Letter 203: I received the letter of your Excellency, in which you ask me to write to you. This assuredly you would not have done unless you had esteemed acceptable and pleasant that which you suppose me capable of writing to you. In other words, I assume that, having desired the vanities of this life when you had not tried them, now, after the trial has be...

Augustine to the people and clergy of Caesarea in Mauretania, greetings. I have heard about the disturbances in your community, and I am sorry. I know the situation is painful, and I know that many of you feel torn between loyalty to your current bishop and loyalty to the truth. Let me speak plainly: a bishop who has been found guilty of serious misconduct and who refuses to acknowledge his fault or accept the discipline of the Church is not serving his people — he is serving himself. The office of bishop exists for the sake of the flock, not the other way around. When the shepherd becomes a wolf, the flock has the right — and the duty — to seek protection. I do not say this lightly. I know how hard it is to move against a bishop. The respect due to the office is real and deep. But respect for the office must never become a license for the man who holds it to act as he pleases. Follow the guidance of the neighboring bishops who have investigated the matter. Trust the process. And pray — for yourselves, for your community, and yes, for the man who has failed you. He too stands in need of God's mercy, however badly he has served it. Farewell.

Letter 203 (A.D. 420) To My Noble Lord and Most Excellent and Loving Son, Largus, Augustine Sends Greeting in the Lord. I received the letter of your Excellency, in which you ask me to write to you. This assuredly you would not have done unless you had esteemed acceptable and pleasant that which you suppose me capable of writing to you. In other words, I assume that, having desired the vanities of this life when you had not tried them, now, after the trial has been made, you despise them, because in them the pleasure is deceitful, the labour fruitless, the anxiety perpetual, the elevation dangerous. Men seek them at first through imprudence, and give them up at last with disappointment and remorse. This is true of all the things which, in the cares of this mortal life, are coveted with more eagerness than wisdom by the uneasy solicitude of the men of the world. But it is wholly otherwise with the hope of the pious: very different is the fruit of their labours, very different the reward of their dangers. Fear and grief, and labour and danger are unavoidable, so long as we live in this world; but the great question is, for what cause, with what expectation, with what aim a man endures these things. When, indeed, I contemplate the lovers of this world, I know not at what time wisdom can most opportunely attempt their moral improvement; for when they have apparent prosperity, they reject disdainfully her salutary admonitions, and regard them as old wives fables; when, again, they are in adversity, they think rather of escaping merely from present suffering than of obtaining the real remedy by which they may be made whole, and may arrive at that place where they shall be altogether exempt from suffering. Occasionally, however, some open their ears and hearts to the truth — rarely in prosperity, more frequently in adversity. These are indeed the few, for such it is predicted that they shall be. Among these I desire you to be, because I love you truly, my noble lord and most excellent and loving son. Let this counsel be my answer to your letter, because though I am unwilling that you should henceforth suffer such things as you have endured, yet I would grieve still more if you were found to have suffered these things without any change for the better in your life. About this page Source. Translated by J.G. Cunningham. From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol. 1. Edited by Philip Schaff. (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1887.) Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight. <https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1102203.htm>. Contact information. The editor of New Advent is Kevin Knight. My email address is feedback732 at newadvent.org. (To help fight spam, this address might change occasionally.) Regrettably, I can't reply to every letter, but I greatly appreciate your feedback — especially notifications about typographical errors and inappropriate ads.