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 bout 331 AD in North Africa, a baby girl
was born who would become the mother of one of the most influential Christians
of all times. Monica was born into a moderately wealthy family. An old
Christian maidservant, who had also cared for Monica's father as a baby,
brought Monica up in the Christian faith.
Monica
was given in marriage to Patricius, who was not a Christian. For many
years Monica sought to win Patricius to the Lord. Following the advice
of I Peter 3, Monica realized her conduct more than her words would be
the means of Patricius' conversion. By her persevering in patience and
meekness, Monica won her mother-in-law to Christ. Patricius too became
a Christian, though only towards the very end of his life.
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Monica was often a great peacemaker between people who were at odds.
In healing discords or disputes, she never repeated the evil, bitterness
or hatred which one side might express against the other. She also sought
to help and minister to those who were teachers or pastors of the church.
Though the wife of a non-Christian, Monica prayed that her family might
eventually all come to Christ. She attempted to bring her children up
in the ways of the Lord, and it pained her to see them stray from the
truth she had taught them. Her most promising son, Augustine, was given
an excellent education, and Monica hoped this might be a means of his
more fully reaching God. Augustine ignored his mother's warnings against
youthful lusts and pursued a life of self-gratification and immorality
while continuing his classical education. He lived with a woman not his
wife and fathered a child. Monica didn't have the words to convince her
son of the truth of Christianity, but she determined never to stop praying
that he would turn to God.
When Augustine went to Italy to teach, Monica, by then a widow, followed
him there. In Milan she attended the church pastored by Ambrose and rejoiced
when Augustine was befriended by Ambrose and eventually became a Christian.
Monica died in 387 at the age of 56. In his Confessions Augustine spoke
of his grief and weeping for the mother "now gone from my sight,
who for years had wept over me, that I might live in your [God's] sight."
She died a happy woman for she had seen her prayers answered, and both
her husband and her son had become believers. Augustine was only 33 at
the time of his mother's death, and many years of service to Christ and
His church lay before him. In later years Augustine could look back on
his life and recognize the importance of his mother's perseverance in
prayer to his own salvation and ministry. However, neither Augustine nor
Monica could have foreseen that Augustine's own ministry would continue
over the centuries and even influence such as Luther and Calvin in reforming,
purifying, and strengthening the church.
DISTANT DATELINE: Monumental Church Split As East
and West Divide
CONSTANTINOPLE, JULY, 1054 AD Well, it finally happened!
Some said it had been building for centuries and seemed inevitable. But
that doesn't soften the shock nor relieve the perplexing questions of
what it signals for the future of Christianity.
Earlier this month Cardinal Humbert, official representative for the
pope in Rome, entered our magnificent cathedral, St. Sofia, here in Constantinople
and placed a letter from Pope Leo on the altar in the church. That letter
excommunicated our leader and patriarch, Michael Cerularius. Michael in
turn has indicated that he will excommunicate the pope with the support
of fellow major church leaders--the patriarchs at Alexandria, Antioch
and Jerusalem.
The problems between East and West have long festered. We in the East
have been wary of the expanding power of the pope. We have respected him
as a "first among equals" but not head of the entire church.
There are other problems, such as whether clergy should marry, but the
major disagreement is over the so-called "filoque" issue. Does
the Holy Spirit proceed from the Father alone--as we maintain in the East--or
from both Father and Son, as Rome insists?
Informed sources say that the split could be long and bitter. Will any
of us live long enough to see harmony restored? Ironically your reporter
has heard that by the time his letter of excommunication arrived here,
Pope Leo had died, which, I am told, would make its contents invalid.
But things had already gone too far. Has the "seamless garment of
Christ" now been irreparably rent?
Editor's Postscript: The nearly 1000-year split continues to this day.
Get Acquainted with Anselm (Editor's
Notebook)
One of my favorite characters from the Middle Ages is Anselm, Archbishop
of Canterbury from 1093-1109.
Anselm was a great church leader who hated church politics. He didn't
seek his prominent position. He sought repeatedly and urgently to resign
it, but wasn't allowed.
Anselm's passion was to seek the face of God. He couldn't understand
how any Christian could want less. He said, "If they are Christians,
why should they break faith for any temporary gain? The thing is impossible."
Anselm was also a great thinker. He articulated what has been called
the "ontological proof for the existence of God." There isn't
space here to explain, but look it up in a philosophy text and enjoy pondering.
It continues to fascinate and challenge every generation.
Anselm's "proof" came to him in a flash at prayer. Centuries
later the famous British anti-Christian skeptic Bertrand Russell wrote,
"one day in 1894, as I was walking along Trinity Lane (emphasis ours)
I saw in a flash that (Anselm's) ontological argument is valid. I had
gone out to buy a tin of tobacco; on my way back, I suddenly threw it
up in the air, and exclaimed as I caught it, 'Great Scott, the ontological
argument is sound.' "
Anselm's great work was Cur Deus Homo? (Why Did God Become Human?)
. He wrote it to answer Jewish concerns that the Incarnation impugned
the honor and dignity of God, and his work became one of the greatest
in all church history in helping us understand the reasons for and meaning
of the atonement of Christ.
He was known as one of the "Scholastics" but for him faith
preceded knowledge and knowledge helped illumine faith. He said: He who
does not believe cannot experience, and whoever does not experience, cannot
understand.-- Ken Curtis |
