Augustine Aurelius on the City of God. Treatise “On the City of God”

ABOUT THE CITY OF GOD
'ABOUT THE CITY OF GOD'
one of the most important works of Augustine the Blessed (writing date: 413-427). The book carried out an unconventional development of the problem of periodization of the historical process. According to Augustine, “two cities - the wicked and the righteous - have existed from the beginning of the human race, and will remain until the end of the century. Now the citizens of both live together, but they want different things, but on the Day of Judgment they will be judged differently. People living in God together form the 'City of God', or 'City of Heaven'; others - ‘Earthly City’. According to Augustine, “two types of love give rise to two cities: the earthly city is created by love for ourselves, brought to contempt for God, the heavenly city - by love of God, brought to complete self-forgetfulness. The first exalts itself, the second - God. The first seeks human glory, the second strives for the highest glory of God. Both cities have their own messengers in heaven: rebel angels and those who remained faithful to God. On earth they differ like the descendants of Cain and Abel; these two biblical characters act as symbols of two communities. (‘The founder of the earthly city was the fratricide Cain; the fratricide Romulus, the founder of Rome, corresponds to him.) At the same time, a citizen of the “Earthly City” on this earth gives the impression of a ruler and master of the world, a citizen of the “City of God” is likened to a wanderer and pilgrim. The first is destined for eternal damnation, the second for salvation forever and ever. As Augustine notes: ‘The heavenly city is eternal; no one is born there because no one dies; there is true and complete happiness, which is the gift of God. From there we received a deposit of faith for the time when, while wandering, we sigh for its beauty.’ Augustine’s view of the “inner man” as the image and likeness of God and the Trinity, in which there are three Persons with their essential unity, was also reflected in the book “OG.B.” Personality in this context was believed by Augustine to be realized to the extent that the three faces of the Trinity were reflected in their unity. According to Augustine, ‘... since we are not equal with God, moreover, we are infinitely removed from Him, therefore through His efforts... we recognize the image of God in ourselves, i.e. Holy Trinity; an image to which one should always approach, improving. In fact, we exist, we know how to exist, we love our being and our knowledge. There is not a shadow of falsehood in all this. This is not something that exists outside and apart from us, something that we are aware of in the form of bodily needs... Without any imagination, it is obvious: ‘I’ is the certainty of being, that which is capable of knowing and loving itself. In the face of such truth, I am not affected by the arguments of academics: ‘What if you are being deceived? ’. If you deceive yourself, then you certainly exist... Therefore, therefore, I exist at least from the moment when I deceive myself. How is it known that I am able to be mistaken about my existence when it is not established that I am?.. So, if I know that I am, then I am capable of knowing myself. And when I love these two things (being and self-knowledge), which reveal me as a knower, then the third element is obvious, no less significant - love. There is no deception in this self-love, for in what I love, I cannot deceive myself, and even if it were discovered that what I love is false, it would be true that I love things that are false and unworthy , but it’s not a lie that I love.” According to Augustine, man does not know creation, for he is a finite being. God from His own being begot the Son, who as such is identical with the Father, but He created the cosmos out of nothing. Between ‘generation’ and ‘creation’, according to Augustine, there is a huge difference: the Creator calls into being ‘that which absolutely did not exist’. “We do not call those who cultivate gardens creators,” Augustine notes, “but we also do not call the mother earth, which feeds everyone, creative... Only God is the Creator of all creations, having embodied himself in them in different ways. Only God, a hidden force, penetrating everything with its presence, gives existence to everything that exists in one way or another, for without Him, neither one nor the other would exist, and even could not exist. For if we say that Rome and Alexandria grew up thanks to not masons and architects who reported external form they owe their lives to these cities, but to Romulus and Alexander, to their will, consent and orders, it is all the more necessary to recognize that the creation of the world is the work of God alone, for nothing can be made only from the matter that was created by Him, or only from artifacts created by people. If it were not for this creative ability to create everything that exists, take it away, and everything would cease to be, just as it could not begin to be. However, I say ‘from the beginning’ in eternity, but not in time.” (According to Augustine, God, creating this world, also created time.) Thus, history appears in 'OG.B.' in principle new version, unfamiliar to the ancient worldview: it has the beginning of creation and the end of the created world with a boundary moment in the form of resurrection and the Last Judgment. These three significant events shape world history: original sin, the expectation of the coming of the Savior, the incarnation and suffering of the Son of God with the formation of his home (city) - the Church. At the end of ‘OG.B.’ Augustine emphasizes the prospect of resurrection: the flesh (albeit transformed) will be reborn to life: ‘the flesh will become spiritual, will be subject to the spirit, but will be flesh, not spirit; just as the spirit was subject to the flesh, but still remained spirit and not flesh.

