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The Concept of ‘Christus Medicus' in St. Augustine

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 July 2016

Rudolph Arbesmann
Rudolph Arbesmann*
Affiliation:
Fordham University
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Extract

Repeatedly in recent times attention has been called to the frequent use of the Christus medicus theme by St. Augustine. When a lucky archaeological discovery, made at Timgad in the spring of 1919, brought to light the fragment of an inscription, containing an invocation to Christ the Physician, P. Monceaux, in discussing the rare find, noted not only the popularity of the concept in Christian Africa in general since the days of Tertullian, but also its extremely frequent use by St. Augustine in particular, calling it ‘un thème dominant dans la prédication du grand évêque d'Hippone.’ He listed eight examples from St. Augustine's sermons, in which the notion of Christ the Physician, employed allegorically or metaphorically, to describe Him as the Divine Healer of mankind's spiritual diseases, occurs rather conspicuously. Monceaux's statement was repeated by J. Carcopino, H. Leclercq, and L. Olschki, all of whom refer to the texts collected by him. M. E. Keenan pointed out two allusions to Christ as the Divine Physician in St. Augustine's letters though the passages quoted by her refer rather to deus medicus than to Christus medicus. In a later study on ‘Augustine and the Medical Profession,' she excluded expressly allusions to Christus medicus ‘because of their frequency and unvarying character.’ The collection of pertinent texts has considerably been enlarged by J. Mohan who, in studying the titles applied to Christ by St. Augustine in connection with his Christological and soteriological doctrine, devotes two pages to discussing the Christus medicus metaphor, used by the great Doctor of the Church to explain the Mystery of the Redemption. The author owes the additional texts especially to Dom G. Morin's monumental edition of those of St. Augustine's sermons which have been discovered after the Maurists’ edition. P Mention must also be made of the valuable collection of texts by A. Koch in the section ‘Christus der Arzt’ of his Homiletisches Handbudi. Finally, in the list of pertinent texts given by the ThLL, s.v. medicina and medicus, St. Augustine easily holds the first place among those Patristic writers of the West who made use of the Christus medicus figure.

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Traditio , Volume 10 , 1954 , pp. 1 - 28
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Copyright © Fordham University Press 

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References

1 ‘Une invocation au Christus medicus sur une pierre de Timgad,’ Comptes rendus de l'Acad. des inscr. 1920, pp. 78f. A second fragment, completing the inscription, was found in the immediate neighborhood of the first discovery in 1923 (cf. Monceaux, ‘Nouveau fragment de l'inscription chrétienne de Timgad relative au Christus medicus,’ Comptes rendus 1924, pp. 78-81). Lines 5-12 of the inscription read: ‘Rogo te, Domine, subveni, C<h>riste, tu solus medicus sanctis et penitentibus.’ The importance of the discovery is evident from the fact that there seems to exist only one other epigraphical parallel to the African inscription, namely, a Greek inscription from Frîkyā, in Syria, in which Christ is called ἰατϱòς ϰαì λύσις ϰαϰῶv; cf. F. J. Dölger, ΙΧΘΥΣ: Das Fischsymbol in frühchristlicher Zeit, Bd. I: Religionsgeschichlliche und epigraphische Untersuchungen (Rome 1910) 253 no. 25.riste, tu solus medicus sanctis et penitentibus.’ The importance of the discovery is evident from the fact that there seems to exist only one other epigraphical parallel to the African inscription, namely, a Greek inscription from Frîkyā, in Syria, in which Christ is called ἰατϱòς ϰαì λύσις ϰαϰῶv; cf. F. J. Dölger, ΙΧΘΥΣ: Das Fischsymbol in frühchristlicher Zeit, Bd. I: Religionsgeschichlliche und epigraphische Untersuchungen (Rome 1910) 253 no. 25.' href=https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=‘Une+invocation+au+Christus+medicus+sur+une+pierre+de+Timgad,’+Comptes+rendus+de+l'Acad.+des+inscr.+1920,+pp.+78f.+A+second+fragment,+completing+the+inscription,+was+found+in+the+immediate+neighborhood+of+the+first+discovery+in+1923+(cf.+Monceaux,+‘Nouveau+fragment+de+l'inscription+chrétienne+de+Timgad+relative+au+Christus+medicus,’+Comptes+rendus+1924,+pp.+78-81).+Lines+5-12+of+the+inscription+read:+‘Rogo+te,+Domine,+subveni,+Criste,+tu+solus+medicus+sanctis+et+penitentibus.’+The+importance+of+the+discovery+is+evident+from+the+fact+that+there+seems+to+exist+only+one+other+epigraphical+parallel+to+the+African+inscription,+namely,+a+Greek+inscription+from+Frîkyā,+in+Syria,+in+which+Christ+is+called+ἰατϱòς+ϰαì+λύσις+ϰαϰῶv;+cf.+F.+J.+Dölger,+ΙΧΘΥΣ:+Das+Fischsymbol+in+frühchristlicher+Zeit,+Bd.+I:+Religionsgeschichlliche+und+epigraphische+Untersuchungen+(Rome+1910)+253+no.+25.>Google Scholar

