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Seraphim Rose

The Place of Blessed Augustine in the Orthodox Church (Orthodox Theological Texts) Paperback – August 1, 2007

by Fr. Seraphim Rose (Author)

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When Fr. Seraphim found out that the early Western Father, Blessed Augustine of Hippo, was being attacked in contemporary Eastern Orthodox circles, then he--himself a Western convert to Orthodoxy--rose in his defense. This book is the outcome. Fr. Seraphim said he wrote it in the hope that it would help remove Augustine as a scapegoat for today's academic theologians, and thus "help free us all to see his and our own weaknesses in a little closer light--for his weaknesses, to a surprising degree, are indeed close to our own."

After discussing Blessed Augustine's strengths and weaknesses, Fr. Seraphim examines the opinions of other Holy Fathers concerning him. "His main benefit to us today," he writes, "is probably precisely as a Father of Orthodox pietysomething with which he was filled to overflowing. Here he is one with the simple Orthodox faithful, as well as with all the Holy Fathers of East and West who, whatever their various failings and differences in theoretical points of doctrine, had a single deeply Christian heart and soul. It is this that makes him unquestionably an Orthodox Father."

This new edition of The Place of Blessed Augustine in the Orthodox Church contains letters written by Fr. Seraphim concerning Augustine, passages from Augustine's Confessions which Fr. Seraphim found especially moving, and an Orthodox service to Blessed Augustine, commissioned by St. John Maximovitch.

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144 pages
Language

English
Publisher

St. Herman of Alaska Brotherhood
Publication date

August 1, 2007
Dimensions

6.25 x 0.25 x 8.75 inches
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0938635123
ISBN-13

978-0938635123
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Fr. Seraphim Rose (1934-1982) was an Orthodox monk in the ancient tradition that dedicated his life to reawakening modern Western man to forgotten spiritual truths. From his remote cabin in the mountains of northern California, he produced writings, which have been circulated throughout the world in millions of copies. Today he is Russia's best-loved spiritual writer. His books Orthodoxy and the Religion of the Future and The Soul After Death have changed countless lives with their uncompromising and sobering truth.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Narrow is the mansion of my soul; enlarge Thou it, that Thou mayest enter in...for without Thee what am I to myself except a guide to my own downfall? --Blessed Augustine of Hippo

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ St. Herman of Alaska Brotherhood; Third Revised edition (August 1, 2007)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 144 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0938635123
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0938635123
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 7.2 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.25 x 0.25 x 8.75 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #385,301 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #8,610 in Christian Theology (Books)

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Pseudo D

breathe, just breathe

Reviewed in the United States on June 27, 2021

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I enjoyed this book because it is a fertile crossing of different theological approaches. St. Augustine
is the western theologian par excellence. He is often scorned today by both religious and secular
thought, both east and west. He is blamed for everything that people don't like about the RC Church,
whether or not they still belong to it-fear of hell, sex, etc. The critique from the East is more theological
and deals with issues such as double predestination, which of course contributes to the issues named
above. A number of the things blamed on Augustine were only fully developed in Calvin and Jansen.

Peter Brown in his beautiful biography of Augustine showed how in his age, he was in the middle
of all the debates and usually on the more reasonable side, but affected by the climate he was in.
The Donatists were too harsh, the Manicheans thought the body itself was bad, and the Pelagians
fell into a prideful rigorism. In each of these, Augustine refuted the heresy but was affected by it.
The one exception, where he went off track, was the matter of double predestination. This was
in the context of a polemic with Julian of Eclanum, who was not arguing in good faith but basically
pushing buttons to tick him off in his old age. As David Tracy said, it's like trying to reason with
Gore Vidal.

Fr. Seraphim takes his colleagues to task for their paranoia of "western influence", all the while
succumbing to the western influence of overemphasizing logic over mystery. Blessed Augustine
is to be revered for his holiness, love, and conversion. The title "Blessed" shows that he is not
as high among the Church Fathers as Ambrose and some of the Eastern Fathers (John Cassian
is a Western Father who is more in tune with the East). But his conversion told in the Confessions
surpasses even Ambrose. Seraphim notes that Gregory of Nyssa went off into aspects of Origen's
apokatastasis or universalism. In fact Seraphim views Augustine much the way western thought
does Origen.

No single Father could be right about everything, but even when wrong, these fathers were not
heretical but Orthodox, and usually trying to defend the true faith. When Seraphim says Gregory
the Great, I'm not sure exactly which one that is, because Gregory Pope of Rome is called that, and
there are several other "Gregory's" that could be so designated.

4 people found this helpful

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A short, sweet defense of a great saint

Reviewed in the United States on November 9, 2018

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Fr. Seraphim Rose (of blessed memory) presents a short, sweet case defending Augustine of Hippo against misunderstandings of his theology by some Orthodox theologians who have questioned his place as a saint and Church Father. While he acknowledges that Augustine expressed some opinions that were eventually not accepted by the Eastern Church, he presents a convincing case that Augustine has always been recognized as a great saint by the Orthodox Church, and that this is correct because of his great personal piety and love for God, regardless of his occasionally unusual theological opinions.

The book also contains a lovely service to St. Augustine at the end, as well as a collection of Fr. Seraphim's favorite quotes from Augustine.

6 people found this helpful

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Francisco Véras

Excellent book!

Reviewed in the United States on February 5, 2020

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A marvellous book as all the books of Fr Seraphim Rose. Fr Seraphim IS a giant of the Christian Faith.

3 people found this helpful

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Adam Benedict

St. Augustine has a place in Eastern Orthodoxy

Reviewed in the United States on January 1, 2020

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There is much that can be learned from St. Augustine of Hippo by Eastern Orthodox Christians. The late Fr. Seraphim Rose shows us in this wonderful little book.

2 people found this helpful

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ahiker4u

Part of my Christian Orthodox book collection

Reviewed in the United States on November 14, 2014

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I'm listing many books I purchased here on Amazon so others can see what's in my Orthodox library. I will come back in the future and rate each one separately. Nearly all these books were suggested by a Romanian monk. I purchased all these books for him several years ago. I bought two copies each and kept one for me. I've enjoyed everything so far. Happy reading...

7 people found this helpful

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Jacob

A Plea for Western Orthodoxy

Reviewed in the United States on March 20, 2010

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.

18 people found this helpful

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