History of Philosophy: Encyclopedia. - Minsk: Book House. A. A. Gritsanov, T. G. Rumyantseva, M. A. Mozheiko. 2002 .

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ESSAY “About the City of God”

1. Historical context and mentality…1 page.

2. “On the City of God” as Augustine’s answer to the pagans...1-2pp.

3. Picture of the world...2page

4. Aurelius Augustine as a patristic...2-4 pages

5. Structure of the work...4-19

6. Purpose of a person. Some contradictions in the work and the reason for the “longevity of the book”

1. The beginning of the 5th century was one of the most disastrous times in the history of the Roman state. The attacks of wild neighboring tribes, which began from this time, were almost continuous. The Roman Empire, even earlier upset and weakened by the cowardice and carelessness of the former sovereigns, was unable to successfully resist the attacks of wild tribes. In 410, Rome was taken by Alaric and subjected to terrible plunder by his soldiers. The city itself is destroyed; the inhabitants were beaten and dishonored, some were taken prisoner; property, gold and gems taken away; monuments of art were burned and destroyed. Great Rome turned into heaps of ruins. The impression made by the fall of Rome on Christians, and especially pagans, was stunning. What is the reason for this terrible event? The question lies in the shocked minds of the pagans, accustomed to seeing in all the events of their history the punishment or blessings of the gods. There could be two reasons: one - the gods are punishing their admirers for allowing Christianity, which does not recognize the gods; the other is that the Christian God punishes the pagans for their enmity towards Christians. But the pagans could not accept the second reason, because along with them the Christians were also subjected to the disasters of destruction. One thing remains - Rome fell due to the fault of Christians. And accusations rained down on these latter. Everything has rebelled against Christ and Christianity. There seemed to be no end in sight for the denunciations, blasphemies, slander, reproaches, and ridicule. The position of Christianity was dangerous. Previously, paganism attacked individual points of Christian doctrine and discussed them calmly. Now, with all its strength, with irritation, it attacked all of Christianity in its internal meaning, as the cause of the fall of Rome, and turned to all its points, “condemning and blaming them, as if they did not agree with common sense, nor with the conditions of the state and public life", at the same time "and opposing them with his own rational and mystical doctrines." The veneration of the Roman gods is the reason for the greatness and glory of the empire; Christianity, which blasphemously denies those gods, is the cause of the fall of Rome.

2. The clergy of that time was distinguished only by ignorance, inextricably linked with it superstition, luxury, wealth, greed, due to all this, unclean life and even instability in the faith itself. Aurelius Augustine is the only defender of Christianity. In his essay “On the City of God,” he showed the pagans that Christianity not only does not contradict common sense and meets the needs, because especially and beneficial for the private and public life of people. Christianity not only was not the cause of the fall of the empire, but Christ also benefited the Roman pagans. Paganism is a lie, it was precisely what led Roman citizens to physical and spiritual corruption, and the Roman empire to destruction. Only the City of God stands forever. You need to live in it.

3. There are two cities: earthly (where vice reigns - Rome) and divine (good, true, eternal - the church). Eternal life near God is the real City of God, in contrast to the symbolic name of the earthly community of the righteous chosen for salvation. But in eternity, beyond time, there is no history. Human activity, our everyday empirical life takes place only on this side of the City of God, and in the City itself, according to Augustine, “endless leisure” awaits man. Thus, in accordance with the Holy Scriptures, history in the teachings of Augustine begins with man’s falling away from God and ends with his return to God, to the City of God. Following the days of the creation of the world, the Christian thinker divides it all into six centuries. The first age extends from Adam to the flood; the second - from the flood to Abraham; the third - from Abraham to David; the fourth - from David to the Babylonian captivity; fifth - from the Babylonian captivity to the birth of Christ; finally, the sixth - from Christ to the end of the world and the Last Judgment. The purpose of human history is to improve goodness and increase the number of citizens of the City of God. The history of mankind is the process of improving future citizens of the City of God and identifying those unworthy of it. After this, eternal peace will come for the human spirit and body. Empirically, the historical process proceeds linearly. In it, time acts as an irresistible force, ensuring the continuous change and uniqueness of events. From a metaphysical point of view, the historical process turns out to be a circular movement, the beginning and end of which are limited by eternity. A person returning to eternity is no longer the same as when he left the hands of the Creator. Now he knows the truth that he suffered through the painful experience of earthly life. History begins with a catastrophe of world-historical significance: the first man carried out his first free act for evil, went against the highest commandments. The fall of Adam necessitated the coming to earth of Christ, sent to save mankind. And at the end of history, the Last Judgment awaits people. Everyone has to answer for all their thoughts and deeds. At the same time, the entire historical process takes place under the sign of freedom, but everything that happened was foreseen by God. God knew about the future fall of man and knows that “the devil, who plunged the first people into temptation, with the assistance of grace, will be defeated by man.” The temporary life of humanity is the threshold eternal life. This ultimate goal fills everything with meaning. earthly history. “For what other goal is ours,” Augustine concludes his historical theory, “than to achieve a kingdom that has no end.”