2 Comptes rendus 1920, p. 78. The passages listed by Monceaux are: Serm. 87.10.13f.; 88.1; 175.1; 278.5; 299.6; Enarr. in Ps. 18.2.15; in Ps. 130.7; In Joh. evang., Tract. 3.2-3.Google Scholar

3 ‘Le tombeau de Labiridi et l'hermétisme africain,’ Revue archéologique, 5e série, 15 (1922) 244.Google Scholar

4 ‘Médecins,’ DACL 11.1 (1933) 158f. Google Scholar

5 ‘The Wise Men of the East in Oriental Traditions,’ Semitic and Oriental Studies: Univ. of California Publications in Semitic Philology 11 (1951) 391 n. 25.Google Scholar

6 The Life and Times of St. Augustine as Revealed in His Letters (Cath. Univ. of Amer. Patristic Studies 45; Washington, D. C. 1935) 27. Here we may also mention Pease, A. S., ‘Medical Allusions in the Works of St. Jerome,’ Harvard Studies in Classical Philology 25 (1914) 74 n. 7, where he contributes another passage (De civ. Dei 4.16) to our subject.Google Scholar

7 Keenan lists Ep. 93.3 and 4.Google Scholar

8 In Patristic literature the deus medicus metaphor is likewise frequent and, in some cases, it is difficult to determine exactly whether the allusion is to deus medicus or Christus medicus.Google Scholar

9 TAPA 67 (1936) 169 n. 5. The Christus medicus metaphor is likewise excluded by Getty, M. M., The Life of the North Africans as Revealed in the Sermons of St. Augustine (Cath. Univ. of Amer. Patristic Studies 28; Washington, D. C., 1931) 24-29, since the author is mainly concerned with scientific references to physicians and medicine, and hardly touches upon figurative uses.Google Scholar

10 De nominibus Christi doctrinam divi Augustini Christologicam et soteriologicam exponentibus (Diss., St. Mary of the Lake Seminary, Mundelein, Illinois, 1936) 57f. Google Scholar

11 Miscellanea Agostiniana: Testi e Studi (Rome 1930) I: Sancti Augustini sermones post Maurinos reperti (henceforth referred to as Morin). The texts cited by Mohan from Morin's edition are: Serm. Guelferb. 32.5 (567 Morin); Serm. Caillau et Saint-Yves II 19.8 (270 Morin); Serm. Mai 16.2 (302 Morin); Serm. Mai 19.2 (310 Morin); Serm. Mai 22.1 (314f. Morin); Serm. Wilmart 11.2 and 6 (695; 699 Morin). Of other new texts (i.e., not mentioned by Monceaux) Mohan offers: Serm. 88.7; 171.2; 174.5.6; 175.2 and 3; Enarr. in Ps. 35.17; In Joh. evang., Tract. 3.14; Conf. 9.13.35. On the other hand, he uses only four texts of Monceaux's collection, namely, Serm. 87.11; 88.1; 175.1; In Joh. evang., Tract. 3.3.Google Scholar

12 Part I: Homiletisches Quellenwerk (Freiburg i.B. 1937-39) I no. 284, p. 457. The author adds the following new texts to our collection: Serm. 176.2; Enarr. in Ps. 40.6; in Ps. 45.1.11; in Ps. 48.11; De agone christ. 11.12. Enarr. in Ps. 50.6 and 85.9 refer rather to deus medicus. Serm. 171.2; 175.1 and 3; 299.6 appear in the collections of Monceaux and Mohan respectively.Google Scholar

