In addition, Seraphim explores biographical details about Augustine to advance his Orthodox piety [80, 100]. The author's solution to extreme views is his hope for a "balanced appraisal" [30] in this book. In that way, Serpahim strives to rehabilitate Augustine by portraying Augustine's piety in an accurate light, while acknowledging his "exalted ideas" [quoting Archbishop Philaret of Chernigov, 80].

The weight of his argument favoring Augustine's piety comes from Seraphim's conclusion that Orthodox Fathers, until late, have perceived Augustine as a saint--warts and all [28,66,70 passim]. Seraphim devotes almost half of the book [51-81] to describing how select Fathers have viewed Augustine, and mounts his conclusion by surveying Greek, Russian, Serbian various Latin sources in chronological sequence.

Appendices [93-138] include:
[I] three letters from Blessed Seraphim with ideas that amplify views in this book ;
[II] underlined passages from Seraphim's copy of Pussey's 1961 translation of Augustine's 'Confessions;'
[III] +Philaret's description of Blessed Augustine as drawn from the Greek Menaion;
[IV] propers for Orthodox Vespers and Matins services to Blessed Augustine.

Certainly Bl. Augustine had some flaws, as all saints do. But is he a heretic, or the "source of all western heresies"? Certain people, such as Fr. Michael Azkoul, Dr. Alexander Kalomiros, and even John S. Romanides, would seem to say so. But in this book by Fr. Seraphim Rose, a basic outline of why Augustine *is* a saint in the Orthodox Church is given. As was pointed out in another review, this isn't a scholarly or exhaustive treatment, but it is on the level of popular apologetics, and on that level it succeeds quite beautifully.

The book itself goes through a history of what was said in the 1,600 years since Augustine lived quite quickly, but hits on some very important points along the way. The Letters of Fr. Seraphim Rose in which he wrote about Bl. Augustine are a wonderful addition to this book, and add a personal depth that helps connect the book to real life. We aren't just talking about some dry, abstract, academic debate here; this is an important issue. Fr. Seraphim did us all a great service by presenting us a case for Augustine's blessedness, and pointing towards avenues for further study.

The only major criticism that I have of the book is that it is very poorly documented (never one of Fr. Seraphim's strong areas). For example, on page 79 Fr. Seraphim tells us that Augustine is called "Saint Augustine the Great" in the official calendar of one of the Old-Calendarist Greek Churches. That's great... but which group, and when? Fr. Seraphim doesn't say. But again, the book wasn't written for intellectuals, but for regular Joe Layman's.

Fr Seraphim Rose's short text on Blessed Augustine is an insightful charge for Orthodox to embrace the tenets of moderation and understanding in an approach to the often controversial views of Augustine. While not an 'academic work' in the sense that it holds up to a great deal of critical scrutiny in all its points, Fr Rose's text nonetheless provides a much needed alternative to the frequent 'Augustine-bashing' found in certain circles, drawing out both the negative and the positive in the author's thought.

I'm tempted to skip the review of the book and simply sing its praises. It is that good (and cheap, and short and easy to read). Fr Seraphim Rose felt he had to write this book because many in the Orthodox church were bashing Augustine. Most of these attacks were done from ignorance and overreactions to what St Augustine said on grace, original sin, and the Trinity. Other attacks were done because people feared any kind of "Western" influence.

Fr Seraphim remains serene at all times. He makes the point that Orthodox people simply aren't allowed to "bash" St Augustine. The 5th Ecumenical council refers to him as a saint. Even when he errs, the great Orthodox writers like St John Cassian, St Photios, and St Mark of Ephesus, if not calling Augustine a saint specifically, remark he is a useful Orthodox teacher.

This is an important point to make. It is not so much defending Augustine's teaching from criticism (I am actually quite critical of St Augustine on a number of points). There is a fear of anything "Western." This is a tricky philosophical and historical card to play. If by "Western" you mean the post-Charlemagne church, the high medieval scholastics, and the ecclesiastical descendants of Renaissance humanism? Yeah, I'd probably agree. But the way the argument is set up, we are asked to write off St Ambrose, St Hilary of Poitiers, St Irenaeus of Lyons--the whole early Western church of the first six centuries: men who gave us great teaching on the Incarnation, the Church, and the Trinity. This means that the early Irish and British churches are actually good children of Roman Catholicism (I've long held to the thesis that the Norman invasion of England was a papal invasion of a "anonymous" Orthodox nation). As you can see, rejecting anything "western" is too high a price to pay.

Augustine's Real Errors?
Okay, sure. St Augustine did err in his theology. So what? If you look at it and read the historical context closely, they are not so much errors as over-reactions to particular heresies. That's partly why the Council of Orange soon removed the "harder" aspects of his teaching on grace, kept his original points, but never condemned him specifically. Orthodox monks like St John Cassian did specifically correct some of Augustine's overreactions, but they never called him a heretic.

But a Reliable Guide to Piety
So St Augustine erred on some big issues. Here's where he's helpful:

1. He loved Christ. His Confessions are beyond compare in terms of lyrical piety. I've read them through two or three times. People who go overboard in criticizing all of St Augustine's errors need to ask if their piety matches up to his.
2. He stayed faithful to the unity of the visible church during difficult times.
3. He knew he made mistakes. He wanted his theology and writings to be judged by Scripture and the wisdom of what has been handed down.

A Warning Against Over-Syllogizing the Faith
This used to be a big problem with me. I used to be very good with logic and could put any problem into a syllogism. Fr Seraphim warns us against a hyper "either-or" mentality: for example, if you can't view every theological issue as simply the horns of a dilemma, then you are denying the rationality of God. Here's what he means:

The Roman Catholics told St Mark of Ephesus that certain fathers, including St Augustine, believed in either Purgatory or the Filioque and thus St Mark should accept the teaching of the Roman Church. St Mark responded, "So what?" Just because a few teachers teach something doesn't mean it is automatically dogma.

The papals responded that if the great teachers like Augustine, Ambrose, and Gregory of Nyssa erred, what hope could the church have? They were arguing, "Either accept what we say as dogma, or be left to relativism." This was an example of over-syllogizing the faith. Of course, they were pushing for papal infallibility. St Mark responded that we judge all the teachers by Scripture interpreted in the community of the church. If a teacher taught correct doctrine, well and good. If he erred, well he erred. No big deal. The measuring stick is not some individual man (the Pope) or a body of men who must be absolutely correct at all times, the rather the deposit of faith handed down by the fathers (Jude 3).

Conclusion:
This isn't an analysis of St Augustine's thought. Rather, it is showing what many Orthodox fathers through the century thought of St Augustine.

Well written, and easily approachable by the average layman interested in a critique of St. Augustine's works and his place in Orthodox Christianity. Hieromonk Seraphim was an accomplished scholar, an intellectual of immense stature, but he wrote for a much more important audience than the small rarefied circles of academics. He wrote for the souls of those who really wanted to learn and grasp something of what the Orthodox Church conveys to the world. To that end, his defense of St. Augustine ("Blessed" in Russian nomenclature, and he explains clearly why that is so), is an edifying read about the Theology of Orthodox Christianity as much as a refutation of rather curious assaults upon the sanctity of an important Church Father.