St. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, near Carthage, who died 430, and whose magnificent tomb in the cathedral of Pavia is rich as a work of art, had in the course of his studies, while writing discourses on the Trinity, a dream or vision, which he thus related: “I was wandering along the seashore lost in meditation. Suddenly I beheld a child, who, having dug a hole in the sand, appeared to be bringing water from the sea to fill it. I inquired of the child what was the object of this task, and it replied, ‘I intend to empty into this hole all the waters of the great deep.’ ‘Impossible!’ I exclaimed. ‘Not more impossible,’ replied the child, ‘than for you, O Augustine, to explain the mystery on which you are now meditating.’” This incident is also related of another great preacher (see ante, p. 108). St. Augustine is often in mediæval pictures represented as standing arrayed in his episcopal robes on the seashore, gazing with astonishment on an infant Christ, who holds a bowl, a cup, and a ladle. Murillo has a great picture on this subject. St. Augustine admitted with shame that when a boy he had robbed an orchard, and that the multiplication table was detestable to him.
ST. AUGUSTINE’S FAITH IN DREAMS.
St. Augustine’s faith in dreams was illustrated by him in a letter to a friend, who was speculating about future life. He said there was a beloved physician at Carthage named Gennadius, who, though an earnest benefactor of the poor, had doubts about the future life. One night Gennadius dreamt that a noble-looking youth came to him and said, “Follow me.” He followed, and was led to a city in which he heard delicious music of hymns and psalms, and the youth explained that this was the singing of the blessed and the holy. When he awoke and found it was a dream, he attached no importance to it. But on another night the same youth came again, and asked, “Do you remember me?” “Yes,” said Gennadius, “I saw you in my dream, and you took me to hear the songs of the blessed.” “Are you dreaming now?” “Yes.” “Where is your body at this moment?” “In my bed.” “Your eyes, then, are closed and bound in sleep?” “Yes.” “How is it, then, that you see me?” Gennadius could give no answer, and the angel said, “Just as you see me without the eyes of the flesh, so it will be when all your senses are removed by death. There shall still be life in you and a faculty to perceive. Take care that henceforth you have no doubts about the life to come.” St. Austin adds: “You may say that this was a dream, and any one may think what he likes about it. Nevertheless, there are some dreams which have a Divine significance.”
ST. CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA (A.D. 444).
A famous champion of orthodoxy was St. Cyril of Alexandria, who flourished in 444. He spent five years of his youth in the monasteries of Nitria, and became an ardent student of theology, and his uncle, the Archbishop Theophilus, recalled him to take office in the church. He soon became a popular preacher, having a comely person and a sonorous voice, and his friends stationed themselves in convenient places in the church to applaud him and bring out all his merits. He soon succeeded to the patriarchate, which gave him civil as well as ecclesiastical powers. He had no patience with heretics, and not only interdicted the Moravians from performing public worship, but confiscated their holy vessels. His virulent rage against the Jews had no bounds, and without warning or authority he led a fanatic mob early one morning and attacked their synagogues and demolished them, rewarded his followers with the plunder, and expelled the ancient people from the city. He insisted on paying the highest honours to a monk who, like an assassin, had wounded the prefect. He also took umbrage at Hypatia, a young and beautiful woman, who taught philosophy, and who was said to take the part of the prefect against Cyril. One day it was said Cyril’s fanatical followers seized this lady, stripped and butchered her, and burnt her body in the church, thereby leaving an indelible stain on his character. He also was indefatigable in persecuting Nestorius, an alleged heretic.
SOME NOTIONS OF THE FATHERS.
Some of the notions to which the Fathers clung were these: That Christ would return and reign with the saints in Jerusalem in the flesh for a thousand years; that the angels had bodies and appetites; that Christ’s body was not sensitive to the stripes and torments inflicted; that after death all should pass a fiery trial before the final judgment day; that God’s Providence was confined only to men as rational creatures, but had nothing to do with the beasts of the field, with bugs and flies and worms; that marriage was in any circumstances a degrading institution, but a second marriage was accursed; that infants which die before baptism cannot be saved; that the baptism of heretics was invalid and null; that an oath was utterly unlawful for Christians to take; that our Saviour lived fifty years, and was not crucified at the age of thirty-three.