13 Vol. 4, fasc. 4 (Leipzig 1939) col. 540f. and 551. The following texts represent a new contribution to our subject: Serm. 77.7.11; 143.1; 286.3.2; 374.3; In Joh. evang., Tract. 7.18; In ep. Joh. ad Parth., Tract. 2.1; De peccatorum meritis et remissione et de baptismo parvulorum 3.4.8; De nat. et grat. 48.56; De nuptiis et concupiscentia 1.1; De civ. Dei 5.14. The following texts had been pointed out in the earlier collections: Serm. 87.13; 175.1; 278.5; Serm. Mai 22.1 (314f. Morin); Enarr. in Ps. 18.2.15; in Ps. 45.1.11; De civ. Dei 4.16; Conf. 9.13.35; De agone christ. 11.12. We have taken into consideration only those texts which refer expressly to Christus medicus, omitting those which refer rather to deus medicus. Google Scholar

14 See especially Harnack, A.'s pioneering contribution to the subject in section 6 of his study, Medicinisches aus der ältesten Kirchengeschichte (Texte und Untersuchungen 8.4; 1892) 125–147 (later revised and incorporated into his Die Mission und Ausbreitung des Christentums in den ersten drei Jahrhunderten [4th ed. Leipzig 1924] I 129-150); and E. and Edelstein, L., Asclepius: A Collection and Interpretation of the Testimonies (Baltimore 1945) II 132-138, 255-257, to whom we owe the latest exhaustive discussion of Christianity's long struggle with, and final triumph over, the cult of Asclepius. Cf. also the additional material in Schlier, H., Religionsgeschichtliche Untersuchungen zu den Ignatiusbriefen (Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft 8, Giessen 1929) 79f.Google Scholar

15 Cf. Harnack, Die Mission u. Ausbr. d. Christent. I 137 n. 6: ‘Am häufigsten und eingehendsten hat Origenes Jesus als Arzt geschildert.’Google Scholar

16 Adv. nationes 1.45-47 (ed. Reifferscheid, A., CSEL 4.29-31).Google Scholar

17 Ibid. 1.48f. (31-33 Reifferscheid).Google Scholar

18 Ad nationes 2.14 (ed. Reifferscheid, A. and Wissowa, G., CSEL 20.127).Google Scholar

19 For Asclepius and his representation in form of a serpent, see E. Küster, Die Schlange in der griechischen Kunst und Religion (Religionsgeschichtliche Versuche und Vorarbeiten 13.2; Giessen 1913) 133–137.Google Scholar

20 Asclepius II 132 n. 2.Google Scholar

21 Adv. nat. 7.44f. (278f. Reifferscheid).Google Scholar

22 Divinae institutiones 2.16.12 (ed. Brandt, S., CSEL 19.169).Google Scholar

23 Vita Constantini 3.56 (ed. Heikel, I. A., GCS, Eusebius Werke 1.103f.).Google Scholar

24 Asclepius II 257 n. 9.Google Scholar

25 De errore profanarum religionum 12.8 (ed. Ziegler, K., Lipsiae 1907, p. 30): ‘… et Aesculapius alibi fulminatur.’Google Scholar

26 Concerning Isis, see especially ibid. 2 (4-7 Ziegler); concerning Mithras, ibid. 5 (12-14 Ziegler); concerning Serapis, ibid. 13 (31-34 Ziegler).Google Scholar

27 Cf. especially ibid. 16.4; 20.7; 28.6; 29 (39; 53f.; 76; 81ff. Ziegler).Google Scholar

28 De virginibus 3.2.7 (PL 16.234).Google Scholar

29 In Is. comm. 18.65 (PL 24.657).Google Scholar

30 Vita Hilarionis, S. 21 (PL 23.39).Google Scholar

31 In Eph. comm. 2.4 (PL 26.535).Google Scholar

32 3.12; 17; 4.21;22;27; 8.5; 26; 10.16.Google Scholar

33 De Helia et ieiunio 20.75 (ed. Schenkl, C., CSEL 32.2.257f.); cf. similar passages in De Cain et Abel 2.3.11 (ed. Schenkl, CSEL 32.1.388); Expos. evang. Lucae 4.57; 67; 5.19; 46 (ed. Schenkl, CSEL 32.4.167f.; 173; 186; 199f.).Google Scholar

34 Op. cit. (n. 6 supra) 74.Google Scholar

35 Ibid. 74f. where Pease has collected the pertinent passages in St. Jerome and Origen.Google Scholar

36 Comptes rendus 1920 p.79: ‘L'insistance d’Augustin attestait la popularité de cette conception dans les milieux populaires.’Google Scholar

