The Conversion of Saint Augustine (386 AD)

The Conversion of Saint Augustine (386 AD)

• The conversion of Augustine in 386 AD is one of the most vital moments in Christian history. It marks the time when one of the most brilliant minds ever created bowed in service to the Church [i].
• Born in North Africa to a pagan father and a holy mother, Monica, Augustine spent his youth restlessly searching for truth and worldly success.
• Before finding his way back to the faith of his childhood, Augustine wandered far from the truth:
• Manichaeism: For nine years, he followed this sect, which rejected the Old Testament and believed the universe was merely a battle between good and evil.
• Neoplatonism: Disillusioned with the Manichaeans, he moved to Milan. There, he studied Neoplatonic philosophy, which helped him understand God as a pure, infinite Spirit rather than a physical being.
• Saint Ambrose: The final step in his journey was meeting Ambrose, the Bishop of Milan. Ambrose’s eloquent preaching showed Augustine that the Holy Scriptures were reasonable, intelligent, and true [ii].

The Moment of Transformation

• The turning point came in a garden in Milan in 386 AD. Weeping in spiritual agony, Augustine heard a mysterious voice, like that of a child, chanting: "Take and read! Take and read!" [iii].
• He took this as a command from God. He picked up the New Testament, and his eyes fell on Romans 13:12–14.

(The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armour of light. Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh.

• It commands us to put away fleshly sins and "put on the Lord Jesus Christ." At that very moment, a light of peace flooded his heart, and the darkness of doubt vanished forever.

Importance to the Church

• After his baptism in 387 AD and his rise to become the Bishop of Hippo, Augustine became known as the "Sage of the Ages". His work defended the orthodox faith and shaped the Church for centuries.

1. The Nature of the Church: Fighting against the Donatists (who wanted a "perfect" church), Augustine taught that the Church on earth is a "mixed multitude" of saints and sinners [iv]. He defended the Sacraments, teaching that their power comes from Christ, not the holiness of the priest.
2. The Doctrine of Grace: battling the Pelagian heresy (which claimed men could save themselves), Augustine established the orthodox belief that salvation depends entirely on God’s sovereign grace [v]. Because of sin, we cannot be saved without God's initiative.
3. God's Plan in History: After Rome fell in 410 AD, Augustine wrote The City of God [vi]. This great work taught Christians to distinguish between the failing "City of Man" (earthly empires) and the eternal "City of God" (Heaven).
4. Theological Foundation: Augustine united biblical truth with deep learning, creating a firm foundation for the Western Church [vii]. His teachings on the Trinity and Christ remain the standard for faithful Christians today.

References

[I] Bruce Shelley, Church History in Plain Language, p. 1334.

[ii] Ibid., p. 1334.

[iii] Ibid., p. 1338.

[iv] Ibid., p. 1342.

[v] Ibid., p. 1346.

[vi] Ibid., p. 1351.

[vii] Tomi Karttunen, Nicaea 325: The Legacy of the Undivided Church in the 21st Century, p. 2701.

Manichaeism was a major dualistic religion, founded by the Persian prophet Mani in the 3rd century CE, centred on the cosmic struggle between a good, spiritual world of light and an evil, material world of darkness, teaching that humanity's soul is trapped in matter and must be freed through spiritual knowledge (Gnosis) to return to the divine light

Neoplatonism is a late antique philosophical system, founded by Plotinus in the 3rd century AD, that reinterpreted Plato's ideas, positing a single, ultimate source of reality called "the One" or "the Good", from which all existence emanates in hierarchical levels (Intellect, World Soul, matter) and towards which the soul strives to return through mystical union

 Further reading: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augustine_of_Hippo