Letter 30: This letter of Paulinus was written before receiving a reply to his former letter, No. 27, p. 248.

From: Paulinus of Nola and Therasia To: Augustine, Bishop-designate of Hippo Date: ~396 AD Context: Paulinus replies to Augustine's first letter, overflowing with delight at having found such a friend. Paulinus and Therasia, sinners, to our lord, holy and beloved brother Augustine — greetings. 1. My beloved brother in Christ — having come to know you through your holy and devout works without your knowledge, and having seen you in my mind though you were absent and far away — my heart embraced you with unreserved affection, and I hurried to enjoy the pleasure of hearing from you through a real exchange of letters. I believe the Lord's hand brought my first letter to you. But since the young man we sent before winter to greet you and others we love as well did not return before we had to sail for Nola — and since we left his return to God's timing — your letter, which arrived while I was somewhere between Rome and Nola, did not reach me until I was already here. Great was my joy. 2. And what can I say about what your letter has done to me? I recognize in it the true food of the soul — nourishment rich in the bread of heaven. Reading and rereading it, I cannot get enough. Every line speaks of the love of God and the wisdom of a mind deeply formed by Scripture. What more could I want? You, my brother — though not yet seen with these bodily eyes — have been given to me more clearly than if I had seen your face daily. The image God's grace has fashioned in you shines through every word you write. 3. You have told me about the brothers who share your life [Augustine at this time led a small monastic community in Hippo], and I give thanks for each of them. Give them my greetings: my love goes to every one of them — not because I know them, but because they share your house and your life. A man who lives in love with God is a brother to me wherever he is found. Write again, as often as you can. You do not know what your letters do for me. Or rather, you know too well — which is why I am asking.

Letter 30 (A.D. 396) This letter of Paulinus was written before receiving a reply to his former letter, No. 27, p. 248. To Augustine, Our Lord and Holy and Beloved Brother, Paulinus and Therasia, Sinners, Send Greeting. 1. My beloved brother in Christ the Lord, having through your holy and pious works come to know you without your knowledge, and to see you though absent long ago, my mind embraced you with unreserved affection, and I hastened to secure the gratification of hearing you through familiar brotherly exchange of letters. I believe also that by the Lord's hand and favour my letter has reached you; but as the youth whom, before winter, we had sent to salute you and others equally loved in God's name, has not returned, we could no longer either put off what we feel to be our duty, or restrain the vehemence of our desire to hear from you. If, then, my former letter has been found worthy to reach you, this is the second; if, however, it was not so fortunate as to come to your hand, accept this as the first. 2. But, my brother, judging all things as a spiritual man, do not estimate our love to you by the duty which we render, or the frequency of our letters. For the Lord, who everywhere, as one and the same, works His love in His own, is witness that, from the time when, by the kindness of the venerable bishops Aurelius and Alypius, we came to know you through your writings against the Manichæans, love for you has taken such a place in us, that we seemed not so much to be acquiring a new friendship as reviving an old affection. Now at length we address you in writing; and though we are novices in expressing, we are not novices in feeling love to you; and by communion of the spirit, which is the inner man, we are as it were acquainted with you. Nor is it strange that though distant we are near, though unknown we are well known to each other; for we are members of one body, having one Head, enjoying the effusion of the same grace, living by the same bread, walking in the same way, and dwelling in the same home. In short, in all that makes up our being — in the whole faith and hope by which we stand in the present life, or labour for that which is to come — we are both in the spirit and in the body of Christ so united, that if we fell from this union we would cease to be. 3. How small a thing, therefore, is that which our bodily separation denies to us!— for it is nothing more than one of those fruits that gratify the eyes, which are occupied only with the things of time. And yet, perhaps, we should not number this pleasure which in the body we enjoy among the blessings which are only in time the portion of spiritual men, to whose bodies the resurrection will impart immortality; as we, though in ourselves unworthy, are bold to expect, through the merit of Christ and the mercy of God the Father. Wherefore I pray that the grace of God by our Lord Jesus Christ may grant unto us this favour too, that we may yet see your face. Not only would this bring great gratification to our desires; but by it illumination would be brought to our minds, and our poverty would be enriched by your abundance. This indeed you may grant to us even while we are absent from you, especially on the present occasion, through our sons Romanus and Agilis, beloved and most dear to us in the Lord (whom as our second selves we commend to you), when they return to us in the Lord's name, after fulfilling the labour of love in which they are engaged; in which work we beg that they may especially enjoy the goodwill of your Charity. For you know what high rewards the Most High promises to the brother who gives his brother help. If you are pleased to impart to me any gift of the grace that has been bestowed on you, you may safely do it through them; for, believe me, they are of one heart and of one mind with us in the Lord. May the grace of God always abide as it is with you, O brother beloved, venerable, most dear, and longed for in Christ the Lord! Salute on our behalf all the saints in Christ who are with you, for doubtless such attach themselves to your fellowship; commend us to them all, that they may, along with yourself, remember us in prayer. 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/1102030.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.