37 Is. 50.10; 53.4.Google Scholar

38 Adv. Marcionem 3.17 (ed. Kroymann, E., CSEL 47.405).Google Scholar

39 Scorpiace 5 (ed. Reifferscheid and Wissowa, CSEL 20.154f.).Google Scholar

40 Adv. Marc. 2.16 (356 Kroymann).Google Scholar

41 De paenitentia 10 (ed. Rauschen, G., Florileg. Patrist. 10 [1915] 24-26).Google Scholar

42 De patientia 15 (ed. Kroymann, CSEL 47.22).Google Scholar

43 Adv. Marc. 1.22 (320 Kroymann).Google Scholar

44 De opere et eleemosynis 1 (ed. Hartel, G., CSEL 3.1.373).Google Scholar

45 De lapsis 14 (ed. Martin, J., Florileg . Patrist. 21 [1930] 24f.); cf. also the Letter of the Roman clergy to Cyprian: Ep. 30.3 (ed. Hartel, CSEL 3.2.551).Google Scholar

46 See, e.g., Ep. 31.6; 7 (563f. Hartel); Ep. 55.16; 59.13 (635; 680-682 Hartel); Ep. 30.3; 5; 7 (551; 553; 555 Hartel; cf. n. 45 supra); De op. et eleem. 3 (375 Hartel); De lapsis 15; 35 (26; 46 Martin).Google Scholar

47 De natura et gratia 26.29 (ed. Vrba, C. F. and Zycha, I., CSEL 60.254).Google Scholar

48 Note 1 supra. Google Scholar

49 Cf. Monceaux, Comptes rendus 1924 p. 80; and Albertini's immediately following note ibid. 83 n. 1.Google Scholar

50 Serm. 88.1 (PL 38.539).Google Scholar

51 This has been pointed out repeatedly, e.g., by Kunzelmann, A., ‘Augustins Predigttätigkeit,’ Aurelius Augustinus (Die Festschrift der Görres-Gesellschaft zum 1500. Todestage des heiligen Augustinus, ed. Grabmann, M. and Mausbach, J., Köln 1930) 167; Pope, H., Saint Augustine of Hippo (London 1937) 179ff.Google Scholar

52 De catechizandis rudibus 12.17 (PL 40.324).Google Scholar

53 Enarr. in Ps. 131.1 (PL 37. 1716).Google Scholar

54 Serm. 248.4 (PL 38.1160f.); 249.3 (ibid. 1162f.); 250.3 (ibid. 1165ff.); 251.5-7 (ibid. 1170f.); 252.8-12 (ibid. 1176ff.); Serm. Guelferb. 15.2 (490 Morin); Serm. Wilmart 13.5-6 (714f. Morin); In Joh. evang., Tract. 122.8 (PL 35.1963f.). Cf. also Ep. 55.31 (ed. Goldbacher, A., CSEL 34.2.205).Google Scholar

55 Serm. 248.4 (PL 38.1160).Google Scholar

56 Serm. 250.3 (PL 38.1167). He expresses himself similarly in Serm. 249.3 (PL 38.1163); 251.5 (ibid. 1170); Serm. Guelferb. 15.2 (490 Morin); Serm. Wilmart 13.5 (714 Morin). For more examples of such repetitions, sec Kunzelmann and Pope, loc. cit. (n. 51 supra). Google Scholar

57 Cf. Luthardt, C. E., History of Christian Ethics before the Reformation (History of Christian Ethics I, transl. by Hastie, W.; Edinburgh 1889) 25; O. Zöckler, Die Tugendlehre des Christentums (Gütersloh 1904) 31; Reul, A., Die sittlichen Ideale des heiligen Augustinus (Paderborn 1928) 98f.; Ueberweg, F., Die Philosophie des Altertums (Grundriss der Geschichte der Philosophie, Part 1, 12th ed. by Praechter, K.; Berlin 1926) 390; 430.Google Scholar

58 Conf. 7.9.14 (ed. Kn, P.öll, CSEL 33.155).Google Scholar

59 Ibid. 7.18.24 (163 Knöll).Google Scholar

60 Ep. 155.2; 4; 6 (ed. Goldbacher, CSEL 44.431; 435; 436f.). Cf. Mausbach, J., Die Ethik des heiligen Augustinus (2nd ed. Freiburg i. B. 1929) I 279 n. 6: ‘Der ganze Brief ist eine schöne Widerlegung des stoischen Jugendideals.’Google Scholar

