The Presbyters Project

Letter 200

1. Cum diu moleste haberem, quod aliquotiens scripserim et nulla tuae sublimitatis rescripta meruerim, repente epistulas tres tuae benignitatis accepi, unam non ad me solum datam per coepiscopum meum Vindemialem et non longe post per conpresbyterum Firmum duas. Qui uir sanctus nobisque, ut ab illo scire potuisti, familiarissima caritate coniunctus multa nobiscum de tua excellentia conloquendo et ueraciter insinuando, qualem te in Christi uisceribus nouerit, non solum eas, quas memoratus episcopus uel quas ipse adtulit, sed etiam illas, quas non accepisse nos querebamur, litteras uicit. [...]

(ed. Goldbacher 1911: 293)

Letter 200

I was long annoyed because I had written several times and had not merited any reply from Your Highness. Then I suddenly received three letters from Your Grace. One, which was not for me alone, was delivered by my fellow bishop Vindemialis, and not long afterwards I received two from the hands of my fellow presbyter Firmus. That holy man, as you were able to learn from him, is united to us in the closest love; he conversed with us at length about Your Excellency and truthfully conveyed the sort of man he knew you to be in the heart of Christ. In that way he outdid not only the letters brought by the aforementioned bishop or those that he himself brought but even those that we complained of not having received.

(trans. R. Teske, slightly altered)

Place of event:

Region

Latin North Africa
Italy north of Rome with Corsica and Sardinia

City

Hippo Regius
Ravenna

About the source:

Author: Augustine
Title: Letters, Epistulae
Origin: Hippo Regius (Latin North Africa)
Denomination: Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian

The letters of Augustine of Hippo cover a wide range of topics: Holy Scripture, dogma and liturgy, philosophy, religious practice and everyday life. They range from full-scale theological treatises to small notes asking someone for a favour. The preserved corpus includes 308 letters, 252 written by Augustine, 49 that others sent to him and seven exchanged between third parties. 29 letters have been discovered only in the 20th century and edited in 1981 by Johannes Divjak; they are distinguished by the asterisk (*) after their number.

The preserved letters of Augustine extend over the period from his stay at Cassiciacum in 386 to his death in Hippo in 430.

Edition:

Edition:

A. Goldbacher ed., S. Augustini Hipponiensis Episcopi Epistulae, Pars 4, Ep. 185-270, Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum 57, Vienna-Leipzig 1911.

Translation:

Saint Augustine, Letters 156-210, trans. R. Teske, New York 2004.

Categories:

Travel and change of residence

PR268.

Ecclesiastical administration - Ecclesiastical envoy

PR268.

Reverenced by

PR268.

Relation with - Bishop/Monastic superior

PR268.

Relation with - Noble

PR268.

Described by a title - Conpresbyter

PR268.

Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: S. Adamiak, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER642, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=642