4. Meaning of creations St. Augustine for the subsequent cultural development of the West, its scale is incomparable with other creations of patristics. He can be considered the true father of Western Christianity. In the western part of the former Roman Empire the works of the eastern Church Fathers were not very well known. Acquaintance was made difficult by language difficulties: Greek language experts among leaders western church there wasn't much. Against this background, Augustine, who wrote in Latin, was, of course, more accessible and understandable, since Latin was (and still is) official language Roman Catholic Church. While there were many great theologians in the East, in the West Augustine had no equal, and his teaching dominated Latin theological thought until the emergence of medieval scholasticism (Thomas Aquinas). The most famous of his works: "Confessions", polemical writings against Manichaeism, Donatists, Pelageya, Academicians, “On the Trinity”, “On the City of God”, “On the Blessed Life”, “On Order”, “Immortality of the Soul”, “Renunciation”.

Ontology. Augustine's doctrine of being is a synthesis of Christian doctrine and Neoplatonic philosophy. He identifies the highest idea of ​​Platonism and Neoplatonism - the idea of ​​the One = Good - with God, who turns out to be the source of being and good and who is the all-perfect truth, goodness and beauty. The Divine Trinity - God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit - are identified with the Platonic triad: the ideas of the One, the Logos (World Mind) and the World Soul.

It is precisely because of its origin from God that everything that exists in the world is good. Evil is understood as a lack, damage, damage.

Cosmology and cosmogony. God created the world out of nothing (out of non-existence), and the existence of the world is constantly maintained by God. If the creative power of God dried up, the world would immediately disappear (cease to exist).

The world is limited in space and time, and space and time themselves are created by God only together with the world (i.e., before the emergence of the world, time did not exist). There is only one world, and there were no other worlds before the creation of our world. The created world has a strict hierarchical structure, where each object occupies a specific and appropriate place in the general plan of the universe. At the bottom of the created world are inanimate objects and irrational beings, and at the top are rational beings, whose approach or distance from God depends on their own will. Yes, the devil at will fell away from God, and then plunged people into sin.

Epistemology. The fallen can emerge from the state of sin only by uniting with God. There are two ways for this: the path of reason and the path of authority.

All the ancients (pre-Christian philosophers) followed the first path, the best of whom was Plato. Since the world is the creation of God, studying the world allows us to get closer to understanding God.

The second way is possible only under the condition of faith in God, which is given to us with God's help and primarily through Revelation (Holy Scripture, i.e. the Bible), given by God to all people. Only on this path is true comprehension of God possible; thus, Augustine proclaims the primacy of faith over knowledge (“believe in order to understand”).

In Augustine, the Neoplatonic doctrine of ecstasy as the highest way of knowledge develops into Christian teaching about insight.

The doctrine of the soul and soteriology. The soul is immaterial, it is an independent substance, it is immortal. Before their Fall, Adam and Eve were free to choose: to sin or not to sin. After the Fall, both they and all their descendants could not help but sin. After the atoning sacrifice of Christ, God's chosen ones again received the opportunity to live without sin.

In the teachings of Augustine, the concept of Divine predestination and grace occupies an important place. God, even before the birth of each person, predestined some people to good, salvation and bliss, and others to evil, destruction and torment. A person receives good will (i.e. the will to salvation) only thanks to the grace given to him by God

To connect various peoples empire, something more than worldly ties must be created; these bonds were found only in Christianity. And so the “city of God”, the “kingdom of God” arises. The purifying fire of the barbarians will destroy paganism and make it worthy of the city of God. This kingdom of God will have a millennium to come. Within the renovated walls of the city of God there will be no ambition, no thirst for glory; peace and justice will reign there; there will come a holy life in the Lord. Augustine announced that he was coming new world, new story.

