Augustine's Ecclesiastics And Its Influence On The Middle Age

Augustine is the last godfather of the Christian godfathers and the first theologian of the middle ages.His theology,especially his views on the church,had a great influence on the church and the state in the middle ages.It is often said that to understand Augustine,must first understand his opponent.His theology was developed and presented in controversy with his opponents.The same is true of Augustine's ecclesiastics,it was developed mainly in the debate with the Donatists in the north African,and was systematically discussed in his book: the city of god.The divergences between Augustine and the Donatists are mainly about the nature of the church,the effectiveness of the sacraments and the relationship between the church and the secular world.The Donatists believed that the primary nature of the church was holiness,and that the holiness of the church was reflected in the holiness of its members;The effectiveness of the sacraments depends on the bishop administering them;In the relationship between the church and the secular world,Donatists adopted a passive and secluded attitude.Augustine points out that holiness is not the primary nature of the church,and that the holiness of the church lies not in the holiness of its members,but in god;The effectiveness of the sacraments lies not with the person administering them,but with god;the church should adopt an open and flexible attitude and actively use the secular authority to safeguard the interests of the church.In the city of god,Augustine puts forward the theory of visible church and invisible church.By acknowledging the imperfection of the present visible church,he denies the view that holiness is the primary nature of the church and ascribes the holiness and effectiveness of the sacraments to god;Since the invisible church,is the final form of the visible church,people can only be saved in the church.Therefore,in order to save more people,the church needs to adopt a flexible and open attitude towards the world and actively use the power of secular authority.Augustine's theology had a dominant position in the middle ages,and his church doctrine also had a great influence on the middle ages.On the one hand,Augustine's ecclesiasticism emphasizes the authority of church and bishop and maintains the unity of church.On the other hand,his ecclesiastical theory resulted in the corruption of the church and the lack of supervision in a certain degree,which weakened the motivation of the church to improve itself.