Letter 142: Augustine confirms returned clerics in catholic unity and urges them to serve faithfully.

To my dearly loved lords, the presbyter brothers Saturninus and Eufratus, and the clerics with you who have turned to the unity and peace of Christ: Bishop Augustine sends greetings in the Lord. Your arrival made us glad, but my absence should not make you sad. We are in that church which, by God's favor, though stretched everywhere and spread through the whole world, is still one great body under one great head; and its head is the Savior himself, as the apostle says. Long before, the prophet foretold the glorification of this head after his resurrection: "Be exalted above the heavens, O God." And because, once he was exalted above the heavens, his church would fill the whole earth with abundant fruitfulness, the same psalm immediately added, "and your glory above all the earth." Therefore, beloved, let us remain with steady mind and firmest heart under so high a head, in so glorious a body, in which we are members of one another. Even if my absence were far away in the remotest lands, we would be together in him, from whose body's unity we must not withdraw. If one house held us, we would certainly be said to be together. How much more are we together when we are together in one body? And the Truth himself testifies that we are also in one house, because holy Scripture, which says the church is Christ's body, also says that this same church is God's house. This house, however, is not built in one corner of the world, but throughout the whole earth. The psalm whose title reads, "When the house was being built after the captivity," begins this way: "Sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth." In the oldness of the old human being, the devil had taken the world captive. When the house is built after this captivity, the renewal of the faithful in the new human being is signified. So the apostle says, "Put off the old human being, and put on the one created according to God." And because this happens throughout the whole earth in catholic unity, as another psalm says, "and your glory above all the earth," so here, after saying, "Sing to the Lord a new song," the psalm immediately adds, to show when the house is built in this new song, "Sing to the Lord, all the earth." The same psalm also exhorts the workers through whom this great house is being built when it goes on: "Announce from day to day his salvation; proclaim his glory among the nations, his wonders among all peoples." A little later it says, "Bring to the Lord, families of the nations, bring to the Lord glory and honor." Elsewhere I have spoken about what this house is, that is, the catholic church. To these and many similar testimonies to this great house, found throughout Scripture, its enemies have yielded so far that they admit they have no case against the church overseas, which they nevertheless confess is catholic. We are in communion with that church so that we may deserve to be joined to Christ's members and embrace the bond of his body with the most faithful love. Whoever lives badly in this church's unity eats and drinks judgment on himself, as the apostle says. But someone else's case, and someone else's person, does not prejudice the one who lives well. When they were pressed about the case of Maximian, they themselves were forced to admit that neither case prejudices case nor person prejudices person. Still, we are anxious for one another as members of one body, so that all of us who, with the Lord's help, belong to the future granary may meanwhile tolerate the chaff together on the threshing floor, and not abandon the Lord's threshing floor because of the chaff destined for future fire. Carry out faithfully and cheerfully the church duties that belong to you according to your ranks, and fulfill your ministry sincerely for the sake of God, under whom we are fellow servants and to whom we remember that we must give an account of our actions. The inward mercies of your hearts should therefore abound, because judgment will be without mercy for the one who has not shown mercy. And so pray with us also for those who are still saddened, that the weakness of a fleshly mind, gathered and contracted from long habit, may be healed. Who does not understand how good and pleasant it is for brothers to live as one, if that sweetness touches healthy taste, so that a mind that loves the sweetness of charity rejects the bitterness of division? The God to whom we pray for them is powerful and merciful enough to draw them too to salvation by whatever occasions he chooses. May the Lord preserve you in peace.

