Augustine in His Own Words
Augustine the Judge
A time-consuming part of Augustine's day-to-day work involved serving as a judge and hearing lawsuits of his congregation and other locals. This is not what we imagine bishops spent their time doing, but it was a central part of the ancient job description. The roots lay in the New Testament, in St. Paul's injunctions in 1 Cor 6. In the early fourth century, the Emperor Constantine granted clergy the right to function as arbiters in civil cases. Augustine complained repeatedly about the burden of this, but it was a duty he exercised with care. From Possidius of Calama, Life of St. Augustine:
(19) According to the teaching of the Apostle, who said: "How can any one of you with a case against another dare to bring it to the unjust for judgment instead of to the holy ones? . . . If, therefore, you have courts for everyday matters, do you seat as judges people of no standing in the church? I say this to shame you. Can it be that there is not one among you wise enough to be able to settle a case between brethren?" (1 Cor 6:1–5). Accordingly, Augustine, when called upon by Christians or by people of any sect, carefully and dutifully heard their cases, having constantly before his eyes the remark of someone who said he preferred to hear cases between strangers rather than between friends, for he could win a friend in the stranger in whose favor the case was justly decided, whereas he would lose the friend against whom the judgment was passed. Although he was sometimes detained until mealtime and sometimes even had to fast all day, he always examined and judged these cases with particular attention to the value of Christian souls, noting especially the degree of increase or decrease in faith and in good works. Whenever the opportunity was favorable, he taught both parties the truth of divine law. He stressed its importance and suggested means of obtaining eternal life. No recompense was asked of those to whom he thus devoted his time, except Christian obedience and devotion, which are due to God and to human beings.27
Pagan Violence
Augustine lived in a violent world. This and the next few passages illustrate how Augustine and his congregation dealt with various violent episodes. In 399, Christians in the town of Sufes destroyed a statue of Hercules.28 The pagans retaliated by killing some sixty
27. Vita 19 (Geerlings, 64); trans. Muller and Deferrari, FOTC 15:96–97. On this issue, Kauko K. Raikai, "St. Augustine on Juridical Duties: Some Aspects of the Episcopal Office in Late Antiquity," in Augustine: Second Founder of the Faith, Collectanea Augustiniana, ed. Joseph C. Schnaubelt and Frederick Van Fleteren (New York: Peter Lang, 1990), 467–83; John C. Lamoreaux, "Episcopal Courts in Late Antiquity," Journal of Early Christian Studies 3 (1995): 142–67.
28. This event was likely sparked by a law promulgated by the Emperor Honorius, which forbade the public practice of paganism. The Christian mob here may have taken the law into its own hands, and ripped