This is what Christians had to answer to the pagans and this is the essence of the brilliant work of St. Augustine. The Church places all responsibility for misfortunes on the pagans. Moreover, the Church, from the pages of “The City of God,” detaches the Romans from history and betrays the reins of the empire to the barbarians and for this reason looks condescendingly at the persecutors, if only these persecutors are Christians. It should be noted that Augustine, at the end of his life, when the book “On the City of God” became famous, had to repent of his words.

What was formulated by Augustine became a belief in the Roman West. The policy of the West seemed to proceed from this faith. The Byzantine East was still wary of believing this. In the West, it was decided that the empire should give way barbarian kingdoms. The learned theologians of the West, with the book “On the City of God” in their hands, supported the rule of the barbarians and, of course, received for this great rights and privileges. Two principles, barbarism and the church, unite and go hand in hand. That's why medieval history took on such a clerical character.

Augustine's teaching was especially well received in Gaul, where there were a lot of barbarians. Prosper, a theologian from Aquitaine, wrote a book “On the City of God” in verse and, in addition, he himself wrote a special essay on the calling of nations, where he rejoices at the grandiose revolution that took place in his time. Christian preachers tried to sing the virtues of the barbarian leaders. Each of them sought to be friendly with the barbarian king, but at the same time, deep down in their souls, they felt sympathy for the Romans.

The idea of ​​theocratic domination in the teachings of Augustine

Move human history, according to Augustine, is predetermined by Divine conduct and represents a struggle between light and dark forces. Divinity is only the source of good; evil stems from free will striving for independence and not recognizing Divine institutions. In accordance with the struggle between light and dark forces and world history falls into two directions: adherents of God on earth, who recognize His will, having entered the bosom of the church, build the city of God, and supporters of Satan build a city of man: a secular, earthly state. Augustine had a negative attitude towards all kinds of violence, but understood its inevitability in this world. Therefore, he recognized the need for state power, although he himself characterized its bearers as “a large gang of robbers.” By linking the kingdom of the devil with the state, Augustine laid the foundation for many medieval heresies. The meaning of history, according to Augustine, is the victory of Christianity on a worldwide scale.

“On the City of God” (lat. De Civitate Dei) is one of the main works of the philosopher and theologian Aurelius Augustine, in which Augustine presented a detailed concept of the philosophy of history.

Augustine describes the history of mankind as the coexistence of two communities - the City of God and the City of Earth. People entering the City of God live according to the laws established by God, and the inhabitants of the Earthly City live according to the laws established by proud people who have abandoned God. "City" does not refer to any specific state: the people included in the City of God or the City of the Earth are different internal qualities. Belonging to one of the two communities determines whether a person will be saved after the Last Judgment. According to Augustine, every person is predetermined which City he belongs to, but no one can know his fate until the Last Judgment. Augustine's doctrine of predestination laid the foundation for an important movement in Christian theology (in particular, predestination plays a crucial role in Calvinism).

The work “On the City of God” was written in 413-427, a few years after the capture of Rome by the Visigoths. This event had a great influence on Augustine, who wrote that earthly states are unstable and short-lived compared to communities created on the basis of spiritual unity. At the same time, he believed that secular state power given to people from above so that there is at least some order in the world, therefore, in accordance with the principle “God’s things are to God, Caesar’s things are to Caesar” people must obey the legal ruler.

Another important topic The book is a fight against heresies. Augustine justifies repressive measures against heretics and forced conversion to orthodox Christianity, describing it with the phrase “Force to enter [the bosom of the Church]!” (Latin: Coge intrare!).

Augustine the Blessed.

About the city of God

Book one

Refutes the pagans who attributed the disasters of the empire, especially the last devastation of Rome by the Goths, to the Christian religion, which prohibits the cult of the gods. He talks about the prosperity and adversity that were at that time, as usual, common to both good and evil people. It curbs the arrogance of those who reproached Christianity with the rape of Christian women by soldiers.

Preface

About the purpose and content of the undertaken essay

In this work, my dear son Marcellinus, conceived by you, and for me, by virtue of the promise I made, obligatory, I set it as my task to defend the city of God, most glorious as in this passage of time, when it wanders among the wicked, “living by faith” ( Hab.2:4), and in that eternal life, which he now “awaits with patience” (Rom.8:25), believing that “judgment will return to righteousness” (Ps.93:15), and which he will acquire, by virtue of its undoubted superiority, to defend against those who place their gods above its Founder. This work is great and hard; but “God is our refuge” (Ps. 61:9).