61 De civ. Dei 10.29 (ed. Hoffmann, E., CSEL 40.1.499). Cf. Mausbach, Die Ethik II 279f.Google Scholar

62 De civ. Dei 14.13 (ed. Hoffmann, CSEL 40.2.31); cf. De Genesi ad litteram 11.31.41 (PL 34.446).Google Scholar

63 De peccatorum meritis et remissione et de baptismo parvulorum 2.17.27 (ed. Vrba and Zycha, CSEL 60.99); cf. In Joh. evang., Tract. 25.16 (PL 351.604); Enarr. in Ps. 18.2.15 (PL 36.163).Google Scholar

64 De civ. Dei 14.13 (cd. Hoffmann, CSEL 40.2.32).Google Scholar

65 Serm. 77.7.11 (PL 38.488).Google Scholar

66 In Joh. evang., Tract. 25.16 (PL 35. 1604).Google Scholar

67 Serm. Guelferb. 32.5 (567 Morin).Google Scholar

68 Serm. Mai 126.11 (365 Morin).Google Scholar

69 Serm. Wilmart 11.2; 13 (695; 704 Morin = Serm. 142.2; 9: PL 38.778; 783). Cf. Serm. Mai 127.2 (369 Morin), where humility is called the step-ladder by which we reach God.Google Scholar

70 Ep. 118.22 (ed. Goldbacher, CSEL 34.2.685).Google Scholar

71 Serm. 160.5 (PL 38.876).Google Scholar

72 Enarr. in Ps. 118.9.2. (PL 37. 1523).Google Scholar

73 Lehrbuch der Dogmengeschichte (5th ed. Tübingen 1932) III 130-132.Google Scholar

74 Die Anschauung Augustins über Christi Person und Werk (Tübingen and Leipzig 1901) 384–386.Google Scholar

75 Ibid. 387.Google Scholar

76 Die Ethik I 393 n. 2.Google Scholar

77 What makes pride more damnable than the guilt itself, is man's effrontery in coloring his guilt though it is manifest. St. Augustine (De civ. Dei 14.14, ed. Hoffmann, CSEL 40.2.34) finds such shameless boldness in our first parents, Adam putting the blame on Eve, and she in turn on the serpent. ‘Nowhere is there a hint of prayer for forgiveness, nowhere a word of entreaty for medicine to heal their wound’ (nusquam hic sonat petitio veniae, nusquam inploratio medicinae).Google Scholar

78 The same train of thought is found in Serm. Guelferb. 32.5 (567f. Morin): Christ, who was ‘doctor humilitatis sermone et opere,’ first sent His angels and the prophets to teach mankind humility, thus endeavoring to cure man's tumor of pride. When, however, the patient's condition had grown desperate, the Great Physician Himself came to cure man's pride by His example. Man, for whose sake God humbled Himself, should, therefore, be ashamed to be still proud. To have been born for man's sake would have been alone a great humiliation for God. But He even deigned to die for him. He showed His humility on the cross, when His persecutors were shaking their heads and saying: ‘If he is the Son of God, let him come down from the cross, and we will believe him.’ But He persevered in His humility; He did not come down, not because He had lost His power, but because He wanted to manifest His patience. For He who could rise from the sepulchre, could easily have descended from the cross. Patient humility, however, had not only to be commanded, but manifested and commended by example.Google Scholar

79 Serm. 77.7.11 (PL 38.487f.).Google Scholar

80 Cf. the similar expression in De agone christiano 11.12 (ed. Zycha, CSEL 41.115): ‘Quae superbia sanari potest, si humilitate Filii Dei non sanatur?’ The behavior of the proud Jews is in sharp contrast with that of the apostles, who did not pursue virtue for the sake of glory, but referred their glory to the glory of God, by whose grace alone they were able to do what they did. They kept in mind ‘what they had been told by the good Master and Physician of their minds’ (quod audierant a bono magistro eodemque medico mentium), and thus could not be prevented even by the fiercest persecution from preaching the salvation of the world (De civ. Dei 5.14, ed. Hoffmann, CSEL 40.1.240f.). Men should, therefore, never boast of their spiritual health, but humbly confess before God that they are sinners, and place all their hope in Christ, who, by having been wounded for them, is the only one who can restore the health of their souls (Enarr. in Ps. 42.7: PL 36.481f.).Google Scholar