EPISTOLA 142 Scripta circa a. 412. Augustinus Saturnino et Eufrati presbyteris aliisque clericis, gratulans de ipsorum reditu ad Ecclesiam catholicam, quae est Dei domus (nn. 1-2) eosque in eius communione confirmans (n. 3) et hortans ut ecclesiastica officia pro suo quisque gradu fideliter exsequantur (n. 4). DOMINIS DILECTISSIMIS, FRATRIBUS PRESBYTERIS, SATURNINO ET EUFRATI, ET CLERICIS QUI VOBISCUM SUNT, AD UNITATEM CHRISTI PACEMQUE CONVERSIS, AUGUSTINUS EPISCOPUS, IN DOMINO SALUTEM. Gaudium de fratrum adventu in Ecclesiam. 1. Laetificavit nos vester adventus: sed non vos absentia nostra contristet. In illa enim Ecclesia sumus, quae propitio Deo, licet usquequaque porrecta et toto orbe diffusa sit, unum tamen corpus est magnum unius capitis magni, quod caput eius est ipse Salvator, sicut Apostolus dicit 1. De huius autem capitis glorificatione, quae post eius resurrectionem futura fuerat, tanto ante propheta praedixit: Exaltare super coelos, Deus; et quia illo super coelos exaltato, Ecclesia eius omnem terram copiosa fecunditate fuerat impletura, consequenter idem psalmus adiunxit: Et super omnem terram gloria tua 2. Proinde, dilectissimi, stabili mente et firmissimo corde, sub tam excelso capite, in tam glorioso corpore persistamus, in quo invicem membra sumus 3. Unde etsi remotissimis terris mea longinqua esset absentia, in illo simul essemus, a cuius corporis unitate recedere non debemus. Si enim nos una domus haberet, utique simul esse diceremur: quanto magis simul sumus, cum in uno corpore simul sumus! Quamquam etiam in una domo nos esse Veritas ipsa testatur, quoniam sancta Scriptura, quae corpus Christi esse dicit Ecclesiam, ipsa itidem dicit Ecclesiam eamdem esse domum Dei 4. Catholica Ecclesia, domus Dei. 2. Sed haec domus non orbis terrae uno angulo aedificatur, sed per omnem terram. Unde ille psalmus, in cuius titulo legitur: Quando domus aedificabatur post captivitatem, sic incipit: Cantate Domino canticum novum, cantate Domino, omnis terra 5. In vetustate quippe veteris hominis, orbem terrae diabolus captivaverat; post hanc captivitatem cum aedificatur domus, renovatio fidelium significatur in homine novo. Unde dicit Apostolus: Exuite vos veterem hominem, et induite eum qui secundum Deum creatus est 6: et quia hoc per omnem terram fit in unitate catholica; sicut in alio psalmo dictum est: Et super omnem terram gloria tua 7; sic in isto cum dictum esset: Cantate Domino canticum novum, ut demonstraretur quando domus aedificatur in isto cantico novo, continuo subiunctum est: Cantate Domino, omnis terra. Operarios autem, per quos ista tam magna domus aedificatur, idem psalmus exhortatur, cum consequenter dicit: Bene nuntiate de die ex die salutare eius; annuntiate in gentibus gloriam eius, in omnibus populis mirabilia eius: et paulo post dicit: Afferte Domino, patriae gentium, afferte Domino gloriam et honorem. Quae sit haec domus, id est Ecclesia catholica, alio loco dixi 8. Malos christianos minime Ecclesiae praeiudicare. 3. His atque huiusmodi testimoniis tantae huius domus, quae in tota Scriptura tam multa reperiuntur, ita cesserunt inimici eius, ut faterentur contra Ecclesiam transmarinam, quam tamen catholicam esse confessi sunt, se causam non habere. Huic nos communicamus ut coniungi mereamur membris Christi, et compaginem corporis eius fidelissimae caritatis amplectamur affectu. Quoniam in Ecclesiae huius unitate quicumque male vixerit, sibi iudicium manducat et bibit, sicut Apostolus dicit 9. Quicumque autem bene vivit, non ei praeiudicat aliena causa, et aliena persona. Sic etiam illi cum de causa Maximiani urgerentur, ore suo coacti sunt confiteri, quia "nec causa causae, nec persona personae praeiudicat". Solliciti tamen invicem sumus pro nobis, tamquam unius corporis membra; ut quicumque adiuvante Domino, ad horreum futurum pertinemus, interim in area simul paleam toleremus, ne propter illam futuro igni destinatam, nos aream dominicam deseramus 10. Sua quisque officia ecclesiastica adimpleat. 4. Agite fideliter, et hilariter Ecclesiastica officia quae ad vos pertinent, pro gradibus vestris, et ministerium vestrum sinceriter adimplete propter illum Deum, sub quo conservi sumus, et cui rationem de nostris actibus reddituros nos esse cogitamus. Unde abundare debent in vobis misericordiae viscera, quia iudicium sine misericordia erit illi qui non fecerit misericordiam 11. Ac per hoc, et pro illis orate nobiscum qui adhuc contristantur, ut sanetur carnalis animi infirmitas, ex diuturna consuetudine collecta atque contracta. Nam quis non intellegat quam bonum sit et iucundum fratres habitare in unum 12, si sanas fauces ista iucunditas tangat, unde respuat amaritudinem divisionis meus quae diligit dulcedinem caritatis? Potens est autem et misericors Deus, quem pro illis oramus, ut quibuslibet occasionibus etiam ipsos attrahat ad salutem. Dominus vos in pace conservet.