I know what strength is needed to convince the proud, how great is the valor of humility, thanks to which all earthly greatness, wavering from the impermanence of time, is surpassed not by the height assigned to itself by human arrogance, but by that which is bestowed by divine grace. For the King and Founder of this city, about which we are planning to talk, revealed to His people in Scripture the definition of the divine law, which says: “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6; 1 Pet.5:5) . But what belongs to God alone, the arrogant spirit of a proud soul also tries to appropriate to itself, and loves to be credited with glory.

Spare the humble, overthrowing the proud.1)

Therefore, as far as the work I have undertaken requires it and as far as it seems possible, it is impossible to pass over in silence the earthly city, which, striving for domination, is itself under the power of this passion to dominate, although people worship it.

About the enemies of the name of Christ, whom the barbarians during the devastation of Rome spared for the sake of Christ

From this city come the enemies from whom we must defend the city of God. Many of them, however, having corrected the error of wickedness, become quite decent citizens of the city, but many are so inflamed with hatred of it and so ungrateful to the obvious benefits of its Redeemer that they are now raising their tongues against him even because , avoiding the enemy's sword, saved a life that they are proud of in its sacred places.2)

Are it not precisely those Romans whom the barbarians spared for the sake of Christ who turn out to be hostile to the name of Christ? This is evidenced by the places of martyrs and the basilica of the apostles, which during the devastation of Rome protected both their own and strangers. A bloodthirsty enemy was raging at their doorstep; there the murderer's fury stopped; there, compassionate enemies brought those who were spared outside these places, so that others who did not have such compassion would not attack them. Even among those of them who killed and raged, according to the custom of enemies, in other places, and among those, after they came to places where things were prohibited that were permitted in other places by the law of war, all their ferocity was tamed and their greed for war disappeared. mining In this way, many survived, now humiliating Christian times and blaming Christ for all the disasters that their city experienced, and attribute those blessings of life that were given to them in honor of Christ not to our Christ, but to their fate.

Meanwhile, if they had any common sense, they would have to attribute everything that they suffered from their harsh and cruel enemies to divine providence, which usually corrects and smoothes out the corrupted morals of people through wars, and a just and commendable life mortals at the same time exercise these lesions and after the test or transfer them to better world, or keeps on this earth for the benefit of others. And the fact that the bloodthirsty barbarians, contrary to the custom of war, spared them for the sake of the name of Christ in places dedicated to the name of Christ - this should have been attributed to them by Christian times, and for this they should have thanked God, and, in order to avoid punishment by eternal fire, sincerely resorted to to His name, a name that many have used falsely to avoid certain destruction. Indeed, among those whom you see so boldly and brazenly mocking the servants of Christ, there are very many who would not have escaped this death and extermination if they had not falsely presented themselves as the servants of Christ. And so, in their ungrateful pride and the most wicked madness, in order to receive punishment with eternal darkness, they rebel with their perverted hearts against His name, the name to which they resorted with their crafty lips in order to use temporary light!

That no wars have ever been fought in such a way that the victors spared the conquered for the sake of the gods of those whom they defeated

Many wars have been described that were fought both before the founding of Rome and after, including during the times of the empire: let them read and say whether any city was taken by foreigners in such a way that the enemies who took it spared those whom they found hiding in the temples of their gods; or that some barbarian leader, having burst into a city, command not to kill anyone who would flee to this or that temple? Didn't Aeneas see how Priam did on the altar? For after that

With his blood did he desecrate the consecrated fire?3)

Or is it not Diomedes and Ulysses

The guards of the sacred temple were killed and stolen

The most holy image; hands covered in blood,

Did you dare touch the clean bandages of the goddess?4)

And yet, it was not true, as stated below:

After that, the hope of the Achaeans weakened,

for after that they were victorious; after that they destroyed Troy with fire and sword; after that they beheaded Priam, who sought refuge at the altars. What then did Minerva herself lose before this, that she died? Aren't they their guards? Indeed, it could only be taken away after they were killed. After all, it was not the statue that protected the people, but the people – the statue. Why then did they pray to her to protect her homeland and citizens, if she did not even have the strength to preserve her guards?

Chapter 3

How unreasonably the Romans believed that the gods of the Penates, who could not save Troy, could benefit them