81 Serm. 174.3.3 (PL 38.942).Google Scholar

82 Ibid. 5.6 (PL 38.943).Google Scholar

83 Ibid. Google Scholar

84 In Joh. evang., Tract. 53.11 (PL 35. 1779).Google Scholar

85 Serm. 87.11.14 (PL 38.538).Google Scholar

86 St. Augustine (ibid. 11.14-12.15: PL 38.538f.) refers to two kinds of spiritual sickness: there are persons who, like insane patients, rage against the Divine Physician and His followers; and there are others who, suffering from spiritual lethargy, do neither rage against Christ, nor show ill-will against the Christians, but refuse to be awakened from their religious indifference. If we have friends who suffer from the latter ill, the bishop counsels, we must rouse them continuously from their spiritual drowsiness, just as the human physician advises a son not to allow his old, lethargic father to fall into a sleep from which he will never wake up again. — For the lethargic father, see also De utilitate ieiunii 12, whereto Brother Dominic, S. Ruegg, F.S.C., in his edition (Patristic Studies 85; Washington 1951) ad loc. cites as parallels, besides Serm. 87, Serm. 40.4.6 (PL 38.246) and Serm. Frangipane 2.8 (199f. Morin).Google Scholar

87 Cf. Serm. Mai 16.2 (302 Morin): ‘Such a great Physician did come to us and forgive us our sins: if we allow ourselves to become sick again, we shall not only ruin ourselves but also show no thanks to the Physician’; Enarr. in Ps. 117.16 (PL 87.1499): ‘« I will confess unto Thee, O Lord, because Thou hast heard me: and art become my salvation » Ps. 117.21). How often that confession proves to be one of praise, which does not point out wounds to the Physician, but gives thanks for the health that has been received. ‘Google Scholar

88 Serm. 286.3.2 (PL 38.1298).Google Scholar

89 Serm. Guelferb. 17.1 (495f. Morin).Google Scholar

90 Enarr. in Ps. 102.5 (PL 37.1319f.).Google Scholar

91 Enarr. in Ps. 40.6 (PL 36.458). Cf. Serm. Mai 19.2 (310 Morin): ‘Fearlessly let us put ourselves into the hands of such a great Physician, convinced beyond doubt that He will never apply a remedy which does not benefit us.’Google Scholar

92 Enarr. in Ps. 45.11 (PL 36.521).Google Scholar

93 Enarr. in Ps. 50.6 (PL 36.588).Google Scholar

94 Enarr. in Ps. 58.2.11 (PL 36.712).Google Scholar

95 Cf. Norden, E., Die antike Kunstprosa (4th repr. Leipzig and Berlin 1923) 621–624.Google Scholar

96 De agone christiano 11.12 (ed. Zycha, CSEL 41.115).Google Scholar

97 Ibid. (116 Zycha). Cf. Serm. 219 (PL 38.1088) preached on the vigil of Easter: Vigilat ergo ista nocte et mundus inimicus, et mundus reconciliatus: vigilat iste, ut laudet medicum liberatus; vigilat ille, ut blasphemet iudicem condemnatus; vigilat iste, mentibus piis fervens et lucescens; vigilat ille, dentibus suis frendens et tabescens.Google Scholar

98 De diversis quaestionibus 83 q. 82.3 (PL 40.99).Google Scholar

99 Enarr. in Ps. 85.9 (PL 37.1088). Note the characteristic expression: ‘non exaudit ad voluntatem, ut exaudiat ad sanitatem,’ which also occurs in Enarr. in Ps. 21.4 (PL 36.173) ‘Sub medicamento positus ureris, secaris, clamas: non audit medicus ad voluntatem, sed audit ad sanitatem Serm. Wilmart 12.4 (707 Morin): ‘Medicus ergo, ut aegrum exaudiat ad sanitatem, non exaudit ad voluntatem’; Serm. Morin 15.7 (652 Morin): ‘Acre medicamentum, sed salubre, tantus medicus apponebat aegroto. Aeger sub morsu medicamenti rogabat, ut auferret medicus, quod posuerat; non exaudiebat medicus ad voluntatem, et inde magis exaudiebat ad sanitatem.’ Cf. also Serm. Denis 21.8 (132 Morin = PL 46.914): ‘Quanta faciunt medici contra aegrotorum voluntatem, et tamen non faciunt contra sanitatem.’Google Scholar

