being a commonplace of the theology of the Greek Fathers, and the Orthodox tradition; and it has
48 SAINT A UG USTINE - SERMONS lightly of that, and should believe that Christ, while bom indeed in a wonderful way, and a wonderful person in word and deed, was for all that, because of his likeness to the flesh of sin,11 no more than a man; the psalm, after saying Like a bridegroom coming forth from his chamber, he exulted like a giant to run the course, immediately added, from the height of heaven is his going forth (Ps
19:5-6).12 So when you hear Truth has sprung from the earth, it is stating his conde¬ scension, not his condition; it's kindness, not wretchedness. In order that Truth might spring from the earth, he came down from heaven. In order that the bridegroom might come forth from his chamber, his going forth was from the height of heaven. That's why he was bom today, a day than which none is shorter on earth,13 but from which the days begin to grow longer. So in bending down to pick us up, he chose the smallest day, but the one from which light starts increasing. Thus by his very coming in this sort of way he is silently exhorting us, as effectively as if he shouted it aloud, to learn to be rich in the one who became poor for us (2 Cor 8:9); to accept freedom in the one who for our sake accepted the form of a slave (Phil 2:7); to take possession of the heavens in the one who for our sake sprang from the earth.
NOTES
1. This time I will not presume to argue with the vague date proposed by Kunzelmann and Fischer. I will still maintain that unless there are indications to the contrary, Hippo Regius is the most likely place for all these sermons to have been preached in.
2. See Jn 1:12.
3. That the divinization of humanity was the purpose of the incarnation is generally accepted as being a commonplace of the theology of the Greek Fathers, and the Orthodox tradition; and it has been too lightly assumed that it is to all intents and purposes lacking in the Latin tradition. Well, here we have Augustine, the kingpin of the Latin tradition, being as Greek as you could wish.
4. At that time there was a distinct order of widows in most Churches, just as there was an order of consecrated virgins. See for its origin 1 Tm5:l-10. In Augustine's time, however, it was probably beginning to coalesce with the order of virgins in what we would now call religious houses or convents. Thus Augustine's sister, a widow, was superior of a house of nuns in Hippo Regius. It was for her and her community that he wrote the letter which came to be known as the Rule of Saint Augustine, Letter 211.
5. I think he was addressing married women specifically, not married persons of both sexes, though the word I have translated husbands is not so specific, meaning "consort" or "marriage partner. But the model is all the time Mary, virgin and wife and mother (and eventually widow, though this is not noticed). I presume that men and women stood respectively in opposite sides of the church at that time, as is still the case in many Catholic communities. And so the bishop would have been turning his eyes in this whole section 2 toward the women's side of the church; first resting his gaze on the consecrated virgins in their quarter, then on the dedicated widows, then on the rest, the married women and marriageable girls—for whom he has nothing particular to say. In the next paragraph he perhaps turns more to the congregation as a whole, both men and women.
6. See 2 Cor 11:2.