Letter 227: Brother Paulus has arrived here safely: he reports that the pains devoted to the business which engaged him have been rewarded with success; the Lord will grant that with these his trouble in that matter may terminate. He salutes you warmly, and tells us tidings concerning Gabinianus which give us joy, namely, that having by God's mercy obtained...

Augustine to Alypius, my dearest friend, greetings. I write to you about a matter that weighs on my old heart: the future of the Church in Africa. We are not young anymore, Alypius. The years we have spent together — from the schools of Carthage to the garden in Milan, from that moment of conversion to these long decades of episcopal labor — are more than most men are given. And I am grateful for every one of them. But I can feel the road beginning to slope downward, and I want to make sure that what we have built will outlast us. The Donatist schism is weakening, but it is not dead. Pelagianism has been condemned, but its ideas persist in subtler forms. The barbarians press on every border. The political order that has sustained the Church's work in Africa is fraying. And the next generation of bishops — God help them — will face challenges we can barely imagine. What can we leave them? Not wealth — the Church's wealth is always precarious, and it should be. Not power — political power corrupts the Church as surely as it corrupts everything else. What we can leave them is truth: clearly stated, carefully argued, preserved in writing so that it survives the death of the men who articulated it. This is why I keep writing, even now, even when my eyes fail and my hand cramps and my mind wanders more than it used to. The books will outlive us. The arguments will outlive us. And if the arguments are true — if they are grounded in Scripture and tested by reason and confirmed by the experience of the saints — then they will serve the Church long after you and I have returned to dust. Farewell, old friend. I thank God for you every day. [Context: Alypius was Augustine's closest friend — his companion from student days in Carthage, his fellow convert in Milan (they were baptized together by Ambrose in 387), and his episcopal colleague as Bishop of Tagaste. Their friendship, documented across decades of correspondence, is one of the great human relationships of late antiquity.]

Letter 227 (A.D. 428 or 429) To the Aged Alypius, Augustine Sends Greeting. Brother Paulus has arrived here safely: he reports that the pains devoted to the business which engaged him have been rewarded with success; the Lord will grant that with these his trouble in that matter may terminate. He salutes you warmly, and tells us tidings concerning Gabinianus which give us joy, namely, that having by God's mercy obtained a prosperous issue in his case, he is now not only in name a Christian, but in sincerity a very excellent convert to the faith, and was baptized recently at Easter, having both in his heart and on his lips the grace which he received. How much I long for him I can never express; but you know that I love him. The president of the medical faculty, Dioscorus, has also professed the Christian faith, having obtained grace at the same time. Hear the manner of his conversion, for his stubborn neck and his bold tongue could not be subdued without some miracle. His daughter, the only comfort of his life, was sick, and her sickness became so serious that her life was, according even to her father's own admission, despaired of. It is reported, and the truth of the report is beyond question, for even before brother Paul's return the fact was mentioned to me by Count Peregrinus, a most respectable and truly Christian man, who was baptized at the same time with Dioscorus and Gabinianus — it is reported, I say, that the old man, feeling himself at last constrained to implore the compassion of Christ, bound himself by a vow that he would become a Christian if he saw her restored to health. She recovered, but he perfidiously drew back from fulfilling his vow. Nevertheless the hand of the Lord was still stretched forth, for suddenly he is smitten with blindness, and immediately the cause of this calamity was impressed upon his mind. He confessed his fault aloud, and vowed again that if his sight were given back he would perform what he had vowed. He recovered his sight, fulfilled his vow, and still the hand of God was stretched forth. He had not committed the Creed to memory, or perhaps had refused to commit it, and had excused himself on the plea of inability. God had seen this. Immediately after all the ceremonies of his reception he is seized with paralysis, affecting many, indeed almost all his members, and even his tongue. Then, being warned by a dream, he confesses in writing that it had been told to him that this had happened because he had not repeated the Creed. After that confession the use of all his members was restored to him, except the tongue alone; nevertheless he, being still under this affliction, made manifest by writing that he had, notwithstanding, learned the Creed, and still retained it in his memory; and so that frivolous loquacity which, as you know, blemished his natural kindliness, and made him, when he mocked Christians, exceedingly profane, was altogether destroyed in him. What shall I say, but, Let us sing a hymn to the Lord, and highly exalt Him for ever! Amen.

EPISTOLA 227 Scripta a. 428/429. A. Alypio de Gabiniano recens baptizato ac de Dioscoro archiatro miris factis ad Christum converso. AUGUSTINUS, ALYPIO Votum implendum. Symbolum tenendum. 1. Frater Paulus hic est incolumis, apportat negotiorum suorum secundas curas; praestabit Dominus ut etiam ipsae ultimae sint. Multum vos salutat, et narrat gaudia de Gabiniano, quod ab illa sua causa misericordia Dei liberatus, non solum christianus, sed etiam fidelis sit valde bonus, per Pascha proxime baptizatus, in corde atque in ore habens gratiam quam percepit 1. Quantum eum desiderem, quando explicabo? sed nosti ut eum diligam. Archiater etiam Dioscorus christianus fidelis est, simul gratiam consecutus; audi etiam quemadmodum: neque enim cervicula illa vel lingua, nisi aliquo prodigio domaretur. Filia eius in qua unica acquiescebat, aegrotabat, et usque ad totam desperationem salutis temporalis, eodem ipso patre renuntiante, pervenit. Dicitur ergo; et constat, cum mihi hoc et ante fratris Pauli reditum, comes Peregrinus, vir laudabilis et bene christianus, qui cum eis eodem tempore baptizatus est, indicarit: dicitur ergo ille senex tandem conversus ad implorandam Christi misericordiam, voto se obligasse, christianum fore, si illam salvam videret. Factum est. At ille quod voverat dissimulabat exsolvere: sed adhuc manus excelsa 2. Nam repentina caecitate suffunditur: statimque venit in mentem unde illud esset; exclamavit confitens, atque iterum vovit, se recepto lumine impleturum esse quod voverat. Recepit, implevit: et adhuc manus excelsa. Symbolum non tenuerat, aut fortasse tenere recusaverat, et se non potuisse excusaverat: Deus viderat. Iam tum post festa omnia receptionis suae in paralysim solvitur multis ac pene omnibus membris, et etiam lingua. Tunc somnio admonitus confitetur per scripturam ob hoc sibi dictum esse accidisse, quod symbolum non reddiderit. Post illam confessionem redduntur officia omnium membrorum, nisi linguae solius; se tamen didicisse symbolum, ideoque memoria iam tenere nihilominus in eadem tentatione litteris fassus est: sicque omnis est ab eo deleta nugacitas, quae, ut scis, multum decolorabat naturalem quamdam eius benignitatem, eumque insultantem Christianis faciebat valde sacrilegum. Quid dicam, nisi, Domino hymnum canamus 3, et superexaltemus eum in saecula, 4 Amen?