Letter 64

 

Augustine to his most beloved brother and fellow presbyter Quintianus, greetings in the Lord.

[...]

2. It is, of course, evident that, if you came to us, while not in communion with the venerable bishop, Aurelius, you could not be in communion with us either, but we would act with the same charity with which we have no doubt that he acts.

Nor would your arrival be burdensome to us because you must act in a calm manner to preserve the discipline of the Church, especially if your conscience is clear, something which you and God know. For, if Aurelius postponed the discussion of your case, he did not do so out of hatred for you, but because of other demands upon him; if you knew them, as you know your own, you would not be surprised or saddened at the delay. We ask that you believe the same thing about the demands upon us, because you likewise cannot know them. There are bishops older than we are and more worthy of authority and nearer in place through whom you could more easily pursue the cases of the church belonging to your administration. Nor have I been silent before old Aurelius, my venerable brother and colleague, a man who deserves to be treated with all the respect due to his merits, about your tribulation and the complaint of your letter; rather, I have taken care to make known to him your innocence by a copy of your letter. But I received your letter either a day before or two days before Christmas when you informed me that he would go to the church of Badesilit where you fear that the people of God are going to be disturbed and harmed. [...]

3. Nonetheless, let what I say to you alone, who have written me, reach through you those who need to hear it said. As for you, do not first throw the Church into a scandal by reading to the people writings that the canon of the Church has not accepted. After all, heretics, and especially the Manichees, often use these writings to throw the minds of the unlearned into confusion, and I hear that they like to hide out in your territory. I am, therefore, surprised that Your Wisdom admonishes me to order that those men who come from you to us to

enter the monastery should not be received in order that what we have decided in council might remain in effect. And at the same time you do not remember that the council determined which are the canonical writings that ought to be read to the people of God. Reexamine, then, the council, and commit to memory everything that you read there, and you will also find that the council decided only regarding clerics, not also concerning lay persons, that those coming from elsewhere should not be received into a monastery. For the reason is not that there was any mention of a monastery, but because it was decided that no one should receive a cleric from elsewhere. But in a recent council it was decided that those who left a monastery or were thrown out should not become clerics elsewhere or superiors of monasteries. If, then, something bothers you with regard to Privatio, realize that we have not yet accepted him into the monastery, but I sent his case to the primate, Aurelius, in order that I may do what he decides in his regard. [...]

 

(trans. R. Teske, slightly modified)