100 Enarr. in Ps. 85.9 (PL 37.1088).Google Scholar

101 Serm. 278.3-5 (PL 38.1270f.).Google Scholar

102 Serm. Denis 21.8f. (132f. Morin = PL 46.914f.). Cf. the similar passages in In Ep. Joh. ad Parthos, Tract. 9.4 (PL 35.2048): ‘The fear of God wounds like the knife of the physician: it takes away the festering, and seems to enlarge, as it were, the wound. Behold, when the purulent matter was in the body, the wound was smaller, but dangerous. Then comes the knife of the physician: that wound hurt less than it hurts now when it is cut; it hurts more when it is treated than it would, if it were not operated upon; it hurts more under the healing operation, but only that it may never hurt again after the healing is effected.’ Enarr. in Ps. 93.7 (PL 37.1197): ‘Truly, as a faithful Physician, with the healing knife of preaching in His hand, He [Christ] has cut away our wounded parts.’Google Scholar

103 Enarr. in Ps. 40.6 (PL 36.458).Google Scholar

104 Serm. Guelferb. 9.3 (470 Morin). Cf. also Enarr. in Ps. 58.2.11 (PL 36.712): ‘Omnipotenti medico nihil est insanabile … opus est ut tu curari velis.’ Enarr. in Ps. 102.6 (PL 37.1320): ‘Sanabit te; opus est ut sanari velis.’Google Scholar

105 The clearest analysis of the profound anguish at the turmoil of the times, which troubled the hearts of men, is, of course, found in the De civitate Dei. Cf. Fischer, J., Die Völkerwanderung im Urteil der zeitgenössischen kirchlichen Schriftsteller Galliens unter Einbeziehung des heiligen Augustinus (Heidelberg-Waibstadt 1948) 40–52. Concerning St. Augustine's attitude towards the barbarian invasions in his sermons, see ibid. 52-72; in his letters, ibid. 72-76; in his other works, ibid. 76-81.Google Scholar

106 Serm. 87.10.13-11.13 (PL 38.537f.). Cf. Kunzelmann, A., ‘Die Chronologie der Sermones des hl. Augustinus,’ Miscellanea Agostiniana II 428.Google Scholar

107 Serm. Caillau el Saint-Yves II 19.8 (271 Morin). Cf. Kunzelmann, ‘Die Chronologie’ 495, and Fischer, Die Völkerwanderung 71.Google Scholar

108 Serm. Denis 24 (141-155 Morin = PL 46.921-932).Google Scholar

109 Cf. Kunzelmann, ‘Die Chronologie’ 501; 515.Google Scholar

110 Cf. Morin 151 n. 1.Google Scholar

111 Serm. Denis 24.13 (153f. Morin = PL 46.930f.).Google Scholar

112 Serm. 87.11.13 (PL 38.537). Almost identical texts occur in Serm. 175.1 (PL 38.945) Serm. Frangipane 3.7 (208 Morin = PL 46.980); Serm. Caillau et Saint-Yves II 19.8 (270 Morin); Serm. Guelferb. 32.5 (567 Morin). In serm. 171.2 (PL 38.933f.) St. Augustine sees in the traveller who is assailed by robbers and left dying on the road, ‘the whole human race,’ and in the Samaritan, who saves the distressed man, Christ. In this connection it is interesting to note that Peter Lombard makes this thought the leitmotif, as it were, of his doctrine on the sacraments, beginning the fourth book of his Sentences (dist. 1 cap. 1) by saying: ‘Samaritanus enim, vulnerato appropians, curationi eius sacramentorum alligamenta adhibuit’ (Petri Lombardi Libri IV Sententiarum, studio et cura PP. Collegii Bonaventurae, S. in lucem editi, secunda ed. Ad Claras Aquas 1916, p. 745); and that an anonymous writer in Cod. lat. Monacensis 27034, fol. 142r-152v, deals with the fourth book under the quaestio: ‘Utrum Christus summus medicus reliquerit irremediabiles morbos animorum conformiter ad morbos corporum humanorum.’Google Scholar

113 Carmina Nisibena 34.9 (ed. Bickell, G., Lipsiae 1866, p. 140).Google Scholar

114 Ibid. 21.18 (119 Bickell).Google Scholar

115 Serm. 87.11.13 (PL 38.537f.); Serm. Frangipane 3.7 (208 Morin = PL 46.980); Serm. Caillau et Saint-Yves II 19.8 (270f. Morin); Serm. Guelferb. 32.5 (567 Morin).Google Scholar

116 Expos. evang. Lucae 4.67 (173 Schenkl).Google Scholar

117 In Gen. 27.1 (PG 53.240).Google Scholar

118 Carm. Nisib. 34 (139ff. Bickell). In this poem in praise of Christ the Physician, Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, Daniel, and the prophets in general, are pictured as medical practitioners and assistants before the coming of the Great Physician.Google Scholar

119 For testimonies in St. Jerome and Origen, see Pease, op. cit. (n. 6 supra) 75 n. 5 and 6 respectively. The term is then also applied to the apostles (cf. ibid. n. 4) and to other holy men, for instance, St. Anthony (Athan., Vita S. Antonii 87: PG 26.965); St. Luke Stylites (Vita Lucae S. Stylitae 14, ed. Delehaye, H., Les Saints Stylites [Subsidia Hagiographica 14, Bruxelles and Paris 1923] 210); Blessed Apa Psote (W. Till, Koptische Heiligen- und Wunderlegenden [Orientalia Christiana Analecta 102, Rome 1935] 208), and to bishops as pastors of their flocks (for instance, Syrische Didaskalia 7; 26, ed. Achelis, H. and Flemming, J. [Texte und Untersuchungen, N.F. 10.2; 1904] 33; 145).Google Scholar

120 Cf. the testimonies in Waszink, J. H.'s edition of Tertullian's De anima (Amsterdam 1947) pp. 111f.Google Scholar

121 Cf. Harnack, Die Mission und Ausbreitung des Christentums I 133.Google Scholar

122 Cf. Wendland, P., Die hellenistisch-römische Kultur in ihren Beziehungen zu Judentum und Christentum (2nd and 3rd ed., Tübingen 1912) 82; Stelzenberger, J., Die Beziehungen der frühchristlichen Sittenlehre zur Ethik der Stoa (Munich 1933) 162; Misch, G., A History of Autobiography in Antiquity (Cambridge, Mass. 1951) II 409.Google Scholar

123 See pp. 21-23 supra. Google Scholar

124 For texts see Harnack, op. cit. I 141-143; Pease, op. cit. (n. 6 supra) 77.Google Scholar

125 De doctr. christ. 1.14.13 (p. 13 supra); cf. Enarr. in Ps. 117.16 (PL 37.1499); ‘Ipse autem medicus salus est’; Conf. 9.13.35 (224 Knoll): ‘Exaudi me [Deus] per medicinam vulnerum nostrorum, quae pependit in ligno…’Google Scholar

126 Tract. in Marc. 1 (Anecd. Maredsol. 3.2.338): ‘ipse et medicus et medicamentum.’Google Scholar

127 Carm. Nisib. 34.11 (141 Bickell): ‘Jesus … ist Arzt und Arznei.’Google Scholar

128 The texts of these passages are found in Waldschmidt, E. and Lentz, W., Die Stellung Jesu im Manichäismus (Abh. d. Preuss. Akad. d. Wissensch., Philos.-hist. Klasse 1926, no. 4) 37; Henning, W., Ein manichäisches Bet- und Beichtbuch (ibid. 1936, no. 10) 23; A Manichaean Psalm-Book (Manichaean Manuscripts in the Chester Beatty Collection, Part II, ed. Allberry, C. R. C., Stuttgart 1938) 2; 46; 61; 193; 220f.Google Scholar

129 Op. cit. (n. 5 supra) 391 n. 25.Google Scholar

130 Cf. at nn. 1 and 36 supra. Google Scholar

131 Op. cit. 392f. n. 36. One of the passages is considered by Olschki himself ‘rather a Zoroastrian than a Christian-inspired simile.’ In it Jesus is said to possess ‘the antidote that is good for every affection,’ constituted of twenty-two compounds (Allberry 46).Google Scholar

132 Allberry 46.Google Scholar

133 Ibid. 193.Google Scholar

134 Ibid. 46.Google Scholar

135 Historia ecclesiastica 10.4.12 (ed. Schwartz, E., GCS, Eusebius Werke 2.866).Google Scholar

136 De Helia et ieiunio 20,75 (458 Schenkl).Google Scholar

137 In Exodum (PG 12.269).Google Scholar

138 Catecheses 10.13 (PG 33.677); Hom. in paralyticum 2 (PG 33.1133).Google Scholar

139 In Gen. 27.1 (PG 53.240).Google Scholar

140 In Origenem oratio panegyrica 17 (PG 10.1101).Google Scholar

141 De Cain et Abel 2.3.11 (388 Schenkl).Google Scholar